"At last. The thieves have arrived."

[hazlogs]

It is currently Sat Oct 22 2016. Night.

Currently the moon is in the waning Half (Philodox) Moon phase (58% full).

The night was cold and damp and unpleasant in the Realm, and it's no better in the Umbra, particularly the closer the war party gets to Queen's Tower. The rooftop chosen is close enough to get a good view of the tower itself, while being far enough that it's unlikely, at least for the moment, that any guards on the roof will spot them. That also makes it far enough that the journey across open space to their chosen entry point is a terrifying gap with a very long drop. While they're too low, and far, to make out anyone on the roof of Queen's Tower itself, the banes themselves are visible as dark, wispy clouds. There are only a handful, and the only one that draws immediate attention is a large amorphous floating blob hovering directly over and around the roof itself. It looks like an oil slick, but one that seems to devour light rather than reflect it, and occasionally disturbingly human-looking hands and insectine legs seem to sprout from it at random, only to be reabsorbed. This...thing doesn't seem to notice the Garou either, fortunately.

The sept's mage ally, Brings-the-Pack, has a smallish jaggling Chimera spirit in tow. It stays nearish the robed and hooded figure, yet also keeps a respectful distance, giving off the impression of being some kind of spiritual familiar. Aside from the occasional voice-masked greetings, he seems focused more on the task at hand--and gets to that task promptly. He places five pennies in a perimeter around the roof. All the while, fluid, gentle, nuanced gestures are made with his gloved hands. After about 10 minutes of ritual work, the warper steps back. "I believe you were going first, Watcher?" he says. "If you would step inside the pentagram, please?"

Leading the war party is Thane. Minus Brom, the rest of his pack is absent - the lot keeping watch over the bawn along with numerous other members of the sept. The Shadow Lord is more serious even than normal. As they gather, the homid-formed Ahroun states, "You've received the talens from the Master of Rites. Should I fall in battle, as seniormost warrior Reggie will take over with Scar as his second. The Children of Gaia and other healers will remain here to watch over Brings-the-Pack and attend to the wounded and fallen should anyone need brought out. The Coyote pack will lead us in to provide distractions to anyone who might be inside. Quarters will be small, so do mind your Rage and reach."

As he's spoken to, the hispo-formed Song-of-Ashes steps forward into the pentagram drawn by the mage. In his mouth is held an innocuous-looking black wooden box. As he moves, it's clear that there's no sound coming from him - not the click of claws nor rustle of fur.

Standing closely next to Felix, Justin is in his glabro form, rocking back and forth on his heels. As his packmate steps forward into the pentagram, he takes in a deep breath, then gives him an encouraging nod of his head. His hand closes about the handle of the dagger in his grasp, then gives a look to his best friend at his side. "Hey." He says in a soft voice to Felix, leaning in to whisper against his ear.

Bridge Builder shifts his weight from side to side, an ear twitching backward as he waits near his pack alpha's side.

Brings-the-Pack makes much broader, stronger hand gestures. Watcher quickly becomes invisible to the naked eye. Seconds later, the mage makes a lift-and-push gesture, keeping his arms out and pushing upwards and towards the top of the Tower. One might imagine Watcher has left the roof, although he's invisible (or the mage accidentally--or intentionally--disintegrated him), so it's hard to say. (His scent, however, seems to be dissipating.) The warper seems very focused on whatever he's doing, and, assuming Watcher is now somewhere in the air between this rooftop and the distant Tower's upper floors, disturbing the mage's work could quite probably result in Watcher becoming a messy splatter on the concrete and steel city below.

Scar, in hispo, sits alertly near Bridge Builder and Slug; he huffs acknowledgement at Thane's instructions.

Avenges-the-Past eyes the pentagram and the mage with open curiosity. She's heard of him, of course, but hearing and seeing are entirely different things. Besides, it makes a nice distraction from being nervous about the upcoming fight. For the time being, she stays silent, ready to follow the lead of the more senior Garou present.

Finds-His-Way is wearing his war skin, a sword hilt peeking up above his shoulder and a broad shield strapped to the opposite arm. He keeps a bottle clenched in his shield arm, tucked protectively amongst the black fur on his chest. He waits, looking unhappy, as always.

Felix , currently in Glabro as well, gives Watcher a thumbs up as his packmate enters the pentagram, and watches the mage work. Justin's whisper to him gets a grin, and a small nod before he murmurs something back.

Near the back of the group, not clearly associating with anyone in particular, Squirrel stands in his crinos form simply watching and waiting. He seems unusually calm.

Snakepatcher clenches a pair of mountain goat horn-shaped stones in his crinos fists as he tensely watches the pentagon form.

Above and in front of them, nothing about the tower changes, at least not yet. The hovering oily bane continues to contort lazily, at times swirling higher, then lower, at other times seemingly more to one side of the roof than the other. The other wispy banes hover near it, but not too near, and move out of its way as it goes.

There's the distant image of one of the windows shattering but no sound. After a moment, something small and dark comes out the window and falls to the ground in splintered pieces.

After several tense minutes, the sharp sighted might spot one of the tinted windows shattering inward in absolute silence, and a few seconds later a small, object appears to be tossed out. It falls, and falls, disappearing into the dark gloom. There's no sound of impact.

Brings-the-Pack lowers his arms and turns his shadow-obscured face towards the garou gathered on the rooftop. "He's in and doesn't appear to have been detected." Good news! "Next group, into the pentagram, please."

Samantha is determined to follow orders this time but when the call for the next group into the pentagram, she'll try to step forward and join them. Her eyes looking around at those much more experienced Garou.

Avenges-the-Past will approach the pentagram as part of whichever group she's assigned to, be that this one or one of the next.

Giving a nod of his head, Justin gives a look to Felix and squeezes his dagger again. Rising up into the crinos, the alpha of the coyote pack lurches forward to the pentagram. ~Good luck everyone.~

Finds-His-Way steps up onto the not-at-all spooky circle, raising his free paw up to rest on the hilt of his sword. Looking decidedly less-Gnawer than usual, he rumbles something or another that sounds suspciously like "O'Brien", and waits.

Felix glances to Justin abut the same time and shifts up as well, moving into the pentagram along with him. ~Let's kick us some Wyrm ass,~ he declares, with a sharply toothy grin, and looks toward the mage, then toward the building they're headed to.

Scar gives Finds a quizzical look at the remark.

Pack> Scar says "Was that... was that a /Star Trek/ reference?"

Thane patiently waits for the first team to go in - the Coyote pack, to follow their packmate. After he'll lead the remainder across as broken up per the mage's needs.

Pack> Bridge Builder radiates curiosity, but doesn't ask anything specific.

Pack> Finds-His-Way says "Thinking about that one time I saw one where someone got stuck halfway through a teleport-thing."

Brings-the-Pack waits for the remainder of the Coyote pack to enter the penny pentagram. He moves slower this time, more deliberately, with the larger numbers. The pack doesn't turn invisible quickly like the lone Uktena had before. This time, the garou fade from the visible spectrum much more gradually. There's a substantially longer pause that passes before the mage does the raise-and-push gesture, and that's done more slowly than before. The scents of the invisible garou likewise disappear as the mage becomes focused on not letting his magickal workings become disrupted. A few minutes tick by before the mage lowers his arms, turns to face the remaining garou, and annnounces, "They're across. All aboard who's going aboard." As the remaining attacking garou enter the pentagram, the warper works his magick again. The invisibility turns out being invisibility instead of disintegration or slipping off into a different plane of existence. The flight, however, is god-awful. It's not flying at all, as the garou have no control over anything as they're lofted over the city. And it's stomach-churningly disorienting as it seems to work by gravity itself changing direction--effectively feeling like you're falling upwards and at a 30 degree angle of incline towards the top of the Tower. Most people's brains and guts rebel at the sensation/experience. Fortunately, it's not a violent, jerky journey.

Squirrel gives the mage a look, the lupine equivalent of a raised eyebrow, before he takes his place, and he shifts his grip on the spear. ~See you on the other side,~ he offers, though he doesn't wait to find out whether the words are understood.

The closer the Garou get to the building, the worse it seems to look. Rather than a gleaming edifice of steel and glass, the steel seems pitted and rusty, the glass dully and scratched. Despite being fully solid, the Umbral representation of Queen's Tower seems more like a looming skeleton than anything else, and anyone who looks up or down gets a strange impression that it's not fully straight but faintly twisted, an impression that thankfully passes quickly. They find themselves inside a large, mostly empty room. There's the wispy impression of office furniture here and there, but nothing solid, nothing that can't have a hand or claw waved through it like so much mist. There's only one exit from this room, a single closed, wooden door. It's oppressively quiet, and every last little noise the Garou make as they enter seems amplified to ridiculous heights because of that.

Mouse-Trap lands heavily on the ground, then pushes himself upwards as he covers his muzzle with a paw. He gives a quirk 'hurking' noise under his breath, then swallows back whatever may have rose up. He takes a second to gather himself, then starts to creep towards the door. He nudges his Uktena packmate, giving him a nod, and a motion with his fingers to the door.

Scar's hackles are all a-bristle from the ride over, and the destination doesn't doesn't do anything to smooth his fur or un-bare his fangs. He checks on his packmates.

Finds-His-Way tebows as soon as he hits the other side of things- if Tebow had a shield. He leans into it and butts his head on the backside, waiting for the room to stop doing that thing where it spins counter-clockwise, the way rooms ought not to.

Bridge Builder gives a rough shake, relieved once his paws are on what passes for a solid surface once again. He moves up beside Scar, keeping an eye on the philodox for his next move.

Song-of-Ashes will be sitting in the impressive of an office room when the other Garou arrive, waiting for the arrival of his septmates. A glance is passed to Mouse-Trap and the wolfborn gives a pointed flick of his ears and twitch of his nose and swings his head towards the door.

Samantha lands a little unsteadily and quickly looks back behind her at the way they came before moving to the side just in case another coming doesn't land too smoothly. A moment later, she's moving up to Crinos.

One of the last across, Squirrel's muzzle is wrinkled in distaste, and there's a decidedly unsettled look to his posture.

Thane wedges himself through the window and, like Samantha, finds himself an opening and only then takes Crinos. The Lord gives himself a shake and bares his teeth in distaste before he looks to the coyotes. His growl is low and muffles, ~Well?~

Avenges-the-Past lets out a little yelp as she 'falls' in the wrong direction. The flight is disorienting to her brain, definitely, but after a short distance and a bit of time time to (somewhat) adjust, it being fascinating seems to hold more sway than any fear or discomfort. Of course, that's about the time the flight _ends_, and that brings it all back. No more distractions now. She keeps to all fours for better balance and movement speed, otherwise steeling herself for what's to come.

Mouse-Trap gives a nod of his head and turns his attention back to the others. He rumbles out in a soft breath, ~Song of Ashes can smell blood and sweat. He can hear scratching and footsteps upon metal on the other side. Dripping water.~ His ears flatten back against his skull. ~Everytime we hear dripping water, we always find that fucking ooze. Just be careful.~ He says as he trudges to the door. Reaching out with his paw, he grasps the handle, while his other holds the daggers. ~Pranksters out first. Fury and Wendigo, you're with us. Five strong. We do not break up. We move as pack. Got it?~

Chugs-Mystery-Brew crouches as he lands, one hand on the wall to get his balance sorted out again; after a second or so, there's a tiny, near-silent... well, laugh, really, and he straightens up, with a glance back the way they came, and then toward the door. He moves to join his pack.

Wind-In-Her-Words nods her head as orders are given and she moves a little closer to the one who gave them. She shifts from foot to foot as nerves try to get to her, but at least she's not trying to kamikaze through the door yet.

~No exploring.~ Consumes-Shadows says, still keeping his voice low. ~We can't spare side skirmishes. Move for the upper floors. The ooze may be present, so watch where you step.~ He gestures for the lead group to go ahead, though puts himself right at their rear to follow up and lead the remainder.

Giving a nod to the Alpha, Mouse-Trap rumbles, ~Rock and Roll~ He tugs the door open, then steps through first as he swings his gaze left to right as he strafes, then heads down the hall if not contested for the stairwells.

Avenges-the-Past dips her head in acknowledgement of Mouse-Trap's orders, falling in alongside Wind. Her ears are perked, her head raising every so often to better catch any scents that might be useful. ~Elder sisters, guide my claws,~ she rumbles in what would, in a different form, be a whisper.

The door opens with a creak of hinges that seems like a siren in the ears of already on-edge Garou. If the deterioration on the outside was noticeable, the inside feels like an entirely different building. There's no carpeting, only bare metal plates that lie unevenly, stark bare and waterstained walls, and rows of closed wooden doors that likely lead to other offices. As Justin steps out, a chorus of hoarse squeaks break from near his feet, and what look like rat...corpses go running for holes in the walls and other cover. No other signs of life can be spotted, nor can the stairwells or elevators...yet.

Finds-His-Way holds the bottle against the side of his head and squeezes it until it pops, the breaking of the glass muted by his paw. The Gnawer gets his goo on; black, and slimey as an eel by the time he rises to his feet. He draws his long, thin sword from the sheath on his back and makes to follow along, quiet as a rat.

Song-of-Ashes peels back his lips and jerks his head towards one of the zombrats like he was about to reflexively snap at it but reins in the impulse just in time. His fur is on end and he steps with the impression of disgust at the surface.

Consumes-Shadows looks no less displeased by their surroundings but composed. The Alpha-Warder's head is on a swivel, watching their front and rear and the doors flanking them for any signs of danger.

Bridge Builder gives another glance to Salem as he follows after the ragabash member of their pack. Tension keeps his hackles up, and his ears seem constantly in motion, straining to pick up what they can from beyond the space he inhabits.

Wind-In-Her-Words waits for the door to be open a second or two, her eyes peering out before she glances towards the others a brief moment. If no objection from them, she starts forward, crouched and readied through the door.

Snakepatcher, at the back with Thane, listens carefully for anyone - or anything - that might be approaching them. Or fleeing. There. Squeaking. He grimaces, his lips pulling into a silent snarl.

Mouse-Trap continues to lead the troop down the hallway, perking his ears now and then as he goes. He gives a glance to the other doors as he goes, giving his Uktena a nudge here and there as if seeking confirmation from a few things. He takes in a deep and steadying breath to try and stay calm.

Squirrel, like the Gnawer, takes this opportunity to activate the slime talen.

Scar pads along just behind Bridge Builder. His ears flatten briefly at the sight of the scurring rat-zombies but is not otherwise distracted by them.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew follows Mouse-Trap, toying absently with the tiny bottle in his claws as he watches the rats scurry away. The others actually using it seems to remind him, or suggest to him, that now might be a good time to prepare with that, so he activates his as well, his fur taking on a slick, greasy sheen.

As quickly as the zombrats started their ruckus, it seems to end in a few seconds of scratchy chitters and clawing as they find shelter. The smell is clear to all of them now--old blood and rotten meat, damp and rust. Now and then there's the sound of settling old metal. None of the rooms they pass seem to be occupied, however, if Watcher's ears and nose are to be believed.

Around a jagged corner they find what they're looking for...an empty elevator shaft with no doors, so that they can see the steel cables that the car is meant to be attached to, even if the car seems to be absent. Next to the exposed shaft is what apparently passes for the umbral stairwell--a metal skeletal structure that looks like it's going to fall apart at the slightest weight. Right in front of this is a puddle of dingey looking...water? Maybe? It seems to be dripping down from a cracked and bent ceiling tile.

Wind-In-Her-Words moves towards that elevator at a slow, measured speed. Her claws flexing at her side as she goes. Her eyes glance towards that puddle and she will seek to keep on the other side of the hall from it as she goes.

Mouse-Trap pauses before the staircase, then gives a glance upwards. His ears perk and he turns and takes a peek up, then down in the elevator shaft as well. ~Windy, you go up first. Go invisible. No Leeroy Jenkins. I will be right behind you, promise. If you see something, tap twice on the rail. If clear, tap three times. Got it?~

Song-of-Ashes makes no indication there's anything to be concerned of, though he's keeping an obvious look (and nose) out. He does eye the puddle and lowers his nose near it but doesn't touch.

Consumes-Shadows watches Mouse-Trap call the forward orders, the Adren's expressions bland. ~Let us know if it seems safe to pass.~

Wind-In-Her-Words nods her head to Mouse-trap and then more to try and go up the stairs. Despite her nerves and caution, she tries not to go too slow up the way, her form blurring as she begins.

As soon as Wind-In-Her-Words put a foot on the first stair, it creaks and bends downward under the pressure. The entire frame shakes, but for that first step it holds.

~Hey, shift down into something lighter maybe? Glabro?~ Mouse Trap says as he takes a few steps forward, staring upwards. ~This may not be a safe route, especially for all of us. Thane?~

Wind-In-Her-Words grimaces at the sound beneath her feet when she starts on the stairs. Her hands reach out towards the walls but stop short of touching them. Deep breath as she hears the words from behind and quickly will seek out Glabro form before taking another step.

Avenges-the-Past suggets to Mouse Trap and Wind, ~Lupus would be lighter. And more agile, if she comes across anything.~

Squirrel shifts his weight where he stands at the back and taps the butt of the spear against the floor. ~Elevator shaft more stable?~

~Wind-In-Her-Words is right, Lupus will be lighter.~ Consumes-Shadows remarks. ~Keep trying, though we will need a second route.~ He approaches the elevator shaft to look inside both down and up and judge the distance of the cable.

~Would be a good time for Fly Feet,~ grumbles the Ragabash without it. He licks his teeth and waits, shifting his stance from one foot to the other.

The step holds, although it too buckles even under this far lighter weight. The elevator shaft is extremely dark, but looking up and down shows at least a little moonlight spilling in from both the floor above and the one below. The cables seem thick and strong, although they're also a little wet to the touch. It's unclear where the condensation is coming from.

Samantha glances back behind herself once more. Bunch of back seat scouts. She makes a face before looking back forward and this time, will seek to shift to Lupus even as she takes another step or two.

Wind-in-Her-Words makes it to the fourth step before her front paw goes right through the brittle metal of the third. The broken step clatters down the entire flight of stairs below her. CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

Consumes-Shadows jerks his head towards the stairwell with a grimace at the noise. ~That isn't going to work, get back here. We climb or go through the ceiling.~ And to test the theory, he gets a solid grip on the cable and gives it an experimental tug to test the strength.

Scar twitches visibly at the sudden cacophony and growls something curt and vulgar in Mother's Tongue.

Tense as he is, Bridge Builder jerks backward a few inches at the sudden noise.

Strong enough to carry a crinos, it seems, as the cable doesn't really budge from Thane's tug. The elevator cars may be non-present, but apparently what's meant to hold them is up to the task.

Wind-In-Her-Words winces at the sound caused by her paw through the step and will quickly, but carefully, back track her way back to the others.

Finds-His-Way sucks in a breath through his teeth, a whistling, seething sound. If it weren't for all the slime on the wolf, there's a good chance his hackles would be up. He turns to watch the group's flank, peering over the top of his shield.

Mouse-Trap twitches his ears a bit and says, ~I don't know if those covered in slime can climb up the cables.~ He says as he gives a tilt of his head to Chugs, then rumbles, ~Jinx.~

Chugs-Mystery-Brew winces at the sound, and glances at the elevator at Mouse-Trap's comment. ~Well, I think it's only supposed to get =real= slimy when somethin' tries attackin' us,~ he says quietly, ~But I guess, say somethin' saw us climbin' up an' did...~

Song-of-Ashes flinches at the extra-loud noise and utters a faint, muffled whine as he lays back his ears. After a moment they're back up though, no doubt listening for unpleasant company.

~The cable should hold.~ Consumes-Shadows says as he looks back towards the grouping. ~I was thinking the same issue with the slime.~ And so he straightens up as tall as he can and goes to hook claws in the ceiling to pull free one of the tiles as carefully as he can manage.

It's easily done, though not without a sound of tearing, and a thin trickle of water that splashes onto both Thane and the floor. It's dingy, and cold, but seems mostly unremarkable. There are pipes and wires, some more solid than others, and crossbeams, and above that, what looks like the bottom of the bare metal tiles they've been walking on.

Wind-In-Her-Words pauses at the base of the stairs to look at the activities of the others. After a moment, she looks back up the stairs. Could be that's just a diversion, a few bad steps on each one to deter people from the easiest route.

Scar's impatience is poorly hidden in his current form; his ears flick like he's being beset by swarming gnats. But he holds his tongue and does not break ranks.

~Whichever way we go,~ Squirrel rumbles softly, ~We should go. Standing here, we're targets in a shooting gallery.~

~We can get through here.~ Consumes-Shadows says as he looks up through the gap between floors. ~And no one is going to fall to their deaths.~ And that said, the Alpha leads the way and hauls himself up into the ceiling by virtue of the strongest supports he can spot.

Avenges-the-Past moves over to pick up a piece of the broken ceiling tile, considering. ~However we move, we might want to drop some more things down through the opening in the stairs. If we're going to draw attention, we might as well draw it somewhere _away_ from us first, to send our enemies in the wrong direction.~

Up Consumes-Shadows goes. It's not quiet, though the falling stair may have been louder. He climbs and tears his way through with some difficulty--crinos are hardly small--but he's clearly managing it.

To (Finds-His-Way, Scar, Bridge Builder, Sheogorath), Brings-the-Pack pages: I've got to power-idle for about 1.5 hours. If shit hits the fan, Nick shields Sagacity the most. And makes that shielding (crackling energy shields, Force pushing away foes, etc.) obvious.

Wind-In-Her-Words suppresses a small growl before she shifts back up to crinos once again. No way she would make it through the ceiling in Lupus. She'll wait for those before her to go before trying to join them.

~Footsteps!~ Warns Songs-of-Ashes about this time, urgent but trying to not make a ruckus. ~Above, three, maybe more. Not here yet but coming.~

Unfortunately, in his urgency Watcher forgot the cardinal rule of the rite he was under--the entire hall explodes with the sound of breaking glass, scratching claws, and his own footsteps doubling back on themselves. Oops.

Nolan cringes at the sudden cacophany and backs away from the others.

Finds-His-Way shoves his sword into the scabbard and carefully worms his way free of the shield's bracer rig. He holds the shield in his teeth as he worms his way up with the rest, moving as fast as he can to get clear and get ready for whatever might lay beyond.

~Fuck.~ Mouse Trap grabs the hole and hikes himself upwards after the Shadow Lord as he uses his upper body and core to haul himself through. ~No milkshake for you tonight.~ He scolds the Uktena as he wiggles through the hole.

Bridge Builder's lips curl away from his teeth at the noise, and he looks to his packmates, setting himself ready for anything that may come in response.

Wind-In-Her-Words cringes at the sounds. They wanted a distraction, right? Well, that would have been perfect to use to scramble up the rickety stairs or something. Instead, let's all hide in the ceiling!

Song-of-Ashes flinches loudly and drops belly to the ground with his tail crammed under him, the Uktena's entire posture screaming 'mybad!'.

There's a snarl from above at the noise. ~Move, now!~ Consumes-Shadows calls down to the Garou as he hauls himself up onto the second floor. His claws spread and drag on the metal floor, honing their edges into readiness.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew removes a second tile quietly if necessary for more room, to start climbing up as well, and the burst of noise clearly startles him as he's hefting and wriggling his way up and through.

So much for any ideas of tossing things down the stairwell as a distraction. Avenges-the-Past moves for the hole in the ceiling to make the climb up, and once complete, will offer what assistance she can to those coming after her.

Rules-Without-Fear looks frustratingly angry as he waits his turn, then muscles his way up through the hole, pulling his dagger free as he feels the pain spirit rumble hungrily within.

Bridge Builder, following on Scar's heels, shifts to crinos to make the climb.

Snakepatcher flinches at the racket. He gestures his tribemate towards the ceiling with hasty gestures, then reaches for him to shove him up through the cracked ceiling. No Uktena left behind!

Wind-In-Her-Words can think of a joke about how many Garou can you fit in a hole in the ceiling, though she doesn't think anyone here is in a laughing manner. She scurry up with the rest as best she can, looks of apologies if her claws snag anyone.

The first few up get a glimpse of metal floors, metal walls, metal plated ceilings, and a hallway that seems to twist in such a manner that the floor starts curling up what should be the wall in one direction. The stench of rot hits their nostrils heavily enough that it's about all that can be made out in the moment. No need for heightened senses--they can all hear running footsteps now, and then, before it seems as though those footsteps are even close enough, a white-skinned humanoid shape flings itself into Thane almost before it fully appears, tearing at his thick hide with fingers that shouldn't be able to rip it, but can, seeking for purchase. Two more appear half an instant later--one smashes into Finds-His-Way's shield and nearly wrenches it from him in the same movement, the other stabs at Kavi with a silvery gleaming knife.

Song-of-Ashes gets on his feet and scrambles for Snakepatcher and lets himself be sent up through the hole along with everyone else, banishing his gift as he goes. No sooner is he up than there's a sudden outbreak of violence. He's stuck spending his time trying to get out of the hole and out of the way, though, so others can come through.

Meanwhile, in the violence, Consumes-Shadows is in motion. His claws come up to try and grab onto the wraith's arms and restrain it's efforts and movements while his jaws snap for the thing's head.

Avenges-the-Past circles around to flank the one that's attacking Thane, aiming a claw strike across its back in the hopes that she'll at least be a distraction that helps give the Ahroun a better opening to exploit.

Wind-In-Her-Words keeps herself to the side as the violence breaks out. She watches for any flankers that try to come to her side of the group, claws at the ready!

Scar moves like a well-trained attack dog, lunging jaws-first at the silver-wielding arm threatening Kavi.

Once he makes his way to his feet, Mouse Trap moves in to support the Alpha as he looks to ram himself from the side into the creature, calling upon his gift of falling touch to give the Shadow Lord the upper-paw.

Bridge Builder snarls as pain lances through his side. He twists, in an attempt to avoid the next strike, and even as Scar moves for the arm, the galliard's teeth snap toward the throat.

With Fang Dagger in hand, Rules Without Fear moves forward within hummingbird's speed, looking to strike with his weapon into the creature near Slug, snarling out in a rage filled growl.

Finds-His-Way clenches his fist and leans in, bracing his feet, claws digging furrows on the floor. His ears go back and he bites back a snarl, keeping his shield between himself and his foe. He winds up and strikes with his right hand, lashing around the edge of his shield at the face of his attacker.

The last up through the hole, Squirrel seems to struggle with the climb, and fixes his glare on the nearest approaching wraith.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew moves aside and aims a sharp slash at the closest of the wraiths, the one going for Finds-His-Way.

Snakepatcher tilts his head upwards at the combat and garoujam, and hangs back, waiting for space to be cleared. He eyes the space of the stairway and the empty elevator shaft.

Thane pins the wraith attacking him, with the Shadow Lord's teeth closing hard on the creature's face as it shrieks. Avenges-the-Past comes in at its back, tearing open vicious gashes as Mouse-Trap hits it from the other side, knocking its feet out from under him. The two have a bare second, however, before suddenly two more of the creatures appear and latch their arms around Mouse-Trap's neck and head, yanking him backwards if not quite pulling him over. Karin suddenly finds a much bigger threat--literally. The...thing that is suddenly in her space looks like some horrible approximation of chiton plates and feelers. It's as big as any Garou, with no neck and insect-like pincers protruding from stretched and torn human lips. They latch onto her left ear and tear it clean off, while a big meaty hand grabs at her other wrist.

Rules Without Fear plunges his Fang Dagger into the creature attacking Slug, which screams in pain and tries to twist away, only to catch claws from Slug himself and Chugs. Both Glass Walkers snap their jaws in unison, with Scar latching onto the stabbing arm, and Bridge Builder the thing's throat.

Beyond, two crinos burst out of one of the rooms, and another giant chitonous monstrocity lumbers out from a room further back. Four /more/ crinos appear at the end of the hallway, all from a single room, teeth bared and bat ears prominent.

Consumes-Shadows looks to make short work of the wraith in his grasp, giving his head a sharp, vicious shaking like he was trying to snap and rend a much smaller creature.

Song-of-Ashes moves to challenge the onrushing pair of Crinos, the Uktena taking to the Hispo form and darting at a full sprint right at them. He goes low, aiming to latch his jaws on one of their outer legs and yank them over with the momentum.

Wind-In-Her-Words turns to face those crinos coming out and as Song-Of-Ashes rushes to meet two of them, she'll chase after to give support! Two on two is better than one on two!

Avenges-the-Past lets out a yelp of surprise and pain at the injury, her claws blurring into motion as she attempts to tear at the meaty bits of the creature attacking her and pull free of its grip.

Squirrel pulls himself the rest of the way up to the floor with the others, rising with spear in hand, turning to face the approaching Dancers. He growls, a dangerous, angry sound that may draw their attention, if only for a moment.

Letting out a yelp as he finds himself being dragged backwards, Mouse Trap whirls himself around with a haymaker of his claws, looking to drive them into the skull of one of his attackers with a challenging snarl.

Scar and Kavi, both with a part of a wraith in their jaws, start an unplayful tug of war between each other to pull it apart, with some terrier-like shaking to add to the violence.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew lunges over toward his pack alpha's attackers, going for the second of them from the side; he aims to yank it away from Mouse-Trap, while his jaws go for its neck.

Finds-His-Way doesn't take his eyes off his opponent until he knows it is falling, but he *hears* the approach of feet, and the scream of his allies. The Gnawer wheels on his heel, striking out with the edge of his shield at the foe attacking Mouse-Trap. Without pausing, he sprints to the flanks of his packmates, shield up, claws out, digging into anything that approaches.

With the Fang Dagger yanked out of his enemy, Rules Without Fear blurs forward in speed faster than most can blink as he surges across the floor towards the pair of Spirals, leaving the two Walkers and the two Gnawers to the wraith they are being tangled with. With a toothy grin on his face, he throws himself forward, growling as he claws first with his claws into one, followed by a stab of his dagger with the other.

The wraith's skull holds up surprisingly well against Consumes-Shadows' teeth, but the inevitable does come as he eventually feels the bone crunch between his jaws, as blood and brain stuff ooze and splatter his face. That wraith goes still. Likewise, the one caught between Scar and Bridge Builder is unceremoniously shaken, torn, and then wishboned between them, with the silver knife clattering to the metal floor.

Mouse-Trap's efforts wouldn't normally be so easily pulled off, but as soon as he starts to try to twist free the ooze coating him causes both wraiths to slip and scramble to try to keep hold, and one gets half its face clawed away by the Gnawer ahroun for its trouble. The other is yanked aside by Chugs, whose jaws find its shoulder--rather than it's neck--with a sharp, distinct crack. Avenges-the-Past is alone against the monster attacking her. Her claws find some purchase between the chitonous plates covering it, managing to rip one free and expose flesh, even as its other arm--not a hand, but a long appendage that most resembles a hair insect leg with an edge--lashes her across the chest. She's unable to get free of the grip, but that bone torque she's wearing to defend against wraith attacks starts to crack seemingly of its own accord.

At the sound of Nolan's growl, one of the oncoming Dancers jerks his head toward him, and then collapses with a scream, which is followed by a louder cry as Song-of-Ashes, Wind-in-Her-Words, and Rules Without Fear all converge on him at once. The second Dancer? The second Dancer has stopped short of that melee, and jumps back from the stab from the Get, teeth gritted. He practically bumps into the charging chiton beast coming up behind him, but that thing has other troubles--the four Dancers at the back move as a single group, but instead of charging the Gaian Garou, all four dogpile on top of the monster from behind, jaws and claws flashing. It's still not enough to drag it down, but it certainly halts the charge.

Finds-His-Way slams the shield against the wraith Justin is currently face mauled, but he's too late for the fun with his packmates, as he arrives just as they tear their wraith apart.

Consumes-Shadows drops the wraith body and takes the quick moment to call on Luna's gifts of protection and his eyes turns towards Avenges-the-Past. Seeing her alone, the Shadow Lord moves to back her up with his focus locked on the grip it's got on her.

Song-of-Ashes leaves the downed Spiral to the other attackers and turns for the second one, moving to deliver the same treatment to that Dancer as he did his comrade.

Wind-In-Her-Words sticks to the dancer they jumped, her claws slashing as she makes to see what he is made from inside!

With her torc starting to fail, Avenges-the-Past ceases trying to get away and instead launches herself into the soft underbelly of the creature, hoping to put an end to it before it has the opportunity to get past the magic that currently protects her. Her claws are a blur of desperate rage-fueled motion, even as her fur is becoming matted with her own blood as well as any ichor from the creature she battles.

Scar drops the dead wraith's arm from his jaws and, after taking an eyeball at the battlefield, moves to assist Consumes and Avenges with the giant bug.

Right alongside his packmate, Kavi charges the chitinous beast.

Nolan's growl drops in volume, but remains just as angry as he starts across the field, heading toward the far end where unfamiliar Dancers brawl with the unnatural monster.

Finds-His-Way decides to take the moment to draw his sword. If he's going to be part of the Three Musketeers, he might as while look the part. The Crinos wheels around and chases after Scar and Kavi, his sword held back. The Crinos puts all his weight into his thrust, aiming to break through its hard shell.

As the trio of Gaian Garou finish the spiral off, Rules Without Fear roars loudly as he turns towards the other stumbling spiral who is bouncing it's way into the chitter. He blinks his eyes in confusion as he watches the four spirals take on the other monster, giving a confused snarl.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew wrenches his teeth from his sort-of-captive's crushed shoulder and bites for the neck again, attempting to rip out the creature's throat and get it out of the fray.

Flailing for a moment, Mouse Trap gives another hard swing of his claws back down into the creature he just face-mauled, looking to finish the job by going for it's throat, followed by a snap of the jaws.

The reluctant Dancer snarls at Watcher, but instead of attacking it scrambles backwards and to the side, nearly tripping over the battle suddenly going on right at his back. Half a second's more debate has him turning and leaping onto the second bug monster as well, making five crinos on one. It chitters madly as it flails back and forth, slamming into walls, trying to get at its unexpected assailants. One Dancer is shaken loose and crushed between wall and floor, but the other four keep the thing from finishing her off by sheer viciousness, as they tear off protective chitonous plates left and right.

Shadow Lord, Glass Walkers, and sword-wielding Gnawer converge on the closer man-bug, but Avenges-the-Past is already digging deep into the thing's underbelly, with blood, guts and goo splattering both them and the floor. Between them all, the man-bug is brought down just as the torque cracks and falls off of the Fury, flailing the whole way.

Chugs and Mouse-Trap finish off both wraiths between them in short order.

Snakepatcher watches the stairway and elevator space remain empty, and he hauls himself up through the ceiling now that there's room.

~Looks like Renegade kept his word.~ The snarling Get rumbles out as he watches the five spirals take on the monster, then gives a swing of his head towards the Gaian allies. He shifts his shoulders back and forth to loosen them up.

Mouse-Trap gives a few more swings of his claws into the wraith, then pulls himself up panting loudly as he gives a flatten of his ears back. ~Is everyone okay and breathing?~ He asks back to the group.

Consumes-Shadows turns his focus towards the Spiral Dancers as they collectively back off and fight. ~He better have.~ Snarls the Shadow Lord as he raises a hand to call the Gaian forces back to regroup.

Bridge Builder gives a rough shake when the area is, at least for the moment, without immediate threat. There's a wince in the twitch of his ear, but he looks to Scar for direction.

Wind-In-Her-Words moves from the dancer she was still working on and falls back to the group, wiping off her claws on the nearest wall, her attention mostly on group still fighting.

Avenges-the-Past pants from exertion and pain, but she's still on her feet. She closes her eyes, and there's a surge of energy that comes from within her, a multicolored burst of light that momentarily illuminates her fur and the area immediately around her, and then she's breathing at least a little easier.

Scar growls softly as he looks between the fighting Wyrm-Garou and the Shadow Lord leading the Sept's Garou. He's less than pleased. ~What next?~

Chugs-Mystery-Brew drops the corpse of the wraith, with a 'ptah' or two getting wraith-taste out of his mouth, and looks around to take in the current state of the field again. He's already fairly regrouped, and keeps his eyes on their surroundings while those further away fall back. At least half of one eye stays on the BSDs.

It's not long after the man-bug collapses that Hide, previously among the healing party, comes wriggling up through the hole in the floor, apparently not at all content to sit this one out, the Fury wasting no time to raise to the full height her war form affords her, just in time to hear Scar's question, one ear tilted towards the Alpha to hear the response as she takes in her surroundings in as much detail as a cursory examination allows.

Finds-His-Way flicks his sword to knock a little gristle off of it, glancing the Fury over to make sure she isn't about to keel over. He nods at her, then turns, sparing a second or two to inspect his shield.

The four Dancers still standing end up shelling the man-bug like an oversized crab, and it topples between them in a heap of meat and ichor. Their violence doesn't stop--they keep tearing and biting at it for at least a few more moments, as if to make extra sure it's not getting up again. One separates from the group then, a tall female practically bristling with barely contained Rage. She glares across the gore spattered hallway toward the Gaian Garou, but makes no attempt to cross the distance. The reluctant Dancer moves over to haul the one that was crushed forcibly to her feet--lucky for her, bones are already snapping back into place, while the others stay back near the corpse.

~We keep going up.~ Consumes-Shadows says towards Scar with a curl of his lip before swinging his head towards the Dancers with a returning scowl. ~You know a staircase that wouln't actually fall apart?~ He says with an entirely forced grin full of teeth. He's probably not happy to have to ask them for directions.

Song-of-Ashes bristles at the Dancers but hunkers close to his pack, sniffing them both over liberally to make sure all's well.

Scar utters another displeased growl and eyes the group of Spirals again.

Wind-In-Her-Words grins a toothy grin across the way towards the dancers. She makes no move to leave the group, but she does raises one clawed hand to wiggle her fingers at them in a wave.

Squirrel stares at the Dancers, glares at them for a long moment, and then forces himself to turn away, looking to the others for the next step. His fingers grip the spear tightly enough that a less sturdy weapon might break under the pressure.

Rules-Without-Fear steps up to the Shadow Lord's side and lets out a rumbling growl as he eyes the spirals for a long moment. His fist squeezes about the fang dagger tightly as he listens to the pain spirit within.

The Dancers don't seem any happier with the arrangement, as most of them are blatantly eyeing up the larger group of Garou in a measuring sort of way. At Wind-In-Her-Words' gesture, one of them actually lets out a sharp snarl and steps forward, but the tall female none-too-gently puts out a clawed hand at chest height to stop him. ~No,~ she says flatly. ~Go up the elevator shaft. Or you can tunnel through the ceiling in that room.~ She points. ~It's outside Her chambers. But if you want to save time, you can just jump out the nearest window. She knows you're coming now.~

Consumes-Shadows gives a snort at the last comment. ~We've had enough flying. Thanks for the directions.~ He says with that same too-forced smile before looking towards the Gaian forces. ~Let's go.~ He says and he heads for the indicated room, but not before pointing a claw towards the silver knife. ~One of you,~ Said towards the Gaians as he goes. ~Get rid of that. Can't just leave it laying around.~

Mouse-Trap leans down and plucks up the knife by the handle, giving a wide grin to Consumes Shadows. ~Won't mind if I do. I can sell this at least.~

~Over soon, one way or another,~ Finds-His-Way says, twirling a little circle with the tip of his sword. He rolls his shoulders and turns away from the Spirals, but not fully, following in Shadow's... shadow.

Wind-In-Her-Words leans forward a bit to peer towards that knfie that is picked up. Shiney. SHe gives a grunt then before she looks to the rest of the gaians and moves along with them.

Pack> Scar says "Fuck me, I get shat on for making friends with mages, Ronin, and metis, and he goes and invites the goddamn Wyrm to one of our battles?"

Scar gives the Dancers a final distrustful glare before following the Sept Alpha; he's stiff-legged and hackles-up.

Pack> Bridge Builder doesn't seem to have much in the way of coherent response to that, but there's rage simmering near to boil, and not merely at the Dancers.

Bridge Builder doesn't look back, though his ears remain turned toward the Dancers as he follows along with his packmates.

Consumes-Shadows doesn't rest once he's in the room and the Dancers are behind them. He repeats the process of before - remove ceiling tile and begin the process of tunneling up. At least this time his claws are sharper.

Hide, it seems, is just as keen on staring back at the Spirals as they are at the Gaians as a whole, but the announcement that they're moving deeper into the tower is enough to draw her away. She pauses to do a cursory check of Avenges-the-Past on the way, lightly suggesting that perhaps the younger Fury should get a once-over by someone more knowledgable, just in case. ~Healers could always use some back-up anyway.~ Whether or not her advice is taken if up in the air, of course, but: onward and upward, her attention turning to Shadows as the tunneling begins.

Pack> Finds-His-Way says "It'll be fine, until it's not."

Chugs-Mystery-Brew reaches to help remove the tiles and do what he can to help with the tunneling, once they're in the indicated room.

Squirrel once again takes up a position in the rear, keeping an eye out behind while the others start the process of heading up to the next floor.

The Dancers remain where they are, for now at least, as the Garou move toward their next point of entry. Once again Consumes-Shadows is the first up, and this time his view of the top floor is...telling.

It's a long hallway, bare and metal, one end leading to the elevator shaft, one to a window. Roughly halfway along the length are two double doors, tightly closed, beyond which, if the top floor is similar to the Realm, is where Val reported finding the strange ritual glyphs and dead and dying victims. The walls are practically coated in what looks like wet, black mold, and the ceiling isn't much better. The floor is wet and slippery as well with the dingey water that has been dripping downward, and here and there the water looks thicker, darker. Less like water. After the cacophony of the battle below, it's very quiet apart from the dripping.

Rules-Without-Fear pulls himself up after the Alpha, then growls under his breath as he gives a look about the hallway. As his eyes fall upon the double doors, he gives a firm nod to his packmate. ~You ready?~

Consumes-Shadows pulls himself up onto the topmost floor, shaking vile dampness out of his coat. He chuffs down the all clear and waits to help the others up through the hole. Only once everyone is up does he turn and begin to head for the door - mindful of where he's walking. ~Let's get this over with.~ And he raises up a hand to try and open the doors.

~Final Boss.~ Mouse Trap says as he gives a glance back to his coyotes, then back to the double doors. Holding both the bone and silver daggers, he lets out a deep breath.

Scar takes a moment to gather his willpower for a Gift -- a deep inhale, then exhale. He checks on his packmates.

Wind-In-Her-Words keeps clear of the walls as best she can as she slips towards the back of the group as they approach the doors.

Finds-His-Way takes a steadying breath, then shrugs and looks up as he catches the eye of his pack leader. ~What's the worst that can happen? You can only die once.~

The lone Fianna scrabbles through the opening and uses the spear to help him rise. Nostrils flare as he watches the others, waiting for what will come next. ~You'd be surprised,~ he says in response to the Gnawer, his voice low and cold.

Scar huffs. ~Don't jinx it.~

Chugs-Mystery-Brew looks to Mouse-Trap, and nods once, followed by a glance to Song-of-Ashes. Hide gets a fleeting grin when he spots her. He aims to avoid the 'mold' of the walls and ceiling and the 'water' on the floor both, as they make their way.

Snakepatcher hauls himself up to the third floor, his claws raking over the concrete surface of the shattered floor.

Hide follows where able but, like Squirrel, seems more inclined to hang towards the back, taking a moment to concentrate. Once that's done, and most of the participants have funnelled through, she does the same, offering a nod to Chugs, in turn.

The doors are not only unlocked, but unlatched--they open at the slightest brush of Consumes-Shadows' hand with a long creak. Beyond is a massive room, so large it must take up the entirety of the top floor, with windows stretched at a slant from floor to ceiling along all three of the walls that don't contain the doors the Garou are entering from. The floor is taken up by strange glyphs and circles the likes of which none of the Garou have ever seen before, but which just looking at cause the stomach to churn and the eyes want to look away. There are things hanging from the ceiling--rugs? Uneven banners? Moonlight and distance make it hard to make out at first. The walls, however, seem to be decorated with a very broad assortment of bones--some crinos large, some clearly human, others almost unrecognizable.

A single, regal chair sits at the far end of the room, but it's empty. There doesn't appear to be anyone here.

"At last," says a feminine voice. It's little more than a soft whisper, but they can all hear it clearly, seemingly from the walls themselves. "The thieves have arrived."

(OOC) Consumes-Shadows says "Curious, what's the scale of the chair?"

(OOC) Sheogorath says "Human sized."

Consumes-Shadows steps his way into the room into the room, his dark brown-black fur tinged with the hue of silver. His body language is all predator, cold and bristling and intense. ~Queen Rancordiant, I presume. Thieves implies we stole something that can still be returned. Your pet isn't exactly in a returnable state anymore. He really should have stayed inside.~

Song-of-Ashes remains silent and stiff legged as he stands with his pack, but the lupus is on high alert with his nose and ears trying to pinpoint the sound.

Wind-In-Her-Words keeps silent as she lets the more experienced deal with the verbal voley with the queen of this tower. As they speak, her eyes look over the side of the room closest to her.

Scar follows the Shadow Lord in and moves to the side. He rumbles quietly to his packmates.

Pack> Scar says "Spread out."

~Sick burn.~ Mouse Trap rumbles as he continues to move forward into the room, letting out a heavy snarl of hot air from his muzzle. He edges up closer to his two packmates, back to back to back. ~Eyes everywhere. Watcher, you know the drill.~

Finds-His-Way 's eyes wander the room- but he soon thinks better of it when his head swims. He walks off to one side, paws squishing on the floor, looking a bit like someone who's wandered into an open house he's suddenly realized he can't afford.

Bridge Builder drops his head low, the hackles raised like quills along his spine. He keeps the growl low, though he cannot seem to silence it entirely. A glance is cast toward Scar, and then he moves toward the right side of the room.

Pack> Finds-His-Way says "Maybe she's just really into Halloween."

Squirrel follows the others in, and for a long moment his focus seems glued to the glyphs on the floor. Eventually, he tears himself away, grips the spear with both hands, and takes a few steps to the side from the door.

Hide hangs back as far as can be allowed, though given the manner in which she looks to the walls themselves, she seems to be recognizing that there's a note of futilty to that. Nonetheless, she holds her ground, standing at a midpoint between the hole in the floor and the Queen's chambers, glancing at the hole every once in a while to keep watch for the frenemy at their backs.

"Look, sisters. Thieves." the whisper replies. She sounds ponderous more than angry. "Vagabonds. Invaders. Would-be murderers?" The things hanging from the ceiling rustle, starting at one end and spreading to the other. They look like fur rugs, although a few seem far thinner and smaller, tissue paper fragile. Through the windows they catch a good glimpse of the massive oily bane as a few human looking legs jut out from it and then melt away. "Why do you turn at the sound of a bell?" The voice laughs now, almost tittering. "He brought us the most wonderful present, but you can't have it. It's not yours to take. Do you understand? No. We could help you. That would be amusing, don't you think?"

(OOC) Scar says "How high is the ceiling?"

The sharp edge of white teeth can be seen as Nolan's glare travels around the room, seeking, if not finding, the source of the voice and the enemies he assumes are hidden within.

(OOC) Sheogorath says "Thirty feet or so I'd say."

~We need nothing you can offer. So let's be done with this.~ Consumes-Shadows says with a grating growl. He glances with his one eye upwards at the rustling, then to the bane outside the window. He looks over his shoulder towards the Garou present as both of his arms stretch wide, saying once at a low but commanding tone. ~Cover your ears. Now.~ And there's only that much warning and a few seconds thereafter before he brings his arms together to clap his hands with a thunderous boom.

At the Alpha's words, Song-of-Ashes hits the deck with his head buried between his paws.

Wind-In-Her-Words reaches up quickly at the words from COnsumes-Shadows to cover her ears with her claws while crouching down in a ready like posture. her eyes looking up at the movement above them.

Rules-Without-Fear raises his paws up to cover his ears as he takes a step back behind his Alpha, giving a loud growl. ~Bring the noise, boss.~

Hide, too, places her hands over her ears, keeping low to the ground as she edges in a little closer, eyes set on the fluctuating 'sheets' once they come into view, though she never seems to go very long without checking on that hole every so often.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew stays positioned back to back with the rest of his pack, and swiftly covers his ears at the warning, glancing sidelong toward Consumes-Shadows, then fleetingly toward the ceiling things, and the movement out the window.

Finds-His-Way covers his ears by crouching in a sudden hurry and burying his nose under his shield, his sword ending up pressed to the side of his head. Thank Gaia for big, furry Crinos paws. Whatever a thunderclap sounds like in a small room, the wolf-senses won't be happy with it.

Bridge Builder cringes, but without hands he merely twists his ears backward against the onslaught.

Snakepatcher turns about, inspecting the decoration of this floor. At the warning, he holds his claws, still holding mountain goat horn shaped stones, over his ears, thus turning into the horned Uktena.

Scar doesn't have hands at the moment to cover his ears with and simply braces himself, ears flattened.

The near-deafening sound reverberates through the room. Despite the warning, it hurts, and it's hard to think of anything /but/ that terrible noise. The strange hanging banners seem to go mad, thrashing in various directions all at once. One rips free from the movement and falls heavily to the floor--it's fur, but it's certainly not a rug. It's a skin. A crinos sized skin--they can even see bits of the face still attached, the whole thing stained with long dried blood.

"Rude," the voice whispers after several seconds, when their ears finally stop ringing. "Then we'll dispense with ceremony. Yes. I agree. You seek audience with the Queen of Rancordiant?" There's something else on the ceiling now. A woman? No, the upper half of a woman, fully nude with pale, dead skin and black eyes, long white hair. There's something vaguely scaley about her arms and stomach, but below her waist all pretense of humanity is gone. Instead is a massive fat, centipede body, death-white as her skin, with long spidery legs that hold her to the ceiling. She's so large that she takes up all of it, with some of her body even clinging to the wall itself.

"Audience you will have, thieves."

Consumes-Shadows looks deeply annoyed as the Queen merely reveals herself, hanging there like a bloated corpse. ~No audience. We aren't here to talk.~ He stretches out his claws and howls up at the Queen. The Garou would know the cry anywhere. It's a howl full of the gnawing hunger of deepest winter, of the smell of blood in the air, the chase of a hunter about to leap onto his prey. It is the Anthem of War. ~Hides-in-Whispers, use the box now! Spear carriers, now!~

Wind-In-Her-Words stands up a little more as the sound dies away and that monstrosity shows itself. That's a lot of legs! She keeps her eyes on the enemy as she keeps her ears listening to the one in charge.

The large Get of Fenris of the hummingbird pack gives a wide grin at the sight of the creature. ~Come to your death, Forath!~ He roars back out gleefully as his fists grip the bone daggers in his large paws.

Nolan watches as she reveals herself, seeks out the closest place, and when the call from Thane comes, he throws the spear with all of the strength he can muster.

Hide doesn't need to be told twice! For as distracting as the Queen revealing herself happens to be, the small item in her possession, palmed for the better part of the time she's spent with the other Garou and kept largely out of sight, is raised and wrenched open.

Scar paces further along the wall, his muzzled tilted up to look at the revealed Queen, his fangs bared.

Finds-His-Way rises on up once his ears have stopped screaming, his eyes tilting up toward the ceiling. He shakes his head at something or another, then raises his shield toward the ceiling like the world's most overbuilt umbrella. ~Got an idea,~ he says, eying the bones around them.

Snakepatcher removes his claws from his ears and shakes his head. He squints upwards and studies the thing, tracing the route it takes from head to tail--is there even a tail? She--it? goes on and on and on--right. With another shake of his head, he braces as he watches the effect of the spear.

Bridge Builder paces, waiting, if not patiently, for an opening to attack.

Taking in a deep breath, Mouse-Trap is on the balls of his feet. He gives a grunt of acknowledgement to his packmates, then rumbles out, ~Time to prank this fucker to death!~ He tips his head upwards, letting out a loud high pitched howl to try and draw it's attention.

Against such a massive creature, neither Nolan's throw, nor the spear itself, seems particular impressive until the impact. The Queen shrieks, a sound both unnatural and yet too human, as it buries itself halfway in, a mere needle amongst all that bulk. She moves as fast as any Garou in response--she twists and drops, taking half the ceiling hangings with her as she goes, and brings the two longest legs down like spears of her own. The first only splinters the floor, but the second buries itself in Thane and drives all the way through the Shadow Lord as it goes. Those further into the room find themselves buried under the massive weight, bones smashed but alive and healing. Those along the walls are more fortunate, but Salem still finds himself crushed briefly against a wall before the body moves again, rearing upward with Thane still impaled on one leg.

Sheogorath pages: Soooo, shattered probably all of his ribs and snapped his spine. The good news is he'll be okay in a minute or so! The bad news is /shattered all of his ribs and snapped his spine/.

Resist Pain is a wonderful thing -- keeps one from howling in agony -- but Salem, crushed, lies sprawled against the wall, unable to move until his bones mend. Lips peeled back in a fanged grimace, he stares at the Queen, tracking her movements with his eyes.

~Gotta love an audience,~ Chugs says a bit distractedly, watching the massive creature that's shown herself, but his pack alpha's howl draws his attention the rest of the way. Well, if they're trying to draw attention, he's good at that! He joins the howls, adding annoying yips and taunts into it to bring it from hopefully distracting to hopefully Distracting, to make things more difficult for her. Not, perhaps, difficult enough, because it ends up in a pained yelp as he gets crushed beneath the massive creature. He, too, falls back on Resist Pain.

You paged Sheogorath with 'If possible, would like to use Weak Arm while I'm kinda unable to move and fight.'.

Wind-In-Her-Words did not want to see those legs up close, but she's glad that at least she didn't get skewered like one of their party did! Still, the crushing weight of that bitch hurts like hell and she'll struggle to try and get out from under it all.

Squirrel howls a sharp note of pain, though he doesn't seem to have suffered the impact of the others. He grabs one wrist with the other and pulls it close across his chest, but even then he moves, lunging toward the nearest segment of the queen.

Finds-His-Way ends up recreating a Wille-E-Coyote bit with his shield-brella, but at least it kept his pride un-crushed. The Gnawer goes down with a rattling clang and a wet cough, but his body puts itself together from the comfort of the ground. The icky, icky ground. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists, doing his best to remain silent and still until he's ready to strike.

As he gets toppled by the large beast, the powerfully set philodox calls upon his own pain resisting gift. Rules Without Fear lets out a shout towards his Alpha, anger and fear rising up in his voice. ~THANE!~ He roars out, looking to jab the bone dagger he holds up into the weight of the creature.

Consumes-Shadows goes from a howl of war to one of unimaginable agony. He's not normally one to show weakness, but the sound he makes is almost indescribable. He's skewered clean through his chest with blood leaking free and the Ahroun isn't even fighting back. He just howls and howls and howls. While his fur still has the silver cast, it begins looking even more grey.

Bridge Builder snarls out in rage as he sees his packmate go down, and there's fire in his eyes when he rushes forward, teeth and claws all seeking to rend the enemy.

Snakepatcher, with no Resist Pain to fall back on, howls with pain under the pressure of the creature. He instead falls back on Combat Healing and starts to fight without a pause, ripping his claws through the mass crushing him, trying to carve out a space and to carve the thing up into half.

Sheogorath pages: When you get back, Weak Arm tells him two things: one, that spear hurt her more than it seems: she seems vulnerable to the weapons in general, not just because they're talens. Two, she's heavily armored and massive...but her torso is still that of a mostly human woman. Probably thicker skin like the other wraiths, but it's definitely her most vulnerable spot.

Song-of-Ashes was creeping towards the wall, perhaps with the intent to climb up at the Queen, but then she comes down at them. The impact sends the small Hispo bouncing off his feet and hitting the floor with a yelp. He's scrambling back up though and charges in a rush of Rage to drive his teeth into the closest bit of the Queen he can reach.

Mouse-Trap is toppled by the bulk of the monster, letting out a yelp and trying to scramble as he wheezes out loudly in pain. He looks to jab his own bone dagger into the creature, screaming out a roar of defiance.

The remnants of the box dropped as everything flies into chaos, Hide backpedals sharply back into the foyer to dodge the flying legs and shrapnel, the sights and sounds of her allies getting well and truly arsed by the Queen's bulk landing on the lot of them. In the end, it's seeing Thane and *hearing* him that drives her into action, the Fury dropping to all fours to rush the chamber, launching herself at the creature's bulk to rip into anything that looks even remotely vital.

The Queen rears back even further, shivering, as two more bone weapons scrape at her carapace. They don't even pierce her before they crack, but she reacts as though they've been buried deep nonetheless. She thrashes, both trying to hurt the Garou beneath her as well as get away from their claws, but the room is too small for either side to clear the other. Garou find their claws mostly scraping without purchase, digging furrows into the shell but going no further. Hide is luckier, as her more controlled, less battered attack leaves her digging in between two armored plates, trying to reach vulnerable flesh beneath. The monster's back half whips across the room, something which should smash Salem further--but doesn't. Violently doesn't, as it's almost repelled by an unseen force. Thane seems nearly forgotten as the monster twists more, and attempts to bring another long leg down on Brom. She mostly misses, only tearing open a shallow gash along his face and side and pinning torn fur to the floor rather than the Get himself.

Rolling to his feet after watching his life flash before his eyes, Rules Without Fear shows just how fearless he is as he leaps upon the body of the queen, taps into both of his rage and his totem's gift of speed, then literally runs up along her body. He is nothing short of a blur of speed, muscle and insanity as he leaps once he finds the right point, looking to grab ahold of Thane in mid-air and drag him off the impaling leg.

Finds-His-Way throws away the corrogated metal shield and grabs his sword with both hands, eying the plate of the bug he's underneath. He braces his back against the floor for leverage and waits, arms coiled back, then strikes at what might look like a part of her shell where her body's plates interlock with one another.

Consumes-Shadows remains incapacitated, voice edging towards hoarseness as blood-stained foam gathers at the corners of his mouth. Garou have kept fighting with worse injuries than a leg through the chest, so something else must be going on.

While the battle rages up front, Song-of-Ashes spreads his claws and tries to climb *up* the Queen and uses her as a bucking bronco of a bridge as the Uktena works towards her front part.

Wind-In-Her-Words growls as she moves from beneath the monstronsity that sought to make a garou bed out of them all. Working to her feet, she leaps at the body of the monster, trying to scramble up onto it.

Once she begins to gain purchase, Hide is unrelenting. She claws, digs, bites-- does whatever is necessary in a concentrated attack to physically wrench the chitinous armor from where it's firmly embedded, seeming to hope that the effect is similar to pulling off fingernails, except-- several orders of magnitude worse. A highly unwelcome distraction, perhaps (and a potentially stupid one!), from both the attempts to retrieve the Shadow Lord, and the activities of the others.

Snakepatcher gasps for breath as his lungs are able to inflate again. He eyes the Fury's progress with the plates, and starts looking for a similar spot along the Queen's body, a challenge as the Queen isn't staying still. He decides to join Hide and see if the pressures of two Garou can help pry the armor apart at its chink.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew growls deeply as he slides out from beneath the Queen's carapace, and sweeps a narrow-eyed look along the part of her near him -- and catches Hide's progress being made. He looks to Mouse-Trap, nodding once, and aims to follow suit at the next plate-boundary he can find -- attempting to wedge his claws in and peel a plate back enough so that the Ahroun has room to dig in deep with his razor claws beneath it.

Frustrated when his teeth and claws fail to find purchase, the enraged Walker Galliard refocuses, digging at the chitinous hide where he can.

~Attack the human part of her!~ Salem howls out, his voice rough. The Philodox finally manages to haul himself back to his paws, though he looks a bit unsteady still. ~It's a weak point!~

As he waits for his packmate to yank the plate free, Mouse Trap times it so that his scrapping claws can drive forward into the meat of the monster.

Squirrel snarls in frustration, and then, perhaps in response to the philodox's words, he stares at the more feminine parts of the queen.

The Queen twists every which way as one action and then another wrenches her attention. She flails as Watcher attempts to run up her, whipping her own body against the windows, which crack and splinter, though they don't fully give way--luckily for Watcher, he manages to hold on, but not entirely escape crushing. Brom's bit of insanity is almost unnoticed in the wake of this, and he nearly, /nearly/ misses. Both Get and Shadow Lord fall twenty odd feet to the ground from the combined magics of force and gravity. Those digging beneath her armor find soft, gooey white flesh, which is easily sliced, although there's so very much of it, and she whips around again, two legs raised like weapons at seemingly no particular target.

Song-of-Ashes hits the windows and lets out a yelp as he leans sharply to one side while his other goes a bit limp. The Uktena is persistent though as sticky pawpads and sturdy Hispo claws keep digging. All he can do is keep hanging on for the time being, howling out encouragements as he goes to try and keep morale up. Galliard's still gotta do his job.

Seeming to realize that this new fad is catching on, Hide is not oblivious to Salem's remarks, but doesn't appear to be changing course. If anything, she's moving on to another plate of armor, clearly devoted to being as much of an obnoxious distraction as possible from those looking to attack the Queen where she's most vulnerable.

As they hit the ground together, Rules Without Fear made sure to twist his body so that when the hit, it is his body that takes the impact and to cushion his Alpha against his powerful frame. He takes a moment to will himself out of his dazed state, then starts to move quickly as he throws his Alpha over his shoulder, barreling for the doorway at a breakneck speed. ~Samantha! We need a healer! He may not make it!~ He roars out to the Ragabash.

Scar, back on his feet, does his best to avoid flailing stabbing legs and flailing crushing body in order to move himself in a position to attack the Queen's more vulnerable humanoid part.

Consumes-Shadows hits the ground with the sound of so much abused meat. Without the Queen's leg keeping everything in, blood begins puddling at a fairly alarming rate under him. While the Alpha-Warder looks to still be alive, it's a very tenuous declaration. He's slack, eyes all but rolled up in his head and breathing raggedly.

Squirrel whirls around, lunging the few steps it takes to grab one handed for the spear he threw, attempting to rip it out of the centipede hide.

Finds-His-Way has a moment where he is staring up into something beneath the Queen, but Scar snaps him out of it. The Gnawer scuttles past one of her legs and pivots on his heel, leaping up into the air at her back with everything he's got.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew glances upward at Salem's yell, eyeing the situation with his other packmate up there, then looks to Mouse-Trap again, with a small upward jerk of his head. The side-slicing pauses long enough for the Ahroun to lower his paws and the Galliard to step onto them, leaping as he's tossed upward onto top of the Queen's shell. He rolls as he lands, not quite off, and runs up along toward her 'torso' in string of constant motion, leaps and grabs and bounces, even grabbing a shell-portion to throw himself further in a CGI-(or Gift-)worthy sort of bizarre parkour. It remains to be seen if it's enough to keep him from being thrown off.

Wind-In-Her-Words growls as she seeks to do something, anything but be crushed and ground beneath the centipedal woman. When she hears her name, the Wendigo turns her attention away from seeking an offensive move and instead seeks to make a bee line for the fallen alpha. She might not have anything to heal with herself, but maybe it'll help her relationship with the alpha if she can drag his ass out towards the healers.

The Queen continues twisting around as she attempts to throw the Garou off, but there are so many crawling up her that she doesn't seem to know which one to focus on, and for the moment, everyone manages to hold on. Squirrel gets most of the spear free--her thrashing has broken the haft of the weapon, but the head is mostly intact, if far less sharp than it was. This, unfortunately, does give her something to focus on; the Queen twists rabidly around and brings not one but four sharp, massive legs stabbing down at Squirrel. One slices him from chest to groin, but misses the pin. Two others miss. Another slams through his right knee, nearly severing it, but worse, gets enough of him that he can't easily pull free. Hide's efforts have now dug a deep, deep gash into her body, and the Fury is practically soaked in foul smelling ichor as she continues ripping off plates and tearing deep with the help of the others.

Snakepatcher stares at the contents exposed in the chink. White meat. So much of it. He shovels out globs that land on the floor, quivering like pale jello, until the thrashing of the queen smash them flat. He could dig through it for eons and still not see the end of this. With little patience for persevering at a task for more than a few moments, he quits digging and bolts towards the human part.

~Get him out of here, get a healer. Bring one of those Gaians. I'm trusting you do move swift as the wind. He is my best friend, do not let him fucking die.~ Rules Without Fear tells Samantha as he hefts the Alpha into her arms, then turns as he bolts back into the fray with his fang dagger gleaming brightly. ~DIE SKRIPPI!~

After pulling off the coyote fast ball special by launching Chugs on to the creature, Mouse Trap follows suit as he turns and leaps upwards, digging his claws into the body and hauling himself up so that he can race towards the human part in hopes of rending her ugly flesh.

Hey! Garou caught on to what Song-of-Ashes was thinking. He joins in the fray, even if two of his limbs seem a bit floppy, in trying to make the upwards climb.

~Save the cheerleader, save the world!~ Wind in Her Words replies as she takes that rather massive man into her arms. She turns towards the door as she tries to fit the man onto her shoulder as she starts as swiftly as she can for the way out.

Scar spots the Coyotes going for the human part -- and also a Squirrel pinned. He shifts gears, angling swiftly toward the Fianna to help him get free.

Consumes-Shadows is a bitch to drag in Crinos, but between the Wendigo and Fenrir the mangled Shadow Lord is hauled to the sidelines. By then he's at least coherent enough to help, even if he can barely keep himself mobile. ~...back. Go.~ He grunts out towards Wind-In-Her-Words. Maybe it's the lighting, but his face looks like it's got some gray. ~Kill Her. More important. Will- will call totem to get them.~

Squirrel howls at the pain, eyes burning with the force of it, with the rage he feels. Even pinned as he is, the Fianna twists, stabbing the broken spear as deep as he can into the body of the creature. ~LOOK AT ME!~

Finds-His-Way runs straight up the spine of the monster with his sword bouncing against his shoulder, one arm held out at his side for a counter-weight. He runs his his body bent forward, paws falling in a narrow line, claws scraping at the chitin for traction. The steady tnktnktnk of his claws gets louder and louder as speed grows.

Bridge Builder glances at his packmates, but then continues tearing at the flesh he's managed to find beneath the scales.

Wind-In-Her-Words rolls her eyes at the alpha she drags and carries towards the exit. ~I go back AFTER you call it.~ she growls at him, continueing towards the door whether he wants her to or not.

The Queen whips around at Squirrel's demand, mandibles pushing through the corners of her mouth now, and for a single fraction of a second, the two lock eyes. Then she shrieks, an animal howl, and flails backwards. This time the windows completely shatter as she slams against them, and while she's too wide to fall through, the Garou aren't so lucky. Chugs loses his grip and finds himself crushed between queen body and the steel window frame. Watcher manages to hold, but Finds-His-Way takes the full twenty foot drop to the floor. Snakepatcher scrabbles at slippery carapace and suddenly finds himself launched into terrifyingly empty air, missing the walls entirely and following most of the glass out and down.

The Queen, alive and thrashing but with her human top on the ground, writhes in some pain known only to her and the Fianna.

Seeing that there's not a whole lot of 'distracting' going on, at this point, and coming away smelly rather than victorious, Hide *very nearly* follows Snakepatcher's lead before everything goes straight to hell. Rather than wait, however, she uses the opportunity of the Queen having fallen to launch her own attack, attempting to seize the creature by the throat, but - failing that - she'll take whatever appendage she can get.

As he hangs on as best as he can, Mouse Trap calls out to Chugs, then looks to move forward as he balances on the body of the creature, aiming if possible to attack the face of the creature, to draw claws into it's eyes.

As he speeds through the battle with hummingbird's speed, Rules Without Fear hauls back his arm, then drives it forward into the body of the creature with his fang dagger, snarling loudly. He shouts something out in the Fenrir's tongue, an anthem of war as he summons the pain spirit to the surface to bite deep into the monster.

Consumes-Shadows grumbles something sour and rude but is in no place right now to argue with the Wendigo. He gets out into the hallway and growls at her to let him go so he can slump down within eyeshot of the action. He closes his eyes for a moment, face scrunching up in concentration through the haze of pain. It's only a moment or to before he looks up at the Ragabash. ~I told Kolibri. Go. They need you. That's an order.~

Song-of-Ashes leaves Mouse Trap to Glory. He instead goes towards his squashed packmate, howling out to Chugs that he's coming to try to free him.

~Kill her!~ Squirrel calls, though there's nowhere near the strength to his words that there was a moment before. He tries to twist again, to retrieve the spear head for one more strike.

Wind-In-Her-Words takes a moment to pat the alpha on the head like a good boy. ~Don't die or Ancestors will come bring you back so I can bitch you out!~ she says, before turning and racing back into the room at a full sprint, heading for that human portion.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew gives about half a yelp before he's crushed hard enough against the window frame to make the rest of the yelp, or really much of any other noise, impossible for the moment. You have to get air in to let air out. He gives a silent snarl, however, and wriggles; to anyone close it would sound all wrong, broken ribs shifting position as he does and they try to heal, but it works. The slime covering him greases his way and he pops free, trying to slide down the =inside= of the Queen, into the room, rather than the outside, to follow Reggie. Maybe Song-of-Ashes will keep him on the right side of things.

Finds-His-Way might have missed Snakepatcher's dramatic exit if he weren't thrown off the monster's back. Just as he's getting to his feet he sees his former packmate going out for a stroll and tosses his sword aside, running toward the window as fast as his legs can carry him.

The defenestrated Snakepatcher disappears out of sight of the combatants.

Scar eyes Squirrel critically,then shifts to Crinos and holds a hand out for the broken spear.

The Queen struggles to get upright again, but it's too late; the Garou are on her from all sides. Claws and teeth dig in, skin and flesh is ripped and torn, bones wrenched away, but still she struggles, and her lower, thicker half continues to thrash against the floor, walls, and what remains of the windows. Chugs gets himself free and manages not to fall, but still nearly gets sent out that way from the Queen's flailing. He's only just missed. Finds-His-Way isn't so lucky; as he goes to see where Reggie fell, he's smashed partly against the window frame and then shoved right out into open air.

Scar stiffens as his packmate goes out the window, eyes widening. Then, with savage snarl, he lunges at the Queen with the spear.

Full speed ahead! Wind In Her Words runs full on before leaping, claws first, at that human portion of the monster queen. ~I want an eye!~ she declares in her efforts.

Bridge Builder also is alarmed when the Bone Gnawer goes out the window, so much so that he very nearly loses control. Much like his packmate, he snarls with rage and unleashes that fury on the Queen.

With the spear in good hands, Squirrel tries to regain his feet. He doesn't get far when his shattered leg buckles beneath him and he lets out another sharp cry.

Hide is too deeply engrossed in what her teeth have seized upon to do much other than yank and tear at the flesh caught in her jaws, feeling the pull of the other Garou who have similar ideas and doing her best to plant her hands and feet down to tug in direct counter to their efforts, aiming to do as much visceral damage is possible.

Consumes-Shadows remains at the door, getting blood everywhere, but gets himself slowly but surely just a little closer. Close enough he can drag the talen dagger free. He spits a virulent oath and actual bloody saliva into the shadow of the Queen. ~Die, die and may Grandfather cast your bones to the wind.~ Then with a jerk of his hand he drives the dagger into the floor darkened by the monster's body.

Song-of-Ashes is struggling to get to Chugs and snatch his packmate's scruff in his jaws, dragging him back from the bring like an errant pup.

The dragging helps keep Chugs from heading outward, although his slipperiness may make him a little hard to keep hold of -- and probably adds to him ending up sliding down the inward side of the Queen once his weight is soundly pulled away from the outward directions. ~Thanks,~ he tells his packmate, barely audible while his body repairs itself, managing something brief but actually close to a grin for him. It disappears as he glances at the broken window where the others disappeared, and he aims himself toward the vulnerable-looking portion of the Queen as well. Is there room left for more folks to murder her? Let's find out.

The Garou of the Triquetral Accord, those who are still standing, and even some of those that aren't, converge on Queen Rancordiant. By the time Consumes-Shadow stabs the monster's shadow, there's little left of her human portion but bone and ragged muscle, and still she shrieks and flails as if he'd stabbed her flesh instead. And then Scar is there. Scar, with the remaining sliver of bone spear, which he drives into that muscle and bone and through the bottom of her jaw and, one presumes, perhaps even into her brain, because she shudders, jerks twice, and then lies still.

The room is foul-smelling sudden silence for a few moments before Finds-His-Way tumbles /upward/ and back through the window like a giant invisible hand tossed him, which given the ridiculousness of it all, appears to be /exactly/ what just happened.

Panting heavily, Rules Without Fear tugs the fang dagger out of the body of the creature that has gone still. Covered in blood and ichor, he stares down at the body, then to the rest of the gathered Garou. Tilting his chin upwards, he bellows out a loud anthem of victory as he thrusts his fetish upwards.

Mouse-Trap rolls to his feet and bolts towards Chugs and Watcher, throwing his arms about them tightly with emotion in his posture and actions. Is he crying? No. That's liquid pride. ~We did it.~ He grunts out in a wheezing breath.

Finds-His-Way lands with a squishy-roll that sounds an awful lot like someone throwing a wet lump of paper towel across the kitchen floor. He pushes himself up off the floor, his eyes wide, one paw held up with the other braced on his knees. ~The,~ he pants out. ~The building is on fire, and it isn't my fault!~

Wind-In-Her-Words looks down at the unmoving creature they all just wolfpacked. Then she looks to the others nearby before she'll move in to see if she can get that eye that she claimed she wanted.

Scar is distracted from the victory by the sight of his presumably-lost packmate being miraculously returned. His jaw slackens in almost comical astonishment for a moment. Then he grins, drops the broken spear, and lopes over to Slug, dropping back to hispo as he goes.

Pack> Scar, joyfully: ~You bastard! You're alive!~

Bridge Builder lets out a relieved huff as Finds His Way finds his way back into the room. Almost in time with Scar, he turns from the corpse of the Queen to check on his packmate's condiiton.

Pack> Bridge Builder floods the link with wordless relief.

Releasing her hold on the body as she feels it go still, though there's reason to believe the retreat is a reluctant one, Hide takes a couple steps back, miraculously unwounded in comparison to those that remain. She's not as quick to chant victory - which is apparently a good thing - her gaze going instead to Thane with apparent concern until Finds-His-Way, uh... finds his way back through the window? One ear quirks to the side in clear confusion, but what he says snaps her out of it. ~How many floors down?~

Consumes-Shadows lets the splintered bone dagger fall and carefully, slowly pulls himself back up just enough lean against the doorframe. ~Great. Renegade, probably.~ He mutters and digs his claws into the doorframe so he can start pulling himself upright. The hole that goes right through him isn't looking any better, most all of his lower half pretty well covered in blood. ~...everyone in one piece? We need to go.~

Squirrel pulls himself back toward the wall and leans against it. He watches the others, and from his expression, he seems mostly satisfied.

Song-of-Ashes doesn't leave Chugs' side as he moves to herd him back towards Mouse-Trap, tail wagging with relief at seeing them both well. At the Alpha's question and the returned Gnawer, the Uktena gives a nervous look around and his ears begin to slump when he notices his missing tribe elder. ~...Snakepatcher-rhya?~

Wind-In-Her-Words steps back from the corpse and looks back to the others. Time to go then, it seems. With a frown at the others, she moves quickly towards the doorway and that Alpha who is making an aweful mess of himself.

Mouse-Trap flicks his ears upwards. ~Where is Snakepatcher at?~ He echoes the younger Uktena. ~He went out the window first, right? Fuck. Is ... is he?~ He trails off as he lets go of his packmates and gazes to the windows.

Hide listens for the answers, but moves alongside Squirrel, looking over the ruined leg. ~Want some help getting out of here?~ she offers, quiet enough that it doesn't override anything being said, her own attention caught by Song-of-Ashes' nervous query.

Whatever happened to Reggie? The battle's well over and the Garou are preparing to go, when their party's joined by one more person. The unhandsome visage of Snakepatcher appears in the shattered window like a vision (perhaps more of a nightmare), and the hefty Uktena clambers into the room. He regards the Queen's corpse with ~Huh~, then addresses the others with ~The building's on fire~, echoing Slug's observation.

Scar glances 'round at the others, then looks at his packmates. ~Can you walk?~ he asks Slug.

Chugs-Mystery-Brew looks just a LITTLE disappointed at not getting in on that before the Queen's dealt with -- but hey, the Queen's dealt with! And then his not-quite-healed ribs are getting squeezed, and he gets yet another chance to be grateful for Resist Pain, with a fairly literally breathless laugh as he gingerly hugs back. ~See, toldja,~ he manages to say to his pack Alpha, and gives Ashes a ruffle before looking around again. And then... a Reggie! ~The hell'd you guys do that?~ he asks him and, presumably, Slug, but the reminder of the fire is distracting and he looks about, checking the status of everyone else.

Finds-His-Way takes a little while longer to get over the sensation of falling down and up again, holding up a paw with one clawed finger. A low groaning retch makes his stomach heave, then he stands upright and walks briskly, shakily, over to his sword. ~I think it is not Renegade. I think it is...~ he makes a face, pausing mid-sword to look at his Alpha, then the others. ~Friendly fire. But still, fire.~ He shakes himself out, sending little bits of ichor flying in every direction. He opens his mouth to say something, but the sound of Reggie's voice makes him go quiet with a smile. ~We were saved,~ he announces. ~An air spirit was attracted by all the fire, and caught us.~

Squirrel looks up at Monica, his expression a lupine verions of wry humor. ~That would be useful, thanks,~ he rumbles and lifts one hand with the other and holds it out toward her. ~Pull? I need to reset me shoulder, first.~

Slug waves a paw at Scar and rises, gesturing. ~Unhurt.~

The disembodied, feline-purr sound of Brings-the-Pack's voice briefly announces, "The building is on fire in the realm. I'm going to help get that under control and then help you all back down the way you came in. If I can't get it under control, I'll just help you back across. It's not as bad in the spirit world as it is in the realm. Someone grab me a piece of the Queen so it can be used against her sisters later?"

Wind-In-Her-Words holds up the eye that she recovered a moment earlier. ~Will this do?~ she questions. ~Was going to see if the bird wanted it.~

~Please do not give that to V-~ Finds-His-Way clears his throat, sets his jaw, and ammends, ~The bird.~ He looks up at the ceiling, then down at the floor. He snatches his shield off the ground and starts scratching something into the metal while he waits for the group to move out, concentrating.

Snakepatcher eyes the lumps of soft white flesh, shudders with a life-long hatred of jello, and instead attempts to wrench a leg off the queen. He braces a foot and wrenches. He braces both feet and wrenches. He coughs. ~Everyone line up and file out quietly to the place we came in. This is not a drill. The fire is real.~

"The head and one of the legs she used to impale people," the disembodied feline voice replies. "Excuse me. I need to tend to the fire." And then silence. At least there's no more speech from the air. The mage is probably no longer present in the room. Probably.

Scar shifts down to glabro form and goes to collect the head. ~You heard the man, people,~ the young-looking Philodox says, nodding toward Snakepatcher.

~Why shouldn't I give it to the bird? I thought they like these?~ Wind in Her Words asks with a frown. Well, if she can't give it to the bird, she has no use for it and tosses it back towards the corpse before moving with the rest.

~Could just take her whole head,~ Chugs suggests, ~That oughta do for 'bout anythin'.~ Though her head isn't entirely well-described by 'whole' after that final stabbing. Close enough, though. He stops as the voice agrees with him, and starts to go collect it -- but Scar's there first, and fiiiiine, he turns to file out as ordered.

Hide nearly misses the instruction given everything that's going on, but nonetheless keeps her focus on taking hold of Squirrel's hand in order to pull, careful with the angle and pressure so as to avoid making the poor guy's day even worse, which, arguably, it could be. See exhibit: Thane. ~It's no problem,~ is all that's said, otherwise. ~Now--~ a note of her own humor arising, ~you wanna lean, or make yourself smaller so you're easier to carry?~

Squirrel winces, teeth bared, as the dislocated shoulder is set, but then eyes Monica at her offer. He casts a glance around at the others before finally relenting, shifting into lupus, the easier to carry.

Snakepatcher bops Chugs in the shoulder, recruiting him to assist with dismembering a leg off the Queen. Dead or not, Queen's still tough.

(OOC) Brings-the-Pack says "Whenever you all get down to the entryway, BtP will be done getting the fire under control and can levitate people back to the rooftop they started from. Where he's still at and never left apparently. He'll collect the head and limb (if given when asked for) and then fly off."

(OOC) Sheogorath says "At about that point, floaty mc'handsandlegs will be sort've floaty dripping down to go see what all the ruckus is about. Apparently, it's hungry, 'cause it starts eating the fire elementals."

Hooray! Chugs is easily recruited for leg tug-of-war, joining in the plant-feet-and-wrench plan, and if that doesn't appear to be being as effective as hoped, looking for one of the joints in case that can be weakened and wrenched again. Either way, he's probably going to end up on his ass. But at least there will be leg!

(OOC) Thus, with the help of Brings-the-Pack, the victorious Garou escape the burning tower and go their separate ways to heal and recover. Salem, Kavi, and Slug head to WalkerHQ.

(OOC)Meanwhile, in the news:

Late Saturday night the local news channels were alive with breaking coverage of a massive fire at Queen's Tower, with hour by hour updates and traffic closures until the blaze was finally contained. In the morning, the news runs with the story that the police believe this was arson, and nearly all employees at the various businesses with offices in Queen's Tower have been given leave while evidence is collected and the total damage is assessed. City officials are noted as not believing that the damage is extensive enough that the building is structurally unsound. Members of The Queen Conglomerate, the consortium that owns Queen's Tower, were not available for comment.

The Hub: Main Floor

The main floor of 'the Hub' is a spacious, almost sprawling room, with a two-story high ceiling and a large loft that looks out over the room itself, accessed via a winding metal staircase set at the opposite end from the heavy security door. One side of the floor is completely open, with a bank of windows facing north and offering a brilliant view of the city, especially at night. The other side contains a series of doors and doorways that lead into other rooms, large and small. One is clearly a kitchen (a very nice large kitchen with its own island and eating area), one is a bathroom, and one a repurposed conference room with a smaller central table than likely existed before, and comfortable rolling chairs that have clearly been reclaimed from various goodwill sources. Other rooms serve as storage, with one standing out as a well maintained server room, from which the local Walker server, various databases, and hardware responsible for the block's free wifi can be accessed.

The open floor itself sports several areas clearly designated for various purposes, though none have been walled off from the rest in any real fashion. One contains a comfortable, beat-up couch and armchairs arranged in a semi-circle around a large flatscreen TV and coffee table, another is a bank of multiple computers, each with their own desk and office chair, while a third is a modest exercise area mostly consisting of an open space of floor covered in a cushioned mat and several free weights. A number of monitors have been mounted on the wall next to the security door; the largest displays the area immediately on the other side of the door, with another showing the interior of the private elevator. The third and largest is split into sections, with one section dedicated to the sub-basement, another to the roof, and the others switching routinely between various parts of the interior and exterior of Maxwell Tower.

Rina paces. She may have been drinking, just a little... only to take the edge off, really. There are the usual first-aid supplies ready, for those with injuries that won't heal immediately.

The triumphant heroes return! At least the members of pack Sagacity. Salem is back in homid, all five-foot-four of him, filthy with ick but otherwise unharmed.

Finds-His-Way comes walking in looking thoroughly exhausted and soaking wet with... slime? The sticky stuff clings to the Gnawer, matting his clothes, his hair, and pretty much everything north of his boots. His posture is slumped, deflated, tired from his marathon swimming session in the KY pool. Or something.

Kavi is right behind the philodox, and though there aren't any obvious injuries, he seems to be favoring his right side.

Relief floods Rina's expression as they come in, and she's tense until Kavi comes in. Then she's launching herself at him, hugging him tight first, then looking up at him as she frames his face with both hands. Searching, then stepping back to look him over. "Shift, you," she chides with entirely transparent irritation. Something else in Italian follows, an epithet.

Salem gives a crooked little grin at Rina and Kavi, then glances up at Slug. "You look like a man in need of a shower." Deadpan.

Slug rolls his shoulders, but he's so tired that it comes off more like he's trying to shrug a pea off his neck. "No," he says. "I am supposed to be like this. I am Slug."

Kavi winces at the hug, enough that it's obvious to the hugger that there's an injury there, so it's no surprise to him when she insists on the shift. He looks from the kin to Slug, and there's a hint of a smile at the humor there. It's a little less visible once he shifts to glabro, and the oversized teeth change the line of his jaw.

"Yeah, I know. I'll get back to you as soon as I know anything." It's Mouse's voice, upstairs, and moments later she can be seen near the loft's railing, coming from the master bedroom. There's a phone pressed to her ear, and her unnaturally colored eyes flick toward the others as she continues talking to whoever's on the other end. "...Which might be pretty soon. Keep me updated."

Rina snorts at the Gnawer. "Wasn't talkin'a *you*," she says. Then she gives Salem a small, closemouthed smile and goes over to hug him, smells and idk notwithstanding. "*You* should talk. Jesus tapdancin' Christ, what *is* that shit? Some kinda monster snot?"

"Giant woman-centipede-centaur ichor," says Salem, perfectly straight-faced.

"Mine is fish..." Slug reaches into his mind. What do you call that stuff on fish anyways? Is there a name for it, a specific name, or is it just... goo? He stops mid-sentence and stares off into space while thinking about that, looking a little Theurgy. "Shower," he says, just as he starts shuffling off.

Mouse thumbs the end call button and eyes Slug as he starts to wander. "Hose," she corrects. "Roof. There is no way in hell I'm cleaning whatever that is out of the shower drains." There's a beat, and she adds, "it's a glyco-protein secretion."

Mouse says "The fish slime, that is."

Kavi looks from Salem to Slug and then back to Rina, a brief look of concern cast in her direction.

Rina just raises both eyebrows at Salem. "All righty then," she says, equally deadpan. "Sounds like good times." She looks back over to Kavi, after that, assessing. "You want me to bind you up some?"

Salem's nose wrinkles at Mouse. "The man went out a window, you know," he says, waving a hand at Slug.

Slug meanders in a direction that may eventually lead to the roof, wobbling a little. He bumps into a wall near the corner and leaves about two-feet of shine glistening residue in his wake, which smells only a little like chum and seagull leavings blended into an industrial grease. He slides along and stumbles out of sight, heading onward, and presumably upward.

Mouse eyes the shine from afar before she answers Salem. "I wasn't sure if a play-by-play would have been better than what I was getting, and now I'm really definitely not sure about it. Did we lose anyone?"

Kavi shakes his head at Mouse's question, though he leaves the details to Salem. He reaches under his jacket to probe at the wound to his side, wincing again as he does, and then looks over to Rina. "I... It's not bad, but."

Rina rolls her eyes and gives Salem a look before glancing back to Kavi. "Use your words, caro. Yes or no?"

Salem drags fingers back through his hair, grimaces, then wipes his hand on the front of his shirt. "We had some close calls. Thane was impaled but survived... Reggie went out a window too, but the, ah, spirits helped him the way they helped Slug."

Mouse's eyebrows lift in unison. "Spirits?" Rather than press, however, she pockets her phone and starts down the stairs. "That was a family friend in New York," she says. "They've been monitoring the glyphs in the subway tunnels."

Rina looks over to Mouse, sharply.

Salem raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Kavi starts to answer Rina, though probably no more clearly than before, when his attention, too, is drawn to Mouse.

"They're dead," Mouse says. "The glyphs, I mean. There's no power to them at all. They're running checks on all the ones we know about to be sure."

"No shit." Salem scruffs at his hair again and starts toward the couch -- and then stops. "We should check the local ones."

Pack> Mouse feels cautiously...optimistic? Maybe? She's certainly holding it down.

Rina frowns, and nods to Salem. "Need a Theurge, yeah?"

"The ones that... That provoked frenzies?" Kavi asks, and he steps close to Rina's side. It's an unconscious movement, as is the way he reaches for her hand when he's near.

Mouse eyes Salem this time, and then points at the couch. "I can handle that. But yeah, those ones. They're just paint on a wall right now. One of those tunnel glyphs got two of us killed the first time we ran into them, but now there's apparently nothing. He was going to try to network with people in LA to check there too, but it'll be at least a few hours."

Rina lets Kavi's larger hand envelop hers. "I'd do our, if I could. Any chance someone could pull some kinda mojo talisman thing out their ass?"

Salem shakes his head a little, looking bemused, and -- since Mouse doesn't seem to mind -- flops his ichory self down onto the couch, all that keyed-up post-battle energy suddenly leaking away. "Hmm."

"Does that mean..." Kavi starts, and then pauses, expression twisting as he searches for the words he wants. "The queen was powering them? How... How would that work?"

Mouse shakes her head as well. "Fresh out," she says to Rina, and then to Kavi, "I don't know. If she was, why would the ones in New York be down?"

Rina gives Kavi's hand a small squeeze.

Salem picks idly at his grimy t-shirt and stifles a yawn. "Good... good fucking question." He pulls himself to his feet. "Shower," he says decisively and heads upstairs.