Werewolf Run from January 14!
Jan. 28th, 2007 02:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienAnd I finally got the silly thing typed in. I've been less-than-enthused about typing over the last week due to lingering illness and general fatigue. But I've finally gotten to it- I started early Saturday morning, and just finished the edit-pass about 5 minutes ago. :)
After having introduced Icarus to the Glasswalker Double Helix Cairn and having long discussions as to their next actions in the world, the Warband has come to a crossroads; they have for the most part decided to go 'global' in their actions, to try and act as examples of cooperation between the tribes... However, there are significant issues with this path, and many current complications including the kidnapping of Mother Yaga, the slowly dying-for-lack-of members Open Hand Cairn, as well as the disturbing probability that the Shadow Lords Cairn known as the Aerie, led by Miklos, may have sided in some way with the enemy...
We return the the story the day of the Warband's meeting with Justin, a Shadow Lord member who has been a friend in the past and who has passed on disturbing reports to the Warband as to what may be taking place with Miklos.
Of the members of the band, only Mary, Derek, Will and Lanya are active; Johanna is off talking with Ajax, attempting to get the young Ahroun to see sense in the matter of the Five Fingered Gang, while Traci is merely asleep, paying the price for her exertions for her tribe, the Silent Striders. A significant issue comes up almost immediately- who will be in charge of the personnel-denuded Open Hand while Ajax is off with Johanna? After some brief consultation, Ajax passes the reins of power in the Cairn to the Glasswalker Galliard named Jackson, one of the few remaining Garou in the cairn possessed of any significant rank. On the side of the Warband, Johanna places Lanya in charge in her absence.
After Johanna and Ajax leave, Derek heads off to his mansion to clean up and prepare for the meeting later that night. Mary, for her part, starts making the necessary calls and contacts to pave the way for her to return to Ireland for one last visit. Lanya goes off to the Asatruar Cairn of the Get of Fenris to avail herself of their extensive practice and training facilities, while Will, unbeknownst to his companions, takes a moon bridge to speak with Luna herself!
He arrives upon the Umbral Moon, the sharp shadows of absolute black marking the stark nature of the place- he appears within Luna's city, near the central palace, and is met (almost as if expected) but two lunes at the foot of his moonbridge. They greet him, and an aged page comes out shortly thereafter. The wizened figure asks his business, and Will requests to see Luna herself; this amuses the page for some reason, and Will is led into the palace, past the throneroom and hundreds of armored lune warriors. They travel down a very long hallway, eventually stopping at a small, unassuming door which looks like a personal quarters of some kind.
As he reaches for the handle, it turns space-black save for a crescent-moon of white and turns itself; the door opens, revealing a room of blinding light on one side and absolute black on the other. The effect is dazzling to the point of blindness! He prostrates himself, knowing that he is in Luna's presence; the light dims a bit then, revealing the shape of a crescent moon at the far end of the lit side of the room.
Before him is Luna; she beacons him forward asking, 'Why have you come here?' Will in response says that he seeks the wisdom that the pack needs, that he thinks that he is failing in the role of Theurge and that they deserve a Theurge who is more knowledgeable then he is in the ways of the Garou. He tells her that he sees a madness in the Warband, manifest in their petty fights and squabbles amongst each other, and that he fears for them and for their chances to succeed; He asks for her wisdom... And the scene fades out with her smile...
We return now to Lanya. She has found out disturbing news after her workout session- The old Jarl, Gretier the Strong, is dead. So are three other of the stronger warriors of the Sept, killed in an ambush arranged by one of Grettir's Kinfolk, who had been turned ghoul by the vampires. The new Jarl is Nothung Grittrsson, and this dread news is all related by Grettir's sister Hilda. She confirms the massing of the vampires in the city, most of which seem to be freshly-turned simply to make cannon-fodder. The betrayal of the Kin-made-ghoul has alienated the Sept from their kinfolk, harming them even more than the death of their leader.
Hilda explains how the Asatruar had to stop protecting the Open hand due to their own troubles and losses, and that the fight just gets worse and worse with each passing day; they are facing ever-increasing attacks and the odds are becoming grim. New on the scene are vampires apparently possessed of mystic abilities, capable of projecting flames and causing their victims to burn spontaneously! Hilda and the elders ask for the Warband's help in the fight; this puts Lanya in a sticky spot- the Asatruar think that she's still the leader of the Warband, and are not aware that Johanna is now the pack leader; Lanya knows that Johanna is somewhat reluctant to deal with this fact with her local tribemembers, and thus can't simply say that she no longer leads...
Being as careful in her words as she can, Lanya tells the Asatruar that the Warband is in the midst of preparations for a strike against the group of mages known as the Council, who are aiding the vampires and may have Mother Yaga or at least may know her location. She tells them that the Warband cannot hunt with them at the moment due to this, and due to a meeting this coming night which may give more insight into the enemy. This of course doesn't satisfy them, but they at least put on a good face about the matter.
Then, Lanya makes a minor miscalculation; she doesn't challenge for rank, but rather asks about doing it in the future. Hilda is patient, and says that she is unfamiliar with the traditions of the Black Furies... But that in the future when a challenge is desired with a Get of Fenris, just do it, or don't.
The pack reconvenes eventually, with some discussion starting just before Will returns in a heretofore unseen transporter-like effect; he seems hyper and somewhat crazed, and says 'So, when do we fight?' He seems to be acting more the part of an Ahroun than a Theurge... Mary finds it disturbing, Derek thinks its cool. They prepare for the meeting, heading out so that they will arrive two hours early, plus some time to stop at Mary's apartment so she can pick up a bit of insurance in the form of a shotgun and slugs for same.
Ten PM finds the Warband at the location of the meeting, the old Schmidt brewery in St. Paul. Each takes up a position according to what the think is best- Derek takes the high ground atop the brewery, Lanya goes Lupus to conceal herself in the shadows and sniff about, finding nothing in the air but the scent of the decaying building and its environs. Mary peeks into the Umbra to see who or what is hanging about, seeing several spirits about; pattern spiders on the building (nothing unusual there), a small Wyldling, a humanoid spirit which she can't identify and doesn't see clearly or for long, and strangely a Lune in the courtyard which fades out as she watches.
Will, for his part tears the spigot from the springwater tap and drinks the pure water from deep below, still acting oddly wired and crazed. Mary finishes her look about the Umbra, finds Lanya with the link shared by the pack and tells her what she saw, then goes up to Derek to tell him and take his place; after all, he was the one who made the arrangements with Justin, and thus should be the one making the contact.
Once he is back on the ground he is joined by Will. He asks about the change in Will's demeanor, as even he is starting to see the strangeness of it. Will starts to rant about killing enemies and destroying foes, never once mentioning any reason for the change, in fact denying that there was a change...
Mary is the first to spot the arrival of Justin; she sees a black limousine approach, and poinks a pebble off of Derek's head to get his attention. She points out the vehicle, and heads down from her perch with the sound of the car door opening and closing. A single person approaches, backlit so that his or her face is concealed; however, Lanya catches their scent and by that, its Justin. He comes closer, stops, then turns and walks away. Mary is on the ground by this time, in Glabro form, while Will, Derek and Lanya are in their respective concealed locations; not that that helps.
It's an ambush! The glass windows behind Lanya explode like a bomb outward, blasting her with glass shrapnel and cutting her up; To one side a Garou fades in from the Umbra, flanked by two apparently-human beings, one of whom holds a shotgun! Another Umbral traveler fades in then as well, another Garou in Crinos!
Lanya howls a warning to Will and Derek and goes Crinos in preparation for the fight while Derek, still in homid form is running towards the wall, with the lone Crinos near him. he tries to identify the being, preparing to dodge the coming attack. While he moves, Lanya glances towards the blasted-out windows in an attempt to see what blew them out at her; there is a bane in the building!
Will senses for the presence of the Wyrm on the trio of Garou-and-humans as the gate shuts; he creates a mass of earth over the head of the shotgun-wielding human, stunning him for the time being; Lanya howls a warning about the bane, and the conflict goes into high gear. THe glass from the windows rises, slashing through Lanya again, then coalesces into a twisted, faceted humanoid parody facing her, while the Garou facing off with Derek does something with a Garou gift- it never does come clear what.
The shotgun-wielder shakes off the dirt and tries to clear his weapon; its jammed! Somedays it doesn't pay to get up in the morning... The Garou with him then charges towards Mary, a silvery light vaguely shining about his form, like the light of the moon; the other human makes a gesture towards Will, and a gout of purple flame erupts at him! It strikes him, but the fires lick harmlessly against the Theurge.
Derek, now shifted Crinos, attacks his foe and misses with both clawstrikes; Will is struck again and again is untouched by the flames, Mary dodges her foe deftly, and the human with the shotgun finally clears his weapon and fires at Will, doing just as well as his fire-wielding partner.
Will for his part is STILL crazed, acting more Ahroun though still a Theurge in ability; he lets out the Howl of Forbodence, a Black Sprial howl that insites frenzy in those Garou who hear it! Mary, Lanya and the enemy Garou resist the effects, but Derek goes berserk; Mary tries to throw her foe into the glass-bane and fails, ending up using Falling Touch on him instead. Lanya sharpens her claws with metallic sparks in readiness for the bane.
The fight progresses into essentially four fights: Mary against the Luna-Armored Ahroun, Derek, berserk against the other enemy Garou, Will against the shotgun-human and the mage, and Lanya against the Glass-Bane.
Derek rips into his foe, clawing and biting with berserk fury. Whatever his foe did doesn't seem to have slowed him down in the least; Mary attempts to kayo her foe with a blow to the head with her shillelagh- she hits, but it glances off the silvery effect surrounding him. Shotgun-human continues to have a bad day as his gun jams again and the mage erupts in a flaming aura.
Mary dodges a grab from her foe, and asks 'Why in Gaia's name d' ye attack yuir fellow Garou?" She gets no answer and her fight continues. Lanya dodges past the latest attack of her crystalline foe, and Derek slices into his opponent again. Mary takes another swing with the shillelagh and connects with a solid [CRACK!] to the top of her enemy's head. He drops like a stone, but its unclear if he's out or faking it.
Lanya is blasted by the Bane, and is badly hurt by the spray for glassy shards it projects from its faceted arm. Mary steps back and steels herself against pain; she doesn't know if he's out cold or not, but thinks that he isn't- She thinks that perhaps she can talk him down, or at least instill some doubt. Derek does even more damage to his opponent, who has started to back away from the maddened Glasswalker.
Will is facing off against the flaming mage, striking at the fiery figure for little effect; the mage strikes back, singeing the Theurge slightly. Derek tears even more chunks from his dying foe though the hide of his foe is far tougher than it should be... Lanya decides to step back from the bane; she's badly hurt, and knows that she has to take the time to recover or she'll be taken down- she retreats quickly across the scene, getting out of the range of the creature as the fight rolls around her.
Finally, as Lanya takes the time to recover Derek finally reduces his opponent to a bleeding corpse; however, he remains maddened and looks for another target, focussing on the shotgun-wielding human facing Will; the glass bane, also seeking a new target blasts him, but the effect is so minimal that Derek ignores it. Will bites at his foe but his strike is stopped by the armored coat his foe turns out to be wearing!
Mary's opponent regains is feet and slams his hands together in a powerful clap- reverberating from this action is the sound of a clap of thunder! Derek is knocked off his feet by the force, and this draws his attention to the source of the sound! Mary stands unmoved by the effect, and says 'Grandfather Thunder dinnae stop me; Gaia dinnae stop me; perhaps I'm nae th' one in th' wrong here!'
Derek, now on a new tack charges at Mary's opponent; the Shadow Lord moves away from Mary, towards the bane- Mary, thinking that maybe her words got through to her foe yells 'No, Derek! They've been suckered!' and interposes, taking a massive strike from Derek's claws! She's nearly taken down by the strike, and wisely just DROPS, unmoving so that Derek won't attack further. he lopes after his previous target, missing on his first strike.
Just before the Shadow Lord reaches the bane, Derek manages to get a piece of the fleeing foe, but it isn't enough- the Garou simply vanishes, having used the reflections provided by the facets of the banes glassy form to leap into the Umbra! This hardly matters to Derek, because he just lost the 'bunny' he was hunting! Derek isn't home right now, but if you could leave your name and number...
However, he does get drawn to the glass bane when it blasts glass fragments at him, causing some minor injury; He engages the creature, damaging it in return. With Derek's attention drawn away from her, Mary gets back to her feet, yelling to her companions that she thinks that their opponents have been deceived ('they've been suckered!'), and moves to assist Will despite her injuries. Lanya utilizes her particular gift and moonjumps to just behind the mage as well.
Will for his part strikes his opponent, though he receives minor burns for his troubles; moments later Lanya tears into the mage, with the unforeseen effect that he detonates! Will is slightly hurt by this, and both packmates are knocked off their feet. Derek and the glass bane continue to battle, with Derek slowly getting the upper hand. A final exchange of blows and the bane itself blows apart, effectively ending the fight for the moment.
With no opponent foes remaining and building fatigue, Derek comes back to himself. The pack rapidly determines that the Garou who vanished had fled to the Umbra, and Will is determined to follow; Mary is less determined, as she has doubts that they should be killing other Garou. Will states 'He's an enemy! He needs to die!' And steps into the Umbra using a reflection in a puddle.
Lanya follows, with Derek and Mary, who is in NO condition to follow regardless remaining behind. The pair talk, Derek initially apologizing; Mary states that she thinks that their opponents were suckered, with Derek replying "I don't really care." He helps her back to the Hummer and performs some first aid.
Off in the Umbra, Will and Lanya appear and soon see their opponent walking slowly away, followed by the bane which had apparently simply left to the Umbra; Lanya aims with her bow as Will begins a binding rite against the bane; Lanya lets her shot fly hitting her target and knocking him to the ground!
He picks himself and glares at his opponents; suddenly, there are no wounds, no flaws to be seen on his form- apparently perfect and untouched by harm he snarls 'Bring it, then!' Will snarls back, having contained the bane, 'You reek of Wyrm taint!' and blasts the Shadow Lord with a gout of fire- the flames lick about his form, and the silvery sheen is once again seen protecting him.
Lanya once again takes aim; however, the Shadow Lord charges the pair and she is forced to fire early, missing. Will braces for the charge and manages to avoid the first strike of their foe. The second hits, but for no harm. In return he tries to damage the strange armor of their foe, but doesn't manage to harm it.
Lanya takes the slow route to Crinos-form, and punches for little effect; Will and the Shadow Lord square off, but in the end Will bites and tears out his foe's shoulder, killing him! Once he is dead, the many wounds on his form are revealed; no longer so perfect in death.
Back in reality at the Hummer, Johnny, Justin's former companion has appeared. Derek asks him if he knew of the attack, and is told yes, but not in time to warn them or help. Derek asks for the names of their attackers, but only gets one, and its the dead one still on earth- Shatters-The-Night. Shortly thereafter, Lanya and Will return, soon locating their friends at the Hummer. Will heals Mary of much of her injuries, and he and Lanya relate the final fight in the Umbra.
Mary states that she may have talked the Shadow Lord around and caused his leaving the field; Derek insists that he ran away; Will rants almost insanely about wyrmtaint and glorious battle, which prompts Mary to say 'What th' hell is wrong with ye, lad?"
Things settle down and Johnny relates to the Warband what he knows. Miklos, who turns out to have not been seen for the last few weeks, had apparently joined some kind of exclusive 'club' dedicated to the acquisition of power, with members made up of leaders of all stripes from around the world. He was also dealing with the vampires, Mages, the Black Spiral Dancers and Shazrad-zum. Then something happened and Mother Yaga was kidnapped; that was the point at which Justin turned against Miklos completely. He and Johnny knew that they needed to find out more, so they formed a plan- Johnny would blank Justin's memory of Johnny and their association, and Justin, knowing full well that he'd be subsumed, joined the cabal. Johnny could now follow and spy upon Justin and his new companions with no possibility that Justin would be aware, and it would give an 'in' to the dealings of their enemies.
What this basically reveals is that the Warband essentially set themselves up, not knowing of the actions of their ally Justin. Johnny goes on to reveal the location of the Aerie, the formerly-hidden home of the Shadow Lords in the Twin Cities! Its at the St. Paul Hotel, entry code 7551.
Johnny believes that Miklos brought Mother Yaga in under the orders of the Council of Five, somewhat confirming the beliefs of the Warband. He doesn't know where they are, however. He believes that if they can meet with the local Vampire Lord Nevrix alone, they may be able to get his cooperation; after all, his power locally has been usurped by the Council and their newcomer vampire followers; if he isn't alone, there are no guarantees.
The Warband share what information that they have with Johnny, and contact-methods are exchanged; Johnny can be potentially reached through any 'shiny', and he is given phone numbers, Derek's address and instructions on how to reach Derek if he gets the butler.
And thus we fade to black on another episode; tune in next time!
After having introduced Icarus to the Glasswalker Double Helix Cairn and having long discussions as to their next actions in the world, the Warband has come to a crossroads; they have for the most part decided to go 'global' in their actions, to try and act as examples of cooperation between the tribes... However, there are significant issues with this path, and many current complications including the kidnapping of Mother Yaga, the slowly dying-for-lack-of members Open Hand Cairn, as well as the disturbing probability that the Shadow Lords Cairn known as the Aerie, led by Miklos, may have sided in some way with the enemy...
We return the the story the day of the Warband's meeting with Justin, a Shadow Lord member who has been a friend in the past and who has passed on disturbing reports to the Warband as to what may be taking place with Miklos.
Of the members of the band, only Mary, Derek, Will and Lanya are active; Johanna is off talking with Ajax, attempting to get the young Ahroun to see sense in the matter of the Five Fingered Gang, while Traci is merely asleep, paying the price for her exertions for her tribe, the Silent Striders. A significant issue comes up almost immediately- who will be in charge of the personnel-denuded Open Hand while Ajax is off with Johanna? After some brief consultation, Ajax passes the reins of power in the Cairn to the Glasswalker Galliard named Jackson, one of the few remaining Garou in the cairn possessed of any significant rank. On the side of the Warband, Johanna places Lanya in charge in her absence.
After Johanna and Ajax leave, Derek heads off to his mansion to clean up and prepare for the meeting later that night. Mary, for her part, starts making the necessary calls and contacts to pave the way for her to return to Ireland for one last visit. Lanya goes off to the Asatruar Cairn of the Get of Fenris to avail herself of their extensive practice and training facilities, while Will, unbeknownst to his companions, takes a moon bridge to speak with Luna herself!
He arrives upon the Umbral Moon, the sharp shadows of absolute black marking the stark nature of the place- he appears within Luna's city, near the central palace, and is met (almost as if expected) but two lunes at the foot of his moonbridge. They greet him, and an aged page comes out shortly thereafter. The wizened figure asks his business, and Will requests to see Luna herself; this amuses the page for some reason, and Will is led into the palace, past the throneroom and hundreds of armored lune warriors. They travel down a very long hallway, eventually stopping at a small, unassuming door which looks like a personal quarters of some kind.
As he reaches for the handle, it turns space-black save for a crescent-moon of white and turns itself; the door opens, revealing a room of blinding light on one side and absolute black on the other. The effect is dazzling to the point of blindness! He prostrates himself, knowing that he is in Luna's presence; the light dims a bit then, revealing the shape of a crescent moon at the far end of the lit side of the room.
Before him is Luna; she beacons him forward asking, 'Why have you come here?' Will in response says that he seeks the wisdom that the pack needs, that he thinks that he is failing in the role of Theurge and that they deserve a Theurge who is more knowledgeable then he is in the ways of the Garou. He tells her that he sees a madness in the Warband, manifest in their petty fights and squabbles amongst each other, and that he fears for them and for their chances to succeed; He asks for her wisdom... And the scene fades out with her smile...
We return now to Lanya. She has found out disturbing news after her workout session- The old Jarl, Gretier the Strong, is dead. So are three other of the stronger warriors of the Sept, killed in an ambush arranged by one of Grettir's Kinfolk, who had been turned ghoul by the vampires. The new Jarl is Nothung Grittrsson, and this dread news is all related by Grettir's sister Hilda. She confirms the massing of the vampires in the city, most of which seem to be freshly-turned simply to make cannon-fodder. The betrayal of the Kin-made-ghoul has alienated the Sept from their kinfolk, harming them even more than the death of their leader.
Hilda explains how the Asatruar had to stop protecting the Open hand due to their own troubles and losses, and that the fight just gets worse and worse with each passing day; they are facing ever-increasing attacks and the odds are becoming grim. New on the scene are vampires apparently possessed of mystic abilities, capable of projecting flames and causing their victims to burn spontaneously! Hilda and the elders ask for the Warband's help in the fight; this puts Lanya in a sticky spot- the Asatruar think that she's still the leader of the Warband, and are not aware that Johanna is now the pack leader; Lanya knows that Johanna is somewhat reluctant to deal with this fact with her local tribemembers, and thus can't simply say that she no longer leads...
Being as careful in her words as she can, Lanya tells the Asatruar that the Warband is in the midst of preparations for a strike against the group of mages known as the Council, who are aiding the vampires and may have Mother Yaga or at least may know her location. She tells them that the Warband cannot hunt with them at the moment due to this, and due to a meeting this coming night which may give more insight into the enemy. This of course doesn't satisfy them, but they at least put on a good face about the matter.
Then, Lanya makes a minor miscalculation; she doesn't challenge for rank, but rather asks about doing it in the future. Hilda is patient, and says that she is unfamiliar with the traditions of the Black Furies... But that in the future when a challenge is desired with a Get of Fenris, just do it, or don't.
The pack reconvenes eventually, with some discussion starting just before Will returns in a heretofore unseen transporter-like effect; he seems hyper and somewhat crazed, and says 'So, when do we fight?' He seems to be acting more the part of an Ahroun than a Theurge... Mary finds it disturbing, Derek thinks its cool. They prepare for the meeting, heading out so that they will arrive two hours early, plus some time to stop at Mary's apartment so she can pick up a bit of insurance in the form of a shotgun and slugs for same.
Ten PM finds the Warband at the location of the meeting, the old Schmidt brewery in St. Paul. Each takes up a position according to what the think is best- Derek takes the high ground atop the brewery, Lanya goes Lupus to conceal herself in the shadows and sniff about, finding nothing in the air but the scent of the decaying building and its environs. Mary peeks into the Umbra to see who or what is hanging about, seeing several spirits about; pattern spiders on the building (nothing unusual there), a small Wyldling, a humanoid spirit which she can't identify and doesn't see clearly or for long, and strangely a Lune in the courtyard which fades out as she watches.
Will, for his part tears the spigot from the springwater tap and drinks the pure water from deep below, still acting oddly wired and crazed. Mary finishes her look about the Umbra, finds Lanya with the link shared by the pack and tells her what she saw, then goes up to Derek to tell him and take his place; after all, he was the one who made the arrangements with Justin, and thus should be the one making the contact.
Once he is back on the ground he is joined by Will. He asks about the change in Will's demeanor, as even he is starting to see the strangeness of it. Will starts to rant about killing enemies and destroying foes, never once mentioning any reason for the change, in fact denying that there was a change...
Mary is the first to spot the arrival of Justin; she sees a black limousine approach, and poinks a pebble off of Derek's head to get his attention. She points out the vehicle, and heads down from her perch with the sound of the car door opening and closing. A single person approaches, backlit so that his or her face is concealed; however, Lanya catches their scent and by that, its Justin. He comes closer, stops, then turns and walks away. Mary is on the ground by this time, in Glabro form, while Will, Derek and Lanya are in their respective concealed locations; not that that helps.
It's an ambush! The glass windows behind Lanya explode like a bomb outward, blasting her with glass shrapnel and cutting her up; To one side a Garou fades in from the Umbra, flanked by two apparently-human beings, one of whom holds a shotgun! Another Umbral traveler fades in then as well, another Garou in Crinos!
Lanya howls a warning to Will and Derek and goes Crinos in preparation for the fight while Derek, still in homid form is running towards the wall, with the lone Crinos near him. he tries to identify the being, preparing to dodge the coming attack. While he moves, Lanya glances towards the blasted-out windows in an attempt to see what blew them out at her; there is a bane in the building!
Will senses for the presence of the Wyrm on the trio of Garou-and-humans as the gate shuts; he creates a mass of earth over the head of the shotgun-wielding human, stunning him for the time being; Lanya howls a warning about the bane, and the conflict goes into high gear. THe glass from the windows rises, slashing through Lanya again, then coalesces into a twisted, faceted humanoid parody facing her, while the Garou facing off with Derek does something with a Garou gift- it never does come clear what.
The shotgun-wielder shakes off the dirt and tries to clear his weapon; its jammed! Somedays it doesn't pay to get up in the morning... The Garou with him then charges towards Mary, a silvery light vaguely shining about his form, like the light of the moon; the other human makes a gesture towards Will, and a gout of purple flame erupts at him! It strikes him, but the fires lick harmlessly against the Theurge.
Derek, now shifted Crinos, attacks his foe and misses with both clawstrikes; Will is struck again and again is untouched by the flames, Mary dodges her foe deftly, and the human with the shotgun finally clears his weapon and fires at Will, doing just as well as his fire-wielding partner.
Will for his part is STILL crazed, acting more Ahroun though still a Theurge in ability; he lets out the Howl of Forbodence, a Black Sprial howl that insites frenzy in those Garou who hear it! Mary, Lanya and the enemy Garou resist the effects, but Derek goes berserk; Mary tries to throw her foe into the glass-bane and fails, ending up using Falling Touch on him instead. Lanya sharpens her claws with metallic sparks in readiness for the bane.
The fight progresses into essentially four fights: Mary against the Luna-Armored Ahroun, Derek, berserk against the other enemy Garou, Will against the shotgun-human and the mage, and Lanya against the Glass-Bane.
Derek rips into his foe, clawing and biting with berserk fury. Whatever his foe did doesn't seem to have slowed him down in the least; Mary attempts to kayo her foe with a blow to the head with her shillelagh- she hits, but it glances off the silvery effect surrounding him. Shotgun-human continues to have a bad day as his gun jams again and the mage erupts in a flaming aura.
Mary dodges a grab from her foe, and asks 'Why in Gaia's name d' ye attack yuir fellow Garou?" She gets no answer and her fight continues. Lanya dodges past the latest attack of her crystalline foe, and Derek slices into his opponent again. Mary takes another swing with the shillelagh and connects with a solid [CRACK!] to the top of her enemy's head. He drops like a stone, but its unclear if he's out or faking it.
Lanya is blasted by the Bane, and is badly hurt by the spray for glassy shards it projects from its faceted arm. Mary steps back and steels herself against pain; she doesn't know if he's out cold or not, but thinks that he isn't- She thinks that perhaps she can talk him down, or at least instill some doubt. Derek does even more damage to his opponent, who has started to back away from the maddened Glasswalker.
Will is facing off against the flaming mage, striking at the fiery figure for little effect; the mage strikes back, singeing the Theurge slightly. Derek tears even more chunks from his dying foe though the hide of his foe is far tougher than it should be... Lanya decides to step back from the bane; she's badly hurt, and knows that she has to take the time to recover or she'll be taken down- she retreats quickly across the scene, getting out of the range of the creature as the fight rolls around her.
Finally, as Lanya takes the time to recover Derek finally reduces his opponent to a bleeding corpse; however, he remains maddened and looks for another target, focussing on the shotgun-wielding human facing Will; the glass bane, also seeking a new target blasts him, but the effect is so minimal that Derek ignores it. Will bites at his foe but his strike is stopped by the armored coat his foe turns out to be wearing!
Mary's opponent regains is feet and slams his hands together in a powerful clap- reverberating from this action is the sound of a clap of thunder! Derek is knocked off his feet by the force, and this draws his attention to the source of the sound! Mary stands unmoved by the effect, and says 'Grandfather Thunder dinnae stop me; Gaia dinnae stop me; perhaps I'm nae th' one in th' wrong here!'
Derek, now on a new tack charges at Mary's opponent; the Shadow Lord moves away from Mary, towards the bane- Mary, thinking that maybe her words got through to her foe yells 'No, Derek! They've been suckered!' and interposes, taking a massive strike from Derek's claws! She's nearly taken down by the strike, and wisely just DROPS, unmoving so that Derek won't attack further. he lopes after his previous target, missing on his first strike.
Just before the Shadow Lord reaches the bane, Derek manages to get a piece of the fleeing foe, but it isn't enough- the Garou simply vanishes, having used the reflections provided by the facets of the banes glassy form to leap into the Umbra! This hardly matters to Derek, because he just lost the 'bunny' he was hunting! Derek isn't home right now, but if you could leave your name and number...
However, he does get drawn to the glass bane when it blasts glass fragments at him, causing some minor injury; He engages the creature, damaging it in return. With Derek's attention drawn away from her, Mary gets back to her feet, yelling to her companions that she thinks that their opponents have been deceived ('they've been suckered!'), and moves to assist Will despite her injuries. Lanya utilizes her particular gift and moonjumps to just behind the mage as well.
Will for his part strikes his opponent, though he receives minor burns for his troubles; moments later Lanya tears into the mage, with the unforeseen effect that he detonates! Will is slightly hurt by this, and both packmates are knocked off their feet. Derek and the glass bane continue to battle, with Derek slowly getting the upper hand. A final exchange of blows and the bane itself blows apart, effectively ending the fight for the moment.
With no opponent foes remaining and building fatigue, Derek comes back to himself. The pack rapidly determines that the Garou who vanished had fled to the Umbra, and Will is determined to follow; Mary is less determined, as she has doubts that they should be killing other Garou. Will states 'He's an enemy! He needs to die!' And steps into the Umbra using a reflection in a puddle.
Lanya follows, with Derek and Mary, who is in NO condition to follow regardless remaining behind. The pair talk, Derek initially apologizing; Mary states that she thinks that their opponents were suckered, with Derek replying "I don't really care." He helps her back to the Hummer and performs some first aid.
Off in the Umbra, Will and Lanya appear and soon see their opponent walking slowly away, followed by the bane which had apparently simply left to the Umbra; Lanya aims with her bow as Will begins a binding rite against the bane; Lanya lets her shot fly hitting her target and knocking him to the ground!
He picks himself and glares at his opponents; suddenly, there are no wounds, no flaws to be seen on his form- apparently perfect and untouched by harm he snarls 'Bring it, then!' Will snarls back, having contained the bane, 'You reek of Wyrm taint!' and blasts the Shadow Lord with a gout of fire- the flames lick about his form, and the silvery sheen is once again seen protecting him.
Lanya once again takes aim; however, the Shadow Lord charges the pair and she is forced to fire early, missing. Will braces for the charge and manages to avoid the first strike of their foe. The second hits, but for no harm. In return he tries to damage the strange armor of their foe, but doesn't manage to harm it.
Lanya takes the slow route to Crinos-form, and punches for little effect; Will and the Shadow Lord square off, but in the end Will bites and tears out his foe's shoulder, killing him! Once he is dead, the many wounds on his form are revealed; no longer so perfect in death.
Back in reality at the Hummer, Johnny, Justin's former companion has appeared. Derek asks him if he knew of the attack, and is told yes, but not in time to warn them or help. Derek asks for the names of their attackers, but only gets one, and its the dead one still on earth- Shatters-The-Night. Shortly thereafter, Lanya and Will return, soon locating their friends at the Hummer. Will heals Mary of much of her injuries, and he and Lanya relate the final fight in the Umbra.
Mary states that she may have talked the Shadow Lord around and caused his leaving the field; Derek insists that he ran away; Will rants almost insanely about wyrmtaint and glorious battle, which prompts Mary to say 'What th' hell is wrong with ye, lad?"
Things settle down and Johnny relates to the Warband what he knows. Miklos, who turns out to have not been seen for the last few weeks, had apparently joined some kind of exclusive 'club' dedicated to the acquisition of power, with members made up of leaders of all stripes from around the world. He was also dealing with the vampires, Mages, the Black Spiral Dancers and Shazrad-zum. Then something happened and Mother Yaga was kidnapped; that was the point at which Justin turned against Miklos completely. He and Johnny knew that they needed to find out more, so they formed a plan- Johnny would blank Justin's memory of Johnny and their association, and Justin, knowing full well that he'd be subsumed, joined the cabal. Johnny could now follow and spy upon Justin and his new companions with no possibility that Justin would be aware, and it would give an 'in' to the dealings of their enemies.
What this basically reveals is that the Warband essentially set themselves up, not knowing of the actions of their ally Justin. Johnny goes on to reveal the location of the Aerie, the formerly-hidden home of the Shadow Lords in the Twin Cities! Its at the St. Paul Hotel, entry code 7551.
Johnny believes that Miklos brought Mother Yaga in under the orders of the Council of Five, somewhat confirming the beliefs of the Warband. He doesn't know where they are, however. He believes that if they can meet with the local Vampire Lord Nevrix alone, they may be able to get his cooperation; after all, his power locally has been usurped by the Council and their newcomer vampire followers; if he isn't alone, there are no guarantees.
The Warband share what information that they have with Johnny, and contact-methods are exchanged; Johnny can be potentially reached through any 'shiny', and he is given phone numbers, Derek's address and instructions on how to reach Derek if he gets the butler.
And thus we fade to black on another episode; tune in next time!
