Vampire: Dark Ages (Vienna) - Chapter 1: Far from Vienna

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Scampering out of Wendell's packs, I chitter to him "This bears closer scrutiny, I shall return."

I scurry through the dead dogs trying to get closer but trying to stay out of sight, to hear what they have to say.

I sniff at bodies, for hints, clues, who did this, who were they, what did they do to each other, and most importantly...

Were any of my Brothers or Sisters involved?

[Goatkiller666]

Ekaterina rises and flourishes the spear at the mounted knights. One of them, a larger man with a pale complexion, flinches when he sees the spear. He quickly dismounts and kneels to Ekaterina, or perhaps the spear itself, next to his horse. Mauricio looks at him and asks, "What is it? Do you know her?"

"Niet. But I know the spear. In my tribe, that is akin to a Grand Klaive. Only the greatest carry one." To the one holding the spear, "I am Yefim, the Foe Hammer." He looks closer at Ekaterina, then tentatively asks "You do not look to be of the Silver Fangs. What is your name, and your lineage?"

Kaldrenzi drops from Wendell's bag and moves into the clearing unseen. His sense of smell doesn't detect anything of the ratkin, only dog and man. [Lacking Scent of the True Form, you cannot determine the race of a dead homid.]

The larger one of the two in kilts notices Sasha's dress. Or at least the part that's naked. He leers and gestures to the other kilted man to show him. The second looks, then immediately punches the first in the arm. "Idiot, look at the torc. Look at the sword. Show some respect to a kinswoman." To Sasha, he says in Gaelic, "I am Shamus O'Rourke, the Destroyer of Virtue. This is my idiot brother, Finn, the Destroyer of Evil." They do not bow, but their stances imply more respect. Finn continues trying to stare without being too obvious.

Yet another knight, this one younger, [Ekaterina recognizes his coat of arms as belonging to one of the Shadow Lord noble lines.] gasps. "Look to the Umbra."

"What is it?" asks Mauricio.

Majid curses in arabic, then says "It's gone. There is no spirit realm here." He runs across the clearing, back to where Wendell is, and tries again. Then he walks forward until he crosses the line between clearing and forest. "Just here, it stops."

[Sasha]

I'm tired of men staring at me like I'm food. I look at the corpses to find something to wear. Something that isn't all dirty.

I look into the Umbra too.

[Ekaterina]

I step solidly in the way of the two Irish louts ogling Sasha...I call upon all my charm and grace to make a proper first impression (OOC--Cha/Etiquette, slug a willpower at it, plus see if a Past Life roll can get me another die or two), "I am not a Silver Fang. My name is Ekaterina Ibarurri, I am a Galliard of the Shadow Lords, called Song-of-Shadows. I found this battlefield as you see it, and this one with no memory of what befell her. THAT one" spit upon the would-be rapist's corpse "was merely wounded, but when we sought to render aid, he sought to slake his lusts upon this unwilling one....so I throated him. The spear I found upon the field here. And if those two drunken bog-trotters don't keep their eyes off of her exposure, I'll take exception to their effrontry. Quickly."

--more in PM

[Goatkiller666]

Majid was right, the Umbra is simply gone within the clearing. Looking sideways does nothing, you continue to see this world instead.

Wendell huffs, then climbs down from his ass and walking over to Sasha takes off his long shirt. He holds it out to her, averting his eyes. "Here Miss. It's not fine, but it's clean. I think all you'll find on the bodies would at best smell like sweaty soldiers or wolf's musk."

Mauricio dismounts as well, and shoves the two Fianna away. "Louts, the both of you. All of us, in fact. A woman is standing there naked and scared, and you two do aught but stare. And the Gnawer is the one to offer her a clean shirt to cover up. Call yourself knights?"

[Wendell gains 1 temporary honor.]

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Scurry through bodies and such closer to Wendell, while listening to everything the garou are saying.

If this go poorly, I'm defending Wendell.

[Sasha]

I take the shirt from him. "My thanks."

I take off my wolfskin while I put on the shirt. I don't hide my nakedness, and I glare at the two Fianna.

When I'm dressed, I give Wendell a kiss on the cheek. "You're the only gentleman here."

I say to Mauricio, "You're too late for the battle."

[Goatkiller666]

Mauricio, in spite of his comments, also did not turn away from Sasha as she exposed herself to everybody, though Ekaterina managed to stand between the girl and the two celts. They both maintain steady looks with her, but otherwise don't react.

Mauricio asks, "If your protector arrived after the battle, what of you, fair lady? What do you know of this? And what's happened to the Umbra here? What could have managed all of this? Nobody must have survived this destruction, or someone would have carried that spear away."

Meanwhile, Wendell is still standing there, averting his gaze and blushing furiously from the kiss. The blush is more obvious because his shirt is off, and it extends across most of his chest.

[Ekaterina]

I pick up the sword Sasha dropped, before heading off. I'm keeping my eye on those Fianna, I don't trust them.

[Goatkiller666]

Mauricio waits for Sasha to answer, but she is silent.

He seems a little nervous. "Lady, what do you know of all this?" The rest of the pack picks up on his tone, and start to watch Sasha a little more closely.

"Destroyer of Evil" moves closer to Mauricio, but "Destroyer of Virtue" backs up a bit. After a few steps, he groans and then bends forward slightly. It's a sign of Mauricio's nervousness that his eyes don't leave Sasha. Most others turn towards the Fianna, however.

His eyes are mostly closed, and he wavers slightly on his feet. Then his eyes snap open, and his head snaps towards Sasha. With a roar, he shifts to crinos form and rushes at her.

[Ekaterina]

Shocked, I quickly shift to Glabro, more apt for battle, yet retaining human speech....I try to grab onto the deranged Fianna with one hand, the other pulling out the sword I picked up...."Stop! You degenerate ass! How dare you!"

[Sasha]

[Wha? Again?]

I move behind Ekaterina.

I draw my own sword.

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Seeing this is going to go poorly, [Shroud] between them while moving forwards to hide within it. Not engulfing either party, but in between.

[Goatkiller666]

[I'm summarizing some off-line discussion for this part between Ekaterina, Sasha, myself, and Kaldrenzi.]

The clearing is approximately circular, around 100' in diameter. The stream arrives in the north, goes around the western edge of the clearing, and exits to the south. The knights arrived in via the northern path (near the stream), where Wendell's ass is still standing. The rest of them are in the northern quad. "Destroyer of Virtue" backed to the edge of the clearing, on the east side.

Ekaterina and Sasha are on the far west side.

Kaldrenzi is midway between the northwest edge and the center. When "Destroyer of Virtue" runs across the clearing, and Kaldrenzi creates the Shroud, it's a 25' inky blob in the center of the clearing. Kaldrenzi and Destroyer enter the circle from opposite sides. Ekaterina runs towards the circle as well. Ekaterina enters the Shroud, and hears "Destroyer of Virtue" fall to the ground and curse. Virtue gets back up and begins heading southwest instead of west. Ekaterina moves slightly north, trying to listen to what's going on.

Virtue curses again, but doesn't fall. Ekaterina hears him growling at something. There's a sound of something small falling to Virtue's north, and he says "Whoever that is, I'll fuck you, too!" Ekaterina hears the sounds of Virtue moving towards her (towards the sound). "Is that you, bitch? Did you come in here for me?"

While this is happening, the knights outside the Shroud all turn towards the edge of the clearing, looking for more attackers. Majid calls out, "They cannot approach through the umbra, so guard the circle. Hold the line!" They take up defensive positions, but otherwise wait for an attack.

Sasha sees Ekaterina rush into the Shroud, and then circles to the south (away from the knights). When she hears Virtue's cursings, she gasps and backs away, almost to the southern edge of the clearing.

[Ekaterina]

one hand reaching out to try and feel the rapacious male, the other holding the sword at ready....once i touch him, slash with the sword.

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

"Whoever that is, I'll fuck you, too!"

Draw one of my many daggers, move towards/behind Ekaterina, once she has him engaged in combat, throw it at the degenerate dog.

[Shadow Throw]

[Sasha]

I don't know what's happening, so I just stay back and be prepared.

[Goatkiller666]

[Ekaterina: touching him is one action, using the sword is another. I'll handle both now, but Kaldrenzi's action goes off between them.]

Destroyer of Virtue continues to move towards Ekaterina in the dark, and when his nose touches her hand, he howls in pain and surprise, falling flat on the ground. "Who did that? I'll kill you!"

Some of the other knights, not seeing any attackers outside the clearing turn towards the darkness. Mauricio continues to watch Sasha closely.

Kaldrenzi throws his dagger, which flies straight into his back, sliding between two ribs, though nicking one of them on the way by. Virtue screams again, this time in wordless pain and rage.

[Virtue frenzies. Impressively so.[/i]]

He hops back up onto all fours and scrabbles forward feeling for an enemy. In his frenzied state, still blinded by the darkness, he feels one of the corpses on the grounds and climbs atop it. At first he starts to bite it, but he brushed his engorged member against it as he lunges, and he starts to just hump the corpse in the darkness, clumsily but loudly.

Ekaterina is still standing right there as this happens, and hear's him scrabbling around in front of her, so she slashes downwards with her new sword, feeling it impact flesh but slide smoothly in. Smoother than she would expect a sword to do, even. Virtue doesn't even seem to notice the cut, which neatly severed his spine between his shoulder blades. He feels no pain, but he also no longer feels pleasure, and then falls to the ground. His quiet grunts of pleasure turn into louder grunts of frustration.

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Dart forward, grab my dagger, and shift to Rodens form.

Once I am safely hidden, remove shroud.

Let them see what their "Packmate" is doing to a corpse.

[Infamy: Driving a gaia garou into thrall of the wyrm and letting it's pack see it. Excitable dogs.]

[Cunning: The sneaky stuffs, like shrouding to goad a gaia garou, turning it towards Ekatarina, and doing it all unseen/undetected leaving Ekatarina to take the blame. Blind dogs.]

[Obligation: As a Knife Skulker, part of my job is to step in when there is an injustice being done. That it was done to a gaia garou, those who have almost destroyed my kin, I have fulfilled my role to Rat. Stupid dogs.]

Stay hidden in the bodies, one that isn't being copulated with, and watch the story unfold.

[Ekaterina]

Face set in lines of disgust and fury..."Be certain, THIS shall be known. He and his will be immortalized in song, I would be remiss in my duties as Galliard to do otherwise." Wave the sword around, "Anyone who tries to touch her will feel this blade as well. Clearly, I am the only one who truly will protect her."

Couple steps back, so I can see her in my periphery, murmur soothing words to her....