HALLOWEEN 2017: INTO THE WOODS CYOA

[cursedandwandering]

A) Check the tents

Reunited with the other half of their group, HB stared in horror at the wreckage of their campsite. What had happened? Was it the other half of the group that had done this while they were stumbling around lost? The carousel mare frowned, chewing on her lip. Well, maybe she could patch up the tents a little bit, she did bring that sewing kit after all.

dice roll  

[Gl!tch~]

C: Check for any surviving trail cams and footage
He got his mane ruffled by a werewolf! Utterly. Starstruck. And they were getting led right to a recent mothpone sighting... The night was getting so awesome all of a sudden! So, his face absolutely fell at the ruined campsite. All their hard work...

But. Oh. But. The mothpone was here! "Ah!" And the cameras! Maybe-! He rushed to check on the cameras and bumped head-first into a pegasus on the way. "Oof!"

purplerosesbeauty

 

[Chrystali]

C: Check for any surviving trail cams and footage

It was a fascinating interaction, but as all things of interest, it came to an end with two ill-timed adults, earning a long suffering sigh from Catwalk. As they babbled about aliens and cryptids, she turned her attention to Hooked. "I'm not sure, but I wont know until I look, and what better time to look than when there are others to pay attention to the non-important stuff?" She actually grinned then, clearly pleased with her own thought process. Dark eyes slid to the pole he'd been grasping all along. "Were you hoping to night-fish--?"

And then they were being herded along, much to her chagrin. No time to inspect for anything interesting for her work, a bit displeased that suddenly there were like, lawful adults or something like them, raining on their parade. Even the destroyed campsite didn't dampen her mood more than the interruptions.

"Is this like, fae work? Looks like it's been years since we've been here." Which would suck, because she was planning to be bigger sooner than later, thank you very much. Making sure Hooked was still around, she nodded to him and trotted off to find the camera she had originally placed and see if it caught anything, since she did put it relatively close to the camp...

medigeledited

 

[theCorniest]

A) Check the tents.

Reuniting with their lost companions - or uh, most of them - with the surprising addition of a WOLFMAN, escorted by TWO secret agents, AT their safe campsite, should have been the best and coolest thing ever. It would indeed have been so, if the camp site hadn't been absolutely torn to shreds and completely wrecked oh god.

Numb with disbelief, Friend-Ship walked over to one of the tents he'd helped set up. The one he'd done the best on. Here was his achievement erased, rendered null and void, cleared from the record. They were just tents, but on top of all the other stuff that had already happened, and that was sure to continue happening... it made him want to cry.  

[Dragon Berri]

C: Check for any surviving trail cams and footage

Caramel Crisp was devastated to see how badly their camp had been trashed! And after she and those other phonies had worked so hard on the tents and everything... She frowned, nosing around a bit. "Maybe the trail cameras picked up who did this." It could be the same phonies faking this whole mothpone thing, too. She was getting tired of all of this now.  

[Ac.Wings]

B: Check the ground- the lettering and hoofprints.

Golden Doubloon snickered at Agents arguing amongst themselves. "You guys are too funny! But....an alien could make sense in all this mess." But weren't aliens skinny little gray dudes with black saucer eyes that walked on two legs? Yuck. The picture she painted in her mind of their beady eyes made her skin crawl. Probably weren't the friendliest critters either.

When they got back to camp Golden Doubloon smiled with relief when they saw the other party alive and well! That was good news! She tried not to think about why some were missing. They surely weren't devoured by beasts or aliens, right? Probably just needed a potty break in the woods! Any minute now they'd come walking out with toilet paper stuck on their hooves.

And while Golden would have liked to laugh at such a sight, the GO AWAY writing her eyes were glued to captured her attention. Someone was seriously messing with them...

Maybe the treasure was so rare and precious that this was all a scheme to draw their attention away?

The pirate flutter looked closer at the letters and the prints left around it. She tracked many things in her day, "If I didn't know better I'd say these look very...hooflike..." But who could it be? Or what??  

[medigel]

D: Check something else, and that is the trees!

"Sounds hard," he noted, blinking. Not knowing what to even look for? Hooked probably would've given up by now, or gotten distracted, or taken a nap, or--

--oh. The camp...Cool. Okay, the destruction wasn't cool, but an aggressor was! Because that meant they were bothering someone about this cryptid thing! Which meant they were getting closer! Right??? Fast as the thoughts went through his head, the babby only had a slow smile blossom as he shadowed Catwalk.

The cameras were a good place to start, but if this was a mothpone, then...maybe something was in the trees? "Always bring my trusty rod," he told Catwalk as a matter of factly. "Just in case." Like if he wanted to do...this!

And thus Hooked began to toss his hook out towards the tops of the trees around the camps, hoping to scare or latch onto any critters (or mothpones) who might be watching them. It wasn't particularly efficient, but it felt like a good enough idea, which was what mattered.

A bit into this effort, he nearly walked into another phony who looked more than a little heartbroken about the state of their camp. Hooked nearly yanked his tackle into the poor guy's face and swerved away at the last second. Mouth currently grasping the rod, he made something between a grunt and an apology of a noise as the leaves fell over them.

Chrystali

Kitty Sprightt

fren dont cry

 

[Scaramouche Fandango]

. Round 9: Two roads diverged in a darkened wood .

As you survey the destruction, something howls nearby. Old Man Jenkins cocks a pointed, furry ear. "Chuck?" he calls. "That you, Chuck?" The howl sounds again, louder this time. "That's my Chuck," Old Man Jenkins says. "You kids seem to be in good hands here. If you don't mind, I'm gonna head out and maybe go play some fetch with him before we go home. Chuck loves a good game of fetch, always did- he coached all our kids' little league and softball teams. It's important to keep moving as you get old, and to always do the things you love however you can. Take care, kids. If you're ever back here in the woods, stop by the abandoned mine!" With a nod, he turns from you and howls back, then jogs off into the woods to find Chuck, leaving you to make sense of the campsite.

The trail cams provide the most concrete- and chilling evidence. While very little footage has survived, what there is portrays an eerie turn of events. Dark shapes, too quick to make out, swoop through the sky. Strange orbs- perhaps ghosts? bounce up and down in front of some of the shots. However, one camera- the one Rising Sign checked- has something distinctly real. Two gleaming eyes shining brightly; a frowning muzzle; distinct antennae. The Mothpone was HERE. And he wasn't happy. And- uh-oh, is that... one of the foals on the camera? Had one wandered off and found their way back here? If so, what happened to them?

The tents are downed, but not destroyed. It doesn't look like anything ripped them to shreds; they seem like somebody was throwing rocks at them, or pounding on them with a mallet. Blunt force has snapped a few poles, but otherwise there's not much damage. Just a mess, but it honestly doesn't look like anything was trying for permanent damage. Heavenly Body notices that she won't need that sewing kit- and in fact, looking at the surviving poles, it looks like somebody... stacked them. Was it the same someone who took them down?

The letters are carefully drawn- the words are ashes scattered in furrows. Whoever wrote this was actually really fastidious and meticulous. From the look of it, the ashes did come from the fire pit. Diamond tastes nothing special, and perhaps learns a very valuable lesson about putting things on the ground in your mouth. But Golden Doubloon notices that nearly all of the tracks are hooves- except for some shallow craters, perfectly circular in nature- and some odd drag marks. The tracks lead off into the distance- it looks like someone (or something) was running. Then that set disappears- but if the Mothpone can fly... well, maybe these make sense. Or perhaps... no, the alien abduction theory is too bizarre. Another someone was limping along- not too sure what that's about. There's a number of smaller hoofprints too.

Checking the perimeter of the camp, especially the area over by the tents, there's not so many hoofprints. Labyrinth notices some more of those shallow craters over here, too. The marshmallows are really, truly gone. One cooler looks untouched- the lid is still closed- but when Fireflight goes to open it, an enormous possum hisses furiously before leaping out at him, annoyed that he'd interrupted its feast.

The next course of action seems obvious to everyone- that possum didn't tear down the campsite. Something else did, and whatever it is... it might have your missing guide and the missing party members with it. Or they might have it. Regardless, those tracks are a clear sign. You follow the tracks as best as you can for a while- until you see it.

It lies there in the path, dirty and sad. Boysie spots it first- of course she would. A single mini-marshmallow. Looking ahead in the darkness, you see another one lying about six feet away from it; further on, there's one more.

Two points are a line. Three are a pattern. You think you can see another one further on. These... might be breadcrumbs, of a sort. They might be a message.

So what do you do?
[[Note: This is a DEMOCRACY round, meaning that there's only two choices that lead to two very different potential paths! Chooooose wiiiiiiiisely!]]

A: We keep working the tracks.
B: We work the marshmallows.

Please bold your choice at the top of your post and don't forget the RP!

show spoilerhide spoiler

Syrcaid

purplerosesbeauty

SilverLutz

Fea Line

Biblioburro

Astraea Pandora

zippedsiren

Strawberri Stardust

Byagane319

cursedandwandering

lux_rayne13

Ruriska

Huni Pi

Kitty Sprightt

Chrystali

Tristam Lockhart

ex o ex Snoof

LizzyMoo

Luafien

Yushika

medigel

Rapidashtrainer

Jun D

Maxx D

Gl!tch~

Ac.Wings

thyPOPE

 

[Ruriska]

A: We keep working the tracks.

Draft Punk’s arrival brightened her mood instantly. Her melancholy lifted the second he put a hoof to her shoulder and she snuggled up against him, her wild hair tucked under his chin. Nothing like a big hug from your grandfather to make everything better!

“Good idea,” she chimed. She helped him with the tents, rifling through until everything that could be discovered had been.

Then she stayed by his side as they all followed the trail, until it branched into to. The tracks or the marshmallows. She frowned thoughtfully, an expressive look that took over her whole face. Her head swung one way and then the other as she made her own personal choice.

She had already decided that she wanted to avoid whichever route led to the Mothpone, and that led her to suggest, “I think we should follow the tracks.” Her heart told her that would be most likely to take them towards their lost guide and friends, then they could all exit the woods and leave the harassed Mothbuddy in peace.

Byagane319

 

[SilverLutz]

B: We work the marshmallows.

Her camera had survived...mostly. There was a chunk missing from the top corner, but it had managed to hang on to the tree and there were pictures inside. pictures of a Phony that Rising Sign had never seen before with fuzzy antennae and glowing red eyes and a scowl that look mean enough to curdle milk. She brought her findings back to the campsite where the others were starting to gather to follow the tracks.

She looked at the photo again and noticed the foal in the background - a bit blurry but definitely there. Worry rose within her as she realized the Babbin could have been kidnapped by the Mothpone, or perhaps worse! That was why when they reached the split in the trail, she leaned towards the marshmallows. They were clearly laid out in a trail and if she had been the Babbin in that situation, she definitely would have left something behind in hopes of someone finding them.

"I think we should follow these," she said, nudging the first mini mallow with a hoof.  

[Rapidashtrainer]

A: We keep working the tracks.

"I knew it!" yelped Footnote with excited frenzy t the footage. "It is a monster! And the trails lead this way!"

Undeterred by its disappearances midway, Footnote turned to Hybrid. "Let's go! We can look for signs of things passing through. Broken branches and stuff. Tracks aren't the only way to follow something!"

"And uh...might need to use your wings if it is indeed flying...,"

LizzyMoo

 

[purplerosesbeauty]

A: We keep working the tracks.

"Oof!" returns Torte, as a small blue foal bumps into her. "Hey kiddo, looks like our cameras don't got nothin'. So much for finding good evidence for our case..." she said, flapping her wings and returning to camp.

Now, there were two choices. "While I do wanna know what happened to our marshmallows, doesn't it make more sense to follow the tracks? That's a person for sure! Marshmallows might just be another possum that stole a torn up bag or something. Almost wish we could split up again - but that's probably dangerous. Right kid?" she said, turning to Night Scout. He looked like he knew a thing or two about cryptids, in fact, several kids here did. Weird...

Gl!tch~

 

[NymiiNym]

A: We keep working the tracks.

Kiwi trailed after the group, hoof raised in mid-step when the marshmallow was discovered. Torte had a point, it could have been a possum. The tracks, however? Those seemed almost absolutely certain to lead them somewhere eventful and perhaps help aid them in rescuing their tour guide.

"I agree, we should follow the tracks."

purplerosesbeauty

 

[zippedsiren]

B we work the marshmallow

What strange tracks in the dirt... smaller hooves and larger, plus this odd circular marks. "Lab, you must have found crop circles! Small tiny crop circles."

As he looked at the tracks, he saw that at some point the large hoof prints stopped. "Hmmm, if he can fly, who knows where the tracks stop and if that's the true direction, but the circles seem consistent."

Yet then he saw the marshmallows.” If the mothpone could fly, whose to say he didn’t make prints going one way, swipe the marshmallows and go that way?”