Maia came from the dance last night

Brennan was last seen when Blackbird got clobbered.

Neil:
I made some changes to this. I got the scale of the owl off a bit. The owl (thus sayeth the GM) is of a size that Zeke is right at the limit of what it will hit. I'm pegging the dogs at about 70#. I know there are bigger dogs out there, but keeping them fed is a full time job. So I'm assuming a size for the dogs. If you want them bigger, scale the owl up to match. If I remember correctly, a big owl can carry a sizeable fraction of it's own mass in payload. It all works out to an owl with a ten foot to fifteen foot wingspan if I have the parameters set right.

Scene setting: This will take place after the longest dance in the history of the realm... and a short sleep for Maia. Brennan had a bit of a doze while waiting for everyone to come back.

Brennan:

How tired are you? Wanna run? I'm as tight as a drum right now!

Maia: [flexes her shoulders]
Sure! My back and fingers got plenty of exercise this evening, but my legs are cramped from sitting. I could use a run!

Brennan: [considers]
Well, maybe not run...do you like prowling around at night? [Maia shrugs again] I would like to see this castle that everyone's so excited about. And I don't think that crashing through the underbrush at full tilt would be entirely safe. There's a lot of people around here and we don't know the area.

Do you where the castle lies?

Maia: [pauses to reflect]
...Yes.

Narrator:
Brennan takes a few moments to instruct the dogs to follow quietly at a distance and then turns to Maia, his eyes alight and a broad smile on his face.

Brennan:
I love this sort of thing!

[he gives her a quick kiss]

I'm glad you're coming along. This'll be fun!

Maia: [smiling at his precautions]
They don't have to be so quiet once we're away from the camp - we have more than a days' journey before we reach the castle. We'll need to take our gear, as well.

Narrator:
With that they slip into the underbrush, moving like shadows in the night. After several hours, it is clear to them that they have reached the edge of the cursed lands.

Cultivation stops, and the grasses and weeds grow unchecked. The trees block out the moonlight. Overall, a feeling of being small and helpless settles over them, which they fight off, at least partially. They wonder if the others will take well to such a dreary place.

The dogs seem quite pleased with the place. Downright excited, in fact.

Brennen: [crouching down to hug Zeke]
What is it guys?

Zeke: [tail wagging hard enough to threaten balance]
Many Smells! Rabbits! Deer! Fun To Chase! Fun To Chase!

Narrator:
And so it goes for the rest of the day and into the night. The dogs, when allowed to roam, go chasing off after the wonderful smells. Off in the distance the barking comes and goes as the dogs give chase to the wonderful things.

Until one of the barks ends in an abbreviated yelp.

Much barking ensues, and the some howling. Finally, Brennan and Maia arrive at the scene. Zeke is nowhere to be found. The rest are rather agitated.

Brennan: [to Doc]
Where is Zeke?

Doc:
Chase big rodent across field to trees. Doc lead. Rose follow. Zeke follow. Rodent go up tree before Doc can catch. Doc Bark! Rose Bark! Doc Bark! Zeke yelp. Zeke gone. Doc smell Zeke smell. Rose smell Zeke smell. Doc smell blood

[shakes head sideways -- strong smell].

Rose smell blood. Zeke smell ends.

Narrator:
Brennen and the remaining dogs do their best to track Zeke. It isn't encouraging work. Zeke's pawprints, what few haven't been wiped out by the rest, seem to end. The grass is bloodstained. The blood trail is easier to follow - because all of the blood is on the tops of the grasses, not down at dog level. The trail goes across the meadow diagonally. Brennen realizes that the trail is drifting downwind the farther it goes. Setting out after it reveals a distinct lack of tracks as it crosses over the sand at the bottom of the meadow. Zeke didn't walk here - nothing walked here - the sands are undisturbed where the last few drops of blood fell. The trail ends in some trees. The dogs think that maybe the smell is in the trees, but they can't tell for sure.

Brennan: [sighs, squats, and blinks back tears]
I think he was taken by a large predatory bird of some sort...there's too much blood for him to still be alive.

Narrator:
Doc, Rose, and Merry slink around with their tails between their legs, occasionally licking Brennan's hand. They obviously think that they were somehow responsible. Brennan pays no attention at first as he tries to regain his own composure.

Brennan: [to Maia]
I'm very aware that death is a part of life, and that revenge is silly and inappropriate in a situation like this. Nevertheless, I want to see what bird is big enough to take one of my dogs.

[to the remaining dogs]

Stop that! You did ok! Just stop playing and watch for enemies -- enemies from above, too! And stay close from now on. We'll sing for Zeke after we find the bird that took him.

If and when we find the bird, DON'T go after it. There will be others, and we know nothing about them. We'll just watch and learn.

Narrator:
Brennan starts to string his bow and then thinks better of it.

Brennan: [to Maia]
Tell you what. You stay with the dogs under the cover of these trees

Maia: [makes an indignant face]

Brennan: [continues]
so you can watch, and I'll go flush it out.

Maia: [relaxes]

Brennan:
I don't intend to hurt it, I just want to see it.

If it thinks that dogs make a good meal, it'd not be intimidated by a man, but I think it would rather leave a grizzly alone.

Narrator:
Maia nods her assent and watches as Brennan shifts into an 800 lb. grizzly bear and shambles off through the trees to where the scent is strongest.

A number of the trees have the scent. After a bit of working around, Brennen realizes that the scent is on top of the trees, and that it is strong over one tree because the flight path of the bird changed to a new angle. He ambles through the water to the other side of the stream and picks the scent up again much farther down stream. The question nags at him: where did the beavers go? There were plenty of trees still left, the meadow where the pond was indicates that the place should have been beaver heaven.

The smell leads him to a ways to a very tall stand of trees. At the base of one are piles of bones, many broken, and a number of skulls. Rabbit pellets - except that the scale is wrong. There are some huge rabbit remains here, but also some larger critters too.

The scent of carrion is almost overpowering now (to a bear). He rears up and leans against the tree to get a good look up in the branches. A bear's vision isn't all that good, so he doesn't notice it until it moves. The first resolution of the image is that of a snake curling against one of the large, high boughs. But the coils of the snake don't move the way snakes move. They move the way bird claws move when the largest owl Brennen has ever seen takes to flight. Previously invisible, unmoving and camouflaged, the big wings take it to the air with almost no sound. BrennanGriz can feel the breeze off the powerful wingbeats, even though he can barely hear them.

The bough it had been sitting on has a diameter larger than Brennan's arm. The talons had wrapped well around it - a big dog would be about the size of a large rabbit to this owl right at the limit of what it could take...

BrennanGriz takes a moment to confirm that the owl is not going in Maia's direction, and retraces his path to her and the dogs. As he gets close, he shifts back into human form. Maia is concerned when she sees an expression on his face that she's never seen there before.

Maia:
What's wrong?! What was it? Did you see it?

Brennan:
We've got to leave quickly NOW. The dogs cannot remain here! Something is definitely wrong! There are rabbits the size of dogs here. And Zeke was taken by an owl almost as big as me. I don't even want to THINK about what the top-level predators must look like!

Narrator:
The dogs have caught wind of Brennan's fear (yes, he's not stupid) and are staying very nearby looking like they'd like to crawl into a hole and hide.

Narrator:
Maia raises her eyebrows at the description. Brennan has never exaggerated like this before, so she is inclined to believe his description, however unlikely it is.

Brennan:
We can talk about this or investigate the periphery at our leisure later. Right now we need to LEAVE so we can have some time to think about how this might have happened and what it all means.

Maia: [thoughtfully]
The trees and other plants are also unusually large... Odd.

No, you go ahead and take the dogs away. You're right, it probably isn't safe for them here. I'll come along in a bit, I need to check a few things out.

Narrator:
She bends down and scoops up some dirt and a few pebbles, picks a stalk of grass, and then takes a leaf and some bark from the nearest tree, placing everything into her collecting bag.

Heather:
Maia's not stupid, either, but she *is* fanatical, overconfident, impulsive, and stubborn, not to mention her sense of duty...

Maia: [looking up for a moment]
Go on! Take the dogs away! I'll meet you at the edge of the cultivated area, where we came in. I shouldn't be more than an hour or so behind you.

Next Brennan, Maia file.