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

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Beside Lucien, the vampire quietly turned, reaching up to plant a gentle kiss upon his lips. "We'll try and stay alive, love. Or as close to it as some of us can get." She let go of his hand, and began her own transformation.

It was so similar to that of the werewolves... similar, and yet somehow different, as her form shifted smoothly from woman to wolf, without the rippling and reforming of muscles demonstrated by her erstwhile kin, things that while unnatural at least made sense. Hers was a magical transformation, a power of the blood, and even though the result was so very close to that of the lupines, it served as a reminder of just how much she was not .

[Lucien Hunt]

Lucien watched as everyone shifted into some shape that left them completely incapable of communicating with others that were present. "Alright," He shrugged. "I suppose in the next few minutes I'll find some way of mastering the language of 'were-wolf' and act as your translator for Sarah and myself."

"I'm going to start walking down the path now," He pointed in a direction and just started walking, since he was now a lone person in the middle of a petting zoo of snarling wolf-things. "You know, as a Warlock I can read minds, control people's thoughts and even gate across vast distances, not mention even enter people's dreams." He rested his hands in his pockets as he spoke aloud to the collective animals about him. "It's pretty impressive, I admit. For all its coolness though I have to admit that just because I can do all those things doesn't mean I should at every opportunity that presents itself. Sometimes, just walking down the road is enough."

He just meandered on down the dirt path not really checking to see if anyone was following him, not that it mattered, it wasn't like he had anyone to talk to anyway.

[Rorx]

Moss shrugged as he took up a position slightly ahead and to the right of Lucien, senses questing for any sign of either Swara or the wolf-spirit.

Well, I can't say he doesn't have a point. Perhaps someone should have stayed in Dalu so they could translate, but I'm not going to say or do anything about it now, not with Amber already on my case.

[Dave ST]

The dirt road went on forever and only several yards all at once. Here distance seemed to lose perspective along with time and other senses. All that existed in this place existed only because the dreamer willed it to be.

Lucien had little control over the sculpting of Swara-Ann's dream realm. With Tipishkau-pishum riding the coat tails of her mind his dark and fear filled whispers seemed to take greater shape here than the Warlock's gentle manipulations. Although he tried once or twice along the walk it did very little.

Terror and oppression clung to the Warlock and assorted members of the animal kingdom as they took in their surroundings while slowly waking down the road. Although there wasn't much any of the animals could see over the long stalks of corn what they did catch was the sudden appearance of a ramshackle old house on a hill not far away. A two story old farmhouse with a small windmill and a barn of to the side could be seen. In the dreary colorless world they found themselves in the yellow lights shining from the old house's windows were like a beacon.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

No, that doesn't stand out like a dream focus. Really it doesn't.

Sarah had been in wolf form partially because of Amber's order - or the closest she could apply it to herself - and partially on the theory that she'd wind up having to try to pick up Swara-Ann's scent in this weird landscape. But with what they were seeing, the latter likely wasn't the case... and she doubted in the extreme if her cousin would really give a damn about Sarah following an order given to "wolves". In that same strange, alien fashion as before, she shifted back up into her human-like form.

"So, figure I haven't seen that in half a dozen or more horror flicks," she said quietly. "Since this is dream land and you're the one who goes pokin' round in people's psyches, Lucien, whadya figure we're likely to find in there? Sickles an' pitchforks? Twisted hallways? Norman Bates?"

[Lucien Hunt]

"I'm not to sure," He said softly. "Dreams are strange, they are manifestation of the dreamer. It's her world so she makes the rules. Everything here tells a story about her, so we should always be on guard. I'll be able to manipulate some parts of her world, but I can't completely dominate a dream sphere yet."

He realized he was talking to someone now and looked to Sarah, pleased she had shifted into her human form. "Ah, excellent, someone with thumbs," He grinned with a bit of sarcasm. "How refreshing."

"This house must be significant to her in some way, perhaps she grew up here, or it's a memory of a horror movies she always associated with her fear of something. Really, it could mean anything." He tried to shake off the chill but it was futile. "Let's see what we can find, shall we?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"So it's like that old Dennis Quaid movie." Sarah remembered the star, if not the name, of the cult classic. Nightmares of were-snakes had riddled her adolescent dreams for months after seeing it on late-night TV. They died for real if they died in the dream there, too, she recalled with a shudder.

"Yeah, prolly better check it out. Um, guys?" she added, looking at the huge trio of wolves. "If there's anyone, well, normal in there - or a dream of someone normal, it probably won't react all that well to the whole Call of the Wild routine. We should at least start this thing out as if we were" - normal - "human."

[Rorx]

Moss immediately changes back - he hadn't been sure of the point of changing so completely in the first place.

"Sure Sarah, it would probably freak the dreamer and so could make things more difficult for us. At least initially, but once we encounter the spirit we'll probably need to go hairy."

He turns to Lucien as well, "Yeah, I remember that movie, Dreamscape or something like that I think it was called. If that's the sort of stuff we have to look forward to then we are likely to have some trouble unless we can take advantage of it as well."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel shifts down to Dalu and hesitates, sniffing at the air.

"Point's well taken," she growls, "but our senses are a lot sharper like this. At least one of us should stay in this form. Might get some advance warning."

She looked at Lucien with her yellowed wolf's eyes.

"That dreamscape thing...that's a double edged sword, right? I mean, if it's Swara's mind we're in there'll be things about it she can control...but things about it she can't too. Maybe we can use that."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber remained in the Urshal form, her massive shape shouldering aside dead corn. She listened to the conversation coming through the crops, but her focus was on her nose, arguably her best sense in this form. The dream scents were as clear or easy to identify, but Amber knew what Tittytattypussy smelled like: she'd smelled its taint all over Swara Ann.

Click to reveal.. (Scent Roll)

Amber's Wits+Com, +2 dice: 2 sux

1d10=1, 1d10=8, 1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=4, 1d10=1, 1d10=2

[Dave ST]

Amber's keen senses immediately picked up the scent of the spirit. It was in the earth upon which she trod. The corn gave off the spirits sickly scent of pain and corrumption. The sky was laced with seething anger with the moon and starts comprised of rage and contempt. The air she breathed, the house to which she walked, everything told Amber exactly what she wanted to know:

The spirit was riding Swara-Ann so Swara-Ann's Dreams were the Spirit's dreams and it possessed as much control here as she did, if not more. The entire place wreaked of the monster taint because it was what Swara-Ann feared the most.

It was to her left and her right. It was ahead of her and creeping up behind her all at once. It watched her from the ground and followed her from the sky. All the Rahu had left to decide was which direction she would charge off in to vanquish the corruption...

[z-Amber Wren]

Her ears flattened and her lips curled back from her teeth, but Amber didn't dash off. After a moment, she turned and trotted back to the others. She tilted her head to look up at Ariel and Moss. "<It surrounds - sky, plants, earth, air,>" she said in First Tongue. "<Will attack when it ready. We look now, learn now.>" She turned and trotted toward the house, making no attempt to hide. It was pointless to attempt it.

But she was ready to be jumped. And when she was, she was going to show Tilly-tata-punta what a modern werewolf could do.

[Rorx]

Moss nods to Amber and tries to translate for the others, "Amber feels or senses that the spirit is all around us, so it must still be riding Swara and so is part of the dream, if not partially controlling it. Since it will attack when it is ready we should take the time to find out what we can."

He walks off after Amber, assuming that the others will follow.

[Lucien Hunt]

"Yes, she's right." Lucien looked about, a coutious tone in his voice as they all approached the porch of the house. "I've little experience with spirits, but thankfully they possess a consciousness, which I can detect as easily as any living, or unliving, being. But here it's just as she said. The spirit is everywhere. It feels like it's everything. I've never sensed anything like this at all."

His weight caused the boards of the porch to creak loudly in manner that Clive Barker would have had a field day with. "Rest assured we'll have no secrets here. It sees us, hears us, feels us; we've nowhere to hide. It's world, it's rules."

He grinned and looked back at everyone as his hand reached for the door knob of the front door. "Hope you came looking for a fight."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel nodded at Lucien's admonition, but was distracted from responding by the queasey sense of being watched that stemmed from his description of the spirit's presence.

So they were in Swara's dreams. The spirit wasn't just here, it seemed to -embody- them. That begged a question.

"If the spirit is all around here," she said in her gruff Dalu voice, "then where's Swara-Ann? This is her dream, her mind. No matter how strong the spirit is, there should be something of her here too, right?"

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber gave a wolfy huff at Lucien's words. When was she ever not ready for a fight?

Ariel's words made the massive wolf's ears flick. "<Spirit rolling her under. Kill it, find her.>" That was her assessment anyway.

Focusing the door that the mage was about to enter, Amber got ready.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah wasn't precisely thrilled with fighting something that she was, from all descriptions, inside of. It seemed very much like trying to attack a whale from the inside; even if you kill it, the sea rushes in.

But there wasn't really a lot of choice... except for one. Gently but firmly, she took Lucien's outstretched hand in her own. "This is my mess, love. And my challenge. And you're the only shot we have of pulling this off at the end."

Moving just a bit ahead of the wizard - and spending a tiny bit of blood to steel herself - Sarah took the knob in her hand and opened the door.

Click to reveal..

Spending 1 vitae to activate Resilience for the scene.

[Rorx]

Moss looked over as Sarah opend the door thinking furiously, Oh, shit! Why the fuck did she have to say that out loud? Now the Spirit knows that killing Lucien will really put the rest of us in the shit, and save his own neck in the process.

With that Moss moved closer into Lucien, and redoubled his efforts to watch everywhere for signs/smells of danger.

[z-Amber Wren]

Fuck! Why'd she say that? We're the ones who'll be fighting and either finish it and drive it away. We can get out of a dream without the damned mage. Now though, it's going to think he's important. Might attack him instead of me. I hate having to run down prey going after someone else.

Amber wedged her head between Sarah's leg and the door frame, her huge yellow eyes searching for the enemy.

[Dave ST]

One by one the group entered the home. Sarah followed by Amber and Ariel went in first. Lastly Lucien and No-Moss entered. The interior was old, as they expected. Plaster peeled from the walls as dust and stains had taken their toll on everything and anything that was visible.

There was no furniture and their foot falls creaked upon musty carpet covered floorboards. The first thing everyone noticed though were the pictures. Everywhere there was room on the walls was covered with a picture from of some sort in a variety of styles. Small frames, large ones, barely any of the walls were visible beyond the layer of picture frames. Hundreds, if not thousands all over and each one contained a single picture of Swara-Ann at some point in her life.

One couldn't help but look at them and as their perceptions focused on a picture the viewer saw in amazement as the picture animated like a film and played the contents of that moment in her life. In just seconds they learned more about Swara-Ann they ever could have imagined.

They watched as she wept on her bed as her parents argued down stairs about the calls from her teachers and counselors calling her 'slow' and felt she needed testing. They watched as other children picked on her as she walked into the special education classroom while they went out to recess.

As she grew older her life seemed one calamity after another, from tripping down the steps and ruining her homecoming gown, to Jason Sharpe's braces getting caught on her bra just as Sheriff Abernathy decided to tap on the window of the car at the city's local make-out spot and following fight with her parents that followed.

One in particular caught Sarah's attention and soon Amber's own curiosity left them both staring at the movie frame of Swara-Ann's life. Early in her teenage years as she walked up to the house on hill through the acres of corn the moon called her name in a soft whisper. It filled her depressed mind and feeble frame with confidence and strength as the First Change swept over her and she greeted the night with her new life.

The mocking of her peers and the constant arguing by her parents and her strong Christian upbringing had nearly pushed the poor girl to the brink of her sanity as the Rage of the war-form took its grip on her mind. With speed and grace she approached her house, leaping nearly forty five feet from the edge of the crops to clamp upon the trunk of the old tree that still held the tire swing she used from time to time before pouncing off onto the roof of her fathers old beat up Ford pick-up and doubling back to leap up onto the second story overhang above the back porch that led to her room.

Fury had swelled up inside her and all she had on her mind was getting them all back for the years of pain and misery the poor little retarded girl was forced to endure. Then she caught her reflection on the glass of her bedroom window. She'd seen the 'demon' she'd become and her fear and shock overrode her Rage and she shirked away in terror. She lost her footing on the aged shingles and fell backwards to the garden below smashing her head on one heavy stones below.

After she was released from the hospital he parent never mentioned anything about finding her naked and bleeding in the back yard, but she was faster, stronger, her senses sharper and the world seemed so much easier to deal with. After that night the 'demon' never returned, at least not within the images within the picture frame, somehow Swara-Ann had learned to deny her heritage but retain all its power.

Snapping the cousins from the animated reverie was the sudden shock of every picture in the room suddenly displaying nothing but Swara-Ann in a white gown upon a white background. Her tanned skin and blond hair were the only contrast as her piercing blue eyes glanced about the room at the assembled supernatuals.

"It knows you're here. It's angry, at all of you." She approached and pressed her hands against the 'glass' of the inside of the frame. Her voice was an echo from beyond worlds as thousands of her all spoke at once. Her expression, although she was beautiful and healthy in her dream realm, was of a woman who'd abandoned all hope. "You must leave! I can't hold it back for much longer. Please! Please leave while you can!"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The whole scene rolled by, pulling every fibre of Sarah's soul along with it. All her life - and unlife - a deep envy had risen unbidden at the sight or mention of a new First Change, that magical thing that was forever denied her... and here was that story shone in impossible fullness and truth.

But for the first time, Sarah felt something other than envy on watching this poor girl suddenly empowered under Luna's light. Even through the stilting weight that clamped down on a vampire's emotions, Sarah felt both joy and sorrow for Swara-Ann: joy that the gift had been given to someone so long oppressed, sorrow that the girl's understanding of it was sealed off behind mental walls. When she looked at the final, pleading image shrouded in white, it was with new eyes.

"No," Sarah said in a voice so gentle it surprised even her. "We won't leave you here with it, not alone. We're here to set you free. But we'll need you to be strong. Can you come to us, be with us when we face it so we can protect you?"

[Dave ST]

"You guys are crazy!" The outburst was sudden and she slammed her hands against the glass. "This is my Purgatory. Mine! Please..." tears ran down her cheeks as she pleaded with her 'guests'. "I deserve this hell, but not you."

"I'm begging you, please, go, before it finds you. Please."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"No!" Sarah snapped back, her voice firm and stand determined. "We didn't haul ourselves in here just to watch you wither away, dammit! We're here for you!"

The Dead-Wolf looked around at the decrepit room, hundreds of Swara-Ann's looking back. "This isn't Purgatory, except what you make of it. You don't have to be here, and you don't deserve it! You aren't a demon, Swara, even though that thing out there wants you to think so."

She looked at the windows, knowing that there was going to be the mother of all storms beating against them soon. Looking back to the image of the girl, she tried to explain. "It's a ghost, and it's angry and hurt for something that happened a long time ago. Now it wants you to be angry and hurt too because that's all it understands anymore. But you don't have to!

"You're stronger than you think, Swara. You're Uratha, like Amber and Ariel and Moss. You're stronger than I'll ever be. And you can fight! So fight! Break out of this place, and fight alongside us to be free!"

[SalmonMax]

"We came here to end this, Swara," Ariel adds. Her voice doesn't have Sarah's dramatic rise and fall. She speaks in a low, calm, irrefutable tone. "No one deserves this. Not you. Not anyone."

[Dave ST]

Darkness ran down the white walls of Swara-Ann's room like black paint. With the eeriness of sentient liquid it oozed down and across the floor. "He's found us!" She looked about, panicking as there was no where for her to run within the closed in room. Helplessly they watched as she screamed in terror and agony as chilling darkness slithered to her and gripped her bare feet before spiraling up her legs beneath the gown of white.

"Basement!" she wailed while thrashing about.

Pulled to the floor she thrashed and fought with everything she had while gurgling and choking on the viscous dark mass pushed its way down her throat. She rolled and fought until she out of view within the frame. The room was now 'painted' black as the syrupy mass seemed soaked into the walls and floor.

The group leapt back a step, their hearts jumping in their chests as Swara-Anns face shot up from below the edge of the frame. She seemed no worse save for the solid black eyes.

"The girl is mine!" She screamed at them and slammed her hand against the glass, a gruff demonic voice overlapped upon Swara-Ann's soft tones. "I grow tired of your meddling!"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah didn't wait for the worst of the show. When she heard the girl desperately call out one last word, she knew exactly where to go and where this would be decided. As fast as she could find her way, the Dead-Wolf dashed out the front door, headed around the side for the basement and whatever dank horrors it would reveal.

The doors were battered wood, held down through the expedient of a rough broken board shoved through the handles. Without a thought, Sarah ripped the board free and kept it in her hand, sharp end forward, as she threw open the doors and made her way down the grimy concrete steps into the blackness. Her eyes gleamed bright in the dark, Luna's gift showing her the way.

[Lucien Hunt]

"Sarah, wai-," Lucien tried to stop her, but she was already gone. "Damnit."

Slowly Lucien backed out of the room, towards the door they entered through. "Time to go. I think it's safe to assume we've worn out our welcome."

[z-Amber Wren]

Amber crowded against the underwear model's legs, urging him to move out the door, a low rumble vibrating through her ribs. "<Move,>" she grumbled, aware that the mage couldn't understand her, but feeling better for it.

Then she realized that the spirit could understand her. Bounding forward in a short, stiff hop, she made herself a target. "<Meddle if want,>" she sneered in guttural First Tongue. "<Stop me if can.>" Steeling herself for the attack, she hoped that the others would be smart enough to not waste her distraction.

[Rorx]

Moss shifted up to Dalu form as he went for the window, with the bunch up at the door it would be quicker to go out that way.

"Swara, you are not a monster. There is no reason that you can't largely get on with your life as you want. But to do that you are going to have to be strong and help us get rid of this hate filled ghost that is trying to dominate you."

Climbing out he looks about and heads around the house for the basement doors after Sarah.

[Dave ST]

Although Amber set herself ready for an attack, it never came. Either the darkness wasn't capable of attacking at the moment or it just didn't want to. With a sadistic grin and it's hands pressed against the glass it just watched with dark joy as the party fled from the home.

Catching up to Sarah was not difficult, by the time she'd tore away the boards, and smashed the lock with a good jolt of vampiric strength, everyone met up with her as she took her first few steps into the darkness of the cellar...

The darkness engulfed them with each step they took. The echos of their footfalls and the modest crunch of gravel beneath their feet gave them the only indication that they were still on anything solid. The scent in the air was acrid leaving a bitter lump in the throats of the werewolves.

The shadows yielded as a light source became visible, slowly growing in size with each step they took until the hallway opened up into a large chamber far to big to be contained within the basement of the old house.

Everything remained monochromatic as the fellowship hall of an unfamiliar church came into focus. They stood at the back of the hall where pews were lined up perfectly straight in several rows. As always a pathway lead up to a podium and behind that was displayed a huge cross upon which a rendition Jesus was crucified.

What really caught their eye were the windows, the stained glass windows lining the sides of the massive hall that usually depicted religious scenes or figures were in full color. Glorious reds, oranges and blues with crystal whites all mingled together to prove to the pack that color had not completely been washed away from Swara-Ann's subconsciousness. These windows seemed to display current events however. Stained glass pictured showed Swara-Ann meeting Morgan, her room mate, another shown the amulet around her neck being offered to her with outstretched hands by a figure cloaked in darkness save for two shimmering green eyes. The conflict in the junkyard was there, the moment in the house and on the last window to the left the members of the pack stood in a giant dark hall filled with stain glass windows.

To the right of the cross, in a boxed cage comprised of wisping shadows paced a massive white wolf. Its fur in this place shimmered with a near holy radiance. To the left of the cross dangling from ropes twisted from shadow-stuff a lovely young woman in her Sunday summer dress swayed about quietly with the creaking of the ropes making the only sound.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

It was a lost cause, and she knew it. That kind of creaking rope didn't come with hope attached. But Sarah moved more on instinct than thought now. Running up the left-hand aisle, she grabbed a chair on the way, plunking it down next to dangling feet. In a motion, she was up on the chair, reaching for the ropes with the only sharp thing she had at hand: a claw.

[Dave ST]

She reached up to slice the shadow rope when Swara-Ann opened her eyes. Black orbs gazed into her own lifeless ones, the young girl smiled widely and it was then Sarah realized she'd been baited.

"Too easy!" She said demonically, bringing up her feet to deliver a powerful kick to Sarah's chest that sent her flying back a double digit distance. "This is what passes for Luna's Chosen these days?"

She landed on pews and toppled them with the impact, smashing the one she landed on initially into splinters.

Tipishkau-pishum 'oozed' out from the dangling woman his black, shadowy form becoming somthing a slight mix between a man and a wolf, but not quite what the People would have considered 'Garou'. "You can not defeat me here, I own the girl, my world, my rules."

The massive white wolf growled and ferociously 'roared' at the black figure as it constantly smashed itself up against the solid black bars of its cage.

Click to reveal..

No damage to Sarah, being made of dream stuff right now her 'blood healing' would have countered the damage by the time she stood back up or regained her composure.

Initiative is as follows (24 Hour Rule is in effect):

No-Moss: 15 (dalu)

Amber: 13 (urshal)

Sarah: 9

Ariel: 8 (dalu)

Lucien 8

Bad Guy: 7

Keep in mind that as you shift forms you may gain or lose places in the initiative order.

You have unlimited blood, essence, mana. Your limited to only what you are permitted to spend in a given turn, I highly recommend you take advantage of this. Tittypoopoo will be using everything in his arsenal, there's no reason you shouldn't.

There's no shame in staying back for a round or so to heal up.

[Rorx]

Moss ignored the figure of the ghost Garou and sped across and down the aisle to the white wolf in the black cage. As he started trying to prise the bars apart he talked to the wolf, "Come on Swara, don't give in to him, you have to fight it. This is your world not his, you can help me. Make the bars weaker or further apart so that you can get out of there."

Click to reveal..

Str + Athletics roll = 4 dice

(22:43:46) ChatBot: (Moss) rolls 4d10 and gets 4,5,1,8.

+1 dice for Dalu form

(22:44:34) ChatBot: (Moss) rolls 1d10 and gets 3.

1 sux

[z-Amber Wren]

With a roar, the silver-gray form for Amber's Urshal streaked forward. Her 'pack' had been attacked, and her fury at this turn of events couldn't be denied. It didn't matter that it was Sarah, the dead one; for today, she was Amber's charge, and Amber charged on her behalf.

Her massive jaws found easy purchase in the Dream-monster and she bit down savagely. The glory of ripping and tearing at her foe could not be overrated.

Click to reveal..

Amber's Str+Brawl+Bite: 2 sux, 2 Lethal to the spirit

10,3,3,9

1

1 Essence to activate Clarity - +5 to Init after this round

H: 0/0/0 - 11 | E: 1/?? | W: 4/4

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah pulled herself free from the pews as the hateful ghost had called out its challenge. Her claws were already out and at the ready from her abortive effort to cut down what had turned out to be a trap. But her immediate action wasn't to charge forward in attack.

The Dead-Wolf saw the threat, but knew as well that dealing with it would take understanding how it fought. She also knew that dashing forward into the fray from where she was wasn't going to do a damned bit of good. So while she moved forward, she did so as she shifted over the seconds from woman to wolf, with vitae seeped outward to change her skin... and with a sharp eye on the true monster in the room.

Click to reveal..

Spending 1 vitae to shift to wolf form.

Watching the target carefully, in preparation for shifting form and attacking with Fighting Style: Tooth and Claw.

[SalmonMax]

"Not your world," Ariel snarled in her Dalu's rough voice. Fur cascaded down her arms and shoulders, thickening into a bristly red-orange pelt. Her muscled thickened, then seemed to balloon out as she shifted to the towering, hulking form of her Garou. And yet, though the rage burned in her eyes and in her heart, her mind stayed intact enough to bellow, "NOT YOURS!!" as she charged forward, reaching forward with her left arm to grab the demon-wolf as she reached back with her right to wind up for an attack.

Why? Heh, you would ask that. Okay, why. There's a lot of reasons I wanted to be a policeman. Woman. Whatever. But the real reason isn't the one I put on the application. The real reason is because I was mad. Mad at the world for being...what it is. Mad at dad. Mad at mom. Just mad. It's the wrong answer, you know? You're supposed to want to make the world a better place, and I do. I really do. But the reason WHY I do is because every time I see something that isn't right, or shouldn't be, I get mad. And I have to put it somewhere out of sight, where it can't hurt anyone. Sometimes I get a little worried that I'm building a whole other me down there...and someday it'll come out. I'm not sure what it would be. I'm not even sure it would be human. So I just never let it out.

Until now.

Her claws found the shoulder of the black wolf-thing and sank in. With a triumphant roar she drove her other claws straight forward with all the strength of her fury. Her hand hit like a knife-edge, flat and extended, leading with two-inch talons as she tried to literally stab her claws into the beast's chest to rip out its heart!

(11:44:06) ChatBot: (SalmonMax) rolls 9d10 and gets 10,7,10,3,1,9,8,8,3.

(11:44:19) ChatBot: (SalmonMax) rolls 2d10 and gets 8,2.

[Lucien Hunt]

Lucien tensed himself as the furry fury all around him exploded into action. Amber darted off like a rocket, Moss dashed off like a mad man, Sarah -not surprisingly- shifted into a wolf and Ariel took on the legendary war form and was off like a bolt of Rage and talons. Jesus these people are hard to keep up with...

Although a relatively cool and in control customer almost all the time, combat situations were not something he was quite as adept at as he'd like for some people to believe. However what he lacked in combat ability he made up for with a discerning mind for tactics and strategy that worked at speeds most geniuses could only dream of, thanks to his magic.

He took in a deep breath to calm himself as the war raged on beyond him. Swiftly his index finger drew sigils upon the air that normally would not have been visible to the naked eye, but here in the realm of dreams where mana made memory and desires a reality sparkling blue glyphs were left behind upon the air like he etched them with some mystic magic marker. "Misceo... miscui... mixtum!" He shouted and a pulse or wave of energy filled the area.

Their forms wavered and shimmered, like a mirror image pressed upon a mirror image, pressed upon the true self, Lucien's allies were cloaked within a shadowy haze misperception that fogged the conscious mind of the spirit and bored deep within it causing a searing agony.

"Press the attack!" He cried. "We must weaken him!"

Click to reveal..

Combined Spell: Misperception & Psychic Assault

Improvised Casting

(13:11:29) ChatBot: (Lucien) rolls 5d10 and gets 10,10,2,8,6.

(13:11:38) ChatBot: (Lucien) rolls 2d10 and gets 10,5.

(13:11:43) ChatBot: (Lucien) rolls 1d10 and gets 5.

4 Successes on Misperception, 1 Success on Psychic Assault.

All allies gain +4 Armor for the scene, Spirit take 1 bashing.

1 Mana spent to negate Paradox. (Paradox still affects Mages in the Dream.)

[Dave ST]

The great spirit cried out as Amber's assault tore into it's shoulder as as Ariel joined the assault and drove her claws into its side. There was no blood to speak of but tufts of shadow-stuff were tore away in wisps that left the imagery of gore all to real in the combatants mind.

Roaring like a enrage demon the dark spirit reached out and 'absorbed' Ariel's hands within it's black form. The liquidy mass of it's body hardened suddenly and inwardly Ariel could feel it body shift in an impossible way. "Die! Die! DIE!"

She felt her wrists twist and tried to roll with the momentum but it happened to fast. Pressure fell upon her hands crushing bone and tendons into powder.

Click to reveal..

Combat Tactic: Cripple Claws*

*As a powerful and experienced ghost Tipishkau-pishum can perform combat tactics without aid.

(Dave) rolls 6d10 and gets 10,9,5,9,3,5.

(Dave) rolls 1d10 and gets 10.

(Dave) rolls 1d10 and gets 4.

4 Damage.

Ariel's claws are crippled. She can not make claw attacks until the damage suffered from the attack is completely healed.

Keep in mind that here in the Dream damage is abstract. There is not 'bashing', 'lethal', or 'aggravated' since there is no real substance to anything. Treat all damage as 'bashing' which means you'll automatically heal one box a turn, plus whatever you heal with essence.

While Ariel snarled in pain (which only fueled her rage more), the mighty ghost gripped Amber's head and pulled it back, loosening her teeth from it's shoulder. His gigantic balled fist lunged forward but she managed to slide from his grip just in time.

As Ariel was freed from its grip and Amber slipped away the ghost lunged forward slightly off balance for a moment by the amount of power he placed in his punch that failed to hit its mark on Amber's jaw.

Click to reveal..

Combat Tactic: Destistry

(Dave) rolls 5d10 and gets 1,2,2,1,7

Miss.

[Rorx]

Moss reacted as much to Ariel's snarl of pain as he did to Lucien's words, but regardless of the cause, he dropped his grip on the bars and shifted to Garou form as he turned to face their enemy. Pushing off from the altar as went around Sarah, he slashed out with his claws.

Click to reveal..

Str 2 + Brawl 2 + Claw Spec 1+ Garou Form Str Bonus 3 + Claw Damage 1 - Defence 2? - Armour 1? = 6 dice

(11:13:03) ChatBot: (Moss) rolls 6d10 and gets 8,9,1,6,8,8.

= 4 sux = 4 damage

H taken = 0/12

Armour 1

Defence 2

[z-Amber Wren]

Still roaring with rage, Amber attacked her foe, her jaws snapping on nothing as she missed it.

Click to reveal..

Amber's attack:

1d10=5, 1d10=3, 1d10=6, 1d10=2, 1d10=3