2019.08.07:Fury Road Pt 1
| Fury Road | |
|---|---|
| The Frostbite pack accompanies the Devil's Own pack to the planet Mars, and a running battle ensues. | |
| IC Date | August |
| IC Time | Afternoon |
| Players | Aaryn Micah Starnes Aldric Sten and Royan, and to a lesser extent Jes Branton Isla and Pancake |
| Location | Slopes of Olympus Mons, Mars |
| Prp/Tp | Fury Road Next Also connected to Orrery Adventures: Nerigal |
| Spheres | Gaian Garou |
| Theme Song | Jesus Built My Hotrod, by Ministry |
It's "early" when the lizards begin blaring their megaphone-mouths across the ship, informing all, "All hands, planetary arrival in two minutes. All hands, planetary arrival in two minutes." The ship can be felt slowing down, the momentum you share with the ship dropping evenly though it does cause a monetary stumbling if you're not paying attention. The red planet snuck up while everyone was asleep for the night, and there it sits. Even when you KNOW where you're going, there's still an expectation as to what you see, and what you should see is earth. The sight of a large, burnt-orange ball with only the very thinnest wisps of clouds is jarring, beautiful but somehow Wrong to the senses. "Planetary descent in ten minutes, all landing parties report to the deck." The spirit crew is in a rush, fliting, slithering, stomping and galloping back and forth across the ship to prepare it for orbit and time without its Garou crew. Hopefully everyone's got their shit together!
On the main deck, Iris awaits the Frostbite pack alongside her own, and is currently going from one packmate to another, smearing some kind of goop on their faces in war paint designs while whispering quietly to each member of her pack. This activity will be extended to Frostbite as soon as the first member shows up and gets close enough to touch. The goop is cool, smells faintly of blood, and tickles slightly as she applies unique designs to each person. Her whispers repeat, person by person. "Close your eyes, take a deep breath. Give your spirit to the Umbra. Take the Umbra within yourself. Say to yourself 'I belong here. I belong here. I belong here'. Breathe deep, think of your Mother, she is with you." Her tone and words are calming, soothing, they certainly don't take away the nerves of a crazy mission but they do help one feel... Less like an unfortunate survivor trapped alone at sea with no rescue in sight. With each breath, a light sense of Safety may infuse each member of the pack as she works her ritual.
Nearby and hoisted right up to the railing is a little dingy boat with no oars.
Sten would arrive to where they gathered. The large man would wait for the rest of his pack accepting the goop and follow the instructions given. Taking the breaths and focusing on Gaia the umbra and his spiritual parts. This was beyond he ever dreamt of. Beyond what any of his family ever done. Even if he did not belong here it mattered not, nothing to tear him away from this. (apart from stupid timezones)
From the first blaring of the... lizards... Micah is on his feet, a rush of adrenaline coursing through his body. While there have been times that he has relaxed and given into the drinking, smoking, drumming, chaos of the trip, he has kept his gear for this leg of the adventure prepared and ready to be grabbed at a moment's notice. He gears up quickly and heads out into the common area, peeking in at any of his packmates that need help, calling out reminders of essential items.
When he arrives for the pre-game ritual, he is taken aback. War paint he expects, even welcomes. It helps him find a place of focus for what is coming. Yet, there is something in Iris' voice, something she says that causes him to flinch and his breathing to shudder. His fingers give a visibly tremble and his eyes go a little wide. Slowly however, he regains his focus and let's his breathing take over.
Aaryn had just stepped out of bed to begin her morning stretches when the ship dips, evenly. This, of course, means that she stumbles forward and hits the dresser in she and Theron's room. She thwacks her big toes and growls, lifting her foot into her palms for soothing as she jumps around. "GOD..." she grunts. Theron looks up a little bewildered, "Babe?" he calls, and is promptly answered with a pillow to the head. "Get up," Aaryn states, "we're here." After grabbing out their backpacks, she quickly dresses and heads to the deck, pausing long enough to give a look up to the /Raven's Nest/ and whistling up to Hrafn.
The raven has been waiting. Hrafn has seen the red planet approach and has been sitting quietly, watching. So far out of his depth, so far from Helios Light. No wonder so many of his kind go Sun-Lost! The stars, glittering..
Then someone whistles. Large wings spread as he launches off the edge, soaring across the deck. He does a quick turn at the bow, comes back to then make a graceful landing on Aaryns shoulder. Wings fold up along his body.
Then there is the ritual. Iris baptizing them, and it is eerie. Almost as if the Umbra, through this high ranking Garou, is asking for him to stay! Here, he belongs! He lets out an eerie kraa-ing sound to this.
Aldric responds quickly to the call, coming forward and calling Frostbite to Assemble with a degree of, dare I say, excitement that permeates the rest of the pack. The lupus is a...wolf of few words, but places a reassuring and calm hand on each of his packmates before taking his place beside them.
While the Get of Fenris are prepared for their trip out in open space, a few spirits begin taking and loading their belongings into the dingy. The things that they can, that is, they're not going to force anyone to let go of something they're holding on to, they're just being helpful sorts is all. Once the short ritual is finished, Iris hands the remaining goop off to some spirit, who runs off with it. "Here, don't lose this." she says, and hands over a key fob to Micah, perhaps to distract him from the flinch and trauma. "When you get down there, click this and lock your dingy so it don't get stolen. Think up for up, and down for down, but it don't do sideways so don't bother trying. Tipping over wont dump anyone out in space, but it's disconcerting as hell so I just recommend not doing it at all. And um... Have fun!"
A colorful piece of living yarn slithers up out of her hair and moves to knot itself into Aaryn's hair. "My spirit Familiar, String, is gonna go with your pack just so I know if you get... Lost, blown up, or whatever the case might be. We'll come find you if anything too terrible happens." Now before anyone can wig out, back out, try procrastinating or asking a bunch of questions she either cant or doesn't wanna answer (cause spoilers!), Iris hops away, jumps up onto the railing, and swan dives off it into space. The rest of the Devil's Own does the same. They don't need a dingy to get to "shore", apparently, once they're all out in the ether, the three Garou burst pairs of wings from their back (white doves wings for Iris, blue peacock wings for Jes, and gold/red phoenix-like wings for Isla), while Branton relies on his flight boots. And then off they go, speeding towards the surface and leaving Frostbite in their dust.
Sten look to the rest of the pack shaking his head some as DO drops off the ship. "Alright lets get this boat down then" getting into the dingy motioning for the rest to join him, helping them in if he needs to. He looks down to the wings for a moment but just takes a seat in so all can get in. He left the where to to the Godis cause he had no clue where to drive the dingy.
Micah takes the key fob with all the seriousness, anxiety and excitement of a teenager being handed the keys to dad's sports car for the first time. Wow! Responsibility! OhshitwhathaveIdone? Let's ride the wheels off this fucker!
He is distracted from this internal monologue as he watches Devil's Own do a death drop off the ship and spread wings to fly. He bites the inside of his mouth. He will NOT act like a starry eyed freshman idolizing the upper classmen cool kids - especially when most of those kids are younger than he is.
He distracts himself from THIS internal monologue to look to Aldric and Sten for guidance, before bringing up the rear into the dingy. Once everyone is in, he gives a hearty battle-cry of, "Going Down!"
Aldric is second to last to get into the dingy, letting Theron and Arryn and even the raven go first. Leaders make sure the pack is in place and acting as one. It certainly ISN'T because he does not trust this small, contrained, full of Get, boat to transport him to the surface of a strange planet. "Let's hurry this up."
The Unity that is Hrafn and his trusted battle-steed Aaryn does not wait around. The raven, for his part, finds the String that is tied into Aaryn's hair to be most.. curious. So much that he nips with his beak a bit near it, but not quite taking it. That would be bad. No biting the nice Garous Familiar! He lets out a kra-ing sound, which in turn brings his Spirit Familiar to move up Aaryn's leg and settle on her other shoulder. They join the others to this, settling down with Aldric, Sten, Theron and Micah.
Theron looks like he has packed a small arsenal and is grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.
Aaryn adds Raven-steed to her list over ever growing deed names.
The spirits that stowed their gear also supplied a sack lunch for all, just like a real field trip! They've also left wide strips of a red-orange cloth for each of the pack members. Long enough to use as a head band, a scarf, a belt, or even just to hold a buncha crap together, although it IS only cloth so it's not the strongest sort of rope or anything like that.
Once all are loaded and the dingy kicked into motion by Micah's battle cry of "Going Down!", it does so. Really fast. Iris did not mention that the dingy only had one speed, which is 'OHGODWE'REALLGONNADIIIIIIIIIE!' speed. Honestly, she probably just didn't say anything because she thought it'd be funny. Again. She's a terrible person, we all know this. Or maybe it just heard Aldric saying to hurry up, so it did. NEVER KNOW.
Anyhoo. The surface of Mars rises rapidly towards the falling dingy as it plunges down through the umbral atmosphere. Down below, the most enormous mountain imaginable, literally the size of the entire country of France and thrice as tall as the tallest mountain on earth, begins to come into view. It may be somewhat sleepy in the physical, but in the umbra it smokes ominously and is lit with thousands upon thousands of lights within and without, like a city has grown up around and inside of the volcano. The dingy begins to slow as it gets closer to the surface, and after just a minute veeeeeeery gently touches down onto red sand.
The dingy deposits them directly under their (now unseeable) space boat, and right in what looks like a shanty town straight out Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It's fucking COLD here. So cold that exposed skin feels as thought it were being burned, and stinging where wind swept sand smashes into flesh as if in an effort to sand the skin right off. The denizens of this shanty town are all very... Weird. Some are humanoid, others are just bizarre or even monstrous, and all around is an air of menace and danger. The air over head screams as fucking jet fighters wiz by over head, breaking the sound barrier, followed by an eerily silent stealth bomber.
Aldric hates everyone in this moment. Iris, the Devil's Own pack. Probably his own pack. Parties. Anyone on two legs. Every living thing that led him to get inside of a box and be hurtled at ungodly speeds towards a planet that probably only exists in order to kill him. Aaryn will never be able to convince him to ride in a car after this. He grits his teeth and grabs hold of his seat and gives every effort to seem the dignified leader of a Get of Fenris pack. He flat out REFUSES to take his hispo form, no matter the comfort it would give him because he will not listen to Micah make some joke about his jowls flapping because of the g, h, i, whatever force the two legs call this death drop. Then the dingy comes to a comfortable stop and he doesn't care what might be out there that might want to kill him. It can be no worse than what he just experienced.
Micah feels his balls try and go back into his abdomen as he the bottom drops out and the dingy plunges to the surface. He throws a hand up to catch the ceiling, if there is a ceiling, and uses his other hand to grab hold of whoever he is sitting beside. Hopefully it isn't Aldric, because he's pretty sure he would have to heal a broken hand before he could fire his bow again. Through gritted teeth for forces out something that sounds like, "shitfuckballsdyingohgodmammai'mcoming"
Sten is rather alarmed by the drop looking to Micah with a 'what the fuck are you doing look' gripping the side of the dingy till his knuckles are white. Once the trip stop he gets out of the boat and looks to Micah "You are not driving again" he states simply, keeping his words short and concise... cause puking would not be cool. He looks to the shanty town and then the fighter planes and bomber. Shaking his head again "Interestin' mix" he states looking to the rest of the pack. "So where to?" the large man obviously still a bit shaken by the entire trip down but trying to work through it.
It takes about 3 seconds after the dingy has landed before Hrafn, the Common Raven, is off Aaryns shoulder. He wants to take to the sky and thus he leaves his trusted Battle-steed to fend for her bloody-self! Off he goes, strong wings taking him upwards, leaving Bob the Familiar Spider to sit on Aaryns other shoulder, tickling her ear with his mandibles. She has a secret admirer in the spider!
The raven goes up, but not so far as to be lost to the Frostbite pack. He just wants to fly. And have a better view of the area.
The Ravens-teed known as Aaryn would, naturally, also leave the dingy once it is landed. What she thought of the ride, only Fenris himself would know! But since her brother was driving, probably nothing good!
One can't be sure, because the trauma has probably blocked it from everyone's mind, but when he recalls this moment later, Micah will attest under Truth of Gaia that Theron laughed like a madman, and yelled, "Oh gods we are all gonna die! This is the best trip ever! Whoooo!!!!" all the way to the surface.
While the gang's getting out, making plans to geas Micah from ever driving again, possibly having a very private vomit moment, or whatever the various cases may be...
A din a little ways away rises up, but it's probably not unexpected. Shouts, cheers, screams, the clash of metal on metal, roaring, all that sort of thing. Nearby passes a dragon. Just a full on, classical mythology style destroyer-of-cities Smaug type dragon. Just... Marchin' on by.
The raven banks to the left, making a full circle above as he gets a complete view of the surrounding area. Suddenly, though, he partially folds his wings, tips to his back and does a death-defying power-dive. Not far from the ground, wings extend to level him off. He does a sudden 180, applying air-breaks before he comes to a graceful landing on Raven-Steed(Aaryn)'s shoulder, "The area is huge. There is almost no end in sight. Its fire and mayhem all around." he pauses, "What are we doing here, again?" Because while he knows what the DO are looking for, he has no clue what task the Frostbite was given! He just kinda tagged along because.. Deep Umbra! Also? That was one big bird that just walked past. Fire-breathing, sure! But still, it has wings. Lays eggs. Bird! Dragon-bird. New species. The raven goes quiet and just pins his eye to the shape for a few moments.
Sten looks to the dragon then back to his pack looking to Aldric and the Godi for guidance. "So where do we go then?" not really in the mood for going to knock down a dragon for shits and giggles but if that is why they where here? He would. He motions to the raven who mirrors his own question looking around for other paths and ways to go since, he really did not know Mars all that well... first time and everything.
Micah wobbly climbs out of the dingy, looking sheepish at Sten as he bounces and tries to get his ball to drop again. Finally, he's able to get his voice to stop squeaking. "The information I have says that Nerigal is at the top of the volcano. If we want to prove ourselves to him, that's where we go." He starts to shift into glabro, "If someone or something confronts us, do not try and negotiate. Talking gets you killed here. Fighting might get us hurt, but if you try and talk your way out of a conflict, the spirits will show no mercy."
Everyone's peeled out of the Dingy before Aaryn finally starts to put a leg out. Then, the force of the Raven taking off from her shoulder just topples her back into the little boat. Finally, after a long suffering sigh... One hand. The other hand. And she puuuuuls herself out and heads over to the rear of the ship to, well... Vomit on mars. She pauses long enough to rest, bent over with her hands on her knees. Poor Bob. Before finally standing upright and, being reunited with the chattery raven, simply wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "OK. Who has the map?"
Aldric glowers at Micah. He seems more himself now that he has ground under his feet. He's hard to read though, so he could be angry, determined, excited as well to kill something? "You said you're our scout. Scout. Fine us a way up that mountain." Then he shifts into Hispo, his preferred battle form, because 4 legs are better than 2.
From the directions of the fighting sounds there is a mass roar, half of it sounds thrilled while the other half sounds entirely dismayed. There's some kind of chanting happening, barely understandable but it might be 'half breed!'. Through a break in the general foot traffic of the area, Branton becomes visible, being literally kin-napped by a completely different pack of wolves (who, by the way, bear the pure breed halmarks of Get of Fenris, though their fur is dyed the same red as the martian sand). The Devil's Own are briefly seen as well, Iris half in hysterics and chasing after her highjacked fiance before getting punched soundly in the chest by what looks like a Legionare. Naturally she goes down like a cheap prom date while her beau gets carried away and tied to the front of a badass cobbed together war machine. With a roar of spirit-engine, they take off. Meanwhile the elders help each other up, get into a couple fist fights as they go Grand Theft Auto and stealwar vehicles of their own.
If you wanted something to do, they might could use some help, elders or not, and they ARE zooming off in the direction of the mountain. You guys said you wanted to get to the celestine, well that's where he's at! There's other 'vehicles' that can be stolen. If you can punch hard enough, that is; ancient chariots, WW2 gunner motorcycles, tanks, and some things that are alien enough to not exist yet, or maybe they're just long, long forgotten. By the way, don't forget to lock the car Micah.
The raven is leaning into Aaryn's head for warmth. It was cold up there, and cold down here. Her head, at least, is full of hot ai...r. Something he would never say out aloud! "So, we are going for Nerigal?" he wonders, then clicks his beak a bit, "I shall try not to talk." he promises, "And I think the other ones are in trouble. Are they heading were we are heading?" he wonders. Because he has not seen the map yet.
Micah has his attention pulled away from their current predicament by the screaming and flailing and kin-napping occurring with Devil's Own. There is a moment of stunned silence in which you can hear the audible sound of *beep-boop* and doors? locking on the dingy. "It's your call boss, but I think we may want to go after them if we want a ride home."
Aaryn's eyes go wide and she, instinctively, begins to run off after D.O. After she passes Aldric, however, she remembers ...ooOO(Oh yeah, ALPHA.) And stops. But she turns around and looks Aldric in the eye, "this is it," she says. "This is the moment we decide who we are. If we are really who we promised BOAR we are. Our FRIENDS are in NEED."
BoopBWIP! A small anchor drops from the back of the dingy and thuds into the sand. And that's it. It does actually make that sound though, because of course it does.
Sten moves over to a WW2 bike "We are going after them and helping them" he states clearly and calmly trying to get it to work for him. "Grab something fast and lets go. Bikes should work... tanks are to slow. Perhaps a jeep" he punches the damn thing to get something to make it work, spirit technology was not his thing but he fucking was going to make this damn fucking bike drive for him. "Come on!" he calls out in encouragement.
Aldric answers Aaryn with a war-cry, shooting forward in his Hispo. Through the connection of their pack he sends and image of the pack making haste to go after them along with some form of vague image of vehicle procuring. He has no idea how human vehicles work, but instructs the pack to take what they need.
And Hrafn? He has no clue what so ever how the winds work here. He could very well end up there faster than them, and die. Or he could be thrown to the ground from weird winds.. and die. Or be carried off by tornado winds and .. die. So, he grips Aaryns shoulders HARD! And now, finally, she gets to feel how seriously hard his grip is. Strong Claws. They work wonders. He might be blown away, but if he is then his claws will remain.
Theron says, "But... but... tanks!" But gleefully pulls his sword and rushes towards the vehicles and battle. He will not be cutting himself this day!
Micah brings up the rear of the charge, firing arrows over the shoulders of his pack to try and pick off anyone near the vehicles. He doesn't know if the arrows will work here, but he will find out soon enough.
Aaryn doesn't wait a second longer after that battle howl! "Hold on!" she yells to Hrafn, which he clearly does. She quickly surmises the quicker may be a motor cycle and she's willing to throw some punches for the honor! After she nabs a machine, she reaches into her jacket and grabs out the cloth, which she quickly wraps around Hrafn, for warmth. She points Bob to a pocket and calls out, "Alpha! Saddle up!" And slides forward. He's ridden her motor cycle before, he knows the drill. Just in case, she leans down to growl at the umbral cycle ~MOVE your ASS you SONOFABITCH!~ in Spirit Speech. Or, if that doesn't work, she just turns on the ignition like an idiot.
These things don't run on gas, they run on angry, and filter it through a need to blow shit up. When Sten makes his decision and touches ferocity to the bike, its 'engine' comes to life with a roar, flames erupting from its tail pipe as the bike actually shrieks with rage. At this point, spirits have noticed that these little bastards are trying to steal their stuff! The arrows definitely help, because they're aiming to punch some Cliaths in the face. With a hoard of (always)angry spirits charging the Frostbite pack in defense of their war steeds, and a few picking themselves up off the ground with arrows stuck into them, it's definitely time to go. No take backsies now!
Up ahead, the fleeing Get pack and the trailing Devil's Own are starting to get away, and leaving a massive plume of dust in their wake as they barrel through the shanty town and towards the bare slopes of the mountain.
Because action scenes are cool, and things done on the run are even cooler, Aldric runs along beside Aaryn as she starts to take off on the motorcycle. As he runs, he SHIFTS into a form that can more easily ride on the rage-machine, but only after he feels the machine overtaking his battle form. At least he doesn't have to ride sidecar.
And just to be clear, after he shifts, he jumps on the back of Aaryn's bike.
Theron jumps on the back of Sten's ride. "You drive, I'll keep them off of us."
The raven lets out a kraaa-ing call to this, before he speaks, "When battle is joined, I will take to the sky! When you fall upon your enemies, I will fall upon them from above, distracting them for your claws and your fangs!" he announces. As if to make sure they know he will be .. coming down, as it were.
At first it's pretty easy going, all you have to do is not run into a building, and that's easy enough to manage as long as you're not drunk. It's once the crew is past the town and into the open desert of Mars that things actually start to get dangerous. Those spirits back there aren't taking this whole thing lying down, and all they need is a *scrap* of an excuse to go hog wild on their worst impulses and urges. A group of them follow Frostbite as they speed to catch up with the Devil's Own, screaming war cries and waving weapons. The tail strains of what sounds like truly amazing heavy metal music can be heard just as the pack starts to close the distance with the battle ahead. But in the here and now...
A man painted blood red rides behind another of his kind on the back of a flaming horse, swinging a chain bathed in fire over his head and laughing maniacally as he swings it towards Sten and Theron's bike. On the other side, a woman dusted and armored in gold balances deftly in a chariot and aims an arrow at Aaryn and Aldric. More are coming up from behind, and others are engaged up ahead. And then Micah is wherever Micah is in all of this!
Micah has grabbed a vehicle that looks like a snowmobile, with really wicked sleds with sharp pointy end on the front. Having used these back home in Minnesota, he figures in a pinch he can hold it between his knees and fire a bow or steer one handed and punch something.
Can anyone say Hell to the No? The raven sees all that is going on, and it is general mayhem! The Pack, also, is being attacked. He sees Micah and Theron under attack, as are Sten and so is Aaryn and Aldric! Unfortunately for the rest, the Raven is on Aaryns shoulder. And someone is trying to shoot at his Steed! Without warning, he suddenly just spreads his wings. It would have applied some serious airbreaks, but instead he lets go and angles his wings to give him an insane boost of speed. He veers to the left and suddenly he's upon the creature that aims at his Steed. Its a mess. Wings, claws and beak crashes through the bow and into the face of the bow-bearer. For a Corax, this one is quite strong, and he does not go away with some blood drawn before he swoops away, heading for the previously mounted shoulder!
The Get kinfolk has a gaze of determination. Dainsleif, his long sword drawn as he rides on the back of Sten's ride. Not his usual means of combat, but the training of the berserker coming through.
The flaming chain smashes into the front wheel of Sten's bike and the all of a sudden Sten and Theron are FLYING AGAIN! By the skin of their god damned teeth they manage to catch onto something before crashing into the ground. Theron, because Want REALLY matters, manages to barely catch onto something dangling off a tank, his boot toes and sword edge skidding on the dirt as they speed. Sten manages to catch onto Micah and his snowmobile thingie, and since Micah rolled that Athletics as well, he catches the Skald! Yay for you!
You're still under attack from all sides of course, and up ahead the other party is drawing closer one inch at a time, with explosions raging. Ahead of THAT, 'clear skies and sunny' begin to rapidly change into 'extreme sandstorm', but the pack ahead is driving straight towards it.
Micah swings Sten onto the back of the sled, grunting with determination. He scans for Aaryn and then Theron. "Hrafn can you get above that storm?! If not you need to get behind someone. Everyone shift, that dust is supposed to cut like knives!" He swings the sled in an arc towards Theron. To Sten he says, "Theron can't start that by himself. If we can all get inside it, we may have protection from the storm."
Because he isn't sure if going into Crinos on the back of a motorcycle is a good idea, Aldric will point Aaryn towards the tank and grab hold, going into Crinos and climbing up to help Theron. "Berserker, on your feet. We are taking this ship."
"The storm is too high! I will shelter in the tank!" Hrafn calls out, because there is no way he will take human form .. or his oversized rooster form .. unless it really is needed. He applies air-breaks once more by spreading his wings, taking into the sky and veering off to the tank. His aim is to get inside the thing. He may hate it, but it beats getting sliced up by sand.
Aaryn remains homid for the time being. Needing a bit of those finer, more detailed motor skills to maneuver the bike close rot the tank. After Aldric has grabbed hold, she attempts to abandon the bike by leaping sideways and clinging to whatever handful of rusted metal she can muster.
Aldric climbs atop the tank in his Crinos form and looks for an opening where he can get in and kill something. He badly wants to kill something.
Micah swings the snowmobile around so that Sten can climb aboard their soon to be new ride. "You go first, then pull me up."
Well Theron is up on the tank, a brief scramble to get his footing and then he looks for the port of entry to open it, relying on his strength to pull it open if necessary, sword at the ready in case he needs to slay whats within...
Sten jumps up on the tank and helps Micah up on it. He looks to Aldric trying to kill something and once everyone is up on it he would try and get inside of the damn tank now that the are on top of it.
Aldric gets up there and helps Theron find his feet a little bit, and between the both of them it takes some effort, but they manage to rip the hatch up and off the tank, sending it flying off behind them. The alpha hops down into the tank itself, there's a lot of screaming and growling, and a spirit is hurled out. Still some fighting happening in there if Theron would also like to follow and stab a dude to finish off the two man crew.
Aaryn makes her leap well and crabs on with both hands, though Sten manages to just barely avoid eating the ground. Micah, in turn, has that helping hand from Sten once the man's also found his feet up there, and makes it up onto the tank. The bike and the snowmobile keep right on driving, although now that they don't have drivers, they go off and do their own thing, breaking away from the fight to go shoot at anything that catches their 'eye'. Just for fun.
Up on top of the tank, the storm that the DO and that mysterious other Get pack are driving into can be seen in all its glory. Reaching the atmosphere, moving with deceptively fluid grace is a wall of red sand that swirls and sparks with electricity. Tornados the size of towns move within it, winds fierce enough to scour down to the bone, this is the great Test of Mars, that which seperates the worthy from the weak and bars all but the greatest and strongest from the seat of War itself. REALLY good call about getting in the tank, and now that you have it, you can catch up to the attack up ahead and also not get shot in the face right away.
The raven is .. a great flyer. He really is. There is nothing clumsy or ungraceful about him even in the face of storms and dangers. He just swoops down into the tank once it is pryed open, folding his wings up and clearing the hole before he is finally safe from the storm. He then just hunkers in there, "Might need to be told when the storm has passed! It is hard to see out from in here!" As if he was not able to hear it.
Aaryn leaps up on the tank, and waits just long enough for her Alpha, Theron and Hrafn to enter the metallic beast before grabbing the lip of the pit and leaping down in, herself. "Let Aldric stay near topside," she calls moving aside from the ladder. But, for her part, she grabs the steering device. "Micah can take... Periscope. Whatever."
Aldric flings spirits. Aldric claws spirits. Though the pack link, the rest of Frostbite hears growling that loosely translates into, "THIS is for making me sleep indoors! THIS is for being dropped from space in a little boat! THIS is because I have to hide inside of a big metal box so I don't end being sucked into Oz!" Like I said, LOOSELY.
Hunts the Shadow slaps Sten on the arm and gives him a grateful, wordless nod of thanks. Micah wordless is a rare gift indeed! He checks on Ryn and Hrafn to make sure they are aboard and then nudges Sten forward. "I'm rearguard, get in there and I'll take whatever room is left. I'm skinny." He takes his bow in hand in case he needs to shoot anything coming near the tank.
Sten nods to Micah and squeezes down into the tank to get into the loaders seat cause he ain't driving this thing. And he sure as hell dont know how to shoot so he damn well just gonna sit where there is maybe space for him.
The inside of the tank is cramped, but it's also lacking a lot of the usual electronic junk one usually finds in a tank, because it's a living spirit you're in, not a machine, so it just doesn't need that stuff. So not TOO cramped and fits everyone with enough room to at least maneuver around in there. All it has is aiming handles for the turret and driving sticks, a seat for either, and that's literally it. There are also view ports, they're not huge but they do provide enough visibility to work with and see where you're going, as well as currently closed little hatches where a dude could stick a gun out, or something of the sort. In the back, there's a 'dead', de-materializing spirit.
The lighting inside the tank turns a deep, blood red as the rage filled war machine speeds into the storm, disco-lit inside when there's flashes from lightning elementals up above that are so large they must be Incarna. Their randomly stabbing bolts leave deep craters in the ground, though they don't seem to be trying to hit anyone, just scare the shit out of them and make them squirm. They're just playing with the little ants, that's all, and if someone just happens to run into a giant fork of electricity or crash into a crater, that's their own damned fault.
Being inside doesn't cut down the noise outside very much, the wind is still wicked loud and there's the metallic static of the sand hitting the tank's body, and drifting in from the missing hatch. The strains of heavy metal music still drift from up ahead as the DO group draws nearer, and starts to get very, very uncomfortably close to one of the enormous tornadoes out there. A few of the smaller, weaker spirits are picked up as though they weigh nothing, and are torn apart in a ghastly display of flames, lightning, and devoured Gnosis. Those spirits wont be re-materializing.
Roll-call for end of part one:
Aldric: Angry passenger
Theron: Stab-happy passenger
Sten: Stoic passenger assisting gunner
Micah: Gunner/Periscope
Aaryn: Pilot
Common Raven: Passenger and bullet shaped feathery thing that should stay away from the gunner or risk getting used as ammo
Devil's Own Pack: Up ahead, engaged in battle
Other War Spirits: Coming up from behind to kill yo' punk ass
Bob and String: A pair of spirits that Aaryn has the misfortune of carrying around right now
