2018.10.11: Quest for Weasel

Quest for Weasel
The Devil's Own Pack seeks out Weasel as their Spirit Totem
IC Date	October 11th, 2018
Players	Iris ST, Isla, Jes, The_Devil's_Own
Location	Lucky Strike Falls and the Umbra
Spheres	Gaian Garou Shifter

Iris arrives! She has brought along a small bowl of Gross Stuff and heads towards whatever outdoor space these two have set up for this. "Hey! I've gone ahead and made up the goop for the rite so you don't have to watch me spit in it. Grinding herbs and walking is a lot harder than you might think! Alright, so have either of you ever seen this done before?"

Isla looks at the goop in the bowl, her nose wrinkled a bit, and she shakes her head. Those curly locks of her flaming red hair falling around her shoulders, "Nae, I never have. Sprinkles and I just had our Rite of Passage, so this is a first for us both." She swallows hard, really hoping that she does not need to eat that crap.

"No, uh... ma'am," Jes replies with a slight hitch, moving to stand next to Isla. "As she said, all new. Never saw anyone join a pack. But... we're ready." He smiles at Isla, patting her arm, and nods. "Whatever we need to do, we're going to do. Right, Peach? This is the big step."

Iris sets her purse down and brings the bowl over, "This stuff is gross, so I'm not gonna tell you what's in it. Good news, though! You don't have to eat it, but I do need to wipe it over your eyelids. While I'm doing this, I want you to concentrate on your goal, think about what it is you're looking for." she instructs while doing said eyelids smearing. "When you're both ready, we're going to cross into the umbra where you're both going to look for a sign. If you're both ready for this, you should see the same sign. Can't tell you what it is, you'll just know it when you see it. Follow that, find your totem, keep alert and come back alive, alright?"

Isla reaches for Jes' hand while Iris explains. "Stick by my side, Sprinkles. We'll get thru this the same way we did the Rite of Passage. As a team." She holds still for the smearing of the nastiness on her eyelids. "Aye, this stuff is gross. But if it gets us to find Weasel, it'll be worth it." She frowns a bit, twitching her face at the feel of this stuff on her eyelids, but what are you going to do? "I'm ready to go. How 'bout ye, Sprinkles?"

"Got it, hen," Jes replies immediately, bowing his head to Iris and reaching out to take Isla's hand before closing his eyes. Always together, always a team. He accepts the goop with a wrinkled nose but no complaints, and squeezes Isla's hand. "Ready, Alpha. Let's do this."

"Adorable." Iris says with a quirk of a grin while wiping her finger off and setting the bowl aside for post ritual cleaning. "Have fun guys, I'll uh.. wait here!" she offers, and waves them off into the umbra.

Assuming they've been in the umbral layer of their home, then it's totally ordinary and not at all unusual. Taking a little time to wander though and shake out some anxiety or whatever these two need to do...

Isla moves into the Umbra, Jes in tow with her. Once they are there, she lets go of his hand for now and looks around. "Nothing much different here. Guess that is good, Sprinkles." She continues until she stops short. "What was that? Did you hear it?" She turns around looking. Taking a step off to the right she hears the sound again. She waves a hand frantically to Jes. In a near whisper, but /very/ insistent she hisses, "Jes! Look! It's a weasel spirit! Got some gold on the wee thing." She points to it skittering under some bushes.

"It figures, anyway," Jes replies with a nod, looking around and noting nothing different, nothing unusual, nothing at all out of the ordinary. At her question, he asks, "Hear what? You walking around?" but stops, then walks over to her, keeping quiet. "Already?" he whispers, quirking an eyebrow and sort of... hunching down. He follows her point, nodding once, and asks, "Okay, so... do we chase it? Or what?"

Isla shrugs, "If it is anything like the will 'o the wisp I saw at home, we follow it to find what we are looking for. I say we watch it and keep up. It cannot be a coincidence we have come here to find Weasel and this wee one showed up." She keeps her alert eyes on the spirit, and stands at ready to follow.

Jes just nods once, shutting the fuck up, and readies himself to run if he must, and to take four legs if that'll help and not just scare the damn thing off. He goes where she says, after all; that's the rule. He tries to keep his eye on the spirit, but... he's just not that sharp-eyed. Fortunately, he doesn't have to be; he just has to be able to follow the leader.

There is indeed a weasel spirit, just kind of out doing its weasel thing as a normal animal would, more or less, foraging under some bushes and what not. If the pair get just a bit too close, it sits up and can be seen pretty clearly, larger than a regular wild weasel and slightly tinged with gold, like an illusory sheen over it granted by the eye goop. A moment later, it bolts into the surrounding woodlands, running with quick, spry movements and quiet despite basically being a tube sock full of pudding.

Isla doesn't need to say anything. Jes will know what to do. She springs into action, and seamlessly melts into lupus as she leaps forward onto all 4's. Her red fur streaking towards that tube sock full of pudding as she is going to keep up with it! Fiery Bellona is not going to let it get away!

Of course Jes knows what to do; Follow the Leader. He's in lupus and sprinting right after her -- and thus the tube rat -- as quickly as possible, the piebald wolf having been prepared to give some sort of chase from the moment he woke up. The duo eat the ground in long strides, knowing that while the mustelid may be faster, the wolf will always outlast.

It's a hell of a chase, the weasel moving rapidly and rushing over and under obstacles, making sudden turns and leaps to try and lose the wolves on its tail. This only partially works though, Jes gets thrown for a loop during an abrupt turn, but Isla stays hot on its trail so that Jes can follow her. Eventually there comes the reflection of a fence, strands of webbing more or less established in a chain-link fence fashion. The weasel's flight cut off, it doesn't balk and abruptly spins around, demanding in English, "What! What?! Huh?? Whadda you want? You got a problem?? You want a piece of this?!" Fur poofed up, the Weasel arches up and turns to the side to put on its threat display like an adorably ferocious hopping fuzzy macaroni noodle.

Fiery Bellona is totally able to stop nearly on a dime, ready to pounce at the talking noodle. It speaks English? Realizing it may not speak lupine, she shifts back to Homid. "Calm yerself, furry. My beta and I have come to find Weasel. We wish to pledge our loyalty to her as the spirit totem for our pack. We just figured ye could show us to her, or at least tell us how to." She doesn't even look right now for Jes, figuring he will catch up soon enough. She stands there, no fear, just confident the weasel spirit will talk.

Death's Jester is not quite so swift and not quite so agile, but at least he has plenty of warning when it comes time to /stop/. And so he does, sidling up beside his Alpha, but staying in lupus in case... you know, they have to run again. He catches the last words, bowing his head formally to the weasel, weird as that is, and showing that yes, he is here for honor, not to eat a snake-mouse.

The fierce little critter doesn't seem completely convinced. "Sure sure, everybody wants to follow weasel!" it says, still a bit on the offensive and all keyed up from the chase. It makes an aggressive hop towards the pair and hisses, "I don't think you can *handle* Weasel, that's way too much totem for the pair of you! Only someone capable of storming the fortress and rescuing the great Saint Stote would be good enough, and I bet you don't even make it to the front door! Look at that place!" It gestures past the fence and towards the webby half reflection of a building. As soon as the pair look at where its pointing, the Weasel bolts away.

Isla looks up just a second and then looks back to the weasel just as it bolts away. "Ach! Damned rat!" She clenches her fists and then looks back at the fortress. "Well, Sprinkles. If the weasel spirit says if we can get in here together, rescue this Saint Stote, and Weasel will have us, I ain't stepping down from the challenge. No fear, right? Let's check this out and get to it."

<< Not a damn bit, Peach, >> Death's Jester agrees, setting forth to Make It Happen. He scouts around, looking for a good point of ingress, and comments, << Nothing's gonna stop us, but... keep your eyes open. It won't just be walk-in walk-out. Obviously. >> He sniffs, he listens, he paces, he looks... there MUST be a GOOD way in rather than just dumb idiot obviously trap ways.

Isla slips back into her lupus form, as she takes a scout around herself to see what they are dealing with. >> As always. Eyes open, checking everything. We got this. << Padding around, she keeps a low profile - as much as her red fur allows.

The fence is patchy in places, not quite long enough established to make a fully fledged reflection of itself, but watch those sharp edges if you go through the fence! It surrounds a weedy plot of ground, which in turn surrounds a mostly-there building, but like the fence, it too has patchy holes in it. Pattern spiders are the most obvious spirit life though there's a mouse or two, some bugs and the like. The open space doesn't have a ton of cover, no trees or large stones, but it does have high grass.

<< Bad stuff's all inside, >> Death's Jester reports after sniffing around, following a path that avoids wily little spirit dens and other natural Umbral hazards. << Watch your step, Fiery Bellona. No trick to it; we just go in and do the damn thing. >> He walks up to the structure, swatting a Pattern Spider out of the way, and waits for his Alpha.

Fiery Bellona pads up behind her Beta. >> Figures. Alright, we do our best to sneak in. Find the thing and get out. Stick together. << As she sidles up next to him, her tail brushes his side. She peers inside a bit and chuffs, >> In we get! << And she pushes ahead in, slow but with that air of confidence, even though she sticks low and as stealthy as she can.

Creeping up on the thing and avoiding any burrowing spirits that might bite a paw, the pair manage at least partial cover through the weedy grass on their way forward. Getting right up near the place, both of them can make out the unmistakable smell of rot and decay, getting strong enough to make a wolf gag and regret having a nose. Through the patchy portions of a wall, something very large, lumpy, and smelly shifts in the shadows within. No immediate sign of a damsel in distress, but there's no doubt there's a challenge in there for sure.

There are ways into the building, be it through large enough incomplete spots in a wall here or there, or a large open rectangle, the sort of thing that'd have a bigass roll up door in the physical world.

<< Hop the wall? >> Death's Jester suggests, finding a low opening and flicking his tail at Fiery Bellona. << I don't trust the door. >> He puts a paw up, peeking over the busted wall, and sniffs. And regrets it, gagging quietly.

Fiery Bellona chuffs >> Yeah, over the wall. May want to shift fer this. << She looks over it to estimate which form would be best. Jumpable? Or climb in Crinos where you have the height advantage.

Choosing the wall instead of the open doorway, the pair hop in to a large, completely open building with no other rooms or additions, just a bigass, super smelly room that appears to be full of trash. A large, heaping mound of trash sprawls all across the floor, leaving very few clear spaces and absolutely no clean spaces at all (your paws will be so gross after this). The small mountain shifts and wriggles in waves... Assuming everyone's avoiding spending all their time puking, a scrappy rodent spirit appears somewhere up near the top, chewing on something or another and scrounging around. It might be the Saint Stote, whatever it is it needs a god damned bath.

Death's Jester takes his Dire Wolf form and hops in, and immediately regrets everything he has said and done that led him to this moment. But only for about thirty seconds, which he spends gagging, and then throwing up a little bit of slimy mess that seems clean by comparison to the rest of the room. << Foulness, >> he growls, looking around and seeing the rodent. << You! Are you the Stoat? The... Saint Stoat? >> Not subtle, but... there you have it.

Fiery Bellona follows Death's Jester over the wall, making sure to avoid him, but fucking hell what the fuck died here and made this fucking stink! >> UUUuuughhhhh << gurgle gurgle.. She spits something out of her mouth however a dire wolf can. She is too disgusted to even growl at this point. She turns to watch DJ spy the rodent spirit and she looks over to it quickly and takes a step forward - regretting that even as what the hell did she just step in? >> We are here for Saint Stoat. Need him for Weasel. <<

The possible-weasel sits up suddenly when it hears the pair speaking at it, making a startled squeak and diving into the trash mound! Surely it understood what was said, but then again if it's being held hostage by something, maybe it's just scared. Or has weasel Stockholm syndrome.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no. Oh fuck no. Death's Jester sees the rodent hit the trash heap, and he knows -- down to the bones of his bones -- what he has to do next as a good Beta. He gags once, draws on his ability to resist poisons, and says, << You owe me >> before diving headlong into the trash heap after the rodent, knowing this is going to be just fucking awful.

Fiery Bellona isn't going to just jump in after him. Seriously, will this stink /ever/ get out? Yeow! She actually waits around the pile, in case the rodent runs out from it once DJ pounces into it. >> I'll get you with the hose when we get home, don't ye worry! << As well as some lye soap, and something to scrub the stink out. UGH! She waits to see if she has to pounce a runaway Stoat, or if DJ can get the bugger himself.

For Jess: Oh god! It's SO HORRIBLE! OH NOOOOOOO! The *things* Jes is stepping in, getting brushed against his fur, OH GOD NO SOMETHING TOUCHED THE INSIDE OF HIS MOUTH! If he starts horking in there, it's possible he'll never stop! The whole pile wiggles and shifts around him but somehow never collapses and squishes him, and it channels sound pretty well so, even if he is half blinded by trash, he can follow the sounds of the Stote's burrowing. Soon enough, he finds a greasy, patchy little weasel butt sticking out of a Pringles can with sounds of furious burrowing from within, back legs peddling like mad! For Isla: She is spared the singular hell that is diving through that wiggling trash heap. Hope you feel real good about your nice clean pelt, lady!

Well, there's only one way to get the Pringles can, and that's with his mouth. DJ snaps it up, open end toward his throat -- because hey, no escape THATAWAY -- and trash-swims his way out of the heap, making horking, gagging noises all the way out. He comes out covered in filth, but with his prize, and trots over to his Alpha, a pleading look in his eyes. He can't hold this thing forever; she's gonna have to do her part when he lets go. And so he does, spitting out the can and letting her take it from there.

Fiery Bellona shifts to Glabro at this point, because she needs hands and still a good way to defend herself if needed. She swoops up the can, her larger hand than normal Homid clasping the end of the can. "Ok Stoat, we are getting you out of here and taking your to Weasel. Just, why are you here? What is keeping you here?" She considers that this was just maybe /too easy/.

Behold the mighty rescuer returns from Trashsilvania, bedecked in slimy splendor and with a used diaper as a saddle! Saint Stote stays safely stowed in the can, yelling (muffled and unintelligible) and kicking its back legs now that it realized it's not only trapped by also caught.

Indeed, it was too easy, though. With the can of weasel in hand, the trash pile starts shifting more, heaving and moving. The pile, it seems, is a spirit itself, a big massive Jabba the Hut of a beast made entirely out of trash. A pair of used up, thread bare tires make up its eyes, it's mouth a slime and filth dribbling maw of sharp, glass shard teeth from windows and mirrors. The lower half of its trashy body stays more blob like, but it raises huge flaps of trash while making awful garbage disposal sounds at the pair, attempting to squash them!

Well, there's no more bite in this Ragabash, so Death's Jester shifts into his Crinos form, because you can't taste with claws. He snarls, getting ready to battle the Great Trash Heap itself, swinging huge arms to tear chunks out of the ugly, stinking, oozing mass.

Fiery Bellona can't let go of their prize, but she can still give her all. Shifting up to Crinos, she keeps that can 'o weasel wrapped up in a claw while she kicks and claws into Oscar the Hut. It may be the most disgusting thing she has ever fought, she ain't letting her Beta do it alone.

The Trash heap slaps the New Moon outta Jes, or tries to at any rate. Its hit is solid, but very squishy, and being as how it's made of trash, it falls apart a bit on contact, and when it's undoubtedly attacked in return. After delivering it's sickening attack to the one, it makes a clumsy grab for Isla, or rather for the can of Stote, attempting to take it from her with a big gross clap hand. No other enemies are inbound at all, just the trash monster inside the big trash building.

Death's Jester takes his swipes, knocking trash away, but about the second time he's struck and showered in trash, he turns to his Alpha and asks, << Should we maybe just go? >> He holds his arm up to block, getting another dusting of candy wrappers and soda cans, and whacks the 'arm' again, but... you know, sort of half-heartedly.

Fiery Bellona does a spin kick to knock a hand away. >> Let's see if it tries to follow. We should get Stoat out of here. << This thing has not proven it can do much more than attack, fall apart, and stink to bloody hell. She begins to jog at first, before speeding up - since you know, trash everywhere could be slippery and she doesn't want to slip on a banana peel or some of DJ's vomit. This time, she heads straight for the open bay door to head out.

Indeed, the pair aren't obligated to beat the trash's ass, but they could if they really wanted to. Still, trash is a terrible enemy, it just keeps putting itself together again when parts are broken off, spending more time trying to take the Pringles can away and knock Jess down than anything else. My weasel!

The monster does try to follow at first, scooting itself across the floor with gross squelching noises, throwing bits of trash at the pair and yelling at them in trash speak. Once the disgusting pair reach the patchy fence reflection though, it seems to give up and retreat back into its building again, leaving the Garou with a can full of kicking, yelling, pissed off weasel.

Deej is hot on his Alpha's heels, following after at a swift lope and leaping a choice pile of rotting garbage before exiting the 'magical castle' with their 'prize'. Once they're outside, he begins to speak, but just ends up gagging again, taking a moment before he can declare, << We have the Stoat. Where does it /go/? >>

Fiery Bellona keeps heading out to get outside of this fortress of garbage and ick. >> Beats me where, but I would think if we get outside of this place again, Weasel will give us a sign. Until then, we got a Stoat in a can. Fucker will probably just try to run. << Just a pair of Crinos Fianna Cliaths with a can of squirming Pringle Weasel. Nothing to see here - unless you are Weasel.

Weasel is definitely watching. Covered in horror, got a can of yelling and kicking Stote in hand, once the pair get into the trees a bit they can hear a raucous laughter, that losing your shit and falling out of your chair, starting to weep and hold your stomach laughter. It's coming from, of course, a Weasel. Much larger, much more... ideal-image a specimen, it's laughing hysterically and blurts out as the pair come into view, "You got him! I can't believe you actually went and got him! Wait wait wait, what did he look like when he got caught? Was he freaking out?"

Death's Jester shifts back down into his human form, swatting trash off of himself and sighing heavily. "He, umm... he ran into a Pringles can, but... I couldn't really see him. He looked pretty freaked out when I called him out, though. Hard to see in the trash heap, but... scared out of his mind." He picks some trash out of his hair, grimacing, and adds, "That was fucking disgusting. I have no idea how I'm not vomiting right now."

Fiery Bellona shifts back to Homid following DJ. "Aye, he's one pissed off fella right now. Ye want me to let him loose for you, Weasel?" She holds the can up, shaking it just slightly. "Watcha want with him, eh?"

Weasel laughs even harder, both at the description of Stote's fright as well as Jes describing his trip into the trash heap. Weasel points at Stote's back legs and wheezes, "Lookit him peddle!" before losing it all over again and having another fit of laughter. "Okay, okay, whew! Yes, go ahead and let him loose." he says while trying to get his breath back.

Upon release, which is only a partial pain in the ass, the filthy Saint Stote bellows, "EVERY! SINGLE! TIME I GET SETTLED!" while poofing and arching, "You send some nitwits on a spirit quest to go rescue me! IT'S NOT FUNNY!" It is though, and Weasel once more loses it, finding way too much humor in the whole prank.

Weasel says to the pair between fits of laughter, "You're good by me, oh yes you are. Anyone crazy enough to go infiltrate and fight something that terrible just to go rescue one of mine is good by me, I'll patron you any day!"

"Well thank fucking Gaia because that was nasty as shit and I am so gonna have nightmares now," Jes replies with a sigh, reaching out and putting a hand on Isla's arm. "I'd hug you right now, Peach, but... even /I/ don't wanna touch me. Seriously."

Isla smirks and gives Jes the side eyes, "Aye, I'll hit you with a blast from the hose when we get back. Then a nice hot shower to burn that first layer of skin off." She does bow her head to Weasel, "Thank ye, Weasel. We will serve you proud. But fucking hell that was gross."

Saint Stote has a bit of a spirit frenzy, all hops and hisses and spits, and then runs off into the foliage, leaving a trail of stink in its wake. Still laughing at poor Stote and his never ending quest to make a nice home and not get 'rescued' by potential Weasel followers, the totem spirit gives the pair a chitter of solidarity and boings off in a different direction. Probably off to come up with some new dangerous prank to weed out the cowards and stupids. This leaves our heroes reeking of filth and able to return home and to the physical plane. Iris is still hanging around, working on blue prints and stuff for her orrery, and holy shit you all smell. She'll spray you down with the hose if you want and share her eco friendly camping soap.