Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[Cynical Cat]

"That sounds like trouble," said Alexander. "Maybe fomori." He adjusted Stormtalon's sheath.

[General Havoc]

If Banes were bad news, Fomori were a completely different scale of bad. Sophie felt a chill run down her spine as she considered the few stories she'd heard of those creatures. Not for the first time tonight, she wondered if anyone around here had a bigger gun.

Like say, a recoil-less rifle...

"I... think I'll keep my equipment for now," she said. All of it was bound to her, so a simple shift to Crinos or some other form was all she would need to make sure it was undamaged by battle or the environment. And you never knew when this sort of thing might come in handy, even out here.

Besides, like any self-respecting Random Interrupt, she felt exposed and incomplete without her technical equipment and a net connection at her fingertips. Even if she never used it, it was worth having there, just in case.

[Cynical Cat]

"Whatever you're comfortable with Sophie," said Alexander.

[LadyTevar]

"Then, if we're ready, let's go," Jake said, pausing only to give Caitlyn another hug before turning and starting down the staircase. As he reached the bottom, he started whistling again, a song that was hard to place, but seemed achingly familiar. His feet moved to the beat of the song, walking it out on the dirt track as he started out of the holler.

Caitlyn, still on the porch, nodded to the Garou. "His gift.. Follow em, and when he stops whistlin', be ready ta fight. Gaia give you strength."

[rhoenix]

Waving to Caitlyn as he followed Jake down the stairs, "Joe-Smith" called "Bye! I see you after fun is over!" back to her before returning his attention to the path.

It seemed almost a sign - when the whistling stops, the fighting starts. Eager for the next part of the story, Sees-Faces-In-Stars felt nothing but happy expectation.

[Charon]

Adahy rubbed at the fetishes hanging from his belt gently, reminding himself that they were there. "Thank you for everything Caitlyn. We won't let you down." Adahy followed after the others, listening as much to his surroundings as he did Jake.

[Devonie]

Adrianne nodded as she clasped the Elder's hand briefly. "Our thanks for the hospitality, the healing, and the information, Caitlyn. You've been an incredible help."

Turning, the girl leapt lightly off the porch, turning Lupus before hitting the ground. She loped off after the others, senses alert for any sign of ... well, anything.

[LadyTevar]

There was something dreamlike to the trip, following Jack as he drummed the rhythm with his feet, whistling the melody all the way. The song was achingly familiar, and yet no one could name it, or even say where they'd heard it before.

Up and down the hillsides he went, his feet seeming to fall just where they needed to go to keep his balance, making the climb look easy. His pace nor his whistling never faltered as he lead the wolves onward. No houses could be seen, no people heard, only the whistle that went on and on.

One final descent, and then Jack started up a dirt road that followed a sluggish creek up into a narrow holler. Houses could be seen dotted along either side of the creek, with broken cars in the grass-less front yards and trash piled up on the porches. The houses had a broken-down look, as if worn down by the weight of years. The few trees around were withered and twisted, as yellowed and listless as the grass in the yards.

Jack's whistling faltered, trailing off to a broken end as the first people were seen. Children first, thin and feral, staring at the strangers from around the corner of houses, or from underneath the houses. Their clothes were mismatched and dirty, their hair unkempt, eyes too old for their years watching the group warily.

Women started appearing, calling the children inside. Like their offspring, the women were weary and unkempt, their movements lackluster. More than one sported visible bruises on their arms or on their faces, and none seemed to work up more than a weary resignation at the sight of the mixed group of humans and wolves.

Jack seemed frozen, unable to go on.

[General Havoc]

Sophie did not need Jack to stop whistling to know that trouble was ahead.

Hell, she was about to start it.

This place stank of wyrm, far worse than anything she had ever imagined before. The depressed houses, the dying trees, the people furtive and bruised and drained of all life and vitality, it was like someone had chilled the very air. She knew how it would look, knew it might provoke an armed response, but she didn't care, as she slid the handgun out of her holster and drew back the hammer.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if she didn't want an armed response here. The women here looked like prostitutes beaten by their pimps, the children like something from a human interest story on the news. If this was the Bledsons' place, this their extended family, then the very sight spoke volumes about who these Bledsons were.

City-bred wolf though she was, Sophie was still a werewolf. Her rage was as savage as anyone else's, if perhaps better suppressed. And right now, she was considering letting it run loose on whatever god-forsaken, abusive, wyrm-tainted hillbilly next crossed their path.

[Charon]

Adahy had already been watching carefully and being extremely cautious long before they got within sight of the town. "Well there goes any remote chance of surprise."

Adahy was mindlessly rubbing the small bone flute that hung from his belt. This place was riddled with the taint of the wyrm, he didn't need to call upon his gifts to realize that much. Adahy took another furtive look at the sun and grimaced, it was getting low now.

"Let's hurry and get this over with." he muttered, nearly under his breath.

[Cynical Cat]

"Oh yeah," said Alexander softly. "We have business here. About one Black Fury pack worth of business." He walked forward. "Hello the house. Where are the men?"

[rhoenix]

For now, "Joe-Smith" was silent, looking at his surroundings, run-down as they were. The people here stank of despair and sadness, and would be acting accordingly.

Nobody else was showing fangs and claws yet, he would wait and see. This...could be an interesting part of their story.

[LadyTevar]

There were a few houses about, but the woman int he door of the closest paused and looked down at Alexander wearily. "Up a' th' Secret Place," she answered sullenly. She held her arm oddly, as if injured. "Them an' th' hairy man wit' em."

As she spoke, the other women vanished inside, as well as many of the children. A few older boys crept about, ignoring the women's calls as they watched the strangers. None older than 10yrs it seemed, and all showed marks that they too hadn't ducked often enough.

[Charon]

Adahy growled low in his voice. "Where is the secret place?"

Adahy's head turned quickly at any signs of movement, trying to keep track of everything, knowing that it was an enemy here.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes," said Alexander, calling upon the Gift Persuasion, "where is the Secret Place?"

[LadyTevar]

the woman hesitated, rubbing her injured arm. Her fear shown briefly as she debated what she could and could not say.

"B'hind th' houses," she finally blurted out. "Up th' trail." She then turned and all but ran inside the house without another word.

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander circled the house and saw the path, into the woods. It was well worn and clearly had been in use for a long time. The Garou started down the path, shifting into Glabro form as soon as he was out of sight of the house and growing nearly seven feet. His hair became a fierce black mane and his musculature even more pronounced. Stormtalon left its sheath and was held in Stormwalker's right hand. "There's no telling what we'll find, but the smart bet is more Wyrm."

[Charon]

Adahy couldn't help be spooked as they went up the ancient pathway. "Anybody else read Lovecraft?" He smiled just a little bit. Unlike Alexander, he remained in his Homid form for now, it was slightly smaller than the Glabro form, slightly stealthier for getting up close. He squeezed the deep blue fuzzie that hung from one end of his belt and felt its boon fill his spirit.

[General Havoc]

The soft sound of Sophie drawing the slide back on her gun was all that could be heard. She too remained in Homid form, but only for the moment. As soon as things got ugly, she would switch back to her natural form, and the veil be damned on these bastards...

"Yeah," she whispered back to Breathes-the-Winds, "I have. But this time we're the monsters out of the darkness, worshiping weird cults, killing anything in our path, and driving people insane with fear."

[rhoenix]

Giving Sophie and Breathes-The-Winds a very peculiar look during their conversation, "Joe-Smith" still said nothing, though the fact that the two were saying weird things about being monsters, talking with weird spirits, and killing all in their path - maybe the air of the place was getting to both of them.

That thought made "Joe-Smith" shiver as he walked with the others, giving both Sophie and Breathes-The-Winds another concerned look. If this air was already affecting two of their still-new pack, then this would be...an interesting evening.

[Charon]

Adahy snorted. "Actually, I was gonna say we're the intrepid team of interlopers that's about to get in over their head."

Adahy glanced back and grinned.

[Cynical Cat]

"Can the chatter," hissed Alexander. "They don't need to know we're coming." He shifted from Glabro to Crinos and stepped off the path, using the trees and underbrush as cover.

[LadyTevar]

The path opened out into a large clearing, where a trash-filled stream emptied into the black, oily-looking water of a deep pond. The grass around it was yellowed and twisted, so were the brush and trees that surrounded the clearing. The lowering sun was obscured by the close mountains and twisted trees, yet there was a feeling that even then the gloom around the pond would not be touched.

Five men stood on the near edge of the pond, two of them trying to hold down the ragged, dirty, large red-headed figure of a man, or perhaps he was a Glabros Garou as the man howled and fought drunkenly. The other two, older-looking men dressed in jeans and hunting camo, held shotguns and carried large knives in belt sheaths. All four of the men had a family resemblance to the children and some of the women in the holler, sandy/dusky brown hair, angular features, and wiry bodies. The older pair's faces had scaly, poxed faces, while one of the younger two bared obvious fangs as he struggled to hold onto the 'hairy man' the Bledson woman had mentioned.
With a final howl, the red-haired man completed the change to Crinos, breaking free of the men, clawing one badly before lurching towards the path, the stench of whiskey all around him. His fur was patchy, matted like he'd not bathed in weeks, mangy from where it had fallen or been pulled out by briers or his own hands. There was no sense or intelligence in his vividly green eyes, only madness and hatred.

[rhoenix]

Here he is, Sees-Faces-In-Stars thought. The red-haired one, so bad even the hurt ones here didn't like him. Then before the air of this place affects me too, I must do as I must.

With that, all the rage that had been building erupted within him like a volcano, fur, powerful muscle, and sinew exploding within him until he too, was in his Crinos form, howling an unsettling, ethereal, reverse-echoing howl straight to the sky. The howl was actually two simple words in Garou, words that had been spoken before traitors and other turncoats to the Garou were hunted down and torn apart:

"Hunted-One Found."

(EDIT: fixed tags)

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander exploded from the underbrush in a blurring rush of black furred violence. Stormtalon gleamed like a chunk of Luna herself in his fist. He was on the Bledson before he could bring the gun up. Silver sang through the air. The man was quick and jumped aside. A thin trail of blood flew from the wound, but he was not downed.