~Don't waste your energy on trifles! We have something bigger than a bunny to face!~

[renferret]

A Revel meant to be a simple Engling hunt goes all to hell. There may be Wyld dragons involved. After, Jacinta and Mouse have a brief discussion.


The group of garou reach the umbra with little difficulty, and once they are settled, it is not difficult to spot the waiting engling on the other side. This one seems a little more insubstantial than usual, perhaps because of the caern being put to sleep, but regardless the spirit buck grazes a handful of paces away, flicking its tail now and then. When the garou cross, the spirit's head jerks up, a hoof stamps, and it springs away, running.

Tempest's Wake gives simple directions, separating the ragabash to left and right to harry the engling and herd it, as the rest close in from behind.

Once through the gauntlet without immediate threat visible, Dead-Quick retakes his hispo skin for the increased balance and speed offered by four legs. He takes off after the engling but with his scar-reduced running speed has trouble keeping up with it directly.

Bright Eyes shifts smoothly into hispo, massive jaws snapping shut on air. She waits for Tempest's Wake to give direction, then bounds after the engling, coming at it from the spirit's left.

Evac sways his heavy head about, appraising the warforms about him. His ears slip back slightly in displeasure, and he remains stubbornly in hispo form. He bounds immediately off to the right at Tempest's call, not batting so much as an eyelid in following the adren's command.

Thunder's-Heart seems to wait until most of the rest of the ragabash have sprung away before he sprints to the left, after Shelby. Speed is, as it seems, not his forte, and he lags a little as his group circles the engling.

First-Strike remains in lupus for the moment, and seems content enough to run behind and to one side of Jacinta, at the strange sort of loping run that looks just slightly /off/ from the rest of the wolves, but which seems to work well enough for her.

Black-Light is quick to take the left side when Tempest's Wake gives her order, trotting off after the prey. He does his best to be quick about it, but seems content to let the others overtake him, and does his best to keep as quiet as he can while chasing.

Long-Path gravitates toward Rori, and lopes after the engling with a steady pace.

Danger Magnet takes off after the prey. She lets the others do their job in harrying the engling, it's for her to come straight from behind and watch for an opening.

Dropping to all fours without changing from the warform, Oath-Ring gallops with the main group close by Jacinta, grim of purpose. White foam flecks his flanks where it's flown back from his jaws.

Bag-of-Snakes remains in hispo as she scootles after the quarry, looking as if she has a good deal of bad temper to work out upon it.

All-in-Stride keeps chase with the rest, the cub neither lagging nor falling behind although there is less practise in his run. Indeed, he seems as intent on it as everyone there.

Kaz has arrived.

Evac doesn't appear interested in pacing himself. He bounds through the undergrowth, effortlessly commanding the typical obstacles of gnarled undergrowth and downed branches in spite of his massive paws. Fast!He casts a glance behind him only briefly to see if any other ragabash have cut to the right with him, but swings his head right back about to keep his eyes on the engling they're corralling.

Kaz, having stopped to howl further in the Caern, joins the others with a bound -- Or, well, a limping gallumph. She gravitates toward Mouse.

Speech-and-Silence has scars of his own, but can still run faster than Dead-Quick. He keeps pace with his packmate, however, instead of haring off after the spirit.

Red-Hands has arrived.

Try as he might, Dead-Quick cannot seem to remain ahead with the ragabash team, the bulky hispo eventually slowing his pace and glancing to Speech-And-Silence. He then turns off to flank, trying to bring himself around at an angle to the Engling's direction to try and head the spirit off.

Red-Hands keeps pace within the Warder's group, placed a step or two behind the Wendigo, chasing the thing to be chased.

The engling runs, the garou follow. Twisting through the brush, ducking, dodging. The chase continues, and the spirit's veering run gets more of less guided into a straight line as the flanking ragabash catch up. Evac, bolting ahead, is soon within range for a pounce.

Without warning, the ground softens beneath the garou's feet. For a moment, it becomes like running through mud. That's all the warning they get; the engling bleats, and then a rift opens in the floor of the umbra, dropping the entire party, engling and all, into a pocket. They don't fall far; six, seven feet, enough to rattle but not injure. Leaves, umbral dirt, and a handful of branches dust their forms, but the hole they fell through is not visible: the sky above them is endless, however. Oh, how odd the umbra can be.

Thunder's-Heart is Not Happy about this change of events, slowing as the ground beneath them liquifies. A huff of breath as he lands on splayed feet and hands, fur bristling every which way, body rigid as a board as he swings his head about.

Tempest's Wake lets out a brief sound of surprise and anger, and she takes only a second to survey the rest of the revel party before she growls out an order take down the engling.

Black-Light sucks in a breath through his teeth when the boggy ground disappears beneath his feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. As he falls, the Ragabash twists himself midair with surprising, almost unnatural speed, and tumbles shoulder-first into a landing. He rolls onto his hind legs and crouches close to the ground, rumbling quietly with a scowl on his face.

First-Strike does not land particularly gracefully; she tumbles, but she springs up within a moment, shaking dirt and branches from her fur. She looks up, and then her ears twist back. The order has her springing forward again.

Dead-Quick is sent sprawling when he lands, his right hindleg buckling nervelessly for a few seconds. Thoroughly embarrassed and pissed off, he swells himself up into crinos form and drops into a fighting crouch, powering up the Blur of the Milky Eye and for the first time in a very long while, reaching out through the restored link to his pack totem to draw upon its powers.

Ears yowls, ~Fuuuck,~ and thumps to the ground. She lumbers to her feet and peers around.

Evac tenses his muscles, snarling as he nears the engling and giving a snap of his massive jaws. And then things take a turn for the unhappy. His paws sink, and he stumbles. He only just escapes faceplanting into the mud. The ragabash growls, sloshing through the mud after the engling and then, well. The ground gives out. He gives a yelp of displeasure as the pocket swallows him up. He lands awkwardly on all fours, legs slightly splayed. He grinds his teeth, ~Fucking. Umbra. Every. TIME.~

Bag-of-Snakes lands in a heap under the big, enigmatic, empty sky, jerks to her feet, and glares around. Seeing Oath-Ring she yaps a command to him to join her.

Oath-Ring lands on four splayed legs, right way up, and seems on the verge of clawing anything that moves as soon as the ground is solid under him. It's a moment before he collects himself enough to be sure that there are no immediate foes. His reactions are quick enough then- a glance to his Jarl, a glance to the Warder, a tensing of muscles ready to leap away in response to Jacinta's command. The growled complaints around him draw an irritated snarl from the Godi, wordless but clearly some sort of 'quit complaining and get on with it!'

Bright Eyes tumbles with a yelp and rolls, regaining her feet with a shake of her head. Someone else careens into her hindquarters and she stumbles again with a snarl, trying to refocus on the engling.

There is the distinct air of cursing to whatever the cub says as he lands, but he pushes himself up and to his feet just as quickly as he fell. Not graceful, but effective. Then, All-In-Stride moves up and through the group towards Red-Hands and First-Strike, shaking himself off as he does.

Long-Path clambers to his paws and scans around, quiet and careful.

Red-Hands grunts on landing, legs bent and belly nearly touching the ground until he picks himself up again. There's no pause for shaking his coat clean, though, as he steps quickly return to Jacinta and Mouse.

For those who go after the engling, it is not far away; the spirit is dazed but lifting to his feet, bleating and starting to bolt away again. First-Strike catches it with little difficulty, bringing it to the ground.

For those who take a moment to look around: similiar showers of dust and debris rain down randomly throughout the umbral sky. Sometimes a hapless spirit falls through, confused, in much the same way as the garou. Distantly, a creature, small, feathered, and prehistoric, falls through and squawks. Apparently, the garou's umbral realm is not the only one affected.

Danger Magnet finds herself near Tempest's Wake, All-In-Stride and Red-Hands. There are surely others here, too. She looks off toward the engling as First-Strike takes it down. Eyes move to find Long-Path since he was running near her. She appears to be making sure all are still here that were up above.

Ears stares at the thing falling from the sky, and then her nose twitches. ~Ain't nothin' clear, but there's some Wyrm kinda somewhere. Out there.~

To the caern, Kimpe: Basically, you've landed in a pocket realm that looks fairly similar to the one you've come out of; it's wooded, difficult to see at a far distance, but reasonable visibility. Around you, there's rifts opening in the sky, dumping debris from umbral realms (and occasionally the unfortunate thing that happened to be standing there when the thing opened).

Speech-and-Silence forms up next to Dead-Quick after he's recovered from his tumble, and looks around in dismay and wonder.

First-Strike falls onto the engling once it's down, tearing at it with lupus teeth as best she can. Mostly, she focuses on sitting on the spirit long enough for the stronger hunters to arrive.

Black-Light seems more interested in the ancient bird-thing than the engling. He studies it from afar, the tip of his muzzle following the creature as it moves about.

Long-Path snaps back into 'the job' and lopes after Mouse, clearly aiming to help her harry and surround it.

Once the engling has been taken, the Wyrmfoe rises up to two legs and huffs out a sharp directive. ~Stop!~ From there, she look to Mouse and then the Philodox. ~Sense what you can without leaving this spot.~ Then, of the ragabash, she looks to Speech and Silence. ~Circle once. Stay within hearing. See what you can learn.~

Bright Eyes flicks an ear toward Ears, acknowledging her words. Her first priority is, like First-Strike, to take out the Engling with teeth and claws.

~I obey,~ Speech-and-Silence rejoinders promptly, and begins to set out on a sweep of the area. Not without trepidation.

Long-Path stops short with a faint whine. ~It is not within me to sense the Wyrm,~ he says, but begins scanning around with nose and sight, carefully.

Evac has already had his moment of umbra-hatred, and so closes the brief distance between the downed engling and himself. He grabs hold of a rear leg, tightly holding it between his jaws. Between First-Strike and him, they almost equal a stronger garou. Engling likely isn't going anywhere. Bright Eyes is icing on that cake. Poor engling.

Black-Light lays down on the ground with his arms out before him, clutching at the earth beneath his paws. The Garou sniffs at the ground, but otherwise remains still, waiting, and watching.

Thunder's-Heart sticks close the Black-Light, Oath-Ring, Bright-Eyes and Snakes, staying very still as his eyes flicker from the engling to the sky, watching as portals seem to open.

Danger Magnet remains close to the cub she knows. She's watching, guarding, looking, but still near All-In-Stride. She's scarred, scruffy, patches of fur standing out from scars. She isn't pretty when covered by fur, but that experience makes her watchful.

First-Strike turns her nose upward from the prey, sniffing and looking.

You paged Kimpe with 'I sense wyrm, even though Kaz just did. XD'.

Kimpe pages: I page you the same thing: You paged Ears with 'Traces, nothing extraordinarily 'oh my god', but undertones.'.

Red-Hands shifts up into hispo as he falls in beside Tempet's Wake, relaxed by ready to move, waiting for her instruction.

Once the order is given by the Wyrmfoe, Dead-Quick falls back from his tribe- and packmate, doing the best he can to keep a lot profile masked by his gifts and his natural talents. He remains highly alert in his crinos form as Kevin moves away, scanning around warily for any dangers.

Distantly, heard, felt, and seen by all who are looking, the trees shift as though something large is moving through them, and a small, barely-felt tremor goes under their feet.

Tempest's Wake lifts her nose to the winds, ears twitching as she does. As she waits for the ragabash to return, she looks at those others present. ~Listen. Look, without leaving this place. When we move, it will be with planning, with intention, but let us learn what we can while we remain.~ Then the tremor comes and her attention shifts in the direction of the movement. ~Prepare! Ragabash to the sides, Ahroun with me!~

Djehuti reports, rather redundantly, ~Something large this way comes.~

Thunder's-Heart's form is blurred as he follows direction, the black crinos moving to melt into the trees to the left of the creature.

Speech-and-Silence doesn't waste any time in completing his errand. He comes zipping back up to the wyrmfoe after a couple of minutes. ~No enemies. But this place is all wrong. Some of it is dead, others as lush as the Wyld. And what does grow is not growing... right --~ He breaks off as the ground starts to shake and looks round in concern.

Red-Hands growls in warning when the ground moves beneath his feet. His head turns toward the movement, hackles rising. He takes a single step forward, head lowering, though he doesn't leave the Warder's side.

Kaz, neither of those two, drifts toward Mouse, scanning, not for the larger thing, but for other things that might be trying to sneak up on them. (Just in case.) But she's also got claws out.

First-Strike sucks up some of the Engling energy and drops back a little. Wyrm, she reports, but small. Nothing direct. She eases up to hispo.

You have shifted to Hispo form.

Alias removed.

Name set.

Alias set.

Bag-of-Snakes gets into crinos form and rears up onto two legs, staring around in sight of whatever huge being is making the earth shake.

Danger Magnet is beside Tempest's Wake within seconds. She slides up into crinos, flexing her claws and taking a brief moment to sharpen them. Well armed is well prepared.

Evac lifts his head, bloodied maw closed, ears flicked straight up. The rumble sees his stance broadening, his ears perking up. ~Not again,~ He rumbles. At the decisive command from Tempest, casts a quick glance at First-Strike to ensure that the engling is properly taken care of, and then bounds to take his place as a ragabash, his hackles raised. ~Don't be a tar beast.~

Oath-Ring sniffs the air suspiciously for Jormangundr's taint, then takes a smooth stone from a pouch on his belt and starts to sharpen his claws on it as he watches the sky disgorging debris and unfortunate beings, and feels the tremours underfoot.

Dead-Quick moves off to the flanks, seeking cover as Kevin returns and going to ground, readying himself for combat. As the sounds draw closer he fingers the small device strapped to his foreleg, tapping buttons on it with the tip of a talon (although nothing seems to happen just yet).

All-in-Stride follows Danger Magnet, biting at a claw as he he does so and in the absence of direct instruction, remaining with those he knows. There is a low grumble at the ground that moves under his feet.

Bright Eyes and the others make short work of the engling. At the Wyrmfoe's orders she swivels an ear back, then heads over to the side as ordered. Her scent fades away, leaving the Fang 'visible' to one less sense.

Black-Light rises up to his paws after he's commanded, looking off towards the source of the sound with a dubious expression. The Garou rumbles beneath his breath, then trots off a ways to the side. Not far out, he stops, then abruptly leaps onto the trunk of a tree and starts scaling it as quickly as he's able.

As the garou prepare, whatever approaches comes within view in snatches of vision: glimpses of a scaly hide, sharp angles, and something on all fours. A sensation of /wrongless/ is palpable.

From the trees, suddenly, a burst of furious movement blasts out toward the garou. For all the alarm, it is merely... a rabbit. A terrified rabbit. A rabbit with the head and tail in the wrong place, swapped with one another, and it's trying to run away while falling all over itself.

Long-Path stops and stares at it, a practically visible question mark over his head.

Thunder's-Heart chooses not to lead any sort of attack, leaving that to the Ahroun. Though no width of tree can hide his form, he peers carefully around a trunk, at the scaled creature, assessing it with the accuracy only a Shadow Lord can possess.

Danger Magnet drops the rock at her feet and then looks at All In Stride. ~Don't just take off after me. Know what you are doing.~ Her eyes turn to the Wyrmfoe and then back out at the sound of the approaching thing.

Dead-Quick just remains low and in cover and concealment- though he can't hide his look of bemusement when the bunny makes its entrance.

Evac pauses a moment to consider the fleeing rabbit, his posture slightly relaxing. With a twitch of an ear, he calls, ~That is no ordinary rabbit!~ Hispo smirk.

First-Strike bares her teeth--that rabbit doesn't seem to do anything for her nerves at all. She slides from hispo to crinos, and then after a moment down to glabro. She's not wearing her coat today, and so her shoulder holster is quite visible. She immediately begins unstrapping her pistol, and flicks the safety off.

You have shifted to Glabro form.

Alias removed.

Name set.

Alias set.

Red-Hands takes another step forward, still growling, head hanging between his shoulders in marked threat toward the ...rabbit? Lips pull back, baring teeth, posture still relaxed though poised to attack once the word is given.

Black-Light continues his upward climb, his natural climbing ability and his claws serving to bring him high into the tree. When he's a good ways up, he stops, making his way out onto a branch to survey the terrain... And wait.

~The Wyld, corrupted,~ Tempest's Wake rumbles under her breath. ~Take care!~ She starts forward, taking just a second to run her claws over a nearby stone. As she does, she rumbles out orders. ~Ahroun, with me, take center and take it as hard and fast as you can. Ragabash! In and out! Fast. Distract and run. Theurge, do what you can, but keep your distance. Philodox! Galliard! Protect our flanks, protect the theurges, protect the cubs! And be prepared to grab any who fall! Now go!~

All-in-Stride waits attentively, falling back to near Long-Path but on the inside of the group, attentive nonetheless. There is a mutter under his breath as the cub stares at the rabbit and the wrongness of it. ~Weird.~

Bright Eyes swings wide and crouches, ears flicking madly. Though she trembles (in anticipation?), licking her lips furiously, the Silver Fang remains quiet. Only at the Wyrmfoe's orders does she lift her voice in a strange, rattling howl, her eyes burning as she dashes toward the thing, hispo teeth seeking to slash and run.

Ears snorts at the rabbit, and heads to said flank, attention far more on the approaching saurian entity than the rabbit.

Danger Magnet rushes forward with the other ahroun, her crinos form just as patchy. Claws and teeth ready, she's on two feet to do the most damage as possible all at once as she attacks with the other ahroun.

Speech-and-Silence springs to Dead-Quick's side, and prepares to act in tandem with his packmate, though he still looks full of trepidation.

Ears, also, ranges out a bit past Mouse; explicitly following Jacinta's order. But she always keeps Mouse's gun in mind.

Oath-Ring, on a hair-trigger, almost leaps on the poor unfortunate bunny to shred it, reining himself in just barely. He snarls a challenge at the oncoming /thing/, ready and willing to face whatever it might bring.

Ears pages: Which is to say, "Halp, not getting shot."

Long distance to Kimpe: Mouse will look for a decent bit of cover where she can steady her hand. A rock or a fallen tree, something like that.

Bag-of-Snakes growls at her tribemate. ~Don't waste your energy on trifles! We have something bigger than a bunny to face!~

Finally, as orders are given, the creature comes into view. The first idea that comes to mind: draconian. An old spirit, twisted and wrong. Limbs just out at odd angles. Stubs of old wings trail from the back of it, but they have been replaced by tentacles. The head has five eyes, and none of them are in the correct place. The plated head of the creature is scarred beyond all expectation, the front of the muzzle blackened and burned, and the smell that wafts with it is just /weird/, like a decaying body left in a field of flowers. It is a good thirty feet long, and perhaps ten feet high. The neck is short and squat, but the body is long and thick.

The war-cries of the garou cause it to jerk up, alert, and without any sort of hesitation it pulls up on hind legs, clawed forelimbs in front; the jaws open, the eyes dilate, but something causes it to hesitate, and it tips the giant head toward Shelby. Rattled, for an instant - but then, the jaws part again, and it sucks in a deep breath, ribcage expanding.

Kimpe pages: Won't be hard to find one!

Thunder's-Heart growls, perhaps in frustration, barking at his fellow Ragabash. ~It's weakness changes!~ Reaching to the small of his back, he draws his oversized bowie knife. Apparently this one is leery of touching the beast unless he has to. Seeing the thing target Shelby, he dives off to try and attack from the side, knife aimed for its ribcage.

Mouse snaps a warning, ~Fire, or worse!~ She picks a fallen log to duck behind, but rather than aim her gun, she peers intently at the creature, and lifts her other, empty hand. ~Suck on this.~ Evac waits for the thing to exhale whatever it's going to, and then dashes in, moving as fast as he can to try and score some hits before the wyrmdragon can charge up another. Kaz, with some difficulty, waits, tense. She's clearly ready and willing to slam into the creature if it gets anywhere near Mouse.

You paged Kimpe with 'Kaz is trying Sense Wyrm on zee dragon again. Mouse is abusing Create Element. She wants to make the biggest rock she can appear as far back into that thing's mouth as possible.'.

~Avoid the head, avoid the breath!~ The Wyrmfoe shouts as she dives forward, and though she attempts to heed her own advice, she still rounds in to lunge for the neck. As she moves, her claws seem to glint in the light, and the fire of rage burns in her eyes. The Fianna ahroun does much the same; Danger Magnet is one of the first of the ahrouns to attack and she does so without hesitation with her razor-sharp talons. Claws first, she doesn't hesitate to try to dig them into the armor of the great draconian thing. And opposite that pair, Red-Hands ducks low to charge in on the other side.

Long-Path, following Jacinta's instructions, tenses, and waits, ranging out so he's nearer Kaz (and thus protecting Mouse), but very clearly ready to duck in case it actually does breathe fire. Dead-Quick lets out a long low breath of combined awe and horror. And then sets his jaw. One taloned finger pokes a glowing icon on the device strapped to his wrist and suddenly the garou just.. isn't there anymore. No scent, no sound, no visual sign (aside from the imprints of his pawpads in the ground). Once fully cloaked by his fetish, the ragabash begins to head around behind the creature, ready to attack from the rear once it is distracted. And Speech-and-Silence, as if he and his packmate have been rehearsing this move, moves around to the other flank -- more visibly than Dead-Quick, but other than that, in the identical manner.

Oh, that's going to be a problem. Bright Eyes's eye widen as the thing turns toward her, but she doesn't cease her howl. Instead she skids to a stop, her eyes locking on the spirit's but ready to leap away from any attack. Thunder's-Heart growls, perhaps in frustration, barking at his fellow Ragabash. ~Its weakness changes!~ Reaching to the small of his back, he draws his oversized bowie knife. Apparently this one is leery of touching the beast unless he has to. Seeing the thing target Shelby, he dives off to try and attack from the side, knife aimed for its ribcage. ~Changes, does it?~ Oath-Ring's lupine face splits in a grin of pure bloodlust. Then he howls out a command, clear and loud, aimed at the creature. *Roll Over!* As the Ahroun run in, he stays alert for any 'friends' the beats might have, the Get more than ready to bury them in any foe unwary enough to present itself to him. Black-Light stays dead still right where he is, looking on in astonished silenced as he studies the beast. Something catches his eye, and after a few seconds of thought something clicks in his head. ~Fire breath!~ He calls from the tree-tops. Then he's moving, leaping from branch to branch to flank the great spirit. Bag-of-Snakes glares daggers at the huge scaly creature, but conquers the urge to pounce on it until she's ordered to, though she poises herself for action with claws raised.

The beast suddenly lunges downward, a bellowed roar starting to erupt from the mouth - but then, it suddenly gags, billows of white-blue spilling from the mouth in torrents as it begins choking. The white-blue scorches the earth and everything it touches, and this enrages it -- it begins rippling even as it throws the massive head at Evac, lifting a massive hand and pinning him to the earth.

The Wyrmfoe's claws gouge into the neck even as that white-hot fire billows down. Her claws sink in, but the going is rough, particularly as things seem to be rippling and changing as she does. The rest of her party harries the creature, pressing attacks where they can.

The creature, once gagged by something, breaks gaze from Shelby; Nik's knife clinks into the scaled hide but has trouble piercing, and one of those wing-tentacles slaps at him, haphazard. Oath-Ring's command causes the creature to wobble, hesitate, but though it splays legs and hunkers, it is clearly resisting.

Riley is pinned fast beneath the dragon's claws, and the slight crunch that's heard is cringe-inducing. Still, the ragabash doesn't look to be much the worse for wear. He frantically writhes, kicks his hispo legs, wriggling and squirming and focused for the moment only on getting out of there. Being underneath a massive dragon's foot isn't his idea of being productive. Kaz tenses, almost starting to lumber into movement, but at Riley's struggles, she relaxes and remains protecting Mouse. However, she glares at the thing and growls something under her breath. Mouse aims at the claw pinning her tribemate, and fires her weapon.

You paged Kimpe with 'Using Roach clip, it's a .45 pistol, spending a willpower on aim. Kaz is trying to le fire its head.'.

The Wendigo howls in pain and rage as the fire scorches her skin, burning away what little fur remains near her hands. Some may even catch the note of fear in her voice as she pulls the howl back and presses on, more focused than ever. ~Ears! Attack!~ she growls out, as she and the two cliath ahroun dig deep with their claws. Danger Magnet attempts to avoid the fire, but not at the cost of an opening to attack, and she shifts her focus to aim for the place right beneath the creature's chin. Devon's claws match those of the Warder, strike for strike, on the opposite side. The galliard cub remains close to his elder, tense, but waiting, keeping his eyes open for his own oportunity.

Bright Eyes dashes to one side when the spirit is no longer focused on her, aiming to flank the thing and get away from the burning earth. Her unearthly, distracting howl continues. Black-Light continues to move through the trees, occasionally climbing ever higher into the tree tops. The Crinos has little trouble navigating his way around, moving into position near one of the creature's sides. He watches from above, studying it, sizing up its movements. Thunder's-Heart is knocked back several feet when one of those tentacles connects. He shakes it off, turning on the thing again and steps back, putting his weight into a hard throw as he chucks one of those knives towards the creature's openly gagging mouth, aiming to do a little tonsillectomy. Oath-Ring's command thunders out again. ~Fenrir's blood orders you to /cease/!~ And, without that note of command, ~and has anyone had a chance to check that this /is/ Jormangundr's spawn?~ Bag-of-Snakes doesn't wait any longer, but wades straight in. No subtlety, no pretence, just claws and teeth and good old fashioned Viking style savagery. As she leaps, she unleashes an echoing, unearthly snarl which rings out around the umbral forest.

Once the heavy hitters have joined battle, Dead-Quick throws himself into the fray. Or at least, appears to- the completely invisible garou hurls himself onto the creature's back from behind, claws spread wide as he tries to tear in and latch on. Should his attack succeed the only sign of his presence would be the sudden opening of wounds on the creature. Speech-and-Silence, meantime, aims to meet up behind the foe from the other direction and strike in unison with Dead-Quick so far as he's able given his packmate's invisibility. Meantime, Djehuti remains where he is, orders followed -- he gives Riley's struggles a worried look, but then relaxes, poised on the balls of his feet.

A new mouth erupts from the thing's throat, and a large chunk of rock falls to the ground, black and covered in slime, just in time for Nik's knives to be thrown into the creature's gagging mouth. It reels but spits them out, and the bellow that the creature gives comes out of /both/ mouths, now, but Jacinta's quick reaction causes her to avoid getting crunched.

The bullet thuks into the creature's arm with a hollow sound; blood trickles, though, so it's been wounded. And it hurts it, as it jerks back and lets Evac roll free. Flame erupts around the creature's head, but aside from blinding it, it seems to do little actual significant damage. It whips around with incredible strength, ripping away from the Wyrmfoe and Danger Magnet at its throat (which has a gaping wound that is bleeding freely) and whipping its head back to batter them both with a force like being hit by a truck. This is in preparation to lunge for Shelby, though the garou harrying it slows it down. The thing fully turns toward her, apparently enraged by that distracting, irritating call, and it turns straight into Viv; huge jaws gape and twist down abruptly, crunching fangs into Bag-of-Snakes with a sickening sound.

Dead-Quick and Speech-and-Silence do end up on the creature's back, and their attacks do damage; however; those wing-tentacles thrash and beat at the area, making it hard to hold on. They can also feel the dramatic intake of breath as the creature breathes inward.

Dead-Quick and Speech-and-Silence do end up on the creature's back, and their attacks do damage; however; those wing-tentacles thrash and beat at the area, making it hard to hold on. They can also feel the dramatic intake of breath as the creature breathes inward - this is halted, however, by Oath-Ring's command. Jaws release Viv and the thing staggers back a step, but it still bellows once, defiant, pained.

Tempest's Wake grunts at the impact, the Fianna at her side as they tumble backward. But neither are halted, and both rush forward once more, both intent on the already open gash. A sharp wind picks up around the Wendigo ahroun, swirling and tugging at fur and debris as it aims right down the creature's throat. Devon redoubles his attack as well, lunging in as it moves. Close to First Strike, Takes it All in Stride straightens out at something, looking more intently at the dragon thing and even more ready on his feet.

Ears exhales at Jacinta's order. She carols, apparently in response to Norman, ~I have! It is! Also, something is fucked up and scary and it's doing /something/!~ and despite this tosses herself at it with abandon, aiming to slam into the thing at top speed. ~Watch out!~ Mouse calls, in echoing warning right after Kaz, though directed at the Garou as a whole. ~Something's changing!~ She aims at the bellowing mouth and squeezes the trigger of her gun several times now, using both hands and the log she's crouched behind to keep her aim steady and true. In spite of just being stepped on, Evac is right back up and running - though his black fur is stained snow white where the claws had been pinning him to the earth - his muzzle is drawn back in a snarl, teeth bared as he circles wide around the draconian creature. He rushes back in, jaws opened wide to try to chomp on to the thing's tail and inhibit its motion.

You paged Kimpe with 'Ears spends a Rage. Mouse is spending a Rage on multiple gunshots, and another willpower on aim, etc.'.

Long-Path starts to move, but then stops short. ~It prepares to use its power again!~ and dives behind Mouse's bunker. Speech-and-Silence, on the enemy's back, improbably digs in with the claws of his feet while using both arms to rake at the enemy -- he seems to be asking to be thrown to the ground. Dead-Quick struffles for a second to hold on, sinking his foot-talons deeper into the creature to firm up his grip before tapping his rage and becoming an invisibile whirling rototiller; the visual effect of his invisible strikes looking quite dramatic should anyone have a chance to see them amidst the fray. Claws slash again and again as he tries to dig into the creature's back, aiming to sever what passes for its spinal colummn.

While the thing is distracted by chewing on the Get Bright Eyes darts in the opposite direction, Rage-fuelled speed carrying her once more in orbit around the monster. She continues to howl. Thunder's-Heart surges forward as he sees that the creature is weakening, the crinos diving upwards to latch onto the base of where the tentacles come from the creature's back, aiming to disable as many of them as he can. Oath-Ring howls at the attack on his Jarl, and for two pins, perhaps only one, he would be leaping in to stand over her until he's sure she'll be standing again, as is plain to read. No ducking for cover for this Get. His glaring eyes, bared fangs and bristling fur all suggest that he's not far from Frenzy, and is certainly finding it hard not to charge in and attack alongside the Ahroun. At the cries of warning from Kaz and Mouse, however, his head swings to one side then the other, seeking something, anything else that might be of danger- and woe betide it if it is, and it's close enough for his claws and teeth. Black-Light remains in the trees. Bag-of-Snakes pages: The Jarl cries out in pain and staggers back, bleeding from her chest. She seems ready to renew her attack regardless, but hearing the cries of warning, she instead tries to dodge around the side of the creature.

Indeed, something is changing; all the garou lash into it, and the creature hunkers, breathing faster and faster even as Garou claws dig into it, bleed it, cause it to weaken. It does nothing. It makes no noise. And then, an explosion of pure energy erupts from every pore of the creature, hitting all like a physical blow as it bellows loud enough to rattle bones: *NO! YOU ARE ALL--NOTHING!* It throws all the garou touching it back, injuring some and changing all. Afterward, it collapses. It's hard to tell if it's dead, but it isn't moving, and it's bleeding from everywhere.

To the caern, Kimpe: EVERYONE THAT WAS TOUCHING IT: You find your character changed in some way physically. Fur color, skin color, eye color, age, missing something, something added, etc etc. Feel free to be creative. I WILL NOTE: This /does not/ have to be permanent, but you can /make/ it permanent if you wish, but you'll need to let me know one way or the other. Either way is fine. If you decide to /not/ make it permanent, it'll last about one moon cycle. Everyone who was hit by it takes 2-3 lethal.

Ears, limping a bit more than before, snarls at it (whatever it said), and slashes at its throat, just to make sure it's dead.

Bright Eyes makes one complete circuit of the fallen monster before letting her howl die away. While the others regroup she keeps one eye on the scrum and the other on their surroundings, keeping a look out for other dangers.

Bag-of-Snakes sits down rather abruptly and wraps both her arms around her midriff, beginning to curse fluently. She might be using Mother's Tongue, but one would hope she doesn't actually kiss her mother with that tongue...

Well. That was.. something. Seconds after the explosive burst of energy there's a flicker of motion off behind the fallen critter, and Dead-Quick rematerialises, looking rather tatty. Also very purple. Bright lurid purple. Like a garou version of Grimace. It takes a few moments to notice this however as the garou springs to his feet. His steady, non-shakey feet. The purple garou blinks and then lifts his right arm gingerly. His normal (well, except for being purple), non-shakey arm. That absolutely not does not carry its trademark quiver and tremble. Dead-Quick blinks a few times in confusion and then lets out a loud, keening cry of shock and realisation, his eyes going wide.

The blast of energy throws Evac into the air, teeth ripping forcibly off of the creature's tail and shredding a grievous amount of flesh off as the ragabash sails through the air. The hispo lands /hard/, black and white fur dappled with dirt and blood. It's a struggle, but the ragabash manages to roll back upright, looking unhappily at the downed creature, /daring/ it to start moving again with a glower.

Mouse keeps her gun trained on the downed beast. ~...Everyone alright?~

Evac gives an immediate lupine nod, glaring through his wounds.

Danger Magnet hits the ground hard, thrown away from the thing violently. She tries to get up, but remains crouched over, gasping in pain, eyes dark. ~All alive?~ She watches the thing, waiting for more, and then her eyes scan around. There has to be more. She reaches out a hand to Tempest if she wants it, checking out the companions who attacked by her side. She seems the same, save for the streaks of white in her fur. Bright white in long hanks in her hair. She doesn't even notice.

Oath-Ring finds some poor solace in shredding what's left of the beast after Kaz has sliced its throat, ending up panting and still angry. He takes silent stock of the state of the others, still wary lest there are other threats in the area.

Thrown back by the creature, Tempest's Wake struggles to regain her feet. Blood covers her fur, what wasn't burned away, and she moves only slowly and with difficulty. ~End it!~ she growls, as she makes her way back toward the creature.

Mouse obeys. She aims--away from Garou--and fires at the unmoving thing.

Black-Light snarls and turns his head away when the explosion of energy occurs, turning his head away. Then the Garou blinks his eyes, and turns them back upon those below, looming in the branches like a big black vulture. He mutters something to himself, seemingly dejected.

Speech-and-Silence is another one to be sent flying; whether because of the unusual way in which he was clinging to the creature as it exploded, or because of his relatively light weight, or both, he goes further than most, and lands on his back with a thump amid the trees. He soon rises to his feet, though, no worse than winded, and begins to totter back toward the clearing. There's something odd about the way he walks, though. And then he walks slap bang into a tree, and staggers. ~Hello? What the hell happened? Everything's gone funny...~ He begins to blunder off at an angle to the clearing where the other garou are gathered.

Long-Path rises to a crouch and says, courteously, ~Pardon me,~ to Mouse. He then scans around carefully for other threats.

All-in-Stride takes a few steps further away from Mouse now, glance darting around scene before he moves immediately to Speech-and-Silence's aid lest the ragabash walk into another tree.

Thunder's-Heart very slowly gets back up from where he'd been thrown, pushing to his feet. The crinos looks down, stretching his limbs, making sure they're all there. His miscolored eyes, one black, one still green, go unnoticed by himself at first, flick about as he's trying to determine just what the hell seems off. And then he notices. The already small Ragabash has shrunk at least several inches. ~Are you kidding me??~ He demands to no one in particular. ~Are you fuckin' kidding me right now??~ He shifts down to homid, hands thrown up into the air as he realises he's five foot zip now.

The creature lurches again, head rising, burned-out eye sockets seeming to fixate on Kaz. A weak snap occurs, and then it sighs out a billow of smoke, sinking to the earth and beginning to dissipate. Around them, the pocket realm begins crumbling, dissipating as the creature does; it crumbles around them to start revealing the familiar terrain of their own umbral realm.

Still somewhat dazed, Dead-Quick starts to inspect himself all over, bending his body back and forth and sniffing at himself. And then coming through his own pelt with his claws around his stomach area. ~My battlescars! They're gone! All of them!~ He yelps out in utter confusion and a bizarre mixture of shame and delight.

As the pocket realm dissolves Bright Eyes shakes her head and refocuses on the others. Still keeping a wary eye for imminent danger she returns to assist where she can. ~Does anyone need assistance?~

Danger Magnet doesn't hesitate at Jacinta's order and launches to attack it again as everything seems to dissipate and she lands hard on her belly on the ground, knocking the breath out of her. Already wounded from the creature, she remains there a minute, stuffing down the pain of landing on current wounds.

Bag-of-Snakes manages to stagger to her feet. ~I do not need... assistance... but a little healing... wouldn't go amiss...~ The Jarl's bleeding quite spectacularly.

Red-Hands picks himself up after a rough and tumble landing. All odd lines and angles, paws and ears far too big for a too-young body despite still being in hispo. He pads, sure at first in spite of aches and pains and then slower when things seem, well. Odd.

The Strider blinks for several moments, before concluding, ~Well, that was brief.~ He looks at Chris for a long moment, neutral expression betraying a hint of derision and yet slight yearning. And then he looks away and, taking everyone in, says, ~Uncontrolled Wyld. /So/ not a plaything.~

Mouse lowers her gun slowly. She blinks a few times as she looks around at the sudden...strangeness, and watches the pocket realm crumble with a faint frown.

Speech-and-Silence falls over again at the shock from the return to the 'normal' umbra; it's as if the Glass Walker can't balance any more. By the time All-in-Stride reaches him, he's sitting there, eyes closed and nose in the air. ~Strider? ... is that you? What's going on here?~

Oath-Ring's ears slick back. ~Never could manage to learn that one,~ he tells Bag-of-Snakes, irritation turned to sheepishness.

Dead-Quick still seems to be obsessively checking himself all over as he heads back to the main party. ~There's nothing. My hide is smooth as a newborn pup's!~ There's a growing note of horror at this. ~Also what the fuck I'm fucking /purple/? I look like some fucking furry faggot's fantasy character!~ He sounds more and more pissed at this possibility as he stomps irritably back to the others and squats down next to Speech--And-Silence. ~Kev? The fuck is up with you, mate?~

Before the realm dissipates, Kaz waves her paws through the smoke, coughing. ~Fuckin' a,~ she growls. She scans around, nose twitching, once things change, and relaxes infinitestimally. At Chris's exclamations, she peers down at her feet. ~No such luck,~ she mutters, and starts limping toward Mouse.

Nik crosses his arms, very grouchy. But the grouch disappates as he looks over his comrades. He's short, but at least he's not purple. Then he sees Red-Hands and points, laughing.

Black-Light makes his way down from the tree quite easily, leaping down the last ten or thirteen feet. ~It died before I could jump.~ He mutters, dejectedly.

Evac seems content to sit perfectly in place while the wounds close - a glance in the direction of the changes inflicted on others has the ragabash giving a cursory glance over. All in one piece. Once the more glancing wounds have had a chance to close, Evac stands, padding over to Mouse and bumping the back of one of her hands with a cold hispo nose. Gratitude, no doubt, for her gunplay. Shifting out into Homid now that it's obvious that the danger has passed, Riley rubs at the back of ruffled hair, which is white and black in dapples due to the contact with the wyld. An amused smirk is prominent on the ragabash's features at the side effects of the energy blast. "Too--" The voice comes out higher-pitched. A break of voice? "Too funny. Aw hell, my voice is all messed up." Riley's voice is indeed messed up. Higher than usual. Then again, it fits pretty well with the finer bone structure, full lips, and oh. Boobs.

~Come on,~ the galliard cub offers to Speech-and-Silence. ~Dunno, but lots of things seem to have happened.~ He looks over towards Riley, and the cub just can't help but laugh, whatever he was going to say having been cut off in utter surprise.

Mouse doesn't seem quite aware of Kaz yet. She's still frowning at their surroundings, and that frown goes a bit deeper. She jumps and pulls her hand away when Riley touches it, but her startlement is short lived when she realizes the change that's come over /him/. Her, rather.

By the time the creature is gone and the pocket of Wyld crumbles around them, Tempest's Wake is already looking stronger, more hale, but as she rubs at scorched fur, it begins to fall out. At first, it's only the fur touched by the white-blue fire that falls, but then more, and more, and it begins coming out in patches and clumps. Where the fur is gone, her skin looks odd. It has the same brown tone as usual, but it seems rougher, with darker edges and lines and shadows of depth.

Bright Eyes looks between Bag of Snakes and Speech-and-Silence, but it's the Ahroun she heads for, offering a shoulder to lean on if not actual healing. ~Falcon's Heart will heal you once we're home if no one here can.~

Oath-Ring glances around, and once it's clear everyone is moving and not in imenant danger of keeling over, the changes many have suffered seems of only secondary interest- not writing it off as unimportant, but giving the distinct impression of having seen it before. ~Everyone is walking and talking,~ he offers as his assessment of whether everyone is accounted for.

Speech-and-Silence sniffs the air again. ~Dead-Quick! What the hell has happened? Everything has gone all... psychedelic!~ He speaks this last word as if he highly disapproves of anything being allowed to go psychedelic. He lurches back to his feet, and opens his eyes again. In doing so, he reveals that instead of the optical organs he used to possess, similar to all the other garou's eyes, he now has multi-faceted, slightly bulging, metallic-sheened orbs in his eye sockets, like a giant insect's.

Danger Magnet finally rolls onto her feet. The shallower wounds heal quickly, but the others aren't closing so quickly. She puts a hand over the shoulder that's still bleeding and stretches back to her feet.

Riley hasn't seemed to notice that certain things are... a bit out of place yet. She's busy clearing her throat and fixating unhappily on the idea that her voice is the only thing that's been messed up by that energy blast. "Looks like I got off light."

Ears says, "Rilene!" in guttural crinos-English, and laughs. It's a very brief and overall not very humorous laugh, though. ~Fuckin' shit, this ain't so good.~

Dead-Quick returns to homid form- and the horrible realisation that now he has bright purple Animu-Hair. He curses repeatedly to himself before turning his attention to Kevin. "Well.. er.. ohholyfuck. Dude. Your eyes. You've.. you've been Jeff'ed."

Nik glances at Riley with interest, emitting a wolf whistle, his eyebrows raised. Seems he's getting over his shortcomings pretty quickly.

Black-Light walks over to Riley and gives the Garou a nosing on the back of the neck, then moves to the side, wandering off to the side to stand near both him and Mouse. He spares a glance in Speech-and-Silence's direction, then turns to look at those immediately around him.

Bag-of-Snakes makes a wordless noise of assent to Bright Eyes. For a few seconds she tries to walk without support, but then the Jarl seems to find her dignity bending enough to allow the offer of a shoulder to lean on, to be regarded as a welcome one.

~Dude,~ Kaz says to the former Basil. ~Hi.~

Mouse reaches up to brush a hand through the short-fuzz that is her hair at present. She's still frowning in vague fashion, but now more at Riley than anything else.

Black-Light takes a few short steps over towards Kaz and gives her a bump with his shoulder, then turns his head and gives her muzzle a big, wet lick. ~Tastes like coke.~

Riley uncomfortably lurches forward as Slug noses at the back of her neck, raising a brow with a baffled look on her features. Of course, it only takes about the third odd look in her direction before she finally mutters, "Okay, someone tell me what happened. Not just the voice? Face?" She gives herself a brief pat. Hands, arms, stomach, ribs - which prompts a wince - and then chest. Which prompts an outright freeze. Then an immediate frantic pat down of her groin. An immediate hiss, and her teeth grit. "Oh. Oh... FUCKING UMBRA!" She shouts, raging.

Djehuti manages not to laugh, and melts down into lupus. Nose twitching, he seems to think about something, and then pads over to Nik. May I ask you something?

Speech-and-Silence lurches again as he opens his eyes and his brain goes into overload as it struggles to process the information from those compound lenses. ~Waaagh! Make it stop, make it fucking /stop!/~ He lurches in the vague direction of Chris, waving an arm, but coming nowhere near his packmate's actual location.

All-in-Stride makes a low noise in his throat, before going after Speech-and-Silence. Again. ~Close your eyes,~ the cub states, reaching out this time to more forcibly guide the ragabash. ~'Kay?~ Remarkably, the galliard cub is relatively calm at the moment.

Nik, thoroughly amused, merely grins at the others, then settles his mismatched eyes on Djehuti. "Ah, Long Path. What's up?" From this close, the lupus might notice another change in the Ragabash. He smells like cinnamon. Almost overpoweringly of cinnamon.

Ears melts down into hispo herself and nudges Black-Light companionably. ~Atsa me.~ She watches Kevin in some worry, but is torn from him by Riley. Her hispo clearly shows every trace of her bemusement at this situation, but all she says out loud is, ~I have managed to survive 38 seasons as a female.~

Oath-Ring shakes himself out, and slips into Hispo, preparing to help get people firstly to somewhere with someone who can heal and then, if needed, to whatever they consider home or at least a place to rest safely away from prying mundane eyes.

Mouse, despite Riley shouting right next to her, barely reacts. She winces a little, and frowns at her a little more, then looks toward Kaz.

Pack> Mouse says "All that pent up energy from the battle seems to have gone poof from Mouse. There's a sense of very mild unease from her, but otherwise nothing."

Bright Eyes-the-self-mobile-walker leads the Get Ahroun carefully toward the pool, chuffing amiably at those she passes. ~I work better when not used as a weapon,~ she observes in a low voice, amused. ~Come, Bag-of-Snakes-rhya.~ The pair shimmer back through the Gauntlet.

Black-Light reaches out with one hand when Ears shifts down into Hispo, giving her head a gentle pass with his hand. You don't get an opportunity to pet a former Sept Alpha every day. ~Nice rack.~ He rumbles at Riley, waggling one of his furry brows.

Rori doesn't ask for help, just heads over to see if there is anyone else that needs help. "We should likely get back and bandage those still bleeding. Is there a spot where this sort of thing is tended to?"

Djehuti's nose twitches, and he melts upwards again into glabro. "I am, as you may have noted, speaking to your wayward tribemate on issues of his potential Litany issues. However, this means I speak with your cub as well. Since he is in a nigh-constant state of disrespect, do you mind if I discipline him occasionally, so long as I do not wound him beyond repair?"

Speech-and-Silence closes his eyes. More than that; he screws them shut tightly, in such a way as to suggest he has no plans to open them ever again. ~It's like ... like a disco with strobe lighting effects... I could have sworn you were purple, Quick...~

Riley stands gritting her teeth, her fists curled tight. Everyone that cracks a grin gets a venomous glare, and Slug gets outright punched in the stomach. "Shut the fuck up. Just shut it. /Fuck/."

Tempest's Wake brushes a bit more of the fur from her bark-like skin, and her blue eyes narrow at what she sees. Lips curl away from her teeth as she looks up from her own arm to the rest of the revelers. ~Return to the caern. Help those who require it.~ She turns, then, to Mouse, and despite the obvious tension rippling through her, she flicks an ear backward in silent request.

Kaz isn't actually grinning, she's just exuding bemusement. So she's glared at, as she leans further into Slug. Ooh, good spot there. ~Generally the Caern itself, Rori, but right now, I think we--~ her bemusement fades and the sadness takes over briefly-- ~Probably need to find another spot. Until the wasps are done. Or,~ she says, after Jacinta speaks, ~I'm wrong. OK!~

When Speech-and-Silence flails at him, Chris promptly shifts back to crinos just to avoid any unfortunate accidents. ~Easy man, chill. Chill. Maybe we can fix it the way we fixed Jeff..~ He pauses. ~Yeah. Um. I'm purple. And all my fucking battlescars are gone. My skin's as smooth as a baby's ass. In homid and crinos.~ He throws a luminescent arm over his tribemate's shoulders. ~C'mon, let's get you home.~ He glances across at the other garou and comments to his friend. ~Wow, and I used to think Riley was a bitch when he was a cub..~

Nik's smirk fades. Of course... that. He heaves a sigh. "You're talking about Ky," he notes. "He's... had a hard time of it. Feels like he can't even trust the only family he's got left. If you feel he needs discliplined, then I am no one to argue a Philodox. But there's a fine line we have to walk with him. I don't want him turning out like Andrei."

Black-Light doesn't seem to mind this, being that he's an immense monster and Riley's punching him with a puny human fist. Still, he doesn't push forward, his hand meandering over the back of Ears' head. Then it trails off her entirely. ~I changed.~ The Gnawer rumbles. ~Not like them, but.~

All-in-Stride leaves the guiding of Speech-and-Silence to Chris, stepping out of the way and moving back towards his Elder. There's another mutter of ~Weird,~ under his breath, before he looks to First-Strike, as if for direction.

Long-Path's expression fades into neutrality. "Andrei lacked wisdom, but he is by no means beyond saving. For that matter, it's arguable if he broke the Litany at all. That said, I fully understand that Ky is having issues, and that he is young. And that he needs patience. I merely do not wish to allow him to, for example, kick fallen cliaths again."

Mouse jerks her head to one side, a sharp, unfocused movement, and then straightens in place. "The next person to make a female joke gets their head shoved through the next convenient wall." It doesn't sound like she's joking, but neither does she lift her voice or growl it. That vague frown is turned on Jacinta, and she waves one hand. "Is anyone seriously injured?"

Mouse also seems to remember to holster her gun. She flicks on the safety, and slides it carefully back into the shoulder harness.

Speech-and-Silence closes his eyes once more and lets his packmate guide him back to join the others. His nose is tilted in the air as he tries to use scent to replace sight. ~There's some freaky scents here...~ His nose turns toward Riley and twitches as if it's a little confused.

Kaz tilts her head in question. ~How do you mean?~ she asks Basil. (It's hard to see, but one of her rear paws appears to be missing some bits of it.) She lolls her tongue at Mouse a bit.

Riley lifts a hand to squeeze the bridge of her nose, clearly not thrilled by this change of both events and gender. Chris is sent an immediate scowl, but nothing further than that. Old grudges seem to endure rather well in Garou society. After Mouse's sharp rebuke, Riley sends her a grateful look. She takes a few steadying breaths, folding her arms pointedly over her chest and mumbling, "At least we got the thing, right?"

Tempest's Wake gestures with her chin in the direction the Silver Fang took the Get, as she closes the distance between herself and Mouse. The only part of her not covered by bark, and the few odd pine needles, seems to be her hands, which look as angry and red with scar tissue as they did, before. Her muzzle wrinkles, demonstrating the pliability of her new skin, though a few bits do seem to lift rather than bending. ~Wyld,~ she rumbles. ~Corrupted and unclean. Can you tell if it is related to what comes?~

Rori is still bleeding, but she's human again, looking to see who else. "Looks like anything that was touching it got bad damage when it boomed. Do we know what that thing was?"

Black-Light reaches out with one hefty paw to lay a hand on Riley's shoulder, being mindful of his claws. He gives his packmate a gentle squeeze, but most of his attention is on the Hispo at his side. ~Ragabash. Fostern. New name. Just a few things, nothing important.~

Nik curls his lip a little, not at the Philodox, but at the situation in general. "I would imagine that dragging a hoard of Wyrmspawn to our Sept consitutes suffering us to bear his sickness and his nephews. But that's just me. I'm a Ragabash, not a Philodox. As for kicking... well.. children are children. But he is no longer a child, and can no longer be allowed that excuse. I'm a little sheepish that I've not had a lot of contact with him in order to address that issue, so I'll leave it in your hands."

~There's some freaky people here.~ Dead-Quick replies to Kevin as he guides him in, giving the galliard cub a smile and a nod as he scurries on. The purple garou pats Speech-And-Silence on the back. ~Okay, we're there, bugface. Looks like Riley's a girl, someone else has shrunken, Jacinta's turning into a tree, it seems and yeah. I'm purple.~ He looks to Riley with an expression of almost sympathy before echoing the other ragabash's words. "Fucking umbra."

To the caern, Nik amends "nephew's"

Riley whispers sulkily in agreement, "Fucking umbra." Sulk.

Speech-and-Silence groans in sympathy with the other complainants. ~Why do we ever even come here?~ he bursts out in sudden angry self-pity. ~Every time we go to the Umbra something dreadful happens. Every time!~

Djehuti says, dryly, "Yes, you are Ragabash, for which I am glad, for if we all had that interpretation of the Litany, fair hordes of us of us would not be clear of lawbreaking." He shakes his head minutely. "I was not," he adds, "Asking you /not/ to discipline your own cub. I would be surprised and disappointed if you left that entirely to me. I will gladly do it while I am around him, however."

~Dude,~ Kaz says. And then, ~/Dude!/ She falls back into homid (which, she was leaning against him, may unbalance him a bit) and demands, "Gimme a hug, fucker. Also, tell me what the fuck to call you."

Mouse closes her eyes for a moment and breathes. It takes her several more moments before she answers Jacinta. ~It was what you say. I can't say for sure that it's connected, but I don't like the coincidence.~ And then, without any warning, she barks sharply at Kevin, in as angry a tone as she's ever used with him, "/Enough/." And then, back to normal tones. "Chris, take him back across, please."

Nik barks a short bit of laughter. "I'm not coddling him while he's around," he promises. "Which reminds me." He scratches absently at his goatee, thinking. "I'm gonna ask Tim if he minds me dragging the other pups to his territory to get Ky in on some Umbral hunting. I really want the boy to learn to work a little better with the rest of his tribe, and to stop thinking he's gotta be off on his own all the time."

Chris throws a lazy salute to Mouse before leading Kevin off towards the reflecting pool/crossover point. ~Alright man, look, you're gonna have to open your eyes to reach, I think. Can you focus enough?~ He tries to guide his friend as he starts to negotiate the gauntlet.

Rori looks around in confusion at all the chatting. "Anything could come up on us here at any time. We should head back to the caern if that's the place where healing will be done. Unless there is something to hunt here, it can be dangerous to remain for long."

Pack> Mouse | A sudden sharp spike of anger with no warning. It's gone in a millisecond, and it's back to the terribly mild anxiety.

Djehuti's smile is brief. "Very well," he agrees. And then nods, at Nik's comment. "Lone wolfs. Not the thing to encourage." Says the Strider. "If I'm around, you mind a hand? Umbra's something I'm comfortable with."

The galliard cub makes his way over to Riley, shifting down to homid as he does so, and simply waiting near to the ragabash. Whatever evident amusement that Flint had at the situation is long gone, hidden, aside.

Black-Light sways when Kaz shifts beside him, but he doesn't lose much of his balance. He shifts down to Homid bit by bit, his expression an approximation of Al Bundy. He's neither happy to be in Homid, or in the Umbra, but he does give Kaz a quick hug all the same. "I'm Slug, now. Black-Light." He looks more or less the same as she would remember him, save for a different set of sunglasses and a vaguely mid-east style black and white scarf around his neck.

Nik considers this a moment. "If Tim doesn't mind us doing this in his pack's territory, yeah, I'd be happy to have you there. Especially now... since it seems my abilities have been... reduced." He frowns a little, scratching the back of his head. "I still have to ask though. If Tim doesn't allow it there, and being as Ky isn't allowed to leave his territory, I'll have to make do with just the girls out to party. Most of them need names. I thought it'd be best to determine that during battle, and I could use help with it."

Jacinta twists and stretches, eventually shrinking from crinos back to homid. It would be difficult to call it her birth form, now, however, as her skin remains bark, except where the longer fir needles cover her head, and the angry scars of her hands remain simply that. Her voice drops, speaking more quietly to Mouse, now. "What will you need, in order to discover the relationship, if it exists. What will you need, to discover if what corrupted this creature, that place, threatens that which comes here?"

Riley grunts as Flint makes his way over turning her gaze away, "Let's just get /out/ of here. Mission a-fucking-ccomplished." She swiftly closes the distance to the reflecting pool, pointedly not looking over at Kevin and Chris. She takes a little longer than usual to cross over, due to obvious duress.

Speech-and-Silence's reaction to Chris makes it clear that the adren ragabash hadn't even considered this awkward aspect of his predicament. ~Pool is... here... Let me kneel down in front of it...~ He descends to his knees, and opens his eyes again, the myriad insectoid facets gleaming in the moon's light as he tries to reconcile what his brain sees with what he knows is really there. The eye receives its messages and sends them to the brain; no guarantee the stimuli must be perceived the same.

A quick hug with Kaz equates to a bear hug. "Rock on. Good t'meet you, in one kinda sense. Where'd you go f'th'," she waves a hand, "Change?" She calls to Rori, "It's cool, we'll be over in a bit. I got my Gift goin'."

There's agreement from the cub, and the cub follows. There's concentration as Flint reaches and crosses over the gauntlet, hands tucked into his pockets now.

"I make no promises," Djehuti says, "As I am, as ever, a wanderer. But if I am there when you are teaching, I will gladly aid you. And perhaps," he adds with a smile, "Aid you with the names, as well."

Chris watches Kevin's back until he has managed to figure out how to cross back over, staying close.

Nik nods and offers his hand up for a shake and a nod. Then his nose wrinkles and he glances around. "What is that godawful Big Red gum smell? Did someone set fire to a bucket of Red Hots?"

Mouse's lips pull against her teeth several times before she seems to settle. "Time," she says, without looking at Jacinta. "We don't have time. The rabbit."

Rori quietly finds a tree to lean against, just quietly watching and guarding.

Slug grunts as his one-time Elder gives him a back popping hug, his lean frame easily squeezed by the strong Metis. He doesn't return the hug with equal strength, but he does smile, and then turns to gradually make his way in the direction of the pool. "I was down in upstate California. When I decided to change... Well. Someone owed me a favor, it was easy enough to call it in. Also, I'm in a Peregrine pack now- But you heard that last night."

Djehuti shakes Nik's hand, briefly but not overly so, and observes, "It appears to be coming from you. It's rather stronger in the other forms," he adds, apologetically.

Hearing Slug talking about his new pack seems to give Speech-and-Silence the cussedness to figure out his vision -- at least to the extent necessary to reach back into the Realm and cross, with the aid of Chris. Once he's back in his home dimension, he shifts back into homid form, as if hoping that his eyes will shift with him and return to human shape. They don't, and if anything, they look even more jarring now they're set in an ordinary human visage instead of a savage crinos mask.

Ears trails along behind him, making a 'come on!' gesture to Rori, now. "Yeah, you guys sound like a good bunch. How you enjoyin' the Totem?"

Nik makes a face. "Great," he mutters. "An elf joke? Is this what this is supposed to be about? Am I the elf in charge of spicy candycanes?" He shakes his head, nodding a goodbye to Dj. "It's my turn to say hello to our long-lost ex-Alpha." He moves towards Kaz. "Ears-rhya! You're much taller than I remember."

Danger Magnet doesn't like leaving everyone else behind, but feels weaker as homid and so shifts up to something easier to guard with. She tilts her head to Ears as she waves to her. She casts a worried look at everyone else remaining, but walks to Ears' side anyway, following.

"Well," Djehuti murmurs, "/I/ wasn't making any jokes," and, soon enough, heads back to the Realm.

Jacinta glances off to the side, as if she might be able to see where the backward rabbit had gone, despite the entire pocket realm having gone. "It would help to have the rabbit?"

Mouse exhales slowly. "Maybe. I'd ask it if it knew what tainted the thing that twisted it. Where it came from. But we don't have time, or the rabbit. I don't know. I--" She rubs her thumb against her right temple. "I have a headache."

Slug walks along at an easy rate, perhaps a bit more graceful and silent than Kaz remembers. "Just started following her. Hard to say, but she seems alright... I may have accidentally gotten her mauled by a bane when I asked her to check out the Spider Place. But now we know there is a flying bane around Spider Place, so."

"Ii-i," Jacinta answers, and her lip curls again from her teeth. "I will ask the trees and the wind what they can tell us. But the trees speak slowly and know only what they have seen."

Kaz gives Nik a half-salute. "That's OK, you seem about as bad-ass as I r'member, Mr. Knife." As she ambles, limping more than usual, along beside Slug, she blinks at him. "Spider place? Am I missin' something?"

Mouse nods very slightly at Jacinta. Her eyes have settled somewhere else entirely.

Nik seems content with such an awesome greeting, because then the Shadow Lord stops, raises his brows with a smile, and leaves Kaz to converse while he seeks out the pool to return the The Real World.

With the nod from Mouse, Jacinta moves off a short way, to where she can speak with the wind, first, before she lays a hand against the trunk of a tree.

"There is a place with spiders, doing a thing, in a mine. I was on it, but then someone that was in charge or something had a fight with me. And now I'm not." Slug lifts his hands up, then shrugs. "I'm not going to argue. I have other things I can do."

Danger Magnet stands quietly, listening. ~ I wouldn't mind killing spiders, if they were very big? Are they big? ~ She gives a little feral smile.

Mouse gives her head a few slight shakes. She turns away from Jacinta, walks a few feet, and then stops.

"I think I heard about that place once or twice," Kaz says, not actually asking who removed him. "I think they're kiiinda big," she tells Rori. "Who should th' lady talk to, Slug?"

Slug answers at once. "Jacey." He sounds indifferent as he says the name, and continues onward towards the reflecting pool, in no particular hurry.

Danger Magnet nods at Slug, giving him a curious look. ~ Thanks. I'll talk to her. ~

"Awright." She reaches over to give Basil a noogie, just before they reach over.

Danger Magnet heads back into caern, finding a place to curl up and heal, likely as a wolf.

Umbra: Center of the Caern

A subtly spine-vibrating thrum of power issues from the Caern and its pathstone, pricking hairs and fur. Slowly but surely, the rejuvenating actions of the Garou have been transforming the once spiritually dead spot into something befitting a caern. It is alive with a wide variety of spirits, Wyld and chimerical, nature spirits and others, traveling about on missions of their own; though Wendigo spirits are never seen. The caern, visually, falls just short of the wildest rural utopia imaginable. Bare hints of a former pollution remain; tentatively green grass, hearty young trees where there ought to be mighty oaks and pines--and these are things that, with time and care, are slowly replacing what was lost.

The air crackles with tingles of spiritual potency. It is not, for those with long memories, as powerful as it was before the Black Spiral Dancers took over for a time, but there is power, and there is energy, dancing in the air.

Contents:
Jacinta

Obvious exits:
South North West

Jacinta remains distant for some while, speaking with the wind and the trees nearby. Eventually she turns again, huffing a breath of disappointment and distaste as she returns to the Glass Walker. "The trees are ill at ease, but know nothing of use. The winds speak of concern over the coming change, but cannot tell me why, or where to look."

"The winds are wrong," Mouse mutters, and seems to stir herself out of somewhere deep. She's holding both arms. "And cold. Earth-Whisperer and Lefty had a dream. I think it relates to the new queen. I think for some reason our Ragabash will have to go in and get her, when the nest is established."

Jacinta bristles at Mouse's first statement, and she turns those cold, blue eyes to the theurge more sharply. "Tell me."

Mouse seems either unaware, or unaffected by the bristling, and once again she answers without turning toward the Wendigo. "It's too /cold/. I hear the howling now too. Big dogs in the dark. Green eyes. Why, why, /why/ is what I want to know. It doesn't make any sense."

Jacinta sends a hand down at a sharp angle. "This is what I said. The Ice King's Hounds. If not these, then something similar. It is not the Wind that is wrong, but that which comes."

"It doesn't make any sense," Mouse repeats, eyes narrowing. "A cliath and a cub, from a Caern that just fell, and not only is something sent after them--/why/?--but it's something this powerful. It messes with the weather and makes ordinary people see things in the dark. Ice King's hounds or not, you know what it would cost to summon something like that and have it do something for you. Across several states' distance. Why would they?"

Jacinta listens, some of the bark shifting along the length of her neck and at her cheeks. "I do not know. But it comes." She draws in a breath, sharp, decisive, and lets it out more slowly. "Send Scar to question them. Get the truth from them. Go yourself, if you are able, you may be able to learn more than the philodox can, alone. Awaken their /shoes/ and speak to /them/, if you must, to get the truth."

Mouse echoes, "Scar." It takes her a moment before she nods, but she does, a somewhat jerkier movement than her usual. "I don't know if they know. I pressed them on it earlier. I'll send him. I'll see what I can find." A shiver flickers over her facial features, and then she shakes her head again.

"They had my sympathy before they put this caern at risk by hiding information," Jacinta says at something in the Glass Walker's reaction. Her voice is quiet and cold. "Separate the cub and be more gentle with him, if you wish, but the cliath gets no mercy."

Mouse's eyes widen for a moment before she jerks her head to one side. She says nothing, but she is rather abruptly tense.

"Do you disagree?" asks the Warder. "Do you believe we should shelter him, still?" Her arms cross over her chest, scarred hands visible. No more tense than she was a moment before, she still seems a bit more intense in her focus.

Mouse exhales slowly through her teeth. "I'm biased on this topic. And I'm...that fight messed with me, I don't think I'm giving useful responses right now."

Jacinta lets out another sharp breath and gives a single bob of her brows. "Do what you can. Too many threats come in to little time. But we need still to do what we can to protect Grandmother's Heart."

Mouse nods, and then, after a moment, she starts making her way toward the pool.