Stacey's Fostern Challenge: Skullmonkeys
8/23/2007
03:08 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
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Message: 1/7 in folder main Received: Tue Aug 21 02:03:00 2007
From: Hazmat
To: Aja, Stacey, Jonathan, and Kenneth
Subject: Scouting the Cave
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Remember that the spirit Jonathan spoke to -- a friendly if chattery and bubbleheaded squirrel spirit which apparently had been rescued by a Garou at some point in the past -- is only aware of things in the Umbra. Still, one can figure out the spot in the Realm that corresponds to the cave of "paindarkbitingdarkdarkandfear". It's well to the east of the bawn, /not/ in the area that the Pure Ones consider their protectorate but somewhere north of that.
In the Realm, the cave is very shallow and low. A tall homid form would have to duck to avoid knocking head against ceiling, and it doesn't extend very far -- or, at least, while there's a tunnel at the far end leading downward, it's too narrow for even the smallest lupus. If you listen at the tunnel you can hear, faintly, the sound of dripping water, and the small cavern is very, very cold. Bone-chillingly so. A depression in the rock near the entrance holds a small, still pool of water, just close enough to the light (which doesn't seem to extend very far into the cave) to be used as a reflective surface for stepping sideways.
If Sense Wyrm is used, the place gives off an awful stink, like sickly and biting like rotten fish infused with mint.
In the Umbra, the cavern is much larger, and the reflective pool of water covers most of it, flowing downwards through the tunnel at the far end, which is also quite a bit bigger -- enough for non-Crinos Garou to go down it... albeit single file. The water is freezingly cold but never more than shin-deep. The tunnel downwards is moderately steep, but the flowing water is likely to make the way slippery. It's impossible to tell what's down at the bottom of it without heading down that way (and if you want to do that, lemme know) but there's definitely something down there -- dripping water sounds, a constant chorus of high-pitched squeaks that only wolfish hearing can hear.
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Currently the moon is in the waxing Gibbous Moon phase (69% full).
It is currently 15:03 Pacific Time on Thu Aug 23 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it's a sunny day. The temperature is 76 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the northeast at 8 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.97 and falling, and the relative humidity is 46 percent. The dewpoint is 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius.)
Hazmat's ONS Room of FUN(#3362RFJ)
Hold onto yer hats, folks!
Contents:
Aja
Stacey
Hazmat
Lune-Calmer
Kaz
[The Challenge pack meets, travels to the cave, and from the pool steps sideways.]
The light of the gibbous moon filters in cool and blue through the entrance of the cave, illuminating the pale, rough rock and ever-moving water. The ice-cold pool, created by no visible source, flows ever downwards into the mouth of the tunnel at the far end, where shadows are thick and where Luna's shine does not quite reach. The Garou can hear the water bubbling downwards into the blackness -- a hollow, forbidding sound.
Kaz sticks to the entrance of the cave, not going in yet. She's in Crinos, has been since they went Umbral. ~Shrouds, where'd you find that's good for ambushin'? Or should I just use the damn thing in the entrance and then get outta the way?~
It's too tight in there, Shrouds replies from her position, a few steps into the cave as she sniffs the air rather hungrily. Only place to hide is from behind the cave walls. If more than one, pack attack one by one when they come, Shrouds continues before glancing towards the Elder Gaian.
Also in Crinos, Walks-Middle remains close to the rest for now, her eyes narrowed as she takes in the look and scent of the place for herself. She nods to Jonathan to signal the Theurge to move to a suitable distance away from the entrance. She nods to Shrouds' words. ~We will hide as best we can. Use your Call, and then move. We'll close in on what emerges as it does. Shrouds with me, Ears-rhya, once she's finished, and Far-Cry on the other side," she adds, motioning for everyone to get into position as she moves toward the right wall of the cave, provided no further questions are asked.
Standing beside Walks-Middle, Far-Cry assumes his hispo form in the Umbra and stares deep into the dark hole of the cavern. He flicks an ear to acknowledge the order, moving closer to Ears.
Lune-Calmer, himself in crinos, tests the long bow's string in the umbral light. He indicates his readiness, and complies to take some steps away from the entrance, although keeps himself within a fair distance to shoot from.
Ears says, ~F'damn sure it's too tight,~ in a grumpy but not irritated kind of way, and moves pretty much straight in front of the entrance. She waits for everyone else to get into position, and then starts the eerie, grating cry, letting it go on for quite some time before letting it fade out and booking it over to Kenneth's side of things.
Slipping out of the cave, Shrouds moves to take her place next to Walks-Middle. She takes a moment to shift into her crinos form before crouching low, setting herself to be near invisible thanks to Gaia's gift.
Several seconds pass with no sound but the steady trickle of water. Then -- quiet at first, quickly growing louder -- high-pitched squeaking, the scrabble of fast claws on stone, the splashsplashsplash of water. A heartbeat before the enemy is seen, Gaia's defenders have time to realize that there's definitely more than one of them, in fact, holy cow, it sounds like a /lot/ -- and the foe comes boiling out of the cave, squealing and shrieking in ultrasonic voices, scrabbling over each other in a frenzy to reach the source of Ears' twisted Call. Pale, naked things they are, skinny monkeys the size of cats with stretched-skin faces like little skulls, gaping maws filled with needly teeth, and whip-like tails, each one ending in a hard bone-like scythe.
There's about twenty or so, all looking mad with bloodlust.
Ears mutters, ~Just what I always wanted,~ and waits for Jonathan's shot before diving at any of them.
Walks-Middle can't help but flatten her ears at the grating sound of the Call. She waits in silence until that scrambling, squeaking approach is heard, and then she lifts one hand, signalling Jonathan to be prepared, then lowering it sharply as the first few foes appear. Once at least one arrow has been loosed, she rushes forward, aiming to strike at the monkeys closest to her side.
Lune-Calmer's eyes widen as the simian mockeries start gibbering and crowding forward. A snarl is loosed, and he mutters something softly (as softly as a Crinos can) as he draws the bow back. A mere instant to aim in the general direction, and then the bane-seeking arrow is released.
Far-Cry waits as well, until Lune-Calmer gets off the first shot. Once it seems like all the ape creatures have poured out of the cave, the philodox jumps out from his position to put himself between the mouth and the stragglers. He siezes for one with his jaws, hoping to crush into it.
Ears, a moment after Far-Cry commits himself, dives at the one he's committed to, clearly aiming to bowl it over, the better to aid her 'partner'.
Shrouds remains behind as Walks-Middle gestures for the attack. Instead, in her crouched position, she tries to keep her status hidden, her eyes focused on the skullmonkeys that emerge. The crinos nose twitches and her lips twist into a snarl though no sound escape. Instead, she readies herself to attack those foolish enough to bypass Walks-Middle, making sure none escape.
Lune-Calmer's arrow strikes home in one skullmonkey, which lets out a scream of pain like the cry of an infant in distress, and collapses, writhing, letting out more of those heart-pulling wails. Far-Cry's jaws crunch down on another, and its baby-wails join those of its sibling. Five more, those at the end of the group, immediately split off and leap at Far-Cry and Ears, letting out their high-pitched staccato screams as they swarm over the Bone Gnawer and the Shadow Lord, grabbing quick, clever little handfuls of fur as they go for ears and eyes. The rest, a good baker's dozen, converge on Walks-Middle. Their claws do little to penetrate the werewolves' thick fur, and their mouths seem too busy screaming to bite, but those whiplike, scythe-bladed tails are vicious. Far-Cry and Ears both get sliced -- the former across one flank, the latter on chest and arm. Walks-Middle takes another deep one across her belly from the first of the spirits to swarm onto her, but the rest are too busy trying to bury her in their scrambling, naked little bodies.
Ears growls, ~Shut the fuck /up/,~ as she bites down on the one on the ground, and then whirls to slash at another.
Walks-Middle lets out a growl as she is both swarmed and cut, the cry edged with pain as her abdomen is cut. She bites at those that near her face, clawing and attempting to pull off the other monkeys, drawing upon her Rage to lend strength to her efforts.
Lune-Calmer remains strangely calm as he quickly knocks another arrow, aside from a grunt as he draws back the bowstring. He 'aims' the shot for one of the monsters intent on swarming their Alpha.
As Walks-Middle begins to get swarmed by the skullmonkeys, Shrouds finally attacks, leaping into the fray to try and rip them off her Elder and bite at any available naked monkey. Her teeth and claws gnash at them as she tries to rake them off.
Far-Cry snarls as the screaming gets closer to him. The hispo'd Shadow Lord lets go of the one he caught first with a twist of his head, and spins in the attempt to grab the one that cut his flank in his jaws. Rage fueled, the philodox snaps at any of the monkeys about him in a blur.
The cries of one of the injured skullmonkey ends as Ears' jaws bite it in two. Her claws rake at another; it wails at her at the top of whatever passes for its lungs and leaps away to land on Far-Cry, landing on his head as the Shadow Lord finishes his third Rage-fueled bite. Tiny little fingers grasp painfully at one of the Lord's ears, needle-teeth sinking in as its tail-blade opens his cheek to the bone. But his own teeth have found their targets and two more of the evil little beasts go limp, their edges turning blurred as they begin to rapidly decay into shreds of spirit-stuff. Two more of the nasty little imps cling to Ears, one right at the middle of her back where it's hard to reach it, but the lashings of its tail go wide with the Gnawer's thrashings.
Meanwhile, Lune-Calmer's second arrow thocks into one of the skullmonkeys that are still on the ground, not quite able yet to find a handhold to climb up Walks-Middle; it joins the other arrow-impaled Bane in infantile wailing and thrashing. Two others snap their heads around as Shrouds bites into a third, and as the one bitten twists itself around to latch onto her muzzle and claw at her eyes, the other to spring upon her, climbing and slashing.
Walks-Middle, meanwhile, is kept busy by the rest; her jaws crush one's head and she pulls another off herself before it can gouge out her eyes, but the imps threaten to overwhelm the would-be Fostern, and her blood flows freely from new cuts.
Ears lumbers (a bit burdened) toward Kenneth, slashing for the beast that's on his head.
Still more than swarmed by the ugly monkeys, Walks-Middle continues to do what she can to get the remaining rats off of her, drawing even more upon her Rage, to lend her speed, as she strikes and snaps at the creatures, growling fiercely in both determination and pain.
Far-Cry doesn't so much as notice the slash down his cheek, furiously trying to loosen the bugger off his head. Whether or not Kaz manages to swipe the one off his head, the Shadow Lord shifts to his warform with speed. Having spotted the one on Kaz's back, the philodox swipes for it with his claws.
A loud growl rips out of Shrouds as the creature between her teeth reaches out to rake at her eyes. Ignoring the others attacking her, she gnashes her teeth down as she shakes her head vigorously. She attempts to break every bone in the skullmonkey's body before even focusing on the other two.
Lune-Calmer looks at the gathering of monkeys clinging to Walks-Middle, and makes a snap decision. Still holding onto his bow with one hand, the other rises to bring his spirit-whistle Shriek to his muzzle. He draws in a breath and lets out a harsh blast with it.
Three more of the vile little things die. One is crushed in Shrouds' jaws, while Ears and Far-Cry demonstrate excellent battle-partnership -- Ears destroys Far-Cry's monkey-mask while Far-Cry yanks off and destroys the monkey clinging to Ears' back. Meanwhile, the other two on Shrouds slice up the Child of Gaia quite badly, their tail-scythes cutting deep across chest and neck -- it's by sheer luck that the latter cut misses the jugular. And they're still on her, one hanging off her belly like a parody of an unborn fetus, the other at the back of her head, tiny hands squeezing her ears.
Walks-Middle, ferocious, destroys another, yanking it off her and ripping it apart as it goes for her eyes, but then the fact of having all those scrambling little THINGS all over her, constantly moving, constantly grabbing, slashing, biting, screeching waken her Beast, and the fire of frenzy boils up from that lethal furnace within every Garou, threatening to turn her into a mindless creature of violence.
Then -- just then -- Lune-Calmer sounds a shrieking note upon his fetish, and as one the remaining skullmonkeys -- about ten -- leap off their respective garou and attempt to flee into the surrounding Umbra.
Ears glares at the retreating Wyrm things, and asks the probably still frothing Stacey, ~More Call?~
Shrouds lets out a roar as she is sliced, spitting out the body in her mouth to get at the others. She scratches and rips at them as she tries to keep herself in control and fight through the pain, blinking rapidly and blearily. When Lune-Calmer sounds his call and the skullmonkeys drop, so does Shrouds, landing in an uneasy crouch as she tries to fight through the pain while breathing raggedly. One of her large paws press against her neck and the other across her chest, letting out another growl of pain that annoyingly ends in a slight but embarrasing whimper. Damnit. Clearing her throat, she tries to regroup, calling on Gaia's gift to ignore the pain even more.
Just as Walks-Middle was at the breaking point, her frustration and rage threatening to boil over as the critters continue to cling to and crawl over her, the shriek is sounded, and they leap off of her. She uses that moment of sudden relief to pull herself together by sheer force of will, clinging to what clarity of thought she has. It's all she can do to give a dip of her muzzle in ascent to Kaz, then give a glance toward Lune-Calmer, making sure he's prepared with what he has left.
Ears possibly finds a rock to hide behind, and sends out that Call again, eerie, grating, and annoying to Garou ears. (Poor Stacey.)
Far-Cry's ears go up as the spirit whistle causes the group of skullmonkeys to flee. His eyes - luckily untouched - scan the pack and assess. While Walks-Middle controls herself, the philodox nods to Kaz. ~We will not let the Wyrm escape. Call them back. Regroup around the Children. Protect them. And if necessary... block the apes. With fire.~ He looks towards the non-Children, then to Shrouds and Walks. ~You two, heal?~
Lune-Calmer takes a few paces forward, bow held at the ready. He gives a wordless growl of assent. Another arrow is knocked, waiting. ~Protect, I'll help.~
The Garou re-group, and when Ears uses her Gift, the fleeing monkeys skid to a halt. For a second, as she lets out that ugly cry, they stare at the Garou with round pale eyes. One lets out a sharp shriek, and then another. Abruptly, they all start running back, clumped together in a scrabbling group the way they came out of the cave.
Walks-Middle's nerves, on edge, are driven further by the sound of the Call of the Wyrm, but she keeps her cool, barely.
As Far-Cry mentions healing, Shrouds blinks blearily once more, trying to refocus before she grunts and shuffles over towards Walks-Middle. ~I'll try my best to heal you,~ she ensures her elder before reaching out. Using Gaia's will as well as pumping it up with as much of her own as she can muster, Shrouds tries to seal up the worst of Walks-Middle's. As the skullmonkey's return, Shrouds tries to ignore them from to focus on the task at hand while others deal with them.
Ears moves to block the apes' approach to Stacey and Aja. She stands, waiting, one hand raising.
Lune-Calmer draws back the arrow once more, whispering, as before, to the spirit within the arrow. Then he lets fly at the returning horde.
Far-Cry growls out to the Children as Kaz issues her call again. ~Take your time, Peacemaker. Your pack is with you,~ he assures the ahroun before pacing out in front to meet the skull monkeys incoming. The philodox howls out his challenge at the enemies, bracing himself.
Wait for it, wait for it... Whites of their eyes close... Once the monkeys are, in fact, close enough, a gout of flame bursts out of Kaz's hands, suffusing them and setting alight fur, tails, throats... everything.
Walks-Middle braces herself against Kaz's Call, yet even then she lets out a snarl as it grates on her already thin nerves. Far-Cry is given a grateful glance at his words, and she remains behind the front lines for the moment, giving Aja the time she needs to heal, her clawed fists clenching and unclenching as she collects herself for the next round.
A chorus of tortured baby wails goes up as another Bane Arrow finds its mark and fire alights the rest. Several fall to the ground writhing, while the remaining handful, aflame but somehow still moving -- the biggest and toughest bastards of the group, obviously -- charge Ears, who's closest.
As for Shrouds, her use of the Mother's Touch is nothing short of miraculous, as every bit of Walks-Middle's wounds heal over without even a scar to show where they were.
Far-Cry doesn't give much of the bigger ones a chance, rushing forward with a snarl to take them on. His claws blur again, teeth coming into play as well with a fury of swipes and bites.
Ears growls, as she launches herself at the nearest incoming monkeything, ~I said--~ she lashes with her claws-- ~That I wanted you to shut the fuck /up/.~
Renewed and strengthened by that amazing healing, Walks-Middle takes one second to look toward Aja with an impressed, proud look, and then she leaps forward with a growl, rushing in toward those that threaten Kaz. ~For the Hidden Walk! For Gaia! Let us end this fight!~ she roars out encouragingly as she moves to strike.
Lune-Calmer sets aside his bow in haste (out of the way of trampling feet) and leaps forward to follow his Alpha's command. He lashes out with his claws, trying to shred one of the remaining flaming monkeys. His howl is cracked and warbling.
One should be worried that Shrouds actually looks -surprised- that her healing worked so well. Blinking down at her claws, she takes a moment to give it a 'WTF' look before blinking up at Walks-Middle's roar. Due to her own slashes however, Shrouds remains in the edges, ripping at any monkey that tries to attack the back or make a run for it.
Five skullmonkeys versus five Garou is not much of a fight, and the last of the horde go down in a flurry of fangs and claws. Dead, they begin to dissolve, their tainted spirit essence evaporating by degrees. And then all is silence.
Ears bares her teeth, and then snarls victory, wordlessly, the snarl turning into a triumphant howl of celebration.
Far-Cry doesn't howl his victory cry yet, concentrating himself on absorbing said spirit essence.
Uninjured, and barely even breathing heavily, Lune-Calmer makes haste to follow Far-Cry's example in an attempt to recoup the loss of spirit here tonight. His eyes squint shut in concentration.
Curling up into a tight crouch once silence falls across them, Shrouds tries to bite back her pain as she focuses intently on one spot on the ground. When the howls are released, Shrouds joins them, simply since it would be better than gnashing her teeth.
Walks-Middle lets out a short howl of victory once the last of the monkeys fall, but clips it short as there's still some work to be done. While the others absorb essence, Walks turns back and heads over to Shrouds, glancing her over before resting her hands lightly over the worst of her wounds. ~Well done, sister,~ she growls softly, then concentrates on healing the Ragabash.
Ears glances at both Kenneth and Jonathan, as if to remember who did what.
Far-Cry waits until all has settled back down before growling out, ~This area needs Cleansing.~ And after another beat skipped, he looks to Walks-Middle. ~Do you wish to check the cave?~
As Walks-Middle starts to heal her, Shrouds remains deathly still, letting the elder focus as much as she needs to. Her eyes scan the others however, looking to see who needs to be healed next as well. Her lips curve up into a tired but very human grin as she regards the pack before she huffs quietly to Walks-Middle. ~We all did well.~
Lune-Calmer gives a shiver as he comes back to himself, immediately stooping to pick up his bow. ~No one died.~
Walks-Middle releases Shrouds once she's healed what she can, then dips her muzzle in a nod to her, and, turning back to the others with another proud, grateful look, she says, louder, ~Well done, everyone! Victory is ours today because of each of you! I am proud to have fought beside each of you.~ She then nods, moving toward Kenneth as she starts to slide down into her homid form. "Let's look over the cave. At least two remain here to keep watch. Then we will Cleanse."
[The group finish up with a Rite of Cleansing, led by Kenneth, to reclaim the area for Gaia and bring it back to balance. After collecting the scythe-like tails that didn't dissolve entirely, the group travels back towards the caern, debriefs, and heads their separate ways until next time.]
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