Northern Front - Gameplay

Maialen makes a note of this, also - Cathy's house is down the street from Arnie's - and, looking around, spots Steph leaving the bathroom. She taps Dallas on the shoulder to get their attention. "Stefania is over there. I'm going to let her know that something might be up, just in case she has any ideas. I won't be long."

Getting up with her coffee, she intercepts Steph on the way to a table, stepping in front of her. "Hello, Stefania. Do you mind if I sit with you for a minute or two?"

"Of course, Maia," Steph says with a smile. "How are you?"

"Low," Etheldred says. "Apparently someone has gone missing, and another person has been attacked. I've been asked to bring those already in the know with me in my investigations."

Maialen shakes her head, as they get to a table in the corner. She does a quick scan around, to check no-one is able to hear. "Something might be up. A person called Eric has gone missing, and me and Dallas have our reasons to believe that it might be linked to a monster of some sort." She takes a drink of her black coffee. "Nothing concrete, though, so we don't need any sort of urgent help. If a situation happens, we'll let you know. Until then, just keep an eye out for anything else suspicious. Do you have any thoughts or questions?"

Fairbanks nods. "Let me just grab my things here," he says, stepping behind the counter to grab a large tackle box. "Is there anything we know about the creepy crawlie that might be causing these already? Or are we going into this shindig blind?"

"That is a really big frog," Anna says after a pause to size up the frog. Raising her gun, she takes a couple quick shots at the amphibian, stepping backwards between each shot.

[Kick Some Ass - 10]

Maggie feels the buzzing of her phone in her pocket as she coasts along the street. When she reaches a stop sign she checks behind her, sees there aren't any cars coming, and pulls her phone out to check the text, flipping the visor of her helmet up as she does so. "... oh you sweet, stupid, gorgeous idiot," she mutters. "If I get there and you're anywhere other than outside the bog..." With a quick motion she flips her visor back down, pulls her moped into a U-turn and speeds off in the direction of the woods.

Fairbank's phone buzzes as he gets the text from Anna. "Damn," he curses, hastily heading for the door of the shop. "Looks like there's no time to waste," he says to Etheldred, showing her the text.

Dennis is walking through the town in his awkward disguise when suddenly he feels the buzzing of his phone from one of the pouches on the robe. When he pulls it out he sees what Anna has sent him. Anna, what the fuck? I sincerely hope she is not trying to solve this herself.

Knowing Anna though, Dennis begins running toward the location. Guess more rumors are gonna start about the medicine man’s urgent business.

Anna fires her gun at the oversized amphibian, wounding it [2 Harm] and causing it to croak in pain. In retaliation it launches its tongue at her, but due to being disoriented from the shots, it hits a nearby tree instead. The tree splinters and a few shards graze Anna [1 harm].

---

Those that received Anna's text initially find it hard to pinpoint a location, but the gunshots that ring out not long after indicate where she is.

Should they choose to rush over they see a wounded Anna squaring off against a gigantic, warty frog, also somewhat wounded.

Hop to it.

"Not particularly," Steph replies with a shake of her head. "Certainly do keep me notified if you learn anything new, though, and I'll do the same."

Maggie frantically chases after the sounds of gunfire, running straight into the bog. When she sees the giant frog and Anna squaring off against it, she begins gesturing wildly, muttering an invocation to the Sumerian god Enki as she does so.

[[Use Magic roll: 12]]

Maialen nods, and finishes her drink. "We will. Stay safe." Getting up, she leaves the cup on the bar next to Dallas. "I'm going to head out. We can probably leave the van here, and walk down to see Cathy," she tells them.

Maggie's incantation begins and the mud under the frog begins to twist and rise, its goal to immobilize the behemoth amphibian. The spell will take approximately 30 seconds to complete, giving everyone (and everything) here a moment to take action before the frog is stopped.

---

Dennis, meanwhile, draws his own firearm and unloads into the frog. The bullets find their mark, visibly hurting the frog [3 Harm]. The frog, however, drawn to the movement, launches its tongue in retaliation. This time, it hits its target.

The impact of the tongue hits Dennis square in the chest - he is winded, but nothing feels broken, likely thanks to his innate toughness [1 Harm]. The tongue retracts and rips off one of his outer cloaks, sparing Dennis from being swallowed.

The frog is looking pretty rough.

Finishing her pie, Steph idly drums her fingers on the table, wondering where Maggie and Dennis got off to. After around ten or so minutes of this, she sighs, gets up, leaves a few dollars on the table and leaves with a radiant smile at Arnie. As soon as she’s out the door and around the corner, she furrows her brow and flies to Maggie... landing next to her and smack in the middle of a gunfight with some kind of giant frog.

”How’d we get here?” she asks, a little surprised, as a halo of fire flashes around her head, solidifying a second later into a golden centurion’s helmet that faintly glows as though it’s red-hot. Flinging her right hand out to one side, she lets loose a strain of immaculate chorus, and a second later, a shooting star streaks down from the sky, an ornate, flame-wreathed golden spear landing point down in the wet bog. Pulling it out, Steph doesn’t wait for a reply before charging the frog monster.

[Kick Some Ass: 8]

"Reckon that's a fine idea," Dallas says, clapping their hands against the counter. "Y'all stay safe, y'hear, Arnie?" they say, donning aviators and heading down the street towards the presumable widow's house.

Steph lunges forth, divine spear in hand, and drives it deep into the frog. It lets out a horrible mix of pained croaks and gurgles as the spear begins to roast it from the inside. Its eyes roll back and its tongue goes limp as it collapses with a resonant thud, dead before Maggie's mud binding can even finish.

The forest itself seems to relax. Birds take flight again, and the regular chorus of frogs resumes their symphony - though perhaps the sound of frogs is a bit more eerie at the moment.

Now what?

---

Dallas and Maialen walk down the street after leaving Arnie's, you make your way to the Nordin household. It is an unassuming, soft yellow single-floor house. A car is in the driveway, and it looks like the lights are on.

What do you do?

After a moment Anna holsters her gun and picks up a long stick from the forest floor, before stepping up to the frog's body and poking it with the end of the wood before turning her attention back to her friends and mentor. "Thanks for getting here so quick," She says with a smile. "The bog was over that way if you wanted to take a look at it. Didn't seem quite right to me, but I was a bit distracted."

Maialen looks over at Dallas. "It looks like Cathy is in. Possibly Eric too, if we're lucky and this isn't related to an incident." She takes a second to consider what they should be investigating. "If Eric isn't here, then we'll want to ask her about if he said he was going anywhere last night, and if he had shown any strange behaviour recently. Anything else you can think of?"

Dallas loops their fingers around their belt and shakes their head. "Nah, I think ya got pretty much everything." They approach, and knock thrice on the door.

After a beat, Maialen and Dallas hear footsteps behind the door and a shout of "Eric, is that -"

The door opens and the two see Cathy Nordin. A woman of average height, she is typically composed and a pillar of support for those she cares about. Now, however, she stands visibly disheveled and uncharacteristically unkempt. She holds a baby in her arms, and it's clear she did not sleep at all last night.

The small glimmer of hope she had before opening the door leaves her eyes. "...Oh. Can... Can I help you?"

The woman's appearance tells Dallas all they need to know.

"'m sorry, Cath, I heard Eric went missin'. I'm out lookin' for him, an' I was hopin' you could maybe tell me more so yer not left in the lurch."

Cathy quickly glances around anxiously. "I'd invite you inside, but... I don't even know that much. Last night he... he has a favorite bench that he likes to sit on just outside the eastern edge of the forest this time of year. He went there last night. Says it's the best way to take in nature..."

She shakes her head as strain creeps into her voice. "It's just... where could he have gone in a town this small? Especially with our new daughter..." Her voice becomes barely audible as tears cloud her eyes.

Maialen jots this down in her notebook, whilst asking a question. "You said this is normal for him at this time of year. Was he acting normally the past few days and weeks, or did he seem different at all?"

"Probably would be a good idea to check it out, especially now that we're here in force," Fairbanks agrees, with a glance at all the assembled hunters. "'Course, I'm thinking you probably could've waited for all us here to show up before heading in and finding the frog in the first place. We might've been looking for a something or other that had attacked three people if you weren't lucky."