Northern Front - Gameplay

As the rest of the group files in, they find themselves in a rather bland room - only a table with a handful of chairs, the opaque glass window, and a lone camera in an upper corner.

The two still-unknown officers follow suit behind them and close the door.

Realizing the group is waiting for them, the shorter officer looks to her companion after making sure the door was shut tight. "Well, Frelja? Anything in here?"

The tall officer simply shakes their head and smiles softly.

"Thank Christ. I was beginning to worry we'd have to keep them in the dark a lot longer." With that, the short officer removes her aviators and sets them down before throwing her hat forcefully on the table, revealing a short mop of blonde hair."Ffffffuck me, these things are uncomfortable. This isn't part of my job description, I swear..."

Her companion similarly removes their shades and the bulkier helmet they were wearing. They are similarly blonde, if a lighter shade, with hair that nearly reaches their waist.

And perhaps most surprisingly of all, two long, fuzzy rabbit ears unfurl a solid foot above their head, covered in a short layer of tawny brown fur. Their ears twitch slightly, released from their confinement, and the "officer" continues to smile sweetly, this time towards the group.

The short officer addresses everyone gathered. "So. Probably have a few questions. Wouldn't blame you, promise I'll answer them best I can, also sorry for carting you around so much. Now then..." She twirls her finger a bit as she bounces ideas in her head on what to prioritize.

She then takes a deep breath and starts her explanation. "Right. To start, you may call me Crawford - Etheldred's superior. This here," - she gestures to the rabbitfolk beside her - "Is Frelja. They're from Norway. Don't talk much."

Crawford begins to pace back and forth as she runs down the list. "Long story short, I'm part of a branch of the organization you may or may not be familiar with. Maialen, Dallas, I believe you were transferred here from... Texas, I think it was? Less important now. Tried to get in contact with you all before the forest, but we went over plans again and decided direct pickup would be best."

Frelja pulls out a water bottle and offers it to Crawford, who looks grateful and takes a swig before continuing.

"The reason why we had to come get you in such a... roundabout, clumsy way should become more obvious in a bit. But for right now, this specific interrogation room was the closest secure location. Totally soundproof... And impossible to get in without us knowing. Helps to have ties to the police department here," she adds, nodding at Anna as if to say, "sorry you didn't know this sooner."

Taking another drink of water, she nods to Frelja, who is tall enough to reach up to the camera. They seem to push their thumb directly on the lens, and underneath the camera, a circular cutout rises from the floor. It looks like a large metallic pod, and a door in it slides open with a soft "bing".

It seems to be an elevator that leads to... Well, who knows where. But it's spacious enough to fit all of you, somehow.

Crawford gestures to the elevator. "Mind if we go somewhere we can talk even more freely? I'll answer some questions on the way if I can. Not that it's a very long ride."

"I don't understand," Steph says quietly as she steps into the elevator. "How has this organization existed here without my knowledge for as long as I've been here? Surely one of my superiors must have been aware of its presence. Why would they keep it from me?"

Maialen hesitates slightly, not quite willing to go in yet - not because of unfamiliarity, since she's been in plenty of similar facilities before, but... "May I ask why neither me nor Dallas have been invited here previously?" She asks Crawford and Frelja. "I would have at least expected some sort of introduction before this point, given the situation with Dennis we were initially called here for, and we were never informed as to the existence of a high-scale facility at this site. What precisely is the reasoning behind that?"

Dallas nods affirmation to Maialen’s statement. ”A mite inhospitable of ya.”

Anna stares at the suddenly appearing elevator in surprise, even walking around it a couple times. "And this has just... always been here?" She asks, looking at the button-bearing camera in a whole new light.

As Crawford and Frelja step into the elevator with the group, the former mulls over the questions. As she does, the elevator closes and descends with a surprising speed. It stops as soon as it started, then changes direction - this time moving horizontally, the group would imagine underground.

First, Crawford answers Steph's question. "Well, unfortunately, I can't answer for whatever divine force you fall under. Sounds like a cop-out, I realize, but I don't know what I don't know."

"I can, however, answer why the others were kept in the dark," she continues, gesturing towards Dallas and Maialen. "You're right, you were called here to deal with a certain Wendigo issue. However, before you got here, it was... let's say, unexpectedly dealt with by certain forces," she answers with a pointed look towards Maggie. "Apologies for being obtuse, but you'd have to imagine that when it comes to what you would understand as a monster-hunting organization, we... Take measure. Knowledge is only given on an absolute necessity. What if some new monster, one that could tap into your mind came around? This way if someone is compromised, damage can be minimized. By the time you got here, the problem was already resolved, in a way. Thus, you were kept in a sort of limbo."

Crawford is somewhere, perhaps confusingly, between apologetic and coy as the elevator grinds to a halt "Well, that's all changing now. And Anna, this is actually rather new. It's not always convenient to head all the way to the fishery, after all."

The elevator door opens, and the group beholds a staggering sight. Before them is an expansive facility, its white walls gleaming along with a marble floor. It is bustling with activity, but not crowded, as people of all kinds - even some not quite people, the group notes - dart between various screens and computers, not a moment to waste.

Crawford and Frelja step out of the elevator, turning around and smiling at the group. The former opens her arms, gesturing to the facility behind her, and says:

"Welcome... to the Organization."

"Thank you mightily for the warm welcome," Fairbanks says, wasting no time on gawking at the facility. "Now, go back to the bit where that's all changing now? Does that have anything to do with our little lost lamb?"

Dallas, a mite perturbed at the answers, takes a second to consider the situation in relation to their own level of trust within the CCA. They suddenly think better of raising any fuss as they realize that yes, they’re often called rash and headstrong. They find no objection, and look on. ”Yeah, what Fairbanks said. So why bring us on now? What all’s gotten twisty-like?”

"Wow, you guys really spared no expense on this place, huh?" Anna says, taking in the scale of the facility.

"Can't spare expense when working to keep mankind safe while hiding the secrets of the world," replies Crawford matter-of-factly as she and Frelja make their way to a sizeable console roughly in the center of the room. A transparent screen atop the console displays a map of Barndock, and the duo stops in front of a set of expensive-looking computers. Crawford furrows her brow as she tries to decide the best place to start, while Frelja merely hums contentedly as they don a pair of specially-made headphones that can nestle in their long ears.

After a beat, Crawford takes a deep breath and addresses the group again. "So. Let's start with... Magic. You all know it exists I'm sure, and some of you even practice it. But what you may not know is exactly how it works on a fundamental level." She creates a small fireball in her hand for effect, and snaps it out just as quickly. "Magic is essentially telling elements to do things they shouldn't - like just now pulling carbon and water vapor out of the air and telling them to reform into methane and oxygen with a spark, thus starting a fire. You might be surprised to hear that with enough time, virtually anyone could learn magic like this - some just have a much higher intuition or natural affinity towards it," she says with a gesture towards Maggie.

"That brings us to monsters. What we call 'monsters' are essentially living things with a much higher affinity for magic, thus allowing them to do 'unnatural' things people and animals typically can't. Now, Frelja here has special ears - they act as a sort of radar and can sense when monsters pop up around here, and using these headphones -" a blip pops up on the screen, a good distance in the woods where the party just came from "- they can pinpoint their location for the rest of us. Here, we can see our friend Dennis still in the woods."

A grimace falls over Crawford's face as she reaches her conclusion. "The problem that has us so concerned... Is that when Eric Nordin went missing, and the reports we heard involved a giant frog... And yet nothing popped up on our radar. Frelja had zero idea. We've potentially got monsters that Frelja can't sense at all - so we pulled in you all. People already familiar with the locale, people who can handle themselves - people who can help. Because with something so potentially dangerous, we need all that we can get."

Crawford steps away from the console, and Frelja removes the headphones. The former crosses her arms as she fully faces the group again. "I think that about covers it. So, what can you all tell me about giant frogs that you've seen? And let's try and be quick - I doubt our partial-Wendigo friend out there wants to be alone much longer."

---

----


Somewhere deeper in the Barndock woods, Dennis hears the sirens fade. He finds himself further in the woods, alone, everyone else opting to leave with the supposed police officers. While he was running, he could hear a chorus of frogs croaking to herald the arrival of summer -

But now, the small clearing he comes upon is eerily silent. And then, as he takes in the lack of croaking, the quiet is broken. A singular, much more guttural croaking fills the air, louder than any one frog should be able to produce.

And it sounds angry.

Dallas purses their lips and nods. "Well, I c'n getcha what I know," they say, relating the little information they have and looking towards a more knowledgeable fella for a more complete picture.

"I don't know much about magic and all that, but I did get an up-close look at one of them," Anna says. "I could probably fill out a full report later if you desire, but for now-" She proceeds to recite off a simple, but fairly thorough, description of the frog she encountered and what she saw of the swamp it inhabited.

”Oh fuck,” Dennis groans as he realizes the situation. ”Of course there isn’t just one. There’s always more.”

Dennis tries to figure out which direction the sound is coming from, so he can run the opposite way.

Crawford crosses her arms and scowls at the given information. "Well... I guess it's our fault for rushing you back here, but... Yeah, that just sounds like a giant frog. Nothing on potential weaknesses, special behaviors or abilities... Damn. Tell me, did anyone happen to check inside its sto -" Her inquiry is cut off by Frelja, who tugs on her sleeve and hurriedly points to the holographic map as they put the headphones back on.

On the map, the dot indicating Dennis briefly pings with a growing intensity. Frelja turns to look intently at Crawford, worry in their eyes.

"Ah, shit." curses Crawford loudly in response. "Shit, shit, shit - The dots only do that when what ever it is starts using its magic stuff - and if Dennis is using it with supposedly nothing around, that can't be good. Wish we could strategize more, but we have to move. C'mon!"

[Hard Move as a result of Fairbanks failing a roll.]
----

While this is happening in the woods, Dennis scans his surroundings for the source of the croaking. He does not have long before the answer reveals itself - The croaking becomes louder as the ground itself in the clearing seems to bubble up in front of him. Mud begins to seep up from beneath solid ground, almost appearing to melt the earth as liquid begins to pool. Then, with a shower of dirt and filthy water, a staggeringly large frog, its body covered in hideous warts and scars, bursts up from underneath the ground, its croaks almost making the air itself reverberate.

With unnatural speed, it locks eyes with Dennis and he stands before it, utterly dwarfed. Then, just as quickly, it launches something at him - not a tongue, as he might expect, but some sort of liquid projectile that douses him. Dennis quickly learns what it is, as he feels his skin beneath all his robes begin to burn; the frog must have vomited some kind of acid at him. He feels his monstrous resistance try to kick in, but finds it not nearly as effective against chemical damage as it is against physical trauma [2 Harm, ignore Armor]. He feels his skin burning, and he finds himself alone against the titanic frog as it begins to lurch towards him, a mix of hunger and fury in its eyes.

Now what?

Dallas is quick to rush towards the elevator leading back up, apprising themselves of their heavy weaponry: and they had a lot of it. They were wearing their flak vest, that much was good. They'd probably need to head back to their camper if they wanted to get Colin but Tucker and Adrian were strapped on to them roundabout somewhere. "We should git there before the varmint rustles up a real demon out of Dennis," they bark, looking towards the rest of their colleagues for any further guidance they might have.

”I can go now and assist him in holding it off until the rest of you arrive,” Steph says with a look to Dallas.

Dallas nods. "Don't getcherself in over yer head," they warn.

With an uncharacteristically nervous smile, Steph nods to them and looks to rest of the group. ”Join us as quickly as you can, and also don’t look right at me just now,” she says before disappearing in a flash of brilliant light and materializing, fully armored and armed with her flaming spear, next to Dennis and in front of the enormous frog.

”You alright, big man?” she asks the hulking wendigo as she twirls her spear and raises a gleaming bronze hoplon shield.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Anna says, one hand sliding over the safety and holster-strap of her pistol as she follows Dallas towards the elevator.

Maggie huffs as she stands. "If he gets himself killed I'm going to kill him," she declares, checking her satchel of spellcasting supplies (mostly since everyone else was fiddling with their tools of battle).

”Been better,” Dennis manages to choke out as he desperately tries to pull off his acid soaked garb. He steps back from the monster and levels his revolver at its gaping mouth. “See how you like this!”

The behemoth frog lets out a guttural croak, more akin to a roar, as the bullets sink into it. Though its thick skin seemed to absorb some of the impact, it reels in visible pain [3 - 1 = 2 Harm].

Its eye flare with anger as it retaliates by slinging its tongue across the quagmire, picking up a small log with ease and slamming it into Dennis. It's a heavy blow, even with the softening from his natural toughness [3 - 1 = 2 harm] and leaves him staggered [Unstable] as a result of his mounting wounds.

The frog is more angry than hungry now.

At the police station, Crawford hurriedly motions for everyone to pile into a police SUV, hoping to save as much time as possible for all those without divine teleportation powers.

Steph and Dennis probably have time for one more action before the others arrive. What will they do?

Lunging toward the frog, Steph skewers its throat with her flaming spear. Wrenching the head out of the creature, she flourishes the weapon and jumps back, but not before the spitting monster vomits a deluge of caustic liquid toward her, burning through part of her armor and bubbling her vessel's skin.

Dallas storms the scene as well, hollering a ”y’all still alive?” as they brandish their handy assault rifle, Colin, and pepper the frog with bullets. [Kick some ass, 11. Forward to Dennis.]

More bullets pepper the frog as it lets out a croak of pain, even with its natural toughness [2 Harm]. Bulbous eyes flaring, it takes a new approach to deal with its assailants.

Its bulbous eyes, full of fury, the giant frog takes a drastic measure. Lashing out its tongue, it envelopes Dallas, and pulls them into its mouth with lightning speed.

Dallas doesn't take any immediate damage, but if they are inside the frog for much longer, it could be very, very bad.