Chapter 1: One of Our Students is Missing

[aine]

Fort collects a canteen from the car, slinging it over his shoulder. Then he goes in search of a stick and comes back with something hefty nearly 6’ long.
“It was this or only tiddlers left.” He gives a few swings with it and then falls in at the back of the group.

[Mr. Handy]

"Good morning, Detective Harden," says Alice, shaking his hand with a smile. "It's good to see you too, but I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm here to help with the search. How are things going so far?"

[HoneyDog]

Harden spots Harrison and shakes hands with him too.

“You’re here to look for Cardigan, then” he says. Giving the rest of the group the once-over, he motions to Alice and Harrison to join him, and moves away so they cannot be heard.

Alice & Harrison, “I trust you both, but please keep these details to yourself for now. We haven’t found any sign of him yet. The rain stopped us from making a thorough examination of the site, but although we are public with the theory of a lightning strike, we didn’t see any signs of it, nor are there any burn or scorch marks on their camping gear. We thought it was lightning because that was all Atwater could say when he was found.” He glances anxiously at the trees. “Near their campsite, we found a small shovel, with traces of blood on it. Detective Stuckey is at the sanitarium now to question Atwater.”

[aine]

Fort looks around the clearing and the somber groups.
‘I say, this is all rather more serious than I was expecting. I thought the poor chap had just gotten lost and fallen asleep but that policeman seems very hush hush about it.”

[Starspawn338]

Harrison will nod and shake hands with Detective Harden. He follows him and tries not to react to the news. He's certainly not surprised. This is exactly what he had feared.

"We'll let you know if we find anything."

[Philulhu]

Bruce said nothing but he wondered what was going on between Alice, Harrison and the third man, who seemed to be with the police, although it wasn’t anyone he knew from town.

[SunlessNick]

‘I say, this is all rather more serious than I was expecting. I thought the poor chap had just gotten lost and fallen asleep but that policeman seems very hush hush about it.”

"Maybe the other guy said something," Emily says. "If it's bad enough to need a policeman here we should get started."

[Silver Priest]

Henry frowns, a bit put out by not being included in the conversation with the officer-- he was one of Cardigan's best chances if the student was in dire straits.

"He's very likely to be lost and disoriented, I'm afraid. Some sort of shock would be my guess. Hopefully we've be able to find him before the night falls." He too was eager to get started.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Alice. "Did anyone bring dogs? They might be able to track him. The shovel could give them the scent."

[HoneyDog]

Alice & Harrison, Harden nods. “We should rejoin your party.”

Alice, Harrison and the detective rejoin the group.

“We’re starting in the woods” the Detective says. “You begin at the edge, here, and the others groups will go further in.”

He gives everyone instructions on how to search, and the investigators get to work.

It is tiring work, going over the ground, looking for any signs of passage. A couple of hours pass. The need to stop for water breaks is obvious, and it is during one of these that a large number of crows can be seen squabbling and squawking as the congregate further up the bank, in the opposite direction to where the search is being conducted.

[Silver Priest]

"We should be searching over there," Henry says. "Those crows must be circling for a reason. Chances are they've found a dead or injured animal and are waiting for it to expire."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, let's go toward the birds," says Alice. "At least I hope it's just an animal."

[aine]

“This has been a very slow and hot Hare and Hounds” complains Fort. “Those birds might have found something at least.”
He follows the others along the bank towards the crows.

[Philulhu]

Bruce casts around and finds a large stick, which he pushes into the ground to mark their progress, should they need to return to it, and then joins the others.

[SunlessNick]

Emily takes note of Bruce's action and does the same at her part of the line, before following toward the birds too.

[HoneyDog]

As the group draws closer, they can see the crows pecking at something which protrudes from the sandy bank. It is only at the last minute that they all take off with a thunderous rush of wings.

What they expose, is a partially buried corpse, lying face down, its top half visible. It is bloated from water exposure, and the stench is awful. The damage from the crows is easily apparent – portions of the left shoulder are pecked, and the left ear is missing.

OOC, All except Henry roll SAN at seeing the corpse. If you pass only lose 1 point, but if you fail, roll 1d4+1 for loss!

[SunlessNick]

OOC,SAN 45. Rolled 1D100: 78. Rolled 1D4+1: 4.

"Uuch, I'm going to be sick," Emily coughs - she bends over, takes a few deep breaths, but manages to keep it down.

"Is it him?"

[Philulhu]

This wasn’t the first dead body Bruce had seen - animal corpses being a relatively frequent occurrence while out in the wild - but as far as Bruce could recall this was the first human one he had seen. He was trying to hold it together for the sake of the students but when he caught the stench, he just had to stagger off to throw up...

SAN, SAN - rolled 89 vs 55 (https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=9a6e8b55-f812-4cbe-8439-8ab20df82f45) SAN loss - 2 (https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=ad86c364-c57b-4740-ae9c-549a88bd7875) Not a great start for the Prof!

[Silver Priest]

Henry peers down at the corpse. Unlike the others, the site hardly phased him; his mild revulsion is easily overwhelmed by his sense of fascination. Every corpse was like a puzzle to be put together, and he puts his considerable talents to work to understand what happened here.

OOC:   I'll attempt a medicine roll to see if I can learn anything about the cause of death.

Medicine 70, [url=https://orokos.com/roll/881947]Medicine 70[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]37[/b]

[aine]

San, 55 roll: 94 and 1+1

Fort sees the corpse and immediately feels the blood draining from his head. It is the thought of the crows peck-pecking at the flesh...
He turns away and leans against a tree, waiting for the buzzing in his ears to quieten.