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Kevin Sterling, when he has a fairly good chance of not being noticed,
extracts a large revolver from his backpack and hides it tucked behind
his back under the coat.
Elan looks to the room. "OK, guys. These bastards that we've been
tracking got wise and moved off. What I'd like is for Kevin and Jim to
try the Questing Stone on these names...we also got a little something
personal, from each I hope. If that helps."
Tin Can Wilson nods at Elan. "It -might- help, yeah."
Kevin Sterling replies absently as he adjusts the gun, "...personal
items are great, and even better if you have a picture or description
of the target.
Bailey hmmms, quietly intense. "I can mindspeak, Kevin, and give you
pictures if you need."
Kevin Sterling looks up. "Do it for whoever's leading the rite. I'll
either help it or lead it, whichever you need."
Elan says "OK, we're looking for Sam Chupp, Joey - Josephine - Daniels,
and especially Dan Marcel. I know Dan is involved in this shit, and I
don't see how the other cannot know what he does."
Seirian watches and listens, nodding as the names are given.
Dani wrinkles her nose at the last name, but otherwise keeps quiet and
unresponsive.
Elan pulls a small envelope from one of his belt-compartments. "We got
some hair from Dan. Right here."
Tin Can Wilson sticks out his hand in a "gimme" gesture. "Where's the...
ah, okay. Cool."
Kevin Sterling's expression turns very serious as he asks Elan, "What do
you want to do with these people when we find them? Kill on sight or
do you want to question them or what? I make it a point never to look
for someone unless I"m sure of what I'm going to do when I get there."
Elan shakes his head. "Plan is to observe. We been doing this 24-hours a
day for the past few days on rotation, in additon to our patrols. So
it's been a bit frantic. OK, to go over shit here. We got people,
/our/ people, the ones we protect, disappearing. Hookers, it started
with. I done talked to some, and punded the pavement alot. The pack
has to. Dani here --" He smiles. "Dani found the bastards. Went out
and got herself picked up, then broke out. We backtrailed her, and
found their house. They done moved. Why do we want these guys? They
make snuff films, I think. They definately do porno. We got tapes from
'em, that are no-label, and are definately snuff films. We got raw
film from them that we ain't been able to get developed yet."
Elan turns a bit. "We wanna find out if these are the guys what's done
killed at least three people I know of. Honey, Hellcat, and some poor
guy from the college. If they are, well...then we do 'em. Unless
anyone has any other ideas. I'd like to send some kinda message that
you don't fuck with people south of Regan!"
Seirian's fists clench, but she holds her tongue and her temper in
check. She simply nods once, sharply, and busies her hands with
getting her hair confined and out of the way.
Kevin Sterling grunts at the conclusion of the speech, then looks at Tin
Can. "You need any help or is that plenty to track them down?"
Bailey's eyes narrow. "Oh, please, let it be that."
Tin Can Wilson hrms. "I think that should be plenty." He pulls out an
old, bent bottlecap, holds it in his open hand and closes his eye.
Elan nods to his alpha. The young crescent moon folds his arms and
waits.
Dani leans forward to watch and listen more closely, curiousity partly
overcoming the wall of distance she's put up around herself.
Bailey waits patiently.
Kevin Sterling watches Tin Can Wilson, seeming to critique his method
silently, almost like it's a lesson.
Tin Can Wilson takes the cap and flips it into the air, as one would do
with a coin, doing "heads or tails". The cap lands in his hand and he
slaps the other over it. "Okay..." he says, peering down at the cap. A
small arrow scratched onto it points mostly south, and a little west.
"That way."
Bailey shifts his gaze to the direction that his Alpha points.
Seirian glances that way as well, her hands having returned to hang,
loosely-fisted, at her sides.
Dani just looks puzzled, and waits.
Elan follows Jim. "You da man, man. Let's go, guys. Lessee where we end
up before we get all furry."
Tin Can Wilson remains more or less calm, the thrill of the hunt really
not hitting him quite yet. He's just doing a "neat trick" for now --
one he's done many times before.
Kevin Sterling quietly follows the lead, letting his eyes scan the
ground in front of him as he walks.
Luna-Singer does the same, after having thoroughly dirtied herself along
the way.
Night's-Justice shifts downward, following his Theurge packmate.
Tin Can Wilson wanders along, occasionally stopping to re-flip the cap
and reorient himself. For the most part, the cap continues to keep the
party on a consistent course, backtracking only a little now and then.
Three or four hours go by. The core group with Jimmy has travelled
perhaps a dozen miles, and the cap still points the same way.
Kevin Sterling continues following Tin Can Wilson directly, looking off
into the distance at the direction the cap points in. He looks at Dani
often as they travel.
Night's-Justice follows the trail, intent on his prey.
Shadow Eyes roves on ahead, scouting with nose and eyes, taking the pack
gift when needed.
Luna-Singer scouts along the right side of the group as they go, looking
less like a wolf and more like a really, really dirty dog.
Dani trails along somewhere near the back of the group, slouching along.
Tin Can Wilson continues to flip the cap as he walks. He seems to notice
little else but the small piece of bent metal, all else around him
gone from his thoughts as he concentrates on his target and the
"compass" that leads him to it.
Kevin Sterling whispers to Dani softly, paying adequate attention to
follow the leader.
Dani darts a quick look at Kevin, offering him a half-hearted smile.
Shadow Eyes, in commune with his alpha, vears off as he's told and goes
straight as he;s told. He searches ahead, eager.
Another three hours go by. The group is now making its way down state
highways, well outside the civilized area of St. Claire. The road
begins to deviate more west than the bottlecap points. The arrow has
not wavered noticably from the direction.
Night's-Justice pads on, going as directed by Tin Can Wilson.
Luna-Singer shakes herself a moment and keeps on the trail.
Kevin Sterling looks up at the leader's words and grins. "If they're far
enough out here we might be able to take them down the easy way,
furry-like."
Time continues to crawl on as the Garou walk, flip, check, walk. Those
not used to running regular patrols are starting to feel the drain of
contant walking on calf muscles. There are no lights this far out, and
even service stations begin to appear at the most every hour. Several
buildings along the way are boarded up. Jimmy has to tell the arrow as
much by touch as anything as the wee hours creep by. It still points
south, and slightly less west.
Dani shifts unhappily down to her mutt form, and sticks close to Kephra,
occasionally bumping into him. Ears flat and tail tucked, she eyes her
surroundings with growing nervousness the farther from the city the
group goes.
The arrow continues to fail to deviate on the periodic checks. The
impression of impressive distance is beginning to make itself felt to
Jimmy. On the pause to recalculate perhaps an hour before dawn, Bailey
finds a hollow that leads down into a cave area. An animal smell is
strong on the trees and ground here, a smell that smells faintly sick.
Night's-Justice rumbles softly. Something about this place isn't right.
Shadow Eyes is out ahead with Night's Justice, stretching his legs in a
woods run. He stops and whines a bit at Night.
Luna-Singer's lips curl back from her teeth a bit in disgust as the sick
smell reaches her. Not right is right. Sick. Nevertheless, she pads
over to Night to investigate.
Shadow Eyes chuffs. Not right, how? He narrows his eyes, trying to see
if the taint of tbe Wyrm befouls the place.
Shakes stops to get his breath, shifting back into the lupe form. His
nose goes high, so he can catch a draft of the sickly smelling air. He
cocks his head, thinking 'what is this?'.
Knows-the-Dead picks up the scent too, and instinctively stretches his
senses outward, searching for the touch of the Wyrm...
Night's-Justice hunches down. It's like the soul of this place bears a
plague. I can feel it.
Shakes takes a seat on his haunches and looks around. This is not part
of what we came for, he thinks. Should remember this place, and take
care of it later, or now and slow our travel down even more? He
scratches at a bothersome flea behind his ear with a hind leg.
Dani shies away from Knows as he bumps her, baring her teeth at him. She
curls her long tail about her hindleg, and shivers at the edges of the
group as they debate. Her fear-smell isn't quite as strong as whatever
else it is they are smelling.
Luna-Singer sits down for the moment and whuffs. Better to take care of
it now than to have it attack us on the way back, especially if we are
injured at all.
Shadow Eyes is more concerned about the people we track, yes. He may
move at any time. Still...this could be related, in some way.
Night's-Justice's eark perk up, suddenly! Incoming! Something big!
Shadow Eyes licks his lips. No Wyrm. Then...! Night? Wha? He blurs up
into the Hispo form.
Shakes stops scratching. If there is something here that could hurt us,
we might not be able to do what we came for. Still, Shakes does not
think this is the case. He closes his eye for a moment, then opens it,
giving a little chuff. Let's check this out... What!?
Knows-the-Dead approaches the hole in the ground and sniffs, looking
directly into it. This could be a smell of death perhaps? He jumps at
Night's warning and scrabbles away from the hole, assuming a larger
form...
Luna-Singer clears away at Night's warning, ears perked and muscles
tensed for whatever the warning was for.
Shakes is suddenly up and alert, shifting up to war-dog form.
Night's-Justice shifts up to the near-wolf, backing up to get a better
look.
The others hear it now. Something coming toward the Garou, downwind,
heavy enough to snap branches. A pause, then an angry roar. The sound
grows louder, more hurried, charging through the brush toward the
cave.
Shadow Eyes chuffs. Bear?
Luna-Singer wheels to face the roar, shifting to near-wolf with hackles
bristling.
Fortune crouches, trying to flatten herself to the ground as much as
possible, confusion in the lines of her stance. Trembling, her
fear-scent rises, and she gathers her legs under her to bolt.
Knows-the-Dead lays his bulk down next to the cave, attempting to blend
into the night with his dark fur and dark coat.
Shakes starts to move off to one side, his form blurring to match the
shadows around him. Take cover. If it does not detect us... we ambush.
Shadow Eyes moves to one side, since he can do neither.
Night's-Justice does so, quickly, taking cover in a bush, and taking the
Gift to smell whatever the hell it is.
Luna-Singer drops low and crouches behind the closest thing that could
count for cover.
Night's-Justice snarls. Bear. But something's wrong. That
sickness-smell. Hurts to catch the scent.
The shadow grows out of the nearby woods suddenly, the dark condition of
the wooded area making it seem to appear out of nowhere. A bear
indeed, its muzzle dribbling a sickish yellow-white foam and reeking
of sickness. It charges straight at Seirian, leveling a heavy
paw-swipe at the Fianna. The bear, which is male if anyone could take
the time to look, is big but not abnormally so for its species.
Fortune doesn't quite bolt, but dashes noisily off, colliding with a
tree which she halfway climbs before bouncing off it and crashing into
a thicket of thorny bushes. She flattens herself to the ground again,
hopefully out of the way and hidden.
Shadow Eyes yips! Rabies?!
Knows-the-Dead jumps to his feet and snarls at the bear, growling a
challenge at it as he makes noises as close to a rival bear's as
possible.
Luna-Singer backs up sharply and attempts to dodge the oncoming paw as
quickly as possible and get out of the thing's path right off the bat.
Shadow Eyes sparkles and blurs, shifting into Crinos form.
Shadow Eyes, prefering to hide like the Gnawer he is, nevertheless sees
Dani has probably attackted it's attention. He rises up in Crinos form
and prepares to stand his ground in defence of the cub or his friends.
Night's-Justice suddeenly takes off, full tilt, towards the bear. When
he's at the right distance, he leaps, going to the Warform in midair.
Shakes leaps at the sick animal from out of the shadows, propelled by
strong Hispo legs, snarling and growling as his jaws seek the
creature's neck.
Shadow Eyes leaps with his packmates, seeking to put down the poor
animal. Claws flash out.
The Fianna barely manages to get back in time. The talons rake the air
not three inches from her sensitive nose. The bear is a hard target to
miss, and the two packmates hit at about the time that the area is
flooded with the stench of humans: worse than a downtown street at
high noon. The bear has half a second to pause in confusion before his
blood is drawn by a combination of Shakes' jaws and Night's Justice's
claws. His roar breaks the air again, and he rears on his hind legs
and attempts to hug the Gnawer that hit his neck.
Night's-Justice tries to cling to the bear's back as it rises, holding
with his left hand while clawing with his right.
Luna-Singer makes the shift up to Crinos as she circles around and dives
at the bears legs with claws and teeth and a growl for her nearly
missed nose.
Shadow Eyes leaps low as Shakes leaps high, seeking to disemnbowel the
creature now that it is one two legs. He holds with one hand, and
slashe with the other and both feet.
Knows-the-Dead snarls at the bear again as the other garou struggle with
it, yelling, ~Get lost, bear! Piss off!~ He seems ready to jump at the
creature but there are too many bodies in the way.
Shakes clamps down with his jaws, tearing at the bear's throat. While
he's at it, his claws rip at the sick animal, trying to hit what would
be the nearest vulnerable spot.
Even with a bear's impressive size, it can't stand against four Garou in
the various war forms. It barely begins to squeeze Shakes when a warm,
fetid spill of guts rewards Shadow Eyes' attack where he and Seirian
jostle. Shakes's mouth is full of foam and blood as he bites through
the matted fur and crushes the bear's windpipe. One of his hind claws
lays a superficial scratch on Shadow Eyes' back. Night's Justice opens
the bear's back shallowly with the claw attack, and then he has to
hurriedly skitter out of the way to keep from being overborn with the
press of the dying bear's body and the three other Garou on top of the
bruin.
Fortune shuts her eyes at the sounds of fighting, but after a few
moments cracks them open again. She inches out from her hiding spot,
still trembling, and makes her way hesitantly to a spot where she can
see what's going on, shying back a few times. Like a spectator at a
tennis match, she watches the back and forth for almost minute. Then
rising to her full height, she barks out worriedly: It's just a
critter! Do you havta kill it?
Night's-Justice leaps away, before the bear falls on him.
Shadow Eyes goes down with it, still slashing though he tries to avoid
his teammates as well. He wants to make sure it's dead, first.
Knows-the-Dead bark-shouts, ~Catch it before it dies, see if the Touch
can help it.~
Night's-Justice doesn't like it any more than you do, Fortune. There is
a weight of sadness in his words.
Luna-Singer wrinkles her nose and pulls back from the dying animal. At
Dani's bark, her head whips around, ~Would you rather it lived to
inflict the same poison on other animals?~
Shakes tries to disengage. His jaws unlock from the bear's neck and he
moves back, watching it closely through one slitted eye. We are doing
it a favor, killing it, he thinks. If we can heal it, that would be
good, too.
Fortune whines softly. Shadow Eyes can fix it. He fixed my rat friend.
You can, can't you? She looks at Shadow Eyes hopefully.
Shakes looks to Shadow Eyes. If it can be healed, then do it. The bear
is Big Mama's kid, just like any of us.
The bear thrashes weakly on the ground, hind legs moving jerkily. Its
eyes are glazing over, and his blood wets the ground through the hole
in his throat in a steady spurting stream. More blood oozes out of the
gut wound.
Knows-the-Dead looks on grimly, turning to explore the cave...
Shadow Eyes growls. ~No, it is diseased. That gift does not work on
such. It is best to kill it. If it has gotten to the point where it
will attack us in the war form, it is insane and ready to die anyway.
They best I can do is to make sure it's spirit finds peace." He
reaches to stop it's heart.
Fortune darts to the bear's side, all traces of earlier fear gone now,
apparently. She noses it gently. I'm sorry, she says to it softly,
growling afterward in a softer rendition of its own growl from
earlier. She then turns away from the group and goes to sit by
herself.
Shakes moves over to one side of the bear's den and starts digging in
the ground with his paws, preparing to bury the animal.
Giving the bear coup-de-grace isn't difficult. The huge mammal's
struggles still, just about when Fortune noses it. The body relaxes in
death.
Night's-Justice shifts down to the wolf-form, then moves to Shakes. We
might, unfortunately, have to burn it, lest the disease spread.
Shakes growls at Fortune. You can help with this at least. Dig! Don't
leave the bear for the scavengers.
Shakes growls an affirmative at Bailey. We burn it then bury the
remains.
Knows-the-Dead exits the cave and looks over to Fortune, and then the
bear. He begins a low howl for the spirit of the bear.
Night's-Justice looks over, and joins the Strider in the howl,
harmonizing easily.
Fortune ignores Shakes, and curls up on the ground. I want to go home,
she mutters.
Shadow Eyes waits until he is /sure/ it is dead, then draws a glyph with
the bear's heart's blood - he croons a soft song in counterpoint to
Knows-the-dead. Then he hops off to dig with enourmous claws. We must
make sure the fire cannt spread...
Shakes stops his digging for a moment, to join the mournful wail, his
voice disconcordant with the rest.
Knows-the-Dead finishes his part of the howl, and goes over to the
corpse of the bear, looking to Shadow eyes. ~Let's burn it in front of
the cave, its home. I think I can do something more appropriate with
this later on if we place it there.~
After the Howl has been finished, Night's-Justice assists Shakes with
the digging.
Shadow Eyes whines a bit. I hope they have not left whereever the hell
they went to. The man we pursue, that is.
Shakes turns on Fortune, shifting up to Crinos. ~We are far from the
protection of the city, and we all just did something we didn't want
to. You -WILL- help dig and you -WILL- do what I say, cub. IS THAT
UNDERSTOOD?~
Fortune looks up at Shakes for one moment with frozen fear, then bolts
again, crashing almost as noisily through the woods as the bear did
formerly.
Shakes takes off after the cub, figuring flight would most likely been
her reaction, and prepared for it.
Shadow Eyes looks up, and nods and goes back to his work.
Knows-the-Dead's ears swivel over to Shakes and Fortune. He frowns
darkly and his breath hisses from dialating nostrils.
Night's-Justice continues to dig, focusing on his work.
The cub, obviously unfamiliar with the woods, never-the-less makes a few
good turns and dodges, ducking under branches, tearing through
thickets and leaping over fallen trees or running along them, until
she blunders over the edge of a small drop-off and tumbles down to the
bottom, out of breath.
Knows-the-Dead markedly does not dig, and stands tall, stretching his
head and ears high and listening to the sounds of puruit in the woods
beyond.
Shakes, somewhat familiar with the woods after all those "camping trips"
for sept moots, has little problem keeping up with the cub. He climbs
down to the bottom of the drop-off and reaches out to grab her by the
scruff of the neck. ~And don't run, either. It makes a lot of noise
and pisses me off. Let's get back to the others. Shit. Tryin' ta keep
yer ass alive is gonna be a pain in my ass.~
Shadow Eyes continues to dig, then comes out of the impromtu pit. ~We
can place it in there, and burn it. Then again, with what?~
Knows-the-Dead says absently, ~I can start a fire.~
At the merest touch of Shakes' paw on her, Fortune blurs up to warform
and flails at Shakes inexpertly with claws, snapping at his face with
her teeth. ~No where to hide!~ She howls at him, spittle flying from
her jaws. ~No!~
Night's-Justice backs up a little before shifting to homid form. "Have a
lighter in my backpack," he says.
Shadow Eyes backs away then. ~Be my guest. The pit will contain the
fire. After it has cleansed the body, we can bury it deep.~
Knows-the-Dead looks at the two by the pit and when Bailey mentions he
has a lighter, the crinos looks back toward the woods, listening
closely with his large ears.
Shakes slaps the flailing claws aside. ~Calm down. No one's going to
hurt you... unless you keep this up. It's a long walk back home, and
all your friends are up there working to give that bear proper last
rites. You want to help them, right? Show respect for them, and for
the bear?~
Night's-Justice fishes the lighter out of his backpack. "I'd say try and
get that bear inside the pit now, so nothing else catches fire." He
wanders around, picking up a few fallen, dead branches for kindling.
The dry ground makes finding kindling fairly easy. The bear took some
pushing to get in the pit, even in crinos form, but all is now ready
for the fire.
Knows-the-Dead mutters helpfully, ~It won't burn completely unless you
lay it on a bed of already-burning coals in that pit. I'd have had a
pyre built otherwise, which is why I asked to have it placed in front
of the cave.~
Night's-Justice geta a small pile of wood together, and piles the wood
atop the bear. he takes a large errant branch, and tries to set it
aflame.
Shadow Eyes shrugs. ~I know little of this. I want to get is buried so
it will not spread the disease, and get back on the trail of those we
follow.~
Fortune scrunches her yellow cat-eyes closed, her tail joining in the
struggle by wrapping itself around Shake's leg. She bats at the elder
garou ineffectively. ~Don't kill me. I will fight! Don't kill me!~ The
words of persuasion don't seem to have filtered into her
less-than-sterling brain yet.
Shadow Eyes begins to gather dry twigs as quickly as he can, and piles
them into the pit.
Shakes chuckles, deep in his crinos throat. ~Why would I kill you?
You're a Garou, and one of Big Mama's greatest survivors. I'd piss her
off if I offed you, hrm?~ He tries to make his voice less threatening
now, and more persuasive. ~All I ask you is what I ask any other
Garou, Gnawer or not: Pull your weight. If you don't wanna fight, then
don't... yet. We'll get ya trained so you don't kill yourself by doin'
somethin' stupid. Only way you're going to end up dead is if you pull
another stupid stunt, like running away from the rest of us. Now, come
on. Let's go back to the others.~
Knows-the-Dead goes back into the cave and pulls every bit of tangible
garbage he can from within. Bones...trash...everything. He throws it
in the pit.
Night's-Justice waits until Kephra fills the pit a little before
applying any flame he has made to the mix.
Knows-the-Dead mutters as he moves the refuse, ~Shadow Eyes, I really
want to learn the Rite of Cleansing...bad...for places like this.~
Fortune cracks open one eye, mistrustful. She goes limp in Shakes' grip.
~No where to hide...~ She mutters. But she seems unrestistant now, if
the other Gnawer tries to drag her back.
Shadow Eyes nods to Kephra, as he gathers fuel for the fire. ~Yes, it is
good to know. But here, there is no taint.~
Knows-the-Dead wrinkles his nose. ~Taint...this sickness is a taint of
its own.~
Shadow Eyes nods again as he prepares to begin burying the creature as
it burns. ~There is no smell of the Enemy, that is. That is the reason
for that rite, Here...we let the fire do the cleansing.~
Shakes brings Fortune back by the scruff, like a bad, bad puppy. ~Don't
run again,~ he says, setting her down. ~For your own safety.~ This
doesn't really seem like a threat so much as an honest, caring
statement.
Night's-Justice nods slowly, as the flames start to catch.
Knows-the-Dead looks as the two return, then approaches Fortune and
squats near her.
Fortune shrinks down to her lupus form and curls up into a small ball,
eyes tightly shut. She shivers and still smells of fear, but doesn't
seem to be going anywhere.
Shakes moves toward his packmates and the pit, making sure that all is
going well. ~Let's rest. This will take a while to burn. We can make
sure that no scavengers get into the disease, and take shifts
sleeping. It'll do us good to get some rest, and the cub won't be good
to us without some time to calm down anyhow.~
Shadow Eyes tends the fire, often looking towards the way they were
going and trying to gauge the hour. He snorts at the pit, watching
until it looks like things are sufficiently sterile. After that, he
begins to douse and cover it, making sure the coals are out lest the
fire burn through and start a forest fire. He glances to Kephra for
guidence since it seems like he's done this before
Night's-Justice helps to bury the remains in lupus, making sure the fire
also doesn't spread. He grumbles at the smell, then nods to Shakes.
Ok. I'll take the first.
Knows-the-Dead seems occupied with the cub, not paying any attention to
the burning pit. His voice can be heard rumbling to her.
Fortune falls asleep eventually, though mostly from exhaustion.
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