Collin's RoP

[ A plot device sprung by an Owl-spirit deposits Collin somwhere after a bizarre trek through the umbra. Collin has a lively adventure, made far more interesting by the fact that the GM's dice evidently had it in for him. ]

Collin finds himself walking for a long time, bumping into things or brushing past things occasionally as if he were walking through a long house with no lights and strange, unexpected pieces of furniture (or less solid and sensible items) scattered throughout it. But the ground underfoot feels like cobbles, or bare-packed dirt, or dry stubbly grass. It's dark and utterly silent. At last he seems to be coming towards moonlight, and suddenly he finds himself stepping out between the shadowy trunks of two trees into the outdoors, lit by stars but no moon.

This is some random patch of wilderness, probably rather north, to judge by the nip in the air and the hardness of the loamy ground between patchy stands of tall lodgepole pines. This seems to be a quiet slope in the mountains, whose looming curves block out the stars. Apart from the occasional rustle of some small woodland creature going about its business, spare silence lies over the high forest like an invisible shroud of fog.
There happens to be a raised hummock of earth here, some ten yards in length and roughly oval, on which younger trees are growing. But the thin down of old rotting needles has been shoved aside on part of it, and a huge gaping hole (partly shadowed by an older, larger tree abutting it) is dug into the side of the mound like a gap between teeth. The gash is too dark to tell how deep it is from the outside.
There's no sign or sound of any creature; even the owl has taken flight, or at least is hidden from view.
Collin curses quietly a few times on his way through as he bumps into things, but he maanges to keep mostly calm on his way through. He steps between the trees and looks around, then up. "Mmn. Okay. So that's different." he mutters to himself quietly.
Collin looks upwards towards the moon again, then sniffs a bit, sensing, just in case, for the taint of the Wyrm in the area if he can find it.
Somewhere in the far distance, a timber wolf howls a perfectly normal-sounding territory-marking call, just at the edge of hearing. Apart from that, the woods seems utterly peaceful, almost muffled here, the heavy secretive silence of an old cathedral or ruined temple.
Collin mmmns, then blurs out of sight after a second, licking his lips. He crouches down and carefully approaches the entrance to the mount, peeking inside.
Collin glances up, and around quickly, making sure he keeps note of his surroundings too, just so he can be sure nothing is creeping above him. Tree Frogs remembered.
The winds are mercifully still here, perhaps contributing to the solemn silence of the place. The hole in the mound seems to be rough-dug straight into the dirt, which is packed and seems to have been here for a long time. (Unsurprisingly, since things are growing on it.) It looks like someone or something has burrowed their way in, for there are clawmarks rather than shovelmarks, and dirt thrown everywhere around the big hole. It seems to go down into the heart of the mound about six to eight feel below the surface, a crude gash in the ground that only barely begins to be a tunnel before stopping.
Collin makes a face, obviously thinking, "I've got a *bad* feeling about this." He reaches down with a finger and traces the edges of the clawmarks, seeing how long they are.
They're crumbly, since the ground of a pine forest is fairly sandy and dry, but they could be something besides bear. Probably not a dinosaur. And--oh yes--the taint is coming from somewhere around here. As you brush your finger over the dirt walls of the crude excavations, you notice, closer to the level of what would be "ground" before the mound had been built here, something white but heavily stained protruding from the dirt like the end of a root.
Collin's brow furrows. He lenas down and peers at the white thingy, then glances around quickly, making a quick note of which trees are the easiest to climb, from the looks of them, and which ways might be good escape routes *just* in case.
There is, in fact, one sizable pine right at the edge of the mound, some of its roots bared by the diggings. And that white thing could be bone. You hear a faint rustling noise.
Collin looks towards the source of the noise, backing up from the edge of the pit, again just in case.
Ghan-buri-Ghan
This is a shaggy, squat humanoid, with a huge pot belly, broad hands, splayed feet, a broad face, narrow deepset eyes, and jowls--yes, even in Crinos. He is covered in most forms in a matted curly gray fur, culminating in an unkempt mane drawn back in a loose (that is to say, falling out) pigtail.
Even looking, even with keen senses, something still explodes unexpectably from around that very tree, only half-seen, scentless, and yelling in a gutteral screaming voice as a stout hempen rope flies out of thin air from the blur and strikes Collin forcefully in the chest.
Collin lets out a 'woof' as the air is forced from his chest, shifting up to Crinos quickly. He quickly attempts to lean into the fall that that blow is going to give him so he can spring to his feet quickly enough with*out* falling into th pit.
The scraggly humanoid, form becoming more distinct and suddenly snapping fully into view as he moves, ripples into crinos too, and considerably faster, than Collin, with fluid ease. (If anything can be called fluid about him/it.) He hops up and down like an enraged monkey, not attacking the cub at all, simply growling, "Thief! Gotcha! Gotcha! Get'm thief!" The rope almost seems like a live thing, snaking out of the creature's hands and around Collin's body and staying with him as he changes.
Collin holds up his hands, saying, ~Hey now! I'm no thief!~ He tries to get out of the rope, kind of annoyed. Since he the guy is obviously faster than he is, getting away is going to be a little harder, physically.
The rope only coils tighter. It looks like hemp, but it stretches like woven cable. It definitely has a mind of its own, wrapping arms, legs, and almost rudely snaking beetween Collin's legs while the madman dashes up onto the mound, around and around Collin like a crazed puppy, waving his hands. "Do you eat bones? Do you? You'll eat shit now, boy! Eat shit! Gah fren HEY!" It points a bony finger at him and glares under bushy eyebrows.
Collin squawks a little at the rope, saying, ~No, no, I don't eat bones. Look, I'm no thief, if I was a thief I would of gone *down* there quicket to get out of here quicker, right? So I'm no thief." he erks a bit.
The enraged mop of a Garou picks up some of the dirt cast out of the pit and throws it at Collin's face, snorting at him. "I saw. I see you come, boop shee bong. Who you? How you find your way bop shit bang five hundred mile from no place, right to here? Who you? Whatchyou want with my bones?"
The rope's end coils languidly around Collin's neck and starts tickling his ears with the frayed end. It's a pest. And it's not giving.
Collin relaxes a bit. He can't seem to break the rope, not with physical struggling in it. He activates his persuasion gift. ~That's a long story, man. I'll tell it to you if you want to hear it. But don't make this thing any tighter, okay?~
Ghan peers at Collin suspiciously and hops onto the lip of the mound, dangling his feet over the edge and shifting back down to glabro? Homid? Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to help. He gives a snort. "Ghan-buri-Ghan not doing anything. Split Pea Soup doing that." He waggles a hand vaguely at Collin, or perhaps the rope itself. "You talk? Then talk. What you know about my bones?"
Collin looks down at the rope, ~Nice to meet you, Split-Pea,Soup.~ He grins wolfishly, then says to Ghan-Buri-Ghan, ~They're your bones? I'm sorry, I didn't know that.~
Collin smiles at Ghan, then adds, ~Anyways, my name is Collin.~
The rope eases just a tad, at the greeting, although not enough for him to do much more than breathe. It continues poking at his ears.
Ghan-buri-ghan slaps both his knees and shouts, ~They're NOT my bones. My bones are in my skin, you stupid root. Collin? It figures. Graverobbers are always named Collin.~
At least that's a little easing, yes. Collin makes a face a bit, ~Really? Looks like I should find a new name. That's kind of what I'm trying to do, too. Find something. That's why I'm out here. But it's not your bones that I'm after, see, I'm looking for something that belongs to me personally.~
"Collin is Greek accusative of the Latin word for 'mound of dirt', which is what we're sitting on," Ghan says in quite a different tone of voice, that of the crisp schoolmaster. He taps a yellow tooth with a finger, still frowning at the cub, and after a moment's thought picks up another glob of dirt and tosses it at him. "So whose bones are you looking for?"
Collin says, ~Really? I didn't know you knew Greek. So your name is Ghan? And well, I'm not looking for anyone's bones, not yet. Have you been robbed before or something?~
"Ghan-BURI-Ghan," the man says firmly, drawing himself up and slapping his forehead with the flat of one hand. He blinks several times and then storms on, "Flap pissing big hole in grave-mound. Who do you think took the bones? Sparrows to line nests? And why are you in on it?"

You paged Collin with 'Oh, I just realized. Ghan-buri-Ghan really does smell clean, even to your crinos nose. He must be pulling some pretty hefty magic, to be masking all that B.O. ;)'.
Collin pages: My claws are a different size than the one that made the marks in the hole, right? :)
You paged Collin with 'In crinos? Only a little smaller.'.
You paged Collin with 'It looked within the realm of a crinos. A big one. :)'.
From afar, Collin nods, "Alright. Just wondering, 'coz Collin might try to show that his hands are smaller so that he couldn't of made the marks that dug up the bones. :)"
You paged Collin with 'You're expecting that Ghan is sane, perhaps? :)'.
Collin pages: Not at all. :)
You paged Collin with 'Probably wise. :)'.

Collin looks down at Split-Pea-Soup again, then says, ~Nice rope, by the way. Pretty cool.~ he looks back up at Ghan, then says, ~I'm really not sure, man, I wish I knew.~
Collin adds, ~I *might* be able to help somehow, though.~
Ghan is silent for a bit, staring at him. "Hunh." Again: "Hump." And finally: "Hm." Abruptly he hops forward and thumps Collin hard on the shoulders with both fists. "You're a whelp, aren't you?" he growls, then spits (not at Collin). At this odd signal, the rope begins to unwind itself in a leisurely fashion.
Collin looks somewhat pained from the thumping on his shoulders, but he manages to remain standing. He uhs, ~A whelp? Well, I *am* pretty young, yah. Thanks, Split-Pea-Soup." he tells that to the rope when it's almost finished unwinding him, then he looks at Ghan.
From afar, Collin ...ooo000(At least I didn't have to tell him stories for a thousand nights.)
The man peers up at him with lower lip protruding dubiously. "Smells like a whelp. How you help? You don't know even your name certain, nor what you doing now! How can you guess what you'll be doing next?" The rope sinks to the ground around Collin's ankles and rustles and slithers peaceably.
Collin mmmphs, ~That's a good point. But I'll figure it out. It's just what I've got to do. Figure it out, you know?~ He looks down at the rope, then smiles a bit, but he keeps one eye on Ghan.
Ghan points his elbows out sideways and pumps them ferociously. "You say nothing rine splat Hagen-daas well!" he barks, then quiets down again. "Bones are hushed. My secret. Someone else's secret. Dangerous. You'd probably better go away; Ghan-Buri-Ghan and Split Pea Soup have to look after them."
Collinbobs his head, ~But I said I'd try to help. You did let me go and all.~ he grins, tongue lolling out a bit, ~And miost secrets can be dangerous. But if I see the bones and stuff, I'll bring them back here. What ever dug them up was awful big.~
The man's bizarre thought patterns are getting to you, or else that rope must have pinched off some oxygen to your brain. As Ghan-buri-Ghan speaks, for a split second his ugly form and face are superimposed by the benign, grotesquely jolly features of a bearded dwarf with bear's ears, Egyptian eyes, and a protruding tongue, carved out of stone. Luckily, the hallucination disappears instantly.
Ghan-buri-ghan snorts. "Dig hole any bigger, I trap them in it like gophers in a golf pocket. Stupid sick pan thieves. Well. What tribe you, anyway, whelp?" He suddenly snarls. "Not Windbag?"
Collin blinks a bit, ~Huh? Oh, no, not a windbag. I'm a Strider. Or at least, I want to be one.~ He grins, tongue lolling again. ~Kinda hard to miss.~ He reaches up and flicks his ear.
Ghan-buri-Ghan reaches for another clod of dirt with a start, although he doesn't throw it. "Strider? Ha! You walk with your mouth as much as your feet!" He slaps his forehead again. "Stargazer, right and strong!"
Ghan mutters under his stale breath, "You do not act like a Strider, whelp!"
Collin grins at Ghan a bit, ~Every Strider acts different. What do you think a Strider should act like?~
"They know where they're going, what they're doing, and never bother to tell anyone about it!" Ghan-buri-ghan complains with another spit. The rope starts oozing down into the pit. "No wonder they all got killed. What do you do when you arrive in a new land with a bunch of Windbags? Introduce yourself? Noooo, they had to be all secret and special and killed. Not that my folk were any more clever, or they wouldn't have been off on some crazy quest for worthless secrets with a bunch of nosefed losers."
Collin errrs a bit, ~A lot of Striders died around here, then?~
Ghan gives a toothy smile at Collin's sudden wariness. "Five? Six? Hard to tell. 'Specially with them bone stealing spit shine frap thieves around. But there's room for more, now, anyway." He looks sour. "Well, I suppose it's your secret too. Your folk took a ways and time to know who they were or what they were doing or where they were going, after they get driven out of their place tail-between-legs, you see? Wander all over the place. Pests. Some came to us, ask us where the Wendbags and Croakers and Oookies went. Well, how the hell should we know?" Ghan hollers.
From afar, Collin watches the 'clue' light turn on in Collin's head. Jinkies!
Ghan continues more quietly, "Well, sure, they came across the land bridge. But when a chap goes to be by hisself in the woods, do you go followin' him and botherin' him? No!" He jabs a thumb at Collin's stomach. "He'll drop Split Pea Soup on you, or worse! So our noble forebearers finally send a party over the ocean now--no land bridge anymore, mind, they missed the boat by some thousand year--and get over here, and after a few days wanderin' around they meet up with Winbags and manage to have themselves a good loud argument and end up bones. Well. After they'd been sittin' in the dirt a time."
Collin huhs. He scratches his head, then rocks back on his heels, "Yeah, so you and Split-Pea-Soup protect this area from the Grave-Robbers." He scratches his head a little with a clawed fingertip.
Ghan-buri-Ghan snorts. "Nah, we just come and keep the spirits company sometime, you know? Guardin' graves is for your folk. Only someone's been diggin'. And these folk, they been buried a long time, see, and they don't like it! And who would? An' I think maybe these squirt eye tippers have snitched a fetish or two, even. And--bugger."
From upslope, through the dark, comes the faint sound of footsteps crunching through underbrush.
When Ghan is distracted by the sound of the footsteps, Collin looks up and peers towards the sight of it, taking a step back and blurring if he can get away with it. It's not like Ghan won't be able to find him if he wants to.
In fact, Ghan doesn't even try. He simply hisses, sharply and authoritatively, "Hide, whelp. Hide. That's a fuck prop spittle order." Then the little man blurs upward into crinos and out of the visible spectrum, blending in effortlessly with the shadows.
Collin looks around quickly, indeed searching for what would make a good, though not totally *obivous* spot to hide in. As in, he's not going to hide in a spot where there's a big neon sign that says 'Hide here!'.
The hole is probably right out, then, and the undergrowth in this area is sparse. But there are a reasonable number of trees, and it's a dark moonless night, so a canny ragabash should be able to contrive something. Meanwhile, dimly visible through the trees, four hulking figures stride into view that would send the Veil whining and whimpering off in a million scattered pieces and directions. They are crinos, but big, sporting several odd shapes--hard to make out in this light, but there's a few extra limbs between them, one with what looks like fans of wire for ears, and one with a huge long beak, bill, or some other proboscis that makes one glad most woodpeckers aren't ten feet tall. Ghan is gone. The rope is squiggling down into the shadows of the hole.
Since there is no wind, Collin gets smart. He heads for the treets, taking up a position behind the furthest one back and attemping to blend in. He leans against it heavily so that his footing won't shift and give him away, and he makes sure it's sturdy enough to support his weight. He gets very, very still.
The figures come nearer, growling and talking in low, uncouth voices in words you can't quite make out smattered with real Garou. There is "Ghash" and "Shagrat" as well as other more intelligible things. Suddenly, one of the ones in back trips and goes flat.
It takes them a few moments to notice the dropped one, but the second one in back hits the ground pretty hard as he, too, falls, hard enough to make a sizable >thud< as he crumples, groaning over a bent leg. The two remaining ones immediately leap forward before turning, and one of them--the one with the bits of metal sticking out of his head like the spokes of a broken umbrella--suddenly flares into flame, green flame, and snaps one of his hands almost like a whip as it too sprouts fire. They snarl and bellow.
From afar, Collin ...ooo000(Spirals? Naaah.)
To everyone: Sepdet pages "Spirals, Collin? No. They're Beige Grid Skippers. :)"
Collin pages to the room: Figgers! I knew they weren't your typical Garou.
Collin looks behind him and around quickly, again gauging the area to find out what the deal is for escape routes. He doesn't move, staring towards the Icky-Looking Garou. Thank Gaia for Blur of the Milky Eye, apparently.
It is actually an open wooded slope, typically sparse of underbrush as lodgepole pine forests tend to be. You're evidently a thousand feet up or so in a mountain valley, although it's dark, the trees are tall, and their upper limbs obscure much of the surrounding area. Downhill looks denser, though, and may be giving way to some other kind of shrubbery further down. The party of Dancers was coming from upslope and along the mountainside to the left.
Slowly, Collin moves his way further away, letting the Dancers do their thing. He doesn't want to get too far away, certainly, and he sniffs a few times, hoping to catch at least some vague hint of at least *one* scent. Unfortunately, without wind, this is most likely a futile effort. So instead, he keeps them within his line of sight as he picks his way towards the denser area carefully, trying very hard not to give himself away at all.
The fight is going very strangely, at high speed--Ghan has whirled back into view and is hopping like a monkey, diving in, out, sideways, and even leaping on top of heads, hammering with small blows that appear to do little visible damage but seem to leave limbs frozen for several seconds at a time, or otherwise incapacitate opponents many times his size. Several of them, the flaming one particularly, keep aiming and slamming blows into each other, missing the mad old hermit altogether and howling like fifty giants. But there's a sudden strained battle cry of "Fried frisbee bandsnatch!" which is abruptly choked off in a bellow of pain. A moment later, curses of the Dancers are replaced by gruff guffaws of laughter, and Ghan's barks and growls and yells are replaced by more of his muffled and bizarre curses.
Collin grimaces, making a face. He looks pretty pained, in fact, by the sound of Ghan's curses. But he's not going to get stupid and leap into a fight with obviously overwhelming odds.
Ghan is dragged away still kicking, as the first downed Dancer struggles groggily to his feet. (The second one he took down is already up again, which looked to have been the one too many that caught the old monkey offguard.) Mr. Flame boy, whose name is apparently "Ghash", has got Ghan by the scruff of the neck. Collin catches snatches of ~tickle the flea~ and ~prisoner~ and ~torture~ and ~come back to dig later~, along with typical gloating and poking of the unfortunate prisoner.
Collin grins toothily. He shifts down to Lupus form and trails the group at a goodly distance, moving to follow their scent if he can.
Unfortunately, it is a long, long hike, and the Dancers cover it with great lumping strides, leaving the limping one, Mr. Beak, to trail along after grumbling. Fortunately, Sepdet's field trips leading Collin hiking over hill and dale for hours are coming in handy now. It is getting close to dawn when, at last, you reach a gloomy-looking outcropping of rock higher up in the mountains, before which a dried-up streambed is covered in moss and muck. There are signs of a camp here, a fire-ring and many scattered bones and a less than pleasant smell, and the Dancers set about tying up Ghan to the rocks. Somewhere along the journey he has grown limp and silent, to their frustration, for he responds to no kicks, prods, or even a bit of judiciously-applied fire. The Dancers fall to discussing him, and arguing over him, rather heatedly, for a long uncomfortable time.

To everyone: Sepdet says "And here, I think, is where I'm going to leave it. Collin will have to be hiding a good distance away, as this part of the mountainside is more sparsely-treed. I've been steering pretty heavily thus far, for which I apologize, but part 2 is much more open-ended--it's up to Collin to decide what he thinks is the right--or wise--thing to do. ;)"

Collin's RoP Part 2

(the following night)

You paged Collin with 'So. You have a camp of 4 Dancers, a strategically unconscious Ghan-buri-Ghan. The rope, alas, will take an hour or so to collect, since you forgot it in your hurry not to lose sight of where the Dancers were headed.'.
From afar, Collin yups. :)
From afar, Collin grins. How fast can Split-Pea move is he *really* moves fast? :)
You paged Collin with 'About as fast as a striking cobra!'.
From afar, Collin grins, "Good, good. I'm going to need him."

While Collin watches the Dancers moving amidst the broken rocks, offal, and telltale bones scattered over the dark mountainside, two of them finish tying Ghan to an exposed spur of rock almost like a petrified stump. They argue over what to do with him for some time, but the sport of torture and getting answers from their prisoner must wait until he wakes. In the meantime, the flaming one, Ghash, and the four-armed hulk Shagrat, decide to return to the grave mound and dig for fetishes while the other two keep guard.
As soon as that's been decided, Collin's lupine face twists into a little grimace of annoyance. He turns and decides to beat the two there to the site and grab Split-Pea, then return in an attempt to somehow deal with the other two Spirals before the Diggers return. This is definately going to require speed.

From afar, Collin cackles. Good, good, they split up. That makes it even *EASIER*. :)
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan would not make you defeat a pack of 4 BSDs. That would not be possible for a cub, or even a cliath, unless they were wimpy. ;)
From afar, Collin grins, "Well, I was trying to think of a plan that'd distract them all and make them split up

Collin's training of long running again comes in handy, although he may grow weary on the way. Luckily, the Dancers do not know it is a race, and although they lumber along at a good pace, they are not running, so he outdistances them with no trouble.
Collin's definately tiring some. He doesn't look to happy. He does his best to estimate how much time it's going to take them to cross that distance, especially carrying any Fetishes. He appears at the hole and leans down, wurfling quietly, ~Split-Pea-Soup? I neeeeed you.~
There is a writhing in the darkness which is not a snake, and the hempen coil suddenly shoots out of its hiding place like a giant rubber band and wraps itself loosely around his neck and forelegs, wriggling agitatedly.

From afar, Collin makes a face. Great. Now I have to run the risk of getting Ghan and taking out the two with him first, or waiting for the other two to return with any Fetishes they've found. :P
Collin pages: Or try to do something about them here. :P
From afar, Collin hrms. :)

The two Dancers have not arrived yet, and probably will not for another half hour or so; Collin made good time. The forest is again broodingly quiet, as if the spirits of the dead were half-aware of what has been going on lately over their tomb.

Collin pages to the room: How sturdy do the trees look? :)
You paged Collin with 'Sturdy, but skinny, and lacking many branches. Lodgepoles go up like telephone poles, and then have a few sparse branches way up top. Looks kinda dorky.'.
From afar, Collin nods, "If I take out the two here, I have to do it without getting hurt, because if I'm hurt, they'll smell me coming a mile away. Which means my trap has to be too succesful. :P How hurt did Ghan look?"
You paged Collin with 'Squashed ribcage that didn't appear to be healing, bleeding head, but he was cursing up a storm when they started carrying him off. Maybe 3-4.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods, "Alright. That means he won't be much help. I'm gonna have to take out the two here while I'm at full-strength, then. Can I uproot the trees some, but make it so they aren't noticably uprooted? Or are they too heavy?
You paged Collin with 'as in, undermine roots? I think yes; wolves are good diggers... it might take some skill to hide evidence of fresh digging but I'll leave that up to you. I also recall I described one right next to the trench in the mound, its roots already partly exposed.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. Collin has hid things like that before, so he should be able to do it fairly well, though they could notice it. I'm hoping by then it'll be to late. I only have to distract one and get Split-Pea to choke him into unconsciousness.
You paged Collin with 'Okay, so. Tell me what, exactly, you're doing before they arrive. Building the Great Wall of China is probably not possible in 30 minutes. :)'.
Collin pages: Okay. So one has it's roots exposed by the hole. That makes it easier. *grins* Okay, they *should* start digging again at the hole, so I'm going to undermine that trees roots and make it so I can knock it right over when I want to, and hopefully aim it correctly. In any case, it should be a nice enough surprise tactic to stun them *somewhat* long enough for me to sic soup on them. If I have spare time, I'm going set up the edge of the hole they've already made to give way? As in, making it so when they step on to it's edge, the ground beneath 'em gives way thanks to their weight and they slip? This is all assuming they'll be in any position to do this, but I can't think of many other traps right now. :)
You paged Collin with 'You can undercut the edge, but no guarantees they'll not come from the opposite side of the trench and possibly notice the digging.'.
From afar, Collin mmmns. Which way will they be coming in from?
You paged Collin with 'Oh! Right. You could actually tell that. It's a gash dug into the side of the mound at an angle, going down into it, with the tree right at the side of the 'entrance'. You _can_ sorta guess that they're going to come at it from the same direction. So I'll let ya do that.'.
From afar, Collin nods, "So I'll undermine it that way, so they won't notice. Hopefully, they'll start digging, and while one slips, I'll knock the tree over onto the other and and get Split Pea to hopefully keep one out of the fight while I try to do something about the other. :P
You paged Collin with 'Sounds like a plan. Any other last thoughts before Ugly & Ugly show? :)'.
From afar, Collin says, "Mother?" :)
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan laughs. Mom says to make sure you have clean underwear on.
From afar, Collin says, "I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, so no. I did what I could think of already. :P Collin's heart is pounding, though, and he's nervous as hell. And I get the Rite-Name Tree-Dropper, I will hurt you."

Indeed, Collin has barely finished undermining the edge at the entrance of the trench, and wiggling the tree a few times to verify that he has, indeed, cleared away enough dirt beneath it to send it toppling over the hole, before he hears the distant dischord of gruff, harsh laughter and voices and the tramp of feet.
Collin eeps a bit, then skitters off into postion, watching for the two Dancers warily. He looks nervous. Indeed, he doesn't like this much at all. He stays crouched, ready to pounce and knock the tree over. He keeps Split-Pea-Soup at hand, yep.
Shagrat and Ghash emerge from the dark columns of the trees, taking their time to bash fists into a trunk now and then or claw ugly slashes into them. They approach the mound slowly, engaged in bloodthirsty speculation on how long their prisoner will last and whether it's worth taking him back to the hive to walk the spiral. It seems to take forever for them to draw near, although in reality it's only a minute or so...
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan eyes her dice. Um. :/
From afar, Collin groans.
From afar, Collin's pretty fucked, huh. :)
Ghash pauses as he starts to step down into the trench, stooping and peering at the needles Collin used to help hide signs of disturbance. ~What? Crazy man been messing with our hole,~ he growls, suspiciously. Shagrat blinks behind him, looking around. They do not spot the cub crouched against the tree not two feet from them, blurred as he is.
Well, there goes all signs of this going smoothly. Collin would sigh heavily, but he's so nervous he's holding his breath.

From afar, Collin nodnods. Okay. So Ghash was about to step in?
You paged Collin with 'He's standing just outside the area you undermined, and peering suspiciously at the ground there.'.
From afar, Collin giggles a bit and makes an alteration to his plan. Alright. I'm gonna knock over the tree to hit Shagrat on the top of the head, since Ghash stooped some. I'm going to get Split-Pea to tie around Ghash's foot and yank him forward a step so he'll go down into the hole. I'll be burning a rage point too, and will make a determination what I do in my 'rage action' as to how succesfully I pull off keeping them both out of it. :)
You paged Collin with 'Okay. Got it. Pose accordingly. :)'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. Thought I'd tell you before I posed.

Collin positions himself against the tree, then sends it flying on down to hit Shagrat on the head, hopefully dazing him or at least sending him away from Ghash. Using Split-Pea-Soup, he also tries to wrap it around Ghash's foot to yank him down his pre-made slide into the pit.
It's just in time, as Shagrat gives a sudden >snort<, scenting the wind. The tree falls with a crunch of splintering roots, dirt flying up from the base, and clonks the target neatly in the temple like a falling caber. He staggers, stumbling sideways. The rope, meanwhile, has got the general, if not specific idea, and shoots out to tie both of Ghash's legs together behind the knees. He bellows in surprise and tries to stand, and instead topples face first into the pit.

From afar, Collin laughs. Okay. That should take him a moment to recover from, hopefully enough time for me to deal with Shagrat. Did Split-Pea let go when the guy went down into the pit?
You paged Collin with 'Looks like not, though there's not much time to double-check.'.
From afar, Collin laughs. Okay. I'm gonna have to deal with Shagrat, then. I'm going for his legs, wanna rip out his knee with my claws and then get back away from him as quick as I can so I won't be in a place where he can strike me immediately afterwards.
Collin pages: Actually, wait a sec.
Collin pages: How dazed does he look, and how tall is he?
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan believes he's about 8 and a half feet tall, and he looks disoriented, he's staggering, but he might recover in a round or two.
From afar, Collin nods. Then I'm going for his throat, and fast. I need to take him down.
You paged Collin with 'The tree came down a bit crooked--hit the side of his head rather than right on top.'.
From afar, Collin nods. :) But that still knocked him up a bit. I need to take him down or I'm toast. If he gets actions, I'm a dead, man. :)
From afar, Collin tries to think of an appropriate battle-cry, then falls back on an old-stand-by, "DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE." :)

Collin laucnhes himself at the still standing Shagrat, letting Split-Pea hopefully deal with the other guy some. He leaps for him, heading straight for the throat with his claws. He says in gutter English, "Fuuuck me!" on his way over.
From afar, Collin giggles. Collin's though-line, "I am so fucked. I am so dead. Dead, dead, dead. This is dumb. You HIDE from Spirals, don't attack them. Yes."
Collin hears snarling and even more virulent cursing from the trench at his back as he launches himself at the staggering Spiral. Shagrat doesn't see Collin (still blurred) at all, and is utterly blindsided as Collin's claws sink into his throat. It's not a particularly forceful blow, but blood begins to spurt between Collin's fingers as he presses his attack.
Collin's stomach lurches at the sight of the blood, but he doesn't let it deter him. He presses the attack further, furiously lashing out at the guy's throat. He'll lean over to bite and tear too!
Collin's jaws manage to find purchase on the side of his neck as the cub scrabbles to dig into the nearest major artery, his victim thrashing and stumbling backwards. Collin bites deep, but as Shagrat overbalances and trips backwards, two of his four fists connect on either side of Collin's ribcage with a gut-wrenching >crunch< as bones crack and flanks are ripped open by all-too-lethal claws.

You paged Collin with 'That's, uh, 2 agg. :/ These guys are _buff_.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. I know that. That's why I decided to get rid of them first. I have a plan to deal with the other two if I can pull this off.
Collin pages: How badly injured is Shagrat lookin'? :)
You paged Collin with 'He's not doing good; you've about severed his throat. But you're hurting. :)'.
You paged Collin with 'And it sounds like Ghash isn't too happy, behind you.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. But that's because Split-Pea is restraining him. Collin is listening for the sounds of Ghash getting closer, but I'm going to try to finish off Shagrat here so I can attend to him. 2 agg is painful, but it's nothing I can't live with with pumping Adrenaline. Alright. I'm gonna do two attacks here on Shag. One is go for his throat still, and the other is two rip his testicles off. :)
From afar, Collin grins, "Or something like that, I need to finish him quick. :P"
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan's eyes get big. Okay. Go for it.
From afar, Collin laughs, "Why are your eyes getting big? Because of how nasty that sounds? Or what? :) Oh, by the way, can you actually explain how you're determinging what my odds are sometime? I don't know how it all works here."
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan is rolling dice for you, and for the Dancer, giving you a bit of an advantage since he was disoriented. But he's higher rank and stronger than you, so I'm giving his blows more damage if they connect.

Considering his situation, backing off probably isn't an option now, since that'd just bring him further within reach of Shag's claws. He probably wouldn't get away in time. So he claws furiously at his throat, but snakes down with the other clawed hand to savagely tear at the Spiral's genitalia. Hopefully, that'll pain the guy enough to drop him if he doesn't come back from the dead in frenzy to kill him.
Collin pages: Okay. Collin's practiced the testicle-grab. He is a dirty, dirty figter. :P
Shagrat's talons continue to rake into Collin's sides for a few painful seconds, but his life is already ebbing even as Collin rips deeper into his carotid. There is a last gurgling scream as his testicles get ripped off messily, and with a few convulsive shudders, the Dancer settles into the ground. You hear an ominous crackling from behind, the unmistakeable sound of fire.
As Collin turns to take stock of the situation, it becomes clear that Split Pea Soup is in trouble. You can't really see what's going on down there, but the sides of the pit are crumbling from Ghash's struggles and thrashing, and, more importantly, green flames are flickering up from down there. The tree is lying close at hand where it fell. It can probably be lifted, probably heaved; it's only somewhat larger than the caber used by grunting Scots.

From afar, to the room, Collin nodnods. Okay. :) I'm going to heft up the Caber, then, and use it to slam into the firey dude a few times. Fighting him hand to hand isn't possible, unless it looks like I can get the cave to collapse on him instead.
You paged Collin with 'It's about 4-5 foot deep where he is sprawled and thrashing against the sides like a dog in a cage that's too small for it, but the hole slopes down and gets deeper past that point. Go for it.'.
You paged Collin with 'Oh, by the way, you took 1 more level--total of 3--from the last round with Shagrat there.'.
From afar, Collin figured. :)

He hefts the caber, growling a bit in pain from the exertion and his cracked ribs. He then uses it to jam down into the hole and hit flame-boy with it, then knock it against the walls in such a way as to cause the cave to collapse in on him. Maybe that'll put out his flames too! Nothing like a good lack of oxygen.
Success at last! The tree drops just like it's supposed to, onto the writhing and burning behemoth, and the dirt from the sides of the rough hole gives way, helped by the undermining work Collin did earlier. Perhaps, too, the spirits of the dead buried there have some say in the matter. At any rate, Ghash is engulfed in dirt and smooshed under the tree with a yell.
You paged Collin with 'He's still moving under there, but you got 'm good.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. He'll only have so much air, and even if he manages to escape, it'll take him a long time.
Collin stands there for a second or two, listening to the sounds of the muffled and paniced Spiral Dancer.
If a Crinos vomits in the forest, yet no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Yes. It's a terrible retching sound as Collin pukes rather messily on the ground.
The dirt begins to stir like the precursor to an eruption, and the tree--well, if Collin can lift it, unfortunately, so can Ghash--is pushed upwards, as Ghash continues to struggle. One foot kicks free of the dirt, but he seems occupied, for the present, and not making much headway against dirt and tree both.

You paged Collin with 'Okay. He's fairly well buried, but apparently still kicking. You're right, it looks like it's going to take him some time to get out of this.'.
From afar, Collin laughs, and is currently resisting the urge to walk up to his foot and lean down and take his toes, starting with the pinky, ~This little piggy went to the market.~ *RIP*.
Collin pages: This little piggy went... And so on.
You paged Collin with 'Uuuuh. <hee> Pose as you think best. :)'.
From afar, Collin laughs. I know that isn't best, but it's funny. :) Collin's getting out of here.

Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps? Collin runs off to the trees and blurs, shifting down to his Lupus form to get on his way to the other two spirals that he has to deal with somehow.
The run back is slower, and more painful, with several cracked ribs and some chest wounds that are still bleeding profusely. Collin is definitely tired, by the time he makes the hour or so trek back to the place where he left Ghan. The sun is rising, warming the chilly air of the mountains and lighting up the mournful bleak bare shoulder of rock beneath which the Dancers had made their camp, where Ghan is still lying against a rock. The Dancer with the metal in his head is visible sitting on another rock nearby, idly throwing smelly algae and muck at the unconscious Gazer from the choked-up mountain stream coming out of the cleft in the rocks. The other with the wicked-looking beak is nowhere to be seen.
Collin whines at his wounds a little on the way. Though he's reluctant to actually lick them clean. It's icky. He remains blurred, peering at Ghan-Bai-Ghan to see if there's any sign of life at all, to see if, perhaps, the guy is faking his unconsciousness.
Faint whistling breathing, the raspy sound of a set of bruised lungs, is just audible to lupine ears, so Ghan is at least alive. But he is quite limp on his rock, apart from the slight rise and fall of his shaggy chest under the ropes.

Collin pages to the room: How big is the stream?
You paged Collin with 'Just a trickle in the rocks with slushy ground around it; it has a wider bed but it's all choked up with algae and muck now. Looks like the Dancers were dumping in it. Grima's sitting next to the area that's been largely blocked; it's all muddy and slimey and probably has a scummed-over puddle about the size of a card table.'.
From afar, Collin nods, "And so the terrain slopes up from there? What does it look like uphill aways? I'm trying to find a way to turn this terrain to my use. :)"

The layout here is much steeper than the pinewoods below; bare rock juts out of the mountainside in a dinosaur-spine, the broken parts of which form the back of their camp, which is sort of nestled in a notch against the rocky outcropping. The spring wells up out of the split ground beside the stone dike. The rock here is lichen-covered granite, and rises steeply behind and to the other side of the Dancers' camp, which is basically just a hollow area with more dirt there. A thin layer of soil covers the area in patches, or a springy dry moss, and stubby, scraggly spruce trees only two to five feet tall and surrounded by patches of low juniper provide the only real cover besides the rock.

Collin pages to the room: Anything particularily sharply jutting out? :)
Collin pages to the room: Say, something that I could impale him on if I could get him over to it? :)
You paged Collin with 'No, you could bash him, but this rock is just irregular blocks and boulders. There looks to be loose and broken chunks on the dike itself, which is about five feet behind Grima and looks like a large ruined wall.'.
From afar, Collin nods. Mmmn. Okay.

Collin sneaks on down towards the large-ruined wall, grinning slightly.
The Dancer looks up and glances around, grumbling to himself. ~Grishnakh, that you?~ But he doesn't spy the camouflaged cub sneaking up onto the barrier of stone behind him.
Collin pauses when the Dancer talks, waiting for a moment for him to relax again. He looks around quickly to see if he can see whatever alerted him.
A loose stone underfoot may have been the culprit; Collin thinks he may have made a faint scraping noise as he scrambled over it. After an agonizing five minutes or so, Grima goes back to digging up handfulls of slime and muck from the dammed spring and tossing them vaguely in the direction of the prisoner. Ghan's already bloody and hairy body is now sporting a fresh coat of scum.

Collin pages: How far from Ghan is the dancer? :)
You paged Collin with 'About five more feet on the other side from the rock wall.'.
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan has been rolling really dismally for you, tonight. ;)
From afar, Collin nods, "And the ground underneath the dancer is pretty slick, right?"
From afar, Collin nods. :P If I had good dice, I'd of kicked some major ass. ;)
You paged Collin with 'He's sitting on a rock, but the pool of muck goes right up to the edge of it.'.
From afar, Collin nods. Could I leap onto him and send him forward into the muck?
You paged Collin with 'Probably!'.
From afar, Collin nods, "I'm going to cast another glance around and see if I can spy, or smell, anything out of whack, sense for Wyrm Taint to make sure nothing Wyrmy is hiding from me other than the dancer."

Collin looks around slowly, sniffing a little carefully. He crouches down on the top of the wall, peering at the dancer studiously.

You paged Collin with 'Don't see anything else, although where the other one is--that's a bit troubling. But nothing in nose-range, and it smells like this is all you've got to deal with for the moment.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods, "That's what I'm worrying about. But better to take out this one while he's alone than try to take out two in their own camp. :P'

Collin bobs his head once or twice, then gets ready to leap down on the guy from behind. Hopefully, he won't screw this up. With the rocks beneath him, that could be really, really painful.
So far, so good. The Dancer seems oblivious, and there's nothing else in sight as Collin braces to spring.
From afar, Collin burns a second rage point.
With rage fueled speed, Collin leaps down towards the back of the dancer, hoping to send him forward and down into the muck so he can visciously tear at his back, and hopefully put him out of the way with enough time to spare to figure out what to do next.
It's a messy jump--luck just isn't making life easy today, and the Dancer leans foreward just as Collin leaps for his back. But he goes down with a >whuff< of air as the breath is knocked out of him, facedown in the muck, as Collin digs into his back and spine with raking claws. At the same moment, a familiar voice barks, "Brat SPIT boom whelp!"
Collin growls out, while he's busily trying to dispose of the dancer, ~Ghan! I figured you were awake!~
The Dancer is, well, a problem. He is only stunned for a moment, and the clawing is apparently just making him angry. With a roar, the foe lurches to hands and knees, flinging Collin off and slamming him in turn into the stone wall. The metal-headed monster shakes his head like a confused and angry bull. Ghan, meanwhile, is struggling like a monkey under his ropes, emitting his usual string of incomprehensible curses.

You paged Collin with 'You are, at least, not too stunned by the upheaval, and only take (@whee) 1 more NON-agg from that bump.'.
From afar, Collin nodnods. But that'll heal pretty quick, thankfully.
You paged Collin with 'Roll for Collin: 2. Roll for Dancer: 9. Oopsie.'.
From afar, Collin sighs. :P
Collin pages: Get new fucking dice. ;)

Collin quickly tries to get to his feet, looking pained again by the fall. He skitters back a few feet and wags a finger at the Dancer to charge him, ~C'mmere, Bullwinkle.~
The macabre wire-headed hulk only takes a split second to lunge at Collin, head down. Those twisted and sharp bits of metal sticking out in all directions look nasty, but Collin doesn't have much time to notice at this moment.
Definately trying to get out of the way time, Collin lunges off to the side as best he can.
Ghan-buri-Ghan gives out an impotent snarl of frustration. "Whelp turtle!" he hollers in the background.
The Dancer is frighteningly fast, and also, frighteningly, swerves as Collin dodges. The Dancer does slam into stone with a fairly hefty >thud<. Some of the metal antennae, though, catch Collin's arm as he jumps aside, pinning him and digging in right to the bone.

Collin pages: I HATE YOUR DICE. :)
From afar, Collin was hoping to run over and free Ghan. :P :) Blah!
Long distance to Collin: Ghan-buri-Ghan looks apologetic. You have a few seconds, if you rip the arm free, though it's gonna hurt like hell.
From afar, Collin knows that, but if I let him keep me here I am *toast*.

Collin looks severely pained by this fact, letting out a little yelp. But he does his best to rip his arm free and charge for Ghan to free him. If he's succesful, he's definately going to let *another* shout of pain.
Collin pulls free, tearing muscle and ligament, and lunges across to the wiggling and hairy form of the Gazer, who has managed to wriggle loose from some of the ropes but by no means all. The Dancer is still sprawled at the base of the wall, struggling on hands and knees again and rumbling angrily.
Collin slides a little as he slows down near Ghan, panting heavily. With his, ah, good arm he reaches over to slice at the ropes binding Ghan and free him so he can have some help.
Ghan-buri-Ghan doesn't waste time. "Run fuck _shit_!" he exclaims, as Collin snaps the last of the straps holding him down and the battered elder lurches to his feet. He promptly drops into a squatting posture with hands braces as the Dancer rises and turns, staggering, eyes furious.
From afar, to the room, Collin now knows how Sepdet feels trying to interpret Collin-speak. ;)
Collin erks and looks towards the Dancer as it gets on up, getting away from Ghan as commanded by the Elder. Yep. This is one time where listening to your Elders pays off.
Ghan-buri-Ghan strikes a ludicrous posture as the Dancer barrels down on him. Legs braced, hands up in an authoritative karate-gesture, lower lip jutting, beard afly with blood and pondscum, he waits until the last possible moment, glaring up at the behemoth. Then, abruptly, he too whirls and books it downslope as fast as his legs can carry him, shifting to hispo with enviable speed.
Collin bursts down to his Lupus form, fueling the change with his last bit of rage. Though with one injured arm, he's slowed down some, hopefully the speed given to him will be enough to carry him away from the enraged Spiral. In short, he runs like hell.
Ghan-buri-Ghan's mouth manages to keep up an almost continual stream of gibberish as he tries to lead the charging Dancer in a different direction from the cub. "Spoonhead rubber bladder eats-own-feces trip up rockheaded cork nose nerf testicles..." >whump<. He leaps a pile of mostly-dead brush and a few trees, and as the Dancer, too, leaps it in pursuit, a large wooden fourposter bedframe is abruptly in the way. The Dancer crashes into it and falls with a splintering of wood.
Collin lets out a little yipping laugh of surprise at that, still running like crazy awaaaay from the dancer, though he's probably leaving an all to scentable trail of blood behind him.
Ghan-buri-Ghan gives a gleeful bark to Collin in reply, plants a foot, checks his speed, and hops onto the Dancer's back like shaggy pogo stick, all four paws stiff and together, aiming for the spine. A snap of jaws at the base of the neck completes the maneuver.
From afar, Collin happily sighs. :) I love Elders.
As Ghan is busy incapacitating the Dancer Collin so helpfully gave a headache to a moment ago, Collin hears a telltale howl from upslope and behind, the lupine equivalent of What-the-hell-is-going-on-down-there. The other Spiral has returned to camp, apparently.
Collin looks up quickly, telling Ghan as quietly as possible, ~Finish him off, let's get out of here then. I'm leaving a nice trail.~ His lips curl in pain.
Ghan-buri-Ghan raises his head wearily, betraying his own pain, but gives a sneeze in affirmation and limps back up the hill, form becoming more difficult to see as he goes. As the beak-nosed Dancer jogs into view, Ghan changes back to twolegs and catches the oncoming foe with a knobby thumb. Apparently the Dancer failed to see him at all. At the simple poke, the Dancer pitches forward, and Ghan staggers to one side. There is a crunch as the alarming bone spur of a beak cracks on the stones beneath him. After a spasm, Grishnakh lies still.
Collin blinks at Ghan a bit, at that, then heads over to him, ~That should be the last of them. I trapped the other in the mound and killed the four-armed one. I'm not sure if Flamer-Boy got out or not. Thanks, Ghan-Buri-Ghan.~
Ghan-buri-Ghan sniffs at the body and then, after a snort, sits down in the Dancer's head. "Thank you, whelp," he pants, wiping his face with grubby hands. "Well done. I think we will hurt now." But he grins, baring uneven yellow teeth.
Collin wurfles a little, ~I'm gonna be hurting for a while after this.~
Ghan-buri-Ghan looks over the cub's wounds with squinted eyes."Yes," he agrees, and goes quiet for a bit, holding his chest. "Split Pea Soup?" he inquires finally?
Collin shifts up towards his Homid Form, making a sad face at the mention of Split-Pea, "Don't know. He was in the mound when I caved it on fire guy. He kept him off me while I was trying to take out the Goro-Clone."
Ghan-buri-Ghan grunts. "Good twistrope. It's tough. Will go look. After rest." He pats his pot belly. "And eat." He grins again at Collin. "Find a name yet? I cannot call you 'whelp'; you have killed your first pig."
Collin begins checking over his wounds with the better perspective of his human form to work with. He winces, "Oh, man, this..Ow." he sits down, then hits Glabro, so that the super-fast-healing will kick in as well as it can. He pulls the Owl Feather from his pocket.
Collin says "A name? I hadn't had much time to think about it." he huhs."
Glabro will at least take care of a few bruises, but most of this is going to heal the slow, painful way. Right on cue, the form of the Owl gaffling spirals up from the valley below and drops a large plump rodent of some sort--for once, on someone else's head. That done, the spirit alights on the ground before Collin, looking up at him with pale gold eyes.
Collin grins at Owl, saying quietly, "Hello, Mister Owl. Now I know how many licks it takes to get to the center of Black Spiral Dancer."
The Owl ruffles its feathers primly, still looking at Collin.
Ghan-buri-Ghan picks up the pika after it falls into his lap. After giving the spirit a long sharp glare, he sniffs the dead animal thoughtfully, shrugs, brings it up to his mouth, and takes a bite. He gives a sharp snort at Collin's declaration. "No-moon like me," he chuckles. "Better watch out. You live six score, you end up like Ghan-buri-Ghan." He clicks a few times at the owl. "I will rebury the bones, and see to your kin's spirits, and mine. I think you have passed. You survived. That is what the Shattup Stupids are supposed to be good at, yes?"
Collin grins at Ghan, "No. Surviving is one thing we might do, but there are plenty of others. I think I find out what I want to do. But that's *my* secret." he winks.
Collin lifts the owl feather up before his eyes, studying it for a moment. Then he looks to the real thing.
Ghan-buri-Ghan rolls his eyes. "Go home, Leapfrog. Ghan-buri-Ghan did not walk into high faraway mountains so as to babysit others' youngsters." He picks his nose at the owl. "Do your magic moonbridge, Flapper, or whatever-it-is you're here for, and stop looking smug."
Collin groans, "Leapfrog? Is that to be it? I'm never going to hear the end of the 'Frogger' jokes." he grins, then looks at Owl, "Can you show me the way to Saint Claire, Owl?"
The Owl flies up again, wings beating in place as before. This time, the path is almost impossible to see, just a heat-shimmer above the ground, leading up into the open air above the mountain-slope. A bit of dust swirls around it, kicked up by the recent scuffle and the Owl's wings.
Collin stands up, carefully, then says, "Take care, Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Tell Split-Pea-Soup goodbye for me." he grins, "And tell him thanks. I owe him one for keeping the Not-So-Human Torch away from me."
Ghan-buri-Ghan says with a lopsided grin, "You choose your own name, sheet boop bam. Ghan-buri-Ghan will not be there to tell your wise elders stories." He nods and takes another chomp out of the the pike, spitting fur. "Will tell. Good walking, no-moon."
Collin grins at Ghan toothily, then wiggles his fingers and heads for the path, following it carefully. "Okay, byebye."
As Collin sets foot on the Owl-path, Ghan-buri-Ghan, the felled Dancers, the four-poster bed, and the mountainside drop from view. Just before they fade from sight, the owl chucks up a sausage-sized wad of compacted fur and bones on the irreverent Stargazer's scalp. Then all is lost in a gray-white whirl of wings that seem to cover the sky, and when it fades, Collin is standing again on the ledge he left what seems a lifetime ago.
Sepdet has arrived.
Collin steps onto the ledge, then blinks. He gives his head a shake and says, "Whoa."
Sepdet is sitting crouched by the fire, arms folded around her knees, staring intently into it. Her chin comes up as she spies him, and dark eyes dance over his battered form critically. ~You okay?~
Collin looks down at his arm, "Nothing thirty hours of sleep won't fix." he says gruffly, grinning a bit, "Hi, Sepdet. I'm still alive." he grumbles, "And people call me a Tv-head. That guy had TV antennae for Antlers."
Sepdet holds out her hands. ~Come here and take your medicine, as Catherine used to tell me after my cub-scrapes. You've been having fun.~ She breaks into a thin smile. ~And you did well. I will need some of the others here, to make it official, and to do...certain things. But you passed. Without doubts.~
Collin grins back at you, "So you saw it all, huh?" he heads over.
Sepdet dips her eyes. ~Not all. But the Owl did, and he let me see much of it.~ She waits for him to settle beside her, then arranges her hands carefully on either side of him, adjusting their position carefully until they are hovering over the most damaged areas. She hums that strange little lullabye under her breath and the pain starts to ease.
Collin looks relieved as the pain starts to fade, "Nuprin. It's little, yellow, different." He nods his head, "Oh, so you didn't see what I did after my fight with the Goro-Clone?" he grins.
Sepdet's brow furrows with familiar puzzlement. ~I know you ambushed two alone, and fought one which could have killed you. Brave. The ambush was wiser, but you chose your steps carefully, and acted with decisiveness. That is what you need. Experience and time will teach you the rest.~ She chuckles. ~If it doesn't kill you.~ Then she goes back to humming for several minutes, until almost all the gashes and wounds are closed, cracked ribs knitted, and only fresh hairless skin and a little residual scarring on his arm remain to show where the wounds were.
Collin makes a face, "Don't remind me. That was painful. Ghan will prolly finish off the last guy when he gets back to the mound and stuff, if he didn't get out." he hehs. He rubs his sides, then just wows. "Thanks, Sepdet. Man, I've never *hurt* so much."
>Hank chuckles. "That was VERY good." He grins. "Of course, nobody'll be able to STAND him for a while. Three Dancers. Aie." :)
Sepdet nods sympathetically, and rocks back on her heels. ~Sometime I should tell you the mess I got into, when I was rited. You may rest here tonight, if you wish,~ she tells him quietly. ~It is safe to sleep here. I would like to stay, but the threat hanging over the caern means I should be there.~
Collin immediately lays right down, "I'll do that for a while. I should wake up about, oh, noon tomorrow." he grins up at you. "Thanks, Sepdet. I really mean it."
Sepdet stands stiffly and gives his shoulder a silent squeeze. ~You're very welcome. Dream well, Collin.~ With that, and a flash of a smile, she turns and silently departs.