Chill: Copycat, Copycat

Back to sunny Boise! A new case beckons! 

It's Wednesday, September 4, 2019. Dee calls up a team of envoys, and winds up with Vicki, Emily, Dylan, BB, Beth Anne, and Melinda. She explains that last night, Nextdoor lit up with reports of a huge, vicious dog outside a VA home near Military Reserve Park. The envoys, most of them, shudder - they completed a case out there recently, a case involving big slavering dogs. That was the case where Mohammed was killed. 

Emily immediately tools up - rifles, pistols, a hunting knife, a big ol' flashlight (this was the last case she was on, and she was badly injured. She's been on edge ever since). She tells Melinda to stay close to her if anything happens, and the six of them head out.

The envoys get to the VA home just after dark. Emily jumps out of the truck and goes walking the perimeter with Melinda. Dylan heads in the front door to talk with whoever's handy, while BB, Vicki, and Beth Anne park in the back. BB and Beth Anne start walking the perimeter in the other direction, and Vicki stays put and surveys the area.

Dylan talks to the fellow at the desk, a guy named Daryl. Daryl tells him that he wasn't working last night, but from what he heard, a big black dog growled, snarled, jump at windows (including the patio door in the back), and generally terrorized folks. No one was hurt, though. Dylan tells Daryl that he was involved in dealing with the last dog attacks, and lets him know that there are some folks walking around. He heads outside...

...and meanwhile, BB and Beth Anne spot a guy walking in from the rear parking lot, clipping a badge to his shirt. He waves at them, they wave back, and then something tackles him and knocks him out of sight. He starts screaming, and BB, Beth Anne, and Vicki race over to him.

They see a monstrous black dog chewing on his neck. BB winds up and throws his bola and manages to knock the thing in the head but not entangle it. Beth Anne pops around the other side and stabs it, and it lurches and bleed (which immediately rattles Beth Anne, since the dogs they fought before didn't bleed). Everything goes black in the area around the dog and the man, as Emily and Melinda race over.

Emily doesn't hesitate, she charges into the darkness, pistol drawn. Her flashlight doesn't work, however, and she's just as blind as anyone else in that area. Vicki dives in, grabs the victim, and pulls him out, and BB uses his Heal discipline to stabilize the guy. Beth Anne tries to grab the dog, but no luck. The darkness fades, and the dog is gone. Vicki senses the Unknown, but while the area has a residual twang (she experiences the Unknown as discordant music), there's nothing specific here. The creature, whatever it was, has left.

The envoys get help from inside the VA home, and of course the police are called. The envoys give statements, but for once the physical evidence very much backs up what they're saying. Dylan texts Detective Jackson to keep him abreast of what's happening, and Emily and Beth Anne decide to stay behind to keep watch. The others head back to the ranch, but return in the morning with coffee and donuts.

Quiet night, both at the ranch and the VA home. Dylan does a little digging before bed. SAVEpoint doesn't have any useful data on monster dogs that he hasn't already seen, but he does learn that a man named Thomas Campbell was attacked at the dog park near the VA home (and where the dogs in the previous case were living) only a couple of days ago. On Sunday, a local rescue held an adoption event out at the park, and then the next day, the attack. No one saw the dog (other than the guy who was attacked), but the description was very much what the characters had seen before. Except...

Except, Vicki notes, the dog they saw last night looked like, well, a dog. A big dog, granted, but not the exaggerated, angular creatures they saw before. Beth Anne asks Jaworsky if he's having fun, but he says he has no idea what she's talking about, and she lets it go. For now.

Next day, Thursday, September 5th. The envoys reconvene. Emily heads back to the ranch to freshen up and get some rest. Beth Anne, BB, Dylan, and Melinda go out to Boise Animal Protection League (BAPL for short) to ask about the adoption event, while Vicki goes back to the parking lot to try and find a blood trail in the cold light of day. After all, that dog went somewhere. 

The girl at the BAPL desk is friendly enough, but she's not able to give the characters much information. The BAPL had a great turnout on Sunday, adopted out a bunch of dogs and have interest for a few more. BB notes a small mop-like creature on the floor; the girl says that this dog is called "Dusty" for his habit of slipping under tables and other furniture and acting as an accidental dust mop. BB falls in love and adopts him. 

Meanwhile, Vicki utterly fails to find a blood trail. She contacts Emily (who's better with murder scenes), and Emily comes out to meet her...and utterly fails to find a blood trail. They both walk from the parking lot to the dog park, but see no evidence of a dog hunting along the way. 

The other envoys, now with Dusty in tow, also head to the dog park, and the whole crew meets up again. They decide to go into the woods and check the den of the other dogs they fought. Vicki, Emily, and Dylan get there first, and Vicki gets the creeps remembering what happened last time she was here. She senses the Unknown...and feels a sudden burst from the den. 

A series of growls and snarls echoes from the den, and Emily suddenly feels compelled to fire into it. She empties her clip, although she doesn't have an obvious target. Dylan raises a Sphere of Protection, and Emily quickly explains that she was compelled to shoot. 

Beth Anne asks Jaworsky for help. He agrees, but only if she'll do something for him later. She accepts, and he says that the "copycat" is over behind that tree. Beth Anne points and yells "hit that tree!" and Emily obligingly shoots it. 

Vicki circles around to get a look behind the tree, and sees something - a small, thin humanoid creature, all white, hunkered behind the tree. It looks up at her - or rather, it raises its head, because its "face" is entirely smooth and featureless. Vicki screams in horror and the copycat vanishes without a trace.

The envoys decide to head back to the ranch before the cops get there. Beth Anne is already worried about what Jaworsky might ask her to do...