[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas merely shakes his head in response to the inquiry regarding children. When Jesmond mentions a son, the Fostern looks her way curiously. It’s an unusual mention, that, and she surely knows it. It’s common for a Garou parent to lose touch with his or her child. Something so small and weak cannot withstand even the slightest amount of rage. It’s far less common for a kinfolk parent to lose the child, particularly with no mate near.
Danicka is putting her phone away then, though, and Theron is speaking of clinics and wounds. After the brief, piercing glance, Lukas simply allows the conversation to move on.
“I was thinking,” he says, “we could all grab a drink together. If none of you have other plans.”
[Wyrmbreaker] [sorry bout slowness, guys. had to deal with more admin crap!]
[Jesmond Krutova] The newcomer does not smile any warmer at Theron when he offers her his own in a manner of reassurance. Rather, Jesmond regards him with that same steady, thoughtful demeanor that she’s thus far displayed. It’s not coldness, or rudeness that makes her hesitant to smile broader, or laugh more than the once she has but an uncertainty. As she’d said to Danicka — she disliked feeling disorientated and that was precisely how she felt at present.
Uncertain.
Unsteady.
“Jesmond,” she opens to Danicka with, and a fractionally more easy-going smile, then back to Theron. “I would be happy to assist in any way that I can while I’m here.” It’s both dutiful and like rote, the manner she speaks these words; clearly, she has been accustomed to saying them frequently. Then Lukas is offering drinks, and the rain-spattered brunette nods in his mate’s direction: “I would be happy to have drinks with you, if your mate would still be willing to drive me back to my Aunt’s, afterward.”
[Danicka Musil] “Absolutely,” Danicka says mildly, and smoothly. Absolutely, she’ll drive Jesmond to her Aunt’s. Absolutely, she’ll keep to her earlier offer. “Let’s go to Tavern on the Park,” she says, glancing past the edge of her umbrella at the sky. “It’s close, and I know the manager.”
[Wyrmbreaker] Of the four Lords, Danicka is the only one with an umbrella. Lukas’s hair is now thoroughly wet, and the beads of water on his wool coat are starting to seep into the material. He doesn’t quite hurry, but his pace isn’t loitering, either.
“By the way,” he says to Danicka, “I met another two kinfolk of the tribe last week. A financier and a lawyer. I think their skills could be put to good use, so I referred them to you.”
To Jesmond and Theron, then, by way of explanation — “Dani&+269;ka has been working on setting up a coalition to better coordinate the kinfolk of — hey!” He raises his voice to catch Caleb’s attention; an ugly, yelping spike of a shout. “Caleb!”
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Gaia only knew why Caleb liked to walk in the rain. Perhaps the mugginess that followed in the summer months reminded him of home, of swamps and bayous. Beneath titles, estates, and expensive clothing and a cabin in the woods that was very nearly a victorian mansion, Darkensky was nothing more than a swamprat eating his ‘gator stew.
Hey, Caleb!
His head snapped up, eyes alert in the dimness of the night. Looking around quickly, his eyes settled on the group. They came first to Lukas, the bond of Perun guiding him. Even if they still had lost the totem briefly(?), one cannot mistake a pack’s bond. As the pack’s archer, he was usually positioned directly behind the Phalanx wall with Lukas infront of him.
His hand and arm raised in a wave, and he quickstepped over to the trio. “Good evening,” he drawled. “Caleb Delacourt-Alden,” he said to Jesmond. “Lukas’ and Theron’s brother.”
With that Silver Fang breeding outpouring from him, and the fact that the three looked absolutely nothing alike – Caleb by far being the better looking one, he dipped a bit of a bowed head to her. Turning, he spotted Danicka. “Madamoiselle Musil, it has been quite some time indeed. I trust that all is well with you?”
[Danicka Musil] The mention of the Coalition makes Danicka half-smile, a bit wry. “You should give them Montressor Sabine’s number. He was elected the chair. I cha–”
Hey! Caleb!
If she wants to wince at the sound of her mate’s voice shrieking that, she controls it well enough. She flinches slightly, more in her eyes and mouth than any other movement, and exhales slowly. Caleb walks over, and she inclines her head in both greeting and answer. “Well enough,” she says softly.
[Oncoming Storm] Theron has just been quiet after his conversation with Jesmond, she seem ill-at-ease and he wasn’t going to push any further.
Lukas begins telling him about the Kinfolk Coalition, but that is soon interrupted when Lukas directs their attention fo Caleb. “Evenin Caleb” he offers to his pack brother when he is closer. Still unsure about the man , having only spent the briefest of moments in each others company.
[Jesmond Krutova] “A coalition?” The dark-haired Kinswoman appears intrigued. “There was something similar to that set up in my father’s Sept,” Jesmond begins, her eyes not on Danicka, or Lukas but on the Silver Fang as he is hollered at and approaches to make his introductions.
The Shadow Lord Kinswoman regards the son of Falcon quite solemnly; her thoughts on a similar sort of Kinfolk Network abandoned in favor of slipping back a step or two so that she is on a par with the rear of the group; the furthest from the new-come Silver Fang. It is done wonderfully subtly, with the delivery such that it appears only that Jesmond had wished to re-think her maundering around a puddle in the midst of the parking lot.
After a few minutes, she takes up her conversation with Danicka once more; her voice moderated now, a sure sign of watchfulness around their newest addition to the party. “Yes, but they seemed a great deal more focused on providing protection to the Sept, they were quite,” Jesmond’s lips bend to offer the slightest of smiles.
“Militant.”
[Jesmond Krutova] [maneuvering! RAR HISS typo!]
[Wyrmbreaker] “Caleb, this is Jesmond Kr&+367;tová, daughter of Storm’s Vengeance, Shadow Lord Adren of your Auspice. She’s moved to Chicago for the foreseeable future. Jesmond, my packbrother, Caleb of the Silver Fangs.”
Introductions made, Jesmond takes up conversation with Danicka; Lukas moderates his gait so Caleb can fall in with the convocation of Shadow Lords.
“We’re heading to the Park Tavern to grab a drink,” Lukas says. “You coming?”
[Jesmond Krutova] “Pleasure,” Jesmond says of being introduced to Caleb, but her eyes don’t quite match the strength of the smile she casts him; it seems larger than ever, and dictated in the length of time it remains by how long it is before Danicka speaks to her, and she can allow it to dissolve to a more natural expression.
[Danicka Musil] “I’m not entirely sure the originally intended organization is going to work out. A balance between human rules of order and Garou ways of doing things might not work out.” Her conversation with Jesmond seems to be splitting off from the three werewolf males a bit. They pause when Lukas introduces Jesmond to Caleb, but then Danicka goes on, shrugging one shoulder as they walk. She’s sharing the umbrella again. “If I had to guess, I’d wager that the group overall is going to splinter into at least two factions, who will most likely operate with different but non-conflicting goals, different organizational infrastructures, and at least a little bit of bad blood between them.”
She smiles. It’s a lean thing, a trifle on the animal side. “But I might just be fantasizing.” She reaches into her pocket and, down the aisle, a slate-blue, brand-new Infiniti’s lights flash on to say Hello! Hello there, I’m unlocked now!
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] “Oui, certainly,” Caleb replied to Lukas. When introductions were made, a polite smile was given to Jesmond. “A pleasure to meet you, cher.”
Gaze drifting to Theron, his replacement, Caleb nods. “Hello, Theron. I trust you are well?” Joining the group, his footfalls fell in sync with his packmates unknowingly matching his pace with theirs. Clearing his throat, he shrugged a bit before continuing to speak to his fellow theurge. “Tell me, what Rites do you know? I believe I may be lacking in some that might be crucial to the coming battle.”
[Oncoming Storm] As he is addressed by Caleb, he falls in beside the Fang Theurge so they could better discuss the topic Caleb raises. Not wanting to speak of Rites and secrets to all and sundry. “The rites I know… are many.. mainly mystical in nature. I know the Rite of Summonin, Binding, Cleansing, Talisman Dedication, Questing Stone and the Rite of Contrition. I also have knowledge of several rites that are known only to my tribe.”
Turning to Caleb “What about yourself ? there may be a chance to swap rites to further improve both our knowledges.”
[Jesmond Krutova] “Historically, Kinfolk organizations have suffered from bad blood,” Jesmond is tending back her long hair, capturing it with one hand and holding it aside as they reach Danicka’s car. “At least, that is certainly the impression I’ve gotten from Garou reactions to the one at the Sept of Dusking Glory,” there’s a beat, the newcomer’s expression flickers somewhere between regretful and bemused.
“My father certainly had no time for them, but I admit I am curious about yours, Danicka.” Rain drips down Jesmond’s neck, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “I’m used to putting myself to work around a Sept, so, wherever I can be useful, I’ll be pleased to know about it.” It’s not humility that drives her words here, but a raw honesty she does not see fit to conceal.
[Danicka Musil] “The way I see it is this,” Danicka says, as her steps slow because they’re nearing her car — which is blisteringly gorgeous, a low and lean coupe with a dark leather interior, a machine that screams in harmony with her coat and her shoes and her small, glinting diamond earrings at quite a bit of wealth — to go get some drinks,
“Only two creatures on earth engage in highly organized mass warfare: mankind and ants.” She lifts an eyebrow and starts to circle around to the driver’s side. “And ants are all, a bit literally, of common thought on all things. Mankind, even supernaturally set aside as we happen to be, are not. But diversity of specialization is a signifier of advancing civilization, so as long as the cause is being furthered and people are protecting each other and themselves, I could care less whether there’s one group or two groups or more.”
[Wyrmbreaker] It’s difficult to say whether or not Theron was intended as Caleb’s substitute or replacement. What’s undeniable is this much: Caleb and Lukas were close before the Silver Fang departed on his extended umbral journeys; his meditations after his wife’s death. They were close, but they never had much time together, and then the Fang was gone.
What’s also undeniable: Lukas is fiercely pragmatic. And a pack without a present Theurge is at a great disadvantage. And after Caleb left, there was Theron.
So perhaps Caleb isn’t to be blamed for resenting Theron’s presence just a little. And maybe Theron isn’t to be blamed to feel his place in the pack suddenly a little more crowded. Lukas could, of course, try to smooth things over. To try to assign one Theurge to one aspect of his auspice; the other to another. That might help. That might only worsen things if he meddles overmuch, or unnecessarily.
In either case, the Ahroun doesn’t interrupt as the Theurges begin to discuss their Rites. But rather deliberately, as the Theurges fall behind the kinswomen, Lukas keeps pace with his packmates. He trails a little ways behind the Theurges, bringing up the rear of their little troupe, listening quietly.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] “Indeed?” Caleb said, walking along casually with his hands clasped behind his back. His body was loose, but completely erect in that it looked like he was suspended by a wire from the center of his head. An arrogant walk, an arrogant saunter, whichever it must be called, the walk-form was called Cat Crosses the Courtyard. Few swordsmen knew it, and Caleb did.
“I possess Summoning and Binding – any Crescent worth their Gnosis would know these, oui? Those, as well as Silence, Totem, and Talisman Dedication. Silence has more uses than one would think, and aids more than the Ragabash trying to sneak around.” Ambush is what the Rite was mostly used for. While Theron might be a theurge, Caleb somehow became a war-theurge. It could be supposed that it was due to the constant threat of impending doom that usually occurs in Chicago.
“A trade of knowledge may be useful,” he continued in his cajun’s drawl. “Tell me, -yuf, what do you believe is the best way to go about obtaining the services of a water elemental for healing and a fire elemental for destruction?” Equal yet opposite – perhaps that might be the best way to describe Theron and Caleb. The Silver Fang was known as a bit of a pyro, and he completely held an affinity for the fire elementals. But, as well with the destructive force of Fire’s hungry mouth, new growth can come of the ash.
Indeed, Caleb’s hand strayed to his hip-pocket which he brushed his fingers over gently, over the layer of his coat. Should that coat be removed, they would see a large-ish square. It was the zippo he carried with the Spitfire skateboard logo, which was his fire elemental talen.
[Jesmond Krutova] “Sometimes,” the mild-mannered Jesmond offers to these concise views of Danicka’s as they stand beside her car, awaiting the Garou. “I wonder if mankind would be better with a hive mind driving it. But then I suppose that would lead to criticism suggesting that I desire no free will for any.”
She tucks in her shoulders, bracing herself against the in-climate weather. “When I fact I merely question why so many feel the need to push their own agenda at the cost of progression for all.”
[Jesmond Krutova] [I don’t know why I keep typoing today. ‘when in fact’, that should read.]
[Danicka Musil] Her eyes slide to look at Jesmond as the other woman mentions hive minds. Better off. Progress for all. Agendas. She shrugs one shoulder again, which is about as noncommittal as one can get, and opens her door.
[Rory] There’s little explanation or reason for Rory being in the park tonight aside from the fact that she’s known to wander. Parts of the Unbroken are walking the paths, and inevitably they will come upon her, as she’s seated on a random bench, with something mechanical in her lap. Something small, unidentifiable, and she’s busy poking and prodding at it as if to find the answer in the simple act of touching everything that moved and flipping it over and over in her hands.
Her brow is creased, furrowed in thought, under the mass of bloodred curls. There is no doubting her [wasted] blood and heritage, it’s written all through her, under her skin and in her hair, her eyes, her complexion. What’s at odds with it all though, is the press of rage, with what Lukas knows to be an incredibly shy and awkward innocence.
She hears voices, and peeks up to see who it is, before ducking her head shyly, and trying her best not to be noticed at all.
[Theron Locke] Theron watches Caleb strut/saunter but remains silent and bites back his comment. He was a likeable fellow and in someways reminded him of himself. No point getting off on the wrong foot now.
“Hmm the rite of Silence sounds similar to one I know, however mine is more targeted towards securing conversations away from prying ears.”
He looks thoughtful at the question posed to him “Hmm I believe it comes down to how prepared you are. Do you have a source of water or fire…. if not, well that’s when you start to get creative with your surroundings.”
[Wyrmbreaker] These things always happen utterly without warning.
One moment the pack — half of it, anyway — are moving through the parking lot. The kinswomen are about five or six feet ahead of the Theurges, who’s about a foot ahead of the Ahroun. They’re conversing, or else listening, and they’re thinking about getting drinks or getting wings and sauce or getting home or —
Danicka opens her car door.
A wave of unnatural, sickly-sweet stench. She and Jesmond see it in a flash: the ichor slung over the interior in great, sticky ropes, like the webbing of some enormous, segmented anthropod —
— rather like the ones clambering out of the car at them right now.
They have ten legs, eight eyes. Though they somehow crammed into the interior of Danicka’s vehicle, they unfold now to spindly-legged giants, each the size of a VW bus. Chittering maw drops open to reveal great mandibles dripping with slaver. Their carapaces are slick and black under the half moon, gleaming and bulging.
It shrieks at them in outrage. How dare the man-things disturb their nest?
—
[everyone roll WP, diff 6! if you succeed, you have one round to post/make preparations. if you fail, you’re staring in shock!]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Lukas!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Theron Locke] [ WP – 6d6]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Rory] [Rory WP!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Danicka Musil] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Theron Locke] Theron’s eyes open wide as he turns from Caleb to witness yet more horrors polluting the streets of Chicago. Instinctively moving as he moves up behind Jesmond and starts guiding her back to the rear of the group.
Taking a protective stance in front of her, as his eyes go back to these things. Watching and waiting.
[Rory] She hears something, smells something, and it pulls her gaze upwards again. She blinks, and then shoves the mechanical dodad into her backpack, zipping it closed and slinging it over her shoulders, settling it with a roll of her shoulders.
She moves quickly to close the distance with the Unbroken and their kin, the movement letting Lukas know she’s there as she instinctively waits for his direction. She chews her lower lip worriedly, but as always, instantly ready to help.
It’s what she was born to do.
It’s all she was born to do.
[Danicka Musil] It all hits her first: the smell. The sight. She opens the car door and a woman like her should be not only screaming but quailing, shivering. Danicka’s hands clench into fists, one around the keys in her hand, which dig into her palm, which gets her adrenaline going again, and she
unleashes a torrent of swearing that likely sears Lukas and Jesmond’s ears, if Jesmond indeed knows the language behind her name. Some of it sounds terrified. Some sounds angry. Aghast. Shocked, most definitely. She’s lunging forward to try and grab her purse from under the seat when
they start to come out.
Danicka rears back, as quickly as she can, and does what goddamn good sense says: bolts back towards the Garou.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] “Truly,” Caleb said, abandoning this arrogant saunter for now to walk normally. Two sides of the same coin, Theron and he might possibly be. “However hypothetically, let’s say for the sake of argument that there has been a fight, and your reserves are too depleted for healing someone that has been injured, but at the same time there is a pool of stagnant water that is obviously Wyrmtainted. Do you clean—”
The car door opens, and the arthropods are crawling out of the vehicle, their chitinous mouths clacking together. But instinct was on his side, as he immediately glanced around and took on his war-form. Snowy white fur rippled with the breeze as a light sheen coated it from the rain. Even in Crinos, he was a beautiful sight to behold to any that wouldn’t run in terror.
Bracers on his forearms running from wrist to elbow, and plates on his shoulders were his armor. Greeves and a chainmail skirt with steel bars running down it. Indeed with that sword that he pulled out of his body where it had been dedicated, it was easy to believe that Caleb came from a very different time period. Without Perun’s aid, it seemed the packmates may well be at a disadvantage, but they were still a pack.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] ( Steel bands on the chainskirt, not bars. )
[Wyrmbreaker] “Fuck me,” Lukas’s tone is almost conversational from sheer surprise. Then he’s barking orders: “Kin to the back! Theron, protect them! Caleb, flank! Rory — ” catching sight of the metis, “beside me! EVERYONE IN HISPO!”
He’s changing as he speaks. The timbre of his voice drops; broadens, deepens. Danicka has used talens before, but perhaps she’s never seen her mate, or any other Garou, wield them. Lukas does not seem to treat them with any particular care now that push has come to shove, but there’s utter familiarity with the way his hand dips into the bag, utter familiarity with the way he literally smashes the talens against his chest.
His gnosis is briefly phosphorescent in the air. As Danicka is retreating past him, he holds the rest out to her in a hand
that becomes a claw
that becomes a paw.
“You may need to heal us,” is his last comment to her before the direwolf drops forward on heavy paws, a pale glow sparking from the tips of his black fur as he moves forward to take point.
[For the record:
-1 Gn Bloody Bandage!
-1 Gn Soak Talen!
-1 Gn Luna’s Armor!
-1 WP Resist pain!]
[Wyrmbreaker] [and a roll!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Failure at target 7) [WP] Re-rolls: 1
[Rory] Orders given, and she obeys immediately – there is no hesitation, none – as she falls to Hispo beside and a step behind Lukas.
[Wyrmbreaker] [BULLSHIT! AGAIN!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Failure at target 8) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] [fuggit! *LOL* roll inits!]
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas
+20!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Wyrmbreaker] Charlotte
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Rory] [Inits! +8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Wyrmbreaker] Wilbur
+6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Wyrmbreaker] Templeton
+6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] 8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Theron Locke] [ 1 R Snapshift Hispo
Inits +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Danicka Musil] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas 27
Theron 17
Templeton 15
Danicka 11
Rory and Caleb simultaneous 9
Wilbur 9
Charlotte 8
[Wyrmbreaker] Charlotte
…takes 3 attacks a round, unsplit and frontloaded.
1. stabbinate Lukas!
2. stabbinate Caleb as he’s going around!
3. stabbinate Rory!
Wilbur
…takes 2 attacks a round.
1. close range!
2. stabbinate Danicka!
[Rory] [Declare: 2 rage, split first action – all on Charlotte.
1a: bite
1b: bite
1R: bite
2R: bite]
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] 1 Rage spent
1a, not split: Summon an Earth elemental to their cause from the ground near them
1R: Bite Charlotte
[Danicka Musil] [1a. -1WP, BB!
1b. Held to, most likely, heal someone else.]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Charlotte, action 2 change due to range:
2. Envenom Caleb]
[Wyrmbreaker] Templeton
…takes 2 attacks a round. Is hanging back behind Charlotte and Wilbur.
1. Envenom Theron!
2. Webbify Lukas!
[Theron Locke] [ 1a Summon Ice Elemental + WP
1b Bite Wilbur ]
[Theron Locke] [ 1 Summon Ice Elemental + WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] [for the record, same for Caleb — no Rage action.]
Lukas
1a. Spur Claws Charlotte!
b. intercept Wilbur’s hit!
R1. Bite Charlotte
R2. Bite Charlotte
R3. Bite Charlotte
— moving to Wilbur if Charlotte goes down.
[Wyrmbreaker] [wait, i lied, spur clawing wilbur!]
[Wyrmbreaker] Sleek, spindly legs clickclacking on asphalt, the monstrous arthropods skitter forward. One is clearly larger than the rest: the pitch-black female flanked by her dun-colored, attendant mates. She goes directly for the front line of the Garou. One of the males attempts to swerve around this front line; the other hangs back for some other, fouler purpose.
Meanwhile, on the Garou side, the Ahrouns have formed a front line behind which both Theurges immediately begin to summon. Behind them, the kin: one clutching a bag of talens, the other — perhaps petrified by fear.
Shrieking, the female arthropod lunges. And the blackfurred Ahroun surges — not to meet the strike, not immediately, but sideways at the smaller male. Claws suddenly wet with poison, he strikes.
[Wyrmbreaker] -2 split!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] damage +3!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] ‘Wilbur’ shrieks as the right side of his cephalothorax caves in under the Ahroun’s claws. Chitin splitting cracks through the night: it sounds like a wood plank giving way.
[Theron Locke] [ Summon Ice Elemental – Wits + Rituals 6d6+WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] Theron summons quickly and skillfully. The earth begins to rumble.
Meanwhile, behind the phalanx wall of his compatriots, the smallest arthropod rears on his hind three sets of legs — spits venom at the Theurge.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Wyrmbreaker] (effects roll)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [Theron takes 1 unsoakable agg this round, 1 unsoakable agg next round.]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Webbing Lukas!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 6 (Botch x 2 at target 8)
[Wyrmbreaker] [erk. Webbing self!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] A glistening arc of poison hits Theron in the face. Immediately, the venom begins to work in through his skin; the mucus membranes of his eyes and nose.
It burns like a flame.
The creature’s webbing, however, is not so well-aimed. Sticky, gelatinous strands shoot forth from its spinnerets — missing its intended targets, hitting the back legs of its mate instead. She rears in outrage, mandibles clacking at the air.
‘Templeton’ cowers.
[rounding up… Charlotte loses 1 die from subsequent actions.]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Danicka: BB active! action b held. Caleb, roll summons!]
[Theron Locke] [ Is this Elemental friendly ? – Gnosis 6d6]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Wits+Rituals, +1 WP.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] [no change — elemental will appear shortly]
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Gnosis
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] REROLL.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker, snarling over his back — “Oncoming Storm, get Jesmond out of here!”
[Rory] NOMNOMNOM Charlotte!
split 1: Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2 = 9 -2 for split = 7 diff 5 – reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Rory] Damage: Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 2
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Rory] OH COME ON. KAHSEENO DON’T BE A BITCH! Bitelike ya MEAN IT.
split 2: Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2 = 9 -3 for split = 6 diff 5 – reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4
[Rory] THATS BETTER. AND DO IT AGAIN! DONT BE A BITCH!
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 8
Dice Rolled:[ 17 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak again!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] The little metis’s first bite doesn’t even put a scratch in the female.
Her second tears a hole in the front of the beast. Three legs clatter to the ground. It staggers backward, shrieking its earshattering shriek in pain and outrage.
Then it strikes back.
[First stab: Lukas! -1 for web.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] 2. changed: stab Rory! +2 diff (two changes)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 8)
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Rory] Soak!
Sta+Hispo = 4+3=7
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] 3. stab Rory!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Rory] SOAK! LIKE YA MEAN IT!
Sta+Hispo = 4+3=7
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] The single, razoredged claw of the monstrosity flashes out. It strikes so fast raindrops shear off its leg. When it strikes, it carves Wyrmbreaker open.
Immediately in the aftermath, his flesh reseals itself. Nearly all the damage is instantly and mystically repaired. His blood is on the creature’s leg, though, and the next strike flings red droplets off in its wake
as it claws into Rory, twice, dealing back what it was dealt.
Wyrmbreaker snarls at the beast viciously — wordless, though the intent is clear: Back on me, motherfucker! — even as his claws push off the asphalt, send him sideways to intercept ‘Wilbur’s strike.
[Wyrmbreaker] Wilbur:
1. movement!
2. strike Danicka!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas: intercept! -3 dice.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] The creature’s leg seized in the Ahroun’s jaws — narrowly turned aside. Then he wheels on the female again; the largest threat.
R1. chomp charlotte!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Wyrmbreaker] damage +7… i’m so splitting this pool.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Ichor splatters the parking lot, foul and cold, as another leg is torn loose from ‘Charlotte’. The enormous creature is clearly thinking better of its attack now, skittering backward on its remaining legs.
[Rory] Rage 1 – COME ON! BITE HER!
Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2= 9 diff 5 – reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Rory] LIKE YA MEAN IT!
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 7
Dice Rolled:[ 16 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [nooo i want to liiiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, rage 2!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Wyrmbreaker] [dam!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Rory] DIIIIIIIIE BITCH!
Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2= 9 diff 5 – reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Rory] OH COME ON.
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 1
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak! I WANT TO LIIIIIVE!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, rage 3! NO SRSLY, DIE PLZ.
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Wyrmbreaker]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] +10 – ice
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] +5 — earth
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [end of round!
summary:
Lukas -6A, but with BB.
Theron -1A
Caleb OK
Danicka OK
Rory -4A
Lukas 27
Theron 17
Templeton 15
Ice 14
Danicka 11
Rory and Caleb simultaneous 9
Wilbur 9
Charlotte 8
Earth 6]
[Wyrmbreaker] After their initial, devastating onslaught, the Garou find it hard to bring the arthropods down. The female, grievously wounded as she is, is still — somehow — limping along after a rain of attacks from both Ahrouns.
The males — one is badly injured, hindered by the claws in his side. The other moves forward now, coming around his mate protectively, hissing at the Garou.
And all at once, the ground explodes. A vaguely humanoid creature, all heavy shoulders and massive, featureless fists, a head that’s little more than a stone with indentations, drags itself out of the frozen earth. Its voice is slow and deep. Angry.
“WHO… CALLS… ME… FROM MY… REST?”
The temperature in this region, also, is dropping precipitiously.
[Wyrmbreaker] [Ice elemental not here this round yet! Earth is. Declaring!
Earth:
Hold actions. Currently: pissed the fuck off.
Charlotte:
1. Dodge out of reach of hand to hand attacks!
2. Envenom Caleb!
3. Envenom Rory!
Wilbur
1. Stab Lukas!
2. Stab again!]
[Rory] [Declare: and AGAIN! Charlotte till she falls, than to the unhurt male.
2 rage, split first action
1a: Bite
1b: Bite
1R: Bite
2R: GUESS WHAT? OMNOMNOM MOFO!]
[Rory] (edit – 1a – COMMERE CHARLOTTE!)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] 1A. Spirit Speech: “Great Earth spirit, these creatures seek to defile your territory! We are battling them, but I sought your aid so that you may know of their existance and smite them with your mighty wrath! In return for this, I will come and tend your land for you so that it may prosper in beauty and richness for the turning of two lunar months. Please, aid us! We do not match your power!” Flattery, and all of that, never helps. Charisma+Ettiquette roll, WP added.
[Danicka Musil] She’s an attentive sort, Ms. Musil is. Hard to miss the elemental exploding from the ground in a shower of dirt and asphalt littered with ice. Hard to miss the fact that her breath is steaming thickly in the air now, where before it was just drifting alone. Hard to miss any of it, really.
But she’s also noticing that the female is running, hiding, and barely alive. A part of her considers utter madness. Another part of her wrenches back on that other part’s hair and says Oh, like hell you will.
and that part is louder, and a lot more convincing.
Danicka takes something from the bag Lukas gave her and sidesteps towards the wolf that used to be a redhaired female.
[1a. BB on Rory
1b. Held!]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Ice: not here yet
Templeton:
1. Stab Rory!
2. Envenom Danicka!
Lukas:
1a. Bite Wilbur
b. Block for Danicka!
R1. Bite Wilbur
R2. Bite Wilbur
R3. Bite Wilbur
Moving on to Templeton if Wilbur goes down!]
[Wyrmbreaker] 1a. bite wilbur, -2!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Wyrmbreaker]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [ack! i wanna liiiiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Templeton: Stab Rory!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [dam!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Rory] ACK! SOAK IT!
Sta+Hispo = 4+3=7
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Templeton: envenom!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, b: block!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Danicka Musil] [1a. -1WP, BB on Rory
1b. A panicked Jesmond drops her purse and a gun just falls out of it. Hey! Danicka thinks. I know how to use one of those. 3RB on Charlotte! Assuming stats are for a 9mm]
[dex + firearms -3 (split) // +1 diff (3rb)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7) [WP]
[Danicka Musil] [i’m a moron. 3RB adds to your attack]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 1, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Danicka Musil] [4+1][L]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [nooo i want to liiiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Persuasion: Charisma 3 + Subterfuge 0. (awfuckme – Kemp)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Charisma + Ettiquette = 5, WP added. WOO KAHSEENO!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] [resist!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] The Theurge’s words give the spirit pause — but only for a second.
Then, roaring with rage, it smashes its fists down. The ground shakes.
[Earth redeclare: QUAKE!]
[Rory] 1a. COMMERE CHARLOTTE! (and also – THANKS DANICKA!)
BITE LIKE YA MEAN IT, BITCH!
1b. Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2 = 9 -3 for split -1H= 5 diff 5 – reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Rory] AUGH! COME ON!
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] X_X
[Wyrmbreaker] Charlotte flees — but not fast enough. Rory catches up. The bite is far from perfect. The form, nowhere near as balanced as some of her previous efforts.
However, she is Fianna. And she’s lucky, if nothing else. The last bite tears Charlotte open; sends the enormous creature clattering to the ground in a heap of joints and legs and carapace.
[Wyrmbreaker] Wilbur
Stab Lukas!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Stab again!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, R1: bite Wilbur!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Wyrmbreaker]
Dice Rolled:[ 16 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [ahem. rerolling with right number of dice. >_>
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak! i wanna liiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [earth! belated! UMBRAQUAKE. Everyone needs to soak … a pathetic 2B *dies*]
[Wyrmbreaker] [Wilbur, soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Rory] (Soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Danicka Musil] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [Templeton, soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 5, 5 (Botch x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [Lukas, soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Rory] Oh TEMPLETON! YER NEXT!
[kahseeno, i swear to gaia if you fuck me on this…]
R1: Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2= 9 diff 5 – 1flank! reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) Re-rolls: 1
[Rory] [Dont even think about it. CHOMP!]
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 3
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, R2! Die Wilbur!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Wyrmbreaker] [seriously kahseeno, i’m on the verge of NOT BELIEVING.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 9, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Another of the arthropods hits the ground. Chitin clatters off asphalt like bark hitting the ground.
[Rory] STUPID SPIDER! DIE TEMPLETON!
[DO NOT BE A BITCH KAHSEENO, I MEAN IT!]
R2: Dex + Brawl + Hispo = 3+4+2= 9-1H diff 5 – 1flank! reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 4) Re-rolls: 1
[Rory] DIIIIIIIIIIE!
[THATS BETTER!]
Str + Hispo + Bite + (suxx-1) = 4+3+2 = 9 + 6
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, R3, on Templeton!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] soak! i wanna liiiive!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [summary!
Lukas -6A, -2B, but with BB
Caleb OK
Danicka OK
Rory -4A]
[Rory] [correction: Rory -2A]
[Wyrmbreaker] [sorry, -2!]
[Wyrmbreaker] Only one spider remains. One spider on its last legs, and…
The air in the area suddenly turns so cold it stings their eyes and noses. All the moisture freezes out of it instantaneously, falling in a fine crystalline powder at their feet. The rain on the ground freezes, slick and glistening. The rain in the air — that freezes too, dropping against their fur, their coats, the ground, with a thousand tiny shatters.
Ice has come. No questions; no words.
Just punishment.
[Wyrmbreaker] [Earth
Current declaration: Umbraquake again!
Charlotte
X_X
Wilbur
X_X]
[Rory] [really? REALLY YOU STUPID SPIDER? DIE!
2 rage – split first action, YOU WILL DIE NOW.
1a. bite
1b. bite
1R. bite
2R. bite – hey, she’s consistently good at what she does!]
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] First, Caleb will deal with the Earth elemental. “Earth Lord, I know your might! It is great indeed. Look, by your own power you have aided in helping fell some of these beasts with merely a thought! Imagine if you would but aid us, what may happen! Victory!”
Charisma+Ettiquette roll.
“Great Lord of Ice, hear me! My compatriot summoned you forth, but due to the protection of one whom needed it most, it is left to I, Caleb Delacourt-Alden, theurge of mighty Falcon, to speak with you of aid! Your touch of frost is death to all whom encounter it. Slow, ebbing death by the theft of warmth! Combine your powers with that of our most esteemed Earth Lord, and surely victory will be at hand! All will sing your praises!”
Charisma + Ettiquette.
[Danicka Musil] [Staying out of the way and cowering prettily before the might of Ice and Earth.]
[Wyrmbreaker] Ice: Freeze!
Lukas:
1a. oh just die already. CHOMP.
b. Held.
[Wyrmbreaker] 1a. -2!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Wyrmbreaker] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 11 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] Caleb howls into the frozen silence.
Lukas tears the last arthropod literally in half.
Ice — materializes in a soundless implosion, a sudden, invisible stab of cold so intense that every last one of them feel it in their bones.
[Freeze! -1R. Agg damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [no, seriously now! -1R]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] [lukas, soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Soak.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Rory] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Persuasion!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Danicka Musil] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Charisma+Ettiquette: EARTH.
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Charisma+Ettiquette: ICE. HAILLLL KAHSEENO! WP added.
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]
[Wyrmbreaker] Earth: convinced. Ice resisting!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wyrmbreaker] It’s so cold now that it’s hard to breathe. It’s so cold that their exposed flesh — the tips of their noses, the pads of their feet, and for Danicka: her face, her ears — throb with a deep, abiding ache.
Wyrmbreaker, dropping the pieces of the spider where it lays, pads back to the others. He does not interrupt. He does not attempt to intercede between the Theurge and his spirits. Eyes squinted against the sheer chill in the air, the Ahroun flows up into his birthform, comes to Danicka, stands behind his mate and wraps an arm around her: sharing heat.
Theron is gone. Jesmond is gone. Rory is bristling still in her hispo form.
Ice hangs in the air, crystalline and perfect, a single, enormous, infinitely complex crystal that shifts and changes before their very eyes. Beside it, Earth, a great grumbling boulder of a form, its featureless head turning toward its fellow elemental and back with a deep, groaning grind of rock on rock.
Caleb, alone against both, speaks to them in the clear, fluid language of spirits. For some time, it seems as though his words do nothing. Earth continues to rumble. The temperature continues to drop.
Then — gradually — Ice’s shape shifts. Not so jagged now; not so many angles and spikes. It happens so slowly it might be only their imaginations at first. Then, more and more apparent: the temperature stabilizes. It begins to rise. The ice falling from the sky turns liquid again. Rain patters down around them.
Earth speaks; Ice is silent. Earth’s voice is a low moan, like rocks grinding deep in the dark undersoil.
“Your enemies are gone. But when you need us, we will come again.”
Earth turns away. He twists in on himself, diminishes, sinks — is nothing more than a patch of disrupted, cracked asphalt within seconds. Ice simply dissipates into the air, fragments spinning from its edges until nothing remains.
Then all is quiet. The creatures lie where they are, their carapaces covered in slow-melting frost.
[Rory] Rory is poised to take down the remaining spider, but Lukas sends it into nothing but noisy splatters, and she stares… and then steps backwards once as her eyes – vibrantly green even in this form – search for more, just in case. She watches as the elementals are bargained with, shivering in ice tipped fur, until they slip away once again.
Only when it seems they are alone again, only then does she shrink down once more into the oddly shy redhead, dressed in tattered clothing, with a battered backpack slung across her shoulders, blood flowing freely down her side. She slips off her pack, and removes her hoodie and presses it against her side, tightly, up under her t-shirt. Her pack re-shouldered, she holds the makeshift bandage in place.
She looks over at Danicka, once, and then drops her gaze immediately, submissive even to her, even to kin. Her smile is a shy thing, even as she murmurs a soft. “Thanks hor fealing me.” What she has left, is a scratch – and as always, she doesn’t notice the way her words mix up – as she hears only what she intended to say, not what actually was said.
And then she goes about helping with the clean up.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] The Silver Fang dipped his hispo head, thankful of the elementals’ aid. “Thank you,” he said in the spirit’s tongue before flowing back to man-skin. There wasn’t a blemish or mar upon his form, as his clothing settled around him once more, damp from the light rain.
That made three elementals Caleb could call upon: Fire, Earth, and Ice. To Rory, his lightgreen enchanting eyes went. “Thank you for your help, cher. I don’t believe we have met.” A charming smile, there. Shifting his coat around him, he turned his attention and stepped to rejoin them all.
“You are unharmed?” he asked of Danicka, with a glance to Lukas. “Are any of you in need of healing?” he asked.
[Danicka Musil] Everyone was ordered into hispo, no matter their preference, their usual form. Danicka, unable to shift, tried to stay out of the way most of the battle, until she found Jesmond’s gun. In the aftermath, with nothing to do, she has two elementals standing nearby, and she’s so cold she’s shivering uncontrollably, and she’s surrounded not by wolves but by monsters, horrifying mutations of what wolves used to be, and Danicka is white as a sheet, holding a bag of talens in one hand and a gun in the other, both clung to with white-knuckled grips.
The interior of her car is covered in webs and stinks of the Wyrm. She sways slightly on her feet, and then a thick, warm arm comes around her from behind and she gasps sharply. Her head turns a bit, as though to confirm that it is indeed Lukas, and though she doesn’t quite relax, she does close her eyes and ease into the warmth he’s offering.
His presence at her back makes her heart hammer in her chest, makes her want to shriek, but she doesn’t. She has to work at it, but she doesn’t run away. She senses greater rage coming near and opens her eyes suddenly, wide, finding Rory there.
All she can do is give a nod, small and quick. She wants to say You’re welcome. It won’t come out. So Danicka closes her mouth and just breathes, waiting to be led.
[Wyrmbreaker] “That was good work, Caleb,” Lukas says quietly to his packmate. Then, to Rory, “Thanks for pitching in. You laid down some mean hits.
“I think we’re fine,” Lukas adds to Caleb. “See if Rory wants healing, and then go make sure Theron got Jesmond back to her place safe, will you?”
The temperature in the area is stabilizing. Lukas looks around at the mess. “I’m going to get my car,” he says to Rory. “We’ll load the bigger pieces in the trunk and I’ll go dump them. Then I’ll come back here and clean the Infiniti up.”
[Rory] She hasn’t met Caleb, and she doesn’t quite look him in the eyes, and her gaze drops again immediately – which is unsurprising to those who have seen her before, those that know her. She watches him through the shielding curtain of bloodred curls, as a blush splashes warm across her cheeks. He called her cher, much as Edwin calls her doll – and both get the same reaction. An Ahroun that blushes. Fancy that.
She then gives a quick introduction for him. “Tongue-Twister, Cliath Fianna Mull Foon.” a beat. Shy, and her human name “Rory.”
She doesn’t ask for healing, not again, as it’s already been given to her once, by the quick thinking [and now trembling] Kinfolk.
Lukas compliments her, and the blush deepens as she bites her lower lip, and peeks up at him through dusty lashes – clearly pleased and embarrassed at the same time, perhaps even equally. It renders her speechless […thankfully] and she simply nods to signal she understands the instructions.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Caleb shrugged towards Lukas, an indication that it was what he did: tend to spirits. “Thankfully I managed to keep them under control,” he muttered. Theron summons this elemental, and then quite by coincidence manages to escort the Kinfolk Jesmond home, leaving me to deal with his mess. Shocking! he thought to himself. But then, that was why Caleb was Darkensky: Even when things seemed most dire, the confident Fang came out ahead. Nodding to the two Shadow Lords, he looked to the Fianna with the gorgeous red hair.
“Caleb Delacourt-Alden, Cliath Theurge Silver Fang, of House Gleaming Eye, of the Unbroken,” he said softly to Rory as he approached her a bit slowly. “Would you like healing, Rory?” he asked. “It would be no problem.”
[Wyrmbreaker] [okay, i’m out too, guys! thanks for the play!]
[Rory] Its offered again, and she reaches up to rub her fingers alongside her nose, a nervous habit done absently, before she peeks up at him, then finds an interesting spot on the ground near her feet to stare at instead…
“Only if it’s tro nouble.”
Unbearably shy, the slender metis.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] Caleb checked a sigh. A timid Ahroun outside of battle? Unheard of. It seemed that he would have to work to put a bit of backbone into her. “Of course,” he said. Then, gently: “My dear, you fight well. Hold your head up high, and look me directly in the eyes. We are the same rank, mona petite cherie.”
Flashing a smile to her, he closed his eyes and quieted his inner self to touch upon that connection to Gaia that all have, but seldom acknowledge. A hand reached up and lightly brushed her cheek, and at that exact moment she would feel the healing touch.
( 1 Gnosis, Mother’s Touch. )
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 2)
[Rory] He speaks softly, and tells her to look at him, but she can’t quite do it – at best she peeks at him through her curls, from under rusty lashes. She trembles at the thought of more direct eye contact with him, and though she knows it is coming, almost flinches away from his touch along her cheek.
She bites her lower lip, silencing any sound that may want to escape, holding still, so very still, as she feels the healing warmth slide through her, taking away the rest of her injuries.
Softly, achingly soft… “Thanks.”
Single words are easier.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] And just like that, his touch was gone and Caleb was standing back from her a little, giving the slender woman some space. His arms folded casually over his chest, his head tilted to look at her. Not intently, but more casual scrutiny. “It is nothing,” he said. “If you ever have need of my services, you have but to ask.”
Lukas had told him to go check on Theron and Jesmond, but Caleb had no idea where to even begin looking for them. Without Perun, he couldn’t contact his Shadow Lord counterpart and he had only just met Jesmond. He believed them to be safe, otherwise he would of been notified somehow. Instead, he chittered softly in the spirit’s tongue and a squirrel spirit materlialized seated on his palm. “Go find Theron Locke, Eyes of the Oncoming Storm, and see that he is well?” The spirit was given Gnosis freely in return.
Turning back to Rory, he glanced towards his vehicle. “Do you need a ride?”
[Rory] He offers her a ride, and the blush splashes across her cheek once more. She hitches her backpack up on her shoulders just a little higher and then shakes her head, curls bouncing over her shoulders. “Home is fot nar.”
A little farther than that, but no one knows where the Bogeymen actually hole up – and she keeps it that way.
She lifts her fingers in a little wave, and then she turns and makes her way out of the park – and toward Bronzeville. Or Chinatown. Or somewhere in between.
Home.
[Caleb Delacourt-Alden] “Good evening then, Rory,” he said with a smile and turned to head for his vehicle.