(IC) New Bedford at Night

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Blaze wrapped his arms around the ENT and locked them about, holding her fast for the others to arrive.

Spoiler

Show

Going to use the hold move.

[Erulasto]

Kara's touch causes the officer's spine to stiffen suddenly, his pale freckled face turning suddenly crimson. Moving like his neck and back were still in spasm, Officer Jones turns awkwardly to Kara, smiling uncomfortably and chuckles. "Well, I mean..." he stumbles over his words, "It's not like I do all that much." Suddenly completely oblivious to what had just happened, his sunken blue eyes locked on Kara (examining her slightly hungrily), Officer Jones continues, "But this isn't as safe a town as it looks, and I guess I've sure seen my share of action." He puffs his chest out slightly, suddenly becoming a little more comfortable in his own skin as Kara's hand works his shoulder.

The charming young Cahalith continues her bright smile and works to keep Officer Jones engaged while the rest of her Pack deal with the Beshilu-infested human.

"Oh, you're so modest, Officer Jones." She makes a point of tapping a fingertip on his name tag idly as she says his name. "I'm sure the things you've seen would leave me shaking in my boots, y'know? You do such important work. Don't sell yourself short!" Kara teasingly admonishes.

She offers her hand lightly before him. "My name is Kara. It's a pleasure to meet one of our brave protectors."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'm going to keep with the IC post/chatting so long as its necessary to keep Jones distracted just so I keep the rhythm of posting.

@Benno: Do you need me to roll some social tests again, or will the 5 successes I already scored cover me for a while? Depending on what sort of stuff goes on with the Beshilu and the rest of the Pack, I may try and proactively roll again to make life easier.

[Bennosuke]

As Blaze scuffles with the female ENT, there is a brief moment where the woman’s eyes catch the light from the ambulance and glow a brilliant and unnatural golden. In that moment the woman’s features appear more murine than prior, her front teeth seeming preternaturally long. As the Rat Host tries to twist her way out from under Blaze, he is able to secure a headlock, wrapping his arms under the pits of the woman and around the back of her head.

The others were approaching, Bear now the closest and the first able to take advantage of Blaze’s wrestling hold. (OOC: Bear is up next in the initiative order)

But as the Anchor Wolves were charging in to assist, another figure was moving through the night. It was a tall man dressed in an ENT jumper, clutching a pocket knife in one hand. He had greasy brown curls, and would almost be handsome if it wasn’t for the similar golden light that flashed from his eyes, similar to his female partner.


Farther away, Officer Jones practically trembles as Kara reaches out to touch the badge on his chest. “Oh, well,” he fumbles, “the pleasure is all mine Kara.“ He grins childishly and offers a hand to shake. Then he asks, “Are you new in town Kara? I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before. ”

[Erulasto]

Farther away, Officer Jones practically trembles as Kara reaches out to touch the badge on his chest. “Oh, well,” he fumbles, “the pleasure is all mine Kara.“ He grins childishly and offers a hand to shake. Then he asks, “Are you new in town Kara? I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before. ”

"Mmmhmmm" Kara almost purrs as Officer Jones asks about her being new in town. "Only been in town for a couple days. I'm a musician. It's not as adventurous or important as a Police Officer, but ya gotta play to your strengths, right? I came out here to see if there was a market for some female-fronted rock bands, y'know?" The Cahalith grins cheekily. "Played a show last night, actually. Still a bit buzzed from the adrenaline." There is a soft, almost giddy laugh. "Oh! You should totally come and see one of my shows sometime!"

Kara beams and makes a show of fishing her brightly coloured cellphone out of her bra where she had stuffed it earlier and unlocking it with incredibly nimble finger strokes before excitedly pushing it towards Jones. "Gimmie your number and I'll let you know when the next show is...." She seems to falter for a moment, eyes losing just a bit of their luster. "If...y'know...you're interested."

She's hoping that he's so enamoured with her that he tries to make her feel better.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Gonna make another roll to keep the charm going!

Presence 4 + Persuasion 3 (+ 2 Striking Looks)

(7d10)[5][4][2][10][2][5][1](29) + (2d10)[7][9](16)

And if Kara still gets an extra bonus die due to prior success?

(1d10)[6]

[Daishain]

Bear shifts his trajectory to intercept the thing in a man's skin. Charging at the perversion of life, he attempts to club the man down with his fists.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

str+brawl (7d10)[6][9][1][5][6][10][2](39)
9 again (7d10)[1][7][1][3][5][2][9](28)
Could be better, but not a bad opening shot.

[tonberryking]

Fire with fire, Knives with Knives.

Juno followed after Bear, but didn't engage the enemy just yet, until the new foe comes barreling out of nowhere. With a flick of her hand she whips out the pronged scorpion blade and ducks in, coming in low before swinging up high at the taller man. He's gotta be focused on Bear, or Solomon, or anyone else... he won't see this petite girl as a threat until it's too late...

..she hopes...

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

Show

(6d10)[6][2][6][3][6][8](31) Dex+Weapons ...what does the Knife Specialty give me again? An extra success?)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze tried to pin the rat host to the ground.

Spoiler

Show

[rollv][2d10[/rollv]

[Ladorak]

Solomon grinned as Bear and Juno peeled off to intercept the second foe. That one had no idea what was going to hit it. He stayed focused on Blaze and the one he had trapped, this had to end quickly and his packmate had served up the kill on a platter. With Blaze's arm around the woman's head her bent and immobile profile offered an easy route to the heart. Or, more accurately, where the heart had once been.
He shifted to the left and changed his run up. Hunters normally avoided too many quick steps before the pounce, as it tends to send them upward rather than forward. This however was a somewhat exception circumstance. He took too many quick steps as he narrowed the last few steps and launched himself upward as he connected with the EMT, swinging a powerful uppercut straight up into her exposed sternum.

Spoiler: Dice and stuff

Show

So attacking the one Blaze has held.
Spend one essence to activate Strength Gift (Primal Strength). That gets Solo's strength up to 5 for the scene
Strength + Brawl
(8d10)[1][4][5][10][2][1][5][10](38)

10 again
(8d10)[10][2][1][3][2][6][2][5](31)

[Bennosuke]

Blaze continues to hold the female Rat Host pinned, while Solomon charged the two prone figures. He made a thudding strike to the woman’s ribcage, causing the ENT to shriek suddenly in pain. Santiago in the form of a sneak dark wolf, galloped to the pinned woman and bit hold of her arm, sharp teeth sinking through fabric to find the soft flesh in her forearm.

The rat-woman hissed obscenities at Blaze, her words slurred and high pitched, burning essence as she did so. Suddenly, there were hundreds of tiny greasy rats crawling all over Blaze. The animals must have come out of the ground, they were suddenly everywhere, clawing and digging into Blaze’s clothing and squeezing excitedly.

Nearby, Bear turned and faced the tall male ENT, who leered at him with a yellow toothy grin. Daring to close with the man weilding a blade, Bear threw a rocket of an overhand. The Rat Host squirmed away, putting his arm up in defense. Bear’s fist smacked off the man’s shoulder with a thud. Juno’s blade came out of nowhere, her knife slicing upwards at the ENT, but finding nothing but air. The Rat Host hissed at Juno and whipped his knife at her, looking to cut the young Uratha across the face. Juno was able to dodge without even stepping, leaning back and letting the blade whizz harmlessly by.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Both ENT’s have a defense of 3, so this was subtracted out of each players last three dice in their attack. Solomon does 2 bashing damage. Bear does one bashing damage. Juno’s attack becomes a miss. I took over Santiago, and he does one lethal damage with his bite attack.

The female rat host has activated Pied Piper, and after rolling Blaze is now convinced that he is covered in rats. He takes -2 in his next turn. Blaze please roll grapple in preparation for your contested roll.

Thank you for the patience everyone with this post.

[Daishain]

Bear strikes out again, hoping to end this before the scuffle is noticed.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Str+Brawl-3Defense (4d10)[1][1][9][4](15)
nine again (4d10)[10][7][10][4](31)
Two successes, not bad

[Bennosuke]

Bear swings again at the the ENT, this time landing with a whipping lead hook that connects behind the Rat man’s ear. The ENT grunts again, then ushers a slew of curses at Bear in the Old Tongue.

(OOC: Bear does 2 bashing damage).


Farther away, Kara and the Officer Jones is writing down his number on a ticket pad, to hand to Kara. He hands it to the female Uratha with a big excited grin, saying, “Here you go.” He looks at her oddly for a moment, then says, “Where did everyone go? Did those ENT’s really just leave that patient alone in the ambulance?”

Apparently Officer Jones was completely oblivious to the melee occurring just fifty or so feet away, but Kara watched the battle occur out of the corner of her eye.

Officer Jones walked around the side of the ambulance to the back, to peer at the ill man, strapped into his gurney. The scent from the back of the ambulance was just awful; a mixture of heavy bile and evacuated bowels. The man was still breathing, taking long raspy sucks of air from the oxygen mask, but he seemed oblivious to everything occurring around him. Officer Jones turns to Kara and says, “We got to get him into the hospital fast!” The officer’s words are anxious, and his complexion has suddenly paled again.

[Erulasto]

Kara blinks owlishly as she takes the phone number and folds the paper up before tucking it into her bra. "I don't know where they ran off to, but I know the rest of my band will help them if there's any situation. Good Samaritans, y'know? But....I...don't know why the ENT would leave a patient out here by himself..." The Cahalith says, curiously.

"Uh..yeah...am I allowed to help you bring him in?' Kara asks a bit skeptically. "If it's quarantined, I don't want to get you in trouble for me being there. But, I will help if you think it will be fine." She would be offering a blinding smile, if the sight of the diseased patient wasn't making her stomach churn.

[Ladorak]

With both combatants rolling on the ground Solo now had to time his blows. A quick glance up told him the rest of the Pack were fine, in rapid succession he rained down kicks at the 'woman's' chest as she grappled with Blaze. He ached to shift into a more familiar form as Iago had but still felt too exposed, even here in the shadow.

Spoiler

Show

Continue attacking the same one

(8d10)[7][4][6][1][6][5][9][7](45)

10 Again
(8d10)[10][2][7][10][10][3][6][8](56)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze continued to try and pin the woman to the ground, do his best to avoid the greasy nasty rats swarming all around.

Spoiler

Show

(2d10)[8][3](11)

[Bennosuke]

Officer Jones asks Kara to help him close up the back of the ambulance, and asks her to sit with the patient while he drives the vehicle to the Emergency room. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sitting in back of the van, Kara can feel every bump and ditch in the road. The patient, an elderly man so frail that he looks his skin may rip apart seems to become aware of Kara. Glassy eyes covered with a thin membrane of greenish slime seem to focus on Kara’s. The man tries to speak reaching a hand out toward her, but all that comes out is the phlegm that causes a series of wracking coughs, and Kara is unable to understand what he says. He tries again, and the words that come out sound something like “I don’t want to die.”



Farther away Blaze is just barely able to keep a hold of the female ENT, despite that swarm of wriggling furry bodies clawing and burrowing at his clothes. She bucks and screams, and calls Blaze a series of horrible names, but is unable to break free. Solomon tries his best to line up a clean strike, but the Rat Host is too busy whipping around and his next strike bounces awkwardly off her ribcage.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Blaze’s roll actually should have been dropped to a chance dice due to the -2 dice penalty of Pied Piper, making the roll a failure. However, the female ENT’s roll was equally a failure, and Blaze’s 8 came out higher than her highest dice (a 6). So rather than make you both re-roll we will assume Blaze’s pin continues to hold. Solomon does one bashing, so the ENT is now X////. Will move things along for delinquent players tomorrow based on who does not respond.

[Erulasto]

Shaking her head with a tentative smile, Kara hops into the back of the ambulance and pulls the doors closed while Officer Jones heads to the cab to bring them in to the Emergency Room.

Looking around the back of the ambulance, Kara snatches a pair of latex gloves and a mask before putting them on as quickly as she can. She may be Uratha, but she’s not inclined to take many chances with something so vile as Captain Drips. Especially if it’s a plague wrought by the Beshilu.

When the old man reaches out, she takes his hand comfortingly – a measure of peace of mind coming from the gloves that now protect her hands – and smiles behind the pale blue face mask.

”You’re gonna be just fine, I’m sure. You’re just about at the hospital.”

[Bennosuke]

The man’s hand feels like a brown paper bag wrapped tightly around left over chicken bones, the cartilage shifting in her grip under tense brittle flesh. Large bovine eyes stare back at Kara, perhaps comprehending her words of comfort, lips curled into a wide O that looks as thoughtless as that of one in mid orgasm. Several seconds go by before the man sits straight up, his grip tightening around Kara’s hand. Spine rigid, eyes growing even wider, the man suddenly become wracked again by a series of hard crackling coughs. The man’s lungs seem to be drowning in a thick mixture that he just can’t seem to ventilate through.

Mercifully, the ambulance comes to a halt, stopping a little too suddenly, causing the man to fall back into his gurney and release Kara’s hand. Several long moments later, the ambulance bay’s door opens and Officer Jones and a woman with wispy blond is white hair, dressed in dark red scrubs comes rush into the back of the vehicle. The woman has too much eyeliner, and looks like (and smells like) she aged herself twenty years with cigarettes. Wrinkles seem to burst through the thick layer of concealer she is wearing, and her frame can most politely be described as “bird-like”. She rushes past Kara without saying a word, and with Officer Jone’s assistance, wheels the patient via his gurney out of the Ambulance. Kara follows Officer Jones and the nurse into an ambulance bay, through a set of mechanical sliding doors, and into the Emergency Department.

The moment Kara enters, it feels like a million eyes turn on her. This hour of the morning, the ED is relatively quiet, and the only people milling about are nurses and physicians, all dressed in various colors of scrubs. The ED is is nothing more than a large tiled auditorium with lime green curtains drawn between tightly packed rolling beds. The smell of alcoholic aneseptic and bodily fluids assaults Kara’s nose, which is only trumped by the fact that many of the nurses and doctors stare at Kara with glowing golden eyes.



Back outside, Juno’s blade finally finds purchase, whipping across the tall Rat Host’s forearm. The blade bounces off of bone, drawing a shallow red gash through which the skinny bone of the ulna can be seen. He hisses in pain, lashing out with his own blade in a thrust which pierced the soft tissue and muscle of the Uratha’s chest, but failed to pass the ribcage. The sting in Juno’s chest was more annoying, and would fail to disturb her concerntration in this melee.

Nearby in the grass, following Solomon’s attack, Santiago released his grip on the ENT’s arm, and darted his snout in for the woman’s throat. Teeth sink home into soft flesh, bone and cartilage, sending multiple rhythmic spurts of blood into the wolf’s mouth (hot, and sweetly metallic) and into the mud and grass. The Rat Host lets out a gurgling, coughing cry, before her body goes limp. Santiago twists his muzzle back and forth, ripping at flesh that begins to bloat and swell with hundreds of squirming writhing masses.

Blaze’s releases the limp body, which begins to twitch awkwardly as the flesh expands tighter and tighter. Just when it appears like the ENT will burst like a balloon, a brown rat, with short patchy fur crawls pink nose first out of the woman’s open mouth. This is followed by a the clothing turning crimson red in hundreds of splotches as rats swarm from the woman’s body, beginning to run every which way.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Juno does one lethal damage. She takes one lethal damage in return (chance dice rolled a 10). Santiago’s single lethal damage finishes off the female ENT and takes advantage of Brood Father as a swarm of regular rats along with the one true Beshilu escape. It will take a -5 perception roll to identify the one true Gnawer.

[Erulasto]

The Cahalith tries to offer the old man as much comfort as she can until they pull into the emergency room ambulance bay. As soon as the nurse with the red scrubs moves to help Officer Jones with the patient, Kara swiftly steps out of the way to make sure she’s not getting underfoot. Kara offers a small smile to Officer Jones – she’s pleased to help, and hopes he’s okay with all this. He seems like a good guy.

The turn of so many eyes upon her as she steps into the emergency room isn’t helped at all by the loud sneeze she emits, sensitive Uratha nose tickled by the strong odor of antiseptic cleaners and the nastiness that is bodily fluids exposed in the ER.

When Kara realizes just how many pairs of golden eyes settle upon her, she blinks owlishly and rather uncomfortably, before raising a hand and wiggling her fingers in a sort of hesitant wave at those gathered.

”Uh…hi.”

[Daishain]

Bear lashes out at the remaining rat host hard, "Just die already you abomination!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

brawl (5d10)[10][3][1][5][8](27)
nine again (5d10)[8][5][3][5][6](27)
getting there

[Bennosuke]

Bear’s fist cracks hard against the man’s chin, spinning his head around and dropping him to the ground unconscious. The body does not explode into a fit of rats, but instead remains motionless, still breathing on the ground.

Nearby, a swarm of rats rush away from the female ENT’s hole ridden corpse.



Inside the hospital, several orderlies and one doctor practically all take a sudden step back in shock when Kara speaks. These employees, plus several other workers have all stopped working, and seem to be frozen by Kara’s presence. Others, nurses, doctors and the like all continue on with their nightly work. Officer Jones and the nurse who helped him seem completely unaware of the sudden friction in the room as they begin rushing the elderly patient via his gurney to one of the waiting curtained rooms. As Kara stands there, now essentially alone, three men in dark red scrubs begin stalking towards her, eyes intermittently shinning the same golden light.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Blaze attempted to grab the correct rat.

Spoiler

Show

chance die: (1d10)[7]
10 again: (2d10)[3][7](10)

[Bennosuke]

Still convinced that he is covered in swarming rats, Blaze begins grasping desperately at the squirming pile of rodents now fleeing the ENT's body. He gets several stinging bites from rats he picks up by the tail or torso, as they reach their slimy pink noses around by their long neck to nip at his fingers. However, not a single rat that Blaze picks up has glowing golden eyes.

[Ladorak]

Solo pounced, his fingers curling around matted black fur. He growled in triumph but it turned to annoyance as he held the rat up to the moonlight. It was just a rat, the Gnawer was gone. 'F***!' he snapped the thing's back and tossed it aside as he turned to the others. 'Guys we've got to get out of here...' For a second he knew something was wrong before he knew what it was, then confusion gave way to panic 'Where's Kara?'

[Erulasto]

Kara glanced nervously as Officer Jones headed off with one of the nurses to help the patient, glad the old man was going to get the treatment he needed. Well, she hoped he would. Seeing all the glowing golden eyes made the Cahalith fearful of the fate of anyone left inside the hospital in the clutches of the Beshilu.

Seeing that she was more or left on her own, Kara eyed the three orderlies warily as the made to step towards her. She immediately pulled her phone from inside her bra and deftly popped the camera app open to snap a picture or two of the orderlies - and others - hoping to catch the baleful light in their eyes.

"Come now, boys. Let's be reasonable." She said, taking a hesitent step back. "I'm not sick or anything, y'know. Maybe...maybe I'll just wait outside, yeah?" She took another step back, trying to keep some distance between her and the three men.

[Daishain]

"Kara stayed with that cop to keep him out of our hair I presume, we should follow." Bear kicks the fallen rat host, "Any interest in questioning this one or no? I'd rather just end the thing, but we are in need of information."

[tonberryking]

Juno grimaces at the sight of all these rats, and rather than try to perceive which of them is the leader, she just darts in and slices her dagger into a big throng of the rats, hoping her sweeping arc will get the correct one.

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

Show

Knifin' rats down by the overloaded hospital. I feel like I'm back in South Carolina. :V

(6d10)[4][6][5][10][9][8](42)

Spoiler: ten again

Show

(6d10)[4][5][6][5][4][8](32)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze stood up and dusted himself off.

"Gross," he said.

"Well, it's a good bet the rats know we're here," he added, "wait... anyone seen Kara?"

[Bennosuke]

Juno plunged her knife into the pile of scattering rats several times, her blade cleaving rodent flesh and the corpse of the now shredded female ENT. Nearby, Santiago in wolf form crouched low. Nostrils flooded with the scent of fear and rodent flesh, till he found the oddity. Drawn to the Beshilu as if by a current of fresh water, the dark furred canine pounced, and in one swift motion caught a large squealing black rat in its jaws. The shaggy black rodent whipped it’s pink worm tail back and forth and squeezed for all it was worth, its eyes glowing bright golden. Santiago clamped his jaws, releasing a flood of sweet blood and viscera, chewing several times till the abomination stopped moving.

The male ENT lay unconscious nearby. A careful eye would notice the rise and fall of the host’s chest, moving almost arrhytmically in stuttering uneven gasps.

************************************************** ***********

Inside the hospital, the three men in dark scrubs continued their approach deaf to Kara’s words. She snapped several pictures of the orderlies, who were almost certainly Rat Hosts judging by the unnatural gold that reflected from their eyes as the lighting shifted.

The closest, a man with a square jaw and salt and peppered buzz cut twitched his nose and growled, “Grab her and get the phone.” The three possessed Rat Hosts fell on Kara, moving almost in unison.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Initiative order is Kara goes first and Orderlies second. Initiative rolls summed up evenly, but Kara’s modifier was higher. She may just want to flee, but I leave it up to you as to how she handles the situation Erulasto.

[Erulasto]

With her phone clutched tightly in hand, Kara allowed her gaze to flicker about the room looking for the nearest fire alarm. The Cahalith knew that, while she was a Uratha, fighting three rat-hosts in the middle of a crowded emergency room was definitely not the way to go.

A distraction was needed.

As soon as she caught sight of a fire alarm, Kara bolted. She ran as fast as she could, and sought to hit the alarm with as much might as she could before shouting.

"Fire! Fire!"

Just enough to cause some confusion.

[Daishain]

Bear looks to the others, pointing to the unconscious rat host, "We questioning this one or no?"

If none object, he'll shift to Dalu, and plunge his claws into the dead man's chest, where he knew the parasitic Beshilu animating the emt rested within.

Afterwards, he'll encourage the others to swiftly follow Kara, rather dismayed to find her nowhere near where they'd parted ways.