[-resonance-] (OK!
1. 10 min per post OR LESS. Preferably less. Declare in 3 min. Roll in 2 or I'll roll for you. Provided I'm sober enough to find your char sheet and add the dice.
2. No posting order, but please post ONCE for every post I make.
3. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
4. Questions in the chat. Don't IM me. If I don't see the question, repeat it until I do *LOL* 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.
5. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
6. We are setting this up in the penumbra of the magnificent mile. I will post something, and then y'all can respond while I take a shower!
I'm aiming to be done in 3-4 hours, so let's gogogo!)
[Casts The First Stone] [No graphic rape plz kthnx. Anything else is a go.]
to -resonance-
[-resonance-] There are six of them.
None of them are packmates. They're here simply because they had the honor, or the privilege, or the sheer bad luck, of having been in the Caern when the Grand Elder put out a call for warriors.
The task is simple.
"A construct has appeared in the heart of the city," the Grand Elder had said, holding council in one of the abandoned hangars in the caern. "We don't know its purpose, but we suspect it's a manifestation of the Weaver's. Spirits avoid the area, and those who come to close meet ... unpleasant ends. My packmate, Webrunner, attempted to scout last night and barely escaped with his skin intact.
"Destroy the construct. Investigated it, identify it, figure it out if you can -- but destroy it.
"That is all. Go."
And now here they are, the six of them: a Black Fury, two Fenrir, one Uktena, a Glass Walker, a Shadow Lord, standing in the penumbral reflection of the Magnificent Mile. If they had any doubt as to what the Grand Elder spoke of, there's none now. Right in the middle of the street, right where Michigan Ave. meets Ohio St. in the Realm, there's something none of them have seen before, a construct arisen seemingly overnight.
First, a vast, glittering pool -- twenty feet or more in diameter. It's impossible to tell depth; the surface is perfectly reflective, given an image of the sky and the buildings so perfect that if they look long enough they might be convinced the mirror-world is real.
Arching over the pool is a network of soaring, graceful walkways with the faintly lustrous hue of brushed steel. Suspended by some unknown means at the heart of this curving network is a singular sphere, apparently made from the same material as the pool beneath it. It is perfect and pristine, with a surface as bright as a mirror. They can see themselves reflected in it as they approach.
Spiritual life, already scarce here in the heart of the city, dies away in the immediate vicinity of the construct. It stands alone, enormous, inviolate, absolute, silent.
Waiting.
[Casts The First Stone] She's been walking for a while now, but the look of her is one who is on guard and not on a stroll. Hiking boots, frayed jeans, and a dark green A-shirt without need for a brassiere are all that there is to this woman, nary a knapsack or a stitch of jewelry on her person, and there is nothing to her hairstyle; it is kept short, and it doesn't move with her movements.
There is no breeze in the Penumbra. There is enough else to worry about.
None of the other four have seen her before. She has not yet sacrificed to Maelstrom, not yet stood up at a Moot and introduced herself, yet she answered the call, and so here she is, approaching the construct with the others, and watching.
[Gossamer Wing] She had spent quite a bit of time in the Caern since the Eagles had returned, and thus she was on hand when the call went out. She joined without hesitation and has walked with the others in search of the construct. She has little to say, right now, other than a grin for the other Fenrir as they walked side by side - until they find it, and the Spirits are...
...gone. "...ohgaia..."
She lifts a hand to her chest, pressing there lightly, as if the thought of Spirits in pain, fleeing, dying brings her a physical ache. For all of that, the construct is strangely beautiful... if dead. silent. waiting. Her fingers rest over her heart, as she takes a step closer, her smile fading as she studies the thing they have come to destroy.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus looks up at the sphere. He is dressed in a plain blue t-shirt, jeans, tan combat boots, and he's shaved now and cut his hair short.
He looks around at the constructs, the sphere and says.* "It... looks like a Caern to me... If it were of the Weaver." *He looks at the pool for a moment, and then back up to the Sphere. He puts a hand under his chin trying to piece together what this is. He looks at Joss for a moment, her reaction, and he frowns, nervously... No this isn't good.*
[Warcry] Now, her people aren't all up in arms about killin' them some Weaver shit, usually, but this here is different. Killin' shit, rippin' up Garou, messin' with the balance. Using tools is one thing. Allowing it to get this out of hand is another matter entirely. Warcry, now packless -- that didn't take long -- has come out in cargo shorts and a bright orange tank top, most of the marks she wears visible. Ink adorns her biceps along with metal, rings and bars line her ears, and there's a hint of some design on the back of her neck. Her hair is up. Her sneakers are dirty.
She has no idea who Casts and Wahya are, has barely met Joss and Lukas. No matter. They're her people... in a sense. She looks at Joss as she reacts to the sight before them, then flicks her eyes around. "Dude, how do you fuckin' fuck up that sorta thing? Throw rocks at it?"
[Wahya Many Tongues] …when we last left our intrepid adventurers, six heroes chosen by destiny to come together as one, the wolf of the many tongues stood out in his natural skin, ears erect high like antennae twitching with only the slightest reaction to the scene around him. His gold eyes piercing the shadowy outlines of the penumbra as he stood at the flank of the Eagle’s Godi.
His muscle and skin quivering in anticipation as he stares head on at the construct that arose before them like a great monolith out of nothing; his breath draws out in a sharp cuff of hot air. One large paw placed in front of the other as he keeps pace with the others. His senses heightening beyond normal means for his lupine breed, alert, cautious, protective of his companions.
[-resonance-] As they near, the construct seems inert.
Only that's not the word for it. It's not inert. There's a dreadful power about it, a humming, electric energy. It's not inert at all. It's alert. It's biding its time.
When they come to the edge of the glistening, reflective pool, the surface of the sphere ripples like a pond's surface in a stiff wind. It subsides. Briefly, words appear on its surface. The language is not one any of them recognize.
ei kod nyrh kihn ohetidkah vom.
The letters blaze incandescent orange, and then fade. The sphere is motionless again.
[Casts The First Stone] The nameless female's eyes flick to the two Fenrir, the ones whose natures seem assigned to the moon over head and whose actions are in concert with the spirits that are no longer in this place. Her hands, strong and ringless, go into the back pockets of her jeans, and she lets her eyes drift over the pool, over the walkways, all carefully planned and laid out.
Brown eyes move to the Theurges, and then the hard blonde female speaks up, asks about throwing rocks at it, and the corner of the Fury's mouth quirks up as an amused snort leaves her nostrils.
"I don't see any rocks," she admits, and walks towards the pool.
ei kod nyrh kihn ohetidkah vom.
"Huh."
[Wahya Many Tongues] ei kod nyrh kihn ohetidkah vom
The letters blaze before his eyes, he blinks at them, turning his head to the side to avoid the brightness of the incandescent orange glow. He woofs out a disgruntled bark when the nameless one spoke up about not seeing rocks.
Wahya prowls along the edge of the pool, breaking flank from Joss’ side and drop his head down to hover his nose over the calm surface of the pool, casting a long gaze at his reflection, more importantly to see if there was a bottom to the pool.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He crouches down on his haunches, squatting looking at the pool, and then up to the Sphere.* "I'm... guessing here, but to me it looks like.. conduit? The pool might be a gateway to another place, and it's drawing spiritual energy from our world into another?" *He looks at Joss.* "Gossamer Wing ~rhya can you feel a pull going any where? A flow of energy, or any movement or is there void?"
[Warcry] As the sphere ripples and words appear, Sinclair's eyes -- a pale, sky-like blue that get her called baby -- focus on it, her dark eyebrows drawing together tightly. She walks over to the edge of the pool and stomps once, but her eyes stay on the sphere. "HEY!" she yells at it, projecting her voice at its surface.
[Gossamer Wing] (per+occult)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[-resonance-] Wyrmbreaker, who has moved along in his four-legged form since he left the Bawn, cocks his head at the gleaming structure in silence.
"Gossamer-Wing-rhya," high tongue, "as Fostern and Crescent Moon, I submit to your leadership."
He could have just done this silently, in action. But the Shadow Lord chooses to voice it so that there's no mistake. They're in the Umbra. They're facing an unknown, eldritch foe. He's out of his depth here.
[-resonance-] There is definitely a sense of power within the pool. Whether it's a conduit to elsewhere or simply a reservoir of strength in and of itself, Gossamer cannot tell.
to Gossamer Wing
[Warcry] [Dex+Athletics]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[Gossamer Wing] Casts doesn't see any rocks, Joss doesn't see any Spirits, and it all feels wrong and it hurts her to see the lack of those that so often have come and played with her over the past few weeks. She lifts her hand from her heart, and pushes her dreads back, the dual colored lengths falling heavily against her back. She is an average girl, average in looks, but so far from average in everything else - even this.
She doesn't recognize the language, though she furrows her brow and tries to sound them out in her head as she reads them before they disappear once more. She was able to recently decipher glyphs of evil summoning, but this is something different all together.
She reaches, as if to touch the water, but doesn't quite, letting her hands hover over the water without actually sticking her hands into it. Warcry yells, and Joss doesn't even blink. She's intently studying the construct, following ripples and lines and spheres and the pathways above and back to the pool once more...
She does flick a gaze toward Lukas, and then back to the pool head of her. "There's a definite sense of power - though I'm not sure it's pulling anyway, or a reservoir of strength in and of itself."
[-resonance-] Warcry stomps once -- and nearly loses her balance. There's no asphalt beneath her foot, no ground, no bottom she can feel.
The pool ripples. The waves refract off the far surface, dissipate.
[Warcry] She nearly falls. To the others, it looks like someone stepping off a curb unexpectedly, or someone who got to the bottom of the staircase and tried to keep going down. The athletic Walker hops back, but bursts out with a sharp laugh. "Dude, that's fucked up."
Her head turns to Joss. "I didn't even feel ground," she informs the Theurge. "But it totally felt me." Beat. "I think."
[Casts The First Stone] The rest of them congregate at the edge of the pool, one of them even going so far as to bark at the surface where the foreign words had surfaced for a moment, and Irene's lips fold themselves silent as she starts around one side of the pool, walking towards the sphere to take a closer look.
Joss claims this is a source of power, Sinclair proclaims this fucked up, and Irene doesn't have anything to add. She's frowning, but none of the others can see that as she walks away.
[Wahya Many Tongues] ”Weaver?” he snorts out in high-tongue.
He pauses besides Joss, his muscles taunt beneath fur, still quivering. His left ear rotates, falling back and then up again a few times as if to swat at some invisible gnat.
”Reverberation? React to sound?”
[Gossamer Wing] Her gaze jerks up as Warcry's actions garner a not quite equal or opposite reaction. There's no bottom that she can feel, but it felt her. Her brow furrows slightly. "Spread out - watch your step, but circle round and see it from all angles get a feel for how big, keep track of when you lose track of the ground like she mentioned."
She lays a hand on Wahya's shoulders, her fingers sliding through his fur. "Yeah, it clearly reacts to sound. From the other side, try to get another reaction - you!" Casts, who's already walking "Repeat her" Warcry's "experiement on the other side. The rest of you fan out."
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus stands up doing as Joss instructs, fanning out around the pool. Keeping his arms loose at his sides ready for anything.*
[-resonance-] So the small group spreads out. Twenty feet's worth of diameter is more than sixty feet's worth of circumference; there's a good ten feet or so between each Garou as they fan out.
For his part, Wyrmbreaker cautiously dips a forepaw into the glistening pool. He pushes in until his elbow, feets no bottom. Withdraws. Shakes his paw off. It's not water, though it is fluid. The consistency, the viscosity, is more like that of liquid metal -- heavy, tightly self-coherent, beading in his black fur and running back into the pool.
The tiny droplets scattered at the edge of the pool quickly, and of their own accord, roll back to join the whole. Puzzled by this, Wyrmbreaker is just about to raise his head and bark the news to the others when
quite without warning, and quite suddenly
the sphere lashes out at Warcry. A thin arc of its own, gleaming material -- let's call it liquid metal for now -- slices out at the Galliard.
It's not a devastating blow. It's not even that hard; probably more startling than painful. But it is definitely, definitely an act of aggression.
(rolling to hit! if anyone is going to retaliate, we should roll inits.)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Soak. FML.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (OK. reaction posts + init from everyone!)
[Warcry] Occasionally she can actually handle obedience. Sinclair gives a nod to Joss and starts to fan out, and her eyes flick to the sphere every so often. And then the sphere tries to bitchslap her. Sinclair whips around, absorbing the strike with as much concern as she would absorb... well. A bitchslap.
"Oh no she did not!" she snaps, Rage flashing in her eyes.
[Init. +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Gossamer Wing] She starts to tell Lukas not to touch it.. After all, to Touch Maelstrom, they have been told, is to lose everything. Instead, he shakes it off and it goes back to join and WAP, Warcry is slapped at. Joss does several things in reaction - she shifts to hispo, while grabbing Eagles Might tight within her, feeling the surge of power that comes with a close connection of the totem. With the will to resist pain, she also triggers a reaction within her skin, green and warty and tough as trolls.
She has been zapped by things before.
(roll to activate troll skin - then inits to follow - Sta + hispo+PU=7)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 4, 7, 8, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (Well CRAP! Dammit +1 diff. and as that shoulda been 7, its 8)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Gossamer Wing] (dex+ wits =7 + 2 for hispo=9+)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He is studying the pool, and then looking at the Sphere eyes focusing on the walkway and then it lashes out at Sinclair. He grunts in surprise his natural reaction is to shift to the war form, Crinos.*
(Shifting to Crinos: Stamina 4 + Primal Urge 2, Init to follow))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Init: Dex 3 + 1 for Crinos + Wits 3 = 7+)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9
[Wahya Many Tongues] [int. + 9]
His first inclination is to jump back out of the way, Wahya stands firm in his position near Joss’. Ears rolling flat against his skull, the upper lip along his jaw quivers as he turns to bare teeth on the Sphere as it struck, the fur rose along his back.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[-resonance-] The fluid arc that had sliced across Warcry does not draw itself back to the sphere. It remains where it is, extended, long, arched, graceful. It hardens, crystallizes, hovers, waits.
For his part, Wyrmbreaker shifts out of his lupine form, into his war-wolf.
(first init is for the sphere, +7. second is for lukas, +9.)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (init order:
lukas
goss
warcry
marc
wahya
sphere
sphere declare: 1 action, slice lukas.)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [spend rage shift to hispo, attack thing going after lukas]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Declare: Move up to a walkway, staying the fuck out of the pool, no floaties,
Activate Gift Razor Claws, and start a sharpin'!)
[Warcry] [reflexive: rage-shift to hispo
1a: Leap at sphere
1b: BITEY]
[Gossamer Wing] (1a. Tries to go all Theurgy on it - while the others attack, she COMMANDS SPIRIT! to BE STILL! May as well SEE if it can be commanded, right?
1b. That fails? BITEY!
[-resonance-] (lukas:
rageshift to hispo
1. bite the thingie trying to hit him!
rollin')
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[-resonance-] (REALLY, KAHSEENO?
Damage.)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (alrighty Kahseeno! Here's V!And I'll give you Mindy Too! Do you like Aussies?)
I said BE STILL!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 6 (Failure at target 10)
[Gossamer Wing] FINE! OM NOM NOM!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4
[Gossamer Wing] (str+hisp+em+bite+6 = 16
Dice Rolled:[ 16 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Warcry] [1a: LEAP!
1b: BITE! Dex + Brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Warcry] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Marcus sharpens.))
[Wahya Many Tongues] [bite]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (attacking Wyrmbreaker)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage +3)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] Don't fuck with the Garou.
Attacked, the small warband immediately retaliates. Wyrmbreaker, ahroun to the core, strikes first and strikes hard -- sinks his teeth into the newly-formed arm that lashes out at him. He can feel it crunch beneath his heavy jaws. He tears the trailing end right off. A gout of liquid metal splashes across the shore, the droplets rapidly running back into the pool.
The sphere shudders and ripples.
Then Gossamer's trying to command it -- futilely -- and attacking it -- with greater success. Her teeth sink into the sphere itself. The texture is strangely thick, like a syrup. Droplets splash and scatter in all directions; Gossamer's mouth tingles faintly. An instant later Warcry leaps onto the thin, lovely arches of steel that surround the sphere. She attacks -- but her teeth pass right through the sphere, doing no damage.
Last to move is the wolfborn, the other Theurge. He leaps to Wyrmbreaker's side, fastening his teeth into the stump of the arm that had attacked Wyrmbreaker. When he jerks his head sideways, an entire side of the sphere caves, spilling liquid metal like blood.
The sphere has diminished greatly. It's perhaps an eighth of the size it once was, its essence scattered across the shore, spilled back into the pool beneath it.
But it still has one arm -- the one that had initially struck Warcry. It whips around, lashes through the air so fast that even the hyperacute eyes of the Garou can't track it properly, solidifying as it moves.
By the time it hits Wyrmbreaker, the end has curved into a killing, scything arc. It catches the Ahroun unawares, puncturing his side under the ribcage, where his flesh is soft and unguarded. It pierces skin, muscle, organs, tears downward and out, slices open Wyrmbreaker's underbelly.
It's almost unthinkable. When it struck Warcry, it was barely a tap.
When it struck Wyrmbreaker, it was devastating.
Words appear, spiraling phosphorescent over the gleaming surface of the Sphere. Again, a language none of them understand:
itseäni vastaan minä. olen ainoa vihollinen.
[-resonance-] (post a reaction if you like, and then reroll inits!
sphere is now +9.)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Failure at target 6)
[Warcry] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[-resonance-] (actually -- init away. post something with your declare if you want.)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Init: 7+)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Gossamer Wing] (+9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Wahya Many Tongues] int+ 9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[-resonance-] (wyrmbreaker: stunned this round
order of inits:
warcry and wahya, simultaneously
goss
sphere
marcus
reverse declare!)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Move to protect Lukas from taking another hit.)
[-resonance-] (sphere: attacking wahya)
[Gossamer Wing] Its... stronger.
She looks to Wayha and barks a command to see to Lukas, if he can. He is closest. And she takes a few steps in that direction, though her eyes are on the Sphere, the Pool, and the words that have appeared, flashed, and disappeared once more.
Joss? Does two things. Runs toward Wayha to help with Lukas? And yells.
Yes. yells. "WAIT A MINUTE! STOP!"
[Wahya Many Tongues] ooc: what is Lukas' rage?
to -resonance-
[Warcry] Warcry is bristled, about to lunge forward, her jaws opening -- when the only Fostern with them and the ranking Theurge yells for them to all STOP! She rears back, making a questioning noise, enormous paws dancing slightly on the 'walkways'.
[-resonance-] (currently 5)
to Wahya Many Tongues
[Wahya Many Tongues] Is he injured badly?
to -resonance-
[-resonance-] (6agg currently, and stunned.)
to Wahya Many Tongues
[-resonance-] (but he's not getting hit this round. wahya's getting targeted, as far as they can tell.)
to Wahya Many Tongues
[Wahya Many Tongues] He was next to Lukas to defend him. He shoulders up against the Shadow Lord, hearing Joss’ order to tend to him. Seeing how Lukas is injured, Wahya tends to the wounded. Attention focused on Lukas now as he uses healing gifts to attempt to heal wounds.
[Action: mother’s touch on Lukas]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 5, 6 (Success x 4 at target 5) [WP]
[Gossamer Wing] (perc+occult)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] "Wait a minute - we're feeding it! Stop, and look!"
She is speaking High Tongue, quickly and just loud enough to carry to them, resonating across the pool as she points with nose and claw to show what she means. "Pool larger, sphere smaller but stronger - it gave her a lovetap, and knocked the hell out of the Ahroun! Sound and strength may be feeding it, and if we hit it HARDER, it could take us all.
So." A huffed breath. "Ideas? And be quick about it before it strikes again! And does ANYONE know WHAT [THE FUCK] ITS SAYING?!"
A pause - and then: "You! (warcry) Touched it first, hit first. Lukas touched the pool, attack second. Wahya was next strongest, attacked. Thoughts? Smaller could mean weaker, but we see it strikes harder - attack again or other ideas?"
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Int + Enigmas)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Warcry] [Int+Enigmas]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] Ancestors background wouldn't help in trying to figure out?
to -resonance-
[Wahya Many Tongues] int+enigmas
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] (sphere changes actions -- )
While Gossamer Wing speaks to her warband, the sphere is far from quiescent.
There's this at least. It doesn't lash out at Wahya, though its sole remaining arm -- the other torn asunder by the Garou -- quivers and sways, as though impatient for violence. Its tip is red with the bright blood of the Ahroun.
But even as Joss is speaking, something begins to happen. The pool ripples, rolls. Wavelets appear on the surface, run together into slow, viscous swells that grow, and grow, and grow until suddenly the surface all but boils with motion. Glistening arcs of liquid metal lift free of the pool, one after another, curving into the air, solidifying.
The pool diminishes to nothing.
The sphere, barely seen now, has become a nucleus surrounded by layer upon layer of arched, razoredged, overlapping shells that slide slowly over and past and beneath one another: like a blooming rose in three dimensions.
Newly bolstered, the -- not-a-sphere, the Construct -- awaits.
(i'm gonna allow two rounds' worth of discussion before the Construct attacks again. after everyone posts once, i'll let people make another int+enigma roll if they want. gogogo!)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus looks at it the sphere, and then the water, and looks at Warcry and speaks in the high tongue.* "You... It attacked you first... While you were in... Homid form..." *He looks at Lukas.* "And then you... You hit it first." *He puts a fist under his chin.* "Maybe... Maybe it is copying us... Using the information it gets from us by touch, so... Our strongest attacks are actually hurting us because they are being used against us. It is able to mimic our attacks, and defenses."
[-resonance-] Reflected across the shifting, sliding shells:
أنا ضد نفسي. وأنا لي سوى العدو.
[Wahya Many Tongues] Wahya closes his eyes, letting the words of the others roll over his own ears as they rest against is skull; his body quivering, keeping next to the injured Shadow Lord to use his body weight as a support foundation if Lukas needs it.
While the other talk, Wahya attempts to tap into himself, calling on the Ancients, ancestors of Uktena, wolves of his past. Somewhere great-grandpappy Lupus Bloodpaw had to know something!!
[-resonance-] The ghastly wound on Wyrmbreaker's body all but heals clean -- reduces to a mere scratch across the belly, a patch where fur has yet to grow back.
He climbs back to his feet, whuffing thanks to the Theurge. The ground beneath him is red and warm with blood. One wary eye on the rotating, concentric construct, Wyrmbreaker shifts down to Glabro, reaching into the pockets of his dedicated clothing to remove three scraps of cloth stained with dried blood; two chips of wood in the rough shape of shields.
He holds his talismans out in his palm. "The bloody bandages will bolster your life. The shield-talens will make you tougher. Those who need these most should take them."
While the others take the talens or not, he goes on.
"It struck me," he says, and perhaps this is agreement with what Marcus and Gossamer have said, "every bit as hard as I struck it. If not harder. If it's using our strength against us, how do we bring it down without killing ourselves?"
[Warcry] It takes effort and concentration for Sinclair to... figure out absolutely nothing. She pulls back from the sphere, back to the edge of the pool, peering at it, tail twitching occasionally. Her eyes are still blue in this form, her fur a thick and glossy gray. She's not purebred, just... well. Goodlooking. When the pool rushes up to surround the sphere, Warcry's hackles go up. She pulls back farther, circles, looks at the shells, then turns to Joss.
It takes effort and concentration to speak in this form, but she's a Galliard. Even in hispo, her grasp of the High Tongue is one of the few things she does as well as she thinks she does everything else. He words, in the ancient language, are almost poetically spoken in frame and cadence. It's nothing like how she speaks in homid... out of battle... while passing around a bottle.
"Shall the weakest among us attack? Shall we be weak, and let it be our mirror?"
[Wahya Many Tongues] [channeling ancestors]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 7 (Failure at target 8)
[Wahya Many Tongues] enigmas + int roll
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Warcry] [Int + Enigmas again]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (int+enigmas)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] The Ancestors were not listening, and probably for a good reason… they were wolves, not scab-dwellers. Wahya opens his eyes, flicking his ears up as he grunts out. He watches the Construct, its new shape. He hears the others speak.
”No attack.” he chuffs out in a rush of air, ears laid back once more. ”Weaver. It changes, copy strongest attack against it, absorb strength of foe, use on foe in defense. It is defensive, protecting itself absorb information like… like… what scab-machines do to record. Must calm it, maybe?”
[Gossamer Wing] The pool disappears, and then raises up and circles the not a sphere with a bunch of solidified walkways, bolstering itself and waiting. She nods to the others to take the talons first, while she paces in front of the newly changed thing. "To be honest, I have no idea. We need to calm it - ease it into defeat, so to speak, yes."
A pause, and she points to Warcry. "It reacted to your voice first, and you are Galliard. How about a lullabye...? Perhaps if it is lulled to complacancy, it will be distracted enough to..."
....then a grin. "Ever shattered glass on a high note?"
[-resonance-] (second round. one more post from each of you, and then the Construct is done playing nice!)
[Warcry] Her tail twitches once. She paces a bit, then -- when Joss addresses her -- she looks up and over, her voice rolling a bit, lilting even though it is close to a growl. "It felt my steps, not my cry. My voice did not cause a ripple, or a response."
She shakes her shaggy head, the shudder going all through her, right down to her haunches. "Perhaps we should try evading it."
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He holds up a hand.* "If it is going to mimic our attacks then... violence ultimately will not defeat this. I believe this is not something we can solve with Rage, Claw, and Fang. We must try the way of Peace." *He turns to Joss.* "~Rhya if this is a spirit then all we must do is find out what calms it. If it will mimic us anyway then try as you suggested a song from the Galliard, or a prayer, and perhaps it will mimic our overtures of peace if we are sincere in them."
[Wahya Many Tongues] ”Reverberation, sound. Beats, like percussions. Drum out a pattern, language is not all words. Music is language, hand gestures are silent words, clicks and whistles, beats are language. Like Mockingbirds that mimic other birds. Need communicate with is, tell it we no danger.”
[Gossamer Wing] At some point she had shifted down to Glabro while pacing.
She takes one of the bloody bandages, and then moves among them to distribute the others - Lukas she leaves with a shield, she gives Wayha a bloody bandage, keeps one for herself, gives a shield to Warcry and the last BB to Marcus. Since they don't take them for themselves? She distributes them as she sees fit. Hopefully she's judged their needs correctly. Otherwise - they should have chosen their own.
Meanwhile, she listens. "All we must do." She laughs softly as she mimics Macrus, then nods, slightly. Steps, not voice. Vibration. Evading it.
"I've my Spirit Drum. It is primarily used for summoning, though I do not know that spirits will come to its call. However, I can pound a beat like no other. Maybe it will answer to it in a way we can understand."
It's the best she has at the moment...
[-resonance-] "Gossamer-rhya, Two-Ravens, Wahya, take a bloody bandage and use it. Warcry and I will take the shield-talens."
As Marcus and Wahya speak up for peace, Wyrmbreaker frowns.
"We were told to destroy the thing. And before we start thinking of it as some sort of benign creature, let's not forget it attacked us. And decimated the spirit population in the area. I'm not sure it's just here to make friends."
As he speaks, he begins to shift again, form to form, near-man to near-wolf. "But if Gossamer-rhya wants to try to communicate, the least we can do is defend her, in case of attack."
And he moves in front of the Theurge.
[-resonance-] (strike first line!)
[-resonance-] (Lukas: 1 gn --> activating soak talen for +2 soak)
[Warcry] [1G --> activating soak talen for +1 soak]
[Gossamer Wing] Joss nods, activates the bloodbandage (Spend gnosis +6 health) and settles to her knees, pulling her skirt upwards to bare her thighs where there are matching claw marks carefully set within her skin.
She takes a breath, centers herself...
And begins the beat - steady and sure and practiced, she falls immediately into the percussionists sway. And it should be noted - that she's good, too. She's got ryhthym, yo!
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Gnosis for BB))
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Spend 1 gnosis +6 health to activate]
[Wahya Many Tongues] Spending willpower
[-resonance-] And then the impromptu strategy session is over, and not by choice.
The shifting shells of the Construct abruptly freeze into place. And then a blast of pure, coherent energy sears straight out from the core, interrupting whatever the Garou may be doing.
(inits! Construct: still +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 6)
[Warcry] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7
[Gossamer Wing] (+7/glabro)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (7+)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[-resonance-] Lukas +9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] 9
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[-resonance-] (order of actions:
marcus
warcry
goss
wahya
construct
lukas
lukas declare: 2 rage, holding actions, standing in front of joss.
construct declare: split action. 1a. blasting Wahya, b. blasting Lukas.)
[Wahya Many Tongues] Dodge!
[Gossamer Wing] Play that funky music, white girl...
Spirit Drum/Summoning.
(Spirit drum roll adds to summoning dice pool to actually summon spirit, etc. 2 rolls, essentially 1 action?)
[Warcry] She took the shield talen. The other dude taking a shield talen is... well. Shielding. She growls, and moves in front of Joss as well, standing to Wyrmbreaker's side.
[1 Rage, holding actions. Guess where she is.]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Holding Action, looking for gaps, a pattern to charge into the nucleus if need be)
[Gossamer Wing] (ok, first - spirit drum, dex+perfromance diff 5:)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Gossamer Wing] (summoning+ wits+rituals+4=10)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] The Construct is utterly deaf to Gossamer. It doesn't respond. It doesn't communicate. It doesn't seem to want to calm down. It doesn't do jack shit, except:
it flashes words, bland and burning, perhaps taunting, broken across its turning shells. Moi-même contre moi-même. Je suis mon seul ennemi.
Something answers Joss, though. High above the ground, a black shape blots out the stars, pinions as wide as the horizon. When it folds on itself and dives, it seems to at once take on form and shed size, transforming from a huge, amorphous shadow into a raptor, a bird-of-prey, a monstrous eagle with eyes full of lightning.
(any redeclares?)
[-resonance-] (lukas redeclaring, all at +1 --
1. "block" blast -- i.e. shield vulnerable parts, otherwise stand his ground!
R1. tear into the nearest shell
R2. again.)
[Gossamer Wing] "Nothing from the Construct!" In case they didn't notice...
But oh, Eagle is a mighty, mighty thing to behold. She can't help but smile - and hope she didn't just summon her own Totem to view his newest recruits doom...
[Warcry] [Wits+Enigmas]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5 (Failure at target 6) [WP]
[Warcry] [YOU KNOW WHAT. I DON'T CARE. I CAN KICK ASS AT SOUL CALIBUR IV.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6 (Failure at target 7)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Redeclare: Attacking nearest shell]
[Warcry] [1. Block blast against Lukas.
Rage: Bite the fuckin' thing.]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Redeclare:
Regular Action: Attack Nearest Shell))
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Attack: Dex 3 + 1 for Crinos + 2 Brawl))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (Construct soak is currently 6.)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Damage: Strength 3 + 4 For Crinos + 1 for Razor Claw + 1 for Claw Attack))
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] attack: bite +1 to diff
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak, currently 6)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] Bite damage
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (Construct blasts Wahya: attack dice currently 4. -2 for split.)
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage currently 4)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] (blasts Lukas, -3 for split.)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (ow! hit own shell! self-damage)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak at 6)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Changing action from 'block' to 'claw' (+1 diff): Dex + Brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 7) Re-rolls: 1
[-resonance-] (soak at 6)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Damage. Will pull any damage above 3.]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (Lukas: ... eh? what's she doing? lovetaps also! +1 diff, chomp.)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage, pulled to 3.)
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Rage: Lovebite! Dex + Brawl, lemme give you a hickey...]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Warcry] [Damage, pulled to 3.]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (lovebite *LOL* soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] (lukas lovebites!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[-resonance-] (lukas, damage +3, pulled!)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (lovebite +3!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[-resonance-] (damage +3!, pulled!)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] It's a strange sort of fight. The Garou go up against the wheeling, metallic complexity. Entirely by accident, Wahya and Two-Ravens' attacks fail to do much more than dent the Construct.
Then the Construct fires on Wahya. Compared to the blow it unleashed on Wyrmbreaker moments ago, this one barely even qualifies as an attack. When it fires on Wyrmbreaker, it misses entirely, succeeding only in striking the inside of its own shell.
Warcry thinks she's on to something. She leaps into action. Her leap is graceful; her strike, perfect. It should've rent the shell apart, but she pulls the blow, she checks herself -- she holds back.
Again and again, she does this, and Wyrmbreaker, following her example or happening upon the same surge of inspiration, does the same. It's almost laughable: Full-Moon and Gibbous-Moon, the most warlike auspices of the Nation, playing tag with the enemy.
At the end of it, the Construct is only minorly damaged, one shell dropping lower than the rest, the edge scraping the ground as it turns, raising sparks. Its nucleus begins to glow -- the same brilliant orange as the lettering it flashes at the Garou over and over. A thrumming, electric hum fills the air.
Letters, burning across the shells:
Mich gegen mich. Ich bin mein einziger Feind.
(Construct has same base init as last round, so we'll keep current declares. Lukas declares:
2 Rage; 3 bites.
Construct declares: 3 actions back to back, NOT splits.
1. Blast Sinclair
2. Blast Sinclair
3. Blast Lukas.)
[-resonance-] (Oh right, Eagle. Rolling an init for it. +8)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (Eagle is a slowpoke. He goes last and does something cool.)
[-resonance-] (reminder, order of actions:
marcus
warcry
goss
wahya
construct
lukas
eagle
dec in reverse!)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Reflexive action: Speaking]
"Play game. Like tag. Use no strong attacks. Play tag."
[Spend 1 rage for extra for attacks]
[Gossamer Wing] She sees what they're doing - this game of Tag... the nucleus starts to glow the same color as the words, and the letters burn, and she STILL doesn't understand.. "Speak English, you bastard!" But she leaps into the fray, doing what damage she can in this same little tag team The Ahroun and Galliard have started.
(2 rage - on to reflexo shift back to hispo, then
1. bite
1R bite
Holding damage just like the rest.
Let's dance, mofo.)
[Warcry] "Attack only once! Hurt it, but not at your full strength!" she barks to the others in the High Tongue, honeyed from her more lupine maw. What comes out of her mouth after that is... less pretty. Less poetic. She lunges forward, and a fur-bristling ROAR of something like triumph, she earns her name even before she attacks.
[1. Nibble its ear.]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *It's slowing down, not hitting as hard... So Marcus has an idea of his own
[Reflexive: "I'm heading for the Center!"
Reg: Move, dodge shells
Rage: Move, dodge shell]
[Warcry] [Lovebite: Dex+Brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Warcry] [Damage. Pull at 3.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Dex + Athletics)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5 (Success x 1 at target 8) [WP]
[Gossamer Wing] (omnomnom!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Gossamer Wing] (damage - pull at 3)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Wolf Noogies]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 8, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[-resonance-] (construct blasts sinclair!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (blasting again!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Soak +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Warcry] [And Soak again]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (blasting lukas!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (lukas mighty nibbles!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 5)
[-resonance-] (+2 rerolled 10s)
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 3 (Failure at target 5)
[-resonance-] (damage, pulled @ 3)
Dice Rolled:[ 17 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (construct soak @ 8)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] An impression of feathers, and speed; gleaming talons, tearing beak.
Eagle flashes across their field of vision. A screech -- claw on metal, or the cry of a bird-of-prey? -- and then the totem spirit is beating for the skies again, an entire shell of the Construct ripped loose in its talons.
(difficulty to cross first layer of shells is now 7. second is now 8.)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Rage Action: Dex + Athletics)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Gossamer Wing] (lemme nibble on your ear, sweetheart.)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Gossamer Wing] (sobs - pulling at 3)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [leg humping mightily!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [pulling -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-resonance-] The dance continues, the Garou darting in to scratch, bat, and nibble at the Construct. Bit by bit, they wear it down. Several shells are dragging now. One is cracked nearly in half. Another is badly dented.
Two-Ravens has made his way to the heart of the construct, where the nucleus - once the sphere - glows a throbbing, fiery orange. It's like looking into the eye of some great beast, only to find it staring right back.
Unseen to him, flashed onto the shells, some letters distorted, others missing altogether now:
Мене проти мене. Я моїм єдиним ворогом.
(same dec order:
marcus
warcry
goss
wahya
construct
lukas
lukas: smallbite!
construct: 2 actions back to back: blast marcus, blast joss)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [Small bite]
[Gossamer Wing] (Lemme nibble on ya... nucleus, darling!)
[Warcry] [Rage-shift to lupus
1. Nibble!]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Declare: Regular Action: Claw Nucleus
Rage Attack: Claw Nucleus
Holding Regular Action until end of turn.))
[Warcry] [Dex+Brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Warcry] [Damage. Pull at 3.]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-resonance-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7 (Failure at target 7)
[-resonance-] Gossamer Wing begins to leap past the turning shells, following her tribemate's example. But the archways are narrow and slick; the shells are turning with a relentless speed, even now.
One slams into her as she's trying to duck past. It knocks her right off the archway, onto the ground below.
(1 action to get back into attack range!)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [small bite]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [pull -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] The Construct is clearly breaking down. With a crash, one of its shells falls under Warcry's onslaught. Moments later, another smashes down when Wahya attacks -- and another, as though whatever force holds its shells suspended and turning is breaking down. The smooth turn of the shells is faltering, too. Some start and stop.
And then they all stop, locking into a precise, deadly pattern.
At the nucleus, Marcus is suddenly blinded by the glow. Pure energy surges out of the center, orange and ferocious, catching him full in the face.
(blast marcus!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] (well fine! blast joss!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (damage +5)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (soakin a SCRATCH)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-resonance-] lukas mighty nibble!
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[-resonance-] (damage, pulled)
Dice Rolled:[ 17 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)
[-resonance-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Claw: Dex 3 + 1 for Crinos + 2 Brawl))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (No Pulling Damage: Str 3 + 4 for Crinos + 1 for Claw +1 for Razor Claw + 1 extra sux))
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] Rage Attack: Claw: Dex 3 + 1 for Crinos + 2 Brawl))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (No Pulling Damage: Str 3 + 4 for Crinos + 1 for Claw +1 for Razor Claw + 3 extra sux))
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 7, 9, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (gets back into attack range - to nibble for next/rage action. CuzTwinkletoes ain't got no grace - then last rage action NIBBLE!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Gossamer Wing] (pulling. SOB. pulling at 3)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 8 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] The Construct is a battered shadow of its former glory.
Ruined shells lie motionless in all directions. Protecting the nucleus is a paltry three shells, scratched and dented, badly askew. One drags heavily on the ground, trailing orange sparks. Another seems to have caught in its invisible track, shuddering in place. The third continues its rotation alone.
At the nucleus, Marcus tears into the sphere again and again. His claws drag entire chunks of it loose. Whatever he's doing is doing serious damage -- every blow he lands echoes through the entirety of the Construct, or what remains of it, shaking shells like leaves.
By the end the orange glow is guttering, fading in and out. But the Construct persists, and on its lone moving shell:
Myself against myself. I am my only enemy.
The shells stop. The very air stands still. Their hairs stand on end. The Construct charges itself.
(lukas: mighty chomp!
construct: blast marcus! blast sinclair!)
[Wahya Many Tongues] [full attack]
[Gossamer Wing] OMNOMNOM! - aka Bite.
[Warcry] [Insta-shift to homid. Bitchslap.]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] Declare - Regular Action: Claw Attack
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] ((Claw: Dex 3 + 1 for Crinos + 2 Brawl))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (No Pulling Damage: Str 3 + 4 for Crinos + 1 for Claw +1 for Razor Claw + 1 extra sux))
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-resonance-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Dex+Brawl: TASTE MY PIMPIN' HAND.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Damage. Bashing. For Serious.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Warcry] [Yeah let's roll ALL our damage, thanks.]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (SHIT. wrong soaks. rerolling.)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Gossamer Wing] (CHOMP MOFO!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Gossamer Wing] (Damage! No holding back!)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-resonance-]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4 (Failure at target 6)
[-resonance-] (stop! recap.)
[-resonance-] It's all or nothing now. The Garou throw themselves into the fray, snapping, biting, no longer holding back.
Well. Except for Sinclair. Sinclair has been playing Tekken too much.
It's not her bitchslap that takes the Construct down, though. It's Gossamer Wing's final, crushing bite, tearing the dragging shell to the ground. The crash echoes down the penumbral street. The other two shells halt instantly in place -- quiver -- tremble -- and then begin to spin faster and faster in such awkward, wild, reckless orbits that their very particles seem about to fly apart.
Which isn't far from what happens.
At the core, the guttering orange glow of the nucleus suddenly strengthens. For a moment they may be afraid they're about to face a third, terrible phase of the Construct; but no. The glow grows brighter and brighter, impossibly bright -- the very air is incandescent, as thick and as hot as thermonuclear plasma.
When the Construct detonates, none are safe from the blast. For an instant, all of the Penumbral Mile is lit up, white-hot, bright as day; and their shadows black as pitch. There's no sound at all, a breathless silence.
Then:
BOOOOOM.
[-resonance-] (don't mind me)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
to -resonance-
[-resonance-] (don't mind me either!)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)
to -resonance-
[Gossamer Wing] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (Soak: Stamina 4 + 3 for Crinos))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Warcry] [DUCK AND COVER... or snap-shift and soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-resonance-] (lukas soaks!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Wahya Many Tongues] Mother's Touch on Lukas
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[Warcry] For some reason -- maybe inspiration, or stupidity, an unshakeable certainty in her own survival, or just to see what will happen -- Sinclair suddenly shifts to homid near the end. She slaps the Construct.
Backhands it, really, balling up her fist and swatting it. Doesn't do much good, but she feels pretty goddamn good doing it. There is scowl on her face when it does almost no good, and then a look of sheer shock when the thing starts to glow.
"OhhhhSHIIIT!" she lets outs, dropping down into hispo and all but curling up into a ball. She's close enough that the blast rocks her, blazes her flesh, roars over her arm and side... but it could've been worse. In the aftermath she slowly unfurls, smelling of burnt fur and charred flesh, but she is turning around, looking at who is still around.
And then she starts howling. In delight.
[Wahya Many Tongues] Mother's Touch on Sinclair
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 5 at target 1)
[Warcry] Somewhere in there, somehow, Wahya sidles up alongside her. Sinclair barely even notices. She's all but crowing in triumph, at her own cleverness, at Joss's leadership, at Lukas's strength, at Wahya's speed, Marcus's burst of an attack. She's all but dancing in hispo, injuries be da--
--gone.
Her pale blue eyes swivel onto Wahya, and then she licks his face and goes back to prancing around. She could not, it seems, be happier.
[Gossamer Wing] It starts to glow, it starts to.... "Ohholyhell..." and she falling to a crouch as it explodes and then Warcry is laughing, which starts her laughing too.
Ever seen a Hispo Godi giggle? It's quite a sight, to be sure. She stands once more, shakes herself vigorously, and once she's certain it's good and destroyed, she moves toward Marcus, shifting to homid as she moves, her skirts flaring about her hips, her thighs, her calves as she lays her hand on Marcus' belly, and lets her Healing touch flow through her fingertips.
(MT!)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 1)
[Wahya Many Tongues] Wahya sidles up to Lukas to lay the healing smack down on him, and somewhere in there manage the prancing-dancing Warcry. His ears roll forward and then lay half-cocked atop his head. He just sinks, all four legs spread out at odd angles onto the ground, shifting back down into his breed form and shuts his eyes.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He takes the blast full force, but it's mitigated by the bloody bandage Lukas gave him. He shifts to Homid form as he's sitting on the ground. He tosses a banged up shield off of him, and stands up with a grunt. He smiles at Joss when she heals him. "Thank you little sister ~rhya."
*He rubs the back of his head.*
"Well... Guess I was wrong about that peace option." *He says as chuckles a bit. Seems kind of funny a Fenrir actually suggested a peaceful resolution to a problem.*
[-resonance-] A second time Wyrmbreaker gets flayed to the edge of his resilience. A second time, Many-Tongues heals him. And a second time, Wyrmbreaker chuffs his gratitude.
Then Warcry is howling: for victory, and for the sheer joy of destruction. Wyrmbreaker shakes out his fur, his pelt still singed in places -- lifts his head, joins his rougher howl to hers. When he finishes the direwolf licks his chops once, his tongue pink against his black fur.
A moment later he's in near-man form, brutish, neanderthalic.
"I was honored," he says, a growl edging every word in this form, "to fight alongside all of you. Gossamer-rhya, thank you for your leadership. Wahya-yuf, thank you for the healing. Twice. Warcry-yuf, that was very cleverly done. Two-Ravens-yuf, even if you were wrong about that, you also thought to strike at the construct's heart. And I remember both you and Warcry-yuf standing over me to shield me." A pause. "I'm grateful."
Speaking to the three Cliaths, then, "Are you all spoken for in terms of a pack?"
[Gossamer Wing] She laughs softly and nudges him with a grin. "Just a little. But you more than made up for it. I tried to talk to it, for heavens sake. Remind me to take up a foreign language, hm?" Then, with a grin. "Did ya see Eagle?" THAT was worth the price of admission, folks. At least for her.
She looks around to see who's already gotten the healing smackdown, making sure everyone is taken care of - which they are, it seems, as the Lupus is quick on the draw. She pushes her dreads back, as Lukas speaks, and her smile is warm. "It was a joint effort. To see such a variety work as one is heartening, and speaks well of the Sept of Maelstrom. Thank you." Simple, and to the point.
He speaks with the cliaths, and she lifts her hands to wrap her dreads into a loose knot at the back of her neck, and listens.
[Wahya Many Tongues] ”Wyrmbreaker-yuf is welcomed.” the response form the Uktena is a lazy one, eyes droopy open as he lifts his head up to cast a glance up to the Shadow Lord. There is some quiet consideration on the question that was asked him.
He chuffs out his breath in a slow rush, content to lie there while the others rejoice in their own ways. ”Wahya is not sure. Will not be with Swarm for much longer.”
[Warcry] She's healed completely now but stays in hispo for the time being, howling -- now along with the lower, rougher voice of the Ahroun -- but after a few more undulations of praising the names of two Fenrir, a Lord, and herself (of course), she shakes her fur out and flows up into the breed form that could've very likely gotten her killed. Her hair is still up in its ponytail, but askew. She considers curtseying.
Thinks better of it.
When she introduced herself to Lukas at the bonfire, she told him -- along with Joey -- that they were Red Bulls. Never was an Alpha mentioned. Just a pack. But she cracks her neck, reaches up, laces her fingers behind her head, and smiles at him. There's an awkwardness to her that she can't disguise when he tells her that he's grateful for that standing-over-him thing, an uneasiness that isn't there when he praises her cleverness. The look on her face at that point is more Duh.
"Nope!" she says brightly, to the question of pack. Her head turns, hands still in place, so she can look over at Joss. "You know, I gotta agree there? Because --" she drops her hands, holding up Hard Rock Horns, "-- we kinda fuckin' rocked that. Gimme some love," she adds, balling up her right fist for the Godi to bump.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He smiles when Joss nudges him.* "I to am honored to have fought alongside you all. We worked well, and all of you showed great courage. You have honored your ancestors, your people, and what is best about our noble traditions."
*He looks at Lukas.* "I am not in a pack. But I am afraid I have not prepared my spirit to offer up anything to totem." *He says a little disappointed that he hasn't taken the time to do such.*
[Gossamer Wing] She blinks at Sinclair, then just laughs and fist bumps the other girl. Odd that, but then again, the Godi is anything but sane (Just ask the Magic 8 Ball - all signs point to yes!) in her own right, and the girls exuberance is hard to ignore.
She spins in a little circle, taking in the area, and searching for a remnant to bring back to Balance without Fault, to show the deed is done. She moves gracefully now (thankfully no one seems to have seen that one belly flop!) wandering but not so far that she isn't listening to them all.
[-resonance-] If Warcry's answer surprises him -- and it does -- he masks it well enough. A flick of the eyebrows. A certain look in his eyes. Of all three, he was almost certain that she was bound into a pack, or about to be bound. Wahya's answer draws his attention onward; makes him studies the wolf-born speculatively for a moment. Even in this form, the Shadow Lord's eyes are a sharp, pale blue, and they fix on Marcus last.
"I won't steal any of you from another pack or totem," he says, "but if and when you find yourselves truly without pack, we should talk. I'm at the Brotherhood, room 2. You're all welcome to drop by any time."
Then he turns to call to Gossamer, "Rhya, perhaps a piece of the shell would make a good trophy for the Wyrmpole." When he grins in this form, it's a rather ghastly expression, all teeth. "Or maybe it's the Weaverpole now."
[Gossamer Wing] "Joss is fine!" She calls back, and picks up a piece of the shell that's large enough for all their names, and impressive enough that she grunts a bit to pick it up in Homid. She heads back to the group with a happy grin. "How about this one!"
Like a kid in a candy store... "And since you're still in Glabro, Wyrmbreaker, would you do the honors?" He has the claws to etch, and she'll deliver it to BwF, as the ranking member of this little party.
[Warcry] [Thanks so much for the play, everybody! That was awesome fun. And THAAANK YOU MISTER DAAAMON!]
[Wahya Many Tongues] Wahya’s muzzle extends, long and wide as he yawns, showing a full row of sharp canines and tongue. It snaps shut, lethargically, he pulls himself up to stand, shaking his fur.
Physically, he is uninjured and fine, mentally, he feels drained. There is no fire of rage burning in the wolf-born at the moment; he is as docile as a kitten. And like only desires to curl up somewhere warm and soft with the promise of belly rubs.
”One cannot take when there is nothing to steal, Wyrmbreaker-yuf.” he chuffs out in wolf-speech to the Shadow Lord, beginning to lazily pad after Joss to follow after her like a puppy.
[-resonance-] (thanks for the fun! *jets*)
celebration.
9 years ago