a New Town

This is going to be... tricky...

Tracey's goal was to somehow stop the terror making savage - Toby Salazar, form getting his hands on the populace of this modest town of Kibble and needlessly slaying the many who lived there. So either intercepting his approaching group or laying in wait by this town's edge was a possibility - but it relied on knowing where and when the unknown number of invading Humans would come from to be of any success.

And here there also appeared to be several small surrounding townships, out beyond Kibbles main hub, easily vulnerable to infiltration, surprise or, If this new band had any similar siege equipment to the last lot, even possibly attack from a distance, that could cause chaos and untold damage - well before her people or Tracey could stop an onslaught.

This is a much more complicated situation...

Tracey initially thought that the best way to prevent all the destruction and death would be to repeat the previous tactic, of taking the town first, and waiting for their arrival - then it didn't matter which way they stormed in from, Tracey and her people could come out to counter them.

However; this town's defences were quite unlike any Tracey had seen before, and would prove much harder to overcome for most.

Kibble was a totally differently structured town than Yarn, with instead of a single tall protecting outer wall; this larger and flat area was divided up by multiple moats, where thin wooden bridges linked between each 'island', which could be defended or possibly even ruined, to cut off progressing attackers and separate the town into sections.

So any invasion would first need to cross the fairly wide water canals, or successfully hold many of the bridges in order to get control of the majority of the township...

Nina, who had already been very helpful so far; getting them there in a timely fashion and making sure they stayed on the right windy roads, she hadn't abandon them when they arrived, as the Horse-girl rushed into town and returned with almost forty raincoats, to provide some more protection from the clouds, that had opened up on them, and against watchful Beastfolk militia, who kept an eye out for the Human intruders too.

Kibble had visible patrols, bridge-keepers and occupied watchtowers, all obviously at a heightened alert and preparedness; as they'd obviously heard that a coordinated attack from their in-friendly neighbours was already underway, and possibly close. So to get a good sense of the layout of the town, and then nail down a good strategy for taking control - it required getting a much closer look, so they needed the cover to sneak about under all those watchful eyes.

"It's all I could carry for the moment..."

Nina was somewhere under the bundle she'd brought back with her, as the light-blue and white wearing Humans hid and waited near the outskirts in an unused barn.

"You've done an amazing job... we can't thank-you enough already..."

Tracey accepted one of the darker coats from the top of the pile, and quickly made sure it wasn't too big for her.

The tanned Horse-girl had grabbed what large coats she could, so some of their team could do a bit of investigating about or even in Kibbles streets, which needed them to remain undetected and not be too suspicious either.

So far no real plan or ruse had been figured out to get close though, with the watchful defenders being vigilant, they surely couldn't walk right in without being checked upon, and there didn't appear to be a unguarded way inside this town, but apparently the Horse-girl had figured out that for them too.

"I talked to my aunt already, and they're going to make a big delivery tomorrow morning... and once I said what you had planned - she was up for helping out you!"

"Wait... you told her what now?"

Amanda tugged on her grabbed coat and spoke up with great concern.

"That you wanted to get inside and scout out the place... and help prevent any harm..."

Nina said truthfully, before giving a little more thought into her actions.

"Should I have not said? She asked why I was here, and honesty is the best policy..."

There was a brief pause, with only the sound of many raindrops hitting the roof above filling it.

"What's done is done... and we have a good cover to get in now, so I'd call that a win..."

Tracey said with some assuredness, despite not knowing this aunt at all.

"I hope so... for our... and everyone's sakes..."

Amanda was far more dubious, but apparently saw no other option, or at least didn't voice it.

So the humans, and two Beastfolk, had the night to rest and get ready, in the warm and dry barn that tightly fit them all.

They woke early, and with a good sign, the morning still kept up the steady drizzle, so the covering coats were still useful, in a few ways; keeping the rain off them, letting them blend into the busy streets filled with similar coated locals, and keeping any wary eyes from telling if they were Humans, with their lack of other telling traits.

Slipping into one of the small outskirt areas, Nina briefly introduced her aunt and uncle, Tiki and Jeetho, who were obviously family - with their similar demeanours and appearances.

With a nearly a dozen carts, ten actually, already fully loaded, they seemed rather happy to have assistance to get them moved, as some other locals, who had usually given a helping hand, had already sheltered within the town's deeper defences and were hesitant to leave again, even though there was no direct or immediate threat.

So far.... it's going very good again...

The group promptly started, and with no problems, they had crossed onto a couple of 'islands' and now were about to head onto the biggest and most defended part of Kibble.

So with Nina, Jeetho, Tiki each pulling one cart, then leading the way again, it left Tracey and some of her people to tug along the others. While it wasn't that difficult, except on the slightly slippery wooden bridges, Amanda and Todd helped haul along Tracey's cart, more so to be near, just in case something happened.

Shizuka sat on top of the boxed load on the cart directly behind Tracey's, pulled along by only the tall and strong Dale, who managed fine on his own, but with Shizuka's big exposed ears up on the crate, she stood out as an obvious Beastwoman, providing better cover for the others in the group.

Who would suspect a Fox-girl would be working right alongside Humans...?

When waiting for a little traffic to clear, Tracey had looked back to see she flicked her wet ears a bit, but remained watchful, like an overseeing escort, guarding the small company.

For all their worries, they'd made it past the first checkpoints, that made slight bottlenecks in the inhabitant's fairly busy streets and bridge crossings, so their coats and legitimate task had worked. But there seemed to be a greater, more careful station up ahead, which had really slowed up their travel toward the busiest and bigger part of Kibble.

Are we pressing out luck now... trying to get into the heart of town...?

Tracey glanced about as they got in under a taller watchtower, where a few strong looking Sheep-men stood about with tall spears, as a few Dog featured men at street level also more closely scoped out the would be enterers coming into the narrow space.

"Where are you all going?"

One of the darker Beastmen asked, looking down along the line of carts, which slowly crept in from out on the creaky bridge.

"Delivering food for the warehouses..."

Tracey heard Nina's uncle reply, as he hauled the lead and closest cart.

"Oh, hey Jeetho... didn't recognise you under there."

The Dog-man sounded friendlier, obviously recognising the local farmer.

"It has been raining all day, I'd rather not get soaked, Lee."

The guardsman smiled, and simply walked along by, heading down the convoy.

"A little damp never hurt anyone..."

He passed the next wagon, while Nina's ears clearly rustled underneath her protecting top as she watched him go by.

The keen light-blue eyed Beastman stepped up alongside Tracey next, while she returned her best innocent expression, he simply looked over her briefly, before he'd become distracted by the Fox up on the following cart.

"Never seen you about these parts..."

"It's been a while... but I remember this town had some excellent fried white cheese... do you still do that?"

Shizuka sounded quite convincing, and gave nothing away of her true purpose, which Tracey wasn't all too sure about anyway.

"Huh... they do."

He slowly kept walking, silently from then on, and while other Beastfolk quietly passed by too, Tracey didn't hear any sounds, apart from the slow tapping of raindrops on her coat.

He seems the suspicious type... but maybe our cover isn't blown... yet...

He strolled back again, returning to near where he'd started, while keeping a pail eye on Tracey and her company still, but motioned for them to start moving along again.

That was until they reached another set of mostly black wearing guards under the secondary turret ahead, as the last of the carts clacked off the wooden bridge behind them, the local's made their quick move.

"Hold it right there... deceiving Human trash!"

After he boomed at them, the space about them emptied of realising civilians, as they scattered away, more guards dashed over to properly surround the group, pinning them between two thick stony walls with a greater number of pointy spears.

"We're not Human!"

Nina pulled down her head covering and protested as a spear was pointed towards her.

"You, maybe not, but you're helping these ones behind you..."

The lead guard, now with a drawn sword, pointed with his finger at those behind her, while Nina's small brown ears tucked backward hesitantly.

"Uh... well..."

"What gave us away?"

Tracey spoke up, doing her best to sound sturdy, and drew his attention to her.

"The way you all walked was too odd... but more than that..."

Lee answered honestly, as he pointed his sword at Tracey, while she pulled away the coats hood from her head, seeing they'd been sprung anyway.

"...We could smell you coming..."