"My Brothers and Sisters" Nick is pacing, an edge of aggression in his posture as he speaks looking at each of those gathered "each of you has answered the call, and it shall be sung this night from lowly Lune to Mother Moon herself! Look at her now, see her watchful gaze swelling with Pride as she looks upon us all, knowing where we go and what we face." Standing in front of the group he spreads his arms out wide and shivers slightly as he speaks, "Hear now the tale of Harold Hawkeye, he who stood amongst the shoulders of giants. A Rahu of little renown, but he fought for us against many times with his pack, the Scarlet Fangs. When their fought their last mission, they had located a blending of flesh and spirit, a nexus like what we face now. No matter what came through that nexus, they fought till only Harold remained. He fought over the corpses of his packmates, over the broken forms of his enemies until he was able to beat back the horde of creatures escaping the nexus. When it was done, he carried his pack to places of Honor as aid arrived. Telling the story, he faded before the end and his name sings still in our story. Let the fate of the Scarlet Fangs be a guiding light in the world below. Let the lesson guide your claws and fangs!
"We don't fight because we want to. We fight because we must. We don't stand fast on our own. We stand fast together. As family. In friendship. With people we have trusted all our lives. And people we are yet to know. But I know this. That this strength that makes for greatness doesn't just come from within. It's a product greater than the sum of its parts. It is the force of unity, personified. So when we stand fast in the face of the impossible, we stand fast together! And it's this moment that will echo through eternity, when we conquered our fears and beat them down! As one! So stand fast with me, so that we will stand strong together!"
"So tonight raise your voices with mine! Stand as One! For tonight.../WE HUNT/!"
Raven arrives with John and Nick at the designated spot, A good hunt tonight is upon them. Nick takes it upon himself to say a rousing story and speech to inspire all present. As he finishes, Raven can't help but to swell with pride and excitment. She is PUMPED and ready to go. As they begin to descend into the tunnels of certain doom she shifts into her Dalu form to prepare for what may come. As they go she gives Nick a shoulder bump with her fist.
John throws his head back and howls at the finish of Nick's tale, his voice breaking, then deepening as his form shifts, and flesh and bone tear themselves into a new shape. He stands several inches taller in his Dalu form, broader at the shoulder, thicker at the hip. He steps forward to clap Nick on the back, then does the same to Raven. Once the group is into the tunnels, though, he shifts again. Aziha Zuu is now a monstrous wolf the size of a horse, light in color, with savage claws and fangs.
At some point between leaving his motel and arriving here with the other wolves, Alex has shifted into urshul form. In this form, he's a large black dire wolf with piercing blue eyes that match those when in hishu. Offering a softly rumbled greeting to the others he falls in to join the group on the hunt.
Aleks, normally gloomy and dour, howls and raises a clawed fist to the heavens at the climax of Nick's tale. ~Let nothing stand between us and our quarry!~ he snarls in the eldritch First Tongue, and takes on his hirsute, ropy-limbed Dalu form. He looks around him at the gathered Uratha, then falls in with the others. As they delve deeper, Aleks transforms further, taking on the swift urhan wolf-form. He squeezes his way closer to the front, that his nose may help guide the hunters.
Chris joins in the howl with excitement for the hunt. The Rahu shifting up to his Dalu form as muscles flex and shudder with anticipation for what comes next . Finally the battle to come. As the others shift to their urshul form to take the hunt he cracks his neck and then joins them.
Ashlyn is new, but she was given the time and place, and so here she is! She arrives in time to hear Nick's rousing tale, shifting into her larger Dalu form alongside her companions. Shoulders roll, and she stretches her neck from one side to the other as she gives the group a toothy, somewhat feral smile. Letting others take the lead, she stalks along behind the group, shifting again into her more four-legged form to follow suit.
The Undercity, so far most have only seen it from the western edge where the Oubliette is. Where Death resides in the form of Tillo Protz, Prince of this nightmarish land. This is far outside the reach of the self-proclaimed Prince of this Hell.
From the north, down into the old, crumbling sewer system, the two groups walk similar paths. One in the flesh, seeing the expected things. At first. One in the Spirit, seeing a tragedy.
Mold and mildew, slimy algae. Crumbling old cement. On the other side, it is different. The tunnels seem a reflection of when they were new. Not quite bright and shiny, but when first installed - there's a sense of pride in the brand new facility and the expansion of the city. But it teems with spirits of fear, of sadness, of addiction and hunger and hate and despair. At the outskirts, they are smaller, but as they move towards where the Wound is, they become larger and hungrier, the aspects and essences mixed from devouring one another again and again. Until there are grotesque conglomerations of PainAddictionSorrow that present as things like weeping women, bristling with needles and seeping venom from torn veins.
The flesh side loses sight of the tunnels as they branch into areas that are more like preserved pockets of the bulldozed ruins of the old Chicago fire. Broken, scorched timbers, places where the trail wanders closer to the waters of the lake, fetid and rancid. Stagnant. But accessible, somehow. Fnding its way in through the ruin where the tomb has cracked.
As they move along shadowy figures begin to emerge where the Veil thins, until they might make out one another as if through a foggy mirror that gradually clears. Nearest the heart of the Verge, it becomes obvious there is nothing between the worlds - the Gauntlet completely shattered until the terrible things at the furthest edges seem to circle the Wound itself, and the smaller, vulnerable spirits use the back and forth to stay off the radar of the larger, hungrier spirits. Regardless, the two parties come face to face where they shouldnot be able to without corssing, amidst an orgy of feeding and being fed upon.
Aleks takes no pleasure in what he sees in the Shadow, making sure to give the abandoned spirits of the Undercity a wide berth as they move ever closer to the hellmouth Wound. His fur stands on end when they at last enter the ragged Verge and approach the Wound. He sneezes in disgust, twice in succession.
Aziha Zuu's posture is more and more tense the further the groups delve into the Undercity, the more obviously wrong things are. John sniffs the air from time to time, wary of the other denizens of the Undercity, but knows his task this night is to find information about the Wound. When the other group becomes visible, he calls out in the First Tongue to his own companions, ~This isn't right. We must be nearing the Wound.~ Soon after, they enter the Verge, and the groups are reunited. He prowls closer to Min Agalu, pacing.
At first the journey through the tunnels is uneventful, quiet also. But soon Raven begins to feel like her skin is crawling as things outside her sight jump and swarm around her group. She gets a chill down her spine as they meet up with the others. She looks to John and says, "That's a word for it." She tries to shake the uneasy feeling away as she looks around their current location.
Ashlyn looks around carefully, watching the world around her. Both sides, it would seem, at various points. That definitely shouldn't be. It's more than a little concerning that the barrier between the worlds is this weak, much less gone entirely. She growls softly, padding along behind the group. ~How could it get this bad? Why did no one notice sooner?~
Slipping down into the sewers with the rest, the minute Nicks feet touch the bottom he is turning and his body is shifting. Bones popping, mass flowing like water as he swells and falls to all fours...the large midnight black Urshul shakes his whole form. As his packmates touch him, his head whips from side to side with a growl before huffing and stalking forward.
~None of this is right~ Midnight growls as he sniffs the air from the flesh side of reality and shakes before the shadows of the Other Side are seen. His lips pull back and he says ~Remember, keep an eye out. I dont want to get blindsided.~"
Moving along with the group with a keen eye on their surroundings means that Alex is moving cautiously. The black-furred wolf makes sure he keeps up with the group even as it becomes more apparent that they're coming closer to the wound. A soft growl can be heard at the sight of the spirits moving about them, a soft warning to keep clear of the wolves.
~It has been kept secret,~ John growls to Ashlyn, the First Tongue heavy in his Urshul maw, ~Intentionally. There are those who have fought to contain it.~ He prowls around the edge of the group of Uratha, his attention turned inward toward them, making sure none disappear.
The small spirits seem fearless, almost. Or, perhaps, more afraid of the larger spirits that are out there in the darkness. It's akin to watching clownfish hide in the tentacles of a sea anenome. They dip in and out to try and stay under the radar of the bigger predators, all while skittering,s cuttling, slithering along to try and eat one another - the spirit court here reduced to chaos without order beyond that of prey and predator.
Stalking along with the group, Midnight snaps occasionally at any spirit that gets close as he lets out a deep chested growl from his Urshal form, seeming to wait for a direction to begin to hunt.
Aleks takes a few long moments to just sniff at the air. His eyes rove across the blighted scene with obvious concentration. Then his whole body turns in one direction and he's just going. Nose to the tainted earth, ears high, eyes roving, the Bone Shadow stalks after the scent with singular purpose. This is a wolf who has caught the scent of the prey.
He leads the hunting party down, down, down, deep through the hideous labyrinth, then on through twisting corridors reeking of rot and char blended into one evil funk. After about five minutes he stops, turns around, and points his nose up to the ceiling. He noses at it, indicating that the hunting party should lock in the smell themselves before continuing.
Raven swats away small spirits as the party adventures forth. As she looks around she realizes that she has no idea where they are. This place would make for a horrible tomb. As she is aimlessly looking around she catches sight of Aleks suddenly stopping for a split second before darting off in one direction. She tries to follow closely and shifts her sesnses to that of a wolf to log the scent to her memory as the group continues on.
Aziha Zuu bounds off after Min Agalu, John keeping pace with the Geminiad alpha as they chase through the tunnels. His enormous form is charged with energy as he hunts, and when Aleks stops he again paces, circling the group, sniffing the air.
Ashlyn lets Aleks lead the way. He has a far better idea of what they're tracking than she does, anyway. But that doesn't mean the Rahu does nothing. Quiet, threatening growls are directed to any spirit that gets closer than she would like. Or moves. Or looks at her. They all get growled at by the large wolf.
She sniffs around, trying to pick up on the scent. But it smells bad. Like, really really bad. Ashlyn sneezes a couple times, chuffing softly, irritably at the unpleasant scents around her. So, she follows Aleks. He's the one who seems to have a clue as to what he's doing.
As the group begins to head off, Midnight growls darkly and sniffs at the air before springing off after the pack. The Cahalith is twitchy and is going full Edgelord. Its time to rip and tear.
Alex follows Aleks, easily keeping pace with the wolf as they move through the horrid landscape. When he stops and noses a spot for them all to catch the scent of their prey, the Bone Shadow does just that, breathing in the scent before letting out a soft sneeze and shaking his head. ~We should do the sacred hunt rite.~
It's there, where Aleks indicates. Thin little tendrils, threads like some blackened cobwebs. They seem quiet, but like veins, they very delicately, very gently pulse with some sort of grotesque facade of life. Or perhaps, it is alive. The tendrils leads further down the path, the walls showing more of that delicate branching until it shadows the walls and gradually covers them in their entirety. Vanta black, impossible to see into. Just darkness.
But there's that sense of it moving, even if the motion cannot be directly seen.
Min Agalu rises up into the urshul form, the better to speak the First Tongue with monstrous lips and bestial tongue. ~A moment, brother,~ he says to his name-twin. ~I believe that we should proceed with caution, learn what we can, and return with a plan. It may well be that we are unequipped to bring down this quarry. Let us see what we can do, though...~
He takes a moment to raise his nose to the streaks of ooze, and takes a few long sniffs. He splutters and sneezes. ~Claimed,~ he snarls. ~Galsked! My suspicion was correct. This entire mass of ooze is Claimed. We must learn its weaknesses.~
John continues to circle the group, making sure that no one is lost in the tunnels. He lets Aleks lead, and takes it as his role to keep the group safe.
The movement is so hard to see. But a few sharp eyes manage to work around the flat, absolute blackness. It's fucking massive. Roiling with bodies or rats, cats, dogs, people of various ages and sizes. Each assimilated, connected to, harvested of knowledge and thought. It grows. It learns. And as a thousand tiny eyes open up in the darkness, scattered through with larger eyes of people and animals, a figure rises from the center and steps forward. All black, shiny and wet, but recognizable as John in his warform, complete with killing claws and heavy jaws full of teeth.
Blood spilled on accident by Rachel's claws carrying with it just enough knowledge to recreate what was absorbed. It even has the slice on the arm that was cut.
Raven follows the group down into the tunnels until they arrive at the large whats it ooze spawning pool. At first she just stands there taking the sight in for a few moments while they all begin to look around and get a good sniff of the thing. She then watches something come out of the ooze and almost takes a step back as another John like thing enters the scene.
Surprise. Annoyance. Understanding. Anger. ~It has evolved again..~ Midnight says in a menacing growl as the massive wolf lowers down into a battle stance, preparing for anything that may happen. This is not what he was expecting, but fuck it, we're doing it live!
~Claimed? Claimed goo?~ That sounds gross. And it is gross. But Ashlyn accepts it as it is. She lets her gaze roam about the area, seeking anything through the darker-than-darkness. And she can see more than she might like. Hackles rise on her back and her lips pull back into a snarl. The Rahu pushes her way forward, moving to place herself between the now-visible threat and the wolves with her. Ashlyn doesn't immediately move to attack, but her posture tightens, coiling to defend if necessary. The fact that this creature has taken on something resembling a warform is concerning, but not enough to make her stand down. Not yet.
Alex studies the goo creature with his hackles razed, growling softly at the creature. Following the blacker than black substance that makes up the thing, he takes his gaze away for as long as it takes to look at the other wolves, waiting to see if they will move against the thing.
Min Agalu looks between Midnight and the others, then pads forward. ~You,~ he snarls in its direction. ~You have broken the laws of the Moon and fused with the flesh. What did you hope to accomplish? DId you not know this time would come?~
From the dark mass, a second werewolf begins to form - a perfect copy of the first. The second formation is slower, and the first starts to move oddly. As if the thing struggle to forma nd control two such complex things at once.
~To know.~~
~What is sun. What is 'warm'. What is hunger. What is wind. We grow. We learn. The world is bigger in the sun than in the darkness.~
John sees the thing roil and form, sees that it is *him*, and takes a single step backward. Aleks' words are like an alarm, though, snapping him to the here and now. Teeth bared, he stalks forward as it speaks. ~No~ he snarls in the First Tongue, the single word heavy with rage.
Min Agalu turns to regard the others for a moment, getting a sense of where they stand, and then turns back to the ooze-wolves. ~You knew what it meant to break the law of the Moon, and you did it anyway,~ he replies, his Urshul voice rumbling in the deep. ~There is no redemption for this kind of violation.~ He turns to Aziha Zuu now, interposing himself between him and the ooze. ~As keeper of Luna's laws, there is no sentence fit for you but utter destruction at the fangs of the Uratha. When you feel the raindrops splash against the soil above, and when you hear the hunting howls and the crash of thunder, it is then we shall return to carry out your sentence with the full weight of Urfarah's might behind us. The last thing you ever learn is that there are no exceptions to the laws of the Moon.~
|
