(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF II

[Daishain]

Bear is seething with fury, both at himself and at whatever unseen thing had snatched his sister's life away, just when he'd gotten her back too. He'd failed, and he hadn't even seen or smelled the enemy. He'd failed, and the enemy wasn't here!

His hands and skin began to shift as he looked for something to tear into, forming the claws he most desperately wanted to use on something, anything. A growl built up in the back of his throat as his vision turned red.

And then, just as it seemed like he would lose himself, Michael is there, somehow cutting through the red mist with his voice. Slowly, ever so slowly, the anger and the instinct to tear something apart subsided, leaving grief behind.

Shifting back to his human form, Bear drops to his knees, taking deep, slow breaths as he calms himself.

[Llyarden]

Michael was breathing almost as heavily as Bear, looking on at the Rahu. "How..." he started to say, not even sure if he could bring himself to genuinely ask if he'd done that.

His gaze was inevitably drawn to Juno's corpse, and after a few moments he rounded on the Reveller, his shock at whatever he'd just done fading to be replaced by the far more immediate concern. "What the ---- is an 'Idigam'?" he...more demanded than asked - he might not have come as close to falling to Kuruth as Bear had, but there was anger clear in his voice.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“What the hell...” Blaze muttered, completely oblivious to anything else around him.

Spoiler

Show

occult: intelligence: (8d10)[7][6][3][5][5][10][2][1](39)
9again: (8d10)[5][4][10][5][2][7][8][6](47)
What is Blaze looking at?

[Bennosuke]

Blaze looks down at the strange limp thing. Essence was draining out of it quickly, evaporating just as surely as Juno's remaining flesh appeared to be shriveling and turning to ash. The thing of the flesh, but had been imbued with and tainted by strange Essence. Not only was this thing unnatural, it has been made, shaped into its current abominable form. Within moments the thing's slimy flesh has dried to a husk of coral that disintegrates in the night breeze.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze looked around for any of the critters that were still alive. Had they been using Juno as some kind of incubator?

[Bennosuke]

Similar to the one in Blaze's hand, the other things that had spewed forth from Juno's chest have begun to harden and turn to coral dust. The gallons of salt water have begun to turn the surrounding grass into a layer of salty mud into which the disintegrating things are dissolving.

[Daishain]

Bear stays on his knees for a while, watching as what little was left of Juno becomes even less. Eventually, he shakily gets to his feet, moving over to Michael, his voice is stiff, "Thank you pup... Michael, I almost lost control there."

Raising his voice a little he states, "Whatever just happened, we need to run damage control. Some of us need to go after Solomon, I don't like the way he looked when he ran off. The rest can probably focus on calming the situation with the rest of the pack and our human guests. Blaze, do you think you can learn something from... this?" He gestures vaguely at the little piles of crumbling flesh.

[Bennosuke]

Chapter 2 Act 1 Scene i

“Where does madness leave off and reality begin?”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

"I hear her voice calling my name.
The sound is deep in the dark.
I hear her voice and start to run,
Into the trees, into the trees, into the trees.
Suddenly I stop, but I know it's too late.
I'm lost in a forest; all alone.
The girl was never there.
It's always the same, I'm running towards nothing"
- The Cure, A Forest

Almost two months had passed since the slaying of He Who Obliterates Breathing. The Anchor Wolves had rooted out most of the remaining Beshilu nests and killed off or driven away as many Shartha as they possibly could. Autumn rains turned to winter's snows. After much discussion with his packmates, Michael had decided to to take a trip out to Boston. He was aware of the fact that he would not be able to join a tribe while in New Bedford, and so with the pack's blessing loaded up his car and drove off to join the Iron Masters, taking E with him. The two had stayed practically inseparable, and Michael had already confided in Bear about his thoughts of proposing to her.

Solomon, who had been sullen and brooding, and prone to disappearing into the Hisil all on his own, left New Bedford only a week later. He told the pack that he was taking a trip up to Miskatonic University, believing he could find out more about Dagon and the Idigam by throwing himself into the books at their library. He refused to let anyone come with him, and offered no promises about when he would come back.

Knowlton had made the necessary introductions with the pack's newest member, James Malley. Like Michael, James was college aged when he underwent his transformation. The Anchor Wolves' successes in "cleansing" New Bedford had made them somewhat locally famous, and James needed a new school. So it was arranged that he would transfer to U-Mass Dartmouth, and become the newest member of The Anchor Wolves. Fortunately, the kid could also play guitar, and was finding a good niche for himself among the other Uratha. It had only been a few weeks, but James was already one of the Anchor Wolves.

And so it was that the pack was in the middle of a mid afternoon band practice, when a knocking came on the Cannery's front door. Kara was already good and drunk, a bad habit that she had been indulging in more over the last few months (no one knew if it was The Reveler's influence or her coping with Juno's death... or both). But she was still together enough to sing on rhythm and in key, and be the first one past the microphone to see who was banging on the large metal doors of the factory. She stumbled down from the small makeshift stage, leaving the other band's music trailing off behind her, though she still carried her microphone. With fumbling fingers, Kara undid the massive bolt to the door, which then flew open with the force of the winter sea wind.

Standing in the doorframe was a man in a large yellow slicker over black priest's robes. He was not old, but appeared to frail and prematurely balding. His round blew yes were watery, his nose red with the cold. Holding a large notebook under one arm, the priest stared at Kara with a dower expression, and after looking past her to the others in the room announced sourly, "I would like to come in... if that would be alright!"

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“We’re not buyin’ anything man, otherwise come on in,” Blaze called from the kitchen.

[Daishain]

Bear steps up behind Kara, he doesn't do anything to prevent the man from accepting Blaze's invitation, but he does make sure to get close enough for a good smell without being conspicuous about it. "This is an odd place for a priest to visit, what brings you out this way?"

[Llyarden]

James had only technically been part of the pack for a couple weeks, but he'd already decided he liked it here. The Anchor Wolves were great, both as a pack and as Cry Wolf (he'd managed to grab a few bootleg recordings from some of their shows before he'd joined and they now comprised the majority of his playlist, though that was nothing in comparison to the pure wild of actually getting to play with them) and he was actually making some degree of progress on his college studies.

(He...still hadn't quite figured out how to feel about June being in the same college as him, though.)

But he had to admit, of all the possible interruptions to their band practice, a pastor showing up at their door was definitely not very high up the list. He carefully set the guitar down on its stand before hopping off the stage, hanging back to let Kara and Bear greet the newcomer.

[Bennosuke]

A sour expression appears on the man's face after Blaze's statement. "Thank you," he says flatly as he steps out of the wind into the warehouse, closing the door behind him and shutting out the cold afternoon air, "I am certainly not here to sell you anything."

His displeased gaze falls on Bear next and in the same tone he replies, "Yes. Well with any luck I won't have to stay around too long." He walks further into the room, approaching the band stand where the remaining Uratha are gathered. "You see, I represent a significant and concerned congregation of locals," he begins, taking the notebook out from under his arm and holding it out in front of him as if it were some sort of talisman. On the cover of the book in bronze is written "Church of Daigon". He continues, "I have here the signatures of just under a hundred congregation members in a petition requesting that you leave our quiet town. Your kind is not welcome here, and your devil worshiping music is a disturbance to the peace of New Bedford." He seems satisfied in his announcement, as if this were enough to simply make everyone decide to give up an leave.

[Daishain]

Bear suppressed a growl as the priest identifies himself as a servant of that strange cult. Starting a confrontation didn't seem prudent. "This town is anything but quiet and peaceful, and we're definitely not responsible for that. You're really worried about a little music more than... say, the gang of thugs that's been shooting at visitors? We bring happiness and merriment to the people of this town, something it looks like you could use a little of yourself. Sorry, but we have no reason to go anywhere, and frankly the presence of a tiny handful of people who have forgotten how to have a bit of harmless fun is all the more incentive for us to stay."

"Now, I would really hate to be a poor host, I can offer you a drink. Water if you don't want anything stronger. You can even stay and listen to our practice if you like. But I'm afraid the topic of our presence in this town is not open for discussion."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Oops, sorry, this roll was supposed to be in SF.

Wits+stealth (4d10)[8][8][9][10](35)
ten again (4d10)[4][3][7][7](21)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze laughed.

“Only a hundred? We’re not playing loud enough man,” he said, “you know what I think? I think you diagon folks are upset our music is more popular than yours. You can’t get rid of the competition that easy. We should definitely ramp up. What do you guys think, should we add some more shows?”

[Bennosuke]

The man's ruby upturned nose wrinkles in response to Bear's response. "Of course the gangs are a problem as well, and our Church is very involved in the community and in trying to prevent gang violence. But they are not this town's newest burden; you lot are!" He points a bony finger at Bear, the skin so dry that it is lined, scaly and cracking at the knuckles.

Blaze laughed.

“Only a hundred? We’re not playing loud enough man,” he said, “you know what I think? I think you diagon folks are upset our music is more popular than yours. You can’t get rid of the competition that easy. We should definitely ramp up. What do you guys think, should we add some more shows?”

The priest spins, his bulbous eyes narrowing at Blaze. He spitefully replies, "I only came as a representative of the concerned members of my community. We don't need you here. We don't want you here. You are nothing but a group of bad apples." He steps back, stopping for a moment to compose himself. Crossing his arms over his chest, the priest says, "My apologies. I know it was perhaps overly optimistic of me to think I could reason with you all, so let me just say this; you are making yourselves a very dangerous enemy. If you will not listen to reason, we will be sure to make you regret your decision and your... ungodly ways." His eyes dart from one person to the next, an enlivened sneer on his face.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze snorts but he pulls out his phone and starts recording when the priest is looking somewhere else. He’s not so much interested in the video as the audio.

“What are you going to do old man, bore me to death?” Blaze asked, “you got a lotta nerve coming into _our_ house and making threats.”
Then he stopped for a second.

“So what is it exactly you want us to do, leave?” Blaze asked, “and if we don’t, because, you know, it’s a free country man, then what? What are _you_ gonna do!”

[Daishain]

Bear decides to shift the priest's focus back to him, "We never knowingly did anything to harm you or any of your followers. In fact just the opposite, I'd say we've done a fair bit of good for this place. If you don't like our music, fine, don't listen. But we're not your enemy, and have given you no reason for you to make us an enemy. Coming here unprovoked with a demand to leave is not reason. If you have some legitimate problem with us, air it, we'll listen, at least until you start repeating yourself. I can't promise we'll change our ways of living life, but we'll at least listen. That's a more than fair offer."

"My offer of hospitality stands, at least for now. You can have a drink if you like, hang around for a little while, and get to see whether or not our... ungodly ways are really so horrible. Or we can talk about whatever it is we've supposedly done for a bit. If you pick the latter option and act in a more polite manner than you have so far, we might even reach some sort of agreement. But if you're just going to stand there and insult and threaten us, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave."

The Rahu didn't like playing nice here, but this priest might actually be able to cause serious trouble for them. It would be very difficult to hold this place if the humans were convinced they were the enemy. He wanted to at the minimum be able to say that he'd done his best to avoid a conflict.

[Llyarden]

James frowned as the priest continued his spiel. No-one had mentioned this 'Church of Daigon' to him before he'd come here, but Bear's conciliatory tone kinda suggested these guys were at least relatively prevalent. He wondered if anyone on any of the forums he browsed would have heard of them; he'd already seen someone's wild conspiracy theory about Cry Wolf on one of the sites. "And what do you think our 'kind' is, exactly?" he asked, aloud.

[Bennosuke]

The man ignores most of Bear's rational argument. But when Bear brings up hospitality, the man spits, "I'm fine thank you. I think I've said most of what I wanted to say. I want nothing more from your lot. "

Blaze snorts but he pulls out his phone and starts recording when the priest is looking somewhere else. He’s not so much interested in the video as the audio.

“What are you going to do old man, bore me to death?” Blaze asked, “you got a lotta nerve coming into _our_ house and making threats.”
Then he stopped for a second.

“So what is it exactly you want us to do, leave?” Blaze asked, “and if we don’t, because, you know, it’s a free country man, then what? What are _you_ gonna do!”

The man freeze's for a second under Blaze's attack, his round cold eyes focused on the Uratha

(OOC: Wanna give me a Manipulation +Empathy/Persuasion +1. Blaze is trying to trick this guy into incriminating himself; the +1 is for it being an awesome idea)

James frowned as the priest continued his spiel. No-one had mentioned this 'Church of Daigon' to him before he'd come here, but Bear's conciliatory tone kinda suggested these guys were at least relatively prevalent. He wondered if anyone on any of the forums he browsed would have heard of them; he'd already seen someone's wild conspiracy theory about Cry Wolf on one of the sites. "And what do you think our 'kind' is, exactly?" he asked, aloud.

"Punks!" The priest spits, his lined face filled with venom, "No good godless, lawless punks."

[Bennosuke]

"Yes. I want you to understand that you are not welcome here. That in speaking for my congregation, we would like you to leave and stop infecting the youths and the vulnerable of this city with your sin," the Priest hisses, "

You cannot understand as outsiders to this community. You cannot know, and you are not welcome here, and we will do what we can to see that you leave. We will protest! We will picket your concerts and encourage the god fearing members of this community to ban your filth!

" It was strange; it was almost as if the Priest were trying to whip himself into a frenzy of hatred, as if he were looking for reasons to hate the band.

[Daishain]

Bear had had enough. He'd offered an olive branch, but this one was not interested in the slightest. "Right, good luck with that. Now, you're disturbing OUR peace. So please leave."

[Bennosuke]

An evil sneer stretches across the man's prematurely wrinkled face and he replies, "Very good then. I hope you will at least consider what I have said, and the request from the good people of this town." He steps back towards the door, keeping his eyes on the group as if he were expecting to be attacked. "I'll see myself out now. Thank you very much!" he said, fumbling for the door before pulling it open and rushing out into the night.

[Daishain]

Bear sighs and kneads his forehead, "That one's going to be trouble, and of a sort we'll have a tough time fighting off. Blaze, what do you think, Daigon's connected to this idigam thing right? Is the priest being ridden?"

[Thundercracker]

Bear sighs and kneads his forehead, "That one's going to be trouble, and of a sort we'll have a tough time fighting off. Blaze, what do you think, Daigon's connected to this idigam thing right? Is the priest being ridden?"

Blaze

"I dunno, maybe?" Blaze replied, ending the recording, "but he's got a whole congregation of people who are signing off on stuff, so it's not just him. Maybe we should look into them a little bit. Anything called Diagon has got to be at least a little bit shady."

Spoiler

Show

int + occult: Blaze know anything about Diagon? (8d10)[2][1][3][3][6][6][7][3](31)
9 again: (8d10)[3][9][6][5][1][9][3][5](41)

[Daishain]

"Solomon ran into them before, it might be worth giving him a call. That priest is probably going to try and rally people into protesting against us. I don't know what kind of influence he has, but priests are typically trusted more than most. If it gets out of hand we might start to have trouble even showing our faces."

Bear thinks for a moment before saying, "I hate to waste time on him, but we will probably have an easier time of it if we head things off, make people disregard him as a raving lunatic. Kara, how quickly do you think we can whip up a benefit concert? With proceeds going to the people having a hard time in this town? We can go big on the advertising from the start, make it clear to everyone in New Bedford that we're good for this place."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Ohhhh, wait a minute,” Blaze said, “these guys have something to do with that Deep One.”

He relayed what he’d found from the museum, and Solomon’s experience with the church several months prior.

Spoiler

Show

info dump on ooc

[Bennosuke]

Bear thinks for a moment before saying, "I hate to waste time on him, but we will probably have an easier time of it if we head things off, make people disregard him as a raving lunatic. Kara, how quickly do you think we can whip up a benefit concert? With proceeds going to the people having a hard time in this town? We can go big on the advertising from the start, make it clear to everyone in New Bedford that we're good for this place."

"Probably pretty quick," Kara says with a drunken giggle, "Michael already rallied a good group for our last concert. I can get on it and we should reach out to Sanders to try to get us a venue and get the ball rolling." She pulls out her cellphone reflexively, and begins furiously typing away.

[Daishain]

Bear grunts as Kara does her thing. "Right... We probably ought to poke around and try to find out a little more about how much influence this priest actually has, try to guess if he can actually make good on his threat. That's not really something I'm good at though. Blaze, James, want to head out and poke around a bit? I guess I can go out on patrol while you guys are doing that, though if someone has another idea my ears are perked."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Yeah sure,” Blaze replied, “hopefully we can find some dirt on them too.”

[Bennosuke]

After a bit more discussion, Blaze leaves the group to head back up to his room. He opens up his laptop and begins his research.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I count four successes on your roll and will grant you answers to two questions that Blaze has about the Church that would be reasonable to find out from the internet. I'll give you some wiggle room on this, but for example it is unlikely that Blaze will find out anything related to the word Idigam specifically. However, alternatively, you could as if there are any stories tying the Church to strange/occult practices.

************************************************** ********

After Blaze steps away, James gathers some of the remaining wolf blooded to him and begins to tell a story.

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

Your roll related math all checks out in the OOC thread. I've subtracted the two spent Essence from James' Character Box in the OOC thread and he is now at 8. Just for fun, please give me a little description of the story that James tells, which helps him gain inner knowledge regarding "The Streets" to benefit his streetwise.

James finishes with 3 successes which will allow James an answer to one question, which will again be specific to how you see him applying his Int+ Streetwise roll. Again, how is James applying his knowledge of the streets (Int+Streetwise) to investigate The Church?

************************************************** ********

Bear makes the arduous trip out into the forest, checking on the field outside the nursery that had been used as a killing floor against the plague demon. After confirming that all the space was still well maintained, he then set out into the woods, trotting off towards Brown Tail's nest. It was not long after he started off on the familiar mountain trail that he was greeted by a welcoming squawk. Brown Tail was circling in the sky over head, gliding lazily. Changing angles the falcon quickly descended, spiraling down before spreading his wings to make a few decelerating flaps and landing on a nearby branch.

"I have news for you," Brown Tail announced proudly, "I witnessed something very strange during my hunt this morning near town!"

(OOC: Bear gets four successes)