Prelude: Search and Rescue

[pygmaelion]

John stumbles ahead...
"Shirt" he proclaims, putting more weight on his punctured foot than he intended.

He makes a mental note to come back to this cave later with more light, and to call up some of his engineering buddies from back in school. And heavier boots... and a shovel/badger whacker.

"Easy there, Vince... Steady... I'm sure the lord won't mind if we bring the boy up gently."

Seeing that Vincent is about to scoop up the boy, Murphy says "All right, up above... start moving out, we're coming up with the boy!"

Shining his light in the direction of the tunnel leading to the cave mouth, John spots Jason... The particular Jason he specifically instructed to stay at the mouth of the cave. The very same Jason that seems to be standing in this cave this very moment, and who is likely to get a prolonged talking to all the way to the doctor and during the entire walk (limp) back to the house. John puts on his ~I am not amused~ face, and starts up the path to the cave entrance.

[JimBone]

"There we go..." Having managed to ease the rest of the spines from the sole of his boot, Tom climbs to his feet, leaving the spines scattered on the ground. His task over, he snaps back to reality, and wishes he hadn't. He's glad the boy is safe, but completely drained and at a loss to provide the obvious, simple explanation to everything that happened.

Tom frowns briefly at Vincent as the man makes his superstitious religious gestures, then the writings on the ground catch his eye.

"This is like..." Tom winces, almost unwilling to say it "..like it was trying to do something." The bloody scrawling is a little too organised for Tom's liking. He crouches down and inspects them further. "Hey, someone bring a light over here."

Action

Attempt to discern any pattern or known shapes. Check if phone is working to take a picture (I'm guessing there would still be a stock camera app working after factory reset).

[Bitom]

Tom discovers that his phone is now working, minus the factory reset. He has no signal, but he's in a cave so that isn't a surprise. The camera function works just fine.

The shapes are clearly writing of some kind mixed with some larger geometric symbols, but the writing isn't in any language Tom has seen.

[TetNak]

Walking up toward the cave, Sam keeps checking his phone. "Do you have the boy?" he asks again, looking at anyone he can, trying to get an answer so he can either make a call or walk back into town. "We should get the fire department."

[Shadowwk]

Jason turns sheepish at his father's look and half offers a hand to his dad, half tries to flee. While he is a bit annoyed that this will probably result in a week of groundings, (hopefully just that) he his relieved that Carl is safe. "Hey Tom, snap that picture and let's get the hell out of dodge."

[JimBone]

Tom maxes out the digital exposure on his phone and takes a few pictures of the patterns drawn on the ground. The long exposure means they aren't quite as high-def as he'd like, but it's enough to study them later.

Furrowing his brow with silent frustration, he turns to follow the others out of the cave. Again, he pauses as he's distracted by something else on the ground, the spines he pulled from his boot. He picks one up and eyes it as if seeing it for the first time.

"Porcupines and hedgehogs" He states to himself "they have spikes because they're slow and stupid." Tom gently places the spine against his smartphone and slides it into his jean pocket. Hopefully the phone will stop him from getting a jab in the leg.

He takes one more look at the writing in blood before ascending the path out of the cave.

"Not these things."

[Shadowwk]

Watching Tom pick up one of the spines, Jason takes a peek at his, yup still there. Still stick in his hand. Jason takes a sec while Tom is eyeballing the spine to rearrange himself so that the stick is tucked into his belt like a makeshift sword, the flashlight clenched in his teeth and the pliers on the multitool out. All things in place he attempts to remove the lions share of spines in one go.

Action

try to remove as many spines as possible in one go, worry about any straggled later

[Bitom]

Pulling the spines hurts like hell. They are barbed just like those of a porcupine. Eventually, Jason manages to remove them all, but his hand is a mess, and he's going to have some scars to impress the girls with. Some stitches probably would not go amiss.

[Chanur]

Vincent shouts so those out of the cave can hear him. "We've gots Carl! Make way!" Vincent exits the cave and tries so set Vincent down to see if the boy can walk. If not he will carry him. He looks him over and says to the rest of the group " It looked like Carls eyes were glowing and his hair was strange in that circle. It seems okay now...this place gives me the creeps."

[Shadowwk]

Hand dripping blood, Jason exits the cave a half dozen or so paces behind Vincent.
"Hey dad, got a rag on ya?"