[Breathstealer - part 4, escaping the cage]
There was a vast proxy recently in the UK Forsaken game which saw people going to Spurn Head to do all sorts of crazy things, i'm fairly pleased with the write-up and so, with permission, i pop it here...
Part 4; Escaping the Cage
The strength of the Wolves are split, some below and in shadow, others above and in the chilly night air, between them darkness both physical and spiritual.
Under the water Xenophon and Ricky survey the scene from the centre of the now partially wrecked cage, once made of bound-together spirits, tied together with some sort of strange spiritual creature whose assault does not lessen no matter how many tentacles are destroyed by Nicky and Captain Richards, working with knife and claw, how many probing seaweed-like limbs are smote by Flows-like-Lightenings hammer or the curved combat knife of Gunny, how Ragna and Jim claw and tear. Like the hydra of legend it seems that each one destroyed another, or a pair, grow to take their place. Worse still, the water of the Shadow is no more friendly than that of the Flesh, and here few have scuba gear - it failing to make the transition with all of the bold Uratha. Cold the water is, cold near as ice within the confines of the Breathstealers castle, and it’s a desperate fight the Uratha in the cage face.
Lynch and Max examine the chains with the eyes of craftsman and urban savage, as the Itheaur look at them with the eyes of shaman and mystic, each attempting to fathom its secrets and how best to shatter them.
Moment passes moment and the enormous Submarine/Shark spirit again appears, crashing into the cage, tumbling everyone to their feet, and laying a shape which could only be Dermot out upon the floor. Instinctively both Lynch and Jim move to cover the space - at a nod from Max Jim moves on, shifting through the Gauntlet to help the barely conscious Dermot through to the flesh before the little air in his lungs give way to a watery doom. In the village church of Ravenser Odd the wily Irraka Richard Rhodes had recovered tanks, all now easily accessible, and assumed a position where he might, perhaps, spot something coming towards him moments before it struck. If it didn’t move too quickly. An exchange of signals pass between them and the heavily wounded Rhodes starts up, his strength and great experience of working underwater sufficient (he hopes) to see himself and Dermot safely to the surface.
A section of the cage, broken free by the Spirit-submarine-shark’s attack and carried off in its mouth reveals a grotesque sight - mere feet from the cage a new decoration has been added to this foul place, a trio of what appear to be mermaids adorn the Citadel’s walls, their still living bodies flapping helplessly in the current, bonds of seaweed and razorwire holding them still, pegs made from the bones of drown seamen causing their beautiful faces to writhe and move in anguish.
Finally other movement can be seen, another great shark-like shape prowling, surrounded by dozens or much smaller fish-like shapes…and a great rolling blue-blacker shape, nothing more than a darkening of the darkness behind them, coming to surround and cover where the Uratha and Old Man River are. It is then it occurs to all that whilst they have been successful they are also deep in an enemies territory and hurt, down in numbers and with no quick route of retreat open to them.
Above the waves the three of the Hunters of Balance, Wraith, Sorrow’s Rage and Isha wait, exhausted from swimming, in one of the Serene’s two launches. The Ithaeur Janesca and her young Rahu packmate Harmony struggle inches above the bottom of the Humber, working towards the beach, supporting the comatose form of MacGuyver, struggling with weight, with weary limbs, with ice-cold seawater and with a rising mist. Steve Tate, the wolfblooded bountyhunter, strides waist-deep in the cold sea to help them to land as the moontouched Boneshadow Lucas Cole prepares a mixture of modern medicine and pure springwater to sooth the slumped and limp Ithaeur and try to win back his life-force from the chill in his lungs which battle to claim him for the Breathstealer.
As Lucas notes the mist and cries some wordless warning another shape appears between the three Werewolves and the dubious safety of a narrow spit of land on England’s barren East coast. A mighty shape breaks the waves, water displaced where moments before nothing had been, great tentacles break the nights calm as a huge beak flanked by mighty, saucer-like eyes seem to pin the werewolves as if rabbits before a car’s headlights.
With a terrific crack whip-like tentacles shoot out to wrap lightly around Harmony and Janesca, encumbered as they are the rope-like limbs are able to touch them gentle as a lover’s stroke…before their cries of pain fill the air. Smothers-Prey-in-Darkness, the Jaggling whose unexpected attack stunned those on the beach, wastes no time in opening a massive, gaping jaw concealed by the mass of tentacles at its base, gathering the trio of Uratha towards it.
From the beach Lucas hurls a mighty harpoon, festooned with Shark’s teeth, into the hide of the spirit, Steve joins in with a barrage from his paired handguns. Bullet holes appear, and quickly fill out as if they had never been as two splashes sound - the two female packmates find release and immediately leap to attack. Harmony taking the Gauru form and leaping onto the thing and attempting to claw out its eyes with her fury, her packmate staying in Hishu form and attempting to pry tentacles from around MacGuyver. Lucas pulls a pistol from his satchel, joining his shots with Steve’s more accurate firepower.
It is only Janesca who notes the strange blue-green gremlin creature, its skin gleaming slightly, a shock of red hair atop its otherwise bald head, a mouth full of large, curved teeth and standing less than 2 feet in height. Fins and clawed fingers and toes, with webbing between, show this imp to be suited to the sea, and the darkness in its soulless eyes showing the unending depths of the oceans of the world. It slides through from nowhere, landing beneath MacGuyver as a tendril of inky blue-black fog slides from around his neck. With a wordless hiss its cruelly curved fingers reach around his neck, grasping at a meditation bead worn around his neck - the focus of the locus brought thousands of miles to this desolate beach.
Seeing the tendril of fog and mist Lucas screams, a sound full of fear and anger and loathing and shifts his aim - bullets tearing through nothing inches from Janesca. The twin attacks by Harmony and Tate finally cause the great Kraken-like Jaggling to slide beneath the waves, and out of existence, moving into the Shadow.
All see a glimpse of Imp as Janesca struggles with it, using her greater size and strength to strike at it and keep it from her Auspice-mate. Her struggles cease as the tendril of mist touches her, caressing her arm with the care of a mother, violating her soul with the sadism of a torturer. She stumbles backwards, skin turning an unhealthy and airless blue, and passing out, sinking through the water.
Harmony and Tate both move forwards, their target gone, shots ring out through the mist even as it fades to nothing, alongside the Imp - a grin of success across its loathsome features as it waves a treasured pendant in his hands - fading to nothing as it somehow steps through the thing its holding, till that vanishes too. With a muttered curse the two wet would-be rescuers drag their unconscious fellows to the beach.
Lucas instructs Tate to keep a careful watch on the comatose Janesca, and deal with her as needs be if she awakes. Harmony he tells to tend his fire and watch the waves, she ignores him, flying to her packmates side and ripping open sealed packages starting to do all she can to save them. Muttering to himself and moving deliberately he stands between the two silent and unmoving Uratha, sniffing first at where the hurts look to have been taken, then licking and pouring water from a sealed gourd over them. Harmony and Steve look on, silent and concerned, as the Ithaeur starts the Rite of Healing.
Meanwhile, and having seen the trouble on the beach, the tired Hunters of Balance are not idle, they start the engine and start to move it towards the others - a desire to help in the fight, and then to help tend the wounded combining with weariness and a lack experience with vehicles of any form making their efforts clumsy, and their trek long.
Finally Richard Rhodes and his invisible charge break surface, both moving slowly and deliberately with the careful movements of the hurt. Near a half-mile from shore the pair swim, slowly, painfully, towards Lucas’ fire and what might be called safety.
Part 4; Escaping the Cage
The strength of the Wolves are split, some below and in shadow, others above and in the chilly night air, between them darkness both physical and spiritual.
Under the water Xenophon and Ricky survey the scene from the centre of the now partially wrecked cage, once made of bound-together spirits, tied together with some sort of strange spiritual creature whose assault does not lessen no matter how many tentacles are destroyed by Nicky and Captain Richards, working with knife and claw, how many probing seaweed-like limbs are smote by Flows-like-Lightenings hammer or the curved combat knife of Gunny, how Ragna and Jim claw and tear. Like the hydra of legend it seems that each one destroyed another, or a pair, grow to take their place. Worse still, the water of the Shadow is no more friendly than that of the Flesh, and here few have scuba gear - it failing to make the transition with all of the bold Uratha. Cold the water is, cold near as ice within the confines of the Breathstealers castle, and it’s a desperate fight the Uratha in the cage face.
Lynch and Max examine the chains with the eyes of craftsman and urban savage, as the Itheaur look at them with the eyes of shaman and mystic, each attempting to fathom its secrets and how best to shatter them.
Moment passes moment and the enormous Submarine/Shark spirit again appears, crashing into the cage, tumbling everyone to their feet, and laying a shape which could only be Dermot out upon the floor. Instinctively both Lynch and Jim move to cover the space - at a nod from Max Jim moves on, shifting through the Gauntlet to help the barely conscious Dermot through to the flesh before the little air in his lungs give way to a watery doom. In the village church of Ravenser Odd the wily Irraka Richard Rhodes had recovered tanks, all now easily accessible, and assumed a position where he might, perhaps, spot something coming towards him moments before it struck. If it didn’t move too quickly. An exchange of signals pass between them and the heavily wounded Rhodes starts up, his strength and great experience of working underwater sufficient (he hopes) to see himself and Dermot safely to the surface.
A section of the cage, broken free by the Spirit-submarine-shark’s attack and carried off in its mouth reveals a grotesque sight - mere feet from the cage a new decoration has been added to this foul place, a trio of what appear to be mermaids adorn the Citadel’s walls, their still living bodies flapping helplessly in the current, bonds of seaweed and razorwire holding them still, pegs made from the bones of drown seamen causing their beautiful faces to writhe and move in anguish.
Finally other movement can be seen, another great shark-like shape prowling, surrounded by dozens or much smaller fish-like shapes…and a great rolling blue-blacker shape, nothing more than a darkening of the darkness behind them, coming to surround and cover where the Uratha and Old Man River are. It is then it occurs to all that whilst they have been successful they are also deep in an enemies territory and hurt, down in numbers and with no quick route of retreat open to them.
Above the waves the three of the Hunters of Balance, Wraith, Sorrow’s Rage and Isha wait, exhausted from swimming, in one of the Serene’s two launches. The Ithaeur Janesca and her young Rahu packmate Harmony struggle inches above the bottom of the Humber, working towards the beach, supporting the comatose form of MacGuyver, struggling with weight, with weary limbs, with ice-cold seawater and with a rising mist. Steve Tate, the wolfblooded bountyhunter, strides waist-deep in the cold sea to help them to land as the moontouched Boneshadow Lucas Cole prepares a mixture of modern medicine and pure springwater to sooth the slumped and limp Ithaeur and try to win back his life-force from the chill in his lungs which battle to claim him for the Breathstealer.
As Lucas notes the mist and cries some wordless warning another shape appears between the three Werewolves and the dubious safety of a narrow spit of land on England’s barren East coast. A mighty shape breaks the waves, water displaced where moments before nothing had been, great tentacles break the nights calm as a huge beak flanked by mighty, saucer-like eyes seem to pin the werewolves as if rabbits before a car’s headlights.
With a terrific crack whip-like tentacles shoot out to wrap lightly around Harmony and Janesca, encumbered as they are the rope-like limbs are able to touch them gentle as a lover’s stroke…before their cries of pain fill the air. Smothers-Prey-in-Darkness, the Jaggling whose unexpected attack stunned those on the beach, wastes no time in opening a massive, gaping jaw concealed by the mass of tentacles at its base, gathering the trio of Uratha towards it.
From the beach Lucas hurls a mighty harpoon, festooned with Shark’s teeth, into the hide of the spirit, Steve joins in with a barrage from his paired handguns. Bullet holes appear, and quickly fill out as if they had never been as two splashes sound - the two female packmates find release and immediately leap to attack. Harmony taking the Gauru form and leaping onto the thing and attempting to claw out its eyes with her fury, her packmate staying in Hishu form and attempting to pry tentacles from around MacGuyver. Lucas pulls a pistol from his satchel, joining his shots with Steve’s more accurate firepower.
It is only Janesca who notes the strange blue-green gremlin creature, its skin gleaming slightly, a shock of red hair atop its otherwise bald head, a mouth full of large, curved teeth and standing less than 2 feet in height. Fins and clawed fingers and toes, with webbing between, show this imp to be suited to the sea, and the darkness in its soulless eyes showing the unending depths of the oceans of the world. It slides through from nowhere, landing beneath MacGuyver as a tendril of inky blue-black fog slides from around his neck. With a wordless hiss its cruelly curved fingers reach around his neck, grasping at a meditation bead worn around his neck - the focus of the locus brought thousands of miles to this desolate beach.
Seeing the tendril of fog and mist Lucas screams, a sound full of fear and anger and loathing and shifts his aim - bullets tearing through nothing inches from Janesca. The twin attacks by Harmony and Tate finally cause the great Kraken-like Jaggling to slide beneath the waves, and out of existence, moving into the Shadow.
All see a glimpse of Imp as Janesca struggles with it, using her greater size and strength to strike at it and keep it from her Auspice-mate. Her struggles cease as the tendril of mist touches her, caressing her arm with the care of a mother, violating her soul with the sadism of a torturer. She stumbles backwards, skin turning an unhealthy and airless blue, and passing out, sinking through the water.
Harmony and Tate both move forwards, their target gone, shots ring out through the mist even as it fades to nothing, alongside the Imp - a grin of success across its loathsome features as it waves a treasured pendant in his hands - fading to nothing as it somehow steps through the thing its holding, till that vanishes too. With a muttered curse the two wet would-be rescuers drag their unconscious fellows to the beach.
Lucas instructs Tate to keep a careful watch on the comatose Janesca, and deal with her as needs be if she awakes. Harmony he tells to tend his fire and watch the waves, she ignores him, flying to her packmates side and ripping open sealed packages starting to do all she can to save them. Muttering to himself and moving deliberately he stands between the two silent and unmoving Uratha, sniffing first at where the hurts look to have been taken, then licking and pouring water from a sealed gourd over them. Harmony and Steve look on, silent and concerned, as the Ithaeur starts the Rite of Healing.
Meanwhile, and having seen the trouble on the beach, the tired Hunters of Balance are not idle, they start the engine and start to move it towards the others - a desire to help in the fight, and then to help tend the wounded combining with weariness and a lack experience with vehicles of any form making their efforts clumsy, and their trek long.
Finally Richard Rhodes and his invisible charge break surface, both moving slowly and deliberately with the careful movements of the hurt. Near a half-mile from shore the pair swim, slowly, painfully, towards Lucas’ fire and what might be called safety.