[-glory-] [OK, welcome to this oneshot! Here are the rules:
1. 10 min posting rounds. If/when we're dicing, declare in 2 min. Roll in 2 or I'll roll for you and/or skip you. If you want to post ICly during combat, keep it to when you're not actively declaring/rolling, or else keep to the 2-minute deadlines.
2. If you happen to be multitasking, make sure you can keep up with the deadlines. Otherwise, I'll ask you to stop your other scene.
3. No posting order, but please post ONCE for every post I make unless I say otherwise.
4. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
5. Questions in the chat. Don't IM me. If I don't see the question, repeat it until I do. If I don't respond for minutes on end -- I'm probably posting. You should wait, unless it's absolutely urgent, upon which you should PM me once.
6. PM me your applicable flaws. This includes stuff like nightmares and phobias and hatreds and compulsions!
7. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
8. I'll start us off!]
[-glory-] They all take their turns patrolling the Caern - every Garou in this Sept. If it were a more Glass Walker-flavored Caern, there might be a set schedule, a Google Calendar somewhere, but it's not. For the most part, Garou guard the caern without needing to be asked; each pack dedicating one member at all times, the packless simply rotating in and out as their honor dictates.
Tonight, they've drawn the graveyard shift. It's nearly dawn, and it's cold, and they want sleep. Their shift ends in an hour or less. Almost done. They can almost feel the hot water of the showers they're going to take. The softness of their beds.
And then the Warder calls for them.
"My Ragabash reported a disturbance about two blocks west," he rumbles, Glabro-formed, hulking and feral. He doesn't bother with politeness and courtesy, but then - Athro Ahrouns don't have to bother with that sort of thing. "Go check it out."
So off they go.
[Activate your shit if you're gonna! We're doing barebones STing, so battle is starting shortly.]
[Adara Mires] She actually was surprised ot find herself patrolling with Katherine and Sarita. It felt slightly odd to be with the packmates and also kinda familiar. It reminded her of the night they drank at the Loft with a very drunk Lukas making quite the exit. The thought made her grin a litte. It doesn't last though, her face turning serious. Disturbances on the Caern weren't to be taken lightly. When an Athro dispatch 2 Cliaths and one Adren, well you know it's serious.
She run with the two other woman, her form matching theirs. She will follow Katherine's lead tonight, she was the higest ranking of them after all. She could keep pace fairly easilly with the other two Garou. For once she wasn't chatty, focusing on the task ahead. If it turn out ot be nothing, then she'll return to the talkative galliard she is. She doubted it will be that easy.
[-glory-] [just fyi, i might sprinkle in short descriptive posts here and there. don't worry -- i'll only make "serious important" posts once per cycle-of-posts.]
[Honor's Compass] It doesn't take Honor's Compass long to shift.
To her credit she is perhaps one of the more obedient in the Sept when it came to obeying order and rank, but then, this should never be a shock when one is discussing a Philodox. The Adren nods at the Warder, a polite little head dip, spine straight as the trunk of an Oak tree and merely glances at her sister; at Adara.
She shifts, then and there, slowly shifting with a liquidy, crackling shimmer.
The statuesque blond creature suddenly replaced by a white furred Hispo wolf. She shakes out her coat; sleek, purely white but for markings of black around her snout, around those clear blue eyes. Let's go Umbral, she instructs Sarita across their totemic connection, and whuffs the same at the Fury.
[Go go Resist Pain
Luna's Armor: Stamina + Survival]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [LUNE DON'T YOU SASS ME.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Honor's Compass] [Wrath of Gaia, ya'll. Charisma + Intimidation]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] Two blocks west.
Two blocks west takes them into the core of river north. Glittering skyscrapers and expensive city views. Magnificent Mile. City view.
Or that's what they'd see if they were realmside. They're not, though. In the Umbra, the heart of the city is glittering and silent. Spires of glass and steel rise impossibly high. Webs, glistening like polished metal, arc gracefully from every edge, every cornice. Here and there they can see the Weaver's servants, so efficient and soundless. They take no notice of the wolves. They haven't caused enough of a disturbance.
(Yet.)
Only it's not entirely silent, is it? There's a steady noise, repetitive and grating, that steals into their awareness. whirr-chk. whirr-chk. whirr-CHK. whirr-CHK. Louder, as they get closer.
[-glory-] [baddie 1, wp]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 9 (Failure at target 7)
[-glory-] [baddie 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[-glory-] [baddie 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] She's following Kate's lead, of course. That's a no-brainer. The Owl girl is grinning a bit as they go to check it out. It isn't that she isn't taking it seriously, just that...well. Anyone who saw her fight alongside others in grant park would understand. You mean when she pulled a gun on War Wolves? That would be the one. So she's grinning because she's fucking insane? Pretty much. How the fuck did I get stuck as the narrator for a psycho? Because you wanted to narrate someone who was hot and female. I could have ended up as Kate's narrator. HAHAHAHAHA yeaaaaaaaah, no. Wasn't gonna happen. Why not? Because you don't wash your hands after you use the bathroom and Kate doesn't want someone with pee-hands in her head. Damn.
Anyway, she's keeping up with the other two as she stalks along, gun out so she might be able to get a shot off before whatever it is is on top of them. She'll go tooth and claw when they're in range.
[-glory-] [btw those WP were for future reference. for now they're all still there, cuz they haven't seen Kate yet!
baddie 1 percep + alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-glory-] [baddie 2 p/a]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] [baddie 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-glory-] [if you guys are trying to sneak up, counterroll dex+stealth!]
[Honor's Compass] [Let's see if the glowy one can be stealthy.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Adara Mires] (preternatural grace as dex speciality would allow for rerolls or not on a dex roll?)
to -glory-
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Ooh, there's one for me to roll! Milky Eye!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)
[-glory-] [yep!]
to Adara Mires
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[And then Stealth]]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Adara Mires] (stealth time)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-glory-] [percep on sarita is diff 9, so even her one succ is good enough to beat everyone. sadly, kate's 1 succ is not *dies*]
[Honor's Compass] What a sight she must be, this wolf of Gaia.
Loping along with the grace of her forefathers the Silver Fang slows to a more careful trot as the sounds grow louder. Her ears flick back, and then fold against her skull and she drops; all but crawling, her belly low to the ground as they gain so close the sound is all but thunderous.
Her fur glows softly; a pretty luminescence. Coupled with this, the Half Moon focuses her energy on what lay ahead; pulling at the teachings of one of Gaia's own avatars, to instill such deep, gut strong fear into minions of the Wyrm that to stare down Honor's Compass was to challenge Gaia herself.
[-glory-] They're two blocks away. Then one. Then half,
and they can hear voices across the corner. Low growls under that droning, dragging noise: whirr-KSCHK. whirr-KSCHK. A fouler tongue, feral and rough, a bastardization of their own Garou speech; a language dragged underground a thousand years ago and twisted in those tainted lightless corridors into the almost-unrecognizable tongue the Dancers speak today.
" -- won't be much longer now. A little deeper and the Herald will be able to take root. Tap the Weaver's mainline and use it to send the Call."
"And then?"
"And then Anhkahahn will reward us most lavishly, won't she?"
A low chuckle -- abruptly stopping. "Wait."
"What?"
" ... I heard something. Come!"
They have no more time. Their enemies are running for them; will be around the corner to meet them in seconds.
[Honor's Compass] Stay hidden, Sarita! Katherine's mental voice is calm, her authority is without hesitation, or notion of refusal. If they rush us, I want you in a position to flank them and bring some of them down.
The Fury gets a low, gruff whuff of order: "Song of Life follow! Attack who I attack."
Then, there's no time. Honor's Compass draws herself upright, plants her paws into the dirt and bares her teeth.
[Adara Mires] When Katherine shifted, she did so well. Her small, slim frame turning into a lithe, lean dark furred with grey highlights monster. She wasn't as beautiful to behold as Katherine but she moved with matching grace. She smelled the air, her ears perking as she hears the voices.
She crouched, eyes scanning the surroundings. She hears them coming and flex her claws. They will encounter hte enemy soon and even though she wasn't one to look for fights constantly, she felt the surge of adrenaline then Katherine spoke. She nodded in acknowledgement and gets ready to defend her life.
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] I'm on it, chica. She keeps low, creeping around to get into the exact flanking position that the Philodox commanded.
One set of doom planted directly in evil ass, on order.
[-glory-] Amidst the flawless order of River North's penumbra, the two twisted things that spill around the corner are almost an affront to the senses. The smaller is limping on three legs, the fourth held cringing to a sunken chest. Fur is missing from its body in great, raw patches. It takes one look at Honor's Compass and its courage breaks; it turns tail and runs yelping.
Its brother is made of sterner stuff. Huge and black, two eyes jammed onto one side of its face like a flounder-fish, it slams hamsized fists against its chest and roars at the visible Gaians. It's unmitigated challenge.
Then it sticks its claws in its mouth. Whistles, shrill and sharp. Around the corner, the mindless whirr-KSCHK stops suddenly. A second later, the ground shakes as something large, something very fucking large, rumbles toward the battle.
[inits time!]
[Adara Mires] (init + 7)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-glory-] [Flounder +8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[-glory-] [btw, since this is PvE, you guys can use as many shares of totem as you have.]
[-glory-] [Herald +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-glory-] Kate 16
Flounder 16
Adara 14
Herald 13
Sarita 9
Declare in reverse!
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] Rage: Insta-Shift to Hispo
[1a: Bite attack
1b: Bite
r1: Bite]]
[-glory-] Herald
1. arrive!
R1. attack kate
R2. attack kate
R3. attack adara
R4. Something Evil
[Adara Mires] (1a bite
1R bite
2R bite)
[-glory-] Flounder
1. Bite Adara!
R1. Bite Kate!
R2. Bite Adara!
R3. By now I've noticed Sarita. Bite!
[Honor's Compass] [1a.
1b.
1c. -- clean bites on whats his face there roaring at us!
R1.
R2. Same again. WUT. You goin' down, bro.]
[Adara Mires] (my target is the same as Kate's by the way)
[-glory-] [Okay, before round proper begins! Sarita ambushes. Roll current Dex+Stealth for her! And tell me which target.]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Dex=Stealth on Flounder]]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-glory-] [Target's Wits + Alert to resist]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-glory-] [okay, +3 dice to your one free attack. roll it!]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[NOM NOM NOM! Bite, -2 diff for Behind attack]]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 3)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Forgot reroll 10]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 6 (Failure at target 3)
[-glory-] [ignore the 1 on the reroll - 9 succ total]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Damage]]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-glory-] [TREACHERY! Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] [Okay, Flounder is changing actions cuz he TOTALLY NOTICES SARITA NOW.
1a. Turn around
b. Bite Sarita! +1 diff
R1. Bite Sarita! +1 diff
R2. Bite Adara! (same)
R3. Bite Sarita! (same) ]
[Honor's Compass] [1a. Biting Herald! -2 Split Action!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[-glory-] [roaring dude is Flounder, btw]
[Honor's Compass] [Damage + 1]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [1b. Again! Come on Katie, bring the pain.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Honor's Compass] [Damage + 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [1c. WTF. KATE DON'T BITE LIKE A SHADOW LORD.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Honor's Compass] [Damage + 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 7, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[-glory-] [Rage revive?]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[-glory-] x_X
[Adara Mires] (do i spend WP since my target is dead to cahnge target?)
to -glory-
[-glory-] Roaring, the big Dancer charges the field
only to have the small, lithe Strider all but phase into existence at his back. He never sees it coming, but he sure as hell feels it when her teeth rip open his back, crack his spine, splats a chunk of metal and viscera on the ground.
Instantly, weaverspiders fall on the mess, calcifying it away, cleaning it up.
The Dancer's fate is sealed from then on. He doesn't believe it, doesn't want to believe it, keeps roaring defiance every time Kate snaps at him, but it's only a matter of time before the Fang tears his throat out. He drops. Rage twitches through him, fades away. A second later tiny spiders are beginning to swarm over his corpse as well.
[-glory-] no need - it's a free change since your target is dead.
to Adara Mires
[-glory-] [metal? wtf? i meant bone. bone and viscera.]
[Adara Mires] *bite herald)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Adara Mires] (damage + 2)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-glory-] Pavement, so flawless and pristine this side of the veil, cracks under the Herald's weight when it steps around the corner. Perhaps once it was a mighty spirit of the Weaver. Some sort of immensely powerful transmitter-drone. A Manifest of GPS. Perhaps when it was corrupted, navigation systems failed over the midwest for hours. Now it's a tool of the Wyrm, and the Wyrm has added their own touches.
To call it gargantuan is an understatement. Twenty feet high, a juggernaut of corroded steel and leaking hydraulics, it resembles a humanoid the same way a battleship resembles a rowboat. Every dimension is exaggerated. Every surface is armored. What appears to be an antenna sits atop its undersized head. There are Wyrm glyphs carved deep into its chassis, and foul trinkets and talismans hang and rattle from its wrists, its antenna.
Bolted crudely onto its right arm is an enormous spiked hammer. Fearlessly, Song of Life charges the beast; bounces right off. Machinery whirrs as the Herald lifts its hammer, and then --
KSCHHKK.
-- brings it down, shattering webwork, concrete.
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] Kate can hear it over the pack link as she rips into Flounder. FISHHEADS, FISHHEADS, ROLY POLY FISHHEADS! FISHHEADS, FISHHEADS, EAT THEM UP, YUM!
Oh, shit. Big thing. CHOMP!
[[Bite 1]]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[DAMAGE]]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[-glory-] [-1R to shake off stun!]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Bite 2]]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 5)
[-glory-] [*record scratch* rerolling with split mods!]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Try this again. Bite 1]]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) Re-rolls: 3
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[DAMAGE]]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-glory-] [same soak.]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Bite 2]]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Damage]]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-glory-] [CLANK. soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [R1: BITING.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Honor's Compass] [Damage + 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Adara Mires] (R1 biting)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) [WP]
[Adara Mires] (damage + 6)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-glory-] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-glory-] The Garou throw themselves at the giant. Teeth screech off metal. They taste rust; they taste battery acid. They put enough damage in to crush a Dancer, but the Herald barely seems slowed.
whirr, the hammer rises. And falls.
[attacking Kate!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-glory-] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[BITE NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM]]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) [WP] Re-rolls: 2
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Damage]]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-glory-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[-glory-] [Herald changes R2 to: knock Sarita back!]
[-glory-] Ferocious beyond what anyone would expect of the easygoing Strider, Sarita rips a sizeable chunk of armor free. It clatters to the ground, smashing the body of the dead Dancer -- and a few Weaverspiders besides.
The tiny gafflings whirr in alarm, stiffening where they are, eyes glowing blue. That alarm spreads like a wildfire. Soon, the Garou can see pinpoints of blue everywhere. On buildings, on lightposts where electricity spirits dance; across stretches of webwork that arc austerely overhead.
The Weaver will respond soon, no doubt.
[-glory-] [Herald loses 1 soak. Weaver has been made aware of a class C disturbance in sector 0-120-8. Response imminent: ETA 2-3 turns.
Kate's R2!]
[Honor's Compass] [R2 BITE RAR SLASH KATE KILL NOW.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5)
[Honor's Compass] [Damage + 6]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[-glory-] [ack soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Adara Mires] (R2 bite)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 5)
[Adara Mires] (damage + 5)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-glory-] Another bite, and pistons and feedertubes explode free, hemorrhaging sickly fluid everywhere. The whirring of the Weaver gafflings grows louder, more urgent.
[-glory-]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] R2 - slam Sarita back! This is a special attack. Damage is bashing, but Damage x2 = distance thrown in yards x10.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6 (Botch x 1 at target 7)
[-glory-] [-_-
okay, Sarita takes her next attack at -1 diff.]
[-glory-] R3 - Attack Adara
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-glory-] Damage +2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Adara Mires] (soak)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [Kate is now taking any and all attacks on Adara!]
[-glory-] R4 - Something Evil: Mindcrusher.
Everyone needs to resist this roll with WP vs diff 8! If you don't match or exceed successes, there will be further details.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[Adara Mires] (WP)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 (Failure at target 8)
[Honor's Compass] [WP!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[-glory-] [round sumup:
Flounder x_x, 2 overkill
Herald 19 damage, on the verge of death
Kate OK
Sarita OK
Adara 6A
PMs coming!]
[-glory-] Creaking, shuddering, falling apart, the behemoth slams its hammer down. The ground shakes. Shakes again when it falls to one knee, fist planted on the asphalt. Weaverspiders skitter and spin, scattering like marbles. The Herald lifts its one unaltered hand -- little more than a slab of metal -- to its head. It gives a low, wavering moan from its very bowels. It's a noise of pain and despair, rage, paranoia.
It grows and it grows. Glass begins to shatter. Concrete ripples and buckles. When it hits the Garou, the world turns upside down -- black to white, dark to light.
[PMs really coming now]
[-glory-] It's not so much a vision as flashes, series of impressions:
amunet's body broken, skewered on the claws of
hunter, it was hunter all along, him and that fucker that went wyrm, that other fucker that left town,
the three of them both fucked her over real good,
they fucked her, her sister: hunter from behind, john in her mouth, leon just waiting his turn,
using her, hands pulling hair, choking her, slapping her,
beating her, breaking her,
body bruised, skin blooming purple and yellow,
skin blooming black, blistering with boils,
turning putrid with rot,
all of them rotting now, skin sloughing, skeletons, dead.
amunet dead, torn in two, her eyes glassy and open.
(why didn't you protect me?)
[-5 gnosis. if you don't have that much left, lose WP to cover the difference. gain Nightmares for a week, as well as whatever psychological effects visions might incur.]
to Sarita Ecos de la Risa
[-glory-] It's not so much a vision as flashes, series of impressions:
gabrielle,
some crack den somewhere,
god knows what became of her,
hands shaking with addiction,
pulling a ragged robe over her white shoulder.
faceless man leaving, money on the nightstand
(why didn't you ever love me?)
edward, turning away,
ashamed: how could she follow a lord?
falling out of touch,
son crying in the cradle, wife turning away.
scion of the house,
coat of arms besmirched.
(how could you betray me?)
[-3 gnosis. if you don't have that much left, lose WP to cover the difference. gain Nightmares for 3 days.]
to Honor's Compass
[-glory-] It's not so much a vision as flashes, series of impressions:
alone,
lone wolf, no pack to call her own,
she thinks she's running with the unbroken?
she thinks they want her with them?
why would they? she's
useless, a loner, look at her,
only one broken,
no wonder that kinsman tolerates her, the one that hates all garou,
carter, that's his name,
he tolerates her because she's not even a fucking garou.
might as well give up the wolf, lie down and die.
die,
battered and broken,
crushed under the spiked fist of this giant,
a better fate that whatever awaits her
alone in the dark.
(alone.)
[-4 gnosis. if you don't have that much left, lose WP to cover the difference. gain Nightmares for 5 days, plus whatever psychological effects visions might incur.]
to Adara Mires
[-glory-] [i'm totally still up for oneshotting, btw. lemme just wrap this up. they've almost killed the monster, but i just fucked them all up mentally *cackles*]
to the devil
[the devil] [dear god, Damon, WTF did you do. *LOL*]
to -glory-
[-glory-] [meet me in ooc! *dies*]
to the devil
[Honor's Compass] It's not the blood in her mouth, the stinking flesh she spits from her maw that does it -- but that ear-shatteringly, mind-altering moan. The Silver Fang whimpers and shrinks back onto all fours; burying the side of her face against one paw in an attempt to dislodge the impressions suddenly so clear in her minds eye.
Those of her sister, prostituting herself for money.
Those of her brother, ignoring the cries of his son along with his wife.
She whines, the Half Moon and trembles, shaking herself out of this nightmare with force. Her head snaps up, she bristles and snarls; snapping her jaws. Not quite spent yet, Honor's Compass.
[Adara Mires] She closes her eyes and hsakes. Yes, her whole body is broken and it hurt even more buty she can't help it. It was too much. She was nothing, just a young girl with too much power. Kinda like Tom Cullen in the Stand. Powerful like hell but dumb. She couldn't make a proper plan for the brotherhood, she couldn't fight, she was worhtless.
Who does she think she was, hanging with Adren and the unbroken, thinking she could do as good as them. Maybe it was true, the only reason Carter suffer her is that she was more kin than Garou. Nothing more. Probably why she didn't get much offer to join a pack. No one wanted her. She was a liability.
She tried to curl but her body doesn't respond. Her eyes are closed, tears running down her cheek and a lgiht wimpering sound could be heard coming out of the broken shell of a Fury.
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] That deep-seeded, terrorizing moan hits the (currently) enthusiastically violent Strider's ears, and worms its way into her ears. The thoughts that it breaks are unspeakable. They would be unspeakable for those who barley knew the situation. For Sarita, they're incomprehensible. Even now, in her Hispo form Sarita is less impressive-looking that her fellow combatants due to her smaller size. But no one could mistake her ecstatic leaping around and laying waste in battle.
It's felt through the pack link. Sarita has laughed, she's been somber. There have been a couple times that she's even cried while in Chicago. This would be the first time that anyone's heard her scream. It's unrestrained, and shakes with nothing less than absolute horror. Pure pain. The sound is vocalized too, as much as a Hispo can scream. It sounds like a strangled mix of a yelp and a howl. She physically staggers; if the thing had sent her flying across the battlefield, she wouldn't have looked as punch-drunk as she does now. Even with four legs under her, she nearly falls. She is, momentarily, quite insane...not frienzied, as she could not frenzy in nearly any situation. If she had her full reserves of Rage and hadn't spent them, she might have had a chance. But instead, she is simply out of her mind.
And it is saying something that she acts as others might in the midst of frenzy, preparing to throw herself at the thing without any single regard to her well-being. She probably couldn't care if it died or she did right now.
[-glory-] Spent.
That's a good word for it. That's what the behemoth is now, all its pain and rage at its own taint and corruption poured out of it in one colossal spasm of horror. It remains as it is, bowed, so very nearly broken. It'll take almost no effort at all to put it down now, and maybe it wouldn't even resist. Maybe it won't even give them that much satisfaction.
But no. Honor's Compass rises, trembling, on edge and furious and wracked. And with a terrible shriek of metal on metal, unlubricated, all its oil and fuel leaked all over the Weaver's pristine world -- the world that was once its own -- the Herald raises its heavy head.
Beneath that hulking brow, the tiny, almost invisible glimmers of red that are its eyes blaze a little brighter. Burn a little hotter.
The Weaver has no survival instinct; no urge for vengeance. A drone feels nothing; it exists and it un-exists, manifests and demanifests as the Weaver needs. As Order demands. This is no longer a drone, though, and with its corruption came some spark, some figment of free will. Deep within, something begins to cycle up. A whine rises, thin and high as a jet turbine's, underlain by a pulse so low-frequency it's more felt than heard. Its eyes glow and dim to the same beat.
At the edges of its rusting, decaying chassis, bolts begin to vibrate in their sockets. Begin to glow red-hot.
[Declaration: self destruct sequence! Will explode for massive damage at end of round. Will likely backfire on the one to kill it for somewhat less massive damage.]
[-glory-] [with Herald taking one action at end of round, and with damage mods applied, order of actions becomes:
Kate 16
Sarita 9
Adara 9
Declare!]
[Adara Mires] (noot doing anything except curl into a broken ball and whimper)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [1a: Bite
1b: Bite
1c: Bite]
[Honor's Compass] [Kate's reflexive orders: Back off! Something is wrong! We need to get out of range!
1a. Grab at Adara
1b. Drag to safe distance!]
[Honor's Compass] [1a grab Adara!
1b. Draaaaag. -3 split]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Bite 1]]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] [[Damage]]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-glory-] [okay, he cannot soak it all, but let's see how badly he dies!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-glory-] [KABLAM.
sarita, soak this!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-glory-] [kate, soak this ... twice!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [Soak 1]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Honor's Compass] [Soak 2!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-glory-] Kate - alert, still sharp - calls for an emergency retreat. It's the smart thing to do. Damn thing's gonna blow anyway; who cares if they're not the one to strike the deathblow?
But her companions are in no shape to heed her. Adara is all but catatonic, a whimpering ball on the ground. Spiders are beginning to sample her testingly, extending antennae, feelers. And Sarita --
Sarita's beyond language.
It says something about Katherine, what she does next. It says something about why she earned her second name. Honor's Compass. Her packmate is plunging for the heart of the beast. She cannot hope to save them both, shield them both. And between her own packmate -- savage and half-mad but unharmed -- and a near-stranger, a young Cliath of no particular attachment to her, but so grievously wounded that she couldn't possibly survive a full-force blast: she makes that choice.
The white wolf grabs Adara in her teeth. Flings her over her back and runs. And Sarita -- roaring or screaming or both -- leaps at the Herald, the picture of blind vengeance.
It only takes a single bite. She feels her teeth buckle metal. Crunch through something delicate and volatile. There's an instant in which her heart all but stops. Then the world explodes, heat and light and a blast that shatters her eardrums, collapses the smallest alveoli of her lungs.
She's thrown backwards, burnt, battered. Twenty yards away, Katherine flings herself over Adara an instant before the white-hot flash of detonation resolves into a billowing red fireball, roars over her back, reduces the tips of her fur to fine ash.
Then it's over. The Herald is gone. Seconds later, a thin metal pole, twisted by heat and charred by flame, clatters down on the empty street: the last remnant of that broadcast antenna that had channeled such horrors into their minds. And far down the street, the rigid, lockstepped shadows of much, much larger spiders approach.
The Weaver is coming. They need to leave, now.
[Honor's Compass] [Strength of Purpose, Stam + Rituals, per 2 suxx, recover a WP to max, vs Diff 7]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[-glory-] [+3WP to all!]
[Sarita Ecos de la Risa] She actually sounds surprised when she does enough damage to put the thing down. Not just for the fireball that sends her flying, but for the fact that she killed it. She didn't even reckon she would get close enough before it crushed her. So when she feels the explosion engulf her and send her flying, it takes a moment or two after the fact for her to realize it was the herald's destruction and not another weapon. She's staggering back to her feet and looks about ready to fling herself back into the fray.
Then she realizes that there's no fray to jump back into. Just the Weaver, coming for them. And the pain of the explosion has ripped her out of her fugue state just enough to be aware of her surroundings; of her packmate and the injured Adara. It's just enough for her to forget about launching herself at something else to kill and instead getting the others to safety.
She shifts up to Crinos and moves to help Kate to her feet, and to pick Adara up.
"Let's go." It's said in the High Tongue. It's probably actually something like "Let us depart from our present location with urgency and, to wit, post-haste," but all Sarita knows it as is 'Let's go.' Adara is slung over her shoulder and she follows Kate's lead to go to the Sept.
[-glory-] [btw, i'm pretty much done with rolls at this point! if you guys wanna keep playing til they're safe, i'm happy to keep narrating. but dice are finito!
final tally:
Wimp: Fled the field
Flounder: Dead, 7HP, 2 overkill
Herald: Dead, 20HP, 3 overkill
Sarita 3A
Kate 2A
Adara 6A]
[Honor's Compass] The Silver Fang's fur is charred, but she's suffered far worse.
Hell, the last time she died was from far worse. The Hispo Silver Fang gives a brief shake of her smoking coat and pushes herself from her protective stance atop the Fury. It would never be pity that had Katherine Bellamonte drag another from battle but purely, should they ever ask, the fact that her father had perished, doing precisely thus.
Trying to drag his pack-mates to safety; getting cut off from them in the attempt; dying, alone.
She would never leave another to die in such a way, in truth, it might well spell her own death, in times to come. But not this morning, this morning she drags the Black Fury from the depths of her own demise and covers her, then rises and shakes off death like a coat of unwelcome dust.
When Sarita arrives, she is greeted with steady study by pale wolf eyes; then a nudging.
Let's go.
Whuff.
They go.
[Adara Mires] She felt worthless, useless, insignificant. Her weakness forced Katherine to save her, protect her as if she was a mere child. She never felt so depressed in her life. Then something happened, so will seeped into the broken shell of the young Fury. She stopped shaking for the moment, stopped crying and whimpering.
She is picked from Kate's back and over Sarita's shoulder. She frowned "Put me down" She say with conviction. SHe was shamed enough as it is. Getting hurt badly with one blow, then the shaking and crying. She was better than this..was she really? She wasn't sure anymore but she wouldn't be carried like a baby. She shouldn't be moving or running but she doesn't care. She was stubborn that way
She litterally willed herself to run, overcoming the pain. For now, at least, she will appear to be worthy of being with her two companions. She could crack again later, in the privacy of her room.
[Adara Mires] (*some will seeped...)
[-glory-] They go.
It's not easy. Katherine's very presence has given them some new strength of will; some new resolve they didn't know they had before. And they need it, every ounce. The empty, pristine streets they passed on the way here have shown their denizens. All those perfect, flawless, soulless creations of the Weaver: the very reason these areas of the Penumbra are able to remain so spotless. So magnificent.
They're everywhere on the way back. Sentry-spiders. Hunter-killers. Cleanup crews calcifying everything, everything. The wolves have to sneak and dodge. They have to scale skyscrapers, cross wind-whipped tightropes of webbing. One of them nearly fall. The commotion is enough to draw the attention of dozens of spiders.
And then they all have to run for their lives. Spy-seekers hovering overhead, searchlights raking the streets for their fleeing forms. Hunter-killers thundering after them with lightning-fast, rail-precise motions of its many legs. Hover-bugs whirling above them, deadly copter-blades slashing for their necks. When they burst out of the frozen heart of the city, the air feels like it has texture and taste again at last.
When they cross that magical line, the border of their Caern, they can feel the presence of friendly spirits. Guardian-shades of the Caern rearing up at the bawn's edge, stonefaced and immobile, standing firm as an entire army of the Weaver-drones race to the border
and stop as one.
There are no curses. No threats. No waving of fists, brandishing of swords. Merely a mute second of calculation; the risk balanced against the reward. Far, far away, they can see a giant, a spirit of telecom, an uncorrupted twin of the creature they put down tonight. Then, without a sound, without any sign of deliberation or decision, the Weaver's creatures all turn in synchrony. They move away, some north, some south, some west, some straight up. They disappear into those shining, deadly corridors of their city.
The night is quiet again.
celebration.
9 years ago