Pugmire: So Many Pies

Back into the Realms of Pugmire! Here's last time. 

Our heroes awaken at the Lively Pie Inn in Ellendonk, after their lovely Descension Day festivities. Peppa Papillon, they discover, has already left to go to the mission here in Ellendonk to do some volunteering and/or ministry (read: her player was out), so the others start figuring what they need to be doing here. 

They remember that Graff Doberman, son of Heinrich Doberman but not at all following in his pawsteps, was living here but vanished. They decide to go and talk to Gerald Beauceron, the mayor of Ellendonk, and find out more.

Gerald is in his offices (read: the front room of his house), and is showing an elderly dog out as they Pioneers arrive. He welcomes them warmly and remembers all their names ("Gelert Sausagedog! I have heard of you!"), and then asks what he can do for them. Petunia Pibble has to press him a little about Graff, but eventually reveals that Graff was living here, and then about two weeks ago he just...vanished. No one has seen him since, but there's been no sign of foul play. At first Gerald thought he might have gone up to the Doberman Iron Mines (owned by his father), but there have been visitors from the mines since then, and no one has seen him. Gerald also mentions that the "Night Ripper" might have got him...

This is the first time the Pioneers have heard that name. Gerald explains: There's a creature lurking in the woods around Ellendonk. It's been spotted a couple of times and it's even attacked guards and miners up by the mines, but no one has ever gotten a good look. No one in Ellendonk has been harmed, but the rumors have spread (Gerald isn't sure who coined the term "Night Ripper," but he suspects some pups did it and it just stuck). There has been no luck tracking or hunting this creature, and Gerald isn't sure how much of it is just tall tales. 

The characters decide to first have a look through Graff's belongings, and Gerald points them across the way to a two-story house. As they approach and start for the stairs (there's an exterior staircase), the old dog they saw earlier pokes her snoot out of the bottom-floor dwelling and asks what they're doing. Petunia actually recognizes her - she's Hattie Pibble (probably a distant cousin)! The two of them talk a little, and Hattie recognizes Boomer Pitbull, too, and asks if he has family down in Houndton. She says that she remembers that that branch of the family was trying to rebuild their noble fortunes, "after that terrible business with the Staffordshires," but Boomer doesn't ask her to elaborate. 

The four of them head upstairs, and search the room. Right away they can see that Graff wasn't expecting to leave - most of his possessions are still here, his bed is made neatly (Graff was a soldier, remember). They pick the lock on his footlocker and discover a chainmail shirt, a short sword, his military uniform, and a couple of sets of clothes ("More than one set of clothes, must be rich," mutters Dire Newfoundland). In his dresser drawer, they discover that his possessions seem to have been pawed through, but not ransacked - their guess is that someone did exactly what they're doing when he went missing.

They do find a journal, though. Graff wasn't exactly diligent about writing in it, mostly just recording important events. His meetings with the characters are detailed, in fact, and the last entry describes coming to Ellendonk a few months ago...but then six or seven pages are torn out. There are several potential explanations, of course, but the characters guess that someone is trying to hide something.

Since the mines seem to be the next best lead, they decide to go to the inn and get some lunch, and then maybe head out there - it's a long walk, but if they leave soon they can get there without camping. When the get to the Lively Pie, Ritta (the proprietor) mentions that there was just a young pup in here talking about how the Night Ripper nearly ate him last night! They have Ritta start working on baking some extra pies for them to take along, and then get directions to the boy's house. She says they could probably just follow the smell; he stank like a swamp.

They hear the boy before they see him. He's outside his house getting scrubbed with a brush while his mother scolds him. "Amonjoy Marcellus Pibble, you hold still!" "MOOOOM, OW MY EARS!"

The Pioneers walk up and ask if they can talk to him. His mother (who recognizes a fellow Pibble in Petunia) says that's fine, but wants to finish his bath first. The characters wait awkwardly while she finishes scrubbing the last of the dirt off ("honestly, Amonjoy, you could have just washed in the stream after the mud wrestling"), and then pulls a shirt over him. 

Amonjoy is happy to relate what happened: "Me and my friends were mud wrestling and we they ran into the woods and we were playing and then Chester ran up and he was like "TAG YOU'RE IT" and ran away and we chased him and then we got real tired and we found this tree? And it was a tree shaped like a big loop and we all sitted on it and then we falled asleep because we were real tired because we were wrestling and running and playing tag. And then I woke up and I had to pee so I went to find a tree and I was at the tree and then SOMETHING GRABBED ME and pushed me against the tree and it was like RARRR and it was a dog but it had a long snoot and black fur and pointy ears and slime from its mouth and its smell real bad like poop or dirty or dirty poop and it growled at me and sniffed me and then dropped me and runned away! And then I woke everyone up and we ran home."

Amonjoy's mom thinks this is just a long tale (and gives his tail a gentle yank to underline the point), but the characters think there might be something to this and ask her if the boy can show them where this happened. They'll even buy him a pie at the Lively first. Amonjoy's eyes light up and his mother doesn't mind, so they head back to the Pie, eat, and then he leads them into the woods. 

They eventually find the big curved tree he was talking about, and the characters can see the tracks and evidence of the pups all crashed out here in a puppy pile. Amonjoy shows them the tree where the Night Ripper slammed him against the trunk, but looking around, none of them see any evidence of tracks or broken brush. Dire, however, finds mud and tufts of fur on the tree about where Amonjoy would have been if someone tall had pressed him there. Petunia casts Sniff Magic and detects the distinct odor of the Unseen. But still, no physical evidence - apparently whatever this is, it doesn't leave tracks. Sausagedog has read about demons and creatures of the woods that leave no physical trace of their passing...

The Pioneers bring Amonjoy home, and Petunia quietly tells his mother what they found and that he was telling the truth (meanwhile, Boomer arm-wrestles Amonjoy and all his siblings simultaneously, and convincingly loses. "WE'RE THE STRONGEST! PIBBLE PIBBLE PIBBLE! WOOF WOOF WOOF!"). Amonjoy's mother is horrified that her son was that close to an Unseen monster, but is relieved to hear that he's unhurt. 

The Pioneers leave and go back to the inn to gather their stuff, and then head back to the tree to see if they can follow the scent. Dire brings up an uncomfortable point: Amonjoy's description of the Night Ripper sounds an awful lot like a Doberman. Might Graff have become the Night Ripper somehow? The others agree this is a possibility, but they do wonder how and why. Also, why not harm the kid? Still too much they don't know.

Petunia gets the scent, and they follow it deeper into the woods, heading northwest (which is towards the mines, they note). The ground eventually starts to slope up, and three of them keep their footing expertly, but Petunia misses a step and slides down the slope into a small valley. As she contemplates using Beast Mode to turn herself into a mountain goat or something, she feels a spear at her back. 

She rises, holding up her hands, but then hears a voice say "Petunia?!" She turns and sees a badger holding the spear: "Harriet?!"

Harriet Badger greets her warmly (and the other dogs get down the hill a moment later). Harriet calls to Levi, who emerges from a pile of dirt with a club. The characters re-make their acquaintance; they met these badgers a couple of years ago, last time they were up this way. Harriet tells them that she's hunting the Night Ripper. She hasn't gotten a good look at it, but she knows it's killed a couple of guards and miners. 

The dogs ask about the mine, and Harriet says that it's better than it was, but that Heinrich Doberman has slowly re-staffed the mine and the guard post (originally staffed with soldiers loyal to King Puckington Pug) with dogs in his employ. Plus, there's his puppet in Ellendonk...the Mayor, she tells them, is one of the Friends of Man. Dire makes a note to follow that thread later on. She also tells them that the Night Ripper attacked a merchant passed through Ellendonk and wounded him, but he survived because he was carrying a protective relic. He has since left the area.

The group decides to camp and try to bait the Night Ripper. They find a clearing, build a fire, and try to look vulnerable. Dire puts up his Shield of Lert, and everyone beds down...but are awaken in the wee hours by the shield making a terrible "AYEYIYIYIYIYIYI!"

Everyone springs to action, and sees Levi in a headlock, being dragged off into the woods by some unknown monster! Sausagedog runs over and grabs his feet, and Boomer flanks him and grabs the creature's wrist. He gets a look at it - it's a horrific dog, slavering and bloody, but it does look a lot like Graff Doberman. The Night Ripper lets out and unearthly howl, and several of the dogs are stricken with fear, including Boomer - he can't get close to it.

Petunia casts a Slick under it and falls on its bum, and Harriet grabs a flaming stick from the fire and hurls it! (Petunia: "No, we're trying to capture-"). Fire leaps up, and Dire casts Sacred Flame, turning the fire blue and white and causing the Night Ripper to scream in pain! It turns over onto all fours and runs into the forest, leaving no tracks or trace.

Boomer reports what he saw, and the characters consider why this might have happened. Did Heinrich arrange for his son to be possessed by something, to sow chaos? Maybe to pick off guards who were loyal to the king? Or did Graff invite this, and is killing guards who are loyal to Heinrich? And why was Amonjoy attacked, and more to the point, spared? Is there enough of Graff left in the Night Ripper that it wouldn't harm an innocent?

The dogs get a few more hours of sleep, and then head towards the mine in the morning. As they get close, Harriet and Levi take their leave, but Harriet marks a tree with her claw and tells them to follow those marks if they need to find them again. They're going back to the hunt.

The Pioneers approach the mines and are stopped by guards, but they identify themselves and say they're here looking into the Night Ripper, which buys them some consideration. The guard sends them to the supervisor's tent to talk to Hotch Wiener. Hotch is an obsequious little thing, but he tells the Pioneers all he knows - the Night Ripper has not only killed guards and a couple of miners, but pushed a tree trunk (one that the miners had cut down to be used as fuel) onto a cart, destroying tools! Hotch tells them he doesn't have beds to spare, but they're welcome to camp and avail themselves of the food. He also tells them to stay out the mines (it's dangerous!) but he'll arrange a tour as soon as possible. He also offhandedly mentions that his predecessor, Finley, passed away, which led to his appointment. Before this, he lived in Pugmire.

(He also refers to the characters as "Pioneers," and Petunia quietly points out to the others that she never told him that. He might have been briefed about them, or simply recognized them, but still...)

Looking around, the characters see that the mine grounds consist of an area of forest cleared for about a fifty yards, and then a quarry about 20 feet deep, leading to a tunnel into the mine proper. The miners' living quarters, Hotch's tent, and a guard barracks are in the quarry, and there's a guard tower up on the surface level. They also note that while the miners clearly aren't slaves (like they used to be), they're not exactly in the pink of health, either. 

The Pioneers decide to split up and investigate the area. They have hours before sunset, after all.