GLoG

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]


Alto's been jumping at shadows the whole Spooktober season. For someone who hadn't even seen their own reflection a while back, people dressing up as various ghouls and goblins was a bit much. Some of them being actual ghouls or goblins didn't help matters.

"Shhh! It might hear you", a frightened voice whimpers from under the bed, two orange eyes looking at Miranda. "C-can't tell if it's looking. It might. It might not. But if it hears you, it will look. It can look anywhere. That's why I hide."

[Sam's Cabin]

Miranda gives Alto a little nod and sits down next to the poor kid. "Okay. We'll keep quiet." She reassures him, giving him a gentle pat on the side. "...Here. We're not going to be able to hide very well here. And Sam and Danny are going to need to be able to get some sleep. Why don't we head up to my cabin and talk about it there? I've put some extra insulation in the walls, nothing's going to look in on us there. Okay?"

She has no idea if the extra materials she's added to her cabin's interior will foil any ghosts. But it's something, and convincing Alto to talk about this with some sense of safety is important.

[Morty]

[Treasure Hunting]

"Now we have one extra person to help us. A kitten, but a person." Tuskfang nods vigorously. "Let's see who else is around and then we can go find that treasure."

[Rebonack]

[Treasure Hunting]

Oh hey cat headbutts.

Khannie is pretty familiar with this behavior thanks to Gilda. The two of them have a pretty well known ongoing contest of Gilda trying to pounce on Khannie and Khannie using her tricks to try to fool her into pouncing on nothing. She doesn't lean down and headbutt the kitten, too, but she DOES pat her on the head. Hopefully she gets the idea.

"Cool. We can just pop into the daycare really quick and see if anyone else is gunna join us."

And so that's what Khannie shall do! Any other babs hanging around in the daycare center? There's gotta be a few.

Hopefully Manja doesn't get spotted by any of the teachers since she sneaked out again. That might get her captured and returned to inside! If she's stuck inside how will she be able to go around smelling things and rubbing her face on things?

[Thursday Violist]

[Treasure Hunting]

Manja is glad that the two of them (Tuskfang and Khannie) have graciously accepted to become her retainers and assistants in finding this treasure. After all, the two of them do seem pretty big and so that'll make it easier for them to carry her treasure around.

Manja, of course, doesn't mind if she gets spotted by the daycare workers.
She proudly follows after the two of them back to the daycare.
Obviously she doesn't need to worry about the daycare teachers trying to bring her and imprison her back in the daycare. She's sure just one look at her retainers will remind them who's actually in charge. Tuskfang, of course, could easily fight off any number of them. And, if need be, Khannie would just have to flash her credentials and maybe even convince the daycare workers to also submit!

So that's why Manja doesn't bother hiding as she follows Tuskfang and Khannie back to the daycare.

[Hraithre]

[Sam's Cabin]


Alto whimpers. "N-no. Must not move over open ground. It will catch you. Inside is safer." Pause. "Not safe safe. But safer." Another pause. "Maybe you should hide too."

"Maybe he has a point, Miss. Don't some ghosts need to be invited to get inside?", Danny comments as he climbs back to his own bed. Not that lack of an invitation stopped Alto, but then, Alto is not a ghost. Maybe.

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]

"All right. Then we'll stay here." Miranda gives Alto a patient smile. "What does this ghost look like? What was it doing when you came in here?"

[Gullara]

[Treasure Hunting]

In the daycare they might notice Lucy kneeling on a chair at a table. Her flowery head is leaning over a small pile of coins. She sorts through them with frankly filthy hands, stopping to look at each one individually. The daycare can be pretty active, with people coming and going, so she doesn't immediately pay attention to the arriving trio.

[Rebonack]

[Treasure Hunting]

Ah HAH!

There's one of Sakura's absolutely giant swarm of kids now! And her hands are all dirty, exactly what a good treasure hunter needs.

"Hey Lucy!" Khannie calls out as she approaches the girl. "I see you've got some cool treasures there already. We've got a treasure map and we're going to find the treasure at the end of it! The LAST box we found had that handprinter maker in it so who knows what kinda treasure this one will have. You wanna come with Tuskfang and Manja and me and see what we can find?"

And then, with a flourish, Khannie conjures up a trio of little yellow mining helmets with lights on them.

"I've even got official TREASURE HUNTER HELMETS!"

They look very official.

[Hraithre]

[Sam's cabin]

"I-it rose out of the lake. It h-had a long nose and walked on long, thin legs. Pale legs. Heavy horns on its head. And evil eyes", Alto recounts.

"That sounds like a moose. Maybe he saw an elk", Danny mumbles drowsily. "Wait, are there any mooses here? Maybe it was a ghost after all."

At this point, Sam returns to the cabin. Upon seeing Alto is still under his bed, or rather, that his bed is still on Alto's back, he sighs wearily. "Is this going to take long, Miss Cortez? I can sleep on the floor if I have to."

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]

"That sounds like a good idea." Miranda nods to Sam, taking a moment to pull the comforter, sheets, and pillow off the bed on Alto's back and handing them to Sam. "So you saw this ghost and it didn't see you? Has it looked at anyone else since it arrived?" She prompts Alto, returning her undivided attention to the poor ape-man. "And has it done anything here other than look around?"

[Reinholdt]

[Daddy at Daycare]

Reinholdt silently assures Harley it's ok, she needn't say anything if she didn't want to. Somehow? There's a lot of silent mom-dad looks that are hard to quantify.

Ahhh! Oh no, Rein's hand is trapped. Darn it, it's always a trap. Fortunately Rein may have a disarming technique of putting his fingers down on her fur and rubbing/tickling Manja. Probably the worst idea when his hand is at her mercy, but he cannot help himself as dad.

Unfortunately her answer very much suggests that she hasn't actually made friends yet. Unless she was just friends with everyone, but it seemed more likely that she was friends with no one. Or Manja would have mentioned some names at home by now. "Ah well, that's ok. I'm sure you'll meet someone who is a lot of super extra fun some day." No need to rush it yet, right? She's still interacting with the kids somewhat or she wouldn't have said they were fun. That's enough to alleviate Rein's fatherly concerns about her social development.

"Anything we wanted to ask the adults here or should we be on our way? Maybe pick up some sushi on the way home, or ice cream hmmm?" Reinholdt asks Harley jusssst loud enough for Manja to hear too.

[Morty]

[Treasure Hunting]

"Yeah! Want to come treasure hunt with us?" Few things get Tuskfang as bouncy and excited as treasure-hunting. "But where'd you get those coins?"

Hornclaw, who has been sticking close to Manja curiously, now hops over to Lucy.

[Hraithre]

[Sam's cabin]

Sam takes the bedclothes from Miranda and goes to make a little nest next to Danny's bed.

"I-it did see me. Looked right at me", Alto whispers. "I feared it would take my eyes. So I ran here. To hide. If I'm really still and quiet, m-maybe it will grow bored and g-go away. I-I don't know... k-know if it is l-looking for anyone else. But you don't want it to look for you. It might take your eyes instead."

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]

"Why were you afraid it'd take your eyes?" Miranda asks, edging in next to Alto. "Did you see it take someone else's? Did it threaten you?"

This is, after all, important information to have. If there was an invisible, eye-stealing creature in the camp that only Alto could track reliably, Miranda would want to know immediately. At the same time, Alto doesn't exactly have a spotless record when it comes to threat assessment. Miranda still vividly recalls that one time she had to convince him his own reflection wasn't out to get him. For all she knows, there's a perfectly benign, if frightening, ghost floating around the lake somewhere.

[Hraithre]

[Sam's Cabin]

Alto hesitates. "N-no... it looked at me very badly. Then I ran. I didn't s-see a-anything else... I'm sorry..."

[Keeper]

Main Cabin

"It's just not a color I want to BE." Kol insists.
"...but thanks. To both of you."

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]

"...Okay." Miranda puts a hand on Alto's arm. "Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to walk you over to my cabin, where it won't be able to see you. There's a way there that can't be seen from the lake at any time, so we can go without it seeing you. From there, you can look at it without it looking at you, and you'll know the minute it's gone and you don't have to hide under Sam's bed anymore." She gives him a little smile. "Okay? Can you do that?"

[Thursday Violist]

[Treasure Hunting]

Lucy's coins?
Not that important, Manja thinks.
Especially compared to the treasure that'll be at the end of the treasure map.

Plus! Khannie even talks about the TREASURE HUNTER HELMETS.

That definitely cool!
She's not really sure what they are, but they really sound cool. She wants them.

Manja crouches down and stares at Khannie, and her hats. Her tail sticks up, and she starts slowly creeping towards Khannie. She's going to get one of those TREASURE HUNTER HELMETS no matter what. No way it's going to get away.


[Daddy at Daycare]

Harley is able to understand Reinholdt's silent looks. She replies that she's thanking him for being here.


Manja, proud that she's successfully trapped his hand and that everything went according to plan, is shocked when he already has the perfect counter to her trap. She came up with that trap all on her own! And yet he already figured out its one weakness. She'll have to put a lot of thought into her next trap, for sure!

While Harley is trying to decide if there was anything else they should ask any of the workers here, Manja suddenly says "Yes!" She definitely wants sushi or ice cream. "Pleeeeease?" Manja tries her best to do puppy dog eyes, which is hard since she's, y'know, not a dog.
Even though Harley doesn't like sushi, she can withstand Manja's pleas just as well as Reinholdt can.
Which is to say, she concedes, "Sure. Ice cream or sushi?" she asks Rein back.

Fortunately, though, Manja decides she can answer for her father: "Both!" That's obviously what he was going to say, right?

[Reinholdt]

[Daddy at Daycare]

Puppy dog eyes are less effective than kitty cat eyes and everyone knows it, but Manja will have to learn the hard way.

"Both? Hmm... I don't know. They don't go very well together and your stomach's going to get full. We'd better just choose one. Which one do you want more?" Reinholdt asks Manja, not giving in to her demands quite yet and taking back his voice from the kitty that speaks for him. He sure is making it hard for her to think about an answer though, with how his fingers wiggle about.

[Gullara]

[Treasure Hunting]

Lucy turns toward the group, and her eyes go wide as the activity at hand is explained. "Wow a real treasure map? Yeah I wanna come!" She scoops the pile of coins into her hand and gets off her seat. "I found these by the lake. Some of them are kinda funny looking."

But her treasure isn't the treasure at hand! She dumps the coins into a pocket in her overalls and reaches out for a helmet. "I don't think this fits me." She giggles and demonstrates by balancing the helmet on her flowers.

[Rebonack]

[Treasure Hunting]

Khannie bends down and places the smallest of Official Treasure Hunter Helmets atop Manja's head and secures the little strap under her chin. There! Manja captured it! It's a good thing her retainer was able to understand what her intent was. A helmet will likewise be passed off to Tuskfang and Lucy in turn but-!

They have a problem!

"Oh," Khannie hums as she eyes the helmet perched atop Lucy's head like a bird sitting in a tree. "I wasn't sure if your head branches worked like regular hair or not. You know all bendy and stuff."

She makes a bendy gesture with her hands by way of demonstration.

Hmm. Maybe...

"I could maybe make it bigger? But it would have to be SUPER big you've got a lotta flowers. Or small and just a really long strap for the bottom," Khannie muses as she heads toward the door. This sort of display really isn't at all unusual. Khannie has regularly used her illusions to augment play when she's entertaining the kids.

Well, they'll definitely be able to figure it out as they go probably.

"Okay we've got a pretty good treasure hunting team so now-"
She grips the golden scroll and with a dramatic flourish she unfurls it! There's a faint, barely perceptible fanfare, the sort of music one would expect for announcing a band of heroes setting out on a grand adventure!
"-we check the map!"

The map's surface is polished smooth, almost like looking into a mirror. Except one of those funny carnival mirrors since it flexes and distorts as Khannie adjusts the map. It's weird, though. And maybe a little disappointing. There's nothing written inside! What good is a blank map?

[Hraithre]

[Sam's Cabin]

Alto ponders this. "... okay", it finally says dejectedly and crawls out from under the bed. Or rather, shakes the bed off its back so that it falls back on the floor. The noise this makes wakes Danny up with a start - the kid had just dozed off.

"Aah! Ghost elk monster coming to eat my eyes!", he shouts before realizing what's happening. "Oh wait. It's just you still. Nevermind." He wraps himself back in his blankets and falls asleep again.

[Ironsmith]

[Sam's Cabin]

...Well. That's alarming. Miranda's not sure how much of that is Danny actually seeing something in his sleep and how much is just the power of suggestion, but this being a camp that she already knows is haunted in some way, both are distinct possibilities.

Well, he went right back to sleep. Presumably, he's not worried about an actual monster. That's a good sign.

Miranda gives the kid a little smile and leads Alto out, flicking off the lights behind her. That will be followed with her starting back toward her cabin... though as promised, they'll be taking a longer trail around so as to avoid a clear view of the lake. She'll be holding Alto's hand the entire time, gently coaxing him forward.

There, see, Alto? She's got you. Nothing bad's going to happen here.

[Hraithre]

[From Sam's cabin to Miranda's]

Alto has to crouch and sidle to get through the cabin door. The builder didn't expect someone as big as Alto would be using it. The pale creature follows warily behind Miranda, staying as low as it can. Miranda might surmise that if she didn't hold its hand, it would opt to fall flat and crawl on the ground.

The trip is entirely uneventful. Alto peers fearfully at every shadow, but apparently doesn't see anything unusual.

[Morty]

[Treasure Hunting]

At the prospect of examining a treasure map, all other concerns fade away in Tuskfang's eyes. Some things are obviously more important.

"This must be a puzzle map," he declares after looking at it. "We gotta figure out how it works. Maybe we need to use it like a mirror."

[Thursday Violist]

[Daddy at Daycare]

I'm sure, eventually, Manja will learn that she should avoid puppy dog eyes.
And eventually Harley will learn that if the choice is ever "sushi or ____" then she should try to encourage the other option rather than just letting Manja make the decision.

Since,
Manja is being quite distracted by the wiggling fingers. So she can't think too hard about it. Especially because the wiggling fingers makes her think of fish.

"Sushi!"
It's the only real option.


[Treasure Hunting]

The kitten Manja waits as Khannie gives her the helmet.
Pretty cool, right?

She doesn't particularly care about Lucy's helmet problem, to be honest. Couldn't they just give her, like, a scarf or something? That would be so much better. She looks at Lucy's neck, imagining what it would look like.

Never mind that, though.
Manja really needs to see what she looks like. She starts looking around for water or glass or something to look at.

Luckily! It seems Khannie reads Manja's mind and brings out the mirror.
She walks up to the blank map and looks into it, trying to see what her distorted reflection (and her helmet) look like in it.

[Ironsmith]

[From Sam's cabin to Miranda's]

Alto has to crouch and sidle to get through the cabin door. The builder didn't expect someone as big as Alto would be using it. The pale creature follows warily behind Miranda, staying as low as it can. Miranda might surmise that if she didn't hold its hand, it would opt to fall flat and crawl on the ground.

The trip is entirely uneventful. Alto peers fearfully at every shadow, but apparently doesn't see anything unusual.

[Miranda's Cabin]

Possibly exacerbating this is the fact that Miranda's cabin is borderline pristine. There's no food in the fridge, the furniture has been meticulously cleaned and polished, and aside from the upright and open sleeping pod in the bedroom and the jacket-less picture of Miranda attached to the full-length mirror, there's no evidence to suggest anybody even lives here. If Alto had the basis for comparison, he might think of this place as resembling the display model of the cabin, something to show off for prospective renters to convince them that this is a good place to live.

Alto might also note that there does, indeed, seem to be something... off about the walls. They have a certain sort of opacity to them; despite the cleanliness of the cabin, the whole place seems to have less ambient light in it than is typical, giving it a moody sort of look all throughout. Alto might even be able to tell that more than the usual suite of visible light waves are being blocked out; there's no looking into this cabin without its owner's consent.

"...Feeling any better?" Miranda inquires, tugging out a seat for him before quickly changing her mind and pushing it back in.

[Gullara]

[Treasure Hunting]

"You can't make it big, or it'll crush my flowers!" Lucy informs, though she doesn't seem too concerned about the whole problem.

Outside she leans in eagerly to see the map. "Huh?" She wrinkles her nose. "That's not a map? How're we gonna find anything with that?"

[Rebonack]

[Treasure Hunting]

"The last one was kind of tricky, too," Khannie recounts as she leads the gaggle of children outside. Lucy will get a pretty great view of her own face in the map, cast in gold. Because of the way it flexes and bends it makes her face look very silly and distorted. Manja will have a similar experience. "Okay, let's try Tuskfang's idea first."

A mirror!

Khannie turns toward the cabin, pointing the face of the map out over the campsite grounds, reflecting the familiar sights in fun-house vision. Hmm... It doesn't seem to be doing anything... But as she slowly pans the map to the side something appears in the reflection that ISN'T seen otherwise!

A dark, black, dotted line leading away from our treasure hunters and toward the little shack down by the lake that holds the paddle-boats!

It's a trail!

Like a trail on a map that leads to the X!

[Reinholdt]

[Daddy at Daycare]

It is, after all, the best option. Manja just has good taste.

"Sushi it is." One of Rein's fingers finds its way to gently boop Manja's soft kitty nose as he turns to walk out, carrying the kitten. "Ah, we can pick something else up for you on the way if you'd like," Reinholdt tells Harley. She's already looking green in the gills!