la vuelta
Sometimes all the warning you get is no warning at all.
A
change in the air. Silence where before you heard birds or traffic. The
scrape of metal against concrete. Something once still now moving. A
scream.
The three thin-mooned were in the area when they felt the
creeping coming of something that did not belong here. Heavy silence
hitting an area of the city that teems with life most hours of the day.
And then the scream.
And then the terminal sound of bones.
Charlotte
Sense Wyrm.
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Senpu
[whoops forgot: WP]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Senpu
Why
is Yukito Hayashibara in the area? That's easy, his cousin has a
friend who's in a band playing in one of the bars. A bar and a quiet
Ragabash on a Saturday night? Not really Yukito's scene. Which is why
he was out in the parking lot when he felt more than heard the sudden
silence, the scrape of metal.
He's already making to leave the
parking lot when the scream pierces the air. The sound of it sends a
chill up his spine, but for the time being memories of another time do
not threaten to overwhelm him. Keeping his cool as much as he can keep
his cool, he creeps forward on quiet, sneakered feet toward the source
of the madness.
[dex+stealth]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )
Little Uproar
Goldie
had started her day like a fucking rockstar. She woke up at 9 a.m.
that morning only because she had a work schedule to adhere to, and she
had to be there within an hour with no car to drive. She got slapped
herself together in ten minutes (hair twisted up into a knot, scarf tied
about her hair to keep it in place, bright pink make-up and a white
T-shirt and dark jeans tight enough to wonder how much effort they were
to put on in the morning), smoked a small bowl of weed, and went to work
slinging coffee for the people of Denver city.
It was a miracle
that she made it to work within fifteen minutes of the start of her
shift (fleet-footed and rude thing that she was on the sidewalk), and
further magic that the manager believed her excuses (a gift taught by
Spirits, you responsible and gifted thing).
She'd stayed later
into the evening for the extra money (some scheme in mind to save up
funds for), and so was on her way somewhere as a point B between the
point A that was work and the point C that was home. On-foot, with a
brown bombadeer jacket to keep her warm in the chill of the autumn
night, with an earbud of music in one ear when she heard the scream.
She
paused, looked up and pulled an earbud out. The scream sliced through
with an extra crick-crack of bone to go along with it. Goldie shoved
the headphones into her coat pocket and, with a quick one-two glance in
either direction across the street to make sure she didn't get run over,
scooted across the road to the source of the violence.
Charlotte
One
understands the moon. The night air on one's skin. One understands
that the stars are present even when the night is bound-close. One
understands the ground beneath one's feet, wrapped in asphalt,
yearning. One understands a change in the space-of-things. Vibratory,
new -
wrong.
One stops eating tacos, then. Slips out
of the weird little outdoor picnic table with its jaunty but rather
tattered umbrella, alert and slight and aware.
Slips her hand into the small messenger bag that is always dangling against her left hip.
Follows the sound.
Charlotte
(Gnosis roll: activating fire tooth talen)
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
la vuelta
The
scream came from the now-headless body lain in the parking lot of a
store that closed hours ago. No cars to speak of and no lights. Maybe
lights from a neon sign that never goes out. Some sick wash of red and
blue painting the scene a lurid color that shouldn't exist.
That
body lies with blood still spurting from the stump where its head was up
until a moment ago. Maybe the head is nearby. None of the Garou can see
it.
They can see what killed this person though. It's still stood
over the body unsteady on its feet because its feet are rotted and
mottled and near to disintegrating. So is the rest of its body. From the
looks of it the corpse was lain in the earth beneath a manhole cover or
a grate something that it had to slide out of its way. Long enough dead
that its lower limbs its pelvic girdle its spine are nothing but bone Internal organs gone to mush long ago. Strips of gray flesh hanging off
its upper body and a few sprigs of hair holding onto what's left of its
scalp.
It looks at Goldie as she comes upon the scene of its first
spate of violence. Makes no noise because it hasn't got the organs
necessary to make noise and yet this is not a mindless corpse waiting
for her.
It shouldn't be able to walk. It doesn't have the musculature. And yet it starts towards her as if anatomy is no constraint.
The headless body's heart stops beating then.
Senpu
There
is a parking lot outside of a bar that barfs music into the night every
time the doors open. There are a number of cars in the parking lot.
There is a young man of average height and lean build with light-brown
hair, and then?
Then the parking lot is empty, the young man gone,
carrying his weight just so, landing on the balls of his sneakered feet
so lightly a hound wouldn't hear his footfalls. He slips into the
shadows, traveling between lots and shops and lots again. A ghost.
There
are footsteps. The purity of Falcon. If he can only put down this
threat fast enough these others might never know something is amiss.
This
is why, in a burst of what little Rage he carries within his heart, he
becomes senpu-- Whirlwind. Striking out with his claws to bring the
abomination to the ground.
[-1R snapshift to Crinos, claw dat nasty thing: dex (swift)+brawl]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2
Senpu
[dam: +1+3]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
la vuelta
[soak!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Little Uproar
Neon
red and blue cast a hell of a light on this scene, and Goldie found it
absolutely cinematic for a single striking moment. She was wearing
sneakers that skidded sharp and short on the parking lot asphalt when
she came upon the body, arms windmilling in the air to catch and balance
the sudden stop of momentum.
Sure, it was gross, and her stomach
dropped to see the body still spurting blood into a growing pool that
spanned and started to make small rivers in the pavement. But something
had to have done that, and like any wolf that has earned a lick of
Glory to their name, she recognized simultaneously that something had to
be responsible, and so her head swung up to search.
It was in
that moment that the neon struck her as strangely perfect. In that
moment that she spied the sewer-slick monstrosity responsible. She made
eye contact with it, then registered that it was somehow walking on
legs that shouldn't be able to hold it up. That it was walking toward
her.
Goldie had rolled her shoulders back and straightened up--
fished a knife out of the knapsack she carried with her all the time.
Took a few steps back and smirked and was about to say something witty,
you could tell with how those bright pink lips curled away from bucked
front teeth with some kind of perfect irony dripping from them when--
--silent and swift,
more a sensation of air and a grip in the chest as though a bird of
prey had screeched and skimmed the hair atop your head but with
literally zero sound to accompany it, a Werewolf whirled through the air
claws first into the creature's chest.
"Badass!" Goldie shouted into the parking lot, then bucked her human skin in favor for something to let her join the fray.
Charlotte
Charlotte
is light on her feet. Aware. Swift, see, and she still has a mouthful
of taco when she comes 'round the corner as Goldie comes 'round the
corner as Senpu comes 'round the - well -
Slyph-like creature
sliding up behind Goldie sure enough to recognize her just sure enough
to reach for something just sure enough to throw it - aiming for the
monster's path.
Little Uproar
[Init + Dex 4 + Wits 4]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
la vuelta
[+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )
Charlotte
+8
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )
la vuelta
ROUND 1 - FIGHT!
charlotte: 16
revenant: 15
goldie: 13
Little Uproar
[Called Shot! Throat Slice with the knife! Spending WP]
la vuelta
[action: punch goldie!]
Charlotte
[1. Throw Talen. Then reflexive shift to hispo. Rage 1: BIIITE IT. ]
Charlotte
Dex + Ath
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2
Charlotte
Damage!
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )
la vuelta
[soak!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )
Charlotte
Int + occult?
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
la vuelta
[OW!!
punch goldie!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
la vuelta
[LOL I ROLL ONE TOO MANY HANG ON]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
Little Uproar
[ :x Soak ]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Little Uproar
[Spending 1 Rage to ignore a dice in damage penalty
Knife to Throat! Dexterity 4 + Melee 2, + 2 diff called shot, -1 dice for damage penalty, spending WP]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (2, 4, 6, 6, 10) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Little Uproar
[Damage (L): Strength 6 + 1 Suxx + 2 Called Shot]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
la vuelta
[soak!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Charlotte
Rage 1: BITE.
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Charlotte
Damage?
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
la vuelta
[soak!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
la vuelta
ROUND 2 - FIGHT
charlotte: OK!
revenant: 5A
goldie: 4L
Little Uproar
[Defensive/Dodge primary action!
Rage: Knife again!]
la vuelta
[action: punch goldie again!]
Charlotte
1a. bite. 1b. Gaia's Breath on Goldie.
Charlotte
BITE. -2.
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (8, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 6 ) [WP]
Charlotte
hahahahaha. Damage.
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
la vuelta
[OW!!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
la vuelta
[swing, battah battah!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Little Uproar
[Dodge!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
la vuelta
[goldie be like "fuck your punch, son"]
Little Uproar
[Rage! Knife]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )
Little Uproar
[Damage (L)]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
la vuelta
[OW!!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 5, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
la vuelta
x_x
la vuelta
The heart stops beating but the limbs take several seconds to stop twitching.
In
the seconds that the nerves continue to fire an impulse to run that the
body cannot indulge the Ragabash and the Theurge converge upon the
reanimated creature. A small tooth flies across the parking lot and
explodes like a grenade in the creature's face. The creature throws a
punch that does not hit like flesh and bone against flesh and bone. Its
fist punches through Goldie's skin as if she were made of paper. A
crunching and a squelching and she knows if the punch had landed higher
that she would be in the same position as the unfortunate to meet the
creature before they had.
Her rage might have saved her. Might have.
It
saves her now. It and the spirit-talker's fangs. The wisp of a girl
becomes a lean swift dire wolf. Tears an arm off of the creature but
does not slow it down or stop it.
It throws a punch with its other
hand. Little Uproar dances back as if she could see the blow before it
happened. Black Sheep is there to break a healing gourd across her
shoulder. The pain and the injury bearing the pain evaporate quicker
than the water inside the the gourd will.
A second later the
Crinos wolf slashes out with the knife. Like a guillotine falling it
takes off the creature's head. It hits the ground with a dull thud and
rolls a few feet before the rest of the body crashes down after it.
Somewhere in the distance a car alarm begins to yelp.
Little Uproar
The
blue and red of neon was accompanied soon by a burst of red-orange
fire, but through that came a big slimy fist. Goldie was a wall of
golden-furred Werewolf, though, limber of limb but a Warrior of Gaia
none the less. She was solid, she was sure she could withstand the
rotting fist of a shuffling corpse.
Ah, but to be young and
reckless. She underestimated her enemy, and for that she paid with a
fist-sized hole into her body. Her muscle and bone had given way,
collapsed inward with a burst of blood that had Goldie's arm falling
dead at her side. She flashed hot, seared white-hot with pain and Rage
and with her good arm, the one that held the knife, she stretched and
sliced the blade toward the creature's throat. It would have been a
good hit, but the beast was so much stronger than its flesh should
logically make it.
But there was Charlotte, Charlotte to sweep in
and tear away a deteriorating arm in her teeth (an eye for an eye, an
arm for an arm, yes?). Somewhere in the mix the Theurge circled back to
smash a healing gourd into Goldie's shoulder. She wasn't quite sure
what angle the Silver Fang (ethereal, silver-spirited thing) came in
from; Goldie was focused on that fist coming her way again. She
wouldn't let it hit her again, she'd learned that lesson once before.
She
may have been too slow, but a splash of water and trickle of warmth
into the wound brought a surge of energy and strength back into the
Ragabash. She ducked away from the fist, twisted off to the side and
lashed out with a long arm as she spun away. The knife at the end of it
sliced clean through the rotting hulk's neck, and it fell to the same
fate as its prey in a sweet twist of poetry.
In the distance, a car alarm yelped.
In
this parking lot, Goldie put her fists over her head and punched them
into the sky in a silent celebration of victory-- no howling in the
city, no no, but the energy of a coldsnap battle had the little Ragabash
swooping over to Charlotte like she was going to try to hug her or
high-five her or butt heads with her or something.
Charlotte
The
Silver Fang seems haloed, right, lambent. Gleaming even in the ugly
glare of the city lights and almost curiously untouched in the
aftermath, shaking out her heavy coat, which is already thickening in
anticipation of winter, cirling and alert, assuring herself that there
are no watcher, tail twitching as she also waits a spare handful of
beats to see if anything else like this will come.
And nothing does.
Just a car alarm in the distance.
So.
Abruptly
girl is where wolf was and Goldie comes her way like she's going to try
to hug or hive-five or butt heads with her and Charlotte-the-girl
looks, you know. KIND OF SHY. A little bit abashed.
But also: smiling. Unreservedly.
"You okay?"
Little Uproar
At
first Goldie was still wearing her Crinos skin when she danced her way
toward Charlotte, but to see the girl revert to girl-form, Goldie did
the same thing. By the time she reached her she'd settled for a
high-five over a headbutt, which was far more appropriate for lupine
heads than human ones.
"Because of you! Your timing was perfect. I'll bet it looked so cool from the stands." As though there were bleachers here, and this was a sporting event.
There
was a headless body, and another headless body to boot. Goldie didn't
have anything on her to carry them away with. Unless Charlotte had
another tye-dye body bag with her, the Ragabash encouraged her to leave
the bodies where they were and amscray instead. Let the humans come up
with their stories about serial killers in the night, this wouldn't come
back on them.
Sometimes the dead just doesn't stay down. They'd
done their part in putting it back in place, and so it was their time to
part before anyone else came to investigate the screaming.
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