The death of Despair: Sebek's last dance

11/15: Sepdet and Hazmat discuss plans to kickstart the hunt for the Dancers. Sepdet runs into Chloe in the sewers offering aid. Sepdet finds her brother and a Dancer together on the way back to her hideout, and learns the bitter truth. In the battle that ensues, that truth's cost proves nearly as high for Sepdet as for her beloved brother.


Fallout Shelter #17(#3791RAJ)
This room is, quite simply, huge. The first thing you notice are the beds - fully thirty bunk beds line the walls, each with a small pile of folded sheets and blankets below them. The floor is tiled with white linoleum, while the walls have been painted a reassuring shade of powder blue. Though the walls and ceiling are simple slab concrete, an effort has obviously been made to make the room feel comfortable. Lights in the ceiling still function - there is a set of light switches on the wall next to a large door which seems to lead out. A number of smaller doors around the room lead to bathrooms, storage closets, and a fully equiped kitchen. The most surprising thing about this room is the complete and total lack of dust. The furnishings seem to date its construction to the 1950's, yet the room is spotlessly clean.
The large doors which are the obvious exit are closed solidly, despite being unlocked. They seem to have been burried from the other side, or perhaps welded shut. The only other means of egress appears to be the small hatch in one corner, leading down.
Contents:
Hazmat
Teddy Bear

Sepdet climbs up out of the hatch and shakes herself, looking around wanly.
Hazmat is in the middle of a clear area of floor, practicing knife moves with Echen's Klaive. Her coat lies on one of the beds, next to the sheath.
Sepdet circles the room to sit down on a cot, watching the display with merely a faintly interested, and concerned, stare. She moves like a sleepwallker.
Hazmat notices Sepdet and stops abruptly. An embarrassed flush colors her cheeks. "Um." She shuffles her feet a little. "I was, um, jus' checkin' it out."
Sepdet's mouth finds a ghost of a smile. ~You looked good.~
Hazmat smiles shyly. "Yuh think so?"
Sepdet nods, attempting to show enthusiasm.
Hazmat looks down at the klaive, turning the blade this way and that. "It's better than a regular knife," she says. "Easier t'handle."
Sepdet nods with a trace of warmth. ~They're good, that way.~
Hazmat wanders back toward the bed and sits down, sheathing the weapon carefully. "Mac has a real cool one, like a big razor with a Trash Heap spirit in it. Bu' Brian's is pretty cool, too. If noisy."
Sepdet hitches up her jacket, rubbing Shark's hilt absently. ~They're good friends. I'm glad that thing at Harbor Park let me have mine back.~
Hazmat nods, running a hand lightly over the decorated sheath. "I wonder if Brian remembers that I got his..."
Sepdet smiles grimly. ~After all he sacrificed to get it, he /ought/ to.~
Hazmat nods. "I tol' Patrick 'bout me havin' it, too." She shrugs. "I guess he'll let me know when he wants it back."
Sepdet sighs and curls up on her side. ~Tired. They need me at the caern, and Sebek needs me here, and I wish to Duat I had some confidence that someone is still hunting Dancers in all this mess.~
Hazmat goes over, leaving coat and klaive on the bed to sit by her friend. "Wha' 'bout Tep?"
Sepdet shakes her head with a snort. ~He was surprised when I asked him if he'd done anything else since that failed hunt. He didn't know I was counting on other people this time.~
Sepdet sounds bitter. ~I've asked Su to take over from him, but I haven't heard from her, either.~
Hazmat frowns. "/Nothin'/ has been done?"
Sepdet looks at her hands. ~All this business with the humans and people walking the spiral has occupied the caern's attention quite handily. I'm wondering if the Dancers aren't behind all that.~
Hazmat scratches the back of her neck. "Th' same Dancers?"
Sepdet's fingers clench into fists. ~I really don't know. Maybe Sebek and I should just go hunting. It's our fight. I'm only not doing it myself because I'm afraid to lose him. Sebek's dreams made it pretty clear what'll happen to us if we twins go anywhere near our enemies. But I'm a coward to be waiting for others to fight my battles for me.~
Hazmat frowns. "Any idea where they are? City, right?"
Sepdet shrugs. ~Tep said the place they were nesting was a farmhouse, so I guess they got a place outside the scab too. But he burned it down, and all evidence, when they broke and ran, so I'm going to have to start the search all over.~
Hazmat says "How? I mean, how yuh gonna search for where they are?"
Sepdet rubs the back of her neck. ~Go to the burned-out place and look for clues.~
Hazmat nods. "I'll come with yuh if yuh do."
Sepdet adds softly, ~I got to get Snow Walker, Joseph, and some others to come. I heard the Wendigo had an idea to use me as a lure to draw the enemy out into the open. I don't know the details, though.
Hazmat nods. "I'll help, too," she offers, again.
Sepdet looks up at the Gnawer worriedly. ~Thanks. I warn you. I'll be doing this nose-blind. I'm no ahroun, and I'm not good at planning hunts. But I've got to try.~ She smiles a little. ~At least I know you'll run if we get into too much trouble. I need help, but I don't need help that's gonna get itself killed. Deepsprings already paid.~
Hazmat fidgets a bit, and then shrugs. "I'm pretty good at stayin' alive, I guess," she says. "Hey, maybe ask some others? I bet Bambi'd like to do some huntin', an' she's an Ahroun an' everything."
Sepdet chews on her lip. ~Yeah. A while ago, a lot of people were willing to help. The whole caern. And now, with everyone banned from it just about, we need something to focus on.~
Hazmat nods.
Sepdet thinks. ~I'm gonna go down and make a phone call or two. See if I can rope in some of the Raccoons. We need scouts, more info, before we can get this hunt going again.~
From afar, Soulcatcher returns.
Hazmat nods. "Okay."
Sepdet grins a little. ~Thanks f'r...stuff.~ She ducks her head, and slips across the room to the hatch.
d
You open the hatch and clinb down through it.
Sewer Junction

Long distance to Slick: Sepdet muses at her own state of mind. Hell, I wouldn't be surpised if your Dancers do catch up with Sepdet and nail her. Her time's running out. The Dancers have got to be closing in. But I hate characters just dying pointlessly for a random GM's amusement which happens so often. I'd like the death to at least have some /reason/...call me a twink.
Slick pages: Not twinkish at all. Like I said, though, I'll explain later why it can't happen.
Eligio Sacateca pages: Do you now know who Sebek's player is?
You paged Slick with 'Yeah. I /guessed/ him early on, dammit. I guessed way back when. Before he was willing to tell me. Recently, he asked if I'd had any more ideas, and I told him I'd guessed everyone that made sense, and was stumped. He gave me the hint that I'd met him RL, and I told him he was either Dusty or Horus, and to spill the beans.'.
You paged Eligio Sacateca with 'It was a very, very good choice. He does conflicted characters extremely well.'.
Slick pages: Horus was off on honeymoon and I couldn't think of any better than Dusty. :)e
You slip into one of the pipes, heading into darkness.
Under St. Uriel's School
A medium sized pipe leads off into darkness in one corner, while a larger one carries water downstream. A series of metal rungs set into the wall lead up to a grate in the ceiling.
Obvious exits:
Ladder Dry Pipe Down-Stream Pipe
In the yard above, Chloe approaches from the street.
In the yard above, Chloe opens a metal grate in the ground, mostly hidden by the hedge, and climbs down.
Chloe climbs down the ladder from the grate above.
Chloe has arrived.
The sound of booted footsteps comes from the east; a low, feminine voice overlays the rhythmic walking, and now and then a low croaking provides counterpoint to the human communication. Echo distorts the words.
Sepdet is sitting on the foot of the ladder dialing someone on her cellular phone. At the sound of footsteps, she snaps it shut, grabs the hilt of the foul-tempered blade concealed under her coat, and darts back into the shadows.
The figure which emerges from the darkness of a tunnel is small, thin, dwarfed in a heavy, ragged overcoat. Dark, tangled hair, tied back, frames familiar black eyes. Chloe's face is bruised, and smudged here and there with dust or grime, but satisfaction lights her expression. The sharp gaze searches amid shadows for a silent moment.
On the girl's bent arm sits the raven, observant but obviously uncomfortable in the close confines of the tunnels.
Sepdet sniffs for Wyrm out of instinct, and then makes a soft dry sound in the back of her throat as the reek of the sewer assaults her on inner as well as outer senses. She leans back against the wall, staring at the girl wide-eyed with a slightly crazed, trapped-animal expression. She makes no sound yet, gaze flicking to the bird anxiously.
Chloe's dark eyes meet Sepdet's winthin a moment or two of searching. She catches her lower lips between her teeth in a questioning expression, and then bows her head briefly to whisper to the raven, soothing the creature with a black-gloved hand. Her eyes return to the young woman, as the bird fades away into a brief blur of silvery light; the gloved hand drop, held palm-forward and away from the sides.
Sepdet says tightly, ~It is...~ and then catches herself, voice rasping and echoing too loudly down here. "It is you, Chloe?"
Chloe nods, the movement tiny and slow. "It's me." She pushes up one sleeve to reveal the glyph-scar branded into her forearm--the sign of the Wendigo--and then lets the fabric fall again to cover the mark. "Brian told me... you were hiding from the Twisted Ones. I want to help you against them." The words are simple, slightly accented, distorted by the echoing acoustics.
Sepdet lifts her chin and twists her head to one side. "Yeah. They're after me. My pack, and Joseph, and others, have been hunting the Dancers instead. They tracked all the way to the Dancers' lair about three weeks ago, got ambushed, and lost someone getting out in one piece." Her hands clench in frustration. "The trail's gotten cold now. There's a bunch of other shit happening, so the sept doesn't have time to deal with this."
Chloe nods slowly. "I do. If you're in it..." She glances away, briefly. "And if Joseph is." The dark eyes return to the Strider's face. "There are things I can do, to keep you from losing... anyone else." Her voice is remarkably steady, as if she talks about studying for a test or fixing a leaky faucet.
Sepdet shivers. "I'm going to get Joseph and some others, and go back to the last place where my people fought them. I'm a good tracker, but I need some clue to go on, to find out where the Dancers have moved to now. I'd be very grateful for your help. But I warn you, I'm no leader, no hunter, and it's going to be dangerous. If the Dancers realize I've come out of hiding, they're very liable to strike."
Chloe's chin dips in a nod. "When?" she asks simply.
Sepdet speaks to the floor, the wall, her gaze roving nervously. "I got to call people, see how many I can get to help. Maybe two nights from now. I'll let you know, okay?"
Sebek pages: Hiya.
In the yard above, Michael Powers approaches from the street.
In the yard above, Michael Powers has arrived.
Michael Powers pages: Knock, knock.
You paged Michael Powers with 'No answer IC...but feel free to come down.'.
From afar, Michael Powers nods. OK.
In the yard above, Michael Powers opens a metal grate in the ground, mostly hidden by the hedge, and climbs down.
In the yard above, Michael Powers has left.
Michael Powers climbs down the ladder from the grate above.
Michael Powers has arrived.
A swallow twists the line of Chloe's throat. "Please..." Her voice trails off, as the man comes down the ladder, and she takes an almost inadvertent step back into the shadow of the tunnel.
Sepdet takes a step forward out of her corner, hands moving fitfully at her sides. "There've been dreams warning that if I face the Dancers again, they'll capture me, and take me to the spiral. Or that the Strider, the one we freed from the Dancers' pit, will sacrifice himself to--" She cuts short, reaching again for her klaive, not daring to try to sort out whose scent it is.
Michael Powers scans the shadows, finally digs out a pocket maglite and flicks it on.
Sepdet hisses between her teeth. "Father." She looks around nervously. "Anyway. I should be getting back...someone needs me rather badly."
Chloe takes an audible breath, and releases it; she takes a step forward from the tunnel, showing no reaction to the light. "I understand. You know how to reach me?" Her eyes focus on Sepdet rather than the newcomer, concerned.
Michael Powers visibly relaxes. "OK. I didn't get Traveller's directions confused."
Sepdet nods at Chloe tiredly. "Easy." She grins very faintly. "Send Joseph."
Sepdet looks back at Michael. "You didn't...but...I've been out prowling for a while. If I don't get back soon, there's someone that's gonna come after me." She grimaces. "I need to go check in. Be back in a while, if I can...unless there's an emergency?"
Michael Powers nods. "Understandable. Just wanted to be sure I found the place."
Chloe half-raises a hand. "Sepdet?"
Michael Powers whispers "Will leave a note here if I need to talk and you're not here."
Michael Powers gestures absently.
Sepdet nods at Chloe. "Yeah?"
Chloe manages a faint smile. "Send Joseph. Call Brian. Tell a spirit of the sky." She lifts a shoulder, and lets it fall; her gaze falls with it, and takes a moment before lifting again, serious. "I hope you'll call, if there's anything you need. And let me know when.... when you go."
Sepdet smiles tightly "I promise I will. And thank you."
Chloe nods, and steps back into the shadows again, this time fading completely into the dark. A faint silver shimmer comes from the tunnel's blackness, and then all is as it was.
Chloe has left.
Sepdet gives Michael a quick hug, and then slips off into the darkness.

s
You slip into the one of the overflow pipes.
Sewer Junction

Sepdet threads her way through the pipes back towards her prison and home base.
Sepdet is still some distance off. As Sebek passes through the junction there is a quiet scrabbling from one of the side tunnels.
Sebek wrinkles his brow and glances at the side tunnel. His hands slip to the twin pistols in his belt as he steps into the darkness to investigate.
Black and red. A long black trenchcoat with upturned collar, tied at the waist... black jeans... a crimson-red T-shirt... black leather engineer's boots with steel prickspurs... a black fedora with a scarlet hatband... the colors of night and blood. This, and piercing blue eyes...
A tall, slim man. Long, glossy black hair gathered into a waist-length ponytail by a thin knotted strip of red silk contrasts almost poetically with his fair skin. High cheekbones betray Native American blood. His movements are furtive, hurried as he steps out of the darkness. ~Fuck,~ he scowls in a soft voice. ~Its like a fucking Hive down here, Sebek. This where you been hiding yourself?~
You paged Slick with 'Gack. He sounds like Erik Walks-outside.'.
Sebek's hands lift away from their pistols. ~I almost shot you, you dumb motherfucker. Damn, I thought you were dead...~ He breaks out into a huge grin.
The man returns the grin with a wicked look. ~Bastards. They kilt'm. Mika. 'arris. Di. They'd've got me too, but I was too quick for'm. Mika fucked up. Brought a whole shitload of these pussy-willows down on us onna farm.~
Sebek snorts. ~No shit. I _did_ tell you to leave it to me, didn't I? You all went way overboard.~
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet quietly, and appropriately, gibbers. Tell me when I am close enough, IC, to hear this.
Steel Rat pages: Are you close enough to hear what they're saying? I couldn't really tell, from the poses.
Long distance to Steel Rat: Sepdet doesn't know. I'm waiting for Slick to tell me.
Slick pages: Yes.
Sepdet freezes in the pipe where she's crawling, eyes widening.
Sebek says, ~But I'm glad you're okay. We've still got lots to do.~
Slick shrugs. ~I dunno. Mika claimed he never intended to run into'm. Bastard begged like a girl when they showed'm the Wyrm's teeth. He'd've told'm anything. I dunno what happened. We can't stay here much longer. Those bastards are still looking for us. They say we gotta pay too. Tell me we can leave. Kill the girl and we'll go back to someplace where its warm.~
Rik shrugs. ~I dunno. Mika claimed he never intended to run into'm. Bastard begged like a girl when they showed'm the Wyrm's teeth. He'd've told'm anything. I dunno what happened. We can't stay here much longer. Those bastards are still looking for us. They say we gotta pay too. Tell me we can leave. Kill the girl and we'll go back to someplace where its warm.~
Long distance to Steel Rat, Slick, and Sebek: Sepdet wonders how much oil is in the muck, here, and how flammible it is.
Sebek growls. ~No, my sister is _mine_. Nobody's gonna kill her.~
From afar, to Sepdet, Steel Rat, and Sebek, Slick goes with the advice of the one who knows. It's pretty clean here. We're north in the city.
Sebek's growl turns into a malicious, cruel grin. ~Besides, I have better ideas in mind. I know Harris is dead, but you think you could make a bomb without his help? I'm gonna meet some bigwigs soon...~
Rik whines. ~Fuck man. We followed your dreams. You still don't know where they're coming from, do you? You found the girl. Bring her with us or kill her. We can't stay much longer.~ Though he sounds insistent, his tone of voice indicates that he is still submissive. ~Bomb. Fuck. Yeah. I'll get you a bomb. How big?~
Steel Rat pages to Sepdet, Slick, and Sebek: The city goes from Weaver in the north to Wyrm in the south. I tried to make the sewers follow suit.
Sepdet continues to listen in grim silence and barely dares to move or breathe, trusting the sewer-filth on her knees and hands to mask her scent, as despair writhes across her face.
Sebek says, ~Big enough not to make me blow up when I toss it in their laps. Good boy, Rick. We still might do some good...~
Sebek smiles and pats Rick on the shoulder. ~And don't worry about my sweet sister. I'll take care of her soon enough...and _not_ by killing her.~
Rik sighs. ~Fuck. Bomb,~ he repeats. ~When? Tomorrow? Who we gonna kill? You want it stuffed withs silver or something?~
Sebek winks. ~Her best friend wants to fuck her. If I can work things out right...~ He grins fiercely and winks.
Rik begins to chuckle, evilly.
Sebek shrugs. ~Silver, napalm, toxin, whatever. Something nasty.~
Sepdet makes a small scraping noise against the side of the pipes as her braced hand twitches.
Rik continues to chuckle. ~It'll take a bit of work. Gotta keep fuckin' low. This fuckin' state's full of them bastards and they're all lookin' for us.~ He freezes.
Sebek says, ~No...~
Sebek freezes, unable to complete his sentence. His head snaps around, looking for the source of the noise.
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet judges distances. Even with speed of thought, there's no way I could reach Rik in time, probably. Well, we'll just have to do this the Coyote way, put Traveller onto watching Sebek's movement and letting him lead us back to his friends.
Sepdet goes still, bracing herself for a mad dash and a leap if they come towards her hiding place.
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet whimpers sadly.
Rik's ears begin to, unbelievably, enlarge until they are unfolded like a bat's. He turns his head, surveying the darkness.
Sebek's ears follow suit, becoming two large bat-like ears on the side of his head. He does _not_ look pleased.
Steel Rat has reconnected.
Rik nudges the other gently. From somewhere a wicked black knife has appeared in his hand. ~Here nice ratty-ratty-ratty.~ He begins to walk, generally in Sepdet's direction.
Sepdet waits, lodged in the pipe like a snake in a hole, for the predator to come in after her. Not daring to even touch her klaive, she wills it silently to get ready.
Sebek pulls the glocks from his belt and follows Rik. ~Damn.~
Sebek says, ~If that's you, Cassius, we can talk this over...~
Rik grins in anticipation. ~Haven't ate in days...~ he whispers.
Steel Rat remains where he is, a few feet inside a small side-pipe, as still as...well, as still as a steel statue of a rat.
Slick pages to Sepdet, Steel Rat, and Sebek: Steel Rat will note that we aren't head in his direction but, rather, in Sepdet's.
Sebek smiles as sweetly as his cruel face can muster. ~We'll be out of your hair soon enough. I have some information for you that you might find...useful.~
Sebek glances at Rik and whispers, ~No eating the rat. He can see reason...~ He turns back to searching. ~...if it's him.~
Steel Rat slips out of the pipe and down the wall, into a shadowed corner of the room.
Rik seems to pick out something that attracts his senses and he starts directly towards the haven of pipes in which Sepdet has hidden herself. He looks vaguely crestfallen at Sebek's words. ~Fuck this. He coming out or we going in after him?~
Steel Rat contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Steel Rat shifts into Crinos form.
Shadowspeaker rasps from the shadows, ~What information is that?~

Long distance to Shadowspeaker and Slick: Sepdet doesn't know whether to kiss or kick the Ratkin for distracting them from the trap I was about to spring. :)
From afar, to Sepdet and Slick, Shadowspeaker isn't entirely sure you could take them, and has a vested interest in keeping you alive. You owe him favors. :)
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet was gonna wait til he came into the pipe and then scream like hell and attack him. Narrow space would even the odds, and Mac and Hazmat would hear and come running. ;)

Sebek's left ear swivels about towards the Rat's voice. He nudges Rik further into the pipes before turning about. ~Location of the caern, for starters. Whatever my sister and her friends will tell me.~
Sebek says, ~Location of some other Black Spiral Dancers, as well.~
Sebek says, ~Interested?~
Rik turns back and forth from Shadowspeaker to the place where the noise came from. He starts to put on bulk. ~Fuck,~ he whispers quietly in his Alpha's ear, ~There's still somethin' in there.~
Shadowspeaker's voice echoes oddly in the pipes, seeming to come from a number of different directions. ~Perhaps. If you restrain your friend there from killing my Mother's Children. I like the sewer rats the way they are. Alive.~
Sebek sighs. ~Can we discuss this later, Cassius?~
Sebek says, ~If it's a sewer rat, then it will be left alone.~
Slick grunts, Glabro now. ~Big motherfucker of a rat if'n its a rat.~ He starts to wedge his bulk in between the pipes.
Shadowspeaker lets out a low, grating laugh. ~They grow large, here...~
Shadowspeaker pages to Sepdet, Slick, and Sebek: Are we still under the ladder?
Sebek pages to Sepdet, Shadowspeaker, and Slick: I certainly hope not. I wouldn't be standing directly under one...
From afar, to Sepdet, Slick, and Sebek, Shadowspeaker didn't mean RIGHT under it :) But near it?
You paged Slick with 'Tell me when his whole body's in the pipe. '.
Sebek pages to Sepdet and Slick: Um, hopefully not...Sebek thinks 3-d. ;)
Slick pages to Sepdet, Shadowspeaker, and Sebek: Sebek heard the scrabbling in a side pipe. So we're maybe fifteen feet down a side tunnel. Sepdet was further in so by now we're probably 30-40 feet from it.
From afar, to Sepdet, Slick, and Sebek, Shadowspeaker nods. Okay.
Sebek shakes his head, smiling. ~We have some private business do to here. We should speak about this later, okay? I won't piss in your beer.~
Rik worms his way into the pipes, slipping further in, the black knife outstretched before him. It begins to drip green ichor.
Slick pages: Now.
Shadowspeaker rasps, ~Nothing in my sewers is private to me. Deal with me watching, or do it elsewhere.~
Sepdet waits until Rik's inside, herself only a dark shadow wedged in greater darkness. Then she gives a scream of sheer startled shock and terror. With all the pent-up anger and fear from the last few weeks now barely restrained with this new horrible discovery, the scream is fairly convincing. And loud. A moment later, she is flinging herself at him, trying to grapple arms, legs, anything to trap him in the confined space.
+shift crinos
Sepdet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Crinos form.
Cleared.
Set.
You paged Slick with 'And then going crinos too /really/ wedge him and me good. ;) I want him stuck tight.'.
Sebek smiles. ~Fine...~ His smile turns into a scowl, then a growl as his ears swing around towards his packmate. He turns around and runs to his packmate's side.
Could not page .
You paged Hazmat, Mac, Slick, and Sebek with 'A scream ripples out from the pipes, ~Sen, Haz, HELP!~'.
Slick snarls ~Fuckin' ain't a rat. Fuckin' things got teeth.~ Sepdet manages to get hold of the arm that has the knife, prevent him from sticking it into her. The green ichor burns flesh, though, even though the edge has no chance to stick you.
Hazmat climbs through the hatch above, and down the ladder.
Hazmat has arrived.
Mac climbs through the hatch above, and down the ladder.
Mac has arrived.
Shadowspeaker rasps, conversationally, ~I believe he's trying to kill your sister. You should probably do something about that.~
Sepdet hangs on with all the fury of desperation, grappling him like an enraged cat trying to disembowel a human's leg and trying to keep her opponent stuck soundly in the pipe, trapping him in there with her.
Sebek growls and curses to himself as he rushes to Rik's side. ~If you kill her...~
Rik, a Glabro with bat ears, is wedged into a tangle of pipes with a Crinos'd Sepdet. Sebek stands just outside the tangle of pipes and Shadowspeaker further back.
Shadowspeaker sighs, and tucks his gloves into his pockets.
Rik snarls, ~Get her th'fuck offa me, then.~
You paged Slick with 'Tell me when the acid's cut deep enough I can't keep hold anymore. Ow. ow. Ow.'.
Mac drops down from the ladder, turning quickly at the yelling. "What in God's..."
Slick pages: Its slow. It does about one level per round.
Sebek's ears are bat-formed as well. He tries to weave his way through the pipes. ~Dammit...~
Sepdet bites at Rik's arms, legs, anything she can shred, anger and rage for the moment holding against the pain as the acid from the knife starts burning into her flesh.
Sepdet, hampered by the warform and the pipes, has trouble getting Crinos claws wrapped around anything but Rik's arm. He slams a ham-fist into her head, repeatedly while the acid burns away at her.
Sepdet's grip loosens at the blow though she has barely made a sound since her first scream.
Sebek weaves through the pipes, incredibly pissed. ~Get out of there as soon as you can. No killing! Goddamnit Rik!~
Hazmat scrambles down from the fallout shelter, tugging a silver klaive out of its sheath as soon as her boots hit the floor of the sewer.
Mac drops down from the ladder, turning quickly at the yelling and pulling a shotgun from his pocket. "What in God's..."
Sebek's right ear swivels toward the two newcomers. ~Shit!~
Rik does as the other bids, slowly using his greater strength to pull the shreds that were once his arm away from Sepdet, still grimly clutching the knife. ~Let go of me, fuckin' bitch,~ he snarls, trying to get away.
Sebek says, ~Get the fuck outta there, we gotta go!~
Shadowspeaker vanishes in an inrushing of shadows, reappearing instantly behind Rick. His left hand stretches unnaturally, shining steel-bright and razor-sharp in the dim light as it snakes around the Dancer's neck, tightening with deadly force.
Sepdet, stunned from being pummelled, makes a desperate lunge to hold on, trying to shift back down to get a better grip.
From afar, to Hazmat, Mac, Sepdet, Slick, and Sebek, Shadowspeaker has always wanted to do that....
You paged Slick with 'To glabro. I don't know if Sepdet can or not--she's a bit stunned from getting bopped in the head, but she's also really, /really/ angry.'.
Rik starts to struggle, briefly, kicking wildly with all of his strength. Pipes bend under the force of his onslaught. Several shatter as he gains even more bulk towards Crinos, unfortunately tightening the noose around his neck. Rank, foul-smelling water begins to spray everywhere, obscuring what little vision is possible here as the pipes give way. There is, from one, the smell of natural gas.
Sebek's eyes open wide as the ratkin appears behind his last packmate, slaughtering him. He turns and starts to flee down the pipes.
Hazmat pages to Sepdet and Slick: Where, exactly, is Seppie?
Slick pages: You can shift down, slowly, but he isn't going anywhere. :(
@doing Getting shredded by Dancers, again!
Set.
Long distance to Hazmat, Mac, Shadowspeaker, Slick, and Sebek: Sepdet is backed up halfway down a pipe, having waited for Rik to come in after her before trying to wedge him in with her.
You paged Hazmat, Mac, Shadowspeaker, Slick, and Sebek with 'Cassius, then Sebek, are between the Gnawer cavalry and herself.'.
+shift glabro
Sepdet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Glabro form.
Soulcatcher pages: IF you die, I'll kill you.
Shadowspeaker's hand, now a solid ring of sharpened steel, tightens relentlessly on the Dancer's neck.
Hazmat finishes pulling out the klaive, wielding it in her right hand as she moves off to one side, boots splashing in the foul water that covers most of the floor.
Sepdet scrabbles backwards desperately, letting go of Rik as the ratkin comes to her aid. ~Sen!~ Her howl of pain echoes through the thunder of spewing water and fouler substances starting to fill the pipe where she's stuck.
While he continues to squeeze, Shadowspeeker calls out in a low, sibilant language. Rats, a ubiquitous presence in the sewers, begin running away from the tunnel containing the broken gas main.

A large pipe leads off from the junction, due west. Within it is a tangle of hanging pipes, the same as there are in the junction. Leading off of it, north and south are smaller pipes, but almost large enough for a man to squeeze into. It was in one of these that Sepdet hid. Currently, Sepdet, Rik and Shadowspeaker form a deathly trio just outside of one of these almost-man-sized pipes, in a tangle of hanging pipes. Sebek stands just outside of the tangle of hanging pipes, able to run east or west. Mac and Hazmat are just entering this east-west pipe from the east end, where the Sewer Junction is. They are, by now, maybe fifteen feet away.

You paged Shadowspeaker with 'THANK you. ;) I was actually thinking about the rats.'.
Slick pages to Hazmat, Mac, Sepdet, Shadowspeaker, and Sebek: Okay. Everybody pose once.

Sebek shakes his head in disbelief. ~I tried to make it work, Sepdet.~ He points his pistols at the gas main and shoots, throwing himself into the muck of the sewer to escape the explosion.
Sepdet continues to back away desperately from the mess.
Mac raises his gun, trying to hit Sebek before he can get his own shot off.
Rik finally stops thrashing just prior to Sebek firing his pistol.
A black mass, like a sentient wave of ooze, washes up and over the prone Sebek, covering his body.
From afar, Shadowspeaker is going to reach over and grab you. Are you avoiding him?
Long distance to Shadowspeaker: Sepdet is trying to get away from the gas, but her eyes are full of sewer muck and I doubt I can /see/ you. Go for it.
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet would find this a really poetic way to die. ;) Not that I /want/ to, but...yikes.
Shadowspeaker is unaware of Sebek's intentions until just before he fires his shot, but reacts with blinding speed as soon as he realizes the Garou's intent. Reaching out, he grabs Sepdet and pushes her up, THROUGH the ceiling, then seems to pull himself after her.
Mac gets his shot off, first, clipping Sebek in the shoulder. Sebek's gun discharges as well though his aim is wild and the bullet ricochets about the enclosed space. Close enough, though, as one wild ricochet comes close enough to the gas. There is a gentle *whumph* as a wave of heat and flame washes over those in the pipe, severly burning the lower half of Shadowspeaker's body, frying the dead body of Rik, and singeing Hazmat and Mac.
Hazmat yelps and dances back from the blast, fingers tightening around the klaive's hilt.
Mac growls as the wave of heat washes over him. When it passes he moves quickly forward to the position where he last saw Sebek, reloading both barrels as he moves.
Hazmat grimaces, dancing back a few more steps. Her foot slips once on a puddle of slime, and then she moves forward, following Mac.
Shadowspeaker pages: Okay, I think I've done my part :)
Long distance to Shadowspeaker: Sepdet eeps, and thinks a bit of mother's touch is DEFINITELY in order. As soon as all hell is done with...
Sebek is gone though there is blood on the sides of the pipe. You can pick up the occasional splash further to the west. The gentle slopping of the sludge leaving a distinct trail of sound.
Mac says "You up for this, Haz?"
Hazmat grins toothily at Mac. "Sure!"
Sepdet grips onto her unseen rescuer as the heat rocks over the unlikely pair, shaking and too stunned to make a sound or a move.
Mac nods and pushes the gun back into his pocket. He shifts instantly to Lupus. Let's move, then.

You paged Hazmat and Mac with 'Kill him. '.
Long distance to Hazmat and Mac: Sepdet cries very quietly.
Shadowspeaker pages: We end up in the fallout shelter.
Shadowspeaker pages: Wow...first time I've used that gift on-screen :)
From afar, to Sepdet and Shadowspeaker, Slick gives you a chance to follow or do something before they leave while Mac reloads, puts away his gun, and shifts.
Shadowspeaker pages to Sepdet and Slick: We would end up in the Fallour Shelter, though I suppose we could go down the ladder quickly and see the direction Mac and Haz went.
Long distance to Shadowspeaker and Slick: Sepdet is too stunned/hurt to move or react for a moment. Gaaaaah.
Slick pages to Sepdet and Shadowspeaker: Or hear them running off. Its up to you.
Mac takes off down the tunnels, doing his best to track Sebek, hoping the Gnawers superior knowledge of the sewers will help.
Long distance to Shadowspeaker and Slick: Sepdet thinks she has a Ratkin to heal. :( And isn't in any condition to give chase, much as I would LOVE to.
From afar, to Sepdet and Slick, Shadowspeaker thinks he's done enough to help the Garou out. If they can't handle the rest on their own, then...well, that's their problem :)
Long distance to Shadowspeaker and Slick: Sepdet wants to stay and watch, OOC, while I'm logging this tragedy. But IC, I'm up in the shelter, attempting to put my brain back together. I'll take RP with Cassius to pages. Is this all right by you two?
From afar, to Sepdet and Slick, Shadowspeaker nods.
Hazmat pages: He was Dancer after all, huh?
Long distance to Hazmat: Sepdet is afraid so. He'd also do anything to keep Sepdet safe, of course. :/ Gaaaaaaah.
Hazmat pages: Eeee.


Sepdet makes a violent thrash, instinctively still trying to get away until she realizes who it is. She lurches back, eyes wild. ~Rat. Rat.~
Shadowspeaker eyes Sepdet thoughtfully.
Sepdet's face is twisted with madness almost crazed enough to match a Dancer's. ~My brother.~ She struggles back towards the opening, still half-blinded by the muck and her own shock. She is, however, in no condition to move.
Shadowspeaker slaps her, once. ~Get ahold of yourself. I've gone to enough trouble to keep you alive. Prove it was worth it by not killing yourself.~
Sepdet bites back a snarl. ~He's my brother. I've got to...~ Then she looks down at her burned arms, the Rat's own condition, and makes a frightened angry whimper, trailing off.
Sepdet finally lowers her gaze, deep voice by now a bitter male parody of her usual soft alto. ~I'm sorry. Let me...see if I can do something useful.~ She moves towards the rat numbly, mechanically.
Shadowspeaker rasps, ~What are you doing?~
Sepdet says dully, ~You're hurt.~


Hazmat nods to Mac. She sheaths the klaive and shoves it into an inner pocket of her patched longcoat before shifting.
Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Hazmat finishes shifting into Lupus form.
Mac contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Mac shifts into Lupus form.

The sewers are dark and as the pipe goes further the muck gets thicker and deeper, fed by additional side flow pipes. It heads in only one direction, though, and the side pipes are too small for a body to feet into. No sludge marks the trail where one might have exited. As you move ahead the sound of machiner grows louder. Those who know this area well may expect a bulk waste processing juncture up ahead.
The sound of the juncture grows louder and the sewage moves faster, sweeping along. There, ahead, lies a mulching juncture where huge blades stir up the sewage and tear it into smaller pieces before it travels down further pipes.
Mac looks around, sniffing the air for Sebek's scent.
Hazmat wrinkles her nose and cocks her ears, listening.
From further ahead in the sewer line, water sloshes around. ~Oh shit,~ Sebek curses as he gets caught up in the sewage flow. He tries to get to the side of the pipe and hold on for dear life, whimpering.
Long distance to Sebek: Sepdet whimpers softly...
The only other sound is the whir of machinery. A heavy metal grate covers the far end of the juncture, much too small for a person to fit their hand through let alone their body. The sides of the pipe are slick and covered in slime. As Sebek's head breaks the surface of the sewage he manages to get a hand on the side of the pipe to draw himself up and out.
Hazmat's form shimmers, becoming hard to see as she invokes her Ragabash gift.
Mac rushes forward, trying to leap upon Sebek before he get's hit bearings, shifting to Hispo as he charges.
Mac slams into Sebek as the other balances on the edge of the muck and the two topple back into the sludge as one as Sebek gets a hold of him. The current carries them swiftly downstream towards the mulcher.
The pipe is, perhaps, seven feet wide here. Metal and concrete. A narrow catwalk runs along each side. The channel where the sludge runs is about five feet across and slippery as hell.
Mac shifts into Crinos, attempting to punch his large hand through the side of the pipe to stop himself.
Sebek gurgles in the slime of the sewers. ~Shall we both go to hell together?~
Mac's claw's find some purchase in the side of the channel but with Sebek's extra bulk he keeps pulling free, slipping further towards the mulcher with each second before he can slow again. The two move steadily closer. Thirty feet. Twenty.
Mac contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Mac shifts into Crinos form.
Hazmat's eyes widen. Quickly, the Ragabash shifts upwards, gaining mass and strength as she shifts to Crinos. She pulls up short of the channel, not willing to simply throw herself into the current, but clearly at a loss of what to do.
Hazmat contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Hazmat finishes shifting into Crinos form.
Hazmat howls toward Mac. ~Just drop him!~
Sebek's arm lifts out of the sludge, holding a small feather in his hand. He smiles cruelly. ~Here's a gift from sister.~

Hazmat pages: Sorry. :>
Sebek pages: What color's the feather? :)
You paged Sebek with 'Blue. Double-quilled.'.
You paged Sebek with 'Sharp as hell. '.
Sebek pages: What's it do?
Long distance to Sebek: Sepdet has no clue. Pose it, and I'll page Slick, who invented it, that you're using it.
Long distance to Sebek: Sepdet assumes when you stab someone, it hurts. :)
From afar, Sebek wonders if we can get onto Geraldo. "We're a pretty dysfunctional family...I think we could make millions: Book deals, shows..."
You paged Slick with 'That's the Quetzecoatl feather. :('.
Long distance to Slick: Sepdet gave it to Sebek in case the Dancers came for him, since he had no weapons...

Sebek stabs at Mac with the blue feather, still gurgling as sewage sweeps by, into his mouth and around his body.
Mac finally gets enough of a grip to punch his claws through the side of the pipe and stop the two from floatingdownstream any further. Long enough for Hazmat to catch up. The moment Sebek's feather just pokes the surface of Mac's skin, he begins to feel a sharp, feverish agony that twists through his body with incredible speed.
Mac howls loudly in pain. He holds onto the wall with both hands while trying to pull his legs up and push Sebek away from him and into the shredder.
Hazmat snarls in response to the cry from her father, tuggging the silver-bladed klaive roughly from her pocket and its sheath, murder in her eyes as she focusses on Sebek.
The Dancer, his last card played, is kicked free. In seconds the current sweeps him underwater and towards the mulcher. The machinery emits a high whine for a few seconds. Blood boils out the other side. White bits of bone and flesh. The plastic case of a cellular phone. The pipe is eerily quiet after that.

Sebek pages: Er, nix the book deals...Unless I ghost-write..
You paged Sebek with 'And I don't even get to follow and cradle your dead body. :) Waaaaaah.'.
Long distance to Sebek: Sepdet is somehow glad Sepdet didn't have to kill you. I don't think she could have, even now.
Sebek pages: Probably not. Guy's like a cockroach...A very smooshed cockroach. Oh, sorry 'bout the cellphone.

Hazmat yells, ~Hope you fucking like hell, you fucking JERK,~ toward the Dancer being mulched, and makes a grab for Mac.
Mac hangs on with all his might, his teeth grinding as he tries to ignore the pain.
With great effort, Hazmat is able to help Mac out of the sewage and back onto the narrow catwalk.
Mac growls and whines loudly as the effects of the feather cause almost violent spasms of pain.
Hazmat whines, crouching down. ~Can ya walk?~
Sebek pages to Hazmat, Mac, Sepdet, Shadowspeaker, and Slick: I had fun. Thanks, guys. :) You can page me with curses and hate mail at will.
Sebek has left.
Mac's breathing slows as the poison is flushed out of his system by the Garou immune system. He opens his eyes and looks up at Hazmat. ~I think so. Help me up.~
Hazmat puts the klaive away (she never /did/ get to use it) and helps her alpha up and back toward the junction.
Mac leans heavily on Hazamt.


Sepdet is hunched over the Ratkin, dead silent with her hands held and shaking a hair's width above his burned limbs.
Mac pulls himself into one of the bunks, laying on his back and staring up at the bunk above him.
Sepdet loses her meager concentration as the others return, apparently not having done much good anyway.
Hazmat drumps the sheathed klaive onto a top bunk and heads toward Sepdet. "What /happened/?"
Sepdet looks up and across at them, face smeared in muck, smoke, tears. ~Is Sen dead?~ she asks softly, not meeting Hazmat's gaze.
Hazmat says "Yah."
Sepdet pulls her knees into herself, head going down. ~I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.~
Shadowspeaker, who was standing in the center of the room, looks up as the others enter. To Sepdet, he rasps, ~We will talk. Later.~ He smiles humorlessly. He picks a piece of Dancer flesh off of his steel hand and drops it to the floor.
Shadowspeaker contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Shadowspeaker shifts into Rodens form.I don't recognize that name.
Steel Rat vanishes.
You paged Steel Rat with 'Hey, I let you build a rat-caern in my pack territory. :)'.
From afar, Steel Rat grins.
Steel Rat has left.
Hazmat sits down next to Sepdet. "What happened?" she asks again, softly.
Sepdet is sobbing silently. ~He...I heard them talking. I heard. Hazmat, my own brother.~ She spits out, ~He was already theirs. We were too late, even when we rescued him.~
Hazmat slumps. "Oh."
Sepdet gouges her eyes with her fists. ~I nearly betrayed you all. I believed him.~
Mac clears his throat. "I hope there aren't too many more. Hate to think they know about this place."
Hazmat goes pale.
Sepdet says softly, ~I don't think the rest of his pack had caught up with him. That one just now found him, said they've been looking for him.~
Mac snorts. "There gonna hafta look for little pieces if they want to find him now."
Sepdet continues to cry, not really noticing much else. ~Are you two all right? I'm so sorry.~
Hazmat sighs. "I'm fine."
Mac rolls onto his side, wincing a little at the pain. His voice is soft, almost strained. "I'll live, darlin'."
Sepdet lifts her head, trying to focus on Mac through the tears.
Mac looks silently back at her.
You paged Mac with 'How bad are you visibly injured? Hmmmm.'.
From afar, Mac isn't visibly injured as far as I know.
Sepdet can't meet Mac's gaze for very long, eyes soon dipping in shame and grief. She struggles to her feet and stumbles towards the bathrooms in the back.
Hazmat sighs and flops back onto the bed. "I guess it's my fault too," she mutters.
Mac pushes himself up with one arm. "It ain't anybody's fault. None of us knew, or even suspected."
Hazmat frowns, remembering something. "They had him chained up and... and did stuff to him. He was hurtin' bad when we got him. He /liked/ that?"
Sepdet doesn't hear, having stripped and begun to hose herself down ferociously in the shower, taking refuge from having to talk behind the river of water.
Mac rolls out of the bunk long enough to pull off his coat and shirt before flopping back down.
Hazmat wrinkles her nose at her sewer-grimed clothes and starts undoing her boot laces.
Mac says "I gues we need to do some laundry, eh?"
Hazmat nods. "Yah. Big-time. I figger we c'n wash 'em in those big sinks in the bathroom."

@doing Despair is dead, but my hope isnt living.
Warning: 1 characters lost.
Set.
+shift lupus
Sepdet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Lupus form.
&wounds me= Just now, Sepdet's forelimbs look to have burned in acid, and her forehead is bruised and bloody and swollen.

Sepdet finally returns, shifting down to lupus once she's left the shower. Her dark eyes are bleak and flat and numb. She doesn't look at either of you, but formally expresses her thanks for stopping her brother from doing anymore harm. She needs to run, now.
Mac nods to Sepdet, his eyes sad. "Take care, Sepdet."
Hazmat finishes stripping out of her dirty clothes and nods quietly.
Sepdet makes no further response before diving into the hatch, small feet making a splash as she hits bottom ten feet down, and slips away. 1