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The highway winds on for miles south of St. Claire and eventually starts
to curve east after a drive of a few hours, heading up into the
mountains.
Contents:
Patrick
Diana
The Jackal
Calls the Wind
Joseph
Siobhan
Saltere
Silent Storm
Joseph sits up from the awkward position he was thrown into by the van's
sudden stop. "Fuck." he mutters, shifting to glabro as he scrambles.
He gets a look at the man in the sedan and growls. "I don't think I
need wyrmsense to know /that's/ the one Hazmat saw."
Silent Storm finally releases the side door, and rolls out gracefully
onto the ground. Coming out of the roll on her lupus feet, she begins
working the gravel shoulder with her claws, tearing up pieces of
concrete as she reshapes them.
The minute the Jackal rolls out the back and it becomes clear how loaded
the van is, the man jams the car into reverse and begins to back up
with a squeal of tires.
The Jackal lights the soup can and flings it toward the window of the
sedan.
Patrick rolls his eyes. "I saw *that* one coming," he says softly.
"Everyone back in the van, unless he can be stopped!" he calls.
The Jackal says "Into the van. NOW!"
Saltere starts trying to get out of the van, but halts as people change
their minds.
Silent Storm jumps into the van, claws grabbing and holding to the metal
surrounding the door.
The Jackal stands in the clear between the car and van, watching to
ensure everyone gets back so at least the body of the van is between
them and the sedan.
Andrea, still in the van, grips the dashboard with her huge right hand,
the thick claw-like nails digging in slightly on the plastic. Her
mismatched eyes burn after the fleeing car.
The can bounces off the back of the driver's head, his eyes to the rear
as he drives backward down the highway, picking up speed with each
second. He weaves back and forth down the road unsteadily and the
steady cursing of his partner can be heard over the wail of Mick
Jagger singing '...I want to paint it black...' in the background. The
can explodes in a flurry of metal and silver wire.
Siobhan shakes her head, dazedly. She looks faintly nauseated and
wrinkles her nose with displeasure. She braces herself yet again as
they prepare to head off after the car.
Diana gags silently to herself. Wincing, she looks at a few people
closest to her. "Don't sense wyrm.... its so obviously there it
frigging /hurts/" and with that she rubs her eyes a bit.
There is a tinkle of metal against the sides of the van, the Jackal
being the only one who takes a few shreds of it. It is unclear whether
the driver of the car is hurt or not.
Patrick looks around. "Everyone in?" he asks as he revs up the engine.
"Get in, dammit!" is yelled as he gets ready to pop the clutch.
The Jackal watches and nods in approval. Swings up into the back of the
van. "OK. Follow it. But watch for it to lose control and crash."
Perhaps 500 yards up the road the car swings around in a tight circle,
half into the ditch then tears out again with flying gravel and a
squeal of tires. But even with this stop by the time the van is loaded
and has made the same turn it is a red flash of tail lights in the
distance.
The Jackal wipes a streak of blood off his face.
Patrick nods and pops the clutch, squealing the tires as he heads off
after the car. "Damnit! My folks *are* gonna kill me."
Saltere leans forward, willing the machine to go faster.
The Jackal says "Damn. He must have had some kind of shield. That should
have killed him, as close as it was when it exploded."
Patrick manages to keep the van going fast enough to just keep the tail
lights in view as they crest successive hills, driving deeper into the
mountains. Finally, after perhaps five minutes more of this, the car
makes a sharp right and sets off own a narrow country lane.
Patrick grumbles as he turns off onto the narrow lane. "This will *not*
be fun. Small road, big van, no fun." Sparing a glance at Andrea, he
mentions, "Tell me if they turn off."
The Jackal checks his pockets and mutters softly. Finally nods.
The Jackal looks around the van with a calculating gleam in his eyes.
Andrea nods. She raises the stone higher, the cord tangled in her thick
fingers. The joncing of the van makes the direction hard for any
observers to read.
Joseph spares a long took at Anpwhotep, and then tries to find the car
ahead again in the darkness.
Saltere looks around the van impatiently. "I don't suppose there is
anything I could claw."
Silent Storm is bouncing along, pinned between side door and passanger
seats. Rage is clearly visible in her features now, and she is already
edging toward hispo.
Trees overshadow the narrow road and the lights of the car have
disappeared up ahead. The lane opens into a farmyard, long since
abandoned, the barn half-collapsed. The car sits in the driveway, all
of its lights off. The van has come out perhaps 50 yards from the car.
Pack> Andrea says through Mask, "Why does 'Danger, Will Robinson.' keep
echoing in my head?"
Patrick cries out in a minor panic, "No! DOn't claw the seats!" As the
lane opens up, he says, "Damnit. They're gonna get us now."
There are no lights on. Anywhere.
Patrick glances at Andrea. "Where?" he asks as he slows the van down
cautiously.
From afar, to Patrick and Andrea, Anubis sends via Mask: Maybe because
it's appropriate.
Pack> Patrick sends through Mask, "Anu! Jeez, but we could use some help
now, if we were actually anyplace near."
Calls the Wind scowls faintly, fingers curling under as her hands ball
into tight fists. She purses her lips, but says nothing, squinting out
a side window.
Pack> Anubis says "Oh?"
Andrea says softly, "The barn." Sure enough, the stone is tilting in
that direction, now that the van is coasting to a halt.
What was that? A motion in the shadows? The moonless night sheds no
illumination on the farmyard, and the tall dead weeds whisper eerily
in the wind. Here and there, the shadows seem to collect into a deeper
patch of darkness--a darkness that seemsto shift and move just after
your eyes leave it. High up in the rotting barn comes the soft sound
of wood banging lightly against stone.
Saltere nods tightly to Patrick, and looks for a way out.
The Jackal says "Snow Walker. Calls. Diana. Saltere. Out the back with
me. We circle around in the shadows. Patrick. You lead the rest.
Follow Andrea."
The Jackal rolls out the back door and into the nearest shadows.
Diana shifts upwards and slips out behind her alpha.
Diana contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Saltere contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Diana shifts into Glabro form.
Saltere shifts into Lupus form.
Silent Storm rolls out of the car quickly now. Senses are primed as she
rolls to her feet, shifting to hispo as she rolls.
The van's light's illuminate old and broken farm machinery. An old plow,
the plowshares curiously missing. There comes from the side of the
house the mad call of the Whippoorwill.
Silent Storm contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Silent Storm shifts into Hispo form.
Something moves in the darkness in one of the windows of the house.
Deepsprings moves out of the van in the shadow of one of the others, her
black fur blending easily into the darkness.
Patrick stops the van and climbs out, fading as he rolls out the
driver's door.
There is a rustle, barely perceptible over the sound of the van's
engine, in the woods beside the barn. Another Whippoorwill cries from
that general direction.
Calls the Wind climbs out of the van, thankfully, then shifts, as soon
as foot touches earth, to lupus, even that body carried a little lower
to the ground than normal.
Calls the Wind contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Calls the Wind freezes a moment, bone and muscle realigning into Lupus
form.
Siobhan shudders as she hears the whippoorwill calls, and moves to
follow Patrick and Andrea.
Snow Walker fades into darkness and wilderness, and follows the Jackal silently.
Blackness rolls out from the deserted field; hard on its path comes
another mocking Whippoorwill.
This last call is echoed from the top floor of the farmhouse as the
window shoots up though there does not seem to be anybody standing
behind it.
Andrea whispers to herself as she slips out. Her skin seems to glow with
a warm, comforting light for just a moment, but as she shuts the van
door softly, it is extinguished with the overhead light.
The light knocking of wood on stone comes again from the half-collapsed
barn. Boards creak inside. Several at once.
From afar, Patrick sends through Mask, "Should I take the high road?"
Joseph slips out of the van with the second group, his eyes scanning the
darkness for any movement.
The Jackal gestures towards his team and leads them into the shadows
near the house.
Pack> Andrea sends back the same way, "Sure, but guard me. I have the
feeling I'm going to be a prime target, with this stone here, and
Luna's defense doesn't do me as much good in this form."
Andrea creeps toward the barn, the glabro's form half-hunched as she
warily begins scouting the way the stone leads.
Snow Walker moves silently, to the left and slightly behind The Jackal.
Deepsprings moves as silently as she can after The Jackal. Her ears and
nose scanning for unfamilar scents.
Pack> Anubis sends through Mask, "I won't disturb you two further, but
we should talk when you have time, Moon-Laughs-Quiet."
Joseph hits the ground at the shot, his teeth bared.
Calls the Wind pads behind the shadowwalkers, then freezes for an
instant when the shot is fired, lying on her stomach on the ground,
ears tucked back against her head.
Pack> Andrea says through the totem, with some tenseness, "Anubis, if we
all get out of this okay, I'll hunt you dinner and we can chat over a
deer haunch. Promise."
The Jackal moves quickly into the shadows at the base of the house.
Scans up and around.
Deepsprings crouches warily as the shot rings out.
In response to the shot a few wooden slats come loose from the roof of
the old house, skittering down to the ground. There comes a sound
almost like a scrabbling of claws from the rooftop although there is
no figure in sight.
Siobhan widens her eyes to see better in the dark, then changes quickly
to the warform when she hears the shot, crouching defensively.
Siobhan contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Diana nocks an arrow silently to her bow, and moves in behind Jackal.
Siobhan shifts into Crinos form.
Andrea also freezes for a minute, her bulky form a shadow in the
barnyard.
From the fields come two howling swoops of laughter, rising into the
night sky like claws on a blackboard. Hurtling out behind the noise
comes a large canister painted a bright--glowing--pink. Even in the
night, it glows.
Snow Walker takes evasive action following the shot, moving quickly and
glancing into the darkness of the house's windows, watching for muzzle
flashes that might reveal the sniper.
Patrick slinks along, fairly much unseen, still creeping along towards
the barn despite the shots. As he gets closer, he shifts upward, still
unseen dispite his bulk.
Patrick contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Patrick shifts into Glabro form.
Deepsprings darts low across the ground, dodging away from whatever the
glowing thing is.
The Jackal watches the canister fly, marking its path so as to avoid any
potential splash zone.
Patrick glances at the canister, tries to work out the trajectory, and
stays way clear.
Diana pulls back her bowstring and fires an arrow as best she can along
the projectile's path, hoping to connect with whatever tossed it. Then
eyes her alpha to gauge the best way clear of the cannister's path.
Snow Walker dodges away from the cannister, still making her way toward
the cover of the house.
The canister lands with a *splat* in the middle of the group of Garou
and then explodes with a faint pop. Sparklers wizz out of it, forming
the words "Hello Suckers!" Diana's arrow vanishes into the field
without a sound.
From afar, Patrick sends once more through Mask, "High ground?"
Andrea, at the canister's appearance, also keeps as well out of the way
as she can. She mutters a quiet, "Oh, shit." at the canister's
message.
WayFinder follows Patrick closely, dodging the projectile. Her lip lifts
in a silent snarl as she reads its message.
Diana frowns. "Shit."
Deepsprings suppresses a silent snarl so that her teeth don't show and
give her away.
Pack> Andrea answers through Mask. "Dropping the stone and coming with
you? We can pretty much disappear in this place, if we shift down and
blur."
There is a soft whoosh of air and Diana catches sight of a shadow
launched from from the roof of the house. It sweeps by Snow Walker
like a bat and pulls a tight circle, slamming into the Jackal's back,
knocking him to the ground before anybody can react, tearing great
gouges out of his shoulders.
Diana yanks an arrow from her quiver and nocks it, aiming for a clear
shot at the shadow-thing.
The Jackal sheds his coat as the claws dig in, letting it take 20 pounds
of kevlar scales instead. Spins and attempts to tackle it while it's
trying to get its claws out of the coat.
Calls the Wind unfreezes, as the thing attacks, and she recognizes the
motion going on around her, taking the warform.
Calls the Wind contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Calls the Wind freezes a moment, bone and muscle realigning into Crinos
form.
Joseph is up again and takes the warform himself.
Joseph contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Joseph pauses, his form losing its continuity and twisting into Crinos
form.
Deepsprings runs toward the shadow, shifting as she runs.
It was big, this shadow, bigger than a man, though almost impossible to
see on this moonless night, moving at a speed little slower than a
stone dropped from a height. It does not alight, tearing the jacket
from Anpwhotep as it cruises by only six feet off the ground, and
smashes through a thicket of alders behind the house, out of sight.
Deepsprings contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Deepsprings shifts into Crinos form.
Patrick glances over at the mass o' Garou and the Thing, then glances at
Andrea, a wealth of information in the look.
From afar, Patrick sends through Mask, "Where doees the stone point?"
The Jackal growls softly.
At the attack from the shadow, Quiet instinctively seems to gain mass,
though paradoxically falling deeper into the darkness as she does so.
In a couple of seconds, her position is almost impossible to make out
in the dim light.
Cheers errupt from the field as three bullet shots ring out one behind
another. They aim at the garou silloutted by the fading glow of the
sparklers, and one slams into Diana's shoulder. The other two vanish
into the night.
Andrea contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Crinos form.
Snow Walker, with a burst of speed, covers the distance to the house,
senses wary of gunshots from the windows. She disappears into the
shadows as she moves.
Pack> Quiet sends the same way, "Still toward the barn. Ready to go in?"
Diana snarls, shifting upwards instinctively and grabbing her shoulder
in a reflex action, nearly dropping the bow.
Pack> Patrick sends back to Quiet, "Go."
Diana contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Diana shifts into Crinos form.
The Jackal digs into a pouch and grumbles. "Last one. We'll have to make
do."
Quiet moves toward the barn now, stone still held in her clawed right
hand. She moves close to the ground, and quickly, though the shadow
seems to be cloaking her well.
The Jackal lights a railroad flare and flings it in the direction of the
gunshots.
WayFinder crouches, turning quickly toward the sound of the shots, and
just as quickly back toward the other two garou leading her group.
Patrick flanks Quiet silently, fairly much completely hidden by the
shadows as the two of them continue toward the barn.
Calls the Wind's attention rests on the field, and the invisible
shootists in the field, eyes narrowed slightly.
The flare lands in the field, illuminating the tall and dry autumn grass
for the first time. Its light is quickly shaded by the grass and a
shadow moves at the edge of it, way beyond range. Just as quickly the
sparks turn into flickers of flame and the grass starts to burn.
Soulcatcher makes his way toward Patrick and Quiet, and the barn, as
well as he can, staying low.
Where the flying shadow disappeared there are only broken alders and all
is silent. There is more scrabbling from up atop the roof and possibly
movement inside the house.
Diana peers, growling under her breath, at the noise on the roof,
looking for anything to move.
WayFinder follows Patrick and Andrea toward the barn as stealthily as
possible, senses alert.
Snow Walker reaches the house, ducking between windows and using its
shadows for concealment. She listens for movement inside as she shifts
smoothly to Crinos.
Calls the Wind paces, slowly, toward the field, eyes narrowed, and ears
set at a cautious cant, legs half bent under both weight and caution.
From side to side, her gaze sweeps the field.
Snow Walker contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Snow Walker shifts into Crinos form.
Near the barn, the Blurred members of Crossing and Soulcatcher slip
closer to the barn itself, WayFinder bringing up the rear. Patrick and
Quiet slip in the door quickly, quietly, and unseen; the other two
stand point for a moment.
Deepsprings slips into the woods around the edge of the field, using the
trees as cover.
The scrabbling atop the house continues, intermittently. Inside the
house is silence. Momentarily, Diana catches sight of a round head and
two bat ears peering over the edge of the roof. There starts a fast,
steady click-click sound from around behind the house.
The Jackal moves around the house, between it and the trees he sent
Deepsprings into.
Two more shots ring out; these stike home. One nails Calls the Wind
solidly in the leg while the other bites into Snow Walker's arm. The
fires rise higher as three shadows slip out and vanish into the woods.
Near the barn comes another cry, this one a yipping, mocking howl.
As The Jackal rounds the back of the house, he catches sight of two
scaly yet hair legs as they start to disappear over the roof of the
house. There are claw marks up the side of the chimney.
The Jackal eyes the side of the house for convenient handholds.
At the sight of the bat-eared head Diana releases her arrow. It whistles
through the air even as the head starts to pull back, sailing cleanly
through one of the bat ears, leaving a gaping hole. There is a
startled yip.
Snow Walker rolls to the ground and toward the nearest cover, the house,
straining to fight off pangs of pain as she claws the bullet out of
her flesh.
Calls the Wind begins, and bites off, a howl of pain, silver burning the
leg it struck, for an instant. A moment's concentration, and the howl,
instead, becomes a low rumble. Ears pressed back against her head, she
turns her back to the field, and begins to pace back toward the barn,
and the others in the shadows there.
Deepsprings strains her ears and nose for any indication of the enemy.
The Jackal shakes his head, pulls out his zippo again, lights it, and
hurls it into a window.
As if in response to the arrow a metal filing cabinet comes smashing out
of one of the upper story windows. Diana, attention on the rooftop and
bow in hand, does not move in time to avoid the heavy missile as it
plunges to the earth, crushing her beneath it, unmoving.
Inside the barn it is pitch black dark and shadows Shroud the entire
room. Faint breathing noises come from the rear of the barn and a soft
voice calls out "Here, cousins. Come here. Visit my lovely
home....here baby."
The lighter breaks through the thin glass and lands with a clatter
inside. From the upstairs window come two or three voices in harsh
laughter. One of them throws a stapler and a few pens and pencils out
after the filing cabinet.
Snow Walker suppresses her pain, moving to the chimney silently and
scratching it feverishly, focusing the pain into rage as wicked claws
take form.
The Jackal moves toward the sound of squished packmate. Heaves the
filecabinet off her. Checks to be sure she'll heal on her own.
Inside the barn, then two members of Crossing edge in carefully. One of
them hisses out softly to the two by the door for them to be vigilent.
As The Jackal is crouched over the fallen Ahroun a desk smashes through
the window same window, tearing off some of the siding, and falling a
few feet short of the two.
Pack> Patrick sends to Quiet through Mask, "Sense Wyrm or where's the
stone point?"
Pack> Quiet sends back, "Oh, gods. It's probably going to be blinding to
Sense. Hold on."
The fire continues to crackle merrily, and for a brief moment, you
catchsight of another figure streaking past it. In its monstrous
hands, it holds a flaming torch that it sends hurtling into the center
of the farmyard. Another small tree that looks to have been ripped out
by the roots also goes flying, this one catching Deepsprings solidly
on the shoulder.
Pack> Quiet whews, "Stone's still pointing okay. Upstairs, toward the
back left corner."
Deepsprings snarls as she's knocked to one side, then launches herself
toward the area where the tree came from.
Another call from inside the barn. "Sheesh, cousins. You're slow." A
dark shape lands silently behind Patrick, reaches out, shoves...
The Jackal contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Snow Walker uses the Chimney and newly sharpened claws to move, as
silently as possible up the side of the house.
The Jackal shifts into Crinos form.
Anpwhotep drags his packmate away from the house and moves towards the
woods, following the scent of the fleeing threesome.
Calls the Wind moves on, toward the house, and her climbing tribemate.
Suddenly the entire barnyard erupts with the eerie call of the
Whippoorwill. From the rooftop. From inside the house. From the field.
From the upper floor of the barn. At least a dozen seperate and
distinct calls, followed by racious laughter.
Patrick goes half-sprawling as he is shoved from behind, but quickly
gets back to his feet and launches into the air, shifting into the
warform as he does so.
Patrick contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Patrick shifts into Crinos form.
Snow Walker shifts her weight on the chimney, reaching toward a nearby
second story window. As the laughter and Whipowhirl's echo through the
air, she breaks the window, and slides through the frame.
A clatter of metal echos from the barn as Whitestreak stumbles into
something and leaps back up.
Deepsprings snarls, and goes to catch the ones in the woods before they
get too far. Her senses strained to catch any sign.
Anpwhotep drops Diana's body once it's far enough away from the house to
be safe, so it won't hinder him as he follows the scents of the
escaping threesome.
Quiet growls and shifts to hispo, moving toward her packmate cautiously,
lips pulled back from oversized teeth.
Quiet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Hispo form.
Whitestreak growls but doesn't yet launch himself at his assailant,
taking a moment to size him/her/it up first. Outside, Soulcatcher and
WayFinder look inside at the sounds of a scuffle beginning, as well as
the metallic sounds.
Deepsprings turns as something catches her eye, and lopes as stealthily
as possible toward the movement, all senses still alert.
Inside the barn, Whitestreak and Quiet find themselves facing a tall,
amazingly thin crinos form with overly long legs, arms and fangs. It
is framed in the light of the fire for only a second, thenit *leaps*
upwards, reaching out towards Whitestreak with his rear claws.
Anpwhotep growls softly when he hears something coming from Diana's body
he doesn't like, and crouches to patch her up.
Whitestreak leaps backand up as the other crinos shape leaps, trying to
keep himself on about the same level as the other, but beyond reach of
the claws for now.
As Deepsprings lopes towards the sound, she fails to notice the trip
wire strung up between two of the trees. It catches her neatly,
forcing her to stumble long enough to get tackled by two forms that
hurtle out of the trees. ~Sisssssster!~ screeches one. ~Ssssssstay and
ssssing.~
Snow Walker moves quietly to the doorway in the house's second story.
Finding it open, she pauses to listen and check for surprises.
Deepsprings uses her hips to flip over before the two on her get a good
grip, and grabs their heads and attempts to bash them together, hard.
Calls the Wind begins the climb up the side of the house, toward the
second floor. Her foothold falters once, and then is reestablished.
One of the Dancers on Deepsprings falls back and down, falling out of
her graps. The other slips away with ease as his last packmate drops
into place, ripping down and out with his claws, leaving a a streak of
five claw marks down Deepsprings' back and shoulders.
Snow Walker, assured that the room is safe for the moment, returns to
the window to give Calls the Wind a silent hand up.
A guttural voice snarls from the top floor of the house. ~You want we
should get the kerosene?~ The request is met by more laughter.
Inside the barn comes another yipping howl as the second Dancer lands in
front of Quiet, knocking over a pile of metal. ~Baby. Wanna dance?~ It
gestures lewdly, and reaches out to the Child of Gaia.
Deepsprings snarls and picks up the fallen one, putting her back to the
tree and using it to block the others access as she tries to rip out
its spine.
Whitestreak soars up into midair and, as the crinos who attacked him
alights on one of the barn's eaves, shoots towards the other Garou's
midsection.
As Calls the Wind reaches the window she is distracted by dust overhead
falling in her eyes. Peering over the edge of the roof is another
bat-eared head with huge fangs.
Quiet snarls in challenge to the Dancer, the One Tree's eyes blazing at
the Wyrm creature. She snaps at the outstretched hands, her oversized
jaws closing down hard. Her stocky body remains braced and low to the
ground.
The thing extends a clawed hand and asks politely, ~Need a hand up?~
Calls the Wind growls, quietly, and shakes her head, hard, claws curled
into the windowsill for a moment to hold her, while she clears her
eyes. Then she bares her teeth, and rumbles, ~The roof, Snow Walker,~
before she starts to pull herself upward again. Ears flattened, she
snorts. ~No. Thank you.~
Deepsprings manages to grip the fallen Dancer in her claws, but he
reaches up in a move blurred by rage and speed and slams a fist into
her gut. She stumbles towards the tree, but she is too slow. The two
dancers that she does not have a hold of, converge with claws and
teeth flashing. One locks onto her shoulder; the other carves a neat
chunk out of her stomach and leg with its claws.
The Dancer in the rafters looks down in surprise as Whitestreak slams
solidly into him, and reaches down to rake the Uktena with its claws.
The thing is stunned, however, and does little damage. Meanwhile.
Quiet has a solid lock on the Dancer in front of her, but it also has
snapped out with its jaws, latching onto her shoulder.
The creature glances over her shoulder for a brief second. ~Hey, Touk,
she don't wanna hand.~
Even as it grips Quiet's shoulder in its mouth, the Dancer chuckles.
~Baby. I love necking. Gonna love to go even further soon. You like
heavy games?~ The words are blurred due to the flesh in its mouth, but
they are distinct enouch to be understood.
Deepsprings howls, then loses the tight rein she keeps on her Rage.
~Faaatther, I am coming.~
The frenzy is not enough, although Deepsprings manages to seriously claw
one of the Dancers and graze the others, three on one is never fair
odds. It is over quickly at least, as the three Dancers rip her to
shreds. Once the Garou lies dea, one of the Dancers, drops her, kicks
her and then howls loudly ~Pretty thing no wanna play!~ It gives a
vicious kick to Deepspring's dead body, and then reaches down, grips
it, and hurls it high into the air much like a cat playing with a dead
mouse.
Quiet growls in deep-seated anger as she instantly shifts into crinos at
the Dancer's words. Her shoulder still in its mouth, she lashes out
with her other clawed hand for its throat. Her growl is wordless, but
the fury in the theurge's tone says volumes.
Quiet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Crinos form.
Abruptly, the Dancer plunges downward and the outstretched hand is
joined by a second as the Dancer lets go of the edge of the roof. Its
abrupt fall is stopped short and it ends up hanging there, face down
over the edge. Another set of clawed hands hang onto its legs as
another furred head appears over the edge, its buddy holding it up
while the claws swing closer and closer to Calls the Wind as she
ascends.
The shift and strike send the Dancer facing Quiet reeling backwards with
a broad grin on its face. ~Yeah!~ Blood wells up from the claw marks,
but it doesn't seem to notices as it lunges back after the Child of
Gaia with both arms swinging.
Whitestreak holds on tightly onto the Dancer and shoots towards the
wall, trying to slam the Dancer hard into the wall. In the flight, he
snarls and bites into it, as well.
The flying Dancer contents itself with slowly ripping open Whitestreak's
back with its claws even as it is ripped open in turn. Both Garou are
a bloody mess when they slam into the wall at a speed far too fast to
be healthy. The Dancer is worse off, however, and Whitestreak is only
mildly stunned.
Calls the Wind skids down the few feet she had managed to climb toward
the roof again, in an attempt to avoid the Dancer's claws, and gain
some leverage. Claws sinking into the windowsill briefly, she pushes
off, and lunges for the swinging Dancer, arms wide to grip the Dancer
as best she can, and hold on, claws turned to bite into tainted flesh.
Her face screwed up in disgust, Quiet's lips are drawn back from her
teeth in a angry snarl. Her shoulder leaks blood, staining her
sandy-brown pelt a dark colour, if any could see it in the dark barn.
She again slashes with her claws, her stroke quick and angry, guided
by her totem. The blow aims toward the Dancer's engorged crotch, up
into his stomach. ~Perversion!~
After playing with their 'toy' for a few seconds more, the Dancers in
the woods get bored and leave Deepsprings sprawled against a tree as
they being streaking and howling towards the barn. The three
whipporwhill cries echo eerily through the night.
Calls the Wind skids manages to dig claws into the hanging Dancer's
arms, scoring bloody trails down its arm until claws dig into the
bones of its arms and hold. At this point, though, the creature's
companion simply lets go of its legs with a high-pitched giggle.
Dancer and Wendigo plunge to the ground, the Dancer smashing into the
other from above. There is a loud crack as the Dancer's neck twists at
an odd angle. Both lie still for a moment, Calls the Wind stunned by
the impact, while the Dancer on the rooftop continues to giggle.
The three cries are echoed again from the top floor of the barn with
some great amount of enthusiasm.
Whitestreak shakes his head, gathering his wits, and slashes into the
stunned Dancer half-blindly, but with the skill given by Raccoon.
~Die, asshole,~ he slur-snarls.
In a few seconds Calls the Wind gets her sense back though her left leg
is broken and a few ribs as well. The Dancer is struggling to move
though its head flopping about like a rag doll makes this rather
difficult.
Blood flies as the Child of Gaia and the Dancer face off, her bloody
claws giving the same silent testimony to the lie of Gaian weakness as
her tribemate's dead body outside. The Dancer howls in pain as Quiet
scores on his crotch, ripping his male equipment and a good part of
his stomach to shreds, but the Gaian does not go unscathed. Only her
mystical protection from Luna saves Quiet from joining the dead Dancer
on the ground, her shoulders and face a bloody mess from the Dancer's
dying attack.
As Whitestreak rips into the Dancer, it howls but quickly comes to its
own senses through pain, slicing back at the undefending Uktena. As
blood spurts from both Garou and falls down to the floor below,
Whitestreak flies back and the Dancer's dead body plummets to the
ground. The Uktena ragabash has several long rakes along his back and
arms, though, and hovers in the air, blood dripping freely in a shower
as he catches his breath.
Calls the Wind shoves the Dancer off of her, forcefully, muzzle wrinkled
in pain as she moves to that degree. Pausing for a moment to draw in a
deep breath, she draws her arm back and aims a downward slash at the
broken-necked Dancer, to slash the side of his neck open and finish
the job.
Snow Walker moves silently beside the door, preparing to strike the
first through severally.
Crinos claws slice easily through the exposed scales on the side of the
neck and black blood spurts out in a wild fountain until it lays
still.
First through the bedroom door, attracted by the noise, is a stocky man,
features heavy and brooding.
The three Dancers from the woods burst into the farmhouse clearing at
this time, stop, and look around. One of them looks at the others,
cackles insanely and lets off a perfect rebel yell that echoes through
the clearning. The other two burst into perfectly tuned chorus of
"Dixie".
Soulcatcher stands inside the barn now. Looking one direction he sees
Patrick, in the other Quiet, both covered in blood--theirs and not.
His head turns to the calls from outside.
Snow Walker, slightly behind the large man as he hastily enters, finds
his neck with sharpened claws, and squeezes. Her second hand wraps
around the fat body, laying open his midrif and pulling him around,
facing the door, between frame and Walker.
Calls the Wind twists around quickly enough to regret it, at the calls,
and, muzzle wrinkling again, she plants both hands in gore-dampened
ground, and attempts to push herself to her feet.
Quiet growls at Patrick, the sound a bit unsteady and bubbly from the
blood in her mangled nose. ~If they sing Rocky-Top, I'm just going to
frenzy.~ As she speaks, the crinos is walking toward the door, away
from the still Dancer, although her steps are a little unsteady.
Sill whistling Dixie, the three Garou in the center turn, look at Calls
The Wind and break into whoops. ~Get her!~ screams one, and the
whistling stops.
Crinos claws slice through Glabro skin like a hot knife through butter
and the man collapses with a shriek as he starts to bulk up, rage
fueling a shift to Crinos that does not finish before he collapses. A
few seconds later the door literally shatters, torn off of its hinges
as a hulking form smashes into the room on his heels.
Pack> Yasif Hassan sends through Mask, "I've found Sepdet. So you are
fighting the Dancers that hunt her and this brother?"
Snow Walker uses the dead glabro as a shield as she pushes back and
toward the window, avoiding the charge of the form as she does so.
Pack> Yasif Hassan sends through Mask, "If you need to flee, do so. We
can find them again. With more of us."
As it throws itself after her the creature spews glowing green vomit at
Snow Walker and the dead body. It spatters across both, burning her
hands and the left side of her face. The dead dancer she holds
crackles and sizzles as it melts in huge chunks.
Calls the Wind manages to get to her feet, bones healing even as she
rests her weight back on the mending bone. Ears lain back, every tooth
bared, and crouched at the ready, she howls a challenge to the three
charging Dancers, standing her ground. There is a tone of succor in
the howl as well.
Ahead of Quiet, Soulcatcher makes it back to the door of the barn in
time to see the Dancers moving toward Calls. In a rage he breaks into
a run to tackle the closest.
The Dancer nearest to Soulcatcher spins, hearing something and lobs
something towards the Wendigo. Halfway there, it burts into flame.
Snow Walker gives up the burning glabro, pushing it toward the onrushing
form and using the recoil to hurl herself back and out the window.
Twisting in air, she attempts to curl into a roll as she falls.
Snow Walker, able to twist herself around and brace for the impact,
lands relatively well, only spraining her wrist. The body comes flying
out of the window after her but misses.
Calls the Wind, spotting Soulcatcher's advance, and the flaming thing,
sizes up the other two Dancers, and drops into a three point position,
running off to her right and out of the direct charge of the Dancers.
The two Dancers bray happily and begin to give chase.
It becomes apparent at this point that there is a fire on the lower
level of the house in addition to the one in the field, shedding some
light on the barnyard.
The two members of Crossing, both worse for wear, come out of the barn.
Quiet, standing tall despite her obvious wounds, comes out of the
bottom door; Whitestreak flies out of the hayloft entry. The two take
stock of the current situation and go to Call's aid, the Uktena flying
easily and Quiet shifting into hispo at a run.
WayFinder, seeing the fight in the barn is wrapped up, stalks over to
the group of Dancers confronting Calls the Wind and Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher dodges the thrown, and now flaming, object and continues his
run toward the Dancer.
Calls the Wind lopes a goodly distance away, looking back over her
shoulder, to see if the two continue to chase are indeed behind her.
By a tree, she skids to a halt, and wheels about, turning the chase,
into a charge, and, perhaps, catching the Dancers offguard. She pushes
up to two feet, arms free to aim blows at the Dancers once she's close
enough.
Snow Walker finds her footing and gives a quick glance toward the
window. Turning toward her fleeing tribemate, she lunges toward the
nearest Dancer, claws flying before her.
As Soulcatcher ducks, the Dancer gives a mad cackle, leaps straight up
into the air and over--a distance of several yards, and lands behind
the Wendigo. It gives Soulcatcher a powerful swipe, sending him
sprawling into the dirt bleeding with several claw wounds.
The two Dancers turn as one and spring for Snow Walker as her claws rip
out a hunk of flesh from the nearest one. The other dancer growls, and
his mouth begins to froth with a vile green foam.
Snow Walker pulls the dancer in her hands up, whirling it between
herself and the green-frothing beast.
WayFinder lunges for the Dancer behind Soulcatcher, diving low,
attempting to hamstring it with her claws.
There is another entire string of Whippoorwill calls as the Dancer atop
the roof and three from inside the house gather to watch the fight,
loudly debating amongst themselves whether or not to join in.
Soulcatcher's enraged howl at being countered such carries in the night.
He scrambles to regain his feet, blood from the claw marks streaking
down his lower back and legs.
Quiet growls a lupine obsenity and peals off, toward Soulcatcher and the
van.
Although Snow Walker took a chunk out of the Dancer, she did not grip it
very well, and her attempts to move it only create another line of
mild wounds down the Dancer's arms. It turns and snaps at Snow Walker,
catching and ripping her shoulder and arm. The Dancer with the
frothing mouth lunges, but misses, only managing to score a mile claw
rake as it recovers from it's poorly judged action.
Pack> Quiet says ""Fuck the Wendigo. After you get the van started, howl
for them to pull out. I'll try to cut Joseph free and I'm on my way."
Calls the Wind continues to race back toward the fray.
Whitestreak jets towards the van, shifting as he flies in that
direction.
Whitestreak contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Whitestreak shifts into Homid form.
The Dancer between WayFinder and Soulcatcher howls up at the roof
Dancers. ~Party! They ain't leaving--come have fun!~ as it spins
around and takes a blow towards WayFinder that rips open her chest
even as she rakes claws down its legs, leaving one leg useless.
Snow Walker's eyes fill with shadows of death as she crouches and
attempts to step back, away from the house. Shifting to hispo as she
moves.
Snow Walker contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Snow Walker shifts into Hispo form.
Judging the distance to the ground the three dancers begin the laborious
process of climbing down the side of the house to the ground below,
laughing all the way.
Soulcatcher finds his feet and takes advantages of the opening, charging
the Dancer while he's busy dealing with Wayfinder. His jaws snap as he
rakes with his claws as well.
The fourth, atop the roof, eyes the sky suspiciously but does not join
the party. Yet.
Snow Walker falls to the ground, transformation complete, and flies
toward the van.
Quiet leaps at the Dancer at a dead run, attempting to simply bowl it
over with her quarter-ton mass. The Gaian snaps out a command to the
others as she leaps, ~Get to the vehicle! Now!~ Quiet takes her own
advice, speeding unnaturally toward the van after coming back to the
ground.
Patrick gets into the van and starts the engine, blinking the lights a
few times. "Okay, peoples. Fucking strategic retreat!"
WayFinder lets out a short howl of pain, quickly suppressed, and tries
to roll out and away from the Dancer.
The Dancer on WayFinder spins with a howl of fury, locking onto
SoulCatcher even as Quiet bowls into them both. Flesh rips as both
SoulCatcher and the Dancer are ripped away from each other.
SoulCatcher is flung closer to the van...
Patrick revs the engine a couple of times. "C'mon, guys! We're outta
here!"
Green Foam and his partner begin slowly ?waltzing? over towards the
other fight.
Pack> Patrick sends via Mask, "Y'know, I like having a totem of Cunning
sometimes."
Soulcatcher rolls out of the throw and gains his feet in an easy motion,
loping toward the van.
About this time the three Dancers drop the last few feet to the ground
and look around with fake bewilderment plastered over their faces.
~Fuck, man. Where's everyone goin'?~
WayFinder comes to her feet, and shaking her head in disorientation,
lurches toward the van.
Quiet is already speading toward the van, shifting down to a more
van-sized shape as she does. It seems a wonder she can even see where
it is, with the mass of blood and gore that coats her face even now.
Quiet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Lupus form.
Snow Walker waits at the van, preparing to help defend others as they
approach.
Patrick mutters, "I'd hate to explain these blood stains to the
upholstery cleaners...." He calls one more time outside the van, "All
aboard!?"
Flames begin to lick up around the side of the building and the fire in
the field has spreaded a considerable distance.
Calls the Wind runs, hard, for the van, arriving and shifting down to a
size better suited to climbing aboard, before she leaps inside.
Quiet scrabbles into the open door and clammers into the front seat again.
Calls the Wind contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Calls the Wind freezes a moment, bone and muscle realigning into Lupus
form.
Soulcatcher shifts down and jumps into the van even as Patrick calls. He
looks back at the barn and the house with a grimaced sneer.
WayFinder gaining speed, and shifts to lupus as she approaches the van,
leaping into the side door.
WayFinder contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Soulcatcher contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
WayFinder shifts into Lupus form.
Soulcatcher pauses, his form losing its continuity and twisting into
Glabro form.
Snow Walker jumps in, shifting down to a reasonable size as she does so.
The two Dancers make as if they are seriously considering pursuit.
Instead, one holds back the others and calls. ~Fuck you! This is *our*
territory!~ The Dancer atop the roof crouches at the edge and shifts
back to Glabro form, mooning the occupants of the van.
Snow Walker contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Snow Walker shifts into Lupus form.
They continue to caper about in strength, seemingly unconcerned about
their fallen comrades, the bloodlust still in their eyes.
Patrick whips the van around in as tight a turn as it can manuever.
Making sure everyone alive is in, he speeds off down the lane back
towards the highway. "Anyone take directions on how to get back home,
or do we have to consult a map?"
Silent Storm sits, still breathing heavy, on the floor of the back of
the van. Heavy shadows still play across her face as she stares back
toward the disappearing carnage.
Quiet climbs up as well as she can manage in the joining van, looking
back over the others. In the dim light, only those closest to her can
see that her left eye is swollen almost completely shut and her nose
is a mangled ruin. She looks back and forth among the passengers,
obviously attempting to scent. Where is Deepsprings?
Joseph is brooding, and silent, as his eyes look up into Quiet's. It's
enough.
Calls the Wind lies on a seat, licking at her left leg, breath short.
She pauses long enough to lift her head, flick an ear at Quiet, and
grunt.
WayFinder's claws scrabble on the van's floor, as she seeks to keep her
balance in the rough movement. Turning toward Quiet, she whines. This
one saw her head into the forest, but no more.
Quiet begins to tremble, as both the pain and a realization that she
does not wish to make start to set in. She says more forcefully,
looking at the silent Joseph, ~Where is Deepsprings?~
Patrick's concentration is on trying to drive the van through a haze of
blood and pain; he doesn't seem to hear the question.
Silent Storm stares back, silently, waiting for the grief to come... and
to pass.
Joseph slowly closes his eyes, and then turns his head to look out the
window of the van, at anything other than Quiet. ~Gone.~ He answers.
Quiet freezes, then hunches in the seat. She says, mournfully, ~And we
left her body.~ The Voice then falls silent, huddled into herself.
Calls the Wind grunts again, and pauses in her grooming, to shift
another time, into her breed form. Once there, she lays her head back
on the seat behind her, eyes tightly closed and jaw tightly clenched.
Calls the Wind contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Calls the Wind freezes a moment, bone and muscle realigning into Homid
form.
Patrick mutters as he drives down the lane, "If you wanna go back, we
can. Now, though, not later."
Quiet says, in a voice heavy with blood and sorrow. No. We will merely
add our bodies to hers. I...I could not fight them, again, tonight.
Patrick nods. "Yeah, my thought exactly." Turning from the narrow lane
back onto the highway, he speeds up, though the van is weaving a
little from Patrick's less-than-perfect control.
WayFinder huddles in a ball on the floor, nose tucked under her tail,
eyes turning inward for the rest of the journey.
Calls the Wind's face, slowly, drains of the majority of color, as she
rests her head against the back of the seat she sits on.
Joseph turns his head away from the window, unable to watch things just
roll by anymore. He looks around the van, his gaze falling on Calls.
Concern seeps into his expression, though in the shifting shadows of
the car he cant be sure of what he sees. "Calls?" he asks tentatively.
Calls the Wind doesn't respond at all, her only movement coming from the
jarring that a moving vehicle has on a body at rest. She has not paled
any farther, but she is decidedly ashen.
Joseph climbs out of his chair, muttering to himself, more panic in his
voice now. "Calls?" his hand touches her cheek. He whines a soft noise
at finding her out cold. "Quiet."
Quiet raises her head blearily at the sound of her name. She again leans
up on the seat, her sorrowing face peering over.
Joseph says as he checks to make sure she's alive, "Something's wrong."
Among her wounds, he finds the bullet hole. He makes the
connection. "Silver."
Quiet's ears tilt back, weakly. Dig it out; it will burn her if she
shifts to heal.
Joseph nods at Quiet's instruction and does just that, using his claws to
dig out the offensive silver.
Silent Storm wakes up from her delerious trance as Joseph's word sink
in. She turns to see to her tribemates.
Silent Storm knows a healer, a pack-mate of Wayfinder. Perhaps when we
return, she can help heal our wounds.
Quiet says, wearily. I can heal, but unless I again ignore my pain, I am
too afraid of erring. She lowers her head, weakly. And I do not think
I have the strength of will to ignore my pain again tonight.
Joseph nods to Storm, as he does his best dig the silver out without
ripping into Calls more than he has to. Success yields a snarl as the
silver touches his glabro'd hand.
Calls the Wind _is_ alive, but healing will take some time, if she is
left on her own to do so. Skin still ashen, she doesn't flinch at all
as the silver is removed, heads still dropped back as it was.
Joseph lays a hand on Calls, and leans her against him for the rest of
the ride.
Silent Storm carefully licks the opened wound with her soft tongue,
attempting to clean without causing further pain.
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