Player Plot: How to Get Away With Moo-der

[singlemilletgrain]

Who: Shu, cows, and you
What: Udder cowtastrophe
Where: Farmlands outside of Elysium
When: Mid-month
Warnings: Animal cruelty



As the farmer plods away to resume tending his fields, Shu shakes her head with a frown and addresses her companion. "That is the fourth farmer this week to report a missing herd of livestock. These aren't small losses, either. It is unimaginable that they simply vanished off the face of the earth."

Not coincidentally, Shu is currently seated atop her own oxen, who is placidly chewing on some grains underfoot.

"Let us examine the pasture. He said there were numerous markings he could not make sense of. These disappearances will be catastrophic for the small farmer if they continue and have a lasting ripple effect on the supply chain of meat. Not just for the Corsairs."

She nudges He Sheng with her ankles.

Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

Link doesn't have a mount of his own; here's here with Shu on foot. Though he does give a few surreptitious, wistful glances towards some of the farmer's animals. (Not the cows, though. The horses.)

But he drags his attention back to the matter at hand. Particularly since the matter involves a potential loss of meat. They certainly can't have that! So he gives Shu a nod, and starts walking alongside her and her oxen as they begin the search.

Though, he doesn't stay completely by her side. He has a tendency to stray, often. Usually to pick up something interesting he's noticed in the field. A pretty flower here, or a useful herb there. And a few grasshoppers and butterflies.

[singlemilletgrain]

Obviously, Link's gaze is caught by the soulful brown eyes and attractive patterned pelts of the bovine survivors. Shu cannot blame him for being so distracted by such distinguished and noble creatures. Though when he starts to jog after butterflies, she partially opens her mouth before deciding that it was unlikely to do any harm. Link, in general, remained a tad bit of an enigma, though she was beginning to understand the young (?) knight a little better.

He gets a kindly nod of approval when he holds up a blue butterfly he manages to catch with his bare hands. (What is he going to do with it...?)

They reach the far side of the main pasture without incident. He Sheng stops in his tracks.

"...Odd."

In addition to a large number of obvious animal prints, there are large chunks of earth upturned, with the occasional visible tread or tire track.

[purplexing]

This isn't Donnie's typical idea of an activity but after everything, he feels like he needs a break from being underground. Elysium itself still makes him a bit anxious, but out here things are calmer. Peaceful, even.

"You think something might be making off with them?" he asks, walking alongside Shu and her mount. Some kind of creature finding an easy meal of the local livestock would be a problem, and considering the number of disappearances, more than a bit concerning.

[singlemilletgrain]

It would indeed be considered a peaceful day. Here, far from the chaos sown in Flotsam and the unlit caverns of Vault, the autumn sun is shining mildly and the light breeze carries with it the scent of earth and plant matter. Shu's ox maintains a steady, if not particularly rapid, pace.

What with the evacuation and the pitched battle of the last month, it has been some time since she has reconnected with Donnie. She glances down now with a smile tinged with worry.

"Something would be unfortunate. I shudder to think what kind of creature could devour several herds of cattle whole. A someone might be more likely. Perhaps a rival farmer -- or a thief finding easy prey."

Not usually serious enough to warrant Corsair business, but as Shu had passionately opined, the daily life of a farmer deserved attention just as much as anyone else, even if it were not a glamorous profession.

[purplexing]

It's nice getting a chance to just breathe hopefully without worry of another attack somewhere. With all the preparations he'd been throwing himself into at the mines, he had little chance to work on personal projects. Spending more time in a cave with rumbling still going on over your head while you had the memories of an Imperial barrage still fresh in mind just makes things less and less appealing. It had been a great relief to see that Shu was all right after everything. He'd only heard bits and pieces of what happened in Flotsam, and even if the losses had been on the 'favorable' side, it had still been a difficult fight.

"Yeah... Although where would you hide that many cattle without anyone noticing?"

Someone had to help out the farmers, the non-fighters. Isn't that essentially who and what they're ultimately fighting for in the end? For people so that they can just live peaceful lives that aren't oppressed by the greed of an Empire?

[singlemilletgrain]

"Mm."

She doesn't have any particularly satisfactory answers. While cattle were generally fairly pliant creatures, it was still difficult to imagine that entire herds would simply vanish overnight without kicking up a racket. Nor could she imagine transporting them very easily.

"In plain sight? Amongst a herd of other cattle. Perhaps we should take stock of the largest cattle farms in this region."

It was the most reasonable possibility she could imagine. At the far side of the pasture, the passage of about 20 acres, Shu halts He Sheng with her ankles and swings her legs off the ox.

"Curious."

In addition to the expected animal tracks, there are large regions of flattened fescue grass and upturned earth.

[purplexing]

That makes sense enough. Donnie nods thoughtfully. It sounds far more preferable a situation than potentially dealing with something that had just been very hungry.

"Whoa."

He stops when Shu does, but it doesn't take him long to see why. "Well, something definitely came this way," he says, lowering his goggles, adjusting the lenses to zoom in on the area before them.

[singlemilletgrain]

If Shu were from a world that had such things, she would allow the possibility of UFOs and tractor beams to pass through her mind. As it is, her private thought bubble is toggling between Giant Cow Eating Behemoth or a Very Large Dairy Truck.

"We should take a closer look."

Shu doesn't have investigative goggles, but she will do her best unassisted.

Investigation Begin!

A survey of the area reveals five different sites of potential abnormalities: a region of especially deep upturned earth, a small, shining metal object barely visible through the grass, a portion of a wire fence that has been knocked over, a splatter of some viscous, dark liquid, and some tufts of something fuzzy caught in an area of thick weeds.

Shu will kneel down in the earth and immediately observe --

"Footprints. Human ones."

[purplexing]

Donnie steps carefully after her, his goggles definitely giving him the look of a mad scientist. He pushes them up just so he won't trip what's right in front of him, but not before something shiny had caught his eye.

"Hm," he says as he walks in the direction he'd seen that gleam, tapping his goggles down again when he thinks he's closer.

[singlemilletgrain]

Regrettably, footprints don't usually come marked with logos that identify the origin of the owner, though Shu will note that they aren't the type of tread that might be associated with a farmer's boot. Further observation suggests that the upturned earth has a scarred appearance - as if something heavy being dragged along it, almost like a dredge.

Donnie, when he pushes aside the grass, will find a twisted piece of ornamental metal, alongside glassy shards of what he will easily recognize as formerly belonging to an ether stone. The ornamental metal suggests that it was meant to be affixed to something and not carried on hand. It is possible that it is part of a set. The shards themselves are long and jagged, seeming to be sourced from a stone of a larger variety.

[purplexing]

"That's...odd," Donnie muses as he carefully picks up one of the pieces for study. A broken stone, but what was the purpose? He picks up the pieces, mostly out of habit of hating to leave anything that can still potentially be useful.

"Not sure what this could be for," he says as he glances back towards Shu. "Make anything out from those footprints?"

[singlemilletgrain]

"I am not an investigator, I admit. It is difficult to tell how many people were here - you see, these are all the same kind of footprint. At least, I can tell there are at minimum, three different sizes. It does seem to suggest a uniform."

She moves on to the broken wire fence. It is difficult to make anything in particular of this clue and it is, indeed, expected, but...

"Does it look to you like this was a moving vehicle impact?"

If it were a large truck driving through, she would expect the fence to be thrown forwards and the posts clearly angled in the direction of the force. Instead, it seems more as if it were... crushed.

[purplexing]

"Uniform...?" The turtlekin's brow furrows at that, not liking the implications. He looks at the imprints, but boots aren't something he ever exclusively paid attention to.

He looks over to where Shu has moved before going over to join her, looking around at he ground before the space in question. "If it were a vehicle then there should be even more obvious tracks from that..." he suggests, once again pulling his goggles down.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Oh -- of course. How clever you are."

Having completely failed to think of the obvious, Shu looks at Donnie with admiration and resists the urge to give a kindly head pat. There are indeed no tire tracks of any kind, nor any other sign that something passed through the fence. As Shu says, it seems more as if it were smashed by something landing on top of it.

Donnie's goggles, if capable of some magnification, will find some evidence of painted wooden splinters scraped on the fence posts.

[purplexing]

A pat on the head would have definitely offset the little bubble of pride at her compliment. Donnie thankfully doesn't notice whatever sort of thoughts Shu might be trying to suppress as he studies the broken fence.

"Huh. Is this from the fence or...remnant of whatever broke this thing?" he frowns, adjusting his lenses again. He slowly stands again, almost falling over as looking around with magnified vision is quite disorienting until he nudges his goggles up again.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Is what from the fence?"

Shu observes, supporting him before he teeters over. When he is steady, she peers closely until she feels almost cross-eyed.

"The rest of the fence is unpigmented. It must be from whatever caused this damage. Excellent eyes."

Shu will take a little of the splinters and save it in her robes. The next clue is something she absolutely cannot make heads nor tails of. ...Though she supposes she has not brought her full investigative powers to bear (she refuses to lick it). The liquid resembles oil in general appearance, though it is a strange mixture of various pieces, some clumpy, that renders it more akin to a sort of sludge.

"This is..."

[purplexing]

It doesn't take him long to steady himself, and he's mindful not to put his goggles down again when they're still set for inspecting things at a closer range. Donnie tilts his head as Shu finds something else, stooping down by the wet substance. He is definitely not licking anything.

He does however take a sniff before lowering his goggles again. "Gross, what is this stuff..." He really doesn't want to touch anything potentially questionable but he does carry vials he usually has on hand for plant specimens.

[singlemilletgrain]

There is a possibility, if Donnie has worked with engines previously, that he recognizes some part of this strange amalgamation of fluids. Otherwise, Shu will allow Donnie the space he needs to obtain a sample of the gunk. She has nothing she can add in particular besides 'ew,' which she will refrain from voicing aloud.

The final item she rubs between her fingers as she plucks the strands away from the plants.

"This is probably some sort of clothing fiber. My brother would be able to identify what it came from."

But agriculture was her specialty, not weaving. Still, the dark color is familiar enough that she thinks she can make an educated guess.

Investigation End. In her mind, she can only really make much sense of two of the items she has discovered, but they point her in a fairly clear direction.

"This is the same color as the uniforms of standard Empire soldiers. I can't imagine farmers or thieves would wear identical shoes, either. I think the Empire is involved."

[purplexing]

Donnie's well familiar with engines, and the quick hint of a particular scent is the only reason he dares dip a fingertip into it, making a face. "Well...it seems there was some sort of machinery used here but I'm still not sure to what end..."

He wipes his fingers on the grass, looking over at whatever Shu had found. The suggestion that there are indeed Imperials involved here brings a sour look upon his face.

"Great! Just. Great. Why am I not surprised that the Empire is possibly making off with resources that they likely figure belong to them anyway?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link moves forward, crouching down beside the tracks. They look like the kind made by some wheeled zonai contraptions, or some of the other vehicles he's seen in this world.

What's more notable is that they can see the vehicle tracks coming in and leaving later - but there aren't any similar exit tracks for the animals. Instead, the cow tracks just seem to end in this spot.

"...We should follow," Link says.

[singlemilletgrain]

"It may be because of the recent battle."

Shu responds quietly.

"If they used up a fair number of resources to send those fleets into battle, they wouldn't think twice about taking them from these farmers. Easier to simply do it in the dark of night. That means we should look into slaughterhouses in this area. Perhaps even the same slaughterhouses that the farmers would sell to under normal conditions."

She seems to take it for granted that they are Liberating the Cows. With enough cogitation, Donnie may recognize the gunk as sludge produced as a byproduct of the engines used alongside ether crystals to power Empire airships.

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu nods in agreement, her grip on He Sheng's reins tightening as she examines the destruction.

"Of course."

The tracks are not difficult to follow, though they are fairly extensive. Unsurprisingly, they eventually come across a section of wire fencing that has been cut through. The tracks continue beyond, though the earth turns harder beyond the pasture and less receptive to prints.

"That direction should be... unworked land."

[purplexing]

"...." That suggestion makes Donnie quickly sober, looking back at the traces in this grim light.

"With how open the land is out here, it wouldn't be too difficult to maneuver an airship, and there are different sized ones for varying purposes. If I'm guessing right, that would explain what happened to the fence here if they just landed an airship here to round up the cattle."

He frowns again, stepping back to turn and once again have a look at the area, trying to see if the flattened space would match with what he's seen of airships.

[singlemilletgrain]

It would be a smaller model, but the shape of the flattened area does look like it matches the bottom curves of a ship. Additionally, the area where the earth has been scoured would match the general appearance of an anchor being used to guide the descent of the aircraft.

Shu blinks at this deduction and takes a few steps back, surveying the area herself.

"An airship... and so they simply disappear into the night. Frighteningly simple. And if they are accustomed to transporting herds for slaughter, anyway, they would know how to handle the livestock. That does broaden our search range considerably."

[purplexing]

"Ugh, if it's not one thing it's another," Donnie grumbles bitterly. "Wouldn't be surprised if they're old hands at this. Given how 'mysterious' and quick these disappearances are made out to be speaks of their efficiency."

The turtlekin looks skyward as though there'd be any trails left to follow, but even whatever vapor trails might be left from an airship would have probably dissipated by now.

"...maybe they have their own land somewhere on Innistis. Probably still close to Elysium. Like you said, hide a herd in plain sight- who's going to question how their numbers have doubled if they don't know about it? And even if they did, they know there'd be consequences for even suggesting anything to the Imperials."