(2018-02-07) Into the Wild
Into the Wild
Summary: During wilderness trials a cabin is found
Date: 2018-02-07
Scene Runner: Felicia

The day came for the Wilderness Survival trial which involved a good portion of the students. There were no groups, each person was dropped off in an area, given a compass, map, a few supplies, food, water, first-aid kit, and an emergency walkie-talkie to contact staff and told they had x amount of hours to get basecamp. After a bit of wandering, three of the students manage to stumble on each other in some form or fashion, so now at least Whitley, Theo and Besa can try to work together to find their way to basecamp.

It's cold, but not too bad for Besa, who's already using a warmth rune on himself. He has all the supplies but the walkie talkie, which would be of no use to him. He seems in a good mood, even smiles when he stumbles onto the other boys. "At least we seem to be going to the same general direction, yes?" That's a good sign, right?

This was a disorienting experience for Theo. Not just because it's suddenly forest — he's a city boy — but because his spiders had to completely disappear temporarily, leaving him more or less alone in his own mind. He's not used to that — and as he realizes that, he also realizes that… he's grown accustomed to them being around.

Either way, it's not for a few moments until after he's dropped off in the area that he starts bringing the boys back out. This might have been part of how he found Besa and Whitley — sending his spiders up into trees for birds-eye views of the area!

Surprisingly he hasn't complained about being dropped in the middle of bleeding nowhere, though it's not for lack of wanting to. Efficiency is key here, and the energy wasted in complaining could be better aimed towards getting himself out of this predicament.

Theo's got more of his spiders out than he usually does at the school — about 25, roughly half of them. The one whose spots are in flux remains on his shoulder. The others scuttle up trees, and spread out on the ground to cover more ground and scout around. "I can hope," Theo replies. Then he quips, "Either that or we're all exactly the same amount of lost."

Well, it did not take long for Whitley to find the others. He could feel them and any other sentient beings that passed through a certain radius around him. So it's not by pure chance that they stumble upon each other. Just telepathy and a little bit of luck. "Let's hope so," says the white-haired teen. "I'm not picking up any other intelligent lifeforms around us. Good thing we found each other."

Besa takes a moment to study the other two, making sure they're both warm and not injured. "I can cast a warmth rune on either of you, if you wish." He glances around, noting the spiders but not asking anything of them yet, "How much time do we have left?"

The walkie-talkies have been silent, though that could be both good or bad, but if no news is good news… This deep in the woods there isn't much if any snow on the ground, though it is cold, but the students were told to dress for that. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, the sounds of nature being a peaceful soundtrack to their wandering.

"Does that mean there's no other people around, or that the rest of the people aren't intelligent?" Theo inquires of Whitley, with a smirk. He's partially kidding. Besa's offer gets a shake of his head. "It's not that cold yet. If we don't get back before it gets dark, I'll definitely take you up on that, though." As for how long they have? "We should have enough time, provided we get the directions right." He looks at his map and compass, and Happylegs walks down his arm to look at it as well, his facespots making a thoughtful expression. Theo pauses a moment, to synchronize what his spider up in the tree is seeing with what's going on with the map. Need to know where they are before they can find out where they're going.

<FS3> Besa rolls Alertness: Good Success.

<FS3> Besa rolls Past Lives: Great Success.

<FS3> Besa rolls Climbing +2: Success.

<FS3> Whitley rolls Alertness: Good Success.

"Well, the range is limited. I pick up people, intelligent or no. Otherwise, I might not have found you two," Whitley matches the blonde's smirk, teasing. The teen rolls his shoulders, clothed in a coat. "I think I'll be fine, for now, Besa." He examines his map. "Maybe I should fly up to see if I spot anything familiar?"

The two boys seem fine so Besa wipes his hands on his jeans before he finds a tree to climb, "Yes…Whitley should fly. Theodore, use your spiders. Let us see what is around." and up Besa goes, luckily he's lightweight, so it's not much effort.

Theo grins at Whitley's tease. "Oh, that's true. I can be empty-headed at times." Though Besa's words get a nod, and he sends the spiders up into the trees. There's a bit of confusion as he tries to herd this many individual minds, though. He really hasn't flexed his powers to this extent, and isn't accustomed to controlling so many at once.

Landmarks are found, a river in the distance in one direction, a few small lakes in another. It seems you are in mountain country and probably the other students too, are in a valley surrounded by rolling mountains. Perhaps the White Mountains in New Hampshire. There is a line of tall poles to the north following a cleared out area up the mountain…maybe a ski lift from an abandoned ski area?

While up in the tree, Besa pulls out his map and starts to triangulate where they might be. While he doesn't like the cold, he's enjoying being outside. This is much more like what his lessons were like. Just with more sand and heat. "I see several points…" He say this to Whityley, but assumes that at least one of Theo's spiders are nearby so he doesn't have to yell to the other boy. He points out what he can see, and then what he feels is the direction they should go. "Yes?"

Fortunately, yes, one of Theo's spiders is near enough that he can hear. Though it doesn't appear to be doing much, just sort of pacing awkwardly on the branch. "Ah… maybe?" Theo hedges. "Terribly sorry, things are getting a little… confusing for me down here." And it's true, the spiders are kind of crawling over each other, as if they're not quite sure what they're supposed to be doing.

A thin semi-translucent blue platform appears below Whitley's boots and lifts him into the air, above the trees. "Yeah. Right?" He studies the map thoughtfully. "Yes." An awkward nod to Besa. "I think we're going the right way…" After that brief but necessary confirmation, the platform begins to set Whitley back onto the earth.

<FS3> Besa rolls Climbing +2: Good Success.

Besa pulls out his compass to check the direction they should be going before he starts his way down as well. "If it is too much, Theodore, only have a few of them out. We will help you." No one gets left behind! "Whitley, you said there are no other students nearby for us to gather before we go?"

With the landmarks that were found it is easy to figure out where the trio is, at least within a mile or two. If the map is right the basecamp is toward that line of poles heading up the mountain

<FS3> Whitley rolls Psychic Senses: Good Success.

With a look of displeasure — likely at how ridiculous this all looks — Theo takes Besa's suggestion, and dismisses some of the spiders. Twenty-five seems too many. Thusly, fifteen spiders dutifully disappear, leaving him at ten. "Sorry about that," he offers to Besa. As for the other students? "We can do back and search once we reach the base camp. I can send a few individual spiders out if necessary." He offers a smile. "Don't worry. Can you imagine the lawsuits that would come out of this if the school's negligence resulted in actual bodily harm? I'm sure they'll pick the students up who don't find their way there."

"Hm," Whitley muses. "You would be surprised, Theodore. Besa died once on school grounds, and nothing was really done about that." He braces himself for the outburst that tends to come with that information. Whitley personally doesn't have any complaints about the school and how it's ran. It's better than 'home'. "It'd be important to gather people just because of a wider skill set, you know. Two heads are better than one and all that." He shakes his head. "But no, there's no one within approximately 200 feet of us."

Besa glances away, not wanting to burst Theo's positive bubble of the school. Besa was murdered. But hey, maybe this staff is different? He winces again, not pleased Whit just blurted that out, but there it is. Hititng the ground, "Very well, let us start heading towards the mountains and the poles." Yes, change the subject, please. Compass out, he'll start walking. His other hand rubs his chest briefly. Hopefully Cocoa's having a nice rest back at the estates.

Theo thankfully doesn't give an outburst at the information. Besa is clearly NOT dead at the moment, so something must have happened to un-do it. Though he does sigh. "There is a distinct lack of care for the students' welfare in general, I note," he remarks. "I am going to find SOMEONE and talk to them about it. Because everything I've heard so far has cast the whole place in an utterly ridiculous light." Seems there was no positive bubble to burst, sorry Besa! On the other hand, Theo does drop the subject there, and follows the other two to the destination. He's pretty hopeless out here, so he'll have to depend on Besa and Whitley.

Whitley offers Besa a sympathetic look before gracefully touching the ground. "I'll let you guys know once I start sensing another presence." And as he focuses on his surroundings, he whistles cheerfully.

The trio heads in the direction that was decided on, everything seems normal as they walk for about an hour and a half, that's when Whitley begins to sense minds at the edge of his range, and it seems that occasionally something can be seen through the trees…a cabin of some sort?

A soft thankful smile is offered to Whit before Besa continues walking with the compass out. He's alert, but also keeping his attention on where they're going, having faith in the other two to watch his back. He's rather comfortable with this, like maybe he's done drills like this before. Or maybe he had to rely on groups like this somewhere else, like Hell.

<FS3> Whitley rolls Alertness: Good Success.

"Okay, I am picking up individuals at the border of that 200 feet I mentioned," says Whitley suddenly, breaking the silence. He hardly said a word in the hour and a half of travel. Dividing his focus between his telepathic abilities and conversation could end in disaster. "Also, anyone else notice that cabin?" A slender finger stretches out to point at it through the trees. "Spooky, huh?" And there's that grin. "We should check it out."

Besa slows, turning his head to look in the direction of the cabin, "Is that where you sense the minds at?" Perhaps students found the building and are waiting there. "Why is that spooky, it is just a cabin." Someone has never seen a horror movie yet.

Theo looks at Whitley when he speaks up finally. Other people? But then the cabin's mentioned, and Theo visibly winces. "How about let's not and say we didn't?" There's a reason, though, one that doesn't involve Theo being a coward. "If we detour too far, we might lose the path. To say nothing of how much time we'll lose. We may not get to the camp in time."

"Nah, there's probably nothing there," Whitley says to Besa. "Nothing living, at least. Cabin in the woods? Have I never shown you a horror movie?" It's unlikely as Whitley is not too fond of them. To Theodore, he just pouts, "You gotta live a little, Theo. If Besa uses a speed rune and you hitch a ride with me, we'll be there in no time." Something clicks after a second. "Don't be scared, I'll protect you."

Besa frowns slightly, "If the minds you sense aren't at the cabin, then where are they?" Suren;t they're students, right? Do people hunt in cold? He peers in a few directions, not that he'll actually be able to see anything more than Theo and Whit. "No. I have never seen the horror movie before." Because there's just one. But then he glances back between the tow boys, a feeling of dejavu passes over him and eh shivers. "Do we find the other students or keep going?"

Suddenly there is a loud bang coming from the direction of the cabin… no worries though it is easy to figure out what the noise was. A slamming door. So something is there, and as the small group gets closer it is easy to pinpoint that yes this is where the minds that Whitley is sensing is coming from.

One might expect Theo to blurt out 'I'm not scared!'. But no, he admits this freely. "Yes, I /am/ scared, and you should be too. Both of you," he notes. His voice is calm though, so it's not like he's panicking. "Considering we're on our own out here, I'm sure we're not the only people with powers, AND Besa apparently either has or had people chasing him, prudence seems the wisest course of action. Thrill-seeking can wait. If there are students here, I think we should pick them up and get moving again."

The bang gets Theo's attention, and he does jump, heading looking over in the direction that the sound came from. He goes quiet then, edging towards a place to hide, at least temporarily.

"I don't fear anything -" Then Whitley pauses and frowns, wrinkling his nose almost like he's sniffing. "Alright, I lied," He goes quiet for a long moment, shutting his eyes. "The folks are in there. They could be students." It's a little late, though, as the slamming door basically gives that piece of information away. "Unfortunately, I can't tell if they are. I think we should check it out." His voice has lowered to a hush.

Besa's head snaps around towards the cabin, eyes narrowing. Theo's reminder of his current situation seems to dampen any fun he was having being outside and hiking around. "Let us go find out, then we should go." He briefly wonders if Whit was lying about the cabin's occupancy, or fearing anything. But that's not up for discussion currently. Making that decision he'll start slowly walking toads the cabin, eyes scanning the area warily.

Theo will head towards the cabin with the others, though he'll be making an effort not to draw attention to himself. Not exactly stealth, since he's not really capable of it, but he's keeping back. He'll send his spiders ahead to scout, up trees and in bushes.

The woods go right up to the cabin pretty much, though there is a cleared out area on the side where a couple of cars and a van are parked. The cabin is old, but is in pretty good shape for its age, its not falling down or anything. You seem to be back, there are a few windows but no door.

Whitley goes quiet again, focusing, as they walk towards the cabin. He is cautious but does not make an attempt at full-blown stealth. Once they reach the cabin, he summons psionic barriers between them and the windows and door if he can find one. "At least six people in there," He whispers as he rounds the lot in search of an entrance. "You guys ready?"

Besa frowns, but at least his whispers back instead of talking regular, "Should we not knock?" What if this is just regular people and they're going to scare them? He glances to Theo, "Can one of your spiders go see who is inside?" This may not even need to be an issue if they can just see.

Theo shakes his head to Whitley's words. Keeping his voice quiet, Theo decides, "…These are not students. There wouldn't be cars if so. Let's just go." Nope, he's not one to take risks when there's no reward. He nods to Besa's idea. "Let me just send a spider up to the window," he suggests quietly. "We don't have to go inside. It might be dangerous." Theo will send Happylegs to the task; Theo's 'closer' to that spider, so maybe the connection will be clearer.

"Fair point," Whitley acquiesces in Theo's decision. He lowers the shield off of one window, so one of the spiders can crawl up to it.

Besa waits, but his hand twitches as it rests on his thigh.

Scuttle scuttle! It's a tiny white psychic spider, is anyone home? Once the barrier's off the window, Theo stands well away from that window, but sends Happylegs scurrying up the wall, to try and peer into the window. It isn't using any of its thread, since those glow. It's only using itself, peeking into the window from a corner so as not to expose itself completely.

The inside of the cabin is pretty much one big room with a counter dividing a small kitchen area from the rest of the living space. It is sparsely furnished. A table with chairs, which a few guys sit around playing cards, a couple of more sit on a beaten up sofa playing with thier cell phones, and the last is making a sandwich. They are dressed a bit to nicely to be your average hunters or fishermen.

Theo's expression goes a bit distant, his eyes unfocusing, as he looks through the spider's vision. Or Happylegs could scuttle back over and 'tell' him, whichever. But he nods to the others. "They're not students," he whispers. "Just some people vacationing, looks like." He's noticed their attire, but it doesn't seem important at the moment — it's not just 'hicks' that hunt or fish, after all. He tilts his head to indicate they should leave.

Whitley purses his lips, letting his psionics slip away. "Sorry, guys," He shrugs sheepishly. "Yeah, let's getting moving, then." Back to the trail! "Once we're far enough that these guys aren't in my range, I will activate my psychic radar again."

Besa visible relaxes. He even smiles over at both boys, "Let us be on our way then." How silly of them! He'll turn to start walking back the way they came, pulling out the compass.

Theo will wait until they're out of speaking range of the cabin before replying — he doesn't want to scare someone who might be a hunter and have a gun, after all. But then he notes to Whitley, "Don't worry about it, at least we checked it out." He offers an encouraging smile. "I wouldn't have even known they were there." He nods to Besa's words. With the immediate danger level lowering, Theo seems far less intense. Though he's still got a couple of those spiders out and looking around, Happylegs on his shoulder again. "Uh, which was was it again?" D'oh!

<FS3> Opposed Roll — Trio=5 Vs Cabin Dudes=4

< Trio: Success Cabin Dudes: Success

< Net Result: DRAW

The trio manages to make it away from the cabin without anyone inside even realizing they were there. They get a pretty good distance, though it can still be seen behind them since they know where it is. While they were heading off there was the sound of a couple of cars getting near and from the sounds of it they went to the cabin, since the noise of the car didn't fade, just stopped and a car door was heard. It isn't more than five minutes later when the first of the machine gun fire is heard, along with the sound of other gun type weaponry being fired.

Unfortunately, Whitley is quite accustomed to the sound of gunshots. It sets off immediate alarms and elicits a reactionary response: force field! In most cases, that response might be phasing, but he is defending more than just himself at the moment. And he did say he'd protect at least Theo. So a psionic field goes around all of them as he outstretches his hands. He wordlessly furrows his brows in concentration.

The noise of the cars are annoying and don't fit with where they are, but Besa ignore it. It's hard to ignore gun fire though! His eyes widen and the smart boy) who has learned after getting shot!) to duck low. "Get down!" What the hell kind of vacation are these people having? His lip curls in a snarl, hand again going to his thigh like he's debating reading for something . "Theodore, use the talkie-talkie to call the teachers!" He takes a few steps closer to Whitley, "Do we intervene?"

Theo winces at the sound of gunfire. "Jeez," he mutters, mostly under his breath. Looking to the others, "We should probably keep a brisk pace, if they're starting their hunting party already." Not familiar with guns, though it does sound a bit too quick-firing to be a rifle or shotgun. Besa's reaction gets a bit of a startled reaction. "We should be all right if we keep moving," Theo replies.

But he does agree on that one point. Reaching for the walkie talkie, he turns the output volume down — so the shootie men don't hear the damn thing — and says into the unit, "Coral Springs faculty, this is Theodore. We are near a cabin and there's been an awful lot of gunshots. Right now we're not in range, but it deserves to be noted that there could be actual physical danger in this area."

"Probably," says Whitley to Besa once he is sure bullets are not pinging off of his force shield. He flinches at Theo's words. "That is not a hunting party." He responds plainly. "I'll see what I see." With that, he takes to the air, soaring above the trees to get a bird's eye view of the cabin situation.

The gunfire doesn't last all that long, but it probably seems like eternity for the trio. The person at the other end advises them to get away from the cabin as quickly and quietly as possible and are given coordinates for a location to be picked up. While a few faculty comes to check it out.

With a birds eye view Whitley can make out the cabin through the trees, by that time a about 10 guys with guns are loading into a couple of cars and speed off. The cabin is riddled with bullet holes and there isn't a window left.

<FS3> Besa rolls Mystic: Failure.

Besa starts to argue, but Whit is already floating. Damn it. he motions for Theo to steps closer to him, "They are not hunting animals, Theodore. Stay close." And then he's touching his thigh, but nothing happens, looking down he says something in Coptic that very much is a curse before making a fist and waiting for Whitley to return.

Theo winces when Whitley makes his intent to intervene known. "We're three teenagers, and there are six — possibly more now — people with guns back there. They have cell phones, police can identify them by tower pings later." His voice is calm, as it was before. "We don't know what's going on back there. The best thing we could do is get back to camp and let someone know."

The voice on the radio gives the instructions to get away from the cabin, and Theo nods. "Roger that," he says over the walkie talkie. He waves up to Whitley in the air, indicating that he should come down. He's not going to yell up now, not with there might possibly still being gunman nearby.

Besa's words get a nod. "They're going to send someone out to check on it," he assures, though Besa probably heard the announcement himself. "Once Whitley comes back down we can get moving; we need to get away from here, in case there's anyone still left in there."

Whitley clenches his fists, which start to glow as he considers actually intervening. When Theo flags him down, though, he comes down. "They're gone now," He scowls. "The people with the guns, I mean. The cabin…" He shakes his head at Theo and looks to Besa. "It's up to you, but who knows how long it'll take for the faculty to get here? It may be too late to save anyone…" And he allows his words to hang.

Well…damn it all, Whitley said the magic words. Besa sighs, nodding to the glowing boy, "I will go see if anyone can be healed." Theo is turned to and considered, "If you wish, go to the meet point and tell the teachers." But Besa can't leave people here to die! Esepcially if they were just on vacation!

Surprisingly, for that statement from Whitley, Theo has no rebuttal. Not even that they've been told to get away from the scene. However, Happylegs does poke him lightly in the cheek, the spider's face spots in a worried look. Theo makes an odd sound when Besa suggests he go on ahead. "From the sounds of it, Whitley isn't going either," he reasons. "And I doubt I'd find the way myself." He sighs. "Come on, then. If we're going, we should make it fast. But be careful, they might not all be gone."

Going back to the cabin is easy enough, and as stated it is full of bullet holes. The van looks like it was searched, all the doors open of it, as is the trunks of the two sedans. Going into the cabin…well as one would expect that are 6 guys, full of bullet holes. They were caught by surprise it seems since they aren't far from the places that Theo first saw them in…though sandwich guy is closer to the sofa, his sandwich 1/2 eaten and laying in a puddle of blood. One or two groan as the life slowly seep out of them. Most have visible tattoos that Whitley would know links them to a crime family, his own has had dealings with in the past, so this was no hunting trip, either this was a planned hit at a crime family hide out or a deal gone bad.

Whitley surveys the carnage somberly. He doesn't comment on the tattoos, at least not for now. "Besa," He says and points to the individual that is barely hanging on to his life. "Damn." He checks the pulses of the others to verify that there is only one survivor.

Besa's already shrugging off his coat, confirming what Whit is doing, "I can not bring them back from the dead, check for pulses!" It's a gruesome site and he's already trying to not have a panic attack with the memories that are threatening to come back with this. His hand shakes as he reaches into his pocket for his knife, "Theodore, watch the door…m-make sure to warn us if they return…" It's not the healing that's got him freaked out, honest. Kneeling down next to the barely alive man he starts to mutter in Coptic as he pushes up his sleeve. And then he cuts his left forearm, pressing the blood against the man's wounds.

<FS3> Besa rolls Blood Healing: Great Success.

<FS3> Theodore rolls Strings +50: Amazing Success.

Theo's more than a little shocked at the scene, and freezes at the door. He's the closest thing this group has to a typical teenager, and he's never been this close to the aftermath of a shooting before. Good thing he was behind everyone else. He uses the moment of force his mind to concentrate on his Japanese, yes. "Masaka…" Hey, this is a bloodbath, and it helps him cope to have something else to think about.

He nods silently to Besa, though he's rather numb-looking at the moment. It's right about then Happylegs jumps off his shoulders and starts scuttling across the floor to one of the apparent survivors. There's a psychic… well, not a noise, but a sensation like something's being called. More of the spiders appear then, following Happylegs to a (the?) survivor and skittering up to various wounds.

And then they start… spinning threads. Just like spiders spinning webs, but inside the wounds. Some of the tiny spiders may even need to enter the wounds and start to fill up the holes from inside. The glowing blue threads start attaching to the damaged tissue and somehow… merging with it.

Theo blinks, not having expected that. But now, seeing it? He nods. "Ah… g-good! Good! Keep trying, everyone," he encourages brightly. Though he'll go a bit… numb then. Not just from the sight of the bloodbath, but because the spiders are kind of using his mental 'processing power' to do their spider thing in those wounds…

Besa's healing magic does its job, maybe a little to good. The man's wounds start to close, the bullets extracting as they do so from the inside out. His color returns but he still has a way to go before he is all better. The guy lost a lot of blood.

It is a similiar situation with the man that Theo's spiders are healing, the wounds closing, the bullets surfacting and rolling off and away. There was a lot of blood loss for him so he is still unconscious, but will most likely live to see another day. The others though have had death's door shut on them and they are on the other side.

As the healing is going down a few of the faculty arrive to take over the situation…they aren't happy that the teens are here instead of where they are supposed to be, but that will be discussed later. No detentions though, just a long, windy lecture.
