Werewolf: Chapter 3 "Carolina Moon"

[General Havoc]

Mindful of the warning, Sophie approached the house, peering into one of the windows out front. A large shape was moving inside, perhaps a man with shoulders bent over, wearing a black cloak. He seemed to be moving towards a specific room, though for what purpose was anyone's guess.

"There's someone home," she said. "Guy dressed in black. I think he's looking for something."

[rhoenix]

A grin appeared on Sees-Faces' lupine face. "Should we say hi?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Fuck it," said Alex and shifted to Glabro form and drawing Stormtalon. Seven feet of hairy Shadow Lord stormed into the living room with a meter of silver held in one hand.

[LadyTevar]

If Alex wanted to draw attention, he did. Several odd-sounding squawks could be heard from a back room, possibly a bedroom. Round bald soot-colored heads with beak-like noses popped birdlike around the doorframe, staring at Alex with burning red eyes.

Then with a raucous cawing three wizened creatures swarmed out of the bedroom, charging the Glabro Ahroun. They were tiny, the hunched bodies barely 5ft tall, draped in what looked like sooty leather cloaks... until one opened his arms and revealed them to be bat-like wings hanging from arm and torso.


((Go roll initiative, puppies... ))

[rhoenix]

Somehow managing to shrug, despite being in a lupine form, Sees-Faces trotted immediately behind his Shadowlord packmate.

Alex, currently in the form that showed the Wolf howling loudly within his homid form but not yet equally, burst directly into the living room of the house.

Following suit, Sees-Faces' form seemed to shimmer for a moment, growing larger, and more bestial. His fur seemed to ruffle in a non-existent wind for a moment, the longer legs of his Hispo form helping him to keep up with his Ahroun packmate's rapid pace. He issued a penetrating bark that seemed to echo around them. It was an old greeting of sorts, but one that most should know the meaning of still. "Gaia's and Luna's wolf children walk here."

[rhoenix]

Sees-Faces had only taken one more step after his greeting before his ears suddenly lay flat against the sides of his head, and a deep, angry snarl erupted from his bared teeth.

A shrill and angry bark echoed through the room, shortly before Sees-Faces shook his snout vigorously, as if to clear it of the smell. "Wyrmtainted!"

[Cynical Cat]

"Really?" Alex snarled. "I would have never have guessed." He thrust Stormtalon through the chest of the closest raven-thing. The blade flashed white like lightning as it penetrated the creature's chest. The Ahroun ripped the shining blade out of the creature's chest. If fell to the floor with a warbling cry. Smoke rose from the wound. "Why don't you get with today's program and start fighting?"

[LadyTevar]

The flash of lightning and the warbling cry of the wounded drew more balding, red-eyed beak-nosed creatures to peek around the doorway, bobbing in and out so it was hard to tell numbers. Muttered cawing could be heard, as well as a very human moan from inside the bedroom.

The two charging creatures had picked the female and the wolf as their targets, but the drastic wounding of their flockmate made them wary. Long bony fingers at the end of those bat-winged arms slashed at their targets, aiming for face and eyes.

[rhoenix]

Just as Alex cleaved the first wyrm-tainted raven-creature through the chest, the one eagerly following after it, intent on Sees-Faces, was roughly knocked to the side by its compatriot falling to the ground, making a warbling squeal of agony as it held its chest.

The wyrm-tainted raven-creature that was going after Sees-Faces still managed a half-hearted swipe and a snarl at his snout and eyes, but he managed to dart to the side in time to avoid the claw.

[Cynical Cat]

The creatures lunged around Stormwalker, clearly less than eager to suffer their comrade's fate. However, there was only so much room. The one that darted to attack Sees-Faces slipped passed the Ahroun, but Alex was able to kick out the leg of the other, turning the charge towards Sophie into a stumble.

[General Havoc]

Sophie was behind the others, but that didn't mean she had any intention of playing it timidly. The instant trouble started, the slight little computer nerd girl transformed seamlessly into a towering werewolf, shotgun clutched in her clawed hands. As the raven-things lunged forward, she thrust the barrel of the shotgun at one of them and pulled the trigger, the deafening blast barely quivering her balance. Yet the shot, spot on as it was, seemed to do nothing whatsoever, even as the monster rushed foward with beak and claws flashing.

She stepped back a pace as the bird-thing came on, lunging at her clumsily. A horrifying monster it was, an amalgam of bird and vulture and some kind of bat, enough to send a man screaming into the night. But Sophie was a monster herself, a towering embodiment of rage and Gaia's fury, and she stood her ground, shrugging the creature's assault off and retaliating in kind. The shotgun had done nothing. She sumarily dropped it, her razor-sharp claws flashing in the moonlight, and slashed at the thing's throat.

The bird tried to avoid her slash, but to no effect. She felt her claws bite into its torso and rip their way through flesh and feather, tearing great rents in its leathery hide. She did not stop until her claws had returned to the empty air.

This time it looked like it hurt.

[LadyTevar]

The creature stumbled backwards from Sophie, leaking the umbral matter that served manifested spirits for blood. "GAROU!" it screamed, turning to flee back into the bedroom. The other that had attacked Seesfaces also turned to flee, echoing the warning cry.

"Garou! GAROU!!" Clearly beaten and scared, the winged creatures cawed and squawked, beginning to fade away in a rapid retreat to the Umbra. The 'leader' Alex had split asunder also dematerialized, its wounds too much to stay on this side of the Gauntlet.

Their fearful cries were repeated from inside the bedroom, as the critters inside tried to slam the door shut on the deadly Garou.

[Cynical Cat]

Alex forced his way into the doorway before they could close it, hand outstretched to seize one of the fleeing creatures.

[LadyTevar]

Three of the creatures had been trying to shut the door; Alex's charge scattered them and made it easy to grab one by the neck. On the bed by the window was an elderly man, with two more of the sooty-skinned bat-winged creatures standing over him like vultures. Whatever they were doing, it had the old man moaning weakly, eyes shut.

[Cynical Cat]

Alex forced his way in to the room, using brute strength and sheer size to power open the door, allowing the rest of his demi-pack to enter the room.

[rhoenix]

Moving in a slow, ominous walk, Sees-Faces-In-Stars approached the doorway in his huge near-wolven form, moving like an ominous thundercloud with his teeth visible in a snarl. An almost eerie growl echoed from deep within his chest, nearly seeming to fill the small bedroom.

One of the warped Raven beings in the doorway snarled at him. An instant later, the huge jaws of the hispo snapped shut across his face, tearing the meat of its face clean off.

Spitting the face to his left, it slapped wetly across its companion's face, sliding off and hitting the ground with a wet noise.

[General Havoc]

Sophie raced into the room as soon as she could get past Alex, bounding inside and racing for one of the feathered monsters that appeared to be trying to devour the old man's soul, or some such. She slashed at one with her claws, her shotgun having proven utterly ineffective, but her blow was mistimed by her need for haste, and she failed to connect meaningfully with the creature, scattering feathers and drawing a few drops of blood, but nothing more.

Seconds later, Sees-Faces bit one of the raven-thing's faces off.

...

Well... whatever worked...

[LadyTevar]

Losing a face really makes a person lose their appetite, and the spirit retreated rapidly to the Umbra. His companion, finding himself trapped between an angry Hispo and Glabro, also decided that dinner wasn't worth sticking around for and ran for the Umbra as well.

The two beside the bed may not have been hurt by Sophie's attack, but again they took the coward's way out and ran for the Umbra. That left only one, trapped in Alex's tight grasp.

"Let go, let go, let go!" it begged, struggling against his grip.

[Cynical Cat]

"Much much better," Alex said to Sees-Faces. He turned back to his squirming captive. "So," he said, "who sent you to kill this man and why?"

[LadyTevar]

The spirit-creature stopped struggling, the bald vulturish head tilting birdling to stare at Alex. The wide gaping mouth under the beaked nose opened in a unreasuring grin. "Sent? Why sent? Sickness here, weakness here, no protection. We come for a Feast." The last word was savoured, before the wide mouth drooped into a frown.

"Then you came. You ruin Feast, hurts us," the blank eyes turned crafty. "But you not Uktena... you don't know us, do you..." The grin came back, wider and wider. "You don't know us. Don't know Raven Mockers. You hurts us, but you can't KILL us."

[Cynical Cat]

"That's where you're wrong small fry," Alex said. He held up Stormtalon and pressed the blade close to the Raven Mocker's face. "Do you know what's in here? A Storm Crow and a Pain Spirit. Think they don't know how to kill you?"

[LadyTevar]

The way the Raven Mocker's eyes crossed to stare in fright at StormTalon's blade was nearly comical. "StormCrow? StormCrow!?!" The tiny creature suddenly threw itself from side to side to try to escape, clawing at Alex's arm, the flaps of skin dangling down flapping madly. "I go, I go, I leave! Let gooooo."

[rhoenix]

An instant later, Sees-Faces' large, bestial face of his dire wolf hispo form was right in the Raven Mocker's face, snarling once loudly and harshly enough to get its undivided attention for a moment.

The instant their eyes met, the Raven Mocker's eyes grew wide, right before Sees-Faces growled words out in Garou that sounded like a promise of certain destruction. "You stay!"

Sees' Faces eyes seemed to glare angrily at the thing as their eyes met. A moment later, he growled out his next words, sounding like mighty hands grinding two boulders together into sand. "We are not done with you."

Something burned within his eyes then, as his seemed to burn into the Raven Mocker's eyes. His words came out in a low, ominous growl. ""I am Stargazer Theurge," he growled, as breezes seemed to begin chasing one another through the room. "And I can kill you."

[Cynical Cat]

"So you see," said Alex, "between the Pain Spirit, the Storm Crow, and the Theurge, you're fucking dead if we want it. So why is this man important?"

[General Havoc]

Sophie's verbal skills were in negotiation and conversation, not in the form of abject threat of violence. Fortunately, it appeared that Alex and Sees-Faces had this particular subject well-covered.

The remaining Raven was clearly terrified out of its wits, but Sophie doubted that a little extra persuasion would go awry. She accordingly stomped over to where Alex was holding the wyrm-spirit, still in her Crinos form, and glowered at it as menacingly as she could, letting her enormous size and wicked claws speak on her own behalf.