Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[rhoenix]

"...We Thought You Had Bone!" said Sees-Faces-In-Stars, in the coarse speech of his Crinos form.

[Cynical Cat]

"Well, well, well," said Alexander as he shifted back to homid form to speak to the tied man. The left side of his face was pitted and splattered with blood. The wounds extended to his shoulder and included a graze along the side of his neck. "You feel like being cooperative?" he asked the Bledson. "I'm pretty sure those bitches over there want to wind your guts around a tree and then convince you to start walking with hot pokers. You know how women are. Me, I just want the fucking bone. Since I don't give a flying fuck about your ass or your brood mares, I'll even trade you walking away with your dick and balls intact for it. So, you want to do this the easy way?"

[LadyTevar]

The leather lash cut into the sides of Red Bledson's mouth as he simply laughed at Alex, eyes wide and wild.

[General Havoc]

"Fuck this..."

Sophie safetied and holstered her handgun, and walked over to the dead and dying humans they had shot and butchered. Crouching down, she picked up one of the shotguns that the Bledsons had been recently brandishing and firing in their direction. She could feel the silver buckshot encased within the rounds loaded into the shotgun, but pushed the unease asside as she walked back over to the restrained Crier and pressed the barrel of the street broom to the werewolf's temple.

"Where is the bone?" she asked in a flat tone that brooked no nonsense. This was normally not her style, but these inbred hillbilly shits had pissed her off multifold, and their attempts to kill them with silver shot didn't help.

[Cynical Cat]

"Sophie," said Alex. "Aim lower. Something he'll miss, but his life won't be over without. Like say a hand or the family jewels."

[Cynical Cat]

Alex eyed the black pond suspiciously. "Nasty piece of work that. Use it in your moonshine? You seemed mighty eager to get to it. Let's remedy that." Alex began dragging him away from the pond.

[LadyTevar]

The black oily surface of the pond was rising up, like a balloon extending from underneath. In a sudden rush, the water level seemed to double, sweeping over the pond's sides in a sudden rushing tide of Wyrm-tainted water that soaked the lower legs of the closest Garou and tugged at the lifeless bodies of the younger Bledsons.

Red's gagged laughter rang out in triumph as the huge oily bubble separated itself from the pond and hung in the air. Two malevolent eyes opened, full of hellish green glare, flickering like light through water.

The Bane-mother had heard her child's call, and answered.

[LadyTevar]

Arianne struggles with Crier, managing to hold the enraged Garou down as Ahady pounds on him... until the sudden flood of oily black water from the pond surges over them all, attempting to drown them

Now, Arianne finds herself trying to keep her head above water, while Crier renews his struggles to get free.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds reveled in the finished battle for a moment, looking around he began to think. The Bledsons had been waiting for them, that would explain the shotguns that had been filled with dreaded silver. Someone had betrayed them, but who?

Then the orb that wreaked of wyrm boiled out of the pool of water and Breathes-the-Winds let out a slow growl. A quick glance around revealed that there was little of any use to strike at the beast from a distance so he chose a different strategem. With a mighty howl he leapt through the air, landing solidly on the top of the creature.

And promptly sunk down to waist as wyrm inspired poisons began to eat at him from inside the creature.

"Vile beast! You shall suffer for your impertinence!"

[Cynical Cat]

Stormwalker shifted back towards Crinos form as he continued to drag his prisoner away from the Bane.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds focused, channeling nature around him and calling on his gifts. With a surge of energy air suddenly appeared inside the creature that had swallowed him up to the waist. The air bubble was placed around the garou's legs, giving him at least a little protection from the poisons that tried to eat away at him.

[rhoenix]

Whirling around, Sees-Faces-In-Stars regarded the huge, desecrating thing within the water. How had he missed it before? Seeing Breathes-The-Winds having trouble with the thing only fueled his anger.

With an echoing, eerie howl, Sees-Faces-In-Stars darted directly at the thing, feeling both very angry that he'd somehow missed sensing such a thing before, and angry that it was trying to hurt one of the Garou that he was beginning to consider "his pack."

He might be a Theurge, but he was Garou.

Leaping at the thing with his arms spread wide, he snarled as he slashed straight down the center of the thing. It didn't look...damaged, but a large amount of water dumped out of the hole he'd made in the thing's "skin."

[General Havoc]

Sees-Faces had his way of doing things. Sophie had hers. She ran forward and planted the shotgun's barrel on the gash Sees-Faces had just carved, braced the butt against her shoulder, and pulled the trigger.

Silver-bane or not, a shotgun was still a shotgun.

[Cynical Cat]

Stormwalker, now a more than ten foot tall killing machine, hauled his prisoner away from the water and jammed him into the lower branches of a tree. A few loops of what was left of the leather line secured him to a branch. "Stay," he growled.

[LadyTevar]

The Bledson, hog-tied and injured, merely made a raw sound through the gag in his mouth -- a low-pitched hideous laughing. His eyes were not on the Shadowlord, but on the massive ball of Bane-animated water floating at the edge of the tainted pond.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds snarled and swiped with his claws towards the creature's eyes, but got nothing in return for his trouble as he missed the organs, merely splashing the pool of water around.

"Wyrm-cursed whore! Stand still so I can kill you!"

[Devonie]

Devonie hauls herself up, barely hanging on the the struggling Crier.

"Cut it out!" she shouts as she fights with him.

[LadyTevar]

Neil Crier is beyond hearing. Like a mad dog he struggles to get away, scrabbling for purchase on the soggy ground so that he could escape down the trail that lead here. However, Arianne held him fast.

"The Bone... they have it... The BONE.... Must. Have. The BONE!"

In the tree where Alex left him, Red Bledson laughed behind his gag.

[LadyTevar]

Almost lazily, a bulge appeared upon the side of the watery bubble, one that grew into a lithe psuedopod. Like a striking snake it lashed out at Sophie, far too fast for the female Garou to move. Wrapping itself twice around her Crinos form, the coils merged into one large band and started to squeeze.

Meanwhile, the WyrmPoisons inside the water sizzled against the pocket of air about Adahy's body, burning his skin where the air did not cover.

[Cynical Cat]

Stormwalker stepped forward slowly, focusing his attention on the Bane and invoking Grandfather Thunder's gifts. Weaknesses became apparent.

"Burst the bubble," he roared. "The Bane cannot stay if the bubble is broken."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds made another swipe at the creature's eyes but missed, instead striking against the watery hide and opening up tears along its surface as his claws struck.

[rhoenix]

There were moments of time in life when some movements appeared almost fated to happen, as if the operator were simply a finger or even a tiny cell of a much greater being.

Sees-Faces-In-Stars seemed to move with the grace and implacability of a fog bank, an ethereal-sounding growl echoing from his throat as he tried to skin the being, making it much easier for the others to damage it.

His claws tore right through the water bubble-like skin of the Bane, a large amount of water suddenly dumping from within back into the pond. Even Sees-Faces was surprised at the sheer amount of water released.

A huge, watery pseudopod congealed from the thing's form, whipping out at the ghostly grey-furred Stargazer with shocking speed.

And there it was - he heard the almost-mute voices of the winds. Too soft to be audible, but there. It pressed him at his elbow and his opposite hip - marveling, he moved with it. Raw surprise showed on his face as the deadly watery pseudopod filled with oily, poisonous-looking water whipped around and by him, but never touched him, touching only air instead.

"I am grateful to you, ghosts of the Winds," he said in an almost inaudible whisper, intended for the ears of the winds alone.

(EDIT: Edited post to include rather impressive dodge results)

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander lunged, Stormtalon raised in his hand. The blade slashed through the bubble of the Bane's substance, spilling brackish water all over the earth. The Shadow Lord growled, balancing to parry or dodge while looking for more openings. He knew this one's weak point and it was his prey now.

[Devonie]

Meanwhile, Arianne was getting tired of fighting with Crier while trying NOT to fall into the mucky water.

"You want down?" she snarled. "FINE - Down ya go!"

With that she pushes him down into the water, arms still wrapped around him, squeezing and pinning him underwater. She holds him down by sheer weight alone and waits 'til he stops struggling, then drags him out by the scruff of the neck.

"That's done it," she grunts in satisfaction and turns her attention to what else is going on.

[General Havoc]

Panic was setting in. The pseudopod's grip was like a vice, crushing the life out of her, and despite having shifted into Crinos, she could not, for the life of her, break loose. Sophie was not a large werewolf (as werewolves went), but she was still a werewolf, and could lift a car if needed. Never before had she encountered something this strong, and she thrashed about like a cat submerged in a bathtub, desperately trying to break free. It wasn't until the Shadowlord tore into the Bane's watery body with his two-handed sword that she felt the grip slacken, and knew that this was her chance.

She twisted around , trying to free her arms to press against the weakest part of the Pseudopod, and shoved as hard as she could. By werewolf standards it wasn't particularly hard, but even Sophie could produce over six hundred pounds of raw force when necessary, and the monster's attention had flagged, leaving a seam in the pseudopod. With a sudden sickening "rip", the pseudopod burst, and Sophie tumbled out of its grip onto the ground, scrambling to her feet and backing away as quickly as she could. For the moment, she wanted to put distance between her and the monster, get her bearings, and then counterattack it some way that did not involve getting that damned close to it.