Kevin's Watch

Seska holds her arm out of Sabine to hop on.

"Where do you think you are going, young miss? Proper puppies, and birdies, of nobles do not go taking off on their own. I know you think you can wander about safely now, however given what we have learned in recent nights, there may be worse things we have yet to find we have yet to know about." She wags her finger negatively. "Until we understand more about the wonders we are being awakened to, I would prefer we not go wandering off alone."

I fly up to Seska's hand. I head-butt her arm. It's a doggie gesture, not a birdie gesture.

squawk?

"No, you really should not go alone. Take someone with you if you must."

I turn into a doggie. [Protean 4] I jump to the ground at Seska's feet. I walk over to Alina and I bump into her lightly with my shoulder.

Bark!

I take a few steps towards the road. I turn back and look at Alina.

Bark! Bark!

"I've spoken my peace to it's carrion. But I will not help it's body not get what it deserves..."

Sabine, what?

Having never seen the puppy become birdie, I blink a few times in confusion.

Hearing Seska discussing running off alone with Sabine, and her replies, completely beyond my ken...

"Lady Seska, Alina wishes to do some sort of burial for Judas inside. I have no stomach to partake of helping it to it's final rest. Mayhap, I shall assist Sabine in her...playtime?"

You're not much old man in a fight. Well, you can become something that is good in a fight, but, this might be a good time to interrogate them, in private. For their knowledge.

"If you'd like, I can try to help her with the more, ah, formal education she's lacking. As a little girl, not as her Puppy and Hawk skins. It is what I do."

After what she's probably heard, that isn't very reassuring Taduz.

"In the manner of my employment, my personal feelings will not tinge her education. By the book, I think they call it."

Seska looks about, "What happens to them does not concern me, however we do not have time for a burial. We should have already had our story in order and be heading towards the inn."

"If Sabine is okay with you going, Taduz, that is fine. She can be fickle though."

"I, also, would go with Sabine. I find her shape changes intriguing, as well as her gift for bespeaking animals....will you let me go with you?" I smile, and look expectantly at her.

"You may wish me to accompany you so you can stay in animal shape and still communicate with one of us. Yet I will stay here and see to the remains of this scum, " Alína says verbally to the dog looking at her from the road, without reaching out with her mind. "Gediminas should also be able to talk to you in the same manner. I will ask him to be your interpreter; then I must see to either the burial or cremation while you lead everyone interested in going with you to the others."

Heading in to the Inn, the Jewess walks over to Gedeminas. "Sabine is back in dog form, although initially she was a hawk again. She implied she knows where two others are. "Other what," I have no idea; but she seemed to want me to accompany her, probably so she could communicate with one of us. Go see if you and she can also talk while she is in these forms. I will stay here and see to the body."

Gedeminas nods, then walks over to Sabine. Speaking aloud, he says, "Taduz, I understand that you wish to teach her some things, and I would enjoy that as well, but, I also like the idea of having her meet my horses, especially as it may be possible for us to learn the language she uses to speak with them.
"...Also, Sabine, what other forms can you take? Could you, for instance, become a horse? Or something more unusual, like a lion?"

[ooc]Activate Auspex 4, and tell Danukas to help Alina bury Jozie as I talk to Taduz. Then, use Auspex 4 on Sabine, and say the exact same thing as I do to her aloud, and continue using it so that she can respond.[/ooc]

Alína nods as Gedeminas instructs Danukas to help her with the body, then turns her gaze on the other two ghouls. Addressing Danukas, she turns her voice to honey and puts on her most beguiling smile as she again requests their aide, "It looks like we must delay leaving for a little while, so the others may follow the child. With the three of you, and the enhanced abilities you each have, I am sure a grave could be dug deeply quickly enough to lay this man properly in the ground. Then refill the grave so as not to leave much trace.

"Let us not postpone this duty any longer and begin."

Roderigo sits back down at the table, with an exaggerated sigh.

Danukas simply gets up, picks up the body, and heads out into the courtyard. He gets a shovel (the same one used to dig Dante's grave), and carries both of them outside the village a bit.

"I don't know how Christians bury their dead. Does he need more than just a hole in the ground?" He shrugs and starts digging.

After he goes, Bojan comes outside as well. He looks around and doesn't see Joszi, then heads back inside. A few minutes later, he and Vida return. To Seska, she says "Then you'll be off, soon?" with much hesitation. She's clearly not talking about what's bothering her.

Danukas continues digging, and eventually gets a hole of decent depth. He tosses the body in, then starts burying it again.

I look from Alina to Taduz to Gedeminas to Olaf to Seska to Danukas to Bojan to Vida.

I snort. I think, You all make things complicated. Then I turn and run down the road.

I stop and wait for everybody to catch up. Over and over. I think, Too slow! Bark!

["Hurry! Timmy fell down the well!]

The healer follows Danukas, and stands nearby as he buries Jozsi. As the body is placed in to the grave, she attempts to answer his question regarding religious rites. "I am sure there are some; his religion is supposedly based upon mine. But that is more than even I am willing to do for him.

"A pauper's grave he earned, and a pauper's grave...unmarked, forgotten, he shall have."

When the grave is filled back in, the Jewess thanks Gedeminas' man, then attempts to spread brush and sod over the freshly dug earth. The less chance anyone should notice this is here, the sooner the incident is forgotten.

Seska lets out an exasperated sigh. Shouting through the window, "Pierre, see to the body with the others. Roderigo, get them moving. Our retainers can see to the burial of a bandit."

[4 Blood to Dex]

She sprints to the stabled horses to the stall of one of her carriage pullers while Taduz, Olaf, and Gedeminas begin following Sabine. Her time with the horses and inoffensive scent lets her quickly fit a simple bit and reins. She does not bother with a saddle, hoping her years of training and the short ride will suffice.

Using the side of the stall to vault the horse, she rides it through the small crowd pursuing the dog. Her accent becomes a little difficult to understand as her Slavik becomes mixed with her native Slovene in her haste, "Return to the carriage and move to the inn. There is no time for moonlit strolls. You dally about while our existences are on the line. We shall meet you there."

With that she whips the reins and urges the horse to follow Sabine towards the creek and to leave the hikers behind.

Bark!

I run ahead. I go all the way to the cave.

[Raise strength to max.]

Seska's mount keeps up easily with Sabine for the length of the road. When the girl-turned-dog leaves the road to follow the stream, the horse is forced to slow down slightly to avoid injury on the wet rocks. Though the moon is nearly full and the sky is clear, walking up a hillside stream at night is still risky.

Sabine crests some rocks to get to the flat area where the pool is. Across the pool is a rock cliff with a small waterfall. Next to that is the black opening of a cave. Rising from the cave is a small trickle of smoke, though no light from a campfire is visible in the cave's mouth.

[I'll give Sabine two rounds before Seska arrives.]

I run around the pool. I go into the cave as fast as I can.

As soon as I see a person, I attack. I willingly frenzy.

[Seska and Sabine told me their plans, so I'm just narrating it all. Plus, Sabine is frenzied, so I can zip through this.]

Round 1

Inside the cave, around a bend that hides the fire's light, there are two men huddled close to a small blaze. They're angled so that they're both facing towards the entrance.

Neither man notices Sabine's approach. [No dodge.] She races at the one on the right (I picked randomly), and attacks with claws and teeth (split dice pool). [Bite: 5 aggravated damage. Claws: 5 aggravated damage.]

Round 2

Sabine has initiative. She drops the body of the first man and lunges for the second one. He dodges, just barely avoiding her teeth.

Round 3

Seska arrives at the pool. She hears a man's voice screaming from the mouth of the cave. Trying to keep her horse quiet in the water, she moves over to the entrance.

Sabine again lunges at the man. It's a less accurate attack, but the man is so scared at the sight of a slavering dog with glowing red eyes that he fails to move at all. She scores a solid hit to his shoulder, and bites down hard. [Bite: 5 aggravated damage.]

Round 4

Seska dismounts at the cave mouth, and slowly enters the dark hole. She rounds the bend and sees Sabine attached to the remaining briggand next to the fire.

Sabine begins to drain blood from the man, still in frenzy but not seeing any other targets. (Seska is behind her.) [Sabine gains 3 blood.]

Round 5

Seska is surprised that the first man is already dead. Not knowing that Sabine is frenzied, she moves forward and begins to feed from the corpse. [Seska gains 4 blood.]

Sabine begins to come out of frenzy, since she's not fighting (and feeding). She hear's Seska, but continues to attack (feed from) her current target. [Two successes on self-control roll. Sabine gains 3 more blood.]

Round 6

[Seska gains one last blood.]

[Two successes on self-control. Sabine gains 3 more blood.]

Round 7

[Final success on self-control. Sabine gains 1 final blood.] The brigand finally dies of blood loss, just as Sabine comes to her senses. She can feel the pumping of his blood into her mouth, and then there's one final spurt before his body falls limp. Realizing that she's just killed two people in cold blood, Sabine is struck by the horror of her actions. [Sabine loses one humanity.]

[Sabine gains an animal feature.]

Seska retracts her tongue and looks about at the carnage Sabine has wrought. What meager possessions the bandits had lie coated in their own blood. Seska shakes her head in sadness, that men would be forced to this kind of existence, as well as this kind of end.

She stares at Sabine, her tail wagging happily for ending the threat to her friends She seemed to have no second thoughts about letting her Beast out. Maybe even relished it as much as she does taking her many forms. And this worried Seska perhaps even more. At least the men had some choice. Was Sabine ever old enough to understand why life is not something to be casually taken?

Should she worry for herself that she was willing to feed on the recently deceased merely because it was convenient? Sure it would have gone to waste, but does that make it right?

"They are a threat no longer, so let's leave them to the wild and be off."

Seska leads her horse to an incline where she can mount it more easily. Looking down at the dog she asks, "Sabine, could you shift back to a girl, and ride with me, please?" She gives a pouty whine, but complies. Seska helps lift her up to sit side-saddle in front of her.

With less urgency than they came here, she turns the horse towards the inn where the Conspirators are staying. "Hopefully Roderigo will have them underway already. Whatever happens, let's just stick to you ran off and I went after you, okay? No one needs to know the details, hmm?" She gives Sabine a sad smile.

Becoming annoyed at the way Sabine and Seska left them behind, and very slightly concerned for their safety, Gedeminas decides to go and watch over them. Realizing that he cannot keep up with them physically, he goes into his wagon (not the carriage), locks the door, lies on the bed, and then follows them in spirit form.

[ooc]Auspex 5, please[/ooc]

Having recovered from his horror enough to act by the time Seska and Sabine are on the horse together, he reaches out to contact Seska, and thinks Actually, the rest of us may need to know the details. She certainly does not deserve to be punished, but I would like to talk with both of you once you're back. [ooc]Auspex 4[/ooc]
He then returns to his body to check on how the burial is coming.