manticore.

[Wyrmbreaker] Okay, this will be a pretty straightforward dice scene with a little bit of lead-up. Ergo:

1. 10 min per post OR LESS. Preferably less. If we're dicing, 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. 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. PM me your applicable flaws. This includes stuff like nightmares and phobias and hatreds and compulsions.
6. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
7. I'll post us in!

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Merits/flaws - Second sight, concentration, color blindness
to Wyrmbreaker

[Wyrmbreaker] A single car is enough to hold the Unbroken tonight. Lukas's BMW pulls to a stop on some anonymous street in the industrial corridor -- a land of belching smokestacks and silent, hulking warehouses.

Four of them step out. The Ahroun, the Galliard, the Philodox; the new Ragabash, not yet formally bonded under the totem. It's ridiculously warm in Chicago this year. The overcast sky is orange with the reflected light of sodium lamps, but no snow falls; no rain. Snowdrifts piled high and patches of snow in the shadows have yet to melt; the roads and sidewalks, however, are clear.

The streets are deserted. This place has no residential community, and it's dark and dangerous after sunset. Not that such things would concern these four.

"The Ritesmistress's Ragabash had a bad feeling about this place the last time he came down this way," Wyrmbreaker explains. "He was looking for a warpack to take a look. I volunteered us."

He doesn't lead them toward the factories or the warehouses, but instead toward one of the narrow, litterstrewn alleys between them. And, more specifically, to the dark, dank concrete stairwell located within, leading to the basement of one of the factories.

[Truth's Meridian] "It's so nice to see that some things don't change," Katherine puts in mildly as she climbs out of the car with the others, "even after one has rested for two days." She is smiling, faintly, but they all recognize the lingering tension in the Half Moon's frame. She had awoken that morning, tender with her limbs as if uncertain of their level of functioning and her skin waxy pale.

Color had since returned to Katherine, but there were still deep shadows housed beneath her eyes.

Of what she dreamed, if she dreamed at all while in her coma-like state, she keeps to herself and merely follows after the pack, a touch quieter than normal.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Iona climbed out, leaving her army jacket and flannel shirt in the car. She doesn't let the cold bother her, or show it it seems. She stayed quiet as she listened to Lukas while moving to his side. Her eyes taking in the layout of the area.

[Warcry] She's introduced herself to Iona as Sinclair, given her the name Warcry, told her what she may have already heard from Lukas: she's the random Glass Walker in a tribe of Fangs and Lords, and she's currently their only Galliard. Otherwise she hasn't had much to say. She tends to be mouthy; she isn't, tonight.

A couple times she's been seen hanging around the Loft, not swimming but hanging out downstairs. Scaring Lucille with her mere presence, making sure she's somewhere between the front door and the door to Kate's bedroom. No matter. No mention.

She clambers out of the car fast as fast can go, and reaches up, toying with one of her earrings idly. She's not wearing a coat, but has a couple of shirts layered on top of each other, her arms covered and a green ski cap with bright puffballs on top and at the ends of the string ties pulled down onto her head. She waits for Kate and Iona to go ahead, and wordlessly brings up the rear.

[Wyrmbreaker] There was a sense of lockdown around the Loft for the two days Kate was out. Sinclair was seen there a few times, quiet, hanging around, dangerous. Lukas was seen once, standing in the kitchen, peeling an apple and eating it in slices like a peach. Never one to languish out of sentiment or softness, he visited Kate only for a few moments, long enough to ascertain that her state was beyond their immediate reach.

Call me if she wakes, he told Lucille ten minutes later, slicing fruit from the core. Immediately.

And if she doesn't? - the question implied, if not spoken.

If she's not awake by the end of the week, we'll find a way to wake her.

She did wake, this morning. And there was little time between then and now; long enough to make sure Kate was in fighting trim, but only barely. And then off they went.

Sentiment, softness, and weakness is not a part of this pack.

--

At the bottom of the stairs is a metal door, which Lukas puts his hand on as though feeling for heat, a fire. Then he turns to the Ragabash.

"Can you open this?"

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She shook her head. "Nay" But she stepped back, looking for an open window she might be able to jump in to.

[Warcry] Sinclair tips her head at Iona at Lukas's question. Upon the negative answer, she looks at Lukas. "I might be able to."

[Wyrmbreaker] There are no windows; no visible way in except this, a single steel door set into a bare concrete wall in a bare concrete stairwell dank with snowmelt and other, less savory liquids.

Wyrmbreaker's half-grin is only barely visible. "By tearing it off its hinges?"

[Warcry] She smirks back at him, lazy and loose. "I'm a Glass Walker, Lukas," she says dryly, then lifts her fingerless-gloved hands, beckoning at her face in midair with hands that open and shut like flapping mouths. "The spirits of locks and levers, they speaks to me!"

Her hands drop. "Shall I?"

[Wyrmbreaker] A pause, and then Wyrmbreaker steps back from the door with a small, wry after you gesture.

[Warcry] [control simple machine. -1 wp. manipulation + crafts]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 10 (Failure at target 7)

[Warcry]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Failure at target 7)

[Truth's Meridian] Katherine, arms crossed over her chest, exchanges the briefest of amused glances with Lukas and watches Warcry 'speak' to the door.

[Wyrmbreaker] In the darkness, the dim effect of the gift is more clearly seen. Sparks of electricity race down Warcry's fingers, tracing out not the wild, forked lightning of their totem but a far more orderly grid -- like circuits on a pcb board. It dissipates into the door, which groans ... and then falls silent.

Wyrmbreaker bites the insides of his lips. A long moment passes. Then: "I wouldn't quit your dayjob to become the Door Whisperer just yet, Sinclair."

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She stopped herself from letting out a snicker. She knew gifts didn't always work when you needed them.

[Warcry] Sinclair's hard expression turns frustrated, then annoyed, when the gift she's using doesn't work. She's on her feet in a shot and lifting one leg, kicking the door right by the lock. "Well fuck you, too, you piece of shit!" she snaps at it, her boot clanging on the metal then thumping on the asphalt.

A second later it looks like she's about to go ahead and try tearing it off its hinges.

[Wyrmbreaker] [DLP!]

[Wyrmbreaker] [okay, don't DLP!]

[Truth's Meridian] "I have a clip, in my hair. Is there a lock, perhaps we can pick it open, or --" As Sinclair kicks it. "....try that approach."

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She looked at the hinges. "Who's got a knife I kin use?"

[Truth's Meridian] [Dex + 'Streetwise' to pick the lock?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 7)

[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas looks from the door to Iona. Then he passes over his car keys, and the pocketknife clipped onto the keyring.

"If you don't get it open in a few seconds, I'm just going to tear it off its hinges. I doubt subtlety will matter much once we're inside."

Of course, as they're saying this, the Silver Fang -- who looks like she's never even seen the seamy underbelly of the city, much less lived in it and picked up its tricks -- goes up to the door and rather calmly, with some trial and some error and some jiggling of her hairclip in the door, picks the lock.

Click.

Then the door opens easily, swinging outward so that the packmates must step back.

A dark hole yawns within, totally lightless. A faintly fetid smell of flesh and decay emanates from within.

[Truth's Meridian] Katherine steps back, flushed and pleased.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Iona passes the keys back. "Och, so much fo' that idea." She stepped back as the door opened. "Huh, a noble that knows 'er way around a lock. Nice."

[Warcry] "Attagirl," Sinclair says to Kate, chuckling slightly as not the Ragabash, not the Glass Walker, but the Silver Fang Philodox manages to get the door open for them, and using the most mundane of talents. She falls back again as the door opens, returning to her spot as rear guard and biting back more than a couple of obscenity-laced comments about the smell coming from inside.

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker searches around the entryway for a moment before propping the door wide open with a rock. The faint light from the alleyway and the stairwell -- negligible already -- is the only light they have, unless --

"Anyone have a light?"

Whether they do or not, Wyrmbreaker steps into the darkness, dropping to a fourlegged form as he does so. The smell is stronger inside.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] "Aye, I do."

[Truth's Meridian] "Yes, on my keychain. One moment," Katherine's voice is rather muffled, her hand over her mouth and nose against the smell. The Fianna No Moon attests that she too has a light, and perhaps as one two streams of light appear -- though the Half Moon's is a thin, reedy beam cast from a small twist-on torch.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] ((Wits + Enigma Diff 6))
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] Oddly, the smell makes Sinclair... belch, quietly, behind them. She coughs afterward, releasing a soft "Ugh," as though she's fighting the urge to vomit a little. As they all come inside she pulls the door at least part of the way closed again, leaving it open a crack. Having no light, and no gift to grant light, she changes shape behind them all.

They hear the crack of shifting bone, the whisper of growing fur, the almost creaking sound of rearranging, stretching muscle, and then the heavy breath of a wolf that is no made for this world but for legend. She whuffs.

[Wyrmbreaker] Seeing the Kate's flashlight and Iona's ... whatever-that-is appear, Wyrmbreaker stops at Hispo rather than Lupus.

"Send your light ahead, Banshee," he instructs quietly. "Keep yours off, Kate. We won't give away our position if we can help it. From here on out I'm going to be speaking to my pack across the totemlink. Banshee, stick with Truth's Meridian and do what she does."

The light, bobbing ahead of them, illuminates a long corridor extending into the darkness. So far they can see no end to it. Doors open to the sides, all of them metal, a few with portholes set into their thickness. Some have discolored smears on them. One is dented badly, as though something within had pounded itself against it.

In the distance, they can hear liquid dripping slowly.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] A nod, and she did as told. Her wisp of a light sent ahead of them. Once it was sent ahead, she shifts up into her crinos form, a war axe appearing in her hands. Her fur as black as most Lords, melds into the shadows.

[Truth's Meridian] The Half Moon nods, and twists out her small light, tucking it away into her pocket. Then -- with no more than a brief nod toward the Ragabash, the Philodox begins to shift forms, her limbs changing, fur sprouting to replace clothing until in Katherine's place is a beautiful, snowy white Hispo wolf with bright, intent eyes the exact color of a winter's lake.

She does not whuff, but sniff at the air and then wipe her paw across her maw as if to rid her sinuses of the stench.

Unpleasant, however, is all she notes across their totem link.

[Activating Resist Pain, for the record.]

[Wyrmbreaker] The portholes in the doors open to tiny rooms, like cells in a prison. With the glow of fae light so far ahead of them, Sinclair cannot see details clearly.

In some rooms, all there is to be seen is blankness -- empty rooms, discolored floors.

In others, there are dark shapes on the floor. Lumpy, irregular, stained. It takes her some time to realize they're limbs.

In one, something moves. Spasming, quivering. Lurching. Something, an appendage, a limb, bats feebly at the floor. A human hand. The head, however, is grotesque and misshapen; not human at all.

After a distance there are no more cells to either side. And Iona's light finds the end of the corridor at last: a single door set a step above the ground, heavier than the rest, reinforced steel, heavy hinges.

It is not, however, locked. It stands ajar. A dark trickle of liquid oozes from within, dripping slowly onto the concrete floor.

Drip.

Drip.

[Warcry] Out loud, the Galliard behind them all lets out a soft keen of warning, wariness. Over the totemlink she shares with Kate and Lukas -- and Caleb, and Edward, and Theron -- there's more. Images of what she's seeing, rather than words used to describe them, flicker through the minds of her packmates. Sinclair is hanging back, her fur bristling, her ears rotating forward. A low growl rumbles in her chest.

[Wyrmbreaker] The premonition strikes her without warning, like quicksand sucking beneath her feet. The world goes white. Then images slam into her in quick succession:

A heart torn from its mooring, loose in the ruined cavity of a barely-human torso.

A dark, stained, quilted patchwork -- fabric that screams and bleeds every time the needle sews.

A face, mouth opening to scream; snakes vomiting silently from its throat instead.

The visions are gone as abruptly as they come, leaving Iona mentally battered, momentarily blinded by the sudden resumption of darkness.
to Iona "Banshee" McNevin

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Iona drops 2 steps back and to her knee. Something hit her and hit her hard. But then, as quickly as it came, it was gone, and she finally opened her eyes again.

[Truth's Meridian] Truth's Meridian does her best not to react to her pack-mate's state of agitation, but she can feel it, they can all sense the wrongness in the air, in the dank odor, the dripdripdrip of water; of something coppery and red. She bristles, her fur standing on end, her ears flattened to her skull.

When Iona drops back, and to her knees, the white wolf stops also, she whuffs in concern, in surprise.

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker has been prowling quietly up the corridor, step by slow step. When Iona abruptly falls back and drops, the Hispo stops instantly, but does not turn. He keeps his eyes trained on the door ahead, bristling.

What's the matter?

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] As softly as she can, she conveys what she saw. "wutevah is beyond that door, is nah human. I saw a heart being torn out o' something nah human. And sewing, only I think it was skin, because it screamed. And snakes coming out of a screaming mouth."

[Truth's Meridian] Oh lovely.

Katherine comments silently, and turns to focus her pale eyes on the door, a growl rumbling its way free of her throat.

[Warcry] That low growl from the rear is growing. Sinclair is not happy. What Iona says coincides so well with what she saw through the portholes and showed her packmates that disgust and rage are both rising inside of her, twisting around each other into something that does not want to hunt so much as... destroy.

If it were not for the smell, and the visions, and everything else, Sinclair might be quoting Indiana Jones right now. As it is, she's starting to scrape her claws on the ground, thinking on all the doors they've passed and what might be in the ones she couldn't see into.

[Wyrmbreaker] "What do you mean, you s--"

Wyrmbreaker is about to turn around when he stops; silences himself. His tail wags once, tension and nothing close to friendliness. Then he pads forward.

Prepare for battle. Whatever lies beyond that door, Sinclair flanks. Kate and the new girl from behind. Kate, you're on primary healing duty. I have talens. I want Sinclair keeping an eye out as well.

(last round of posts, then inits! assume Kate gets Lukas's gaia's breaths. I believe he has 5 in his pouch right now)

[Truth's Meridian] Truth's Meridian is passed some healing talens; she stows them -- somewhere, perhaps a pouch of her own -- and then gives a brief, bristling assertion of her Alpha's orders, her attention already absolute on the door ahead.

[Warcry] I have talens as well, she adds, her voice rolling like distant thunder through their minds. If needed.

She moves her position up nearer to the front, situating herself between door and Kate, door and new girl, keeping Lukas in sight. Twisting her head, she pulls something out of her fur, or so it seems. Quickly, small metal disks with the same symbol painted on them that is tattooed on the back of her neck get handed out to the three others, as she uses one herself.

[-1WP for Resist Pain
Rolling gnosis for Soak talen]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Wyrmbreaker] (Luna's Armor! -1Gn, -1WP)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7) [WP]

[Truth's Meridian] [Soak Talen!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 4 (Failure at target 7)

[Wyrmbreaker] (-1Gn toward BB.
-1Gn toward soak talen for +3.
-1WP toward resist pain and we are good to go!)

[Truth's Meridian] [You fucker.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 1, 6 (Botch x 2 at target 8)

[Wyrmbreaker] [All soak talens in that batch have disintegrated as the angry spirit departs. Kate may no longer use or create soak talens until the appropriate spirits are appeased (generous Gnosis donation and/or Rite of Contrition)!)

[Wyrmbreaker] [When you guys are done powering up, roll inits! I'ma finish my cheat sheet]

[Warcry] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[Truth's Meridian] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Inits
+7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker
+20
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore
+10
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] ((oh and -1 Gn for Soak talen))

[Wyrmbreaker] The pack has lapsed into totemic silence again. All around her, Iona can see them preparing, drawing on the power of the spirits and their Gifts. No rash, hotheaded Fianna or Fenrir, these. Even Sinclair, easily the most impetuous of the group, is activating talens.

In seconds they're ready. In the lead, the huge black war-wolf shakes out his fur. He steps up to the door and gingerly hooks his paw around the edge to pull it open --

-- and it slams open in his face.

What's within is the monstrous big brother of the twisted, pathetic thing Sinclair saw in one of the cells. Its body is a grotesque piecemeal: the head and torso of some giant, pallid with death; eyes replaced with an octet of compound eyes like those of a fly, or a spider; mouth cut open to the ears, hinged with a rusting bolt on either side. The tongue whipping around the mouth is a blind, striking thing, seemingly with its own intelligence. Its left arm is amputated at the elbow, the forearm replaced with a slashing arc of steel, a sword. The right arm has been joined at the shoulder to a monstrous reptile's claw. Centaur-like, the torso is sewn, cauterized and bolted to the body of what may have once been some sort of Garou. The forelimbs have been replaced with glistening, jointed, insectile claws.

A creature like that should not move with uncanny grace and terrifying speed. But this one does, storming out of its lair into the dark corridor. It does not bother to issue challenge; it simply attacks.

(action order:
Lukas
Kate
Sinclair
Manticore
Iona

declare in reverse!)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1a) Salmon leap behind minotaur
1b) axe strike
1c) axe strike again

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore
3R
1a. Slam Lukas back
b. Slash Iona while she's flying over him
R1. Piercing strike on Lukas
R2. And on Sinclair
R3. Poison strike on Kate

Will most likely redeclare some of those after people get into position!

[Wyrmbreaker] [Terminology:
Slash = sword arm (L)
Piercing strike = insect legs (A)
Poison strike = tongue (special)
Claw = reptile claw! (A)]

[Warcry] [1a. Flank
1b. Bite left arm (attempting to disable/dismember it)
1c. Bite one of the insectoid legs (same objective)
R1. Bite]

[Truth's Meridian] [1a. Get behind Manticore ... somehow. Jump? Sidle? Harsh Language? One of them.
1b. Bite 'im!
1c. Bite again
R1. Bite]

[Wyrmbreaker] 1a. Spur claws!
b. Taunt!
R1. Bite at joints in this order: left arm/insect leg 1/insect leg 2/right shoulder, depending on what's come off or not
R2. Same!
R3. Same!

[Wyrmbreaker] [For people jumping: I'm gonna modify the rules a little.

For Iona, using Salmon Leap, as long as activation is successful, she'll land behind the monster. If she fails, she may attempt a leap anyway under Kate's rules as a "free" action:

For Kate, dex+ath vs diff 7, 2 or more succ necessary to get past it. 1 succ = flanking position.]

[Wyrmbreaker] [Oh and for Warcry: all she needs is one succ. Let's roll -- depending on who ends up where, I may redeclare for the manticore!]

[Wyrmbreaker] The manticore is quick, but the Ahroun has the benefit of supernatural speed. A blur of black amidst pale shadows cast by Iona's Faerie Light --

which, by the way, is beginning to gutter.

-- he lunges forward. Sudden brilliance sheens across his claws, and then they bury into the monster's side.

(-2 for splits!)
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] (damage +5)
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

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

[Wyrmbreaker] (taunt!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Failure at target 6)

[Truth's Meridian] [Jump over Manticore! Dex + Ath (-3 Split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)

[Truth's Meridian] [Bite! Dex + Brawl + Hispo + Perun (-4 Split) -1 Flanking]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Truth's Meridian] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Truth's Meridian] [1c. Bite again! (-5 split) -1 Flanking]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[Truth's Meridian] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!0
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 9, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[Warcry] 1a. flanking
dex + hispo + athletics -3 (split)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Warcry] 1b. biting left arm in attempt to disable or dismember
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon - 4 (split) // diff -1 (flanked) +2 (targeted)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Warcry] damage
str + hispo + hispo bite + 6
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

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

[Warcry] 1c. biting left arm again in attempt to disable or dismember
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon - 5 (split) // diff -1 (flanked) +2 (targeted) +1 (switching targets)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 7, 7, 9 (Failure at target 7)

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore
1a. Door slam: WHAM! Dex + Brawl diff 6
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Damage: Str +2 +2 bashing; anything over 4 successes pre-soak is a knockdown
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 9 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] The wolves piling on, attacking the Manticore from all sides does not deter it from its intent. Its reptile claw shoves the door outward -- not merely slamming it open in Wyrmbreaker's face but tearing it right off its hinges and all but throwing the heavy slab of metal at the Shadow Lord.

It catches him squarely in the face and chest, sending him sprawling back. The door falls aside with a crash that resounds down the long corridor.

A human would be dead. A human would be pulverized. A Garou, however, is merely inconvenienced.

[Warcry] frenzy check, gibbous moon
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 4, 4, 4 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Warcry] Wherever they are, the absent members of the Unbroken feel the slavic storm god they're bound to seem to lift a heavy head, eyes flashing with lightning. In their minds they do not hear a voice that warns them of what's coming: they hear thunder itself rolling, barreling across the sky towards them, roaring, preparing to unleash a torrent of rain, lashes of electricity.

With her, the two most self-controlled and restrained packmates -- it isn't stretching to say that they are the reasons Sinclair joined and the primary role models for her learning to deal with her rage in some manner other than simply acting out in aggression on a daily basis -- do not just feel but see, and hear, and sense like a prickling of static across their furs what is happening.

The manticore slams open the door, knocking it into Wyrmbreaker. It doesn't hurt him badly. He falls to the ground, though, crashes to the floor because of the attack, and under a waxing gibbous moon --

she was born under a waxing gibbous moon, clear and shining until the clouds covered it and blackened the night sky, until the rain started pouring down on the fields, until lightning chased itself across the entire state

-- Sinclair, known as Warcry, known as a bearer of the Stone of Scorn, known as a murderer of Garou, known as once-tainted, twice-tainted

snaps.

Iona, perhaps, senses it in another way, sees flickers of visions of what Sinclair did to Arthur, the last time -- one of the only times -- she has truly and completely lost control. What she did to Charlie and Joey, what she almost did. Blood stains memory, as it stains her maw from tearing at the manticore's sword-tipped leg.

She roars, all her dark fur standing on end, her maw opening in a screaming expression of rage that sends her pale blue eyes flickering with the storm that they are all of them tied to by spirit and choice. Warcry trembles from the force of it, all threat and fury, violence and destruction.

[Wyrmbreaker] It doesn't hurt Wyrmbreaker badly. In fact, with the talen harnessing the steadily increasing power of his spirit, it doesn't bruise his flesh at all. Whatever contusions, whatever lacerations are incurred by his ignominious slide backward across the rough, filthy floor disappear as soon as they open. Wyrmbreaker is already twisting deftly, instantly to his feet as Sinclair

quite simply

loses her mind.

"Out of her way!" snarls the Ahroun. "Especially you, Banshee! She will not hold back from you!"

Banshee, meanwhile, vaults over the monster -- only to have it preempt her. The sword arm, dangling now by a few scraps of flesh, comes up in a killing arc. Its attention -- its wary, primitive intelligence -- is focused now on the clearly mad wolf amongst their number.

(Dex/Brawl -2 (badly damaged arm!) vs diff 7 (moving target))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)

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

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Seeing the Manticore, her vision now made more sense. Now it was time to go to work. Pity there was no pay in this job.

1a) Activate gift Salmon's Leap diff 6
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1b) Axe strike Dex + melee diff 7
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 7) [WP]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Damage Str + 3 + 4 suxx
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 8 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 3, 7, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1c) Gets the fuck out of Warcry's way

[Wyrmbreaker] Struck blindingly hard from behind, the Manticore rears, insectile legs scuttling, twitching at air. It begins to shift its weight, turning.

[Redeclare rage actions:
R1. Poison strike on Iona (-2 dice for needing to turn; -1 again for range; +1 diff for changing)
R2. Piercing strike on Sinclair (original action)
R3. Again! (+1 diff for changing)

Note that Sinclair is now frontal; Iona at left flank; Kate is behind; Lukas at right flank.]

[Wyrmbreaker] [Lukas: change action -- get to feet!]

[Warcry] kate
rage bite
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 3)

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

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

[Warcry] R1. bite!
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[Warcry] damage
str + hispo + hispo bite + 2
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (poison strike, cumulative -3 dice, +1 diff!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Wyrmbreaker] (Damage on Iona = Str -1 +1(succ). Also, special effects if any is left unsoaked!)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (Iona's out of actions; back to Wyrmbreaker!

R2 - Targeted bite, piercing claw. +1 diff for changing actions)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 8)

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

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Against the tough, pallid hide and chitin of the Manticore, the next strikes from the Garou do little. Sinclair manages to come away with a mouthful of fetid meat. Wyrmbreaker, seeing the beast's intent, lunges to tear its piercing limb away from its body. The Shadow Lord's teeth seize the jointed, impossibly dexterous limb firmly. He tears, the way a man might tear a crab's claw from the body. The point of junction twists and pops horribly, but does not quite come undone.

The Manticore yanks its leg free and drives it viciously down on Sinclair.

(-2 dice for damage. No diff change!)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (Damage +3)
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] soak
stamina + talen
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker, R3: tear that bloody stabby leg off ffs!
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8) Re-rolls: 1

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

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 6, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore: +1 diff for changing actions; +1 again for switching to other leg!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)

[Wyrmbreaker] (dam +1)
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

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

[Wyrmbreaker] With a final wrench, one of the insect legs comes loose, tearing a great chunk of the creature's ... what? Flank? Forequarters? with it. Wyrmbreaker flings it viciously aside. Trailing shreds of meat splat wetly on the floor. The leg itself twitches, jitters, shivers to a standstill on the floor while the Manticore, abruptly unbalanced, staggers on three legs.

It is badly injured. It bleeds from countless wounds. Its sword-arm is hanging by literal threads. Its second insectile leg is effectively out of commission, necessary now for balance. Its claw, however, is unharmed, flexing in readiness. The blind striking thing that is its tongue seethes and coils, whipping this way and that as though uncertain which to lash at first.

Inexorably, its attention turns on Wyrmbreaker.

[Sumup!
Damage Tally:
31 done on Manticore

Lukas 2 Bashing, 1 healing up at beginning of round.
Sinclair 1agg, frenzied
Kate OK
Iona OK

Lukas now has frontal attack. Sinclair has flanking on remaining leg/sword side; Kate has flanking on claw side. Iona has back attack.

Let's reinit!

+10 for Manticore]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Warcry] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

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

[Wyrmbreaker] (Wyrmbreaker
Warcry
Kate
Manticore
Iona

declare in reverse!)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1a) Get back behind Manticore again
1b) Axe slice
1c) Axe slice
R1) Axe slice

[Wyrmbreaker] (no need to get behind it -- she's already behind. change 1a to axe?)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1a) reactivate Faerie Light with gnosis
1b) Axe slice
1c) Axe slice
R1) Axe slice

[Wyrmbreaker] (no gnosis and rage in the same turn! though she can probably see that it won't last much longer, so she doesn't necessarily need to invest the gnosis.)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] ((Then no gnosis))

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore
1a. Claw slash at Lukas
b. Again
R1. Poison strike on Warcry
R2. Claw Kate
R3. Claw Lukas

[Warcry] Kate
1a. Bite second insect leg (in attempt to drop it to ground when it loses balance)
1b. Bite clawin' arm
R1. Bite
R2. Bite

[Warcry] 1. Bite
R1. Bite
R2. Bite

[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas
1a. Bite to clawin' arm
b. Again!
R1. Bite sword arm
R2. Chomp!

[Wyrmbreaker] As the Garou close in on the Manticore, Iona's wisp of pale, phosphorescent light

finally
flickers
out.

Total darkness descends. Until she can reignite it, they fight blind.

[+2 diff to all Garou until Iona's 1a action, unless you choose to hold action! Monster does not take +2 from blindness, but it does (and should have been) taking +2 from Spur Claws.]

[Wyrmbreaker] (-2, chomp, +4 diff (blind and targeted))
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 9) Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] (dam +1!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] [Kate will be holding til after Faerie Light comes on]

[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (again, with WP!)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 9) [WP] Re-rolls: 1

[Wyrmbreaker] +3!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] 1. Bite
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon // diff -1 (flanking) +2 (blind)
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Warcry] damage
str + hispo + hispo bite + 5
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Chases Parked Cars] (*peeks*)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] Manticore: claw Lukas! -2 dice, +2 diff
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 8)

[Wyrmbreaker] Damage +4!
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] -3 dice, +2 diff!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (Failure at target 8)

[Wyrmbreaker] (WTF. this monster SUCKS)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1a) Activate faerie light
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1b) Axe swing
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Damage
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (I'll allow WP activation of 1a with 0 dice *LOL* reroll b and c!)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1a) gift

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1b) Axe swing
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7) [WP]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Damage
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)

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

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] 1c) axe swing
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Success x 1 at target 7) [WP]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Damage
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] Kate
1a. Bite second insect leg (in attempt to drop it to ground when it loses balance)
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + forgotten dice from last round -2 (split) // diff -1 (flanking)
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[Warcry] [that was targeted; 1a fails]

[Warcry] Kate
1b. Same as 1a!
dex + hispo + brawl + perun -3 (split) // diff -1 (flanking) +2 (targeted) +1 (changing)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 7 at target 7) [WP]

[Warcry] Kate
damage
str + hispo + hispo bite + 6
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (nooo i want to liiiive!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] In absolute darkness, Wyrmbreaker and his frenzied packmate tear at the beast, ultimately doing little. A second later -- for that was all the time the blackness lasted, a single second between the first light going out and the second flaring; and in that second, no less than three blows were struck --

A second later, light flares back into the rank corridor. Again and again the Fianna strikes, each blow true as gold; the monster, however, proves tougher that one might give it credit for given the ineffectualness of its strikes against the Garou.

It staunchly refuses to go down. Even when Truth's Meridian all but tears its remaining insect leg out from under it; even when it crashes down, supporting itself on its claw, bleeding pus and ichor all over the floor --

it refuses to die. It clings to life with the tenacity of that which was never meant to be alive: that which was given foul life that it could not take for granted, and thus, will not give up easily.

[Wyrmbreaker] (R1, Lukas, chomp to sword arm!)
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 7) Re-rolls: 2

[Wyrmbreaker] dam +4
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (NOOO I WANT TO LIIIIVE!)
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 7, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] ...but it's not really given a choice in the matter. Wyrmbreaker seizes its sword-arm in his teeth and wrenches. When it comes loose, it takes the Manticore's shoulder with it, spraying cold blood and fetid viscera across the floor.

It hits the ground in pieces.

Which leaves darkness, the faint guttering light of the Fae about to burn out, and ...

Sinclair. Frenzied.

(Sinclair's remaining rage actions:
R1. Bite Iona! +1 diff
R2. Bite Iona! +1 diff

Kai, redeclare for Kate

Me, redeclaring for Lukas:
R2. Jawlock on Sinclair! +1 diff)

[Warcry] Kate
R1. Falcon's Grasp, Grapple Sinclair
R2. Bite Sinclair if held, grapple again if not

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] R1) claw frenzied Warcry

[Warcry] R1. bite iona
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon // diff +1 (changing targets)
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] damage, cannot pull
str + hispo + hispo bite + 4
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (just a reminder, action order is:

sinclair R1
kate R1
iona R1
lukas R2
sinclair R2
kate R2)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (gimme a sec for reflexive shouting!)

[Wyrmbreaker] As the Garou turn on themselves, Sinclair lunging for the unknown; Iona baring her teeth in reply; both the Unbroken with their wits still about them moving to subdue their sister, Wyrmbreaker roars at Iona:

"GET BACK. GET OUT OF HER REACH. DON'T [FUCKING] TOUCH HER."

[Warcry] Kate
R1. -1R (Falcon's Grasp)
Grapple Sinclair: Strength + Hispo + Brawl + 3
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Redeclare R1) get the fuck out of the way

[Wyrmbreaker] [Sinclair: R2, bite Kate instead!]

[Wyrmbreaker] Lukas, R2 -- jawlock!
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2

[Wyrmbreaker] str + ath +1!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] strength + hispo + athletics + moon
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] (damage! +1)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Warcry] soak
stamina + talen
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Warcry] R2. biting kate :[
dex + hispo + brawl + perun + moon // diff +1 (changing targets) +2 (grappled) +1 (enh! must! twist! around! and nom! packmate!)
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9) Re-rolls: 2

[Warcry] damage
str + hispo + hispo bite + 0
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Warcry] Kate
soak!
stamina, no soak talen cuz it BLEW UP
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Warcry] Kate
R2. I don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice, you NAUGHTY PUP.
dex + hispo + brawl + perun // diff +2 (maintaining grapple while biting)
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7)

[Warcry] Kate
damage, will pull at incap if necessary
str + hispo + hispo bite +3
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Warcry] soak
stamina + talen
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] In the end, it takes both her packmates to subdue Sinclair.

She moves first, while Wyrmbreaker is still turning from bringing down the patchwork beast. She lunges before any of them can hope to stop her, teeth tearing into Iona. The luck of the Fianna holds, though, as it has this entire night -- she twists away from Sinclair unharmed.

That's when the gleam in her eye says she'll strike back. That's when Wyrmbreaker bellows at her to get away, yes, but also -- more significantly -- to not touch the frenzied Galliard.

She leaps back. Sinclair lunges blindly after her, but Truth's Meridian intercepts, grappling the Galliard with literally the tips of her claws. At this new insult, Sinclair turns on her sister, while her Alpha attempts to seize her by the scruff of the neck and bear her down -- only to have his teeth slip on the Glass Walker's thick fur. They glance off her shoulder, knicking her, as she twists free.

Half-pinned by Kate, mad, twisting, her next bite tears a gash down the Silver Fang's until-then pristine arm. The Philodox snarls, but does not let go. Her resolve is greater than that. Tightening her grip, she leans in, and with the delicate precision one would expect from such a wolf,

neatly tears Sinclair's throat out.

Iona's faerie light burns out. Pitch black again, resonating with the harsh panting of the wolves, the soft pops and cracks of Sinclair reverting slowly to her homid form as the frenzy passes.

Some moments pass. Then, Wyrmbreaker: "Light, Banshee."

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] "Aye, Lukas. One moment." And once more, the Fianna activates Faerie Light (-1 gnosis this time to keep light on til scene is over)
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Wyrmbreaker] A guttering flicker of phosphorescence. Then...

nothing.

Iona cannot try again. It's as though she's forgotten how. There's an irritated whuff from the Shadow Lord. "Kate."

[Wyrmbreaker] [Faerie Light no longer works for remainder of scene!]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] "Och, well ain't that fookin' shiat." She shook her head.

[Truth's Meridian] A flash light appears, Katherine's tinny little light cutting through the dark once again.

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She frowned still, seeing as the faerie light actually failed her. "Why doh't ye take Warcry back, and I will cleanse the area, and meet ye back at the Brotherhood."

[Warcry] The last vision they have of Warcry when the Fianna's bobbing faerie light sputters out is that of a torn and blood-drenched dire wolf, pale eyes rolling back in her head, maw and fur matted. They all hear -- even feel -- the heavy thump of her body hitting the ground when Kate, feeling her lose consciousness, lets her sister drop to the floor.

They all hear her shift again: bones crack, muscle groans, fur quivers and hushes out of existence, as though soaked back into her skin. They cannot see her.

Until Kate's flashlight comes on, illuminating a small but bright circle, dim and fuzzy at the edges. Then they can see Sinclair again. She's not a terribly tall woman, right at what's considered average height. She's got a leanly muscled, athletic body with curves that belie her sheer strength, her incalculable savagery. It's covered in jeans with the cuffs folded up, boots with purple laces, a black t-shirt over a long-sleeved gray thermal. Even her fingerless gloves seem to be dedicated to her, as is the green skicap that's become askew on her straw-blonde hair.

At first it looks like she's dead.

She's covered in blood, the joining of her shoulder and neck bitten into hard by Lukas's jaws. Her throat itself is a nasty, gaping mess that's leaking blood in a pool underneath her. It's a few seconds before they see her chest rise shallowly, hear a faint wheeze in her throat. Iona knows then that she isn't gone. Kate and Lukas knew before: they could feel her still, her presence in their minds no longer a screaming, flashing red thing assaulting their consciousnesses. They can feel her now, too, as taut and silent as the eye of a storm.

She's a pretty girl. Not the sort you call a 'beautiful woman'. She's young, and she's bewilderingly delicate when she's unconscious, her features revealing an angelic, friendly shape completely at odds with what they just saw of her.

Another moment passes, and another, and Iona suggests a plan. Her voice is fading off the last word when Sinclair's dark eyelashes lift. And fall again. And then, as though she is refusing to go back to sleep, snap back open and stay there, her blue eyes bright and wide now with two things:

pain.

And something very near to panic.

They track wildly, unfocused at first, because she can't force herself to move her head and risk more agony. She's searching, flinching from the light, one hand twitching. Her packmates hear it clearly, edged with fear, as subdued -- as controlled -- as she can make it.

What did I do?

She isn't seeking comfort. Never coddling. Doesn't expect it, doesn't want it. There's blood in her mouth. She knows she will not hear the answer be 'Nothing', or 'Don't worry' or 'It's okay'. There's blood in her mouth, and it is not her own.

What did I do?

[Wyrmbreaker] Wyrmbreaker has remained in his hispo form. They neither hear nor smell nor sense any other enemy in this place, but someone created the monster they fought; someone made all the pitiful things in all the cells they passed. He takes no chances.

Iona suggests a plan, but the Ahroun, for the moment, only looks at her for a beat, then away. He tends to his packmates first, nosing against Katherine's ruff as he passes -- or her shoulder, if she's homid again -- then bending to Warcry.

Compared to the Galliard, the Hispo-wolf's sheer size is terrifying. He stands taller at the shoulder than she does in bare feet. He nuzzles her gently, though, urging her to sit up.

You helped us win the battle, he replies. Then Katherine subdued you neatly with no great danger to any. Pause. We would not have let you truly hurt anyone, Sinclair.

Aloud, then, "Meridian -- will you heal Warcry and yourself? Banshee, before you begin the Cleansing, come here a moment.

"Do you know why I forbade you to strike a moment ago?"

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] Banshee shifted back down to her homid form once more, the war axe disappearing back to his resting place as well. She moved over to join Lukas, a glance given to Warcry as she passed her. "Aye, I believe so. Fo' one, nah to coax her on, and end up killing me. Two, so that I would nah hurt her. Three, to see if I would fallow orders."

[Truth's Meridian] Some of the blood that Sinclair can taste is her sister's; is the blood of Kings and Queens gone past. It's mingled in there with the blood of their enemy, the one that Warcry might actually remember attacking before it all went red in her eyes. Katherine, for her part is grasping a tiny little flashlight in her mouth. It's ludicrous, a Hispo wolf with a torch balanced between red-stained canines, her maw wet with her pack-mate's blood where she'd torn her throat open.

She leans down, drops the torch as Sinclair comes around.

The light dances over the corridor; fresh, wet things gleam back as it rolls a little and then stops, casting an orb of bright hot light against the wall. Truth's Meridian reaches into the pouch Lukas handed her at the start of the night and takes out a handful of the healing Talens. She tends to Warcry first, her Hispo gaze as clear and direct as when she was Homid and then herself, soothing injuries.

[2 Gaia's Breath used! +4 Health to both Kate and Sinclair, + another if Sinclair needs/wants it!]

[Warcry] The light makes it hard to see, difficult to make out her packmates. The presence of pain, the form she was born in: it makes it hard to use any of her other senses. She makes a noise when Lukas moves over, recognizing him by his eyes and his fur, and it's a sound of something like relief. She is incredibly pale.

Sinclair struggles to get onto her side. She fights to move her hand, and when she does...

...grabs hold of a handful of Lukas's fur, using it and using her hand on the ground to equally pull and push herself to sitting. Immediately upon doing so she finds another familiar body beside hers, the light rolling slightly on the ground. She doesn't need to see, now. She lets go of Lukas's fur, sits on her own, does not let herself lean on Kate but stays where she is between them.

There are no words in their minds, now. Just a surge of thankfulness. Not really for what he says. Not really for the healing talen broken over her and knitting the wound on her throat completely, leaving only the bite from Lukas on her shoulder and the small injury from the manticore. She doesn't ask for another talen. She has her own, and she can handle this much til they get out of here. Color returns to her cheeks, blood drying on her neck to reveal unbroken skin.

The gratitude washes still through them, though, warm and yet fighting off terror and agony that has nothing to do with getting hurt. It isn't quite guilt. It isn't quite regret. It isn't even, truly, something as simple yet broken as shame. She looks... sorrowful, bolstered by her packmates and comforted -- to some degree -- by the knowledge that she helped, and was then helped, herself.

That she protected, and was then protected, herself.

The Ahroun converses with the Ragabash. The Galliard sits beside the Philodox, breathing deeply. "Thank you," she says quietly to Kate, yet aloud, only half-listening to her Alpha and their prospective packmate. She isn't thanking her for the healing.

[Wyrmbreaker] He stays by his packmates, the black wolf and the white flanking the girl who was not really a girl. Though his attention is on the Ragabash now, his warm side is against Sinclair; he stands a little forward from his packmates, which is both dominance and protection.

There's a change in Wyrmbreaker's affect, though, as Iona answers. It was carefully neutral; his tail neither raised nor tucked, his ears neither pricked nor laid back. His head held up, but not domineeringly high. His feet shoulder-width. Now, subtly but noticeably, his ears relax a notch; he lets his bloody tongue loll.

"Mostly the second. Our loyalties lie first with the pack. Until you are bound under the totem, you are not pack, and therefore had no right to do as you thought to do. If you had struck regardless, we would have exacted a blood-price."

That's calmly stated; not a threat but an explanation of fact.

Then his tail gives a small, short wag. "But," he continues, "you are absolutely correct. It was also to prevent your exacerbating the situation. And -- it was, as you say, to see if you would follow orders even against instinct. Sometimes control must supercede what is glorious or easy. And always, the whole must come before the individual.

"Do you understand everything I have just said? Can you live by it?"

[Truth's Meridian] Katherine shifts down then, fully healed herself, her dedicated clothing rushing over her bare skin, jeans and boots and a sweater covering her abruptly. She reaches and picks up the flash-light, keeping the small pool of light focused just away from their faces so she can; they call can to a degree, see one another in the corridor.

So, Katherine, wiping off the traces of battle discreetly from her jaw, catches a glimpse of Warcry's expression and stills; half-forms a smile and knows. She nods, and says quietly, simply, with the elegance they've come to know and expect from the white wolf turned young woman: "Of course."

A beat, then dismay: "There's gore in my hair."

[Truth's Meridian] [call? wut, all]

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She chuckled and nodded. "Aye, Lukas. I'm sober, I heard and understood it all."

[Wyrmbreaker] The Shadow Lord repeats: "Can you live by it?"

[Iona "Banshee" McNevin] She nodded repeatedly. "Aye, Lukas. I kin live by it."

[Warcry] "God," Sinclair says, reaching up to apply pressure to the punctures where Lukas's teeth dug into her, "you are so finicky."

This would be funnier if she were not covered from head to toe in the blood enemy, packmate, and self. She was lying in a pool of her own just a moment ago. It's all over her clothes, all over her hat, matting her hair to her scalp. She sniffs. Coughs. Looks over at Iona.

Now might be a good time for an apology, but looking at the wounds on the Ragabash, she honestly doesn't know if they were inflicted by her fangs or the monster's sword and claws. She has no idea what happened. All she's been told is this: she helped. And then Kate put her down.

She hears the question posed, the response, the most important part repeated. And waits, like the rest of the Unbroken, for Iona's answer. When it comes, she sniffs, and starts to get up to her feet.

[Wyrmbreaker] Later on -- possibly in the pool, possibly over scotch and lamb -- Lukas will tell Sinclair the entirety of what happened after the door hit him and Sinclair lost her head. For now, however, all that matters has been summarized:

she helped. And then she was helped.

At Iona's answer, the Hispo takes a step forward, heavy paw on the dank floor. "Good," a whuff. "Let's finish the job. Meridian and Banshee, set up your cleansing ritual. Warcry, with me. Let's make sure this place is truly empty by the time we leave. If you find any sign of who's behind this, let me know."

He's padding past, all weight and muscle and force of presence, when he adds -- almost offhandedly -- "Then we'll have Theron meet us in the Caern and ask Bleeding Heart to call Perun for us."