Wharf Street, Industrial Sector(#3925R)
An untidy sprawl of warehouses and the occasional factory, particularly the power plant, spreads westwards, through several blocks around and west of the wharves. The wharves themselves are decrepit, rotting from the river inwards, though the landward ends are still maintained sporadically. Ash and dirt and smoke cover everything in a dark film that dulls color and darkens whiteness. Rainbows of small oil spills are nothing unusual in the warren of streets and alleyways; nor is the presence of rust along metal eaves. In the alleyways, huge trash bins are accompanied by oil drums, tires, and the waste of decades of industrial carelessness. The smell of smoke from the power plant overlays all; between smell and residue, all combines to lend an air of desperation to the empty collapsing warehouses and one of depression to those warehouses yet standing and in use.
Obvious exits:
North West
You paged the room with 'Basically, some of you have perceived that the spirits of this area, and some of the surrounding areas, are very, very quiet. Hiding, almost. There is an eerie stillness that seems to have settled its center here, at least for the moment. Perhaps you might be tracking this inactivity to its source.'.
Paul moves along the row of warehouses cautiously, looking a little twitchy even for a loner wandering the night. Aspect of a searcher not quite sure what's going to leap out at him.
You paged Stranger with 'Okay, Nigel, fearing Bostonians tracing his transactions, slinks down to Wharf Street to pick up a cache of cash for use now that he's in town. Unfortunately for Nigel, he turned a corner into one of the dark alleys and ran smack-dab into something incredibly hideous, incredibly Wyrmy, and incredibly ill-tempered.
Kyle walks along with Cutter, his sweatshirt hood pulled up. He's got his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets and seems to be huddling for warmth. "Cutter, dude, I think you're high."
Cutter and Kyle approach from the west, Cutter talking distractedly as he eyes the surroundings, especially puddles or other reflective surfaces. "It can't be any more of a cluster fuck than last night. Just trust me. I may have to go over soon."
Arlen's skirting along one of the sidewalks, looking both annoyed and more than tense.
Slim darts out of an alley and begins running as if all the hounds of Hades are right behind him. "Oh hell, oh shit, oh fuck, oh hell..."
l slim
This is a thin man in his early thirties with dark circles under his eyes and a week's growth of facial hair. He's wearing a grubby pair of jeans and a too-large plaid shirt that screams 'Sears', and if his dirt-brown hair ever had something that could be called a 'style', it's long gone; dirty locks hang down to his shoulders and constantly have to be pushed off his forehead.
Kyle slaps a hand on Cutter's shoulder and points over towards Slim.
Startled, Cutter lifts his head. "Wha--Oh."
Paul's got a hand behind his back almost immediately in the wake of Slim's appearance, and only then apparently takes the time to look at the guy and see if anything's obviously behind him.
A tentacular mass of... something... roars out of the alleyway, lashing slimy, glass-edged tubules after Slim's back. Somewhere under there is a pair of legs, propelling the thing, and maybe they're humanoid. Or maybe not.
Paul curses and steps back a pace involuntarily. THAT wasn't quite what he was hoping for. Events might even be getting away from Paul as he scans about for other faces before actually getting involved.
From afar, Paul does Witness Check, being that kind of paranoid.
Long distance to Paul: Chaos nodsnods. There's some motion in another alley that is probably a bum. You don't *see* anyone who would likely be a veil risk, except, perhaps, Slim. :)
Seirian comes into view from the western end of the street, just zipping up her jacket as she comes along, looking preoccupied at best.
Kyle starts forward in a controlled but ground-eating run angling to a point between the creature and its prey. His hand reaches for the gun beneath his trenchcoat, pulling it out and leveling the hand-cannon at the... thing. He seems to recognize Paul on the run because he barks out, "Sesh!"
You paged the room with 'Two dilapidated warehouses frame the alleyway that Slim just emerged from. The !T types are closest to the monster, about 20 feet from the alley mouth. Paul is a bit further away, more like 50 feet. Arlen is on the same sidewalk as Slim, pretty much in Slim's present path, about 40 feet or so down the walk. Seiri is just entering the edge of the scene, 75-100 feet down the sidewalk. Sound good to folks?'.
From afar, Kyle's gun is a .454 causull magnum, if that means anything to you. :-)
Long distance to Kyle: Chaos knows just enough to know... OW. :)
From afar, Kyle heh. "It's probably one of three or four in the city. It's registered. And yeah, it's an elephant-stopper."
You paged Kyle with 'It's probably the only registered one. ;)'.
Kyle pages: Entirely possible. :-)
Cutter slams back first into the warehouse wall, thinking twenty feet is plenty close to this thing. "Sweet Mary," he mutters to himself as he pulls his pistol.
Paul pages: I'm on the same side as !T, or opposite (with the critter between us)?
You paged Paul with 'Opposite. Critter between.'.
Kyle's shout's enough to prod Paul into motion, though he's acting by pulling out a pistol in reflex (instead of something more likely to inconvenience a tentacular monstrosity) and starting to broken-field run across the road to end up at the thing's rear.
Arlen snarls, "Fuck," nose wrinkling, and begins stringing her bow ASAP. Once done, she knocks an arrow with one smooth motion, and aims beyond Slim, towards tentacles.
From afar, Arlen nods. That's the one talen.
Long distance to Arlen: Chaos nodsnods.
Seirian gets jarred from whatever thoughts preoccupied her by the commotion further up the street from her. Grey eyes widen as she bends over long enough pull a large knife from one of her boots and break into a jog.
Chaser, trailing after her packmates, breaks into a run as all hell breaks loose. She follows a similar path to Kyle's, but stays further from the beast--working her way quickly through the shadows along one of the warehouses, shedding her jacket somewhere along the way.
Slim makes a sudden leap just as the tentacles are about to reach his back, a leap that sends him ten feet off the ground and almost to Arlen's feet.
From afar, Arlen gets slammed with Wyrm smell, film at 11, but since he's there, SW.
You paged Arlen with 'He's not Wyrmy. You don't think. But yes, slam.'.
Paul pages: One hell of a leap. Kangaroo?
You paged Paul with 'Looks like it.'.
A trail of slime follows the thing from the alley, glistening pinkly in the sodium vapor lamps of the street. One shimmering tentacle lashes across Slim's back, leaving a clear, clean slash through fabric to reveal skin and a thin line of blood. Only his speed and his sudden jump saves him from worse damage. The thing lets out an ear-ringing screech as it pauses to assess the number of beings around it on the street.
Cutter waits until the... thing clears the alleyway, then dashes between the warehouses, looking for a source.
The arrow loosed from Arlen's bow thunks into the squishy mass, and the monster screams as if from many mouths. Oily goo slithers from the wound and patters onto the ground.
Kyle hauls up short of the creature, and holding the huge revolver in both hands he squeezes the trigger as fast as he can manage while still keeping his aim on the beast. The gun roars, teriffically loud as the sound echoes off the flat building walls.
Paul takes the moment of the thing's pause to bring his pistol up to a marksman's stance. And fire twice.
Arlen, senses overly acute, winces and moans slightly. "You get out of here," she hisses at Slim, moving past him towards the thing.
Slim opens his mouth as if he's about to argue with the bow-wielder, then nods abruptly and takes off again.
Chaser still moves through the shadows, working her way around to the thing's rear--or at least to the opposite side, near Kyle's position.
From afar, Paul tries to nail where it's head might be. Or eyes if any present themselves.
You paged Cutter with 'You dart between the buildings, slip a bit on the slime-trail, and then hit an area that is just solid grease/slime. There is a darkness further into the alley, along the ground, that shouldn't be there, you don't think, but getting there across the skidding bit might be dangerous.'.
Cutter pages: That's all I needed to know. Thank you.
Seirian switches from jog to run to clear distance faster, tucking the knife into a slashing hold against her arm. The gunshots gets a wince from her, but she doesn't break off her run.
The impacts of the bullets drive the critter to shriek again, this time with intent to deafen, apparently, and it begins to retreat -- unfortunately, this has the extra effect of closing Cutter into the alley with it!
From afar, Cutter will be spending a rage point and two silver bullets.
Long distance to Cutter: Chaos nods.
You paged the room with 'Those of you with heightened senses on take two levels of non-agg as their ears are blasted. People at normal take one non-agg.'.
Slim pages: Around the side of the warehouse, then (ow!) looking for anyplace with a fire escape or enough low protrusions to let me get onto the roof?
You paged Slim with 'Sure. Rusty fire escape, not a problem.'.
"Fuck," Chaser snarls. She, too, pulls a gun from a shoulder holster and takes aim, tracking the creature's movements. A moment later she fires, several times in sequence.
From inside the alleyway, three more shots ring out, and some prime New York cursing.
As the Thing pins Cutter into the alleyway with its retreat, Paul starts trotting forward again with his gun held in both hands and pointed groundwards. Obviously aiming to head into the alleyway (and out of sight from the street) if nothing New happens.
Slim pages: Whee! I'll let other folks pose for a round or two while I look for something heavy to drop on Tentacle Kid (and make sure it's the only one visible).
Kyle advances towards the creature with even strides as he proceeds to unload the weapon. A total of five distinctive cracks of thunder have sounded before the weapon stops bucking in the Get's grasp. He shakes his head to clear it from the effects of the scream but remains intent on the monster.
The thing pauses about five feet into the alleyway as the shots rip into it and through it. Its flesh shudders hideously for a moment, and then it blasts outward a number of its tentacles, which writhe with life of their own toward the closing Garou.
You paged Cutter with 'You get three that slap onto you and immediately try to burrow.'.
You paged Chaser with 'Two hit you and stick to your clothes and immediately try to burrow.'.
You paged Paul with 'Two hit you and stick to your clothes and immediately try to burrow.'.
You paged Kyle with 'One hits you and sticks to your clothes and immediately tries to burrow.'.
You paged Seirian with 'One hits you and sticks to your clothes and immediately tries to burrow.'.
You paged Arlen with 'One hits you and sticks to your clothes and immediately tries to burrow.'.
From afar, Kyle'll pose it and start shifting forms and shucking the coat.
Cutter pages: He'll try a downward arm sweep to knock them either loose or away as he shifts up.
Arlen snarls as the tentacle hits, fading into the shadow of the building and shifting up into glabro. Yep, it's time to rip and tear at it.
Seirian whoas and backpedals a bit, slowing her headlong run so she can more effectively dodge the incoming attack. She fails however, as one of the things sticks to her and starts trying to burrow through her clothing. With a curse in Gaelic, she slashes at the tentacle with her knife and backs up, working to free herself.
From afar, Paul will attempt dropping the pistol, and grabbing the tentacles like they're snakes (IE behind the head) and keep them from getting through clothes. One for each hand.
You paged Cutter with 'You find that they are unfortunately sticky and will cling to the fabric.'.
Paul skids to a stop, pistol released as his hands grab for the two thrashing tentacles trying to burrow their way through his clothes.
Chaser drops her own gun with a faint thud, and shifts upward with a snarl of frustration.
Chaser contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Chaser shifts into Crinos form.
Cutter contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Cutter shifts into Glabro form.
You paged the room with 'You will find that the tentacles are covered in a sticky slime, so that wiping them off won't work -- they'll just stick to your arm or hand. It's a bit like the cartoon problem of prying one's hand out of a glue-covered wall.'.
Kyle twists wildly as the tentacle attaches itself to the arm of his coat. His form starts to expand even as he quickly tries to shuck the trenchcoat and thereby the tentacle.
Kyle contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Kyle shifts into Glabro form.
From afar, Cutter then will blast them with a gout of flame.
You paged Cutter with 'Now, *that* will work, even though it will singe your clothing rather.'.
Cutter pages: I've got one suit at the drycleaner, it's only karma that I ruin another.
Paul pages: Is holding them BAD for one, or merely inconveniently filling hand with sticky tentacle?
You paged Paul with 'Well, it isn't bad to hold them right *now*, just filling your hands with sticky tentacle at the moment.'.
Arlen grunts unhappily, as the tentacle starts shifting from hand to hand, and then rummages around in her pocket, after a panicked moment, and comes up with a lighter. *flick* *flick*
Paul ends up growing to glabro with a tentacle writhing in each hand and looking distinctly unpleased. As he ducks to the wall itself for cover from the monster deeper within, crouches, and tries ripping the tentacles free while stepping on them with his combat boots and heaving.
Paul pages: If that doesn't work, I'm looking like an idiot with hands glued to feet.
The tentacle on Seirian sticks to her shirt, to her knife, and projects a pair of glassy mandibles for digging. Paul's two squirm nauseatingly in his hands and also exude sharp bits of broken glass at their "heads", striking back at his hands and arms like irritated vipers. Kyle's comes off with his coat, writhing on the ground uselessly. The one on Arlen goes up in a blast of flame that singes the theurge's eyebrows.
Slim pages: Yiiee. How's Cutter doing? Can my character see?
You paged Slim with 'Yes! You can see that he is blasting the three on him off with a gout of flame.'.
Slim pages: Metis are such survivors...is the big thing still around? Or are the tentacles it's component parts?
You paged Slim with 'No, it's still there, backing up toward Cutter!'.
Slim pages: Well, dang! Anything I can fling on it, besides my semi-heroic bod?
You paged Slim with 'There's, like, big chunks of broken roofing.'.
Arlen pages: Any damage, boss?
You paged Arlen with 'No real damage. Your eyebrows are gone and the front lock of your hair is very much shorter. And your nose stings badly.'.
You paged Cutter with 'When you're done blasting your three (and collecting karma by ruining your coat), you look up to realize that the critter is backing toward you.'.
Cutter pages: The next blast is therefore directed right into its suit-ruining ass.
Thunder-Eater plants a booted foot on the tentacle wrapped in his coat, lips twisting with distaste. He takes a quick look around for mundanes as he re-holsters his gun. "Cutter! Where'd ya go?"
Seirian swears violently in Gaelic and lets go of the knife for the moment, instead shucking her jacket and the t-shirt she was wearing, leaving her in the turtleneck that was underneath. Once getting those articles off, she goes to Glabro and backs up a bit to assess things.
You paged Cutter and Slim with 'Cutter lets loose a blast of flame into the backside of the monster. It darts forward, away from the painful flame.'.
Arlen says, loudly, "Fire works," and trots over to whoever's nearest to demonstrate, sticking to the edges of the light.
Cutter shouts "I'm up this suit-ruining motherfucker's ass, and burning a fuckin' hole throught it!"
The monster, which had been backing into the alleyway and further constricting Cutter's space, suddenly lurches forward with a squeal of pain and indignation. It seems intent upon deciding whether to fling its bulk onto Kyle or Paul.
From afar, Sashi hears through Kshema that a packmate is being "engulfed by sticky tentacles" and considers making the hour trek into town. But everything will be over by then, and the umbra's too damned dark. :)
Long distance to Sashi: Chaos cackles.
Paul pages: Am I looseish from the ones trying to hurt me, or standing on them?
You paged Paul with 'You are standing on them, but they are loose from your hands. They're ankle-hunting, though.'.
Paul bounces hard three times on the tentacles beneath him in an attempt to squash the life out of the little monstrosities, and scoops his pistol back up. Hell, he's got plenty of bullets left.
You paged Chaser with 'You struggling with yours, or did you lose them by shedding clothing when you shifted?'.
From afar, Chaser would have tried to get rid of them by using the clothes, yes. I think she shifted out of frustration, trying to get the stuff off herself.
You paged Chaser with 'That works. :)'.
Arlen burns whatever's nearest to her and is then drawn like a moth to, well, you know, towards the creature. Although given as Paul and Kyle are there already, it won't do much good.
"Great!" Kyle shouts as he grinds his boot. "Anyone got napalm?" As he talks he also lurches into motion and lets himself shift all the way into the war form.
You paged Cutter with 'Something rumbles from behind you.'.
Cutter pages: Fuck.
From afar, Cutter is quite keen to find out what this is. He looks over his shoulder, trying to keep herding the slug out into the street.
Slim pages: Ah, perfect. The biggest chunk I can find (I'll shift if there's a really big one, and if the roof seems sturdy enough ((oy)), hurled down on it's pseudo-noggin before our fuzzy friends decide to try clawing it to death and get Tar Babied.
You paged Cutter with 'A rather overlarge rat from the vicinity of the side of the alley is advancing easily over the slimetrail toward you, eyes glittering a rather unpleasant shade of green.'.
Cutter pages: Overlarge being Damn that's a big rat, or like border collie?
You paged Slim with 'Oh, there's a pair of big (Big) rats (ROUSs) moving toward Cutter from the back of the alley. He can only see one from his vantage point.'.
You paged Cutter with 'ROUS sized.'.
Cutter pages: Fuck again. *This* thing the pistol can handle. And I can still pull the trigger in this form.
Slim pages: Aiiyeee! Are they Wyrmy, to the Garou-ey eye? Just my luck to wander in on a Gnawer steroid experiment and squish their prizes.
You paged Slim with 'Clearly Wyrmy'.
Thunder-Eater pages: No mundanes in sight, I guess?
Shaking the last of the tentacles from her claws, Chaser snarls a malediction and sprints to Kyle's defense, fury spurring her toward the horrendous tentacled cousin of Cthulhu.
From afar, Paul will let off another couple of shots if I can avoid Kyle (depending on who it goes for) and keep stomping on the ones underneath. If it comes for me, I'll be shifting to warform and trying to hold it off with my staff.
Chaser slips free of her tentacle-stuck clothes around the same time Seirian does. Paul seems to crush most of the life out of his, but they're still stuck to his boots, flopping stickily. A chunk of roofing sails down onto the head of the creature, sticking a sizeable number of tentacles to old tar and shingles and cement. The monster, having paused to consider targets, roars again and flings itself onto Thunder-Eater, but badly, thanks to the death-from-above, and thus does not engulf him entire, but only the left side of his body. Tentacles snap out toward Paul and Arlen and Chaser, and the creature seems to be entirely dissuaded from attacking Cutter.
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'No mundanes in easy sight at all. There are enough nooks and crannies that you can't be 100% on a fast assessment, though. Oh, and the critter has all sorts of broken glass and steel bits in it and they're chunking into you a bit. 2 non-agg.'.
Thunder-Eater pages: Whee!
You paged Cutter with 'Leaving off the burning and shooting the ROUS?'.
Cutter pages: Yeah. A more immediate danger. Plus he'll mention to the folks out there that we've got company.
From afar, to Cutter and Chaos, Slim yells out, "Watch your back, Slord! Two behind you!"
From afar, Cutter blinks. Two?
You paged Cutter with 'Apparently, since a second one slithers out from behind a broken-down dumpster, where you couldn't see it. :)'.
Thunder-Eater apparently decides the creature's own tactics are reasonable, and he begins to dig with his claws into the side of the beast.
Arlen shimmies off her jacket, and then the 'oxford' that's over her t-shirt, and *flick*, lights the 'oxford'. With only a small flame, so far, she starts beating tentacles with it.
Slim pages: As perhaps the only male member of the group not to brandish a firearm tonight, I feel ballistics envy. ;) I'm digging out my pistol and trying to pick off the ROUS that's less visible to Cutter.
Long distance to Slim: Chaos giggles.
Paul half turns to try to catch the tentacles on cloth instead of the side of his head, and pops off a few quick shots into the side of the thing that ISN'T playing who's-eating-who with Thunder Eater.
Cutter sounds almost tired when he says "Awwww fuck. We got company."
You paged Cutter and Slim with 'While Cutter chunks a bullet or two into the nearest giant rat, Slim blasts the rear-hanging one. The two rats are considerably irritated by this, and show their ire by launching themselves at Cutter with rabid frenzy.'.
Cutter pages: Gaa!
From afar, Cutter shifts up again, trying to defend himself.
Slim pages: Ten minutes back, and I'm coming to the aid of a SLord? Ah, the irony.
Seirian pages: Is my knife still stuck, or is it salvageable?
You paged Seirian with 'Salvageable.'.
Seirian retrieves her knife and tucks it back up against her arm as she circles the thing. At Cutter's comment, she darts a glance in his direction and inquires tersely. "Where?"
The monster shrieks and from the mass of tentacles, two arms finally emerge, grappling at Thunder-Eater with crinos-like strength. Oily ichor, rather than the milky stuff from earlier, begins to spout from the thing's side. Tentacles singe off with pops and snaps as Arlen touches them off. Paul's bullets tear off chunks of tentacled flesh, to drop to the sidewalk in a slithering mass. Enough tentacles seem to come off at last that Kyle sees a pair of glowing blue eyes just before he sees the fangs that sink into and then tear a chunk out of his left shoulder, matching damage for damage.
In the alleyway, Cutter is under attack by two giant, Wyrm-riddled rats, both of whom are spouting blood from bullet wounds but who seem quite frenzied.
Cutter says "In here. With me. Trapped like rats."
Chaser dives for one of those grappling arms, claws-first, roaring defiance.
From afar, Cutter drops the pistol, as he can no longer use it. Tries to remember where it fell.
Seirian curses and casts a glance back at the current state of things, and goes after the rats at a run, knife at the ready.
Slim pages: Shifting and jumping down; with luck, I'll land right on one of the ROUS's backs and make things go snap and pop.
Arlen pauses to light an arrow on fire, and tosses it at the creature, before she starts whapping at it with her improvised torch again.
You paged Cutter with 'The monster has flung itself forward enough to open the alley for entrance or egress. Just barely. You were a bit busy with two nasties on you. Oh, by the way, take 1 agg from one of them landing a lucky bite.'.
Cutter pages: Cool.
Thunder-Eater breaks his intense silence with a bellow of anger and frustration as he begins to tear into the creature with an utterly maniacal fury, struggling to break the grip as he digs like a badger for the eyes.
Cutter contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Cutter shifts into Crinos form.
From afar, Thunder-Eater blows 4 rage for extra attacks. Fwoof.
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'Woof! Okay. :)'.
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'That was a 3 agg bite, btw.'.
Thunder-Eater pages: Owie.
Listeners present:
Name Sex Form Doing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chaser F Crinos 3 levels non-agg.
Slim - -
Arlen F Homid -
Seirian F Glabro 1 non-agg.
Wears-Armani M Crinos -
Paul M Glabro 1 NA to the ears.
Thunder-Eater M Crinos -
Wears-Armani pages: The next rat to lunge at him, he's going to try grabbing and battering against a wall.
A thin, dirt-colored Crinos jumps off the roof, plummeting feet-first for one of the giant rats.
Another shriek cracks the air as Thunder-Eater digs into the monster and manages to tear open the skull underneath. Ichor spouts out, splattering over the crinos and the ground. Chaser tears one of the arms off, creating another spray of Wyrm-ridden gore. The flames that Arlen wields (and tosses around) lick at the monster's body for a moment, and then catch on the toxins of its blood. A fireball results, blasting Kyle, Chaser, Arlen, and Paul in several directions.
In the alley, Cutter manages to seize one that has leaped at him and slam it hard against the wall, where Seirian can finish it neatly with her knife. The crinos in the alley lands on his target -- the other rat -- with a sickening crunch that finishes his target not-so-neatly.
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'You're, oddly enough, partly shielded from the blast by the critter's body and only take 1 more agg.'.
You paged Chaser with '3 agg of fire.'.
You paged Arlen with '3 agg of fire.'.
Paul pages: So, uh. Ow. how bad?
You paged Paul with '2 agg of fire.'.
You paged Wears-Armani with '1 agg of fire to the back from the fireball.'.
You paged Seirian with '1 agg of fire to the back from the fireball.'.
You paged Slim with 'You get blasted by a hot breeze, but don't take any actual damage from the fireball.'.
Wears-Armani pages: The darkness--has it changed any?
You paged Wears-Armani with 'The darkness is clearer now. It looks like a hole. A very big hole. The slime trail has just about fizzled away.'.
From afar, to the room, Arlen should maybe stop doing that.
Paul slides to a halt smouldering and rolls a few times to make sure before even trying to get to his feet. Dazed is a start for how he is, but he's still up for more.
Paul pages: 1 agg from before healed, or do I need to pause a sec?
You paged Paul with 'You'll have to pause a sec.'.
Thunder-Eater pages: Okay. That's 3 non-agg and 4-agg total. Where does that leave me?
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'Incapacitated, but since you blew so much Rage, I'll give you that you're still standing and are actually probably not entirely incapped. Say your at 2 non-agg and 4 agg, which leaves you crippled, but up.'.
You paged Thunder-Eater with 'Severely wobbly.'.
From afar, Thunder-Eater's gonna take the round off, then. :-)
Wears-Armani reaches out to make contact with the newcomer as he sidles further into the alleyway. "A word with you later, friend, he murmurs.
Arlen thunks to the ground as well, but is soon up and scanning around, smoldering quietly.
Seirian takes advantage of the slam and finishes off the rat with a slice of her knife. She inhales sharply as the fireball scorches her back and leans against the wall a moment before blinking and turning around.
Chaser is thrown back from the explosion, singed--but she comes back to her feet with a roar, stepping past Thunder-Eater and diving back into the fray.
Thunder-Eater's tattered body is hurled downwards more than back, and he props himself up on one knee and both hands. His huge chest heaves raggedly, as he pants in whatever smoke-free air he can find. The Get seems alert, just, but not ready to jump back into the fray.
There seems to be no trace left of the creature, except a few remaining, withering tentacles here and there. The rats are dead. There is a black, oily residue in the air.
Wears-Armani pages: The hole?
You paged Wears-Armani with 'At the back of the alleyway.'.
You paged Slim with 'Oh, you'd've noticed a big-ass hole in the ground at the back of the alleyway.'.
From afar, Wears-Armani closes on it, carefully.
Paul points the muzzle of his gun skywards and gathers his senses, looking over towards where he noticed what might've been a bum just before the crinos started popping up.
You paged Paul with 'You don't see any movement there now. Maybe it was a stray cat or something.'.
You paged Wears-Armani with 'The hole is neatly bored in the broken concrete, something like six feet wide. You don't see a bottom. Just darkness.'.
Wears-Armani pages: into a building or the ground.
You paged Wears-Armani with 'Straight down, into the ground.'.
Paul sets the hammer back to uncocked, safeties the weapon and clambers up. "Status? I'm... not bad at all."
Finding nothing to throw herself into, Chaser snarls again, claws swiping through the arir before they return to her sides. She is still for a time, breathing heavily.
Arlen heads right over to Kyle. "Mind?" she asks, holding out a hand.
Slim blinks at Wears-Armani, considering, and slowly nods. ~Sometime less...fun. For now, you have any idea where that big-ass hole in the ground leads?" He points further back into the alley.
Seirian blinks a bit and carefully bends over to re-sheathe her knife before stepping out of the alley to check on the others. "I'm standin', I'll live."
Wears-Armani peers down into the hole. ~No clue,~ he admits, looking quite curious.
Wears-Armani blinks and looks up at Slim. ~Wait. *You* tell *me*.~
Thunder-Eater shakily pushes himself to his feet, using the arm which isn't missing most of its mass to lean against the wall. ~Don't mind,~ he rumbles. ~At all.~
Paul waves towards the mouth of another alley. "Possible witness over there." And walks towards the others.
From afar, Paul goes ahead and senses wyrm, knowing he's doomed to a 'yes'. And, as a bonus, starts with Truth of Gaia while I"m listening to Slim.
You paged Paul with 'You sense Wyrm! :) Okey.'.
From afar, Arlen points at Kyle. How much I heal him?
You paged Thunder-Eater and Arlen with 'Arlen heals Kyle... woo! I'm rolling really well tonight. 3. :)'.
Thunder-Eater pages to Arlen and Chaos: Rock and roll. Leaves me at 1 agg after rest. :-)
Slim puts his hand over his eyes for a second, shakes his head, and begins shifting down.
Arlen lays a hand on his mashed arm, gently, and closes her eyes. A good deal of the damage fades, but certainly not all of it.
The hole at the back of the alley is neatly bored in the broken concrete, something like six feet wide. You don't see a bottom, as it plunges straight down into darkness.
Wears-Armani glances out the alleyway, then shifts down himself.
Wears-Armani contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Wears-Armani shifts into Homid form.
You paged Slim with 'Does Cutter know Nigel? Would he recognize him after a few moments? (I figure that Arlen will, given a chance to see him.)'.
Slim pages: Arlen used H/S and got a whiff, so she already has a good idea. Cutter and Nige worked together once; given N's current condition, it might depend on Cutter's Perception.
You paged Slim with 'Cutter's got a *high* perception. Go ahead and clue him.'.
Thunder-Eater's labored panting steadies as the healing strength courses through him. The few moments of rest also seem to help. His eyes rove the area, as if hunting on their own.
Chaser shifts down, bared skin visible in the darkness, patterned with blackness and blood; she wears jeans and a frayed wifebeater, obviously Dedicated. Wincing, she limps toward Cutter and Slim.
Arlen shifts down herself, and pads over to Chaser. "You need it?" The question isn't an assumption; evidently, she knows Get.
Seirian frowns a bit at the scene on the street and looks back into the alley, lifting an inquistive eyebrow at the two Garou back there. "Somethin' int'restin' back there?" She rolls her shoulders once and winces a little at the movement.
Paul continues standing guard, letting the people who live around here handle things for now.
Cutter frowns at Slim, then peers into the hole. "Okay, pal. Important questions later. First, what did you have to do with this?" He drops some handy piece of detritus into the hole.
There is no sound of it hitting bottom.
Paul mutters something grim.
Slim squats at the edge of the hole, examining the smoothness of the tunnel as he answers Cutter. "Hid something in this alley last year; some i.d., a little cash. I got into town tonight, swung by to pick it up, and bumped into Mr. Tentacle. I guess Western Union IS the safest way to handle cash."
From afar, Arlen notes, SW on for a sec. Love getting knocked over, yeah.
You paged Arlen with 'Down there, somewhere, you think, but it's not as awful as it was.'.
Chaser spares Arlen a glance. "If you got it," she says hoarsely. "But I don't wanna tap you out." One arm and one side of her torso look fairly badly burned, but at least she can still move them.
Cutter shakes his head. "Fuck. I hate this. You're a knife moon, they say, you understand all this weird spirit shit." He looks around the alleyway in obvious annoyance. "Do any of you see a fuckin' manhole cover for this? *I* sure don't. And we can't leave a gaping pit leading to ButtFuck Umbra uncovered like this."
The detritus of the alleyway, a rusted dumpster, a few old bags of garbage, some broken, faded pallets, seems unpromising.
Paul says, "Might not be umbra. /Things/ live underground too. A dumpster, maybe?" He looks past the others to Slim, "Do you know anything about where it came from, or anything about the hole? Any fetishes or other unusual things in your stash?"
You paged Slim with 'You do recall that the building you were on was abandoned and the roofing was breaking up. Possibly, you could jury-rig some kind of cover from that which would be hefty enough to hold the dumpster and other cover.'.
Cutter pages: If this were a HK flick, I'd jump in.
Long distance to Cutter: Chaos cackles!
Cutter pages: Hey. In a HK flick it'd be the right thing to do, too.
You paged Cutter with 'Scarily, yup. :)'.
Thunder-Eater allows his form to regress back into the near-man form. The transformation is slow and deliberate, and once complet, Kyle pulls the hood of his sweatshirt up again, hiding his features.
From afar, Arlen waves over Chaser-ward. How 'bout her?
You paged Chaser and Arlen with 'Arlen heals 2 levels on Chaser.'.
From afar, to Arlen and Chaos, Chaser woo!
Seirian murmurs to herself and shakes her head, taking a few steps over to look at the hole. "Damn..." is her only intelligible mutter as she turns away and shrugs, walking over to stand at the edge of the alley.
Listeners present:
Name Sex Form Doing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chaser F Crinos 3 agg fire damage
Slim - -
Arlen F Homid 3 agg
Seirian F Glabro 1 agg, 1 non-agg
Cutter M Homid -
Paul M Glabro 2 agg (fire)
Thunder-Eater M Crinos -
Slim shakes his head at Paul. "Nothing magical, radioactive, or...what's the word? Mutagenic? This is as new to me as it seems to be to y'all."
Chaser lets out a slow breath, closing her eyes and flexing her arm--only lightly bruised and blistered, as Arlen finishes her work. She glances over to the woman, one side of her face still reddened as she offers a quick, grim smile. "Thanks a mil."
Slim looks up at the warehouse he'd jumped down from. "Cork, cork, hole...this warehouse. Falling down, but anyone squatting here? Anyone mind it getting more torn up?"
Arlen nods at the woman. "N'problem," she tells her, and then shakes her head at Slim. "Not my area, but I don't mind."
Cutter looks dubiously at it. Then at the hole. Then at the building again.
You paged Cutter with 'The roofing might provide something to block the hole with.'.
Cutter says "Either that or--Skippy, what did that roof look like when you were up there? You peeled of a hunk of it on the squid."
Thunder-Eater removes the huge gun from its holster once more and begins reloading it. He watches the other watching the hole, gaze hanging on Slim suspiciously.
Slim jerks his head upwards. "Ceiling's falling apart. Long beams, more chunks of tar and shit. Take some noise and some hefting, but we could prolly get enough raw goods to cover this hole up."
Seirian turns her head slightly to call over her shoulder. "It's certainly a new kind o'urban renewal."
Cutter glances around the crew. "Anybody up for it? People need more bandaids, I still got some juice." He screws up his face again. "It doesn't solve the problem, but it gives us some time to figure out what the fuck to do about it."
Paul grunts. "Dumpster's less likely to just fall INTO the hole, though."
Slim bites his lip. "Enough beams, we can do both: use the dumpster to weigh down the plug, keep more rats from just chewing their way through."
Paul pages: Do I get any feel that Slim deliberately avoided the first queston about knowing anything about tentaclething or the hole?
You paged Paul with 'No, I don't believe so.'.
Seirian shrugs and ignores her burns for the moment, dusting her hands on her jeans and looking up at the building. "If it needs doin', I'm certainly helpin'."
Cutter points at Paul. "You. Um. F'get your name. You see Sepdet sometimes, right? I'm gonna need /somebody/ with a clue to figure out what to do with this hole."
Paul says drily, "She's my packmate, yes. How about Arlen, here?"
Thunder-Eater pipes up, his gruff voice asking pointedly. "Anyone checked the Umbra out?"
Cutter grins. "I'm hoping that if Arlen had any ideas, she'd have mentioned them by now, after watching me flail uselessly."
From afar, Paul ponders. Kshema here? May I borrow her eyes?
Paul looks off into space, eyes unfocused.
Long distance to Paul: Chaos nods. The Umbra looks relatively quiet. Very quiet. There's a few spurts of bane-like stuff near the death-spot of the monster, but nothing else. An eerie silence and stillness.
Chaser's attention turns to Paul, sharpening a little.
Slim brushes the hair out of his face and looks around thoughtfully. "I almost hope it's some sort of Umbral vortex. If this hole intersects the sewers..."
Paul says, "Still very very quiet," with that faraway look still. "That's part of why I'm here. Way quiet, like things digging in and hiding. A few bits of ick where It died, but nothing terribly obvious."
Paul pages: Any Umbraside reflection of the Hole?
You paged Paul with 'Kind of. It's fuzzy there, like the ground is dematerialized, or dematerializing, or just not entirely there. Fading.'.
Paul pages: Ah. Like the umbra's catching up with the Realm?
Paul pages: As far as 'reality' goes?
You paged Paul with 'Yeah.'.
Thunder-Eater steps up towards the skinny man and levels a thick finger at Slim. "So, I gotta ask. Who the fuck are you, anyway?"
Cutter stops directing for a moment and thinks. "When we cover this up, we can make a full scout on the other side. But I'd recommend covering it first." Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Slim.
Chaser looks over to Slim, surveying him with a raking look that seems to take his measure and find it wanting.
Paul says, "The hole's not quite there yet, but it's getting to it. You know, like it takes a little while for houses to start to web up the place when they're built."
Slim flicks a tiny bit of rat off his sleeve and looks up at the big Get. "Nigel McAllister. Theurge with the Gl...", he pauses. "A few things're up in the air."
Thunder-Eater studies the man for a moment longer, then gives a terse nod, accepting the information. He goes back to being the big guy standing in the background.
Cutter frowns, looking up. "What kind of things? Bad things? Late night joy-riding helicopters? Mosquitoes?"
Arlen peers at Nigel. "Well, fuck me," she mutters unhappily, and goes off to find a dumpster.
You paged the room with 'Do we, at this point, want to handwave the corking of the hole and just say that you manage to do it with some grumbling and sweat so that it's not at all obvious and likely won't be discovered by anyone in this district?'.
Cutter pages the room: This makes me happy as a politician with a new gerrymander.
Slim pages to the room: Well, now on top of everything else I need to go look up 'gerrymander'...handwaving's good.
Seirian pages to the room: Works with me.
From afar, to the room, Chaser snorts.
Long distance to the room: Chaos bwahas, having given all three city packs something to talk about, plus at least one woods pack. Wheeeee! I feel good. :)
From afar, to the room, Paul mutters darkly. "Well. I'll get to have Sepdet come back to the city.
Arlen pages: More ominosity.
Long distance to Arlen: Chaos beams.
Cutter pages Paul: I hear Angelo's dragging her to the city anyway.
You paged the room with 'I feel like I should be, like, giving you all experience points or something. :} I guess I've been running too much FtF stuff.'.
From afar, to the room, Thunder-Eater wants two more XP so he can buy up his Dex!
Slim starts to respond to Cutter, then visibly stops himself. "Garou vs. Garou stuff. East Coast politics. The usual."
Cutter points at the ex-hole. "You think that's got to do with infighting between tribes?" he asks, a little incredulous.
Slim holds up his hands. "Not at my most paranoid. Damned if I know what this is."
Cutter pages the room: The damn thing ruined /another/ suit.
Cutter says "Does this mean you're coming back to town?"
Slim considers this. "I don't know. I hear Canada's nice this time of year."
Paul says to Cutter, "Sepdet suggests weaverlings for the growing hole in Umbra, or an earth spirit. Possibly try to use the Rite of Binding, modified, on the things we've packed to meld it with the pattern web work the spirits are doing." And shrugs. "That make sense?"
Thunder-Eater starts looking around, searching the ground for bullet casings and other obvious bits of 'evidence.' He lifts his ruined trenchcoat and frowns at it, dismally.
Cutter looks startled, then nods. "Um. Yeah. Did she mention what kinda thing made this hole, or how to get ichor stains outta my jacket?"
Cutter grabs his pistol off the ground before Kyle 'collects' it.
Paul says, "Wind's being persnickety."
Cutter nods. "I'd love her help, and Arlen's, in putting this thing out of my misery as soon as possible. Mention it, in passing, to her?"
Paul nods. "Certainly."
3/17/99