[nWoD] Campus Vigilantes 2.5 - Snowed In

[Odentin]

"Breathe, focus. Take your time and aim. I got this."

Adam twists and rolls, trying to give Allison an opening and keep his face clear of snow...

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Risking again: (2d10)[10][7](17)

[-Sentinel-]

Adam managed to free himself from both creatures just as Allison let loose another arrow. The projectile flew straight and true and tore the damaged snowman's black heart out of its body. Almost instantly, the snowman collapsed in on itself and became nothing but a shapeless pile of snow as whatever magic holding it together failed.

The other attacker was not done, however. It once more threw itself bodily onto Adam and tried to pin him to the ground.

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Rolls in the OOC thread. Adam is grappled again. (Yes, I know it's annoying, but grappling is the only way these things can deal damage.)

[Odentin]

Adam lets out a triumphant yell...right before getting tackled again. He grits his teeth and keeps squirming, trying to escape but saving his strength for once he's free...

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Chance die to escape: (1d10)[10]

If successful: Using Willpower to add 2 to Adam's defense against the next attack.
If not, unless I'm mistaken, it should add to his Str to avoid being overpowered. - Nevermind, then.

(Yes, I know it's annoying, but grappling is the only way these things can deal damage.)

It's cool, I got this. Only got scary when he was being suffocated...

[-Sentinel-]

Allison's next arrow caught the snow golem from behind in the middle of the chest. The creature slowed a bit and missed its next attempt to grab Adam's legs.

[Odentin]

Adam grins and draws back an arrow as he steps back, "Shouldn't have sent something with a HEART after me."

His grin falls to stony concentration, and he looses...

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Dex + Ath + Specialty + Weapon Damage + WP - Called Shot
4 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 3 - 4 = (12d10)[9][10][4][7][3][10][6][10][8][7][3][7](84)
10 Again: (4d10)[4][3][9][9](25)

6 damage.

If it falls:

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Adam lowers his bow and sneers, "This is what I do."

He looks up at Allison, "Nice work. You ok?"

[-Sentinel-]

Adam's point-blank arrow tore straight through the monster's chest and came out on the other side with the heart stuck on it. Most of its momentum and balance lost, it arced down and dropped into the snow at Allison's feet. The golem collapsed like the other one, lifeless.

Adam lowered his bow and sneered, "This is what I do."

He looked up at Allison, "Nice work. You ok?"

Allison did not answer at once; her eyes were fixated on the heart. It was still beating feebly despite the arrow through it. Quickly, she nocked another arrow and shot it through the heart, ending its palpitations once and for all. She tentatively bent down and lifted the heart, holding it by the shaft of Adam's arrow still stuck in it.

"...A heart pierced by an arrow. Happy Valentine's Day in advance, I guess," she said wryly. She examined it more closely and wrinkled her nose. "Uh. It smells like formaldehyde."

A noise came from behind Adam: the receding sound of heavy breathing and panting. The student turned to see a dark human shape disappear into the snowstorm with great difficulty, constantly tripping in the deep snow.

[Odentin]

"Hold that thought."

Adam drops his bow and books it after the shadowy form as quick as he possibly can in the deep snow...

[-Sentinel-]

It was slow work to run through the deep snow, but in his haste to get away, the other man tripped at almost every step and tired himself out quickly. He was dressed in dark winter clothes and wore a White Sox baseball cap. Adam eventually caught up with him and tackled him to the ground. His opponent did not resist; he simply let out a curse and stopped struggling.

Adam removed the man's baseball cap and recognized at once the ruddy face and short blond hair: it was Danny Novak, a member of the archery club - and the one who had ended up number 2 in the club's Top 10 this term, after Adam.

[Odentin]

"Danny. I was going to ask why, but right now I'll just stick to how? Get up."

Adam proceeds to drag Danny back to Allison. If he looks like he's going to struggle, Adam pulls his knife. If he DOES struggle, Adam punches him with it.

[-Sentinel-]

Cringing away from Adam, Danny raised his hands to show he was unarmed and did not resist at all as the athlete dragged him. Allison held her bow in a way that indicated she could have an arrow ready at a heartbeat's notice.

"I... I wasn't trying to hurt you, Adam, I swear!" Danny pleaded, terror plain in his voice. "Well, not much! Just enough to take your place in the tournament tomorrow. I mean, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have made these golems out of snow!"

Allison eyed him coldly. "The question was how," she reminded him.

"I don't know!" protested Danny. "I don't know, honest! It's the hearts that bring them to life. I don't know how and I don't want to. I didn't make the hearts; only bought them."

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Allison's Intelligence 3 + Empathy 4: (7d10)[8][1][3][2][10][3][9](36)
10-again: (4d10)[7][4][9][1](21)

Allison turned to Adam, pursing her lips. "Pretty sure he's telling the truth."

[Odentin]

"Bought them where?"

Adam's voice is ice, but wamrs as he looks back to Allison, "Collect them both. Please." The last word seems like an afterthought. He's not used to being polite during a hunt...

[-Sentinel-]

"Bought them where?"

Danny bit his lower lip. "I can't tell you that," he said, his voice both trembling and determined. "You don't piss off those people."

Meanwhile, Allison went in search of the second heart. In the deep snow, it was not easy, but she eventually found it. Neither of the hearts so much as twitched.

[Odentin]

Adam laughs, "Danny, you're lucky I'm cold. And that everyone is on break right now. You don't want to KNOW what I can have done to you. Just think about that. When term starts again, you'll be in for a lot of pain. And if you ever fµck with the dark arts again, that pain will look like a pleasure cruise."

He turns and begins to collect arrows, ignoring Danny entirely. Once done, he takes Allison's hand once again and begins sloughing back towards his Jeep.

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That's not a threat, either. I'm sure Kale would have a field day on that punk...

Edit: Rather, not trying to threaten him.

[-Sentinel-]

Danny gulped and nodded frantically. As soon as Adam started walking away from him, he got up and fled into the snowstorm. Adam found two of his arrows and four of Allison's, but soon had to give up on finding them all; the snow was too deep and just kept falling. Allison followed him, holding both of the shrivelled hearts disdainfully.

"We'll, uh, have to get rid of those," she muttered. "I really can't see what we can do with them."

It was not long before they reached Adam's Jeep, though the vehicle was barely recognizable under all the snow.

[Odentin]

Adam throws open the back door and drops his gear in on top of the myriad hunting gear already in there. Once seated inside, he finally answers Allison's question, "We'll throw them in my freezer. Leon will want a look at them once he gets back. Now, where to?" He finishes with a blushing smile, as if he wasn't almost just suffocated and frozen to death.

[-Sentinel-]

Allison delicately put the two hearts on her lap, having no place else to put them.

"2086, Foster Street. Only two streets behind the law department." She blew out a breath and smiled tiredly. "Does this sort of thing happen to you often?"

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I'm about to conclude this ultra-short (as promised) story. If you have important things to do or say, now is the time.

[Odentin]

Adam sighs and starts the Jeep, talking as he drives cautiously to her place, "Yes and no. Usually I'm not in hand to hand combat, and I'm the one doing the surprising. I'm sorry that you had to get involved with that, but I'm grateful you were there." He smiles, "Though I hope this doesn't become habit. Broken ribs and getting drowned isn't exactly romantic, or so I hear."

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Referencing his injuries during the Halloween party.

"What I do is dangerous, Ally. I asked you out, but I don't want to put you in harm's way. I'll...I'll understand if you reconsider..."

He sounds tired as he finishes, though that's probably as much from the soaked clothing as psychological strain and fear that she will, in fact, reconsider...

[-Sentinel-]

Allison chuckled. "No way I'm letting go of you over this, Adam. It was sort of fun, actually. Of course I'm not the one who had a pound of snow shoved down her throat..."

The drive was not a long one, even in the deep snow. Pity; it meant less time to spend with Allison. It was not long before Adam stopped the Jeep in front of the five-story apartment building his new date lived in.

"So yeah," said Allison after a moment of silence, as if not sure what else to say. "Sleep early. You've got a big tournament tomorrow, and no snowman on Earth is gonna stop you from going."

She turned to Adam and, after a brief hesitation, leaned forward and pressed a clumsy, tentative kiss on his lips.

[Odentin]

Adam's face turns a shade of red that makes him think that all of the blood in his body suddenly rushed into it, "Sleep well, yourself. I'll call you tomorrow afterwards?"

Once she answers, he watches to make sure she makes it inside safely before heading back to his own house, where he places the hearts in a freezer bag, then tosses them in the freezer in the basement for Leon. Once he's showered and gotten the chill out of his bones, he sends a mass email to all active members of the RPG Club:

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Subject: Frosty the Snowman
Body:
Frosty the Snowman was a jolly, happy soul. With his corncob pipe and his button nose and two eyes made out of coal.
Except that he didn't have any of that sh¡t, nor the magic top hat, when he and his buddy attacked Allison Keating and I outside the sports building tonight. What they DID have were preserved and beating human hearts. From the smell of them, they were from dead bodies. Formaldehyde. The kid who used them said he bought the hearts somewhere, but I couldn't get him to tell me where. Someone in the city is making powerful magic trinkets and selling them to idiots who don't know what they're handling. So it looks like we've got a mage hunt when term starts.

Enjoy your holidays. I'll see you all when you get back.

-Adam

P.S. Leon, I saved the hearts for you.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam's face turns a shade of red that makes him think that all of the blood in his body suddenly rushed into it, "Sleep well, yourself. I'll call you tomorrow afterwards?"

Allison was blushing as well, but her blue eyes shone brightly. "Sure! See you."

She grabbed her bow and arrows, stepped out of the car and walked towards her apartment building, a cheerful spring in her gait. Adam waited until she had entered the building and disappeared from sight before driving away. Outside the car, the snowstorm was finally abating and stars were starting to come into view to the horizon.

Tomorrow would be a sunnier day.

The End.

.