The Deer Lady IC

[Ichneumon]

{table=head]Player|Character|Sheet Link|Auspice|Tribe
Jesse Drake| Hector Villalobos |

Here

| Cahalith | Hunters in Darkness
Kuma Da| Jonathan Wake |

Here

|Elodoth| Bone Shadows
Edge | Bran Davies |

Here

| Rahu | Hunters in Darkness
Blakkmonk| Lamar Beanard |

Here

| Ithaeur | Iron Masters |
The Kings Raven| Jeffrey Pinney |

Here

| Irraka | Iron Masters
Jamini| Richard Tiff |

Here

| Elodoth | Storm Lord
[/table]

Jonathan and Bran: run-down highway rest stop

You, Jonathan, arrive at a run-down highway rest stop some time after sunset. The rest stop itself is on a stretch of I-25 south of Denver. It is a small area with some dirty picnic tables, a few parking spaces, and a bathroom that might have been cleaned once, but not recently. A breeze from the forested area behind the rest-stop carries with it fresh mountain air, however, clearing the stink from your highly acute senses. There is also a small store where you can buy magazines, posts cards and refreshments like snacks and soda. The half moon hangs high in a clear night sky. You glance one more time at the hastily scrawled directions on the back of an envelope. The rest stop is just where mr Roman said it would be. Nobody else is there yet. You double check the directions, squinting to read in the faint light from the picnic area. There’s a brief moment of anger when you think that you’ve gone to the wrong spot. Then you look up at the moon, and her half-hidden face calms you. You’re in the right place. You’re just the first to get there it seems. Then, you notice there is someone in the store...

You, Bran, are inside the store, buying some stuff [you decide what it is, maybe a soda or a map or magazine to kill time?], you arrived a lot earlier and have been having a talk with the shop’s owner, a man named James Parker. He’s a nice guy, but wary and careful, as, and so he tells, he’s been robbed twice. He doesn't earn much, lives a few miles away from here. Every day he sees tourists come and go to Manitou Springs. He asks how you’re doing and where you’re going, but he’s not incredibly nosy and its easy to evade telling him stuff you’re not supposed to be telling.

"Hope you're having a good time at Manitou Springs! It's a great scenery this time of the year!" [OOC: It's summer]

Suddenly, just before you were about to leave the shop, you start feeling dizzy and for a moment your vision blurs. You start hearing the sound of wind blowing through trees, even though you're inside the store. It's unclear where the sounds come from, but when you try to listen to them closely, you can almost hear a voice in the sound, but it's too faint. The sounds quickly disappear. When you look up at James Parker, he pretends not to have noticed anything odd about you, just re-organizing some stuff on the shelves, but you did notice a short but clear grin on his face and his eyes showing a strange wickedness.

Lamar

You’re in your car just ten minutes away from the rest stop. You’re late because you hadn’t been sure what road to take: staying on the Interstate 55 or taking a “short-cut” onto a smaller highway, route 22. You decided not to take the short-cut, because the map you have is a bit unclear on how the roads go in that area, but looking back it might have been wiser to do so anyway, as you’re now a few minutes late.

The radio is off, but suddenly you hear a woman’s voice coming from the radio: “Watch out, werewolf! The hunt has began.” In the background you hear the faint crackling of fire (maybe of a fireplace?) and a woman crying. You hear a sound like the sound you get when something is stomping on something soft, bones breaking and a terrible bloodcurdling shriek of agony and pain. "Aaaaaahhhaaahhaa!!!" At that moment, you arrive at the high-way rest stop.


Richard and Jeffrey: both in Richard’s car

You’re late. You two met each other mostly by coincidence half a day ago and decided to continue the journey together. You’ve been on the road for nearly two hours, and conversation ceased some time ago. You are each lost in your own thoughts, watching the road, the cars, the scenery fly by. It’s still about 30 minutes driving to the run-down highway rest stop where you agreed to meet. You’re excited about meeting the others of your pack and this famous, but mysterious Max Roman. You, Richard, pull off of Interstate 55 onto route 22, a smaller highway that will eventually lead to the correct highway stop.

Twenty minutes go by, the trees grow thicker, and none of you have seen any man-made structures since turning off the main freeway. Then, up ahead on the left, you see what looks like a gas station and diner. Four cars are parked out front and one more at the gas island, but you don’t see any people. The lights inside the building are flickering and as you approach, they die entirely and you hear a terrifying bloodcurdling shriek of pain and agony
from inside the building. "Aaaaaahhhaaahhaa!!!"

Almost out of reflexes, you stop the car in the middle of the road. Your eyes are fixed on the what's going on the diner. You can see movement inside the diner. Someone — a woman, judging by the height and shape— is pacing back and forth in front of the counter. Judging from her movements, she must be pouring some kind of liquid on the floor. As you watch, she turns toward you and steps forward so that you can see her face. A wild savage face, covered in blood. Long black hair. She walks to the door of the diner, opens it and a few seconds later she appears outside. She's dressed in a long black dress. Her eyes gazing straight at you two, angry, furious, confident. In her hands she holds a box of matches, she takes one out, fires one and throws in inside the diner. The grow quickly and within a few seconds the the entire diner is burning and the flames come dangerously close to the gas station.

She ignores most of it and the only thing she does is walking slowly, menacingly in your direction, not moving a single muscle in her face. Until she starts laughing and shouts: "The hunt continues!"

Hektor: on the road

Your voyage has been delayed as well. You ignore all speed limits, hoping not to make a bad first impression by being the only one who’s late. You are on the same road as Richard and Jeffrey and in the distance you can see their car slowing down near the gas station, stopping and a few moments later you see the diner bursting into flames... You see a woman walking towards the car.

[You may assume you at least know the names of the other people of your future pack.]

[Edge]

Bran Davies; Hishu
The Welshman quirks an eyebrow in response to catching the store owner's malicious grin in the corner of his eye, but otherwise keeps his face an impassive mask. He forks a few bills over for the photography magazine he'd picked out before exiting the store and taking a seat at one of the picnic tables. He opens his newly-acquired magazine briskly, turning pages occasionally.

However, the Rahu's mind is elsewhere. He keeps turning his memories of his lessons from Blaidd Drwg over and over in his mind, trying to remember what Evan Sky's Reach had told him about spirits crossing the Gauntlet - because whatever whisper he'd just heard, it damn well wasn't natural.

<****'s sake.> he mutters to himself in Welsh.

[Jesse Drake]

"What's going on here." Hector mutters to himself. As he pulls closer, he looks for some sort water tap- a well, a hose, anything. As he approaches the woman and the car, he begins "Hey- what happ-"

[Ichneumon]

There is a water tap, 20 feet away from the road, near the gas station, still far enough from the flames to be reachable. (Used for cleaning cars) There is also a hose, but it isn't connected.

[Kuma Da]

Jonathan Wake

Jon adjusts the straps on his backpack for what must be the five hundredth time today. The last ride he'd hitched took him most of the way to Manitou Springs, but for whatever reason the old couple in their sedan didn't want to get too close to the place.

He didn't mind walking, really. It felt more fulfilling to be traveling under his own power, at his own speed, rather than being rushed about in quaking metal carriages like the bewildered pea in some interstate shell game. Besides, it gave him time to get in tune with his surroundings.

By the time the rest stop hove into view, he was about as tuned as he was going to get, and more than ready to take a break.

While Bran does his shopping, Jonathan sits down at a picnic table, props his feet up, and begins to pick bits of gravel out of his shoes. Casually, he lowers his eyes and sweeps the area with a death sight. It's not a thorough search. His eyes go milky white for about as long as it takes him to blink, but there's no harm in being cautious.

When Bran emerges with his purchase, Jon waves a friendly hand towards him. "Don't suppose Roman sent you?" It's not exactly what James Bond would do, but there probably aren't going to be too many random travelers here at this time of night.

[Edge]

Bran Davies; Hishu
Bran snaps out of his reverie as Jon asks his question, and looks up at him from his seat.

/Yes,/ he says, using First Tongue to make absolutely sure he wasn't being had, /Max Roman, Iron Master famed in deed, is the reason I am here to meet with others of the People. I am Raven-strikes-the-Wind./

He stands up and offers Jon his hand.

"Also known as Bran Davies. Good to meet you."

[Jesse Drake]

Hector will head for the water pump, and kick it open. Using a point of essence, he'll close his eyes... moving his hands like water flowing, he'll then start grabbing at the pump, drawing the water out. As it flows out, his hands are still making fluid motions- and then he looks at the fire. "Okay-" he says. "Let's see what I can do."

He tries to direct the water at the fire.in an attempt to quench it.

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(5d10)[2][3][1][7][3](16)

Gulp... I've angered the spirits...

Dramatic Failure: Earth-spirits recoil at the werewolf’s
fumbling. Any spirits of earth or stone become more
hostile. Social rolls made toward those spirits suffer a –2
penalty, as do Gift-activation rolls or rite-activation rolls
made within 24 hours that involve such spirits.

[Ichneumon]

Only one small droplet slowly falls out of the tap on the ground.

[The Kings Raven]

Richard. Hishu -> Urhan

Richard watches with interest then the sort of relaxed horror you feel when you know something is seriously messed up, but it's not affecting anyone you know and you only care about others when it's not too much trouble, fortunately for anyone still alive checking things out was not that much trouble.

Woah, bummer for the people inside. I suppose we'd better see if anyone's still alive, yeah. You take care of the crazy lady and I'll go look. It should be like no problem, we're like the big bad wolves man.

With that Jeff takes a moment to change into Urhan then makes a full sprint around the bloodstained woman towards the burning house.

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Rolls
Stamina (3) + Survival (1) + Primal Urge (1).
(5d10)[8][8][5][2][2](25) (if he fails use the next roll to see how many turns it takes before he's shifted)
(5d10)[3][4][7][1][8](23)
(5d10)[1][2][10][8][2](23)

When he gets to the building a perception roll to sniff out anyone alive. He'll do so at a window and only dive in if it's ambiguous or someone's clearly alive.
Wits (3) + Composure (2) + Urhan (4)
(9d10)[8][2][4][1][4][5][10][9][3](46)
for tens (9d10)[2][7][4][7][2][3][9][2][3](39)

[Ichneumon]

You successfully shift into Urhan form, running around the blood-stained woman and to the burning diner. There is no-one left alive. There are 3 corpses, one of which was a wolf-blooded female, you can discern from the smell.

The woman doesn't seem shocked at all from seeing you shift and doesn't seem effected at all by lunacy.

[The Kings Raven]

Jeffrey, Urhan to Urshul

Satisfied that he's done what basic decency required and that there's no one here to turn to Lunacy in the midst of a fire Jeffrey again begins to change, growing bigger and more muscular taking the Urshul. Slowly he approached the blood-soaked woman with a constant deep growl, trying to focus her attention on himself and away from Richard. He only hoped the Elodoth would realise what he was doing.

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ooc:
Stamina (3) + Survival (1) + Primal Urge (1)
(5d10)[1][10][3][4][4](22)
(5d10)[5][3][4][9][9](30)
(5d10)[4][7][7][6][10](34)

Not to sure what to roll for growling. Nothing in the Shapeshifting section mentioned it and I'd assume a giant wolf should get some bonus to being noticeable. I'll just guesstimate Presence + Intimidation, ulp. Feel free to roll for me if you think that's a bad choice.

Presence (1) + Intimidation (unskilled, -1)
(1d10)[3](3) Ah well, at least not a dramatic failure.

[Jesse Drake]

Hector Villalobos

"What's up wolfboy..." Hector reaches for his chakram and stares at the wolf. He waits to see if that creepy as hell woman makes a move before striking, but he gets a bit closer to see what's up.

[The Kings Raven]

Jeffrey, Urshul

Jeffery could smell that this new person was a Werewolf, that was probably good news. When Hector spoke Jeffrey gave a bizarre wolfish shrug. Couldn't he see that the others were supposed to sneak while Jeff held it's attention, then quickly as that he got over it and continued his slow growling advance.

[Jesse Drake]

Hector Villalobos

Hector takes another look at Jeffery, and heads for his bike- but doesn't start it, nor does he let go of his chakram.

[Blakkmonk]

Lamar steps out of his Land Rover, his eyes darting from left to right, trying to see where the sound came from and searching for movement. He unhooks the safety catch of his holster and makes his way to the back and grabs he gear.

[Kuma Da]

Jonathan Wake

/I greet you, Raven-Strikes-The-Wind, and I offer my name in turn./

Jon meets his handshake. "I'm Jon Wake. Pleased to meet you." The skin of his hand is faintly leathery, but warm. He looks about nineteen or so, with ripped khakis and a faded gift-shop shirt. His hair's short and black, and he has a couple days' stubble on his chin.

"It's getting pretty late. You don't suppose the other guys were held up?" Jon has a calm, even tone, although at the moment he sounds tired and a little distracted.

OOC:

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No blips on death sight, Ichneumon?

[Ichneumon]

[OOC: That's my first mistake! Forgetting about describing what you see with your Death sight!]

Jonathan Wake

As you perceive the area, you see nothing unusual... except for a strange glow coming from the shop. As if there was some kind of ghost activity inside.

[Edge]

Bran Davies; Hishu
Bran returns the handshake with a strong grip and a sardonic smile.

"I dunno, Jon. With something like this, I fully expect Murphy to be hard at work."

He releases Jon's hand and gestures towards the picnic table.

"We've got something to think about as it is, though. There's something up about this place, and the guy behind the counter in the shop."

Bran takes his seat again and, assuming Jon sits down as well, he leans in and begins whispering.

"I was just finishing up buying this piece of crap magazine when I heard something. It was faint, but it was weird. Almost as if it were coming over the Gauntlet. And as I turned to look for where it was coming from, I swear the guy behind the counter grinned and gave me an evil eye."

He glances around to make sure that their conversation is still their own.

"'Course, I've not got anything solid to go on, and I don't even know if a sound coming over the Gauntlet is possible. ****, I'm a Rahu, not an Ithaeur."

[Jamini]

Richard Tiff: Hishu

Richard frowns as his companion dashes from his car, taking a few seconds longer to make sure his vehicle is stopped before stepping out himself. He glances at the diner before fixing his eyes on the woman who was slowly approaching.

"I've got a bad feeling about this Jeff." he mutters as his companion suddenly shifts to Urhan form at his side, leaving him alone with the woman. Awkwardly he raises his hands and backs up a step, staring the woman down coolly.

Spoiler

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I am spending a willpower to activate my Dominance gift "Warning Growl". It will only work on humans, wolf-blooded, and other werewolves with 2 or less Honor Renown.

((Rolled here because I fail at using the forum die rollers))

(((8d10)[44]))

Success gives me +2 defense bonus against the woman (who I'm thinking is probably a member of the Pure.) This bonus lasts for the scene.

"I don't suppose we could talk this out, ma'am?" Richard says slowly, a trace of a growl edging into his voice as Jeffrey emerged from the building and shifted into Urshul. "No? Pity."

With that he swiftly throws off trenchcoat and shifts to Urshul.

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Didn't you say it's the half moon right now? Actually?

Rolling Stamina(3)+Survival(-1)+Primal Urge(1), but I automatically can shift as a reflexive action without a roll or point expenditure if it's my Auspice Moon. (Half Moon)

((BAH, rolled it wrong. I'll post it here ))

(3d10)[12]

[Kuma Da]

Jonathan Wake

Something's been bothering him since he sat down. He couldn't quite put his finger on it before, but when Bran mentions the shop, Jon's whole body swivels to orient on it like a compass seeking magnetic north.

"There's definitely something in there. A ghost, or a spirit maybe. It's not hiding itself very well." He can feel the hairs prickling slightly on the back of his neck, but he fights to keep them down. No sense in getting worked up as long as it stays over there. "Might be better just to let it lie."

[Ichneumon]

Richard, Hektor and Jeffrey

The woman doesn't respons at all to the warning growl, as if she didn't "get" it.
Richard quickly shifts to Urshul form, aided by the fact that the current phase of the moon is his Auspice.

The woman does react to that. She seems frightened. Not lunacy-frightened, but more a "I am outnumbered"-kind of fright. She stumbles a bit. "I ehh. Guess that's the only trick you werewolves have, save primitive beasts. Brawl and physical combat, are that you're answers to everything?" She fakes a smile, pretending to still be confident, but it's quite obvious she feels far less secure, now that it turns out there are 3 of you.

"If that's the case, killing your pack will be even more easy that the previous bunch. Good day!" With those words (that sounded quite fake and rehearsed) she bows in a very theatrical way to all three of you. Seconds later her body starts to twist and turn and falls apart, disintegrates, in a group of crows. Her dress and clothes merging into their bodies. The murder of crows quickly flies away into the forest, making loud noices sounding a bit like laughter.

The fire has spread to the gas station...

Jonathan, Bran and Lamar

Nothing interesting happens for 10 minutes. In the distance you see James Parker closing down the shop. He turns off the lights. He closes the windows. He locks the door, turns around to all of you in the distance: nods, smiles and he kindly waves with his hand, greeting you all.... then his body splits into a big cluster of spiders that quickly spread and crawl away from the highway rest stop in many different directions.

[The Kings Raven]

Jeffrey, Urshul -> Hishu

Jeffrey had assumed there was no way she could escape when surrounded by werewolves on three sides. He was wrong. As soon as he realised what she was doing Jeffrey charged at a full sprint, snapping his jaws at the fleeing crows, making enormous leaps to try and snatch one out the air.

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OOC: Well that took both me and Jeffrey by surprise. I know he can't kill an entire flock of crows before they fly out of reach but if he managed to get a bite on even one that should give him tracking bonus for having tasted blood. Here's a brawl roll, I don't know their defence but you can just lop dice off the end.

Making a Charge Attack as per WoD Core. I don't think I'll need Defence this turn.

Strength (2+2) + Brawl 2
(6d10)[9][9][1][3][2][7](31) for tens (6d10)[7][1][8][8][4][9](37)
Ok, unless they have Defence 6 I got at least a bite :)

[Ichneumon]

There are a total of 12 crows. The crows visibly panic when you attack them. Feather fly through the air as you try to bite everywhere you can. You manage to kill 1 before it can escape. It drops dead on the ground. You also manage to bite a few others. (They all taste/smell EXACTLY the same)

[Edge]

Bran Davies; Hishu

<Luna's ever-changing teats!>

The Rahu reaches under the picnic table for the instrument case with his klaive in, and starts fiddling with the awkward locks on the container.

"Not a spirit or ghost. A goddamn shartha. Freaking Azlu. Don't see many where I come from - get more trouble from the rats. Figures first thing we run into would be a spider host."

[The Kings Raven]

Jeffrey, Urshul -> Hishu -> Urhan

In a blur of fur and fangs, snapping teeth, flying feathers and panicked caws Jeffrey emerges victorious, several black feathers adorn his body and a crushed crow no more than a bundle of broken bones, blood and feathers sits in his mouth. In a few deft gulps he swallows the remains before shifting back to human and addressing the other werewolves.

"You think we should, run?"

He's noticed that the gas station is about to blow and points in it's direction to the others before once again changing form. If the others go for the car he'll jump onto the rooftop and hold tight, if they run on foot he'll do the same.

Spoiler

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Nice! Irraka trackers get the goods!

Shifting back to human.
Stamina (3) + Survival (1) + Primal Urge (1).
(5d10)[7][6][7][9][6](35)(5d10)[4][9][5][7][1](26)(5d10)[8][8][6][6][7](35)(5d10)[3][3][9][2][3](20)(5d10)[5][9][8][8][4](34)

[Jesse Drake]

Hector Villalobos

Hector looks at the distance. Then he looks back to Jeffrey. "Was anyone alive in there?" He'll ask. Hector will start getting on his bike to get mobile.

[The Kings Raven]

Jeffery, Urhan

Jeffrey shakes his head in response to Hector's question.

[Jesse Drake]

Hector Villalobos

Hector hangs his head a bit, and gets on his 'cycle. "Okay... I'm out of here." He says. "I've got places to go. Well, brother wolf- our paths may cross again." Then he's off.

[Kuma Da]

Jonathan Wake

Jonathan watches the spiders go. As long as none of them head his way, he won't make any moves against them.

Once they're properly dispersed, he turns back to Bran. "I've seen Azlu before, but never properly fought them. From the looks of it, this one's been disguised here for a while. Maybe we can come back to take care of it when we have a full pack."

"I don't think it'll leave the area for good. You saw how confident it was."

[Ichneumon]

Richard, Hektor and Jeffrey

[OOC: If you decide to continue you ride to the highway rest stop, you may assume the journey goes without further difficulty and that you arrive there within 10 minutes.]

EDIT:

Jonathan

The spiders don't move in your direction, but away from the highway rest stop entirely.