One Shot: In Dark Places
So, last night, after more downtime than I usually like, the Werewolf crew got together again. But instead of jumping right back into Philly, we did a one-shot (which didn't really end as a one-shot) into Russia. Why? Because Keith is back with the group for a couple of months, and I wanted to give his character, Phil, some play before jumping back into the craziness in Philly.
So, the characters, all Storm Lords:
So this pack, totem'd by a spirit called Firebird (brings light to the darkness, doesn't ask a ban but its blessings are unpredictable), met up with Phil on a rickety-ass train moving east through the Urals. They talked about Philly and the craziness therein for a while, but then the characters noticed an odd rumbling in the pits of their stomaches. Natalya knew what ULF waves are and told them that a quake was coming, but just then it hit, opening a sinkhole next to the train. Gregor had time to smash open the train before it fell into the yawning pit...
...at the bottom, the characters extracted themselves and found that they were the only survivors. Mischa had noticed something spiritual mucking about with the tracks before they fell, but didn't have time to see what it was. Phil used Scent of Taint and felt something supernatural lurking around them. The werewolves looted the wreckage for clothes, food and water and started looking about the caves under the mountains.
They noticed a scent mark, of all things, in one of the tunnels, just basically a marker of territory. Nikolai gave a howl of greeting, and got four howls back. The howls were maddened and nonsensical, though. The pack pressed on, and found a corpse in the tunnel. No apparent cause of death, and no way this guy could have gotten here from the train without them seeing him, so they moved on.
The tunnel opened up into a cavern, and they saw a werewolf standing in the center. He greeted them, and said his name was the Chosen of the Eldest (the pack immediately thought "Pure," which isn't a bad guess). They asked about the train wreck; he simply said that the Eldest must have delivered them into the cave. Gregor, not the brightest bulb in the drawer, decided he'd had enough talking and used Warning Growl. That pretty much set it all off.
The fight began. The Chosen was joined by three other packmates at his side, and the "corpse" came up from behind to attack Phil. As he did so, though, Firebird filled the tunnel with light, illuminating him and allowing Mischa to fire a lead pellet with his sling (he was fucking deadly with that thing, no foolin') and Natalya to chase down the little playin'-dead sneak. He ran...but on the other side, things weren't going as well.
Vlad had run out into the fight and got kind of gang-jumped. The Chosen of the Eldest leapt in and drove his claws down...and took most of Vlad's head off. Vlad crumpled dead to the floor. Phil entered Death Rage and attacked one of the Grotto-dwellers, Nikolai thrust his torch at one and watch as it exploded and immolated the werewolf. Nikolai changed to Gauru and shoved the burning werewolf into the one who had just killed Vlad, burning him a bit. Phil leapt at Gregor, but Firebird flew under him and carried him to one of the enemies, allowing him to spend his Death Rage more productively. With a few more lead pellets, the other wounded enemies dropped, and Gregor's hammer finally stove in the Chosen's skull.
The fight won, if perhaps Pyrrhically, Natalya tried to hunt down the one who'd fled, but Nikolai stopped her with Luna's Dictum. They picked up his corpse and started trudging on...
...and there we left it, but we'll finish next week and then flip to Philly for Phil's triumphant return.
So, the characters, all Storm Lords:
- Nikolai, a Cahalith. The alpha of the pack. A historian and occultist, very much the scholarly type of gibbous-moon.
- Gregor, a Rahu. A monster of a man, a holdover from Soviet Russia, bears a big grudge against Americans and a fetish hammer that rends iron.
- Natalya, an Irraka. A scientist (geology, which came in surprisingly handy), and sister to...
- Vladimir, a Rahu. Also a scientist, but more of the zoology/wolf-study side.
- Mischa, an Ithauer. Crazy-smart and distracted spiritual scholar.
So this pack, totem'd by a spirit called Firebird (brings light to the darkness, doesn't ask a ban but its blessings are unpredictable), met up with Phil on a rickety-ass train moving east through the Urals. They talked about Philly and the craziness therein for a while, but then the characters noticed an odd rumbling in the pits of their stomaches. Natalya knew what ULF waves are and told them that a quake was coming, but just then it hit, opening a sinkhole next to the train. Gregor had time to smash open the train before it fell into the yawning pit...
...at the bottom, the characters extracted themselves and found that they were the only survivors. Mischa had noticed something spiritual mucking about with the tracks before they fell, but didn't have time to see what it was. Phil used Scent of Taint and felt something supernatural lurking around them. The werewolves looted the wreckage for clothes, food and water and started looking about the caves under the mountains.
They noticed a scent mark, of all things, in one of the tunnels, just basically a marker of territory. Nikolai gave a howl of greeting, and got four howls back. The howls were maddened and nonsensical, though. The pack pressed on, and found a corpse in the tunnel. No apparent cause of death, and no way this guy could have gotten here from the train without them seeing him, so they moved on.
The tunnel opened up into a cavern, and they saw a werewolf standing in the center. He greeted them, and said his name was the Chosen of the Eldest (the pack immediately thought "Pure," which isn't a bad guess). They asked about the train wreck; he simply said that the Eldest must have delivered them into the cave. Gregor, not the brightest bulb in the drawer, decided he'd had enough talking and used Warning Growl. That pretty much set it all off.
The fight began. The Chosen was joined by three other packmates at his side, and the "corpse" came up from behind to attack Phil. As he did so, though, Firebird filled the tunnel with light, illuminating him and allowing Mischa to fire a lead pellet with his sling (he was fucking deadly with that thing, no foolin') and Natalya to chase down the little playin'-dead sneak. He ran...but on the other side, things weren't going as well.
Vlad had run out into the fight and got kind of gang-jumped. The Chosen of the Eldest leapt in and drove his claws down...and took most of Vlad's head off. Vlad crumpled dead to the floor. Phil entered Death Rage and attacked one of the Grotto-dwellers, Nikolai thrust his torch at one and watch as it exploded and immolated the werewolf. Nikolai changed to Gauru and shoved the burning werewolf into the one who had just killed Vlad, burning him a bit. Phil leapt at Gregor, but Firebird flew under him and carried him to one of the enemies, allowing him to spend his Death Rage more productively. With a few more lead pellets, the other wounded enemies dropped, and Gregor's hammer finally stove in the Chosen's skull.
The fight won, if perhaps Pyrrhically, Natalya tried to hunt down the one who'd fled, but Nikolai stopped her with Luna's Dictum. They picked up his corpse and started trudging on...
...and there we left it, but we'll finish next week and then flip to Philly for Phil's triumphant return.