Oh, sorrow and woe!

[MysteriousMiller]

---

"Dash"

Clever: 0 | Fierce: 0 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 3 | Danger: 1 | Lock/Unlock, Open/Close

---

Dash's whiskers twitch as his kinfolk talk about being taken to "live" in the big house.

He tries to get a little more information, asking "Are these longshanks wizards or witches? They seem to have witch signs all around the house?"

Then he wonders if it's better to live in ignorance, but quickly comes to the conclusion that if it were him, he'd rather take his chances against the long tooths and sharp claws in the wild woods and fields than live in pampered luxury in a death row prison cell.

"I...I.....I think something dreadful might have happened to them..." he responds with a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice, "...you'll find nothing but the pot waiting for you in there! It's up to you, but I'm going to open your hutch so you can decide whether to stay or take your chances in the wild".

Edited February 21 by MysteriousMiller (see edit history)

[Anthr4xus]

"Oh no. They are not witches, I don't think." The rabbits say, "We don't understand them, but they do similar things to the other houses nearby and seem well liked or respected by the other humans around, other than providing us with care and food. Don't know what you have seen out there friend, but why would they take so much time and care in feeding and sheltering us only to pot us. That is ridiculous."

Peering into the window Broom sees a plump and round faced woman bustling about a small, tight yet cozy kitchen. She wore an apron like the Witch often did, but her hat was a simple poof of plaid cloth nestled in her mass of curly red hair. She was currently bent over, pulling a pan or something from a large oven on the other side of the room. A single open archway to the rest of the house sat near that oven. The rest o the kitchen was filled with cabinets, hutches, curios and a large bronze sink hung on the outside wall, several buckets of various sizes stacked under it. The door out to the backyard and rabbit hutch was also easily visible near the window Broom was looking through.

[Fallout_Monkey]

Elora

"Maybe to put more meat on your bones" Elora says at the caged rabbits words

[ariel]

---

Broom

Clever: 2 | Fierce: 1 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 1 | Danger: 1 | Tidy, clean and mend

---

Broom hops to the ground beneath the window and flits to one side. He flutters his wings trying to catch the attention of those near the hutch. When he does, he tries to communicate that they should follow him back to the side of the house, out of view from the back windows.

With awkward hops he moves in that direction himself, skipping through the shadowed edge next to the house.

 

Edited March 4 by ariel (see edit history)

[Civit]

Ooc is there any way to determine if these are wards for or wards against witches?

[MysteriousMiller]

---

"Dash"

Clever: 0 | Fierce: 0 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 3 | Danger: 1 | Lock/Unlock, Open/Close

---

Dash shakes his head sadly as the rabbits in the hutch bury their heads in the sand about their potential fate.

He looks at Elora and his ears droop. "Thank you for trying my friend, but I fear they will not listen to us!"

He decides that he'll give them a chance by opening the hutch...but not yet! They've made enough of an impression today and might need to keep their heads down a little.

"We'll be back soon..." he comments, before turning his attention to Broom."So...who's in there?" he asks, treading carefully as he heads over to the edge of the house, so as not to disturb the lines marked out "...and what do you think of these?" he adds, nodding to the marks. He really has no idea what they might be!

Edited March 4 by MysteriousMiller (see edit history)

[ariel]

---

Broom

Clever: 2 | Fierce: 1 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 1 | Danger: 1 | Tidy, clean and mend

---

As Dash comes up to the side of the house, Broom hops from one talon to the other and answers. "One two-legs, like our Witch but not. Bigger with red fur! Cooking, cooking, but, can see the yard easy from inside! Shouldn't be seen, trouble."

The crow looks to the salt on the ground and if wings could shrug, they did. "It's a mess, a tidy mess, but still a mess!"

OOCI added a clever roll to my last post - only a 4 so I am assuming he knows nothing. :)

[Anthr4xus]

You all recall having seen the Witch use powder lines for things when she was doing magic, but it would be weird for witch-hunters to use magic, wouldn't it? Who knows why humans do what they do? Little of this strange walled town made sense to the lot of you. From the street at the front of the house, from a distance but drawing closer, the clanging of multiple bells could be heard approaching. The noise was unpleasant and disconcordant, that jarred the sharp ears of the familiars and the rabbits in the hutch.

[MysteriousMiller]

---

"Dash"

Clever: 0 | Fierce: 0 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 3 | Danger: 1 | Lock/Unlock, Open/Close

---

Dash screws up his face in discomfort, ears flattened as the clanging approaches.

"What, what...someone comes...hide!" he yelps before scrabbling to try to find a hiding place behind the garden wall.

[Civit]

Asteroth examines the lines, if anyone could figure it out it was him.

[Anthr4xus]

OOC

That is a fail on your clever roll @Civit, please take a point of DANGER. That was also a fail for @ariel & @MysteriousMiller if you haven't already bumped your DANGER for it. @Fallout_Monkey, Elora can still make a roll if you like.

Asteroth quickly dashes to the line, catching a little of the powder in his whiskers before rushing back into hiding. He could confirm that someone was approaching on the street, carrying one of those big staff of bells that Broom had spotted walking through the town at the start of the day. The bells on it clanged and jangled with each step. Several people had stepped out of their houses and made some kind of gesture in the direction of the bells. It was different than the gesture the grooms and fieldhands were doing.

Brushing the crystalline powder from his whiskers and giving it a taste Asteroth confirmed that the powder was indeed mostly salt, although there was something else mixed in with it. Something glittery, hard and bright, but ground so found there was no way to tell what it was in its current form. It had no flavor or smell other than the salt that was mixed with it. While he did not know exactly what it was, it certainly wasn't a mixture that any of the familiars could remember the Witch using herself.

Edited March 13 by Anthr4xus (see edit history)

[ariel]

---

Broom

Clever: 2 | Fierce: 1 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 1 | Danger: 2 | Tidy, clean and mend

---

"Noise, noise! Don't like! Don't like!" Broom looks, for a moment, as if to try to follow Dash into the bushes. But, scrambling along the ground into the bushes was really not in his nature. He flitted up to the roof of the house, hoping to find a hiding spot in the eaves or behind a chimney. Perhaps he could keep eye on the horrible noisemakers from there.

[Fallout_Monkey]

Elora

Elora tries to hide.

OOC

Under or behind the hutch if there is space otherwise she looks for or digs a hole in the ground beneath the grass.

 

[Anthr4xus]

The clangorous noise grew louder and louder as the bell ringer drew closer. From up on the roof, Broom noticed woman he had seen in the kitchen of the house rush out of the front door to replicate the same gesture her neighbors were making towards the bells. She turned and waved at the neighbor on her right, a woman of roughly the same dimensions but with brown hair and slightly taller. She stepped off the porch to meet her midway between the houses. They were chatty, loud and cheerful. The neighbor on the other side simply turned and went back inside. The jangling clang of the bells began to lessen as the staff bearer continued down the street without breaking his stride or acknowledging the various gesticulating townies.

Asteroth could make out some of what the two women were talking about. Their conversation seemed to mainly focus on recipes and the weather, although one part of the exchange really jumped out at the rat listening in. Overhearing this conversation also revealed that the woman of the house they were currently hiding under and around was named Mary and her neighbor was named Tiffany.

Mary: ".... so warm lately, it's been lovely."

Tiffany: "I would imagine Ernest is enjoying it as well."

Mary: "Of course, couldn't ask for better witch hunting weather, he says." She smiled at the thought. "That's why he and other deputies not on field duty are over at Buckner's, having lunch and planning their next raid."

Tiffany: "Did you hear what that ruckus earlier was about?"

Mary: "No, must not have been too bad or..." at that moment a large cloud passed over the sun, throwing both women into shadow. Tiffany immediately made the same gesture that the farmhands and grooms had been making earlier, while Mary pulled what appeared to be a small copper coin from a pocket of her apron. She rubbed it while making the same gesture as Tiffany. After just a moment the cloud had blown away and with a gasp, both women released their held breath nearly simultaneously. With a small chuckle, Mary continued, "It must not have been too bad or a crier would have come through. You know what they say, 'if the bells are ringing, the angels are singing'." She glanced in the direction of the bell-ringer, who was just disappeared around the corner at the end of the street.

Tiffany: "Well, they better come home before heading out. Gunter left his latest charm here this morning. I can't imagine him going on a hunt without it, especially given how easy and quick the last one was."

The conversation between the two women went on for another minute or two, quietly catching up on the various small town gossip, but nothing that seemed immediately relevant to the familiar's mission.

 

[ariel]

---

Broom

Clever: 2 | Fierce: 1 | Sly: 2 | Quick: 1 | Danger: 1 | Tidy, clean and mend

---

As the noise passes, Broom hops back to the ground and looks to Asteroth. "What, what did they say? Did you hear anything? Should we follow the noise?"

 

OOC

From Broom's vantage point on the roof and his previous passes over the town, would he have any idea where the bell clangers might have been going?