[Cold Night.] This is not a pretty neighbourhood. Not a pretty street. There are garbage bags on the curb, the plastic torn the contents strewn, smelling strongly of rancid meat and vegetables and alcohol. There are dumpsters in the alleyways overflowing with bags and refuse, glass bottles and other detritus.
Nearly every street light on this block and every forseeable one after is out. The one that is still working is flickering arrhythmically, buzzing loudly in time with the light.
It seems colder here, as if the desolation chills the air. There aren’t many bangers out on the street corners tonight, one stubborn dealer leaning against the corner of a building, his shoulders hunched, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his duster. He’s sullen and scowling, his hat pushed low over his ears, a tuft of shockingly curly hair sticking out from the edges.
A few homeless congregate on the stairs of an old stone church, smoking, sharing a cup of coffee. The church doors are locked – there is no sanctuary here.
A girl in a large overcoat crouches over a grating, her arm wrapped around a scrawny mutt who serves as her protector. An old man walks double-time to make his way home. The moon is gibbous and in the sky, bright and nearly full. The sound of the buzzing light murmurs beneath all other sounds – the sound of a car on another street, the mutter of conversation from the homeless men. The dog’s whining.
[Joss Lehrer] This is not a pretty neighborhood – certainly no place for a girl to be, let alone walking on her own. She’s more than once been told by some concerned denizen of the streets that it’s too dangerous for a girl as young and fresh as she is. Usually right before they try to grab her and she has to eat their face – but she’s been told. She ignores them all, however, and keeps up her patrols as is her duty. Tonight, the outskirts, close to Eagle Territory, yet not crossing that boundary.
She looks as she ever does, as she nears that old stone church where none find sanctuary. Her skirts swish about her calves with her walk – that’s more of a dance, truth be told – her feet shod in flats, her sweater dark, her dreads long and adorned with the occasional bead and colored strip of fabric, and her godi bag hangs at her hip from a strap anchored on the opposite shoulder. She has one earbud in her ear, and the other hangs lose around her neck, as she moves to a beat only she – and those close enough to her – can hear.
[Keith] This is not a pretty neighborhood, and Keith Sommers does not care. No. That is a lie; he cares. He did not set out from his apartment and think to himself, why, I will find the shittiest most rundown neighborhood to prowl, restless, restless. But that is what he did, lead on by his subconscious; hell, lead on by that teasing bitch of a moon, swelling inexorably in the sky.
He’s young; a teenager. He’s handsome, too, sometimes. That straight nose, that smile; even that mouth. And none of that matters. He puts people on edge. He’s got Rage in check, but only just; it heats his blood and starts to drive him mad this time of month. So he’s restless, and he went for a walk. And the walk brought him here, his good coat open, his hands in his pockets, and he doesn’t feel the cold at all. All the lights are out, except for one.
He pauses in the gutter, and squints up at that one buzzing light. The sound: an irritant. Then squints at the dark road he’d come down, lifts his hand to scratch his left eyebrow with his ring finger. There, Keith.
[Cold Night.] People watch the strangers warily. The drug dealer is still half a block away. The old man skirts around Joss as he passes, and then steps across the street to avoid Keith entirely, scurrying over the road, muttering under his breath. When he first got an apartment here, it had been a good area. The bad just … grew up around him. Now he hears a gunshot and does not worry for the poor person who might be hurt or killed, he merely wishes, fervently, that they would just complete their mutual desire for extermination so he can get a good night’s sleep.
“He-hey.” The girl calls out – Keith’s direction.
“Got any spare change?”
One of the homeless men is sitting at the bottom steps of the church as Joss passes. He grins a rotten-tooth grin.
[Joss Lehrer] She watches the man that sidesteps around her, her hand resting on her bag, lightly, fingers wrapped around the strap easily. She doesn’t look defensive, but then again, even now under a moon not her own, her rage tends to be enough to give someone second thoughts before they’d mug her.
But there’s STUFF in her Godi Bag, dammit. She protects it.
Her gaze moves on though, marking those that mark her passing – the rotten toothed grin, the girl calling out after Keith who stands under the lone working lamp. It’s automatic, the way she places people, and pays attention, despite the fact that she dances still, humming under her breath.
[Keith] He was trying to figure how far back it went. The lightlessness. Power outtage? Or did the city just not give a shit enough to change the bulbs? The girl in the large overcoat with the dog calls his attention away from that; also calls his attention to Joss. Joss, who smells like a Fenrir. Just a whiff of it, just a shade of heroism; of good breeding. His nostrils flare, and his gaze switches from the girl to Joss, mouth setting into a bemused line.
But then. His comedian’s eyebrows (expressive, distinct) slip up, and he shoves both hands in his pockets. Then turns them out. There’s nothing there, except for a five and some pennies. Maybe a nickel. A penny drops, but he holds the five up between two fingers. Leaves his pockets hanging out.
“Just this. But you can have it,” he says, because Keith, for all he’s on edge, for all the dog’s whining is starting to set the hairs on the back of his neck up, well. Keith is kind. “The dog hurt?”
[Cold Night.] Both Keith and Joss carrying breeding and rage. The young girl likely carries lice. Her hair was once blonde and is matted, beginning to form dreadlocks at the roots, the jacket clearly meant for a man, and a man much larger than her waifish frame. She swims in it – it makes her look smaller than she is, more shapeless. Perhaps it’s a deliberate. Maybe, when she goes out to beg in more populated, richer areas, it gains her more cash.
Maybe it simply keeps her warmer.
She reaches out to take the cash, clutching it between fingers with short, dirty and ragged nails. Her eyes latch on the Ahroun’s face, hugely wide and blue, the pupils dilated as if she’s high.
“Thank you,” she mutters.
The dog’s whining has gone up in both notch and pitch. The girl pets the animal automatically between his ears, almost robotic in her mannerism.
“No, he’s okay.”
A pause. “He just wants to do things to you.” Absent, casual, almost as robotic as his petting is.
“I kind of do, too. Would that be okay?” She smiles a little, her front tooth chipped, her teeth relatively clean as she stands up from the grating.
—
“Whatcha listenin’ to, sweet pea?” the homeless man’s voice is like gravel crunching together, his grin growing wider. If Joss continues on, ignoring him, he cries out in sudden, unjustified rage:
“BITCH. WHORE BITCH.”
[Joss Lehrer] He has clear breeding, the man under the lone lamp light, and when his brows lift, her’s do in return, though her’s is done with a grin. She smiles, after all, she always does.
Well, almost always. Her attention is pulled back to the man who asks her a question, and she does continue on – but answers too. “Music.”
Which doesn’t quite justify his sudden rage – rage that brings the line of tension along her shoulders. But she’s been called worse as she moves on toward the other one who clearly doesn’t belong here any more than she does (…though they belong more than most…).
[Keith] [Sense Wyrm: Evil monster, or just cracked out stupid? Percept + Occult]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Keith] The ahroun’s eyes narrow in what could be construed as a contemplative expression. They’re dark, his eyes; some middle of the road color that rarely clears. He watches the girl as she pets the dog’s head. His jaw tightens, when the whine climbs in decibel; plays on his Rage like nails on a chalkboard. A slow boil. And she’s staring at him, and she’s looking at him, and his muscles twitch.
And as she (he kind’ve wants to) stands, as she speaks in her (I kind of do) echo-tinned voice, Keith’s attention narrows. “… No. I don’t think so.” His nostrils flare, again. And, perhaps for the benefit of Joss, perhaps just as a statement of fact, the (boyfaced) man spits: “Wyrmridden.”
They’re on a public street. But the public street is nigh on empty, and the Delerium was never meant to be man’s friend — not exactly. Keith shifts without a moment’s thought, because the moon is nearly full, and he was fashioned to do violence.
[Cold Night.] “FUCKING TOO GOOD TO SHIT, YOU BITCH?” the man is slightly (quite) mentally unhinged, the sudden mood change taking him over completely, entirely and without mercy. Spit flies from his mouth as he screams, stagging to his feet, his hand on the railing of the church stairs.
The words wyrm-ridden are spat at the girl like an oath and she smiles serenely beneath the weight of the insult.
“Yes,” she says, her voice lilting, child-like, pleased, almost, as if she’d expected it to have to explain things to a slow friend or pupil.
Keith’s body suddeny loses it’s cohesiveness, its molecules altering, the DNA shifting. It changes on its most basic level, and becomes something else all within the space between heartbeats. Bones rend, joints pop, fur breaks out into skin, the bones of his skull and teeth pop, break, refile and change.
It is not unpleasant.
The unleashing of rage feels really fucking good.
The girl’s smile does not falter as the sound of cracking comes from her direction as well, a sudden pop, pop, crunch, and her head begins to fall back like a rag dolls, like a marionette with cut strings. The lapels of the coat fall away, falling open as her arms fall loose at her sides.
She is naked beneath, a pale, dirt smeared body, small breasts, narrow hips. The breasts distort as her ribcage cracks open, the skin tearing the bones popping, a cascade of half-clutted sludge coming from opening in the little gir’s bones.
The beast shrieks as it pulls free from its human framework all head and weighted body, small stunted arms as if it were from the Cretaceus period with the surname of Rex.
It shrieks.
So does the homeless man, the others with him, bawling blubbering as they turn to run in the other direction, their brains caught in the delirium.
The dog leaps to its feet, still whining, but the undertone becomes harsher, a rumble, the start of a growl.
[Joss Lehrer] Keith snarls his discovery of the girl’s taint, and then wastes no time in shifting. The few that are there, including her very own stalker, takes off running. “Oh Goody…”
And somehow, there’s the sense that she means it, too. She pulls the earbud from her ear, and tucks it into her Godi bag, and then wit a crack of her neck, and a sudden reach for the beast that rides so closely under her skin, she shifts into her powerful Hispo form.
Her lips curl into a snarl as she closes the distance.
[Joss Lehrer] +9 (hispo)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Cold Night.] Little girl
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Cold Night.] Puppy!
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Keith] +8 (crinos!)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Cold Night.] Order is:
Joss (18)
Keith(13)
Little Girl/Puppy(8)
[Cold Night.] Keith is closest. He gets the brunt of the attack. The girl’s head flops uselessly against the back of her shoulders, the eyes open and staring, the mouth half parted. The arms hang from the shoulders as if they were dead, but the hips and legs still work, and fueled by strength, power and the thing surges forward, its slavering jaws lowering to take a bite. It goes for Keith’s throat.
Girl:
Spend 1 rage (reflexive)
Bite.
Bite.
—
The dog leaps to its feet, its bark ricocheting off the dingy, dilapidated buildings as it follows in its master’s tainted and maddened heels. It goes for Keith’s knees, teeth baring in aggression.
Dog:
Bite!
[Keith] The beast frees itself from its puppet. If Keith had had any questions about whether or not the girl could be saved (he didn’t, it was too close to full moon for that), they would’ve been answered right there. He does not flinch and he does not hesitate. They set on him, the dog at his heels — the girl at his throat. (Why wouldn’t they? He shines so bright in this monstrous shape of his, kingly Keith.) And he sets on them. He sets on It, the thing riding in a flesh-puppet. And his name is Voice of Carnage, and he howls when he claws at the wyrmthing’s face once and preternaturally quick — twice.
[Declare!
Spend 1 rage!
Claw!
Claw!]
[Joss Lehrer] As she moves, her skin thickens, turns a sickly greenish color with warts and stinky grossness and everything. She wraps herself in Trollskin, and musters her will to rest what pain may come.
BAD DOGGY!
-1gn: Troll Skin
-1WP: resist pain
Current Health: +5 (BB from battle a few days ago)
1a: Bite -3
1b: bite -4
1c: bite -5
(rolling TS)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7)
[Joss Lehrer] 1a: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 3 for split, 5 diff 5 reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 + 2
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Doggy SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] 1b: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 4 for split, 4 diff 5 reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 +4
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] doggy SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 6, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] 1c: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 5 for split, 3 diff 5 reroll 10s (+wp)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 5, 7 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 + 2
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Doggy SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Keith] Action 1. Claw you up. Dex 3 + 1 (Crinos!) + Brawl 3 + NO NIFTY GIFTS OR TOTEM WOE. (grin) = 7.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Keith] Damage: Strength + Crinos Strength! + 1 + 1 = 10
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Little girl SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Little girl –
Bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Cold Night.] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Keith] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Dog –
switching actions.
Biting Joss!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 7)
[Cold Night.] Dog damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Joss, soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Keith] Rage Action: Claw You Up!! Brawl + Dex + Crinos!Dex – 2(wounded).
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Keith] Damage. Maaath. =( 4(str)+4(crinos)+1(str mod)+3(+ of suxx minus 1) = 12 -2wounded! = 10.
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Little girl soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Little girl bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Cold Night.] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Keith] Soak! Uh, right?
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] The clotted blood sticks to Keith’s claws, to his fur as he embeds his claws into her skin. It hangs heavy in the air, an awful reek that coats the sinuses, the nasal cavity, the throat.
The dog’s flesh tastes like vomit. That kind of half-digested meat and mixture of bile that triggers the vague reflex. It’s blood and flesh come off as chunks in Gossamer Wing’s mouth and come apart like rotten tissue, squishing unpleasantly through her teeth.
These impressions are longer lasting than the fight itself, which is quick, brutal and hard. These are the things that will stay with them, provided they live through the next few seconds.
Everything else is quick, brutal and short. Gossamer Wing rips into the dog who screams as she tears into its flesh. It in turn attacks her, its teeth flashing in the flickering streetlight, it’s never ending buzz a sharp counterpoint to the vicious sounds of battle. Its teeth only glance off the thick troll’s and bubbling troll’s skin. They do not tear her flesh.
Savage Dawn, Voice of Carnage digs his claws into the thing that was once a little girl, his talons sinking into flesh with a nasty give of unhealthy tissue. The thing screams and arches its head back slamming it down like a hammer, sinking its teeth into the crux between the neck and shoulder. It tears a good chunk of flesh free, its throat muscles moving visible beneath pale red-black skin as it swallows.
Savage Dawn is wounded but not felled. Pain radiates through his body, slowing him down, but he still manages to glance another blow off the creatures – well. It’s hard to say what it was he just hit. And it’s perhaps best not to think too much on that.
Another bite, another scream of fury. Another swallow of the Silver Fang’s flesh and blood, going down the gullet of the beast.
(round up:
Doggy:
9 aggravated damage
Little girl
6 aggravated damage.
Keith:
6 aggravated damage
Joss:
Shining glow of health.
[Joss Lehrer] Inits! +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Cold Night.] Puppy!
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Cold Night.] Little Girl!
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Keith] 8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Cold Night.] Joss (18)
Keith (16)
Little Girl (11)
Puppy (9)
[Cold Night.] The lines are drawn, the opponents decided. There is symmetry in this – one tainted creature for one creature of Gaia.
Blood washes the sidewalk as the dog surges forward, gnashing its teeth at Gossamer Wing, headed for the kill.
(Declare Actions:
Split actions
Bite
Bite)
—
The sound it makes is inhuman. It is nails over the blackboard, it is a fork scraping over teeth enamal. A screech, bloody teeth baring as it tries to burrow its face into the hole it’s already made in Savage Dawn’s collarbone.
(split action:
Bite, Bite, Bite)
[Keith] There is symmetry, here. The moon is waxing, and the ahroun is riding his Rage; is letting it out. And it feels fucking great. Which is good, because not much else does. There is the joy of violence, the sheer intensity of — hey. Look at this. I am at home right now. And I will only be at home while I am doing this.
What does home look like? His breathing, labored now, bloody and thick with snarl and this wyrmling burrowing its teeth into his flesh and against his bone and, oh, more blood. And another burst of sheer fury, the snapsnap of his teeth on whatever piece of the creature he can lock his jaws around. Foul, tainted flesh — sharp, unnatural bones (oh, marrow? Hello?). Doesn’t matter.
His name is Savage Dawn, and this is where he lives. Hello!
[Declare! Spend rage!
Action1: CHOMP.
Rage Action: CHOMP.]
[Joss Lehrer] She is known for her quick reactions in battle – though she doesn’t always do the right thing – according to some. According to others, including the aged Godi she recently spent an afternoon with, she did what she could, what she saw as right, and if they fell, they should have done better.
Of course, he also told HER she should do better too, that it was her fault. Heavy blows for an already heavy heart.
But knowing this, and seeing the enemy still standing, she makes a snap decision. Besides, slapping Silver Fangs is fun.
-1gn
1a: BE HEALED!
1b: BITE
1c: BITE
[Joss Lehrer] (MT 5-3, =2 split action, plus WP)
Hey Keith? SLAP! BE HEAAAAAAAAAALED!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Joss Lehrer] 1b: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 4 for split, 4 diff 5 reroll 10s
BAD DOGGY! CHOMP!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 +3
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] PUPPY SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] 1c: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 5 for split, 3 diff 5 reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 + 2
That’s it – Kahseeno! I’ma sacrifice KAI! She’s YERS! HAAAAAAAAAIL!
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Dog Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Keith] Action 1, bite the biter! Dex(+Crinos!Dex) + Brawl -1.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) [WP]
[Keith] Damage! Str 4 (+4) + 1 + 4 succ – 1.
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Cold Night.] soak! (one damage dealt)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Cold Night.] split dice pool:
2 actions
1.a bite
dex+brawl-(total number of actions[2])
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6) Re-rolls: 3
[Cold Night.] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Keith] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] split dice
2nd action
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Cold Night.] re-roll 10!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Cold Night.] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Keith] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] GOGGIE KILL.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 8, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[Cold Night.] GOGGIE KILL AGAIN
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Cold Night.] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] BAD GOGGIE! SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[Keith] Brawl + Dex (alas) – 5! Poor Keith! Little Girls = Evil!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Keith] Damage! Strength! (alas) – 5.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Cold Night.] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] Gossamer Wing taps Savage Dawn, taking a moment out of her own combat with the dog. The healing glow fills his body, and the half-painful surge of skin and flesh and muscle being forced to knit at a faster rate than ever intended causes his bodoy to spasm, however briefly.
After the first initial burst, pain is relieved. He feels strong again, and the blood no longer washes down his chest.
It is a stalemate between the dog and Gossamer Wing. Though she bites at the beast, her teeth find no purchase but coarse and rancid fur. Though the dog lunges forward and makes several good leaps toward her belly, its teeth only graze her skin. It leaves no mark, and the creature howls in frustration.
Voice of Carnage finds himself trapped by the marionette beast, the puppet creature. The arms of the girl flop uselessly against his forepaws, and the creatures shrieks, burying its jaws into his flesh. An attempt to claw leaves a shallow mark along the top of its head. The next attempt misses entirely.
He can feel his bones crunch as the beast’s massive teeth, latch on, rip, tear and swallow. He can swear he can hear the mastication, the swallowing. Tiny clawed hands latch on to his skin, the way a nursing child presses its hands to its mother’s breast.
The similarity is maddening. The beast is feeding off him, his blood and flesh its nutrients.
[Joss Lehrer] (+9) Let’s DO this thing!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Cold Night.] Little girl +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Cold Night.] Puppy +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Keith] 8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Cold Night.] Keith (18)
Joss (14)
Puppy (11)
Little girl (8)
[Cold Night.] The beast is intent on its purpose, almost methodical in its planning. It begins to widen the hole it is creating, trying to expand it out over Keith’s ribcage, his chest. It will try to gnaw through bone, cartilege, sternum. It will try to eat his heart.
(Split dice pool
Bite,
Bite)
—
The dog is no where near intelligent enough to recognize a failed venture when it sees one. After seconds of dancing around, it does the same thing it had before.
It attacks Gossamer Wing.
(split
bite, bite)
[Joss Lehrer] (Srsly? He’s injured MORE? Too bad – Time to Fenrir it Up, boys and girls!)
The dog is nothing but an annoyance now. She lunges past him to take care of the Little Girl.
[OH HAI RAGE DUMP!
dropping 2 rage, split first action
1a bite ze little girl
1b bite no DIE LIL GIRL
1r bite
2r bite SRSLY!
All bites on the little girl, unless she falls, then on to the dog.]
[Keith] His mother always wanted him to meet a nice girl. The girls he invariably met were nice. They didn’t work out, for one reason or another. To be fair, that reason was, in a large part, Keith himself. He’d always had difficulty knowing when he’d crossed the line. And look, here was a girl. Not a nice one. And she might just get the prize. Keith is far more hurt than he was, earlier; he can barely breathe, for phlegm and gunk, things are tearin and tryin to re-knit and failing while the creature’s teeth continue to burrow, to snap, to naw and pick apart and –
Well, hey. This is fine. A lovely night.
[Action! No rage. Just, uh. Grapple little girl still so she is bitten to pieces even as she bites Keith to pieces, demmit. Dex + Brawl – 5! Cripples, tsk.]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Keith] ooc: shit! LOL.
[Cold Night.] SHAME!
[Keith] REPOST:
His mother always wanted him to meet a nice girl. The girls he invariably met were nice. They didn’t work out, for one reason or another. To be fair, that reason was, in a large part, Keith himself. He’d always had difficulty knowing when he’d crossed the line. And look, here was a girl. Not a nice one. And she might just get the prize. Keith is far more hurt than he was, earlier; he can barely breathe, for phlegm and gunk, things are tearin and tryin to re-knit and failing while the creature’s teeth continue to burrow, to snap, to naw and pick apart and –
Well, hey. This is fine. A lovely night.
[ACTION. Rage 1! You chew on me? Oh, I *will* get my teeth into you ’cause I am *singleminded right now, demmit*.
Action 1: BITE.
Rage Action: The same.]
[Keith] Brawl+Dex-5!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 8 (Success x 1 at target 5) [WP]
[Keith] Damage! Strength! + 1. +1-1. – 5
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] little girl soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] CHOMPITY LIL GIRL!
1a: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 2 for split, 6 diff 5 reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Joss Lehrer] CHOOOOOOOOOOMP! HAIL KAHSEENO!
Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 + 4
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 12 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] SOAK!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Joss Lehrer] 1b: Bite: dex + brawl + hispo = 4+2+2 = 8 – 3 for split, 5 diff 5 reroll 10s
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Joss Lehrer] Damage: str+ hispo + bite (+ EM) = 3+3+2 (+3) = 11 + 3
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] soaking for formality…
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Keith] Change Action To: …weakly chomp at the dog! Rar!!! Dex + Brawl -5. (Diff +1)
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Keith] Damage, yes? Strength! +1! +1-1. -5.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] doggy soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Cold Night.] (fancy dancy timewarp to allow the dog his action!)
[Cold Night.] I BITE YOU!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 7, 10 (Failure at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Cold Night.] I BITE YOU AGAIN!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 (Failure at target 5)
[Joss Lehrer] (taunts the goggy!)
[Cold Night.] (goggy bursts into tears)
[Joss Lehrer] (coup de graces – OBVIOUSLY Goggie isn’t a Fenrir. FENRIR DONT CRY.)
[Cold Night.] Savage Dawn’s attempts to claw the creature away from him are futile. His claws do not pierce the flesh. Gossamer Wing whirls from her prey, her paws slipping on the bloody sidewalk.
Her jaws close heavily on the girl’s flopping skull. They slice through skin and bone and tear muscle and flesh.
It begins to fall – this girl/creature/thing. As it falls to the ground, the Godi follow up with another blow, ending any chance for life.
Voice of Carnage dives for the dog first. His teeth catch at the back of its neck and snap it, abruptly and cleanly.
The dog makes a sound – a tortured yelp, cut off as the nerves stop sending messages from the brain to the voicebox. It falls to the ground, lifeless.
There is a distinct dichotomy – the child’s body tortured and destroyed half gutted by the beast that escaped through her ribcage. The dog, her pet, her companion, one whom she’d loved when she had still had the untainted braincells to do so, laying stretched out, his body maimed and torn apart.
The light above them flickers, flickers, turns off. The buzzing finally stops.
[Joss Lehrer] They fall. The girl torn in two, the dog falling a second later – and with one savage, unstoppable bite, she decapitates the dog, to ensure it does not rise again. Joss then stands over them, and shakes herself vigorously, blood and gore flying as she does so, before she stands back and shifts back to her breed form, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she does so.
“Gross.”
And then she looks up at the Crinos Fang, and slaps him in the chest with the back of her hand. Slapping fangs is fun. At least she heals him while she does so.
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 1)
[Keith] Keith is a wreck. He really is; that he even lunged for the dog — maybe it was just an animal move. You snap at whatever’s at hand, when you’ve got a hole gnawed into your chest; then again! He didn’t snap at Joss. Nay, he changed. The pale, muscular crinos is a gory ruin — and Joss smacks him riiiiight where the gore’s thickest. The crinos winces, and then the flesh begins to knit, the veins re-heal and re-touch, sinews knit — and he’s almost as good as new.
Then he, too, shifts down. He’s once again this: this handsome young man, straight-nosed, sardonic eyebrows; eyes of indeterminate color, blood of heroes. A lot of which is on the sidewalk.
There’s a pause. Keith’s eyes? A little darker, actually. He stares at the corpses for a moment. Then he smiles at Joss, sweet and lopsided. “Hey. I’m glad you were here. Thank you.” It’s spoken quietly.
[Joss Lehrer] She flicks her hand at the ground before she begins to dig into her Godi Bag o’Goodies, to get her cleansing supplies. They’re running out of time, but she’ll take care of this quickly, so that they can dispose of the bodies.
He says thanks, and she turns to look at him, her lips curving into a grin. “You’re welcome. I’m Joss, by the way. Joss Lehrer, Gossamer Wing, Fostern Godi, Eagle and Theurge Elder. Glad I was patrolling outside the territory – which is about 2 blocks that way, in case you haven’t been that far. We’re pretty much ‘keep out’ about folks, just so you know.”
A beat, as she unwraps her supplies from the soft cloth they’re in, and she nods.
“Now help me cleans this stuff, claim your trophies, and I’ll grab my van so I can dispose of the bodies.”
[Keith] “Keith Sommers,” he says, hauling himself to his feet. He’s lean. Mostly muscle, even in this shape. He scrutinizes the ground, his head down, for a contemplative moment. “Voice of Carnage, Savage Dawn. Cliath Ahroun.” The rest is obvious. He’s got more purity in his blood than Katherine Bellamonte does. He doesn’t know it, but his brother in purity’s already been romancing arrogancing the lesser tribes. “And I hadn’t.” Been two blocks that way yet. “Good to know.”
Much less of an introduction than Katherine got, but Joss is not another Silver Fang, and he has no amusement to gain from reciting the list of names that is a rote, that is a ritual. Besides, there’s work to do. He cocks an eyebrow at Joss, and says, mellow as a real good wine: “I’ll follow your lead, Godi.”
He kicks at a piece of girl that flung out of someone’s — probably Joss’s — jaws and hit the gutter. For a trophy, Keith will — determinedly — pry out one or more of the girl’s monstrous teeth. Ditto, the dog. They’re small trophies, though. He simply wasn’t the most badass this time around. He’ll start hearing voices any second, shaming him. But for now, this is good.
[Joss Lehrer] He’ll follow her lead. “That’ll be a refreshing change.” It’s said with a chuckle, as for a Fenrir, she’s always in a surprisingly good mood. And fighting today, and managing to come out of it on the right side, with the one she fights with should be defined as “better” by the aged Godi. And that’s good enough.
Cleansing first. Trophies after. She leads him in the windershins walk, shifting to crinos as she goes, and when the time is right, when the moment is perfect, she nods to him and they HOWL….
Once it is finished, and she is homid again, she gestures for him to pick his trophies, and as he takes teeth, she digs free a small tin, newly added to her Godi Bag. And then she plucks an eye from each of the cleansed fallen, and plops them wetly into the tin, with a fond smile.
She has done the aged Godi proud this night. These trophies will not find the Wyrmpole. Oh no. They are for something else entirely.
(cleansing – char+ritual)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Failure at target 7)
[Joss Lehrer] (oh come on!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 8) [WP]
[Keith] That’ll be a refreshing change, Joss says, and Keith gives her a slanting look. “You deserve it right now. I’ve got to figure you’ve deserved it before.” By the end of that sentence, his mouth has quirked again. Easy, easy. “Let’s do this.”
And they do. The moment to howl apparently takes a while to come. But that’s fine. This is how the Fenrir do it. Keith looks upon it as a learning experience, and the truth is, the only hurry he’s in is to dispose of the bodies before some human sees something it wouldn’t understand. He’d marked where his five dollar bill was, before. And he picks it up after the rite is done, and pockets it too.
“Ready when your van is to start hauling these suckers off,” he says, and he’ll stay put while Miss Joss Lehrer, Gossamer Wing, goes off to get her van, and rub the back of his neck. And at the new, new flesh at his collar. Not whole, not exactly, but — it shouldn’t be there. For a moment, twinge — ghost wound. The street’s still dark. You can almost pretend that it isn’t the city, except it is. Smells like it, under the blood and guts.
[Joss Lehrer] She nods, and then takes off at a jog, making her way quickly through the streets to the Eagle Packhouse (Can’t rightly call it a kinhouse anymore, since no kin reside there.) where her van is parked. She doesn’t stop to change, as there’s still a grissley task to be done. There is a reason her clothing is so often earth toned and dark – it hides the blood better. Her phone though? Sparkly pink and jeweled – much more her style.
She pets Althea and smiles as she runs her fingers along the steering wheel happily. “We’ve a little trip to do, love…” and with that, she turns the key and the van purrs happily to life, and she heads back toward the waiting Silver Fang.
Even in the dark the van is impossible to miss with it’s… um… unique.. paint job. She leaves it running as she hops out, and moves to the back and works to open the hidden storage area there. “Pile them in here. I’ll take care of the rest.”
And once he does, she closes up, and pauses to look at him, glancing over his would, then back up. “Goodnight, Keith. Go get that cleaned up.” And with that, and a jaunty wave out the window as she climbs back inside the van, she and Althea are off to take care of the bodies.
[Joss Lehrer] (wound… not would. haha.)
[Keith] ooc: YAY and i’m out. (adores you BOTH to BITS and PIECES)