03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Everyone in town had started to hear the news. Forest fires had been at an all time high this year, especially for it being so early in the season. Hikers and rangers had also started to tell people about stumbling across or just hearing the sound of rabid canines though no one could be sure if it was wolves or something else. Any werewolves who heard the sounds would be quick to say that it definitely didn't sound like a wolf.
When someone had ended up in the hospital with terribly infected bite wounds and who still remained unconscious and unsure if they would live, it was decided that action needed to be taken. The rangers had requested help, they didn't have enough manpower to deal with the issue, so they went to the Sheriff.
Given the small size of the town the Sheriff had asked for qualified volunteers who might be able to come and help look for the animals and maybe even find out what was causing the fires while they were out there. However, again given how small the town was, the level of 'qualified' was certainly up for debate but they didn't have the means to be too picky.
Anyone who wanted to volunteer was asked to meet outside the sheriff's station at 11 am where they would find the sheriff and several other officers waiting.
- Your first post should be your arrival to the sheriff's station. It is up to you decide why your character is there. Do they want to volunteer? Did they just see a crowd and want to see what was going on? Totally your choice. - If your character has anything on them, such as weapons or tools, please state so in your post. - I know the site has been a bit slow for a while but I'd love to use this event as a way to increase activity and interest. Let's please try to make sure we are doing posts every 2-3 days at minimum. - The following characters have already signed up for this thread. If more want to join, feel free to jump in during this round. It will be your last chance! Giacomo Ettore, Dominic "Nico" Vanderson, Casey Marshall, Mikey Royce, Waylon Sanders, Darcy Vance, Price Vanderson
Post by Waylon Sanders on Sept 9, 2023 15:21:30 GMT
"I understand sir, anything....you're telling me we can't even get some National Guard?....I'll hold," Waylon had been working on hitting some of his higher up friends he had made over the years (he didn't dwell on it but he always saw them come and go from Sweetwater; all his cop buddies getting the higher calling) he watched as Heidi May the front receptionist came knocking.
He waved her in and she mouthed something which Waylon didn't understand, "Use your words Heidi, I'm not a mime and I'm on hold..."
Heidi giggled with a hint of condescension, "You are so grumpy Sheriff, folks is arriving outside and Daddy let me borrow his hunting rifle said you'd called and asked for it last night," Waylon nodded, "Put it with the other rifles I brought in this morning Heidi, thank you, love you mean it," he was dismissing her and Heidi would have usually rolled her eyes but instead she just smiled and left.
"yup, still here....no... what I have right now is a couple dozen good old boys, my office and the Forest department which both la-....call me back? Yeah thanks Ricky," Waylon slammed the phone down on the receiver, "Asshole," then a voice spoke from the phone, "I'm still here Waylon," Waylon didn't say anything as he slammed the phone and all the buttons.
He stood up from his desk grabbing his service weapon and holster to which he attached to his waist hiding it under his black blazer. Waylon approached the gun cabinet in his office and after twisting the key he pulled from his personal stash a black mossberg pump shotgun, three holstered snub six shots, and ammo that he carried out into the sheriff's department sitting all of it beside four other hunting rifles.
"Heidi May have you seen or talked to that Ranger yet? Darnell? Or Debbie? Hell I can't remember," Waylon dipped back into his office grabbing his cowboy hat.
"Darcy Vance?" Heidi May corrected him, "She should be here soon sugar...Darcy...her name is Darcy..."
Post by Price Vanderson on Sept 10, 2023 13:04:00 GMT
Price showed up. Likely nobody wanted him there, but you bet your bottom he was there. A personal friend fornicating (alone) in the woods was one of the victims. Also, this was Price’s town. His family was the founders of the founders (or so he believed). If there was something amuck, he wanted to be there to set it straight.
Price arrived in jeans and a black leather jacket, hair slicked to one side. He was apparently unarmed, but actually carried a pellet gun that could kill large pests (it looked like a real gun), a pocket knife, and a used toothpick (he’d drawn blood more than once with a toothpick).
“Sherif.” Price jerked his head back, greeting his superior like a peer. “Here to take care of my town.” On one hand he seemed patriotic, but surely Waylon knew the young man was being a jackass.
Mikey had been out by the rangers station when he heard the sherif was looking for volunteers to help track down....whatever it was. While he didn't consider himself any kind of animal tracker he did know the forrest pretty well. That and this seemed like a great scoop for the podcast. A wild animal on the loose was one thing but the fires that had cropped up recently were bizarre and even more dangerous. He had even caught a glimpse one night from his usual veiw spot of a light moving through the forest before one of the fires. It was hard to explain but there had been something off about it. It definitely hadn't been some camper driving arround or floodlight. It was like a bonfire had sprouted legs and was erracitcly dashing about. He hadn’t thought much of it until the seasons wild fire count shot up nearly double the norm. What he knew was that if a bunch of people were going to volunteer to go stumbling through the forrest then he ought to come along. Mikey took a picture of the crowd in front of the sheriffs office. He had dusted off his camera for the occasion. Though he doubted that would be able to get a good shot even if they found the rabid whatever it was. He'd really inly taken pictures of trees and caves. Both things that don't move around much. He worked his way through the small gathering a bit with a slightly surprised face. "Oh, looks like I beat the rangers here..." He had a bit of his climbing gear still on since he had come straight from the mountain. He didn't think he'd driven that fast. Maybe the rangers were doing some kind of setup ahead of time. He'd only seen the new head ranger in passing but he had heard she was doing a good job.
last edited Sept 11, 2023 8:27:13 GMT by Mikey Royce
Post by Casey Marshall on Sept 12, 2023 3:25:56 GMT
After hearing about this town pose, Casey decided to join in rather than end up being chased by it. His history of being run out of town had taught him a lesson. At first he thought the old drunk guy at the bar was just pulling his leg. However, some of the other bar patrons spoke up to confirm the story. The sheriff was in fact putting together a group of volunteers to defeat the bigfoot and a fire. Or something like that. Honestly, he was pretty high right now, and had no idea why he was there. He did known that it probably wasnt a good idea to be a werewolf in the woods while an angry mob was searching for a monster. But he hoped that Alexis Vanderson would think he was brave and finally agree to go on a date with him.
Casey stood behind the rest of the volunteers, if this turned out to be a suicide mission he was out. He was armed with a pocket knife, the rest of the devils lettuce he had partook in earlier, and of course sharp teeth and claws if things went really south. He tried to pick up on what the other volunteers were saying, but then the theme song from angry beavers popped into his head and he had to refrain from giggling.
Post by Dominic "Nico" Vanderson on Sept 12, 2023 3:50:05 GMT
Nico pulled his truck into the parking lot of the sheriffs office and killed the engine. Looking around at the sad crew of volunteers, he laughed to himself before killing the engine. As he got out of the truck, he slid the strap of his hunting rifle over his shoulder and started towards the front of the crowd. He needed to been seen to feel important. His 367 magnum was holstered to his hip with an extra clip attached to the belt. He was pretty well armed, but not entirely accurate with his aim. He tended to get impatient and fire, rather than line up his sights and focus.
Nico's eyes narrows as soon as he saw his nephew, Price Vanderson. " The hell are you doing here?" His voice was gruff but his tone was amused. This kid was going to get himself killed. Though was it really his business? He wasn't the boy's father.
Post by Madison Matthews on Sept 12, 2023 4:07:11 GMT
Madison had left Cora with her parents for the day so that she could get some things done on her own. While walking to the post office, she noticed a crowd had gathered in front of the sheriffs station. She hung back and watched for a bit before her curiosity became too much. She really wanted to know what they were saying. What if someone had found out about sirens.. or what if Cora was in danger. She slowly moved into the crowd, careful not to draw attention to herself. She could hear murmuring of fires and missing people. Of course she had heard rumors at work and her parents had been worried that a fire could start in the woods behind the estate. She definitely hadnt been sleeping much since all of the strange happenings around town. She would wake up from nightmares of shadowy figures taking her daughter, or the house catching on fire. Something definitely needed to be done, she just wasnt sure what the plan could be.
Work had been kicking Darcy’s ass here lately, they were understaffed and drastically unprepared for the current events mysteriously taking place in the forest. She was very thankful for her work as a forest ranger, at least it gave her an edge and excuse for her time spent in the wilderness, but it was her wolf side that let her know these events were more than just ‘accidental fires’. Something was doing this… something supernatural. It was something she had never crossed paths with herself, and with their pack being generally ‘young’, they didn’t have many elders to seek insight from. Which led her to reaching out to other wolf packs, though whether or not they’d respond is another thing. Despite pulling a double, Darcy still managed to look mostly put together in her ranger get-up and gear. Though she also added a few additional items today, since she was to be meeting up at the police station to help with the search. She had her personal handgun (which she had her conceal to carry license for) secured in a left shoulder holster. It was her favorite piece: a Colt Python 3-inch. Definitely a pricey piece, but one she trusted. Limited rounds, but it was less likely to experience a jam. Aside from that, she had two .308 Winchester rifles on the gun rack in her truck, a M&P M2.0 pistol in a ‘under the seat holster’ of her truck, a bag filled with ammo for all her guns, a can of military grade mace in her bag and a military grade 16” Bowie hunting knife strapped to her right ankle.The alpha shook her head, curls bouncing at the movement as she grabbed her extra bag to place her rifles in once at the police station for easier packing. She sent a brief text to one of her young wolves who expressed interest in aiding with the search, though she suspected his reasons were more for impressing a pretty face... They could use all the help the could get. The scent these things left behind was unlike any Darcy had encountered before. Nothing like a wolf, but it’s smelled… old. Like something that had been around longer than even any of the vampires she’d encountered. It was quite an intimidating thought.
Darcy hopped in her truck and made her way to the station, going over a mental check-list to ensure she wasn’t forgetting anything. Aside from her weapons, she had her ranger bag. It had a first aid kit, extra bandages, flare gun and cartridges, tarp, rope, needles with Cotten thread for stitches and even a sterilized staple gun for emergency purposes. Thankfully Darcy was well equipped and knew how to use everything in her bag if need be. She didn’t know quite what to expect on this search, but she wanted to be as prepared as she could be. Her wolf was on full alert, the only thing keeping her from passing out from exhaustion. That, and caffeine. Darcy pulled up to the station and moved her rifles and hand gun from under her seat into the other bag, then grabbed all three bags. She offered polite nods to anyone who looked her way as she walked into the station, she made eye contact with one of her pack wolves, Casey Marshall giving a nod to him before she was directed to where the sheriff was assembling weapons and added her bags to the table.
“I don’t have much personally to add, but I figured every little bit helps.” Darcy said with a nod, then extended her hand to Waylon Sanders . “Darcy Vance, we spoke on the phone. I’ll be your Forest Ranger guide.”
Post by Giacomo Ettore on Sept 13, 2023 20:08:07 GMT
Giacomo had heard whispers about the supposed gathering of people and he had absolutely intention of joining them. However, he was curious enough to see exactly what kind of unexpecting humans turned up to help out the sheriff. Having been around many, many supernatural creatures over his long years of life- or afterlife anyway- he had a hunch that whatever was causing this 'strange' occurrences was likely to be supernatural and that any normal humans were putting themselves at great risk by trying to help. Not that he planned to stop them.
As he meandered his way towards the sheriff's station his gaze fell upon a familiar vehicle. It was one he hadn't seen a while but that he remembered very vividly. Gray eyes moved quickly through the crowd. Perhaps someone else had the same kind of vehicle. It wouldn't be impossible. But no. It didn't take him long to narrow in on man. Mikey Royce. It took a considerable amount of effort to not use his super speed to approach him. Rather he slipped his way between people through the crowd until he stood just behind Mikey. Even the shallowest of inhales brought that familiar scent to his nostrils and had his stomach clenching in a yearning sensation.
He leaned forward enough to whisper in Mikey's ear from behind him. "How long have you been back in town?" he asked quietly.
The group gathered at a steady pace until it seemed that all who were going to join were there. People chatted casually and speculated about what was happening while they waited to be addressed.
- The next step should be figuring out a game plan. This will likely mostly fall on Waylon and Darcy based on their roles/occupations. - No post order. - I’m going to pause my narrative until a plan is figured out so please post as many times as you need in no post order to accomplish that. Once there is a plan (or if I see a different need) then I’ll pop back in!
The crowd was substantial enough that mikey hadn't noticed until he scanned his eyes across the volunteers that Casey Marshall was there. Not that he was really close enough to casey to know if he had a reason to be there. He might have made some kind of joke if he knew casey had come to win over a girl. From his perspective if they took all of these volunteers they were going to have to form another group of volunteers to find all the people who got lost. It was a deceptively big forrest. Before he could move through the crowd he noticed the head ranger make her through the crowd to the sheriff.
Seemed like they might hash out some sort of game plan for the volunteers. He was messing with his camera strap waiting for someone to address the crowd when someone whispered in his ear. It made him jump but he knew immediately who it was. A somewhat guilty expression crossed his face before he turned to look at Giacomo Ettore . "Not long..." he replied vaguely with a sheepish tone. Well not long for a vampire anyway. There were just so many things he didn't want to talk about or couldn't talk about that he felt he owed to explain to giacomo in someway. It had caused him to agonize and avoid reuniting for a long time...way longer than he had promised that was for sure.
Despite all of that he was surprised at how relieved he felt to see giacomo unchanged. An uncertain grin spread over his features "Don't tell me you came out here to volunteer?" He asked with a laugh. Not that he was worried about giacomo getting lost in the forrest like he was for some of these other people. It was more that it he wondered which would actually be more dangerous to be alone in the woods with a rabid wolf or with giacomo. Though he had tested the latter willingly quite a few times.
"I was thinking about trying to snag a good photo" he replied holding up the camera.
Post by Waylon Sanders on Sept 14, 2023 10:54:04 GMT
Price Vanderson, Waylon greeted the young man with a nod, "Vanderson," Waylon wanted to call the boy a jackass and don't act like a jackass but Waylon like Price was part of a founding family, but he wasn't as arrogant as the Vanderson family so it wouldn't do good for anyone to be called out about it Waylon appreciated the help, "Thanks for helping, why won't you and your Uncle here log these weapons with my clerk Heidi May then load them up in my truck and what don't fit put in the Rangers ride," it wasn't a order but a request, do or don't really.
He excused himself when the Ranger arrived, "Good to meet you Ranger, Waylon Sanders, Sheriff," he extended his hand to Darcy, Waylon was a sucker for a pretty face and curls but damn he had to be professional, "Glad to have you in this mess, fires aside, what are we dealing with in those woods? Did you visit with the person that was attacked?" Waylon had visited the family and the young man that was attacked, the Sheriff was literally waiting for the phone call that the boy had passed because it wasn't good, "He was mauled pretty bad, I'm thinking we got us a bear from hell or a pack wolves did it...plus these fires, but I got a request for aide from the National Guard to eventually come in and fight them, but if we got folks getting attacked we've got to deal with that first, what are you thinking?"
Post by Harland Shaw on Sept 14, 2023 11:11:15 GMT
Harland wasn't going to get involved with the fires or the nasty business of the person attacked, he figured it was a bear, but then the elders of his pack and Alpha had visited the woods...they were alarmed. They came to the bar personally requesting Harland to go help with the hunt because what they had picked up on wasn't a animal nor really their kind either, it was a rancid, sulfuric and supernatural in senses but they had to make sure it wasn't this other pack.
Harland owned enough guns to run his own gun shop but he grabbed mostly every shotgun he owned, ten in total, and three rifles with mounted scopes. He pulled his truck up behind other volunteers and when he stepped out almost instantly he smelled others of his kind...Casey Marshall and Darcy Vance...but something else. Something dead. Full of decay but it was unlike the sell in the woods, a vamper. Fucking Fanger ..
Then another scent? It smelled like a lake or the ocean? His eyes scanned the gathered crowd for it source, it was new nothing he'd quiet smelled before and he knew they weren't close enough to a source of water to smell it. Interesting, he wondered if the other like him had picked up on it but Harland had a lot more experience then these pups. The undead though he hated them and now he was curious: could it really be one his or one of theirs? In the end for Harland as long as he got his answer and they caught this thing the pack would be safe and happy with him.
Post by Price Vanderson on Sept 14, 2023 14:28:57 GMT
The smile that tugged across Price’s lips as @dominic joined the party was full of mischief and malice.
“More than you.” He retorted to his uncle, just to start the volley that was sure to be the highlight of this little excursion. He had more to say—he always did—but the sheriff was giving him a job.
“Yessiree!” Price responded, feigning excited servitude. As soon as the sheriff moved on Price’s Stella gaze found Madison Matthews. He didn’t know her personally but he didn’t need to. He motioned for her to come over.
“You heard him. Gonna be useful, or what?” He considered himself more of a manager than a laborer (like all good douche bags). He’d ride her shoulder as she did what the sheriff had said.
Post by Giacomo Ettore on Sept 14, 2023 17:08:44 GMT
'Not long' was a very vague answer and Giacomo had been around long enough to tell that it was likely because Mikey Royce was evading tell him how long it had actually been. The vampire's thoughts whirled with questions. Why had he not come to see him? Was he avoiding him now? Why did that thought only make him want to hold on more tightly to his precious little plaything? After all, he'd never be able to find someone more beautiful than Giacomo himself so why bother even looking?
At the young man's question about volunteering Giacomo looked around the crowd. Luckily it wasn't much bigger. Giacomo had never done well with big crowds. He could smell the number of wolves around though and he scrunched his nose slightly at the scent. Filthy mutts. "I was curious so I wandered over and then spotted your car," he told Mikey honestly. "But if you're volunteering...maybe I'll stick around to help." He had a rather delightful image of being separated from the group and pinning Mikey up against the tree, lip locked and making up for lost time.
Mikey held up his camera and Gia grinned, pushing his hair behind his shoulder. "Well I don't know what is in the woods, but I make a rather lovely subject," he said with playful, though genuine, pride in his voice.