possession.

[monster alley] 1. 10 min per post OR LESS. Preferably less. Declare in 3 min. Roll in 2 or I'll roll for you.
2. No posting order, but please post ONCE for every post I make.
3. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
4. In this particular oneshot, I'm not gonna bother with recaps. However, at the end of each round, I'll allow 10 min for you guys to post whatever recaps you want before we dice again!
5. 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.
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. Your characters are near a particularly foul alley in Cabrini-Green.

You can all post yourselves in. My post will be inits. Go!

[monster alley] There's an alley in Cabrini-Green.

Most alleys in Cabrini-Green are disgusting, fetid places, choked with refuse, wet with unidentified fluids, sometimes containing bodies. This one, however, takes the fucking cake. The stench coming from it is unbelievable.

And wrong.

[Face of Death] [Curiositah!]
to monster alley

[monster alley] (your ass is going first into the alley!)
to Face of Death

[Face of Death] [CURIOSITY I GOTS TO ROLL IT!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Chuck has claustrophobia and Spirit Magnet. The second one's actually a Merit but if they're in the Umbra and there are Banes around this usually ends up being bad news.]
to monster alley

[Face of Death] It's warmer in Chicago than it has been lately. Or maybe the desert born Rotagar is, as he packbrother has so often assured her, finally getting acclimated to the weather. She's dressed in her ragged old grey hoody, jeans, and sneakers. Her bat bag is strapped across her back, but her bat is out and at the ready.

Joey was going out on patrol when she asked the boys from room 3 if they wanted to go with. That's why they've wandered into this area of town, well away from the area around The Brotherhood Joey usually patrols. There's a spring in her step as she walks, and she's twisting her wrist, twirling the bat like it's a baton.

The stench hits her first. It's disgusting, even amidst this area with so many alleys with so many fetid smells of death and decay. This one is so much worse.

Joey wonders why that is. She picks up the pace, getting ahead of Charlie and Art. Before either can raise their voice in caution, the blonde is heading into the alley.

[monster alley] (my next post is gonna call for inits! thou art forewarned.)

[Lights Out] Strikes With Valor and Lights Out have been roommates for about twelve hours and already the younger of them is starting to get something of an idea of how weird the Theurge is.

His hours are completely bass ackwards, for starters. He got in this morning between seven and eight o'clock, and didn't have a roommate then. When he woke up from one of his naps, though, he had a roommate. After getting up to take a piss and get a drink of water, he flopped back down on his tangled mess of a bed--he sleeps on top of the top sheet, wrapped up in a purple down blanket, in pajama bottoms and nothing else--and he started running off at the mouth, blathering about how he wanted to plant a tree in Requiem's honor but he wasn't sure if he'd rather make room for it somewhere around the Graves or if he wanted to put it out in the community somewhere, he knows Liam liked to hang out at Grant Park but there's already a ton of trees there and don't humans get pissed off if you just start digging up public ground, and before he could reach any sort of an agreement with the younger Ahroun as to whether the tree should go in the Graves or the park, he was unconscious again.

True wakefulness for the day came around five o'clock in the afternoon. He had just gotten fed and showered and dressed when Joey came over to see if either of them wanted to go on patrols with her, and for lack of anything better to do, because he hadn't seen her since Tuesday, Charlie agreed.

It's not a bad night out, tonight. It's a little cloudy, so the skies are pink with light pollution, and a little windy, but it's in the 50s and it's not raining, so there are two positives for them. Charlie's drawing a breath to speak when the bat-wielding Rotagar suddenly starts towards the rank alleyway, and he frowns. There's probably a dead human in there. Dead humans tend to smell worse than other kinds of dead things. This is a wicked sort of stench, though, and as Joey starts closer, he starts to think of other things that smell that bad, and he trots after her.

"Wait up!"

[Strikes with Valor] The Child of Gaia among them seems far less enthused about the prospect of entering yet another alleyway. There seems to be some school of thought in Art Morgan's head that these places are merely the breeding places for every unpleasant or otherwise emotional upheaval in his time here in Chicago so far.

Only last night he'd wound up holding a weeping Strider Kinfolk in one, after all.

Today hadn't actually been so bad, he'd moved out of the room dominated by the memory of Liam and into another, as of yet untarnished bedroom, shared with the boy whose pack he was in line to becoming a member of. Art had spent a large part of the afternoon sorting his shit out and then long after he'd finished, Joey had appeared, and they'd been off together.

"Why is it always alleyways." The Southerner called, breaking into a steady trot after Charlie.

[monster alley] (face of death: roll percep/alert!)

[Face of Death] [percept + alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 8 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] (I'm not going to bother rolling stealth -- Joey is successfully ambushed. This is a single free hit on her. Joey, you can spend rage to instantly shift to better soak the attack.

Everyone else: in this turn while Joey's getting ganked, you may, if you wish, activate powerz.)

[Face of Death] [1R shift to hispo!]

[monster alley]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [ Go go Resist Pain!

Also spending Rage to insta-shift to Crinos]

[monster alley] (damage+2)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] (everyone else, roll percep/alert)

[Strikes with Valor] [Per + Alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Alertness+Perception]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] All she had to do was stay in tonight. That isn't what Sinclair did. She's out, not patrolling with her pack or even entirely aware of where her packmates are. She's in homid when she hears the noise, not recognizing anything but the smell of rot and wrongness, and her brow furrows.

[Perception + Alertness -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[monster alley] Just like that, claws like blades burst through Joey's back. She never sees it coming, but she sure as hell sees the creature in front of her. It's lithe, impossibly graceful, but its entire body is black -- like a man dipped in ink. It has no face, no features that she can readily make out... other than a mouth.

Which grins at her, all white teeth. The claws in her gut abruptly withdraw. The creature shoves her back, hard.

Hisses on the sibilants: "This is our territory."

[monster alley] (All of you, obviously, see the one that just ganked Joey.)
to Face of Death, Lights Out, Strikes with Valor, Warcry

[monster alley] (the two of you also see at least two more in the shadows.)
to Lights Out, Warcry

[monster alley] (if you're done using your free round to activate stuff, go ahead and init!)

[Face of Death] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Warcry] [-1 WP: Resist Pain
Gnosis: Activating Soak Talen]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 4 (Failure at target 7)

[Lights Out] To his credit, Charlie does not lose his shit or anything else when those claws tear through his sister's back. His eyes focus, his jaw tightens, and his eyes cut to the alleyway behind the ink-dipped man when the word 'our' leaves his throat.

"The hell it is!" the metis shoots back, and explodes into his birth form.

[+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[Strikes with Valor] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[monster alley] (Raphael +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] (Donatello +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] (Leonardo +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Warcry] [+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] (Michelangelo +9)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Delete that Init, she didn't spend Gnosis like I thought she'd have to]

[Warcry] [-1R to hispo as well, Init is +9]

[monster alley] (init order:
Raphael
Michelangelo
Joey
Charlie
Donatello
Sinclair
Leonardo
Art)

[Strikes with Valor] [Split: Bite Leonardo/Bite Leonardo
R1: Bite again
R2: And again]

[monster alley] Leonardo
1. Slit Joey's throat! +2 diff. If successful, every 2 damage after soak removes 1 stamina.
R1. Stab Joey again
R2. Stab Art in the eyes. +3 diff for particularly small target. Any damage after soak blinds Art for X rounds where X = damage after soak.

[Warcry] [Reflexive: "There are more! At least two!"
1a: Bite Leonardo's favorite clawin' hand, preferably not the actual claw but the arm some distance above the claw. Natch.
1b: Bite Leo any which where.
R1: Bite him any which where again.]

[monster alley] ATTENTION: for the purposes of this scene, you may turn to face your attacker without spending an extra action. However, you will have to remove 2 dice from your attack pool if you choose to do so.

Donatello
1. Jumping down from fire escape behind Sinclair
R1. Kidney shot! +2 diff. If successful, causes wound penalties despite Resist Pain (without RP, would be 2x wound penalties)
R2. Stab again

[Lights Out] [Action: MT Joey. Rage Action: Claw Donatello.]

[Face of Death] [1WP activate Resist Pain
Bite Leo's throat! +2 diff, spending WP
R: Bite Leo again]

[monster alley] Michelangelo
1. Jumping down behind Charlie
R1. Blow to back of head! +2 diff. If it causes damage after soak, Charlie will have to roll stamina to stay conscious. Normal diff 6; however, since kid is narcoleptic, +2 diff.
R2. Normal claw-stab on Art.

[Strikes with Valor] [Re-declare
Bite Mich/Bite Mich
Changing R1 to Dodge Leo's eyegouge!
R2: Staying the same]

[Warcry] [Reflexive: "There are more! At least two!"
1a: Bite Leonardo's favorite clawin' hand, preferably not the actual claw but the arm some distance above the claw. Natch.
1b: Bite Leo any which where.
R1: Turn to face Donatello / Bite!]

[monster alley] Raphael
The shadows literally seem to explode behind Art. A fourth shadow-man steps into sight, not dropping down nor leaping out but simply appearing out of thin air --

-- or rather, thin shadows.

His claws plunge into Strikes with Valor's back.

[Declare:
1. Shadowstep to Art, then claw (-2 dice, but back attack)
R1. Claw Charlie
R2. Claw Sinclair]

Rollin!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] Michelangelo
Hup!

[Face of Death] [Bite Leo's throat: dex + 2 (Hispo) + brawl, +2 diff (called shot) + WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 8 (Failure at target 7) [WP]

[Lights Out] [-1 Gnosis: Activate Mother's Touch.
Intelligence+Medicine (+3): HEAL!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 5, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 8 at target 1)

[monster alley] Donatello
Hup!

[Warcry] [1a: Bite on Leo's wrist/arm. Dex + Brawl + Perun -2 (split) -1 (waning gibbous) // +2 diff (targeting)]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[Warcry] [Damage: Str + 2 + Suxx -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley] (If any diff left after soak, main hand is mangled)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Warcry] [1b: Bite Leo. Dex + Brawl + Perun -3 (split) -1 (waning gibbous)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[monster alley] Leonardo
Slit throat!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 8)

[monster alley] (damage+4)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [SOAK FR SRS]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Damage: Str + 2 + Suxx -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[monster alley] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [First Split, Bite Mich -1 diff for behind -2 split]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[monster alley] (Primary attackers:
Raph: Art
Mich: Charlie
Don: Sinclair
Leo: Joey

If you're not attacking your primary attacker, you may take -1 diff)

[Strikes with Valor] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[monster alley] ow!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] [one more]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 5)

[Strikes with Valor] [Second Split! Bite again -3 Split -1 diff]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[Strikes with Valor] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] Raphael
Clawing Charlie
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

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

[Lights Out] [Shit!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley] Michelangelo
Thonking Charlie upside the head! Bashing damage, but with high chance of KO.
-5 dice (ow); -2 (back attack); +2 (targeted)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [You son of a bitch.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [Bite Leo: dex + brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 6 at target 5)

[Face of Death] [damage: str + 5 + 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[monster alley]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] Donatello
Kidney shot on Sinclair. -2 behind, +2 targeted. Causes wound penalties regardless of RP.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage +5)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Soak! OW, MOTHERFUCKER!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 7, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Warcry] [R1: Bite Donatello! Dex + Brawl + Perun -2 (turned around) -2 (OMG THE PAIN) -1 (waning gibbous)]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[Warcry] [Damage: Str + 2. You piece of shit, Kahseeno.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] Leonardo
Stabbing Joey again! Frontal attack. -2 dice for wounds.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [SOAK]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [R1: Biting Leo! -1 non-attacker]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[Strikes with Valor] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[monster alley] ow!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[monster alley] Raphael
Clawing Sinclair
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Soak. SINCLAIR IS BADDER-ASSED THAN RAPHAEL. JUST ACCEPT IT.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] Michelangelo
Claw Art! -5 dice, owww.
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] Donatello
Stab Sinclair!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] [STOPIT]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] Leonardo
Eyegouge! +3 diff, -2 dice.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[Strikes with Valor] [R2: Dodge!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 (Failure at target 6)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [FUCKER]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] (Damage tally:
Joey 3A
Charlie 1A
Art 5A, Blind
Sinclair 5A

Donatello OK
Leonardo 5A
Michelangelo 6A
Raphael OK)

[monster alley] Donatello +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[Face of Death] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9

[monster alley] Leonardo +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] Michelangelo +3
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] Raphael +8
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Warcry] [+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5

[monster alley] (Joey
Donatello
Art
Sinclair
Michelangelo
Raphael
Charlie
Leonardo

Primary attackers:
Raph: Art
Mich: Charlie
Don: Sinclair
Leo: Joey

Diff -1 for attacking anyone other than your primary attacker. As far as I know, everyone is now facing their attacker.)

[monster alley] Leonardo
1. Solar plexus strike on Joey. Bashing damage, but each damage after soak stuns her for one action (i.e. deletes an action from her list)
R1. Stab
R2. Stab Sinclair!

[Lights Out] [Split Action: Mother's Touch Sinclair/Art.]

[monster alley] Raphael
1. Shadowstep behind Art/kidney strike!
R1. Stab
R2. Stab Charlie!

Michelangelo
1. Stab Sinclair
R1. Again
R2. Shadowstepping the fuck outta here before I die!

[Warcry] [1a: Dodge...uh...SOMETHING.
1b: Bite the fuck out of Donatello
R1: Bite Michelangelo OH NO YOU DON'T]

[Strikes with Valor] [Declare: Turn and face/Bite Rapheal!
R1: Bite again!
R2: Again]

[monster alley] Donatello
1. BITE CHARLIE'S FACE.
R1. Shadowstepping to Art
R2. Something evil.

[Face of Death] [bite/bite Leo]

[Face of Death] [1a: Bite Leo: dex + brawl - 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[monster alley] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Face of Death] [damage: str + 2 + 0]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [1b: Bite Leo: dex + brawl - 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[Face of Death] [damage: str + 2 + 0]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[monster alley] (nooo i want to liiive!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley] Leonardo: Dead
Michelangelo: Incap

[monster alley] Donatello: I BITE THE FACE.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[monster alley] (damage!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Oh you COCK.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Biting Raph! +2 diff (blinded)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 6, 8 (Failure at target 7)

[Warcry] [1a. Changing to Bite Dontatello. Dex + Brawl + Perun -2 (split) -2 (OW) -1 (waning gibbous) // +1 diff (changing actions), -1 (hahaha got your ass now, fucker)]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[Warcry] [Damage. Str + 2 + Suxx -1 EAT IT DONNY YOU WERE THE WORST NEW KID]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Warcry] [1b. Dex + Brawl + Perun -3 (split), -2 (OW) -1 (waning gibbous) // -1 diff (I'MA BITE YOUR ASS! NO REALLY)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Warcry] [Damage. Str + 2 + Suxx -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[monster alley] Raphael
Shadowstep and strike (-2 diff, -2 dice)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[monster alley] (damage +4)
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Soak, oh you fucker]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Nooooooooo]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) [WP]

[Lights Out] [Reflexive: -1 WP for Resist Pain.
First Split Action: Intelligence+Medicine (+3): Heal Sinclair. -2 pool (split).]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 2)

[Lights Out] [Second Split Action: Intelligence+Medicine (+3): Heal Art. -3 pool (split).]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 6, 7 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]

[monster alley] Donatello
Shadowstep to Art!

[Warcry] [R1: Bite Donatello. Dex + Brawl + Perun -1 (waning gibbous) // +1 diff STOP MOVIN' AROUND]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) Re-rolls: 4

[Warcry] [Damage. Str + 2 + Suxx -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[monster alley] (owww)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] (Donatello: dead in one bite)

[monster alley] Raphael:
R1. Changing to shadowstep to Art!

[Strikes with Valor] (Swallow Rage to avoid frenzy!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7)

[monster alley] (actually, i'm sorry. Raphael would have shadowstepped to Sinclair. SHE MOAR BADASS.)

[Strikes with Valor] [Biting Raph!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[Strikes with Valor] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] Raphael
R2: Possession. Resisted WP roll. Diff = opponent's diff normally, +1 diff for changing actions.

Sinclair, resist at diff 7!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[Warcry] [Willpower. JUST BECAUSE I BIT SOMEONE IN HALF. GAWD.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[monster alley] (Okay. Effects:

- Sinclair gets remaining HP from Raphael added to her own (+4)
- Sinclair's rage is recharged fully
- As with frenzy, she is no longer limited by Wits, only Dex, in + of actions per turn. Rage/2 still applies for + of rage spent.
- Unlike frenzy, she is free to split actions and use gifts, etc.

KILL, MY PRETTY.

Reinit, everyone!)

[Lights Out] [+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1

[Strikes with Valor] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[Face of Death] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[monster alley] (Oh, Damage:

Donatello: Dead
Leonardo: Dead
Michelangelo: Incap
Raphael: Possessing Sinclair!

Sinclair: OK +4
Art: 1 agg, 1lethal (Roll Stam vs diff 8 to see if you regenerate)
Charlie: 2 agg
Joey: 3 agg)

[Warcry] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[Strikes with Valor] [Stam!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)

[monster alley] (Oh and: like a frenzy, the possessor will only be ejected if the possessee is KOed.)

[Face of Death] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8

[monster alley]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[monster alley] DOOMSinclair
Joey
Art
Charlie

[Lights Out] [Split Action: Punch/Punch Sinclair. Rage: Punch her 'gain!]

[Strikes with Valor] [Declare:
Bite Possessed!Sinclair
R2: Bite again -- with all bites, will stop at incap!]

[Face of Death] [tackle Sinclair]

[Warcry] [1a. Bite Joey. I SMELL BLOOD.
1b. Bite Joey. IT'S STILL THERE.
1c. Bite Charlie. THANKS FOR THE HEALUP, MAN, THAT WAS SUPER. (WP)
R1. Bite Art. NO BITING ME, EEE.
R2. Bite Joey if she's still up, Art if not.]

[Warcry] [1a. Dex + Brawl + Perun -3 (split) -1 (moon)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 5)

[Warcry] [Damage. Str + 2 + Suxx -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [SOAK -1 for bleeding throat]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] [1b. Dex + Brawl + Perun -3 (split) -1 (moon)]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 5) Re-rolls: 3

[Warcry] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [soak?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] [1c. You know the drill]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Warcry] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

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

[Warcry] [Forgot to spend WP. 1 more damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Bite Sinclair!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[Strikes with Valor] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [First Split Action: Brawl+Dexterity (+1): Punch! -2 pool (split).]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Damage: Strength +1 (Bear) +4 (Crinos) +1 (suxx).]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Second Split Action: Brawl+Dexterity (+1): Punch! -3 pool (split).]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Damage: Strength +1 (Bear) +4 (Crinos) +0]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

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

[Warcry] [R1. Bite on Art. Dex + Brawl + Perun -1 (moon)]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 11 at target 5) Re-rolls: 4

[Warcry] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 18 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] [R2. Bite on Joey. Dex + Brawl + Perun -1 (moon)]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[Strikes with Valor] [Bite Sinclair!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 (Failure at target 5)

[Warcry] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [soak? please?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [DONKEY PUUUUUNCH!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Damage: Strength +1 (Bear) +4 (Crinos) +3 (suxx).]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[monster alley] [Damage tally:
Joey Incap
Charlie 6agg
Art 3agg
Sinclair 2agg, 3bashing --> 2 agg 2 bashing at start of next round.

Redeclare!]

[Lights Out] [Split Action: Punch/Punch/Punch Sinclair.]

[Strikes with Valor] [Bite Sinclair/Bite Sinclair
R1: Dodge any incoming blows
R2: Bite Sinclair]

[Face of Death] [bleed]

[Warcry] [1a. Bite Joey
1b. Bite Charlie
1c. Bite Art
1d. Bite Art again
R1. Bite Joey, because we all know she's going to rage back
R2. Bite Charlie, because we all know he's going to rage back, too]

[Warcry] [1a: Joey]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 5) Re-rolls: 3

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 16 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [rage back!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]

[Warcry] [1b: Charlie]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [What the FUCK]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] [1c: Art]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] [1d: Art again]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Strikes with Valor] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] [R1: Joey]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Face of Death] SOAK
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] [R2: Charlie]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 11 at target 5) Re-rolls: 3

[Warcry] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 18 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [Shit!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [COME ON CHUCK]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 5 (Success x 1 at target 8) [WP]

[Warcry] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] The last thing he does before he dies is try to save her.

It's a nice night before the stench hits the four Garou that happen upon the alleyway, cool but not freezing, the clouds sliding across the waning moon. This was Liam's moon, gibbous and heavy but a bit on the darker side, shrinking towards half. This is Sinclair's moon, but the growing shadow over Luna has its partner in the Glass Walker's every move: normally swift on her feet, she drags slightly. Normally bright-eyed and strong, she looks distant tonight when she passes by the alley and sees the Sentinels and their prospective packbrother heading inside. She looks thinner than usual, somehow, as though her very soul is stretched too thin.

Nobody notices. Joey has lived with Sinclair long enough to have seen the way her once-packmate and still-roommate waxes and wanes with her auspice, a glowing zenith on the one hand and a bitter erosion on the other. But that is not likely what's on her mind when she goes into the alley with her best friend, her crush, her possible love and the Ahroun they are seeking to bring to Bear: she is being ambushed, hissed at by shadows, and claws are raking dangerously close to her spine as she shifts instantly to hispo to take the brunt of the pain.

Charlie is the presiding Alpha of the Sentinels with Buried Hatchet gone. He informs the shadow creatures in no uncertain terms that this is not their territory, that they shall not harm his packmate nor his potential brother, nor get away with what they just did.

But none of them see the fourth one coming.

He's there in an instant though, right behind the Gaian Ahroun, his claws ripping into the Garou's back. Then they all know what they're facing: cheaters. Cheaters who can use the darkness to their advantage, digging long, razor-sharp claws into the werewolves. Charlie grabs a hold of Joey's wrist as soon as he reaches her, a feeling of hot sunlight on desert sand flooding through her hispo-formed body, the smell that fills her mother's care packages filling her nostrils for a second, completely eliminating the Wyrm-stench for as long as the healing takes.

That is to say: just a moment. A moment of home, of her mother, of Gaia, of something Right, and then it's blood again. Pain. Rage. Shadows are dropping down all around them, claws are glinting, and Sinclair is trying to take off the arm of the thing that just attacked Joey. It all but shrugs off the blow from the Walker's jaws, but not the second bite on its torso. It does not stop him from slashing those claws across Joey's neck, blood rushing to the surface and flowing freely, soaking her fur anew. Something about these claws hurts more, past gifts and past resilience, stinging deep into the packed and unpacked alike.

Sinclair begins to wish she had a Storm Feather, as clouds move over the moon again.

The first of them to do any serious harm to the Wyrm creatures is Art, coming up behind one of the supposed ninjas and all but biting through his thigh. A second bite, as fast and deep as the second, drops the first shadow to the ground, seeping not blood and not ichor but trickling darkness. Charlie, either because he is naturally tough or simply stubborn, barely even feels it when the fourth being swipes those claws across his body. He bleeds, certainly, but does not fall, nor does he fall when another opponent strikes him hard in the back of the head.

Joey does not like having her throat slit. She retaliates by biting the one that did it, neatly sinking her fangs into him and tearing a chunk of him away. Sinclair is busy spitting shadowblood out of her mouth when claws dive into her back, making her release a howl despite her gift, making her all but scream in pain. She whips around to face her attacker and utterly fails to hurt him, snapping her jaws as her blood splatters on the wall with the speed of her turn. The shadows do not laugh. They do not cackle, or hiss. They are as silent as ever, even as they make the Garou snarl in pain and rage.

The battle goes on. Blows are traded between tooth and claw, fur and shadow. Charlie heals both Art and Sinclair, one hand on each, a flood of power leaving him almost in the same instant, bringing both Garou back from the edge of their wounds. He may regret this. He may wish he had never laid a hand on the Glass Walker. He may wish he had gotten to Art faster, later. Gaia only knows how what happens next will affect Charlie in the future, or how Joey will come to see Sinclair, or what Sinclair will do.

Gaia only knows what will be done with Art, and Art's soul, and Art's remains.

They manage to kill almost all of them. Three of the four fall as the Garou prove persistence and determination as well as fury and strength. Sinclair lunges at the one who is on her, takes him to the ground of the alleyway, and bites him in half. Literally. Two pieces of the thing fall to either side of her. Art, Charlie, and Joey seem renewed. They're going to do this.

And then the fourth, the one none of them saw, flickers through the shadows to Sinclair. He doesn't even have to touch her. The last thing they hear from Sinclair is a howl of resistance, a snarl of frustration, a whimper of --

-- failure.

They're alone in the alleyway for a moment, just the four of them. There are three dead, or nearly-dead, creatures on the ground. The fourth one is missing. They're all wounded. Art steps forward, perhaps intending to heal Joey, and crushes the last living shadow-creature's head with his forepaw. Maws are opening to speak, tails are starting to wag, and then Sinclair slowly turns. She's shaking, not from pain or excitement but something else entirely.

Her normally pale blue eyes are jet black. A stench rises off of her, fur bristled. They know, then, what's coming. And that she is, thanks to Charlie, unhurt. They know what she did to that creature just seconds ago. They know what she can do to other Garou, just from the rumors and stories that filter around. They know she is now under a totem that aids his children with power in battle.

They prepare.

And she lunges.

In seconds, Joey is on the ground, bloody and unconscious. In seconds, Charlie is barely moving. Art dives in before the Garou who was going to welcome him after the death of his Alpha, biting so hard into Sinclair it should shatter bone. She doesn't even seem to feel it, though blood runs down her leg. Charlie strikes out at her, Bear keeping him from being hampered by his wounds, his fists balled so he doesn't make her bleed, doesn't hurt her too much, because... she's a friend. She's one of them. He doesn't want to hurt her.

Arthur knows better. Valor in his heart. Ruthlessness in his claws. Sinclair hurts him as much as he hurts her, but doesn't take him down. She kills Joey instead, sending the Fenrir into cold darkness that only spurs the Rotagar to come back. She roars back after her once-sister opens that wound on her throat even wider, eyes rolling with frenzy, unable to see Sinclair turning on Charlie again, nipping him with her fangs before whipping to Art again. She gnashes at them again and again, and this time she does not trade love-bites with the Child of Gaia.

The last thing he does, before he dies, is try to save her.

For his sake, yes. For Joey and Charlie's sake, yes. For her sake... yes.

The last thing Arthur knows are not the wild eyes of the Walker gleaming at him in the dark. The last thing he knows are the black eyes of a Wyrm creature. He dies as an Ahroun should, only after coming back from death once, only while fighting the Enemy, only while digging his claws and fangs into something that would see him and all he loves gone. There are those that will mourn him: he remembers Drew before he dies, even as blood rushes in his ears and his heart tries frantically to keep beating. He doesn't know if Joey and Charlie are going to get through this.

He remembers Liam's last moments. He remembers, the way no one tells you you will remember, the first time he saw light, the first time he heard a warm adult voice thundering in his ears, welcoming him to life. He remembers his First Change, and this feels strangely like the reverse of it. Everything collapses where once it exploded. He hears, oddly,

hooves.

He smells water.

A tingling, shuddering warmth goes from his toes upward, as though he is being healed, as though he is being loved. He knows pain. By god, he knows pain in those last moments, but he also knows the memory of laughing eyes, and he sees the sunlight on ancestral homelands, and he he feels himself pulled in the direction of a path he suddenly wishes to follow to its conclusion, wherever it goes.

The last thing Art knows is not the bitterness of a comrade destroying him, possessed by the Wyrm. The last thing Art knows in this life is the closeness, suddenly, of his tribe's totem, preparing to lead him home.

Joey and Charlie barely even see him fall. Joey is thrown down again by Sinclair's jaws. Charlie dies and returns, only to lie bleeding on the ground, barely clinging to life. And Sinclair howls. And shrieks. People for miles hear it and hide, or close their eyes, or call someone they love. They refuse to go to the window, because the moon stares at them like a doughfaced idiot, smiling in the midst of death and terror as though she cannot hear it.

Sinclair bites at her shoulder. At her leg. She begins clawing at herself even as her paws scramble towards Charlie and Joey. It's a bizarre sight that no one sees, this internal struggle with herself. She leaves marks in the asphalt, trying desperately to keep from killing them again, all of them in a final death that cannot be escaped. She begins tearing chunks of her body, clawing at her gut, trying to blind herself. In the end she begins running headfirst into the alleyway wall, hitting it again and again with sickening cracks of bone. She throws herself again and again until she feels her ribs pierce her lungs, until she begins to feel dizzy regardless of the gift. She keeps going until her vision gets dim

and until it gets dark

and until she sways on her feet, watching a shadow emerge from her body, leeching out of her fur as unconsciousness begins to set in. Sinclair's eyes, blue again, roll back in her head. She falls, bleeding and barely breathing, in between the fallen forms of two Garou who, upon waking, could not be blamed if they decided to end her life. Arthur was to be their packmate. Their brother. He's gone, now.

And he can't come back.

[Lights Out] [-1 Gnosis: Activate Mother's Touch.
Intelligence+Medicine (+3): Heal Sinclair.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Lights Out] [-1 Gnosis: Activate Mother's Touch.
Intelligence+Medicine (+3): Heal Joey.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 2) [WP]

[Face of Death] [-1 Gnosis: Activate Mother's Touch
Int + Med: Heal Charlie]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 3)

[Lights Out] The first thing he's aware of when he opens his eyes is pain.

He's known this before. He's known the hazy sort of agony that exists after coming back from death, has awakened to find himself impaled or charred or with his throat blown out and had to start the long, arduous process of coming back from staggering injury before. This time, he isn't by himself, and he isn't with someone utterly convinced that he deserved whatever wound claimed his life. He's lying on the sidewalk in his birth form, innards on the outside and blood oozing from wounds on his back and face, the crumpled, torn form of the Glass Walker elder beside him.

Before he does anything else, he calls on Bear's teachings to wrap his body in the numbing cocoon that will enable him to ignore the searing anguish his body was otherwise entombed in. A moment of shuddering relief, and his body melts from that of a hulking, muscle-bound monster into that of a pale, tired-eyed young man. His clothing is ripped through, his intestines strewn around him, his heart slamming in his chest. There is nothing he can do for Strikes With Valor In His Heart. There is nothing anyone can do for Strikes With Valor In His Heart. Strikes With Valor In His Heart is dead.

He stares at Warcry, nostrils briefly flaring with a sudden swell of fury behind his breastbone, then grits his teeth and thrusts out a hand not to strike, not to end her life, but to knit the wounds dealt her by the fists and teeth that tried to bring her back from wherever it is her mind had gone. He heals her first, because she is worse off than his friend is.

He has to crawl over to Face of Death. So he does. He cannot stand because he'll drop his guts all over the sidewalk. He drags himself a few feet, then claps a hand on the side of her throat and brings her back from the brink of death. When her eyes open, he hauls himself into a seated position, staring down at his intestines as they gleam in the moonlight. If he looks at Strikes With Valor's body, he doesn't know what he'll do. He might attack Warcry. He doesn't want to attack Warcry.

Bolts of muscle pop out at the corners of his sharp jaws, and he finally looks back up. The acting Alpha of the Sentinels looks at the former Alpha of the Storm Chasers, eyes like flint in the darkness, and clears blood out of his throat.

"Help me get him to the Caern," he says, in a voice as hard as his gaze.

[Face of Death] It's the second time tonight that she's woken on the ground. The second time she's woken, prone, on the field of battle with Charlie over her, healing her. The second time she's lived up to her deed name. Though the Fenrir was named for her unnerving habit of laughing in combat, she launched herself into battle, taunted death, and has once again come out alive.

Tonight, their enemies were sneaky. They turned one of their own against them, with devastaing results. One of their number is down, never to rise again. He would have been her brother. Joey fought by his side gladly, proudly. She didn't know Strikes With Valor in His Heart well, but she was proud to consider him a friend. One of few she can claim within this city.

Charlie heals the wounds inflicted upon Joey, as much as he's able. There will always be that ugly slash across her throat, where it had been sliced open and then torn wider. The Rotagar opens her eyes and looks around, taking in the damage, the death toll. She remembers fighting Sinclair. Sinclair with eyes of inky black darkness, oozing the stench of the Wyrm, bleeding hatred and rage. Fury. Sinclair is no longer any of those things. She is whole and hale, thanks to Charlie.

Joey, at last, is able to repay her friend for his many healings. She drags herself up into a seated position, and she surveys the damage done to her best friend. The first real friend she made in Chicago. The boy who heals her after battle whether she asks him to or not. Joey doesn't ask Charlie now if he would like for her to heal him. He doesn't get any warning as he sits staring staring at his insides, which are not where they are supposed to be. The sight twists Joey's stomach, as the sight of Charlie wounded always does. She doesn't rage. She doesn't rise and launch herself at her former packsister, her former alpha. Instead she shifts her weight up onto her knees, and she helps to literally put Charlie back together. She calls on the gift given for following a totem hated by most other Garou.

And she heals Charlie to the best of her ability. Which isn't much. It's a difficult transition, going from destruction and death to healing. But Joey does what she can.

[Warcry] Her eyes are blue when they open. They're pale as they've always been, like aquamarines, like the sky past the clouds in summer. She melts into her birth form on the ground, pushing herself up on her arms and turning over. She's still in the jeans and t-shirt and thick hoodie she was in before she shifted in the first place, and a moment after she returns to skin instead of fur, blood seeps through her arm. She is not completely healed. Only one wound remains: not the ones she inflicted on herself, not the bruises from Charlie, but a deep reminder of the bite Arthur gave her that she only dimly remembers receiving.

Sinclair stares at it, instead of Arthur or Joey or Charlie, as the Black Fury moves to heal the Get of Fenris. Her lips are parted, and dry, and colorless. Her eyes are blank. She looks like a ghost, as the Rotagar is brought back, then slowly turns her head. She moves as though dragging her limbs through water. She doesn't look at Charlie, who is staring at her like he's trying to remember why she's not dead yet.

She doesn't look at Joey, who will not look at her.

She looks at Arthur, and breathes out harshly through her mouth as well as her nostrils, as though all the air is leaving her lungs.

"I'll take him," she says, and pushes herself to her feet. Her voice sounds far away. She's still looking at the Gaian as she wipes her hands off on her jeans. "I don't know the Rite of Cleansing," she adds, by way of explanation. "But he'll be waiting for you there when you're done."

Blood trickles down her arm inside her sleeve. The wound throbs like an undulating voice.

She walks towards Art, and crouches to pick him up.

[Face of Death] It's not that Joey will not look at Sinclair. But Charlie, her friend and brother, was right there. Alive but wounded. He had already done what he could to heal the two women. The only one of them that could do anything for him was Joey.

Now that he's as whole as Joey can make him, she pulls herself to her feet. Her clothing is torn, her old grey hoody stained anew with her blood. Blood is seeping through the sleeve of Sinclair's hoody, but Joey doesn't go to her. She can't heal her now. she used the last of the Gaia's Breath Sinclair gave her on Charlie's severed leg.

She doesn't move to help Sinclair with the burden of Art's body. Instead she watches her for a moment, and then she moves about the alley, dragging bodies into a pile. Picking up her bat from where she tossed it aside when she first shifted. Her throat feels strange, the scarred skin pulling in a way that someday she'll get used to. She pulls a willow switch and a vial of water from her bat bag.

Joey doesn't know what to say to Sinclair. Just like she didn't know what to say when she was tainted before. Just like she never knows what to say to the Glass Walker when bad things happen to them. So she goes about the business of cleansing the area of what's left of the Wyrm's taint.

[Rite of Cleansing: charisma + rituals]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Lights Out] It would be easy to blame Warcry for Strikes With Valor's death. This is a Garou whose fortitude and trustworthiness has already been called into question once as a result of her having born the taint of the Wyrm several months ago. Lights Out had cleansed her then, had told her that he was owed nothing for riding her of the stain that she'd carried with her for weeks, right up to the edge of permanency. There's a number of people who believe that to be tainted is a sign of inherent weakness, that there are things to be done to avoid such a thing from befalling oneself.

Many of these people also believe that the metis among them are born Wyrm-tainted, that they ought to be killed just so soon as they are out of their mothers' wombs to prevent them from growing. Lights Out hasn't much use for these people.

It would be easy to blame Warcry for Strikes With Valor's death, and for the several seconds that Lights Out sits staring at her, she has to be wondering if that isn't what he's thinking. He's angry... beyond angry, furious even, so much so that he nearly jerks away when Joey lays a hand on him. His Rage overpowers his self-control right now, and he's all but humming with it. It is not quite so powerful as the night that Joey was hit with an imbued chain and nearly killed, but it still colors his perception, his ability to reason.

He flicks a gaze up to Joey when she withdraws her hand, but beyond that his eyes remain on Sinclair as she gets to her feet and walks over to the fallen body of the Child of Gaia. A bristling crackle of Rage brushes up against Joey's when the Glass Walker says that Art will be waiting at the Caern for him when he's done here, but that isn't what he addresses when he speaks next.

He gets his legs under himself, slowly stands, and curls his hands into and out of fists twice. He doesn't bark at Sinclair not to touch him, doesn't surge forward to intercept her, doesn't even move. They've got three torn-apart creatures to cleanse and dispose of. They're drained and devastated and their evenings aren't anywhere near over yet. After they dispose of the bodies and shower the blood off of themselves, Charlie will be going to the Caern to prepare Art's body for his Gathering. He will do as he did merely two days ago and wear himself out cleansing the body and digging a grave and summoning the city's warriors to the Caern to see him off.

Another hard breath, and Charlie says, "At his Gathering, I'll tell everyone he died fighting the Wyrm. It wasn't you."

There's a pause, as though he's about to say something else, but in the end, he swallows it, keeps it to himself. He turns away from Sinclair, and starts to gather up the pieces strewn across the sidewalk.

[Warcry] There is a good reason why Sinclair is no longer under the wild, chaotic totem of destruction and wisdom that she chose with Joey. There is a reason why she fits so well into a pack that's foundation is so brutally pragmatic. They might want to carry Art's body back to the Caern, but they know how to cleanse and she doesn't. They have a mess to take care of and she can't help them. So Sinclair picks up the body that Charlie might not want her to even touch right now, and she is strong but not as strong as she was when under Twister, and Art is heavy.

She carries him anyway, and does not shift to do so. Sinclair is, even in her birth form, more forceful than many Galliards and more stalwart than almost any human. She hears Charlie say what he has to say, and if she had any fury left in her veins, it might flare.

But she has no argument. What she has to say can wait til the Gathering itself, it seems. Sinclair walks to the end of the alleyway without a word, glancing out to see who might be out there before taking Arthur to the El Camino down the block and putting him under the cover of the back. The blood has gotten to her cuff, and onto her hand, as she closes it up and gets in the driver's seat to go to the docks.

When Charlie and Joey get there, Arthur is in the Ritemistress's care. When they get there, Sinclair's car is parked outside the fences. When they get there, the Galliard is nowhere to be found.

[Lights Out] [Wrap!]