Sil is an ahroun, just like him. A Shadow Lord, just like him. A bit of a misfit, just like him. But unlike him, she had a Theurge for a mentor. A spiritualist. Who taught her about Gaia and Luna and Grandfather Thunder, about the histories between the spirit broods as well as the histories between the garou themselves. She's been around the block; she knows not everyone agrees with what she just told Erich. That has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not she believes it.
Her brow furrows at what he says, and she tells him, when he says weird that no one's ever demanded that of me: "Probably the ones that think you need to are the ones who won't ever ask outright. They just watch you, and decide, without ever telling you you're being tested."
With a shake of her head, she tosses the thought aside like a broken bone she's already gnawed the meat off of and sucked the marrow from. "You're welcome," she says, perhaps a bit grudgingly, or maybe just awkwardly.
The hand outstretched to him is a gesture. It's for the clasp and not the leverage, the meaning and not the help. He gets to his feet and dusts himself off, and they are on their way.
--
They take Sil's car. It's nothing special; a Subaru Outback in an Arctic color scheme. There are hundreds of them on the roads in Denver and the surrounding areas. It has an oval-shaped vinyl sticker on the back that just says 26.2, black on white. It has a window cling in front for parking at Auraria campus. That only makes it even more like every other white Subaru Outback a few years old currently on the roads. She gets in, lets him in, and starts driving.
Her radio is set to NPR. She doesn't tell Erich he can change it if he wants. They drive away from Cold Crescent, east, towards Aurora, until they come to a reasonable, normal, everyday residential neighborhood. It's a bit more run-down than some. It does not stand out, otherwise. There are even some cars just like hers there.
By then, the heater has done its work, and it's not frigid inside the car anymore. Sil slows the car to a stop at the end of a block and shuts it off, lights and all, pulling on the parking break and pointing to a corner just ahead. "That street ends in a cul-de-sac," she tells him. "There are five houses in there, and four of them are empty. The one that's not has been sending property values way down. Loud parties, shit on the lawn, domestic disturbances. It's only gotten worse in the last month or so. Especially after the last neighbors standing just... abandoned their house. Moved everything out and left without selling it, without leaving a forwarding address.
"Bank can't find 'em," Sil finishes, tipping her head back against the seat, rolling her head on it to look at him. "Last I checked, there were eight 'people' living in that fifth house. Lots of bad mojo in the umbra clinging to it, too."
She undoes her seatbelt. "So I think we should go find out just how strong a warrior you are."
Storm's TeethHer car doesn't fit the whole Shadow Lord schtick, but it fits her. Just like Erich's doesn't fit the whole Shadow Lord schtick either, but it fits him. See, she can see it when they get out to the lot: the bumblebee-yellow, black-racing-striped truck -- looking lonely today without the tinyhouse trundling along behind it.
He asks what 26.2 means. She tells him or she doesn't; if she tells him, he asks if she ran the marathon before she changed or after. Maybe there's juuuust a little touch of sizing-her-up in that. To be sure, if the answer is before, he seems more impressed than he did before.
They listen to NPR in the car. He doesn't mind. They're discussing Obama's state of the union and its potential effects on the upcoming midterm elections. He isn't too sure about most of what they talk about, but he's interested. Reasonably, anyway.
When they get to where they're going, the radio cuts off mid-sentence. Erich zips his hoodie back up and he unsnaps his seatbelt. Leans forward in the seat, looking through the windshield. Looks keen, now, focused and very interested and watchful and listen-ful. Her seatbelt unclicks, hisses back into the sheath. He turns to glance at her, the streetlights casting through the windshield catching the edge of his grin.
"Alright," he says. "Are you participating or just watching? Just so I know, like. Whether or not someone at my back is something I need to tear up."
silhouette."That's how many miles a marathon is," she tells him, regarding the sticker. "That's why you see 13.1 stickers, too." He asks if she ran it before or after. She huffs a laugh. "It came with the car."
--
"Participating," she says. "But I'll be hanging back unless it looks like I shouldn't."
She puts her hand on the door's lever. "So how are we going in?"
Storm's Teeth"Okay. Cool!"
-- and he pops the door open. By the time she asks her question, he's already halfway out; flicks a surprised glance over his shoulder.
"Through the front." Of course, says his tone. "I'm gonna kick the door down. Or maybe throw a brick through a window, and then kick the door down in their faces when they come out to see what the hell just happened."
silhouette.Through the front door. She follows him out of the car, pocketing the keys into her jacket after hitting a button to lock it. He's gonna kick the door down! Brick through the window and then kick the door down! In their FACES! YEAH! GO TEAM!
Sil doesn't even look amused. She just gives a little nod. "Awright."
Nods her head toward the house, which is shoddily winterized. There is shit in the yard -- cinderblocks, a car halfway taken apart, some bicycles that are probably stolen since several of them are missing front wheels, some leftover gardening bricks, a shovel stuck in some ice. There are plenty of lights on. Now outside of the car, they can hear someone screaming. Guttural, raging screams. AKA heavy metal. It all but makes the street thud. Glass breaks somewhere.
"After you, Rambo," says his elder, her breath clouding richly in the cold.
Storm's TeethOkay. He was going to just kick the door down. He really was. But there are cinderblocks in the front yard. Actual cinderblocks. He wishes, dearly, that there was a car chassis propped up on them. He would've gone Crinos and tossed THAT through a window if that were an option. But seeing as how it wasn't an option, he picks up two cinderblocks. One in each hand. And he's not a totally loose cannon, merely a wobbly one, and so he does take a moment to Gear Up: buffing his nails atop the cinderblock, taking a deep breath and steeling his will and all that.
And then: borrowing the momentum of a fast, vicious pivot-in-place, Erich whips one of the cinderblocks at the house. Right toward the biggest, plate-iest front window he can see.
"So-we-should-be-ready-for-them-to-come-through-the-window-instead-just-in-case," he has time to say in that 0.5 seconds, all in a breath, while the cinderblock is soaring in its lovely parabolic arc toward the window.
And then --
Storm's Teeth[-1R: razor claws!
-1R: city running!
-1WP: resist pain!]
Storm's Teeth[OKAY FINE, BLUFF CALLED: THROWING A CAR WOULD BE A BIT MUCH EVEN FOR AN ERICH.]
silhouette.Apparently Erich was not kidding, or bluffing, about throwing things through the windows.
Silhouette watches him, hanging back a few feet, and she doesn't rake her nails on anything or turn to shadow or glow with unearthly light. She keeps back as she said, arms crossed, watching him. He's going to pick up those cinderblocks -- there he goes -- and whip them -- there they go -- right through the front window into the dining room.
CRASH.
The sound of shattering almost escapes notice, except that it has a different tenor than the breaking of glass bottles or cups. But with the music and the yelling inside, it doesn't instantly bring silence. Glass does shatter everywhere, though, and falls tinkling to the snow and the carpet inside. The cinderblock, filled with its own momentum, goes thudding and knocking into things. It very nearly breaks the dining room table. As it is, it puts a sizeable dent in it.
That thudding after the enormous shattering of glass does get attention, however. Sil's eyebrows are up. There is nothing at first. And then, gradually, the empty, darkened dining room begins to slowly fill from the edges and from the barely-visible hallway. Shadows come toward the broken window. Shadows whose bodies are only faintly humanoid, shadows whose eyes gleam coldly in the dark. Shadows whose breath,
if they breathe at all,
does not steam in the air.
They are growling.
Storm's TeethErich immediately chucks his other cinderblock at the first one's head.
Yup.
silhouette.[INITS]
silhouette.[silhouette: still in homid] [+18]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Storm's Teeth[Erich will spend -1R to pop into Crinos! THERE ARE SHADOW MONSTARS IN THE STREETS. CLEARLY THE TIME FOR SUBTLETY IS PAST. +8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[monday] [+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
silhouette.[tuesday] [+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
silhouette.[wednesday] [+6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[thursday] [+9]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
silhouette.[friday] [+9]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[saturday] [+8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
silhouette.[sunday] [+4]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[INIT ORDER:
Silhouette
Friday
Erich
Sunday
Wednesday
Saturday
Thursday
Monday / Tuesday]
silhouette.
[monday]
The first shadowy creature that appears in the window is also one of the largest. Its head seems overlarge, and its two gleaming eyes lack irises. The thick black pupils are centered in eyes so bloodshot that they almost throb, the streaks of red pulsing in the darkness.
1. dodge the cinderblock!
[tuesday]
Hunched down by the broken glass, barely visible, another creeps one long limb over the scraped-up windowsill, bending at the elbow... bending at the next elbow... at the next... ratcheting its arm out, not sinuous or stretchy but unfolding, the joint cracking every single time.
1. sneaking that freakish arm towards erich!
silhouette.[thursday]
With shoulders broad enough to fill up most of the windowpane, the third shadow stands, opening its mouth wide. It has no visible teeth, but it does not need them; lightning fills the thing's mouth, growing brighter and more blinding as the maw grows, and grows, and grows. They can see the storm inside, as though the blackness it creates is nothing but an outer shell, dark clouds wrapped around a core of storms.
1. ZOT!
silhouette.[saturday]
Yet another is not even a shadow, not really, and as they begin coming out more into the streetlamps it becomes clear that even the ones that seemed like shadow-creatures are more substantial than that. This one seems nearly human, but her skin somehow seems distended, pulled taut over her shoulders, her breasts, her thighs, her face, giving her a somewhat panicked expression. Her eyes have nothing in them -- no darkness, no pupil, no iris. And yet they glow... and begin glowing brighter as she starts climbing out of the window.
1. blinding flash at Silhouette!
silhouette.[wednesday]
The largest of the seven they can see is a mottled horror. Half shadow, half twisted flesh, with veinlike pulses of light moving through both where blood and bone and nerves might be, it hammers its oversized, ham-like fists against the windowframe, cracking the wood with one blow, snarling an inhuman sound. It has an enormous hunch on its back, its body twisted beyond recognition. With a mighty grab at the wood, it leaps over the low wall and begins to charge at Erich.
1. tackle!
silhouette.[sunday]
Almost unseen, near the back of the visible dining room, there is a small and very thin creature, more grey than shadow, but certainly not flesh. It does not move.
1. ???
Storm's Teeth[Erich:
1. WELL FINE THEN I WILL THROW THIS BLOK AT SATURDAY INSTEAD.
R1. and then spur claws on wednesday!
R2. and also claw saturday!
R3. and let's maybe bite her too for good measure.]
silhouette.[friday]
She is incredibly tall. She is the first out of the window, rushing at Erich. Her hands are elongated, tipped in piercing claws, her teeth are enormous, and her skin is covered in a mix of what looks like a lobster's shell and rough hide. What hair she has left is stringy and buzzed, and... yes, that's a tail, much like an alligator's. She, like Wednesday, is one of the most monstrous. She, unlike Wednesday, looks like she is completely fucking unhinged. There is no purpose, just a mad rush, shrieking, clawing the air long before she gets to Erich.
1. claw the shit out of erich
2. doing it again because guess what she gets more attacks
3. oh and they're not even splits have fun with that]
silhouette.[silhouette]
[-1 R to snap-shift to hispo]
[1a, 1b, R1, R2, R3 are all dodges currently]
silhouette.[friday]
1. claw!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Storm's Teeth[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[damage!] [A]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[friday]
2. another claw!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[friday]
[damage!] [A]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Storm's Teeth[BRING IT!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[friday]
3. claw one more time!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 6 )
silhouette.[friday]
[damage!] [A]
Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Storm's Teeth[RAR! SOAK!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Storm's Teeth1. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CLAW-Y MONSTAR, THIS BLOCK IS STILL GONNA FLYYYYY
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )
Storm's Teeth[damage: str+3B +6]
Dice: 17 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
silhouette.[saturday]
[soak!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[sunday]
[whum whum whum
target: silhouette. must roll wp to resist.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
[wp! need 3 or more successes]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.Not far from Erich, the lithe direwolf with glossy black fur sways slightly on her feet. There is an oppressive feeling in the air, a pressure as though to make the ears pop. She sways, wobbling a little, but does not fall. She shakes her head roughly to clear it.
silhouette.[wednesday]
[tackling erich!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[erich: roll dex + ath, diff 10]
Storm's Teeth[adding WP!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN10 (3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
silhouette.[erich remains standing! barely!]
[wednesday]
[damage] [B]
Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Storm's Teeth[IT JUST BASHING IT NBD.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[saturday]
1. flash!
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
[dodge!]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
silhouette.[thursday]
1. ZOT! on erich!
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
Storm's Teeth[SOAK!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[thursday]
[lightning damage, very special. much fire. so pain.] [A]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[monday]
1. switching from dodge to whumwhumwhum
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[erich roll stamina. must get 3 or more successes or will start taking damage.]
Storm's Teeth[stamina!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[tuesday]
1. creep creep creep
[aka nothing]
Storm's Teeth[R1 - switching target to Friday. YOU A BAD BITCH. -1 diff from razor claws, +1 diff from switching.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2
Storm's Teeth[dam = str +4 (crinos) +1 (crinos claws) +2 (razor) +5 (succ)]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 13 )
silhouette.[friday]
[soak]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[for posterity:
thekailing [8:28 PM]: yeah he just
thekailing [8:28 PM]: literally swatted her head off
thekailing [8:28 PM]: it is bouncing across the yard and sidewalk now.
damon [8:29 PM]: ew.
damon [8:29 PM]: ew!?
damon [8:29 PM]: ew.
thekailing [8:29 PM]: damn son
thekailing [8:29 PM]: erich stop holding back
thekailing [8:29 PM]: believe in yourself
damon [8:29 PM]: LOL
thekailing [8:29 PM]: you gotta stop pulling your punches]
Storm's Teeth[R2 - OKAY NOW I CLAW WITH THE OTHER HAND. this is for saturday. cuz HOW IS SILHOUETTE GONNA LEVEL ME UP IF SHE NOT CAN SEE ME.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 3
Storm's Teeth[dam - same as above with +7 for succ]
Dice: 18 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 12 )
silhouette.[saturday]
[soak!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[last flash:
roll dodge to stop from being blinded. need 4+ suxx]
Storm's Teeth[R3 - switching this one to sunday. STOP WHUMMING MAI FREN. this is a bite cuz even though it is not the most tactically sound attack, IT IS A BITE AND HE IS AN ERICH.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2
Storm's Teeth[sorry! dodge!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 9) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[now soak!]
Storm's Teeth[soak!]
Storm's TeethDice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[silhouette's dodge btw]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Storm's Teeth[SHOWOFF.]
silhouette.[erich is at a +2 to all actions due to being being dazzled by the eruption of blinding light from saturday, her distended body filled not with blood or fluid or even organs but eye-searing light. the effects will wear off in 2 rounds.]
Storm's Teeth[sorry - nomming wednesday, cuz sunday is out of immediate reach. 5 succ instead of 6 cuz of diff change! here is a damage: str+4(crinos)+1(bite)+4(succ)]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )
silhouette.[keeping above roll for erich's R3, but on wednesday (within reach) instead of sunday, and at diff 7 instead of 5, for a total of 5 successes]
silhouette.[wednesday]
[soak!]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )
silhouette.[END OF ROUND ONE:
Silhouette: Full health
Friday: x_x
Erich: 4A, 2B, +2 diff to all actions
Sunday: Full health
Wednesday: 3A
Saturday: x_x
Thursday: Full health
Monday: Full health
Tuesday: Full health]
silhouette.[ROUND TWO:
Silhouette
Erich
Sunday
Wednesday
Thursday
Monday
Tuesday]
silhouette.[erich gets +2 rage for being blinded, +1 rage for crit-kill on friday, +1 rage for crit-kill on saturday, +1 rage for sustained injuries = +5 rage]
silhouette.[tuesday]
1. arm is creepily unfolding around erich in circles. it's super super creepy.
silhouette.[monday]
1. stabbing your brain again
silhouette.[thursday]
1. ZOTting like he means it
silhouette.[wednesday]
1a. grapple erich
1b. bite erich
silhouette.[sunday]
1. whumwhumwhum, still no idea what the whumwhum does
Storm's TeethErich:
1a. claw wednesday! THIS WORKS WELL.
b. claw it again!
R1. okay srsly sunday stop whumming. HERE HAVE SOME CLAWS. (taking mvmt penalty here?)
R2. HAVE SOME MORE.
silhouette.[silhouette]
[no reason not to keep dodging, erich, you seem to have this under control]
silhouette.[R1: yes!]
Storm's Teeth[1a! -2 dices.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2
Storm's Teeth[claw dam +3]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[wednesday]
[soak]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )
silhouette.[1a should have been diff 7 (+2 for blinding, -1 for razor claws). does not change roll!]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[did not mean to roll that but we'll keep it as wednesday's next soak]
Storm's Teeth[1b. -3 dices!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Storm's Teeth[dam +1]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[sunday]
1. whummmm. target: silhouette.
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
willpower! need 2 or more successes.
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[wednesday]
1a. grapple! -2
goal is to hold, not clinch.
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Storm's Teeth[resist!]
Storm's Teeth[WITH DICE THIS TIME.]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )
silhouette.[well okay then.]
silhouette.[diff was 8, so that's 3 successes. but he's the defender, so erich is not grappled.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[STOP ROLLING WHEN I DON'T TELL YOU TO.]
silhouette.[thursday]
[so that was his zot. 1 whole success. this is damage!] [A]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Storm's Teeth[this is erich's soak! :D]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[monday]
1. more whumwhumwhumming. target: erich.
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[erich roll stamina. must get 2 or more successes or will start taking damage.]
Storm's Teeth[STOP SUCKING, DICE. HERE HAVE SOME MORE SALMON.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[tuesday]
CUZ I'M A CREEP
I'M A WEIRDOOO
[being creepy.]
Storm's Teeth[R1 - OKAY WEDNESDAY, TIME TO DIE. F'RREAL. +1 diff from changing actions, +2 from stupid monstar effects.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN8 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6) ( fail )
Storm's Teeth[R2. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. +WP]
Dice: 9 d10 TN8 (2, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]
Storm's Teeth[FUCKING DIE.]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[wednesday]
soak!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[END OF ROUND TWO:
Silhouette: Full health
Erich: 5A (auto-heals remaining 1B), +2 diff to all actions
Sunday: Full health
Wednesday: 3A
Thursday: Full health
Monday: Full health
Tuesday: Full health]
silhouette.[erich gets +2 rage back for sheer frustration >_<]
silhouette.[ROUND THREE:
Silhouette
Erich
Sunday
Wednesday
Thursday
Monday
Tuesday]
silhouette.[tuesday]
1. start closing the circle of its fucking creepy multi-jointed arm
silhouette.[monday]
1. see it's trying to induce a migraine. like with a hangover. GET IT? :D
silhouette.[thursday]
1. ZOT!
silhouette.[wednesday]
1. grapple! this time with FEELING.
silhouette.[sunday]
1. this time let's target erich...
Storm's Teeth[ERICH SMASH.
1. seriously wednesday, JUST DIE ALREADY.
R1. KILL IT.
R2. KILL IT.
R3. KILL IT DED.
basiklee all claw attaks, starting with wednesday. then we will consider the others. at some point it will probably be wise to kill tuesday too but FIRST WE DEAL WITH WEDNESDAY.]
silhouette.[silhouette]
1a. bite tuesday's creepy-ass arm
1b. head towards the window to get at sunday-monday-tuesday
silhouette.[silhouette]
1a. -2
Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
damage!
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 6 )
silhouette.[tuesday]
soak!
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Storm's Teeth[1!]
Dice: 9 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 3
Storm's Teeth[dam+7!]
Dice: 18 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
silhouette.[wednesday]
[soak]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[sunday]
1. whum...
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[erich roll wp to resist, must get at least 2 suxx]
Storm's Teeth[WP!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[erich feels that oppressive sensation again, as though his limbs grow heavy and his head weak. sunday is trying to put him to sleep. he is able to shake it off with relative ease though.]
silhouette.[wednesday]
grappling! str + brawl!
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
silhouette.[erich needs to resist with str + brawl, diff 6 + modifiers]
Storm's Teeth[let's toss a WP on that!]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]
silhouette.[diff on roll was 8 due to blinding -- does not change number of successes]
silhouette.[thursday]
ZOT
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[thursday]
damage! [A]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Storm's Teeth[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 3 )
silhouette.[monday]
1. owww
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7) ( success x 5 )
silhouette.[erich must roll stamina (reflexive, no modifiers) and get 5 or more successes or else start taking damage]
Storm's Teeth[STAMINAAAA]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[stabbing pain shoots through erich's skull to go with the dazzling, blurred vision. nausea and body aches clench up his insides. starting during the next round he will start taking 1B every turn.]
silhouette.[tuesday]
1. switching to grabbing silhouette! +1 diff
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
resist!
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 7 )
Storm's TeethR1. OKAY REALLY NOW: KILL IT.
Dice: 9 d10 TN7 (2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )
Storm's Teeth[dam +5]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 11 )
silhouette.[wednesday]
soak!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Storm's Teeth[I SPIT UPON THY CORPSE, WEDNESDAY.]
Storm's Teeth[*insert jokes about being over the hump now*]
silhouette.[www.instantrimshot.com]
Storm's Teeth[R2. YEAH TUESDAY I SEE YOU.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 9 ) Re-rolls: 5
Storm's Teeth[dam +8]
Dice: 19 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )
silhouette.[tuesday]
soak!
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Storm's Teeth[R3. WELP LET'S MOP UP THURSDAY TOO.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Storm's Teeth[REALLY, KAHSEENO. REALLY? GIVE ME SOME LOVE. dam +1]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 7 )
silhouette.[thursday]
soak!
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
silhouette.[END OF ROUND THREE:
Silhouette: Full health.
Erich: 6A. Eyes have cleared and +2 diff mod is gone. However, just took 1B for 6A, 1B.
Sunday: Full health.
Wednesday: x_x
Thursday: 5A
Monday: Full health.
Tuesday: x_x]
silhouette.[erich gets +1 rage from seeing sil jump in and subsequent FUCK AM I FAILING feels, +1 rage from YES I AM KILLING THINGS AGAIN feels, and may get more this round]
silhouette.[ROUND FOUR:
Silhouette
Erich [Incap]
Sunday
Thursday
Monday]
silhouette.[monday]
1. well back on silhouette then
silhouette.[thursday]
1. zot silhouette!
silhouette.[sunday]
1. shhh silhouette, go to sleep
Storm's Teeth[erich is taking a lil nap.]
silhouette.[silhouette]
1a. jump back through the window
1b. smash a gourd on erich
1c. bite thursday!
silhouette.[silhouette]
1a. whoosh!
1b. smash! +4HP to erich!
1c. - 5
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]
silhouette.[silhouette]
damage!
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )
silhouette.[thursday]
soak!
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
silhouette.[now that erich is awake again and at 3A: declare and go!]
silhouette.[and take another +2 rage from WTF THEY KNOCKED ME OUT and more ARGH AM I FAILING feels]
Storm's Teeth[AUGH! I FALLED ASLEEP! WHAT'S GOING ON!
1. OH WE'RE KILLING THURSDAY. OKAY. LET'S KILL THURSDAY!
R1. SRSLY SUNDAY, STOP PUTTING PEOPLE TO SLEEP. IT IS V RUDE.
R2. DIE PLZ.
R3. SUNDAY NEEDS TO DIE, MMK?]
silhouette.[take a +1 diff movement penalty on 1st action. target is sunday -- forgot to tell damon that thursday died.]
Storm's Teeth[I AM GONNA CHEW ON YOUR BRAIN. i think this is actually gonna be a bite because he is so mad. LOL. clawing is for thinking erichs.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1
Storm's Teeth[dam = str +4(crinos) +1(bite) +5(succ)]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )
silhouette.[sunday]
soak
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[monday]
FML.
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
silhouette.[silhouette]
willpower!
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
silhouette.[oh wait, sil is supposed to roll stamina vs. monday! DLP]
silhouette.[silhouette]
stamina
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Storm's Teeth[R1. NOMMING MONDAY. STAHP IT. STAHP HURTING MAI FREN.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2
Storm's Teeth[dam +7]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 13 )
silhouette.[monday]
soak
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
silhouette.[END ROUND FOUR, END COMBAT:
Silhouette: Full health, slight headache that is already fading.
Erich: 3A, no headache, no blindness.
Sunday: Skull crushed in one bite by Erich. 1A overkill.
Monday: Torn in half in one bite by Erich. 2A overkill.
Tuesday: Shared kill, last shot by Erich. 2A overkill.
Wednesday: Would not fucking die, killed by Erich. 6A overkill.
Thursday: Shared kill, last shot by Silhouette. 2A overkill.
Friday: Head torn off in one claw-swipe by Erich. 4A overkill.
Saturday: Torn open in one claw-swipe by Erich. 7A overkill.]
silhouette.Glass breaks, and cinderblocks go flying, and people who hear disturbances think it must be another domestic dispute in that house. They stay inside, frightened. They think about calling the police. They keep telling themselves it'll be over soon.
It is over in less than a minute's time.
Some creatures that are shadow, others that are half-shadow, others not yet swallowed by the dark, emerge from that broken window to come at the two ahrouns. They don't realize that these ones, Erich and Silhouette, are lords of their kind. They are not frightened of shadows, or half-shadows warping human flesh.
It is not hard to see where the occupants of some of the now-empty houses went. Where they were taken. How they were changed. But like many of the lowest minions of the Wyrm, they are no match for even one garou, much less two: they are only true horrors to humankind, who are meant to be their true victims.
--
Some of the creatures come out to meet Silhouette and Erich; a few stay behind the home's walls, to assault from afar with unseen pain or sudden exhaustion, to creep slowly outward and begin to surround the potentially unwary. But the ones who come out do not meet happy ends.
The first, the mad thing with the long, piercing claws, thrashes with shrieks as she attacks Erich. He claws once, and once only, and simply bats her head from her shoulders, her twisted face now just a mask of madness as her head bounces across the lawn and rolls onto the sidewalk. The rest of her body, gator-tailed and all, just collapses like a bundle of sticks.
Before she dies, though, she bloodies him. She wounds him significantly enough that it will come back to haunt him.
Erich ignores it.
Erich also stands, firm and unmoved, when the largest of the creatures rushes out to try and tackle him to the ground. The thing doesn't so much bounce off as skid into him, but Erich's planted feet will not budge. He sees light, blinding, searing light, go shooting from one near-human creature towards Silhouette, who is darting neatly out of the way.
He feels lightning strike him, burning through his fur, sizzling on his flesh, making fat bubble and pop. It would be agonizing if his gift were not protecting him. A half-second later, his free arm swipes out, opening up the bulging flesh of the eyeless one who just tried to blind them both. Her skin splits like an over-filled balloon, but there are no intestines, not even any blood: just that light, flashing hotly into his eyes, making his vision spark and blur for several seconds.
He fights anyway.
--
Not that it does much good. He wrestles with the hulking, hunchbacked thing that keeps coming at him. He is zapped again with lightning from one of his enemy's mouths. The pain is starting to be noticable, if only because he knows his body. Logically, he must know that he doesn't have much time left before he starts to succumb to bleeding, burning wounds.
No matter: they fight on, and he fights back.
That's when it starts to suck, really. Because he fights back, but he can barely see and the hunchback is so goddamn tough, its hide is leathery and scrapes his teeth. And Silhouette darts in, biting at the thing that's trying to surround him -- how embarrassing. She runs off then, as though to go kill the rest of them, and it starts to beat like a drum in his head: he failed. He's failing. She shouldn't have had to get involved at all. Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
--
They all seem to turn on him. Sleep tries to take him under. A migraine like a morning after a night of heavy drinking stabs through his skull. He manages to taste blood on the hunchback but not enough, not nearly enough.
The creeping shadow-arm grabs at Silhouette. Erich grabs hold of the mottled hunchback with his jaws and sinks teeth into its very heart, through layers of flesh and hide and muscle and bone, crunching, chewing, snarling as he opens up the thing's side until he tastes heart's blood, hotter and cleaner than anything else this creature has left, until he feels that heart stop beating, until he spits it out, spits the thing's own blood right back on its fucking face.
It dies.
He rips the circling, sneaking arm in two.
He goes for the lightning-mouthed one and pulls one of its arms off.
And then that stabbing headache pierces through his skull like a scream. His body feels wracked suddenly, and the world turns black.
--
The next thing he knows, Gaia is giving him a bath. It's nice. The water is warm compared to the air outside these days. The water is cool compared to the fever of his rage. She is laughing softly as she tenderly douses his scalp with the sponge, letting the water trickle all down his hair and neck and drip over his face but he doesn't mind, no, they're just being silly, he and his mother, he's laughing and she's blowing air in his face
that is suddenly very very very very very very very cold. It's winter. He's not a toddler anymore and no one is giving him a bath. His head is wet, though, and his body is still formed for war. He's not a little boy. His mother isn't here. Gaia is. Silhouette is, hand of their goddess for one brief moment, if only to yank him back into the fray.
Which is what he was born for.
Even when he was a little boy.
--
The lightning is crackling and fading in the mouth of the one Silhouette just slaughtered. Inside there is a figure lying on the dining room table, motionless, legs draped off the side. It's a young woman, or was. She is mostly shadow now, and she stares open-eyed and open-mouthed up at the ceiling, her face slack and her eyes twitching everywhere but seeing nothing. All she wants to do is sleep. All she wants everything to do is sleep, stop, be quiet, be quiet, everything needs to stop.
Their minds. Their hearts.
Erich makes everything stop. If he were not crushing her skull in his jaws he would not see a reaction on what's left of her face. There's nothing left in there. There's no one left in there. Whatever remained of her soul, her humanity, was burned out by oblivion a long time ago.
--
Silhouette gives a yelp as her very brain is attacked again. Erich closes on the last of the seven, gray matter (and let's be honest, it's a bit blackened) still hanging on his teeth. He tears the very last one, with its bloodshot eyes and debilitating pain, in half. Right through its torso: one body becomes two pieces of a body. It's not a tidy affair. The lawn and dining room are littered with body parts, all of them unrecognizable as human. Unrecognizable as anything, really.
His eyes are clear again.
His head doesn't hurt anymore.
Silhouette, untouched by wound, shifts to homid and looks at him where he stands in crinos. When he's in this form, their height difference is all the more pronounced.
She exhales a huff of air. She hasn't even broken a sweat. Of course not: she's a Fostern Ahroun. Less than a minute, less than thirty seconds or not: she still could have probably taken those seven things in half the time that Erich did, if only because she can move so much faster.
She gives him a nod. "All right," she says. "So you're strong." She nods at the house. "Let's pile up the pieces and set fire to this thing since the other houses are empty anyway. Then we'll find out if you can remember the stories of our people, be fair, know the spirits, and question the ways, too.
"And then we'll find out if you're a worthy Fostern."
Storm's TeethErich doesn't think he's good enough.
That's not all there is to him, but it is a deepseated, sad little aspect of who he is. He just doesn't think he's good enough, or maybe even very good. His friends keep telling him otherwise, which must get wearisome for them because they have to keep doing it, because he'll remember for a little while and then forget again. Maybe a little longer every time, but then --
then something like this happens. Seven used-to-be-humans pouring out of a house with skullnumbing death metal drilling out of it, coming at him. Shouldn't be a big deal at all, it really shouldn't, he takes the first two down like nothing but then the third one, the big one with the humpback, goddammit he just won't go down and then Silhouette has to get involved and somewhere deep inside Erich wants to howl, starts howling, is howling because he's a failure he's failed he failed failed failed he just sucks.
--
It's almost a relief to go dark for a while. To flop facedown in the mud. To feel his mother's hands on his chubby little arms, pulling him up and sitting him in the tub and tenderly squeezing that sponge over his head. He thought he'd forgotten what that was like. He looks up at her, blonde woman with crinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth, sunbeaten skin. He laughs and he slaps at the water with his palms and it's okay that there's water all around, she won't let anything bad happen to him. She cleans him up and blows playfully in his face and
his eyes snap open. His mother isn't here. Gaia is, and Silhouette is, and his enemies are.
--
So he's back up off the ground. He's furious at himself, and at these creatures that are still somehow alive, and he throws himself into the fray with almost no restraint at all, almost-almost as rabid as he can sometimes get; holds on to that scrap of his will with both hands, desperately, because god knows where he'll end up if he lets go.
And so they fall, one two three four five six seven. And so they fall, and two of them are shared kills, and anyway he wouldn't even be alive if Silhouette hadn't pulled him back up out of the muck. And with the bodies all around he stands shamefaced, roundshouldered, furrowbrowed, looking sort of stricken. Crinos first. Then melting down to Erich-shape.
Then: looking sort of amazed. And surprised. And totallynotexpectingthis. "Huh?" is the first thing he says, when she tells him he's strong. And that they're going to burn the bodies. And also, the rest of it.
"Wait, what?" is the second thing he says. Then the penny drops. "Wait -- I didn't -- oh." He shuts up. Don't question it, dummy. He grabs body parts, one in each hand, sort of like picking up cinderblocks -- and he starts to pile them together.
silhouette.Together, they pick up and pile up body parts, slinging them into the broken dining room window. Turns out the creatures didn't have much blood left in them, which is a blessing. Silhouette has a packet of matches in her glovebox; she retrieves them while Erich opens up the garage to the house, finds lighter fluid on a shelf, squirts it everywhere until the place stinks of it.
When they drive away, they drive away with flames behind them melting the ice on the roofs of nearby houses. Silhouette doesn't call 911. The humans will take care of that.
"You can mess with the radio now if you want," she tells him, as she turns the Subaru Outback south. Towards Forgotten Questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment