Fighting Weaverthings

[hazlogs]

[10/27/97]
Brightspot casts a look at Hershey, I have learned to fight! Then the cub 
  amends, Some, anyway. She jumps back up to her paws at the call.

Wears-Coyote hurfs in annoyance. This one is not even supposed to be here.

Hershey springs to her feet, immediately alert, turning toward Shows-the-Way.

Shows-the-Way says, ~They travel quite the straight track, North to South, 
  headed directly here.~

Dusty frowns, obviously concerned. "I thought it wasn't safe during the 
  shallow moons."
Dusty looks up as Shows-the-Way appears, and quickly unslings the guitar from 
  his back, setting it gently on the ground. By his expression, he doesn't 
  need to be shown twice.

Shows-the-Way dances from paw to paw to paw. ~Safety is relative. The men have 
  weapons I have no idea about.~

Brightspot's hackles start raising, clump by clump, giving her a prikly look. 
  She turns questioning eyes to Otter.

Moon Otter amends: Or it could be a moot point. He looks to the Fianna cub. 
  Stay close to this one.

Quiet growls, her ruff raising. She glances around and then barks out quick 
  orders. Moon Otter, Bright Spot, stay here to guard. She glances around and 
  then adds, Hershey, stay with them. We will need one other good fighter on 
  this side, in case it is a double attack. Others, come if you will defend 
  your caern.

Dusty doesn't need to be asked twice. Already he is moving for the pool, 
  although he waits for Quiet before actually reaching.

Hershey whines in frustration and sits her rump down, ears flattened.

Wears-Coyote contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Wears-Coyote shifts into Glabro form.

Brightspot is quick to indicate agreement to both of the senior Garou. She 
  stays close to Otter, though far enough away to not be under foot.

Shows-the-Way says, ~Someone who's voice carries call for Thunder's Claws. He 
  often guards here, and does a damn fine job. If he is around.~

Quiet does a head-count of who's left and says tersely, Shows-the-Way, how 
  many?

Shows-the-Way says, ~Three Spiders, the ones usually in the city. Two humans? 
  in unfamiliar clothes, with unfamiliar weapons. Even to me.~

Quiet flattens her ears. Too many. She countermands her own orders. Hershey, 
  come with us. Moon Otter, call for others to come to defend. Then the 
  theurge steps across.
Quiet's eyes stop on her reflection in the pool at the base of the waterfall.
Quiet gazes into the pool at the base of the waterfall, and suddenly she 
  vanishes.
Quiet has left.

Shows-the-Way dances from foot to foot, then catches his gaze quickly.
Shows-the-Way's eyes stop on his reflection in the pool at the base of the 
  waterfall.

Hershey springs to her feet in an instant and bounds forward to join the 
  defenders.
You start to reach through the umbra.

Hershey's eyes stop on her reflection in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

Shows-the-Way gazes into the pool at the base of the waterfall, and suddenly 
  he vanishes.
Shows-the-Way has left.

Dusty's eyes stop on his reflection in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

The landscape shimmers in a myriad of colors, and you are through.
Hershey gazes into the pool at the base of the waterfall, and suddenly she 
  vanishes.

Umbra: Center of the Caern
The expanse of grass up and down the valley becomes much thicker here, a 
  circular plush carpet of deep green fibers. Lunes dance wildly in the air, 
  especially around the perimeter of the circle, and water sprites leap from 
  the cliff's edge to the southeast down to the valley floor, giggling the 
  whole way. An omnipresent light mist fills the umbral caern, not fully 
  obscuring vision but blurring more distant objects. In the center of the 
  circle is a large white boulder, with crystals on it glimmering with 
  reflected light of the lunes. Etched into the boulder is the wandering glyph 
  of the Wyld.
The air here is charged, and seems to tingle. Even the least perceptive can 
  feel the presence of this place, sense the strength here. Power reverberates 
  through the Earth's shell like the sound of distant thunder, rumbling so 
  deeply it must be felt rather than heard.

Shows-the-Way chuffs quietly that he can flank them again. They're going so 
  straight, they did not notice me on the way in. And they face THIS way. Even 
  Dancers, or Umbra travelling Formor, dislike having their hamstrings ripped 
  out.

Hershey whurfs. Yeah, dude, but do they _burn_?

Quiet says tersely that just because something looks human does not mean it 
  is. But the pattern spiders alone will be a sufficient problem.

Shows-the-Way hesitates a moment. Then finally admits that he may be in error, 
  of course. There was NO smell of the Enemy. Although Weaver can be enough 
  menace, yes?

Dusty is quiet as he listens to the exchange. He shifts to his wolf form, the 
  better to scan the distance with.
Dusty contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Dusty shifts into Lupus form.

Hershey dances from paw to paw, then shifts upwards, her body taking her breed 
  form easily. She bares her teeth. ~_Dude_. I can create fire. Ya gonna let 
  me burn 'em or what? See how well they shoot with burning heads.~
You have shifted to Crinos form.

Quiet says it is so..especially if what was still draws them. She glances 
  around in the flickering half-light of the thin moon and the dancing lunes 
  and says, I do not know if any of you have fought pattern spiders before. 
  They attempt to bind you in place. We are not so many that we can break the 
  ones that get bound out. Try to strike and retreat, and keep moving so you 
  are not so bound. A dead spirit binds nothing, but neither does a bound 
  Garou kill spirits. That said, she shifts into the quicker of the warforms.

Quiet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Quiet shifts into Hispo form.

Shows-the-Way contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Shows-the-Way shifts into Hispo form.
Shows-the-Way looms larger, following Quiet's lead.

Deep-Fires follows suit as well, his wolf form doing little to hide his 
  edginess just before battle.
Deep-Fires contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Deep-Fires shifts into Hispo form.

Hershey hunkers low, almost to all fours, her muzzle wrinkled up into a snarl, 
  her tongue darting in and out. The Bone Gnawer all but quivers with 
  eagerness, but manages to shift a step downward to match the others.
Hershey contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Hispo form.

Shows-the-Way follows as you would have it, Moon-Laughs-Quiet-rhya? Do you 
  have a battle plan, or should we craft a quick one beyond strike and retreat?

Quiet takes a moment of concentration, her tail flickering. She growls and 
  then her tail stills. A warm glow surrounds her fur, playing within the dark 
  shadow that always clings to the daughter of Uktena. She says, ~I will try 
  to enage two of the spiders on each other. Attack two on one when possible. 
  Most of us were not made to take out spirits in single combat. 
  Shows-the-Way, lead us to intercept them. If they have charms we don't know 
  of, they could harm the caern.~

Hershey shifts her weight from paw to paw still, panting slightly.

Shows-the-Way ducks his head and lopes off into the dimness of the night, 
  aiming to pass back along the track he made on his rush into the caern.

Shows-the-Way leaves the caern clearing for the woods to the north.
Shows-the-Way has left.

Quiet leaves the caern clearing for the woods to the north.
Quiet has left.

You cross the caern to the opening in the trees and walk down the path. After 
  a short while, you come out into another, much smaller clearing.
Umbra: Light Woods
These sparse woods stretch away, north of the place of power that is the 
  Caern, hemmed in on the west and north by unsubtle swaths of decaying, 
  web-covered grey that denote roads in the Realm. The entire area, all 
  around, is a vivid reflection of the physical world: colors are brighter, 
  scents are sharper, sensations more crisp. The trees reach upwards, 
  impossibly high, towards the heavens, while the airts of various animal 
  spirits wind crazily through the undergrowth; the land is replete with life, 
  a place where Spirit and Realm are still close together.
A number of landmarks punctuate the woods: a massive thrust of bright, almost 
  crystalline rock that juts upwards, out of a clearing, like a shoulder of 
  the earth; a pair of giant arcs of bone that glisten with fresh blood, 
  between which hangs a luminous bundle of ephemera; a bright clearing, 
  beneath a broad, steep cliff, across which wind spirits dance incessantly. 
  Faint pathways lead off in three directions.

The group travels northward at a good pace, eating up distance to attempt to 
  intercept the intruders as far from the heart of the Caern as possible. They 
  travel for a little under a mile, still deep enough on the heart of the bawn 
  that most things avoid the place, when they the lead Garou finally catch a 
  whiff of the incoming.

Quiet says she feels something. Ware.

Hershey matches her pace with the others. She glances at Quiet in silent 
  acknowledgement and lifts her muzzle, scenting the umbral air.

The wind isn't helping much tonight, and by the time everyone can smell the 
  approaching quintet through the rain, the two Garou up front can already 
  make out their forms: two humanoid and three arachnid.

Currently the moon is in the waning Crescent Moon phase (23% full).

Hershey squints in the gloom of knife-moon Umbra, her wet balck nose working 
  almost incessantly, her shaggy ears pushed forward. Since it seems that 
  Quiet and Paul have teamed up, she slips over next to Dusty.

Shows-the-Way's tail goes out stiff behind him, almost silently chuffing that 
  he sees them. Attempting to put his earlier idea into motion, he motions 
  with his head to the side, trying to sign that he intends to flank and 
  attack from the rear as he'd said before.

Deep-Fires turns his head towards Hershey, but doesn't appear to object, more 
  of his attention on the incoming company.

Quiet mirrors Paul, but doesn't follow. It's more as if she is angling to 
  attempt a frontal on the same side he's attempting to flank.

Hershey's ears flatten a little at the ideaof a rear attack. Squinting, using 
  her nose as much as - more than - her eyes, she does her best to focus on 
  one of the humanoid figures, her hackles rising.

Deep-Fires quietly follows Paul's lead, attempting to flank them on the other 
  side in much the same way as Paul is. By all appearances, he's merely 
  imitating rather than by any true knowledge of what he's doing.

Iustus stands in the forest somewhat to the south, quietly watching for now, 
  horn gleaming very slightly in the moonlight.
This is a powerfully built black unicorn, the only color on his fur being his 
  red socks on his hind legs. His eyes are a peaceful yet somewhat chilling 
  ice blue and his horn a beautiful spiral of opalescence ending in a sharp 
  point. He's not quite threatening, but he's definitely not a focal point of 
  sweetness and light, either.

Shows-the-Way keeps his head low, his eyes on his movements and his ears and 
  nose to tell him if the foe swerves his way abruptly.

The group continues southward, ignoring the Garou around them. As the various 
  Garou being flanking and prepare to attack, one of the two humans suddenly 
  lights up in flame, a flame that's kept small by the rain, but which 
  nonetheless serves to draw their attention. The three spiders are obviously 
  surprised by the attack and pause, but the two humanoids show no such 
  hesitation. The one that's on fire turns and immediately takes aim at 
  Hershey while another shoots for the Garou on her side.

Shows-the-Way takes this as a cue and immediate turns inwards to start his 
  (hopefully) silent rush. Rage lending him what he needs to make the strike 
  tell, and quickly.

Hershey breaks her concentration immediately and scrambles off to one side, 
  trying to avoid retaliation.

Deep-Fires lets out a sound that would be a startled yip in a smaller creature 
  and ducks low, also trying to avoid the death that flies with the Umbral 
  wind.

Quiet flattens a little at the gunfire, surprised, but she recovers with her 
  usual quickness. She fixes her gaze on the nearest pattern spider, which 
  happens to be mottled in a swirling grey fractal pattern that crawls next to 
  a spider done in shiny black. She draws herself up again and raises her tail 
  dominantly. Her voice cracks out with command. *You, attack the black 
  spider.*

The Bone Gnawer narrowly manages to avoid the blast coming at her by throwing 
  herself to the ground. The smell of ozone fills the air and for a moment the 
  Umbra is lit up brighter than even the full moon. Deep-Fires manages to 
  avoid whatever was fired at him as well, though the projectiles of this 
  weapon have a much less impresive visual effect. At Quiet's command, one of 
  the two spirits turns on the other and the pair begin biting at each other, 
  threads spilling from their abdomens. Shows-The-Way rushes in and delivers a 
  quick claw-strike to the hamstring of the one with the larger weapon, and 
  then darts back out again, and the human's leg collapses beneath him. He 
  drops to one knee, head turning autmatically to track his attacker.

Staying low to the ground, Deep-Fires begins to creep forward, though much 
  slower than he should be, looking for an opening to jump in from behind.

Shows-the-Way pivots smoothly for his bulk, moving to pass the second 'human' 
  on the far side of his first target. Slashing out with a paw again for the 
  leg, he strives to stop and do a sudden reversal with the quickness of 
  practice in unconventional moves. If he's not trying to avoid followup fire 
  from one or both of the weaponbearers he must be auditioning for a circus 
  act.

Hershey pauses to take a breath, nerves jamgling with gleeful adrenaline at 
  the near-miss.

Quiet switches her attention to the third spider, whose skin flashes a sickly 
  neon green when the thin moonlight touches it. Her posture is similar, and 
  her voice again carries the force of her moon. *You, attack the black 
  spider.*

Hershey pushes forward, keeping low this time. Temporarily tossing Honor to 
  the winds - but in face of heavy firepower stocking up on Wisdom - she 
  circles around behind to see if she can make a rear attack, with teeth.

The second spider joins its brother in binding the black one, effectively 
  neutralizing that threat. The two humanoids provide a much larger threat, 
  however, as their coordination becomes apparent. As Seeks-The-Truth closes 
  on the one with the huge gun, the second of the pair fires on him while 
  still looking at Dusty. The shot hits and the Strider falters, his claws 
  raking ineffectually against the armor that protects the intruders. Dusty 
  and Hershey close in for the kill, Hershey getting there more quickly than 
  her drugged companion and sinking her teeth into the leg of the second 
  humanoid. He turns and fires at her point blank, and the Gnawer slumps to 
  the ground, unconscious. Deep-Fires arrives as the second shot goes off, 
  shredding the thing's armor and drawing blood.

Shows-the-Way stumbles, stumbles, doesn't quite fall. Pained whimpers sounding 
  from him without any real force, the huge jackal strikes not for the 
  humanoid creature but for its weapon. Using all his mass, and what remains 
  of his coordination under the pounding of the poison in his veins he tries 
  to simply knock the closest bringer of death out of the armored hands.

Deep-Fires seems similarly afflicted, flinging his whole mass, teeth bared, at 
  the other humanoid in a last ditch effort to tear out his throat. The 
  movement shows very little of skill or finesse, only desperation and dogged 
  clinging to what is left of his motor control.

Quiet takes a moment to take stock, bringing her gaze on the humanoid that the 
  Strider attacks. She narrows her eyes in concentration, body held low to the 
  ground.

Hershey lies there on the ground doing her Garou rug impression, out cold.

The larger gun comes up, aimed for Quiet. Just as it fires, Shows-The-Way 
  knocks it aside, perhaps saving the Child of Gaia from a very nasty sunburn. 
  The blast strikes the ground about five feet away, blow a crater over two 
  feet deep in the earth. Deep-Fires lunges for his attacker as he swings his 
  smaller gun around and manages to bite through the armor to the man's 
  shoulder, drawing blood. Two more shots, however, and the Galliard joins 
  Hershey on the ground in a drugged stupor. The two spiders finish binding 
  the black one to the ground and turn again to face the Garou. About twenty 
  yards to the south, Peacekeeper comes loping through the rain.

Shows-the-Way locks his jaws on the weapon with grim determination and flings 
  himself backwards even as his form flickers higher. Crinos, rearing upwards 
  on two legs. Using jaws and arms and leverage to not just keep hold of the 
  huge weapon but either remove it from the enemy's grasp or whiplash him 
  overhead by it as the Strider falls to his back in a 'suicide' takedown.
Shows-the-Way contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Shows-the-Way shifts into Crinos form.

Peacekeeper, glowing with a faint white light, lopes up from the south, not 
  even stopping to entirely take in the situation as he continues charging 
  towards the attackers, rushing towards the spider on the left. He blurs 
  past, and leaps at it, teeth bared.

Quiet keeps herself low. Seeing the two Garou on the humanoid with the smaller 
  gun fall but not seeing Peacekeeper behind her, and seeing both spirits turn 
  on the one that commanded them, she spends the command gift again with 
  reckless abandon for her reserve of will. Focusing on the neon green spider, 
  she commands, *You, attack the grey one!*

The one with the big gun is flung overhead as Seshemw pulls on the gun, which 
  is physically attached to his arm. Somewhere in the arc he disattaches the 
  weapon and sails through the air a dozen yards before crashing into a tree. 
  The two Pattern Spiders turn as one toward Quiet and begin advancing. The 
  Theurge's command stops the green one and he turns on his companion. The 
  second humanoid, with two Garou passed out at his feet, turns and fires on 
  Quiet. Peacekeeper closes the distance after the command is given to the 
  spirits, and attacks the grey spider as well. A second shot comes from the 
  smaller gun, and the Theurge joins the growing number of Garou on the ground.

Hershey pages all: Yep, Rupert, it looks like we got ourselfs a _gooooooood_ 
  ol' crop o' critters tonight. Yee-haw!

Peacekeeper, seeing the grey spider engaged with the other spider, takes the 
  opportunity afforded by its distraction to leap towards the humanoid that 
  just shot at Quiet, snarling with rage as he leaps and attacks in a blur of 
  anger.

Seshemw rolls heavily to all fours, long 'rifle' dragging from his jaws on the 
  ground, and lopes unevenly to flank the remaining weapon wielder.

Peacekeeper lunges, long strides closing the distance between him and the 
  remaining gunman. Even Luna's gifts only go so far, however, and just as he 
  gets close, a hole opens up in the Gauntlet and the man disappears through 
  it, taking one of the unconscious Garou with him. Unseen behind Seshemw, his 
  partner performs a similar feat, sans Garou.

Seshemw spits out his weapon. ~Faugh!~ he spits unsteadily, and eyes the 
  struggling spider spirits.

Peacekeeper curses, then turns to take out whichever spider remains after 
  their fight, keeping it off the remaining unconscious Garou.

Hershey remains nicely oblivious and quite unconscious.

The hole closes up again a moment later. The two remaining Garou have little 
  trouble defeating the victorious Spider, and even killing the two bound ones 
  if they so choose.

Seshemw slumps over to the side of one of the bound spiders and spits again, 
  rifle dragging from a paw now. *Where do the others return to?*

Quiet is also sprawled, limp, on the ground. There isn't a mark on her, but 
  she sleeps like the dead.

The spider responds as well as it can through its binding. *They return to 
  their nest.*

Seshemw seems to look faintly surprised that he's answered at all. *Is the 
  nest to the north?*

Peacekeeper shifts into homid, a form in which he seems to be more comfortable 
  conversing, and asks politely, *Which way from here is their nest?*

Seshemw nudges an unconscious Hershey with a foot.

Seshemw ducks his head and sidles away from the spirit to allow the Athro his 
  questions.

*Affirmative,* comes the response in the spider's chittering language. To 
  Robert, it replies, *Fourty-two thousand lengths.*

Hershey opens her eyes and makes a vague canine gurgling noise, but otherwise 
  doesn't move.

Robert considers for a moment, then asks the spider, *Must you return to them, 
  or can you go your own way now?*

The spider seems honestly puzzled by this question. *Cooperation facilitates 
  binding.*

Robert mutters something in French to himself, the rephrases the question, *If 
  you are released, will you return to their lair, or will you go back to the 
  city, and more of your kind?*

This time the answer comes more quickly. *This unit will return to where the 
  need is greatest.*

Hershey closes her eyes again.