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dagnyW h o: Alexandra, Dagny, Emma, Keir, Slug, GM: Fwiffo
W h e n: Evening time approx: 4.20.2012
W h e r e: Edgewood, UMBRA
W h a t: A spirit wolf cries for help to the group at Edgewood. They answer the call, only to be swept into the Umbra...
NOTE: The scene ended abruptly when the MUSH crashed. Derp.
The moon, though sliver thin, still brightens the clear and crisp night sky with an intensity only the lack of pollution being out here away from the city allows. The area near the Edgewood House that comprises where the forest breaks before the cleared grounds seems to have a certain static in the clean and empty scented air.
And, there's a wolf that emerges, slowly approaching Edgewood. His body language is loose and relaxed, his head lowered. One thing marks him as notable: his eye sockets are empty, but the blind wolf moves along with an easy grace. Nose and ears provide a lot of direction, apparently.
Alexandra emerges from the garage, frowning. "Another wasted trip," she mutters to herself, starting to walk around toward the front of the house where her mountain bike leans against the porch.
Slug leans upon the wall near the front door with his head hanging low, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. The Gnawer holds a big white bag of McDonalds in one hand, and a half-consumed bottle of Pepsi in the other. He huffs out an indignant sigh and starts to pace up and down the porch, seemingly waiting for something.
Randomly converging Garou from a half dozen directions never ends up being a good thing, and so Emma contributes to this by sliding out of the forest, sweat covered, shirt soiled and knuckles bloody. Someone has clearly been working off some frustrations, and given the taut look of her features, hasn't really burned it all off yet.
To add to the din of the Edgewood house, a truck's engine grumbles and grunts up the dirt road. The truck parks and shuts down, and Dagny slides out of the driver's seat. Spotting slug up on the porch, the Galliard waves a hand. "Hey, you're early."
At the sounds of people gathering, the blind wolf pulls up short and rests his haunches on the ground. Emma's approach is marked, nose flaring as he scents the blood with a minor tilt of his head, and one ear swivels toward Dagny's words. However, the metis doesn't come closer yet.
Slug turns to look at the truck as it comes up the driveway, raising a brow at the vehicle. When Dagny steps out into the open, he wanders down the steps and holds up the bag for her to see. "Just be glad I kept ti close to my body so the heat stayed in." The Gnawer sets his bag and his bottle down on the hood of her truck, then reaches inside to start pulling out some junk food then and there. "It ain't Red Robin, but it's still good."
Emma follows the truck to its stop, then watches as the driver greets the porch-sitter. She lets out a gruff sigh and then heads off toward them with some reluctance. The wolf, apparently has not yet been spotted in the near darkness.
"As long as you bathed recently, that shouldn't be a problem." A light jab for the Gnawer. Dag plants her boots on the bumper of the truck and uses it to hop up until she's sitting on the hood herself. She pats the other side of the hood in offering. Hearing another pair of feet in approach, Dag turns and looks at Emma. "Hey, Ems. What's shakin?"
Alexandra doesn't appear to have noticed the Stargazer as yet, though Slug and Dagny get nods of acknowledgement as she moves to fetch her bike. Unlike the other two, she's at least met Emma, who gets a wave by way of greeting.
Sightless-Faith seems perfectly content with not being noticed yet, though eventually boredom reigns. He meanders toward the porch, using nose to guide him, only pausing long enough to pick a bur out of a footpad. Hi.
Emma steps in a little closer and gives a terse shake of her head. "Nothing good." She gives Slug a nod too, then notices Alexandra and gives her a little bob. It's not until the wolf comes up proper that she turns to address it, eyes pinching more around that rather sour mood of hers. "What the hell?"
Slug puts his boot to the bumper and shoves himself up and onto the hood, sitting beside Dagny with the bag off to one side. The Gnawer comfortably swings an arm around her broad shoulders and leans against her, looking sidelong at the Get's face. "Take a deep breath, and then you tell me. Psssh, I probably wash my hair more than Ishmael cuts himself." Slug reaches into his bag of McDonalds and pulls out a Big Mac box, which he's happy to set in his lap and open up with care. "Yo, Emma." He greets, nodding towards the other Get, and the unfamiliar Homid off to the side. When Emma takes note of the wolf, he does too, turning to squint in the dark.
There is a yipping sound in the woods. Not too uncommon at night from the wolves of the area, except those here would know that this is a little too close to Edgewood for normalcy. Not to mention there is that subtle feeling of differentness in the air and perhaps an even more subtle extra sound that can only be called the essense of loss... carried by this crisply cold air.
"Oh, mother of God! NO! Torture!" Dag shoves at Slug when he drags her close. "Smells like lilac on top of shit, man." She play-shoves at him again before turning to look at Emma with a raised brow. "Anything I can do?" Leaning slightly, she notices Keir and gives the metis a wave.. before stopping, remembering, and saying, instead, "Hey, Keir." Alexandra gets a nod as well before Dag's got her hamburger up in her face and bites it. The sound makes her pause, and she glances toward the woods, brows furrowed. Her chewing slows to a stop.
Sightless-Faith flits an ear back, looking almost amused, but he simply sits a short distance away; he starts to say or do -something-, but then his attention is pulled about by the yipping, and he tilts his head a little bit, nostrils flaring.
Emma shakes her head at Dagny. "Nope." She's just about to look toward the wolf when the yipping reaches her ears, and she too turns her head. "Fucking bad feeling in the air tonight."
Alexandra watches the interaction between the Get and the Gnawer, amused, but seems inclined to continue her preparations to go rather than stay and try to butt in on the conversation. And then she hears that yipping and feels the sensation that goes with it, and her plans shift somewhat. "There is, isn't there," she agrees with Emma.
Slug takes his cigarette out of his mouth, mumbling to himself about Dagny. The Gnawer drops it into his mostly consumed bottle of Pepsi, then reaches into his bag and pulls out a handful of fries to cast on the ground kinda near the wolf. But not at it. The remaining fries in the packet are offered in Emma's direction. "Maybe. Maybe it's just that kinda night, y'know, where things just don't feel right." The Gnawer says, taking a big bite of burger.
Dagny, for the time being, is watching the woods from where, she imagines, the sound might have originated. Emma's observation gets a grunt of agreement. "Where's a bloody Theurge when you need one." Om nom, burger.
Then another yipping, louder than before and immediately followed by a snarl and growling which turns to a loud whine and yips now of pain. This takes very little time at all to happen, and the wolf whining continues as if a creature left alive and in pain, calls for help.
Sightless-Faith doesn't even hesitate. We should go, says the lupus, and starts moving at a healthy clip towards the cry for help. The blindness seems to be less of a hindrance in wolf form, at least.
Emma tsks at this, drops quickly to lupus and moves to follow after the wolf who took lead. Ears pitched forward and nose working to gather in scents.
Alexandra seems inclined to agree with Sightless-Faith, though she does pause long enough to prop her bike back up against the porch railing. For the time being, at least, she remains in homid as she follows along after him.
Dagny pauses before the next bite of the burger. After a second of putting the burger down on its wrapper, the Get jumps down from the truck and slips into lupus as well. Instead of following Emma and Keir, she takes a wide arc off to the left of where the sound is, forming a sort of pincer with the others.
Slug slides off the hood when the rest of the gang starts moving, sighing. He crumples up the bag of food to keep the heat in, then sets his burger down on Dagny's bumper. He promptly shifts down to the form of Lupus, then picks up his food with his teeth and starts trailing behind Dagny.
It doesn't take long to find the source of the pain, a spirit barely holding on to its materialized form which wafts off in wisps of blood filled ephemera. When the Garou arrive, the spirit wolf shows no surprise or fear, only huffs through accented Mother's Tongue like spoken from a more ancient time, ~*It is running. It knows. It hunts the hunters. My children are not safe. Follow me!*~ Here, the body of the spirit melts into a bright red puddle of blood that catches the moonlight just right to show a shimmering reflection of the trees and the clear sky above. The invitation is obvious...
Sightless-Faith pulls up short, great concern showing on the blind wolf's features - and then, before he can say much, it fades away. And, thus, he sniffs of the reflection, then lifts his head a little to test the air as he waits for others to catch up.
Alexandra begins to shift after the spirit speaks, slowly taking on the war form. The Shadow Lord Ahroun, not overly familiar with the bawn since it's been covered in brambles or worse the duration of her time with Hidden Walk, asks the others, ~Is there somewhere nearby where we can reach across?~
Heart-of-Fire comes up beside the metis, ears pressing in a lupine frown. She lowers her nose to examine the red puddle and lets out a growl. Do not trust this reflection to cross.
Spear-of-Huginn joins with the group when the voice is heard. The big brown eyes the spirit-puddle warily, clearly disliking what it means for them to do. However, the Galliard moves forward and sniffs at the puddle, toeing at it.
Black-Light listens to the spirit and takes in the surrounding area with care, only shifting up to Homid once it's vanished. He eyes the pool of blood and takes a bite of his burger, chewing upon it as he considers. "Mmmm... " He grunts, swallowing. "I always carry a mirror. Wish I carried a Theurge instead. It'd be nice to know what was waiting on the other side. Could always go in somewhere else."
Sightless-Faith sniffs of the puddle dubiously, then eases a bit and shifts to homid. "Foooor your information," the Stargazer says, while rooting about in a pocket for a small rectangular object that's wrapped in leather; it looks like a mirror. "Nothin's Wyrmy here. So, uh. I don't think it'd be a /bad/ thing to cross over here."
The air remains still and strange as the group discusses what to do next...
Heart-of-Fire turns to face the Stargazer, tossing her head in acceptance of his guess. Very well. If we have reflections that we carry, I would rather use that.
Spear-of-Huginn agrees with Heart-of-Fire, loudly. She lumbers over to Slug and noses the man in the leg, indicating that his mirror would be most welcome at this time.
Seeks-Raging-Water looks between the others, then asks, ~Can we be sure that a reflection from a mirror that one of us provides would take us to the same place as this one? The spirit may have left it for a reason.~ That said, the Cliath Ahroun seems willing enough to go with what the more senior Garou present decide on, as this is hardly an area she's expert on.
Black-Light reaches into his pocket and takes out a small pink compact, which seems to be made of some sort of plastic. He flips open the lid and crouches down, flipping it open with his thumb. "I'll be along right behind you." He promises Dagny-wolf. "Or whoever else wants to use it."
"Well. /I/ don't have much of a choice unless one of you fellows wants to haul my butt through the gauntlet." The Stargazer gives a crooked grin; "I'll see you on the other side. If I don't, well. Uh. See you when I see you." With that, he folds his hands over either side of the fetish, bowing his head over it as it activates.
Keir disappears with a ridiculous ease. The gauntlet should not be this thin.
Heart-of-Fire snorts at the sudden ease of the gazer's sidestep, then moves toward Slug. May I? asks the Adren Ahroun, still in lupus. Permission given, she focuses on the task and moves to cross the gauntlet herself.
Seeks-Raging-Water looks between the blood and the mirror, considering. ~I will trust the wolf-spirit that sought our aid,~ she decides, and then concentrates on the reflection in the pool of blood as she begins the process of crossing the Gauntlet. ~It will likely take me some time to get across, however.~
It is like the work of a vacuum, the quickness and ease with which first Heart-of-Fire then Seeks-Raging-Water slip out of the realm and pass through into the gauntlet.
Spear-of-Huginn grunts, watching the Stargazer for a moment. Some of the fur along her back and neck stand on end. She seems perfectly happy to let Emma go ahead of her. The Shadow Lord gets a terse growl before she disappears. Looking back at Slug, she whrfs gruffly and fixes her sight on her reflection in the tiny mirror, focusing on crossing.
So too, does the Spear-of-Huginn vanish from the realm.
/// Though you disappear from the realm quickly, the actual trip across seems to take some time as the Umbra shivers and bubbles into your reality. The first thing that starts to assault your senses as you cross over is the roaring of something like a jet engine that grows in volume and intensity as your cross, and the severe dropping in temperature that grows in much the same fashion. ///
Black-Light patiently waits while Dagny and the others slip through the Gauntlet, watching one by one as the Garou disappear. He seems perfectly content with crouching there and letting others pass through his mirror, finishing the remains of his burger. Not long after the last bite is taken, the Gnawer licks his lips and shifts to Crinos. Once he's wearing his warskin, he focusing upon the mirror sidesteps.
The group simultaneously arrives in the Umbra to the deafening noise and freezing chill like riding on the wing of an airplane flying through the arctic sky.
All except for Seeks-Raging-Water, who appears with red glyphs of protection in her fur painted with spirit blood and seems unperturbed by these things.
However, what the group sees is enough to trouble all. The injured spirit of the materialized wolf is crouched before a giant humanoid dark blue Ice Elemental, shot through with massive sickly green and black veins of ice. It is almost as if one faces the opposing force of what the Garou would call a Balefire Spirit, standing easily nine feet high. It bats at and projectile vomits out a half-frozen green icy bilous sludge at the wolf who, though injured manages to dodge aside nimbly. Another three wolf spirits are nearby... completely encased in vile ice, appeared to be screaming in agony.
"/Balls/," the Stargazer ahroun growls once he's on the other side, clamping hands over ears before he snaps up to his birth form, looking a bit ragey and perturbed. He stands tall, though, nose flaring as he tries to get some sort of stock in what, exactly, is going on.
Spear-of-Huginn comes into the cacophony with a yelp. The Galliard rolls up into Crinos, clamping big palms against her ears. Thick brown fur bristles on most of her body at the blaring. She looks over at Keir and concentrates hard on his face. She steps closer to the Stargazer and plants her hand on his head briefly.
Sightless-Faith senses "Spear-of-Huginn fills his mind with a real-time image of the scene, showing the spirits, the ice, the bleeding wolf. All of it. She offers a wave of apology, saying softly, "I may not be able to hold the image for long. If this turns into a fight - which I'm betting it will - I'm going to need all my concentration on the battle.""
Heart-of-Fire rises up into Crinos once she's crossed and surveys the situation, wincing at the sound attacking her. Still, she pushes through it to look around and her eyes fall on the Shadow Lord, and her glyphs. ~Seeks Raging Water. You must be the fox for this hunt. Draw, and hold, its attention. The rest of us should flank and attack from opposing sides so it can only target one of us.~
Black-Light comes through fairly slowly, and once he does, the big black Crinos winces immediately. His ears pull back behind his head and he shakes like a wet dog, pacing around in a short semi-circle. It only takes him a few seconds to gain his bearings, looking first to the giant at war, and then to those that he knows. As he hears the commands being spoken, the Gnawer squints at the lumbering giant of ice.
Seeks-Raging-Water spies the wolf spirit that beckoned them, and then takes a moment to study the ice elemental with a critical eye. She seems a bit puzzled at whatever the others may be reacting to with such distress, but she doesn't wait on them to recover before obeying Heart-of-Fire. Even as she's dropping to all fours to charge, careful to circle around sufficiently that it can see her coming, she calls out to the others, ~The creature cannot hear! And if you can find pure water, that will make our best weapon against it!~
Sightless-Faith starts just a bit once he feels Dagny's hand on his head, but the metis doesn't react as strongly as he did the first time. ~I think I love you,~ he says, Mother's Tongue twisted with a hint of wry humor, but he sobers, quickly, moving to follow after the glyped crinos.
Once the 'fox' moves, so too does the hunting hound of a Get. Heart of Fire charges wide, much like Black-Light does, though in the opposite direction as to add another side from which it is being chased down.
The wolf spirit that remains able to fight, pulls back in three quick leaps once the Garou arrive and it no longer has to hold off the lumbering beast of Baleice. It then growls out in horrified and anguished tone, ~*We poured our spirits into protecting you! Why did you not take our gift?!*~
Some strange effect takes place and umbral detritus of the woods awakens... emphemeral leaves, branches, bits of bark, vines and mud all pull themselves across the ground and pack onto the Ice beast's legs, quickly creating a frozen through crust that seems to be binding the feet of the creature to the Umbral ground. This illicits what would be a howl of rage from the Baleice Bane... but instead when the creature normally would scream out its frustration... all briefly becomes more quiet and manageable instead!
This is followed immediately with the behemoth bane angrilly vomiting a mass of frosty bilous balesludge across the distance at Black-Light, splattering across the Gnawer's face... which instantly twists grotesquely into a frozen mask of horrors... his crinos mouth melts together into a thin long single protruding tooth from his throat like some inverted Unicorn's horn, his eyes are now vertically position in the center of the Gnawer's face rather than the normal horizontal and the skin skins in and stretches clearly revealing the now improperly bulbous skull beneath.
Spear-of-Huginn grunts a bit at Sightless-Faith's joke. Amused, but brief. She looks after Seeks-Raging-Water and then turns to Sightless as he tacks after the Shadow Lord. The sudden rush of debris has the Get dancing slightly to avoid getting swept in. The bile pouring onto Black-Light has her staring in a kind of horrified fascination. And then action. Shaking her head to clear off a fog, the Get slips her hammer out of its leather home and moves around toward the Bane's back. While running, she builds momentum and takes a rage-fed swing at the Bane's upper back and shoulders.
Black-Light tries to skid out of the way of the incoming sludge, but the Gnawer isn't quite fast enough. Having a blind spot in your peripheral vision is a bitch. When he's hit, the Gnawer starts to howl in pain- But he can't quite manage more than a muted burble from beneath the sludge. The Gnawer tosses his head back and does an instant one eighty, running back a few feet. The Ragabash then twists upon his heel and starts running past the creature's side, trying to get behind it or otherwise stay out of sight.
Seeks-Raging-Water, who did accept the spirits' gift, calls out to the others, ~The more of that stuff you can get it to fire, the better -- it will weaken it.~ She does not turn back, however, so she remains unaware of the horrendous results that it has already had on one of their number. Her own strategy seems to be less about causing direct damage and more about remaining in its line of sight, encouraging it to fire bale ice at her with a quick claw slash if needed, but focusing mostly on dodging the elemental's attacks.
There's a look of shock when Heart of Fire sees the twisting shape of Black-Light after the attack, and it fuels her to quicker action. ~Get its attention Seeks. You are the only one with protection against it.~ Still, that does not bar the Get Ahroun from moving in, and while the others go for its back, she joins Seeks in playing fox. The Get pours on the speed then, moving with precision and lightning like reflexes as she charges in, and aims to rake her claws across its belly before dodging back out. Two taunting targets to aim for, better than one.
Sightless-Faith gets enough of the battlefield per Dagny's use of Mindspeak to know the lay of the land, and he yawps, ~Sorry!~ to the spirits before wading in, pouring rage into attacks to try to burn the creature down.
The Baleice Bane tries to twist about as the group of Garou keep launching past on either side and at various distances... it can't quite seem to turn itself about as long as the effects of Trash Magnet keep it stuck in place upon the ground. It's howls of frustration carrying the sound apparently beyond what the mortal ears can hear and thus it seems to actually become quieter as it rages. Then Heart of Fire darts in and rakes across ice much softer to the claws than what it would appear to be, pulling away baleful emphemera and causing the sound to abate for a moment longer. The beast tilts its head forward to launch it's Baleice right into Heart-of-Fire's face, but the hammer crashes into its back with a mighty crack and only a small splatter of the stuff lands on the Fenrir's back, causing the skin and muscle there to disappear in a neat round hole, clean around the edges like her body was designed to be this way. Blood pours slow but sure from the wound.
With the beast highly distracted, Seeks-Raging-Water is actually able to get a quick yet powerful slash at the bane's leg, ripping into the stuff of its spirit. Again, it quiets slightly for a moment but quickly enough the noise is back to full violent blast.
The right leg of the spirit looks ready to pull from the anchor holding it in place!
Sightless-Faith continues his attack; experience tells him how to stay behind the creature, using instinct and wits to shift about as the creature does. Attacks are made on traditionally "soft" areas, particularly along the sides and the lower back.
Spear-of-Huginn pauses behind the thing after her hammer strikes. She watches Sightless-Faith's movements, turning her body and readying the hammer like a baseball bat. With a few adjustments to her grip, Spear-of-Huginn pulls the hammer up and over her head. With a bit of a hop-jump she uses her body weight to pull the hammer down in an vertical swing toward the Bane's head.
Black-Light stops around ten or fifteen feet behind the creature, and then he whips around with surprising speed for a hideously deformed Crinos. The Gnawer braces himself upon the ground and then launches towards the creature with as much speed as he can muster, his arms pumping to get squeeze out every ounce of speed that he can. He doesn't slow as he approaches the beast, but lunges with claws outstretched towards it's shoulders.
Seeks-Raging-Water continues with her goal of keeping the creature's attention -- if it looks away, that's when she darts in for a quick claw strike. If its attention remains on her, then she'll stay still, hoping to convince it she's a good target for a baleice attack that she'll then dart to the side in an effort to dodge, fueling her speed with rage if need be.
Heart-of-Fire lets out a snarl as some of its attack lands her, but she doesn't stop. Much like the Shadow Lord, she's playing a game of chicken with the beast. Taunting it, goading it, and trying to keep it focused forward so the others can assault it from behind. It's at the last moment she seems to take stock of the leg breaking free, and it's then she darts at it, wrapping arms around it and digging claws in to take the place of the failing anchor. ~Hurry.~
Seeks-Raging-Water provides for a far better target than intended even as the creature launches a vomitous strike that washes over the glyphed Shadow Lord's left flank... and this baleice just sloughs off from her fur leaving those glyphs quite faded. The Shadow Lord Ahroun suddenly feels the slight effects of the chill and hears the distant roar of something like a jet engine.
All the following happens very quickly: The leg of the beast pulls free just in time for the monster to turn and see Sightless-Faith going in for an attack. The Baleice Bane whips a massive ice-arm out and snatches the Stargazer's leg out from under him, and with a wrenching twist hoists the Garou into the air with a crack as his leg bends at a 90-degree angle at the thigh, skin burst open and broken bone and muscles now exposed to the Umbral air like a Viking busting into a Thanksgiving turkey. Just about to unleash another gout of Baleice right into the broken Gazer's body...
...Black-Light comes flying in and runs vertically up the Beast's body causing it to flail about uselessly with its hands, dropping the Gazer to the ground. Forced to twist back around as Heart-of-Fire's weight takes the place of the frozen trash that had broken free, Black-Light has launched into the air atop the thing and just before The Spear-of-Huginn's hammer lands with such force as to cause a crack to appear in the back of the Baleice Behemoth's head.
Then Black-Light comes down with a force guided by the power of his totem's boon and crashes against the creature, shattering the spirit's very head revealing a bubbling fountain of Balesludge beneath which bubbles up in short bursts like thick soup in a cauldron on the fire. Suddenly, though the frost of the air remains... the sounds vanish and suddenly people can think more clearly again!
Heart-of-Fire shakes her head free as some of the effects have faded. She bears down then, holding onto the leg with both arms, while her mouth starts chewing down on it like a rough rawhide bone.
Sightless-Faith crashes down into a heap, fighting pain and rage and keeping both from broiling over with considerable effort. However, he stays low for the immediate moment, having taken some serious ouch in all of that.
Spear-of-Huginn shakes her head once the sound is cut out. With a snarling growl, she moves herself between Sightless-Faith and the headless Bane. She slides the hammer back into its leather strap for the time being. She moves to sink her claws into the thing's shoulder, using the other set of claws to try and rake through the thing's lower back.
Black-Light slips around light a housecat on an icerink once the head collapses away beneath his feet, and the Garou's roar becomes a yelp as he sees the green stuff coming out beneath him. For a few moments the Gnawer is balancingly perilously upon the creature's shoulders, and then he slides off, raking one pair of claws down it's back to slow his descent. He hits the ground running and tries to get some distance between himself and the thing, keeping an eye on it at all times.
The creature has no head, and with it, no eyes. Uncertain how to continue to be a distraction in that case -- or if she even _can_ be -- Seeks-Raging-Water now turns her focus to making the thing vulnerable so the others can strike. Her hand whips out, but rather than strike with claws, she does nothing more than touch the creature's leg.
Black-Light having performed quite a feat of strength and surviving, hits the ground after causing a little more raking damage and backs away quickly. The twisted-faced Gnawer just barely avoiding splashes of the Baleice sludge.
Spear-of-Huginn is able to rake easily into the lower shoulder of the towering beast which ellicts a response in the form of the creature swinging a backhand right into the Fenrir's body, flinging her out of sight into the forest like a homerun smashed grandslam baseball.
Seeks-Raging-Water is able to simply touch the spirit and down it starts to fall with the slow speed of a tree being felled in a cartoon. A side-effect of this is the bubbing throat of green sickliness spills out its slow moving baleice-sludge contents into an ever-expanding and bubbling puddle that grows slowly on the ground out... towards the downed Stargazer.
Meanwhile, the Beast is continuously distracted with constant attempts to dislodge the efforts of Heart-of-Fire clinging to it's leg, who is being shaken like a rag doll... finally succumbing to vomiting herself from the motion sickness, all over the leg and her own body. To her credit however, she still holds on to the body of the beast that has numbed and freezer burnt her skin!
/// 4 Lethal Damage and another 2 bashing when you finally hit a tree in the distance with an audible THWACK! ///
WIth the beast no longer upright, Heart-of-Fire pulls back from the leg and shivers fiercly at the sensation the act of holding anchor caused her. She continues her assault on the beast though, claws raking at what (on a humanoid target) would be critical areas. An ear flickers in the direction of the batted Get-sister, and also toward the downed Gazer as well. ~Watch the bile!~
Sightless-Faith's nostrils flare, and, with effort, he heaves himself up and away from bile - and even manages a swat or two at the beast as he does so. For now, though, it seems like he's out of the fight; thus, he starts dragging himself over toward the trapped spirits to see how to free them. Any help is good help at this point.
Sailing through the air like a giant sack of grump, Spear-of-Huginn smashes into a tree with such force that it ends up groaning a bit before the Get slides down into a battered heap at its roots. It's a few moments before the Get pushes herself up onto her hands. Even then, she seems a bit dazed, and stays put for a while to regain her head.
Black-Light does his best to avoid the assault of the beast, edging forward towards it now that it's on the ground. The Gnawer sniffs at the air, then edges towards it, waiting for it's arms to move or otherwise reach in a different direction. Every time he gets the opportunity, he sneaks in for a quick strike at it's right or left shoulder- Then he darts away, leaping out of range.
Seeks-Raging-Water wants to _keep_ the creature down now that it's fallen, and as such, she pours her rage into a blur of claw strikes on the leg that Heart-of-Fire had been clinging to and biting, doing her best to tear entirely through it.
It isn't just that the spirit is fallen upon the ground that makes the following concerted efforts of the three Garou still striking upon it so effective... the Baleice Beast is already heavily damaged.
However, it does give more flailing of legs and arms upon attackers and gets a lucky strike right down into the Seeks-Raging-Water's back with a crack that everyone with an ounce of hearing could tell is the breaking of her spine. More telling is how her legs go limp and useless... then suddenly return to usefulness as the Shadow Lord Cliath loses her shit in a massive frenzy through which she starts to dig into the body of the beast like Bugs Bunny heading to tahiti with all kinds of wrong turns. It isn't long before the Baleice Bane literally melts under the power of the assault leaving only a violently huffing Shadow Lord cliath with once more useless legs laid out upon the ground and a stoic Heart-of-Fire standing where the behemoth once lay.
Sightless Faith just /barely/ gets from the balesludge pool before it stops expanding and has /almost/ reached her body. She regards one of the Frozen Wolves and can see that it is more than simple ice that has encased them... something more, then, will be needed than heat to melt them.
W h e n: Evening time approx: 4.20.2012
W h e r e: Edgewood, UMBRA
W h a t: A spirit wolf cries for help to the group at Edgewood. They answer the call, only to be swept into the Umbra...
NOTE: The scene ended abruptly when the MUSH crashed. Derp.
The moon, though sliver thin, still brightens the clear and crisp night sky with an intensity only the lack of pollution being out here away from the city allows. The area near the Edgewood House that comprises where the forest breaks before the cleared grounds seems to have a certain static in the clean and empty scented air.
And, there's a wolf that emerges, slowly approaching Edgewood. His body language is loose and relaxed, his head lowered. One thing marks him as notable: his eye sockets are empty, but the blind wolf moves along with an easy grace. Nose and ears provide a lot of direction, apparently.
Alexandra emerges from the garage, frowning. "Another wasted trip," she mutters to herself, starting to walk around toward the front of the house where her mountain bike leans against the porch.
Slug leans upon the wall near the front door with his head hanging low, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. The Gnawer holds a big white bag of McDonalds in one hand, and a half-consumed bottle of Pepsi in the other. He huffs out an indignant sigh and starts to pace up and down the porch, seemingly waiting for something.
Randomly converging Garou from a half dozen directions never ends up being a good thing, and so Emma contributes to this by sliding out of the forest, sweat covered, shirt soiled and knuckles bloody. Someone has clearly been working off some frustrations, and given the taut look of her features, hasn't really burned it all off yet.
To add to the din of the Edgewood house, a truck's engine grumbles and grunts up the dirt road. The truck parks and shuts down, and Dagny slides out of the driver's seat. Spotting slug up on the porch, the Galliard waves a hand. "Hey, you're early."
At the sounds of people gathering, the blind wolf pulls up short and rests his haunches on the ground. Emma's approach is marked, nose flaring as he scents the blood with a minor tilt of his head, and one ear swivels toward Dagny's words. However, the metis doesn't come closer yet.
Slug turns to look at the truck as it comes up the driveway, raising a brow at the vehicle. When Dagny steps out into the open, he wanders down the steps and holds up the bag for her to see. "Just be glad I kept ti close to my body so the heat stayed in." The Gnawer sets his bag and his bottle down on the hood of her truck, then reaches inside to start pulling out some junk food then and there. "It ain't Red Robin, but it's still good."
Emma follows the truck to its stop, then watches as the driver greets the porch-sitter. She lets out a gruff sigh and then heads off toward them with some reluctance. The wolf, apparently has not yet been spotted in the near darkness.
"As long as you bathed recently, that shouldn't be a problem." A light jab for the Gnawer. Dag plants her boots on the bumper of the truck and uses it to hop up until she's sitting on the hood herself. She pats the other side of the hood in offering. Hearing another pair of feet in approach, Dag turns and looks at Emma. "Hey, Ems. What's shakin?"
Alexandra doesn't appear to have noticed the Stargazer as yet, though Slug and Dagny get nods of acknowledgement as she moves to fetch her bike. Unlike the other two, she's at least met Emma, who gets a wave by way of greeting.
Sightless-Faith seems perfectly content with not being noticed yet, though eventually boredom reigns. He meanders toward the porch, using nose to guide him, only pausing long enough to pick a bur out of a footpad. Hi.
Emma steps in a little closer and gives a terse shake of her head. "Nothing good." She gives Slug a nod too, then notices Alexandra and gives her a little bob. It's not until the wolf comes up proper that she turns to address it, eyes pinching more around that rather sour mood of hers. "What the hell?"
Slug puts his boot to the bumper and shoves himself up and onto the hood, sitting beside Dagny with the bag off to one side. The Gnawer comfortably swings an arm around her broad shoulders and leans against her, looking sidelong at the Get's face. "Take a deep breath, and then you tell me. Psssh, I probably wash my hair more than Ishmael cuts himself." Slug reaches into his bag of McDonalds and pulls out a Big Mac box, which he's happy to set in his lap and open up with care. "Yo, Emma." He greets, nodding towards the other Get, and the unfamiliar Homid off to the side. When Emma takes note of the wolf, he does too, turning to squint in the dark.
There is a yipping sound in the woods. Not too uncommon at night from the wolves of the area, except those here would know that this is a little too close to Edgewood for normalcy. Not to mention there is that subtle feeling of differentness in the air and perhaps an even more subtle extra sound that can only be called the essense of loss... carried by this crisply cold air.
"Oh, mother of God! NO! Torture!" Dag shoves at Slug when he drags her close. "Smells like lilac on top of shit, man." She play-shoves at him again before turning to look at Emma with a raised brow. "Anything I can do?" Leaning slightly, she notices Keir and gives the metis a wave.. before stopping, remembering, and saying, instead, "Hey, Keir." Alexandra gets a nod as well before Dag's got her hamburger up in her face and bites it. The sound makes her pause, and she glances toward the woods, brows furrowed. Her chewing slows to a stop.
Sightless-Faith flits an ear back, looking almost amused, but he simply sits a short distance away; he starts to say or do -something-, but then his attention is pulled about by the yipping, and he tilts his head a little bit, nostrils flaring.
Emma shakes her head at Dagny. "Nope." She's just about to look toward the wolf when the yipping reaches her ears, and she too turns her head. "Fucking bad feeling in the air tonight."
Alexandra watches the interaction between the Get and the Gnawer, amused, but seems inclined to continue her preparations to go rather than stay and try to butt in on the conversation. And then she hears that yipping and feels the sensation that goes with it, and her plans shift somewhat. "There is, isn't there," she agrees with Emma.
Slug takes his cigarette out of his mouth, mumbling to himself about Dagny. The Gnawer drops it into his mostly consumed bottle of Pepsi, then reaches into his bag and pulls out a handful of fries to cast on the ground kinda near the wolf. But not at it. The remaining fries in the packet are offered in Emma's direction. "Maybe. Maybe it's just that kinda night, y'know, where things just don't feel right." The Gnawer says, taking a big bite of burger.
Dagny, for the time being, is watching the woods from where, she imagines, the sound might have originated. Emma's observation gets a grunt of agreement. "Where's a bloody Theurge when you need one." Om nom, burger.
Then another yipping, louder than before and immediately followed by a snarl and growling which turns to a loud whine and yips now of pain. This takes very little time at all to happen, and the wolf whining continues as if a creature left alive and in pain, calls for help.
Sightless-Faith doesn't even hesitate. We should go, says the lupus, and starts moving at a healthy clip towards the cry for help. The blindness seems to be less of a hindrance in wolf form, at least.
Emma tsks at this, drops quickly to lupus and moves to follow after the wolf who took lead. Ears pitched forward and nose working to gather in scents.
Alexandra seems inclined to agree with Sightless-Faith, though she does pause long enough to prop her bike back up against the porch railing. For the time being, at least, she remains in homid as she follows along after him.
Dagny pauses before the next bite of the burger. After a second of putting the burger down on its wrapper, the Get jumps down from the truck and slips into lupus as well. Instead of following Emma and Keir, she takes a wide arc off to the left of where the sound is, forming a sort of pincer with the others.
Slug slides off the hood when the rest of the gang starts moving, sighing. He crumples up the bag of food to keep the heat in, then sets his burger down on Dagny's bumper. He promptly shifts down to the form of Lupus, then picks up his food with his teeth and starts trailing behind Dagny.
It doesn't take long to find the source of the pain, a spirit barely holding on to its materialized form which wafts off in wisps of blood filled ephemera. When the Garou arrive, the spirit wolf shows no surprise or fear, only huffs through accented Mother's Tongue like spoken from a more ancient time, ~*It is running. It knows. It hunts the hunters. My children are not safe. Follow me!*~ Here, the body of the spirit melts into a bright red puddle of blood that catches the moonlight just right to show a shimmering reflection of the trees and the clear sky above. The invitation is obvious...
Sightless-Faith pulls up short, great concern showing on the blind wolf's features - and then, before he can say much, it fades away. And, thus, he sniffs of the reflection, then lifts his head a little to test the air as he waits for others to catch up.
Alexandra begins to shift after the spirit speaks, slowly taking on the war form. The Shadow Lord Ahroun, not overly familiar with the bawn since it's been covered in brambles or worse the duration of her time with Hidden Walk, asks the others, ~Is there somewhere nearby where we can reach across?~
Heart-of-Fire comes up beside the metis, ears pressing in a lupine frown. She lowers her nose to examine the red puddle and lets out a growl. Do not trust this reflection to cross.
Spear-of-Huginn joins with the group when the voice is heard. The big brown eyes the spirit-puddle warily, clearly disliking what it means for them to do. However, the Galliard moves forward and sniffs at the puddle, toeing at it.
Black-Light listens to the spirit and takes in the surrounding area with care, only shifting up to Homid once it's vanished. He eyes the pool of blood and takes a bite of his burger, chewing upon it as he considers. "Mmmm... " He grunts, swallowing. "I always carry a mirror. Wish I carried a Theurge instead. It'd be nice to know what was waiting on the other side. Could always go in somewhere else."
Sightless-Faith sniffs of the puddle dubiously, then eases a bit and shifts to homid. "Foooor your information," the Stargazer says, while rooting about in a pocket for a small rectangular object that's wrapped in leather; it looks like a mirror. "Nothin's Wyrmy here. So, uh. I don't think it'd be a /bad/ thing to cross over here."
The air remains still and strange as the group discusses what to do next...
Heart-of-Fire turns to face the Stargazer, tossing her head in acceptance of his guess. Very well. If we have reflections that we carry, I would rather use that.
Spear-of-Huginn agrees with Heart-of-Fire, loudly. She lumbers over to Slug and noses the man in the leg, indicating that his mirror would be most welcome at this time.
Seeks-Raging-Water looks between the others, then asks, ~Can we be sure that a reflection from a mirror that one of us provides would take us to the same place as this one? The spirit may have left it for a reason.~ That said, the Cliath Ahroun seems willing enough to go with what the more senior Garou present decide on, as this is hardly an area she's expert on.
Black-Light reaches into his pocket and takes out a small pink compact, which seems to be made of some sort of plastic. He flips open the lid and crouches down, flipping it open with his thumb. "I'll be along right behind you." He promises Dagny-wolf. "Or whoever else wants to use it."
"Well. /I/ don't have much of a choice unless one of you fellows wants to haul my butt through the gauntlet." The Stargazer gives a crooked grin; "I'll see you on the other side. If I don't, well. Uh. See you when I see you." With that, he folds his hands over either side of the fetish, bowing his head over it as it activates.
Keir disappears with a ridiculous ease. The gauntlet should not be this thin.
Heart-of-Fire snorts at the sudden ease of the gazer's sidestep, then moves toward Slug. May I? asks the Adren Ahroun, still in lupus. Permission given, she focuses on the task and moves to cross the gauntlet herself.
Seeks-Raging-Water looks between the blood and the mirror, considering. ~I will trust the wolf-spirit that sought our aid,~ she decides, and then concentrates on the reflection in the pool of blood as she begins the process of crossing the Gauntlet. ~It will likely take me some time to get across, however.~
It is like the work of a vacuum, the quickness and ease with which first Heart-of-Fire then Seeks-Raging-Water slip out of the realm and pass through into the gauntlet.
Spear-of-Huginn grunts, watching the Stargazer for a moment. Some of the fur along her back and neck stand on end. She seems perfectly happy to let Emma go ahead of her. The Shadow Lord gets a terse growl before she disappears. Looking back at Slug, she whrfs gruffly and fixes her sight on her reflection in the tiny mirror, focusing on crossing.
So too, does the Spear-of-Huginn vanish from the realm.
/// Though you disappear from the realm quickly, the actual trip across seems to take some time as the Umbra shivers and bubbles into your reality. The first thing that starts to assault your senses as you cross over is the roaring of something like a jet engine that grows in volume and intensity as your cross, and the severe dropping in temperature that grows in much the same fashion. ///
Black-Light patiently waits while Dagny and the others slip through the Gauntlet, watching one by one as the Garou disappear. He seems perfectly content with crouching there and letting others pass through his mirror, finishing the remains of his burger. Not long after the last bite is taken, the Gnawer licks his lips and shifts to Crinos. Once he's wearing his warskin, he focusing upon the mirror sidesteps.
The group simultaneously arrives in the Umbra to the deafening noise and freezing chill like riding on the wing of an airplane flying through the arctic sky.
All except for Seeks-Raging-Water, who appears with red glyphs of protection in her fur painted with spirit blood and seems unperturbed by these things.
However, what the group sees is enough to trouble all. The injured spirit of the materialized wolf is crouched before a giant humanoid dark blue Ice Elemental, shot through with massive sickly green and black veins of ice. It is almost as if one faces the opposing force of what the Garou would call a Balefire Spirit, standing easily nine feet high. It bats at and projectile vomits out a half-frozen green icy bilous sludge at the wolf who, though injured manages to dodge aside nimbly. Another three wolf spirits are nearby... completely encased in vile ice, appeared to be screaming in agony.
"/Balls/," the Stargazer ahroun growls once he's on the other side, clamping hands over ears before he snaps up to his birth form, looking a bit ragey and perturbed. He stands tall, though, nose flaring as he tries to get some sort of stock in what, exactly, is going on.
Spear-of-Huginn comes into the cacophony with a yelp. The Galliard rolls up into Crinos, clamping big palms against her ears. Thick brown fur bristles on most of her body at the blaring. She looks over at Keir and concentrates hard on his face. She steps closer to the Stargazer and plants her hand on his head briefly.
Sightless-Faith senses "Spear-of-Huginn fills his mind with a real-time image of the scene, showing the spirits, the ice, the bleeding wolf. All of it. She offers a wave of apology, saying softly, "I may not be able to hold the image for long. If this turns into a fight - which I'm betting it will - I'm going to need all my concentration on the battle.""
Heart-of-Fire rises up into Crinos once she's crossed and surveys the situation, wincing at the sound attacking her. Still, she pushes through it to look around and her eyes fall on the Shadow Lord, and her glyphs. ~Seeks Raging Water. You must be the fox for this hunt. Draw, and hold, its attention. The rest of us should flank and attack from opposing sides so it can only target one of us.~
Black-Light comes through fairly slowly, and once he does, the big black Crinos winces immediately. His ears pull back behind his head and he shakes like a wet dog, pacing around in a short semi-circle. It only takes him a few seconds to gain his bearings, looking first to the giant at war, and then to those that he knows. As he hears the commands being spoken, the Gnawer squints at the lumbering giant of ice.
Seeks-Raging-Water spies the wolf spirit that beckoned them, and then takes a moment to study the ice elemental with a critical eye. She seems a bit puzzled at whatever the others may be reacting to with such distress, but she doesn't wait on them to recover before obeying Heart-of-Fire. Even as she's dropping to all fours to charge, careful to circle around sufficiently that it can see her coming, she calls out to the others, ~The creature cannot hear! And if you can find pure water, that will make our best weapon against it!~
Sightless-Faith starts just a bit once he feels Dagny's hand on his head, but the metis doesn't react as strongly as he did the first time. ~I think I love you,~ he says, Mother's Tongue twisted with a hint of wry humor, but he sobers, quickly, moving to follow after the glyped crinos.
Once the 'fox' moves, so too does the hunting hound of a Get. Heart of Fire charges wide, much like Black-Light does, though in the opposite direction as to add another side from which it is being chased down.
The wolf spirit that remains able to fight, pulls back in three quick leaps once the Garou arrive and it no longer has to hold off the lumbering beast of Baleice. It then growls out in horrified and anguished tone, ~*We poured our spirits into protecting you! Why did you not take our gift?!*~
Some strange effect takes place and umbral detritus of the woods awakens... emphemeral leaves, branches, bits of bark, vines and mud all pull themselves across the ground and pack onto the Ice beast's legs, quickly creating a frozen through crust that seems to be binding the feet of the creature to the Umbral ground. This illicits what would be a howl of rage from the Baleice Bane... but instead when the creature normally would scream out its frustration... all briefly becomes more quiet and manageable instead!
This is followed immediately with the behemoth bane angrilly vomiting a mass of frosty bilous balesludge across the distance at Black-Light, splattering across the Gnawer's face... which instantly twists grotesquely into a frozen mask of horrors... his crinos mouth melts together into a thin long single protruding tooth from his throat like some inverted Unicorn's horn, his eyes are now vertically position in the center of the Gnawer's face rather than the normal horizontal and the skin skins in and stretches clearly revealing the now improperly bulbous skull beneath.
Spear-of-Huginn grunts a bit at Sightless-Faith's joke. Amused, but brief. She looks after Seeks-Raging-Water and then turns to Sightless as he tacks after the Shadow Lord. The sudden rush of debris has the Get dancing slightly to avoid getting swept in. The bile pouring onto Black-Light has her staring in a kind of horrified fascination. And then action. Shaking her head to clear off a fog, the Get slips her hammer out of its leather home and moves around toward the Bane's back. While running, she builds momentum and takes a rage-fed swing at the Bane's upper back and shoulders.
Black-Light tries to skid out of the way of the incoming sludge, but the Gnawer isn't quite fast enough. Having a blind spot in your peripheral vision is a bitch. When he's hit, the Gnawer starts to howl in pain- But he can't quite manage more than a muted burble from beneath the sludge. The Gnawer tosses his head back and does an instant one eighty, running back a few feet. The Ragabash then twists upon his heel and starts running past the creature's side, trying to get behind it or otherwise stay out of sight.
Seeks-Raging-Water, who did accept the spirits' gift, calls out to the others, ~The more of that stuff you can get it to fire, the better -- it will weaken it.~ She does not turn back, however, so she remains unaware of the horrendous results that it has already had on one of their number. Her own strategy seems to be less about causing direct damage and more about remaining in its line of sight, encouraging it to fire bale ice at her with a quick claw slash if needed, but focusing mostly on dodging the elemental's attacks.
There's a look of shock when Heart of Fire sees the twisting shape of Black-Light after the attack, and it fuels her to quicker action. ~Get its attention Seeks. You are the only one with protection against it.~ Still, that does not bar the Get Ahroun from moving in, and while the others go for its back, she joins Seeks in playing fox. The Get pours on the speed then, moving with precision and lightning like reflexes as she charges in, and aims to rake her claws across its belly before dodging back out. Two taunting targets to aim for, better than one.
Sightless-Faith gets enough of the battlefield per Dagny's use of Mindspeak to know the lay of the land, and he yawps, ~Sorry!~ to the spirits before wading in, pouring rage into attacks to try to burn the creature down.
The Baleice Bane tries to twist about as the group of Garou keep launching past on either side and at various distances... it can't quite seem to turn itself about as long as the effects of Trash Magnet keep it stuck in place upon the ground. It's howls of frustration carrying the sound apparently beyond what the mortal ears can hear and thus it seems to actually become quieter as it rages. Then Heart of Fire darts in and rakes across ice much softer to the claws than what it would appear to be, pulling away baleful emphemera and causing the sound to abate for a moment longer. The beast tilts its head forward to launch it's Baleice right into Heart-of-Fire's face, but the hammer crashes into its back with a mighty crack and only a small splatter of the stuff lands on the Fenrir's back, causing the skin and muscle there to disappear in a neat round hole, clean around the edges like her body was designed to be this way. Blood pours slow but sure from the wound.
With the beast highly distracted, Seeks-Raging-Water is actually able to get a quick yet powerful slash at the bane's leg, ripping into the stuff of its spirit. Again, it quiets slightly for a moment but quickly enough the noise is back to full violent blast.
The right leg of the spirit looks ready to pull from the anchor holding it in place!
Sightless-Faith continues his attack; experience tells him how to stay behind the creature, using instinct and wits to shift about as the creature does. Attacks are made on traditionally "soft" areas, particularly along the sides and the lower back.
Spear-of-Huginn pauses behind the thing after her hammer strikes. She watches Sightless-Faith's movements, turning her body and readying the hammer like a baseball bat. With a few adjustments to her grip, Spear-of-Huginn pulls the hammer up and over her head. With a bit of a hop-jump she uses her body weight to pull the hammer down in an vertical swing toward the Bane's head.
Black-Light stops around ten or fifteen feet behind the creature, and then he whips around with surprising speed for a hideously deformed Crinos. The Gnawer braces himself upon the ground and then launches towards the creature with as much speed as he can muster, his arms pumping to get squeeze out every ounce of speed that he can. He doesn't slow as he approaches the beast, but lunges with claws outstretched towards it's shoulders.
Seeks-Raging-Water continues with her goal of keeping the creature's attention -- if it looks away, that's when she darts in for a quick claw strike. If its attention remains on her, then she'll stay still, hoping to convince it she's a good target for a baleice attack that she'll then dart to the side in an effort to dodge, fueling her speed with rage if need be.
Heart-of-Fire lets out a snarl as some of its attack lands her, but she doesn't stop. Much like the Shadow Lord, she's playing a game of chicken with the beast. Taunting it, goading it, and trying to keep it focused forward so the others can assault it from behind. It's at the last moment she seems to take stock of the leg breaking free, and it's then she darts at it, wrapping arms around it and digging claws in to take the place of the failing anchor. ~Hurry.~
Seeks-Raging-Water provides for a far better target than intended even as the creature launches a vomitous strike that washes over the glyphed Shadow Lord's left flank... and this baleice just sloughs off from her fur leaving those glyphs quite faded. The Shadow Lord Ahroun suddenly feels the slight effects of the chill and hears the distant roar of something like a jet engine.
All the following happens very quickly: The leg of the beast pulls free just in time for the monster to turn and see Sightless-Faith going in for an attack. The Baleice Bane whips a massive ice-arm out and snatches the Stargazer's leg out from under him, and with a wrenching twist hoists the Garou into the air with a crack as his leg bends at a 90-degree angle at the thigh, skin burst open and broken bone and muscles now exposed to the Umbral air like a Viking busting into a Thanksgiving turkey. Just about to unleash another gout of Baleice right into the broken Gazer's body...
...Black-Light comes flying in and runs vertically up the Beast's body causing it to flail about uselessly with its hands, dropping the Gazer to the ground. Forced to twist back around as Heart-of-Fire's weight takes the place of the frozen trash that had broken free, Black-Light has launched into the air atop the thing and just before The Spear-of-Huginn's hammer lands with such force as to cause a crack to appear in the back of the Baleice Behemoth's head.
Then Black-Light comes down with a force guided by the power of his totem's boon and crashes against the creature, shattering the spirit's very head revealing a bubbling fountain of Balesludge beneath which bubbles up in short bursts like thick soup in a cauldron on the fire. Suddenly, though the frost of the air remains... the sounds vanish and suddenly people can think more clearly again!
Heart-of-Fire shakes her head free as some of the effects have faded. She bears down then, holding onto the leg with both arms, while her mouth starts chewing down on it like a rough rawhide bone.
Sightless-Faith crashes down into a heap, fighting pain and rage and keeping both from broiling over with considerable effort. However, he stays low for the immediate moment, having taken some serious ouch in all of that.
Spear-of-Huginn shakes her head once the sound is cut out. With a snarling growl, she moves herself between Sightless-Faith and the headless Bane. She slides the hammer back into its leather strap for the time being. She moves to sink her claws into the thing's shoulder, using the other set of claws to try and rake through the thing's lower back.
Black-Light slips around light a housecat on an icerink once the head collapses away beneath his feet, and the Garou's roar becomes a yelp as he sees the green stuff coming out beneath him. For a few moments the Gnawer is balancingly perilously upon the creature's shoulders, and then he slides off, raking one pair of claws down it's back to slow his descent. He hits the ground running and tries to get some distance between himself and the thing, keeping an eye on it at all times.
The creature has no head, and with it, no eyes. Uncertain how to continue to be a distraction in that case -- or if she even _can_ be -- Seeks-Raging-Water now turns her focus to making the thing vulnerable so the others can strike. Her hand whips out, but rather than strike with claws, she does nothing more than touch the creature's leg.
Black-Light having performed quite a feat of strength and surviving, hits the ground after causing a little more raking damage and backs away quickly. The twisted-faced Gnawer just barely avoiding splashes of the Baleice sludge.
Spear-of-Huginn is able to rake easily into the lower shoulder of the towering beast which ellicts a response in the form of the creature swinging a backhand right into the Fenrir's body, flinging her out of sight into the forest like a homerun smashed grandslam baseball.
Seeks-Raging-Water is able to simply touch the spirit and down it starts to fall with the slow speed of a tree being felled in a cartoon. A side-effect of this is the bubbing throat of green sickliness spills out its slow moving baleice-sludge contents into an ever-expanding and bubbling puddle that grows slowly on the ground out... towards the downed Stargazer.
Meanwhile, the Beast is continuously distracted with constant attempts to dislodge the efforts of Heart-of-Fire clinging to it's leg, who is being shaken like a rag doll... finally succumbing to vomiting herself from the motion sickness, all over the leg and her own body. To her credit however, she still holds on to the body of the beast that has numbed and freezer burnt her skin!
/// 4 Lethal Damage and another 2 bashing when you finally hit a tree in the distance with an audible THWACK! ///
WIth the beast no longer upright, Heart-of-Fire pulls back from the leg and shivers fiercly at the sensation the act of holding anchor caused her. She continues her assault on the beast though, claws raking at what (on a humanoid target) would be critical areas. An ear flickers in the direction of the batted Get-sister, and also toward the downed Gazer as well. ~Watch the bile!~
Sightless-Faith's nostrils flare, and, with effort, he heaves himself up and away from bile - and even manages a swat or two at the beast as he does so. For now, though, it seems like he's out of the fight; thus, he starts dragging himself over toward the trapped spirits to see how to free them. Any help is good help at this point.
Sailing through the air like a giant sack of grump, Spear-of-Huginn smashes into a tree with such force that it ends up groaning a bit before the Get slides down into a battered heap at its roots. It's a few moments before the Get pushes herself up onto her hands. Even then, she seems a bit dazed, and stays put for a while to regain her head.
Black-Light does his best to avoid the assault of the beast, edging forward towards it now that it's on the ground. The Gnawer sniffs at the air, then edges towards it, waiting for it's arms to move or otherwise reach in a different direction. Every time he gets the opportunity, he sneaks in for a quick strike at it's right or left shoulder- Then he darts away, leaping out of range.
Seeks-Raging-Water wants to _keep_ the creature down now that it's fallen, and as such, she pours her rage into a blur of claw strikes on the leg that Heart-of-Fire had been clinging to and biting, doing her best to tear entirely through it.
It isn't just that the spirit is fallen upon the ground that makes the following concerted efforts of the three Garou still striking upon it so effective... the Baleice Beast is already heavily damaged.
However, it does give more flailing of legs and arms upon attackers and gets a lucky strike right down into the Seeks-Raging-Water's back with a crack that everyone with an ounce of hearing could tell is the breaking of her spine. More telling is how her legs go limp and useless... then suddenly return to usefulness as the Shadow Lord Cliath loses her shit in a massive frenzy through which she starts to dig into the body of the beast like Bugs Bunny heading to tahiti with all kinds of wrong turns. It isn't long before the Baleice Bane literally melts under the power of the assault leaving only a violently huffing Shadow Lord cliath with once more useless legs laid out upon the ground and a stoic Heart-of-Fire standing where the behemoth once lay.
Sightless Faith just /barely/ gets from the balesludge pool before it stops expanding and has /almost/ reached her body. She regards one of the Frozen Wolves and can see that it is more than simple ice that has encased them... something more, then, will be needed than heat to melt them.
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