2019.10.04 The Stagecoach Chase
| The Stagecoach Chase | |
|---|---|
| Frostbite and friends make their escape. | |
| IC Date | 1881 |
| IC Time | Afternoon (Waxing Gibbous Moon) |
| Players | Royan, Zyler, Miguel, Aaryn, Sten, Theron, Micah Starnes, Aldric, |
| Location | Somewhere between Prospect and San Francisco |
| Prp/Tp | Ravenscar |
| Spheres | Garou, Gaian, Fera |
| Theme Song | Rider's on the Storm by the Doors |
The earth still vibrates with the aftershocks of the small earthquake which caused the train wreck. The members of Frostbite and their companions begin to exit the train, with the rescued children, Olivia and Jase in tow. Two of the children, Lillie and Ryder, were injured when the train came to a halt, leaving one unconscious and the other with an injured leg.
The cries of other injured passengers can be heard from the train as they start to make their way out as well. A woman wails for her dead husband. The conductor is also dead, his neck broken from the whiplash of having the train stopped so suddenly. The rear parlor car is coated in the blood of passengers, turned fomor by the banes released from the storm.
Outside, the umbral microstorm has abated and the banes have stopped trying to materialize but the a storm still seems to be approaching from the East. From the direction of the small town to the north - the train's last stop - a crowd has gathered and a group seems to be heading in the direction of the train to investigate.
Aaryn exits the train with the bear cub tossed up on a hip. She quickly scans for her pack which currently also includes Zyler and Miguel. As is her default, she would go into medic mode and begin to triage the injured, immediately going to the more delicate children. She's aware of the approaching crowd, and tries to move as quickly as possible to get them stabilized and ready to move on. She hands the Gurahl off to Olivia with instructions to wrap him in a blanket like a.. large child.
Zyler would get out of the train, landing on the ground lightly and stares off towards the east. First the storm.. then the riders. "Trouble. Worse than what we just dealt with. Backup coming too. Dangerous." He looks over to the others. "Storm Eaters. We need to move. Now."
Things went upside down for a bit there! But once more, the Battle Birb makes it out unscathed. Once more, all his feathers are intact. He gets out into the open air and makes a quick circle of the area before he comes to a landing, "Kraa Kraaaa!" he calls out, because there are passengers in the cars and neither of them need to hear a talking raven. Even though some might have been witnesses to some interesting battle tactics ontop of a train.
Miguel is still in his human form, likely being glomped on by Frost, as he looks around "We need shelter. Where can we go?"
Micah brings the crying Lillie out of the train, cradling her injured leg. Olivia carries the unconscious Ryder but trades her for Galen when Aaryn approaches. "Don't worry about me," Micah says to Ryn, "get the kids first." His back looks like raw meat but he's still in the after effects of Resist Pain. He also sticks like rotten eggs as his Troll Skin is beginning to slough off of his body in a disgusting goo. "We need to find some transportation for these kids. That bear isn't gonna be able to ride a horse."
Aaryn looks up at Zyler's warning and frowns. She catches Miguel's eyes and asks, "Miguel, could you please help me with the wounded?" She turns, next to Zyler, "you and Micah. Go find some form of efficient transport for these kids outta here, please. Some sorta... wagon?" Best to send Micah somewhere upwind. "Theron. Go try and distract the crowd? Sweet talk, lie... Just get 'em slowed."
The raven lets out another Kraaaa! before he suddenly takes off from his perch! He goes up into the sky and then begins to fly towards DANGER! 's right. He just goes off like that, right over there.
Micah heads off with Tank, heading for cover where he can shift to lupus and slough off the rest of his Troll Skin and go hunting to transport.
Miguel nods at Aaryn and goes over to help. Letting Frost stay near him but he has to set her down so he can use both hands to be the grumpiest nurse ever. If nothing else patients are probably not gonna argue with him.
Zyler watches Aaryn a moment, before finally nodding and heading off in the a direction opposite Micah, investing an option for transportation. He moves with urgency, as he has some idea of the dangers that are coming for them.
Galen throws a fit until Olivia puts him down and he can go over to comfort Lillie while she is seen to. It seems to work, as she is a much better patient while he is with her. Olivia takes over seeing to Jase, leaving Eve to stand there and watch everyone with calm curiosity.
Aaryn looks up, curiously, as the Raven goes AWOL. She nods her thanks to Miguel and finishes helping him to care for Ryder until she regains consciousness. She looks to Frost, understanding that the girl isn't leaving Miguel's side and nod to him as she carefully places a hand at Ryder's head and lifts her to her arms. She steps back for Eve to grab Lillie and Olivia to wrestle the bear cub. She turns to eye the East warily and pauses to overhear Theron and the deputies giving their best, "nothing to see here" to those that are gathering. She turns to walk away from that crowd, speaking quietly to Miguel, "we have to get a move on..." She looks to see what Zyler and Micah have come up with.
One of the kinfolk runs up to Aaryn, sensing that she has taken charge in the crisis, "Two dead from the other passenger car. Conductor is dead too. Riders are coming hard at us, most like they are armed. Best you take the three horses and get out of here and let us deal with this. Peacemaker said we're to offer support and clean up your messes." He looks around at the train and whistles, "This may take awhile."
There are bad things on the horizon, for sure! One threat, the raven can not do anything about. But the more human sort? That he can do something about. He flies ahead, fast and hard, to then descend quick behind the riding posse. Once behind them, he calls out in a very Cowboyish voice (as heard when in town, thanks Eidetic memory and Voice of the Mimic!) "Hell! Its a diversion! They're hitting the town! They are hitting the town!" and then he tries to fly the hell out of there!
Miguel frowns at the horses and realizes they're for the kinfolk and the children. And he starts herding the kids over that way.
Apparently the majestic raven isn't all just looks, he has smarts too! His well timed diversion works like a charm and the posse splits, the bulk of the group rearing up and putting on the brakes, or veering off to turn around. A few pull guns from holster and raise them to the sky. A few other are confused because they aren't sure exactly where to go, there may be injured on the train after all. They stay where they are, ambling about and debating among themselves which direction they should ride, providing a little more time for the werewolves to get the hell out of there.
All except one rider. He bursts through the group and keeps coming, riding harder now. As he rides, black shapes begin to fly from underneath his duster and forms shapes around him. They take on the shape of humanoid figures riding black horses with baleful green eyes. Three, now six, now nine, a posse of black riders heading towards the train to ride you down.
Through the Frostbite pack link, Aldric commands, "Get the children out of here. Sten and I will engage them and buy you some time."
Jase and Olivia help to load the children on the horses as best they can. "Someone will have to carry Galen. The horses are spooked by him."
Aaryn nods to the deputies and lets Miguel lead the children towards the horses with Theron's help. She offers her gratitude - Yes, this is a mess, indeed. She scoots Ryder higher up on her hip and follows along behind the other two, turning back to CAW at the Raven. -Roll Out Battle Birb!- When she meets up with Miguel and Theron, she says, "we head West. Meet up with Zyler and Micah. They've found a carriage." She looks to the skies. And heads opposite the coming storm.
Miguel will carry the bear cub, to move at speed he's got the best chance of managing with his muscles having muscles.
Once the children are safely on the horses, Jase gives Olivia a firm, passionate harlequin-esque kiss. "Stay with the children, I'll take to the skies. I'll be right behind you. Keep them safe." And with that he takes his corvid form and flies into the air with his cousin.
The trouble with Swift Wing, Hrafn.. the Battle Birb and the Gull of Battle is that when left alone, he does things without realizing he is alone! And right now? He has one thing on his mind. Shadows came from the lead horseman. Lead horseman is bad. So is his horse. EVIL HORSE! With silent, deadly intent, he suddenly does a death defying dive and charge...
As Miguel, Aaryn, Theron and their charges begin to makes their escape west, Sten and Aldric form up in their hispos and charge towards the oncoming bane posse, trying to break it up and slow it down. Swift Wing dives towards the main rider and looks to be going to an eye pluck - on the horse. He swipes the horse across the face, close enough to the eye that it freaks out and begins to the buck and scream and try and throw his rider. The rider maintains his seat, but has to break off to get his horse under control while the banes race ahead and engage with Sten and Aldric.
Interference. That is what Swift Wing Calls out to Jase to do! Spook the horses! This as Aldric and Sten does what needs to be done to get things chaotic enough. Once the two Get of Fenris begin to retreat, the raven turns to follow them; dragging Jase with him with a loud call!
Miguel and Aaryn continue west, meeting up with Tank along the way, who happily barks and directs them to meet up with Zyler and Micah. Aldric and Sten stay behind just long enough to cause enough chaos and damage to allow the children a decent distance away before breaking off and heading West, as well with Hrafn overhead. Miguel is the first to see Zyler, in his all black get-up, like a big outlaw, up ahead. Near him is a wagon and a very frustrated-looking Micah.
As the children come in on the horses, Evie and Olivia immediately dismount and pull the kids off, handing them ALL to THERON because he LOVES puppetted kids and is idle AF. They look to Zyler and Micah and are given instructions to get the horses in position of the heavy wooden tongues to attach them to the wagon. Micah briskly walks alongside to assist the two women and, between the three of them, they are able to convince the horses to get into place.
"Quickly..." Aaryn warns, looking to the skies and hearing Aldric and Sten coming - And likely bringing guests. Miguel is able to help keep the beasts calm enough as he and Zyler attach them.
Zyler watches the others come in with the animals and nods slightly. Looking over the connection, he studies it a moment, then gets to work on setting up that wagon to be ready for the horses. As soon as they're in place, the rather low rage garou doesn't seem to bother them too much as he gets the horses hooked to the wagon and quickly make sure it's good to go.
Miguel isn't so much soothing the horses as asserting dominance. He knows they'll react to him as a predator so he's capitalizing on that. Effectively glaring them into submission and being the bad cop to everyone else's good cop.
Reaching the group, Swift Wing lets out a loud kraaa to announce that he is there with Jase. He's come with Aldric and Sten and now.. now is the time to high tail it out of here!
Zyler would get up on the wagon as they're ready to go. Looking back, he frowns, eyes narrowing with a low growl. "Skeletons. banes! We have to depart! now!!"
As Zyler calls out in warning, so too does the bird, "Multiplying! Closing in! Too many to fight!" comes from Swift Wing up in the sky as he flies ahead, semi circles back and goes ahead again, "Speeed!" he urges.
Miguel starts singing in his very first human language as he drives the coach, tapering off in volume until its barely a whisper. Calling to the spirits of water that help his people hunt by ancient treaty and a fog blooms from the land shrouding the coach and confusing the sight of their enemies.
As the fog rolls out behind the coach, Theron pulls himself in beside Miguel, getting his weapons ready in case anyone gets close. Zyler climbs to the top with his shotgun at the ready. Aaryn, Sten and Aldric fan out and disappear into the darkness, howling to draw the enemies to them and away from the stagecoach. Micah rides his horse alongside the stagecoach, bane arrows knocked so he can't miss if he shoots. In the air, Feather Picks the Lock joins Swift Wing in scout and eyepluck duty.
Zyler would call out in that spirit speech from atop the wagon. Asking for help from the local air spirits to add the fog, messing with the banes and their allies further by disrupting them, knocking them back and helping the garou to get the children free of the evil. The wind kicks up in response to Zyler as spirits answer his call, disappearing into the fog and dramatically whipping it around as the stagecoach continues to lurch forward.
The wind rustles through Ryn's fur as she takes her direwolf form and fans out with her Alpha and Beta, paws chewing at the ground in preparation for battle.
Whoop! WIND! Where did that WIND come from all of the sudden! Perhaps localised to hide the stagecoach, but its sure to cause residual air corrents for the bird! He lets out a 'kraaa!' before he veers to the left.. to then speed ahead with Feather Picks the Lock. If he spots a chance to dive for interference, he will.
The banes burst through the fog for a moment a shot from the top of the stagecoach send part of a face from a bane horse. From behind them, Guides the Dead starts biting as their legs, dragging them to the ground to disappear into the fog again. Swift Wing dives down at bane faces, trying to create interference and the banes are kept back from the stagecoach.
Zyler kept crouched up on the stage coach, gun at the ready. He'd cheer on the air spirits, encouraging them to help continue to mess up the banes coming after them. When one's head pops up, that shotgun was already at the ready, that blast enough to knock it back into the fog.
Miguel has never driven a stagecoach before, much less at speed, but the horses want to run and he wants to let them. Some evasive manuvers are applied by being strong enough to drag on the reins with sufficent force to turn the flight.
"Interference!" Swift Wing once more calls out to Feather Picks the Lock! "Give them hell!" to which he then begins to make really loud, screeching noises while suddenly diving down and swooping around, over and under the banes. He does not try to do damage, but he does go close enough to rake claws over, to annoy them and get them to chase him instead of going for the coach. Once more, he proves how strong a flyer he is.
Guides leaps into the air and snags the horses by their back legs, using her weight to drag them to the earth, and tearing at them in rural fashion. The sound of the snarl, her fury, is as palpable as the dense fog itself.
Micah keeps pace with the stagecoach, holding tightly to the reigns of his horse, while out in the fog, Tank materializes in and out of the spirit world to attack banes. ~This is so much fun! We should do this more often. Murder!~
Somewhere on that stagecoach is a very scared out of his mind little spider going, ~I want to go hooooome!~
Guides lets loose a howl as she tears off in the direction of the stagecoach, >>Feather spotted a town up ahead a few miles! We can shelter there! TELL MIGUEL!!<<
Swift Wing, the Battle Bird of awesome flying, having no idea what Guides the Dead howls out, calls out, "Feather has spotted a town up ahead a few miles! We can shelter there! Tell the cat!" he calls out! Not at all an echo box, nope! Then he swoops against another bane to distract it.
Miguel is driving the stagecoach like he stole it and speeds along, hearing the called out direction he yells out "HOLD ON." and turns, hard. to head that way.
As Micah continues to ride, he takes a moment to get a bane arrow shot off and let's it fly and do its thing, seeking out a bane and making it scream so they can tell how far away they are. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand... Through the pack link he says, ~Boss, can you and Stormhowler drive them in a different direction and give us a lead?"
Zyler, for his part, didn't know what was coming. The problem with looking back means he's not looking ahead. That sudden shift has the man stumble, black coat flaring wide about him as he'd scrambled to catch the edge of the roof! Unfortunately for him, he'd actually miss it, those air spirits about that were helping with protecting the ride however, was also swirling past, that Wyld swing of wind pushing him back up onto the roof as he'd scramble and get back dead center of the roof!
Miguel gets all the wheels back on the ground and yells at the horses to make them go faster. It is not the kindest way to drive and probably not a great experience for the horses but they are not Miguel's priority, he'll take all he can get from the horses to get the kids to safety.
Guides continues to pound the earth with her paws, gliding along hard to the right to stick with the stagecoach ahead of her.
Sure enough, that hard turn was enough to lose the banes in the fog. Bonus points for nearly throwing Zyler off the room and for making Theron sliiiide across the board seat and get cuddled up beside Miguel. Might be the only time Theron will ever experience being the little spoon in the relationship. Micah wheels his horse around to follow as Sten, Aldric and Tank continue to harry the banes in a direction away from the stagecoach.
And any bane that tries to go after the coach, gets an angry Raven dive bombing from the sky to slam down and claw and hiss before taking off; daring the thing to follow. Swift Wing continues to urge his Corax cousin to do what he does.
Up ahead, Feather Picks the Lock circles a small one street town and then flies back to the other, he swooshes pack Swing Wing to get his attention and then comes in for a landing on the roof of the stagecoach beside Zyler so he can report what he has seen. Unlike Swift Wing, he doesn't have the Voice of the Mimic gift, so he relies on those that can understand him to speak for him.
Zyler watches the fog get away from them, leading the banes the wrong way. He'd reload that shotgun, then put it away, making sure to keep a hand on the bar. Because, you know, drivers these days. Glancing at the bird that comes to land with him, he studies it for a moment.. or maybe a spot just past it, then nods slightly and looks towards the front. "Who can talk bird? yes? Not sure this one can. This not talking one."
Guides slides in next to the stagecoach, trying to listen to the Kraas, but at the pace they're moving it's a wee bit the Telephone Game... She howls out, >>Town up ahead is perfect shelter form the storm<<
The raven, having heard Feather Picks the Lock, lets out a loud call just in tandem with Guides the Dead, "Town up ahead is perfect shelter from the storm!" he says, having no clue what the heck the wolf howled about though! The raven, naturally, being Swift Wing!
................. >>STOP Fucking Repeating Me, HRAFN!<< Guides KRAAS. In Her Hispo Form. >.>
Micah rides ahead, sending back a mental message through the pack link. ~I'm going ahead to scout and look for signs of an ambush. Tank, get your ass over here and help me.~
As the stagecoach follows in Micah's wake, the winds begin to kick up and swirl. Large dust devils begin to form tornadoes along the old overgrown road leading up to the ghost town. The bane riders could be ran from, and avoided, but the storm in inevitable. It's getting closer now, despite your speed, it seems to have caught up to you. The clouds are heavy with precipitation, but in the Umbra, the storm looks angry. Lightning flashes look like baleful glowers in the sky. This isn't the stern, harsh demeanor of Grandfather Thunder. This is rage and hate and madness and rolled into one.
Feather Picks the Lock takes the form of Jase Skarne and begins to crawl down the side of the stagecoach to check on his wife and the children as they get closer to shelter. Miguel prioritizes finding somewhere to park the stagecoach that's at least a little sheltered from the storm.
<Frostbite> Micah says, "We have a problem. This town might be abandoned but there are signs that someone was here recently. We may not be alone. Or it may be a trap. I'm spotting man and horse sign.
Guides gallops up and spins, back against the storm as she takes her homid form. Her hair whips wildly around and she calls up to the others -Jase and Zyler-, "Micah says there was someone around recently," she yells, scooping Ryder up on her hip as she does so, signs of horse and man."
Usually, a bird in a storm would go higher.. above it. Or find shelter. In this storm, though, Swift Wing does not want to higher. He wants to find shelter! So he goes lower as well, towards the coach, letting out a kraa to Guides the Dead, "What?!" he wonders, "We must go .. indoors!" Yeah, indoors. That took some bile for him to swallow, to say out loud!
Zyler's grip on that railing has his knuckles whiten. He's staring, almost glaring, hard! ... at the air right next to him. He leans in further, straining for.. something or another as he tries to make out whatever it is that he's staring at so intently.
Who to know a storm best but one of Grandfather Thunder's brood? Aaryn holds tightly to Ryder, cradling her head against her shoulder with one hand while she reaches up to grab Zyler's leg with the other. She looks up at the Shadow Lord, urgency in her eyes and says, loud and clear, "The air smells WRONG. This isn't the normal kind of weather storm. The winds are doing something that I don't like."
Zyler blinks, curses quite venomously that's probably lost to the winds, then looks at Aaryn. "Yes yes! Is see is wrong! Umbral storm! Corrupted storm! Was listening! Was.. nevermind. Get down. Get in! It coming. Like ranch, worse!" Zyler would finally move then, slipping down off the roof of that stage coach to land next to Aaryn while he looks around, taking stock of where they are, rather than what's on the umbra.
Miguel yells out some words in spanish that might be a touch educational for the youngsters before explaining "I have found a hiding spot, but be ready. The wind isn't all we need to be wary of!" And he heads for a gully outsde of town, getting stone to either side should help some.
As Miguel and Theron get the stagecoach parked in the gully, Aldric and Sten start to draw near from where they have driven the banes away. As everyone gathers to seek shelter you all begin to hear a roar from the skies. When you look up, you see twisters beginning to form, racing down the sky towards the ground and dancing over the landscape towards you.
Aaryn yells a warning, "get to lower ground, NOW!" She knows, at least, from all the PSAs about tornadoes, that being in a house isn't helpful. She turns to look for dips, valleys. Her arms snugly around Ryder, holding the girls' head carefully.
"Get as low as you can!" Theron calls out. He has his sword in hand as he expects the worst to come. "The lower the better, any way to anchor the coach?"
Miguel, Aaryn and Zyler would see, as they shout to each other through the storm, Micah and Tank engaged in combat with some kind of... creature. Micah has been thrown to the ground by the horse, which has run off, and Tank is trying to stand between him and the creature. From somewhere else, you hear shouts and gunfire but can't see who is causing them.
<Frostbite> Micah says, "...no... it can't be real... not here..."
