More GMing


Rainbow Lake(#2713RJ)
Long and narrow, the lake stretches a mile to the north and south, right at the heart of the woodland. Tall, silver beech trunks mix with the even taller evergreens and dominate the mountain valley. Where the canopy has been broken by a fallen tree, a riot of brambles and nettles have erupted, clinging to anything and everything and fighting for light among the thick forest. Underfoot there is a deep bed of mulch and last year's leaves, muffling any footfall.
Other plants have found a foothold where the beeches make way for the line of water. The edges of the lake are overhung by a wall of dark myrtle, their scent hanging sweet and heavy in the air, giving the place a dreamlike quality. The waters of the lake itself are a clear, unruffled indigo, dropping into bottomless darkness, with otherworldly reflections of the sky floating above the depths. Rainbow flashes of light play about the reeds and weeds that break the surface here and there, throwing colors into the air.
Part of the valley around the lakeside to the south is clear of trees, and often here in the brush and grass a small herd of woods buffalo can be seen.

Where the trees meet the shore there is a small rectangular structure about six feet wide and ten feet long. The short side faces the lake where rough steps lead up to an entrance three feet from the ground. A deerhide flap covers the small, square opening. The sides of the maqii are rough timber, gathered locally, and clearly worked by hand. At the lake end, the building is more than eight feet tall and the flat roof slops gently away from the river. Just over four feet from the entrance, however, the roof drops by almost two feet, and then continues its gentle downward slope. At the far end from the lake, a small chimney extends up above the roofline.
Not far from this construction, there is nearly aways a hide of some sort being stretched on a timber frame. Sinew is being dried, and bones, thoroughly cleaned, are being prepared for other purposes.
Circle Keeper lowers his front end, tail wagging as he indicates a ready 'affirmative.' Yes! Yes, go now! he tells the other excitedly. Without a delay, he starts to trot off down the valley, heading towards the Interstate.
Fernando gives a high-pitched cry composed of one part excitement, one part impatience and one part bloodlust, and lopes away in Circle Keeper's wake. One hand fingers the heavy mace hanging at his side, and his eyes are bright.
Circle Keeper's excitement dies down slightly as he gives himself over to hunting, moving with awareness and intent as he leads the other down to the lower lands. He's not quite gone to stalking around, but he's definitely closer to the 'on the hunt' end of things as he leads the other Uktena towards the strip of land along the interstate. Often find wyrm near the world-scar, he tells the Ragabash. Lots in umbra, lots in animal-lands.
There's nothing particularly wyrmy in the woods, obviously. Some decaying plant matter, the rotting corpse of a small rodent, but nothing that's fightable against. The interstate, however, promises more fertile hunting ground, with its mixture of pollution and weaver-stuff. After about half a mile, there's a break in the trees. A car has obviously come off the road, fairly recently, and has yet to be recovered. It's a burnt-out shell, and the foliage around is scorched and damaged. The tracks from its last skid are clear, great grooves in the soil.
Fernando nods his understanding and agreement to Circle Keeper's remark, his demeanour once more vibrating with the constant air of tension and alertness that usually characterises the Andean ragabash. He is not so high-strung, however, that he is incapable of moving cautiously whenever possible threats present themselves. Quite the opposite; once something of interest becomes evident, he moves with the near-silent stealth of a well-trained scout.
Circle Keeper swaps who's in the lead with the scout as they get near, hanging back as he lets a seasoned Ragabash do its thing. The white wolf makes himself low, circling slowly as he sniffs at the air from a distance.
There's something here, or perhaps something that's been here recently. Circle Keeper's experienced nose detects something out of place, indeed, but there's nothing visible. The general ambience is *wrong*, even considering the damage caused by the crashed vehicle.
Fernando slips into Lupus, letting his wolven senses agree with or contrast those clues he has picked up with his human knowledge. Silently he calls upon the sense of those things that do not belong in the mundane world, hackles raising slightly as he does so. He starts to circle the area, keeping a cautious distance from the sharp scents of the wreck.
Circle Keeper's tail raises slightly, the Uktena perking his ears as he strains to listen. Having identified something wrong, he sniffs more frequently, trying to identify it, and where 'it' might be.
The smell, which Fernando can now identify, appears to be stronger to the opposite side of the car from the direction the Garou entered. As if whatever caused it moved off in that direction. It's a chemical smell, an acrid, unpleasant note.
Hummingbird's muzzle wrinkles. He glances to Circle keeper, to confirm that the Elder has also detected it, then starts to pad softly in the direction the scent leads, paralleling the trail a few yards from the line it follows.
Circle Keeper hangs back from Hummingbird, before moving in behind to start following the smell. He puts his nose to the ground as he goes, but his ears remain all too alert as he strains to hear any wayward, out of place sounds.
The trail leads parallel to the interstate for about a hundred yards, then turns towards it. The sound from the road gets louder, and then, viewed from behind some low scrubby bush, the two Garou can see a culvert, a tunnel beneath the road. The scent is stronger, though becoming mixed with the fumes from the traffic.
Hummingbird pauses and makes his way softly to beside his Elder, fidgeting slightly with one ear flicking back towards the culvert. This wolf can scout, or we can go together. Perhaps it is better to stay close, he suggests.
Circle Keeper looks ahead to the culvert with considerably wariness. He doesn't seem to like that much at all, and it shows readily on his posture. Not alone, he agrees, beginning to head towards the culvert slowly.
The culvert is narrow, only wide enough to accomodate one Garou, even in Lupus form. It's also dark, and it stinks of whatever this horrible smell is. The whole thing reeks of badness.
Hummingbird keeps alongside Circle Keeper, fur bristling in reflection of his tension and lips tightening just enough to show a glint of white fangs. Once or twice he almost startles, legs tensing to leap- but whether to flee or to attack is unclear.
Circle Keeper stops before he gets into the culvert, squinting within suspiciously. He clearly doesn't like the inside of there.
It's not possible to hear anything within. There's definitely something blocking the light, though, and a hint of movement. It's a long way into the culvert, must be almost directly beneath the central reservation of the interstate. Suddenly, there's a glint, light reflecting from something. As quickly as it flashed, it's gone.
Hummingbird lunged forward at the light flash; it is only with an effort that he pulls back, the whites of his eyes showing and his tail pretty much stuffed in Circle Keeper's face. Cannot fight together, he notes. This wolf can take two legs, cross the iron iron trail above. Or this wolf can be bait, he adds, legs quivering with anticipation.
Circle Keeper indicates a flat negative. Too many things on the world-scar, he notes, sourly. He waits a moment, before telling the other they're staying here. Wait for it to leave other side, or this side.
Time passes, and the...whatever it is...remains hunched within its hiding place. Night falls, the light fading from the sky, though there's still a fair amount of light coming from the interstate. Slowly, too, the traffic decreases in density. There's an audible scratching noise, coming from within the culvert, getting closer. The stench increases as the creature nears the entry.
Hummingbird has scarecly remained still for more than a few minutes at a time, but he has made good use of his time, slipping back into Homid for a while to judge how much of the area might be spotted from the road above and what routes might best be used to make a retreat in any form without being seen by unwelcome eyes. Once back in Lupus he has paced to and fro with restless energy; but at the first signs he spots of movement he finally freezes into rocklike stillness, senses trained on the exit of the culvert.
Circle Keeper, much like his former totem, has been relentlessly patient. The wolf remained outside, watching the mouth of the culvert like a hawk. Aside from throwing some strange glances at Fernando now and again, he's kept his senses trained on the tunnelled-whatever. However, when the thing inside stirs, so does he, bolting up to all fours and readying himself.
The thing stops just inside the entryway. It's just possible to make out a faintly humanoid shape. A sudden waft of whatever the scent is, mixed with the faint aroma of burning, washes over the Garou. A sniffing noise eminates from within, and then the thing takes a step back, as if it has sensed the two's presence.
Hummingbird sinks down onto his belly, watching the culvert and the /thing/ intently.
Circle Keeper quickly retreats on back to the woods, and away from the culvert. Once he's out of sight, he shifts to crinos, and plants his dedicated spear next to him. Waiting a moment, he barks for the other to follow him.
The sniffing noise from within gets louder, but the creature doesn't emerge.
Hummingbird's ears twitch to and fro like little windmills; he backs away as if every step is an effort, still staring at the culvert. Once out of site alongside Circle Keeper, he shoots gladly up into Crinos, and takes up his mace like the old friend it is for him.
The sniffing continues within the culvert, and then another couple of steps, the outline visible right in the very mouth of the tunnel. It's humanoid, but twisted in some way. It's skin seems to be a mass of sores, and blackened and scorched in places. It's hunched over, and it seems to cringe every time a car passes.
Hummingbird bites back a whine of impatience and manages to wait for Circle Keeper's orders.
Circle Keeper starts to open his mouth with more to say to Hummingbird, but the emergence of the thing causes him to hesitate. A few dull moments pass, before he yanks his spear out of the ground, and shifts back to lupus. This one will get the wyrm thing away from the world-scar, he tells the other silently. When it is not a veil breach, attack it?
The thing in question takes a halting step out of the culvert, though it's still right in the entryway.
Back in the shadows of the trees, Hummingbird drops to all fours to answer with a silent snarl of agreement. Attack, yes.
Circle Keeper starts to circle around, taking the long way to side of the interstate, so that he's quite a distance from the creature. He then starts to sneak up on the creature, trying to keep just a little closer to the road than the culvert is.
The creature sniffs, and swings its head around, but then away again. If it detected Circle Keeper, it's now ignoring him. It takes another few faltering steps, along the trail that the garou followed. It lifts its hands, up, revealing some wicked looking claws.
Circle Keeper, once the thing is away from the colvert, takes a run at it, snarling and barking. He's playing chicken, and has no intention of running up directly to it.
Hummingbird has reconnected.
The thing turns towards Circle Keeper, and launches itself towards him, snarling the sort of snarl that a 40-a-day smoker would snarl, a sort of grinding hacking snarl. It's nowhere near quick enough to get to the Garou, though, its legs don't work particularly wonderfully, but it is in some form of pursuit.
Circle Keeper, having developed his tail, bolts for the woods. He even obligingly slows his pace so the thing doesn't lose track of him very easily.
Hummingbird's claws gouge lines in the dirt as he grasps his mace. He stays crouched, not unlike a sprinter in the blocks, ready to move.
The thing isn't very intelligent, it appears, and it continues to lope after Circle Keeper, unaware of the ambush that's waiting for it.
Circle Keeper continues until he's just past the other Uktena, before he rears around, swelling up hispo in short order as he charges towards it.
Even strung out on adrenaline and the tension of the long wait, no-moon instincts are close enough to the surface that Hummingbird's first move is to dive full force into the oncoming shape at ground level, hoping to trip the creature right into Circle Keeper's waiting claws and jaws.
Circle Keeper goes high, setting his jaws wide as he goes, and preparing to slash down with his claws whereupon he should make contact with the beast. He snarls loudly, as the rush of finally fighting comes upon him.
The dive at the feet works...rather better than Hummingbird can have hoped, the thing stumbles, tries to regain its footing, fails, and falls on its face in front of Circle Keeper, whose bite lands, though only a grazing blow. From the creature's burnt skin, a foul and noxious substance erupts, spraying over Circle Keepers muzzle and face. The stuff reeks of that smell that allowed them to trace him, it's almost overbearing. His claws rake into the body of it, doing far more damage, though once again, more noxious substance sprays over the paws. The thing moans, a horrible, low moan, and attempts to struggle to its feet. Fernando is on the floor, though not beneath it, behind it.
Circle Keeper staggers back as the noxious substance harms him, the fostern clearly not liking that one bit. He blows up like a balloon, Swelling into crinos to lunge at the beast with his spear.
Blurring with speed Fernando rolls upright, the snarling stone head of his mace matching his fearsome expression as he aims to smash the weapon into his foe's spine.
The creature manages to regain its feet, but that's probably not a good thing for it, the spear and mace combination arriving almost simultaneously. The spear penetrates its left side, causing another gush of lethal substance, but this falls harmlessly to the floor. The mace crashes into its spine, and another spray flies out, this splashing over Fernando's arm. The creature drops to its knees, but manages to swing a clawed hand - on an arm that's suddenly surprisingly long, out to rake across Circle Keeper's shoulder, just grazing the surface and not doing any damage. It then grabs the spear, and starts hauling its body along it. It snarls at the Fostern, revealing a mouth full of decaying, but still pointy teeth. And really bad halitosis.
Circle Keeper gives the thing a swift kick away from him, wanting none of that foul odour in his presence. At the same time, he holds firmly onto his spear, hoping to seperate the two.
"Q'enti! Hamay!" Hummingbird's battlecry is distorted through his lupine muzzle. The mace sweeps out and back upon its target once more, whistling angrily through the air.
The creature is kicked back by the fierce fostern, and the spear comes clear with another gush of foul ichor. The mace lands again, crushing the thing's head, and it drops to its knees. It's got one last swing in it, though, and it rakes its claws along CK's leg, once again failing to wound. Fernando's second blow ends the encounter, though, finally caving in its skull, and causing it to drop to the floor, twitching slightly, a pool of blood and noxious liquid forming beneath it.
Circle Keeper, as it collapses down, lets out a brief howl, before stabbing downward with his spear through it's neck-ish-looking parts. After that, he allows himself the luxury of panting to catch his breath.
Perhaps it is all over for the creature but Hummingbird adds a few more thumps of the mace for good measure, foam flecking his jaws as he snarls savagely. Breathing hard he finally backs off and squats down, taking the weight of his mace in his other hand and examining his splashed arm.
The creature is motionless. Well. Dead. Though everywhere its ichor touches, the grass dies instantly, blackening and crumbling to ash.
Circle Keeper, after a few moments, pulls his spear out of the creature, and leans heavily on the shaft. ~Much... better than practice.~ He pants out. He motions with his head, before shifting down to lupus. Starting to limp off, he tells the other there's water to clean with close.
Hummingbird gets back to his feet, staggering a little and still growling to himself, now in a mixture of satisfaction and pain. ~The Horned Serpent shall fear the wrath of the children of the Water Jaguar. Water for us and water for the land,~ he adds, moving slowly in the direction of a good wash.