[Tex] Choose Your Own Adventure II: Redmoon Canyon

[perfectlyhuman]

You are a sheriff in Starfall Hills, a small town just a ways off from Redmoon Canyon.

It's a lot like a Wild West town, but in another planet. There are humans and aliens living together, there's a lot of wooden buildings with big round windows. The saloon serves moon brew and Jupiter cola. Everyone wears big hats and books with spurs. An alien with a bunch of tentacles plays the piano in the corner.

Last night, a girl from a nearby farm came to your office to say all of her cattle as gone missing. She told you she thought there were less of them earlier in the week, but that day she came back from from the town market to find the whole field empty. All she saw was an open gate and hoof marks that suddenly ended just a few dozen feet from the canyon.

It's the next morning, and you have to figure out what happened, and hopefully get her cattle back.

What do you do first?

Comments

[text]

[notmyplacetosay]

Follow those hooves. Maybe the cattle found something interesting down in the canyon.

Re: [text]

[perfectlyhuman]

The hoofprints stop a few feet before the side of the canyon. There's drag marks of something wide and flat on the ground, but everything else looks normal.

[text]

[notmyplacetosay]

Those drag marks lead anywhere?

Re: [text]

[perfectlyhuman]

They lead up to the side of the canyon.

[threeisapattern]

> do her cattle have wings? is this a winged cattle situation?

[perfectlyhuman]

No. They're just cows. But green and purple and they have four eyes and six legs. But no wings.

text;

[hatejakku]

[ ... All right. ]

I'd go to where the tracks disappear and search for signs of another animal or maybe a vehicle

[ He doesn't know the time period, shhh. ]

Re: text;

[perfectlyhuman]

[ It's alright, Finn, most people don't know what he's on about half the time, including other humans from his own world.]

The hoof prints end suddenly, but there's a mark of something wide on the dirt, like something was dragged toward the side of the cliff and into the canyon.

[hatejakku]

I try to make my way down the canyon.

[perfectlyhuman]

How?

text; un: Julian Delphiki | Bean

[justlittle]

[ Okay, he'll bite. ]

I go to where the hoof tracks end and look for signs of some kind of spacecraft. Landing gear prints, scorch marks from where it took off. That sort of thing.

Re: text; un: Julian Delphiki | Bean

[perfectlyhuman]

[ Good one, Bean.]

There are some marks on the ground near where the hoof prints end. Like something big and wide was pushed into the canyon. Or pulled.

[justlittle]

Is there any safe way of entering the canyon?

[ What does he know? He's never been to a canyon before. ]

[perfectlyhuman]

There's a path a mile down west, but it's pretty narrow. And people always say to not get down there...

[Text]

[rimuru]

Follow the marks left behind and explore the canyon!

Re: [Text]

[perfectlyhuman]

The hoof prints lead up to near the side of the canyon, and then stop. There's a few other marks on the ground, but it's hard to tell. Looks like something was dragged down to the side of the canyon. 

How are you getting down into the canyon?

Re: [Text]

[rimuru]

Well, yes.

But do I have some sort of weapon or power, just in case things get difficult?

text;

[rebelarrow]

[This isn't his usual thing, but he'll try anything once, he supposes.]

Return to the spot where she last saw the cattle and perform a sweep of the area, searching for anything that should not belong.

Re: text;

[perfectlyhuman]

[ That's the spirit.]

She last saw the cows in their pen. Everything looks normal at first, besides it being empty. Then you notice the lock on the gate is broken. It also looks like the cows all walked out in a single line when they got out, instead of just running away. 

[rebelarrow]

I examine the grass around the outside of the pen, seeing if there are any tracks or ground disturbances other than the cow tracks.

[measuringdicks]

check the gate and see if somebody fucked with it

[perfectlyhuman]

Looks like the gate was broken open. The lock is broken, on the dirt. The fence around it looks fine.

text;

[cantgetanyworse]

Oooh, I'll play!

I'll investigate the gate first, and the field near it.

Re: text;

[perfectlyhuman]

Looks like the gate lock was broken, and part of it is on the ground. The fence looks fine though.

Around the outside of the fence, there's tall grass, and rocks and stuff. There's hoof prints coming out of the gate, in a single line.

[cantgetanyworse]

A single line?

As if they were nose to tail?