#bergen_county

Jaymes storms through the neighborhood, a man on a misssion, concern in his eyes

He stomps near other people's yards. He braves the edges of the woods.

He is hunting!

Not a hunt for food, but one of desperation.

twobit is missing.

His DOG!

And a man not often given to open displays is trying not to panic.

He checks his phone a nd sees his wife's message. Twobit is NOT at the lodge

And his face falls further

Elsewhere, Dagmar searches with BrownDog!

Brown dog whines

"What is it?" She lets him take the lead. She has one of TwoBit's plushies for scent-reference.

Browndogg isn' the smart dog. he's not a fae hound. He's just a goofy mutt, but he bounds whimpering and darts behind a gnarled tree

Dagmar follows.

And she manages to keep herself from falling in the pit, in fact , she grabs Browndog by the collar to pull him back.

"The hell?"

The pit , some sort of trap, has a sniveling little girl, Lane! One of her legs is broken. And there is a chimerical and LARGE spider... about the size of a mastiff! And standing between it, and the girl, an enchanted Twobit! GROWLING furiously!

Twobit has no chance aggainnst a chimera that size, but doesn't seem to KNOW that

Dagmar's eyes darken.

The spider lunges.. narrowly missing the little dog taht rolls nimlby and comes up snapping in effectiely

"Text Dad: Dad I'm by Green and Rosebriar. Come quick." She speaks to her phone, letting it type out and send the message.

"Help!" Lane says "Pleas,e it will kill her!"

And then the phone is shoved in a pocket in favor of two hands on Flyswatter.

"I'm here, Lane." And the halberd swings at the beast!

Flyswatter bears a name that might as well be BUG BANE! it was annointed in the blood of scarier crawlers than this!

And while the wspider tries to twist, legs are hewn! Two bit chargges forward to harry it again at the same time

"Dog, stay back and..." Sigh. Pointless effort. Best kill the spider quick.

Even as Dagmar strikes the finishing blow, the Spider strikes at her leg!

Tough as she is, the spider's bite doesn't penentrate, at least not enough to envenom her

Grunt.

And the spider chimera is now dead, and upside down, just a twitching chimerical husk

"Okay TwoBit. Good girl."

With Lane sniffing "is.. is it dead?" She pulls Two bit to her and SQUEEZES. Denying two bit her chance to devour the kill

but at the praise, the little dog wags

"Yeah. Lane, I'm gonna help get you out... don't want to hurt you any further, y'know? Can you tell me what happened?" She eyes the pit, trying to figure out the best method.

"I think the spider made the tunnel? It.. it wasnn't here before.." She says "Can spiders make holes? Anway. I fell.. and tried to gget help. Then twobit came along and.. she saw I was scared.. because my leg was broken.. then I threw her some food with enchantment cuase I thougght that would be against the rules and maybe it would let her talk? it doesn't work that way ..but she was glowing. Then the spider came down.. on this string.. and I cried.. and then twobit jumped on it, and scared it. She fell next to me.. and the spider ran away, and hten would try to come back. Twobit's been guarding me for.. hours!"

Heavy steps treading through the underbrush approach.

"TwoBit is a brave dog, I'm glad she kept you safe...." A frown. "I hope the answer is the spider made the hole, because the alternative is worse."

"I guess?" Lane says "My back leg.. it's broke I think? You're.. you're not goinng to shoot me are you?"

"I'm not gonna shoot you. I'm gonna carry you to the lodge."

And, hearing voices, the Chieftain approaches. "Dame Dagmar?"

Browndog woofs! He's at the ledge of the pit. Happy to let the Chief know he's 'there!

She follows Browndog's woofs (which do not sound urgent), and pauses to bend over and pat him briefly as she looks into the pit. "What has happened here?"

"Chief!"

"You're not going to shoot me are you?" Lane says "I'm only part horse so a broken leg"

"Lane fell into a trap. There was a monster..." A nod at the spider.

"Lane, again, nobody is shooting you. Chief has Heather Balm."

"I saw this movie, they shot the horse becausse of a broken leg" Lanne explains "Poor horse"

"You are a centaur, not a horse."

A brow. "I did not know we had chimera of this nature here. Good work, Dame Dagmar," regarding the spider, and she makes her way down into the pit. "Lane, hold still so I may see."