World of Darkness: Attrition - The Fourth Test: Purity [Fin]

[SalmonMax]

Ariel had to drive around the park once before she recognized Amber's truck parked in an out of the way spot. She pulled in behind it and looked around as she got out, uneasy. The last time she'd been out here, someone had taken shots at Sarah with a sniper rifle. If it had been her, she'd be dead now.

She wondered if that guy's people were still keeping an eye on this park.

The worst of it was that there were more immediate and pressing dangers than that to deal with tonight.

Ariel jogged up the path towards the locus, figuring that's where everyone would be.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber rolled her eyes. "Quit being so god-damned stubborn, Sarah," Amber snapped. "There's more than six of them, probably eight or more. If they could have been cleared easily, I woulda done it already. They were starting to come back and gang up on me; you'd be spirit-food."

She looked over as Ariel arrived. "Yo, chica. Whazzup?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah frowned, but her cousin was right: more than four of pretty much anything in the spirit world was call for backup, no matter who was involved (or how dead they already were). "You're right... dammit." She cocked her head a bit, looking at the newcomer. "And you won't have to do any of that half-moon stuff with we, Ariel; I can bend to reason. On occasion anyway."

Looking over the little group of werewolves, the Dead Wolf asked, "So, we wanna go kick some cannibal-spirit ass before it ruins the fuck out of this locus? Swara-Ann's been on the loose for months; can't see where another half-hour or so will matter."

[z-Amber Wren]

"I'd rather face Swara Ann on a full 'tank' as it were," Amber said. "We'll take out the spirits easily enough, so if you want to do that now, I say we leave the lady for another evening."

She looked around at the assembled people. "But that said, I'd say go after her, first. She's a greater threat."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure how much of this was Amber making a good judgement call, and how much was just a desire to undermine the undead thing in her midst.

"Since we don't have an Alpha here," she said warily, "I'd like to hear what Moss and Ariel think before we make that call. Folks, whadya think?"

[SalmonMax]

"My tank's as full as it gets," Ariel replies with a nod at Amber. "Unless you mean literally a tank, which would be nice to have about now."

"Me, I say if she's killing people then the sooner we bring her down the better. I don't want to see an obit in the paper that wouldn't have been there if we'd acted a night sooner."

"But we'd better do this smart. First of all, how're we going to find her?"

[Rorx]

Moss pulled away his attention from the Shadow and looked around the group, "Hi Ariel. Amber's right Sarah there is no way you are taking on clearing this locus on your own. You got a pack of Cannibal spirits there, complete with teeth and hooked talons. Hell, they just ripped one of their own to bits, but I'm sure Swara is attracting more to the area. Added to which if I took you across they would be on to me before I could cross back anyway so it's a moot point."

His one eye reverted to normal and he looked beyond the buildings towards the park and the city. "Swara is the more important problem for now. Once she is dealt with we can clear the locus here."

Turning to Amber and Ariel he continued grimly, "And then we'll need to go into your territory and deal with the Wound in her dorm room. I just hope Morgan had enough sense not to stay there after I told her what it was like in the Shadow."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah clearly wasn't thrilled with this outcome. While it was in part a reaction to Amber winning - again - some of it came from that ingrained sense of territory: she wanted to get those cannibal spirits gone.

Unfortunately, Amber was right.

"OK then, we go after Swara-Ann. Who has, by the way, been ranging over a helluva lot more ground than my own territory. She's got the run of the campus, and has made tracks on the country club; that's all your territory," she said, looking to Amber and Ariel. "So, joint problem, joint solution. Temporary unity... a 'clutch', if I remember right? Either way, it's gonna be tricky.

"Part of the problem is that Swara-Ann is cunning as all hell. Knows how to stay at just the right distance to be sure to get away. Taunts with her kills. I've tried tracking her a few times, and she knows how to take to the trees and pavement to keep that from being too damned effective. But if she's bringing these fucking cannibal spirits, it means that she's using this locus. Which probably means we need to stake it out. Question is: from which side?"

The Dead-Wolf looked thoughtful for a second, then said, "And by the way: who's going to act as Alpha over this little operation? I mean, I know the Topangas dumped it in my lap, but somehow I don't see you folks being willing to follow my lead. No offense meant or taken; just the nature of things." Though I was a decent enough "Alpha" for the Sonomas, she silently rued. There were times where she almost regretted the decision to leave their pack and return to the City of Angels.

[Rorx]

"Well if we try to stake it out from that side then we'll have to take the pack out, and probably be wounded when Swara-Ann comes along. So I'd recommend staking it out from this side."

As Sarah spoke of an Alpha for the job Moss just shook his head, "Ain't going to be me. I'm just a pup compared to you gals and new to the city to boot."

[z-Amber Wren]

"It's a battle against another one of the People; it should be a Rahu. I'll do it," Amber said, crossing her arms and looking awfully sure of herself. "But this ain't no clutch, not really. There's just the one pack, and Sarah, you aren't an Uratha. So this is an allegiance."

"If we fight her on that side, we're just going to fight those spirits anyway," Amber said, thoughtfully. "Moss, did you say Swara moved out of her room?"

[Rorx]

"No idea Amber, she didn't seem to be using it much when I last saw the place back near the end of January."

[SalmonMax]

"You know," Ariel said thoughtfully. "Those spirits may well be on her side. We might be better off by far killing them before we face her...or else we might have them AND her to deal with all at the same time."

"After all, she's 'feeding' them, right? If they understand that, and understand what we're up to, they'll fight to protect her."

[Rorx]

Moss shakes his head at Ariel, "Sorry Ariel, they may be on her side, but more likely just attrected by what she is doing. Either way they are on the Shadow side, and given their nature they would probably have already crossed to attack us here if they could. That means we'd only have to face all of them if we fought her in the Shadow."

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, but think. If you were Swara, and you knew you were being stalked, where would you want to fight? All by yourself in the real world? Or with a handful of friendly nasty spirits in the Shadow?"

"There's more than one locus in town, after all. We probably won't be able to stop her from crossing over at will."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at Ariel's unexpected stance. Brow still firmly quirked, she cast a look at Amber, accompanied by posture that gave the unmistakable if unspoken message: You took Alpha; make the call.

[z-Amber Wren]

"That's the problem we're going to have no matter what we do, unless we catch her away from a locus. Sarah, you've been hunting her the longest. What can you tell us about her habits? How can we find her?" Amber asked, giving Sarah a wolfish grin. "Time for a full debriefing, little wolf."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Did Amber just call me... a wolf? If circumstances hadn't been as grave as they were, Sarah would have grinned as big as a jack-o-lantern. Instead she launched into a detailed rundown on her experiences so far in pursuit of Swara-Ann.

The grim fact were quickly established. The fallen Uratha was faster than she had any right to be, even in her human form... a form she wore less and less often. More often than not, she was seen in on four legs, with occasional diversions into the near-man. At times, Sarah had spotted her in the full battle form, and holding it far longer than she had any right to do. And invariably, it was one step ahead of the vampire, never spotted until in a position to escape. Whether it was mockery or something else remained unknown.

The uncontrolled beast had ranged far and wide; from almost all the way to the coast to East Hollywood, and all the way north to the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. The tracks weren't easy to follow - she had an apparent and seemingly random love for shifting - but a few hotbeds of activity had been found. The campus saw a fair bit of attention, and on more than one occasion Sarah had found sign of her around her old dormatory, almost as if she was circling her previous home. And to Sarah's unending frustration, she'd attacked patrons from the Red Dragon on the edge of the Dead-Wolf's territory, dumping remains in park trash cans and dashing north to use (and apparently contaminate) the Grotto locus. And for reasons unknown - possibly ignorance of the danger, Sarah speculated - Swara-Ann had shown no fear of the bizarre monstrosities that seemed to hold Griffith Park and the Zoo.

Her tastes were well-established. Every one of her victims found so far had been male and athletic... and from the look of them, they'd fought back even in their terror. It was almost as if the Broken Soul was looking for some punishment before dealing out her far more deadly own. And yes, all of them for the past few weeks had been missing a fair bit of meat, ripped away by cruel fangs.

"So that's what we're facing," Sarah wrapped up. "So where from here, Amber?"

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber rotated her neck. "We need a good place to ambush her." She looked to Sarah. "You're close to the mages. Can one of them look into the future and tell us a good point to find her?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Half-blushing despite her lack of active circulation, Sarah considered her reply. "Close" was, after all, something of an understatement to her relationship with Lucien....

"I'm close with one of them," she finally answered, "and know of another. In fact, that other used to be Swara-Ann's roommate in the dorms. I don't know if they can pull off divination of that sort, though; most of what Lucien's shown me is the truth of things present and past." Like the fact that I'm still me, she restrained herself from adding.

"But for all I know, maybe they really can pull it off. I'll talk with Lucien, and see if he or the other one can do that sort of thing."

[Rorx]

Moss looks grim, "Other than that it sounds like I might have to play at being bait for a while. Going jogging near the campus, or perhaps along that route she takes seems like a fair bet to draw her out."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber shook her head. "Let's save the bait idea for later," she said. "Sarah, go talk to Lucian. Ask if he can find out where she's going to be at a place where we can ambush her." A light came in her eyes. "And ask if he can do anything about her being a broken soul, or her meat-eating tendencies. We'll see if the mages can do anything."

She looked at the other Uratha. "We're going to nose around her and Shadow-side, see if we can get her scent. Questions?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Will do," was Sarah's succinct reply. She shifted in that strange non-Uratha fashion into a wolf, and tore off north along the fence line, veering west and out of sight after clearing the length of it.

Click to reveal..

Sarah continues in Consult with a Warlock

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The hour was getting very late indeed, and the first pink starting to show on the eastern horizon when the Dead Wolf returned, racing in on four legs and shifting to two only at the last moment.

"Lucien knows where she lives," Sarah said without preamble, "and he's willing to take a shot at fixing her if we can grab her. Anyone know where we can score some chloroform? And maybe a couple tanks of halon?"

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber thought. "Lemme make a call," she said, turning and walking away from the group. She pulled out her phone, dialed and waited.

Theodore answered. "Yes, dear?"

Amber felt a warm smile cross her face. "Hey, Theo," she said. "What's up?"

"I'm fine, Amber, but you called me," he reminded her.

Amber flushed. "Right, I was wonder if I could ask a favor."

"You can always ask," he told her.

"Could you get some chloroform and a couple of tanks of halon for me?"

"I confess to surprise," he said, chuckling a little. "I'll make some calls. When do you need it?"

"As soon as possible," Amber said.

"I'll call soon."

Hanging up, she turned back. "We might have some soon. Until we know, let's assume that we'll need another source of it. Anyone else have a way to get either of those?"

[SalmonMax]

"No time to go through legit channels," Ariel grumbled. "I assume."

"If we're not in TOO big a hurry, it's pretty easy to make though. Chloroform, that is. Halon might be trickier, especially in that quantity. Some fire extinguishers use it, but usually not portable ones I don't think."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"OK," Sarah said with a nervous look toward the gradually growing light in the eastern sky. "The basic plan I have is this."

She sat, her back against the fence and eyes trained eastward. "We'll need to get Swara out of her lair. Best thing there is if we can spot her somewhere, but a lure might be needed. Regardless, I need her out and away from there. While she's out, I go in with the halon.

"For those of you who are unaware," she explained, "halon displaces oxygen, makes the stuff unusable. That's why it's used in fire supression," she noted with a nod toward Ariel. "And it makes it impossible to breathe very, very quickly. A couple tanks should take care of even a big basement, and she's been holing up underneath the old Church of Christ south of campus.

"Basic idea is that I wait for her to come home and get well and truly deep in, then I open the valves. Nuts or not, she needs to breathe... and I don't. Might have to scrap with her until the gas takes hold, might not, but I should be able to hold my own on the short term." I hope.

"Once she's out cold, I drag her out of there before she dies, and the pack helps to keep her contained as she comes to, using the chloroform if needed."

The light was growing from pink to golden through the trees, and the Dead-Wolf knew her time had run out. "I need to get under. So hash it out, and when I come up tonight let me know if this plan has any huge-ass problems." A bright ray finally pierced the trees to the top of the fence as Sarah sank once more into the soil and Gaia's protecting arms.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber looked to the others. "We have a day to plan and get supplies together. If you see an issue with the plan, we need to know now, before we waste a bunch of time getting stuff we don't use." She glanced at the two Uratha waiting for them to speak.

[Rorx]

Moss nods, "Plan looks ok to me, although I'd rather Sarah wasn't stuck taking the thing on herself. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help with the prepartions."

[z-Amber Wren]

The three werewolves agreed to massage their contacts to find the supplies they needed and meet back here at dark. For Amber, the day was spent hunting down and talking to Kryze, who would poke around but didn't have a lot of hope for any Halon. He did think he could get some chloroform, and if she wanted roofies, he was there. After that lovely statement, Amber went home, got a few hours of sleep and went back to meet the others.

"Got chicken," she grunted as she thrust a bucket of deep fried death at the other two werewolves. With a leg in her hand, she asked, "Is she off feeding, or is our little mosquito still sleeping?" As Amber spoke, the ground shifted silently, and Sarah rose, just in time to catch the 'moquito' comment. Amber saw their expressions change, and she said, "Aww, she's right behind me, isn't she?"

"Yep," Sarah said.

"Right, hi, Sarah!" Amber said, turning around and grinning. "I might have a lead on chloroform, and I expect to hear from Theo about the halon, now that he's had the day to have people working on it. Anyone else have news?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah didn't grin in response to the greeting. She did give something partway between a "Hmph" and a growl beneath lowered brows. But the look eased as Amber mentioned the possible lead on chloroform.

Her look shifted back to a touch of darkness at mention of Theo; the last thing in the world the Dead-Wolf really wanted was a reminder that her cousin was working for leeches. But it was a short-lived glower, replaced by a sigh and a nod. The sad truth of the situation was that Amber would do what Amber would do; if that included working for some Machiavellian elder, there wasn't a damned thing Sarah could do about it. And hell, he might just prove to be useful if he came through with the halon... and if his price wasn't too steep.

[SalmonMax]

"No news here," Ariel said comfortably from the tree she was leaning against. "If you can get the chloroform then I don't have much to add to that."

"As for the halon, I did some research as far as getting some legitimately. The stuff's expensive and heavy, and it's been illegal to use in new fire suppression systems since 1993, so it's not fast to get. There are companies that recycle halon from old systems though and reprocess it to recharge existing halon systems that are grandfathered in. So we can buy it. Better for our purposes, but more expensive, are open market bids from companies that sell reprocessed halon. They can deliver it faster, since they're usually liquidating inventory, but there's some luck involved finding someone who's selling as much as you need."

"As far as working out how much we need, that depends on how big the room is. Sarah, how did this plan work again? How big an area did you want flooded with this stuff?"

[Rorx]

Moss just shrugs, "Sorry ladies, not a lot of oppurtunity to get that kind of stuff in my line of work. I'm mainly here for the lifting and fighting I guess. Oh, and sealing the room so you don't loose too much halon before you can use it."

[z-Amber Wren]

"Well, I'm waiting for Theo to contact me," Amber said. "I'm expecting him any-" Her phone beeped and Amber grinned. "Speak of the devil and he texts you." She read the screen silently, then aloud, "'A, can get pie you wanted, will take time depending on size. Plz txt me ASAP when you have dimensions.' Nice." She read a bit more and then snorted. "Sarah, you're to blame for this bit: 'Working with M to get enough to flood our basement with pie - should keep ants and other pests away.' This is completely your fault."

Despite her dire words, Amber was amused. She put the phone away and said, "We need to find out how much we need. Sarah, that's up to you. I think that you can get closest to her without alarming her to your presence. She'd spot one of us immediat-" Her phone beeped again and Amber pulled it out. She looked at the screen, then laughed and typed out a three-letter response. Still chuckling, she put the phone away. "Sorry," she said, "Theo just sent me a joke. Anyway, Sarah, that's your second task for tonight. Find the dimensions of the room and how much we're going to need. Moss, Ariel and I need to case her place from a distance and get a sense of her schedule, so we'll work that out. But..."

An eager grin crossed her face. "Since we won't get the Halon tonight, let's go spirit-side and take out the cannibal spirits. We'll have time to recover before going to meet Swara-Ann, so we might as well get rid of them now. Moss, look spirit-side for us and let us know what's up before we cross."

[Rorx]

"Sure no problem Amber."

With that Moss closes his eyes and concentrates briefly, when he opens them the left has turned into a night-scene of the sky, black with stars moving across it.

Click to reveal..

Two World Eyes

Wits + Occult + Wisdom = 6 dice

(22:11:24) ChatBot: (Moss) rolls 6d10 and gets 2,3,5,8,8,6.

2 sux

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Theo... just sent you a joke?" The words weren't really directed at Amber, and came out at a half-whisper just before Sarah shook her head. Her disdain for her own kind was near-legendary; frankly, the dead girl deserved a T-shirt with "Self-Loathing Vampire" stenciled on the front. But in this particular case, she was almost more surprised than angry. When exactly in our shared existence together did Amber start joking with leeches?

Still, the problem at hand remained. And as much as the Dead-Wolf didn't want to admit it, Amber's unfortunately friendly relationship with her undead boss might have started lightening the Rahu's attitude toward her undead cousin. Rorx's report that there was at least enough safe space for transit meant that the little team was going to go a-hunting. And that put the barest hint of a grin at just the very corner of Sarah's faintly blue lips.

"So, willing to give your spiritually-challenged and life-impaired former cousin a lift to the other side, Amber?" The delivery was dry, but that little quirk at the corner of her mouth and a raised eyebrow let onto the vampire's attempt at humour.

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber reached out, grabbed Sarah’s collar and stepped sideways. Ariel and Moss followed after them without hesitation. Once across, Amber released Sarah, and without hesitation, started to shift. Within seconds, Amber was shaking her Urshal coat out. With a grunted, “Find trail,” in First Tongue, she stuck her nose to the ground and started to hunt for the spirits they were hunting. Until she found their trail, she wasn’t sure what a cannibal spirit would smell like. The others joined her in alternate wolf or wolf-like forms, and they all went hunting.

It took a bit of hunting, but they were thick in this area, and soon, they found a path that smell of meat, blood and wrongness. Amber paused, her muzzle rising into the air as she sang of the hunt. Around her, Ariel and Moss joined her, their deep Urshal chests producing a powerful cacophony. Sarah’s wolf form’s howl almost lost in their siren song; nevertheless, around them, the spirits shuddered as Father Wolf’s hated children went on the chase.

They had left Sarah’s territory before they saw their quarry. Despite having been running for a couple of hours, when they saw their prey, the werewolves – and vampire in wolf’s clothing – picked up their speed. The cannibal spirits turned as the canines approached, their teeth bared at the sight of the silent, charging wolves.

The Urshal slammed into the spirits and for a moment, there was only chaos as the spirits attempted to face off against the charging wolves. Their first attack was strong; two of the spirits were damaged so severely that they couldn’t maintain their shape, and they disencorpulated. After the first barrage, the spirits returned the favor, tearing and biting the Forsaken-plus-one.

The spirits quickly changed tactics, focusing their attacks on Moss. As the biggest, they assumed he was the most dangerous, a mistake they learned when Amber turned out to be the fiercest fighter. Ariel was no slouch, fighting wildly. She felt strangely free to be Uratha in this world, as if because the spirits were real here, she could meet them on their own ground, as a half-spirit werewolf.

Moss was concerned about getting swamped, but Sarah dodged to his side and drove a wedge between him and the spirits, granting him some breathing room. Soon, Amber shoved herself forcibly between him and the spirits mauling him on the other side, and the Itheaur found himself able to fight more effectively in the shelter of his pack, temporary as it was.

Amber was alive. There was no other term for the feeling that welled in her as she entered battle. She was returning the balance to the world, removing spirits that were throwing off the balance. She bit and tore, clawed and slashed violently, rending the spirits with the fervor of a full-moon. This was her element, and she was alive.

It was less clear for Sarah. But she fought at the side of her cousins – for if Amber was her cousin in blood, she was no less her cousin in spirit, just like Ariel and Moss. But her long-denied Gangrel blood still darkly exalted at the destruction of her enemies and her Beast howled with the joy of battle.

The last spirit fell, and the four stood, bleeding and panting. “All good?” Amber asked in guttural First Tongue, looking around at the others.

[Rorx]

"Good enough" replied Moss, "Any others to track down, or do we think that was all of them for now?", he continued looking to Amber and Sarah.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah tried to speak... and only managed a few yips and howls. With a canine sigh, she shrugged and shifted smoothly up to her native form. Then she had to deal with the ignominy of getting a translation by way of Ariel. Only then could the sole non-Uratha present join the conversation.

"Good question. Hard to get a clear scent here; way, way too much blood - or what passes for blood with them, anyway - in the air." The Dead-Wolf had already found her regrets on that note; while animal-spirits had proven to have something sufficiently bloodlike for consumption in the Shadow, the same did not hold true with more conceptual spirits such as these. The fight hadn't been easy or without injury, and Sarah was notably more pale than usual.

[SalmonMax]

Ariel shifted human and wiped at the spirit-ichor that was still staining her lips and fingers. She didn't like trying to speak First Tongue...it sounded crude and caveman-like in her ears due to her purely instinctive fluency. Silently she decided to actually study it and try to learn it for real.

"The spirits probably wouldn't stray far from the locus, right? This is where they eat, and eating's all they are."

She paused on seeing Sarah's predicament, then steeled herself and said, "You okay, Sarah?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The vampire gave a very pale thumbs-up and nod. "I'm intact. Just burned through a lot of my reserves shifting and healing, is all. Kinda need to refuel before doing much more." Multiple rips through her jacket and jeans - and the unmarred skin beneath - were mute testament to just how much healing had been involved.

She looked around the shadow-world, gazing north toward the mountains that fringed the bowl that held the spirit reflection of Los Angeles. "You know, I'm betting there's some decent game up there - spirit deer and more. I've hunted them before, up in Sonoma, and they're blood works just fine. Rest of the pack took the meat for essence. You folks up for a dinner hunt?"