2012.06.23.CoyoteFinale

OOC: This is the conclusion to the Coyote Saga, run by Es (thank you friend), and involving most of the Sabbat sphere at one point or another. It marks the end for the Elder Gangrel Coyote and his Ravnos killing ways.

As each of you emerges from the psychic battle with your own Beast, you look around at the night landscape before you. While naturally attuned to the darkness, you see in the darkness with nearly perfect clarity. The rest of your senses are equally sharpened by the the mask.

Alice emerges from the shadows holding the basket of sharpened bones. She hands the first to Marion and says in her hoarse voice, "Everything you expected and more?" She cocks her head, examining Marion with a curious look in her feline eyes.

Obsidian watches what goes on, broken mask at his feet; looking ready for anything.

Marion chuckles. "The sensation is beautiful. Once you learn to ride it." she smiles brightly around her mask. "Thank you for the gift." she says. "I hope it prepares us for the coming battle, once my brothers get used to its weight."

V's Beast rolls it's head as blood drips down it's bastard form. The creature moves lightly across the ground like a cat stalking prey until it stands next to Alice. It grabs a bone shard in it's right hand and growls something that sounds disturbingly like a cat gargling 'Mother' to the old woman.

Duncan's eyes have turned red. Not blood-shot, not by any means. No, the whites have litterally filled with blood, and the pupils have expanded to completely eliminate the normally green iris. His hair, generally a wild tangle of spikes that goes in all directions has been with a smooth motion slicked back neatly. The young man whom is Duncan is no longer here, and the thing which has taken his place looks only very slightly and acts nothing at all like him. Interesting to note, the tips of his ears have turned black and there seem to be scraggly hairs growing from the outside edges.

The woman pulls out her final gift from the basket. Its a mason jar at the bottom of which is a piece of dried meat. She hands it to Marion, "Here. I preserved this from the original battle. It was once a part of his thigh. Its essence will lead you to him." She opens the mason jar, its lip screeching as it turns against the glass. She pulls out the dried flesh and hands it to Marion for her to smell.

Obsidian stands by, waiting for the fun to begin. He watches between the two who don't seem to be in complete control of themselves and Marion.

Marion takes the flesh and sniffs it. "Thank you." she says, taking the tongue. "I shall split this between myself and my brothers." she motions the others close. "Take a bite. And know the secrets the flesh brings."

"The smell... it is... delicious," V growls as the mason jar opens. The demented whiskers coming out of the mask twitch in the night air as the scent spreads. "So well... aged... powerful..." The hand not holding the bone drags gnarled yellow nails across it's chest opening four deep channels through which black vitae spills. Then it moves swiftly to tear a chunk of the old flesh off. It is smeared against the mask and somehow becomes absorbed when run over the mouth. "More..." it says as it stares with no eyes at the Tzimisce.

Duncan's tongue pokes out of his mouth, dry and grey but not withered. It languidly drifts along the meat when passed to him, the thing savoring the flavour of Elder Gangrel that the piece still holds withen it's ancient flesh. Front teeth biting off a bit, he then passes it along. Though he was silent this whole time, suddenly, crimson eyes rolling about in his head, he looks up and snarls at the sky above. Scent of the prey in his nose, in his mouth, even in his belly - it is clear he is ready for the hunt to begin.

Obsidian pops the meat in his mouth and chews a bit before swallowing.

Marion takes whats left of the meat and takes a bite out of it. "Yes..letthe hunger drive you brothers." she smiles. "Feel it clawing at the taste of the meat." she bows to Alice. "Thank you. We are ready for the unt."

For those of you enchanced by the power of the mask, the flesh offers you a distinct, essential pattern. You know with out knowing and can act in search of your prey with pure instinct. Indeed, the Beast within responds understanding that beyond the rocks, into the forest, down the hill and into the earth, is blood and power. The Beast longs to return to what is essential. What is basic. To grow closer to Caine. The serpent biting its tail. With out a thought, the Beast carries your undead bodies forward into the darkness.

For those of you without the mask, you taste a four piece of meat, supernaturally preserved, but foul none the less. The Cainites howl as they take off after their prey its scent filling their senses with long forgotten knowledge.

"It.. it calls... to me... the blood," V growls deep in it's throat as it's body slowly leaks blood, covering it in a black patina. The creature throws it's head back and lets out a blood curdling scream of a predator in the throws of an epic battle. It goes to Marion and bows slightly in front of her, it's body practically vibrating with the need to be unleashed. "Let me... let me run... let me... hunt..."

Obsidian makes a sour face as if he just bit into a lemon, "Tastes like rotten meat to me.. BUt lead the way and I will follow." he nods.

Marion smiles. "Go my children!" she points a three knuckled finger towards the hunt. "Go into the night. And sate your thirsts!"

There is another blood curdling cry as Marion unleashes the beast to go after his prey. The creature needs no second invitation and it bolts like a bat out of hell into the deep forest. With the vision granted by the masks and the scent of the prey in it's nose, V moves as fast as it's legs can possibly go. Fallen trees are leaped, streams dashed through, rocks and branches don't even give it pause. All that it can see is the unlife it must end.

It starts with his ears. The black begins to spread, hair growing at an alarmingly quick rate, skin color changing. His maw widens, then lengthens, sickening bone crunching sounds emiting. Arms shorten, as do legs. Clothing merges with skin, turning to fur. As time passes, with the thing moving in a series of jerking spasms along the ground - ever moving forward, dragging itself along however it can, the thing fully turns into a beast in true form. A panther black as the jet black of the night sky now runs where Duncan once was.

Obsidian takes off after the others, almost blindly running through the forest trying to keep up as best he can. He growls as he is having trouble keeping up then leaps into the air, his wings actually supporting him for flight.

You all let the Beast carry you into the scruffy hillside and into the sticks and trees beyond the house. The night is painted the color of red and the forest sings with violence and blood. All around you life, shrinks away from you as your preternatural spiritual predator rises and passes under the branches. Even the rocks bow before you. Humans regard themselves as the top of the food chain, but the Sabbat has told you differently. This was empty rhetoric for the most part. A cheap rationalization for killing indiscriminately. By letting the Beast take you, something is confirmed with in you. Any doubt you had about the truth of humans being lesser beings is proven, with out a doubt, by this experience.

The rocks and bushes move underneath you. Its almost as if the land itself parts and carries you along on some unknown current. Above the stars are giant jewels spewing bolts of raw light. You draw closer to your prey and know his movements. Something informs your Beast's steps, taking you where you need to be. Hours, seconds, days, time stops having meaning. You are above it as your arrive at the entrance to a cave. Less a cave really and more a space between two collapsed valley walls. A slim triangle allows you entrance into the total darkness where your prey lies in wait.

As V runs with the beast in him, the pack around him, and the night above him, he transcend himself in ecstasy. Like a bolt of lightening he arrives in front of the cave then stops in his tracks. Long inhales are taken of the cool night air as he stands there. "Inside... our feast... inside," it growls out to his brothers. "It awaits... our arrival... can you... FEEL it?"

DuncanPanther, panther that he is, runs through the crack of the earth silently. Claws are not yet extended, and panther-paws are quiet things. The black darkness of night envelopes him, surrounding his form and preceding him into the valley like out-stretched wings. Pausing only for a moment as he senses his prey, his maw opens and his teeth flash momentarily as a low purr emerges from the dark pit of his throat.

Marion heads to the cave entrance, smirking at herself. "Alright. Everyone into Gaia's buttcrack." with that she jumps on into the cave.

Obsidian follows after the others as best he can, readying himself for the fight to come.

The cave welcomes you the same way the forest did. Its walls are stained with the same blood red as the night sky. While the world was bright, this place is a narrow crimson tunnel leading down into the earth. Again, the feeling of being drawn or guided is felt through out all of you. You move quickly and as the cave makes a slight turn, you reach the end of it.

Your prety sits in a crouch in the darkness, his eyes two burning embers. He turns to look at your pack. He's the wolfman for sure, but rather than wolf he is Coyote. Upon seeing you intrude upon his privacy, he stands. You can see he favors one leg from the original battle centuries ago.

He offers a snarl of an animal greeting, eyes narrowing, rows of terrible cainine teeth on display. This isn't a battle stance. He clearly knows what he is seeing: a pack of Beasts. So he unleashes his own Beast in response. Being cut from the same fabric and related by a common thread of blood, he seeks the same thing you all seek: pack order. His attentions are focused primarily on Marion as she is the key to dominance or submission.

Marion snarls, baring her fangs in the presence of the eyes. "Coyote!" she says, stnaidng right outside his cave. "I would have you welcome us to your domian." she says. "For death is not something to avoid." she murmurs. "Someone welcome me. I cannot enter uninvited."

Marion asserts her leadership of the pack and it is something to behold, but Coyote is older and more powerful. His assertion as the pack leader is stronger and whatever thread animates the pack is pulled towards him.

"I am the Coyote. I know why you have come," the Beast says to you, but not so much in words as in gestures and feelings. "Come, before we act out this age-old tradition I would impart to you some wisdom, if you will hear it?"

Obsidian follows the others inside and watches the interactions, listening to the Coyote

V's Beast stops just behind Marion and looks between the priest and Coyote, confused and unsure as to the proper leader to follow. It snarls futiley and claws more strips of flesh off of it's body. The creature is not in the mood for wisdom, it lusts for blood and cannot contain it's desire. With a scream it starts to pound it's fists bloody and broken on the rock floor until a fraction of it's puzzled fury is spent and it can focus on figuring out whom it will follow and whom it will eat.

Marion places a long hand up. "Hold." she syas. "We will hear you out, Coyote." she says. "What is your wisdom?"

DuncanPanther snarls and snaps his jaws with a sharp clicking sound that reverberates against the walls of rock in the valley. He continues pacing back and forth in agitation, the purr from before turning into a constant low growl. Hissing at Coyote with spittle flawing from its mouth, the panther crouches low, as if to pounce.

Obsidian tilts his head and looks between the vampires he knows, "What is going on?" he looks confused.

Coyote replies, again in the secret language of Beasts. Its little more than images and feelings conveyed across the medium of blood memory:

The painful embrace in a jungle many, many centuries ago. So long ago, the stars were different than they are today.

Later, feasting upon the blood of sacrifices on stone pyramids. Growing strong by worship. Learning magic from spirits of blood and ancestors.

Millions of victims over the centuries.

Then, deeper, commands sent across the bloodlines. Orders, can't resist. Being ensared by the need for power. Being embroiled with other vampires. You hate them, but they are the only beings in the world you can trust.

You come close to the truly ancient. You sense their will about you like moths in the darkness. Invisible but present. All seeing. They come from dreams, they are dreams. You are one of their many dreams.

Then, a final vision comes to you, by doing this, by eating the Coyote the moths, the Ancients, you weaken them, but at the same time, you ensare yourself in the dream....

       You were at a threshold and now you have walked through that threshold....

               You have chosen to sleep so you may dream and know the truthy...

rather than wake and be comforted by lies...

Perhaps with some horrible joy you discover that this whole time, you have been feeding upon the blood of an Elder. The mask enables you to take in more blood, its mouth opening wider, unhinding like a snake to allow torrents of the elder's potent blood into your system. You allow the blood to burn in your system, making you stronger and allowing you to take in more of the fluid. The blood will eventualy run out, however, in the meantime...you've chosen the Dream of Diablerie.

The words are listened to but just barely as the beast responds to the words in it's own tongue. Then, the creature awakes, the vitae in it's mouth is rich and so very, very old. It has never tasted anything like this and it overwhelms it. Before it was consumed by the very thought of the vitae and now it is actually getting it. The fury becomes absolutely insane and V continues to feed, desperate for more and more and more.

Obsidian barely keeps control of himself as he watches the scene unfold before himself.. "Seriously.. What is going on here?"

DuncanPanther is all ready to pounce and get into the thick of battle - but suddenly, he finds it done. There is no battle, no struggle against this ancient Elder, at least none to be recalled. Finding itself already feasting on the flesh and blood of the prey they sought he does not appear dwell on such things. Instead he simply revels

Drinking from Coyote is like returning to the embrace, only this time there is no trauma, no grave, no violence and terror. A sanguine bliss washes over you, but it has a current. One that leads to an abyss great and terrible. While you crave this abyss you also fear it. Like the Beast itself, you seek to walk the razor thin line between the power it offers and the death it promises.

Marion attempts to walk the line and pulls out at the last second. Unable to cope with the quickly hurtling death she tears herself away from the elder with a primal scream.

This leaves V and Duncan to contest but V is also unable to walk this line and he pulls off with a howl.

The vitae is so rich, so very delicious... but that abyss, it looms so close. It looms close, so very close, and only getting closer. But the call of the vitae is strong and the beast wants ALL of it. But no, the abyss, he cannot fall into it! With a wretched howl of pain and longing the creature falls back from Coyote. The creature falls to the ground and it's howls continue like a wounded animal caught in a trap. Nothing can satisfy it now, nothing will ever taste so good, have so much power. Nothing.

DuncanPanther's muzzle is coated in the slick red darkness that is the Elder's blood. The taste of life, of death, sings in his undead non-beating heart. For a moment it is as if he is alive once more. And dying. Being reborn... And then it is done. The Elder Gangrel has been defeated; Consumed. Duncan howls up into the sky, his cry of victory a cat-snarl-growl that once again reverberates against the rock walls of the small canyon.

Marion suddenly grabs her temples, overwhelmed by the beast. Her fangs extend and she turns, her pupils large and dialated, filled with the primal instinct brought on her by the blood as she feels the gangrel being consumed. She stalks towards Obsidian, growling behind her fangs. "More.." the fiend is not quite sated!

Obsidian doesn't know what to do here, his look is one of slight confusion.. He tilts his head and watches Marion closely.

Eventually, the grief fades a bit from V and the creature rises to it's feet, head hanging low. It seems listless, disinterested. When Marion flips out and goes after Obsidian, the thing only watches with barely contained apathy. No move is made to protect the weakest of his pack, nor really, any reaction from it.

DuncanPanther stalks to a position between Marion and Obsidian, closer to Obsidian. He faces Marion and with a snarl shakes his head.

Obsidian turns in the direction they came from and begins to move.

Marion turns her attention towards the nearest blood filled thing. Now that Duncan is between her and her target, her eyes focus on him. Her eyes are dialated so wide, that they are entirely black, her fangs fully extended. She fell off hte wave and hit her head on the way down. And it doesnt look like she's ready to stop until she get what shes aiming for. "Hunger.." she snarls in a voice thats very different then her own. Deeper, more masculine, almost beastial.

Suddenly inspired to action, Lavey stalks quietly behind Marion, stopping to pick up a rock. He posistions himself just behind her and raises the rock high over his head in both hands...

Marion raves as she circles duncan. She has no idea Lavey is behind her with the rock. "Yesss..." she says, sounding almost in control. But she is not herself. "You'll feed us well...feed...us..well."

DuncanPanther has been growling, and making various cat-screeches. All of which go completely over most individuals head as being communication... LaVey gets it though. Seeing that V seems to have accepted his fate as being subserviant to Duncan's will, he attempts to keep Marion distracted by pacing to and fro, trying to keep just out of her reach.

....and the rock comes crashing down on the back of Marion's head. Vitae squirts everywhere as hair, skin, and then bone prove no match for the small boulder in combination with the vampires blood-enhanced strength.

Marion sees a dark shadow and is veyr momentarily surprised before she feels something crash down on her head. The fiend collapses to the ground, seeing nothing but red...before everything goes black. She is suddenly very still, a large pool of blood forming under the boulder.

Obsidian comes back into the cave, makeshift stake in hand. Sensing things have changed he proceeds cautiously, "Who's still themselves?"

"Well... thats taken care of now," LaVey says as he tosses the rock away. "We're all back to ourselves Sid. Pick up Marion and lets get back to the airstream before dawn breaks. We probably only have a few hours left to get back to the Argent."