[Slaughter] The moon is nearly full. Days away, in fact. It hangs in a clear sky, broken by trees that are full of dying leaves and branches half bare. The air smells of damp mulch and decaying foliage. It has rained recently, and here, where the sun does not always reach, it is slow to dry. Later, in spring, the snow will stuck in these little darker hollows stubbornly, fading away only slowly.
She wears no coat, though it is a little cool for it, a sweater close to her body as she sinks to a crouch, near silent against the base of a tree. Her red hair is vibrant, though dulled in the darkness - here the city lights do not seep, and there is only moonlight to ignite the flaming colours. Moonlit, her skin is pale, her eyes impossibly dark.
Her nostrils flare, inhaling deeply as she removes a small maglight from the pocket of her jeans, turning it on, pointed downward. The torch has a narrow butbright beam as she trains it on her interest.
[Night's Reprieve] As Keeper of the Land, NR's duties are not restricted to the Bawn. Some might think that he is simply a gardener, a caretaker, but the truth is that the position is so much more than that. He keeps the spirits of the sacred site happy, he keeps the balance amongst the weaver and the wyld, and in a city like Chicago that sometimes means venturing out into the wilderness to bring back willing spirits. So he roams, and it feels good out here. He can stretch down into an animal form more suited for this, he can let loose and run over hills and between trees.
There is no sense of urgency when he's out here. He doesn't have the press and pull of the city or the elders making him work till all he can do is sleep. It's a hard life for one such as NR, but he makes do.
His nose picks up the scent before his eyes see it. It's not that he can actually smell the torch light, but he can smell who's holding it. The rain cleanses the area, removes the contamination and makes scents such as this one stand out all the more. But he isn't sure just who it is, or even exactly what it is.
Stepping through the undergrowth with light paws, he advances cautiously.
[Slaughter] She smells of cigarettes, of the city, of some sort of spice in her perfume. She smells of human skin and hair. Of blood. She smells of purity, though that is not quite a smell, but some all-encompassing conglomeration of all the senses, and none of them. Not a sight, not a smell, not a sound, not a touch, not a taste. But inextricable from all five.
Night's Reprieve is cautious, and Imogen does not hear him until he's well advanced into the clearing.
Even then, he's not sure if it is sound that draws the woman, or merely instinct as she turns sharply at the hip her boots swivelling in the mulch. The maglight cuts across the beast's eyes before she lowers it to the ground at its paws.
Her other hand is behind her back, her sweater rucked up to free her gun from its casing.
Silence echoes. This, perhaps, is what had alerted her. The sudden dearth of night insects in the clearing as it had entered. She eyes the wolf, her body tight like a coiled spring.
"If you speak to me like this," she says finally, warily, "I won't understand you." A beat. "Or likely even know you're speaking to me."
[Night's Reprieve] The smells of the woman alert him to who she is as he gets closer, but it still does not cause his caution to waver. The breeding is unmistakeable and all of it seems familiar for some reason. He has guesses of course, but true to the creature that he is, he relies more on eyesight that scent even in this form. His brain just doesn't work like a lupus born, so it's not until he catches that first glimpse of fire red hair that he truly knows who she is.
At first he just stands there, and what she sees is a dark grey timber wolf; sprouts of black fur around his throat and ankles; a few pale hairless scars. He doesn't shift straight away when she speaks, instead his head tips to the side and his tongue lolls out of his mouth with slightly quizzical expression even in this wolf form.
Then the bone popping begins, the elongating of limbs. At first its a sudden burst as he ruptures up into a hulking claw-less war form instantly, but it travels slowly from there. Down into something near a man and finally there stands the Godi, Night's Reprieve.
There's no weapon in his hands, just white tape wrapped carefully around each of his fingertips.
"Dr Slaughter, I didn't expect to find you out here."
[Slaughter] There is another smell, one more subtle, particularly beneath the more prominent smell of cigarettes and human, the presence of breeding. It's barely there - but slightly out of place. He might describe it as chemical - but even then, it is not quite right.
Beyond them, the smell of water, the rotting smell of swamp vegetation, though it is a small one.
Perhaps he does not take much notice of her when he shifts. Perhaps he does. As he reaches the crinos form and lingers there - perhaps a half second longer than she had expected, her body tenses, the muscles of her arm contracting as she begins to draw her gun from its sheath.
Then, he shifts downward toward his monkey-form, and those muscles relax, though her gaze never leaves him. Through it all, the intensity of her regard as he changes through the forms cannot be truly explained as the result of caution. There is a detached curiosity there; a scientific mind narrowing its vision, ruthlessly demanding knowledge.
The Godi is there then, and she recognizes him. Still, the latent tension lingers. After a moment, she straightens to her feet.
"Night's Reprieve, isn't it?" she says as she straightens, lowering the maglight to the ground at her feet and flicking it off. A moment later, her eyes adjust, allowing her to see the Garou in shadows.
"The feeling is mutual. Out for a hunt, are you?"
[Night's Reprieve] His jaw opens and stretches as if he's getting used to this form, or maybe its just out of habit, either way he licks a tongue over his teeth and nods his head to her questioning of his name. There is no sign that he is concerned about the fact that she only vaguely remembers him, it was a long time ago that they spoke of Shakespeare and the safety of a kinswoman from his tribe. Still, it says something he did not hesitate to recall her.
He is used to people staring when he shifts, casting foul looks at his paws or tut tutting to themselves in their minds. The reasons for their behaviour are beyond NR, so he doesn't try to understand them.
The light turns off and he seems thankful for it and takes a few casual steps forward, nothing so much as breeching her personal space, but just enough so that they aren't calling out at each other across the clearing.
A hunt she says?
"A hunt of sorts, a spirit hunt. For the Bawn." He offers with only slight interest in his tone. "And you?" There's much more interest hidden in that question.
[Slaughter] Her eyebrow arches - only slightly visible from the distance, when he says he's on a spirit hunt for the bawn, but she does not pursue her latent curiosity. It fades quickly. Words that do not matter to her - are theoretical, or at least untouchable. Bawn, spirit.
After all, she is no longer permitted in the caern, and the spirits are in a world she is unable to touch.
He asks her a question and there is a distinct pause, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought.
She decides, abruptly, to offer the truth, drawing in her breath with that decision. "Tracking," she says, gesturing briefly toward the tree she'd been studying. "There's some - residue down 'ere and recently, some o' the park rangers ha' reported strange deaths among the birds 'round 'ere."
[Night's Reprieve] Indeed he did not expect much of a reaction from the kinswoman about his particular hunt, hence the lack of interest in his tone when he spoke of it. The matters are simply beyond that of a kinfolk. It's not a measure of superiority but if there is some hint of that then it would not be misplaced, it is just the nature of things. There are plenty of area's in which a kinswoman such as Imogen Slaughter would reign supreme over a Godi like Night's Reprieve.
Calculated conversation seems to be one of them.
"Strange deaths." He murmurs, and there's a raising of his own eyebrow. His head tips to take in the sight of the tree she had gestured to.
At this close proximity she can see his attire, which is remarkably unremarkable. A red and white plaid cotton shirt, faded and dirtied blue jeans, leather work boots. The only garment that stands out is something half resembling a bandolier slung over his shoulder. It holds various discs and stones instead of any visible ammunition.
"What is this residue? I take it that it can be linked to these strange deaths?"
[Slaughter] "Not scientifically," she says with a wry smirk. "But empirically, yes. As fer what it is, well," she turns her head slightly to glance at the base of the then up it, turning on the maglight again to illuminate the tree.
"It's clear and viscous with small bubbles in it. It sounds similar t'what I heard was on the birds." A beat. "Again, empirically."
She uses her hand - the one that had held onto her gun but has now left it in its holster at the small of her back, to gesture briefly toward the smell of the water, "I was told tha' I could find samples further in. I was checkin' the boundary when I found this."
[Night's Reprieve] Not scientifically. That gets a grunt from the Godi and something of a grin cracks his face though its rough and lacking in any sort of social nicety. It's just his own animalism peeking through his amusement.
"Science is funny like that, I never really learnt much of it -- human science that is. But I find it interesting." The topic of conversation gets briefly derailed by insight into the Godi's psyche. It soon returns to the previous discussion though.
"Clear and viscous.. hmm. Do you have any of the bird corpses? Maybe we could find some further in?" And then as if to confirm the thought that he would like to help her with his task he adds "I think you've perked my curiosity enough, my duties can wait for now."
[Slaughter] She shakes her head slightly. "Haven't found a decent reason why a forensic pathologist would be interested in a dead animal yet. But s'why I'm 'ere. Hopin' fer more corpses."
He assumes she will welcome his help and speaks, and Imogen studies him briefly, her expression still as an undisturbed pool. Eventually, merely, she nods.
"C'mon, then," she says, tilting her head toward the smell of water.
[Night's Reprieve] And he steps in beside her, lifting his chin and flaring his nostrils at that scent.
"You're not like most kinfolk Doctor Slaughter." She knows this, he wouldn't call her Doctor Slaughter otherwise. "You're not out here for yourself or for us." There's approval in his tone, though nothing of it comes through in words as such.
[Slaughter] There's a distinct pause - where Imogen looks at him sharply, her gaze tightening on the Garou, his face. She looks at him more directly than most kinfolk would ever dare.
Then, she looks away, her gaze lower to her feet as she picks her way over a particularly well-grown root bed.
"No," she says, quietly. "I'm not." Like other kinfolk. Here for them, or here for herself. It could be any. It may be all of them.
There is a note to her voice - something barely audible, like the vibrating bass string of a guitar, just beyond hearing. Some transient emotion, but gone before it can be fully captured.
As they move, Imogen's flashlight still on, though pointed downward, the ground begins to grow progressively muddier. The trees begin to thin out, the branches more closely drawn together, taking on the sickly pallor of arbours suffering from land too damp for them to truly thrive. The smell of swamp and water grows stronger, and still, the silence fills the air around them.
(perception+alertness, please!)
[Night's Reprieve] [eep! p+a]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Night's Reprieve] She agrees with him, she isn't like other kinfolk, or she isn't out here for herself or for the Garou. Night's Reprieve has his suspicions of course, how could he not? When someone is so clearly a mystery it begs someone of the Godi's intellect to try and solve the puzzle. At least it had upon their first encounter. Now? Now NR isn't so sure and the look he casts at her says as much. It isn't curiosity or petty interest in some social game, he has just accepted the truth.
She isn't like most kinfolk, she doesn't think like them, doesn't act like them. But what is she like? Night's Reprieve has the patience to find out it seems because he doesn't pry himself away from her like most would when they encounter a riddle that refuses to be solved.
"It's a topic of debate among our Kind.." He says, and its a leading statement, he has changed topics slightly.. or has he? "I've always found it strange. Kinfolk do for Garou, and Garou do for..." A questioning eyebrow at her in case she wants to interject here. "Well according to some we do for ourselves, but that isn't our role in life. We do for others, we do what others cannot do for themselves. Human, animal, Kinfolk.. mineral.." He quirks a grin.
Maybe he is suggesting something about Imogen, maybe he is just making casual conversation.
[Slaughter] He can smell the same strange stench he had smelled before, but it is both less and more than it was. Were he in his wolf form, he can imagine it would be almost overpowering. In his dead-senses monkey state, it is merely present, a smell in a plethora of smells.
The swamp which extends about them is quiet - too quiet, to be a cliché. There should be the sound of insects. The hum of bat wings. It has become utterly still.
Only not quite. He can hear something breathing. A low vibrato of an inhale, a near silent inhale. It is more than one.
As he looks over the clearing - he sees a shadow in a tree, a long lean shape with long limbs laying close to a branch, it's three fingered hand wrapped around the thickness of wood. Beyond it, he can see a dim grey - thing, clinging to the branches. The insides of it are round, pale like pearls.
The water splashes softly, indicating movement in the deeper parts of the swamp.
He sees this all with a clarity of sudden perception, the full moon heightening his senses, the light giving him guidance. And he knows, given the way the kinwoman beside him moves silent, her hand reaching back to retrieve her weapon that she sees it, senses it too.
[Slaughter] (DLP! *reposts*)
[Slaughter] Imogen casts him a glance for his rumination, something wry mixed with - something a little darker. "It's been my experience," she says, "tha' making assumptions on an entire group o' -" monsters, she nearly says, "Garou, is a waste o' time. Some do it fer noble reasons, others do it fer ignoble reasons, and still others do it because its their habit.
"It doesn't matter t'me so long as -"
They had not been speaking loudly - but still, Imogen silences abruptly, her gaze fixing on the watery way ahead of them. Quiet as anything, she removes her gun, slowly stepping to the side, and back. Simultaneously, she puts herself out of Night's Reprieve's way, and moves so that he is out of hers.
He can smell the same strange stench he had smelled before, but it is both less and more than it was. Were he in his wolf form, he can imagine it would be almost overpowering. In his dead-senses monkey state, it is merely present, a smell in a plethora of smells.
The swamp which extends about them is quiet - too quiet, to be a cliché. There should be the sound of insects. The hum of bat wings. It has become utterly still.
Only not quite. He can hear something breathing. A low vibrato of an inhale, a near silent inhale. It is more than one.
As he looks over the clearing - he sees a shadow in a tree, a long lean shape with long limbs laying close to a branch, it's three fingered hand wrapped around the thickness of wood. Beyond it, he can see a dim grey - thing, clinging to the branches. The insides of it are round, pale like pearls.
The water splashes softly, indicating movement in the deeper parts of the swamp.
He sees this all with a clarity of sudden perception, the full moon heightening his senses, the light giving him guidance. And he knows, given the way the kinwoman has reacted, he can guess: she's seen it as well.
[Slaughter] In the water, he can see a small carcass - grey and dingy, waterlogged, it's wings spread to its full length. The small bird has had its neck twisted off, its feathers nearly all removed or at least disturbed, its meat torn free several bones cracked so they barely hang on by a hinge, the marrow sucked from them. Black spots on feathers and what remains of the flesh, he realizes, is dried blood.
Even the wings have been mangled, what flesh there is, torn free and - one assumes, eaten.
[Night's Reprieve] It doesn't matter to her so long as..
She reacts swiftly and Night's Reprieve has lost all thoughts of the casual conversation had mere moments ago. There is a spear suddenly in his hand and it shrieks in tangled spirit tongue though Imogen cannot hear it. She however does hear NR's replies, and they come in hushed echoing whispers. The exchange is brief.
"Gungnir kiiilllll you draw me silly wolf man, you see it you see it!"
"Hush and be still."
"You cannot tell--"
"Hush."
And then there is silence within the Godi's mind. He sees it, of course he does. He hears it and smells it. By the way that Imogen drew her weapon at the same time as he did, he can tell she has spotted it as well.
"You see it." His voice is a whisper and it isn't a question, just a confirmation. "In the tree, in the water.." And then unless Imogen speaks he returns to silence. His footsteps carry him closer to the waters edge with his eyes focused on that thing in the tree. He maintains the distance from Imogen, should he need to shift he will require it.
[Slaughter] Imogen glances at Night's Reprieve as he speaks, seemingly to himself and there is a minute contraction of her eyebrows - as briefly, she wonders at his sanity and consequently, her safety in his presence, in trusting him in combat.
Too late. She shuts the thoughts away and will deal with it as it comes.
You see it, he whispers, and Imogen merely nods, pointing out the tree, then the water, where a disturbance has caught her gaze. Now that she's gestured, he sees it as well - a ripple in the water that speaks of something moving, just below the surface, a brief suggestion of eyes, large.
No bubbles, though, as if whatever was there was not breath.
Imogen arches an eyebrow, pointing to herself and then the beast in the trees.
Something lows, softly, an almost musical groan, as the creature in the tree begins to raise its head.
[Night's Reprieve] She would be insane not to question his sanity, the exchanges seem bizarre even to Garou without the talent of spirit speech. To a kinfolk or to a human it would seem ridiculous. But that is beside the point, she will have to trust him in this situation, that he isn't completely useless in a combat situation, that he can help her.
She points to herself, points to the thing in the tree and NR narrows his eyes. There is something in the water, something that begs for further investigation. But the immediate problem is this thing raising its head and groaning. NR isn't even sure what it is, from here it is just shadows and limbs.
This would be easier with a packmate, with the ability to speak without speaking. Unfortunately they will have to stick to mundane means. So NR moves close to Imogen, tries to keep out of sight of the thing raising its head and if she doesn't back away from him he whispers as quietly as he can manage.
"Can you get a closer look? I will likely disturb it. Whatever it is."
[Slaughter] Imogen casts Night's Reprieve a somewhat mirthlessly wry glance.
"I might be able to," she says, her naturally quiet voice even lower, barely a whisper. "What I can guarantee is tha' I can shoot it from this distance. S'not human, s'not Garou, we can tell tha' much already."
[Night's Reprieve] Not human, not Garou. So it must be evil right?
"There's something else in the water. I would not hesitate to bring this thing down but..." He looks at her and then lets the thought trail away. He can't help thinking it, it's instinct.
"Stay away from the water. Unload on it when you're ready."
And he reaches up and snatches a smooth disc from that bandolier of his. It's crushed in his fist and he takes a second or two to smear grey paste in streaks below his eyes. Then he's stepping away from her. He doesn't need to shift just yet, he never does.
[Night's Reprieve] [oops! -1G +3soak]
[Slaughter] He has enough time to see something wry touch her mouth, a brief glance as she moves to accommodate his change in position; to give her a clear view of the creature in the tree.
She fires three shots. Then things start to happen very fast.
(dex+firearms! 3rb!)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ^_^ 1 SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] The thing in the tree shrieks, the sound warbling in its throat as it nearly loses its perch, before it scrabbles back its perch. It's impossible, from this distance to see what Imogen's hit, precisely - but they can both see the black wash of blood over the beast's torso, and know it has been injured and badly.
With that, it disappears into the water.
And the movement closer to them suddenly surges upward, with a spray of mud and foetid water.
Closer, now, he has the benefit of sight. Large, amphibious eyes blink from atop a rounded head. Green skin shines like a jewel under the near-full moon's setting light. Long lean body, long arms with three fingers - and the way it surged from the water - this thing is meant to jump.
Froglike, distorted though it might be - for it has a mouth with a serrated edge, hardly meant for flies anymore at all. Tearing apart birds, perhaps. And causing damage to flesh, human and Garou alike.
(initiative!)
[Slaughter] Froggie 1 (injured, in water) +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Failure at target 10)
[Night's Reprieve] [ +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Slaughter] Froggie 2 (closer, in water) +10
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Slaughter] Imogen +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Slaughter] Imogen - 7
Froggie 1 - 13
Night's Reprieve - 13
Froggie 2 - 11
Froggie 2: Action 1: BITE Night's Reprieve.
Action 2: OOZE!
[Night's Reprieve] [reflexive snap to birth form!
1a
1b
r1
r2 - spears on froggie 2]
[Slaughter] Froggie 1
[uuuuu can't cccccccc me.]
Imogen: Fire at blood spreading in the water (+2 difficulty)
[Slaughter] 3rb! DIE!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] I SOAK U
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a -2 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3 (Botch x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1b stabbity stab ze frog! -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] Frog 2: BITE!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (sorry, diff was 5! many more successes. :()
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [soak+3 from talen]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [r1 don't bite me! I stab you!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+5]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] It's injured - badly so. Blood falls from its body in sheets, washing from its collarbone down its ribcage. A constant sound comes from within the creature's mouth, like a high pitched whine.
Still, it gathers itself and leaps forward, and Night's Reprieve has enough time to see the lift of the tongue and two slots beneath it before ...
whatever it is, happens.
OOZE!
(dex+brawl)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Night's Reprieve finds his spear, claws, arms, his fur matted with a sticky substance - it gets between his teeth and into his nostrils. It fills his mouth. It gets in his eyes.
It makes it harder to move, harder to see, harder to do.
(+2 difficulty to all actions)
[Night's Reprieve] The good splatters him, he lets out a disgusted roar and spits gobs of the stuff out of his toothy maw. He wasn't expecting that, its.. horrible. He lunges forward the best he can, though his movements are restricted. This thing needs to die, now.
[r2! +2 dif goooo]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (x_x)
[Slaughter] And so it does.
Night's Reprieve spills the beasts grey guts over the ground, wet, cold and slimy, open a pocket of the goo as he disembowels the creature and finds the source of the ooze. The calcifying liquid spills over hands already hindered by the thing. It is disgusting, unpleasant and smells disturbingly swampy, but he suffers no further detriment from it.
The frog beast slumps down, its malleable bones losing what strength the muscles gave it. Its eyes stare, glassy, skyward.
The blood continues to spread out over the water where the first frog had fallen. There is no movement.
But above - they hear a sudden shaking of tree limbs. Then another. A low sound like a groan.
--
The others - however they arrive, why ever they arrive, know they are close now. Perhaps they heard the disturbances in the distance. Perhaps a spirit warned them that something was here. Maybe they (ROMAN) are stalking Imogen.
Perhaps they heard of the dead birds are investigating, only to find that others had gotten there first.
However it is, however it's coming, they're arriving now.
(going to give a brief amount of time for RP. It's definitely timed, though! I'm just not telling you how long you have. *grin*)
[Night's Reprieve] The first thing Night's Reprieve does when the beast falls is stab his spear down into the mud. The second thing he does is leap into the wet grass like a dog and roll around, cleaning the muck and filth from his fur. It's all over him, in his nose, eyes, mouth and covering his grey furred body. Soon enough he's clean though and its only then that he stands, retrieves his weapon and goes to check on Imogen. He doesn't advance on her too closely, not in his war form. He can't imagine what it would be like to be around creatures of his kind while being so obviously fleshy.
He can't speak to her, not like this. It would take far too much effort to form human words with this mouth so he just wipes a hand on his shoulder. His paw comes away gooey and he holds it out to her like 'I guess this is it' and flicks it to the ground.
[Slaughter] Imogen's nostrils pinch slightly as Night's Reprieve shows her the gooeyness. "Empirically," she says, "I have to say that this is the same as was observed on the tree and in the birds." A beat. "However, it's not scientifically proven."
Improbably, her mouth twists. A smirk, though it's mirthless. Though her jaw is tight, and her eyes barely rest on him before moving away to their surroundings.
There's a certain tension to her - a certain awareness as she looks up at the trees, then down again at the water, her eyes narrowing slightly. The smirk is long gone now.
"I don't believe it's dead," she says. "And I am not sure that was all there was." The trees rustle again, a little ways off.
"Listen."
[Eve] She eats a lot of squirrels. Rabbits. Small prey. Rain can't eat half the things that Eve can, and Eve eats garbage. Garbage and little fluffy things. She was out in the woods to go get some food. Something to do, but the spirits warned her of something..
She didn't understand the meaning, not the whole meaning, but she was sidetracked. It takes a lot to pull a Bone Gnawer off of the concept of food. The female runs, on four legs instead of two, and now she runs. She runs hard and fast, and comes upon people. A woman with dark eyes and vibrant hair. A gooey Godi-
I don't believe it's dead.
She cocks her head to the side, all blue eyes and tawny golden brown and grey and whiteblackbrown. The female says listen, and the wolf does so.
[Sorrow] "No, really," she said two hours ago, as they shut the doors to Sparrow's Prius, taken without knowledge or permission, driven by the kid because she herself cannot tell forward from reverse. Strange, to come out here in such a box, over the asphalt miles. Here they are, though. They came to hunt, they came to run. They came because they are wolves, underneath, and that hard, flat, ungiving territory they came is not enough to renew them. " - he wants to go camping. I figure we should soon, maybe all of us, a night or two. Bonding."
They were fifteen feet deep in the woods, then, moving with animal confidence despite their human skins. Half an hour later they found their reflections in the surface of a narrow-running stream strewn with leaves, damp ground giving underneath their paws.
The spirits brought them here.
- two wolves, then, appear at the water's edge, where blood spreads in the flat surface. The sharp scent of blood, ichor in the air causes the slender female's ears to twitch, alert, from kinswoman to Godi, back again. Imogen cannot recognize them in this form, and Sorrow has no pure breed to mark her. Her eyes are a soft, amber brown, her gray fur tipped in chestnut, and thicker for the onrush of winter.
[Night's Reprieve] She doesn't believe its dead.
Night's Reprieve lifts his snout and snuffs the air, turns his head side to side and she can see his grey ears flicker. Abruptly his attention is grabbed by the sudden appearance of the other wolves. His lips peel back and something of a snarl escapes from his throat, instinct. But he sniffs and then he lowers his weapon back down to the ground.
"Sister." He says in the high tongue. "What brings you here."
[Fate] "Shouldn't you guys do the honeymoon camping thing alone? I mean, he ain't likely to be too comfortable snuggling up with me in a tent, ya know?"
That had been his argument on the matter, though hell if Trent wanted him to spoon with him...oh well, who was he to deny the guy the experiance? Later he emerged behind Sorrow with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth in a pink wave over sharp teeth. His eyes reflected the light of the moon in an amber wash. His coloring was very similar to Sorrow's in this form; chestnut hues. Darker ears flicked when NR spoke, but it was the moan he was focusing on, trying to figure out where it came from.
[Slaughter] The Garou language, now, that's something she hears. Something she recognizes. She understands not a word, and with a wary glance at Fate and Sorrow, with a glance that is completely devoid of any familiarity
(It is not that her relationship with the two is incredibly warm - however, now in its absolute absence, what was there is stark when it is gone)
- for right now, they are just another pair of Garou and not meant to be trusted - she moves so her back is never turned to the warriors and begins to scan the trees, the water, her finger on the trigger guard of the gun.
[snail] [just approved xp journals for fate and sorrow, btw. so you're good to use your new stats for this scene!]
to Fate, Slaughter, Sorrow
[Eve] "Dead birds, unhappy spirits," she says. It comes across easily through the posture of her body, and it comes across, "originally I just wanted food."
Her tail twitches from one side to the other, and the tension in her shoulders, her legs, her whole frame doesn't go away. At least, not yet, anyway.
"What happened here?"
[Sorrow] Imogen is faced with strange Garou. Animals all - indistinguishable for her in this form - once running through the woods, two more appearing light ghosts from the shadow, that pop, the onrush of air, the shift in balance.
Things are easier, here.
The bonds are looser, more easily underdone.
The female's paws are wet, her eyes catch the light, gleam alertly. She shakes her gray coat, pads quietly forward, her wet nose gleaming in the chill night air. Then she changes. Abruptly, aware of the blankness in the kinswoman's gaze, without means of communicating with her. It moves through her like water, and in the end Sorrow is there, her booted feet muddy, her fingertips on the damp grass of the bank, her hair loose, her eyes - well, wild. Still half-animal.
A flickering glance at Eve, stranger, and Sorrow nods a sort of agreement. "Birdsong," wry that. Then, aslant toward the kinswoman, " - evening, doc." Quiet. She tip's her head toward the other. S'Roman. My packmate." The last part of the explanation for Eve, this brief, sharp glance before she's craning her head upward, searching the dark, still branches, that posture of alertness.
[Night's Reprieve] He watches body movements, tail wags and occasional yips, but he doesn't respond. This strange gathering here so soon after battle puts him slightly on edge, but it isn't enough to see him getting defensive or snarling at them beyond that initial reaction. He cast's a sidelong glance at Imogen, lets out a huff.
And then he's shifting, just moments after Sorrow. It's a slow gradual decline from his war form until he's standing again as a man, still with that white tape around each fingertip, still holding that spear in a closed fist.
"You hear something else out there Doctor Slaughter?"
[Fate] He sneezed to clear his nostrils of the nasty smell here as Sorrow identified him. In this form it smelled for worse than it would in homid. As soft and elegant as any predator he began to slink around the edges of the little clearing, fastidiously avoiding the goo on the ground.
[Sorrow] (gah: more easily un done. ahem.)
[Slaughter] Imogen doesn't answer aloud, she merely nods - it serves her purpose.
(everyone can go ahead and roll perception + alertness!)
[Sorrow] Per + Alertness.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [helllo out there? p+a]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Eve] [Per+alert, diff 6 -2 (chillin' in lupuuuuus): detail oriented]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[Fate] per+alert
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] There is something still out there. And the blood in the water is still growing. Whatever's beneath the water is still alive.
to Night's Reprieve
[Slaughter] There is something still out there. There is blood in the water, which is still growing in size, suggesting either a beating heart or a slow seep.
There is movement in the trees, though she cannot quite see where, she can hear it.
to Eve
[Slaughter] There is something out there - the blood continues to spread in the water, like oil. The trees rustle and she can see a darkened shape off to the left, slo-o-wly slinking toward them. It is long limbed and nimble, wrapping each hand carefully around each branch and drawing each leg over.
There is at least one. She suspects there might be more.
to Sorrow
[Slaughter] There is something out there - the blood continues to spread in the water, like oil. The trees rustle and she can see a darkened shape off to the left, slo-o-wly slinking toward them. It is long limbed and nimble, wrapping each hand carefully around each branch and drawing each leg over.
The water stirs, breaking around a pair of eyes as they slowly come their way. In the distance, foliage rustles, like something might be creeping along the ground.
to Fate
[Fate] He yipped out the warning, it came quick and it also went across the totem link to Kora like a slam to the brain.
~Something coming from water, one left, little further out there.~
With that he was snapping up to warform.
[Sorrow] Sorrow is still, searching out the dark branches. Looking well off to the left, picking out the movement of something through the limbs of the trees in the canopy. She shoots a glance at Imogen, then points off in the direction of the new beast climbing through the trees. "Roman says," quiet this. " - that there's another one in the water, maybe two more in the water. One to the left, one further out."
She is still and alert, now, her lean frame tensed. For a moment, she closes her eyes, sinking through the layers of her consciousness, searching for some thread of concordance with the past. "In the trees," for Night's Reprieve now, and the stranger from the woods, she points with two fingers, picking out the path through the darkness before she folds herself back to all fours. Warformed, massive, wary and ready.
[Sorrow] Ancestors! -> Brawl
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]
to Slaughter
[Eve] Her tail drops low and her ears perk forward. She bears her teeth ever so slightly, and there is a different distribution of weight. Her body turns towards the water. Some scent sticks to her senses, and the wolf goes still. "Eve," she offers to Sorrow. It's all she can do, as that her mind is off on the pressing issue of whatever is coming.
"The blood in the water is growing," she growls. She's obviously on edge.
[Slaughter] Moments like this are measured out in heartbeats. Blood flows into the heart. Blood flows out. Blood reaches the brain, blood reaches the finger tips, the digits of paws, the farthest reaches of a great war-formed body with its great large heart and animal brain.
Fate yips a warning, snaps warform. Danger even without a verbal warning, even without a totemic connection, this is clear to everyone, even the monkey-skin bound kinfolk who led at least one of them here. Who had, it would seem, intended to come out here by herself.
The kinwoman turns her head slightly toward Sorrow as she speaks, then nods, once, and trains her gun on the blood spreading out.
This is what adrenaline does:
Your heart beats faster
You breathe faster
Muscles contract
Nearly all tissues have a response - vasoconstriction or vasodilation.
Fight or flight response.
Rage magnifies this times a hundred. Times a thousand.
Empirical data. Not scientific.
Three war-formed Garou. One wolf-formed Garou. One kinfolk. And now, in this instance, in this heartbeat, the water stirs, then surges - what had been in the tree screams and leaps, and from the bloody water, a damaged thing dives out, blood and water sluicing from its shiny amphibian skin as it launches itself at the rest.
Adrenaline surge. Rage surge. The world winnows to a fight.
Here it goes.
(initiatives!)
[Sorrow] 9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Eve] [Dex3+lupus2+wits3=8 + 1d10]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Slaughter] Fred the Tree Frog
+12
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Fate] init + 8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Slaughter] Bonnie the Bleeding
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Slaughter] Sam the Swimmer
+9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Slaughter] Night's Reprieve +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Slaughter] Fred 19
Fate 13
Eve 10
Sorrow 11 (simultaneous with Sam)
Sam 11 (Simultaneous with Sorrow)
Bonnie 11
[Slaughter] THIS IS WHY I DON'T ST FOR MY OWN PC.
Imogen
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Slaughter] (+9!)
[Slaughter] Fred 19
Imogen 16
Fate 13
Eve 10
Sorrow 11 (simultaneous with Sam)
Sam 11 (Simultaneous with Sorrow)
Bonnie 11
NR - 11
[Night's Reprieve] [1a
1b - spears on Bonnie! DIE BONNIE!]
[Night's Reprieve] [reflexive to birth]
[Slaughter] NR - Skipped - if he comes back, we'll get him back in! if not, he's acting, but no dice rolling)
Bonnie:
1a. Bite NR!
1b. BITE NR.
Rage Action: Bite NR!
[Slaughter] (err, ignore the part about NR being skipped)
[Slaughter] Sam:
Action 1a. Movement: GET TO THE BAD GUYS.
1b. Bite Fate
[Eve] Action: -1 WP (resist pain), aaaand reverting to breedform (Goin' to crinos, yay metis!)
1a:
1b: Reserving actions to make sure nothing tries to squish Imogen, or anyone else for that matter.
1r: defensive action
1b: Defensive action for whoever needs it.
[Sorrow] Kora: reflexive: Resist Pain [1WP]
1a. Reserved for Dodge! 1b. Bite. 1c Bite! Rage 1: Bite! Rage 2: Bite! Starting on Bonnie, moving to NEXT BAD GUY AFTR.
[Fate] Reflective Resist Pain 1 willpower
1a rush Sam
1b claw Sam
1r claw Sam I am.
[Slaughter] Imogen:
3rb Fred
shoot Fred.
Fred:
1a BITE Kora
1b. Claw Kora!
2. Get to Imogen
[Slaughter] Bite Kora
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)
[Sorrow] Dodge! -3
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Claw Kora!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Dodge!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] Drop dead, Fred!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Fate] 1b Claw Sam
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soakitysoak
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] BITE: -5
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 5) [WP]
[Sorrow] Damage! Bonnie:
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soakems?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Sorrow]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 8 (Failure at target 8)
[Slaughter] -2 to all physical traits.
to Sorrow
[Slaughter] +1 additional loss every round.
to Sorrow
[Sorrow] Sorrow's loss of coordination is almost immediate. She sinks her teeth into the flesh of the wounded thing, tearing away a ragged chunk. Then snarls - Poisoned flesh! in the high tongue as she does so.
[Slaughter] The frog, injured already by bullets searing its skin, falls to the ground, but even as it does, Sorrow feels the black bile slide down her throat, a wave of shudders wracking her body.
It would have been agony if it weren't for her gift. As it is, her muscles loosen, her joints soften. Her very skin seems to feel the air more.
Even the sound of her voice is wrong in her ears.
There is no opportunity for reflection. Just a shouted warning, and the battle moves on.
[Slaughter] Sam: Bite Fate!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fate] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Eve] [Okay, Fred. Changing action to claw Fred +1 diff. Dex3+crinos1+brawl3= 7 - 2= 5, diff 7]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Eve] [rarsmash?]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] I SOAKS you.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Eve] [UGH, I SAID RARSMASH. +1 diff, claw Fred]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Eve] [gain again!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAKERS!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a -2 (split) stabbity freddykins]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1b -3 Die slimy creature from the abyss!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (still here, just lost AIM. I'm tossing out a sum up post before we continue with rage actions)
[Slaughter] The fight, until the last half second had been fruitless. A bullet struck the largest amphibian between the eyes - but appeared to do little more than catch in the bones of the skull. Claws strike skin only to bounce off. The one good blow - Sorrow ripping out the throat of the injured, smaller female, killing her is a mixed blessing. The poison immediately effects the Skald, causing a hoarsely cried warning to the others.
Then the metis have their turn. The largest beast is torn apart, blood splashing over its skin, one arm hanging uselessly at one side from Eve's claws, a section of bowel torn away by one of Night's Reprieve's spear thrusts.
It lives still.
Fred: Changing action: BITE NR.
[Slaughter] Bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 8, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] MULLIGAN!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[Fate] 1r Claw Sam
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ow?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Sorrow] Rage 1: Claw! -2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[Sorrow] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Eve] [Rage 1: Poor dead Fredthing. Dex3+crinos1+brawl3= 7 , diff 7]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[Eve] [damage?]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Rage 2: -2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Failure at target 7) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Eve] [Srsly, Fred]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7) [WP]
[Eve] [Again?]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Fred: +12
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Fate] init +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Eve] [7+1d10]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Slaughter] Imogen +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Night's Reprieve] [inits +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Sorrow] Initiative -3 dex [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Slaughter] Fred: 17
Fate: 16
Sorrow: 15
Imogen: 11
NR: 11
Eve: 10
[Eve] [-1 gnosis, gaia's breath for the decidedly brokedid Skald]
[Night's Reprieve] [1a BEATIN YOU TO IT HEHEH MT on kora
1b held for somethin]
[Slaughter] 1a. Shoot Fred - 3rb
1b. Shoot him again!
[Sorrow] [1a. Reserved for Dodge! 1b. Claw Fred! Rage 1: Claw Fred! Rage 2: Claw! Fred!]
[Fate] 1a stomp on Sam, make sure he is dead.
1b head for Fred
1r claw Fred if not dead.
[Slaughter] Fred:
1a. Bite Sorrow
1b. Bite Sorrow
Rage: Bite Fate
[Slaughter] 11-3-2
Bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Sorrow] Ze Dodge!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ze attack +2
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Ze Dodge Numero Dos!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 2, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Fate] 1a stomp Sam to make sure dead
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Sam: x_x
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Sam: ___
[Slaughter] (what that face looks like smushed down when it's really late)
[Slaughter] Three round burst!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] DAMAGE!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Fred: Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a MT-2 SPLIT (WP) because we like big numbers ON KORA]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 3) [WP] Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] They had all stood on a patch of solid ground, a pier of mud and hard packed earth, if you will. The water had encroached on the edges, softened the ground so when they slipped or when bodies fell, there was a fine spray of mud.
At least, that is how it was at the beginning. Toward the end - well. The weight of the war formed Garou sunk the ground toward the water. The swamp water had rushed up in the grooves their claws left in the ground. As each amphibian fell, it seeped blood into the ground, creating puddles and dips filled with swamp water and blood that is black in the late night.
Sorrow is barely standing. For a moment, she is the only Garou facing the greater beast, as it snaps its jaws at her, twice. She weaves each time, darting away from its teeth from any prospect of injury.
Fate smashes the remains of a smaller amphibian's skull, crushing its brain beneath his hind claw, squishing vitreous fluid (or whatever the frog equivalent might be) between his toes. It crunches and shatters unpleasantly as he quickly covers the distance between him and his packmate and the last standing amphibian.
Even as he crosses the distance, Imogen's gun rings out, three neatly tapped rounds striking the beast in its neck. It was already barely on its feet. Each bite on Sorrow had been clumsy. Blood had sluiced down its body, was puddling at both the feet of the wyrm and of the Garou. It was breathing heavily, its eyes goggling and hazy with pain.
The bullets tip it over.
It falls.
That's it. Imogen, silent, her ears ringing from gunfire, looks at each Garou for a moment before away and about them, the trees, the water, looking for any more signs. If any others do the same, they will find the same thing she does - nothing, but water, several inexplicable corpses, and blood in the water.
Hesitantly, in the distance a few cicada chirp.
--
Night's Reprieve touches Sorrow with a paw. Gnosis looks like blue smoke in the air, a sudden spark between them, and it feels blue beneath her skin - cool, calming. It seeps through her veins, it runs beneath her skin, her flesh, her innards.
It chases the poison from her - forcing it out from her pores, a slow black leak. Unpleasant to see, to be sure, matting of the fur, absolutely.
But relief is nearly instantaneous.
[Eve] She doesn't break a gord, doesn't reach for one just yet. instead, Eve now has the option of looking at those assembled. Her attention is solid, and she observes. She looks from the Godi without claws, to the Skald whose pores oozed something truly vile.. she was fine. They were all fine. The female shifts her weight, from one side to planted solid.
"Do you require anything else?" she asks those gathered. Doesn't leave unless told. Doesn't sate her hunger, doesn't touch their kill.
[Sorrow] Sorrow fights in hispo, vicious and four-legged. There's bile in her mouth, now bile matting her fur. Her deadly grace in an instant had turned into something staggered, stumbling. If she were in her human skin, she would not be able to put one foot in front of the other, she would not be capable of carrying the weight of her own body. Even now, it is a close thing, the weakness that leadens her limbs, sours her throat. Night's Reprieve touches her, that blue glow from his hands, and she's alert, tail high, snarling in a diminished voice, snapping at the air -
- the last, the fastest, the most vicious of the creatures falls to the ground in front of them.
But for the poisonous ooze coating her skin, Sorrow would shoulder her flank against the Godi's leg by way of thanks. Instead, she swings her great head, around and up, meets his eyes, chuffs out a quiet acknowledgment in the gutteral, feral-twisted high-tongue. Better. she tells him. Repeats it in her mind to her packmate, as well, so that the Gaian will believe her. My thanks.
Before she changes again, she rolls in the grass, in the mud, pushing her snout through the dry scrub here, where it has not been trampled to mud, scrubbing some of the ooze off her skin, onto the ground. When she does change at last, she stands still for a moment, covered in filth, just still, human. Turns aside once, to spit the - stuff from her mouth. Again, and then again. Wanting it all out of her mouth, scrubbed clean.
A glance up at the godi, then. Sidelong to Eve, then back to the Godi. Quiet and intense now, some depth of feeling underneath. "Will you cleanse me?" There's tension in her body, her shoulders, spine and neck, all clear.
[Slaughter] Imogen's gaze moves briefly to Kora, her attention remaining there for several seconds, then flicks to Night's Reprieve.
"I'm goin' t'get somethin' we can use t'start to get rid o' these," she says, casting a long glance to one of the corpses, perhaps contemplating how one might even start to protect the veil in the face of three - no, four, gigantic tree frogs.
And then, perhaps, contemplating the absurdity of life.
In either case: unless stopped, she will step away to get - well. Body bags to start. She can't do anything here, in the dark, surrounded by water.
[Sorrow] (sorry, cannot stay. Bed!)
She wears no coat, though it is a little cool for it, a sweater close to her body as she sinks to a crouch, near silent against the base of a tree. Her red hair is vibrant, though dulled in the darkness - here the city lights do not seep, and there is only moonlight to ignite the flaming colours. Moonlit, her skin is pale, her eyes impossibly dark.
Her nostrils flare, inhaling deeply as she removes a small maglight from the pocket of her jeans, turning it on, pointed downward. The torch has a narrow butbright beam as she trains it on her interest.
[Night's Reprieve] As Keeper of the Land, NR's duties are not restricted to the Bawn. Some might think that he is simply a gardener, a caretaker, but the truth is that the position is so much more than that. He keeps the spirits of the sacred site happy, he keeps the balance amongst the weaver and the wyld, and in a city like Chicago that sometimes means venturing out into the wilderness to bring back willing spirits. So he roams, and it feels good out here. He can stretch down into an animal form more suited for this, he can let loose and run over hills and between trees.
There is no sense of urgency when he's out here. He doesn't have the press and pull of the city or the elders making him work till all he can do is sleep. It's a hard life for one such as NR, but he makes do.
His nose picks up the scent before his eyes see it. It's not that he can actually smell the torch light, but he can smell who's holding it. The rain cleanses the area, removes the contamination and makes scents such as this one stand out all the more. But he isn't sure just who it is, or even exactly what it is.
Stepping through the undergrowth with light paws, he advances cautiously.
[Slaughter] She smells of cigarettes, of the city, of some sort of spice in her perfume. She smells of human skin and hair. Of blood. She smells of purity, though that is not quite a smell, but some all-encompassing conglomeration of all the senses, and none of them. Not a sight, not a smell, not a sound, not a touch, not a taste. But inextricable from all five.
Night's Reprieve is cautious, and Imogen does not hear him until he's well advanced into the clearing.
Even then, he's not sure if it is sound that draws the woman, or merely instinct as she turns sharply at the hip her boots swivelling in the mulch. The maglight cuts across the beast's eyes before she lowers it to the ground at its paws.
Her other hand is behind her back, her sweater rucked up to free her gun from its casing.
Silence echoes. This, perhaps, is what had alerted her. The sudden dearth of night insects in the clearing as it had entered. She eyes the wolf, her body tight like a coiled spring.
"If you speak to me like this," she says finally, warily, "I won't understand you." A beat. "Or likely even know you're speaking to me."
[Night's Reprieve] The smells of the woman alert him to who she is as he gets closer, but it still does not cause his caution to waver. The breeding is unmistakeable and all of it seems familiar for some reason. He has guesses of course, but true to the creature that he is, he relies more on eyesight that scent even in this form. His brain just doesn't work like a lupus born, so it's not until he catches that first glimpse of fire red hair that he truly knows who she is.
At first he just stands there, and what she sees is a dark grey timber wolf; sprouts of black fur around his throat and ankles; a few pale hairless scars. He doesn't shift straight away when she speaks, instead his head tips to the side and his tongue lolls out of his mouth with slightly quizzical expression even in this wolf form.
Then the bone popping begins, the elongating of limbs. At first its a sudden burst as he ruptures up into a hulking claw-less war form instantly, but it travels slowly from there. Down into something near a man and finally there stands the Godi, Night's Reprieve.
There's no weapon in his hands, just white tape wrapped carefully around each of his fingertips.
"Dr Slaughter, I didn't expect to find you out here."
[Slaughter] There is another smell, one more subtle, particularly beneath the more prominent smell of cigarettes and human, the presence of breeding. It's barely there - but slightly out of place. He might describe it as chemical - but even then, it is not quite right.
Beyond them, the smell of water, the rotting smell of swamp vegetation, though it is a small one.
Perhaps he does not take much notice of her when he shifts. Perhaps he does. As he reaches the crinos form and lingers there - perhaps a half second longer than she had expected, her body tenses, the muscles of her arm contracting as she begins to draw her gun from its sheath.
Then, he shifts downward toward his monkey-form, and those muscles relax, though her gaze never leaves him. Through it all, the intensity of her regard as he changes through the forms cannot be truly explained as the result of caution. There is a detached curiosity there; a scientific mind narrowing its vision, ruthlessly demanding knowledge.
The Godi is there then, and she recognizes him. Still, the latent tension lingers. After a moment, she straightens to her feet.
"Night's Reprieve, isn't it?" she says as she straightens, lowering the maglight to the ground at her feet and flicking it off. A moment later, her eyes adjust, allowing her to see the Garou in shadows.
"The feeling is mutual. Out for a hunt, are you?"
[Night's Reprieve] His jaw opens and stretches as if he's getting used to this form, or maybe its just out of habit, either way he licks a tongue over his teeth and nods his head to her questioning of his name. There is no sign that he is concerned about the fact that she only vaguely remembers him, it was a long time ago that they spoke of Shakespeare and the safety of a kinswoman from his tribe. Still, it says something he did not hesitate to recall her.
He is used to people staring when he shifts, casting foul looks at his paws or tut tutting to themselves in their minds. The reasons for their behaviour are beyond NR, so he doesn't try to understand them.
The light turns off and he seems thankful for it and takes a few casual steps forward, nothing so much as breeching her personal space, but just enough so that they aren't calling out at each other across the clearing.
A hunt she says?
"A hunt of sorts, a spirit hunt. For the Bawn." He offers with only slight interest in his tone. "And you?" There's much more interest hidden in that question.
[Slaughter] Her eyebrow arches - only slightly visible from the distance, when he says he's on a spirit hunt for the bawn, but she does not pursue her latent curiosity. It fades quickly. Words that do not matter to her - are theoretical, or at least untouchable. Bawn, spirit.
After all, she is no longer permitted in the caern, and the spirits are in a world she is unable to touch.
He asks her a question and there is a distinct pause, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought.
She decides, abruptly, to offer the truth, drawing in her breath with that decision. "Tracking," she says, gesturing briefly toward the tree she'd been studying. "There's some - residue down 'ere and recently, some o' the park rangers ha' reported strange deaths among the birds 'round 'ere."
[Night's Reprieve] Indeed he did not expect much of a reaction from the kinswoman about his particular hunt, hence the lack of interest in his tone when he spoke of it. The matters are simply beyond that of a kinfolk. It's not a measure of superiority but if there is some hint of that then it would not be misplaced, it is just the nature of things. There are plenty of area's in which a kinswoman such as Imogen Slaughter would reign supreme over a Godi like Night's Reprieve.
Calculated conversation seems to be one of them.
"Strange deaths." He murmurs, and there's a raising of his own eyebrow. His head tips to take in the sight of the tree she had gestured to.
At this close proximity she can see his attire, which is remarkably unremarkable. A red and white plaid cotton shirt, faded and dirtied blue jeans, leather work boots. The only garment that stands out is something half resembling a bandolier slung over his shoulder. It holds various discs and stones instead of any visible ammunition.
"What is this residue? I take it that it can be linked to these strange deaths?"
[Slaughter] "Not scientifically," she says with a wry smirk. "But empirically, yes. As fer what it is, well," she turns her head slightly to glance at the base of the then up it, turning on the maglight again to illuminate the tree.
"It's clear and viscous with small bubbles in it. It sounds similar t'what I heard was on the birds." A beat. "Again, empirically."
She uses her hand - the one that had held onto her gun but has now left it in its holster at the small of her back, to gesture briefly toward the smell of the water, "I was told tha' I could find samples further in. I was checkin' the boundary when I found this."
[Night's Reprieve] Not scientifically. That gets a grunt from the Godi and something of a grin cracks his face though its rough and lacking in any sort of social nicety. It's just his own animalism peeking through his amusement.
"Science is funny like that, I never really learnt much of it -- human science that is. But I find it interesting." The topic of conversation gets briefly derailed by insight into the Godi's psyche. It soon returns to the previous discussion though.
"Clear and viscous.. hmm. Do you have any of the bird corpses? Maybe we could find some further in?" And then as if to confirm the thought that he would like to help her with his task he adds "I think you've perked my curiosity enough, my duties can wait for now."
[Slaughter] She shakes her head slightly. "Haven't found a decent reason why a forensic pathologist would be interested in a dead animal yet. But s'why I'm 'ere. Hopin' fer more corpses."
He assumes she will welcome his help and speaks, and Imogen studies him briefly, her expression still as an undisturbed pool. Eventually, merely, she nods.
"C'mon, then," she says, tilting her head toward the smell of water.
[Night's Reprieve] And he steps in beside her, lifting his chin and flaring his nostrils at that scent.
"You're not like most kinfolk Doctor Slaughter." She knows this, he wouldn't call her Doctor Slaughter otherwise. "You're not out here for yourself or for us." There's approval in his tone, though nothing of it comes through in words as such.
[Slaughter] There's a distinct pause - where Imogen looks at him sharply, her gaze tightening on the Garou, his face. She looks at him more directly than most kinfolk would ever dare.
Then, she looks away, her gaze lower to her feet as she picks her way over a particularly well-grown root bed.
"No," she says, quietly. "I'm not." Like other kinfolk. Here for them, or here for herself. It could be any. It may be all of them.
There is a note to her voice - something barely audible, like the vibrating bass string of a guitar, just beyond hearing. Some transient emotion, but gone before it can be fully captured.
As they move, Imogen's flashlight still on, though pointed downward, the ground begins to grow progressively muddier. The trees begin to thin out, the branches more closely drawn together, taking on the sickly pallor of arbours suffering from land too damp for them to truly thrive. The smell of swamp and water grows stronger, and still, the silence fills the air around them.
(perception+alertness, please!)
[Night's Reprieve] [eep! p+a]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] HAIL KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Night's Reprieve] She agrees with him, she isn't like other kinfolk, or she isn't out here for herself or for the Garou. Night's Reprieve has his suspicions of course, how could he not? When someone is so clearly a mystery it begs someone of the Godi's intellect to try and solve the puzzle. At least it had upon their first encounter. Now? Now NR isn't so sure and the look he casts at her says as much. It isn't curiosity or petty interest in some social game, he has just accepted the truth.
She isn't like most kinfolk, she doesn't think like them, doesn't act like them. But what is she like? Night's Reprieve has the patience to find out it seems because he doesn't pry himself away from her like most would when they encounter a riddle that refuses to be solved.
"It's a topic of debate among our Kind.." He says, and its a leading statement, he has changed topics slightly.. or has he? "I've always found it strange. Kinfolk do for Garou, and Garou do for..." A questioning eyebrow at her in case she wants to interject here. "Well according to some we do for ourselves, but that isn't our role in life. We do for others, we do what others cannot do for themselves. Human, animal, Kinfolk.. mineral.." He quirks a grin.
Maybe he is suggesting something about Imogen, maybe he is just making casual conversation.
[Slaughter] He can smell the same strange stench he had smelled before, but it is both less and more than it was. Were he in his wolf form, he can imagine it would be almost overpowering. In his dead-senses monkey state, it is merely present, a smell in a plethora of smells.
The swamp which extends about them is quiet - too quiet, to be a cliché. There should be the sound of insects. The hum of bat wings. It has become utterly still.
Only not quite. He can hear something breathing. A low vibrato of an inhale, a near silent inhale. It is more than one.
As he looks over the clearing - he sees a shadow in a tree, a long lean shape with long limbs laying close to a branch, it's three fingered hand wrapped around the thickness of wood. Beyond it, he can see a dim grey - thing, clinging to the branches. The insides of it are round, pale like pearls.
The water splashes softly, indicating movement in the deeper parts of the swamp.
He sees this all with a clarity of sudden perception, the full moon heightening his senses, the light giving him guidance. And he knows, given the way the kinwoman beside him moves silent, her hand reaching back to retrieve her weapon that she sees it, senses it too.
[Slaughter] (DLP! *reposts*)
[Slaughter] Imogen casts him a glance for his rumination, something wry mixed with - something a little darker. "It's been my experience," she says, "tha' making assumptions on an entire group o' -" monsters, she nearly says, "Garou, is a waste o' time. Some do it fer noble reasons, others do it fer ignoble reasons, and still others do it because its their habit.
"It doesn't matter t'me so long as -"
They had not been speaking loudly - but still, Imogen silences abruptly, her gaze fixing on the watery way ahead of them. Quiet as anything, she removes her gun, slowly stepping to the side, and back. Simultaneously, she puts herself out of Night's Reprieve's way, and moves so that he is out of hers.
He can smell the same strange stench he had smelled before, but it is both less and more than it was. Were he in his wolf form, he can imagine it would be almost overpowering. In his dead-senses monkey state, it is merely present, a smell in a plethora of smells.
The swamp which extends about them is quiet - too quiet, to be a cliché. There should be the sound of insects. The hum of bat wings. It has become utterly still.
Only not quite. He can hear something breathing. A low vibrato of an inhale, a near silent inhale. It is more than one.
As he looks over the clearing - he sees a shadow in a tree, a long lean shape with long limbs laying close to a branch, it's three fingered hand wrapped around the thickness of wood. Beyond it, he can see a dim grey - thing, clinging to the branches. The insides of it are round, pale like pearls.
The water splashes softly, indicating movement in the deeper parts of the swamp.
He sees this all with a clarity of sudden perception, the full moon heightening his senses, the light giving him guidance. And he knows, given the way the kinwoman has reacted, he can guess: she's seen it as well.
[Slaughter] In the water, he can see a small carcass - grey and dingy, waterlogged, it's wings spread to its full length. The small bird has had its neck twisted off, its feathers nearly all removed or at least disturbed, its meat torn free several bones cracked so they barely hang on by a hinge, the marrow sucked from them. Black spots on feathers and what remains of the flesh, he realizes, is dried blood.
Even the wings have been mangled, what flesh there is, torn free and - one assumes, eaten.
[Night's Reprieve] It doesn't matter to her so long as..
She reacts swiftly and Night's Reprieve has lost all thoughts of the casual conversation had mere moments ago. There is a spear suddenly in his hand and it shrieks in tangled spirit tongue though Imogen cannot hear it. She however does hear NR's replies, and they come in hushed echoing whispers. The exchange is brief.
"Gungnir kiiilllll you draw me silly wolf man, you see it you see it!"
"Hush and be still."
"You cannot tell--"
"Hush."
And then there is silence within the Godi's mind. He sees it, of course he does. He hears it and smells it. By the way that Imogen drew her weapon at the same time as he did, he can tell she has spotted it as well.
"You see it." His voice is a whisper and it isn't a question, just a confirmation. "In the tree, in the water.." And then unless Imogen speaks he returns to silence. His footsteps carry him closer to the waters edge with his eyes focused on that thing in the tree. He maintains the distance from Imogen, should he need to shift he will require it.
[Slaughter] Imogen glances at Night's Reprieve as he speaks, seemingly to himself and there is a minute contraction of her eyebrows - as briefly, she wonders at his sanity and consequently, her safety in his presence, in trusting him in combat.
Too late. She shuts the thoughts away and will deal with it as it comes.
You see it, he whispers, and Imogen merely nods, pointing out the tree, then the water, where a disturbance has caught her gaze. Now that she's gestured, he sees it as well - a ripple in the water that speaks of something moving, just below the surface, a brief suggestion of eyes, large.
No bubbles, though, as if whatever was there was not breath.
Imogen arches an eyebrow, pointing to herself and then the beast in the trees.
Something lows, softly, an almost musical groan, as the creature in the tree begins to raise its head.
[Night's Reprieve] She would be insane not to question his sanity, the exchanges seem bizarre even to Garou without the talent of spirit speech. To a kinfolk or to a human it would seem ridiculous. But that is beside the point, she will have to trust him in this situation, that he isn't completely useless in a combat situation, that he can help her.
She points to herself, points to the thing in the tree and NR narrows his eyes. There is something in the water, something that begs for further investigation. But the immediate problem is this thing raising its head and groaning. NR isn't even sure what it is, from here it is just shadows and limbs.
This would be easier with a packmate, with the ability to speak without speaking. Unfortunately they will have to stick to mundane means. So NR moves close to Imogen, tries to keep out of sight of the thing raising its head and if she doesn't back away from him he whispers as quietly as he can manage.
"Can you get a closer look? I will likely disturb it. Whatever it is."
[Slaughter] Imogen casts Night's Reprieve a somewhat mirthlessly wry glance.
"I might be able to," she says, her naturally quiet voice even lower, barely a whisper. "What I can guarantee is tha' I can shoot it from this distance. S'not human, s'not Garou, we can tell tha' much already."
[Night's Reprieve] Not human, not Garou. So it must be evil right?
"There's something else in the water. I would not hesitate to bring this thing down but..." He looks at her and then lets the thought trail away. He can't help thinking it, it's instinct.
"Stay away from the water. Unload on it when you're ready."
And he reaches up and snatches a smooth disc from that bandolier of his. It's crushed in his fist and he takes a second or two to smear grey paste in streaks below his eyes. Then he's stepping away from her. He doesn't need to shift just yet, he never does.
[Night's Reprieve] [oops! -1G +3soak]
[Slaughter] He has enough time to see something wry touch her mouth, a brief glance as she moves to accommodate his change in position; to give her a clear view of the creature in the tree.
She fires three shots. Then things start to happen very fast.
(dex+firearms! 3rb!)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ^_^ 1 SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] The thing in the tree shrieks, the sound warbling in its throat as it nearly loses its perch, before it scrabbles back its perch. It's impossible, from this distance to see what Imogen's hit, precisely - but they can both see the black wash of blood over the beast's torso, and know it has been injured and badly.
With that, it disappears into the water.
And the movement closer to them suddenly surges upward, with a spray of mud and foetid water.
Closer, now, he has the benefit of sight. Large, amphibious eyes blink from atop a rounded head. Green skin shines like a jewel under the near-full moon's setting light. Long lean body, long arms with three fingers - and the way it surged from the water - this thing is meant to jump.
Froglike, distorted though it might be - for it has a mouth with a serrated edge, hardly meant for flies anymore at all. Tearing apart birds, perhaps. And causing damage to flesh, human and Garou alike.
(initiative!)
[Slaughter] Froggie 1 (injured, in water) +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Failure at target 10)
[Night's Reprieve] [ +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Slaughter] Froggie 2 (closer, in water) +10
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Slaughter] Imogen +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Slaughter] Imogen - 7
Froggie 1 - 13
Night's Reprieve - 13
Froggie 2 - 11
Froggie 2: Action 1: BITE Night's Reprieve.
Action 2: OOZE!
[Night's Reprieve] [reflexive snap to birth form!
1a
1b
r1
r2 - spears on froggie 2]
[Slaughter] Froggie 1
[uuuuu can't cccccccc me.]
Imogen: Fire at blood spreading in the water (+2 difficulty)
[Slaughter] 3rb! DIE!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] I SOAK U
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a -2 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3 (Botch x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1b stabbity stab ze frog! -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] Frog 2: BITE!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (sorry, diff was 5! many more successes. :()
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [soak+3 from talen]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [r1 don't bite me! I stab you!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+5]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] It's injured - badly so. Blood falls from its body in sheets, washing from its collarbone down its ribcage. A constant sound comes from within the creature's mouth, like a high pitched whine.
Still, it gathers itself and leaps forward, and Night's Reprieve has enough time to see the lift of the tongue and two slots beneath it before ...
whatever it is, happens.
OOZE!
(dex+brawl)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Night's Reprieve finds his spear, claws, arms, his fur matted with a sticky substance - it gets between his teeth and into his nostrils. It fills his mouth. It gets in his eyes.
It makes it harder to move, harder to see, harder to do.
(+2 difficulty to all actions)
[Night's Reprieve] The good splatters him, he lets out a disgusted roar and spits gobs of the stuff out of his toothy maw. He wasn't expecting that, its.. horrible. He lunges forward the best he can, though his movements are restricted. This thing needs to die, now.
[r2! +2 dif goooo]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (x_x)
[Slaughter] And so it does.
Night's Reprieve spills the beasts grey guts over the ground, wet, cold and slimy, open a pocket of the goo as he disembowels the creature and finds the source of the ooze. The calcifying liquid spills over hands already hindered by the thing. It is disgusting, unpleasant and smells disturbingly swampy, but he suffers no further detriment from it.
The frog beast slumps down, its malleable bones losing what strength the muscles gave it. Its eyes stare, glassy, skyward.
The blood continues to spread out over the water where the first frog had fallen. There is no movement.
But above - they hear a sudden shaking of tree limbs. Then another. A low sound like a groan.
--
The others - however they arrive, why ever they arrive, know they are close now. Perhaps they heard the disturbances in the distance. Perhaps a spirit warned them that something was here. Maybe they (ROMAN) are stalking Imogen.
Perhaps they heard of the dead birds are investigating, only to find that others had gotten there first.
However it is, however it's coming, they're arriving now.
(going to give a brief amount of time for RP. It's definitely timed, though! I'm just not telling you how long you have. *grin*)
[Night's Reprieve] The first thing Night's Reprieve does when the beast falls is stab his spear down into the mud. The second thing he does is leap into the wet grass like a dog and roll around, cleaning the muck and filth from his fur. It's all over him, in his nose, eyes, mouth and covering his grey furred body. Soon enough he's clean though and its only then that he stands, retrieves his weapon and goes to check on Imogen. He doesn't advance on her too closely, not in his war form. He can't imagine what it would be like to be around creatures of his kind while being so obviously fleshy.
He can't speak to her, not like this. It would take far too much effort to form human words with this mouth so he just wipes a hand on his shoulder. His paw comes away gooey and he holds it out to her like 'I guess this is it' and flicks it to the ground.
[Slaughter] Imogen's nostrils pinch slightly as Night's Reprieve shows her the gooeyness. "Empirically," she says, "I have to say that this is the same as was observed on the tree and in the birds." A beat. "However, it's not scientifically proven."
Improbably, her mouth twists. A smirk, though it's mirthless. Though her jaw is tight, and her eyes barely rest on him before moving away to their surroundings.
There's a certain tension to her - a certain awareness as she looks up at the trees, then down again at the water, her eyes narrowing slightly. The smirk is long gone now.
"I don't believe it's dead," she says. "And I am not sure that was all there was." The trees rustle again, a little ways off.
"Listen."
[Eve] She eats a lot of squirrels. Rabbits. Small prey. Rain can't eat half the things that Eve can, and Eve eats garbage. Garbage and little fluffy things. She was out in the woods to go get some food. Something to do, but the spirits warned her of something..
She didn't understand the meaning, not the whole meaning, but she was sidetracked. It takes a lot to pull a Bone Gnawer off of the concept of food. The female runs, on four legs instead of two, and now she runs. She runs hard and fast, and comes upon people. A woman with dark eyes and vibrant hair. A gooey Godi-
I don't believe it's dead.
She cocks her head to the side, all blue eyes and tawny golden brown and grey and whiteblackbrown. The female says listen, and the wolf does so.
[Sorrow] "No, really," she said two hours ago, as they shut the doors to Sparrow's Prius, taken without knowledge or permission, driven by the kid because she herself cannot tell forward from reverse. Strange, to come out here in such a box, over the asphalt miles. Here they are, though. They came to hunt, they came to run. They came because they are wolves, underneath, and that hard, flat, ungiving territory they came is not enough to renew them. " - he wants to go camping. I figure we should soon, maybe all of us, a night or two. Bonding."
They were fifteen feet deep in the woods, then, moving with animal confidence despite their human skins. Half an hour later they found their reflections in the surface of a narrow-running stream strewn with leaves, damp ground giving underneath their paws.
The spirits brought them here.
- two wolves, then, appear at the water's edge, where blood spreads in the flat surface. The sharp scent of blood, ichor in the air causes the slender female's ears to twitch, alert, from kinswoman to Godi, back again. Imogen cannot recognize them in this form, and Sorrow has no pure breed to mark her. Her eyes are a soft, amber brown, her gray fur tipped in chestnut, and thicker for the onrush of winter.
[Night's Reprieve] She doesn't believe its dead.
Night's Reprieve lifts his snout and snuffs the air, turns his head side to side and she can see his grey ears flicker. Abruptly his attention is grabbed by the sudden appearance of the other wolves. His lips peel back and something of a snarl escapes from his throat, instinct. But he sniffs and then he lowers his weapon back down to the ground.
"Sister." He says in the high tongue. "What brings you here."
[Fate] "Shouldn't you guys do the honeymoon camping thing alone? I mean, he ain't likely to be too comfortable snuggling up with me in a tent, ya know?"
That had been his argument on the matter, though hell if Trent wanted him to spoon with him...oh well, who was he to deny the guy the experiance? Later he emerged behind Sorrow with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth in a pink wave over sharp teeth. His eyes reflected the light of the moon in an amber wash. His coloring was very similar to Sorrow's in this form; chestnut hues. Darker ears flicked when NR spoke, but it was the moan he was focusing on, trying to figure out where it came from.
[Slaughter] The Garou language, now, that's something she hears. Something she recognizes. She understands not a word, and with a wary glance at Fate and Sorrow, with a glance that is completely devoid of any familiarity
(It is not that her relationship with the two is incredibly warm - however, now in its absolute absence, what was there is stark when it is gone)
- for right now, they are just another pair of Garou and not meant to be trusted - she moves so her back is never turned to the warriors and begins to scan the trees, the water, her finger on the trigger guard of the gun.
[snail] [just approved xp journals for fate and sorrow, btw. so you're good to use your new stats for this scene!]
to Fate, Slaughter, Sorrow
[Eve] "Dead birds, unhappy spirits," she says. It comes across easily through the posture of her body, and it comes across, "originally I just wanted food."
Her tail twitches from one side to the other, and the tension in her shoulders, her legs, her whole frame doesn't go away. At least, not yet, anyway.
"What happened here?"
[Sorrow] Imogen is faced with strange Garou. Animals all - indistinguishable for her in this form - once running through the woods, two more appearing light ghosts from the shadow, that pop, the onrush of air, the shift in balance.
Things are easier, here.
The bonds are looser, more easily underdone.
The female's paws are wet, her eyes catch the light, gleam alertly. She shakes her gray coat, pads quietly forward, her wet nose gleaming in the chill night air. Then she changes. Abruptly, aware of the blankness in the kinswoman's gaze, without means of communicating with her. It moves through her like water, and in the end Sorrow is there, her booted feet muddy, her fingertips on the damp grass of the bank, her hair loose, her eyes - well, wild. Still half-animal.
A flickering glance at Eve, stranger, and Sorrow nods a sort of agreement. "Birdsong," wry that. Then, aslant toward the kinswoman, " - evening, doc." Quiet. She tip's her head toward the other. S'Roman. My packmate." The last part of the explanation for Eve, this brief, sharp glance before she's craning her head upward, searching the dark, still branches, that posture of alertness.
[Night's Reprieve] He watches body movements, tail wags and occasional yips, but he doesn't respond. This strange gathering here so soon after battle puts him slightly on edge, but it isn't enough to see him getting defensive or snarling at them beyond that initial reaction. He cast's a sidelong glance at Imogen, lets out a huff.
And then he's shifting, just moments after Sorrow. It's a slow gradual decline from his war form until he's standing again as a man, still with that white tape around each fingertip, still holding that spear in a closed fist.
"You hear something else out there Doctor Slaughter?"
[Fate] He sneezed to clear his nostrils of the nasty smell here as Sorrow identified him. In this form it smelled for worse than it would in homid. As soft and elegant as any predator he began to slink around the edges of the little clearing, fastidiously avoiding the goo on the ground.
[Sorrow] (gah: more easily un done. ahem.)
[Slaughter] Imogen doesn't answer aloud, she merely nods - it serves her purpose.
(everyone can go ahead and roll perception + alertness!)
[Sorrow] Per + Alertness.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [helllo out there? p+a]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Eve] [Per+alert, diff 6 -2 (chillin' in lupuuuuus): detail oriented]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[Fate] per+alert
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] There is something still out there. And the blood in the water is still growing. Whatever's beneath the water is still alive.
to Night's Reprieve
[Slaughter] There is something still out there. There is blood in the water, which is still growing in size, suggesting either a beating heart or a slow seep.
There is movement in the trees, though she cannot quite see where, she can hear it.
to Eve
[Slaughter] There is something out there - the blood continues to spread in the water, like oil. The trees rustle and she can see a darkened shape off to the left, slo-o-wly slinking toward them. It is long limbed and nimble, wrapping each hand carefully around each branch and drawing each leg over.
There is at least one. She suspects there might be more.
to Sorrow
[Slaughter] There is something out there - the blood continues to spread in the water, like oil. The trees rustle and she can see a darkened shape off to the left, slo-o-wly slinking toward them. It is long limbed and nimble, wrapping each hand carefully around each branch and drawing each leg over.
The water stirs, breaking around a pair of eyes as they slowly come their way. In the distance, foliage rustles, like something might be creeping along the ground.
to Fate
[Fate] He yipped out the warning, it came quick and it also went across the totem link to Kora like a slam to the brain.
~Something coming from water, one left, little further out there.~
With that he was snapping up to warform.
[Sorrow] Sorrow is still, searching out the dark branches. Looking well off to the left, picking out the movement of something through the limbs of the trees in the canopy. She shoots a glance at Imogen, then points off in the direction of the new beast climbing through the trees. "Roman says," quiet this. " - that there's another one in the water, maybe two more in the water. One to the left, one further out."
She is still and alert, now, her lean frame tensed. For a moment, she closes her eyes, sinking through the layers of her consciousness, searching for some thread of concordance with the past. "In the trees," for Night's Reprieve now, and the stranger from the woods, she points with two fingers, picking out the path through the darkness before she folds herself back to all fours. Warformed, massive, wary and ready.
[Sorrow] Ancestors! -> Brawl
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]
to Slaughter
[Eve] Her tail drops low and her ears perk forward. She bears her teeth ever so slightly, and there is a different distribution of weight. Her body turns towards the water. Some scent sticks to her senses, and the wolf goes still. "Eve," she offers to Sorrow. It's all she can do, as that her mind is off on the pressing issue of whatever is coming.
"The blood in the water is growing," she growls. She's obviously on edge.
[Slaughter] Moments like this are measured out in heartbeats. Blood flows into the heart. Blood flows out. Blood reaches the brain, blood reaches the finger tips, the digits of paws, the farthest reaches of a great war-formed body with its great large heart and animal brain.
Fate yips a warning, snaps warform. Danger even without a verbal warning, even without a totemic connection, this is clear to everyone, even the monkey-skin bound kinfolk who led at least one of them here. Who had, it would seem, intended to come out here by herself.
The kinwoman turns her head slightly toward Sorrow as she speaks, then nods, once, and trains her gun on the blood spreading out.
This is what adrenaline does:
Your heart beats faster
You breathe faster
Muscles contract
Nearly all tissues have a response - vasoconstriction or vasodilation.
Fight or flight response.
Rage magnifies this times a hundred. Times a thousand.
Empirical data. Not scientific.
Three war-formed Garou. One wolf-formed Garou. One kinfolk. And now, in this instance, in this heartbeat, the water stirs, then surges - what had been in the tree screams and leaps, and from the bloody water, a damaged thing dives out, blood and water sluicing from its shiny amphibian skin as it launches itself at the rest.
Adrenaline surge. Rage surge. The world winnows to a fight.
Here it goes.
(initiatives!)
[Sorrow] 9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Eve] [Dex3+lupus2+wits3=8 + 1d10]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Slaughter] Fred the Tree Frog
+12
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Fate] init + 8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Slaughter] Bonnie the Bleeding
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Slaughter] Sam the Swimmer
+9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Slaughter] Night's Reprieve +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Slaughter] Fred 19
Fate 13
Eve 10
Sorrow 11 (simultaneous with Sam)
Sam 11 (Simultaneous with Sorrow)
Bonnie 11
[Slaughter] THIS IS WHY I DON'T ST FOR MY OWN PC.
Imogen
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Slaughter] (+9!)
[Slaughter] Fred 19
Imogen 16
Fate 13
Eve 10
Sorrow 11 (simultaneous with Sam)
Sam 11 (Simultaneous with Sorrow)
Bonnie 11
NR - 11
[Night's Reprieve] [1a
1b - spears on Bonnie! DIE BONNIE!]
[Night's Reprieve] [reflexive to birth]
[Slaughter] NR - Skipped - if he comes back, we'll get him back in! if not, he's acting, but no dice rolling)
Bonnie:
1a. Bite NR!
1b. BITE NR.
Rage Action: Bite NR!
[Slaughter] (err, ignore the part about NR being skipped)
[Slaughter] Sam:
Action 1a. Movement: GET TO THE BAD GUYS.
1b. Bite Fate
[Eve] Action: -1 WP (resist pain), aaaand reverting to breedform (Goin' to crinos, yay metis!)
1a:
1b: Reserving actions to make sure nothing tries to squish Imogen, or anyone else for that matter.
1r: defensive action
1b: Defensive action for whoever needs it.
[Sorrow] Kora: reflexive: Resist Pain [1WP]
1a. Reserved for Dodge! 1b. Bite. 1c Bite! Rage 1: Bite! Rage 2: Bite! Starting on Bonnie, moving to NEXT BAD GUY AFTR.
[Fate] Reflective Resist Pain 1 willpower
1a rush Sam
1b claw Sam
1r claw Sam I am.
[Slaughter] Imogen:
3rb Fred
shoot Fred.
Fred:
1a BITE Kora
1b. Claw Kora!
2. Get to Imogen
[Slaughter] Bite Kora
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)
[Sorrow] Dodge! -3
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Claw Kora!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Dodge!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] Drop dead, Fred!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Fate] 1b Claw Sam
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soakitysoak
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] BITE: -5
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 5) [WP]
[Sorrow] Damage! Bonnie:
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soakems?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Sorrow]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 8 (Failure at target 8)
[Slaughter] -2 to all physical traits.
to Sorrow
[Slaughter] +1 additional loss every round.
to Sorrow
[Sorrow] Sorrow's loss of coordination is almost immediate. She sinks her teeth into the flesh of the wounded thing, tearing away a ragged chunk. Then snarls - Poisoned flesh! in the high tongue as she does so.
[Slaughter] The frog, injured already by bullets searing its skin, falls to the ground, but even as it does, Sorrow feels the black bile slide down her throat, a wave of shudders wracking her body.
It would have been agony if it weren't for her gift. As it is, her muscles loosen, her joints soften. Her very skin seems to feel the air more.
Even the sound of her voice is wrong in her ears.
There is no opportunity for reflection. Just a shouted warning, and the battle moves on.
[Slaughter] Sam: Bite Fate!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fate] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Eve] [Okay, Fred. Changing action to claw Fred +1 diff. Dex3+crinos1+brawl3= 7 - 2= 5, diff 7]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Eve] [rarsmash?]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] I SOAKS you.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Eve] [UGH, I SAID RARSMASH. +1 diff, claw Fred]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Eve] [gain again!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAKERS!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a -2 (split) stabbity freddykins]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Slaughter] SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1b -3 Die slimy creature from the abyss!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [dmg+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak?
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] (still here, just lost AIM. I'm tossing out a sum up post before we continue with rage actions)
[Slaughter] The fight, until the last half second had been fruitless. A bullet struck the largest amphibian between the eyes - but appeared to do little more than catch in the bones of the skull. Claws strike skin only to bounce off. The one good blow - Sorrow ripping out the throat of the injured, smaller female, killing her is a mixed blessing. The poison immediately effects the Skald, causing a hoarsely cried warning to the others.
Then the metis have their turn. The largest beast is torn apart, blood splashing over its skin, one arm hanging uselessly at one side from Eve's claws, a section of bowel torn away by one of Night's Reprieve's spear thrusts.
It lives still.
Fred: Changing action: BITE NR.
[Slaughter] Bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 8, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Slaughter] MULLIGAN!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[Fate] 1r Claw Sam
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ow?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Sorrow] Rage 1: Claw! -2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[Sorrow] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Eve] [Rage 1: Poor dead Fredthing. Dex3+crinos1+brawl3= 7 , diff 7]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[Eve] [damage?]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Rage 2: -2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Failure at target 7) Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Eve] [Srsly, Fred]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7) [WP]
[Eve] [Again?]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Slaughter] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Fred: +12
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Fate] init +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Eve] [7+1d10]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Slaughter] Imogen +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Night's Reprieve] [inits +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Sorrow] Initiative -3 dex [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Slaughter] Fred: 17
Fate: 16
Sorrow: 15
Imogen: 11
NR: 11
Eve: 10
[Eve] [-1 gnosis, gaia's breath for the decidedly brokedid Skald]
[Night's Reprieve] [1a BEATIN YOU TO IT HEHEH MT on kora
1b held for somethin]
[Slaughter] 1a. Shoot Fred - 3rb
1b. Shoot him again!
[Sorrow] [1a. Reserved for Dodge! 1b. Claw Fred! Rage 1: Claw Fred! Rage 2: Claw! Fred!]
[Fate] 1a stomp on Sam, make sure he is dead.
1b head for Fred
1r claw Fred if not dead.
[Slaughter] Fred:
1a. Bite Sorrow
1b. Bite Sorrow
Rage: Bite Fate
[Slaughter] 11-3-2
Bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Sorrow] Ze Dodge!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Slaughter] ze attack +2
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Sorrow] Ze Dodge Numero Dos!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 2, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Fate] 1a stomp Sam to make sure dead
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Sam: x_x
[Fate] damn
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Sam: ___
[Slaughter] (what that face looks like smushed down when it's really late)
[Slaughter] Three round burst!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Slaughter] DAMAGE!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Slaughter] Fred: Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Night's Reprieve] [1a MT-2 SPLIT (WP) because we like big numbers ON KORA]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 3) [WP] Re-rolls: 1
[Slaughter] They had all stood on a patch of solid ground, a pier of mud and hard packed earth, if you will. The water had encroached on the edges, softened the ground so when they slipped or when bodies fell, there was a fine spray of mud.
At least, that is how it was at the beginning. Toward the end - well. The weight of the war formed Garou sunk the ground toward the water. The swamp water had rushed up in the grooves their claws left in the ground. As each amphibian fell, it seeped blood into the ground, creating puddles and dips filled with swamp water and blood that is black in the late night.
Sorrow is barely standing. For a moment, she is the only Garou facing the greater beast, as it snaps its jaws at her, twice. She weaves each time, darting away from its teeth from any prospect of injury.
Fate smashes the remains of a smaller amphibian's skull, crushing its brain beneath his hind claw, squishing vitreous fluid (or whatever the frog equivalent might be) between his toes. It crunches and shatters unpleasantly as he quickly covers the distance between him and his packmate and the last standing amphibian.
Even as he crosses the distance, Imogen's gun rings out, three neatly tapped rounds striking the beast in its neck. It was already barely on its feet. Each bite on Sorrow had been clumsy. Blood had sluiced down its body, was puddling at both the feet of the wyrm and of the Garou. It was breathing heavily, its eyes goggling and hazy with pain.
The bullets tip it over.
It falls.
That's it. Imogen, silent, her ears ringing from gunfire, looks at each Garou for a moment before away and about them, the trees, the water, looking for any more signs. If any others do the same, they will find the same thing she does - nothing, but water, several inexplicable corpses, and blood in the water.
Hesitantly, in the distance a few cicada chirp.
--
Night's Reprieve touches Sorrow with a paw. Gnosis looks like blue smoke in the air, a sudden spark between them, and it feels blue beneath her skin - cool, calming. It seeps through her veins, it runs beneath her skin, her flesh, her innards.
It chases the poison from her - forcing it out from her pores, a slow black leak. Unpleasant to see, to be sure, matting of the fur, absolutely.
But relief is nearly instantaneous.
[Eve] She doesn't break a gord, doesn't reach for one just yet. instead, Eve now has the option of looking at those assembled. Her attention is solid, and she observes. She looks from the Godi without claws, to the Skald whose pores oozed something truly vile.. she was fine. They were all fine. The female shifts her weight, from one side to planted solid.
"Do you require anything else?" she asks those gathered. Doesn't leave unless told. Doesn't sate her hunger, doesn't touch their kill.
[Sorrow] Sorrow fights in hispo, vicious and four-legged. There's bile in her mouth, now bile matting her fur. Her deadly grace in an instant had turned into something staggered, stumbling. If she were in her human skin, she would not be able to put one foot in front of the other, she would not be capable of carrying the weight of her own body. Even now, it is a close thing, the weakness that leadens her limbs, sours her throat. Night's Reprieve touches her, that blue glow from his hands, and she's alert, tail high, snarling in a diminished voice, snapping at the air -
- the last, the fastest, the most vicious of the creatures falls to the ground in front of them.
But for the poisonous ooze coating her skin, Sorrow would shoulder her flank against the Godi's leg by way of thanks. Instead, she swings her great head, around and up, meets his eyes, chuffs out a quiet acknowledgment in the gutteral, feral-twisted high-tongue. Better. she tells him. Repeats it in her mind to her packmate, as well, so that the Gaian will believe her. My thanks.
Before she changes again, she rolls in the grass, in the mud, pushing her snout through the dry scrub here, where it has not been trampled to mud, scrubbing some of the ooze off her skin, onto the ground. When she does change at last, she stands still for a moment, covered in filth, just still, human. Turns aside once, to spit the - stuff from her mouth. Again, and then again. Wanting it all out of her mouth, scrubbed clean.
A glance up at the godi, then. Sidelong to Eve, then back to the Godi. Quiet and intense now, some depth of feeling underneath. "Will you cleanse me?" There's tension in her body, her shoulders, spine and neck, all clear.
[Slaughter] Imogen's gaze moves briefly to Kora, her attention remaining there for several seconds, then flicks to Night's Reprieve.
"I'm goin' t'get somethin' we can use t'start to get rid o' these," she says, casting a long glance to one of the corpses, perhaps contemplating how one might even start to protect the veil in the face of three - no, four, gigantic tree frogs.
And then, perhaps, contemplating the absurdity of life.
In either case: unless stopped, she will step away to get - well. Body bags to start. She can't do anything here, in the dark, surrounded by water.
[Sorrow] (sorry, cannot stay. Bed!)
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