battle.

[phanerothyme] Only five now, said Wane, observering the gruesome effigy embedded into the wall. The skull of one in a ritualistic piece of cave art. The skull of another all but twisted off after a rapid encounter with Wyrmbreaker. And five of them -- six, if the Questing Stone leads them, in fact, to Stormstrike.

If Stormstrike is still on their side. If she ever was. That's in the minds of this young(er) pack he's been put in charge of, that question. He wouldn't need the wind spirit binding him to them to tell him that, though -- not a one of the Blackwings thinks it aloud. It's merely there in their body language, in the crestfallen ache that they seem to strive to push away. Crow grants them an ability to lie better than most Garou can fight, and still they can't hide the fact that they wonder.

No one speaks it aloud. It's not worth suppositions and guesses. Their current alpha, for better or worse, just told them not to lock down into one assumption. Or any assumptions, maybe.


They head towards the opening to the second left-hand passage, where the Questing Stone tugs. Sunthief scouts ahead, as before -- they keep the same marching order unless told otherwise, and they go quietly. Crow gives them no extra benefit when it comes to silent motion, but their totem does lend itself to learning it. The Blackwings, one can imagine, could be quite fearsome with the right leader.

Sunthief is so obviously close to Fostern, so obviously skilled in his duties as a Ragabash, that he could build a strong scouting pack, a tightly knit group of skirmishers. Threnody, for all his Fianna angst, has a sense of bone-deep loyalty and protective instinct for his packmates that resonates in Lukas. He's a strong Garou, and particularly in his tribe, Galliards are supposedly effective leaders in and out of battle. Key of Heaven is Fostern and Beta. Key of Heaven is an adept Theurge, but not one so lost in the clouds or his own mysteriousness that he can't face reality, be practical. Eyes that Wax and Wane is the one that seems lost, but she's so young. She's a metis and touched in the head, half-blind and essentially alone in the sept but for this pack, who accepted her for Gaia knows what reason.

Conjecture, all of it. The tunnel they're in opens up. Air starts to taste different. And they hear, all of them quite suddenly, the cacophany of the ground erupting in the distance. Stone moving, ground shaking. They feel the tremor, and they hear a harsh growl, a loud snarl that sends a clear message:

STOP!

Like a stone was just thrown in the water, a ripple goes through the Blackwings gathered behind Lukas, all of them going sharply on the alert. The recognition of their Alpha's voice is both instantaneous and complicated. Wordless, like dogs perking their ears at the faintest, most distant whistle of their master. There's excitement. There's fear. There's rage, spiking at the command in Stormstrike's voice -- though it is not directed at them, not even remotely.

More barking. Stop! They will not --

The sound of earth shifting, rocks tumbling, even louder this time. The voice is abruptly cut off.

[Wyrmbreaker] Steady, comes the immediate command, low and steady into their minds. Stay with me.

The voice belongs to their alpha -- their true alpha, or perhaps their former alpha; it matters not. Lukas doesn't have to ask them to confirm this. It's in their faces, in their eyes, in their body language, in their minds. It's their alpha, and it cuts off suddenly to the sound of earth shifting, land moving. Wyrmbreaker gives only an instant's thought; then, the very forward motion of his body a statement, a rallying call, he charges forward down that twisting tunnel.

[phanerothyme] No one dissents. But the eagerness is there, the fire. Confusion, too.

They move faster now. Quickly through the tunnel til it opens up wider and wider, til it abruptly twists a corner and there they are in a large underground chamber, stalactites and stalagmites reaching towards each other from above and below. All the earth looks freshly turned, all the rocks broken as though this place was just hollowed out by bare claws. The Questing Stone still pulls, quivering in midair as though struggling to get closer to its quarry, and it pulls straight towards a smooth wall that arches upward.

There's no sight of a Garou, regardless of form or gender or tribe. Stormstrike is not here, before them. But four mangled crinos skeletons are. There is one whose long, otherwise firm legbones end in huge Clydesdale-style hooves, the bone chipped and yet sharp still. Like the others, it has bone-claws extending from its hands, but this one standing at the fore of the others looks like it only has 8 claws total, though it has all 10 fingers.

There is another skeleton -- tall, enormous, a mighty Garou in life -- has massive horns, one on each side of its head that curve up and forward, as sharp in point as its brother's hooves. Another is dragging its left leg, every single bone trembling in its joint, creating an awful rattling sound in the air. The last one is smaller than all the others, thin-boned, one arm half the length and size it should be, a child's limb on a crinos body.

Wane notes the obvious: There should be five.

No one else has time for comment, though. As though driven with a sense of honor not usually seen in monsters -- even ones not ridden by the Wyrm -- the skeletons wait for them to all emerge from the tunnel

and then rush at them.

[Wyrmbreaker] Tiny rocks and pebbles skitter from the tunnel into that vast cavern as Wyrmbreaker turns the corner and spots the quarry. If such things -- dreadful, silent, dead -- can be called quarry at all. Hackles up, paws wide, he stares for an instant. Barks a challenge, short and rough, that echoes off the chamber walls but fails to draw any response.

A blast of hot air through nostrils, a whuff underlain with a growl. One at a time. Threnody and I from the front. Rest of you from behind. Keep an eye on each other's backs. They might try to cave this tunnel in -- so be ready to move in a hurry.

It's all mental, all spoken into the mind. The only sound Wyrmbreaker makes is a low, continuous growl, deep and rumbling, as he flexes his claws into the earth at the mouth of the tunnel. Honor or some fell intelligence makes their foes wait. He takes advantage of the time he has: looks around to mark the dimensions of the chamber, the exit(s), blind spots. When he takes that first step into the chamber, he can sense the skeletal Garou tensing to meet him -- invisible tendons drawing taut, muscles bunching to spring. One last thing, then, which oddly takes the tone of encouragement more than admonition:

Stay with me. Whatever happens, even if you hear Stormstrike call to you -- stay with me.

[phanerothyme] Hooves
[+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4

[Wyrmbreaker] [let's start with luna's armor! -1gn, -1wp]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 7) [WP] Re-rolls: 1

[phanerothyme] Horns
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10

[phanerothyme] [That was +8]

[phanerothyme] Rattles
[+8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Wyrmbreaker] [rolling to activate a damage talen! +1 lethal if successful]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 (Failure at target 5)

[phanerothyme] Smalls
[+8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[phanerothyme] B-Dubs
[+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[Wyrmbreaker] [also activating:
-1 wp for resist pain
-1 gn for soak talen
-1 gn for BB
and fatal flaw on ... Horns! this is vs diff = wits+subt]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 9

[Wyrmbreaker] [inits +20!]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Wyrmbreaker] [for the record: Wyrmbreaker will target Smalls first, and expect the others to follow his lead!]

[phanerothyme] [1 success]

[phanerothyme] [ROUND ONE

Lukas 27
Horns 18
Blackwings 15
Rattles 15
Smalls 15
Hooves 13

Hooves
1a
1b
R1
R2 -- all bites on Wyrmbreaker

Smalls
1a
1b
R1
R2 -- all bites on Key of Heaven

Rattles
1a
R1
R2 -- bites on Key of Heaven

Blackwings
[Attacking Smalls per orders, defending selves, trying to cluster around Key to take hits when possible]

Horns
[1a Headbutting Wyrmbreaker (fun & special)
1b Claw Wyrmbreaker
R1 Claw Wyrmbreaker
R2 Bite Wyrmbreaker]

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a True Fear on Horns (not sure if this'll work!)
b. bite!
c. bite!
R1. bite!
R2. bite!

-- all on smalls. if smalls goes down... i'll decide what to go on to then!

[Wyrmbreaker] [diff is WP if it even works!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 Re-rolls: 4

[Wyrmbreaker] [shit, i forgot the split penalty!]

[Wyrmbreaker] [str+intim -3 for splits!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 Re-rolls: 1

[phanerothyme] As the Blackwings -- and their alpha, temporary or not, battlefield or not -- lunge forward to meet the rush, Lukas is relaying orders in his mind. He tells Wane to hold back on her Rage, be ready to heal, be ready to help in a way that is probably more useful than her attacks. It doesn't mean she doesn't dart forward with the others when Key of Heaven proves to be one of the main targets the skeletons take. Threnody all but puts himself between Key and the skeletons coming at him, roaring in their faces as though it will do any good. As though they can feel fear.

Wyrmbreaker, gleaming with Luna's blessing, bristles and bares his teeth in the face of their assailants. If anyone were looking at him other than these creatures they might seem to see his black fur moving like smoke, growing and curling around him. His eyes, bright blue as they are, seem to glow violet, then red, then flashing white as his jaws open.

The horned beast, perhaps the largest of the four, stops mid-lunge towards Wyrmbreaker and thrashes its head side to side, jumping back. The thing roars, but it makes no sound, jaw working with horror. Even as it scratches its way back, out of the fray, it's blustering, trying to make it seem like it is not as terrified as it is.

[Wyrmbreaker] There are Ahrouns that would leap after the fleeing foe now. Rend it as it tries to run. Not Wyrmbreaker. That was never the intent: he swerves aside, hindpaws leaving claw-furrows on the cave floor as he leaps for the smallest one.

1b, chomp! -4
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] [oh come on. KAHSEENO FHTAGN! +1dam]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Smalls
[Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] c. nother chomp! -5
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] [dam +4!]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Smalls
Incap at 6A
Soak
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 8

[phanerothyme] Smalls
x_x

[phanerothyme] Blackwings
[Stuff!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[phanerothyme] Blackwings
[Things!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] It's nothing like taking down live prey. No flesh to rend in his teeth. Nothing but the brain-jarring impact of tooth on bone, the hollow knocking of bones torn asunder from some invisible frame.

The first, and smallest, of the skeletons goes down. Wyrmbreaker barks a single command, the heavy-shouldered turn of his body toward the rattling skeleton the true directive:

"That one!"

[phanerothyme] With the horned creature skittering away -- and Lukas not following, nor ordering them to follow -- the Blackwings gather around Key of Heaven. With their initial target dead, they don't hesitate to look for the next one, even before Lukas gives his order. They bristle. He can feel it -- this close to their true alpha, this close to some promise of Stormstrike, this close to vengeance, they seethe. But they also obey, and wheel as though one body towards the quivering, rattling skeleton.

Key of Heaven has moved back next to Wane, letting Threnody and Sunthief ahead of him, and the pack simply tears into the monster --

but they are nowhere near as strong as Wyrmbreaker, and two of them are holding back, hanging back. Despite its quivering, the rattling skeleton is stronger than it looks, tougher, even if it is also slow-moving. It shakes them off with just a few cracked bones to show for it, and it is not hard to see now why seven of these things against the Blackwings were able to kidnap their Alpha. They are not a war pack.

[phanerothyme] Rattles
[1a -2]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[phanerothyme] [+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 6, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[phanerothyme] [1a +2]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 9 (Failure at target 5)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
[1a -2]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[phanerothyme] [+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] [soak: 7 +5LA +3talen]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
[1b -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)

[phanerothyme] [+5]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] [soak! DO BETTAR THIS TIME, LOOKUS.]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] [LOOKUSH. Ur doin it wrong.]

[Wyrmbreaker] [LOOKAAAASCH]

[phanerothyme] Caught in the midst of the Blackwings, the rattling, quivering creature goes for their Theurge, who stands near to his packsister behind the Fianna and the Ragabash. It gnashes teeth at him but ultimately it moves so slowly, it does nothing at all. It snaps again, as though in frustration, but the only voices in the chamber belong to the Blackwings and the lone son of Perun who leads them.

Behind the skeletons, the smooth vertical wall of dirt shudders with some unseen impact.

The hooved monster proves strong, and it goes straight for Lukas. There is no recognition in its eyes, no love, no mercy, no thought. It tears at him with gnashing fangs rather than those long claws, some of which are missing. It grabs hold of him once and rends through his flesh, but

that flesh seals itself again, muscle and skin and fur rebuilding itself instantly.

[Wyrmbreaker] The pain is dulled, but the knowledge of damage is there. Muscle and skin and bone rending, rebuilding, a sudden hot burn of healing and then gone. Wyrmbreaker never deviates from his target: his jaws snap at the rattling one, taking the foes one by one, weakest first, like a predator.

[R1 - chomp!]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 8 at target 5)

[Wyrmbreaker] [dam +7 KAHSEENO DON'T PWINK ME]
Dice Rolled:[ 16 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Rattles
[Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] [+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Rattles
x_x

[Wyrmbreaker] [lukas will set the rest of the pack on hooves next!]

[phanerothyme] Hooves
[R1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5)

[phanerothyme] [+4]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] [R2 - chomp on hooves!]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Wyrmbreaker] [+6 NO NO PWINKING. NO NO NO NO PWINKING.]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 12 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
Soak
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
x_x

[phanerothyme] Smalls
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)

[phanerothyme] Rattles
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 8)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 8)

[phanerothyme]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[phanerothyme]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[phanerothyme]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[phanerothyme]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Rage crackles in the air as Lukas systematically goes through their opponents, crushing teeth in his jaws. And no wonder: he's closer to Adren than their own Ahroun alpha, who has only been a Fostern for a few months. He's been ready to challenge for over a year now. He is, if one listens to the spirits, close enough even to the glory of an Athro that some of the talk over the fires earlier tonight was that he's going to burn out fast, die young, regardless of his rank. There is no more optimism in the world, it seems sometimes, no faith that he will grow old, achieve Eldership, lead a sept, teach those beneath him, raise cub after cub after cub, retire into true old age with his wolf fading and his arms settling finally around his mate and his children, at peace.

Those times are long gone. The times they have now give them this: rapid death. Monsters created from bone and rage and weak wills. Half-consumed human remains in the woods spelling out messages. Packs suspecting each other, their own alphas. The belief that no one strong can last, no one gloried can live long enough for it to make one goddamn bit of difference.

Lukas destroys the hooved monster in one solid bite, crushing its neck. Its head lolls to the side, barely hanging on by whatever connections spirit gives it. It falls in a clump and then there's only the shifting, whispering sound of the terrified horned one over by the shuddering wall of earth.

The Questing Stone still pulls, and Key of Heaven is looking at it even as the rest of his pack -- those using their Rage, being Threnody and Sunthief -- lunge after the quaking one. They don't even wait for an order this time, don't wait for Lukas to tell them, and their rage burns, oh it burns, and they leap on one of the things that took Stormstrike.

Threnody lands a blow almost as vicious as any Lukas has tonight, nearly killing the thing, ripping off one of its horns, snarling and growling as he does so. Sunthief grabs one of its legs but fails to even scratch the bone with his fangs.

They stay on it, Key and Wane lurching forward in that direction. Well, Key goes towards his brothers. Wane pauses, and looks back at what Lukas can see so clearly:

the bones on the ground, dry as those in Ezekiel's vision, shivering. Shuddering. Moving of their own will, rising once again. Two of them do. It's impossible to tell if the third -- the one with the tiny, malformed arm on one side -- is rising or not. But the one that Lukas just finished killing is pulling itself to its feet, already reaching for him.

[phanerothyme] [Lukas - OK
Blackwings - OK
Smalls - broken but moving
Hooves - broken but moving
Horns - broken but moving
Rattles - lying on the ground]

[Wyrmbreaker] Exactly what he was afraid of. Wyrmbreaker wondered, seeing these things moving without flesh, moving without muscle; he wondered if they could live again no matter how much damage he heaped on them. He wonders, now, if they'll rise,

again and again,

a war of attrition they cannot win.

No matter. He turns to face the largest and deadliest of the creatures, snapping a command at the younger wolves: "Take that horned one down. Then start digging through that wall!"

It's a gamble, and he knows it. There's no telling what's really on the other side of that trembling, shuddering wall. Even if it is Stormstrike, there's no telling what she is now. If she'll fight with them, or against them. If she's even -- whole. Fleshly. Corporeal. Even so, Wyrmbreaker came here with a mission, and it was to find out what happened to Stormstrike. To save her if possible; if end her if not. He came here charged with a duty, and he intends to carry it out.

[phanerothyme] [ROUND TWO

Wyrmbreaker
Horns
Blackwings
Smalls
Rattles
Hooves

Hooves
1
R1
R2
R3 -- all bites on Wyrmbreaker

Rattles
1
R1
R2 -- all claws on Key of Heaven, from behind

Smalls
1
R1
R2 -- all bites on Wyrmbreaker

Blackwings
The Blackwings, every one of them, leap upon the horned skeleton as soon as they're given leave to. They turn their backs on Lukas and the rising skeletons and descend on the thing with fury and force, howling. Threnody snaps orders -- of a sort -- into Sunthief's mind, into all their minds. They're going to wishbone the skeleton, pull it apart so it does not rise.

He noticed that, too.

Horns
1 ...get pulled apart by 4 pissed off wolves.

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a.
b.
c.
d.
e. -- I got a zillion splits and I know how to use 'em. BITE! Hooves, then Smalls.

[phanerothyme] Rattles
[NEVERMIND I'M SLEEPING. SHH.]

[Wyrmbreaker] -5!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] [+5. I DIDN'T MEAN IT EARLIER WHEN I SAID I'D BE OKAY WITH PWINKING, BTW.]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Hooves
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Hooves x_x

[Wyrmbreaker] b. -6 [NO REALLY. LISSUN, KAHSEENO. NO PWINKING.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[Wyrmbreaker] [dam +3 - this was for smalls]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Smalls
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[phanerothyme] Smalls x_x

[Wyrmbreaker] c. mvmt!
d/e. dig while others are tearing Horns apart!

[phanerothyme] There's a staccato burst of snapping sounds through the air as Lukas turns from his re-murdered foes: he doesn't even have to look to recognize what the noise is. The Blackwings are on the horned skeleton, rending it into pieces. Wane avoided its kicking legs and grabbed a horn instead; with surprising strength she wrenches its head half off, snarling past the twisting protrusion clenched between her fangs. Threnody has one leg, Key and Sunthief each of its arms.

If the thing could scream, it would shriek, over and over, as it dies. But it can make no sound other than its bones leaving sockets. They rip it apart while Wyrmbreaker begins digging, and when they leave it in pieces Threnody kicks bones here and there. Rage makes the bones rattle, trying to come to life

but a femur can't move alone, or a ribcage. Or even a head.

The Blackwings gather to either side of Lukas, Threnody and Wane closest, and start to dig. He remembers, vaguely, digging a grave in homid, hauling rock and dirt with bare human hands. This, with a whole pack of wolves working together, goes faster. The dirt is soft and falling apart even as they dig; the cavern all around them is shuddering as though weakened. Two of the skeletons still live, but it is a woeful sort of life, motion without ability to move. Whatever consciousness the had, if any, is not enough to change their state.

It becomes evident, the further and faster they go, that something on the other side is digging towards them, too. A huge chunk of earth falls to dust in front of them, and before the specks have even finished falling there is an enormous black hispo lunging through the hole towards them. Even its eyes are black. Even its claws look jet. Stormstrike, Starfall's breeding is a thing to behold, even to Lukas. When twined with her Rage pulsing in the air like a heartbeat, flaring like a corona, it is no surprise how one as young as she is came to be Fostern so soon.

"OATHBREAKER!" she roars, snarling the curse out as she goes

right

for her Beta's throat.