After receiving much-needed answers from Phineas Stappen in regards of certain questions, Peggy Powler chose to spend
the rest of day standing alone outside of the Meeting House and for the odd villager that passed by, would be seen as just
a visitor idling her time away watching the comings-and-goings of a usual circadian of Puddledown.
The warm summer sun slowly stretched the little Witch's shadow as she quietly processed what she had learned so far and
with the idea that she was being outmatched by her slippery foe, Peggy struggled to formulate a plan to turn defence into an
attack.
Seeing that newly-placed paw-mark outside the Brownie's burrow really got to the bantam figure in the dowdy poncho and
letting the time tick by during her ruminations, that annoyance was slowly boiled into a hardened sphere of determination.
Nodding and smiling at anyone who greeted the bare-footed transient in the big hat, Peggy made sure her features hid that
pique at being outwitted by something she had always believed belonged in the category of bestial.
Tugging the brim of her hat lower to hide her eyes, the Last Witch of Underhill launched her own style of cerebral study.
...................................................
Question: Were the cattle and Edith Liddle's demise relevant to any assumed plan?
Answer: Taken at face-value, domestic and penned animals would make sense as an opportunity for a hungry predator. The act
of killing the cows and to some extent -the girl, holds no feasible inkling that any other intention -apart from acquiring food, was
the motive.
The single print in the snow that Walter Dawson stated he'd seen didn't make sense, but the considering the disruption at the
setting, the wolf's path may have been lost in the mess. If the report that during the Liddle-girl's search is to be taken as factual,
the sudden halt of the beast's tracks near some ancient earthworks needed more investigation. Wolves -no matter how cheeky,
don't just vanish into thin air.
Conclusion: A starving predator had took advantage of a situation due to understandable reasons.
There's nothing to imply anything of intellectual design and the sudden jump from livestock to human could be put down to the
fundamental need for nourishment.
Plucking a canteen from her satchel, Peggy glugged down a couple of mouthfuls of cool water as she mentally discarded any
attempt to judge the wolf's intent in the manner of cunning planning when it came to Father Carrington's death. It could be offered
as a coincidence that the killer had used the burial of the priest as a mocking cover for its attack on the hay-farmer.
Proctor's slaying and the proposition that the wolf had been monitoring the fallout of the discovery also seemed a little bit of a
stretch. Simply based on the origin that for Francis Proctor to be killed at that moment, meant the wolf would have to know when
Father Carrington's funeral was to take place and be sure the farmer was positioned in the field at that time.
Conclusion: The death of the farmer was either from someone who knew when the vicar's interment was to occur -which indicates
a resident of Puddledown, or a confluence of separate instances that just seemed to look like a flow of a single action.
Peggy nodded to herself in agreement this time, as any speculation of firm resolve from the farmer's killer would have to include
the murder of Father Carrington as a part of such a scheme. Wolves don't vanish and wolves don't design such a complicated
web to terrorise or take sustenance.
Then as quickly as the little Witch had purged the faint flame of paranoia from her examination, Finley Teasel's whisper arrived
from his little underground home. "...Don't take this one for granted, this fiend knows you as well as you do yourself"
"Bugger!" was the terse response and Peggy continued.
Question: Why not attack the hunters individually in open space where approach and escape would be more feasible?
Answer: The barn would hinder the hunters and the wolf's manoeuvrability, but since the wolf didn't use external weapons -and
assuming the hunters' weapons weren't near to hand, it would assist in overcoming the wolf's victims.
It had been determined that the wolf had entered the barn -where Chester Connor and his hunting colleagues were resting,
through a hole in the rear wall of the structure, a breach that William Buckles -the owner of the outbuilding was certain hadn't
been there when he'd last checked the barn the day before the carnage. During an enquiry by the Elders, the farmer had
repeated the mundane reasons why he knew his property was sound and solid.
But what Billy hadn't mentioned was why he was behind the wooden building the day before the horrible bloody assault on
the hunters. Martha Dawson could've answer that, but she was never asked.
Peggy surmised that the animal had visited the old barn whilst its pursuants were out in the meadows and woodlands around
Puddledown and that offered the notion that the beast had to begin its scheme to slay the hunters with the purpose to make
sure nobody would hinder its covert work in creating the hole. But why such an elaborate plan...? What did the miscreant gain
from such a dangerous attack?
The little Witch tapped her foot and waited for a conclusion, Chester Connor's voice came to her like a faint breeze and with it
the urge to grab towards a predetermined strategy. "... I swear to Herne, it smiled and then left", a quote that considering the
wolf didn't devour any of the hunters, coyly tempted the idea of an elaborate scene for those with the eyes to see it.
"Bugger!" Peggy hissed again and moved on.
Question: The impudence of such an incursion -if successful, would also send a signal of the beast's confidence in its actions.
But would this gesture of daring boldness be appreciated by the audience of Puddledown?
Answer: Only if the target was the patrons of Puddledown.
Peggy licked her lips at the possibilities of what she'd just mentally suggested. Two years was a long time to slowly arrange a
scheme that -to an average rationally-thinking onlooker, would seem as mere random attacks around a focal point and yet, be
a tickling display for someone capable to reason via the logistics of that scheme.
Breathing slowly through her nose, the slight sorceress slowly scanned her surroundings and resisted the urge to name that target.
It's often a mistake to insert one's ego into a situation and Peggy had always prided herself on defying that act. The decision to
come to this little hamlet was her own solely based on the rumours she'd heard during her travels. Thirteen deaths over two years
from a wolf -the same wolf it was presumed, was something she'd found intriguing, but not something she would typically connect
to herself or anything supernatural.
Mr Teasel softly advised again from under the little sorceress' wide-brimmed hat "...it's a tormentor for a reason" and with a sigh
of exasperation, Peggy Powler couldn't have agreed more. It was.
...................................................
Leaving the Meeting Hall and wandering towards the priest-less church, she soaked in the sunshine and allowed the chattering
demons of her internal enquiry to be cast out in the name of reality. 'Maybe the later killings could unearth an answer?' Peggy
mused as she ambled around the etched stone-markers of those who had passed beyond this complicated soup of concern.
The leaves of the surrounding trees of the graveyard fluttered in a welcoming breeze and muttered their own special dialogue
of existence. Swallows flew low to the grass and like red-throated versions of the Witch's current quarry, flitted in and out of
view on their way to fill the eternal hunger of their young.
However, the ugly dark stain of urine on the bark of the great elm she'd slept in last night...well, that sight stayed with Peggy
for quite some time.
the rest of day standing alone outside of the Meeting House and for the odd villager that passed by, would be seen as just
a visitor idling her time away watching the comings-and-goings of a usual circadian of Puddledown.
The warm summer sun slowly stretched the little Witch's shadow as she quietly processed what she had learned so far and
with the idea that she was being outmatched by her slippery foe, Peggy struggled to formulate a plan to turn defence into an
attack.
Seeing that newly-placed paw-mark outside the Brownie's burrow really got to the bantam figure in the dowdy poncho and
letting the time tick by during her ruminations, that annoyance was slowly boiled into a hardened sphere of determination.
Nodding and smiling at anyone who greeted the bare-footed transient in the big hat, Peggy made sure her features hid that
pique at being outwitted by something she had always believed belonged in the category of bestial.
Tugging the brim of her hat lower to hide her eyes, the Last Witch of Underhill launched her own style of cerebral study.
...................................................
Question: Were the cattle and Edith Liddle's demise relevant to any assumed plan?
Answer: Taken at face-value, domestic and penned animals would make sense as an opportunity for a hungry predator. The act
of killing the cows and to some extent -the girl, holds no feasible inkling that any other intention -apart from acquiring food, was
the motive.
The single print in the snow that Walter Dawson stated he'd seen didn't make sense, but the considering the disruption at the
setting, the wolf's path may have been lost in the mess. If the report that during the Liddle-girl's search is to be taken as factual,
the sudden halt of the beast's tracks near some ancient earthworks needed more investigation. Wolves -no matter how cheeky,
don't just vanish into thin air.
Conclusion: A starving predator had took advantage of a situation due to understandable reasons.
There's nothing to imply anything of intellectual design and the sudden jump from livestock to human could be put down to the
fundamental need for nourishment.
Plucking a canteen from her satchel, Peggy glugged down a couple of mouthfuls of cool water as she mentally discarded any
attempt to judge the wolf's intent in the manner of cunning planning when it came to Father Carrington's death. It could be offered
as a coincidence that the killer had used the burial of the priest as a mocking cover for its attack on the hay-farmer.
Proctor's slaying and the proposition that the wolf had been monitoring the fallout of the discovery also seemed a little bit of a
stretch. Simply based on the origin that for Francis Proctor to be killed at that moment, meant the wolf would have to know when
Father Carrington's funeral was to take place and be sure the farmer was positioned in the field at that time.
Conclusion: The death of the farmer was either from someone who knew when the vicar's interment was to occur -which indicates
a resident of Puddledown, or a confluence of separate instances that just seemed to look like a flow of a single action.
Peggy nodded to herself in agreement this time, as any speculation of firm resolve from the farmer's killer would have to include
the murder of Father Carrington as a part of such a scheme. Wolves don't vanish and wolves don't design such a complicated
web to terrorise or take sustenance.
Then as quickly as the little Witch had purged the faint flame of paranoia from her examination, Finley Teasel's whisper arrived
from his little underground home. "...Don't take this one for granted, this fiend knows you as well as you do yourself"
"Bugger!" was the terse response and Peggy continued.
Question: Why not attack the hunters individually in open space where approach and escape would be more feasible?
Answer: The barn would hinder the hunters and the wolf's manoeuvrability, but since the wolf didn't use external weapons -and
assuming the hunters' weapons weren't near to hand, it would assist in overcoming the wolf's victims.
It had been determined that the wolf had entered the barn -where Chester Connor and his hunting colleagues were resting,
through a hole in the rear wall of the structure, a breach that William Buckles -the owner of the outbuilding was certain hadn't
been there when he'd last checked the barn the day before the carnage. During an enquiry by the Elders, the farmer had
repeated the mundane reasons why he knew his property was sound and solid.
But what Billy hadn't mentioned was why he was behind the wooden building the day before the horrible bloody assault on
the hunters. Martha Dawson could've answer that, but she was never asked.
Peggy surmised that the animal had visited the old barn whilst its pursuants were out in the meadows and woodlands around
Puddledown and that offered the notion that the beast had to begin its scheme to slay the hunters with the purpose to make
sure nobody would hinder its covert work in creating the hole. But why such an elaborate plan...? What did the miscreant gain
from such a dangerous attack?
The little Witch tapped her foot and waited for a conclusion, Chester Connor's voice came to her like a faint breeze and with it
the urge to grab towards a predetermined strategy. "... I swear to Herne, it smiled and then left", a quote that considering the
wolf didn't devour any of the hunters, coyly tempted the idea of an elaborate scene for those with the eyes to see it.
"Bugger!" Peggy hissed again and moved on.
Question: The impudence of such an incursion -if successful, would also send a signal of the beast's confidence in its actions.
But would this gesture of daring boldness be appreciated by the audience of Puddledown?
Answer: Only if the target was the patrons of Puddledown.
Peggy licked her lips at the possibilities of what she'd just mentally suggested. Two years was a long time to slowly arrange a
scheme that -to an average rationally-thinking onlooker, would seem as mere random attacks around a focal point and yet, be
a tickling display for someone capable to reason via the logistics of that scheme.
Breathing slowly through her nose, the slight sorceress slowly scanned her surroundings and resisted the urge to name that target.
It's often a mistake to insert one's ego into a situation and Peggy had always prided herself on defying that act. The decision to
come to this little hamlet was her own solely based on the rumours she'd heard during her travels. Thirteen deaths over two years
from a wolf -the same wolf it was presumed, was something she'd found intriguing, but not something she would typically connect
to herself or anything supernatural.
Mr Teasel softly advised again from under the little sorceress' wide-brimmed hat "...it's a tormentor for a reason" and with a sigh
of exasperation, Peggy Powler couldn't have agreed more. It was.
...................................................
Leaving the Meeting Hall and wandering towards the priest-less church, she soaked in the sunshine and allowed the chattering
demons of her internal enquiry to be cast out in the name of reality. 'Maybe the later killings could unearth an answer?' Peggy
mused as she ambled around the etched stone-markers of those who had passed beyond this complicated soup of concern.
The leaves of the surrounding trees of the graveyard fluttered in a welcoming breeze and muttered their own special dialogue
of existence. Swallows flew low to the grass and like red-throated versions of the Witch's current quarry, flitted in and out of
view on their way to fill the eternal hunger of their young.
However, the ugly dark stain of urine on the bark of the great elm she'd slept in last night...well, that sight stayed with Peggy
for quite some time.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.