a moving target.

-a moving target-

It's one of those nights:

one of those nights when they're just hanging around Cold Crescent -- the parts not sealed off by whatever-the-fuck the elders, those disgraced and increasingly distrusted elders. When they're just minding their own damn business when someone, not one of those elders of Cold Crescent but one of those hard-eyed badasses Forgotten Questions has sent to keep tabs on the Crescent, barges in on whatever it is they're doing.

He's mid-40s. Lean and swarthy and tough as jerky. One of his eyes is lazy, drifting outward. He speaks, it seems, through eternally clenched teeth.

"Heads up, pups. You hear about those floods up north? Well, there's a truck northbound on the I-25 full of tainted waste. From everything we've gathered, they intend to drive it over the railing when the highway crosses the South Platte just north of Colfax Avenue. They want to dump all that wyrmbegotten shit into the river at full flood. Try to imagine the results.

"We need you to go out there. We need you to find the truck and get to it before they get to their destination. We need you to get rid of whoever's inside, and drive it back down here. That means no blowing it up, no crashing it, none of that shit. Get it back here and we'll take care of the cleanup.

"This," a scroll -- supple hide tanned and etched with crude markings of the city and its terrain, its streets, "will show you where they are. You've got about ten minutes to intercept. So move it."

[http://goo.gl/maps/VAoHy - see where I-25 crosses the river in the middle there? that's the dump site. i'm gonna say given transit time and whatnot, the earliest point of intercept the characters could conceivably catch the truck at would be at around 6th avenue so... you've got about a mile over which to work out, set up and execute an ambush/heist. feel free to use googlemaps/streetview to plan. go! :D]

-a moving target-

[oh and also. in order to simulate time pressure, all planning needs to be done on the fly, en route. in other words: NO MORE THAN THREE ROUNDS OF IC YAKKITY-YAK BEFORE SHIT GETS REAL.]

Reverence of Dawn

Avery is with Javed. And that is a new sight, outside of regular guard duties around the sept's protectorate. She perks up when they say move it and looks at Javed eagerly, eyebrows up, hands lifting to clasp in front of her chest.

Because.

She has a car that goes 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and he hasn't gotten to ride in it yet.

Javed Anubis-Sight

The metis looks up from his spot next to the Silver Fang; they make such an odd pairing, but it seems to be a thoroughly comfortable one for the Iranian. A lack of recognition, of course, shines in his one good eye when the man speaks up, but he doesn't need to know who he is. He just needs to listen.

He takes in everything the man has to say. The Strider's brow furrows when he commits the directive to memory, and he looks to Avery. She looks so pleased at the opportunity to take the car whose speed she spoke about so proudly out and test its limits.

"One vehicle," he rumbles, looking around at those present. "We can all fit, I believe?" It is a question, but he's already moving. It's harder to plan and coordinate when they're separated. "We must move quickly."

And with that, he's heading (presumably with Avery) toward her car that accelerates so quickly. He's hoping it won't be damaged...she does seem to like it.

Thomas Delacroix

Thomas is considering, probably something else, but then he just nods to Javed. Whatever else he might have been thinking, he is perfectly willing to abandon it for whatever Javed has planned. Is planning. Whatever.

"Then let's go." He heads after Javed, leaving a little distance between himself and the Fostern now that he is so clearly paired up with Avery.

Black Sheep

Charlotte is there for reasons best left to the imagination, on one of those not-quite-closed-off floors. Maybe she had to spend a night or two in one of the subsidiary hotels to which the Sept's residents have been shifted. The floods or road closures or - well, something. A strange, gawky creature with solemn features mad, pale blue eyes and short, chunky hair that is half platinum blond and half bubblegum pink.

Her pale eyes flick to the elder when he brings in the map, and there's not even a hint of bristling about her as they are called collectively pups. They are collectively pups, and Charlotte seems somehow like the runt of the litter.

Would seem like the runt of the litter were it not for her damned breeding, which - to Garou senses - seems to take up twice the space that she does. Halos her like the corona around the sun. Crowns in all that distingrating glory: not a queen, no. But the queen's hand. The left, the eldrich one. Not the right.

Charlotte can fit anywhere, skinny little thing. If no one else has taken the map - the map of the city drawn crudely onto the hide of some beast - then she has. And if she were someone else she would laugh at the juxtaposition, but she's probably pretty pleased to have a hide-in-hand. Keeps it rolled open as she falls into step behind Avery and Javed.

"There's a bridge here," she says, " - that might hide us some. If we stopped it underneath." A flicker at each of the other Garou, then back to Javed. The only fostern. "Do you know the gift that would break the engine down where we wanted it?"

-a moving target-

[oh shit, i forgot to mention: that map they've been given is a talen attuned to the Truck o' Doom. it's basically spirit-GPS. yay!]

Reverence of Dawn

Avery nods so fast her hair -- up in a ballerina-worthy bun tonight -- almost bounces free. She looks at Thomas and Charlotte. "It's a four-door. But it's ever so fast," she assures them all, sweeping to her feet, keys already in hand, beaming. As if they aren't about to go save the world from toxic spills. As if they aren't about to go kill things.

Javed Anubis-Sight

"I do not." Short and sweet; Anubis Sight isn't one to mince words, even when time isn't of the essence. When they're on a deadline, it's an absolute economy of speaking. "However, if we get close enough and I can get on the back, I may be able to disable any threats back there before they can react properly. Although the problem with that is, I am not skilled at driving."

Once they get down to the car, Javed lets others in before taking up the passenger side. It's not about wanting to sit in the front so much as potentially being the guy to climb out and leap across the freeway at 60 MPH (achieved in 4.2 seconds!) and having quick access to do so.

"I am open to suggestions on how to stop the vehicle without getting on it first. They are not exactly my specialty."

Thomas Delacroix

"If we can get into the truck, I can drive it. But all the ways I know of to stop it for sure without boarding it maaaaay involve crashing and or explosions. Or having someone ahead of it crash into a different car. Which, if they did that far enough ahead could be helpful. I don't know we can get far enough ahead though."

There is a little involuntary flash of a grin at the car, because really, really...if you can't take at least half a second to love that car, you are dead. Or, well, perhaps hopelessly disinterested in cars. Thomas is neither of those things though.

Black Sheep

So there's a point in there where Avery is sweeping to her feet, keys in hand. Charlotte hands her the talen-map then. Because navigating the city streets with cars and one-way ramps and concrete barriers and hurtling traffic in the middle of a concrete-bound city is not precisely within the small theurge's skillset. When she and Erich drove through the LA metro area, she spent the whole time with her hands over her ears.

Someone else will navigate.

Charlotte flicks a glance to Javed as he suggests that they just get him close and he will climb on and they will take it that way. The girl shrugs, quiet, even a bit diffident, and taking not even a half second to love that car. Which means that she is perhaps both dead and hopelessly disinterested in cars. Because Charlotte seems willing to tuck herself in the back but -

"If you board and you're winning they'll probably crash it where they are anyway. Then you have the waste and whatever is attracted to the waste and maybe some of it makes it to the river anyway.

"Gremlin teaches that gift. I could try to summon some. Maybe they could break sometime in the engine for us. Or in a bunch of cars ahead of it, making all the cars stop so they have to stop too."

Reverence of Dawn

In this grouping, at least, the people Javed is working with are reasonably easy to pick out by voice and shape once he knows who they are. One would never, ever mistake Charlotte for Avery, or vice versa, though Avery's pleasure at Charlotte accompanying them is as evident as her pleasure at working with Javed again or driving her new toy and showing it off for Javed. She's the one who has the map, at least at first, tracking the truck as its representative glowing-dot roams up I-25.

"We'll have a less crowded area to work with on either side of the interstate before Colfax," she points out, thinking of what's in that area. "If we can get them to exit after Yuma." She frowns. "We definitely want to stop the truck before we deal with whoever is inside," she says, only echoing, only confirming. "And we don't want police coming our way as we steal a truck that isn't ours, so any avoidance of collision with any car is optimal."

After everyone gets in and she's settled behind the wheel, Avery looks back at Charlotte, the one she was about to ask to --

-- be brilliant, utterly brilliant, and make Avery's eyes just light up with fond... no, not fondness. Respect. Gladness to have her along. Again. "I would begin invoking the spirits now, Yuf. If they are having problems significant enough to make them exit, even if not at a location that would be perfect for us, that would be a great boon to our cause."

Javed Anubis-Sight

He listens as they throw out ideas. Crashing cars in front of it, breaking them, making it stop. There is risk there...they could realize the trick and decide to wreck it. But breaking down the engine itself...can they fix that? They are supposed to bring it back, after all.

And Avery suggests another option that Charlotte could do...make them divert and exit so they stop, but the vehicle doesn't fully break down. He nods a little bit at that, looking back to Charlotte. "That would be ideal, if you can do that. Make them stop without irreperably destroying something. If it does not work, boarding will have to be plan B."

Black Sheep

See, Charlotte catches the edge of Avery's look in the rearview. The skinny creature - in worn jeans, a bit stained at the bottom cuffs, with mud rather than blood, and a Mexican Sprint t-shirt and hiking boots - is looking up and there is a glint of hammered silver over the discs of her irises. This fey little smile ghosts across her lips as she absorbs - well, the fondness beneath the respect. Or perhaps merely the respect, with a leveling of her skinny shoulders and a sort of errant willfullness that rises only sometimes.

Summoning: on the fly. Piercing the Gauntlet, pulling and pushing and needing her will in a matter of moments what usually requires hours. Beyond her dedicated clothes, she also carries a small messenger bag, and has swung that out in front of her. She starts.... digging through it for a few supplies. Clay beads, bird-bones, fine pieces of granite glittering with flecks of mica. The long, jagged tooth of a dead something you prefer not to know about. The shed skin of a small snake; the skull of another.

"Gremlin's a spirit of the Wyld." Charlotte replies as she starts laying out the small treasures she will sacrifice to the ritual on her thighs. "I don't know if it can be that controlled. But I'll try.

"I need each of you to break something you have though. When I ask. Something you want to keep, as chiminage for the ritual."

Then takes a small clay sunbead - her favorite and smashes it as her eyes go unfocused, and she begins to call.

Thomas Delacroix

"On the diversion tactic, with no damage, you think we could get them anywhere useful to us with a few broken traffic lights? At that point, if we can get them somewhere easy enough and quiet enough to board, we don't have a broken engine." Thomas offers, but then sighs. Very well, breaking the engine it is then. He turns his attention to figuring out something to break.

Reverence of Dawn

But Avery doesn't want to break any of her things! She looks briefly saddened, then just nods sharply in agreement and presses harder on the gas. "Other cars would be diverted with the traffic lights, too," she points out. "If not crashing. It could work, but it might complicate matters." She steals a glance at Javed, then drives on.

Black Sheep

Gnosis for piercing the gauntlet. Dif 5. Gauntlet at Sept 6 - 1 (natural channel)

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Black Sheep

Annnd: Wits + Rituals for the actual summoning. Going for a Gremlin jaggling. Spending WP cos we need help FAST.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) [WP]

-a moving target-

That car of Avery's. It accelerates like the proverbial silver bullet, rocketing away from stoplights, hitting the freeway at seventy, eighty, ninety miles an hour.

Traffic isn't quite light. Not at this hour, not in the heart of the city. Not on a Friday night. It's lighter, though, which means there's room enough to maneuver. To swerve, to weave, to accelerate, to catch up.

That moving target of theirs, that bloody red blotch on their hide-map: it begins to resolve. They're in luck. There's only one eighteen-wheeler on the freeway at this hour, and it is about a quarter-mile ahead, on the number-two lane. No markings on the truck. Not a logo, not a sign. Just plain white.

In the back, on the move, Charlotte works magic. There are tools and there are rituals and there's perhaps even some esoteric mumbling and handwaving -- all of which Thomas has a rather up-close view of. Then, all of a sudden,

all the instruments on Avery's panel flare searing-bright -- then go dark. The car weaves in her hands for a terrifying instant. It stabilizes. The headlights are still on. She still has no instruments.

A gremlin has blessed them with its presence.

[Gremlin has arrived and is friendly! No roll needed to persuade it to do stuff. Charlotte just needs to tell it what to do.]

Javed Anubis-Sight

When it is time for them to sacrifice something for Charlotte...well, to be honest, Javed owns nothing but the single set of clothes he is wearing. And a knife, but that is not within reach and he would cut his hand off first anyway.

Which is related to what he's doing, actually, as he grabs his middle finger and yanks it back, snapping the bone as chiminage. Having nothing does not mean giving nothing to the Strider.

Black Sheep

Charlotte is half in this world and half in the next. The creature always has that far away look; but now it is even farther. She does not react to that brief, terrifying, stomach-lurching swerve as the instruments all go out and that car of Avery's nearly fishtails before stabilizing. No, Charlotte just sways in motion with it, her eyes wide open and entirely unfocused, mumbling something that is both wrong and somehow absolutely incoherent to human ears. The liquid language of the spirit world, silver-bright and gleaming, each work leaving a sort of afterburn in the ear that one cannot quite trace or begin to understand.

And Charlotte, Charlotte is smiling - with a kind of open delight that few outside of her pack have seen. Mostly because she can hardly see them; just the chaotic delight, the sudden frenetic immediacy of the gremlin she summoned. She can feel the lick of its Wyld energy across the gauntlet and that absolutely delights her.

Another one of her little treasures in hand, the skull of a rattlesnake, all bone-bleached white. Still joined at the mandible and her hands find it unseeingly, and she grasps it firmly enough that the ivory fangs draw two small drops of blood from her palm, and snaps it viciously in two as she begins to communicate.

Charlotte knows nothing about trucks; nothing about truck parts. She slips back to the here-and-now in time to see the flickering instrument panel, the truck ahead of them. Asks Thomas tangentially for confirmation that this is in fact the target, then slips just as easily back to commune with the summoned spirit. Shows him the car; the flaring instrument panel. Paints the image of the truck flickering, flaring, dying. Dying-but-not-permanently. Slowing enough that they have to move it from the road; take the next exit, all that jazz.

Reverence of Dawn

"Rhya," Avery says, as they are driving and her eyes are on the road and Charlotte is losing herself in ritual, "if you don't mind, there is a Mont Blanc box in the glove compartment. It has a ribbon, but please don't worry about opening it. And when you can, if you could lay the pen inside in my hand, I would be most appreciative."

There is indeed a slender box from Mont Blanc in her glovebox, and there is a thin white ribbon tied around it, and there is even a little tag with blue ink on it that says To my father. And the pen inside is black resin and platinum, the Mont Blanc emblem created from diamond. It is a seven-hundred-dollar pen engraved with her father's name along the side. It's completely extravagant, and this is what she chooses to break.

When Charlotte calls for it:

Javed breaks his finger.

Avery exerts as much force as she can until the pen cracks. She winces like it's a broken bone, like it physically hurts, which perhaps it does, because it was a gift she was going to give.

She does so love giving gifts.

--

Her car stutters and she almost shrieks, but then braces herself to control the car as best she can. It returns to life and control, making her exhale the breath she almost held, hoping to Gaia that she doesn't have to take it back to Chauncey and tell him her instruments are all broken already, he'll be so fussy about it.

She tries not to listen to the strangeness coming from the backseat; she follows the truck and if -- when -- it exits, she follows. She does not, cannot, conceal her presence overmuch. That wasn't part of the plan, unfortunately, and it may be too late now to try and add it.

Thomas Delacroix

Thomas doesn't carry much, but he's a step or two away from breaking any bones. Instead, in a sharp movement he brings the butt of a penlight into the screen of his phone. It is the least convenient thing on him to replace, but he doesn't carry interesting and fragile things with him. Of course, he also doesn't find he often needs to offer chimiage to spirits, certainly not often so unexpectedly.

He gives Charlotte her answer about the truck in a slightly tighter tone that says he was a lot more aware of the swerving, for all he didn't make a fuss over it.

Black Sheep

Gremlin's Gnosis

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

Charlotte is the only one who sees the Gremlin -- if such a word can even be employed. Let's say instead: she perceives it, a bundle of chaos, a highly-compacted point of frenetic energy and gleeful destruction. Everyone else in the car is aware only of the effect it exerts on its environment: the blacked-out instrument panel, the briefly out-of-control car.

And then:

the instrument panels comes back on, as suddenly and inexplicably as it had gone out. A mere second later, there's a blare of horns up ahead. A screech of tires. Two or three smaller cars swerving out of the way of that large, unmarked truck, which has abruptly lost power. It drifts, like a schooner with its sails cut down, listing toward the side of the road.

It doesn't make it to an exit. They are reasonably lucky, though. It comes to a standstill beneath the shadow of an unlit overpass. Nocturnal traffic, eager to get wherever they're going, pass it by without so much as slowing.

A moment later, the headlights on the truck go dark. And the running lights. And last, the brake lights.

No movement from inside. Yet.

Reverence of Dawn

Well. They aren't lucky enough to get it to exit. Avery slows, pulling up behind it, flipping on her emergency lights like a good citizen to make sure passing traffic perceives everything as normal. Some nice person in a Tesla is going to help the stranded truck. They've probably already called AAA.

She puts her hand on the door, looking at Javed for instruction. For a now. For direction.

Black Sheep

Charlotte perks right up as that humming ball of chaotic energy flares and sizzles and takes whatever she managed to communicate and surges after the 18-wheeler. Which is a shadow in her vision until she refocuses and then she is leaning forward, between the seats, watching intently as that extraordinary little spirit - which she cannot perceive as a particularly shape because it is so antithetical for the mere form-of-things - dances ahead over that shadow and -

oh -

darkness. Charlotte claps her hands, pleased and more than a little taken with the daring of the thing, surrounded as they are by stasis, by the great running lines of blue-white energy that are the Weaver's webbing. Claps her hands with delight before she sees that the truck has drifted to a stop beneath the overpass, without making it off the highway after all.

Hmmm.

The girl seams her mouth and shakes her pale head to clear it. No need to break anything else right now but -

- she glances sharply up at Avery then, and then at Javed, then out the window at the traffic rattling past their now-stopped car.

And starts mumbling beneath her breath again.

Javed Anubis-Sight

When the finger snapped back...well, we're not going to say that the Iranian didn't cringe or grunt. Because that motherfucker hurt. But he doesn't lose it, either. Which is probably a good thing, as high and full in the sky as Luna is. This wonderful vehicle would be a bad place for a frenzy of the worst magnitude.

Javed carefully does his best to set the finger back into place, but doesn't allow it to heal until the truck is fully stopped. Likely, that means twitching the broken bone back and forth so it doesn't knit; he heals in this form after all, unlike the rest of them. His jaw is clenched as he does so, watching until the truck comes to a stop, and them behind it.

"Reverence of Dawn, if you could provide us with cover and go up as if a concerned citizen to to see if they need help, we will be ghost our way up right behind."

Thomas Delacroix

Thomas watches Javed for instructions, then nods. Slipping up behind the truck sounds like a plan. He waits for Avery to get out of the car, then for Javed to be moving. Once Javed is out of the car, he'll follow.

Black Sheep

(BRB)

Black Sheep

Wits + Rituals: night jaggling! Plus WP because this is happening now.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 3, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

-a moving target-

The driver's side door of that swift little Tesla opens with a quiet, expensive snick. Avery's foot finds firm asphalt. Cars whipping by on the interstate rock the car on its springs; blow her hair into the wind.

Up ahead, the overpass. The shadows underneath. Subtly, almost imperceptibly, they seem to darken as Avery goes under the bridge.

The truck is quiet. She closes the distance. Those shadows work both ways; it is too dark for her to easily see into the cab, especially when the windows sit so far above the ground. And then --

[roll wits + alert!]

Reverence of Dawn

[wits + alertness]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )

Reverence of Dawn

When Avery is pleased about something, sometimes she claps her hands together. Apparently Charlotte does the same thing. What pleases the two women is generally different, but their delight is equally palpable in their smiles. Charlotte is so gleeful about the gremlin's daring even though Avery has to bite back a swear when her car swerves. They slip behind the car, Avery flicks on the emergency flashers, looks at Javed,

who shall be her Alpha,

and he tells her to do exactly what she was thinking, which -- oh -- makes her ever so happy. She gives him a little nod, checks traffic, then slips out of the car carefully, walking in her yoga pants and yoga jacket and pretty, high ballerina-bun of golden hair over towards the truck, passenger side, out of traffic. She's smiling, if a bit tightly, a bit warily, waving through the window to see if they're okay.

-a moving target-

-- then she sees the dull, telltale glint of metal inside. Gun. And movement: the door, flying open, the passenger inside doing his level best to clock her in the face with it.

[reaction posts if you guys want! and roll inits. also i'll allow one turn's worth of combat prep for everyone cept Charlotte, who was summoning.]

Javed Anubis-Sight

As the luminous Silver Fang makes her way up toward the passenger side, Javed quietly opens the door and slips out. His Philodox will play her part and he trusts her to do it well; it is incumbant upon them not to fail her.

"Take the passenger's side," he murmurs to Thomas...then he uses the cover of darkness, keeping low to the ground, to slip around to the driver's side and move forward, letting the shadows hide him as he melts up to his dark-furred war farm where he looks like his Deed Name's sake.

Javed Anubis-Sight

And he sees the gun on his way to cross to the driver's side aiming at Avery's face...he's no longer moving quietly. And he drops to a crouch to score his claws against the ground with a grating sound, sharpening his claws as he charges at the driver's side door.

He would run to his packmate-to-be if possible and protect her, but he already told Thomas to take that side. He is as bound to them as Thomas, and switching would just cause confusion. He *cringe* Trusts The Shadow Lord.

[[Razor Claws!]].

Reverence of Dawn

There are problems with Avery.

Avery cannot take one shape with her hand and another with her body. Avery's warform does not incite the delirium in mortals. Avery cannot speak to any of them through her thoughts while she is out there under the overpass, momentarily alone, facing who knows what.

But then: this is Avery. Whose shape can become most lethal even when it is small. Who knows full well she is not alone and who has only the highest regard for the wolves behind her, the most implicit trust. Who sees the glint of metal and hears the click of the door that says it is about to be thrown open, who jumps back and bares her teeth.

She doesn't need the delirium right now. They just opened wide their door to the wolf.

Stupid piggies.

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[And Init +18]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Reverence of Dawn

[-1 WP for Fangs of Judgement. Not sure if it applies but it might!

-1 WP for Resist Pain

-1 Rage to shift to hispo as she leaps into the cab of the truck]

Reverence of Dawn

[+9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )

Black Sheep

Someone must pull the strange theurge out of the car. Perhaps Charlotte does this herself, slipping out onto the dark, cinder-covered shoulder of the interstate, still murmuring as she calls to the night spirits closest to them for some sort of cover: from the humans rushing by. Darkness beneath which to work. True night and not this light-clouded, city-bound shadow of it. The promise of a half-remembered secret and the fight against the wyrm to sweeten the call.

[Init: +8!]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Thomas Delacroix

Thomas nods to Javed, slipping over to the passenger side of the truck. He is not the most sneaky of Shadow Lords, but the Gremlin has done a considerable job in helping him with that. If course, it has also hidden some things from them.

Inside that darkness, he shifts to glabro. He's not quite to a point yet where even in darkness he's comfortable shifting into war farm on the side of the highway, but mostly human-shaped, sure.

His lips twitch back a little when the door swings outward at Avery, and continues moving toward the front of the truck.[Init +5]

Thomas Delacroix

[It helps to remember dice. Wow. Sorry.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[Butch inits! +10]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[Joe inits! +8]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

-a moving target-

[Trey inits! +9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

Javed 20Avery 18Trey 18Butch 16Thomas 15Joe 13Charlotte 11

Dec's in reverse!

Black Sheep

Thomas and Avery on the passenger's side. Charlotte follows Javed half-way up the driver's side of the truck. Watching warily, guarding the approach to the back of the truck. Or the back of the truck itself.

[1. Uh, basically holding action for now.]

-a moving target-

[Joe: 1. open back door of cab. R1. SHOOT INTO BACK OF TRUCK WITH A SHOTGUN. R2. TWICE.]

Thomas Delacroix

[Grab the guy on the passenger side who just tried to open a door into Avery (Grapple)]

-a moving target-

[Butch: 1. shoot out the driver's side door! +2 diff for untargeted shot. R1. shoot Javed, assuming Javed is the one attacking through driver's door. R2. shoot through the ground at gas tank!

Trey: 1. slam Avery with door! R1. shoot her! R2. shoot Thomas too!]

Reverence of Dawn

[1a. The fuck you will. Leaping into truck in hispo as she sinks her teeth into Trey. Any old place really.

1b. Doing it again!

R1. Biting Joe before he shoots that shotgun.

R2. Joe again!]

Javed Anubis-Sight

They need the truck, and they need the truck in a condition that it will not be pulled over. That means that he cannot just rip the door off its hinges.

That being said, he has seen truckers drive my with the elbows capping their bloated arms hanging out the window. That means they don't need the window.

[[2 Rage spent!

1a: Grab driver by head/neck.

1b: Pull driver out through window (or if head only comes, that is acceptable too)

R1: claw driver

R2: Claw driver]]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Strength+Brawl]]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[resist!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Strength!]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Reverence of Dawn

[1a. Dex + Brawl - 2]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[Damage. Str + 1 + 1 + suxx -1]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 8 )

Reverence of Dawn

[+2 for FoJ]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 3) ( fail )

-a moving target-

[ow!?]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[1b. Dex + Brawl -3]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 3, 5, 7) ( success x 2 )

Reverence of Dawn

[Damage. Str + 1 +1 + 2 + suxx -1]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

-a moving target-

[STAHP]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

-a moving target-

[Trey: 1. Slam! taking off 3 dice for damage mods. they're not immune to pain, but they're highly resistant.]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[dam+1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 6, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[SOAK!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[3 bashing + knockback. -2 dice from next attack due to closing distance. regen 1 bashing at end of round!

Butch: shooting blindly out driver's side! +2 diff]

Dice: 8 d10 TN8 (3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[dam+1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Soak!]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )

Thomas Delacroix

[Bite that almost dead guy!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Thomas Delacroix

[2sux+2bite+5str=9]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[ow!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[joe: OPENS A DOOR.]

Black Sheep

[Charlotte: 1 rage - reflexive shift to hispo. 1a. BITE JOE; 1b. BITE HIM AGAIN + WP.]

Black Sheep

1a. Dex + Brawl -2 for split. +1 dif.

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Black Sheep

Damage: Str + Hispo + 2 + 1

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Black Sheep

1b. Dex + Brawl -3 for split +1 dif

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Black Sheep

Damage!

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[damned dice. soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Claw fucker through the now-shattered window! Dex+Brawl, diff 5 for razor claws]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 6 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Damage Stre 7 + 1 claw + 2 Razor + 5 succ = 15]]

Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[erm. soak]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[R1. Dex + Brawl -2 for closing distance again.]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[Damage!]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 6 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[Trey: shooting avery! -3 dice]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 3, 4) ( fail )

-a moving target-

[Butch: shoot Javed!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[dam+1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Soak]]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[Joe: blasting into the back of the truck. i'm gonna say 10 total damage before Something Bad happens.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

-a moving target-

[dam +4]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )

-a moving target-

[truck 'soaking'!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Die, please. Thanks.]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[{Damage]]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Black Sheep

Charisma + Enigmas!

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Black Sheep

+1 for natural channel!

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[gremlin: trying to break shotgun!]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[shotgun jams, 1 action to un-jam.]

Reverence of Dawn

[R2. JOE, JUST STOP IT.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Reverence of Dawn

[Damage!]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 8 )

-a moving target-

[soak?]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[Trey: shooting thomas -3dice]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[dam+1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Thomas Delacroix

[Soak!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

-a moving target-

[Butch: shoot the gas tank! 7 damage for Bad Stuff.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 5 )

-a moving target-

[dam +4]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[Joe: UNJAM MY FUCKIN SHOTGUN.]

-a moving target-

Javed 20 - Avery 18 - Trey 18 - Butch 16 - Thomas 15 - Joe 13 - Charlotte 11

-a moving target-

[Round Two - FIGHT!]

Black Sheep

Charlotte: 1a. BITE JOE. 1b. Spending 1 Gnosis - Gaia's breath on Javed.

-a moving target-

[Joe: 1. SHOOT TRUCK R1. SHOOT TRUCK R2. I'MA BLOW MA TRUCK UP.]

Thomas Delacroix

[1. Bite Trey (WP because OMG he needs to die like right now!)Rage: Bite Trey again!]

-a moving target-

[Butch: 1. I'ma kill you, Javed! (BLAM) R1. AND YOUR PRETTY FRIEND (BLAM @ Avery) R2. BUT MOSTLY JUST YOU (BLAM @ Javed)

Trey: 1. Argh, stop biting me! (BLAM @ thomas) R1. KILL THE HEALER! (BLAM @ Charlotte) R2. KILL THE TRUCK! (BLAM @ gas tank)]

Reverence of Dawn

[Out of rage and thankfully her friends are not close to death and making her lose her shit.

1a. Charlotte can kill Joe. BITE BUTCH.

1b. Thomas can kill Trey. BITE BUTCH.

1c. Please Kahseeno reward my faith in my friends. BITE BUTCH. +WP]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[2 Rage and1 Rage to ignore wound penalties

1a: Claw Butch

1b: Claw Butch

1c: Claw Joe's SHOTGUN AW YEAH DIE YOU WEAVERY METAL BOOMSTICK

R1: Claw Butch

R2: Claw Butch and if the fucker isn't dead by then, Javed commits god damned harikari because seriously]]

-a moving target-

[i just fell off AIM! but roll away!]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Claw 1, diff 5]]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[aw man i forgot to give you guys rage back :[ +2 Rage to all. if you wanna change your actions, just post your actions when it's your turn to roll. no diff penalty.]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Damage

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[FUCKING 1's]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 5 )

Reverence of Dawn

[Amended:

1a - Bite Butch

1b - Bite Butch

R1 - Bite Butch, Joe, Trey (in that order if any go down)

R2 - See above]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Claw 2, diff 5]]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[{Damage]]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

-a moving target-

[i almost don't wanna roll this soak]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Claw Shotgun, +2 for called shot - 1 for razor claws]]

Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (2, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Damage]]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

-a moving target-

[broken gun!]

Reverence of Dawn

[1a]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1

Reverence of Dawn

[D!]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 5 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Reverence of Dawn

[1b]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Reverence of Dawn

[D!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )

-a moving target-

[OW]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[x_x]

-a moving target-

[Trey: BLAM @ thomas, -3 dice]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[dam+2]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )

Thomas Delacroix

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[Thomas: beyond incap on lethal, dropped to breed form, unconscious.]

-a moving target-

[butch is dead, thomas is down.

Joe: SHOOT THE TRUCK D: -3dice]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

[dam +1]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[RETRACT THAT.]

-a moving target-

[Joe: grabs Butch's gun]

Black Sheep

1a. BITE JOE. -2 dice for split. + WP because die.

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 9, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Black Sheep

Damage

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 7 )

Black Sheep

1b. 1 Gnosis - Gaia's breath. 4 health levels for Thomas.

-a moving target-

[i'm going to say 1 hp goes toward bringing him up from the brink of death, since he'd taken a total of 9L. and then 3 toward actual healing-ness. so he's at 4L.]

Black Sheep

(Her permagnosis is 6. Is that 6 health levels?)

-a moving target-

[scratch that, 2L!]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[HEY LOOK ANOTHER SHOTGUN HI JOE WHASSUP? +1 diff for changing actions, +2 for called shot, -1 for claws]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN8 (1, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[Damage]]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

-a moving target-

[joe: OKAY SERIOUSLY? gun: x_x]

Reverence of Dawn

[R1. Butch died? Butch died! Yay! And we're back to nomming on Joe again.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Reverence of Dawn

[D!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[I AM INVINCIBLE!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

-a moving target-

[Trey: shooting charlotte! -3]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[dam +2]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

Black Sheep

Charlotte soak!

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )

Javed Anubis-Sight

[{Claw Trey. Die Trey. No really, DIE TREY.]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

Thomas Delacroix

[Thomas seconds that! Trey! Die!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )

Thomas Delacroix

[DMG! DICE!]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )

-a moving target-

x_x

-a moving target-

[Joe: GRAB TREY'S GUN DAMMIT]

Javed Anubis-Sight

[[DAMAGE BITCH]]

Dice: 17 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )

Reverence of Dawn

[R2]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1

Reverence of Dawn

[D!]

Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

-a moving target-

[soak!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

-a moving target-

x_x

-a moving target-

FINAL TALLY:

Javed 5L

Avery 3B

Thomas 2L

Charlotte 5L

Butch x_x +1 overkill

Trey x_x +4 overkill

Joe x_x +4 overkill

Truck 6L (4 left before catastrophe)

Gas tank 3L (4 left before catastrophe)

-a moving target-

And

it's

pandemonium for a while. Guns! Guns everywhere. Shotguns, twelve-gauges, double-barrels, shells dropping from the chambers. The blasts are deafening in such close quarters, but even so they can hear, they can all hear one another snarling in pain, in rage, in fury, in victory as they lunge through the windows and claw through the doors, bite those men inside with their cruel faces and their hard stares, their hides too tough to be human, their endurance too extreme to be natural.

Two of them should have died in seconds. They hang on, moment after moment, blasting shot into the Garou until finally, finally, they wear them down. Avery tears one down. Thomas -- as though he'd suddenly had enough -- rips the other one into pieces.

The last of the men, though: he tries over

and over

and over again to blast a hole in the cargo compartment, set loose whatever foul substance awaited within. He doesn't even care if he dies, at this point. He just wants to make sure no one else lives. Several times, he's a hair away from success. A pull of a trigger away from catastrophe, when Charlotte sends that gremlin after his gun. When Javed breaks the gun in his hands, claws it in half once. Twice. Would have done it a third time, but:

Avery gets to him first.

--

It is still dark under the bridge. Cars, oblivious, rush by in the dark. The acrid scent of leaking gasoline is seeping into the air from the damaged tank. The foul scent of something far worse is wafting from the back of the truck.

Time for them to complete the mission.

erich and ingrid are both butthurt.

Ingrid
So, Saturday night was arguably a success. Bit of a clusterfuck, sure, when plans were ditched and everyone on a mission scattered to the winds. But some kids were rescued, some tainted ones dealt with in some way, and most importantly a blighted taint was burned from the face of the earth, the land cleansed with fire and wrath.

Other things happened that night, too. Things that were less pleasant, things that left a sour taste in the mouth or, in the case of one wolf, the taste of another werewolf.

The physical injuries have healed. One has to wonder if others may yet remain, unseen scars left upon the psyche.

Maybe. This is Ingrid that we're talking about. Cold, unfeeling, aloof, distant, uncaring. Weird, outcast, outsider. These are all words that have been used to describe her in the past.

She does not go find him because she never goes to find him, not unless she absolutely has to. She has only been inside that tinyhouse! once, or during the course of one day, the first day that they all arrived in Denver. So, Erich gets a text that is simply: Let's talk. followed by a location. The location is one of Denver's park areas, not too far from Forgotten Questions, not to far from the last bastion of civilization that is Denver's south side. Someplace quiet where they can talk. Someplace close enough to help should the unthinkable happen, and they find themselves set upon by Spirals or some other horror.

It doesn't matter if he gets there early (unless he gets there twenty minutes early, Ingrid isn't that determined to keep someone from waiting), she's already there, waiting for him on a bench, her back to the table. There's a cold empty outdoor grill a few feet away, and other tables, but no one comes near her. They will have their privacy.

Erich
Well, Erich isn't early. In fact, he's borderline late, rolling up about five or seven minutes after the appointed time. He's wearing jeans that have seen better days. He's wearing a t-shirt that advertises some greasy-spoon somewhere called MOM'S PLACE. He's wearing an expression that reads -- well, any number of semi-conflicting emotion.

"Hey," he says, and plants a palm on the tabletop, levers and twists in the same seamless motion, plants his ass on the table and his feet on the bench. They're facing the same direction. It is midafternoon; there are families having summer picnics in the distance. In the far, far distance, because no one comes near these two. Erich watches them a while, the sunlight dappling him through the shade of the trees.

"I'm sorry I bit you," he starts with that. "I'm not gonna say I didn't mean to 'cause I did. But it wasn't really 'cause you took down the one I was fighting."

Ingrid
That surprises her. If he weren't sitting beside and a little behind her, he could see it, just barely. The lift of a brow is faint, the widening of her eyes fainter. He can see the way her head angles, though, an expression of canine curiosity despite her posture and her fine clothes. Anger's cousin irritation is just starting to creep into her voice when she asks, "Why was it, then?"

Erich
There are multiple ways to answer that question, multiple levels on which he could answer. In the end, after a few seconds of silent frowning, Erich goes with the simple approach. Starts there, anyway.

"I was in a really bad mood. I had to take it out on that thing. So when I couldn't..."

A short silence. Then he exhales, gives his head a small shake.

"I was pissed off at your new alpha. And at you. But mostly I was just kinda what-the-fuck at you. And a little... butthurt, I guess." He turns, the sunlight a glint in his pale eye. "What's the deal with you and Afro Daddy anyway?" He can't help it: the name kinda comes out edged in mockery.

Ingrid
She could interrupt him. Gaia knows, there are so many other Ragabashes in the world who would pounce on that silence and fill it with questions, the sound of their voices, anything. But Ingrid lets him talk. She lets the silence span and draw. And as she listens, irritation grows a little stronger, starts shading toward that anger.

Her head shifts one way while he talks, then the other.

"You were in a bad mood." She states it, lets the words fall like stones in the space between them as she turns to look up at him. "You were in a bad mood so you attacked me. In the middle of a fight. In the middle of our mission." The look she gives him then, brows lowered over those dark eyes - not black when exposed to proper light but dark dark brown - and the slightest, slightest shake of her head clearly asks him What? "It couldn't wait?"

Erich
"I was in a bad mood," Erich instantly detonates, "because you act like we're such good friends, and then you waffle on being my packmate for a year, and then you run off and pack up with some random fuckface who just rolls into town. Without even a word to me about it! Your supposed friend, who you literally ran to when the sky fell on your head! What the hell is up with that, Ingrid!"

A beat.

"And I waited until now to lay that on you, didn't I? I didn't stop in the middle of combat to have it out with you then, did I? I owned up to fucking up and apologized instead of trying to spin that into you trying to steal my kill or some such, didn't I? If that's not enough for you and you want to see me tarred and feathered, you're gonna have to wait for the moot. But right now we're going to discuss what the hell is up with -- with all that shit I just talked about, I don't even want to say it again."

Ingrid
"No," she says, those dark eyes of hers glittering with Rage. "You didn't wait until now, you almost killed me. I had thought you merely lost control again, but now you say it was on purpose. That it was your choice. And you want to tell me that is my fault?"

She rises then, and only because he's sitting on top of a table and she's wearing heels is she able to come close to meeting him on a level. "You want to talk about these other things, alright. Let us talk about these other things. You say I waffled," and there's a weight to that word, the look she wears briefly showing she either doesn't quite understand it or she has never used it in a sentence until this moment and can't quite decide if she likes the feel of it on her tongue, "on being your packmate? You have asked me once, a year ago, and I said no. You asked me to run with you and Charlotte and I said no. I found you in Mexico and we came here together. You did not ask me to join you under a totem, and even if you had I would have said no. So tell me, Erich. Which of us is wavering?"

Erich
"You didn't tell me no," Erich argues. "The first time, you just didn't even answer. The second time -- okay, I don't even remember what you said. Maybe you said no. But the third time: some people might think you coming with us to Denver meant something other than 'no'.

"Anyway," there's something oddly savage about the sudden redirect, "that's not even the point. The point is, you act like I'm your friend, and then you neglect to even tell me that you were packed with some new dude. Let alone why. Or why you wouldn't pack with me all this time, but jumped on his bandwagon in -- what, a month? Less?"

Ingrid
"Oh you forgot," she says, drawing out the words with the slightest of smiles. "How convenient." Where he becomes savage, she - though obviously angry - remains cool.

"You may not remember, but I do, or are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Erich
"How about you answer the goddamn question!" Erich is flatout shouting.

Ingrid
"Why would I do that," she asks, cold in the face of his rage, "when you're answering it for me? Or when you answered it for me the other night?"

Erich
"Ugh," Erich throws up his hands. "That doesn't even make sense. I asked you why you didn't bother telling me you packed up. And I asked you why you packed up with some random glass walker, but not me. How the hell did I answer that for you?"

Ingrid
"The answer to the first is that what I do and who I do it with is none of your concern," she says airily. "And I cannot believe I have to spell out the second, but I suppose I have to add phenomenal stupidity to your list of failings. It's because you are weak," and her her words are pitched to cut as sharply as that sword of hers. "And because you are selfish. You could have killed me, and what then? What if I had risen and blindly attacked the rest of you? What if I hadn't? The others would have been down their scout and down a set of claws and they would have been doomed to failure. And why? Because you were too busy wailing like a child over someone snatching up a bone that was never yours to claim."

Erich
Deaf. Stupid.

Weak.

It's that last insult -- not that the earlier ones didn't sting, didn't burn in his chest like an ember -- that snaps some tenuous thread in him. In an instant Erich is in Ingrid's face, roaring wordlessly at her, eyes hot as afterburners, a second away from shifting.

He controls it. Sort of: he slams his fists into the picnic table on either side of her, cracks the wood. In the distance a family is staring at them, the mother hurrying to gather her kids. Erich's chest heaves. His nostrils flare. Gradually it winds down. He breathes normally, inches away.

"So we're obviously not friends anymore," he says, almost conversational. "And I think the answer you're actually giving me with all these offhand little snarks is that we never were. Guess I was just convenient muscle all along. I'm obviously just too dumb to have seen it until now.

"But before you go about calling me weak, dumb, and selfish, you better take a good look around yourself. Your Alpha's the one who wanted to go home with the job unfinished. Your Alpha's the one who wanted two wolves evacuating kids and one breaking a generator while I rushed the enemy. Your Alpha's the one who wasted all his time pinging at the snipers with a goddamn peashooter.

"You're the one who came running to me for comfort when you couldn't handle the shitstorm out there anymore. I'm the one who picked you up and gave you a shoulder to lean on. You're the one who turned your back on me as soon as you found -- " the sarcasm drips, " -- better. I'm the one who put you down in one bite.

"Don't you forget that, Dances with the Hurricane." He pushes off the table, gives her room to do her disappearing act. "Because I won't."

Ingrid
At last her digs, carefully timed and placed daggers, set off the chain of reaction intended since he said he meant to take her down, his pettiness brought to the field of combat by his own admission. He moves, gets in Ingrid's face, snarls and Ingrid

weathers it. Her hands folded primly in her lap, her shoulders set, her spine straight. Her eyes, though. She offers him the slightest smirk, but it's the barest tightening around her eyes that gives sign to her carefully contained fury, the only emotion she allows to show on the surface.

Her head tilts at him, while he stands there breathing heavily in her face. "And you wonder why I won't join you."

She doesn't wait for him to finish regaining control, but dips beneath his straining arms. And she pauses. Looks back over her shoulder at him.

"You're right, he did. But you forget, Erich, no one told you to go rushing headlong into battle on your own. Our mission was to release children, not engage the enemy, you made that choice, just as you have chosen to reshape the past to suit your own accusations."

Then she smiles, and though it's wider there is no mirth to it, only disdain. She even claps her hands together for him. "Oh good for you, Storm's Teeth. An Ahroun took down a Ragabash half his size with scarcely any skill in her natural weaponry in one bite. You must be so proud." She turns then, calling back over her shoulder to him, her tone offhand, "There's no need to worry I might call you for some sort of comfort."

MINE!

Twilight

Rules:

1. Have fun.

2. I don't really have many rules.

3. Scene will be combination of cinematic and diced.

4. PM me flaws.

5. Let me know if you have anything you really cannot stand to see in the scene and/or if I accidentally hit any negative buttons for you.

6. Keep track of your own tempers, et cetera.

7. I'll give you one free reroll to use anytime you like in the scene.

Storm

[strict carnivore. if this scene involves speed-eating cakes, erich is fucked :[ ]

Twilight

Well after dark. The sun is long gone from behind the mountains and the sky out here is vasty-dark, scattered with stars spilled across its depths like glitter spilled from the art table of a pre-school. The Citadel is far enough away from the Denver metro area proper that there is not even the tell-tale glow of the lights of the city sprawl on the eastern horizon to mark place and time.

Ingrid and Tommy know the way well enough by now: the turnoff toward the gravel drive, the wooded property surrounded by its electried cattle fence. That one is no more than four or perhaps five feet high, depending on the lay of the surrounding property. There are no streetlights to mark the entrance, just a reflective sign that warns trespassers away and identifies the facility.

The main compound is not visible from the road, nor indeed from any particular vantage point in the rough square mile that is enclosed by cattle fence. The central core of buildings are mostly shrouded by trees: scrub pines and gambol oak, underbrush allowed to grow a bit wild to shield the buildings themselves from view. They can see the drive through an open field close to the entrance gate, a rutted gravel wallow before it disappears between the trees. A shack close to it, which looks rather like a guard shack but appears dark at least on first glance from a distance.

Having likely circled the property at least once, Ingrid is aware of two other gates in the electric fence, one close to the abandoned house where Dmitri must have been: beaten and tortured and murdered after he tried to escape, and where is body was hidden in plain view: in a grave in the old family cemetery. And one on the other side of the surrounding ring of the property, accessing another trail leading up into the hills that grow rougher and fold into the mountains beyond.

Daddy

Again he was here, kicking mud off his boots and looking as though he might murder someone for it. Though, this time that look seems to be directed. He can sense the compound, maybe its the glow it casts in the otherwise black night. But his eyes seem focused on the thing.

Its not the mud that he minds. That much is apparent since, as soon as Ingrid returns, he drops to one knee in the stuff. The knife is out, the big gleaming thing with serrated back. He draws four 'x's in a row.

"This is us." Says Afro Daddy, who actually wasn't sporting an afro tonight, but tightly braided hair. He flips the knife, catching it gingerly at the blade and points to blunt butt of it to Ingrid.

"Show us where we are."

Storm

This is the first time Erich has met either Sophia or Tommy. Truth is when he got the message from Ingrid he sorta assumed it'd be like old times. Just him and Ingrid, going somewhere to kill something, somehow. Can't quite say he was taken aback at the extra help, but -- well. He was a little surprised. And a little quiet, riding over, sending the other two puzzled glances now and then.

Now, as they approach the proverbial hotzone, Erich gets his head into the game. Sitting in the back of the rental car-truck-minivan-whatever it is, he cracks his knuckles. Pops his neck. They come to a stop, and he opens his door and hops out. Fumbles out a ragged little scrap of paper -- all that remains of the neatly drawn map Ingrid provided them with at the start -- and squints at it until Tommy starts to draw in the dirt.

Erich rumples the map up again and slides it into his pocket. He frowns down at the scratched dirt instead.

Mist

When she was told of what had been happening Sophia seemed happy enough to offer her services. The Crescent Moon knew that she couldn't lend them much in the way of physical strength, but there was far more at work here than matters of flesh and blood.

She seemed quiet, for the most part, letting her eyes wander around her surroundings, watchful and mindful of everything around her. To be honest it might appear as if she was meditating while the New Moon took the time to scout the area and bring information back.

Sophia's blood was undeniably strong, but she was no queen... The members of House Wise Heart have long stood in the shadow of their cousins but never has a house dared to doubt the wisdom that comes from this reserved and contemplative house!

Gone was the youthful and whimsical smile that usually stretched across her face. Her mood was somber, sober, and focused. News of what was happening here hit her hard and she's been in a reserved mood ever since.

Eventually she takes the time to settle her knees into the dirt beneath her and she lowers herself to the ground in order to place her ear on the dirt and she takes the time to simply listen. Quiet and attentive.

Hurricane

They've been gathered together by one of Denver's newest and smallest packs. Ingrid in particular called out to and invited along Erich. She gives him the gist when she picks him up from wherever he was: Place outside of town that's meant to be helping troubled youth is so much worse. A boy's body was found, mutilated and tortured and buried on the grounds.

Will you help me tear this place apart? she'd asked through gritted teeth, her dark eyes sparking Rage.

It's Ingrid that provides the quartet of Garou with transportation, a sleek dark sedan she's rented to take them out to the Citadel compound. Other vehicles - vans, mostly, or whatever would make sense - driven by kinfolk because, on the off chance the other children being held here are in a rescuable state, they're not going to want to be crammed in a vehicle with one or more like Ingrid or her companions. These vehicles do not follow them all the way to The Citadel; they park elsewhere, and they await their orders.

Ingrid parks them near to where she and Afro Daddy began their hunt the last time, closer to the rear of the complex, past the seeming abandoned guardhouse and closer to the abandoned house with its broken glass panes and its nearby cemetary. She is dressed for the hunt in soft, dark colored athletic attire, yoga pants and t-shirt and sneakers. A moment later she shifts down to four legs instead of two, dark furred wolf instead of slender Korean woman, that fur bristling. And then she'd gone a-scouting.

She returns to them quickly, and melts back into that human shape. Wordlessly, she takes up that offered knife and kneels, unconcerned by dirt on her knees as she pulls a small LED flashlight - about as big around as her slender index finger. Keeping it low to the ground and covering it with her fingers, she uses the diminished light to illuminate the drawing.

"This," she points with the tip of the blade, "is where we found the body. There's a stream," a wavy line, "part of which goes beneath the fence. I suggest we enter there."

Daddy

He nods, takes the knife once she's done and wipes it off on his denim before place it back in the holder at his hip. There's a moment of contemplation marked by a slow plucking of his beard and his eyes move to Sophia, to Erich.

Erich.

"I don't know you. Don't know your strengths so I won't try and tell you where step. But if you can trust her--" A nod to Ingrid. "The way I trust her, then we shouldn't have any problems."

And to Sophia.

"That goes for you too. But if either of you see something that's important, let us know."

And finally, to Ingrid.

"You've got point."

Mist

When Ingrid returns to them her attention is drawn from the ground towards the New Moon! Her eyes follow the wolf as she slowly returns to her birth form and, soon enough, she is moving closer to see what is being discussed.

Her attention was on the map and she found herself studying it's details. Yet she still wore that empty look upon her face as she studied the features and general locations of things, putting them to memory in the event she found herself separated from the group.

Ingrid's plan seemed the safest path. It would make it easier for them to approach the place, as well as help mask their scent in the event there were dogs, or worse, protecting the grounds. So she quietly nods when Daddy does, and sees no reason to second guess the New Moon's plans!

When Daddy asks if she trusts Ingrid, Sophia simply smiles, and glances once towards Ingrid and then away, it was the first smile she had managed since they left and she didn't feel inclined to say anything further.

"Some nights the quiet comes because they know better, but most nights it comes because they do not." She says to the group as she wiggles her toes in the dirt beneath her feet and she slowly stands and glances off into the distance as she searches the darkness for, well, anything. "Will we be alone?" She asks in regards to the land itself, you never know what you might encounter wandering the grounds.

Storm

Directly addressed, Erich looks briefly startled -- wolf in the headlights. And there's a moment, just an errant second as Afro Daddy says if you can trust her the way I trust her, when something hot and glittering flashes into the young Ahroun's eyes. There's no easy explanation for why, and in the end it has perhaps very little to do with Tommy himself. Anyway, a moment later it is gone, and he frowns down at the rough dirt-map instead.

"I'll lay low for now," he says. "But once we hit resistance, I'm best up front and center with my teeth."

Hurricane

Once she's told them their location, the location of best entrance, and her suggestion, Ingrid twists the light off and returns it to her pocket. She looks to Afro Daddy first, and there is respect in the way she watches him, waits for him to assess and in turn issue marching orders. He's a Fostern, yes. He's a Philodox, yeah. But it's something else. She's found the leader she would follow, and it shows.

Erich next, who is not the other Fostern on the scene. Erich who is all wolf-in-headlights. And finally to Sophia. She smiles.

"Are we ever?" she asks, momentarily cryptic. Then, "The way is clear for us, for now. We should go quickly."

And she shifts right there, through the forms to small lithe Lupus. She digs a moment at the scratched marks on the earth, covering those tracks. And this time she doesn't give Tommy a talen to trace her movements. She waits to cloak herself in the night.

Then, on point, she leads the way to the stream and the low gap in the fence.

Twilight

Ingrid leads through through the rough underbrush of the rolling valley, upslope. That much is clear from the changing relationship of the horizon with the sky; from the steeper grades, the occasional sharp scree slope where the stunted trees cling like twisted little fiends to whatever purchase their gnarled roots can find. The hum of that electric fence is audible to those who take their lupine form; is a buzzing dissonance, not precisely an electric whine in their ear but a hum, alien against the song of the crickets and cicadas, all those night noises.

They lope through the darkness, flush out a 'possum on their circuit and hear other things scrabbling in the underbrush, the whoo, whoo of an owl.

Takes less time on four legs than on two, and soon enough they smell water, which smells sweet and clean. The swiftrunning sound of water-over-stone. The stream has cut its own little gully into the bedrock, shallow but steep-sided and surrounded by a tight march of trees grown taller for the free access to water in all but the dryest of drought years.

Its little gully cuts right beneath the outer electric fence.

The way-in is narrow; they will have to belly crawl and shimmy over the mossy stones, in the cold water, but there is just enough room for a wolf to cross.

Daddy

[Lupus Dex +Ath]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Hurricane

[dex+ath+lupus]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )

Hurricane

[percept+alert (scents), diff -2 (lupus)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN4 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 5 )

Mist

[Dex+Athletics for Sophia!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )

Storm

[wiggling under the fence!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Mist

[Per+PU!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 3, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )

Storm

[percep + PU in lupus!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN4 (2, 3, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 2 )

Daddy

[Perc+Alert]

Dice: 5 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Erich catches the scents of several canines; most of the spoor is old but the urine markings are moderately fresh. Within the day, at least. The night sounds are definitely decreased on the other side of the fence, and the scents of small game are nearly non-existent.

Storm

Erich is closer to his wolf self than most human-born werewolves, and closer still yet in this form. When that possum spooks he instantly leaps after it, crashes into the brush and wades three strides in before abruptly coming to his sense and returning to the group. Leaves in his fur. Mud on his paws.

He wades through the stream unhesitatingly, pausing to lap water from its edge. On the other side, his legs are wet, as is his underbelly. He shakes his fur out: dappled grey despite his supposed tribe. Almost immediately upon scrambling up on the bank, his nose is to the ground, picking up fresh scents. The odor of other canines -- dogs? wolves? -- immediately assaults him. He chuffs, sneezes once. Wags his tail low and slow and uncertain.

Storm

[oh! almost forgot!

-1R to City Running

-1WP to Resist Pain]

Mist

The silver furred wolf soon melds into the darkness. She keeps herself close by following the scents and movement of her fellow Garou in the darkness. She wasn't nearly as stealthy or mobile as most of them but she managed to keep up just fine on her own.

When they cross into the darkness her ears perk up and she finds herself attentive to the fact that the entire place seems quieter. "Forest, afraid." she conveys to the others in the lupine tongue, the simplicity of that form makes it difficult to convey certain concepts but that one seemed easy and simple enough.

There was fear looming in the air around them. Fear that either came from the Wyrm's presence or the presence of some predatory animal that roamed the grounds... Both were clear possibilities, and both would remain on the forefront of her mind as long as she could manage.

She keeps herself attentive to the direction others were moving. Though, she didn't doubt she would be doing more soon enough, for the moment the matter of getting to their destination safely was up to those who knew this area better.

Hurricane

Ingrid wriggles and squirms as though she were born to this form and not the two-legged one she waers so often. Shooting ahead of the others, keeping on point, on the other side of the fence she stops and looks back over her shoulder as the others make their way beneath the hum of the electric wires. Luckily, there is no scent of scorched fur wafting upward in their wake, no tszzzzz-YELP as someone rises too soon or misjudges the size of the gap.

It's as she watches the others come through, ears swiveled to catch sounds behind and around them, that she notices the sensors. No need to alarm the others at this particular moment, they seem high enough up that they would have missed it, but she does make a note to be watchful for more on this side. And to be alert just in case they set them off.

"Four wolf-dog smell," she communicates quietly to the others. "Wrong smell." Swinging her head to face the front, she lifts it, directing them before looking back, and she growls. "Wait. I look."

And, unless someone objects, she finally wraps herself in the darkness, seeming to snatch hold of the shadows with her teeth to draw them around her.

[-1G Shadow Weaving: dex+occult diff 7]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Hurricane

[and Blur for good measure: manip+stealth diff 8-1 (Shadow Weaving)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Daddy

That moment the opossum rushes out, and Erich after it, Tommy freezes, his shaggy fur catching up to the sudden cessation of motion to his body. One paw up in the air he watches them go and, when its all over he continues with the rest.

Except when that Owl made that noise. They really do that then? Not just in children's books but in real life. His head thrusts upward once he hears it, and he turns to track the thing, to actually see one. A moment later he's rushing to catch up. Nature man. Nature is a trip.

And on the other side of the fence, where Erich sniffs, chuffs and sneezes, Tommy lets out a low and uncomfortable growl. It wasn't at the scent per-se. It was almost expected that they would come up against something and with the corpse they'd dug up missing its heart, he had already expected the worst. No, he was growling at something they'd already passed. Something he'd noticed gleaming at the edge of the fence. Those murderous eyes fix on it, the braided fur down the wolfs back tightening.

When Ingrid reports and volunteers, he snaps out of it, stepping forward and resting on his haunches.

"Careful" he communicates to her before she leaves, his ears pressed back against his head. He's never actually said it to her before.

To the others he simply says. "Hidden eyes. Be still."

Storm

Hidden eyes.

Erich's turn to growl, low and choppy and deep in his chest. He turns in place, swiveling on his haunches. God help them all if he actually spies whoever it is spying on them: he never was known for his restraint.

[WAT. WHERE? perc+alert]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 4, 5, 7) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Erich sees the motion sensors on the fencing surrounding the compound. He is confidence that they did not trip it off, but he wouldn't be surprised to see more further in.

Hurricane

[dex+stealth, diff -1 (shadow weaving)]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 ) Re-rolls: 2

Hurricane

[and percept+alert, looking for sensors and also dangers]

Dice: 7 d10 TN4 (1, 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Hurricane

[more stealth]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Mist

Sophia decides that if they want to be as stealthy as possible they will need to avoid even being detected so her eyes move towards Daddy and she addresses him in the lupine tongue as quietly as possible.

"Spirit world," she suggests to the Half Moon. Knowing that it would probably be best to avoid detection completely if they want to sneak onto the grounds without being seen and the Spirit world at night was every wolf's best friend! With Luna high over head the Wyrm knew to withdraw to the darkest corners of the spirit world.

Hurricane

Where the woods abruptly end, so too does Ingrid stop pressing forward. She watches over the compound for several seconds, eyeing the space between the treeline and the fence, looking for those sensors. Judging their connection to the darkness.

And plotting.

Then she slowly slinks out, each paw placed carefully as she inches closer.

[and some more stealth, +WP because she would put more effort into being stealthy for the further closening/possibly retreat, whichever the second roll is]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 9 ) [WP]

Daddy

"Banes..." the half moon growls back, eyes still looking for any sign of the returning half moon. A large pink tongue swipes at his maw and for a moment his head turns upward in a very human expression of realization.

"Forest afraid."

Twilight

Things in the Kennel.

Dice: 6 d10 TN4 (2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 5 )

Hurricane

She's gone for several minutes, is their scout. The only reason they know not to fear for her safety lies with Tommy. He can feel her along the bond that they share, strong and steady as stone and yet wild and feral. They can't easily communicate from a distance, but he knows that she's there. He knows that she still breathes and is without stress or strain.

Eventually, she returns to them, quiet as a ghost. One moment the space beside Afro Daddy is empty, the next there is a slender Korean woman crouched among the wolves. She'll need her human throat and mouth and tongue to explain everything that she's found and seen and considered.

There are motion sensors scattered about, but she can guide them past them. The trees end and there's a wide open perimeter around a chain link fence, six feet high if it's an inch and topped with barbed wire and motion activated lights. Lights that tend to go off from time to time from the wind, an insect, an owl. There's a generator inside, that's the hum they may have heard. There's a kennel for the dog-things that might not be dogs with exits to this ring of the compound or to the interior, the animals awake but not alert enough to find a scentless wolf like her. She describes to them the chapel that glows with light, the dorm with metal walls and no windows, lights on in the house on the second floor. The only space without the wire is the main gate. So she gives them a few options she's considered.

They can go in through the front, up over the main gate howling for the death the destruction they are hoping to achieve here tonight. Ingrid can use the distraction to slip in from the side or behind, take out the power, find and take out the generator, maybe find and release kids she finds.

Or, she suggests, they cross that open expanse one at a time and at irregular intervals, setting off the lights yes, but perhaps getting them close enough to the fence to cut a different way in. Perhaps they can preserve their element of surprise for a little while longer.

She looks to Tommy when she's finished, expectant. He is Alpha, not just for tonight but for...well...maybe not for always, but until he proves he's no longer worthy of the honor.

Servius Sacrificed-Memory

(Open scene?)

Twilight

(Er, probably not at this point, sorry! It is a scene I am STing. I'd be happy to include you in scenes like this but I need to be able to communicate with you via AIM and I think you said on Thursday that leaves you out. :( )

Servius Sacrificed-Memory

(I got AIM now)

Servius Sacrificed-Memory

(anyway, sorry I interrupted ^^'')

Mist

(Roll to activate thing!)

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Daddy

Soon he's crouching too. This level of planning requires more than just body language and guttural sounds. Sophia suggests an approach of her own and after a while they combine them all together.

"We'll have to hide ourselves especially well. We want 'em nice and spooked once we hit 'em."

Mist

Sophia listens intently to the plan, having returned to her birth form as well, and her excitement grows as her eyes pop open and she procures a tiny little sculpture of the bones of various creatures woven together.

"Sometimes there is no choice but to alert the enemy to our presence, but knowing we are here, and knowing where we are are not the same thing. Dogs care less for sight and more for scent... A strong scent will lead them exactly where we need them to be." She says as she taps what looks like the head of the tiny little creation.

Slowly her eyes close and when they open again the little bone structure comes to life and begins skittering up her arm like a spider climbing a tree.

"Tell me when we are ready, and we will begin." She confirms to the others as she takes the little skittering creature a few steps away into the darkness to do what needs to be done.

Hurricane

One might expect Ingrid to wear a smug expression when Tommy says they'll need to hide themselves well. She has proven herself to be a rather effective sneak, and hunter, and scout. But she's though she is confident in her own abilities, she's not the only one that has to hide out.

She merely nods.

Twilight

After hours the guard shack is not manned. No one comes and no one goes and the motion sensors scattered throughout the property tell them where and who and when and what sector. The feeds all patch into the controller's desk in the dorm where at least one of the ersatz counselors is assigned to sit up all night, drowsing at the front desk, listening to the dull snoring of his charges, and maybe the last night radio broadcast of Reverend Dick Browning, coming to you over the airways out of Lubbock, Texas, bringing you the latest reports about the war over the soul of the world.

Hint: the good guys are losing.

The signs are accruing.

The end is coming soon.

Tonight our hero is Gerald Hobbs.

--

The first time he was arrested it was for uttering. Forged his grandmother's check when he was nineteen and dopesick and hungry. Kept doing it with other checkbooks until he ran out of relatives from whom to steal and started stealing for real.

Now he's reformed.

Now he's on a church kick.

Has also developed a taste for a particularly illegal sort of pornography that is only available live streaming from outer Mongolia and another show's starting in fifteen minutes or so so he's fucking excited and he knows, he knows, he knows, that the victim is always a sinner who deserves what he or she gets.

--

Meanwhile, out in the thicket of woods, Ingrid returns to her fellows and reports on her findings. They place is ringed by motion detectors and floodlights. There's no cover close to the fencing surrounding the compound, no. All that has been ruthlessly cut away. No sign that they've been detected yet but she has not found any secret hidden side entrances or obvious weaknesses that they can exploit. Ingrid offers: going over the front gate, or trying to sneak in staggered and Sophia, at last, suggests her talen.

Use it to set off the lights and make enough noise that whoever the fuck is inside will release the hounds. Draw the animals off into an ambush and then enter through the kennels while the lights are all still on. Sure, those inside will be on alert, but the secondary thread of having the animals released at their back will be gone and they will be coming in through a side entrance - the now-open kennel-gates - rather than over the main gate.

--

Five minutes. Five minutes to his fucking show and he's already salivating. Can feel the tingle of anticipation in the strangest places and he doesn't question that anymore. Doesn't question it at all. There's Reverend Browning naming down the signs, counting out the seals, fucking Gerald doesn't understand them he just knows it is coming and it is necessary and he does not yet know that everything is already falling apart. Does not understand that Christina Black is not "on a prayer retreat" but is fucking dead. Does not get that the pieces are unraveling all around him.

Does not -

--

The lights go on. There's a little alarm. He checks the cameras and yeah fuck the lights are on, probably the wind.

Then more and now the dogs are barking and wasn't there a warning to be on -

- wasn't there -

- Jesus fuck he's pissed off now. They are gonna make him miss the show. Fucking kids how the fuck they are getting out he doesn't know the whole place is secure maybe they were hiding out after chapel some of still don't seem devout enough, to him. Don't seem like they are ready for the mark.

Don't understand what the fire of god feels like when it is burning up inside you.

There won't be another one for days. It's not every day you find -

--

He hits a button. Two gates rise.

The hounds go baying out after the talen. Snarling.

Twilight

The Things in the Kennel

Dice: 6 d10 TN4 (3, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )

Hurricane

Sophia lets loose that talen. Ingrid shifts through but this time doesn't go all the way to Lupus. She stops on four legs with a heavy jaw instead of two and a sword, much as she likes it this way might be quicker. Quicker to shift down to slip through that kennel, unless she wants to spend her Rage.

Which she doesn't.

So, hunched in the underbrush as best as she can as a huge, dark-and-grey furred dire wolf. The shadows still cling to her, still drape over her form and make her a little darker. A little more Lord of the Shadows.

[dex+stealth, diff -1 (shadow weaving lasts the whole scene woo!), not moving so no pret. grace spec]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 6 )

Storm

If we're perfectly honest: Erich was hardly paying attentiong throughout the impromptu planning session. He was trying. He wanted to. But he was in wolf-skin and there were all these smells, and of all of them it was the dogs, the dogs, the dogs that distracted him the most. Something primitive and primeval in him wanted-needed-had to rise up, assert dominance. He wants to fight, he wants to take them down, those other predators who might challenge his superiority, he wants to defend his turf and his place at the top of the food chain.

And even when he could get over that, there were other distractions. There was this random mad-eyed Silver Fang Theurge -- is there a factory that churns them out or something? -- who reminds him a little of Charlotte but not really. And she is purity itself, and she is insanity itself, and Erich finds himself edging away from her just because she's so fucking nuts that it seeps from her pores, it lights up every shining hair on her body.

And that's not even getting to the last thing. The core of the matter, maybe. The one thing that underpins his instability tonight, because the moon is small and he can't blame it on that: no, it's not that at all. It's Ingrid, it's this new guy whose deedname is Afro Daddy, what the fuck kinda deedname is that, fucking Glass Walkers. It's this new guy who popped out of nowhere and now,

now he's Ingrid's Alpha?

What?

--

Erich growls when the bat-talen is suggested. He can't help it; he just doesn't. want. to deal with under-the-table, behind-the-curtain crap tonight. He's sick of that. Can't everything just be in the open for once? Can't it just be plain and simple and bloody?

Still: he's outnumbered, he's out-talked, they keep talking and he alone stays in wolf-skin, his hackles up, his ears flattening the longer it goes on. Which in the grand scheme of things isn't that long at all. Step back, take a neutral look: this is actually going swimmingly. It's not every day that people actually come up with a plan beyond Run In And Bite. It's not every day that garou not of the same pack manage to work together as smoothly and intelligently as this.

Erich's incapable of neutral viewpoints, though. He's agitated, he's growing more and more restless, he's stopping just short of pacing where he is by the time they finished. When that Silver Fang looses that talen, he wants to bolt after it the way he bolted after that possum.

He settles for baring his teeth instead. And waiting.

Mist

Sophia, for her part, hopes that her scent upon her little spy is going to be enough to help mask the presence of the real her. After all, they already smell her, right? So when they smell her again that'll just be the same as already smelling her her... So with that in mind she takes up a position in the distance, away from the site where the ambush will be set, ready to leap into action as soon as the Canines run past.

There was something entirely twisted about allowing a creature like a dog to be inhabited by a bane. No dog wanted to be infected, no dog wanted to be tainted and corrupted like that. Dogs wanted to love their owners, they wanted to share kisses, and they wanted to do whatever their master wanted... But right now those poor creatures were in a living hell as a spirit latches on to their very psyche and torments their spirit.

Sophia did not easily feel anger, what she felt was pain, and sorrow, remorse for the wrong that others have done, and have had done to them. Her rage was still present, however, and she could feel it welling up inside her as the sound of the beasts approached.

She did her best to hide and prepare herself. She didn't want to... She didn't want to hurt them, she didn't want to hear their whimpers of pain, but she knew that what they were going through right now was far worse than anything she could ever put them through. Killing them would be an act of mercy, of kindness, and that, as much as she loathed the thought of doing it, was something Sophia could bring herself to do.

[Stealth! I gotta use a WP too!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Daddy

He wasn't one of their tribe but the dark, long limbed hispo that now stands where the tall Glasswalker once did could start a storm with the way he was breathing. Ingrid moved to her invisible spot, and Sophia to hers and he stalks carefully to spot in the underbrush as well.

Somehow he manages to control that breathing, despite the ferocity and Rage building up in him. He focuses. He prepares himself.

[1 WP to activate Resist Pain]

[Dex+Stealth+Hispo]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

(For Ingrid's stealth successes: she is choosing to get behind the pack and attack them from behind rather than a free attack.)

Hurricane

[+10]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Mist

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Storm

[+9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )

Daddy

+7

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Twilight

What comes loping at them chasing down that bat-talen of bird-bones is a ragged pack of things recognizable as canine only by their smell. More wolf than dog, more coyote than wolf, with patchy, failing skin and the odd bit of scaliness to offset the grotesquerie of their patchy, falling-out fur. They come snapping and feral and angry and unrestrained, slaver streaming from their distended jaws, hungry hungry hungry -

+6

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Twilight

Erich: 17Ingrid: 14Pack: 10Sophia: 9Tommy: 8

Twilight

Order:

Erich: 17

Ingrid: 14

Pack: 10

Sophia: 9

Tommy: 8

Daddy

1a Bite Pack

1b Bite at Pack

R: Bite at Pack

Mist

[Sophia is hoping they move in to the area past her and she'll try running in behind them! So... 1 Rage!

1. Bite a dog! ]

Twilight

Thing 1: Bite Erich!

Thing 2: Bite Sophia!

Thing 3: Bite Tommy!

Thing 4: BITE THAT BAT!!!!; Rage 1: Bite Tommy

Thing 5: Bite Erich;

Hurricane

1: Jaw lock Thing 1

Storm

Resist Pain previously activated. City Running previously activated. -3 Rage!

1, R1-3: TEAR ALPHA THING TO LITTLE BLOODY GIBLETS.

Mist

[Sorry!

1. Get behind a dog

R1. Bite a Dog!]

Storm

[1. chomp!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 7 )

Storm

[dam+6]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 8 )

Twilight

Thing 1: soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Hurricane

[Here let me help: change to bite, diff +1, -2 for behind attack]

Dice: 7 d10 TN4 (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Hurricane

[dam: +5+1+1(hispo)]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

Thing 1: x.x

Twilight

Thing 2: Biting Sophia!

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (4, 4, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )

Mist

[Fuck ow! Soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Storm

[slightly belated WP]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6) ( fail )

Twilight

Thing 3: Biting Tommy

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Daddy

Soak!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Thing 4: murdering a talen.

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Thing 5: Biting Erich

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Daddy

Bite! -2

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 5, 5, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 5 )

Storm

[soak!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Daddy

Damage 4+1+1

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Daddy

(The extra damage)

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Thing 4: incap.

Daddy

Bite number 2! -3

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Daddy

Damage: 4+1+1+6

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Storm

How many times have they done this before? Erich before, Ingrid behind. It's just how things go. He's the brick wall, she's the blade in the night. He's the vanguard, she's the ambush. It's what they do.

Ingrid can't quite be blamed for thinking this is what they'll do this time, too. She can't quite be blamed for misreading Erich's silence as -- well, as being too Erich to have much to say. Or for reading his agitation as simple recklessness, simple want of violence. Or for misreading his fangs-first lunge at the Alpha-dog as his usual, joyously bloodthirsty approach to battle. But:

she does misread him. And she knows in an instant, when she steals in and takes that Alpha down with Erich,

that he did not see it that way at all.

The Ahroun roars in her face. There are no words. There is only noise, and hot breath, and bristling hackles, and blue irises shrinking to mere rims around boundless black pupils. There is only the vaguest intimation of meaning --

MINE.

-- before he lunges. At Ingrid.

[R1 - changed to biting Ingrid at +1diff.]

Storm

[This time with the roll!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 3

Storm

[dam +7]

Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

Hurricane

Soak?

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 4, 5) ( fail )

Hurricane

[rageback]

Dice: 3 d10 TN8 (5, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Hurricane

[incap, nevermind, FRIENDSHIP OVER STILL C'MON ERICH SHEESH]

Mist

[Bite that thing's butt! Dex+Brawl+Hispo = 5 dice, diff -1 and -2 so 3!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN3 (2, 5, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

Mist

[Str+3+2+3 = 10!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

Daddy

Rage Bite!

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Daddy

Damage 2+1+1+6

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 8 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Storm

Just like that they're down one.

Erich: looks shellshocked in the aftermath. Leveled by the force and ferocity of his own anger, his own rage, his own viciousness. It only lasts an instant, though. He's an Ahroun. This is war.

He knows what to do.

[Rage 2: attack thing 2!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 2

Storm

[+2]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Storm

[Rage 3: okay seriously, DIE THING 2.]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Storm

[dam+4]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Thing 2: x.x

Hurricane

And Erich can't be blamed for thinking that Ingrid is still who she was in DC. That she is still a cold, aloof, untouchable pillar who cares only about the mission and barely anything more. They rarely see each other anymore outside of moots. He can't be blamed for not noticing the way this city is changing her.

There is a creature lunging for her friend. Her first friend. The first wolf to look at her and not see a weapon to hone or an animal to be wary of, the first to say, "Hey let's have Thanksgiving dinner." Ingrid held back, she waited for the hounds loosed to pass her so that she could take them out from behind, like she always does, like she always will. But she saw that one going for Erich and she did not think of glory. She did not think of taking out a leader. She thought

friend

and she thought

danger.

Never mind that Erich is an Ahroun, and reckless, with too much Rage and not nearly as much control over it as he would like to think. Ingrid reacts on instinct. She glides in behind it a beat before Erich's tearing at its throat, and she rips into it. It drops, and Erich does not see Ingrid and think friend. He sees Ingrid and thinks posession, finishing move stolen. He sees something else. And he takes her to the ground.

Where she lays, still and unmoving.

Twilight

There are two of the dog-things left. Dog-things, wolf-things, coyote-things. Canine only by inference, by proxy, by some primitive memory of pack and instinct. Four legs and jaws and a tail and mangy hides scaled and covered in patch memories of fur, old scars and wounds.

Ingrid is unconscious and bleeding on the bloodied ground. The dogs are still there, snarling, feral, one injured, one untouched, not enough of a pack that the death of the Alpha breaks them, though when Afro-Daddy puts down the beta-female, the omega turns tail and tries to run.

And is torn down; ripped open, ended. Opened up to the viscera, the hard white lines of the ribs, the sad-sack wheezing of a collapsing lung as slaver as the mad dark little eyes go still and dead.

--

And, and. Here they are.

Twilight

??

Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (5, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Mist

Sophia was lost in combat when Ingrid fell, her eyes saw only red and she let her rage get the better of her. Violence is never a solution, violence is never an answer, it is a last resort, it is an act of desperation and need. Sophia knows this down to her very core, she knows that what she was doing here was something she had to convince herself for the best and once more she proves her assumption correct.

The others could have bested these beasts. The others could have torn them to shreds in seconds without the need for her to throw herself into the fray. So when she notices Ingrid has fallen she simply does not care that the beasts are still alive. She does not care that they might turn and rip into her throat. She does not care that in the middle of battle turning and running to the side of the fallen New Moon could actually kill her... Sophia does not fear death, it does not concern her, not her death.

Her reaction was swift and immediate as she shifted to her birth form instantly and walked, barefoot, across the dirt as lumbering beasts snarled and tore the canines apart all around her. She lost all thought of anything but her responsibility, and she immediately knelt beside Ingrid to see to her wounds. She didn't have time for guilt to settle in, her first thought was that Ingrid was dead... To look at the injury, having seen this happen before (over and over and over and over) to have felt death first hand, tasted it, experienced it as she has! She feared for Ingrid, but that did not stop her from doing what she could to help her!

[Mother's Touch! Diff... Can't go below 3 so doesn't matter Ingrid's current rage!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN3 (2, 3, 5, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

Daddy

He tears at the thing that tore at him. Does not wince at its teeth sinking into his flank. Does not utter a sudden yelp of pain. Does not even seem to notice. He keeps going. The things they fight, these poor mockeries of Gaia's creations, find out the hard way that they are simply not worthy.

Something flashes in the corner of his eyes. In the heat of battle here, in the roiling ocean of violence, he sees something that should not be. He sees his new packmate and the one she invited snatching for the same scrap...and then one for the other. Ingrid is down and now he does yelp. Just once.

He keeps going.

He returns with greater ferocity at the Beta now. Putting her down, almost literally, with his massive paws pressing her into the mud and dead leaves as he rips. Eyes turn to the fleeing omega and there's a twitch in his muscles to chase before the ahroun utterly destroys it.

When its over he's standing above the body of his own Beta, nosing and licking lightly at her wounds. She is still with them. For now. He can feel that. Still with them.

Every so often there's a decidedly unfriendly glance sent Erich's way. And something about his body, cast broad in front of Ingrid but not turning his back to the Ahroun...and why hasn't he shifted back to his birth form yet?

She's still with them. For now.

Twilight

Gerald is having a very hard time resisting the siren call of the show he has been anticipating all day and night. Has had in the back of his mind and the back of his throat like a promise thick as bile. Keeps looking at the fucking kids - some of them have promise, that's what Tracy said in the staff meeting day before last. Some fucking corporate nonsense about nuturing their promise. Some of them are coming along but he cannot fucking see it. Just sees -

- well.

They have a theme song. It is more innocent than you'd expect, nearly cheerful and it always makes him

- well no, it doesn't make him smile. It makes him salivate, moves him in some primitive part of the lizard-brain. Makes him - makes him burn.

But there are procedures. Codes. They have a fucking handbook. There's no reason to alert anyone else, but he gives the monitors and then the browser a longing look, then goes and starts a walkthrough of the dorm.

Hurricane

There is a moment when Ingrid is lying on the ground unconscious that she thinks she dreams. The place she dreams of is not here in the woods outside a compound made to corrupt and murder children. She's way away, in a tiny little apartment that's bathed in the yellow light of an east coast summer, and everything looks so big. There are hands on her face, weathered and worn but warm. For a moment she's home.

And in the next breath she's in pain. She's lying on the ground in the dirt with Tommy and Sophia over her, and it's not her mother's hands that touch her wounds, but the Theurge's. Ingrid blinks up at them, and she moves. She throws her legs and twists and gets herself onto her stomach before she tries to rise to four legs. She is still bleeding. She does not have the gift to dull the pain of her barely-closed wounds.

Yes, she is still with them, for now.

Tilting her head up, she licks at Tommy's muzzle.

Storm

Just for a moment there, so deep in the thick of battle that no one else saw or noticed, there was shock in Erich's eyes. It made him look very young indeed.

It has since passed. He has hardened over, iced over. As Sophia rushes to heal, and Tommy to guard, Erich feels only a rising bitterness in his throat that only sweet coppery blood could quench. His eyes are colder than Ingrid has ever seen them.

"We need to talk," he says to Ingrid as she rises, "but we'll talk later."

He turns away as the packmates greet each other. Impatient, growling: "Are we going to move?"

Daddy

"Yes." Tommy says in the chuffing, tail-wagging way that they have on four legs. He begins to shift, to make himself smaller now, still on four legs but considerably less imposing.

"Going back." he says, and to make his point he takes several lupine steps back the way they came before stopping and turning, with that paw once again suspended mid-step.

"Done here. Weakened them. We send others."

Mist

"They called them Varangians, fearless warriors who fought and died in the name of God, in the name of the empire, they called them heroes but in the end they were nothing more than murderers... Hired killers following the scent of gold hidden behind the pretense of glory and honor." She speaks softly and it is unclear who she is talking to, or if she is even addressing anyone at all. She looked as if she was simply talking into the sky, lost in thought... Lost in a dream, as her eyes stared off into the darkness somewhere and she takes the time to draw out a small gourd which she holds over another of Ingrid's wounds, and she takes the time to crush it open and let the contents inside sprinkle over Ingrid's wounds.

[Expending 1 of 2 Gaia's breaths to finish Ingrid's healing! Not spending Gnosis to activate rolling instead!]

When she is done she stands slowly, and she looks towards Thomas. "We should hurry." She says, before her form begins to swell once more and she finds fur erupting from under her flesh. She hunches forward and soon enough the woman disappears to be replaced by a wolf.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 3, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Mist

[Why I am glad the rule of 1 is no more!]

Hurricane

She gets to her feet, and she pauses when Erich speaks. And in that moment Ingrid is full of conflict. They are Cliaths, these two Shadow Lords. They share the same rank. But he defeated her.

Her fur bristles, but she doesn't argue with the Ahroun. Instead she looks at Tommy as Sophia heals her completely. It means she can stand a little taller now, but she doesn't. Two Fosterns and the Cliath who defeated her. Ingrid suddenly finds herself in a position she almost never does: Omega wolf of this semi-pack for the night.

But she is still her Alpha's Beta. And Omega, but Beta, too. Her ears flick back and she tries to keep from growling when she says, "Go? Strong in time. Weak now!" She shifts, as well, down to Lupus, and she takes one step toward the still-open gate. "Open now. Chance now."

Storm

Erich snaps his teeth at Sophia. Whether or not the words were meant for him, they rubbed him wrong. Everything's rubbing him wrong right now, and most especially Afro Daddy

when he says they're going back. The Shadow Lord bristles all over again.

"Do whatever you want," he snarls. And then he, rather notably, continues forward.

Daddy

Well that was unexpected. A moment ago she was down. Down down. And he wasn't...he still wasn't sure this was a good idea. Erich snarls and stalks forward, and except for the hint of a curl in his lip, Afro Daddy mostly just watches. His head turns from one shadow lord to the other.

"Can't trust him."

Hurricane

"Can't leave," replies Ingrid, not watching Erich. She doesn't argue that maybe he could be trusted, or that they should try to trust him. Whether Tommy does or not is up to him.

"Destroy bad place." She practically prances in place, impatient to move, but unwilling to dishonor her Alpha by leaving him behind. In the end it is his decision, but it's clear which direction she wants to go.

Storm

"Then run on back to the city and I'll clean this up myself," Erich snaps -- several yards away now and getting farther away by the second. "Or, here's a thought: maybe I can tell you where my den is. So then you can go steal my other packmates too!"

Ah. And now we get to the heart of the matter.

Mist

Once more Sophia returns to her homid form, she had to speak, she had to say something because she knew that they had crossed a line and they could not retreat at this point. So she addresses Thomas fairly clearly, as she could not have done so with her lupine tongue.

"Sometimes an Alpha must be prepared not to ask... But to tell those he loves to die." She speaks in a soft tone as her eyes move towards the Full Moon for a moment and then back to Tommy.

"Now is not the time to flee, this has to end... Now. Tonight." She says to him. "He knows what he did was wrong, he knows, and when the time comes he will be punished, but we can't stop, not now... It's too late for doubts and regrets. We need to finish what we've started." She says before she looks down at the dogs. "This... They'll just do again. And every life lost when they return will be on our heads." She says back to him.

Daddy

In the end he moves. Toward her. Toward their original objective. He's obviously not happy about it. He's about to say something else when Sophia interjects and there's a low growl that seems to start in his stomach.

"Lead as many into death as I have, then come back and tell me how easy it is."

Enough, he seems to decide. He's trotting ahead now. Not trying to catch up, but to keep up.

Twilight

Gerald?

Dice: 4 d10 TN7 (5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Hurricane

Erich takes them to the heart of the matter, and for a moment Ingrid's ears prick, then they lay flat. In another form she would be merely cold and aloof, yes, that creature up on high that cannot be touched that she always appears to be. In her lupine form, she can't hide the growl. She can't hide her anger. An anger she can't act on, not while they're on this mission.

Angry as she is, though, they came here for a reason. As soon as Tommy starts to move, Ingrid darts ahead, past Erich, taking point again as she leads the others to the kennels.

Mist

"Easy is not the same as necessary." She says with a shrug of her shoulders, and soon enough she was returning to her lupus form. The wolf takes a little while, but soon enough she is trotting along with the group and moving to follow!

Storm

"And if you don't stop talking about me in stupid stories and third person, it'll be you bleeding on the ground next. I've got ears."

That was for Sophia, obviously. And as Ingrid darts ahead of him he growls at her, upping his pace to run tensely shoulder to shoulder with her for a few strides before falling back.

They're close to the compound now. Erich isn't really making much effort to be quiet.

Twilight

So they move. There's no longer any particular concern for stealth. The southern perimeter of the compound is flooded with light, the remaining two-thirds of the rough ring are dark. There is still light in the chapel, and lights on the second floor of the farmhouse. Though now there is movement at one of the curtains which are the cheap, rough machine lace sheers one finds at dollar general.

The sheer wattage of floods on the southern perimeter is nearly blinding after the dark expanse of the woods, the underbrush. In any of the feral forms it is easy to follow the scent-trail of the Things in the Kennel back to the sluice-gate that opened remotely to release them. Which remains open pending their return.

After he manages his walk-through Gerald's next task is to head to the barn and find the fridge where they keep the kidneys

(don't ask where they get the kidneys)

and cut up the organ meat and set it out for the hounds to lure them back into the compound, and this is what he will do when he finishes his headcount if the music hasn't started if the music doesn't lure him back to -

But now in the darkness he counts the heads of the boys and counts the breathing and counts the counts the counts sometimes he forgets to count. Sometimes he only counts the ones jerking off. The ones smothering the other ones in the -

Sometimes he only counts the ones crying.

Sometimes he only counts the ones praying.

He never counts the ones preying. Them, he pretends not-to-see.

--

The kennel-gate is not large enough to accommodate hispo-formed werewolves. They have to shift down to lupus-form or man-form to crawl through. Find themselves in the stink of a disgusting, half-concrete half-chain-link pen hard up against the side of the barn, which opens into the barn proper. The inner gate is not open, but neither is it locked. Easy to reach through and let themselves into the dark interior of the barn, which stinks of dogshit and blood and organ meat.

Which has a vast high ceiling opening into darkness and doors opening and -

--

The thing is, is Gerald is fucking on the ball tonight, the poor fucking bastard. He remembers the count with his fingers and toes and finds none missing and hits the intercom to report to Tracy in the big house that none are missing, all accounted for, he's calling them in. Shaggy and the Bandits, that is. That's what he calls them.

Affectionately.

Nevermind the slaver and the scales.

--

On the ball Gerald hits the intercom button and makes his report and exits the dormitory by the back door. Heads over to the barn and he's trying not to think about what is happening to - well, he hasn't seen any of it, doesn't know if it is a boy or a girl, a man or a woman, just knows that they are human and sinners and sinning and and and -

He's -

- opening the front door as they are coming through.

He's whistling his favorite song as he does, to take his mind off all that he's missing, or put him maybe in the right frame-of-mind.

Oh when the saints -

Hurricane

Erich picks up pace to run beside her and Ingrid shifts oh so slightly to the side, creating a space. Her attention is on the path ahead of them, she can't allow herself to be distracted from her position of scout, the ears and eyes of their operation, the one to let them know when something is up ahead of them.

The reek of the barn assaults her senses, battering her sensitive nose, but she focuses past it. And inside the barn when she plucks out the scent of the human just ahead of hearing that whistle, she stops.

She shifts.

She draws a sword from out of her sternum.

Because seriously fuck this place. Fuck that guy. Fuck Erich. Fuck packs. Fuck Champion of Honor and the Beloved Horror and this whole fucking place.

That's their clue that it's about to go down, that suddenly the lupus wolf at the lead is now Crinos sized and wielding that sharp, gleaming blade.

Hurricane

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

?

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )

Daddy

He trots while they approach.

He runs as they enter.

He bolts through the Kennels

Ingrid shifts up ahead, arms herself, and he's doing that breathing again. Its his own silent war-cry. His own howling assault tucked down past the lungs, deeper than the stomach, bucking at his diaphragm. There was blood to be had up ahead. More blood to match the still warm stuff clumping in the fur of his muzzle.

Another side of him nudged just then. Blood, yes. But a mission as well. An objective. The thing behind the thing with the fur and claws and teeth was reminding him that there was a reason they were there, and also that there was a quite capable ahroun and a fucking sword-wielding ragabash who could more than handle this.

Somewhere here there were children held captive. Somewhere here there was a churning generator that would likely make this more difficult than it ought to be.

Twilight

Someone has to shift to get them out of the kennel gate. That thing requires hands, arms, opposeable thumbs and a bit of wormy maneuvering to get it out from outside. Then, though, the gate swings open and the rest of them follow Ingrid out into the barn which is dark but they are wolves they hardly need their eyes. Can start to pick up the most regular scents here even amidst the stench, can start to follow them out through the equipment and whatnot stuck away in the darkness and it is best,

it is absolutely best,

that they cannot see all of the equipment. Can only catch the scents, the lingering fear, the odd lot of terror, the occasional chuff of excitement squirreled away in the dark corners of this place.

Then the door is opening and this whistling guy - Gerald, our hero, is forty-seven years old and has a heroin addict his ENTIRE LIFE until he found the God he now thinks of as god-below rather than god-above because that is where the feelings come from -

is suddenly confronted by a massage beast with wielding a sword with great ferocity and a snarl of rage and he looks up and he opens his mouth and he

scrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmssssssssssssssssssss

and she lops off his head.

Not all the way. Breaks neatly through the vertebrae with a sick wet craaack but there's something sinewy that just sticks at the end and his head just lolls forward and blood erupts like a geyser for the three-four-seven-seconds while his fucking heart still beats in the dark night air.

Mist

Sophia hears the threat from the Cliath and her attention turns towards him for a moment. "Silence Cliath! Fight enemy." She conveys in the lupine tongue to him, not a threat, not a snarl, just a simple command from a Fostern to a Cliath. This was not something Sophia ever did, but then... He DID just try to murder her friend! There was still enough anger to remind her of the fact that no matter how much stronger he might be than her she still outranked him.

She was, in her own way, looking out for him even if she did not care, in the slightest for what he did, or his behavior and, just like Tommy at this point she did not trust him! However, he had just shown he was the strongest among them, and he put Ingrid down like she was a rag doll. They needed him, and for that reason they HAD to put their distrust aside and expect that he would do what they needed him to when the time was right.

So soon enough she was following along. Already in her lupus form, she found it less troublesome to enter into the kennels and the scents inside caused her to wander a little pondering the misery those poor dogs were living in. She wasn't quite with the others when the door opens. She wasn't quite there... So when Ingrid cuts a man's head off there is some part of her that feels like this might be a dream, everything here seems so... Surreal. She simply stares at the sight, curiosity getting the better of her as she stares, blinking several times as his heart continues pumping just long enough to make a horrible mess on the floor.

Sophia did not like this place!

Storm

As soon as Erich sees the

(target. scapegoat. outlet for all his frustration and annoyance and anger and betrayal and shock and shame.)

whistling man, he charges. It doesn't even matter that Ingrid lops this guy's head off. Erich just leaps over the tottering body, snaps his teeth into its shoulder, drags it down with him as he hits the ground in a spray of dirt and mud and blood-mud. The muscles in his neck and back bunch -- he wrenches -- he tears an enormous chunk of meat and bone loose and hurtles it out the barn doors in a snap of his head.

Follows it, like a dog chasing a ball. Charges raging through the barn and out of it, looking for something, anything, to tear into shreds.

Hurricane

Well. That was quite satisfying. Although Ingrid can't help but feel a little disappointment that her slice did not cut clear through that weak human neck. There is a part of her, a tiny little niggling part, that wonders if maybe she ought to have waited, checked him out, made sure he wasn't working here under duress. That he was actually one of the bad guys.

It doesn't even last a second. They are all the enemy, the monsters who made this place. They are all an outlet for a frustration that has nothing to do with Erich or this night. It goes all the way back to the beginning of last month. To an unkillable foe that she killed a few times anyway, who just. kept. going.

The satisfaction of this kill comes from the fact that once cut down the man stayed down until Erich started playing with it like a puppy bats around a ball. A very large, very angry, very dangerous puppy.

Ingrid follows him out of the barn a moment later, and though she wants to find more things to whet her bloodthirst, she knows that the darkness is their ally. She looks around in her massive Crinos form, sword of her ancestors held in one huge handpaw, and she seeks out the generator.

Daddy

"Lights!" He manages to get the word out in the middle of the bone cracking and the flesh ripping, Shifting up onto two legs, into his Glabro form. "Get that generator!" It's not aimed at anyone, but he knows that Ingrid was likely on it. He does, however, turn to address Sophia directly.

"Lets find those kids."

Twilight

One beast comes barreling out of the barn door. Truth: a war-formed Garou is substantially larger than a worm-sick, wyrm-sick, sick-sick-sick once-human, who is now no more than meat, a rapidly collapsing sack of skin-blood-organs and bones, a huge chunk of which has been thrown out into the dark damp of the compound. Erich Storm's Teeth splinters the rotten wood framing in the door poor dead Gerald used to enter, leaving behind a shouldering, splinted hole in the wood.

That scream. That scream,

That scream was ear-piercing and mind-binding, siren and warning and though the dorm remains dark-dark-dark in the few ferocious seconds of aftermath as the Ahroun goes tearing out into the yard a light flickers on in the second story of the farmhouse.

Then off.

--

The sound somewhere of glass shattering; can you hear it over-under the beat of your heart and the pumping of rage in your arteries, the resounding churn of it in your ears? Before there are any new targets in the yard there is the sound of another window breaking. Why not just open them? They were painted shut fucking years ago and when you need to snipe the compound of your secret Wyrm-Camp, sometimes you need to break some glass.

--

The lights in the chapel are still on. It is a lovely little church, transported here from somewhere else. Inset with stained glass windows that are red-as-blood and show absolutely nothing holy in their illustrations. The dark shadow of movement against the windows, and soon enough the doors open.

Tracy has a migraine, and her back hurts. It always does when she's growing a new one, when she's trying to hold them in. But that scream, oh that scream -

Twilight

Power?

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Mist

Someone speaks to her, and she looks at Tommy for several moments with a blank stare before she pulls herself back to reality and when he begins searching she begins searching out the scent of the children.

That is right! Sophia would not have cared much for this idea if it the only reason they were coming here was to kill some guy's dogs and then chop his head off. There needed to be something more substantial pulling her to reality long enough to actually volunteer for this mission. There were children and she needed to find them...

But there was also glass breaking. That seemed counter productive. Why not just open the windows silly people? Then again Humans can be downright strange at times! Humans and Fomori! Which ones were responsible for the shattered glass? Humans or Fomori? Did it matter? She was here for children!

She was soon moving with Tommy, and couldn't wait to get the children out of here and return them to their... Wait... Their parents put them in here in the first place. They thought that brainwashing their children would "Fix" them rather than actually having to deal with the complications that every parent raising a teenager has to deal with. Did their parents really deserve to have them back? Maybe we should kill the parents next too? And what about the children? Were they really salvageable, after all this time with banes whispering into their ear, under the watchful eye of fomori... Who is to say they weren't just as corrupted as the dogs they saw earlier?

What are they going to do with the children once they help them? Just let them loose in the woods? "Go children! Run! Be Free!" They can't keep them. Can they? What would Sophia do with a child? She could teach them to speak Greek! She could... Well, she doesn't even have a house so where would she keep them?

Her mind was alive with questions which she found herself pondering as she put herself on Auto-Pilot and simply did what that toucan from the television always used to say! She followed the the scent of children meat!

Storm

Erich isn't going for the generator. He doesn't see the fucking point: the compound is up in arms; it's not like they can hide anymore. He's not going to save the kids, either. He figures there'll always be time for that later. No, he: is going straight for the chapel, with the lights, with the horrid stained glass.

With the woman limned by the light inside, grimacing not like she's afraid or even really angry, but just: annoyed. And tired. Erich doesn't particularly sympathize. He tears across the open space, his big paws churning up clods of dirt. His eyes are flashing and his teeth are bared and --

-- and he realizes none of the others, not a single one, is actually charging into battle with him.

"ARE YOU [FUCKING] KIDDING ME," is his battle-cry tonight. "WHERE THE [FUCK] ARE YOU PEOPLE GOING?"

And then: chaos. Violent chaos.

Twilight

The first shot

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Twilight

The second shot

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Hurricane

She's looking for the generator when she hears her Alpha shout LIGHTS! Ingrid doesn't look back at him. Her ears swivel back to the sounds of glass shatter in the house. Her attention is drawn to the chapel and the creature lumbering out of it.

A creature that Erich is lunging for at full tilt. Ingrid growls, not because she's angry, but because this is deja vu. This is Cold Crescent all over again. When Ingrid ordered a retreat and no one listened. If she goes for the generator she will never make it back in time to help Erich.

She abandons that plan.

She takes off after the Ahroun.

Daddy

He's moving with Sophia toward the Dorm. They weren't sneaking anymore, and as a result he's reaching for the gleaming gun he keeps at his hip opposite his knife. Somewhere there was glass breaking. Somewhere his only packmate was searching out that humming generator. Somewhere there was an Ahroun who just didn't seem to get it the idea of improving their odds.

Somewhere there was glass breaking. Why would there be glass breaking?

Somewhere there was a beast waddling out from a chapel. Somewhere there was a steel-toed, mud-covered boot kicking in the door of a dorm.

Somewhere there was glass breaking.

If it were him on the other side, and there had suddenly been a scream and clearly an incursion, he wouldn't be running onto the field with a hatchet in hand. If it were him he would find himself and nice vantage point and...

Somewhere there's a shot. two. He ducks, and spins with his own gun ready and pointing. He can't see them but he can tell where they might be coming from. From the direction of the broken glass. He fires back, not expecting to hit anything but expecting them to have the same ducking reaction when a few projectiles came flying back.

Somewhere the plan had changed. The generator still hummed. He snarled and, instead, aimed for the nearest tower of lights.

Twilight

The dull, oily muzzles of weapons emerge from the shattered second story windows of the farmhouse. The interior lights are now off. No shadow against the background of the lace curtains, just the strange sweeping movement that looks like the ripple of distant, half-formed clouds on a summer night like a shadow against the moon. Tracking movement across the compound.

Maybe the target of the giant gray-furred hispo is too tempting, maybe the snipers cannot quite look at the beast, maybe he skims beneath their radar because they are intent intent intent on corrugated metal building where Sophia can smell the scent of -

not children. They are not children. They are teenaged boys, fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen -

- can smell the tangle of their scents with the same melange of fear and pain and desire and boredom and jesus-christ-they-are-teenaged-boys leading up to the dorm. See, the snipers peel off shots at the two of them: Afro-Daddy and Treads the Ashen Path. The first shot at Afro-Daddy whizzes overhead and hits the side of the metal dorm with a dull ping. He turns to engage the snipers and Sophia continues on to the dorm, hoping to save the kids. The doors are locked, but they are fucking werewolves. She can wrest it off at the hinges.

The second shot catches Sophia in the shoulder, a burning line of pain punching through muscle and bone.

--

Nearly impossible to tell if he has hit anyone inside the farmhouse but look: that same movement of duck-and-cover, losing the carefully lined up angle on the pair of Garou, disappearing behind the awful, cheap curtains, breathing and looking back out, peering through. Then he aims for the nearest of the lights, the ones now sweeping motion-activated lights mounted to the farm house. There is a crack and a hiss of raining glass. The satisfying flare of the filament too-bright just before it goes dark and while the exterior ring of lights still shines bright, the inner yard is just a bit darker than it was before.

--

And-and-and - Erich Storm's teeth tears across the yard, barrels into the woman emerging on the porch of the chapel looking vaguely annoyed, rubbing her back. She is an ordinary looking woman in her early forties, with dish-blond hair from a bottle and remarkably bad teeth and even worse tattoos scrawled on her hands and her neck and she is wearing an illfitting navy suit and cheap third-hand walmart pumps and frowning and turning when Erich tears into her with such force he pulls her down to the ground in a moving arc that slams them both into the ground.

Then these weaving tentacles just erupt from her spine in a mad, hissing tangle and start raining down on him in a wild mass. Behind her, a short, dumpy man is in his mid-twenties comes out and runs down the steps. Opens his mouth wide and wider and flickers this shockingingly long tongue that zips out of his distended jaw like a serpent slash the Ahroun, when Ingrid charges into him from behind. Shoves her sword through his back and hears the satisfying collapse of a goddamned lung.

So he wheels on her, lashing out with a tail he is just uncurling from his cheap brown suit.

Somewhere in the chapel, one of the prayerful fields heads back toward the altar rather than forward toward the front door.

Hurricane

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

Storm

[ow.]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Storm

[OW.]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Storm

[OW!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Storm

[OWWW.]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

Storm

[chomp!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Storm

[DIE.]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Hurricane

[dex+melee (sword spec booyah!)]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Storm

[oh, i forgot to reroll that 10]

Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (1) ( fail )

Storm

[fuck that then. CHOMP AGAIN.]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 ) Re-rolls: 2

Storm

[that's more like it.]

Dice: 17 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Hurricane

[dam][Lethal]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 5 )

Mist

[Sorry! Soaking 4 lethal!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

Hurricane

[and another slice]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2

Hurricane

[dam][lethal again!]

Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Twilight

Tracy +7

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Twilight

Toad +6

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Twilight

Graveheart +8

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

Twilight

Snipers +5

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Hurricane

[+9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Hurricane

[MULLIGAN please be higher than 2 that'll be embarrassing: +9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Mist

[+7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )

Daddy

[5]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

I think Erich is +9

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Twilight

Sophia: 17Ingrid: 16Erich: 13Afro-Daddy: 12Graveheart: 11Tracy 11Toad 10Snipers: 7

Twilight

Sophia: 17

Ingrid: 16

Erich: 13

Afro-Daddy: 12

Graveheart: 11

Tracy 11

Toad 10

Snipers: 7

Twilight

The snipers duck up and push the curtains way, looking for an opening to shoot again.

[Effectively: 1a. Dodge; 1b. Shoot]

Twilight

Toad: 1. Tongue Lash Ingrid. 2. Tail lash Ingrid.

Twilight

Tracy: 1-3. Tentacle Lash Erich. 4. Sting Erich!

Twilight

Graveheart: Finish prayer and wander to the front porch to deal with this shit.

Daddy

1. Shoot the scope out (Trick shot, also spending WP)

R1: Shoot out more lights

Storm

[-3R again!

1. -1R additional for Spur Claws on Tracy

R1. Bite

R2. Tentacles

R3. Off!]

Hurricane

[1/R/R: Slicing up that Toad, moving to Graveheart I guess if Toad goes down]

Daddy

[Shoot for scope: Dex+Firearms+Glory]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

Daddy

Damage

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Behind them, Erich and Ingrid can hear the ping-ping exchange of gunfire. Afro-Daddy sees the satisfying spread of cracks in the glass of the scope at which he was aiming for. The trick show worked: the scope is useless now.

Hurricane

[1: dex+melee]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1

Mist

[Charge at door, full speed in Lupus... Leap into air... -1 rage to shift to Crinos mid air!]

Hurricane

[dam: +5][L]

Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

Twilight

Toad: soak!

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Mist

[Attack door! Uhm... Str+Crinos+Brawl...]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )

Storm

[-1R on this: clawing!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 7 ) Re-rolls: 1

Storm

[dam +6]

Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 9 )

Twilight

Tracy soak!

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Mist

[Dmg]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Tracy Tentacle Lash Erich +2 difficulty

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Tentacle Lash 2

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) ( fail )

Twilight

Tentacle Lash 3

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

Damage

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Storm

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Storm

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Toad: Tongue Lash Ingrid

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

Hurricane

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )

Twilight

Sniper 1: had scope shot out. uh, does not shoot.

Sniper 2: evens Sophia, Odds Afro-Daddy

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Twilight

Sniper 2: shoot!

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Damage!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Daddy

Soak

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

TAIL LASH INGRID. TOADIE.

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

DAMAGE

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Hurricane

[soak!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Hurricane

[FUCK YOU TOAD I CUT-CHU]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1

Hurricane

[dam: +5][L]

Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Twilight

SOAK

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Twilight

Toadie: D: I ded.

Hurricane

[Other Rage: Move to put Graveheart in stabbity range, get behind if possible in one Rage action or at least flank]

Daddy

[Lets do that thing again!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Daddy

Damage

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Twilight

(Second scope is ded.)

Storm

R1 - put poor tracy out of her misery :[

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 8 )

Storm

[dam]

Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

Twilight

SOAK

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Twilight

Tracy: D: oh noes I is also ded.

Twilight

Graveheart: change action. Eyes O' The Wyrm on Erich. +1 dif

Storm

[attacking graveheart!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 10 ) Re-rolls: 2

Storm

[dam+9]

Dice: 18 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 9 )

Twilight

Graveheart soak!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Storm

[shit. WP!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 4, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )

Storm

+9

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Hurricane

[+9]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

+9

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )

Twilight

Mini fight: Ingrid 19

Graveheart: 15

Erich: 11

Twilight

Graveheart: OH SHIT. GASEOUS FORM.

Storm

[WELL I GUESS I'LL BE A TEAM PLAYER.

1. Grapple graveheart for ingrid!

R1. bite!]

Hurricane

[1a: Flank

1b: STAB through side, +2 diff (targeted for stabby motions) +WP

1c: Pull sword out as painfully as possible]

Hurricane

[1a: shuffleshuffle

1b: dex+melee -1 (flank) +2 (target) +WP]

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (2, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]

Hurricane

[dam: +4][L]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Storm

[NM I'LL JUST BITE. she has no rage actions that can take advantage of grapple.]

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Hurricane

[YANK!, -1 diff]

Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 5, 6) ( success x 2 )

Hurricane

[dam: +1][L] COME ON

Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 7 )

Twilight

Soak!

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Twilight

Graveheart: D:

I also ded.

Twilight

This constellation of action. Sophia attacks and opens the door to the dormitory with a wild lunge while Afro-Daddy ducks and aims for the windows not for the windows for the snipers not for the snipers for the scopes and takes them out, takes them out, takes them out,

one and two.

Ahead on the porch of the chapel a bloodied battle with limbs and things that look like limbs but grow from secondary pus-sacs that seem to emerge from the sacrum and a woman who was a woman who is now a dead mess of a think with sucker-covered tentacles already beginning to wither as her oily green blood soaks into the dusty ground and a short little man in a brown ugly suit with the tongue of a snake and the tail of a frog and inside a very quiet, very queer, stringy-haired pale-faced man with scabby hands is walking toward the front door of the church with quiet deliberation when two werewolves charge in and it is a close thing but -

- he falls. Erich's teeth and Ingrid's sword.

There is more to do. The snipers to chase down, when they emerge from the house with a chainsaw and a scythe, wielding both with madcap accuracy that takes more than a pound of flash from one or two of them.

And then in the aftermath, quiet. The kids in the dorm. The vans summoned.

Storm

In the aftermath, quiet.

And the harsh breathing of the Erich-wolf, his sides heaving, his fur matted in places with dark still-wet blood.

He looks around at the devastation. It does not escape his notice that it was Ingrid who came with him into this house of the unholy. Ingrid, after he tore her apart earlier for...

for...

Well. For things he doesn't want to think about, and certainly doesn't want to discuss. Not right now, anyway. He knows he has to have that discussion sometime, though. Lance that boil before it festers. Right now it's just painful. He doesn't want it to become a rot in his soul, a resentment. So the hispo-wolf licks his chops, sniffs idly at the grotesque bodies, and then chuffs at his tribesmate:

"We still need to talk. I'll find you, or you come find me. Soon."

Daddy

There was a chance that they would all die here. He knew that. He reminded himself of that with every hesitation in deciding on a course of action. He thought of that when he decided to retreat, and it was on the forefront of his mind for every moment that they didn't. If they were going to die here, so be it. But these kids were gonna get out if it was the last thing he did. Better a half success than an all out failure.

Somewhere his only packmate was once again at the side of the one who had very recently torn into her. She was in a small space with the enemy and an apparently uncontrollable, and to his mind a dangerously unpredictable ally. She was there and he wasn't.

This wasn't the best of starts.

They begin to get the teenagers out, streaming them out towards the barn and the kennel and telling them to get to the graveyard, don't stop for anything. The men inside the house, the ones with the useless scopes on their too-far-to-shoot straight rifles come out with fucking power tools and farming implements, charging across open space like its the fucking Alamo.

Tommy reloads. They might as well be paper targets.

Hurricane

In the aftermath Ingrid is bleeding again, but not so much as before. There's much, much more blood and ichor on her blade, which she takes a few moments to carefully swipe clean in her fur. After the snipers are dealt with. Before the children are let loose. She shifts quickly, no point subjecting a bunch of kids to the Delirium as well as her strange, predatory nature. And besides, she needs to shift to work her phone and let her kinsman associate know it's time to send in the vans.

There are a few, enough to carry away eighteen kids, if that many are left.

Erich looks at her, chuffs at her, and she stares at him steadily but says nothing. Merely nods her head once.

And then she goes to find her Alpha, make sure he's okay. He feels okay, he feels there in her mind, alive and vital and without pain.

If there is snooping to be done still, Ingrid does it. If there is an accident to be made, she'll do that, too. Whatever it takes to cover up their presence here and the presence of the unnatural.

Storm

"Hey -- " before she quite walks away, and after he's reverted to Erich, " -- I probably shouldn't have torn you up." He's awkward. "Yeah. I shouldn't have."

She goes to tend to her Alpha. He watches a moment, and then turns and walks away. When the others return to the rented van, they're down one: Erich finds his own way home.

Mist

Once inside, and provided she sees no threats, Sophia will take the time to revert to her breed form, children don't usually respond well to Garou or even the Glabro form! She wanted to make herself as presentable as possible.

Rage didn't have nearly as powerful a pull on her as it did many of her kind, and that was a blessing in dealing with young people, in dealing with humans. She had no idea the damage that had been inflicted upon them, but that didn't change her ability to sympathize. This place was a fomori breeding pen, and the honest truth was that some of these children never would recover! Sophia would attempt, to the best of her ability, to figure out who among them would not. Triage, of a sort, the ugly truth behind the reality of what the garou do every night.

However, that would be a ways away, and not right this moment. Right at this moment she was one of the few among them who could likely stand in the presence of a young person and not likely frighten them away in terror, still... Rage was powerful, so she channeled a gift of her breed in order to establish an affinity with these children.

She would use that gift to convince the children they were safe, to convince them they were well. She would use that gift to convince them to come with, to be loaded up into the vans... To be taken by complete strangers to... Whatever future might await them.

As for this place... She would leave it tonight but she would be returning. She will beg if she has to, steal, kill... But when she returns to this place it will not be alone. She will return to this place like a flood to see the wyrm's minions drowned in the cleansing waters of retribution. She will sit in silence as the spirits who tormented these children scream in agony as they are flushed from these lands, never to return again, and she will sit in silent contemplation remembering what was done to these children. That, however, will be another night, and another story. Tonight, her only focus is in getting these children to safety.

Hurricane

She pauses, looks back at the young blond man, waits while he supposes and then confirms that he shouldn't have torn her up. Ingrid quirks a brow at him, but she only says, "Thank you for your help, Erich."

And then she goes off. When he doesn't show up at the car she doesn't go hunting him. He'll turn up again.