Erik's Desc: The figure - presumably male - stands an inch or two over seven feet, a muscular cybernetic giant clothed from head to foot in armor. The upper-left quarter of the brutish, skeletal face is obscured, with a gray lens covering that eye. The other eye, deep-socketed, is a startling shade of green, flat and unflinching. What little skin can be seen is corpse-pallid, stretched drum-tight over bone, but the jaw is heavy and out-thrust, a glabro jaw with pointed, yellowish canines. Vaguely familiar, perhaps. The stance, though, is completely alien, the movements smooth but mechanical. The right arm has been removed below the elbow and replaced with a modulare interface with can hold a number of devices but which is probably carrying a weapon. The voice, when the figure does speak, is flat and expressionless, an emotionless baritone with no lilt to it, no music. None at all.

Wears-the-Woad leads them in lupus until the cover begins to thin, perhaps 200 yards outside the mouth of the cave. He pauses to shift up, bat falling into his right hand, and silently indicates the lone figure that can barely be seen on watch.

Eric pages to Erik, Dusty, and Ever-Grinning: There are four of you outside. Eamon, Erik, a second flier, and an invisible one. The second flier has the ability to detect living things and spirits within a certain range, unaffected by things like Blur or Invisibility and such. As soon as they get within range (which I'll page you to let you know), you'll know where all the Garou are even if you can't see them.

Anne, following in lupus, shifts into Glabro form. The bow, Dedicated by her in the past weekend, is silently strung. The extra inches of Glabro seem to fit the bow; it is too large for her to use in homid.

Echen angles along as quietly as he's able in the Hispo shape, keeping pace with Wears-the-Woad without himself taking the lead.

Eric pages to Erik, Dusty, and Ever-Grinning: Erik is the one lone figure standing in front of the cave opening. Eamon is floating about 30-40 feet up, as is his counterpart. Yes, we're at the complex.

Falcon's Wing creeps out of sight of the being, and makes for the hillside, edging around till he's almost in sight of it again, waiting for a signal.

Eric pages to Erik, Dusty, and Ever-Grinning: Derrick is now in range. Everyone knows where he is.

Wears-the-Woad flattens as he realizes something. He mutters in a low growl to the Garou around him, ~What was Eamon was is above the cave entrance. Flying.~

Anne flexes her fingers and rolls her shoulders. Her words are barely a whisper. "I hope it hasn't had time to learn as well as I have. What of what-was-Dusty and what-was-Erik? Can you tell them?"

Echen snaps a quick question. ~Do you have blunted arrows?~

Anne shakes her head slightly. "No. Should I start flying now, then?"

Wears-the-Woad concentrates momentarily. He looks somewhat surprised at the strength of his first attempt, then furrows his brow in concentration for the second. Amazingly, he has answers to both. ~What was Dusty is in the cave. What was Erick is the figure we can see.~

Talks to Ghosts rumbles quietly. ~Almost seems like they're giving us what we want.~

Falcon's Wing stays right where he is, silently.

Echen growls quietly, angrily. ~I can keep Erik down, I wager. If someone can bring Eamon down out of the sky, it'd make things easier.~

Anne holds up the bow and her four fire arrows. "There's these, and there's me flying. I have no idea if anything else is up there." She pauses, looking upwards, eyes narrowing in concentration.

Falcon's Wing remains still, waiting. Wears-the-Woad turns his face toward Brian for final orders, the shadows of the underbrush playing of the four broken-stripe woad markings on his face.

Anne murmurs, after a long moment, "Okay. There's Eamon and there's another one up there. I think I know which is him." She puts an arrow to the string. "At least, there's one that looks like him, and one that doesn't. I can try to bring down the other one first, then head up to fight him directly. Other ideas?"

Ravenfeeder chuffs. ~We should probably head for Sings at the same time, maybe.~

Talks to Ghosts says, ~One group for each one on the ground?~

Thatcher huffs her agreement. ~If they have to watch two groups at once, they will be easier to confuse.~

Echen flicks an ear in a curt assent to this plan. ~Do not use claws or teeth on our septmates. And if we begin to get overwhelmed, signal the rest of the group and begin to withdraw. Clear?~

Anne sights along the arrow, but makes no move to draw. "I need," she mutters, "to get closer."

Wears-the-Woad hefts his bat in silent understanding of Echen's words then begins to flank Erik with the Fang.

Blackwatch and Mark all motion understanding to Echen's words, fanning out in a solid wedge around the Fianna Righ. Above, Branwyn overlooks the fields.

Suspects wait for Echen's signal.

Ravenfeeder suddenly pulls up, and chuffs at Echen. ~Wait. There are many of them, possibly behind where Sings is.~

Echen stops, glances back at Ravenfeeder. ~How many, about?~

Ravenfeeder concentrates. ~Many. As many, or more than we.~

Echen snarls quietly in distaste. ~Perhaps we should ensconce ourselves here, and make as much noise as we can. Let them come to us, instead of being lured out to fight on their terms.~

Talks to Ghosts says, ~Could we fight at the cave mouth? They couldn't fly there.~

Echen shakes his head. ~Then we would be caught between this force and whatever is inside the cave. No. We must leave ourselves a way out.~

Anne watches the figures in the sky, her frown - on an already unappealing face, in Glabro - deepening the lines and the harshness of it. "They aren't moving at _all_," she mutters. "There's only the three I can see, Brian. Or hear, except I can't hear anything of them at all."

The collective group of Blackwatch seem to approve of Echen's plan, and await Echen's signal, which he gives with a sharp growl. ~Now.~ They all begin to growl and snarl at the group, standing firm, while waiting for Suspects and Davy to do their thing.

Erik -- or the figure that _used_ to be Erik -- stands his ground in front of the cave mouth, retaining his vigil in perfect silence.



Ever-Grinning floats high above the others, motionless and eerily calm. He cocks his head, as if something caught his attention momentarily, but has no reaction otherwise.

Wears-the-Woad waits for what-was-Erik to move toward Blackwatch, with Falcon's Wing. The two ragabash tense in the bushes as the waiting goes on.

Erik swivels without warning, bringing his weapon to aim at Branwyn. The whole area flares into an intensely bright light as he fires.

Talks to Ghosts blinks at the light. ~I think they noticed us.~

Anne nearly drops the arrow as one hand comes up to shield her eyes; she stifles any sound, but the light is almost like a physical blow given the way she flinches.

The glare of the laser-gun dohickey sends Echen scrambling backwards, blinded.

A white-hot beam of energy erupts from the barrel of the gun carried by the Metis. Branwyn dives, attempting to get out of the way, but the spirit doesn't react quickly enough. She drops quickly, hidden among the trees, but the smell of something burning is obvious to the Garou nearby.

Erik lowers the weapon and returns to his previous stance, his motions smoothly efficient.

Falcon's Wing winces backwards briefly, and then whirls out of cover, Blurred, for all the help that will be, loping to try and hit Erik low, as Wears the Woad comes from the other direction, readying the bat to swing, tensing from remembered encounters with that gun. Anne swears gently, 'Fucking light, fucking Gift', and, in a moment, moves quicly forward to get a better aim at the flying entities.

Something mounted on Ever-Grinning's shoulder swivels towards Derrick. A beam of red light, thin as a hair and perfectly straight, stabs out at him, followed by another identical beam.

As the two Ragabash charge, the Erik-figure draws what is most likely another weapon and brings it up into a position of readiness; not a flicker of expression passes across the skeletal, brustish face.

While Echen whirls back, blinded, the rest of Blackwatch and Mark form up in front him, the former renewing their venomous snarling at Erik as they approach somewhat closer to them, but not far enough to leave Echen completely out of range.

Anne moves a little closer, and then fires at the hovering not-Eamon. Both Falcon's Wing and Wears the Woad dodge in their approach towards Erik, continuing the flight towards him as best as possible, Derrick repressing a yelp as he does so. Anne, after firing, then moves so she's not in exactly the same spot.

The second floater rotates and fires a weapon similar to Eamon's, this time aiming for the Fostern. Despite the protective Gifts used by the two Ragabash, the two floaters seem to have no trouble locating and shooting at them. The pair twist and weave, attempting to get out of the way of the blasts; both are moderatly successful and avoid the first shots, but the second shots each find their mark. As they fire, the Fury lets fly her first arrow. It traces an arc across the sky and impacts on its target, the second floater. The arrow flares on impact, bathing the humanoid in fire.

Echen blinks his watering eyes repeatedly, snarling in anger and pain at his predicament. He then turns, bursts through the wall of bodies that his tribemates have created in front of him, and charges headlong towards his best recollection of where the bad guys were standing.

Falcon's Wing, given as Blur is doing him no good whatsoever, drops it, and closes, snarling, going for Erik's legs. Davy, too, closes, swinging his bat for Erik's head. Anne, again, fires at the figure that isn't Eamon, and moves in a completely different direction than before.

Erik swivels toward Falcon's Wing, and again the gun mounted onto the remainder of his right arm comes into play. He fires again, and once more a full-moon flare of light bursts free onto the surrounding area.

At Echen's charge, the rest of the Fianna round him, after a bare pause, surge after him to engage Erik head on.

Ever-Grinning's laser turns towards Wears-the-Woad now, and two more beams of light fire at him with pinpoint accuracy. He remains floating high above the combat.

The floater that Anne lit up so nicely last time takes one last shot at Falcon's Wing before the Fury's second arrow scores. He drops, quite suddenly, a flaming mass that hits the ground hard. Erik and Eamon also fire on the two Ragabash, filling the air with energy blasts. The pair dance their way toward the Metis, avoiding some of the blows, but can't escape unscathed. When Falcon's Wing finally collides with Erik, inertia is doing most of the there. The Fianna, protected by the kevlar spirit, fares better and lands a solid blow on Erik's head that sends the former Garou reeling. Mass confusion breaks out as the rest of the Fianna charge Erik.

Erik's left hand, armed with his second weapon - a spike over half a foot long - comes up and out as the massive, cyborged figure recovers from his stagger. With wordless mechanical grace - and a stone-cold-bloodedness he never showed when normal - he strikes at his attackers.

Ever-Grinning fires into the crowd charging Erik, one laser aimed at Ravenfeeder while the other lances towards Heart-of-Fury. He shows no apparent qualms about firing at his former packmates.

Wears-the-Woad bares his teeth in a snarl as he attempts the age-old dance of feint and attack, swinging his bat even as he attempts to avoid the stabbing spike. Anne shoots another arrow, this time at Eamon, and again dodges off in another direction. Derrick snarls in pain, and dodges in front of the opening, trying to avoid Erik's attacks, as well as trying to see any new attackers from that direction.

The Fianna charge towards the fray, crossing about half the distance to where Falcon's Wing and Wears-the-Woad tangle with Erik. Both Heart-of-Fury and Ravenfeeder attempt to dodge, and on some signal the whole of them fan out. Well, except Echen, who continues leading blindly, having to rely solely on his hearing to lead him in the right direction. Thatcher begins to yip out towards Ever-Grinning, ~Come down, Smiley. Come back.~ over and over again.

Wears-The-Woad and The-Unit-Formerly-Known-As-Erik trade blows, the former attempting to attack while still remaining out of the way of the latter. He takes the cyborg in the arm, but in the process leaves himself open to take the spike in the belly. Anne's arrows continue to fly true, and she scores another hit, this time on her former Septmate. Like the others, this arrow explodes into fire on impact; unlike the others, it seems to have less effect against Garou target. As she fires, a fourth cyborg appears out of nowhere, less than thirty yards from her. It carries a gun like the one Erik does, and levels it at Anne. Another flash lights up the Umbra, and the Fury is turned into a smoking mass. Shea's calls seem to have little effect on Eamon as the other packmates rush Erik; Ravenfeeder manages to avoid the shot aimed for her, but Heart-of-Fury takes it directly on the back.

The shot seems to have flipped the Fianna Galliard end over end, landing on his back, his fur a mass of smoldering ash. He yelps loudly in pain. Crawling to his paws, after a moment, he slinks back from the others and tries to find some cover.

Davy finally blurs with the unnatural speed of rage, snarling, ~Fall, you fuck!~ The bat is raised and fair whistles through the air as he attempts to drive the cyborg down before he falls himself. Anne goes to Crinos, howling in pain, dropping her bow, and going for the new attacker, in a whirlwind of anger. Derrick, seeing no one in particular in the opening, goes for the newcomer as well, snarling, ~Aaaassshole...~

While Heart-of-Fury ducks for cover, Thatcher, Talks to Ghosts, and Heartbreaker continue to charge for Erik, working their way into helping Derrick and Davy. Talks to Ghosts specifically is going for Erik's club arm, to immobilize. Ravenfeeder comes out of her dodge and catches sight of the one attacking Anne, and lets loose with one of the talens braided into her fur.

Ever-Grinning remains high above the conflict, the laser on his shoulder picking out targets. He fires at Heartbreaker first, then turns his head slightly. The laser turns with his head and another beam shoots toward Thatcher.

As the saying goes, you can get farther with a bat and a foul word, than with just a foul word. As Erik struggles to raise his gun to finish off his tormentor, Davy's swing catches him in the head and knocks him down, his helmet cracking open. The Fianna's unconscious and bleeding from a headwound, but still breathing. The rest of the Garou get to him and pin him to the ground without any trouble at all. Eamon shoots into the crowd as they gather around Erik, striking random Garou. Nimue and Derrick, both moving with Luna's speed, close on the last attacker and tear into him with claws. He carries a blade similar to Erik's which he sinks into Nimue's abdomen. There's an odd sound, just on the edge of perception, that comes from it and the Galliard, and she sinks to the floor, bleeding profusely.

Half a second later, the Fury's back on her feet, her eyes blood red and her wound is closing itself up. With a primal snarl, she rends her would-be killer's head from his shoulders howling in truimph as his blood showers her.

Listeners present: Name Sex Form Doing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Heartbreaker M Crinos KFC Extra Crispy. Down 7 agg Heart-of-Fury M Hispo 4 agg down. Falcon's Wing M Hispo down 6 Wears-the-Woad M Crinos 5 down Nimue F Crinos - Echen M Hispo - Talks to Ghosts M Crinos With Blackwatch Ravenfeeder F Hispo Looking kinda...old. Eric M Homid Just listening to the plans. Erik M Glabro2 Unconscious. AGAIN. Dusty M Homid - Ever-Grinning M Glabro -



Falcon's Wing snarls, looking upwards, and darts for cover. Wears-the-Woad seems intent on retreating, g off the battle field, his own stomach oozing blood and fluids and his shoulder crisped. He leans down to begin pulling the cyborg with him, getting Anne's bow at the same time. Anne follows, looking stormy.

Ravenfeeder, at seeing Anne and Derrick attacking the cyborg on the ground, pulls up to avoid friendly fire. Muttering a prayer to Brigid in Garou, she shifts in a blink up to Glabro, then breaks one of the talens, throwing it in the direction of Eamon.

Nimue calls, as she's already moving in a dodging pattern, ~Blackwatch, let's _go_!~

The talen strikes Eamon, soaking the former Ragabash in water which extinguishes the fire that had engulfed him.

Talks to Ghosts says, ~Try the electricity, see if it knocks him out!~

Ravenfeeder grits her teeth, and growls, but then pulls out another talen, breaking this one as well, as Mark and the members of Blackwatch begin pulling back towards her, along with the beginning to retreat Davy and members of Suspects.

Falcon's Wing looks up at Eamon, snarls, and shifts to crinos. He takes Erik's legs, as Anne leans down to get her bow and arrows, she and Davy then taking his shoulders.

Ever-Grinning's gaze locks onto the talen mechanistically for a split second as it approaches, then he manages to dart out of its path by barely and inch.

Ravenfeeder snarls with growing anger, as a half-blinded Echen, Thatcher, Heartbreaker, and Talks to Ghost helping Heart-of-Fury if he needs it reach her. Echen draws himself up and begins a weird, alien sounding call which resembles a summoning, facing in the general direction of Ever-Grinning by the cues of his packmates.

Something answers the Righ's call. The ground begins to rumble and the mountains before the Garou shake violently. With a sound like a thunderclap, one side of one of the smaller mountains swings open as if on hinges and a huge troll emerges through the doorway. Hoisting an axe over one shoulder, it turns toward the Fianna, closing the distance to them with massive strides.

Falcon's Wing just... stares.

Wears-the-Woad's jaw drops, his pace slowing with the shaking ground. Cursing a soft noise of respect, he still continues trying to get his group and the unconscious borg the hell under cover.

With no small amount of effort, and with exhaustion straining the lines of his body, Echen calls out to the troll not in the Garou tongue but in his native Irish. "Bring me the one who's still flying, if you please!"

Ever-Grinning noiselessly begins to float away from the group as the troll appears, to the north. At full speed.

Talks to Ghosts stares at the huge troll, one of the fire talens at the ready, even as Echen talks to the thing.

The troll stops, his head cresting the tops of some of the trees. He turns ponderously toward the floating cyborg, and then resumes his walk. Despite how slow he seems to move, each stride carries him forward a dozen yards or more.

Nimue, like her packmate, pauses to stare at the troll, in as much awe as curiousity. Only Davy's continuing efforts draw her attention away; until Eamon starts floating away, she helps him.

Falcon's Wing looks at his jar, and then looks at the troll, and then shrugs and helps Davy some more.

Ravenfeeder gives an unconscious chuff of awed surprise, but then begins growling, urging on the troll.

Heartbreaker looks around as everybody seems to have stopped in thier tracks. ~Come ON,~ he growls, nonplussed by the sight of the troll. Like he's seen this before.

Echen retreats just a bit, straining to see out of dazzle-blinded eyes.

Ever-Grinning, upon seeing the latest threat, shows that even his kind are not above a strategic retreat. He turns and silently floats into the mountains. The behemoth seems unbothered and continues after his target like a slow-but-stubborn bloodhound. As each step takes it farther away, the ground shakes less and less, until finally everything has returned to more-or-less normalcy.

When the shaking of the ground has faded entirely, Echen's body sags, and he half-drags himself back towards the scents of his companions.

Falcon's Wing stares fixedly at the hill. ~Fuckers,~ he mutters, and turns away to Erik.

Erik remains a nice dead weight, still quite unconscious. But alive.

Nimue makes a soft growling sound, dragging her own attention away. ~Let's go. We're all hurt now, and tired, and we have retrieved at least one of our strays. Let's go.~

Heart-of-Fury snorts, softly, as he drags his battered body back together with the others. ~We got the fucking mule. The fucking mule.~ The thought makes his hackles rise and he circles back towards the hill, snarling.

Ravenfeeder and Thatcher come up around Echen to subtly help guide him, while Heartbreaker goes with Talks to Ghost around Heart-of-Fury. Branwyn comes out of the trees looking slightly charred to rest on Thatcher's shoulder, croaking rustily; all 5 members of Blackwatch seem to be in dark moods.

Falcon's Wing grins toothily. ~And we can interrogate him for better information. THAT is useful, Heart of Fury.~

Heartbreaker peers uncertainly at Erik. Specifically, he stares at Erik's gun arm. ~Anybody got an axe?~

Falcon's Wing says, ~Not, I must confess, on my person at this precise moment, no.~

Heartbreaker nods at Falcon's Wing. ~We should remove that first thing. It'd be a bad thing if it were to wake up and start blasting.~

Wears-the-Woad just continues draging the cyborg mule grimly, some of the wonder at the troll's appearance fading as the reality of the long trip home settles in.

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