[center][h3]Dead Zone Hinterlands - Beneath Witch’s Nose[/h3]
Harry’s [@Eviledd1984]  Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Chosen Undead’s [@Simple Unicycle] Level 11 Big Band (25/110)
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1788[/center]

Harry’s question got about half a dozen kids talking at once, all trying to explain in their own ways, give their opinions, correct one another, or interject something unrelated. Harry had questioned much less reasonable kids before, though, and he had managed to make sense out of much bigger messes, so he picked up a good few details from the clamor. The kids told him that Molly -who they also called ‘Huggin Molly’- was the one who brought them here. In some cases, it sounded like they’d already been abducted by some other party by the time Molly interceded, but details on this other party were scarce. The children all agreed that while Molly looked scary, and made them afraid at first, she was actually really nice. It seemed like she built these houses, brought the furniture, and fetched the supplies the kids needed. They could stay up as late as they wanted, eat junk food, and not have to do chores or labor. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though. If a child happened to catch a cold, Molly couldn’t do much about that; it seemed like she was too big to enter the house herself.

Surrounded by several conversations at a time, Big Band tried to absorb every detail, then shut out the noise to piece together what he knew. It genuinely sounded like Huggin’ Molly cared about the children and didn’t mean any harm, but at the same time he could tell that this wasn’t sustainable. This makeshift haven was ultimately just a cold damp cave, and neither it nor the kids’ indulgences would be good for them in the long run. They needed rules, instruction, and above all, their parents. Them potentially being hungry or neglected in Martira was another can of worms, and one he couldn’t crack open right now. Whatever prompted Molly to bring the children here needed to be dealt with so they could go home, and right now their best bet was asking Molly herself. Assuming she could talk.

After another few moments, Band became aware of slight, repetitious tremors. They were too brief and regular to be caused by a quake, but seemed perfect for the footfalls of a being so much bigger than he was that it couldn’t enter a house. [i]Bingo.[/i]

Some of the children seemed to pick up on the oddly frequent reverberations too. “Oh oh oh! Molly’s coming! Molly’s coming!” she announced.

The kids surged toward the door, sweeping up Heismay, Harry, and Amaterasu in the tide, and Band followed along behind. He lost sight of Heismay right after they got outside, and assumed that the eugief had darted away to find a shadow to hide in. No doubt those big ears of his made him acutely aware of whatever was coming their way as well. After crossing the bridge, the kids spread out around the upper section of the cavern between the standalone house and the two tall houses built into the cave walls, in the center of which lay a burnt-out fire pit. They eagerly scanned their surroundings, seemingly unaware of Molly’s position, and Band couldn’t tell either. The tremors had stopped, and he found himself holding his breath. The air was unexpectedly tense.

Then his practiced eyes spotted movement, just a moment before the kids did. A large lantern, fueled by colorful glowing mushrooms inside, floated through the air, suspended by a rope of red yarn from above like a marionette. Band naturally followed the yarn upward to where it disappeared into the darkness overhead. He couldn’t see anything up there, but the hairs on the back of his neck rose. It wasn’t some machine moving that lantern, or he could hear it. Something was up there, something huge, staring down at everyone invisibly from above. “Oh boy,” he muttered under his breath.

Whatever it was set the lantern down in front of red curtains, previously hidden in shadow. The kids went over as if excited to watch a play, and after a moment the curtains parted to reveal a diorama made of painted wood. It portrayed a mountainous landscape at night, with a facsimile of Witch’s Nose in the distant background, and a number of crude buildings in the foreground. On the left side lay a number of houses that Band guessed represented Martira, and on the right towered a recreation of the stone keep.

He watched as wooden puppets rose up in front of the diorama on the right side, suspended by threads of yarn. There were three, dressed in green with gray armor and armed with spears, and the one in front had distinctive horns. With surprising fluidity the puppets crossed the scene to the town. After reaching it, they rummaged a bit, and then more puppets arose, much smaller and clothed in random scraps of cloth. Then the three retraced their steps with the smaller ones in tow, and when they reached the keep, a fearsome puppet arrived onto the scene. It looked like a baby’s head, with big round eyes and curly hair, but with legs instead of ears and a gaping, fanged mouth from which a snakelike tongue dangled. As the larger puppets approached it, another puppet descended, this one like an old woman with arms and legs splayed out like a spider. Just before the big puppets could toss the little ones into the monster’s mouth, the spider-lady caught them, then carried them with her towards Witch’s Nose and out of the scene.

Band inhaled deeply, his eyes not on the monster puppet, but on the three who’d been trying to feed it. It wasn’t difficult to parse what Molly seemed to be saying, but before he could say anything, Heismay interjected.

“So…people in the town kidnapped the children first. To sacrifice them to…something dreadful.” The eugief’s lip curled in anger, and his brow furrowed, but he kept his composure. His red eyes stared up into the darkness, as if he could see what dwelled within. “And you brought them to safety instead?”

At that moment, a commotion broke out somewhere behind everyone, echoing through the cave. Band trudged over and looked down at the cave’s lower section, toward the entrance, and saw men spilling out of the tunnel. It was the Martira guard corp, armed with spears and torches, led by Bardon with Morris at his side. They had a Stein with them, who looked none too pleased and was holding Tesset in his arms, with Tesset herself holding Mr. Mug. Band grimaced. “That ain’t good.”

Shouting broke out immediately, yelling for everyone to stay right where they were. Some of the kids ran back into the houses, while others froze on the spot. As the guards prepared to charge up the path toward the upper part of the cave, however, a huge shape descended from the darkness to stop everyone in their tracks. It was the spider-lady from the puppet show made flesh, so huge that she could easily grab a grown man in one clawed hand: [url=https://i.imgur.com/4CIinxw.png]Huggin’ Molly[/url].

The sight of her froze everyone but the remaining kids, who rushed underneath her for protection. “Molly!” they cried. “Don’t let them take us away again!” The giant did not take action, but stood her ground, staring down at the intruders with four milky white eyes. Band, Harry, and the others were caught in the middle.

It was a moment before Bardon found his voice, swallowing to moisten a mouth as dry as sandpaper from hanging open. “So…this is the creature who’s been stealin’ our wee ones.”

“Not so fast, captain.” Heismay had reappeared, perching on the edge of the wooden bridge. “She may seem monstrous, but things are not as simple as they may appear?”

Morris grit his teeth. “The hell are you on about?” he shouted up. “Who’re you s’posed to be, anyway?”

Band raised an eyebrow, then took a step forward. His eyes lay on Morris’ horns. “Why officer, did you forget Heismay already? Thought you could recognize him even in the dark of night.”

“I..” Morris narrowed his eyes. “Right! Heismay! And he’s in league with this…” He seemed to struggle to find a word to capture Molly in her entirety. “This thing! Two monsters, in cahoots to steal our children!”

Heismay scowled. “I had nothing to do with it. And Molly hasn’t hasn’t harmed a hair on the head of any child here, nor even imprisoned them. She’s merely been taking care of them, and keeping them safe.”

Bardon seemed unsure. He could see that Molly wasn’t hostile, and that the kids not only seemed okay, but inclined to trust her despite her monstrous appearance. Band studied the expression on his face, wondering how much he knew. From his dealings with the guard captain so far, he seemed like a stern but upstanding man. Appearances could be deceiving, though. At least the guards around him, faced with a giant spider, didn’t seem too eager to skip negotiations. “Safe from what?” he asked after a moment.

“From the monster beneath the castle,” Heismay replied steadily. “A monster [i]your[/i] subordinates intended to placate with human sacrifice.” As he spoke, Molly lifted one hand and pointed a gigantic claw, bigger than heismay himself, at Morris.

The man went white–then red with anger. “WHAT!? What is this…this preposterous slander? Captain!” He rounded on Bardon. “You don’t believe a word they’re sayin’, do ya Captain? You en’t gonna trust some giant spider and some bloody eyed-eugief over your own man?”

Though the old roussainte held fast, Band could see that Bardon was reeling mentally. To be honest, he was too. He didn’t know who to trust. Who was telling the truth, and who had been spinning an elaborate yarn, now on the verge of coming undone? He did have his suspicions, though. Morris had already lied to him, maybe even tried to get him and Harry killed. If he wasn’t malicious, he was at least grossly incompetent, and willing to make scapegoats of inhuman outsiders like Heismay and Molly. On the other hand, he couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that either or both Heismay and Molly were actually nefarious. The tipping point for him was the children, who trusted Molly and exhibited no signs of mistreatment or coercion as far as he could see. Instead, they seemed wary of the guards. But could the testimony of kids be trusted, either?

The air was thick with tension. Neither side would back down, and it seemed like Heismay had already chosen his. It was up to Band and the other interlopers to defuse and hopefully resolve the situation with choices of their own.