Fomor... Horse?

[hazlogs]

Date: Wednesday, 2 October 2002

Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the north at 6 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.20 and steady, and the relative humidity is 80 percent. The dewpoint is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius.)

Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (25% full).

Location: The Farmhouse

Tobin sits on the porch swing, absently polishing a rapier. Jacket off despite the cool weather, his clothes are ruffled and his hair is messy. A leather belt with the rapier sheath and a main gauche are off to one side, giving further clues that he's been practicing with the blades again.

A pair of forms has already reached Tobin on the porch, having made plans earlier in the day. "Hey Tobin." Calls Alicia as she sweeps her way next to him, a long rapier strapped to her back. Salem is coming along at a slower pace, seemingly enjoying the night in his typical calm, controlled manner.

Salem certainly does seem in decent spirits tonight, the beast within him quiescent under the knife-moon. He offers his own greeting in the form of a curt nod and a brisk, "Evening."

Tobin looks up as Alicia and Salem approach and nods politely at the two of them. "Good evening to you both," he says with a calm sort of formality, though he doesn't get up. He does eye the way Alicia wears her rapier on her back with vague disapproval, but the expression is fleeting and he doesn't comment on it.

There is a distant but distinctive crunch of gravel, as of someone coming slowly up the driveway from the road. That's not so unusual. But those who are paying close attention may notice a familiar four-beat pace that does not fit two legs at all.

Furrowing her brows, Alicia slides the sword off her shoulder and places it down next to her, in her lap. Leaning across it, she rolls her shoulders a bit, then pops her neck. At the sound of others approaching, she turns her gaze towards the dark path.

Salem, catching Tobin's expression, arches a brow slightly and then shrugs. He turns toward the sound of four-footed approach a moment after Alicia does. His brow furrows slightly, but the Walker doesn't seem overly concerned. Just curious.

Whatever it is, it's taking its time. Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch.

Tobin misses Salem's arching eyebrow due to standing up to see what's coming up the lane. Listening to the steps he asks of no one in particular, "Is...that a horse?"

Dane waves absent-mindedly toward the others, while glancing around to try and locate the odd sound.

Head tilting forward, Alicia rises curiously upwards, squinting her eyes into the darkness. "Dunno..."

Salem glances sidelong at the Fang. "I take it that you don't usually get visitors on horseback?" His tone is dry.

Finally, their unscheduled visitor is close enough to see through the trees, though the moon is thin enough to make it difficult. It's certainly horse-sized, and the stride is right, but it's slow. So very slow. If it's a horse, it's walking with its head down, nose almost to the ground.

Dane glances toward the porch. "Odd-looking guest, eh?"

Tobin answers Salem with a soft snort of wry amusement but nothing else. As the...horse, comes into view he leans against the railing of the porch and peers out into the night, trying to get more details. "It looks like a walking version of The End of the Trail," he comments out loud.

"Dane, sniff 'em out and tell me what comes up." Alicia says to her tribe mate, sliding her sword off to the side, placing it on the porch, slowly. "If its weird shit, I'll do my thing."

Salem slips his hands into his coat pockets, brow furrowing in a bemused kind of way.

Dane glances at Alicia with a raised eyebrow, then shrugs and slips into the shadows so he can get closer to the stranger.

Edging herself forward down the steps, Alicia takes the high road, the up front one. She doesn't glance over Dane's way in hopes of not giving him away. "Hey, who's there?" She calls out, brows furrowing.

Yes, it really is a horse. Big old swaybacked palamino, its golden coloring glimmering faintly in the starlight. Its course is not directly down the middle of the driveway, but angling slightly south, so that it's slowly heading towards the wall of trees. It keeps on at the same steady pace, like adream.

Salem leans against the porch railing. The tall Walker remains bemused, certainly, but at the moment remains unconcerned over a single wandering horse.

Tobin doesn't take his eyes off the horse, but sheathes his rapier and also steps slowly down off the porch. He keeps back a bit, letting Alicia do the talking. His brow furrows in thought as he puzzles over why a horse would come out here.

"Anyone else out here 'sides this horse?" Alicia calls out as she makes her way to the horse, carefully. She picks up her step a bit, but not in a way to distract and scare the beast.

It stumbles slightly as it reaches the rough edge of the driveway, and nearly falls. But it keeps moving forward, inexorably.

Dane moves into the trees on the north side of the driveway and out of the light spilling from the house.

"I take it," says Salem dryly, "that it's not Wyrm?" With Alicia moving away, he directs this question toward the Silver Fang.

Tobin closes his eyes and lets his arms hang loosely at his sides, palms facing outwards. He takes several deep breaths before answering Salem. He looks faintly concerned, in a puzzled sort of way, when he opens his eyes. "I can't be sure from here. There's...something that feels like Wyrm but...I have to get closer." So saying, he starts striding towards the animal purposefully.

Furrowing her brows, Alicia gains a bit of mass as she shifts herself into the Glabro, using the darkness and her baggy clothes as suitable ways of concealing the movement. "Wyrm?"

Salem lifts an eyebrow. "Hmn," he says and follows after the Fang Theurge, hands coming out of his pockets.

Even the firm stride of the Fang approaching the animal doesn't cause an ear to twitch. In fact, appart from the bobbing head and slogging legs, the animal seems almost asleep. It stumbles again, catching a hock in a bush off the side of the road, then draws to a halt as it goes nose first into a tree. There's a slight pause, a half-step back, the animal turns, and starts trying to wedge itself into the woods.

Dane moves out of the woods, into the driveway behind the horse.

From afar, SekhGM notes its bearing: East-southeast. Not really directly at the caern, but certainly it will wind up on the bawn, if unchecked.

Tobin stops when he gets even with Alicia. He's scowling faintly, and occassionally looking himself at the surrounding trees. "I sense the Enemy here, very faintly," he says in a tone pitched to carry to Dane and Salem. "I the End of the Trail here may have some on him."

"Got blood in the air." Alicia says in a gravely voice, moving forward. "Something is on the horse, some kinda marking on its rear end. Someone get in front of him so he can't go further. If the Wyrm is out 'ere, an that thing is heading inside, Ah'm getting Agatha flash backs."

The horse is not skilled in the ways of the forest. It is quite easy for the Garou to circle around the oblivious farm animal, or chase it as they choose. It displays a singlemindedness of purpose that even the most stubborn Red Talon would envy. Plod. Plod. Plod. If it hits a barrier, it simply adjusts its angle until it can pass by.

Salem mutters something in Serbian under his breath. He moves over toward Alicia, coming alongside his packmate; there's a certain distain in the way he remains in human form.

Dane hmms as he moves closer to the horse while keeping a close eye on its hind feet. Getting kicked is not on his agenda this evening.

Tobin takes a few steps closer to the horse, hoping he'll be the least likely of those Garou present to startle the animal, and peers at the mark on its flank. "It's a number. Five...no, six." He blinks in confusion. "Why would someone carve the number six onto a horse?"

"Dunno, but the thing is obviously out of its mind." Alicia says as she squints her eyes to get a good look at the horse's marking, then starts to move along at its side, fingers flexing at her sides.

"Carve?" Salem absently massages the knuckles of one hand. "Not a brand?"

Dane shakes his head. "Man, that sounds like something out of a movie. You ever see Fallen?" He moves up to the side of the horse opposite Tobin and Alicia.

".. Fuck.. 6...6....6..." Alicia murmurs slightly. "Satan horse guys.. I believe. I see a pair of 6's on there." Wrinkling her nose, she glances sidelong to Salem. 'I'm all for putting it out of its misery, snap its neck or something, then hope to Gaia spiders don't crawl outta it."

Tobin takes yet another step closer and his eyes narrow as he's able to make out more detail. "This is some kind of sick joke," he says with derision. "Who carves 666 into a horse and sends it on its way? I mean, nobody really uses that number unless they're wannabe devil worshippers. And yes, Salem, carved."

Salem snorts. "Then forgive me for being simple-minded," he says, tone heavily sardonic now, "but is there a reason anyone can think of _not_ to kill it?"

Dane shakes his head. "Only the hassles of carrying it out of here after its dead."

With a sudden snort, the horse's head suddenly jerks up, and its eyes roll whitely. Tobin gets body slammed sideways as the creature abruptly pivots, dancing on its hooves.

"Fuck it. Bring it down." Alicia says as she shifts her way into the Crinos form, becoming a blur as she leaps upon the horse to hopefully snag it about the neck and jerk it back and twist.

Tobin scowls further. "Well, the fact that it can probably be healed and cleansed and--HUFF" the Fang gets interrupted as his breath is knocked out of his lungs as he's knocked to the ground.

Dane shifts up into crinos and rumbles under his breath as he dives for the thing's legs in an attempt to take out its footing so Alicia's move can take it down for sure.

Salem takes the time to grumble something irritable about 'Gaia's warriors fighting a _horse_' underbreath and stretches up into the war form. Even now, the ex-Ahroun's manner toward the situation is almost careless. With two Crinos already on the horse, he holds back, moving to cut it off if somehow the animal should break free and try to run.

The animal is suddenly a mass of panicking horse, and in one stride has bolted into a gallop just as Alicia's leaping for it. So she misses her target and instead lands sprawled on top of it, with every chance of bouncing off in a few seconds. Dane's leap is clumsy but effective. It trips and falls sideways, legs flailing, and there's a crack of bone.

As the horse trips, Guards-The-Flame tries to sink her claws into the beast and hold onto for dear life, dragging them down across its back. She hopes to plant a forepaw into the earth to steady herself, then reach for its neck once again.

Tobin is quickly back up on his feet and looking supremely annoyed. He sighs in frustration as Alicia and Dane set about killing the poor horse. He stays in his birth form, but occassionally listens to his instincts and diverts some of his attention to watching the surrounding woods.

Gaia-Will-Judge rolls out of Guards-the-Flame's way and stands where he can move quickly if the horse starts sprouting tentacles or something.

Salem jogs quickly around to the horse's front. ~Kill it quick,~ the Walker growls at the two Gaians. ~Before the thing starts screaming.~

The horse screams as Alicia's claws bite deep, and blood and foam spatter over Gaia's warriors as the beast thrashes. It's over in a few frenzied seconds, during which Dane narrowly avoids a kick that would at least have broken his jaw. Alicia finally manages to get her arms around the heaving neck and twists hard. A final grating crunch of bone silences the animal, its eyes roll back, and the body goes limp. A leg kicks once and goes still.

Standing upwards again, Guards-Flame drops the body to the ground and steps off the thing. ~Tried, wasn't quick 'nuff.~ She says in that guttural tongue. Ears flicker forward some, head canting. ~Tobin, anything out there?~

Gaia-Will-Judge rumbles under his breath and snorts as he tries to clear the scent of blood so he can smell other things.

Salem gives the equine corpse a dour look, one golden eye glittering, then rises to his full height and sniffs the air. His ears perk, listening.

Other than the usual rustlings and whisperings of a woods in autumn, all is still and quiet, and the loudest sound you hear is the heavy breathing of those who were grappling with the horse a moment before.

Tobin closes his eyes once more and again takes a few deep breaths before answering. He's scowling even more fiercely when he opens his eyes. "Nothing. The taint is gone." He looks at the other Garou with him as if this is somehow a very important detail with conclusions to be drawn from it.

Salem peers down at the Theurge with some suspicion, then twists back down to his birth form, a dubious frown on his scarred face. "Are you certain of that?"

~You think something was out there, watching us? Sending this poor horse as a sign?~ Alicia rumbles as she kneels down next to the horse, sniffing at it, expecting its prone body now that its dead.

"I think there was a bane on it, controlling it, and now that the horse is dead the bane is gone," says the Theurge quietly. "If the moon wasn't so thin I'd cross over now and try to talk to the horse's spirit before it left, and see if I could learn anything from it."

Gaia-Will-Judge rumbles thoughtfully and looks toward the caern. ~How strong are the wards between here and there?~

Salem eyes the carcass doubtfully, nose wrinkled. "But... a horse? Why a horse? If a bane's going to control an animal to try to get into the caern, why not pick something more mobile? Or at least harder to kill?" He folds his arms across his chest, looking again at the Theurge.

"Maybe it was piggy backing the thing so that it can get far enough so that when we killed it, it was released?" Alicia says after making her way to the Glabro again, frowning. "Fuck, I hope I didn't just screw that up."

Gaia-Will-Judge's ears fold back as he considers that possibility.

Tobin gestures at the horse irritably. "This wasn't an attempt to get into the caern, it was a message. The bane was the messenger, making sure the message got to us. The horse had the misfortune of being the parchment." He crosses his arms over his chest, looking decidedly unhappy.

Salem starts to say something more -- and, judging by the look on his face, it's something prickly -- and then closes his mouth. The Walker shakes his head sharply and looks back at the carcass. "It's not going to dispose of itself."

"Who's hungry?" Alicia says with a frown on her face, then lumbers towards the body, motioning Dane over to her. "Alright, what is the best way to dispose of a horse? Burn it? Lug it out into the middle of no where by the highway? Chop it into bits and feed the Gnawers for a week?"

Gaia-Will-Judge nods and crouches to hoist the body. ~If it's not tainted, it should be used for food. Wolves, or Gnawers?~

"The wolves are rather closer," points out the Glass Walker, with dour practicality.

Tobin rubs his eyes. "We should cleanse it anyway, even though the taint is gone. We can skin it and tan the hide to use ourselves. The meat and bones can go to the wolves in the park." He kneels down by the horse and points to its feet. "Shoes. Someone owned this horse and is going to be looking for it. Whatever we do with it, we need to make sure no trace of it is found, cover the tracks it made leading here and all that."

"I can preform a cleansing on it first -before- we stuff it down anyone's throat." Alicia points out as she grips the beast by the throat, hefting it up with her glabro muscles, feeling them strain against her flesh. Then, with an 'uff', she shifts herself back into the Crinos for an easier time.

Gaia-Will-Judge nods. ~You want to cleanse it here or elsewhere?~

~I think we should drag it out a bit farther before we do any of that. We'd have to howl to scare away the taint as it is.~ Guards-Flame interjects.

Gaia-Will-Judge nods and hoists his end of the carcass. ~Lead on.~

"Hm." Salem rubs at his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder which of our neighbors is missing and horse... and if they know anything about carving numbers into livestock."

Tobin steps along after Alicia and Dane, but answers Salem. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard for some /Galliard/ to find out who around here is missing a horse. And from there, perhaps some Ragabash could sneak about and find out about the stable hands who work there..." He leaves the implications of that hanging in the air. He still sounds irritable.

Gaia-Will-Judge plays tote and lift. Leaves the discussion for those with empty hands.

~Good idea, I'll snag Three-Blades and do such a thing.~ Guards-Flame says in a growl as she helps Dane carry the horse, making her way through the woods, but away from the Caern, urging her tribal brother the same. Get it far and deep for the wolves, but well enough away in case more surprises pop up.

Salem nods to the Fang. In contrast to Tobin's irritation, the usually prickly Walker seems almost calm again.

"Well, I think you all can handle this without my supervision," Tobin says with somewhat bitter sarcasm. "I need to consult with someone and I need to do it in the Umbra. I'll be in the Caern," he says, and then starts striding that way, vectoring away from the grouping and starting to shift through the forms to lupus.