[End Transmission] End Transmission looks back at the great totem, her ears pressed flat against her skull. When he commands that they prove themselves worthy of this knowledge she tilts her head slightly in a very wolfish manner and then exchanges a glance with her pack-sister. She turns back in time to witness Griffin flying apart in a flash of fur and feathers; birds take flight into the skies above.

Then; Missing Tooth Good Eyes appears.

Echo looks back at the Moon Dancer through dark, inquisitive eyes quite the match for his own in intelligence. Then, rising to her feet, she waits for some signal, some indication from Hatchet, or this mystery wolf, that she should begin to proof her worth and in turn, her pack's.

[End Transmission] [typo, prove, not proof. ugh.]

[Buried Hatchet] Out of respect, or submission, or simply not to take up so much damn space, Hatchet shifts down into lupus as Missing Tooth comes into view. He's still bleeding profusely, but he's on his feet, even if his eyes are a bit glazed with pain. He whuffs an answer -- not a Let's go! so much as an acknowledgement, then twists his head around and digs in his fur with his teeth. He tugs a small gourd seemingly from nowhere and crushes it in his jaws, chomping down until the gourd is dust and the water inside flows down the sides of his maw, trickling with blue.

He's still wounded at the end, but not as grievously. Standing doesn't make him look like he's about to pass out. Digging around again, he takes out two more talens: one for Nate. One for Blood Summons.

He rolls his head on his neck, gives a shudder, and makes a lower, rougher sound towards the Talon. A grunt of assent. Or readiness.

[Face of Death] Joey crouches, mortified. This is not the first time she's torn open her packmate, specifically Daniel. This time Buried Hatchet has dropped to the other Fenrir's side, dropped because of the savage power of Joey's brutal strength, unleashed quite against her will. Well, at least in Daniel's case.

When Griffin speaks, she rises slowly to her four massive feet. Her ears are down and back, but brings herself up, standing tall and strong. She is the Get of Fenris. Finding herself lost to madness again, snapping to her senses to find her brothers' blood in her mouth and drippding in her fur may have unnerved her, may have startled her, but she is not so weak as to continue to cower in disgust at what she's done.

She meets Echo's gaze, ears flicking toward the Fostern briefly, then she turns back to the ancestor spirit. Ready to fight and prove the strength of their pack.

[Buried Hatchet] [Ack! And one GB for Daniel, too!]

[Blood Summons] These human-born, this band of brothers and sisters with whom he agreed to trek out of the city and into the wilds, are not his family, but that is not why he attacked them.

Without having heard the tale of what befell the five-strong pack over a month ago, without hearing that two of their number were overtaken by primality and stripped of their humanity until all that was left was their intelligence and their baser instincts, he wouldn't have had the slightest goddamn idea what came over him as he followed the Fiann and the Glass Walker and the Fenrir and finally the Bone Gnawer under that waterfall. Perhaps someone told him the story on the way up here, or he heard of it through the rumor mill back in Chicago. Perhaps he's heard of the Red Talons' capacity for bringing about the beast in people. Either way, he ought to be prepared for this, but in the end, he is the first to turn against the Sentinels.

He is not the first to fall, though.

As Griffin appears before them, the Theurge lies in his birth form, bites taken out of his throat and belly where his tribesman had moved to protect his family from this stranger. He shudders with each cycling of breath through his body, but he does not allow himself to shiver from pain; he does not call upon Bear's Gift to help him weather it. He lies there, stilled but alive, very likely awed, as the Alpha of the pack converses with the Incarna. When it's over, when the others begin to stir and recover, he follows the Philodox's lead and slides out of his birth form, becoming a tan-furred and lean if somewhat ragged-looking wolf. His claws are translucent, look like one good swipe against something hard would snap them off at the bone.

When the talen is offered to him, he accepts it with a chuff of gratitude, and breaks it open with his teeth. His body still burns with injury, still bleeds, but he's on his feet again.

[-red-] Missing Tooth Good Eyes waits for them to heal. His tongue lolls out when the last of them struggle to their feet; he seems pleased.

Then, without another word -- with only a yip! of encouragement -- the wolf turns on his heels and dashes into the undergrowth. If they don't follow, he'll be gone in an eyeblink.

[-red-] [First roll to determine initial distance! dex+ath.

Everyone needs to roll stam+ath to try to catch up. Next turn, MTGE will be rolling stam+ath to keep going too. These rolls are all assuming lupus form. If you're in hispo, you'll be significantly (about 25%) slower!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Face of Death] [stam + ath, diff -2 (ability aptitude, woo!)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Blood Summons] [Reflexive: -1WP, Resist Pain.
Athletics+Stamina (+2): Don't Fucking Laugh.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 2, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[End Transmission] [Stam + Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[-red-] [dan, stam/ath!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Buried Hatchet] [4 (stamina: tenacious) + 2 (athletics) + 2 (lupus) - 1 (ow)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 7, 9 (Failure at target 6)

[Buried Hatchet] [kahseeno, you and i are through professionally]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7) Re-rolls: 1

[Word on the Street] [ 1WP Resist Pain - Nate - stam/ath - 7 stam + 0 ath ]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 6, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[-red-] Missing Tooth is lean and fast. His paws seem to skim the earth as he dashes into the undergrowth. Away from the cave that serves as their entrance into this realm, the wild -- or the Wyld -- quickly grows rampant, out of control. Kudzu vines, live oaks, tropical rainforest trees and taiga pines: a wild mishmash of climates, species, locales all jammed cheek to jowl into this wild land.

The scent of rich earth and plant life is almost overwhelming. Unseen but heard, animals dash out of their way as the Garou run pell-mell into the forest. For the first few paces at least, Face of Death, End Transmission and Broken Hammer keep pace with Missing Tooth. He does not try to shouldercheck them aside or otherwise hinder them. His tongue lolls from his maw. There's a wild joy in the way he runs.

[second round! stam+ath for everyone now, diff 6 still.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Face of Death] Missing Tooth yips at them, turns, and runs and Joey.

Joey shifts to lupus, and she's right there. It helps that all throughout her life she has been active. It helps that she was born with a natural athleticism. It helps that she loves running on four feet.

Echo is with her. Together they flank the Talon. Nate is close behind, ignoring his injuries and chasing after his sisters. For now, the white faced iron-furred Fenrir runs with tongue lolling. For now, this is almost fun. Joey wonders if this is the test, or if they're going somewhere and she and Echo will be tested first.

[still runnin'!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[Blood Summons] [Athletics+Stamina: Weeeooo!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[End Transmission] [Round two! ROLL!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[Word on the Street] [ - stam/ath - 6 stam + 0 ath ]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Buried Hatchet] There's a snarl behind the rest of the pack as their alpha, of all Garou, falls behind them utterly. He barks, and barrels forward, rather large paws chewing up ground behind the rest.
[round 2!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6) [WP]

[Word on the Street] [ Round Two - stam/ath - 6 stam + 0 ath ]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[-red-] Dan!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[-red-] Within seconds, the ragabashes dash into the lead, displaying their prowess and speed incontrovertibly. Joey runs about a bodylength ahead of Missing Tooth. Echo reins in to pace Missing Tooth, and there's four wolves running abreast. Broken Hammer is close on their heels; Hatchet rather far behind, straggling.

Missing Tooth barks sharply -- a sort of this way! -- before swerving sharply into ever thicker plantgrowth.

[okay, now we're switching to dex/ath rolls! MTGE, Bob, Echo and Nate all start with 5 succ. Dan starts with 4, Hatchet with 2. Joey starts with 4.

This roll is diff 7.]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 7) Re-rolls: 2

[Face of Death] [dex + ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 5)

[End Transmission] [dex + ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Failure at target 7)

[Buried Hatchet] [dex + ath + lupus -1]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7) Re-rolls: 1

[Blood Summons] It's been a good several weeks since he's left behind the wilds of the rural Midwest, full of forests and fields, for the urrah Sept of Maelstrom. The Fostern does not run with the abandon of the Red Talon, tongue lolling and breaths coming excitedly, but there is a lightness in his step that isn't entirely the result of his choosing to ignore pain in favor of being able to keep pace with Missing Tooth.

[Athletics+Dexterity (+2): Zoom!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 2, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[Word on the Street] [ Dex + Aths - 5d6]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-red-] Dan!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 10 (Failure at target 7) Re-rolls: 1

[-red-] These forests are lush and wild, which is refreshing at first, and then mildly irritating. And then frustrating, as plants and thorns seem to all but spring up from underfoot to hinder their way.

Echo, previously doing so well, suddenly finds herself negotiating a wall of vines that she ends up having to go around. Daniel comes up against a stand of trees too closely packed for even his lithe lupus form to slip through. The rest of the pack has better luck, more or less keeping pace with Missing Tooth.

The wolf runs on. The woods grow thicker still.

[Round 4 -- diff 8!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8) Re-rolls: 2

[Blood Summons] [Round 4!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 8, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8)

[Buried Hatchet] [-1WP RP.
KAHSEENO YOU IGNORANT SLUT.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8) Re-rolls: 1

[Face of Death] [Byooom!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[End Transmission] The Glass Walker is frustrated. What was with all this green shit? She bites her way free of tangling vines, and lopes after the rest, eager to catch up.

[they see me rollin', they hatin']
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)

[-red-] Dan!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 9 (Failure at target 8)

[End Transmission] [For Nate!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)

[-red-] Nate!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Failure at target 8)

[-red-] This time, even those wolves who might've run ahead keep pace with Missing Tooth. As the Red Talon puts on another burst of speed, he again takes the lead, all the Sentinels but Broken Hammer close on his heels, Blood Summons right there alongside them.

Missing Tooth takes another sharp swerve. This terrain is almost impassable for the thickness of the undergrowth. Up above, the canopy of the trees blots out the sky and the moonlight.

[And one last round -- diff 9!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 9) Re-rolls: 2

[Face of Death] [keep going!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 6 (Botch x 2 at target 7)

[End Transmission] [oh dear.]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 8 (Botch x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] [dan!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[Blood Summons] [Round 5]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] [nate!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] [reroll on dan!]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 9)

[Buried Hatchet] [Round 5!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] So many trees and brush and flowering vines jammed together now that it's a maze of pungent green darkness. Everything smells alive, riotously, rampantly growing, crowding, reaching for the sky. Nearly blind now, the wolves press through it --

and abruptly, Hatchet and Nate leap out of the undergrowth, tumble into a broad meadow of sere summer grass, silvery-white under the moon, that stretches nearly as far as the eye can see. Far, far away, a snowy peak rises from the plain. Missing Tooth is there ahead of them, stopped now, his sides moving as he pants.

Meanwhile, Joey, Blood Summons and Echo have become inescapably tangled in vines. Broken Hammer, coming up from behind, pauses to gnaw them free. Eventually, the four wolves emerge out in the meadow as well, somewhat worse for the wear.

When Missing Tooth sees them, he whuffs a greeting. Then he turns and begins to run again -- not a headlong dash this time but a steady, ground-eating lope, heading for the mountain.

[Three stam+ath rolls each! Start at diff 4. If you fail a roll, +1 diff to next roll and take 1 unsoakable lethal that won't heal until you stop running.]

[-red-] [final results on the cross country dash, with reining-ins and botching taken into account:

MTGE 11
Joey 5 BOTCH
Bob 6 BOTCH
Echo 6 BOTCH
Dan 5
Hatchet 8
Nate 8 ]

[End Transmission] [Stam + Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 4)

[Buried Hatchet] [roll 1]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) Re-rolls: 1

[Blood Summons] [Athletics+Stamina (+2): Part 1.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[Buried Hatchet] [roll 2]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 4) Re-rolls: 1

[Buried Hatchet] [roll 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[Face of Death] [+1]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 9 at target 2)

[Blood Summons] [Part 2: Electric Boogaloo.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 5 (Failure at target 4)

[Blood Summons] [Part 3: Ow Fucker!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[End Transmission] [Part Two!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[Face of Death] [+2]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 (Success x 7 at target 2)

[-red-] MTGE 1
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[-red-] 2 -- oops, extra dice. -1 from this one!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 3, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[End Transmission] [Part Three!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[-red-] 3!
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 6 at target 4)

[Face of Death] [+3: Please keep in mind that Joey will not run ahead of their guide]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 2)

[Buried Hatchet] He forces himself. Pushes past the pain with their totem spirit's gift. And he manages. He gets past that initial frustration, that original anger, and bursts forward to run with his pack, to run with their guide, to run in a place unlike any he's ever seen or even dreamed of. When they find Missing Tooth on the field of grass, his sides are heaving, and not simply from exertion.

He's overwhelmed. Already. And it's so early.

[-red-] Nate 1!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[-red-] 2!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 4)

[-red-] 3!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)

[-red-] Dan 1!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[-red-] 2!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[-red-] 3!
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 6 at target 4)

[-red-] This time,

they run for hours.

Not fast -- but steadily. Easily. Running together under the moon, across a meadow so vast the pale grass blurs into a solid color, like snow, like an ocean in white and silver. Many of them are running wounded. Pushing through pain with sheer determination and grit. One of them is wounded again, running beyond his ability; he pushes on, too.

For a long time, Missing Tooth says nothing, simply runs ahead of them like an alpha or a scout, his long legs and lean paws devouring distance without effort. As the mountain slowly, almost imperceptibly grows nearer, he lets his pace slack somewhat, draws abreast of the other Garou.

"Those were Wild Woods," he says, his words as rhythmic as his breathing. "The Moon Seers say, every Wyld thing can always find refuge here. Every Wyld thing, dies unjustly in the Gaia realm, knows he can come here, find succor and safety with Griffin, until he is reborn again into the world.

"But lately so many come. So many from everywhere, too many flock to our Homeland. Griffin will not turn any away, it is not his way. So they come, they crowd, they grow wild here, while our Homeland shrinks day by day. So many of them, so few of us.

"More and more of us fall into despair, drift into Deep Umbra never to be seen again. More and more of us reborn, choose another tribe, newer ways. Forget the joy of running, the strength of pack, the oneness of blood, the true Wyld in our bones."

[End Transmission] After a few setbacks in the form of thick vines, the rangy Glass Walker does not suffer any more problems in keeping pace with her brothers and sisters; with their guide. She lopes along easily, her mottled brown and gray coat dappled with moonlight as they cross the wide expanse of the meadow; her little pink tongue dangling from her maw as they slow, then begin anew.

For hours.

When Missing Tooth finally speaks to them; Echo's attention is on the mountain growing larger ahead of them. She listens, attentive and curious to learn about the Wild Woods, something that she, and her tribe, seem so removed from, so distant from. She might not respond, but she listens.

And listens well.

[because I forgot to do it earlier, gonna go ahead and activate RP. doo de doo.]

[Buried Hatchet] During this run, Hatchet draws up almost alongside Missing Tooth, a mere two, three thuds of his paws behind the Talon. This time, he keeps pace. He looks back every so often, checking on his packmates, and on their guest. But otherwise he stays with the Moon Dancer of the Talons, behind him in rank and in everything else here. When they slow, he is breathing heavily. The wounds on his body are not given time to heal by rest, and he leaves his blood throughout the homeland. He doesn't feel it anymore. He does feel: exhilirated. Warm. His head pounds with the effort to push back impinging memories, his own or ancestral. He doesn't know.

He ignores it, as he can any pain the world can bring.

"What will happen to you?" he asks, the most he can get past his panting. He means: Missing Tooth. He means: the Red Talons. He means: us.

[Blood Summons] The Godi is not an athlete, natural or otherwise. He does not look like one. Like many spirit-talkers he is sinewy, skinny even, most of his weight coming from muscle that doesn't reveal itself in any obvious way. His limbs are strong, his core more so, but that strength does not reveal itself in an ability to continue on long after he has become tired.

Bear's Gift enables him to ignore the bite wound still scissored into his side and burst out into the meadow to join the Alpha and the Omega of the Sentinels in staring at the wild wonder around them. Almost as soon as the stragglers have caught up, Missing Teeth sets them off running again. The Fenrir does not complain.

He just runs. Even when he injuries himself further, tearing tendons or snapping off claws from running beyond his ability, he does not whine or whimper. He slows, is drawing up the rear as the run continues, but this is a land he has never been to before. This is a sight he will likely not see again until his spirit travels to its own homelands, and without pain to contend with, he can take in as much as will seep in underneath the mounting exhaustion.

Eventually, as the mountain becomes larger by degrees, their middle ranked guide slows enough to speak. Blood Summons quiets his breathing so that he might hear what the Moon Dancer has to say.

Whatever curiosities might spring up at the tale, he does not speak. Perhaps he can't.

[Face of Death] When bramble and vine catches her, arresting her forward momentum, Joey strains, pushing her head forward, clawing against the plants which hold her fast and securely in place. She's not alone. Echo and Blood Summons are tangled, as well, but she watches as Hatchet and Nate disappear ahead of them, brothers leaving her behind, and she has to fight to keep a whine from leaving her throat. Daniel frees them, and Joey bumps against him, grateful, and they leave the forest and the Wyld behind together.

Find their Alpha and their Omega on the plain with the Red Talon guide. The set off for the mountain in the distance and Joey, with nothing but open space and time and distance to cover, moves quickly. Easily. She moves among the pack as they run, sometimes running beside Hatchet, bumping her shoulder against Echo and Nate, watching Missing Tooth. Even Blood Summons, Fostern Metis of her tribe, runs next to the smaller Rotagar for a while.

They run for hours, paws eating up the distance. Joey pants as she runs, tongue lolling, ears erect, looking around them, at the mountain and the meadow, at everything.

She listens to their guide, and she listens to Hatchet's question.

[-red-] "I do not know," Missing Tooth says simply. "I will fight against the ending. I will remember our ways. We will all do this, Griffin's true children. We will trust Griffin to guide and provide. But in the end, maybe it is like sea-tide. Inevitable change, like lizard-kings dying, furred-elephants passing into memory. Maybe time of Red Talons has come and gone."

The meadow all but glows under the light of the enormous moon overhead. Every blade of pale, dry summer grass is cast into a cold incandescence, gleaming like frost.

Sometimes at the edges of the meadow they see other animals. Great elk, antlers spread twenty or twenty-four points wide. A tiger, striped and bold. A herd of mammoths like those Missing Tooth speaks of, lumbering along with trunks swaying, young following. Flightless birds; ancient reptiles; tiny, brilliant insects.

Packs of wild wolves, too, running alongside them. Howling as they pass. Tumbling with cubs and brothers and sisters and mates: the memories and spirits of wild things unjustly lost.

They come to a stop at the base of the mountain. A narrow, winding path leads up into a cave set perhaps a hundred feet off the meadow floor. A stone's throw away, the path is blocked by an enormous boulder. Missing Tooth sits.

"Your quickness has been tested. Your tenacity and stamina. Now, your strength. Move rock. If you move, then you may go into cave, where Sister waits."

[-red-] [If you're currently out of breed form, as I think everyone is, your lethal/bashing will heal now. If you have agg damage, that'll stay.]

[-red-] [As for the rock: it will take a cumulative str 50 to move aside. Everyone pushing together is 45 str in crinos, so people will need to make WP vs diff 9 rolls to try to get it to move. If you fail a roll, there's no penalty, but if you botch you take + botch in self-agg damage. Go ahead and tack rolls onto your posts!]

[-red-] [whoops -- i meant Rage vs diff 9. not the typical WP!]

[Face of Death] When Missing Tooth sits, Joey stops, sides heaving from the long run. She saw things, amazing spirits, most of them long since lost to their world. She'll remember what she's seen for the rest of her days.

She stands with feet braced, jaw open and tongue lolling. She looks like she's laughing. Maybe she is. This isn't a journey for fun and games. It's dangerous, and most of them have already taken injuries, some from Joey's own jaws. But she loves to be in motion, and her adrenaline is pumping. Her pack is with her, and even though they rarely spend time with all of them together, they are close.

Missing Tooth instructs them to move the rock. Joey closes her mouth, tips her head up and up to look at the boulder. Her ears flick back, briefly, and then she's melting up into her Crinos form. Pushing up onto two legs, she joins her pack around the boulder, braces herself. And pushes.

[rage diff 9]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 1, 9 (Failure at target 9)

[End Transmission] End Transmission comes to a halt when they reach the entrance to the cave. She sits, and tilts her head, her ears flicking back and forth as she hears what the next task is. Nose twitching, the Glass Walker rises from her haunches and shoots upward into her massive Crinos form. Then, following in her brother and sister's wake, she moves forward in and wedges her shoulder firmly against the boulder.

And shoves, grunting.

[Rage vs Diff 9]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 4 (Botch x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] Dan, rage!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[Buried Hatchet] Which makes Missing Tooth Good Eyes officially the wisest Red Talon Hatchet has ever spoken to. And surprisingly, he's actually spoken to quite a few in his lifetime. He lopes along with the Galliard, quiet now, keeping his disagreement silent. They run together.

He feels the way he felt when Serafine spoke her tale at her challenge. It twists and stabs in his chest as his great heart pounds with the force of the run. It chokes in his throat. He watches the creatures they pass. He sees the family-packs of wolves and their cubs and knows

they are gone

they are all gone

Seemingly at random, Hatchet lifts his head and opens his maw and howls. He's no Moon Dancer, Hatchet, but he is a singer. And there's a keening savagery to the sound that earns members of his tribes name like Banshee, like Wyld Singer, like Goldthroat, Silvertongue. It is no dirge. It is no song, really. It is just a howl, aching and long, fading into the rhythm of their pounding paws across the fields.

Then quiet again, but for the noise of life around them, which has its own strong, steady, undeniable heartbeat, no matter how soft it is. No matter how many human beings would call it silence.

When they get to the mountainside, they slow to ascend. His head swivels to Missing Tooth as the Galliard speaks, and he whuffs understanding. Strides forward and does not bite or bump against the higher-ranked spirit. He bows his head and steps so that it is underneath Missing Tooth's lower jaw, not quite touching. He sniffs at the other male's ruff, and then draws back.

Hatchet moves up into hispo. He moves up into crinos. He stands, hulking and bloody and wearing fur the color of granite, tinged at the tips with red. His coat is thick from winter, his nose wet with sweat, his eyes gleaming yellow. He snarls softly, directs packmates and Blood Summons with body language and chuffs of air, and then they put their backs into it.

[Rage]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[Face of Death] [please please please!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 9, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 9)

[Word on the Street] [ Rage diff 9 ]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 7 (Failure at target 9)

[Blood Summons] When they finally stop running, the Fenrir stumbles a bit, as though his legs are threatening to give out on him, but he does not fall to the ground in a heap of exhaustion as he likely wants to. His sides, gleaming with blood, are heaving; his fur practically bristles with each cycle of breath in and out of his body as he watches the exchange between the higher-ranked Red Talon and the Fostern Fiann. He listens. They've been tested this whole time; their next task is to move this massive rock separating them from Sister.

Without hesitation, without too much direction, he surges up into his birth form, fragile claws practically crying out as they elongate. His injuries look worse in Crinos, but he looks heartier, stronger. Directed to join the pack at the rock, Blood Summons lays his great hands upon the cool stone, and heaves.

[Rage]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9)

[-red-] At first, as the wolves turn into monsters and the monsters put their backs to the rock, nothing happens. It doesn't even roll. They grunt, straining. Some of them bare teeth. Little by little, the boulder begins to shift in its socket.

Then, all at once, some critical point is reached and exceeded. The boulder rolls free, grating out of the way, tumbling down a shallow slope and THUDding to a stop with an impact that caves the earth in beneath it, rocks the ground beneath their feet.

Echo will feel that strain for hours to come. Missing Tooth Good Eyes stands, barks once at them -- happiness at their success -- and without any ceremony or sentiment, turns to lope back the way he came.

The path up to the cave stretches ahead of them, winding up the steep mountainside.

[Current Damage Tally:
Hatchet 3A
Echo 1A
Dan 3A
Joey 0A
Nate 3A
Blood Summons 3A

After the boulder is moved, everyone regains full rage (I'm assuming rage was blown during RAR combat), and +1 Primal Urge for remaining duration of storyline.]