eyeball monster!

-damon the green-

[post yourselves in while i unpack! you have 10 min. let's be at this quad area: http://reneeashleybaker.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/university-of-denver.jpg]

Radiant Honor

Ms. Avery Chase is visiting her brother, currently matriculating at the University of Denver. She has just left the earnest freshman after a brief conversation with one of the executives of the school, discussing Oakley's future as well as her family's investment -- in him, of course, as well as, perhaps, the school itself. She walks across the green, while most students and faculty keep to the sidewalks and paths, wearing a soft pink blouse and a pale grey pencil skirt. It is cold tonight but she has removed the cardigan she wore in the meeting, if not the pearls. Her feet are in heels, but the ground is hardening, and supports her well. Her hair is done up. Her earrings are gold.

Firebrand

She's never seen Denver University's campus before. In truth, there's a hell of a lot of places that Morgan's never set foot on or even knows exist in Colorado yet. But -- she's eighteen, barely out of high school and her education had been interrupted at best -- there's (probably) time for that. Assuming she doesn't get herself killed in a fight one of these nights, that is. Since she's come to the Sept, she's been nothing if not a regular visitor to the dusty earth of Forgotten Questions.

She likes it there. Prefers the simplicity of her life as a Garou to attempting navigation of the perils of being human. Except -- sometimes there are benefits. Twilight tours of a campus for one, though she's less of a tourist at present and more of a hooded figure seated on a stone bench, watching dusk turn to twilight and contemplating her next move. The whole world prickles around Morgan Roche tonight -- it's the cusp of her moon.

She's a ball of crackling energy. At times like this, you can feel the cause of that deedname, like the air around her is kindling. Just waiting.

Javed

Javed wanders. That's just what he does. Where he wanders doesn't necessarily matter, and while he does visit some places more than others his feet bring him to unfamiliar places from time to time. It's probably not best, all things considered, that he is here on his own, wandering along the side of the quad in his army surplus jacket and cargo pants. Someone would likely assume--since he comes off as a very scary bastard--that he was lurking around campus about to do something horrible to someone.

But no, just wandering.

-damon the green-

BOOM.

Construction? Thunder? No; A MONSTER. Bursting up out of the well-manicured green, sending clods of dirt and chunks of concrete flying every which way. It's late enough that at least no person goes flying. Students coming out of the library from some late-night session shriek and scatter.

We should describe the monster:

it is big. It is very big, and it is scaly, and it is segmented, and it has eyes absolutely everywhere. It's pretty gross.

Radiant Honor

Avery

nearly

jumps out of her skin.

She even gives a little yelp, her hand flying up to touch at her pearls over the pretty bow on her chest.

--

A second later, she does jump out of her skin. She lets out a roar as she snaps into her direwolf skin, her most dangerous. She thinks of the veil but that can't be helped right now: her warform doesn't incite the mad panic and foggy memory in humans anyway. She is too much like them. She remembers too well what it is to be human.

Think yourself human.

Silk and linen shred off of her, gold falls away, but surprisingly no pearls scatter. They gleam down into the ruff of her fur, vanishing with the rest of her. As she runs, loping furiously across the ground, she calls on gift after gift, opening her throat to roar, and roar, warning this monster of what comes its way.

[-1R: snapshift to hispo!

-1WP: resist pain!

-1R: eagle's beak!

-1WP: lambent flame! DAMON REMEMBER THAT MAKES HER +1 HARDER TO HIT yay]

Javed

He hears the explosion of sod and concrete, hears the yelp of his packmate, and turns to see the creature. He's already in mid-growl before he lays his one eye on it. The jacket shed, he bursts into War Form as he charges in, claws raking the ground.

[[Shift to Crinos, Razor Claws]]

Radiant Honor

[well all right then. damon says I can.

-1G: luna's armor. not so much meditating as GLORYING IN THE LIGHT OF THE WAXING MOON BEFORE BATTLE.

survival + stamina]

Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 3, 4, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Firebrand

I mean, she'd seen some stuff before. She's a Full Moon, that's just sort of what you expect. The No Moons sneak around, the Theurges hang out and swap tips with the spirits and go Umbral jaunting, the Half Moons ... well, she knows they talk a lot and most of them are smarter than she is and the Galliards, well, they talk a lot too.

But from what her experience has shown her, there's an art to making storytime cool. But when you get right down to it, this is what she knows. She's been trying to make her brother understand it for years. This -- on her feet, running, running, shifting. Heavy paws slam into the ground and there's a brilliant red wolf there on the quad where minutes ago there'd been a pretty girl.

She snarls.

[I'm gonna go ahead and roll WP since Morgan isn't great with patience and MONSTER all up on her. Impatience Flaw.]

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

-damon the green-

While out heroes come running, the Monster just

keeps

emerging.

There's so much length. It pours out and out and out, like vomit after a night of drinking gone horribly wrong. Because gross. Ten feet, twenty, thirty... the size of a school bus, the size of a city bus, the size of a two-stage city bus. People are shrieking, people are running, wolves are closing the distance with snarls in their throats.

The Monster breaches, whale-like. It rolls lazily to its back and comes crashing down hard, sending park benches flying, sending a visible ripple through the very earth. It's the trippiest thing: lawn rippling like pondwater. And then it's literally a trippy thing, because unless they're damn lucky, the Garou go flying too.

[everyone roll dex+ath diff 9 to stay afoot! and then roll inits! here's eyemonster init. +10]

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

Radiant Honor

[dex (athletic) + athletics]

Dice: 8 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 1 ) Re-rolls: 1

Firebrand

[Ack! Dex + Ath]

Dice: 8 d10 TN9 (2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 1 )

Javed

[[Dex+Ath, Spec Lightning Reflexes]]

Dice: 8 d10 TN9 (1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1

Radiant Honor

[init: +10]

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

Javed

[[Init +18 (Spirit of Fray]]

Dice: 1 d10 TN9 (1) ( fail )

Firebrand

[Inits! +8]

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

-damon the green-

No one goes sprawling. Well. No one important to our story, anyway. Our heroes charge in, and the Monster rolls back to its belly, enormous, serpentine, a million and one eyes rolling, saccading, fixing on the three wolves.

In its eyes, they look so small.

[Declare in reverse order:

Javed 19

Monster 19

Avery 16

Firebrand 16!]

Firebrand

[1a. Claw one ... I mean there just a LOT of eyes ... one of the eyes!

1b. Bite it.

R1 + 2 Biting again.]

Radiant Honor

[1a. lunge in and bite its stomach out!

1b. YUM ORGANS

R1. rip tear rar nom]

Javed

2 Rage:

[[1a: Block Attack on Avery

1b: Block Attack on Morgan

R1: Block potential other attack

R2: Claw Strike]]

-damon the green-

[monster: pretty simple.

2 attacks on Javed

2 attacks on Avery

2 attacks on Firebrand

slam the ground again!]

-damon the green-

[first round of attacks! attack vs Javed. don't worry it has low soak. but high HP. MAHAHHAHA.]

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

-damon the green-

[really? ONE?]

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

Javed

[[Soak]]

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

-damon the green-

[attack on avery!]

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

-damon the green-

[roll your block, javed]

Javed

[[Block!]]

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

-damon the green-

[attack on morgan!]

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

-damon the green-

[block #2! don't forget to subtract dice for splitting.]

Javed

[[Block #1 with proper # of dice]]

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

Javed

[[Block #2]]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

-damon the green-

[whup. going back a bit. damage #1 on avery, mitigated somewhat by block.]

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

Radiant Honor

Avery sees it coming. She bares her teeth, glowing like the moon, illuminating the whole green with Luna's dual blessing on her. She sets her feet and waits for the strike, as Javed lunges forward and knocks the monster's vengeance aside -- a bit.

She endures the remaining punishment, fearless, trusting in one of the three gods she holds highest. And when it is done, she turns, barking at her packmate. Not to shame, not to chastise, but to command.

You waste your strength! ATTACK!

This is battle.

[soak!]

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

-damon the green-

[damage #2 on morgan! mitigated somewhat again. dam+2]

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

Firebrand

[Soaking it in]

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

Radiant Honor

[1a. NOMF]

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

Radiant Honor

[RAR]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )

-damon the green-

[soak!]

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

Radiant Honor

[1b. NOMF again!]

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

Radiant Honor

[RAR!]

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

-damon the green-

[WTF kahseeno]

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

Firebrand

[1a. Claw dat eye. -2 Split.]

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

Firebrand

[Damage + 2]

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

-damon the green-

[soak!! will apply -1 die pain mod if any dmg left over]

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

Firebrand

[1b. Biting! I'm pretty sure you're gonna taste disgusting, wyrmy dude. -3 Split.]

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

Firebrand

[Damage + 1]

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

-damon the green-

[soak!]

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

-damon the green-

[attacking javed!]

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

-damon the green-

[dam +2]

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

Javed

[[Soak]]

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

-damon the green-

[attacking avery! is javed blocking, or saving action for attack? no diff penalty either way.]

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

-damon the green-

[dam +2]

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

Radiant Honor

[Soak!]

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

-damon the green-

[attacking morgan!]

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

Javed

[[Block, Spec Muy Thai]]

Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1

Javed

[[Claw rarr! -1 for Razor Claws]]

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

Javed

[[Damage]]

Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 9 )

-damon the green-

[ack! soak!]

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

Radiant Honor

[R1!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )

Radiant Honor

[ffs. HAIL!!!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

-damon the green-

[soak!]

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

Firebrand

[RAGE TIME ALL OVER THIS PLACE. Biting.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

Firebrand

[Damage + 5]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

-damon the green-

[soak!]

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

Firebrand

[Listen, you have to go. Don't make it awkward. Biting!]

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

Firebrand

[Damage + 5]

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

-damon the green-

[ACK AM I DEAD?]

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

-damon the green-

[KABOOM.]

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

-damon the green-

[everyone soak 6agg!]

Radiant Honor

[soak! HAIL!]

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

Firebrand

[It's not you it's me! Don't squash me.]

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

Javed

[[Soak]]

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

-damon the green-

Those fleeing undergrads haven't even made it to the safety of their dorms by the time the three wolves tear the Monster down.

It's slow, messy work. A lot of crunching and tearing. A lot of wet pops. Hot splashy liquids. Might make lobster dinners an unpleasant prospect for a while -- or maybe not. Point is: they make their dents. Some larger than others. They wear it down, bit by bit by chunk by bit, and in the end it's the youngest of them, the wettest-behind-the-ears, who sinks her teeth in and decides:

enough.

--

KABOOM!

Monster explodes. Rudity! Monster guts flying everywhere. Some fling as high as the rooftops. Some fling as far as the far end of the quad. Helluva story come morning. Students will forget the lion's share of what they saw. They'll concoct some story about a kegger gone wrong, or an exploded sewage pipe, or something.

In the meantime, the wolves, showered with caustic gore, stand victorious. If a bit smelly.

Radiant Honor

[Avery is at full HP!]

Javed

[[2 Agg, 4 L!]]

Firebrand

Funnily enough, the reason for Morgan's deedname came in much a similar fashion. A young, impetuous wolf who took one long look at her enemy and decided, just like that, that she'd had enough. It was time to end things and with a leap, gaping jaws and a surprising degree of agility for a cub, she'd done precisely what she somehow manages tonight.

Put a stop to the Wyrm's ministrations of evil. It's sheer, dumb luck, many would say. A moon born talent, others. The exact reason she was always in the thick of trouble, the Kinfolk at her home Sept often muttered. Red furred and gore splattered, the child of Stag rides the thrashing beast down until with a terrific dying throw, she's cast off and lands, whuffing as she hits the grass of the quad and begins to shake herself off, big flecks of guts flinging left and right.

[Morgan is at 1agg.]

Javed

Torn once, viciously, and them covered in caustic gore is almost enough to send the Anubis-headed wolfman to the point of being gone. Almost, but not quite. He snarls as the toxic stuff splashes over his wound, but he doesn't back away. There is a moment when his knees buckle and he drops to one of them, but the knee has barely touched earth before he forces himself back into a stand.

He stands there a moment, watching where the thing came from balefully. He's waiting to see if another might come out. When it doesn't, he finally looks around and acknowledges the two other Garou. Avery, of course, gets the more familiar nod. He can identify her at his point even if they weren't packbonded.

Radiant Honor

For something so big, it falls quickly. Quick enough. Avery is almost choking on whatever it is that composes the thing's internal gore. She does not gag, though, but bites, and lunges, and bites again. She glows so brightly that those who look upon them can see a wide shine, a silvery light fighting on the green. Heaven knows what they will think.

Exploded sewage pipe. That will be something they can handle. There will be no explanation for the light they saw but the moon shining down. That's all they have to hold onto, the only thing that makes more sense than a giant white wolf fighting alongside a dark one, a red-gold one, illuminating yards and yards around her with her light.

Avery is startled by Morgan. She's heard of her before, and seen her fight one other time, but tonight she is plainly shocked: the young Cliath Ahroun just tears the thing apart. Rips a hole through its enormous body, comes out the other side drenched in its mess.

The first thought she has after the body explodes, which she may or may not be ashamed of later, is that the cliath might not live to hear her tales sung at the next moot. She runs toward the Fianna and starts sniffing at her, pawing, nudging, checking her over to see if she's all right. She's all right. She's injured, but not terribly. She'll walk it off in a day or so.

Avery chuffs, relieved. She laps her tongue over the nearest mostly-clean spot she can find on the young Ahroun, letting the light of Luna fade around her. She, untouched by evil, lets her body melt back down to its birth form. She is naked. She is wearing a double-string of pearls. Somewhere on the green there are scraps of pink silk, gray linen, a pair of shoes, a set of gold earrings. Avery herself is a bit sticky with gore, but unharmed. She does not hide her body when she rises, looking toward her packmate.

When it's clear no more is coming out of the hole the monster left in the earth, and Javed nods at her, she just --

does not lose it. Does not shout, not naked and covered in gore or wearing pearls. She tamps down. Her rage is spent, or she might be shouting.

"In the future," Avery says evenly, remembering the presence of a Cliath alongside them, "I think your strength would be better spent not attempting to mitigate harm that a named Ahroun and an armored packmate can well withstand, but actively attacking that which seeks to do harm."

Her words are, as ever, so prim. So carefully chosen. Even if her blue eyes flash and her tone is level as a board, sharp as a knife.

"If you disagree, perhaps in other battles you will take charge, and instruct your allies as to how you would have them fight."

It is, for Avery, the kindest way to tell her packmate to lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Radiant Honor

[Addendum!]

That said, Avery exhales through her nose. She walks forward, over to Javed, removing something from -- her ribs, it seems. It is a small, white velvet bag. Drawstring. She opens it, removing a tiny white pumpkin covered in black glyphs painted onto it. She got the pumpkins at Trader Joe's. They were on sale!

She also got some chocolate-covered potato chips but that's because she had PMS that night and just really wanted some, okay.

With one hand, she crushes the dried tiny gourd atop her packmate's shoulder. Clear water, sparkling as silver, floods over his body. She meets his eyes as she does this. He will not limp off this field tonight. After all: they have trophies to collect.

Radiant Honor

[GB, +4HP!]

Javed

The one eye that is not milked through flashes, and his shoulders knot. There is a moment where he looks like he is about to respond.

But he doesn't. Because that is not a conversation that he has in front of other people. So he merely turns to silently collect the trophies, which he leaves for Avery, and then will make his way away. Perhaps they will discuss it later.

Radiant Honor

Javed does not respond, not to the -- admittedly public -- chastisement, nor the healing. Avery squares her shoulders and straightens her back, searching over the green back to her little bag left somewhere. She digs out her phone and, leaving prints and slime on it, summons her staff.

Colin, the young man with a delight for cleaning out skulls and occasionally tanning the skin of fomori into leather, is woken from his sleep with one of the most exciting assignments she's had for him yet. He, and others, will be on their way. She advises them to coordinate with the kin of Cold Crescent to come help with cleanup, but for her own part, she rips out one of the monster's eyes and offers it over to Morgan.

"You know, it's entirely possible that we could turn this into a very intriguing lamp," she tells the Fianna. Then: "I know someone you should meet. A kinsman of your tribe is of my acquaintance. I would be honored if you would meet him."

Firebrand

Firebrand goes very still at first when the Fostern approaches. It's instinctive, one might assume. The same way she visibly fought to restrain herself around Erich that night at the haunted house. Her superior in rank is clearly something the Fianna understands. She can smell it, sense it. She does wag her heavy tail when Avery licks her, though.

Hey, the Fostern licked me. I did something right. She snuffs, turns, whines at the stench of the monster laying there and pads away from it. Also from the sounds of the pack talking. It's not her business, but she knows the sounds of an argument well enough to put some distance between her and the scene of one. Uses the time to shift back into her human skin. Jeans, sneakers, a young woman with impressive stature and height and startlingly clear eyes.

There's a reason she smells like verdant rolling hills and celtic heroes of old. It's in her blood and oh, does that blood sing. It's a different song to the glory of Avery's, but it's equally as present. Even if Morgan might lack the charm the other woman has. She smiles when the Half Moon rips an eyeball out and hands it to her.

It's a bloody smile, she's got gore on her lower lip. "Thank you, rhya." A slightly bashful Ahroun, who would have thought it. She waves at Javed with it and it flops all over the place. "Hey, tell him thanks for me. For the --" she mimes hitting the carcass beside them with a fist.

Avery wants her to meet someone. She looks intrigued. "There are more o'my Kinfolk here? I've only met one so far." She turns, limping a little beside the Fang. "He runs a bar."

Radiant Honor

"I will certainly pass it along," Avery says, but also: "though you could also stand for him at the Stories and Songs at the next full moon and thank him in front of our people."

Subtle, but there: a firm reminder that personal thanks, while heartfelt, mean so much more when a story is told before the gathered Garou. She may be displeased with Javed's behavior tonight, enough so that she would confront him immediately, and in front of a veritable stranger, but he is still her packmate. And her auspice is dedicated, if nothing else, to defending their ways. Their orders. Their laws and their culture.

She smiles. She is delighted by this young Ahroun, by her fervor in battle, her familiar scent. "The kinsman's name is Calden White. He lives on family land, far north of here. A cattleman, and my mate."

She has never called him thus to anyone else. It sends a thrill down her spine. She exhales. "Dear, if you would be so kind as to lend me your sweatshirt --" she means the hoodie, "I certainly do feel the chill, and my clothes were left behind. I would owe you a debt for the assistance."

Radiant Honor

[Devon: perception + empathy. WAT.]

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

Firebrand

There's a strange sort of pride in Morgan when she tells Avery what Matthew does and alright, so she may have exaggerated slightly when it came to who really owned said bar but it's only a white lie and those really didn't count so much in the scheme of things, right? The Philodox gently reminds her of where true thanks belong and Morgan's eyes light up a little.

"Yeah! Oh, I can do that, totally. I was at the last one. I didn't really know wha' to say, though. I mean, it's weird. Being new to a place." She frowns, wiping down the edge of her mouth with her sleeve and then pausing mid wipe when Avery asks if she can borrow her hoodie. She unzips it amicably enough and bundles it over. It's a dark navy and aside from the sleeve, smells comfortably like the Fianna and some detergent she's laundered it with.

"Calden White." She repeats to herself, commanding the name to memory and biting on her lower lip as she stares at the giant beast they've just felled. "I'd be happy to meet him, rhya. Though, I mean -- " she tangles a hand in her hair, it's a quite fierce shade of red. "I'm not the best at makin' impressions. I can try though," she rocks a little in her sneakers.

Radiant Honor

"It is," she agrees simply, when it comes to being new. "But you won't be new forever." Which is also true. She won't be a Cliath forever. She won't be a newcomer forever. It just takes time. Everything does. She exhales, gratefully, when handed the hoodie, slipping it on over her naked body and the gore, tugging it down a bit. She picks through some of the thing's body, and smiles at Morgan as they talk. "You've made perfectly fine impressions on me, Firebrand,"

OMG SHE KNOWS HER NAME

"and Calden is one of the finest men your tribe has ever given to this nation. You will get along swimmingly. Oh, there's the van,"

and so it is. Coming down the road, a dark van with no windows. The kinsmen driving and riding shotgun and hanging out in the back all have the refined jawlines and sharp eyes and hawklike noses of Avery's tribe, each one of them a little too pretty, a little too delicate-seeming. But there is nothing delicate about the way they approach cleanup duty. Avery just smiles at Morgan. Javed has wandered off on his own.

"Come. You'll wash up at my family's home and have some bread and beer. There's a room for you if you'd like to rest, of course."

Firebrand

Her Rage is somewhat banked now, post battle, but it's a strange juxtaposition to imagine this girl standing with some degree of grateful wonderment beside a Silver Fang Fostern is the same one who just tore a hole through a giant worm monster. That's the heartbreak and inspiration of the Garou Nation, however. They are many of them young.

Many beautiful, many battle weary. Many as seemingly docile as a spring morning until wound up and then -- death, destruction. Radiant Honor says her name, her chosen one, that is to say, and splotches of color appear on the Ahroun's cheeks. She ducks her head, grins and plays with her severed eye for several moments as she tries to figure out what to say to that.

Thank you seemed paltry, but what else sufficed. "I like beer." She says it a touch too readily, but nevermind. It's likely Avery doesn't even catch it as she follows after her and they head out to meet the van.

haunted house!

haunting

Welcome to my scene! Here are some basic rules and terms that should be understood going in:

1. Length of posts and scene. I would like to keep this around/under the 4-ish hour range. I think that we are efficient people and could probably even get through this even sooner than that, especially considering that the group involved has shrunk! Let's try to keep the time limit for our posts to 10 minutes, please. I understand if it takes longer from time to time but just say something in the chat to let me know. If I get radio silence for 10 minutes we'll move along.

2. Combat times and expectations. Declares within 3 minutes. Rolls within 3 minutes. I think that's reasonable? I think?

3. Danger levels and risk of mortality. This is probably going to be a mid-level risk of maiming, emotional scarring, and death. I wanted to throw something intense and gripping at you guys! This is going to contain content involving death, gore in general, and mild sexual themes (not the r-word i promise). If y'all are uncomfortable with any of that please let me know so we can work things out. I don't want to actually bum people out.

4. Merits and Flaws and Tempers. If you could please let me know about any merits or flaws that you figure I should be aware of in chat PM, I would thank you. Also, if you could provide your Rage, Willpower, and Gnosis levels to me, I'm also going to help keep track of tempers because I'm type-a like that, but hope that you will also help me in keeping track of your own.

5. Let's have fun! If at any point things start to suck or if shit gets too sad, uncomfortable, let me know! I want to provide entertainment, not ruin someone's night. Also this is my first time storytelling in a while so bear with me and my spastic self consciousness throughout this process.

Incoming opening post!

haunting

At the past Moot a Ragabash Silver Fang had stood up and asked for volunteers. There was a house, a house that reeked of taint, and it may have a wraith wrapped up into the mix. Or maybe a vampire. Something bad, something that was ghostly. There were missing hikers that needed looking into.

Of course Radiant Honor stepped forward, for she was a shining example of her own namesake. A leader, a shower, someone who put forth the example and courtesy that she dreamed others would learn as well. Good Philodox, good Fostern. Erich had been called upon as well, they would need muscle because they didn't know what to expect. A house with that much Wyrm taint could churn anything at them, after all. Then the wiry Fianna New Moon who had sniffed the place out with her Queenly Companion would come along as well, to serve as a guide and a scout the way ahead.

They had to wait until night. "Halloween," Goldie had insisted. She'd read up on the history of the house, the local urban legends that went into the apparition that she and Mary had witnessed. "It only comes out at night, but Halloween is when she's supposed to be most manifest, most connected, you see?"

This is how they wound up in a boxy and surprisingly roomy little white vehicle-- Goldie volunteered the backseat right away, though of course she would concede to the Fostern Ahroun if he insisted (though he seemed a 'shotgun!' kind of guy to her). They had to drive a good ways outside of town, up to the northwest and into the rural, the mountains. Along a highway, then onto a rural road, and eventually onto gravel where they'd pull off at a dusty milemarker that Goldie had marked on a map in some papers that she kept in a hot pink folder that she'd carried along the way.

"We're gonna have a bit of a hike," she was explaining in the ears of the two Fosterns (she was a spirited thing, talkative, sharing backstory and things that she'd learned about this place and oh she had just learned so many hadn't she?). The wind was far more persistent up here in the mountains, a bit more biting, than it had been in the city they'd driven from.

"But it's well worth it," she'd advise with a broad broad grin. "This place is fucking spooky"

Son of Rage

Amazing.

It's Halloween and Erich's going to a haunted house. Like a real one, a real haunted house with a real ghost. Sitting up in the front seat of the van, hanging off the oh-shit bar, wearing ridiculous bunny ears that smash up against the ceiling every time they go over a bump, Erich looks positively thrilled. Into the mountains they go, into the countryside, down a dirt road, over the hill and through the dale and on to grandma's house -- wait, no. They park.

Erich pops his door open and bounds out as soon as his seatbelt's cleared his shoulder. "I feel like I should have a shotgun," he muses aloud. "Like hoisted over my shoulder. I feel like that'd make this a perfect haunted house teen movie scene."

Because obviously that's what he most resembles. A teen movie heartthrob male lead. With bunny ears.

Radiant Honor

Upon deciding that they would go out to the house on Halloween, Avery pulled out her phone and started texting. She had to make sure she remembered to leave one of four parties that night on time, after all.

All the same, the night of, she doesn't leave on time. On time to pick up Erich and Goldie and Morgan in that shiny pearlescent white bubble-gum shaped car? Absolutely. In time to go home and change out of her costume first?

...No.

This is why Avery shows up at Cold Crescent dressed in a gold toga-like dress, her hair in a waterfall of curls. There are rhinestones affixed at the corners of her eyes and stenciled-on shimmering gold paint at the edges of her face. In the back, where Goldie and Morgan sits, there is a pair of fluffy, feathery white wings that Avery took off and put back there. Avery is still wearing, like a crown, a silvery halo against her hair. And she has changed into sneakers.

Getting in, she's apologizing for her state, reaching into the center divide to hand each of her passengers small bottles of Fiji water and a little black silk bag full of milk and dark and white truffles wrapped in orange foil, decorated with orange eye and mouth cutouts making each candy look like a jack o'lantern. Well: Goldie and Morgan get truffles. Erich gets -- still wrapped in foil -- little meatballs filled, miraculously, with some kind of tart sauce.

And then they are on their way, once she's made her passengers comfortable. Erich is given control of the music.

--

Eventually they pull off the road. Avery gets out, leaving the car unlocked just in case. She carries talens in a bag hanging from the corded belt of her angelic garb, taking care of the hem of said garb as ladylike as you please, even if it reveals her less-than-angelic footwear and ruins the illusion.

Her arms are bare, but she does not appear to feel cold. She just takes a deep, bracing breath and turns to Goldie and Erich and Morgan.

"Son of Rage-yuf, will you kindly direct us onward?"

Which is to mean: don't argue. This is a mission. He is of the full moon. And she submits, however regally, to his leadership.

Firebrand

The redheaded Fianna's response at the last Moot to being informed about a haunted house that required investigation had been a very decided, 'ears perked up' expression of hey, that's cool. Possibly with an elbow to the side eliciting a grunt from whichever poor soul had happened to be seated nearest to her. And then she'd made sure she was available on Halloween.

Which, to any eighteen year old (or at the very least, this eighteen year old) was in an of itself a sacrifice of serious proportions. Morgan had ideas, you understand, costume ideas. Of course, then she'd settled for the fact she was very possibly going out to her death and the Ahroun's internal scales realigned themselves and there she sat, brilliant red hair pulled out of her eyes for the occasion in a high ponytail, rocking back and forth at the curb in her sneakers.

She doesn't know the two Fosterns beyond what she's seen at Moots and for a moment, biting at her cheek, when she first scrambles into the car she just stares at them with big eyes from the back seat.

And then the Silver Fang hands around candy and the reservations somewhat -- melt. Morgan chatters, about Halloween, about what they might be getting themselves into. She quiets down though, whether due to the fact they're approaching their location or out of some lingering unease about the fact she's with two Fosterns unknown and doesn't speak again until they hop out at the house.

Morgan stretches. Stares. Looks up at the moon. "Somethin' wicked this way comes," she mutters and treks on after Erich.

Son of Rage

Erich, who greeted Avery with a big hug and spent most of the car ride over eating meatballs, tips his head back and dumps the last of the meatballs in his mouth. Then he wads up the bag and stuffs it in his pocket and casts one last questioning look around.

"Anyone have a shotgun? No? Damn. Okay, come on." He starts up the hill, kicking through loose fallen leaves; random assorted detritus of autumn. "Goldie up front. Maybe in wolf-shape. Y'know, scout and stuff. On second thought I'm gonna go wolf too."

And he does. Bamf. A big dappled wolf, fur thick with winter, whining in distress as the little black silk bag promptly falls off his fur and flops to the ground.

haunting

Goldie is dressed like a lion. Sort of. She was a girl on a budget with a lot of creativity. Her lengthy mass of sandy-blond hair was curled and curled and made to be huge to substitute any mane that a costumed headpiece could try to accomplish for her. She had black on her nose and lips, white and orange and yellow on her eyes and cheeks. A brown long-sleeved shirt that was cut to dip scandalously low on her chest (not being busty meant no cleavage concerns meant swooping necklines here we come), with a pair of how-are-those-pants-so-tight brown corduroy. Costume ears and a tail thrown somewhere in the mix. She didn't make plans for a party that she was missing out on, she just wanted to dress up.

She was practical with her footwear as well, wearing black sneakers that were quiet on the gravel and grass when she stepped out onto the shoulder of the road with the other Werewolves that she'd come on this adventure along with. The army of badasses that she was going to be leading into this clearing-out mission.

Morgan's presence in the back seat had been nice. Someone to chat with. Another Fianna to be around-- the seasoned fireplace warmth of Stag breeding was a familiar comfort for a girl that grew up in a house of Celtic Kings. She remembered her from the bar where Matt worked, but they hadn't seen much of each other since then. She was happy to share chocolates with her, absolutely delighted that she'd produced meatballs for the Ahroun and then curious about his meatless diet. It was a long car ride and she was a chatterbox.

Once out, once it was time to trek, Goldie slipped from lion-looking girl to golden-furred wolf (small, spry, her namesake in every way). As instructed by the Shadow Lord Fostern, put in charge by the Silver Fang Lawgiver, she scouted on ahead. She already knew the way anyways.

-------------------------

Up ahead, up on the gradual slope of the mountainside, after three and a half miles worth of hiking, they would come upon a house. It was an old weathered thing of wood and blackened, dust-caked windows. The wood siding may have held paint at one time but now it was gray and aged like the rest of it.

There were double doors at the front of the house, on the second story of three in total (the bottom floor built into the hillside, partially underground). To reach them there were bare and dark cement stairs that stretched from the mouth of the house like a victim's arm reaching for escape.

The most eerie part, though, was that the ground and earth in a solid 30 foot radius around the house was dead and still.

Firebrand

Firebrand was quite the beacon of celtic breeding in the backseat, it's true. Her blood certainly sang with the heroes of Stag and let's be honest, with that fair complexion and fiery hair, it was unlikely she'd be taken for another tribe's ilk even without the marker of her pure blood to tell the tail. In wolf form, she was as dappled a gold and red beast as ever was glimpsed on the battlefield.

A blur of teeth and claw and precocious enthusiasm for the fight.

She falls into formation though, once they're near. The moonlight giving her skin a pearly white glow, casting her hair in brighter regard. Watches the wolves appear with a shimmer of movement and Goldie scamper off to scout ahead, leaving her with the Silver Fang. In truth, the Fianna had little experience with Avery's kind. Her home Sept had entertained many it was true, but Morgan, with her readiness to scrap and her (somewhat) awkward adolescence had never quite made the grade with those she met.

It didn't help, one supposed, when you had high rage simmering under your skin and a tendency to act before thinking.

She looks at the Philodox once or twice, a brief, furtive glance here and there as if she's weighing up the chances of Avery speaking to her and what she'd say if she did.

Son of Rage

Bit of a hike was an understatement. Three and a half uphill miles later, the small group looks at last upon their destination. Dark, lit by nothing but moonlight and/or the occasional stray flash of lightning, the house looms over them. The ground surrounding it is dead. Even Erich-wolf knows that's a bad sign.

Beneath the two rabbit ears still ridiculously affixed to his head, Erich-wolf's actual ears swivel and prick. He whuffs; wordless, just a noise of discontent. Then he nips gently at Goldie's withers.

See, hear, smell anything?

Radiant Honor

Avery stays in the shape of a mortal for now. Even with the pale hair, gold dress, and silver halo, she does not shine in the dark quite as much as she would in any furred form. But after a while, walking with the others, she realizes she will slow them down. She realizes, to, that she has unconsciously gravitated to the rear of the group, behind the scout, the leader, and the fighter. This gives her an odd little curl of pleasure and contentment, tempered by the weight of responsibility that she seems -- so consistently -- to shoulder with grace.

She shifts into hispo. Not as lithe, not as quick as the others, but a massive white creature at their backs. Those responsibility-bearing shoulders become hulking with muscle. Her fur is thick with oncoming cold weather, ready for the endless white of Siberia or the tops of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Her eyes are still that clear, far-seeing blue.

As she walks, she calls on the half-moon overhead, her moon, to bless her. Her spirit shimmers along each hair of her fur, making them whisper slightly as though blown by wind. Her paws fall heavily, slowly, but she says nothing. She is aware of the excited Ahroun nearest to her, but she hangs back, ears flicking attentively around her.

[-1 G, Lunas' Armor

Stamina + Survival!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 2, 4, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Radiant Honor

[+4d10 to soak for scene]

Son of Rage

[-1 Gn and a dex+occult vs diff 7 roll! FLICKERING SHADOWS AWAY FROM HOUSE AS THOUGH LIT BY SPOOKY LANTERNS.]

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

haunting

[Perception + Alertness, -2 diff for lupus]

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

Firebrand

[Per + Alert: Eh? Hey Spooky House!]

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

Son of Rage

[percep+alert! -2 diff cuz wolf.]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 3, 7) ( success x 1 )

Radiant Honor

[perception (insightful) + alertness]

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

haunting

Goldie manifested as an excitable girl. The wolfish version of her wasn't too different. She'd scampered-- that was the best word for it-- up ahead and into the bristly twig-and-stick-riddled undergrowth and be gone without a trace. For a loudmouth she disappeared astoundingly well.

When she'd come back she'd appear, flick and posture a sort of all is clear keep on up this way and then be off once more.

When nipped at Goldie's tail tucked between her legs and she scooted forward a couple of feet with a quiet yip. It seemed more like an excited little laugh more than anything else-- she did basically get goosed after all.

Nothing out here. Just creepy and dead. There's things inside, though. I think the Lady In White is home.

She'd told them about the Lady in White on the ride over. She was the urban legend that circled around the place in the small town nearby. People liked to hike out there from time to time, young adults looking for a ghost hunt and adventure. Sometimes they went missing, but that only happened occasionally throughout history. People get lost in the mountains all the time, right?

The report that Goldie gave was accurate, the others could perceive themselves as they came nearer to the dead old house. It was dead on the outside. The plants were withered in a perfect circle around the place, and the earth beneath them smelled of rotting old vegetation and soil that would never grow anything again. Small animals kept away from the place and so birds chirped no songs and rodents chattered no challenges.

Inside, the other females could confirm, a presence fluttered behind a curtain on the second floor before all was still once more.

Son of Rage

LADY IN WHITE. Erich interrupted right there on the ride over, excited, asking if it was the lady in white that left her prom date's sweater on her grave or the lady in white who rides all night in a stranger's car and then disappears with the dawn or --

well, no. Turns out she's a different lady in white. Maybe a little less benign. And now: now they're on her turf.

Hang on. And planting his feet, Erich-wolf shakes out his fur; pulls on his many Gifts of protection and strength. Pushes up into his largest form as well, taking a moment to sharpen his claws on that blank cement path. And then, just when you'd expect him to go charging in --

he drops to his haunches. Going to talk to my mom!

[-1 WP Resist Pain!

-1 Rage Razor Claws!

-1 Gn Luna's Armor! (roll below)

-2 Gn Song of the Earth Mother!]

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

Son of Rage

[Song of the Earth Mother roll! SPENDING WP AGAIN FFS CUZ ONLY 2 DICE.]

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

Firebrand

[Yo, whatchu doin' bro, I wants to go investigate. Impatient Flaw rollin'.]

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

Firebrand

Fairly soon, the young Ahroun is the last in her human skin and, after taking a moment to take closer inspection of the house up ahead, to breathe in the scents in the air through her limited homid senses and stare up at the second floor for a lingering moment -- she shifts, flowing into her Hispo form, Morgan's height translating into a lanky red dappled wolf shaking out its coat for a moment.

Large paws hit the earth and she stays her position for a moment, dipping her face to snuffle at the old, old earth as if determined to weed out its secrets through decaying vegetation and desiccated plant life. The Fostern of her moon says to hang on.

She hangs. Or, well -- sits and watches. Tilts her great head and resumes watching the second floor, tail wagging jerkily beneath her. It's evident that she wants very much to be up there but - for now - whether its due to Son of Rage being her superior in Rank and Auspice or whether its simply that her need isn't as great as it sometimes is -- she tempers the urge to bolt up the hill and into the house ahead of the others.

haunting

Because he was Alpha, because he had the lead, the others in this mission-pack waited (relatively) patiently for him to finish his gift of course.

It took a while, and Erich had to really shut himself off from the others and the world around him and hunker down, perhaps even physically closer to press himself into Gaia herself, like skin-to-skin contact would reconnect mother and child because it really was difficult but then--

--she was there, and her presence was Warm and Everywhere, and through her he could feel the world around him. It was euphoric, really, but marred by a deeply deeply troubling number of black spots marring Gaia's heart.

There were things moving about in the house. It was hard to tell which floors, which rooms, the connection was vague for it wasn't very strong. But the intensely troubling part was the veritable swarm of somethings slumbering in the basement.

Radiant Honor

The land is dead and the shadows around it thick. Avery swallows a low growl, displeased by the sight of it, the feel of it. She looks at the blackened ground, hearing the silence. Her eyes snap to the curtain on the second floor. This time she doesn't stifle the growl, her tail low.

She was not so excitable on the ride over. Cheerful, bright, laughing a little at all the various stories Erich knew of the LADY IN WHITE. But this isn't an urban legend: this is a mountain tale, and it appears to be true, and it appears to be malicious. Now they're here, and Avery turns a circle, looking up again at the now-motionless second floor.

Erich moves into a flurry of activity, then flops to his haunches to meditate. At that, Avery moves forward, closer to the others, as though to stand guard. She prepares herself as well.

[-1 WP for Fangs of Judgement

-1 WP for Resist Pain

Also activating Truth of Gaia and Persuasion because YOU NEVER KNOW. Rolls below.]

Radiant Honor

[Nevermind on ToG! That can wait as it's per-target.]

Radiant Honor

[Persuasion for scene.

Charisma (Charming) + Subterfuge]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Radiant Honor

[-1 on social rolls + uncommonly strong effects on other persuasive rolls.]

Son of Rage

Lots of them in there.

Some ten minutes later, a sign of life! Erich-wolf's eyes reopen: blue as can be. He sniffs in the direction of the house. Snorts in disgruntlement.

Them as in bad guys. I dunno exactly what, but they're ... they're like stains on Gaia's heart. He sounds so outraged. He's almost trembling with affront, bristling with appalled-ness. They're all over, but most of all in the basement. So we should definitely start there. Come on! Me first, and yell if you need help!

And then he charges. Up the hill. On all fours, in great leaps and bounds, snarling, barking, the opposite of subtle.

Radiant Honor

Erich pops awake, alert again. Avery actually gives a small yelp as he jumps up. Then, in a rush, she is on her own feet, butting her head against Morgan's haunches to get her going ahead, making sure she and Goldie hurry inside and going after them. Goodness gracious.

Firebrand

Morgan vibrates with happiness when the other Ahroun leaps off. Radiant Honor nudges her forward but there's barely a need before she's surging off after the other Full Moon, letting loose her own chorus of noise which might as well be a large neon sign to the inhabitants that the Garou Brigade were on the way.

Of course, Firebrand didn't mind because BATTLE, because FOES. She's in her element and as surely as the Stag warriors of yore swim in her veins, they are the battle drum beating in time with her heart, too.

haunting

Goldie had waited patiently enough while Erich became a silent seeking mountain of fur. She maintained her wolf form, apparently comfortable as a fox among wolf-giants. She sniffed about the area, got up close to the ring of death, sniffed at the withered grass before slinking back to join the others gathered.

Hung out around Avery. Hung out around Morgan. Sniffed at Erich's semi-comatose flank but didn't jostle him enough to disturb him. Perhaps got chastised before moving away, or maybe left of her own volition. She was laying down waiting when Erich finally twitched to life.

The report of things in the basement had her ears perking, and she rolled up onto her feet. Listened as he declared where they should start, then was left speechless when he went charging up the hillside toward the front of the house. It took a prompt from Avery to get her shit moving before Goldie had taken off after Erich.

She shifted as she went, body stretching out and growing in muscle, in bulk, but more than anything in height. She assumed the form of Crinos, and while the others charged forward as bulldozers on four legs she loped along with them on three, the fourth going for a dedicated knife she had strapped to her thigh, drawing it free to carry into the fight.

She would have preferred to sneak in and scope the place out, but whatever.

Erich was a beautiful brute. The only door would have taken him to the second level of the house but he wanted to go into the basement. They were already on the same level as it, all he needed was a way in. A man to get what he needed, what he deemed right and his in that moment, he made a way in. The walls of the house were old and rotted anyway, so they didn't stand a chance against the bulk and teeth and claws of a Son of Rage.

Inside there was an open room, it was likely storage and shelter for whoever built the place. The place smelled sickly, of rotting fruit and meat and vegetables but musty musty musty, wet and hanging like a mist you could breathe but couldn't see. It wasn't harmful on the lungs, just pungent as all hell.

In the corner to their far right, off in the shadows, that's where the many things that Erich could feel through Gaia were. In the dark they could barely make out the shapes of what appeared to be man-sized pods stacked up and glued together against the walls and floor. They couldn't make out all of them in the dark, but already the numbers looked unpleasant.

Radiant Honor

Earlier, when they waited on Erich while he spoke to 'mom', Avery stood nearby. Sat, after a while, beside the meditative Shadow Lord. Shone, as she does. She whuffed lightly at Goldie whenever the wandering Ragabash came near, thumping her tail. She eyed Morgan, having already heard a story or two of the newcomer's prowess in battle, considering introducing her to Calden and the White clan.

As they get closer, she sees how decrepit the house really is, how worm-rotted. Then she hears and smells how rotten they are, as Erich tears a hole in the wall to get through. Avery whuffs, would shake her head in another form, but in this one she just jumps in after the rest, pausing a moment to get her bearings. Her fur stands on end.

Pods. Or something. She growls, and

then illuminates. A circle of thirty meters appears around her, pale as moonlight, glowing like silver, throwing the light of truth and honor and Gaia and Luna into all corners of the room. They are not trying to hide. Not when you charge in, bust a hole in the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, and start growling. Avery, it seems, is determined that nothing else should hide in her presence.

[-1 WP for Lambent Flame. Also puts a +1 diff on all close-range attacks on Avery until she turns the light off.]

Son of Rage

CRASH.

That's the sound made when a nine foot no-longer-silent no-longer-seeking mountain of fur tucks his head into his chest, squares his shoulders, and decides to turn a wall into a door. He goes barreling into the basement, bunny ears flying off his head, tail disappearing into the murk. Lands snapping and snarling in the darkness

only to realize

nothing is attacking him yet. His head lashes back and forth. He spies the pods! What is that! he barks, and even as he's barking it goes hulking over to dash them to smithereens with his great claws.

Firebrand

Morgan's not quite sure what to make of Son of Rage. On the one hand he's a Shadow Lord which, from the stories she heard, should make her fur bristle with indignation. But on the other - he made a door out of a wall which is five kinds of cool and the red torpedo that Firebrand's galloping form became after he gave the command to go forth tumbles through it and lands in a tangle of limbs.

He also smells like Fenrir, which is confusing. But she's not one to judge, really. As long as he (and the glowbug the Silver Fang has become) adhere to the mentality of bite it now and wonder about it later, she's on board. The Fianna shakes pieces of plaster and wood from her fur and her eyes follow the natural progression of the others toward the pods.

Morgan's chest begins to rumble with a growl. She's seen enough horror movies to know that's where the aliens burst from. She approaches with a little more caution than the Fostern, if only because her imagination is conspiring that there's poison about to be secreted from somewhere.

haunting

Goldie scrambled into the basement through the hole that Erich had created. She'd probably laugh her ass off when recalling that in story later, but for now the sound was kept in her throat. The Shadow Lord was making plenty of sound for the rest of them, and Goldie's own voice clamped down in reflex. She was so much more accustomed to skirting with death from the safety of stealth, after all.

When the Silver Fang began to glow a light silvery and pure and stunning Goldie glanced back to her, distracted, light momentarily casting a blind-shine into her eyes. She whuffed and ducked her snout and scrubbed at her eyes with a big fist, then looked over to the pods that the light was making evident in the basement with them.

They were brownish-green and covered in slime, which glued them into the corner of the room and to the walls and floors to expand from there. Stacked atop one another in places. There were 13 of them total, if you were to count. Seven of them were burst open, somewhat shriveled and more rotted looking than the rest-- whatever had grown within them had burst out. The rest were still full, vaguely transluscent enough to see body-shaped shadows slumbering within.

Upstairs, the thump-crash of something falling over, and the thump-thump-drag of feet hurrying across the floor. Something was coming to defend the nest.

Firebrand

[Ahem, gonna just addendum my post and say Morgan is activating Resist Toxin juuust in case. Because Alien Pods.]

Son of Rage

Uproar! Bust them all open! Son of Rage wheels about at the sound of thump-thump-drag. That's not a good sound. That's never a good sound. He thinks of zombie apocalypses, he thinks of shambling brides of death. Firebrand! Radiant Honor-yuf! We'll take whatever comes down those stairs!

And he takes up a post at the stairs up from the basement, waiting for whatever horrors might slump down from above.

Radiant Honor

She stands very tall, and very proud, and the light seems to emanate from the thick ruff at her chest: her heart. The light does not waver, though, in time with her pulse; it is as steady as her feet planted apart.

What she sees by that steady, pure light disgusts her. People have gone missing in these mountains, the woods around this house. People have died. People have been dragged to this basement, endured Gaia knows what torment, what sorts of death, what they saw, what came at them in the dark. The mind shrinks from imagining, but Avery does anyway: the terror they must have felt, the confusion, the abject helplessness and horror. They were likely not innocents but they were humans, and not born to be degraded. Not born to be anything but another of Gaia's creatures.

It builds in her. The rage. The refusal. She opens her throat, and her chest and her heart sear with fury, and she begins roaring.

The sound is not a howl of sorrow, for sorrow will not help anything that has happened here or may yet happen. The roar is a full-throated, wall-trembling challenge. She challenges the things upstairs to come down here and meet her. Come down here, if they dare, and see what becomes of them. They will not be tortured; they will not be horrified. They will be cleansed, and the earth cleansed of them. All will be purified. Only that which is unclean has anything to fear from her.

So these things, whatever they are, should be very,

very,

afraid.

Erich has her at his side a moment after calling her name. She snarls, hanging back a bit so she can keep an eye on Goldie just in case. Her claws dig in. Her bared teeth glint slightly in her own gleaming light.

[-1 R + 1 turn for Eagle's Beak. Aw yeah Wyrmfoe Gifts.]

Firebrand

Son of Rage doesn't need to command her twice -- the young Ahroun is there nearly instantly, somewhat blotted and dwarfed by the light and majesty of the Silver Fang, her presence at once an invitation and death summons for whatever is approaching their location, but she's there.

Ready and waiting. She does spare a moment to check on Goldie, though. Her attention drawn to the unnatural pods hanging on the wall.

Firebrand whuffs, it's for all accounts a ready for you, come and get it to their enemies.

haunting

The Garou have enough time to square themselves off facing the rotting stairs to see the splinter-fly of wood as the door shattered inward. It, much like the wall, just didn't have the strength to put up much of a fight any more, and so it went flying down the stairs like so much shrapnel when met with force.

Down the stairs came two bodies scrambling together at once, virtually tripping over one another in an all-fours charge down the stairs to come flying at the three Garou turned to face them straight away. They were human once, but now their skin was different tones of mottled green and brown, much like the pods they no doubt burst from. Their skin was slimy and slick and bare naked, like they had been pickling in hibernation rather than morphing into anything particularly impressive.

Well, to be honest, those claws and teeth were pretty impressive-- black and needle-like and angry.

Judging by the scuttle-thump-drag up above, there were still more coming. A third was already at the top of the stairs when Goldie turned about with a Yes Chief! barked through the High Tongue of their people and set to the still-incubating pods. She launched upon them with the claws of her feet and the slashing blade of her knife, enthusiastic about her job and putting a lot of faith in the wall of Garou Muscle that separated the charging attack from her duty.

[I'm helping my husband with something in the kitchen really quick, but we'll go to inits when I return! Feel free to roll 'em while I'm gone!]

Radiant Honor

[+10!]

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

Son of Rage

[+18!]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (9) ( success x 1 )

Firebrand

[+8, yeah, feel my slightly inferior to the Fostern's wrath]

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

haunting

Goldie: +8!

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

haunting

PodPerson 1

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

haunting

PodPerson 2 +3!

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )

haunting

Erich: 27

Avery: 16

Morgan: 15

Goldie: 14

PodPerson 1: 13

PodPerson 2: 11

Declare in reverse order! Here we gooo!

haunting

PodPerson 1: Claw Morgan!

PodPerson 2: Claw Erich!

Goldie: 1a. Stabbity-stab at the pod-cocoons!

1b. Stab at them again!

Son of Rage

[fixing HTML!]

Firebrand

[1a. Hey! Bite Pod1

1b. Rinse and repeat.

R1.Let's go for x3 biting P1 unless it dies and then we're moving on to P2.]

Radiant Honor

[1a.

1b.

R1. -- all bites on P1, switching to P2 if first target dies]

Son of Rage

[1a.

1b.

R1. -- all claws(!) on P1, then P2. SAVIN' RAGE FOR OTHERS :D]

Son of Rage

1a! -2dice.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 2

Son of Rage

[dam +4]

Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

Son of Rage

[oh wait +1 from volcano :D]

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

haunting

[:x]

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

Son of Rage

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2

Son of Rage

[dam +5]

Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Son of Rage

[DAMMIT AGAIN. +1]

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

haunting

[Fostern Ahrouns are machines]

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

haunting

[Fostern Ahrouns are machines]

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

haunting

[DED]

Firebrand

[It was all those meatballs he ate on the way over. They had Red Bull in them or something.]

Radiant Honor

[1a. dex 6 + brawl 2 - split.

switching to P2!]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 2

Radiant Honor

[damage. str 5 + bite 1 + hispo 1 + FoJ 2 + EB 2 + suxx 3 - 1]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 6 )

haunting

[ACK!]

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

Radiant Honor

[1b. let's do that again]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 3

Radiant Honor

[11 + 5]

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

haunting

[ded]

Firebrand

[1a. Re-focusing attention on Pod3 who is coming down the stairs while the Fosterns do their thang, man

1b. Biting Pod3 up the stairs! -3 Split]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Firebrand

[Damage + 2]

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

haunting

PodPerson3: Soak!

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

haunting

The werewolves of Denver had grown to be wielders of death. They had withstood a pack of Black Spiral Dancers that carried the very embodiment of a terrible and terrifying Totem Spirit within them. They kept watch over something in the middle of a city that could very well be the ruin or salvation of them all. No one could be sure, but they had to be able to defend it against whatever may come.

As such, they defended the Ragabash and the nest of pod people against all that did come. The two slimy foes that scrambled at them with claws flying were no match, and were torn to shreds in the claws and teeth of the two seasoned Fostern veterens of Denver.

The Fianna, though new, was had a reputation built around her already. She had something to prove here in front of these two, and so she did not wait for War to come to her. Instead she sought it like a missile, whipping her massive body around the corner to the mouth of the staircase and ripping chunks out of the steps with her claws as she launched herself upward. She caught a third pod person, a woman with slime-drenched hair still hanging clumped and stringy around her neck, right around the waist.

Back in the basement Goldie lifted her knife and slashed at the very center of the nest, trying to arc the blade to catch multiple pods at once. She was trying to make quick work of this, figuring these things to be much like eggs. She thought the things sleeping within would be half-cooked, not yet ready to fight and probably unable to survive outside of their shells. Otherwise they would have hatched by now, right?

Little Uproar's foolhardiness would prove an effective method to eliminate the pods, but it also could prove the stupidest thing she's done in the evening.

With a sharp pop!-pop!, two pods burst, created a chain reaction and caused the other four still lined up in the corner to burst as well. They splattered yellow-green goop all over her and violently across the room in a borderline cartoon-ish show of gore (think Sam Raimi, for the season suits so well).

[Goldie soaks 6 agg! Morgan soaks 2, and Avery and Erich soak 3 please!]

haunting

Goldie: Soak!

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

Firebrand

[Ewwww.]

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

Radiant Honor

[Soak!]

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

Radiant Honor

[Avery: *preens*]

Son of Rage

[soak!]

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

haunting

Goldie: 4 agg

Morgan and Erich: Perfectly Fine

Avery: Sparklingly Clean and Glowing Bright

haunting

New Declares!

Erich: 27

Avery: 16

Morgan: 15

Goldie: 14

PodPerson 3: 13

PodPerson 4: 11

PodPerson 4: 6

haunting

Also PodPerson3 is at 5 agg

Radiant Honor

Six seconds.

That is how long it takes for Erich's claws and Avery's teeth to rip into those two mangled, mutated bodies coming down the stairs and tear them to pieces. Maybe less, though the phosphoresence of rage in the air seems to stretch time to a crawl. This is what makes werewolves so terrifying: Avery and Erich are only Fosterns. In the grand scheme of the power that is available to every wolf who survives long enough and proves themselves worthy, they have barely taken their first steps past their name-days. They are still so young, and so new, and in six seconds, the first wave of violence that comes toward them is dealt with.

Avery is slavering at the mouth for more. She's a beast like this, however pristine her fur or beautiful her eyes, whatever light she shines from her depths that makes her so hard for these creatures to look at and yet seems as soft as the moon to her allies. What blood these things have drips from between her fangs against the basement floor, and she growls for another, another, her rage wasted.

Morgan, not to be outdone, shoots past them and nearly bites a third in half. Avery lets out a short howl of triumph, encouragement, pride. YES. ATTAGIRL. she may as well be saying.

Behind them, a bursting noise, a popping. Avery wheels, starts running towards Goldie. Viscous, grotesque fluid of a rotted color rushes over Goldie, splatters against Avery. She shakes it off, does not seem to notice that it should hurt her, poison her, cling, burn, injure. She just runs through it, going alongside Goldie. Who is... somehow, and Avery doesn't understand it, hurt. She growls and turns her head, nuzzling under her foreleg. Withdraws, as though from her fur itself, a small white pumpkin, purchased from Trader Joe's and then cleansed by pure water and moonlight, hollowed out, infused with water spirits, covered with glyphs in black paint. She snaps it between her jaws over the Ragabash, making a whining noise.

Silver-blue light hovers over Goldie's wounds before soaking into her flesh, restoring it. Avery whuffs in satisfaction.

There. Good as new.

And so she is.

Radiant Honor

[+4 HP!]

Firebrand

The Pods on the wall are cut open by the well meaning Goldie and splatter the area with vile innards, much as the Fianna half expected. Nothing good ever came from inside a human sized Pod. They should print that on flyers or something for Halloween.

Or just in general, really, in Firebrand's opinion. Morgan whines when the other Fianna is injured, though she stands her ground atop the stairs, her teeth bloodied, claws laying deep grooves into the wood where she's perched, priming to go in for the final attack to finish at least one more foe.

Inciting the passion of a child of Stag was no difficult matter, but once done, pity the villain that then injures the sister of one. Firebrand might be young, might be foolish and brash, but she's still a Full Moon and she's not cowed by the Wyrm.

She dives for the Pod Person.

haunting

PodPerson 3: Gouge Morgan's Eyes!

PodPerson 5: Bite Morgan!

PodPerson 6: Also nom on Morgan! SWARM!

Goldie: Go running up to the action!

haunting

[I fucked up numbers and don't care]

Radiant Honor

[1a. heal Goldie. -1G!

1b. run back to the stairs!

1c. bite P4! +WP]

Firebrand

[1a. YEAH COME GET SOME. Bite Pod 3!

1b. Bite again.

R1. Once more. ]

Son of Rage

[1a. charge up there!

b. take a hit for Morgan!

c. take a hit for Morgan!

R1. claw #3, aka #4!]

Son of Rage

[sorry, i meant P3. i didn't realize it was still alive.]

Radiant Honor

[1c!]

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 7, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Radiant Honor

[damage!]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 6 )

haunting

PP 4: Soak!

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

Firebrand

[1a. Biting Pod 3! -2 Split]

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4) ( fail )

Firebrand

[:(]

Firebrand

[Oww. Wall came outta nowhere.]

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

Firebrand

[Oi. Soaking.]

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

Firebrand

[Scrapping 1b Bite due to injury plus split cost!]

haunting

PodPerson 4: Attack Morgan with Claws!

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

haunting

PodPerson 4: Damage!

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

Firebrand

[Soaking pls]

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

Son of Rage

[erich's soaking this one!]

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

Firebrand

[Oh right. Morgan's hero. :D ]

haunting

PodPerson 5: Bite! Om nom!

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

haunting

PodPerson 5: Damage!

Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )

Son of Rage

[again!]

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

Son of Rage

[clawing! with his paws!]

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

Son of Rage

[dam+9 :D]

Dice: 20 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 9 )

Firebrand

[bless Avery's meatballs.]

haunting

PodPerson 3: So Ded

Git #4, Morgan!

Firebrand

[Rage Time! Biting #4. - Ow.]

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

Firebrand

[Damage + 3]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 7 )

haunting

[Soak!]

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

haunting

[Okay, because the ST is an old woman and past her bedtime we're going to call this a wrap for the time being. I will have a forums post ready tomorrow and we can do some written-out follow-up to resolve what goes on with the Lady in White and so forth. You guys have been OUTSTANDING, and patient too. :) Thank you so much for participating and letting me run this for you!]

Firebrand

[Thanks for STing Kenna! It was amazing and awesome!]

Son of Rage

[thank you! i had a blast!!]

muppetchomp.

Radiant Honor

[I believe Radiant Honor walks in wherever the hell she wants.]

Radiant Honor

[*Z-snap*]

Radiant Honor

Quite often, Ms. Avery Chase can be found in her office at Cold Crescent. Its sleek desk, its high windows, its cabinets full of both weaponry and items for gamecraft: not all challenges are martial. On one occasion she presided over a four-day-long game of chess. One of the chess sets was broken, but that is why a conscientious Master of Challenges keeps extras.

Often enough, Mr. Erich Reinhardt can be found wandering the hallways of the upper floors, on his way in or out from a patrol. He does not live in the tower, but he was perhaps the most vocal proponent of keeping the sept open; he has not wavered in his committment to patrolling its borders.

And not very often, but occasionally, and often near the full moon, one or both of them may happen upon each other and see a familiar gleam in the other's eyes or hear a familiar edge in the other's voice, and they will decide it is high time they went on a hunt.

Tonight they tracked a bane all the way from downtown Denver to the south suburbs, past the Park Meadows Mall, the end of the light rail lines. It was dispatched readily, quickly, a snap here and there and no real burn of effort or energy. No real relief from the heaviness of rage behind the eyes, thudding in the skull.

Avery, all gleaming white fur still, stretches, shaking out her coat. It is thickening with winter, growing ever whiter -- if such a thing is possible. Her tongue lolls, and she prances over to Erich, butting her head into the side of his ribs.

Son of Rage

Erich, whose fur does not exactly gleam, but whose fur is indeed thick and thickening with winter, and whose fur is dappled and grey-black-white-brown-everything, and whose fur is, despite not being all-agleam, full and healthy and impressive armor against cold and enemy-teeth alike,

is butted and lolls his tongue out as well. He is smiling; you can see it, the corners of his maw turn up. He blinks slowly, contentedly, but not-quite because there: there is that gleam. It's in his eyes, hot and not yet sated. This month's moon was so full, so strange, so blood-red that he can't help but feel it still in his veins.

He scratches his claws on the ground. Leaves rakes there, marks. It's a primitive thing to do: dominance, victory, territory. He stops shy of pissing over it, though, thinking perhaps Avery would not appreciate that. Instead: he turns on his haunches, rubs past his friend, and puts his nose to the ground again. Sniffsniffsniffs in a widening circle: surely there is more.

chomp

The bane was dispatched readily, easily. The bane somehow dissolved itself into a puddle of shadow on the umbral ground. It is no longer, or rather it is slumber, and its viscous substance is slowly dissolving into this kind of nether-substance of which so many things in the umbra seem to be "made" of -

Avery bumps Erich.

- and that shadow-puddle starts to, well, bulge outward. Like something pushing on, or through a membrane. Like something crossing over - like something coming through.

The first part is a ragged maw, all needle-teeth and blooded, lolling tongue. Scissoring into existance and snarl-snapping and -

chomp

Head 1: + 6, Head 2: + 4; Tail 1: +6; Tail 2: +4

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

Son of Rage

[+19 CUZ HAH I AM IN HISPO.]

Son of Rage

[o right a roll.]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Radiant Honor

Avery, wagging her tail, notices the puddle. She dances backward from it, fur standing up a bit, ears folding back. She growls, a warning and a call to Erich, and her fur bristles, her ears twisting agressively forward to listen, to sharpen, to attend.

[Already in Hispo

-1WP for ResistPain

-1WP for Fangs of Judgement

-1G for Luna's Armor.

First roll is for Luna's Armor, then will come init!

Stamina + Survival]

Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Radiant Honor

[mmph.

now init! +10]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (2) ( fail )

chomp

Erich: 24

Avery: 12

Tail 2: 11

Tail 1: 10

Head 2: 8

Head 1: 7

chomp

Head 1: 1. BITE AVERY. 2. BITE AVERY.

Head 2: BITE ERICH. 2. BITE ERICH.

Tail 1: Umbralquake!

Tail 2: LASH Erich.

Radiant Honor

[1a.

1b.

R1.

R2. -- all bites on Head 1, Switching to Head 2, Tail 2, Tail 1, in that order.]

Son of Rage

[erm, RETROACTIVE FROM BEFORE :D

-1wp resist pain

-1gn luna's armor]

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

Son of Rage

[1a. chomp head 1!

b. pin head 1 down for Avery's 1a/1b!

R1. bite

R2. bite

same kill order as Avery!]

Radiant Honor

[retracting fangs of judgement, I was not thinking clearly.]

Son of Rage

[-2 dice]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )

Son of Rage

[dam +2]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

chomp

SOAK.

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

Radiant Honor

[1a. bite head 1. dex + brawl -2]

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

Son of Rage

[-3; str specialty: sustained]

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

chomp

SOAK. EDITED.

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

Radiant Honor

[Diff -2 for opponent being held; actual attack suxx = same!

DAMAGE]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )

chomp

SOAK.

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

Radiant Honor

[1b. dex + brawl -3 / diff -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN3 (1, 1, 2, 3, 8) ( success x 2 )

Radiant Honor

[damage!]

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

chomp

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

chomp

Tail 2: LASH ERICH.

Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

chomp

Damage!

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

Son of Rage

[soak!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

chomp

Tail 1: UMBRALQUAKE

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

Radiant Honor

[dex + ath to stay standing!]

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

Son of Rage

[keep footing!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Son of Rage

[soak 4!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Radiant Honor

[soak 4 bashing!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

chomp

Head 2: CHOMPPPP.

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

chomp

Damage!

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

Son of Rage

[NO FEAR!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )

chomp

Head 1: change action. Shake off hold.

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

Son of Rage

[hold on!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )

Son of Rage

R1 CHOMP

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )

Son of Rage

[dam+6]

Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 12 )

chomp

Soak!

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

chomp

Head 1: x.x

Radiant Honor

[R1. Nomfing Head 2!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1

Radiant Honor

[damage!]

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

chomp

Soak!

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

chomp

Head 2: CHOMP ERICH.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

chomp

Damage!

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

Son of Rage

[soak!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Son of Rage

[R2: CHOMP HEAD 2!]

Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2

Son of Rage

[dam +7]

Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

chomp

Soak!

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

Radiant Honor

[R2!]

Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )

Radiant Honor

[damage! I AM EATING YOU, HEAD 2. MUPPET HEAD.]

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

chomp

Soak!

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

chomp

Erich: 24

Avery: 12

Tail 2: 11

Tail 1: 10

Head 2: 8

Head 1: x.x

chomp

Head 2: 1. CHOMP ERICH. 2. CHOMP ERICH.

chomp

Tail 1: 1. LASH AVERY WTF DID YO?U DO TO MY HEAD.

chomp

Tail 2: LASH ERICH LEAVE MAH HEAD ALONE.

Radiant Honor

[1a. Stay on Head 2.

1b. Kill it til it dies from it.

1c. +WP Seriously bite it. And if it dies or is dead (go Erich), move on to Tail 2 because it is meaner.

R1. Tail 2! EAT IT. Like lobster.]

Son of Rage

[dropping another 2 rage!

1a: spur claws on tail 1!

b. bite head 2!

R1/R2: bite head 2! then tail 2! then tail 1!]

Son of Rage

[spur claws: -1R

-2dice from splitting]

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

Son of Rage

[dam+3]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

chomp

Soak!

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

Son of Rage

[chomp!]

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

Son of Rage

[dam+3]

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

chomp

SOAK!

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

Radiant Honor

[1a. Bite on Head 2 / -2]

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

Radiant Honor

[are you... are you serious.]

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

chomp

Soak!

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

Radiant Honor

[Re-doing 1a since I botched it! -3!]

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

Radiant Honor

[PLEASE]

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

Radiant Honor

[1b. -4!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1

Radiant Honor

[you can have my slinky it is rainbow and has stars on it too]

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

chomp

Soak!

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

Radiant Honor

[1c. -5] +WP!

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 6) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Radiant Honor

[strength + 1 + 1 + suxx -1 maybe kahseeno likes math]

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

chomp

SOAK!

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

chomp

Tail 2: what the fuck am I doing do Erich!

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

chomp

Damage!

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

chomp

Tail 1: LASH AVERY. +2 spur claws.

Dice: 7 d10 TN9 (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Son of Rage

[soak!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 5 )

chomp

Damage!

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

chomp

HEad 2: CHOMMMP.

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 5 )

Radiant Honor

[SOAK]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 6 )

chomp

Damage! ERICH.

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

Son of Rage

[soak again!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )

Son of Rage

[R1: GRR KILL IT]

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

Son of Rage

[fine. fine. we send this one out to the old school:

HAIL KAHSEENO.]

Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 8 )

chomp

Soak!

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

Radiant Honor

[R1. only rage action!]

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

Radiant Honor

[HAIL!]

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

chomp

Soak!

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

chomp

Head 2: x.x

Ergo: Tails: x.x

Ergo: BOOM

Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 11 )

Radiant Honor

[oh my fucking god. HAIL!]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

Son of Rage

[HAIL KAHSEENO.]

Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )

Son of Rage

[aww, kahseeno. you do love me :]]] ]

chomp

That membranous bulge resolves itself into this amorphous blob of a two-tailed, two-headed, needle-toothed monstrous thing with slimey purple fur and these crowning antlers and spiked, barbed tails and immediately they are in the thick of battle again. The first head Erich holds down for Avery and they tear into it together and then he tears it fucking off. Black blood like a geyser behind it.

The second head: hard, more solid, snarling, stinking breath while the tails rain down blows and Son of Rage sheds his claws into the tail attacking his Silver Fang companion and together they tear into the head -

which comes off, almost cleanly from the body, while the tails are still lashing. This time ther eis no spurt of black blood, no geyser, just this sort of terrible internal spasm before the whole.

thing.

explodes.

A searing, vomitous torrent of burning-acid-black.

--

They are both still breathing in the aftermath.

Though one:

barely.

Son of Rage

Well.

That was unexpected.

In the aftermath, Erich-wolf -- who was about to lunge in again, about to grasp something in his great teeth and just CHEW IT TO BITS -- stands there with his forepaws spread for balance, his ears pinned back, and his eyes wide as saucers.

Seconds go by before the shock passes. Then he gives one long protracted shake of his fur: head to toe, flinging off bits-of-monster that have caught in the density. He bounds a little, then, celebratory, yipping and yelping until

he realizes

Avery is not celebrating with him. That is when he begins to nose through the slop. That is when he finds her, his friend, his sister-in-arms, beloved-of-Falcon and respected-by-all: singed and acid-burnt, in a sorry state indeed. Erich-wolf noses her, whining in his throat. He puts a paw on her and pushes, awkwardly, and when she doesn't rouse immediately he turns, he twists a small something from his fur and crunches it in his teeth over the Silver Fang.

[-1Gn! Heal for 4!]

Radiant Honor

There is a period of the battle when Avery is bristling, thinking of the dishonor of a pretended defeat, and then a period when she is not thinking at all. She is instinct and reaction; strategy lives in her bones and her nervous system and requires no conscious thought to be put in action. Erich holds down the throat of their enemy and she bites at it.

Truth be told, she will reflect later that they could have done better. Been more clever, perhaps. Used tactics. But truth be told, she will also reflect later that at no point did she feel afraid, or concerned that Erich would turn his back on her, or leave her to fight one enemy while he fought another. She trusts him.

And that is a good thing.

Because at the end of the battle, she has nothing left but her life. Bear's gift guards her from pain, the searing and all-encompassing, mind-shredding pain she would feel, but she knows what is happening to her. She knows that her fur is burnt off in a split second; she knows that the skin underneath is charred to nonexistence in many places, knows that blood is trickling, burning, turning black in the crevices of areas that should never see light. She feels the ichor of the two-headed, two-tailed creature clinging to her, burning and burning and burning. Some part of her wants badly to roll on the ground, try and get it off, dry it off, scrub it off with the earth as her ally but whether she feels the pain or not, her consciousness is slave to her body.

It submits. She does not know that she twitches, or that she breathes; she is emptied out, and if she were aware enough to realize it, she would be grateful.

--

The first thing she feels after that is cleanliness, and she is grateful for that, too. A washing, even though the water is only a sprinkle. It feels like a flood. She breathes the suddenly clean air, unable for a few seconds to smell the carcass of the thing they just dispatched. Skin reforms, as though it was never gone; burnt and dried flesh flakes away, pushed off of her by the new skin she grows by the good grace of Gaia.

And a little slip of a Theurge that Avery is particularly fond of, even when she isn't being blessed by that Theurge's work.

Avery opens her eyes, glassy but clear, and saturated with blue color. She looks at Erich and determines that he is... all right, enough. She has regrown fur, and it thickens as she rolls to her paws, shaking out a bit. She leans toward Erich, sniffing at his muzzle. Finds a bit of gourd stuck in his fur and nudges it away, grooming him. Standing right beside him, close enough that they might look like pack, she looks past him at the black spot where the thing was, and where its pieces are.

She chuffs a breath. Her tail wags. She seems to be saying:

we did quite well, didn't we?

But this is followed by a nuzzle, a tucking of her head against his ruff for a moment. That seems to say something else. That something else is thank you.