(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF II

[Bennosuke]

The librarian's eyes narrow at Blaze's request, and she steeples the stubby fingers of her hands together, as if chewing over her reply.

(OOC: Please give me another manipulation + subterfuge roll, this one at -1 for the last failed one, as the librarian is now very suspicious of this punk who has showed up at her desk)

[Daishain]

Bear howls back to match that of the maddened thing he faces. The harbor wolf could still speak, that was... something at least. Maybe...

He calls out at the top of his lungs, "Remember brother! Remember who you are! Urum Da Takus! Imru Nu Fir Imru! Sih Sehe Mak! Mak Ne Sih!"

He continues to chant the oath of the moon at the harbor wolf, urging others to join in. But he will cease doing so the moment violence is joined, and leap into the fray.

Spoiler: OOC

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If this gambit doesn't work, I'll spend an essence to activate 8 again rule for brawl checks.
Bite and grapple if necessary. (9d10)[3][10][6][6][6][9][3][1][6](50)
eight again (9d10)[7][4][2][6][5][7][1][3][6](41)

Think we could do some sort of communal presence+persuasion roll here?

[Thundercracker]

The librarian's eyes narrow at Blaze's request, and she steeples the stubby fingers of her hands together, as if chewing over her reply.

(OOC: Please give me another manipulation + subterfuge roll, this one at -1 for the last failed one, as the librarian is now very suspicious of this punk who has showed up at her desk)

Spoiler

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Manipulation + subterfuge: (2d10)[3][8](11)

Blaze doesn’t really care whether she goes or not, he’s just going to do his thing.

[EarthenRite]

After a full recitation of the litany that Bear is chanting, Michael joins in as he continues to creep forward, ready to strike in concert.

Spoiler: OOC

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presence + persuasion if that is applicable - (4d10)[7][8][8][2](25)
Attack if necessary to spring at the other werewolf to harry him down - (6d10)[9][5][1][7][2][4](28)

Presence/Persuasion 10s - (4d10)[6][7][7][1](21)
Attacks 10s - (6d10)[3][4][4][1][9][7](28)

[Ladorak]

With the others drawing all the attention Solo creeps up on the flank of the last Harbor Fang

[Bennosuke]

The Anchor Wolves begin to close in on the trapped Uratha as Bear begins to repeat a litany of the Oaths of the Moon. The last Harbor Wolf is surrounded by a swarm of rage spirits that have slowly materialized at his presence; little red gnats of ephemera that buzz and bite with excitement at the coming melee. But tears are streaming down the lone Uratha's muzzle, black tar-like clots; even as he bares his fangs and growls at the closing circle. "Go away!" he snarls, "You don't understand! Kul kisura udemada!"

But even as the meaning of Silent Fang's words might dawn on a few of the Anchor Wolves, one of the dog spirits breaks rank, charging in with a howl and a series of growls. The thing bounds in, twin tails held high, jaw snapping with rows of sharp teeth. The spirit leaps at the Uratha, whose claws shred the dog into ribbons of ichor with a single swipe. The reaction from the other dog spirits is immediate, and suddenly, everything is chaos.

Spoiler: OOC

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The group has activated the Werewolf's bane of having to kill anything that enters his territory if he can, and so combat has begun. If you have not yet, please give me a single combat roll.

Rolling for the dog pack (8d10)[2][1][8][2][7][2][2][4](28)
Rolling for Silent Fang (16d10)[7][1][6][10][8][1][2][5][10][7][3][7][9][8][2][7](93)

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

The librarian glares at Blaze for a long moment. Her eyes lock with the Uratha's, yellow and round. "Fine," she finally says, "give me one moment. I will be RIGHT back".

(OOC: So is Blaze installing a computer, or is he simply using the library wifi to do some research on a laptop???)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Blaze unpacked the laptop and set it up on the table, and waited for the spirit to move over.
"This can be your new home," Blaze said, "I have fulfilled my part of the gathra, where can the Tanis root be found?"

Spoiler

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Blaze is just there for the spirit to give him the location of the tanis root. He's actually considering taking the spirit with him in the laptop but first things first.

[Erulasto]

As chaos erupts around her, Kara’s lips split into a wide, toothy grin. While her Dalu form was still undeniably Kara, her long limbs and lean muscles had grown considerably in size and bulk. Black-painted nails had hardened and become small, raking claws and her teeth were fit for tearing.

The Cahalith took advantage of the chaos to leap into the fray herself, scratching and clawing at Silent Fang even as the dog spirits hounded the lost Uratha.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attack Roll (Strength adjusted by DALU form +1)

Strength 3 + Brawl 3

(6d10)[10][10][3][1][4][10](38)

[Ladorak]

As Silent Fang roars out his challenge/warning Solo is already defying it, a silent grey blur far more deserving of his prey's sobriquet. As the rogue Uratha leapt to the frontal assault the considerably bulk of the Direwolf crashed into him from behind, fangs ripping at the exposed tendons at the back of his leg.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Apply leg wrack using urshal ability 'weaken the prey'
strength + brawl + urshal + (teeth)
3+3+2+(+1 L and free grapple)
(8d10)[1][1][3][3][7][8][5][8](36)+1L
10 again
(8d10)[9][5][1][3][7][7][6][1](39)

Grapple:
(8d10)[7][9][1][7][4][5][10][10](53)
10 again
(8d10)[10][8][4][4][8][7][2][9](52)

[Bennosuke]

Spoiler: OOC: Resolving rolls

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So it looks like a landslide. Silent Fang gets a total of 5 successes, while the Anchor Wolves and spirits get 11 total successes... assuming I counted correctly.

The sudden obliteration of the single dog spirit is the loosed pebble before an avalanche of violence. Despite being outnumbered, the mad Uratha is indomitably powerful, rending apart a number of his spirit enemies, and tearing bloody wounds into the Anchor Wolves. The Harbor Wolf in Gauru form even manages to catch Michael's soft neck fully in clenched jaws. But Silent Fang suddenly seems unable to make the final killing blow, and is instead dragged down by the rising tide of claws and fangs.

But it is Kara who strikes the final blow, the Cahalith howling triumphantly as her claws tear out the Gauru's throat, before a powerful twisting pull with her neck helps separate the rest of the werewolf's head. The death of the Uratha is marked by a sudden thunderclap in the Hisil. The explosion causes a sudden halt to the melee, and the silence that follows is cut by a growing wind that picks up the dry dead soil into the air so that those gathered must shield their eyes. Then the sky opens up, pouring a torrent of luminescent liquid pearls. The spirit rains are cold and mournful, marking the passing of another great hunter.

Spoiler: OOC: Breaking Point

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So the pack has killed another Uratha, which while being the right thing to do, violates an Oath of the Moon and therefore counts as a -2 Breaking Point towards Flesh for all characters. Base dice pool is Resolve + Composure - 2 , modified by a negative modifier for every point of harmony above 5. If this is unclear, see page 104.

All players, including Blaze gain a beat for working towards the Pack Aspiration of securing the Territory

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

The laptop boots up mercifully quickly. But rather than the screen going to a log in page, it instead shifts to the shimmering mirror surface as the computer spirit takes hold of the device. The following message paints itself across the screen, "This feels good. Okay, I accept your offering Wolfling..." The letters ripple across the screen for several seconds before dissolving into a thousand tiny illegible First Tongue ruins, and then a second message appears. "Tanis root is only natural to The Hisil. The Harbor Wolves were growing a crop of them in their greenhouse on their massive property, before the dug out the foundation and the whole place collapsed. But you can probably get some seeds or some deep roots on the old Harbor Wolf property."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Thank you, this will be a boon to our efforts,” Blaze replied, “the librarian has been difficult. Would you be agreeable to come with me and continue collaborating? We could accomplish much and grow together.”

[Bennosuke]

The screen of the laptop grows even brighter, shimmering in a prismatic scale of colors. "That may be worthwhile Wolfling... If you will give me the access to the information and technology I need." There is a pause as the sigils slowly dissolve from the screen, and then a second message appears, "This thing has Wifi and Bluetooth, right???"

(OOC: Do we want to consider this a step towards taking this computer spirit as a Spiritual Touchstone?)

[Daishain]

Bear lets go of Silent Fang's limb as he realizes it would not be moving again.

There is no triumph in the Rahu's stance as he stands. "He was more lucid than I thought, had we approached this differently we might have been able to reach him. And now our brother is dead. It might have been the right thing to do, but it certainly does not feel like it."

[Thundercracker]

The screen of the laptop grows even brighter, shimmering in a prismatic scale of colors. "That may be worthwhile Wolfling... If you will give me the access to the information and technology I need." There is a pause as the sigils slowly dissolve from the screen, and then a second message appears, "This thing has Wifi and Bluetooth, right???"

(OOC: Do we want to consider this a step towards taking this computer spirit as a Spiritual Touchstone?)

“Of course it has WiFi and Bluetooth,” Blaze replied, “come with me and ally, and we will periodically get you upgraded with new hardware and software.”

Spoiler

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not sure what’s involved with that as I’m afb. Basically Blaze is going to make an ally of this spirit if he can, and get bonuses on his hacking or some knowledge rolls because of it.

[EarthenRite]

Michael makes a point of first seeking out Izidakh on the field of battle, wounded as he is. It was within his birthright to do this, he knew; it was his purpose amongst the Uratha.

“Izidakh, I’m sorry for your losses. Thank you for helping us. Your packmates won’t be forgotten. We are grateful.”

He then returns to the group.

“Everyone still in one piece?”

[Ladorak]

Solo shakes his great barrel head 'I know it seems so Bear, but I have walked closer to the precipice than you. You don't come back when you go over it.' Despite his words Solo is troubled, he had seen Silent Fang withhold his blow. Everything he had been taught told him an Uratha lost to harmony was not capable of such a thing, this rocked the foundations of his beliefs all the way to the bedrock.

Spoiler

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Resolve + Composure - 2 -2 (Harmony 7)
2+2-2-2 = chance dice
(1d10)[7]

[Bennosuke]

Kara shakes her head in dismay, letting out a low whimper. "This was bad," she says, her head hanging low, "even if it was necessary."

Spoiler: Rolling for Erulasto

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Resolve 2 + Composure 2 -4: 1d10 (1d10)[2](2)

Spoiler: OOC: For All

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Michael manages to hold on to his Harmony, but Solomon and Kara shift up to Harmony 8 (@Ladorak, was Solomon really at 7?). They no longer needs a locus to shift into the world of flesh, but are affected more easily by things to drop his Harmony.

However, there is one caviat to this that I missed when mentioning the roll calculation. If you have a spirit touchstone, you get an extra two dice. Conversely, a physical touchstone gives a +2 to resist losing harmony. Each character has one touchstone, but I don't remember what we decided for each player. Please double check and feel free to roll the additional dice.

I am still waiting on a roll from Daishain

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

The computer screen flashes one more time, sigils reading, "Then it is a deal,". Then the mirage of liquid light that had shone from the computer screen dissipates, and Blaze is left staring at the computer's basic desktop.

The librarian returns with a piece of paper, the titles and dewey decimal numbers for each book listed. There are about six books on the list

Spoiler: OOC

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not sure what’s involved with that as I’m afb. Basically Blaze is going to make an ally of this spirit if he can, and get bonuses on his hacking or some knowledge rolls because of it.

Each werewolf gets a spirit and a flesh touchstone. Helping touchstones help the player recover WP. Having the touchstone also helps resist Harmony changes. It's also a pack aspiration for each player as each character only has one touchstone ATM.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Blaze takes the paper, crumples it up, and tosses it in the trash. Then he takes the new computer and heads home.

Once there, he will start comparing lists of what they can use vs where it can be found, so he can present options to the rest of the pack when they return.

Spoiler

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sure, let's go for the laptop spirit touchstone.

[Ladorak]

Spoiler: OOC

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It started at 7, I don't think anything has effected it so far.

[Bennosuke]

Blaze returns back to the pack's territory, where he is accosted by the Wolf Blooded who are excited to find out what the Ithauer has learned, and when they can begin gathering the Banes.

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

Still unable to look down a the their defeated foe, Kara steps away from the cave and says, "Our work is done then. Shall we return back to home, or do we defile his den now?"

[Daishain]

Bear shakes his head, "We need to get this done now. No doubt the Beshilu will clear the place out the moment they hear its guardian has fallen."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“First things first guys,” Blaze said, holding up the lists, “we need to figure out which of this stuff can be weaponized. See if you can figure out what forms we’ll be able to find the ingredients, whether it’s a pill or a syrup or whatever, and brainstorm how to weaponize them, whether we can dilute it into a super soaker, coat it on a crossbow bolt, or load it into water balloons, syringes, or a pesticide fogger.”

He made himself available for research and questions they might have, and used his knowledge of spirits and the bane he’d gleaned to determine what would work and what wouldn’t.

“We’re going to have to keep everything on the DL for now, so this thing doesn’t catch on to what we’re doing before we spring the trap, so we gotta be ready to go almost as soon as we grab the banes.”

[Ladorak]

Solo bowed awkwardly to the dog spirits 'I know you did it not for me, but thank you for sharing our hunt. It is a sacred bond and I will not forget it.'

[Bennosuke]

Face blank, eyes practically dead, Kara replies to Bear, "Very well. Should we at least bury him?" The Cahalith gestured to the sky, which was beginning to teem with gathering Death, and Rage spirits that had come to feast on the Essence and corpus of the slaughtered Uratha. She looked grimly up at the gathered scavengers, though the spirits still gave the pack of Werewolves a wide berth, buzzing overhead and out of reach.

Nearby, Izidakh was licking his front paws clean of spilled Uratha blood. The dog spirit seemed engrossed in his preening, but replied to Solomon, "You are correct. Though it was an honor to be included in the hunt. You can thank Michael for our service however." The alpha dog spirit sniffed at the air, growling at the occasional Lesser Spirit that got too close.

(OOC: So the pack is going to enter the cave? If so, please be clear in your action/post.)

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

Though E seemed enthusiastic to follow Blaze's instructions, the group of Wolf Blooded mostly seemed a little bewildered as to how to assist with the task at hand. James King was the only other member who seemed to have any idea how to help. He began talking about ways the military had weaponized gasses into grenades, and sprays. But of course, he was a paramedic and not a technician, and he had to admit he wasn't too sure how to go about such a process. However, he was keen to bring up that James King, the Alpha of the Arrow Heads pack, and leader of the Brockton Protecterate had promised some assistance to the Anchor Wolves... and wasn't it about time that we called in that favor?

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“That’s a Bear call,” Blaze said regarding James King’s involvement.

Seeing they were having trouble brainstorming, Blaze figured he would give them recon instead.

“Okay, how about this,” he said, “we need to figure out who has what stuff. Let’s divvy up this list of likely places selling this list of stuff, and figure out which store has what. We don’t want to buy anything yet, we just want to know where the cures are for now. Sound like a plan?”

[Ladorak]

Solo turned away from Izidakh, facing the cave. This was the last place I saw Juno he thought sadly 'Come on then,' in a strained voice 'Let's get on with it.'

OOC: Solo enters the cave

[EarthenRite]

Michael takes a step closer to Solo, almost as if sensing some of the turmoil. It was who he was growing into within the pack, after all.

“The sooner we finish up, the sooner we can put this place behind us.”

Michael offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and then started slowly into the cave.

[Bennosuke]

“That’s a Bear call,” Blaze said regarding James King’s involvement.

James shrugs, a look of measured frustration playing on his face, though he knows better than to say anything.

Blaze distributes the list of herbal remedies and ingredients out to the Wolf Blooded, who begin pouring over the list. E seems easily bored with the task, and spends more time looking up from her paper at the others than she does reviewing the list. But Pine steps up to Blaze, a finger pointing out one of the ingredients. "What's this?" she asks, finger pointed to the item 'Tanis Root', "I consider myself to be pretty familiar with gardening and the like, but I've never heard of this plant."

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

The pack sets off for the cave mouth. The overhead cloud of spirits begins to draw closer to Silent Fang's decapitated corpse, though none are brave enough yet to begin feeding.

The temperature paradoxically increases about 10 degrees as the Uratha enter the cave. Though it is near pitch black, the lupine senses of the Werewolves allow them to see and navigate the tunnel. Rocky soil shifts to fine soft sand underfoot. The cave reeks of Uratha; fur, urine, feces, old blood and Essence, and the familiar deterioration of corpses picked near clean of meat and organs. It is a nearly overwhelming miasma, but the orgy of the senses is contrasted by the chilling lack of Essence and dormant spirits. Despite warm humid air, the lack of flowing Essence sends a cold chill up the spine.

The passageway opens up into a larger space, more than high enough for a Hishu or even a Dalu to stand and nearly a few hundred square feet. This appears to be the living space of Silent Fang. Long brown stalagmites stretch their long fingers out, hampering the path, but there are other areas of near open space. The ground is littered with bones of various shapes and sizes; the long curving bones of rib cages and spiky blocky vertebra. Old grasses have been strewn in one corner, creating something like a large natural mattress. The room is lit by a number of glowing blue sigils, identical to the ones placed around the Anchor Wolves' warehouse, found originally by Blaze.

Littering the opening through which the pack is entering is a pile of glowing fetishes, klaives and dolls. Solomon's mind snaps back to the scene of Juno rummaging through this pile, right before Silent Fang had appeared and chased the two out and towards the ocean.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“That’s a special bane, it grows in be Hisil,” Blaze replied, “a friendly and helpful spirit gave us the location where we could find it. It could be dangerous to retrieve it though so I was going to wait for the others...”

[Ladorak]

With the familiar sudden and violent sound of snapping bones Solo sheds his wolf form. Human again, far more difficult to hide his emotions, he points to the pile. 'That's what Juno found. There was a glaive that looked almost... He does not finish the thought, instead he bends at the knees to more closely inspect the trove.