The House of the Moon [IC]

[ylvathrall]

Morning finds you clumped together with the rest of your small pack in the clearing at the center of your meager territory. Comprised largely of misfits and people who wouldn't find a welcoming home with the more prominent packs, you've usually been scattered across your territory and beyond. This morning, however, you are all gathered together here, because your pack leader is dead. He went on a normal hunt last night with several other wolves, and didn't return. In the dark hours of the morning, one of your fellows found all of them dead, apparently murdered but with no sign or scent of the murderer.

Several of the other members of the pack seem to be in shock. The one who found the bodies, a woman named Carmen who spends almost all of her time in her wolf form and rarely ventures to the city, is sitting to the side staring at nothing. A young man who goes by Jacek is crouched silently by the fire, staring into its flames; as a recent addition to the pack, he remains something of a mystery. The third is a young boy who would not or could not tell the pack his name; one of the now-deceased members gave him the moniker Ice-eyes for his cold, distant blue eyes, and it stuck. He sits at the edge of the clearing, hugging himself and rocking back and forth.

Others, however, are not so removed, and it is to them that you turn now.

[Athaleon]

"How did they die?" Alistair was the first to break the silence with his blunt question. "And where? It should be obvious by now even to those in denial: Someone out there, with considerably more... finesse than the Silverers, wants to wipe us out. And from the sound of things, they no longer care to make their murders look like accidents. We've got to get out there if there's even a chance to find a clue."

[Ionbound]

Gabrielle blinks red eyes, having been sobbing since morning when she changed back and got the news about Melissa being among the dead. She looks at Alistair, saying shakily, "Wh-Whoever did this...I want to see them dead. I want them to pay."

[DontEvenAsk]

Sky steals over to sit beside Ice-eyes in a silent gesture of solidarity. She's careful not to make contact - he seems to be in shock, so she considers it ill-advised - but she hums inarticulately in a manner she hopes will be comforting.

She looks up at Gabrielle when the woman speaks, and nods once, somber-faced. Her fingers flutter, but she realizes after a moment that Gabrielle won't understand her. She glances at Loro, then decides she can get this one across on her own, and holds out one hand to either side, mimicking a scale - justice.

[QuidEst]

Loro had been pacing since they’d received the news, for the moment as furious at their own impotence as he was at the perpetrator. That was unhelpful. He nodded along as the others spoke, although Sky’s gesture seemed likely to be taken as one of uncertainty. ”We should certainly investigate, and revenge is less a matter of satisfaction as it is a matter of survival at this point. The loss of our leader makes it clear that individual strength is no longer enough. Would anyone here felt confident challenging Friedrich, let alone when he was accompanied by a hunting party?” Loro asked, looking around at the others. “Whatever they encountered did. With our losses, we’re all the more spread out, when we now depend on our numbers for safety. We need to pull together until this threat is dealt with. Hunting parties should be accompanied by somebody with enough familiarity with magic to do something about it if that’s the cause.”

[The Hellbug]

Fei has been doing her best to seem calm and impartial, merely standing silently on the edge of the clearing. In her long life, she has seen the tragedies of generations of humans, but in the past she was just a child, never called to actually act on such things and given room to grieve in solitude. Looking around at the others, that wouldn't be the case this time, but the elf still struggles to find right words. "We...I..." she quietly tries to begin, but each time someone else has their own thing to say.

Finally, she finds her footing as Loro finishes. "Loro's right, Friedrich was the strongest of us," she agrees, barely breathing between each sentence, "is this all of us? Is there anyone else out there?"

[QuidEst]

"Hard to say if that's everyone," Loro answered. "We don't know for certain what 'absent' entails. But as far as I know, anybody not present cannot be accounted for." He paused, looking around to see if anybody could refute that statement before he continued. "It seems unwise to leave any group too poorly defended without due consideration, so our investigation either involves everybody, splitting the group, or sending my familiar, Artokus, to investigate on our behalf. If it's splitting, I would suggest the swiftest- Fei- and the stealthiest- myself."

[DontEvenAsk]

Sky feels - and looks - conflicted. Part of her wants to insist on going out herself, and another part thinks it would be too dangerous to send out too many of the pack. Still another part of her would rather spare no expense in finding the perpetrators and send out everyone. Part of her, a growing part, likes the idea of sending a smaller search party. On the one hand, there goes her interpreter, and on the other hand, she doesn't feel safe with Loro around to begin with...

And there's Alistair. She's been meaning to talk ("talk") to him.

Artokus is just one, she signs to Loro. Better to have more searchers to find something. But everyone is too many. We should keep the family safe.

Sky always refers to the pack with the sign for 'family.' She rakes her gaze possessively over the lot of them. She'd rather not have Fei, her only potential connection to her childhood home, out there with Loro, but rationally she knows she can't force everyone to stay and hide. Her gut still says stay and hide, stay and hide, whenever danger comes. She is angry at her gut.

[Ionbound]

Gabrielle looks up and says, "If you are hunting them down then I am joining you. End of discussion."

[QuidEst]

”Sky says that just sending Atrokus isn’t enough, and that while we need more searchers, sending everyone is too much; we need to keep the family safe,” Loro related to the others. “And we’re not hunting anybody down yet, just looking to see what we can learn. We already know there’s no scent to follow.”

[Athaleon]

Gabrielle blinks red eyes, having been sobbing since morning when she changed back and got the news about Melissa being among the dead. She looks at Alistair, saying shakily, "Wh-Whoever did this...I want to see them dead. I want them to pay."

"Believe me, I would like nothing better. But it's like Loro says: Revenge and survival for us are the same thing."

"Hard to say if that's everyone," Loro answered. "We don't know for certain what 'absent' entails. But as far as I know, anybody not present cannot be accounted for." He paused, looking around to see if anybody could refute that statement before he continued. "It seems unwise to leave any group too poorly defended without due consideration, so our investigation either involves everybody, splitting the group, or sending my familiar, Artokus, to investigate on our behalf. If it's splitting, I would suggest the swiftest- Fei- and the stealthiest- myself."

"No, we must not split up, whether we look for other survivors or investigate the murder scene. Suppose Friedrich and his company were overwhelmed by a large number of attackers. Together we may stand a change against a smaller number of the same, whereas individually we might not."

[The Hellbug]

Fei looks from pack mate to pack mate and shakes her head. She doesn't like where this conversation is going--there are more concrete threats in these woods. "Not the same," she mutters in disagreement, "if we don't see to our own, our neighbors will."

[Ionbound]

Gabrielle frowns and says slowly, "I-I guess..." She sighs sadly and falls silent, sitting down next to the fire and staring at it.

[The Hellbug]

It's like there's a pit in Fei's stomach when she sees Gabrielle's reaction. "No I hadn't meant...I'm sorry..." she fumbles, nervously looking about for some other pack member to take it from here.

[QuidEst]

"Well, here is what I understand. Correct me if there are objections on any point. We need to investigate. We are in danger, and want to avoid leaving anybody poorly protected. Taking the entire pack to investigate is risky in and of itself. Having Artokus investigate by himself wouldn't be effective. Of the pack, Fei and I would be the best at fleeing if something goes wrong." Loro looked at the others. "As I see it, we can send Artokus and accept a poor investigation, we can take the pack and expose everybody to the risk, or we can split the difference and only send those likeliest to get away. I will accept correction, though."

[DontEvenAsk]

Elder-sister is right, Sky signs - she's never seen Fei's name spelled, so she doesn't know how to sign it, and uses an honorific instead. Revenge is destroying our enemy. Survival starts with escaping the enemy. She tilts her head to one side thoughtfully, then adds, We could go into town and get help, but we don't know what's in between, and who would help us?

[QuidEst]

"Sky agrees with Fei," Loro said, while signing back the spelling for Fei's name to Sky. "She also mentions getting help from in town, but notes that we don't know what dangers are in the way, nor who would help us. As for myself, I'm afraid that would only bring down the attention of the Silverers to have us all on their doorsteps."

[DontEvenAsk]

Sky nods and signs the spelling to herself to familiarize herself with it. To Loro she signs, Agreed.

[The Hellbug]

Fei silently takes a measure of comfort in the fact that anyone else agreed with her analysis of the situation, but she's not nearly as comfortable with going into town for help--she can't imagine a way they can seek help without revealing that they are werewolves, which would be a disaster. Even with that thought, though, she's still sore from offending Gabrielle so she waits for someone else to speak up.

[Athaleon]

Alistar considered Loro's idea. "Very well, but at the very least we should agree that no one goes alone. I can do our talking in town if we come up with some way to ask for help, or if we just want to look for clues. And of those who investigate, at least one should have the Sight to detect any lingering traces of magic."

[Ionbound]

Gabrielle stands up and says, "I guess I could ask around town. Say I want to reward whoever did...This..." She trails off again, looking like she is about to start crying again.

[DontEvenAsk]

She makes a good lie, Sky signs, gesturing towards Gabrielle once she's finished signing the phrase itself. She falters for a moment, then adds, I meant to warn against town and not to recommend it, but with her idea it could work. But it must be after searching the woods. Not safe.

[The Hellbug]

"Only if you think you can," Fei adds to Gabrielle, doing her best to try to sound encouraging, but her tone shifts toward quiet confidence as she continues, "I can cover any ground--"she falters"--as long as it's not in town; I shouldn't be there for now."

[QuidEst]

"Sky wishes to note that her intent was to rule out going into town, but she's willing to accept Gabrielle's approach- provided it's after searching the woods. I will add that it's vital we don't reveal anything important in our inquiries. If we announce to the town that the leader of the werewolves is dead, and they didn't know, then we'll have Silverers out to finish us off for good," Loro warned. "But, we need more information about this. I have the Sight, and I'll take Fei with me for added protection. If we know more, there's more we can do. The rest of the group can begin figuring out the logistics of keeping the pack closer together for safety. What's the minimum area we'll need to hunt in? Does anybody have supplies they'll need moved? Shelter?" The black-furred werewolf looked around at the others. "If it gets to be too late, don't send anybody after us. If whatever this is has taken our strongest, our swiftest, and our stealthiest, then there's little hope left but joining up with another pack."

[The Hellbug]

Fei nods in agreement. "We'll need to be shown the way," she says, hoping Carmen will pick up on it, before taking all fours and shifting to her canine form. She shakes out her coat and waits for everybody else's decision.

[ylvathrall]

Carmen silently stands and stretches before looking off into the forest, clearly ready to leave. Without waiting for further discussion, she trots off into the woods.

Spoiler: Fei and Loro

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Carmen travels only a short ways, perhaps ten miles, before you see what she is leading you to. The bodies still lie where she found them, sprawled on the ground. There are nine of them, Friedrich and eight of his inner circle, all of them lying cold on the forest floor. They bear the marks of their demise openly, long slashes and deep puncture wounds on their bodies. The area is soaked in blood, the rich metallic scent filling the air, though the wounds have stopped bleeding now.

There is no sign of life anywhere nearby.

[Athaleon]

Alistair looked down grimly at the bodies, opening his sixth sense to detect any lingering traces of magic that might be about them.

Spoiler

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Examining the scene with Detect Magic, and plain old examination and knowledge:

Perception: (1d20+5)[16]
Knowledge (Nature): (1d20+9)[28] in case it may suggest what manner of creature made the punctures and slashes (unless they're obviously sword and spear wounds)

[QuidEst]

Upon arrival, Loro shifted back from his more mobile quadruped form. He could manage some tricks like that, but a state between was the only one he really felt comfortable. He grimaced at the condition of the bodies, although his expression was hidden behind the white cloth hanging over his muzzle. Pulling out his water flask, he began the transmutation to convert it to wine. "Here, drink some of this. It will actually sharpen your mind rather than dulling it, and we need anything we can get." With that, he set about his inspection of the bodies, checking for lingering magic. Artokus crawled out from his loose robes, checking over the bodies as well to make sure Loro hadn't missed anything.

Spoiler: Checks

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Tears to Wine provides a +2 on Int and Wis skills for fifty minutes.
Cast Detect Magic.
(Both spells cast a little ways away from the bodies to avoid magical contamination.)
K(Arcana) if Detect Magic turns up anything. Take ten for 29.
Perception: Take twenty for 28.
Heal check on the bodies. (1d20+7)[22], familiar Aid Another brings it to 24.
K(Nature) to ID claw marks. Take ten for 23, familiar Aid Another fails. Let me know if this should be a different check instead.

Artokus attempts to assist with the investigation, rolling perception and Aid Another on both Heal and Knowledge(Nature).
Perception: Take twenty for 30.
EDIT: Whoops, forgot the +2 on these. Doesn't change the results.
Heal: (1d20+1)[10]
K(Nature): (1d20)[2]

[Ionbound]

Gabrielle nods to Loro's point and walks back to town as a human, and goes to bed, trying to sleep off the horrible feeling. She resolves to investigate as best she can in the morning.

[The Hellbug]

Fei wrinkles her nose in disgust when they finally reach the bodies. For the next few moments, she remains in her canine form as she paces around the the clearing, going the the motions of trying to catch a scent of whatever did this but in reality stalling to hide her discomfort, whcih she knows she will show when she shifts back to her humanoid form. Soon, though, she composes herself, and elf replaces wolf to nod in thanks to Loro before gulping down a mouthful of his liquor. The monk scans the bodies once more before turning her attention to the surrounding woods, alert for any threat. "They all died right here together," she hypothesizes aloud, "either it happened so fast they couldn't react or they thought they could fight whatever killed them. I don't think we should stay here any longer than we need to."

Spoiler: OOC

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Upside to another person coming along, Fei's just going to keep watch for now.