Light of the Moon IC

[asdflove]

You've all been drafted into the army. You've heard rumors about it for years, a force of specially train soldiers, either pulled from the regular army, or drafted to it specifically, but there was never any proof of it to you. Until now. Earlier today you were all approached by a member of the city guard with your official draft report and you dragged to the large military base on the outskirts of the city. You were told to wait in line with the others. There is roughly 30 people in the room.
A gruff man with three scars that resemble claw marks running down his cheek walks in and begins pacing in front of you.

Spoiler: Scene for the recruitment. Read it again if you want to.

Show

"When the full moon rises, it brings dread, and fear to everyone's hearts. Once, long ago, the full moon was romanticized here in Lycania, but not anymore. You've all probably all heard the stories. Werewolves reeking havoc, killing innocents, and those that they don't kill become monsters too. The worst part is that, unless it's the full moon, we can't tell a beast from an ordinary man. These monsters are trying to tear our society apart. We need to stop them, and you are our newest recruits in this long war."
Down the line from you another recruit speaks up.
"So, what, are we supposed to just kill them? They're people too, you know."
The man marches to the recruit. "What was that cadet." He hisses, practically spitting in the boy's face.
"Lycanthropes are people too."
The man pulls his hands out of his pocket and slaps the recruit across his face, the man's glove glinting with metal woven into the fabric. There is a faint hissing sound as the glove hits his face and a slight burn remaining on the boy's cheek.
"Ah, should'a known you were one'a them." He grabs the boy by his jackets collar and yanks him upfront. "This kid here is one'a them. A monster. A werewolf." He smirks at the terrified look on the boy's face. "And this is the proper way to deal with one'a them." The man flicks a silvery dagger out of his sleeve and swiftly slices it across the boy's neck and he crumples. "Now I don't wanna hear none'a you talkin bout 'lycanthropes'. That name is a mockery of our beautiful country. And if I'm findin out any'a ya are monsters like him, your death will be just as swift."

He then smiles slightly. "But we'll find out in due time, eh? I'll be splitting ya into groups of six for yer training. I don't wanna hear no whining 'bout not likin' yer partners. You'll play nice, or ya won't play at all. I don't allow any funny business." He starts splitting everyone into groups of six, and you six are together. The man is currently across the room, talking to another group, so you're free to talk amongst yourselves.

[Ionbound]

After that display Caelan eyes the rest of the recruits with suspicion and says, "If I'm going to be working with you, I want to know, absolutely for certain I can trust you. Werewolves are the most insidious beings ever created to destroy nature. We're lucky one of them was stupid enough to out himself, but anyone can be a werewolf. I'm not going to trust any of you until I see this..." She fishes a silver coin out of her purse, and holds it to her forehead for a moment. Unless the GM hasn't told me something, it doesn't burn and she continues, "See? I'm clean. I'm going to press this coin to everyone else's forehead. If it burns you, I will kill you. If you refuse, I will assume you're a werewolf or kill you. Any problems?"

Meanwhile, two large wolves circle Caelan protectively, growling at anyone who gets too close.

[WebTiefling]

Hulking, muscled men are, perhaps fairly, often estimated to be all muscle and no brain, but the look that crosses Donar's face as he watches the officer is ... calculating; the clear blue eyes narrowing and darkening under the shaggy blond hair. The look passes but it replaced with irritation as he turns to the person holding out the coin.

"You just saw that guard kill a boy who has never done any harm to anyone else, and you call werewolves evil murderers?

"But fine."

His large hand snatches the coin. He looks at it with disgust and then pops it into his mouth and begins to chew. The trimmed, blond beard doesn't hide the muscles bunching in his jaw, and he grimaces as he chews with difficulty.

Finally, he works it to the front of his mouth and spits it back in the face of the woman who offered it to him; the mangle lump of silver alloy no longer recognizable as a coin.

"There. You certainly ain't no squad leader, so you can take that bit of silver and shove it up your butt. I'll do it for you if you try a stunt like that again."

[Jaedlyn]

A laugh rings out from the the blonde woman, leaning casually on a scythe of black metal and dark brown wood. "Trusting people based on what a coin tells you are we?", a smile creeps across her face and she laughs, her amber eyes glimmer with a hint of red for a moment as the torchlight reflects off them. "You may perform your silly test if it sets you at ease, though you'll have to excuse me if I do not trust as simply as that. My name is Oriel, by the way. ".

She glances down at the chewed up piece of metal and raises an eyebrow, "Though, I do hope you have another coin."

[Medic!]

Derrick Wolfbane

Physical Description:

Spoiler

Show

A waterfall of silver drapes over the golden-glowing eyes of a man who's dress starkly contrasts his natural adornments. Simple breeches and tunic do little to detract from Derrick's obvious splendor, seen in more than just the halo of light that surrounds him like white torch-glow. His hair falls free and the beard on his face reveals that no razor has touched him since his first stubble some 13 summers past.

Derrick looks on Caelan with admiration, "Now here's one with a pure heart that burns like the sun! Thanks be to Pelor I've been assigned alongside one as devoted as you!"

Derrick bends down to retrieve the silver piece, spitting into his cupped hand to wash the dust from it and gently cleaning it. He presses the coin against his own forehead before returning it to Caelan with a handshake. "Right thankful am I that I got it before it graced your butt!" he snickers good-heartedly. "I am Derrick, called Wolfbane, trained my whole life to combat the scourge of the werewolves by the Holy Church of Pelor, trained as scout and gifted with some small means of magical assistance and competency, sworn wholly to stamping out the Foul Menace."

As Derrick approaches the wolves circling Caelan he emits some soft growls, barking noises, whines and his body fidgets in odd ways.

Spoiler

Show

Using Wild Empathy and Speak with Animals to introduce myself to the wolves and politely ask after their well-being and declare myself an ally and friend.

[Gellhorn]

"You know, if a werewolf joined a squad of the army with special orders to hunt werewolves, some might think that they joined on purpose. After all, it'd probably be their best chance to find other unregistered lycanthropes. He'd probably have turned on us the first chance he got, or murdered us in our sleep." Xanben paused for a moment, appearing to think, staring with his pale blue eyes at the tall blond man. Then he abruptly reached for one of his swords, pressing his hand against the silver blade for a second, before putting his sword away and showing everyone his palm.

"It's a good thing you aren't a werewolf, else a more suspicious man than I might think you were one of them. Anyway, we're working together, so names would probably be useful. I'm called Xanben, and your name is?"

[WebTiefling]

Donar rolls his eyes.

"Suspicion blinds you. How do we know your sword is actually silver? Convenient to carry around some of your own 'silver' handy to prove yourself. How do we know she," he jerks his thumb at Caelan, "hadn't prepped against the silver trick somehow and isn't just using that to preempt suspicions. How do we know I don't have blisters all over the inside of my mouth? And if any werewolf came here, you can be damned sure that he," he glares at Caelan, "or she, would have prepared some avoidance methods sufficient to handle a simple silver test.

"Paranoid arsewipes. The only thing we can know for sure is that the poor kid there hadn't planned on killing anyone - he obviously didn't prepare at all and wasn't trying to keep a low profile."

Donar doesn't bother waiting for responses. He pushes his way over to the body and begins poking at it with his foot, examining the clothes, and any personal belongings visible.

[Ionbound]

Caelan glares at Donar and says, "Do you know why werewolves exist? Some dark god decided it would be hilarious to turn man against nature. They chose the two races with the greatest power, the greatest organization, the best ability to defend the wild, and created a sick and twisted fusion to sow distrust and hatred between the two." She then continues in druidic, <"It is our duty as druids to stamp out this plague. Or did you think I wouldn't notice that we have the same bond to the wild."> With that, she palms a second coin, and slaps in on the back of Donar's neck, waiting for a reaction.

[asdflove]

Behind the bickering group, a throat is cleared. "Nearly done?" A pale, tired looking, women dressed in the same long silver colored military coat, dark grey pants, and knee high boots as the officer who spoke to you initially, but is still across the room, but she also has a hat with the countries crest on it and thick brown curls spilling out of it. Resting on the bridge of her nose is a pair of rectangular glasses in front of narrowed blue eyes.
"We'll be administering our own silver tests later. You very well don't need to." She sighs, tutting at you guys. "My name is Adrian Whitefoot. General Whitefoot if Commander Scarface is around. Oh. Also, don't call him Scarface unless you want to end up like that poor boy over there. Did he even introduce himself? I was running a bit late, so I missed his speech." She stares at you inquisitively, as different from the scarred commander as day is from night.

[Ionbound]

Caelan stands at attention and says, "With all due respect, General, the 'poor boy' as you call him outed himself as an unregistered werewolf. That's why he's dead. And as for my little unauthorized silver test, I figured it's better safe than sorry. You can't have too many fail-safes against a threat as insidious as a werewolf."

[asdflove]

"Adrian. Please call me Adrian as long as he isn't near. It's still a breach of protocol that was done just as a scare tactic. The proper protocol is to immediately arrest them, draw up registry papers and charge them a hefty fine, not kill them, but Scarface gets away with breaking that rule all the time." She scowls, clearly disliking 'Scarface'. She snorts at the mention of a werewolf being a threat. "Does it look like a full moon to you? A lycanthrope is no more dangerous that a normal person right now."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

She's not nervous at all. Downright relaxed, actually.

[Ionbound]

Caelan nods, and says, "Fine then...Adrian. Werewolves are a threat, always. The registered ones are trying to restrain themselves, I'll grant that, but the unregistereds are almost always working their own sinister agenda, and using their ability to pass as human to further their schemes."

[asdflove]

"Or perhaps they just want a job that actually pays well enough to buy enough food for themselves, or even their families, if they have them, and many do." She says coldly. "I can tell this isn't going to be fun. I'll be the one training you six." She scowls. "Also, despite whatever Scarface tells you, Lycanthropes are human, and I don't want to hear another peep saying otherwise. The point of this is to fight the ones that are actually a danger, those who don't do anything to restrain themselves or get themselves out of the way."

[WebTiefling]

Donar slapped his large mitt of a hand over the spot where the hateful woman hand smacked the coin on his neck. His other hand came whistling around in a punch that would have laid her flat had the general not stepped in its way.

Donar stumbled off balance, pulling the punch. His glare promised that he hadn't forgotten his promise of retribution if she tried something like that again. He couldn't believe someone like that could call herself a Druid.

But the general's presence stilled his retort. Instead he merely glared at her while nodding vigorously to the general's words.

"General," Donar scratched at his neck, keeping it covered until a large rat crawled up out of his backpack and perched on his neck over the place the coin had been.

"The kid there probably had some family connections. Would it be all right if I checked the body to see if there might be anything to help find them? I'm new here, but maybe a local might handle that."

[asdflove]

"Adrian. I dislike titles; they're completely unnecessary. I'd allow that, but you might want to wait for Scarface to leave; he'd be real upset if he saw you doing that. I could also just figure out who he was and track down his draft info. It would say who is next of kin were, if he had any. If he didn't it would state his closest living relative." She pauses, turning her weary gaze to the rest of the group. "Why don't you all introduce yourselves. I'm afraid we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the next several weeks, might as well try to get off on the right foot."

[Goby]

Garel Durand
Description

Spoiler

Show

a short, stocky dwarf, with long, somewhat wild brown hair and beard, wearing simple, well-made clothing designed for travel. He looks like someone who spends most of his time outdoors. His most notable piece of equipment is the large silver axe that he carries, it looks too big for him to wield.

Garel grunts...

well spoken, Adrian. Now, for the rest of you, I joined to fight dangerous werewolves, not each other. Say what you want about tests, but I'll keep any silver coins you toss my way.
He tosses his axe from bare hand to bare hand.
this blade's my proof, but you can believe what you want to as to if its real. Or train with me and wait till I chop a real werewolf with it, your choice.

Adrian, what should we call the commander, who did not give his name?

[WebTiefling]

As the general spoke, a good eye might catch a little spark of magic behind Donar's head, and a fantastic eye might have caught the rat ducking back into the backpack along with a bit of stick that could have been the end of a wand.

"Fiedendoff, general. Donar Fiedendoff."

Donar doesn't quite snap a salute, but he does straighten his back and stiffen his large arms at his side.

[Ionbound]

Caelan eyes Donar's actions suspiciously. Covering the spot where silver touched him? Looks suspiciously like a lycanthrope covering a silver burn that he doesn't want discovered...Too late now, of course, his healing would deal with the burn. With this in mind, she mutters in Druidic to Donar, <"Defiler...You dare call yourself a druid, you abomination? I know what you're hiding...It's only a matter of time until I prove it. And then...I will kill you slowly for your crimes.">

[Medic!]

Derrick

Derrick rises from his conversation with the wolves, and mutters under his breath to Caelan, "Oh, do behave, nobody likes a surly bunkmate here in the civilized lands." It takes a moment to sink in that this was muttered in the same language Caelan was just speaking!

Brushing the hair from his face, the human addresses the general, "Pleased to make your acquaintance Adrian, I am Derrick the Wolfbane, no doubt my records were sent from the Temple. I look forward to augmenting my training with what you have to offer."

[asdflove]

"Scarface's actual name is William Brightblade. For your own safety, only call him Commander Brightblade. I cannot stress this enough. As you saw, he takes killing people rather lightly." She sighs at the bickering in Druidic.
<"Would you stop it!"> She snaps at them in the very same language. <"First of all, talking in anything but common is down right impolite, but taking childish bickering into to this sacred language is one step too far."> She scowls. "Yes, I speak druidic." She says coolly, returning to common.

[WebTiefling]

"Yes, sir," Donar promptly replies. "Common only, sir."

He clears his throat, "If I may ask, what will we be doing in this unit?"

[asdflove]

"Are you that opposed to calling me Adrian? If you insist on calling me something like sir, I would prefer you use M'am. I am a girl." She smiles, amused.
"Tracking down and arresting unregistered lycanthropes, using force to capture them if necessary. The next several weeks I'll be teaching you new ways to identify them, and the most effective ways to take them down."

[WebTiefling]

Donar looks flustered.

"No sir, er, ma'am. It's just that, well, we're in the military now, and I thought they always used stuff like that."

"I've been in plenty of brawls and can dish it out," he looks with promise at Caelan, "but I've never been a fighting man in the military. I guess I sort of assumed ..."

Donar trails off.

[asdflove]

"Most do. I dislike it. Anyway..." She trails off and stands up straight saluting at the Commander approaching.
"General Whitefoot." He says curtly. "Good to see that you made it. Mother alright?"
"Yes Commander, Sir." She says tensely.
"Good. Now, Cadets. General Whitefoot here will be your instructor. For the next four weeks, what she says is law. If she says jump, you jump. If she says run, you run. If I find out that any of you disobey her, you're fate won't be pretty. Understood?"

[Jaedlyn]

Oriel continues to lean on her scythe and looks around at the others, then over at the newly introduced General, the heavy wooden end of the scythe tapping against the ground as she smiles at the general and speaks

"I have...memories of some military life, though I am quite out of practice. And some of the others seem to have some experience as well. Though I am woefully out of touch with the current...werewolf epidemic."

The commander approaches, and her smile drops in intensity to something more respectful, "Understood Commander."

Spoiler: Description of Oriel

Show

Oriel D'Evenant is of fey stature, shorter than most human women, but with an almost impossible beauty and grace. Blonde hair spills down to her mid-back sometimes covering the base of her elven looking ears. Her amber eyes are flecked with green, and seemingly red though the amounts of each may in fact change with every glance, sometimes the entire eye seeming green, or even a blood red.

[Ionbound]

Caelan salutes and says, "Yes Sir." She seems a little embarrassed over the whole Druidic thing, and is trying to make it up to the General.

[WebTiefling]

Donar is already strait-backed, and snaps a salute, copying as best he can the salutes he has seen.

"Sir, yes sir."

[Medic!]

Derrick

"Aye, Commander. Heard and kept."

[Gellhorn]

"Yes sir. Understood sir." Xanben says as he hurriedly salutes the commander.

[asdflove]

"Good. You seem to have already whipped them to shape Adri." He sends a toothy grin at the general, who fidgets awkwardly.
"We are at work, sir." She says quietly, not looking at him. He sighs. "Don't go easy on them, General."
"Wouldn't dream of it." She says, still tense.
The commander smirks and walks away, Adrian sending a death glare at his back.
"Adri, as if." She spats angrily. "Why does he think he can talk to me like that?" She mutters to herself, a scowl etched on her face.