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!
hauntingAt 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 RageAmazing.
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 HonorUpon 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.
FirebrandThe 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 RageErich, 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.
hauntingGoldie 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.
FirebrandFirebrand 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 RageBit 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 HonorAvery 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 )
hauntingGoldie 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 RageLADY 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 )
FirebrandFairly 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.
hauntingBecause 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 HonorThe 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 RageLots 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 HonorErich 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.
FirebrandMorgan 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.
hauntingGoldie 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 HonorEarlier, 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 RageCRASH.
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.
FirebrandMorgan'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.
hauntingGoldie 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 RageUproar! 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 HonorShe 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.]
FirebrandSon 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.
hauntingThe 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 )
hauntingGoldie: +8!
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
hauntingPodPerson 1
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
hauntingPodPerson 2 +3!
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
hauntingErich: 27
Avery: 16
Morgan: 15
Goldie: 14
PodPerson 1: 13
PodPerson 2: 11
Declare in reverse order! Here we gooo!
hauntingPodPerson 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 Rage1a! -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 RageDice: 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 )
hauntingPodPerson3: Soak!
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 5) ( fail )
hauntingThe 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!]
hauntingGoldie: 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 )
hauntingGoldie: 4 agg
Morgan and Erich: Perfectly Fine
Avery: Sparklingly Clean and Glowing Bright
hauntingNew Declares!
Erich: 27
Avery: 16
Morgan: 15
Goldie: 14
PodPerson 3: 13
PodPerson 4: 11
PodPerson 4: 6
hauntingAlso PodPerson3 is at 5 agg
Radiant HonorSix 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!]
FirebrandThe 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.
hauntingPodPerson 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 )
hauntingPP 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!]
hauntingPodPerson 4: Attack Morgan with Claws!
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
hauntingPodPerson 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 ]
hauntingPodPerson 5: Bite! Om nom!
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
hauntingPodPerson 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.]
hauntingPodPerson 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!!]
