[-bareknuckle-] [Okay, this will be a combat-heavy scene. I'll be starting us out and laying out the framework, and we'll likely be initting within 2-3 posts at most. Narration will likely be thrown in in small blurbs throughout, rather than in large chunks between rounds or whatnot. A reminder of the rules:
1. If we're in narrative, 10 min per post OR LESS. Preferably less. If/when we're dicing, declare in 3 min. Roll in 2 or I'll roll for you. If you want to post ICly during combat, keep it to when you're not actively declaring/rolling, or else keep to the 2- and 3-minute deadlines.
2. If you happen to be multitasking, make sure you can keep up with the 2/3/10 min deadlines. Otherwise, I'll ask you to stop your other scene.
3. No posting order, but please post ONCE for every post I make unless I say otherwise.
4. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
5. Questions in the chat. Don't IM me. If I don't see the question, repeat it until I do. If I don't respond for minutes on end -- I'm probably posting. You should wait, unless it's absolutely urgent, upon which you should PM me once.
6. PM me your applicable flaws. This includes stuff like nightmares and phobias and hatreds and compulsions!
7. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
8. I'll be starting us off!]
There's more than one fight club in Chicago.
Maybe it's only inevitable that a generation of whitecollared twenty- and thirty somethings who remember the dotcom boom and the endless consumerist optimism of the late 90s and the anarchoprimitivism of Chuck Palahniuk has spawned more than a few copycats. Garou aren't the only one with the brilliant idea of gathering on a semiregular basis to pound each other's faces into concrete, or lakeshore sand, or what have you.
This one, though. This one's a little different. Scouts have reported more than your usual assortment of violence and pain spirits surrounding this low, squat cinderblock warehouse about a block from the infamous rowhouses of Cabrini-Green. More than your expected count of banes and wyrmlings, even in this decrepit, uncertain part of the city.
As Alpha of his pack, Hatchet gets the call. "There's word of a fight club out on Cleveland and Hobbie," the warmaster of the Sept says. It's about as informal a briefing as can be -- the two of them brushing their teeth in the BroHo's bathroom, the Shadow Lord speaking between gargling and spitting and scrubbing. "Too many weird things going on for it to be a human establishment, and as far as I know it's not one of ours behind it either. I'd like you and your pack to check it out. I'll send along an Ahroun to watch your backs."
That Ahroun, as it turns out, is Simon Bone-Grinder, Cliath of the Shadow Lords.
Here they stand, then. It's a little past midnight on a Thursday night. In wealthier parts of the city, the young and restless are barhopping and loungehopping. In the industrial-chic areas of the city, warehouses just like this would be home to million-dollar sound&light systems, home to the latest hot club of the month. Out here, it's not basslines and riffs leaking out the doors, and there are no bouncers, no lines. Just the muffled shouting of dozens of guys, perhaps a few girls too.
The doors are open. They need only walk in.
[Buried Hatchet] [Flashbacks when severely stressed (deaths/disappearances of packmates, usually) or upon certain triggers (which have included too much time in the company of 2-3 blonde girls, severe sleep deprivation, certain piano pieces, even just running in homid -- anything that knocks on his pre-Change life). Tends to be more likely during ...uh, this moon phase.
You know my sensitive spots and their reasonable limits! I'm pretty sure. *L*]
to -bareknuckle-
[Buried Hatchet] One of the quirks about this particular batshit Fiann has been known to Lukas since they both first came to the Brotherhood: he has ridiculously good hygiene, and is a bit fussy about his teeth in particular. Once upon a time it wasn't strange to walk into the bathroom and find Mrena and Hatchet at the mirrors, both of them flossing. Even when the supposed 'rivalry' between their packs was a bit sketchy, there's sort of an insisted-upon peace in the Brotherhood. When you're standing around with someone waiting for the dryers to be free, you can sometimes just let go of all the bullshit for a little while.
But that was a long, long time ago. And now it's not that unusual for bathroom-sink updates on the war, on the Brotherhood-and-surrounding-area's protection, on Hatchet brushing his teeth and Lukas gargling his mouthwash and doing as he does tonight: telling one of the war packs of Maelstrom to go check out something human that may be becoming something inhumane.
His brow quirks when Lukas mentions sending an Ahroun to watch their backs. He chuckles, but he nods. "Alright," after a spit of rinsewater. He flashes a grin in the mirror, flashes it at Wyrmbreaker, and goes to get Joey. Echo is flying tonight. Nate can't come, for one reason or another. And when Simon shows up, Hatchet gives him a nod -- they've patrolled together before, these three, and he mentions right off that he appreciates the help.
He walks between the two Cliaths, handing them each a small flat rock carved with a symbol of strength. "Soak talens," he says. "They might be helpful if we have to stay in homid for any reason." A beat. A shrug. "Fuck, they'll be helpful anyway. I'll do most of the talking, at least at first. Joey, I want you focusing on keeping your eyes and ears open. Simon, pretend to be a big tough guy with rocks in his head. Stick together, watch each other's backs. Alright? Break. Go team. Rah rah."
He approaches the doors, and grabs the handle, and swings it open.
[Buried Hatchet] [For the record!
-1WP, Resist Pain
1 Soak talen each to Joey and Simon. And he's out!]
[Bone-Grinder] Simon was excited to come along... No correction he was ecstatic. He wore a brilliant smile on his face as he accompanied Hatchet and Joey. He had to pause just outside and breathe slowly just to draw the place in. Or so it might appear on the outside, but Simon was a full moon and he also knew what he was doing. Those eyes of his scanned the area drawing in the surroundings and taking note of possible exits, vehicles, nearby buildings... He also drew in scents and sounds. Even in homid he was sharply attuned to his instincts and taking note of anything peculiar other than the general air of excitement floating about them.
His smile remained when his scan had finished, and he paused to draw his tongue slowly over his lips as he gazed into the building with passionate bloodthirsty eyes. The eyes of a savage, feral and frightening but sharp and alert. His pack wasn't exactly in need of Twister's blessings tonight so he would be more than happy to make use of the benefits offered up.
He takes the rock offered to him and smirks back at Hatchet."Rocks in my head. Got it!"He says almost gleefully. Oh so eager, oh so ready.
Simon was dressed in a dark sleeveless shirt, and dark jeans as usual. Boots clinging tightly to his feet and thumping gently underneath as he steps up to the building just behind the other two. He was keeping close but not too close, those feral eyes of his scanning anything and everything. He could smell the scents, where there is violence there is always arousal.
[Laughs at Death] Joey had been in room 8 when Hatchet comes for her, or calls her. She's not lounging on her top bunk bed, listening to music or filling in a puzzle book. Nor is she dancing in the clear space near Echo's punching bag. The Rotagar is sitting at her desk, feet propped up near Magellan's terrarium, reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It doesn't take long for her to get ready to go. Her equipment is more streamlined now. Black fitted tee, dark-washed denim, old work boots, and a bag that settles across her torso and nestles against her back.
When they get to the warehouse, and Hatchet offers her a small flat stone, Joey shakes her head. She pats the pocket of her jeans, lightly. Things she might need quickly, talens for healing for example, are there where she can get to them quickly.
Keep her ears and eyes open. "Right-o, Boss." She flashes a grin at Simon. And she steps in behind her alpha.
[-1WP Resist Pain! She has her own talen supply!]
[Buried Hatchet] [Awesome. Rolling that soak talen for hisself.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 10 (Failure at target 7)
[Buried Hatchet] [HEY KAHSEENO. Those shoes don't match that outfit!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Laughs at Death] [go go gadget soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 5 (Failure at target 7)
[Laughs at Death] [no seriously]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 5, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Bone-Grinder] [Here goes nothing! Same as the other two]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[-bareknuckle-] Instantly the noise level rises tenfold. A wall of human shouting, too raw for words, roars out at them. Before any of them even see the fight or the fighters, before any of them are even two steps into the warehouse, they sense the savagery. There's a genuinely feral note in the screaming. In the surge of the crowds. In the fists raised in the air, the wide-open mouths and avid, staring eyes. The air is viscous with anger and adrenaline; a bloodlust so intense it borders on the sexual.
No one's fighting to relieve stress here, or to reassert control and masculinity after a lifetime of slaving nine to five. Everyone's here to see someone get hurt. Or better yet, hurt someone.
For all their rage, the Garou slip into this primordial chaos all but unnoticed. Bonegrinder fits in at a place like this. Those muscles, those tattoos. Oddly, so does Hatchet who, if only he shaved and wore a buttondown shirt once in a while, could pass as some metrosexual young professional from some urban technology firm. There are all sorts in the crowd, pushing and shoving, jostling, and all of them are barefoot, most of them are barechested, all of them baying for blood.
All eyes are turned toward the center of this warehouse, which is easily large enough to accommodate a shifting, roiling, crowding human mass of fifty, maybe sixty bodies. There's no formal ring, just a cleared-out space in the center demarcated only by an unstable, dynamic equilibrium generated by the crowd itself: the forward impetus of wanting to get closer to the fight; the backward impetus of not wanting to get caught in it.
As they get closer, they can see the fight itself. Two guys clinching one another with one hand, pounding viciously with the other. Liver-shots. Kidney-shots, when they can get around to it. They've been going a while. It's a war of brutal attrition now, close quarters, leaning on each other for strength even as they try to beat the shit out of each other. Tired; tenacious. One's face is a ruin of blood. The other is snapping his jaws like an animal, trying to latch onto his opponent's ear. Every flash of his teeth makes the crowd scream louder.
[percep/alert rolls!]
[Bone-Grinder] [Per+Alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [percept + alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] He doesn't fit in here. Not with his jeans and his boots and his black t-shirt. Well... he sort of does. His hair is a little too long for someone who is in the ring often. But if he were to step forward to the central area and join a one-on-one -- which he may very well do -- he'll take off his shirt, and they'll see his scars, and every human in the place will wonder what the fuck sort of a person this is. Not one of them. Something else entirely.
Even here, the crowds jostle each other to keep from getting too close to the Garou, that hard knot of Rage like a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. He grabs someone by the shoulder when they aren't inclined to move, and they jerk away. He moves so Joey, shorter than him, can see. He keeps an eye on Simon. He watches the two men trying to beat each other to pain or death, his eyes a pale gray, devoid of interest. He seems curious, distantly so.
[perception + alerntess]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] Simon was grinning ear to ear, and now and again he drew his tongue smoothly over his lower lip. He wasn't afraid to make eye contact here, he was surrounded in failures and cowards. He was surrounded in the broken and defeated and there was no reason to hold back his superiority. He was young, he was young, and full of passion. He was at the peak of physical health, a fiery young buck looking for something to break.
He kept up with the other two. Eyes peeled though most of his attention was drawn towards the real excitement. Conflict roused his inner beast. To such a man it was more than entertainment it coursed through his veins. War was his passion and his every waking thought. The occasional glance of the two men going at one another drew criticism from the full moon. He was taking their styles apart in his head and criticizing them from afar.
[-bareknuckle-] 1 succ --
There's a man in the crowds, constantly moving. His eyes are on the fight, but he isn't shouting, and he isn't screaming. He watches. Occasionally he bares his teeth in a grin. There's something cagey about him, agile and unstable, and those that are close to him visibly defer, moving out of his way.
to Bone-Grinder, Buried Hatchet, Laughs at Death
[Laughs at Death] Hatchet and Simon look like they belong here. Joey stands out. A young woman, college aged maybe, looking for a thrill perhaps. Too young and too pretty and with a face too ready to break into a smile at any moment to really belong in a place like this. Nevertheless, anyone who happens to look at her, who lets their eyes drag over the lines of her lean athletic figure, can maybe tell she's not a trust fund princess.
Hatchet tells her to keep her eyes and ears open, but for now she mostly just sees bodies. She mostly just hears the discordant chorus of howls, yowls, and shouts. Tall for a female, she's still shorter than most of the people in the room. She can see the figures in the center when the crowd shifts just right.
She sees the man almost on accident. When she does, her attention keeps going back to him. When the crowd howls, he stays silent. When they cheer, he just smiles.
Nudging Hatchet with her elbow, Joey nods her head in his direction, looking up at him questioningly. Should I go? without words, either aloud or across their totem.
[-bareknuckle-] 4 succ --
Hatchet is almost certain the lone man in the crowds is a Garou. It's something about the way he looks, the way he moves, the way his grin seems more like a flash of teeth, a threat.
There's more than that, though. There are perhaps four, five, maybe six others in the crowd. People that the Garou interacts with as he makes his circuit of the crowd. A hand on the shoulder here. A word in an ear there. A shared glance; a nod; a cocked head to listen.
One of them saw the Gaians enter. And when the lone Garou passes him, they stop and confer for a few moments. At one point, they look directly at Hatchet and his group. The Garou's eyes are fearless, unflinching.
to Buried Hatchet
[Buried Hatchet] They're all keeping their eyes open. Simon is focused primarily on the two men fighting right now, Joey is looking everywhere, but they both notice the same man that Hatchet does. Hatchet gives him more than a few sidelong glances, but he keeps turning his attention back to the crowd, back to the fight. He's silent for a little while, arms crossed loose and low over his midsection.
Joey might see Hatchet's eyes aren't really ever on the fight. He's scanning the people watching. And the people-who-are-not. At one point, he glances at Joey, seeing her question in her eyes, and he just gives a small flick of his head: No. before looking back up.
Something in his detached gaze changes; now he's looking directly at someone. For a moment. Then Hatchet is doing as he thought of a moment ago: striding forward, close enough to the edge, eager enough, that his posture makes known that he's claiming dibs on the bloodied floor. Versus the winner, maybe. Or whoever else steps up.
[Bone-Grinder] Knuckles crack and hands are balled into fists. His eyes move over the crowd and he pauses to take note of a man in the crowd. His eyes narrow for just a moment as he draws the stranger in. A soft and deep breath is drawn in as he takes the time to size the man up from his distance. His eyes then shift to the other two, flashing over Joey and then to Hatchet to see if they have taken notice of the man.
The nudge Joey gives gets a slight smile from Simon who's eyes quickly flicker back to the strange man. He was moving quickly, constantly. He's seen enough drug use in his life to quickly jump to the assumption the man is on meth or something along those lines.
He smiled a little as Hatchet made his way towards the ring. This could be fun!
[Buried Hatchet] As he walks forward to 'get in line', as it were, Hatchet speaks to his packmate over the totem: He's Garou. Up to half a dozen others in the crowd; maybe his pack, maybe just cronies. And they know we're here. Let Simon know if you can. And stay close to him; I'm not sure a thug with rocks in his head is much of a stretch for him.
to -bareknuckle-, Laughs at Death
[Bone-Grinder] [Simon is probably gonna wanna try to use fatal flaw on that dude who drew his attention just in case. It's umm Per+Empathy diff Targets Wits+Subterfuge. I don't know if you wanna tell me the diff or just have me roll it but I wanna give you a little heads up you can just gimme a shout out when Simon gets a chance to use the gift]
to -bareknuckle-
[-bareknuckle-] [Diff 6!]
to Bone-Grinder
[Bone-Grinder] [What are that guys flaws?]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] Hatchet heads for the ring, and Joey can't quite keep a look of longing tinged with jealousy from creeping across her face. It passes quickly. Straightening her spine, her eyes dart over the crowd, searching.
She heads over to Simon, who is smiling after the crazy Fiann. She has to stretch a bit, has to grab his shoulder and drag him toward her to reach his ear so she doesn't have to shout.
"'Bout a dozen Garou in the crowd. Stay alert," she says as low as she can.
And she sticks close to Simon's side, watching to see what happens in the ring. Keeping her eye out for any more irregular movements in the crowd.
[-bareknuckle-] Hatchet steps up. This is the first time a good portion of the crowd notices him, too caught up in their own blood-fever. Heads turn, eyes flicker -- a jolt of primordial fear that quickly swerves into bloodlust. More than a few jostle to face him, but the two in the makeshift ring are still going at it.
Until the man roving the crowds comes forward, anyway. He's not the biggest guy in here. He doesn't even look like the toughest. He stands perhaps two inches under six. Wiry, tightly muscled, rather than massive. His head is shaved bald, and under the lights that swing over the center of the warehouse, his body is as scarred as Hatchet's. The volume in this place goes down audibly when he comes forward. The rest defer to him instantly. They step out of his way. They don't meet his eyes, and they mutter things to him as he goes by. The Gaians can hear a few words --
Sir.
Alpha.
Sir.
Sir.
He strides straight up to the fighters in the crowd. The one that's winning lets go instantly and backs off. The other's too bloodied, too beat up, too bashed around in the head to recognize the change. He comes forward, battered knuckles up, and
the Alpha puts him down near-instantly. Three brutal, wellplaced blows snap his nose, rupture something in his abdomen, dislocates a shoulder and sends him crashing to the floor.
The crowd howls for more.
"Which one of you newcomers wants to fight me?" The Alpha looks between them, back to Hatchet. "You?"
[-bareknuckle-] [Physical flaw: Righthanded -- coming in from the left stands a better chance. Psychological flaw: sadistic.]
to Bone-Grinder
[Bone-Grinder] He shifts his attention to the one moving back and forth. His eyes shifting over the stranger curiously. He had an interest in the man, but when Joey speaks he pauses and smirks a little. He needed to do the math quickly here. That meant four for Joey, and Hatchet and... One two three four five six seven eight for him? Okay this was gonna be rough, but you can manage Simon just use your head!
Which is exactly what he starts doing, looking around swiftly. About the room, searching for anything that might be used to their advantage should it come down to a fight. Something to even the odds... A wise Ahroun knows to make use of his environment. For the moment it would appear that Hatchet was gonna keep them distracted anyway.
[Laughs at Death] [that's supposed to be HALF-dozen, silly Monki-brain]
[Laughs at Death] Joey elbows Simon in the ribs. Hard. She's smaller than he is, shorter and her musculature more compact, but she's strong even without the boon of her totem. Hissing through her teeth, she snaps, "Cut that out! You stand out, and they already know we're here."
This could be tough, keeping an eye on the Ahroun and the crowd and the fight. Then again, Hatchet's got the ring covered. Joey looks around more surreptitiously, keeping her head down.
[percept + alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)
[Buried Hatchet] [Strength + Bear + Intimidation]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) [WP]
[-bareknuckle-] You see what Hatchet saw:
"Hatchet is almost certain the lone man in the crowds is a Garou. It's something about the way he looks, the way he moves, the way his grin seems more like a flash of teeth, a threat.
There's more than that, though. There are perhaps four, five, maybe six others in the crowd. People that the Garou interacts with as he makes his circuit of the crowd. A hand on the shoulder here. A word in an ear there. A shared glance; a nod; a cocked head to listen.
One of them saw the Gaians enter. And when the lone Garou passes him, they stop and confer for a few moments. At one point, they look directly at Hatchet and his group. The Garou's eyes are fearless, unflinching."
Also, you're relatively certain the other half-dozen aren't Garou. But they seem tougher than your average human.
to Laughs at Death
[Buried Hatchet] Hatchet's head cocks to the side as he watches the man in the center put down the man that was losing. His eyes flick back to the Garou -- the other Alpha -- and his head straightens. Wordlessly, he gives a single deep nod and reaches down, grabbing the hem of his t-shirt.
There is an explosion of scar tissue in the middle of his torso, the middle of his back, and every time he touches it with his hand he remembers the thing that thrust its horn through his body, and he remembers that last instant of light and noise before death came in a black wave. He doesn't remember the frenzy -- that was a long time ago, when his rage was so much greater than his gnosis he never recalled any part of his returns from death.
There are hole marks on his left side, back and front, the ones in back smaller than the ones in front. Giant fucking Wyrm-tainted anaconda fucking thing in the fucking Amazon and those fucking Furies down there finally stopped stomping on the stupid little Cliath with his stupid little mostly-male pack when he nearly died permanently trying to kill the snake that ate one of their sisters. Not his favorite memory. Burned like fire, dying that time.
The wingspan-like burn across his pectoral muscles, memory of one of the last fights with Soledad at his side. He heard stories later of the Godi that guarded him with her own body when the Green Dragon's balefire whipped across the cave. He remembers sinking his teeth into that thing, the killing blow, the rush of flame that engulfed him even at the very last.
The time the Spiral nearly took off his head.
The time that other Spiral almost ripped off his arms at the elbow.
The bite marks. The claws. The burns. The poisons. The times he has died and come back, raging and screaming and frenzying, tearing apart anything in his path to get at that which tried to send him on into final darkness, final repose, final rest. Hatchet's rage will never let him sleep like that, forever and quietly. He has never gone to the Fianna homelands. He doesn't intend to go back anytime soon. At least not by being sent there by some twitchy son of a bitch in a fight club.
A dozen, two dozen marks on just Hatchet's upper body alone, telling the Garou he faces and the Garou behind him I have died more times than I could count, if they did not leave such scars. I have endured more than any of my age and rank have reason to live through. I am holding on by sheer fucking tenacity. Even my shadow is hardheaded as fuck. I am un-fucking-killable.
I am stronger than you.
He drops his shirt on the ground. He doesn't care about it, doesn't need it, would have shredded it to pieces in a shapechange anyway. He walks forward, staring at Twitchy with every heavy, booted step. When he's just a couple of feet away, into the other male's space and dominating it, making it his own by his sheer presence,
he smiles.
[Bone-Grinder] He finds himself blinking, startled a little by the elbow in his ribs."Ow you bitch!"He snaps back at her, though lightheartedly. He honestly had no clue what he was doing wrong, but that didn't mean he wasn't. Still he needed to get the battlefield down, if there was going to be a fight here he needed to know what he had to work with. Location, location, location. All too often the single most important detail an Ahroun needed to keep track of was knowing where to stand and when... Or what advantage to make use of.
He found his eyes falling back to hatchet and his opponent before he smiled and leaned in to whisper to Joey."Think they got a bar in here?"
[-bareknuckle-] [Alpha: ack! WP vs diff 10 to resist!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10 (Failure at target 10)
[Laughs at Death] I'm pretty sure just the leader's Garou. The other aren't, but they're not human, either. An update. Joey hangs back, and she sticks to Bone-Grinder's side like she's been attached there with superglue.
to -bareknuckle-, Buried Hatchet
[-bareknuckle-] [I am the Alpha and I hide my fear from my followers! Char + Subt]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] Fucking fomori, is Hatchet's guess, or assumption. Watch them. For all we know they have the power to turn the mortals on us. If you notice any prolonged, romantic eye contact going on or any whispers of sweet nothings into ears, try to stop it. Subtly if possible. Blatantly if not.
to -bareknuckle-, Laughs at Death
[Bone-Grinder] (was that the alpha who Simon was seeing earlier? All jerky and crazy? Answer at your leisure. Or was that someone else?)
to -bareknuckle-
[-bareknuckle-] Hatchet and the stranger are face to face, eye to eye, for only a fraction of a second. Then the Alpha is turning away, a passable affectation of disdain and boredom.
A fraction of a second, but it's enough: enough for Hatchet to see the flash of cold sour fear in the other's eyes. To smell the deceit in his pretense of confidence. To see that he's tense, so very tense, as he cranes his neck around to whistle between his teeth at his followers.
"Cueball. Jackie-boy. Toothy. Why don't you fuckers take care of this joker here." He's backing up. He's backing down. "Too fuckin' weak for me."
Three of the half-dozen are stepping out. Cueball's bald as an egg, huge, equal parts muscle and flab. Jackie-boy's got twitchy fingers and a nervous, shiteating grin. Toothy's got black holes where his front teeth used to be. He left them on some asphalt fight-club floor somewhere.
They move in unhesitatingly.
[inits time!]
[Buried Hatchet] [+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[-bareknuckle-] [minor clarification:
Yes, Alpha is the guy you saw in the crowd. He's not particularly jerky/crazy. By "constantly moving" I meant constantly on the move -- circling through the crowd. There's an unstable air around him, but it's not really twitchiness.]
to Bone-Grinder, Buried Hatchet, Laughs at Death
[Laughs at Death] Simon is lucky this is Joey he's talking to, and not some easily angered female of the sept. He calls her bitch, and she just grins at him.
"Just the leader's one'a us," she says, talking to him though her attention is on someone in the crowd. "The others're probably--" something changes ringside. Hatchet's stepped up to bat, and his opponent is turning away. Calling some of the others forward.
"Fomori," she says. "Let's go." And she starts muscling her way forward to join her alpha.
[+7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Bone-Grinder] [Dex+Wits+Twister = +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[-bareknuckle-] [Cueball +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Toothy +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Jackieboy +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Init order:
Jackieboy 17
Toothy 16
Hatchet 12
Bone-Grinder 9
Joey 8
Cueball 8
Cueball declare:
1. Headbutt Hatchet
R1. Knee Hatchet in stomach!]
[Buried Hatchet] [Reflexive totemphone: Do NOT let that guy get out of here.]
[Laughs at Death] [RP already active
Reflexive: "Don't let the alpha get away!"
1a: Get in behind Cueball
1b: Kidney punch!]
[-bareknuckle-] [Alpha init! +18. GUESS WHO'S AN AHROUN.]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [1a: get to alphadude
1b: Clinch!]
[Bone-Grinder] [1a: Punching Toothy
R1: Punching Toothy again]
[Buried Hatchet] When Simon ignores what Joey yells to him in favor of trying to help Hatchet, the Philodox just roars at him -- out loud, in English, and visibly aggravated: "Go with Joey!" But hen he's turning towards those in front of him, the three that the Alpha sent after him. Fabulous.
[1a. Leg sweep Cueball
1b. Kick Jackieboy
R1. Headbutt Jackieboy
R2. Kick Toothy]
[-bareknuckle-] Alpha
As Joey closes on him, the Alpha instantly bursts into his larger, huskier Glabro form. Some of the crowd cry out in terror and shock. The rest roar louder.
The Alpha shouts: "Nails! Cillian! LOUIE! Fuck 'em up!"
Reflexive: Rage to Glabro!
Call to allies! (entering fight next round)
1a. countergrapple!
b. headbutt joey!
R1. bite!
R2. bite!
R3. flee the premises!
Jackieboy
1. Grapple Hatchet for his buddies!
Toothy
1. Punch Hatchet in the face!
R1. Bite Bone Grinder if he's still in range!
[-bareknuckle-] [Alpha 1a. grapple joey! -2 dice]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] b. norly. +1 diff, -3 dice!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7)
[Buried Hatchet] [Changing 1a to Resist Grapple]
[Laughs at Death] [-1R snapshift to Crinos
Resist!: -3 dice: str + brawl]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
That rictus grin on Jackieboy's face splits wider. He lunges for Hatchet, scrabbling to get his arm around the Fostern's neck; scratching to dig fingers into that pretty, pretty hair.
[Grapple!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [1a. Resist: Dex + Brawl -2 (split) // diff +1 (changed action)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[-bareknuckle-] "Hold 'im 'or me." Toothy's closing in, gaps in his teeth whistling, lisping on the fricatives. "Hold 'im thtill."
Whistling and lisping, at least, until a pair of translucent viper fangs drop into place. Then he doesn't talk anymore. He can't even close his mouth properly. But he can still hit like a truck.
[1. Punch!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [damage +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [Soak +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Toothy is hereby dubbed Thoothy Thonka!]
[Buried Hatchet] Hold 'im thtill, says the fanged fomor that hits like a (toy) truck, and Jackieboy manages -- though Hatchet struggles, snarling at being contained. He notices his packmate shift. And something in him snaps. Joyfully, happily, with laughter
becoming growls and snaps of his jaws.
[Reflexive: -1R to Hispo
Fuck you, Jackieboy! And fuck you too, Kahseeno!
1b. Bite Jackieboy -3 (split) // diff +1 (changing actions)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Buried Hatchet] [Damage! +3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [ack! I CAN SOAK AGG! I CAN!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Suddenly the cries of horror at a lot louder. Half the crowd, most the crowd, almost everyone jampacked into this old warehouse is suddenly screaming, shrieking, running for the doors.
Almost everyone. But not everyone. Some of the humans in here scream, too, but not in terror. They scream in primitive, mindless rage -- the accumulated hatred and fear and wrath of a million years boiling to the surface.
And they come surging forward. Fists up. They don't seem to see the futility of this. If they do, they don't seem to care.
[10 batshit humans! Beginning next round, I'll roll a 1d10 each round to determine how many batshit humans are attacking. Their stats are low, but I'll simply multiply by + of batshit humans (and you'll multiply your soak by the same). Also, if you're being swarmed by batshit humans, all your actions are at +2 difficulty (decreasing if batshit humans die/pass out).]
[Buried Hatchet] The humans lose it. Unequivocably they shatter, in rage and terror. Rage or terror. Whatever: they go insane at the sight of changing Garou, and Hatchet roars as hard as he can across the floor, countering it over totemphone for Joey so at least one of the Cliaths will hear him:
"Bring the humans down but spare their lives if you can!"
He is a son of Bear. He is a protector of mankind. He is also, sometimes, all to aware of the horror of necessity.
[Bone-Grinder] [-1 Rage Crinos, Claw Dex+Brawl+Twister+Crinos diff 7 Ripping into toothy's head]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Twister+Crinos+Claw+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] With his huge, primitive hands tightly gripping the Rotagar, the Alpha lunges forward to bite.
In Glabro.
[R1. Chomp!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[-bareknuckle-] [Damage +3 -- Lethal due to Glabro-ness!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [soakit! +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Meanwhile, the vipertoothed human(?) near Bone Grinder turns on the young Ahroun. He doesn't have a forked tongue. He doesn't have scales. But his eyes are flat and black, gleaming under the swaying overhead lights as he sinks his fangs in him.
[Strike!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Special effect roll! +2 from suxx]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [1 unsoakable agg damage per round for 1 round (this one)!]
[Bone-Grinder] [Was that toothy or the other guy?]
to -bareknuckle-
[-bareknuckle-] That was Toothy. Keep questions in chilltank please!
to Bone-Grinder
[Buried Hatchet] [Reflexive to Simon: "GET THE FUCK TO MY PACKMATE."
R1. Bite Toothy. Dex + Brawl. Diff +1 (changing actions/targets)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Failure at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Bone-Grinder] The second time he gets growled at Simon rolls his eyes and snarls. Moving to leap past the Fomori and barreling towards the Alpha. It was an order from his Elder... So he followed through charging past the fomori and moving to join Joey. If her Alpha dies she better not bitch at him!
[-bareknuckle-] [Bone Grinder changes R1 to mvmt!
Alpha R2: bite again!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)
[-bareknuckle-] [damage +5, lethal in glabro!]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [soakit!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 9 (Failure at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [R2. Bite Thoothy Thonka!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Snarling, and still inexplicably in his Glabro form, the Alpha snaps for the Rotagar's throat again...
...and comes away with little more than a mouthful of fur.
He plants his palms on the Crinos-formed Rotagar's chest and shoves her back. The multitude of scars on his body phosphoresce strangely; he shouts:
"At her! Take her down!"
The glow coalesces. The glyph of Fury etched out of the scars on his chest -- a slash from this, a stretch of that. The mindless, berserk humans swarm forward. And the Alpha steps backwards effortlessly through their midst, backing steadily toward the exist.
It won't be as easy for the Garou to follow him.
[R3: changed action! -1R: special monstar skillz -- Command Berserkers. Batshit humans will focus on Joey, and also receive +1 Dex each.]
[-bareknuckle-] [Round summary:
Alpha OK
Jackieboy 4A
Toothy 4A
Hatchet OK
BoneGrinder 1A
Joey 2L. Roll Stam vs diff 8 to heal one!
Cueball OK
Initting up:
Nails, Cillian, Louie, and witless humans.]
[-bareknuckle-] Nails +5
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Cillian +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Louie +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [stamina!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Witless humans! +4
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [+8]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Buried Hatchet] [+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8
[Laughs at Death] [-1R snapshift to Hispo!
+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[-bareknuckle-] Init and damage chart:
Alpha 27
Bone-Grinder 18 , 1A
Hatchet 17
Jackieboy 17, 4A
Toothy 16, 4A
Cillian 16
Louie 15
Batshit Humans 13
Joey 12, 1L
Cueball 8
Nails 6
[-bareknuckle-] Cueball:
1. Double-fisted wallop punch on Hatchet!
R1. Again!
Nails:
1. Claw Simon!
R1. Claw for the EYES!
[Laughs at Death] [1a: Pursue alpha!
1b: Hamstring! +WP
R: Jawlock!]
[-bareknuckle-] [How many batshit humans are there attacking this round?]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
-1R: grow bone spikes!
1. Punch Hatchet with spikes!
R1. Punch Hatchet with spikes!
Toothy
1. Follow Simon!
R1. Bite again!
Cillian
1. Grapple Joey
R1. Scream in face! (special effects)
Louie:
1. Elbow Simon
R1. Punch Simon
[Batshit humans:
1. Swarm and attack Joey! Dex+1 each.]
[Buried Hatchet] [1a. Howl of the Banshee
1b. Bite Jackieboy]
[Bone-Grinder] [-1 Rage Assume Hispo
1a. Pursue Alpha
1b. Leap on and Bite Crap Outta Alpha
R1: Kill Something Else]
[-bareknuckle-] Alpha
1a. Getting away!
b. Dodge hamstring!
R1. Reserved for fight or flight as appropriate
R2. Reserved for fight or flight as appropriate
[-bareknuckle-] [Okay, this is how pursuit is gonna work in this case. Dex+Ath rolls, normal diff for Alpha. +2 diff for Simon due to presence of humans. +4 diff for Joey due to presence of humans + swarming batshit humans!
Here's Alpha's run away roll.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Dex+Athletics+Hispo -2 Dice for split action]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Bone-Grinder] [Dex+Brawl+Totem+Hispo -3]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Totem+Hispo+2 Bite Damage +Fatal Flaw+3 Extra Suxx]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 2, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [ack, soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] The crowd of humans around them longed for the pain of others. The crowd of humans was under the sway of the Ahroun who now stirs them to frenzy. They both cowered and roared when he shifted. They lost their minds and some are even attacking the Garou when Joey took on her war form.
Joey, his sister, freckled and fairhaired. Joey, who he sat with during her vow of silence simply to... sit. To be near pack. Joey, who sometimes he wants to grab by the hair and slam into a wall. Joey, who is still his little sister and on the verge of attaining the rank he currently holds and has not yet left behind him.
He's lost a hell of a lot of packmates over the years. He was sick of it the first time.
Buried Hatchet throws back his head, relinquishing both the speed it takes to attack several of his enemies in mere seconds and the bursts of rage that are his by birth and auspice and pain. His maw stretches open, teeth glistening in what little light there is, and though they cannot see the moon here, he knows it to be his own. The darkness shadowing Luna's face, halving her, balancing her, is growing. The light is receding. And the howl that the Fianna unleashes calls on that darkness like an old friend, shrieks higher and higher to the rafters of this place.
The sound is that of ghosts coming out of their graves. The sound is the anger of the long dead, the wraiths so old they have forgotten the sources of their implacable anger, their endless agony. It undulates to the ears of everyone in the building and to some without it: the crowd of humans, the fomori, the Alpha, those poor souls that might be wandering out this street tonight or living nearby,
and to the ears of his allies, even.
This is an old Gift, taught by the ghosts themselves, lending their voice to the Philodox who has seen his share of death. Brother, they called him in sickeningly sweet, haunting whispers, touching his throat to bless it with this sound. And he believed them.
[Buried Hatchet] [1a. howl of the banshee. you know, kahseeno. howl of your MOM.
charisma + intimidation -2 (split)
-1G]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Laughs at Death] [Willpah!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] [Everyone roll WP vs diff 6 if an ally, 8 if an enemy! If you fail, you run for 3 rounds.]
[-bareknuckle-] [Or spend WP!]
[-bareknuckle-] Alpha!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7 (Failure at target 8)
[Bone-Grinder] [Willpower]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Toothy!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Cillian!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Louie!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Cueball
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Nails
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Batshit humans: Rolling 1d10 to see how many run away. This will cap maximum + of attackers per round.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Buried Hatchet] [1b. biting jackieboy. not on his fists. his fists are covered in bone spikes, ffs.
dex + brawl -3 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 7, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[Buried Hatchet] [dsafa sdgsasdfk dsa;jh fkslda jf;ljkfglds]
[-bareknuckle-] The shriek that quakes out of Hatchet is not a noise humans and wolves can make. It sends terror through everyone, everywhere, ally and foe alike.
Cillian, the one that was going to grab Joey and let loose some foul screech of his own, goes slack with terror. He doesn't even run. He just pools to the ground, sphincters letting go, catatonic.
Cueball -- huge, bald as his namesake -- has his enormous fist balled up ready to slam into Hatchet. He changes his mind when that noise rips through him. He turns. He joins the jostling crowds at the two doors of this place, screaming and shoving to get out.
Alpha stops backing away. He turns away altogether, ploughing through humans on his way out, shoving them aside, hurtling them out of the way. And the berserkers he'd unleashed -- every last one of them breaks and runs.
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
1. Punch Hatchet with them spikes!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Dam +3, agg!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [Soak +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Toothy
Following Simon!
Louie
Elbow Simon!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage +3, bashing!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [1a: RUNRUNRUN: dex + ath -2, diff +4 -2]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Laughs at Death] [1b: Hamstring!: -3 +WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 9 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]
[-bareknuckle-] Alpha: Dodging! -3 dice
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] The milling confusion of humans isn't enough to keep Laughs at Death from her target. Her teeth snap at the Alpha's leg -- but he dances deftly aside, narrowly avoiding her.
He doesn't strike back. He just runs.
[-bareknuckle-] Cueball
Running!
Batshit humans
Panicking! Running!
Nails
The logical complement to Toothy's viper fangs, an emaciated, rail-thin creature of limp greasy hair and sunken eyes: Nails dances forward, six inch claws ripping for Bone Grinder's face.
He's surreally strong. That much strength should not fit in such a shape.
[Claw!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Dam!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Alpha
R1: Running more!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] He could taste the blood of the Dancer. The Alpha of another pack, obviously a Ragabash this little coward is quite a helpless little bitch isn't he? Fleeing like the coward he is! That isn't going to stop Simon, he was told not to let this thing escape and that means it dies here and now.
Thump... Did something hit me?...
The stench of urine soaks into his nostrils. Fear has erupted and consumed this place. These people had come to see conflict but several would regret that decision for the rest of their lives. This wasn't a game, this wasn't a simple fucking break form their boring meaningless lives. This was war and they... They were right smack in the middle. Every war has it's casualties... This beast before him... This beast was about to join them.
He heard the scream of Joey's alpha in the distance. He had shouted out this command, he had ordered him to leave him behind... He would be coming back but first and foremost... He would be ending this miserable creatures pathetic little life. He snarls as he lunges and hurls himself at the creature. Eyes full of fire and fury. Death was baring down on the dancer and... Thump... What the fuck was that?
He didn't have time to question. Kill first.
[Dex+Athletics+Totem+Hispo]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
R1. Punch Hatchet again!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Dam +3!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Toothy
-- I should roll to see if his action 1 was enough to keep up with Simon! 3 succ needed.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] R1. chomp!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Special effects roll! +2 dice
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [again: 1 unsoakable/turn over 1 turn.]
[-bareknuckle-] Louie
R1. punch simon!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage +3 bashing!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Stam+Hispo]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [R: I WILL CATCH YOU, BETCH!: dex + ath, diff -2]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)
[-bareknuckle-] Blindingly fast without half a dozen humans hanging off of her, Joey quickly outstrips the Alpha. Teeth bared, the Fenrir cuts him off before he reaches the door. The Alpha shifts at last -- not to Crinos or to Hispo, though, but to his fastest, fleetest form.
Lupus now, a mottled black wolf, he cuts for the other exit. Meanwhile, the emaciated creature claws for Bone Grinder's eyes.
[-bareknuckle-] Claw for eyes!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage! 4 succ needed to blind both eyes successfully. Anything over 2 succ will begin to overwrite bashing damage with agg.
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [no damage. bashing is not overwritten!]
[-bareknuckle-] R2. Alpha: run MOAR! More dextrous than before, and twice as fast now! Multiply succ x2.
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [regen!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Failure at target 8)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage in order of inits:
Alpha 3A, running in lupus. 2 rounds more of fear. Currently 4 succ ahead of Joey, and about 3 ahead of BoneGrinder due to direction change.
Bone Grinder: 2A, 2B at beginning of next round.
Hatchet: 6A
Jackieboy: 4A
Toothy: 4A
Louie: OK
Joey: 1L
Nails: OK
[-bareknuckle-] [Roll Wits + PU, all!]
[Bone-Grinder]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [Wits + PU]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 5, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] This battle is no longer going well for the Garou.
Though they began with overwhelming strength and speed, though they managed to scatter two of their foes with a single terrifying shriek from the Fostern, the fomori are beginning to overwhelm them. There are too many of them, and they're chipping away at them, bleeding them, weakening them inexorably and inevitably while the Alpha leads them on a wild goose chase.
They need to focus fire. They need to rally together, bring down their foes one by one. They need to defend one another, and at least one of them needs to give up pursuit of the Alpha to bring the other fomori down.
to Bone-Grinder, Laughs at Death
[-bareknuckle-] Nails:
1. Follow Simon!
R1. Claw!
[Laughs at Death] This battle is no longer going their way. Joey is tireless, and determined. She chases the alpha where he leads, nipping at his heels, trying to get hold of him but he keeps dancing just that much farther ahead of her. Still, one of them needs to back off.
Still running, Joey follows the Alpha down into Lupus. She barks over her shoulder at Simon:
"Help Hatchet! I can catch him!"
[-1R snapshift to Lupus
1a: Pursue!
1b: Bite!]
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
1. Punching Hatchet with spikes!
R1. Again!
Toothy
1. Follow Simon!
R1. DoT!
Louie
1. Tackle Joey as she goes by!
R1. BITE WITH MAH HUMAN TEEFS.
[Buried Hatchet] Truth be told, Hatchet has lost track of what is going on with Joey and Simon. He's lost track of which fomori are still in pursuit, which are running scared. He knows the Alpha bolted. Fucker. He knows that every time he snaps his jaws at the two fomori facing him, he can't even grasp skin, can't even nick them. Failure is starting to enrage him. He's bleeding heavily from his wounds but he doesn't seem to feel them. All he feels is rage, burning his eyes til the bright green they flared into during the use of his gift fades back to searing gold.
He focuses on the pain, and the rage, and loses track of everything else. He barks no further orders. Not now, at least.
He controls himself. He does it well. He yanks something out of his very flesh, it seems, intending to chomp down on it.
[1a. go go gaia's breath!
1b. bite jackieboy
1c. bite jackieboy]
[-bareknuckle-] Supernaturally panicked, the Alpha continues to flee -- impossibly deft now, dodging and leaping, always one fucking step ahead.
Alpha
1. Run!
R1.
R2.
R3. ... running! Dodge if Joey catches up!
[Bone-Grinder] [1a. Turning and Biting into Nails
1b. Biting into Toothy(Finish him!)
R1 Killing Whichever of the two is left!]
[-bareknuckle-] 1. Run roll! Since Joey is also lupus now, no longer any need for fancy math.
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [8 cumulative successes ahead]
[Bone-Grinder] [Dex+Brawl+Hispo+Totem -4 Dice]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Totem+Hispo+2+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Nails soaks!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [1a. -1G, +4HP
1b. -4!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Buried Hatchet] [+0!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [1c. -5!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 7 (Failure at target 5)
[-bareknuckle-] [ragecheck plz!]
[Buried Hatchet] [KAHSEENO I AM DONE WITH YOUR SHIT.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[-bareknuckle-] [MAHAAA. I CONTROL YOU NAO.]
[-bareknuckle-] [regain all rage. i'll declare for hatchet next round.]
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
Punch with spikes!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage +1!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [Soak +1 OW GODDAMMIT]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Bite
after bite
after bite, after bite, after bite misses.
It's too much for the Fianna. Riding on the razor's edge between logic and madness on the best of days, this tips Hatchet right over into the red. Red fills his vision; red pounds in his ears. Red is what he wants on his tongue, on his teeth, on his paws, knees-deep.
Red descends on him, takes him. With a snarl more akin to a roar, the Philodox, quite simply, loses his shit.
[-bareknuckle-] Toothy:
Following Simon!
Louie:
Tackling Joey!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[-bareknuckle-] [dex + ath rolls. 6 for louie, 7 for joey!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [dex + ath!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)
[-bareknuckle-] damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 6, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Bite Toothy Dex+Brawl+Hispo+Totem -5]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Totem+Hispo+2+4]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [1a: run!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) [WP]
[-bareknuckle-] Nails:
1. Simon's already there! Claw! +1 diff for change.
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage +2
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Stam+Hispo+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] One last burst of speed sends Joey streaking after the Alpha... but it's not enough. It's not that he's faster; he's not. He's angrier, though, an Ahroun to the bone despite his fear, despite that he hardly attacked at all the entire night.
He has rage to spare. And it rapidly takes him out of Joey's reach now, leaping over the last few scrambling, screaming humans. Out into the night he goes -- gone in seconds.
[Bone-Grinder] [Killing Nails! Dex+Brawl+Totem+Hispo -5 Fuck that hurts!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 4, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 5) [WP]
[-bareknuckle-] [+1 Rage to Joey]
[Laughs at Death] [Changing action: 1R snapshift to Hispo
1b: headed back to the fray]
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Hispo+Totem+2+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 2, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] R1. Jackieboy -- punching Hatchet again!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Dam +2!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [Soak +1 I DON'T KNOW WHOOO YOU THINK YOU IS...]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Toothy
Bite Simon with fangs!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 5, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Louie: chomp Joey!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Damage +2!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 6, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Louie -- one of the few fomori who have both escaped damage and failed to deal any thus far -- barrels into Joey. Neither of them go sprawling. The fomori bares his teeth and bites the Hispo, though, nevermind that his teeth are neither the venomous fangs of his friend nor the huge cruel incisors of his foe.
He has something better, though. Disease.
[+1L now. In one day, manifest 1A worth of necrotic damage at bite wound!]
[-bareknuckle-] Nails
Clawing Simon again!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] soak
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] At beginning of Round 4, status in order of inits are as follows:
Alpha (gone)
Simon 4A, 1B
Hatchet 3A, Frenzied
Jackieboy 4A
Toothy 6A
Louie OK
Joey 2L
Nails 5A
[-bareknuckle-] Nails:
1. Claw Simon!
R1. Claw Simon!
[Laughs at Death] [1a: O rly? Get behind Louie
1b: Bite 'im!
1c: Bite 'im!
1d: GB on Simon]
[-bareknuckle-] Hatchet (frenzied!)
1. BITE
R1. BITE
R2. CLAW
R3. BITE
Jackieboy first. After Jackieboy goes down, we roll to see who's next!
[-bareknuckle-] Hatchet (frenzied!)
1. BITE
R1. BITE
R2. CLAW
R3. BITE
Jackieboy first. After Jackieboy goes down, we roll to see who's next!
Jackieboy
1. GET IT OFF ME! Punch Hatchet!
R1. Punch again!
Toothy
1. Bite Simon!
R1. Bite Joey!
Louie
1. Nom Joey!
R1. Nom some more! Spread that yummy bacteria!
[Bone-Grinder] [1a. Biting Nails
1b. Biting Toothy
R1 Going after whoever the hell is standing and I can reach!]
[Bone-Grinder] [Dex+Brawl+Totem+Hispo -4]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Totem+Hispo+2+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [ack!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Bone-Grinder] [Second Bite -1 Dice from previous roll]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Bone-Grinder] [-1 Dice From Previous]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Noooo I wanna liiiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Buried Hatchet] [1. NOM. HI JACKIE. HI. HI. HI. I NOMMIN' YOU! :D]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Buried Hatchet] [I LIKE NOMMIN'! NOMMIN'S GUD STUFF!]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Enough is enough for the Shadow Lord. Badly wounded, he lunges in past Nails's scrabbling, slicing claws and proves his birth-moon.
Nails's skull crushes between his teeth. When he lets go, there's nothing but red ruin left.
He doesn't fare so well against Toothy. His teeth glance off the fanged creature's skin and bones. Toothy bares his fangs at the Garou. The gesture is clear, fearless threat.
[-bareknuckle-] [noooo i wanna liiiive!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] X_X
[-bareknuckle-] Jackieboy
X_X
Toothy
Strike at Bone Grinder!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [special effects roll! +3]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [Another 1 unsoakable/turn over 1 turn!]
[-bareknuckle-] Louie:
Nom Joey! Yummm, disease!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Dam +1!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6 (Failure at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [1a: Shuffle shuffle shuffle
1b: Bite Louie!: -5]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 10 (Failure at target 3)
[Laughs at Death] [1b: -6]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 7 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Laughs at Death] [dam: +1]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Laughs at Death] [1d: -1G Gaia's Breath for +4 health on Simon]
[Bone-Grinder] [Toothie dies Dex+Brawl+Totem+Hispo]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 5)
[Bone-Grinder] [Str+Totem+Hispo+2+3]
Dice Rolled:[ 12 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] ack!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] X_X
[-bareknuckle-] Hatchet's Gnosis < Rage. Ergo, evens he attacks Louie, odds he attacks one of you guys!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[-bareknuckle-] Gittem!
[Buried Hatchet] R1. I NOM MOAR? ...YAY! I GET TO NOM MOAR!
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Buried Hatchet] [HEEHEEHEHEHE]
Dice Rolled:[ 14 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 5, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] Louie's dancing with Joey; they're turning around each other, trying to get the drop, and Louie's mouth is full of filth. Figuratively and literally.
He's taunting the Rotagar as she's circling him, telling her he's going to eat her fucking face with this mouth, spread contagion through her fucking veins; telling her he's gonna find your mama and fuck her full of disease. Shit like that. Worse. He's opening his mouth to say more --
and the Fianna ends it. Glassy-eyed, mad, red-tinged fur on end, he lunges onto the last fomor and his teeth close and bones snap, flesh parts, a head rolls free and shards of bone are left in his great teeth.
That's it. The last of them. Fury is still in his blood, the humiliation and frustration of failure, over and over again. Madness and logic in the balance again, wrestling.
[roll WP to come out of frenzy!]
[-bareknuckle-] [+1 rage to joey! MY MAMA!]
[Buried Hatchet] [I no frenzy? Whut? But ...but I nommin'!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-bareknuckle-] [w00t! that concludes combat. sorry it ran so long, guys. final tally:
Bone Grinder 1A
Hatchet 3A
Joey 2L, 1B, 1A of disease tomorrow. This can be healed with mother's touch, but until it is, it's contagious!
Jackieboy X_X 4 overkill
Toothy X_X 3 overkill
Louie X_X 1 overkill
Nails X_X 5 overkill
1 BSD Ahroun + 2 fomori + lots of nutso humans gone!
[-bareknuckle-] Silence now. Just the sound of their panting, their latent growls. The creak of overhead lamps swaying on their chains, swinging like pendulums in response to the chaos, the noise, the stomping of their massive feet.
The place is empty. Doors busted off their hinges in the crush to get out. Blood all over the floor. The stale smell of sweat and terror and piss and rage... and the scent of the Alpha, bleeding away into the night.
[Bone-Grinder] Simon gives a growl of fury, and his eyes narrow as he looks down at his recent kill. He pauses then and looks at the other two, they were safe... Alive. That much was good.
He breathed in the scents around him, and it both disgusted and excited him. The Ahroun, however, was quick to mak a sharp and sudden realization especially when he picked out the scent of the Alpha's blood, still tasting it on his tongue. They had let the Ahroun go. This was not something he could tolerate. He knew their faces... No this wouldn't do.
First, though, he had to make sure the other two were alive and well.
[Buried Hatchet] It is one thing to be terrifying -- and Hatchet was. Before he ever shifted shape, he made a full-moon who would have far eclipsed him in combat head rapidly for the door. He let out a singular howl that none here have ever heard before, and even Simon and Joey had to cling to their certainty that he was on their side in order to not be driven away by the noise.
It is another thing to be effective -- and Hatchet wasn't. He snapped his jaws at air again and again and again and again until finally the frustration of it all drove him roaring over the edge into madness. There are some who would say it isn't a long jump for him. They'd be right.
Still, up until then he'd kept his head, and his control. He sent Joey and Simon after the Alpha to try and keep him here, and -- with some delay on Simon's part, at least -- they'd obeyed. A little too well, actually. As soon as Hatchet could no longer give orders, they kept harrying the male that was too fast for even Laughs in the Face of Death, and to little effect.
Then the moon tore in half, Hatchet saw red, and -- he doesn't know what happened after that. He doesn't know who killed who, he doesn't know who is still alive until his struggle against his own rage ends, and the frenzy drops him like a rock to the bloodied floor. He snaps alert a second later, shaking his head wildly, scrambling to his feet and looking around at...nothing. At silence. At bodies.
At Joey and Simon, each with their wounds, and the latter smelling like death. Hatchet chuffs. He takes a couple of steps back, then steps to his packmate and lays his heavy muzzle across the back of her thickly-furred neck. Power flows out of him, or trickles, and rather than the fuzzy blue, the Gift leaves him in swirls of sparkling green, gold-flecked as sunlight hitting wet leaves.
Maybe it makes her feel better about what that fucker said 'bout her mama.
Turning away from Joey as soon as the healing has left him, Hatchet looks at the bodies, then at the two of them. He speaks in whuffs and growls, low and steady. "I should have called you back when I had a chance. I lost sight of you both tonight, and it could have gotten all three of us killed," he says, the first criticism levied at himself. The next is given to Simon: "Before we walked into this building, you had every right to name yourself, as Ahroun, our leader in this battle, and I would have willingly obeyed you. You did not. You followed me. You gave up the right to ignore my orders as soon as that door opened, Bone-Grinder. If you had not submitted finally, I would be dealing now with you as a Litany-breaker. Do not pull that [shit] again. Either lead or follow, but choose one and cleave to it. You are not a cub. You are a full moon of the nation, and you know better."
He dresses down Joey last, his eyes clear as ever on her. "As always, I appreciate your obedience. But you have the renown of a Fostern, Face of Death, and most of that earned in battle. You should know when to turn away from an enemy you cannot catch or cannot take down, especially on your own. You should know when, even when you are not ordered to give up pursuit. You should know how to work together with your ally, focusing your attentions on single targets until they are taken down one by one."
He exhales again, heavily. "And I have been in enough battles by now to know the same. We all failed tonight. But we will go back to the Wyrmpole with trophies from four minions of the Wyrm, and return to the Ahroun Elder with the bloodscent of a Dancer inciting mortals to this ...savagery. We will hunt him again."
That is all. A great many words from one with seeping wounds, who moments ago was so out of his head his eyes spun with wrath and bloodlust. He pads forward to the bodies, to begin to lump them together for the Rite of Cleansing.
[-1G, Mother's Touch!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10
[Bone-Grinder] He looks at Hatchet and swiftly his form returns. A man standing before another man and he listens quietly. Taking in the criticism of his elder. He was right... There were mistakes made. Perhaps he should have attempted to take control, to lead the other two. He certainly would have left a little more time for planning... Marking exits, sizing up enemies and threats, and finding any and every advantage that could have been used in the conflict. Honestly he would have also preferred to avoid assuming any form that could expose the Garou... There were a thousand and one better things that could have been done.
"You're right Rhya and I apologize for my delay. There is no excuse for my behavior. In the future I will make certain to assert more clearly my feelings on the matter."He says softly. The Half Moon was right. He was making tactical decisions for the group when he had accepted Hatchets lead... He should have followed Hatchet's command. Even if it meant leaving the Half-Moon to die.
"It is not a mistake I will allow to happen again."He says assertively before standing over a corpse and peering down. His lip curling with disgust. These filthy things were far more dangerous than he had assumed. They were all lucky to be alive. Fortunately they were among those lucky few who had the opportunity to learn from that mistake. In his mind... This was not truly a victory, though, the Ahroun escaped. They barely survived and that fact was largely due to his lack of decisiveness. He failed to do his job and nearly got the others killed.
"Do not let this slight go unpunished. My Failure was inexcusable and I should like that you report this to both Lukas as well as my Alpha. However, I also ask that I be allowed the opportunity to atone for my failings. I still taste the pathetic beasts blood on my tongue..."He says as he turns his eyes towards Hatchet.
"I ask respectfully that I be allowed to accompany you when you hunt this thing down."
[Laughs at Death] Silence falls, the dust settles, and the Gaians are all still alive. No one fought their way back from death tonight, though it was a near thing. Joey should count that as a win, because sometimes that's all that's important. That they're alive to fight another night. The ones that got away can be hunted down later.
Still.
It stings that she chased after the alpha but inevitably had to turn back. It infuriates her that he got away from her, despite her speed and her power. And it's just frustrating that when she snapped her jaws she barely tore away more than a tuft of fur here, a bit of cloth there. And that fucker said that shit about her mama and she just want to....to rip him apart! Bite him and tear him and rend him limb from limb!
Her skin burns where one of the fomori bit her. It makes her muscles twitch and her fur ripple. It smells. A moment later, Hatchet's heavy muzzle rests against the back of her neck. Healing energy flows through her. The burning tingle of that bite fades away. It all fades away, all the petty hurts she's received this fight.
And then comes the lecture. Joey's head droops and her ears lay down. She doesn't tuck her tail, though. She doesn't whimper or cower away. She just huffs out a sigh of disappointment. "I'm sorry. I thought I could catch him, put a talen in his fur so he could be more easily tracked. I was too confident in my speed. It won't happen again."
She steps away when Simon comes forward.
[Buried Hatchet] [Guys, I'm really sorry, but I'm super tired! I'm happy with hand-waving the trophy-taking and cleanup. Good?]
[Laughs at Death] [works for me! i need to zonk, too]
[Bone-Grinder] (Fine by me!)
[Buried Hatchet] [Hand-waves!
Thank you for the scene, Damon! That was awesome. And thank you for the RP, Nick and Monki! Can't wait for more.]
[Bone-Grinder] (Go asleep!)
celebration.
11 years ago