Boxes All The Way Down (Day 4, Late Afternoon)

[Mindshred]

Upon closer examination, it seemed far more likely that the little slime-fish had moved into an abandoned home for some other monster. It had clearly been some time since anyone had cared for the area.

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

Noticing the neglected state of the hutch, Carl Heinrich made some new hypotheses.

"OBSERVED: slime-fish left a safe location for reasons unknown, putting it into serious danger," the boy engineer told Rex, who didn't really understand, but was a good listener. "CONJECTURE: slime-fish must've been motivated by needing something that cannot be found in its shelter. Food, perhaps?"

Carl Heinrich had no idea what a slime-fish ate, but decided he would find out. Leaving the area under the pier, the blond boy was gone for several minutes before returning with a hot dog and French fries that he had hastily purchased from a street vendor.

It was unlikely that hot dogs or French fries were the natural prey of the slime-fish, but it was what Carl Heinrich could find on short notice. After placing a French fry, a small piece of hot dog, and a small piece of the hot dog bun near the opening of the burrow, the boy and his wolf retreated a few meters back to observe this latest experiment from a safe distance.

[Mindshred]

When Carl returned, the slime fish was stubbornly making its way back across the sand. It had only gotten about two feet out, and it was half-hidden beneath a styrofoam cup. As he got near, it panicked and turned around, trying to squirm its way back into its burrow.

[Ari]

In the distance an odd singing could be heard. It was slowly growing louder.

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

Carl Heinrich stepped back as he realized he was frightening the slime fish, letting it flee back into the safety of its burrow.

He looked around as the sound of music was heard. Who could it be?

[Ari]

The singer appeared to be a nappen. It was walking along the beach. Ari followed, trying to dissuade it from licking the sand. Llyan was nearby, chasing and running from the waves.

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

Recognizing Ari in the distance, Carl Heinrich left off his misguided attempts to feed French fries to the slime fish. Backing away further from the burrow, the boy wrangler stood up and began waving to Ari.

"HEY ARI!" he called out, trying to get her attention. "OVER HERE!"

[Ari]

Ari waved and made her way over. It took a few minutes, as she stopped to redirect the nappen away from a few sunbathers.

"Hi Carl! How are you today?"

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

"Frankly, I could use your help," Carl Heinrich admitted. "I've discovered a new kind of FISH/FROG hybrid here on the beach, but I think it's in some sort of DISTRESS. Seeing as you have greater expertise in organic Monsters, I was hoping you might be able to advise."

[Ari]

"Oh? Where is it? Can you describe it?"

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

"This way," Carl Heinrich said, and led Ari to the creature's burrow.

"I found it on the beach, and carried it back here, and it fled into this burrow," he reported. "I think it was trying to GO somewhere to GET something, but I'm not sure what. I tried giving it WATER and then FOOD, but it did not seem to want them." Remnants of the French fries the boy wrangler had tried to offer the monster were scattered around the entrance to the burrow.

"Be careful about touching it, though," Carl Heinrich cautioned. "I found that it EXUDES a kind of CAUSTIC SLIME."

[Ari]

"Well, we can't do much for it while it's in there." she said. "But, maybe we can figure out where it was going."

She turned to follow the trail the creature had left in the sand previously and tried to discern where it may have been heading.

- - -
Boxes All The Way Down (Day 4, Late Afternoon), Studying a Trail, Investigate (Mind), Observant, Suc 6: 5d10o10h6 2

Will use Observant's 1/Session ability, if it's needed

[Mindshred]

[Observant Activated]

Ari wasn't sure what the creature was, but judging from its described behavior, its burrow, and the suspiciously smooth rocks in the area, she was reasonably certain that it eats slime off the rocks and had been venturing out to find more slime-covered rocks when Carl had come across it. Most likely, it had a panic attack and started to exude toxic slime as a defense mechanism.

[Ari]

"I think you were right about it being hungry." she said to Carl. "But, you didn't have the right food. After meeting Loll here, I've become much more familiar with licking. Your fish frog's been licking these rocks clean. I bet we can find some covered in lichen or slime for it."

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

"Ahhh! An EXCELLENT idea," Carl Heinrich enthused. "There's got to be LOADS of slime-covered rocks around here."

The blond boy turned to start looking for some suitably slimy rock formations. "Near the interface between the beach and the sea water seems a likely place to find them," he suggested.

[Ari]

She nodded. "That makes sense. Let's take a look."

[Mindshred]

There were indeed plenty of slimy rocks on the beach... most of them were in the water, however. Fortunately, some could be found in the shallows without much work.

[Carl Heinrich Mauser]

Carl Heinrich and Ari picked out a selection of slimy rocks of various sizes and sliminess levels. Carrying them back to the creature's burrow, they set them out for the fish/frog's approval.

"Let's see if your theory is correct!" Carl Heinrich enthused.

[Mindshred]

Loxabox.png (63.88 KiB) Viewed 665 times

After a few minutes, the creatures timidly pokes its head out of its burrow. As soon as it catches sight of everyone, however, it splurts out some slime and ducks back inside.

[Ari]

"Let's move back a bit. Maybe watch from over there." She pointed to some beach chairs. "It's not much of a hiding spot, but we won't seem immediately threatening."