2019.07.11:Scouting and Building Frenzy

Scouting and Building Frenzy
This is exactly what it sounds like.
IC Date	???
IC Time	???
Players	Iris, Ildar
Location	Near a fortified bad-guy building
Prp/Tp	none
Spheres	Gaian Garou
Theme Song	A theme song for the log

Iris, having Ildar go with her to scout out the area, would be able to approach from the woods. This is much the same way as what had been done before. However, this time? There's actually a rather large difference. Even a good half-mile away, that sense of taint. Darkness swirling ahead, was pulsing outward. Whatever it was that had been in the building was continuing to grow. Ahead of them in the tree line, there even looks to be some dead trees on the edge of the woods. Ildar would pause there and frown. "That's not right. It wasn't like this before.."

Iris sticks close and tries to be stealthy, wearing pants and everything for once! Instead of a dress. Or no pants. It happens occasionally. Stopping and hunkering down with Ildar, she scans the area up ahead, and checks their peripheral now and then, juuuuust in case. "I take it stuff's gotten a bit worse. Stands to reason, either flee or hurry up and break bad ASAP." she says for the enemy. "What can you tell me about last time you approached this way?"

Ildar nods a little, dropping to a knee while he talks to Iris. "The forest was fine. They actually didn't see us initially. I suspect someone just happen to glance out while Logan came crashing through the trees like a rock. It was kind of hard to miss." He shrugs, frowning as he would look ahead. "There wasn't this sense either. I mean. We knew the place was bad. Sure. But.. this is a whole lot worse."

Iris nods her head again and says, "Yep, sounds about right. Well whatever it is they're doing here is important enough for them to stay HERE to do it even after getting attacked and knowing the Garou'd most likely be back cause dun no wolves like hanging Wyrm threads. If I was them, I'd be expecting you, and laying the ground work for reinforcements and traps. C'mon, let's skirt the edge of things nice and slow and see if we can get a good vantage point. Once we're done on foot, I wanna do an aerial sweep for a bird's eye view. Journey gave me a talen that'll turn me invisible for just a few minutes, it's not long but it's enough for a fly by."

The umbral view is there. it's actually not that hard to see. Then again? Maybe it would of been better to not see. The dead trees have been infested. Fomori are within them, twisting and writhing slowly, looking about, as if waiting for.. something. The roots of those trees branch out, connecting to others, who are getting much the same thing. The webbing of corruption and taint snakes back across that open space from the tree line to the building, on the umbral, they vanish into the basement, which can't be seen. Outside of that building is a rather large dome. A sickly black, swirling mass that covers the area to block easy access into it.

Iris' awareness will be the first thing to ping of something coming. It's on the umbral, a dead bird's bloated body that shouldn't be able to fly, is floating lazily their way.

Ildar nods his agreement to Iris. "Yeah. I'm sure they know we're coming. They probably expect from the forest again too." At her direction, he'd shift, moving forward to start to circle that line of dead trees without passing it.

Iris listens in silence while she observes. Being a Black Fury, and a Gaian, she should be way more instinctively angry than she is, but she's not. She ganders as though this was just another day, with only the slightest muscle ticks in her face to show her distaste. "I know that gift." she says quietly while looking on the dome of blackness. "Ooooh, shit, sh sh sh sh, move back move back, scout incoming" she says ernestly, tugging at Ildar's arm and signally a stealthy retreat from their location. In her brain she's like 'sure, we could kill that bird', but that'd be a bad idea probably. Not this close to environmental guardians, it's just too danged risky, better to disturb nothing and try to back out, keep totally under the radar.

Ildar pauses at Iris' touch, glancing back to her, then nodding, fading back smoothly further into the woods. He might not see what's going on? But if Iris says to move? You move first, then find out what's up! As the two fade back, the bird continues on it's patrol, oblivious to what it just missed below as it circles that edge of the corruption. Ildar waits a few moments, then asks in a low voice. "What are we avoiding?"

Iris does make sure Ildar sees it, crouched behind foliage and all hunkered down, she points a finger up towards the bird to track it for Ildar to see, then moves her finger to her mouth in the universal 'shhh' signal. Once the patroling bloat bird has gotten away from them a bit, Iris says, "Okay, let's move." She picks a direction, since it's basically down to left or right, and starts along quietly. While getting going, she has a little bit of telepathic communication with her String buddy. ~I have a really important favor to ask of you. You can say no if you want, it WILL be dangerous, but it will also probably be a lot of fun. There is an enemy stronghold of the Wyrm nearby, and I need to see what's inside, but you're much smaller and sneaker than I am. Would you be willing to go and spy on the enemy?~

The string appears, slipping out of her dreadlocks where it'd been pretending to be a piece of her own hair, turning from shades of brown and into its natural state of oscillating color. It's about a foot long, and looks like a floating piece of yarn, as far as thickness goes. It's also one of the most peaceful Wyld spirits in all creation, but the Wyrm IS still it's enemy just by being the Wyrm and essentially trying to wipe it out. ~I'll point you towards the grumpiest Ahroun I can find when you get back.~ she offers in chiminage to her buddy. The String isn't a chiminage sort of spirit, but damned if it doesn't *love* teasing Ahrouns. The grumpier the better!

Ildar dutifully looks towards where Iris points buuut.. well.. Nothing there. At least on the regular realm. Iris is doing a good job of pointing it out on the Umbral though! Either way, once it passes, Ildar falls in line with Iris. Keeping low and careful as they go moving along that outside edge of the corruption.

The string comes out and would react to Iris appropriately. As it flutters wymstically towards the tainted area, there's a slight faultering, then it would back off a bit. Moving back to Iris, it seems like it's double checking she really wants to ask this, before it heads in.

This is one of the drawbacks of being a Theurge, you start getting so in tune with the spiritual side that you just cant tell the two realms apart any more and stop thinking of the Physical plane as the 'real world'. It's the blank expression and questioning looks from others that tell Iris when she's being weird, and she says, "Oh, the scout must have been Umbral, my bad. Still, never know what it can see into. I mean if I can, then I assume anyone else can.

While Iris and Ildar try and move around the area and get a view of its perimeter, seeing what's spread where and how far, trying to spot any pitfalls or whatever, the Color String zips off to go do its deed while Iris mentally comfort and encourages it. I did mention that it's Wyld, so it has a shit attention span, not exactly b-lineing straight towards the important looking stuff and instead doing a bit of a meandering stroll towards the closest of the side buildings (Henceforth known as Building A for confusion's sake). Its bright colors dim down into more natural hues in instinctive camouflage as it enters an area rife with the stench of the Wyrm. Telepathic communication is great, and Iris knows right where her String Bro is, but she cant watch through it's eyes constantly or she'd trip and fall down a hole. So to that end, she's trusting that it'll alert her if it sees anything important while she's busy changing positions with Ildar. And since this is Super Important, the string does try very hard not to get side tracked by bugs or anything.

Iris and the string, both being umbra-sensitive, would DEFINITELY feel.. there's something here. It's watching the area. Passing that barrier, the edge of the bubble is distasteful at best. At worse? The String will definitely want a bath after this. Once past it, it's possible to meander over towards building A. It use to be a house. Now it looks half caved in. On the Umbral side, there are thick veins of corruption that have grown out of the basement of Main Building and among the other things it's reached to, this building has been touched and slowly consumed. Even so, there's a group of 4 guys inside. They're armed with Glinty sticks (Guns to Iris' attention) and seem to be on watch, even while some porno plays in the background on a beaten up TV.

Ildar nods a little to Iris in understanding about the umbral and simply keeps up with her. She may be dealing with the Umbral plane, Ildar dealt with the physical. He hadn't drawn his bow. Yet. But he's definitely ready. Just in case.

Iris stops at some likely looking spot where they might have a view of any comings or goings or anything like that, and after double checking the skies (as a chick that can sprout wings, she's very aware of 'up') she tunes in to String radio. "Keep an eye out, I'm checking in with the string." she tells Ildar. When she does, there's dudes! She reaches out through her familiar bond, and keeps Ildar updated, "Four dudes, in a one story side building, one's fomor so the rest probably are also. Armed with silver bullets..." She comforts her super, super unusually focused String and urges it onwards to go take a quick pass through the mobile home. Same plan, just a quick headcount, pretty much before sending it towards the main building. Angling high, to start from the top at one corner and work its way down.

There's more guards outside. people on the physical side who have the guns too. On the umbral, the essance that's in the basement of the primary building seems to be.. alive. Aware. An active essance that's searching around it. But the String is wyld and knows how to avoid detection of destruction! Inside the mobile home is a similar scene. There's 4 guys here, there's a small arsenal of weapons and that lunar metal is all over here too. They seem to be playing cards, tainted pile of money stacked up on the table as it seems to be who can cheat better and get away with it.

Iris still keeps Ildar updated of course, "Mobile home, four dudes I'm willing to bet are also fomori, same gung ho silver bullet supply... There's guards outside as well, also with bullets... We're going to the main building now, starting high and trying to get a peek inside..." Now for this, Iris wants to be thorough but she also doesn't want to waste time or put her Familair in undo amounts of danger. Instead, she's going to take advantage of its small size and go in a circuit around the building from the top floor, down one floor and circuit, down one floor and circuit, and so on, just looking through windows/cracks in window covering/ cracks in the walls, things like that, just for a LOOK, not an invitation for anyone to see it and try to engage. It will, of course, attempt tp be stealthy as it goes.

From the top floor, as that string starts to circle, it'd very quickly be aware that the ENTIRE building has those veins of taint, corruption, weaved through it. Not only that, as it goes to circle closer to one of the windows, it would almost seem like... That window is an eye. Peering back at it. This is accented by the fact that suddenly a flurry of those tendrils would launch outward from the building to take a swipe at the Wyld String!!

Iris is just chillin, occasionally stealing a peak around or up before fully tuning back in to her Familiar to share senses. All's well and quiet before she gasps quietly and snaps out of it, "Back back back," she says quietly, and urges a retreat with Ildar. Meanwhile in her brain she's like, ~ACT NATURAL! Stay safe and escape, I'll find you later.~ Which wont be a problem thanks to the bond.

The String is ready for this, but you're never really *ready* for this, so it doesn't manage to flit away before being grabbed by evil BLACK YARN! The foulest of all yarns. Thankfully it's a fucking string, and it's *super* hard to squish a string, so it weathers being caught quite well. At Iris's urging, it does in fact, act natural, and just... stops being grabbed. The little bastard String slips into a Zone, separated from this world and yet still within it, completely defenseless yet completely invulnerable. And, it does in fact act 'natural'. Color Strings are very peaceful and very playful, and they're fucking *assholes*. Now that it's caught, it just does what it would have done if it'd tripped over the place naturally, and raises a little teeny bit of chaos. Iris may or may not approve of this, but she doesn't actually get a vote.

So the string lengthens out, twists itself up, and starts shaping itself into various rather rude gestures, a giggle in the face of impotent wrath as it makes middle fingers, lips blowing a raspberry, a waggling butt, and so on.

Ever see a building Frenzy? That'd be the effect that the String, in all of it's 'innocent' chaos, would evoke! That building itself just gets more and more pissed. The area filled with more and more of that 'black yarn' as that spirit was saught! When it couldn't be touched, it'd just piss the building off more!! This actually has an impact on the real world as the ground would rumble and shake. Those tendrils of taint that had spread out flexing and clenching, crushing both of the side buildings. Snapping the dead trees like twigs and the faint echo of a roar on the real world, is NOTHING compared to the volume of that RAGE on the Umbral!!!

As a multi-colored, animated yarn drawing of a Smurf dick-thrusts its way past a raging window-eye, Iris beats feet with Ildar. I mean yeah sure, it's pissed and things are collapsing, but Strings happen, man, it's just what they DO, and there's still a chance to avoid Garou presence! It takes some delicate prancing on a fallen tree and a dive and roll to avoid some trip ups, but she manages to not get eaten by the earth.

Only once she and Ildar are out of the Danger Zone does she stop to catch her breath and look back, checking in on her String. "What- Oh Gaia, what are you doing?" she asks both in and outside of her head, "Quit it, you're gonna break the whole damned city. Go, go on, go play somewhere else!"

The string really will push its luck as far as it possibly can, but yes, it'll go, flitting off ever so peacefully in whatever random direction seems good at the time. Not like it can get lost or anything.

"Holy shit. That wasn't what we came here for, but that was hilarious." Iris says, not nearly as upset as she probably should be. "I think we might have made a building frenzy, but I think some of those Fomori got literally squished, so... Bright side, right?"

Scene ends: Ildar had to go and the goal was accomplished, so FTBed