Giving 'em the Ol' Run Around

Evening of Grolm 7, 578 ...
 
Don't know where we're going but there's no use in bein' late.
 
My idea, such as it was, to check in on the aminals on Branby farm then maybe collect the others to wander north to have a talk with the dryad had a whole bunch of good intentions. So does sending a candy-gram to a lich. Both seemed to have in common that they didn't go according to plan.
 
We used Ranger Horn - and his clothes - to leave a trail to lead the Hell Bovines away from town and a merry chase along outside around town. Worked like a charm, attracted those Hell Bovines like a halfling to a bake-off. Problem was ... now, what do we do with them?
 
I had the idea that we could lead them to a dry lake, get them in the low ground, and us in the high ground.
 
The horse I'm on, and its partner, wanted to turn and fight. This proved a moment of argument that I was lost for a bit until Jessie's dire bee stung one to get it moving. Well, that worked. The horses got moving and left me behind. Deep root and damn branch!
 
So, I went back to my best talent ... improvising.
 
I needed something to ride to catch up with the others. The only thing nearby was the damn Hell Bovines. So, taking advantage of my Falconer's Coat and my own gift for hiding my furry self to make myself scarce ... then I lassoed the trailing Hell Bovine. Because Ika provides.
 
It bucks like a tornado but I held on until it got tired and we found ourselves coming to a middle. Given the moment, I named it 'Mule' then rode it into the herd to drive the lot of them. They noticed I ought not to be there! So naturally they tried to gore me. I wasn't feeling up to that today so I kicked Mule into a gallop and got ahead of the herd. Waving my hat at Jessie and Lee, I let them know I was ok and was heading their way with the herd. Sort of.
 
But by Ika's Blessed Bandages, it felt like we had a chance at this.
 
Jessie and Lee find a good dry lake bed with nice shores up on either side. They ride around while I ride up and on through with plans to join them as soon as I can. When this is done, I'll figure out how to come to a middle with Mule again and see what happens. Either way, it'll be an adventure.
 
Riding into the bowl, I urge Mule to skirt the edge. My idea was to get the herd to follow me around and set up a better chance for Jessie and Lee. But Mule had his own ideas and tossed me off. I found my feet while Rowtag took a swipe at the herd around me but it didn't help much. Time to roll up my sleeves.
 
Mule gets ready to slam into me but I let loose with my best bugbear yodel. Mule didn't like it much - which is fair, only Rowtag seems to not mind it - and backs up. This helps as Jessie lets loose with a spell that muddles up the herd knowing up from down and Lee launches sling stones into the mess. Rowtag even gets a claw or two in there.
 
But more are coming.
 
Thinking fast, I grab the rope still looped around Mule and run around that pink cloud of Jessie's and trip up a few of the Hell Bovines with a little unwilling help from Mule. I head for the way out of the dry lake opposite side from the direction that the others heading in.
 
Jessie calls it, time to wade in and knock some sense into the Hell Bovines. Lee, on that onery ride of his, rushes in to get the first swing and ... damn if it doesn't look like he's started a brawl among those devil-possessed cows! I haul Mule forward, dragging him and the nearest bovine out of the cloud. If I'm lucky, then it'll give this herd twice the trouble it had before. Cattle aren't that nimble. Once Lee Chung tripped a few and Jessie tossed a magical ball of fire in among them, they were pretty much corralled.
 
Here's hoping the others back in town weren't having nearly the trouble we were!
 
I get my rope back and get the two Mollies under control. Then we head out with Jessie leaving a spell covering our tracks behind us. But. I wanted to head to the Branby Farm while the others wanted to check on the smoke from town. I see their point but... I gave my word about looking after those animals on that farm. Not to mention I really felt strongly about talking to the nyad at the pond to find out what was going on around here.
 
The town looked reasonably all right, so we made the route over to the farm. It took a good forty minutes there and was a quiet ride. The Branby Farm was dark when made it there. It was a somber sight. We looked around in case anything came after the farm. No hoofprints but something had been in the farmhouse and the grounds. Whatever it was even searched the compost pile. Odd.
 
Jessie looked for magic, found a few things here and there like enchanted hatbands. Lee suggested asking the animals. I suggested talking to the mules who I got along with before. They aren't happy about the hell bovines... or really cows at all. There was also some warning about rabbits who came back and attacked but the donkey's stomped them back into the underbrush. It sounds like the rabbits had been corrupted. Not good.
 
While Jessie was talking to the mules, I went checking on any tracks for whatever that was that came back to the farm looking around. Whatever it was didn't check things like a stove or such items but did check wooden trunks. Then I found the root-like tracks near the compost heap. That's some sort of treant. Not sure if a male treant or a lady treant also called a dryad. Odd again. This one didn't search the barn, which makes sense since it wouldn't want to challenge the donkeys - the barn would be the donkey's territory. Jessie thinks its the nyad. I'm not so sure but I've not got a lot of things to point another way.
 
We talk over heading up to Arjory pond to the nyad but given the hour decided against it since the farm is halfway between the town and the pond. I pointed out that either way we'd be camping out since there wasn't a tavern or an inn. Jessie and Lee were on about heading toward town. But there is the terrified horse that ran off. I feed the donkeys and the horse, refresh their water and brush them all down. Lee and Jessie take care of the chickens. I point out that looking for the lost horse is the right thing to do. That horse shouldn't be left alone. Finding it is the right thing to do. I thought I'd head back south alone but Jessie and Lee agreed.
 
Jessie did ask about checking in on Sephia and Miro. I understood he was worried for them given the town looked like it took it on the chin a bit. But I pointed out that if things had really gone wrong, the town would've been burned flat to the ground, or Miro would have flooded the whole place out. They didn't seem all that happy but agreed with me on that last part. So we headed out for the horse which was good. I was going either way. Nicer ride with some company along.
 
We rode through town and saw Chef had set up a fire in mid-street to cook Ika knows what. I kept riding but not too fast. That way Jessie and Lee could stop off to talk to the others and catch up. I trust the others have the town locked up safe and that I'll find out the details later. If it was that bad of an emergency, I figured Feathers would send her hawk for me to hurry back to help.
 
South of the town, I found the horse but I also found where the Hell Bovines followed the horse, too. However, those bonvines just 'stopped' all of a sudden, stood there, then walked off to the west. No reason for it either. Odd that. I told Jessie. He started looking for magic while I went and recovered the horse to help bring it back home. No magic or anything so maybe ... something called those hell bovines back? Hard to say. Jessie and I had a few theories but went and rounded up the missing horse. Lee caught up with us about then.
 
We tossed around an idea about the Hell Bovines where they might be enchanted to only go so far from a given ranch. Those enchantments might be in a brand on the animal. Something to check in future Hell Bovines and apparently Hell Sheep. The latter had attacked the town but were driven off. Something for later.
 
The horse was tired, lonely but fine. Leading it back to town, we didn't get very far before Miro and Feathers were just going on about something at another farm being attacked. It was the farm with the rutabega recipes. Miro - tired and rattled that he was - was rattling on about 'ninja' sheep - whatever a 'ninja' is. That started some argument between Miro and Lee Chung about 'ninja'. Then Feathers got all rattled and Jessie was sniffing around the chili Chef was cooking.
 
So I wandered off and took the horse to the stables. After all, the others were busy. They'd not miss me. Picking the lock, I put the horse up, brushed him, and got him plenty of food and water. I'd apologize to Mr. Bianchi tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll understand I just wanted to make sure that horse was home and safe.
 
I did head to the edge of town but didn't seem to notice anything from the ranches. To be fair, they were a good ways out. So I returned to the others.
 
They had stopped their argument and the chili was done. Feathers was all up in arms about the farms still and a bit exasperated that I wasn't there listening to the argument. I figure if its that important, the others will argue about it again and catch me up. Grabbing a bowl, I got some chili and told Feathers, I was heading out for the farms to check them out tonight since they weren't that far out. Hopefully, that won't take all that long. Maybe. We'll see. Whoever is behind this seems to be in a hurry. If there is a range war, it might be already coming to a head. That, or us beating the bushes have rattled who's behind this. Which is good, that means they might make a mistake.
 
Ika willing, Rowtag and I can get some shuteye among all this. We could use it. It's after midnight after all.