Lysander pages: Tell you what: you run the hunt, and I'll arrange to be back here by the time you're done.
You paged Lysander with 'Sounds like a plan. Sorry about that, I shoulda warned you sooner. :}'.
Lysander pages: No worries. :)
Lysander pages to the room: Sepdet is your GM for your hunt. I'll be here waiting for you all to get back. :)
From afar, to the room, Nightflash assumes we come back and show off our wounds? Or do spirits not disappear when they're killed?
Lysander pages: Rock and roll. I'm on my way home right now.
Lysander pages to the room: Spirits disappear when killed. How you fulfill the spirit's request is up to you.
Hope-Star snarls at the hulking spirit and whirls, loping after the alpha with an eager stride.
Nightflash descends the southern slope of the hill and disappears into the umbral woods at its foot.
Nightflash has left.
Heart-of-Fury joins the Gaian's howl with his own discordant, feral noise. He charges after the others, anxious to find prey.
Finds-the-Lost accepts that explanation from Rides-Fire easily enough. Something has changed. The hunt is in the city now. All well and good, so far as the young Get is concerned; any fight is a good fight, and one against the Wyrm only better. As the pack moves, he keeps pace with Rides-Fire.
[move move move. We fetch up at the bridge over the Columbia River.]
Rides-Fire has arrived.
Nightflash pages to the room: Allrighty.
Long distance to the room: Hope-Star sorries. Okay, pretend we're somewhere citified.
Nightflash slows the pace as the pack reaches the bridge.
It's a long jog into the city, especially at the rage-fired speed that Nightflash sets. The scurryings of pattern spiders, jagged rusty edges of metal, the burning smell of the asphalt, and the general bleakness of the place only serve to set the pack on edge, and those with appropriate gifts quickly begin to pick up stray whiffs of Wyrm nearer and farther away, upon the opposite shore.
Nightflash looks to those more experienced with the city. Where can we find what we seek? I know of the place of power, and the place of healing.
Soulcatcher's never been much of a city-dweller, obviously, but the Wendigo looks even more uncertain and out of place tonight than ever. Nevertheless, he moves with determination and the same surface-rage the others display.
Heart-of-Fury flickers an ear impatiently. Let us end this hunt quickly. I will use my gift to call the Wyrm to us.Rides-Fire's anticipation garners an edge, and he shifts up into hispo with the ease given by the spirit world. He does not offer comment, through the Fianna's suggestion gets sharp attention.
Finds-the-Lost watches things. Flickers of motion, shadows, unfamiliar Umbral landscapes. He's keenly excited, eager to prove himself, just waiting for someone to point him in a direction. It's pretty obvious that he's to be of little help here in navigating the city's Umbra, and he keeps his mouth shut. Well, until the Fianna speaks up, because with that he turns to address the Fianna. If you can call the Wyrm to us, why did we have to go so far out of the bawn?
Hope-Star's lips peel back from her teeth. Where can we -not- find them? Few places here are clean of taint. Heart-of-Fury's suggestion raises her hackles further, and she scans the group warily as if weighing their mettle.
Nightflash's ears go back then forward. He looks to Heart-of-Fury, then consents. Do not call so loudly that you bring every corrupted spirit in the scab upon us.
Soulcatcher's hackles come up, his look an agreement with Nightflash's sentiment as he watches the Fianna.
Heart-of-Fury returns an amused snort. I will restrain myself, as you wish. For himself, he fairly blazes with confidence that this pack /could/ fight the entire scab's Wyrm. He paces forward, ahead of the group, and then rears back his head, his throat making a sound that should /not/ be possible to make, at least not by a warrior of Gaia -- a sound of corruption and pain, death and decay travels into the Umbra around the group. The Galliard does his best to keep from making the Call too far reaching, no matter his own optimism.
In the wake of the Fianna's bloodcurdling call, there is a sudden, ominous silence, broken only by their own breathing, and the oily sound of water sliding by far below in the river. Even the shadowy spiders on the bridge's spans freeze for a moment in their mindless activities. It lasts for several minutes, while ears and noses strain to hear any approach. Then an opaque black cloud of flying things, small vile whirring creatures like maggots on scabrous wings, pours towards them over the waters. At the same time, the bridge's girders begin to creak and shudder under a heavy tread.
Nightflash shifts up as the call is answered.
Rides-Fire's ruff flares again at the call, as his ears flattens in a momentary dismay. Quickly, he bumps Finds-the-Lost. ~Into crinos, unless you wish to fight like me. Remember, shifting is easy here.~
Heart-of-Fury contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Heart-of-Fury shifts into Crinos form.
Finds-the-Lost waits, tensed, crouched down in hispo yet as he judges the mood of the Umbrascape. He was already beginning to shift as Rides-Fire nudged him; crinos is his preferred form for fighting, claws his preferred weapon.
Soulcatcher's hackles stand straight up at the call, and like Nightflash he blurs upward. The Wendigo reaches for the war form, taking hold of his spear once there.
Rides-Fire, unsurprisingly, stays in hispo. The Stargazer flanks Ethan on his right, leaving his good ear to the outside of the duo.
Hope-Star snaps her jaws in irritation at the whirring creatures, which are more annoyance than danger. They do little more than harry the ears, eyes, and nose and set up a foul stench and a tooth-grinding whining noise that can only prick rage further. But they also obscure the vision slightly, making it hard to see clearly the hulking form rolling towards them on eight trunklike appendange. It's a huge truck-sized mass of baglike oozing flesh, with no obvious features beyond the large ropy tentacles writhing blindly before it and slurping up some of the ooze upon the bridge as it closes the distance with surprising speed.
Hope-Star contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Crinos form.
From afar, Nightflash attempts to activate LA. Spending WP on the attempt.lways forget done so you can see our +sheets?
Lysander pages: If you're not too far into things, can I make a suggestion?
You paged Lysander with 'Go for it.'.
Finds-the-Lost pages: One note is Ethan's gnosis is still on the 2/3 border. He's in the process of learning it up to 3. And, I'm spending a WP on Resist Pain as this thing approaches.
Lysander pages: Group of gang members. Some fomori. Some not. Kill all of them, even the ones that try to run away.
You paged Lysander with 'Oh, whoops. No, I've already got something coming at us, unfortunately, a big baney thing that's going to regenerate tentacles hydra-fashion to test tenacity. Hm. Maybe I can embed some undigested victims in it? Problem is we're umbral, where there's less likely to be people.'.
Lysander pages: Quasi-corrupt spirits. Something that will tug on the heartstrings of the recent Unicorn kids, saying, "Cleanse me, don't kill me! I can be redeemed!"
You paged Lysander with 'Okay, yeah.'.
Lysander pages: And, btw, feel free to occasionally pose a bear-like critter watching from the undergrowth. :)
Finds-the-Lost remains intently eager and excited until the 'things', whatever they might be, swoop in. Then he's eager, excited, and irritated, snapping as a few swoop in. They're a distraction until he realizes the sheer size of the creature that's been called, which by appearance alone focuses attention on it. Definitely Wyrmy, yeah.
As the Garou brace for impact, Nightflash's form begins to gleam slightly, casting a harsh white light that makes the maggot-cloud give off a sickening green glow. The roadway is wide enough for packmates to stand facing the behemoth. When it gets within several yards, looming tentacles rise over them then swing downwards like blobby clubs, one or two to every Garou except Rides-Fire.
Rides-Fire attempts to flatten his good ear back, but nothing protects his left ear from the invading creatures. Irrituable, he shakes his head against the distraction in time to pick out the lumbering shape. His body tenses as he waits for the pack leaders to move.
Rides-Fire pages: Am I positioned badly, or just lucky? :)
You paged Rides-Fire with 'Lucky. I'm just picking victims randomly.'.
Nightflash hunches, muscles coiling as he prepares to spring. When the spirit prepares to strike, he lunges forward with the speed of his moon, front claws outstretched.
Heart-of-Fury welcomes the creature with a savage growl. ~Die!~ is all the eloquence he musters, as he drives himself forward attacking the heart of the creature, as much as he can, his claws tearing at whatever purchase they can find.
You paged Rides-Fire with 'It looks like a giant sea cucumber, and has about the same amount of brains.'.
From afar, Nightflash has Spirit of the Fray which is 'always on'.
Long distance to Nightflash: Sepdet oooos. Kay.
SPIRIT OF THE FRAY (Level 2):
This gift allows the Garou to attack first in any combat and maintain a considerable speed advantage over others who do not know the gift. It is considered to be 'always on'.
NATIVE TO: Ahroun
Soulcatcher turns the spear in his claw, trying to ignore the annoying flying pests. He lunches forward with the ahroun, but not with his speed of the ahroun, and aims a slash with the spear at the writhing tentacles.
Nightflash pages to the room: Mmmm, Spirit of the Fray....
From afar, to the room, Heart-of-Fury mmm.
Rides-Fire gives Ethan suggestion. ~Circle!~ Without more words than that, the ahroun moves to take his own advice, taking one of the lower-status places in the pack by moving to flank and harry the prey. He snaps at a nearby tentacle with heavy jaws.
Finds-the-Lost is trying not to get hit. As the tentacles lash out, and those creatures keep swarming, he moves to avoid the initial blow. As Rides-Fire suggests he's circling, or maybe it's just coincidence that's pulling him further away from the 'Gazer. In either case, a bit of rage has him trying to counterattack one of the tentacles with a claw swipe. Unlike some of the others, he isn't trying to close in.
Nightflash's claws strike first, biting deep into one of the two tentacles bearing down on him and rupturing it with a spray of green clotted ooze. The other slams into his back, but its serrated broad tip fails to connect. Steven's and Soulcatcher's attacks too manage to bite deeply, Steven's attack ripping several feet of the tentacle away, but the Wendigo's spear is wrenched from his grasp by the writhing tentacle as it jerks back into the body of the foul creature, and a second tentacle hugs around his waist roughly trying to wrap and gain purchase for a killing squeeze. Sepdet is picked up off the deck of the bridge by her own squirming adversary as she digs teeth and claws into it.
You paged Soulcatcher with 'Take 1 from a love-hug.'.Finds-the-Lost's maneuver takes him away from the thrust of the tentacle bearing down on him, so that it slams into the asphalt beside him. That gives him a good opportunity to tear into it, and he, too, is sprayed with the foul green goop as he cuts halfway through the trunklike appendage, which retreats back into the body with a jerk as well.
Nightflash dismisses the tentacles as ineffective. He chooses to get to the heart of the matter by clawing into the spirit's body with both hands.
From afar, Nightflash spends rage.
Soulcatcher lets out a choked off snarl as the thing wraps a tenticle around him. The spear is forgotten, and instead the Wendigo relies on tooth and claw, sinking all into the thing wrapped around him. He begins to tear and thrash at it.
Heart-of-Fury, too, wishes to go for the body of the spirit. He pours on his attack, using Rage given gifts to his advantage.
Rides-Fire also presses the attack further in, though he still keeps moving quickly on his four paws. His movements blur with rage as he lunges and bites deep.
From afar, Heart-of-Fury will burn Rage.
From afar, Rides-Fire will go ahead and blow three rage. Rarararararar!
Finds-the-Lost pages: Quick question, if I'm working around can I see that Joseph is grasped?
You paged Finds-the-Lost with 'Possibly but it'll be tough to get back to him.'.
Finds-the-Lost circles a little further from Rides-Fire, not so concerned yet with drawing closer to the creature. Avoiding tentacles is still high on his list of priorities, that and counterstrikes against the same, still drawing on limited rage.
From afar, Finds-the-Lost might try to get over there next round if he's still having troubles. I'm trying the same thing as before.
As Nightflash and Steven attempt to push their way under or past the tentacles to attack the reeking hub, a cry goes up from the body of the creature, or rather, several cries, keening sounds of pain and agony. *Help us! Free us! Don't kill!* Vague lumpy forms writhe under the gray oozing skin of its body. Nightflash is buffetted between two tentacles like the pistons of some huge machine, and there's a crack of ribs, but his furious attack quickly renders them limp as he tears into the heaving mass at their base. Steven's attack goes higher, and he's nearly blinded by the foul gore spurting out. Simultaneously, Rides-fire explodes in a near-frenzy of claws and teeth and rending, tearing into the side of the great beast. As he opens up a hole there, several struggling forms pour out onto the street: bedraggled, beslimed bodies of rats, a dog, a small childlike figure with twiggy arms that must be some sort of plant spirit, and a few other city denizens. Soulcatcher is engaged on freeing himself, and with a great struggle manages to weaken and loose the tentacle trying to crush him, while Sepdet, after being smacked into a guardrail, falls to the ground stunned and lies there a moment before hurling herself towards the side of the creature.
From afar, Heart-of-Fury grins. That'd serve me right. Make Steven blind. Heh. So apt.
You paged Nightflash with 'Take a body level for fun and giggles. But you make a nice dent.'.
Long distance to Heart-of-Fury: Sepdet has already put out one of Allie's eyes for symbolism, but heh. :)
You paged Heart-of-Fury with 'Your eyes burn baaaaad, though.'.
Long distance to Heart-of-Fury: Sepdet gives you a couple of body levels of general damage.
Long distance to Soulcatcher: Sepdet gives you another body level there, too.
Heart-of-Fury reels back from the gore that's covered his fur, his eye, his muzzle. He coughs violently, shaking his head furiously. Fortunately, he does not need to see a foe as large as this one. His attack continues, pressing his advantage as much as he can, his claws again attacking faster than the eye can see.
Heart-of-Fury pages: OK.
Nightflash whines sharply as a couple of his ribs snap. The ahroun roars in outrage and fury and throws himself again at the mass, driving his claws into the wounds he has already inflicted, seeking to dig a whole directly into the spirit's center.
Nightflash pages: Another rage.
Soulcatcher pages: Did I get free?
You paged Soulcatcher with 'Yep.'.
Rides-Fire, who can't understand a word from the smaller spirits, is at least ignoring them for the moment in prefernce of digging his own way further in. Dark fur spattered with slime, the Stargazer is an almost-unrecognizable blur as he keeps attacking.
You paged Soulcatcher with 'Your spear's pulled against the body where that tentacle went >yow< and collapsed in on itself.'.
From afar, Heart-of-Fury will spend another Rage.
From afar, Rides-Fire uses another rage. :)
Finds-the-Lost doesn't even try to comprehend what that is the bane is doing, what those things clawing out of it are, or how they got there in the first place. He sets it aside in another portion of his brain to worry about later. By now, he's decided that dancing around with tentacles is getting him nowhere fast, and instead cuts in toward the center mass of the bane, though a different area from the others.
Soulcatcher pulls free, but not before taking more damage. He sees his spear, but for now makes no move to reclaim it. glittering amber eyes regard the monster, and he lifts a claw toward it. Instead of attacking, he growls in the language of spirits, commanding the thing to be still.
From afar, Soulcatcher doesn't know if it will work, but thought he might as well give it a shot. :)
From afar, Finds-the-Lost burns a last point of rage (assuming we're on another round) to get to the center and attack. Not so worried about tentacles now, just trying to at least inflict some damage against more than a tentacle.
Some of the severed or limp tentacles begin to regrow, budding two lobes, hydralike, at the base of the wounds. They curl and writhe seeking out its opponents, one wrapping around Nightflash and trying to peel him away, another slamming into Ethan's back and flattening him to the ground, a third impacting Steven's amazingly thick skull and pounding on him like a sledgehammer, before suddenly the thing quivers and goes still. The rage-fueled attacks of Rides-fire, Nightflash, Steven and Sepdet excavate huge cavities out of the the large creature, even as they wade through ankle-deep muck and tear into the occasional unlucky spirit embedded in its ectoplasm. The imprisoned victims, most of whom bear odd mutations like extra eyes, limbs, or other disturbing abnormalities, thrash and flop like netted fish as they spill out.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet oopses and throws Ethan into the attacking squad, sans rage.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet gives Steven another 2 body levels, and 2 for the Get as well.
From afar, to the room, Heart-of-Fury says, ouch.
You paged Finds-the-Lost with 'Nope. It may have broken a few bones. They'll heal.'.
Nightflash snaps automatically at the tentacle that has wrapped around him, seeking to bite through it with hispo jaws. Rides-Fire presses his attack, though more slowly without rage to fuel it.
Finds-the-Lost meets ground, up close and personal, stunned for a second before he rolls away from what he assumes will be a followup attack. By that point the bane has gone still, and such precautions are unnecessary. Again, no considerations as to why. He does a quick visual examination of himself to make sure he's not, say, missing his lower torso or anything too traumatic before pressing his attack, lacking the rage-fueled speed of some others. Mutants, the bane, swarming creatures, whatever happens to lie in front of his claws.
The Fianna snarls and roars deeply as he sustains more wounds at the hands of their foe. Though his effectiveness is reduced by the pain and near blindness from the gore, he continues to attack, not willing to give up the fight.
Soulcatcher is quick to rejoin the attack, finding a spot between the Fianna and Nightflash as the thing goes still. His teeth flash as he tears into the slime and gore.
The behemoth shudders a few times, but fails to rouse itself from the Command issued by the Wendigo except to flail a few tentacles vaguely about. The whirring cloud of maggots begins to scatter like startled bats as the Garou close in for the kill. A few of the freed spirits grasp at legs with piteous sounds, begging for their miserable lives. Ethan makes short work of several, and Steven probably does too, since he's not a picky fighter. Sepdet hesitates, just barely registering the muck-encrusted form of a catlike spirit beneath her with eyes widened in horror before reaching down to snap its neck. Nightflash is able to worry his way through the offending tentacle, which is now immoble, and frees himself just as the large bane expires like a deflating balloon, making an obscene bubbling sound.
You paged the room with 'That's everything except a dwindling number of the spirits it engulfed, some of whom are still struggling to claw their way out of the body.'.
Long distance to Heart-of-Fury: Sepdet resists the urge to type "making a noise like a fart". I need to stop reading Joe Cartoon.
From afar, Heart-of-Fury LOL.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet checks her brain. Oh, and Joe can pull his spear out now. It's gonna need a carwash.
Heart-of-Fury howls in triumph as the spirit goes into it's death throes, but the Galliard is not satisfied. ~Die!~ he barks, once more, trying to finish off all the remnants of movement he can make out.
Soulcatcher shuffles forward, taking ahold of hjs spear and pulling it out of the remaining muck. He gives it a grimacing look and then checks his comrades.
Finds-the-Lost continues to attack as long as there are things other than Garou to sink his claws into, or someone tells him otherwise. Mutated spirits, no matter what they were before, are definite targets. He's not as enthusiastic as Steven, nor is he as hesitant as Sepdet. Methodical.
You paged Nightflash with 'As per Lys' suggestion: the little spirits were Gaian spirits, now somewhat Wyrmtainted by their ordeal. Some could probably be cleansed. :/'.
Nightflash doesn't join in the killing of the corrupted prisoners, letting the pack deal with them. Instead, he lopes west along the bridge, in case anything else should make an appearance while the others finish the job.
Nightflash pages: Yeah, I kind of figured. Hence my going off to do "guard duty". If we'd had more time, I might have had someone check them for taint, but if they were tainted, oh well.
Rides-Fire, unwounded, takes action from Nightflash's example and pulls back to watch the other side.
The smaller spirits continue to beg for help, some, to those who can hear them, begging to be saved in gutwrenching little *help me! help me!* voices. But with Ethan and Steven cleaning them out enthusuastically, and Sepdet grimly, they're soon dispatched. Nothing else appears to have been close enough to answer the call, although the distant howls and scrapings and low rumbles Nightflash can hear in the scab's direction is a sad testimony to the Wyrm's grip on the sleeping city.
Only when the grim, sloppy task is finished, does the Fianna pause to clear the muck from his muzzle. He breathes heavily, his wounds causing him pain as he breathes -- that pain only now starting to beat out the adrenaline, remaining a constant reminder of his battle against the spirits.
Nightflash returns to the pack, his manner and expression grim. Are all able to run?
Long distance to Lysander: Sepdet hmphs. Nightflash and Rides went and did guard duty after we killed the big bane and let the rest of us squash the poor little spirits going *help meeee! help meeee!* :)
You paged Lysander with 'But they threw all their rage into the combat, so. I donno. Lemme throw up a log here for you to skim.'.
Finds-the-Lost pages: Only damage I took was non-agg? Or no?
Long distance to Finds-the-Lost: Sepdet calls it 1 agg, from serration, 1 non.
Lysander pages: Nah, don't worry about it. Eric's already wincing on wizwall, so you must've done good.
You paged Lysander with 'Oh, good. :)'.
From afar, to the room, Lysander bips in, dark.
Sepdet looks a bit shaken, but growls an affirmative.
Soulcatcher answers easily with a chuff, he slips back down to a running form, the spear disappearing back into him.
Finds-the-Lost is breathing heavily yet, and giving a disgusted look to what's left of the bane, but other than that he seems more or less fine. At the mention of a run he drops onto all fours, and back into hispo from there.
Rides-Fire, though miserable-looking with his fur slimed down, indicates he is fine.
~I'll manage,~ Heart-of-Fury answers. The Galliard takes hispo, with obvious pain.
Nightflash idly noses at the dissolving body of one of the small, corrupted spirits. One wonders if any of them could have been cleansed. With a sneeze, and a shake of his ruff, the white wolf starts eastward, toward the caern.
Sepdet gets ahold of herself with a self-directed snarl--she is bashed and bleeding from her encounter with the wall, but not as badly off as Steven--and stands over the spirit carcasses for a moment, inhaling, drawing in any gnosis she can from their demise to save as an offering for Wolverine. Then she shifts down to jog doggedly after Nightflash.
You paged the room with 'OOC, I'm not sure if one can suck gnosis in that fashion. I forget how spirit-mugging works. (Since Sepdet doesn't usually do it.)'.
The wolverine spirit lurches out of the undergrowth just then, blocking the pack's retreat from the area. It eyes all the Garou closely.
You have shifted to Hispo form.
Rides-Fire seems oddly discomfited by Nightflash's question. He turns to face the wolverine and starts in surprise.
Soulcatcher's fur is streaked with the gore of the wyrmthing, stopping as the wolverine shows himself. His ears come alert and he bares his teeth in espect.
Hope-Star growls mournfully after Nightflash. Yes. Some could have. But the Wolverine's reapparance drives regret from her eyes, and she tries to stand firmly and assertively under its scrutiny.
Nightflash sits back on his haunches, still covered in the muck of the night's prey.
Finds-the-Lost pulls up short as the others do, still breathing a little heavy. Once stopped he looks from Wolverine to Nightflash.
Heart-of-Fury holds no thoughts of regret for the banes they destroyed, in body or in mind. He welcomes Wolverine's reappearance with another feral growl.
Hope-Star turns sideways, not baring her throat, exactly, but offering the blood oozing from the gashes in her side in a grim gesture.
You paged Lysander with 'If it was possible to mug those things for gnosis, Sepdet would've done so, and is now offering her own...in the form of blood... for Wolverine to slurp. Since there wasn't really a heart we could give him to chow. :)'.
Long distance to Lysander: Hope-Star is a little unclear on mechanics, though, so ignore me if that makes no sense.
From afar, Leonard is all disappointed. I wanted to be there. :(
Long distance to Leonard: Hope-Star awwws. I wish you had been! I asked NF and he said you'd be coming later, and. Sigh.
From afar, Leonard is here. Its later. :(
Long distance to Nightflash: Hope-Star hrms about Leonard.
Leonard pages: Nothing I can do though, so.
From afar, Nightflash told him we'd try and do something tomorrow or Thursday night and pull him in. It's generally pretty easy to get a single person added.
Long distance to Nightflash: Hope-Star okies.
You paged Nightflash with 'Besides, he's named for Wolverine anyhow. :)'.
.
*You are acceptable, barely,* the spirit sniffs disdainfully. It eyes the gore on Sepdet's haunches for a few moments. *Perform your ritual, and tonight, as you sleep, I will do what is necessary to complete our bond."
Soulcatcher's ears twitch as he watches the wolverine spirit. Despite its disdain, he licks his muzzle with eager anticipation.
Hope-Star inclines her head warily at the Wolverine, hackles still raised from the recent combat, and a few mixed emotions she can't entirely squelch.
Nightflash's hackles raise again at the spirit's appraisal of the pack. He does not lower his eyes. *Very well.*
Rides-Fire, edge taken from him by the combat, watches the theurges for guidance.
Finds-the-Lost paces a few steps and then back again, never straying too far from Rides-Fire. As he passes the 'Gazer in one of these times, he bumps purposefully against the wolf's side. Will the Strider do the rite, or the Wendigo?
Rides-Fire turns to the ragabash. Schooling his own unsettled feelings, he says simply, I don't know which knows it.
Hope-Star turns her thin muzzle towards her once-again-packmate.
Soulcatcher moves with determination when the Strider nods to him. He directs her to gather vines and he himself goes about creating a makeshift bowl. Into this he makes an unpleasant concoction, asking each of his would-be packmates for blood before it's done.
Rides-Fire seems uneasy still, but submits to the theurge's claw to bleed into the bowl.
Hope-Star disappears off into the bushes, returning after a long enough time for Steven to start making snide remarks before returning with a tangled bundle of vines in her jaws. She takes the clawprick stoically when it's her turn to bleed.
Finds-the-Lost tries to clean a little of that goop off him as he watches the preparations. Blood is contributed as needed, and he holds any questions he might have while the ritual is underway.
Heart-of-Fury bleeds for Wolverine willingly into the mixture.
Nightflash offers his blood for the ritual stoically.
Soulcatcher brings the packmates into a circle, letting Sepdet bind them with the vines. As this is done, he paints each member with some of the concoction. He makes a mark on Nightflash first, and asks, ~Why are you here to pack?~
The spirit simply watches, from a distance, while the group bleeds on his behalf.
Nightflash looks around at his packmates. ~The Enemy has come to our lands. We were not watchful and it crept in while we slept. It has defiled our territories and left its guardians behind when it snuck away again. It is time to reclaim what is ours and to reteach the Betrayers why they must fear Gaia's chosen, why they must hide in their corrupted nests deep beneath the surface, and what happens to them when they dare to challenge us. We will be the claw that tears their rot from the face of the Mother.~
Soulcatcher accepts the Gaian's answer, his eyes glittering with approval as well. He moves down to the Fianna next, marking him and asking him, ~Who is Wolverine to you?~
Heart-of-Fury nods his fierce approval of the ahroun's words. ~Wolverine is a relentless fighter, filled with anger which we can use as a fuel on our mission. We neither ask or will offer quarter to our prey. We will hunt them until they die under our claws. Wolverine will give us the edge we need to destroy the Wyrm's presence in our lands.~
Rides-Fire growls in agreement with Nightflash, his uncertainty fading with the strong statements.
Great. A pop quiz. Finds-the-Lost is made slightly anxious by the questioning, though he attempts to conceal as much of that as this form allows.
Soulcatcher nods at the Fianna's words and then moves to the Stargazer. The lupus is marked like the others, and of him the Wendigo asks, ~How will this pack prove itself?~
Hope-Star finishes tying people together and returns to her place in the circle.
Long distance to Heart-of-Fury: Hope-Star once again fails to resist thinking silly things. Woo! Steven and Sep, bondage! Who'd a thunk!
Rides-Fire's words are uncharacteristically straightforward for his tribe. ~We will fight what we have formed to fight, and we will win.~
From afar, Heart-of-Fury eyes you oddly.
Soulcatcher shows his teeth, apparently approving of the Stargazer's honest brevity. NExt comes the Get, and the Wendigo fixes him with a penitrating stare. He's marked, like the others, and asked, ~What will this pack bring to its Sept?~
Finds-the-Lost keeps his answer brief as well, perhaps uncharacteristically so. ~Strength in our battles, aid in destroying the Sept's enemies, the ones that dare strike close to the caern itself.~
Soulcatcher nods in satisfaction, and then moves to his so-long packmate. He gives her a brief, faint smile while he paints her forehead. Of her he asks, ~And what does Wolverine get from this pack?~
Soulcatcher pages to the room: Did I get everyone? Except me I mean.
Nightflash pages to the room: Yep.
Hope-Star turns her gaze towards the spirit, stance assured now. ~The fire of our rage and the blood of our enemies.~
Soulcatcher puts a claw in the makeshift bowl and paints his own forehead. He then takes his place among the packmates and regards the wolverine spirit. ~We're resolved to this task, and my word is we'll die to finish it. That's all.~ With that, he offers his voice in a howl.
Heart-of-Fury joins the howl offered by the Wendigo, his sound primal and unfettered by remorse or second thoughts.
The wolverine spirit steps forward, claws scraping along the dirt as it moves its bulk into the midst of the Garou. *I will guide this pack,* it says, the words suddenly comprehensible to the whole of the gathering. *I will show them the Wyrm's heart, so that they may know my Rage, and then walk beside them until they have finished this task, or died trying, as they have promised.*
Rides-Fire answers the spirit's newly-comprehensible challenge with a gleam of teeth, before he too joins the howl.
Once the spirit has offered its own words, Nightflash lifts his head and adds his voice to the pack's.
Finds-the-Lost is surprised by the sudden understanding, but takes that as a good sign, which the words confirm. Perhaps the true significance of being shown the Wyrm's heart is lost on him at the moment. He adds to the howl of his new packmates.
Hope-Star's narrowed eyes show that she is bracing for this latest nightmare of true seeing, even as she tilts her muzzle back to throw out a forceful howl in Wolverine's honor.
Soulcatcher is well pleased with the spirits words, and it shows in the exuberance of his howl. He's bristling when he comes down out of it.
Once the rite's over and done, Sepdet wishes her new pack a grim ~Good hunting,~ then departs as unhurriedly as she can feign to be, seeking some quiet place to lick wounds and grapple privately with her conscience. No wonder Wolverine was a little disdainful.
Long distance to the room: Hope-Star . o O (I'll do what it takes, but I can't pretend to -enjoy- it. )
Thoughts of distaste are the furthest thing from the Fianna's mind, as he limps back to the caern. He is pleased to be following the fierce Wolverine. He does offer a begrudged farewell to the Strider though.
Soulcatcher remains behind, at least for a while. The Wendigo spends the time cleaning up, as well, and thinking about this new situation.
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Message: 4/59 in folder main Received: Wed Oct 11 01:28:50 2000
From: Lysander
To: Steven, Joseph, Rides-Fire, Finds-the-Lost, Nightflash, and Sepdet
Subject: Dream
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Sleep comes slowly to all of you after the excitement of the battle and the thrill of the Totem Rite, but when it finally does arrive, it is as an all-consuming darkness.
The vision that Wolverine shows you is perhaps not what you expect: he does not show you some towering evil monstrosity ensconced in a cold black labyrinth dripping with filth and slime. Instead, the vision that comes is one of pristine woodlands cut back by thoughtless, albeit innocent loggers influenced by corrupt politicians and businessmen; of rivers fouled by pollutants expelled from factories made profitable by poorly-written environmental legislation; of industrial waste dumped into landfill, not because of any malicious agenda, but rather because of carelessness or laziness of both, exacerbated by the Wyrm's subtle machinations.
*This* is the face of the Wyrm -- not banes, fomori, monsters, and so forth, but rather a subtle, corrupting influence that twists humans to its bidding, causing them to behave without thought or care. *This* is the well from which Wolverine's boundless fury and mercilessness springs -- the truth that there are no innocents in war, that only relentlessness and tenacity bring victory, and that mercy is weakness.
And when the dreams fade, you, too, feel Wolverine's fire coursing through your veins.