Scarcely any time seems to pass at all before Avery is awoken by a light but insistent tapping on the vent ducts. Outside, muffled through several walls, she can hear deep rumbling and whirring.
"Good, you're up." If Avery gets down on the ground, she can see Red Cliffs through their mangled vents. The Cliath is flat on the ground, palms pressed to the floor, looking at her. "They're doing the tuneup. Might be at it for an hour, might only take them a few minutes. What's our plan?"
Radiant HonorAvery sleeps in glabro. Tries to heal a little more. Tries to turn that meager portion of bread into fuel for her rage, which burns so hot it almost keeps her from resting at all. The noise wakes her. She opens her eyes and rises, glancing around the room before she goes to the vents, to look at Red Cliffs. She grunts.
"Same as before. Break the vent and get in here if you can. I'll work on jamming the alarm wires in the door so we can break it out without alerting the complex."
She refuses, now, to call it a sept. Then she pushes herself up to her feet, shifting up into crinos as she goes, and faces the door again.
Huxley & Co."Okay." Red Cliffs presses palms to floor, pushes up to his feet. "Stand back."
And then: CRASH! Not much subtlety about it: the Cliath simply hurtles through the wall, Crinos-shaped. Between the cells, the walls are relatively flimsy: just drywall and insulation. Dust and debris scatter everywhere, hang off the Fianna's fur. He shakes himself out, then drops four paws to the ground to listen, alert and ears pricked, for reaction.
[HOW LUCKY ARE WE? 4 or better means no one hears him.]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )
Radiant HonorAvery whips around at the noise. She wants to facepalm but doesn't; in her rage, she might actually claw her own face open. In fact, feeling her rage overwhelm her other faculties, she shifts back down briefly to her birth form. He slams through the wall, tearing it down, and she stares at him for a moment as the dust clings to his fur. She doesn't waste time though. Turns back to the alarmed door, focusing her attention on the wires hidden around it, taking a deep breath to remember what truly grants her this power, this strength.
It isn't only Rage that makes a Garou.
[-1 Gnosis for Jam Technology.
Manipulation + Crafts / diff depends on complexity of tech / +1 diff for not having Crafts / spending WP]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Huxley & Co.It isn't immediately apparent whether or not the gift has worked. There's no click, no flashing light, no indication of result.
Avery knows, though. She felt it work. She felt her connection with the spirits -- that connect that Huxley has so carelessly cast aside -- and she felt the world shift for her. Just a little. Just enough.
--
Then she hears it. Very distant, muffled. A click of another door opening. Then footsteps approaching. Just one person.
Radiant HonorThere is a thickening in the air around the door. No, not a thickening: a stillness. A heavy silence, as empty and as lifeless as a morgue. Even the molecules of air seem to slow somewhat, cooling around them. Avery, still battered, shifts into crinos again. Her rage swells in her, barely spent after it had been so lit on fire by that fuckhead, Huxley. She makes up for the cool air and the Weaver's influence with the renewal of purpose, of anger. She likes purpose. She likes knowing where to go, and what to do, and why she is doing it. Why it matters.
She wants to open the door murderously, but she hears those footsteps. She waits. She nods her head at Red Cliffs: be ready. For what, she doesn't yet know.
Huxley & Co.The footsteps approach. At first swiftly; then slowing. Cautious. Four cells, Red Cliffs said. The footsteps stop at the first. A beep: a keycard swiped, perhaps. The door swings open.
Then shut.
Then the footsteps near the second door. Red Cliffs's cell.
Radiant HonorAvery could just sing. She launches herself at the door in front of her as soon as she hears the first door to the first cell opened.
Huxley & Co.[roll .... dex+ath for a modified stealth attack!]
Radiant Honor[dex (athletic) + ath!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 ) Re-rolls: 1
Huxley & Co.[wits + alert react!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.[defender wins a tie; stealth cancelled out. roll init as usual! i'll toss out a quick post]
Huxley & Co.Avery crashes through the door. Splinters go flying. Fifteen feet away, System Shock whirls around, looking
shocked.
Radiant Honor[treevr lookit aim!]
Radiant Honor[correction: avery is in hispo. not re-rolling 1d10 for dex roll cuz that's cheap as shit.]
Radiant Honor[Init! +10]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Huxley & Co.[init! +8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )
Huxley & Co.[red cliffs init! +8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
Huxley & Co.[System Shock:
1. RUN
R1. FOR
R2. HALP
I'm gonna say it takes one (splittable) action to reach him, btw! cuz he's two door down still]
Radiant Honor[Reflexive: "Don't kill him!"
1a. Close distance
1b. Bite the shit out of System Shock
R1. Bite him again.
Pulling damage if necessary.]
Huxley & Co.[Red Cliffs:
1a. lunge!
b. hamstring!
R1. tackle!]
Huxley & Co.[Red Cliffs 1b! Crinos dex+brawl -3 dice]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.[dam +1]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.[no damage; unsuccessful]
Radiant Honor[1a. runrunrunrunrunrunrunLUNGE
1b. NOMF
Dex + Brawl -3]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Radiant Honor[Damage!]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 4 )
Huxley & Co.[ow!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.System Shock: 1) RUN! we won't do complex pursuit rolls, but assume that every "run" action requires another mvmt action to catch up again.
Huxley & Co.Red Cliffs R1: tackle! dex+brawl diff 7
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 6) ( botch x 3 )
Huxley & Co.[WELL GOOD THING THAT WAS A WRONG ROLL. Red Cliffs spends R1 catching up.]
Radiant Honor[R1. Switching from nomfing to catching up!]
Radiant Honor[dex + ath to use that rage to sprint ahead of the bastard.]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Huxley & Co.System Shock isn't so stupid as he acts. Faced with two angry Garou, one quite significantly his elder, he turns and hightails it out of there. Red Cliffs, perhaps hungry for vengeance, leaps after him -- snaps at his achilles tendon, grazes flesh, comes away with a mouthful of teeth.
Then Radiant Honor. Lunging, snapping, coming away with blood on her teeth. System Shock yelps, but is not felled. Rage and desperation gives him a burst of speed. He covers the distance to the door in two great ground-rattling leaps,
batters that portal open,
bellows through it: "THEY'RE OUT. THEY'RE LOOSE."
Huxley & Co.[does anyone hear him? roll 7 or better to avoid notice]
Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (6) ( fail )
Huxley & Co.[next round starts with System Shock in striking distance again. same init order.]
Huxley & Co.[System Shock:
1. close door!
R1. held
R2. held]
Radiant Honor[Activating some Gifts:
-1 WP for Fangs of Judgement. May not work on System Shock; she expects it to work on Huxley and possibly other supporters of his.
-1 WP for Resist Pain. LESSON LEARNED.
1a. bite him (-3)
1b. bite him (-4)
1c. bite him (-5)
R1. bite him or anything else that shows up]
[Reflexive: "Keep that door open!"]
Huxley & Co.[Red Cliffs:
1. Targeted strike to throat to shut him up!
R1. Resist closing of door!]
Huxley & Co.[targeted: +3 diff for small and precise target. +WP!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Huxley & Co.[dam+2!]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Huxley & Co.[ow!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3) ( botch x 2 )
Huxley & Co.[5agg on SS now -- also no longer yelling audibly]
Radiant Honor[1a. dex + brawl -3]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 2
Radiant Honor[damage! will pull]
strength 5 + hispo bite 1 + bite damage 1 + FoJ 2 + suxx 5 - 1]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Huxley & Co.[ermagerd]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Radiant Honor[1b. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME]
Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 2
Radiant Honor[DAMAGE GOD FUCKING DAMMIT]
Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Huxley & Co.[ow!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Radiant Honor[1C. HAIL.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 4, 10) ( success x 1 ) Re-rolls: 1
Radiant Honor[THAT'S ENOUGH FOR DAMAGE.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )
Huxley & Co.[ow!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Huxley & Co.System Shock doesn't quite get all his words out. He's halfway through LOOSE when Red Cliffs reaches through the door and tears his throat out. System Shock doesn't go down easily: he keeps trying to close that damn door, keeps pushing at it even as he's clutching his tattered throat,
even as he's torn into again, and again, and again.
He's nearly in shreds when he finally collapses at the threshold. Red Cliffs acts immediately: grabs his former Septmate (compound-mate?) by the limbs and hauls him through the door. Slams it. Fumbles with the lock until the bolt slams home.
Then: a few seconds of silence. They have no way of knowing if anyone heard the commotion, the shouting.
Radiant HonorAvery did not know if her gift would affect him or not. It only harms creatures who have fallen from Gaia's purpose for them. At the edges of her rage, which clouds her mind with red, she can sense her sadness that System Shock could be rent by her judgement so. She had hoped otherwise.
She does not hold the same hope for Huxley. He took his warform in the presence of her mate. He separated her from her mate. He imprisoned her. He punishes those who dissent, uses them for experiments. But worst of all, he turns from the mother. He disdains the very notion of balance, the walking of the border between rage and spirit and will that is both birthright and duty of their kind. Succumbing wholly to any of the Triat is, in her mind, failure. Surrender to inevitable defeat. No matter how honorable or high-minded or ambitious the intention, such submission is trying to take the difficult path they have all been called to and warp it into something easy.
It was never going to be easy. For all species, all races on earth, holding balance is never easy.
--
Avery hears the door slam. She gives herself a moment to breathe. And she summons her own spirit, grateful that it comes to her call. She closes her eyes and gradually, her fur begins to take on a soft silvery glow, as though the gnosis itself is suffusing each strand with the purity of her intention, the purity of her spirit. When she opens her eyes again, the glow softly fades, but Luna's protection remains. She looks at Red Cliffs.
Chuffs at him with a nod of approval. Well done, it says. She has readied herself. And before she goes forward -- which she fully intends to do, as long as she can hear the 'tune up' going on -- she gives him a chance to ready himself, too.
Radiant Honor[Luna's Armor: -1 G, Stamina + Survival]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Huxley & Co.Neither of them are harmed -- so far. Red Cliffs is only a little out of breath. He bends to check on his fallen counterpart, finds a pulse, finds a weak and whistling breath. It is enough. Wolves have taken far worse and survived.
Straightening, he looks at Avery. "You turned off the [loud wail]. You can stop Weaver-things?"
Radiant HonorShe chuffs. "When no frenzy."
Why she couldn't do it before. Why, when Huxley first donned Goliath, she couldn't shut it down. Why she couldn't protect herself at all, or harm him more than she did. She regrets that frenzy more than she can say.
Avery scrapes her paw on the floor. "Spirit-gift. Not Rage."
Huxley & Co.He doesn't know she frenzied. He doesn't know she faced Huxley in the Goliath, though surely he suspects. He doesn't know where her mate is, either, or where Huxley is, or where the rest of the once-Sept is. He knows very little, but he does know he is afraid. He wants to survive.
"If you shut down Weaver-thing, maybe we have chance. Otherwise, no chance. Must run. Maybe should still run. I know way out. We can come back with others. Fight together."
Radiant HonorAvery chuffs. "Who?"
Huxley & Co.His tail moves, low and slow. "Don't know. Others. Other wolves. You not have allies?"
Radiant Honor"None here." She lowers her head, growls softly. "Mate is here. Will not leave him."
Huxley & Co."You not from here?" He's surprised; then not. "You not from here. Would have been corrupted or killed if you from here. Of course."
He thinks a moment. Then:
"They probably down hall. In room with Weaver-thing. Maybe coming here now. We can meet them directly. Or we can go between walls. Empty-moving-spaces, because walls move. Maybe we surprise them. Harder to find way, but I can try guide you."
Radiant HonorAvery looks at him closely when he says that. It chills her. Corrupted or killed. She shakes her fur out a little, grunting in discomfort. She has no friends with her. No pack but, for the moment, this Cliath Fianna. And it seems they are on their own: neither of them have anyone else to call on.
"We go to them. Kill Weaver-thing. Speak to others. Judge the urrah."
In her mind, she thinks: and try not to kill him. Because she wants to. She dearly, dearly wants to kill him.
Huxley & Co.Red Cliffs balks at the idea of going directly to them, no subterfuge, no sneaking. Balks, but ultimately does not shy from it.
"I will help you if I can," he promises, and lays his muzzle briefly against her forearm. Chuffs. "You lead. I follow."
Radiant HonorHer mate is here, and she will not leave him. Her mate is somewhere and she doesn't know if he's okay, if he's hurt, if he's safe. For all she knows they sent him away -- but she doesn't think they would. Her mate is smart. Her mate is impossibly brave. He would call other septs. He would immediately get people sent here to storm the castle. She knows he would. They would never have let him see that monstrosity Huxley has created and then let him go.
She's going to fucking kill Huxley, she thinks, when she remembers Calden. Avery closes her eyes and calms herself. Then she begins to move. She will find Huxley, and his monster, and she will destroy one and drag the other before his elders to be judged.
Surely there are others who deserve to kill him for his crimes against Gaia and his people. She would not steal that from them.
--
So she leads, and Red Cliffs follows.
Radiant Honor[Current:
Full HP
+1 Soak (Luna's Armor)
3 WP
2 G
5 R
Resist Pain
Fangs of Judgement]
HuxleyRadiant Honor slams through the door. Red Cliffs is on her heel. Hallway's splashed with fresh blood, and a stone's throw away -- twenty feet and closing -- are four wolves in homid.
There's a beat of shock. They stare. Then Huxley, leading from the rear, shouts: "Take them down!"
Up front is that narrow-faced woman, that hard creature that must be his lieutenant. Flanking her, two young ones, boys really, a couple steps out of cubhood. They look to her nervously, but she's staunch as a stone wall. She bursts out of homid, into Crinos, advancing in great measured strides as she sizes up her opponents.
And Huxley? He turns and runs the other way.
He's going to the [big shiny boom thing]! barks Red Cliffs.
[BATTUL TIEM!]
Radiant Honor[+10 INIT]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Huxley[four numbers are inits for:
right hand woman: +8
pup 1: +6
pup 2: +6
red cliffs: +8]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Huxley[order:
Red Cliffs
Avery
Pup2
RHW
Pup1]
Declares:
[Pup 1:
1. Bite Red Cliffs!
R1. Bite Avery!
R2. Claw Red Cliffs!
RHW:
1. Clap of Thunder!
Pup 2:
1. Bite Avery!
R1. Claw!
R2. Bite!]
[1a. bite
1b. bite
R1. bite
R2. bite! -- all on RHW, switching to Pup 1 if RHW hits incap, then Pup 2]
Huxley[Red Cliffs:
1a. grapple RHW!
b. bite RHW!
R1. Bite RHW!
R2. Claw Pup 1!]
Huxley1a. grapple!
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[resist!]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Huxleyb. BITE! no diff bonus cuz, well, HE'S THE ONE GRAPPLING.
Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (4, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Huxley[dam+2]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 3 )
Huxley[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )
Radiant Honor[1a. bite RHW]
Dice: 6 d10 TN3 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2
Radiant Honor[SLAY.]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 7 )
Huxleysoak!
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Radiant Honor[1b. bite RHW, pull at incap!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN3 (4, 5, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 5 )
Radiant Honor[SLAY.]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )
Huxley[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Huxley[RHW: @_@]
HuxleyPups: roll WP vs diff 8 or panic!
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
HuxleyDice: 5 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Huxley[bravepup2: bite avery!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Huxleydam+4
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 6 )
Radiant Honor[excuse you!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 8, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[bravepup1: bite RC!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Huxley[dam]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
Huxley[soak!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Radiant Honor"What are you doing?" Avery roars at the youngster who comes at her, bites at her, his resistance to the action writ large in his body language. She snaps and snarls at him, throwing him off though her shoulder bleeds. "You fight for the Weaver now?"
Huxley[Red Cliffs R1, changing to biting pup 1!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[dam+3]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 7 )
Huxley[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Radiant Honor[charisma + leadership + pure breed]
Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 1
Huxleypup2: wits+pu vs diff 7; success = listens to avery!
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (1, 4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Huxleypup1: same
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 1 )
HuxleyChaos. Teeth tearing, claws ripping, blood hitting the walls. It takes scarcely a second for the female, that hard-faced creature that was surely the terror of the youngster, to hit the ground. Barely alive. And that, only by the grace of the one who felled her.
The youngsters look terrified. They gather their courage, they charge again. One takes a small chunk out of Radiant Honor. The other is summarily thrown back by Red Cliffs -- barely his senior, really, but then this Sept seems run by madmen and children. He is gathering for another attack when
Avery roars
and the youngsters quail. It is sheer instinct: recognition of dominance, desire to survive. Red Cliffs is still bristling, ready to tear into the barely-not-cubs. Hard to say if he would have been as merciful as Radiant Honor. The pups yelp, though, and tuck their tails, and -- little by little -- lower themselves to the floor, inching on their bellies.
Radiant HonorIt is not grace that stops Avery from killing the one who would help Huxley, lead Cliaths down the wrong path. It is fury. She does not want to kill this woman only to see her mourned. She wants her stripped of name, title, honor. She wants to see her brought down low before she is, if it pleases the People, killed. She has betrayed them, and Avery wishes her to see the full rage of her people for it.
Not grace.
Not mercy.
Something else, which radiates from Avery quite literally now with the moonlight itself armoring her body. She wheels on the pups as they come at her, bitten by them, watching them tear at her ally, and she snaps. She loses her temper, though not completely: she does not frenzy again. She roars at them, bristled and enormous and white, splattered with red, crystalline eyes gleaming through. She could kill them both and they know it: smell it, feel it. Red Cliffs would help her: they can see that, too.
They submit, and she bares her teeth.
"You are still Garou. You still have honor. Still have spirit. He is a spider." She spits the word. She spits out the lieutenant's blood from between her teeth. "Help. Us."
HuxleyThey are still low to the ground. They are still groveling -- there is no other term for it. Ears are flat, muzzles between paws. Red Cliffs snorts, disgusted. Perhaps a little gratified, too: these little turds probably laughed while he was getting hauled off and shut into a cell for future beta testing.
"He has gone to wake the monster," one finally whines. "Have to run."
The other licks tongue over muzzle a few times, anxious. "Help? How?"
Radiant HonorAvery has no time for this: to coax two brats who were seconds ago biting at her and her only brave ally into doing their fucking duty. She curls her lips back from her teeth.
"Run, then, if you are cowards," she snarls, and begins moving, quickly, past them. "There is no time to teach you how to fight for Gaia and your people."
She barks at Red Cliffs; now she is running.
HuxleyHard on her heels, Red Cliffs.
And a little ways behind them, one of the two brats. The other one stays where he is, uncertain and frightened: a coward.
--
It is not hard to follow Huxley. His scent is strong with anger, desperation, fear. Besides: the pup knows exactly where he's going. Shoulders ahead of Red Cliffs, yips at Radiant Honor. Around a tight turn, through a doorway -- and then Avery recognizes where she is. That downward spiral. The path to the central chamber.
Lights overhead flicker suddenly, dim. There's a deep, bone-trembling hum. It begins to cycle up, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
"That's the machine!" Red Cliffs barks.
Radiant HonorWith enough time, she could have swayed them both. Bolstered them. Brought them up higher than they knew they could go; given them a taste of her honor, so they might thirst for it themselves, long for it, long to be so stalwart, so true. Avery, however, does not have time. Avery runs, hard as she can, bearing the mark that one of those children left on her shoulder. She cannot feel it; she doesn't care.
Then she watches the pup pull ahead, leading now, because he knows the way. Faster now. She begins to howl. She begins to roar.
She begins to warn Huxley that they are coming.
She begins to warn him, roaring her fury and her judgement,
that she is coming for him.
[Activating Eagle's Beak while running. -1R]
--
Down a spiral they go, her voice ricocheting from the walls. She whips around a corner, pulling ahead of the pup, morbidly eager to tear Huxley's flesh from his bones. She thunders forward, and then she skids to a stop as the machine powers up before them.
"NO!" she roars, enraged, and stands her ground, reaching for the stasis inherent in the abominable creation to prevent it from moving at all.
HuxleyHuxley is climbing into the machine as they run.
His fingers are flying over buttons, keys. He's pulling himself up, hasty, foot slipping, then it's not a foot but a paw, his claws dig in for purchase. He heaves himself into the cockpit and
as they tear around the last curve he is snapping the canopy down, and
as they burst into sight the machine is whirring to life, joints moving, pistons driving. Inside the cockpit, Huxley is pulling some sort of helmet, some sort of cage around his head. He laughs at them, or roars, or something -- his voice is lost in the rising whine of turbines.
He reaches for a switch.
Avery reaches for her Gift.
Huxley[+2 rage back to all gaians]
Radiant Honor[-1R to Snap-shift to homid upon skidding into the room!
+8 init!]
Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (7) ( success x 1 )
Huxley[+8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (1) ( botch x 1 )
Radiant Honor[JAM TECHNOLOGY]
[-1 G]
[HAIL]
[Manipulation + Crafts]
[SLAY]
[Spending WP!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 5 ) [WP]
Huxley[ST note: if huxley had won the init, he would have initiated the download, i.e. the weaver possession. in that case, if/when Avery shut down the machine, he would have basically TURNED INTO A BRAINDEAD VEGETABLE.]
HuxleyAnd just like that: the machine powers down. That rising hum abruptly descends. That basso thrum spins down. The mechanized limbs of the Goliath drop; the joints freeze.
All around the room, monitors fizzle out. Cameras blink dark. Computers bluescreen, tablets brick. The lights brighten again, hold steady.
Inside the machine, Huxley flips that switch. Back and forth he flips it, angrier by the instant, finally slamming his fist into the controls, grasping the emergency eject, pulling it.
The canopy explodes off. Misses Avery by a hair; slams into the wall behind her. Huxley leaps at her, snapping, spittle flying from his jaws.
Radiant HonorHe just threw a piece of his rotted Weaver machinery at her. And as it flies toward her, Avery snaps back into Hispo, bracing her paws against the floor. Avery bristles. She snarls, triumph flooding her limbs as her gift drags his worthless machine down with its own entropy. Piece of garbage; a Fostern's gift could disrupt it. What does he think that will do in the true war? Fool. Coward. Urrah.
She growls at him. She's ready for him.
"Do not kill him," she warns Red Cliffs and the pup who managed to bolster himself enough to come with them. "He will be judged."
Huxley[order:
red cliffs
avery
huxley
pup
Huxley[pup:
1. run toward huxley!
R1. bite!
R2. hamstring!
huxley:
1. gulp SOMETHING SUSPISHUS
R1. SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS. it is some sort of attack.
R2. SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS. it is some sort of attack.
R3. SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS. it is not an attack, but it might be some sort of power-up.]
Radiant Honor[1a. Tear Huxley's arm off. What the hell: called shot. Yes the arm holding the drink.
1b. Just bite him randomly somewhere that it will hurt.
R1. Possibly one of his legs. Not a called shot, just a dream.
R2. He only needs one kidney.]
[red cliffs:
1. run toward huxley!
R1. bite!
R2. bite!]
Radiant Honor[1a.
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Huxley[called shot rules:
+2 diff
2dmg to spill his drink (PARTY FOUL!!)
3 to destroy arm
4 to tear it off!]
Radiant Honor[NOMF. HAIL!
STR + 1 FOR HISPO + 1 FOR BITE + 2 FOR FANGS OF JUDGEMENT + 2 FOR EAGLE'S BEAK + SUXX - 1]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 7 )
Huxleysoak!
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[Huxley: WAL FAK. change action to BITE AVERY]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Radiant Honor[1b. HAHAHAHAHA YOU ASSHOLE]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )
Huxley[dam]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Huxley[too early! *pulls rolls bak*]
Radiant Honor[MORE SLAY]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Huxleysoak!
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[rerolling; Huxley has lost some more dice]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Huxley[dam +2]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Radiant Honor[I TWIRL ON MY HATERS]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )
Huxley[pup is running!
red cliffs ... is going to hold his R1 to let his elder get the kill!]
Radiant HonorRage is flooding her. She sees him weak. She sees his arm dangle by threads. She roars at him: does he really fucking think she's going to let him get away with this? Did he think he could lock her up? Take her mate? Pink-tinged spittle stretches from her teeth; flickers toward his eyes.
Avery rises up on her hind legs, flows up to crinos in one shot. She is on the verge, the very edge of frenzy. He will die if she crosses over that line. He will die if she falls over that edge.
She won't.
--
She grabs Huxley by the fur on the top of his skull, hauling him up, forward, wrenching him. Her right claw pulls back, then slashes hard across his throat, his jaw, his smirking smug face.
Radiant Honor[R2. CLAW. + WP]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Radiant Honor[Damage! Str + 1 + FoJ + suxx - 1!]
Dice: 11 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Huxley[soak?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Radiant Honor[FUK YOU HUXLEY]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2
Radiant Honor[Damage!]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Huxley[ffs]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )
Radiant Honor[WHAT IF SHE'D JUST USED HER R1 TO HISPO-BITE HIS STUPID HEAD INSTEAD]
Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 6 ) [WP]
Radiant Honor[Damage?]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 8 )
Huxley[ow!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
HuxleyHuxley has something in his hand. Some small vial of thick but slippery fluid, some oily concoction, some alien mix. He snaps the top off with his claw. He's about to gulp it down.
Avery gets there first. Rips into him. Shreds that arm, nearly tears it off. He howls. He strikes at her -- ineffectually.
She tears his throat out.
--
In that silent, vast room, every one of them can hear Huxley slumping to the ground. Can hear the slow trickle of blood. Can hear his rasping, bubbling breath.
The building seems silent. The wolves of his so-called Sept: they've scattered to the four winds, run away, fled for their lives. Just Avery now. Avery and Red Cliffs and, justifiably nervous and looking a little green around the gills, that youngster, that foolish pup that had dared to take a bite out of Avery's shoulder.
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