2021-01-10 Some Bodies Gonna Get It.

Some Bodies Gonna Get It.

Participants: Abeba Tauri Memnon

Storyteller: Alexa

Location: Tuna Canyon

Date and Time: January 10

Summary: Hunting down formori in Tuna Canyon

Mood Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0MslYif9iQ&list=RDB0MslYif9iQ&start_radio=1

Stretching on ahead, the hills roll with green. The land is lively here, refusing to remain still - it bumps and rolls playfully, peeking out from between hills. Some of the hills and valleys of this region, adorned with oak trees - others filled with sagebrush and chaparral, low-lying scrub brush that gives sight to beautiful vistas that look out over the sea. In the distance, the city of Los Angeles and its suburbs pocket the land like scabs of concrete and plaster, but one can look out and imagine what the Valley region looked like before humanity ran away with itself, and Tuna Canyon itself - at a glimpse, it's pristine, fresh, as-of-yet unravaged by the machinations of human society - save for well-marked hiking trails, all publicly marked on maps and not cutting into the deep reaches of the land which seem so promising. Still, the land must be surveyed, patrolled, and... guarded from Asura's corruptive influence.

Memnon was told from the others about the formori they fought. Clearly Tuna Canyon needs to be patrolled to make sure other such creatures aren't doing harm to Gaia in their new home. Memnon takes Abeba and Tauri to clear the land at night of any evil they might find. Under the cover of night and the woods they are searching in their lion forms.

Abeba is prowling in her lion form. She already helped defeat one monster in the canyon and was ready in case they found any others.

Tauri is following Memnon's lead as he heads the patrol of the canyon, following in her lion form, eye open and looking around for signs of anything out of the ordinary in the area, sniffing for any scent of foulness.

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Perception + Alertness vs. 4 -> 3 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Perception + Alertness vs. 4 -> 3 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Perception + Alertness vs. 3 -> 6 successes.

       Like shadows, the Simba pride slips through the brush under the cover of darkness. The air is alive and full of scents - the lively trail of a squirrel. The gentle decay of a decomposing oak log, adorned in a crown of fungus and leaves. All is as Gaia intended it - at least at first. Over and under the hills, dancing with nimble paws between the crests of the hills, the trail leads deeper and deeper into the woods and brush. A hint of seawater graces the air - and with it, the scent of something else. The scent of a human, of days-old blood, and... of something much more unpleasant.

       Eagle-eyed Abeba will be the first to notice not only the unpleasant odor, but soon enough, the definite signs of a struggle. The most glaring bit of it is a woman's running jacket, ripped violently and sprinkled in blood - the source of the previous smell, no doubt. She'll also be able to pick out footsteps in the earth - no doubt during the last rain - and a trail of broken and disturbed brush leading deeper into the mountains. The others will soon pick up on the trail as well - something's been hunting, and it doesn't look like an animal attack. No claw marks, for one... 

       Whatever did this might still be in the area. Even after a few days, the air in this place hangs with a scent of desperation. This place is far from the trails. What was a human even doing out here...?

Memnon follows Abeba when she picks up the scent. With Abeba being a better hunter than he is at this point he lets her take lead in finding the human and whatever creature ripped the jacket.

Abeba looks around with her sharp eyes in the dark. She can see everything and quickly notices the signs. After the tough fight they had last time she decides to take some precautions and rakes her claws against the ground to sharpen them. Then starts to follow the tracks.

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Perception + Survival vs. 6 -> 4 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Alright, you've got this trail on lock. They weren't trying to hide it - this was a violent and bloody chase, even if the passage of time has caused it to fade a bit - it hasn't faded nearly enough for your hunter's instincts."

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Dexterity + Stealth vs. 6 -> 5 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Dexterity + Stealth vs. 6 -> 6 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Dexterity + Stealth vs. 6 -> 6 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Alexa: 4 vs. 6 -> 3 successes. (10 9 8 4)

+ROLL/+DICE> Alexa: 4 vs. 6 -> 1 success. (6 4 3 2)

       The scent is committed to memory, and then light feet whisper through the sagebrush. The path takes you past the gnarled branches of a large oak, has you whispering through brushland and ducking between the crests of hills - Asura's children, if they have had any hand in this, will know to fear the Bastet before the night is over.

       And sure enough, the trail takes you to the site of what must be the murder - the blood scent is strong her here, and then even more telltale signs of a body being scraped through the dirt, presumably before being foisted up and carried away. Following this trail, the pride is able to find a rocky outcropping that the perpetrator must have leapt down from - and a gruesome scene below.

       Two twisted figures sit in a camp of horrors. Throw clothes on one, and they might fleetingly pass for human at a glance, despite their sharpened teeth and spindly limbs - but shirtless and bloodied as they are, there are no doubts as to the twisted nature of these former humans. Fomori. One of them, adorned with patchy black hair that strings down in front of her face - long-stained and crusted with blood - chews on a human femur while scraping a sharp knife against a stone. Another one, with a milky eye that leaks a pus-like substance down his twisted face, jams a bone needle into two pieces of leather in some crude imitation of stitchwork - sewing together pieces of leather that, looking at both the work and the nearby tanning rack, the pride is soon able to realize is made from human skin. That must, then, be their most recent victim, skin hanging out on the rack to dry. 

       The air smells of death and rot. Profane markings are burned into the human leather, worshipping Asura and all the decay and corruption she represents. One of the twisted forms rocks themselves a little, giving a sickly laugh as they work.

Memnon shift to his chatro form then looks to Abeba and Tauri for them to do the same. His head movements tell them that they should try ambush the fomori, he will take the male one on one they should take the female.

Abeba shifts to the slightly larger form as she prepares to pounce on their pray and tear them apart, she just waits for the signal to strike.

+INIT> Scene Initiatives:

Tauri: 21

Memnon: 15

Abeba: 10

+D10> Alexa rolls 1 D10's: 2

+D10> Alexa rolls 1 D10's: 1

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Dexterity + Brawl + 5 vs. 5 -> 8 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Alexa: 6 vs. 6 -> 0 successes. (10 9 5 4 1 1)

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Strength + 9 vs. 6 -> 6 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Tauri! You pounce down from the rocky outcropping! The fomori twists and attempts to bolt from your descending form, but she's too slow - you get a massive chunk of her shoulder and RIP, exposing bleeding flesh and sinew!"

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Dexterity + Brawl + 5 vs. 5 -> 5 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Strength + 2 + 4 vs. 6 -> 6 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Easily finished. As the fomori winds free from one Simba, she finds herself chased into the claws of another. You strike her down with a single, decisive blow!"

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Brawl + Dexterity + 2 vs. 6 -> 5 successes.

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Strength + 6 vs. 6 -> 6 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "A decisive blow! You can feel the fomori's ribs *crack* under the force of your swipe, and when claws pull back, exposed flesh and bone can be seen!"

<OOC> Alexa says, "The still-standing fomori will succeed in getting his knife. ... that's about all he will succeed at, because rage actions are coming. Tau? Your quarry is down, Mem's is within an inch of death. You have two rage actions. What do you do?"

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Dexterity + Brawl vs. 5 -> 8 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "And damage"

+ROLL/+DICE> Tauri: Strength + 9 vs. 6 -> 2 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Alright. Tau! You see Abeba cut down the first fomori and twist around. Like a fluid coil of murderous feline, you soon assume a flanking position behind the remaining fomori - you catch his hand as he attempts a strike and, though he winds in your grip, give him a bone-shattering bite that finishes what Memnon started - he goes limp in your grasp."

<OOC> Alexa says, "... the taste is -horrendous-."

<OOC> Alexa says, "If anyone has other actions to do with their rage actions, let me know - but both of the fomori seem to have dropped. All that's left is the camp, filled with evidence of their foul work."

<OOC> Memnon says, "If there is nothing left to attack then will not do anything special with the rage actions, just check to make sure there is no other threats around."

<OOC> Alexa says, "Alright. Perception + Alertness"

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Perception + Alertness vs. 6 -> 3 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Alright. There seems to be nothing else lurking in the camp - just the corpses of these former humans."

+ROLL/+DICE> Abeba: Perception + Alertness vs. 4 -> 5 successes.

<OOC> Alexa says, "Same conclusion, Abeba"

       In the blink of an eye, the furious and bloody combat is over. Two fledgling fomori are already not remotely a match for mighty and proud Bastet - but with the advantage of cover? Surprise? Pride tactics? The conflict is a lightning-fast eruption of fur and fangs, blood and wicked screams, and just as easily as the adrenaline-filled seconds pass - they're already over, and after a quick sniff, nothing else seems to be present at the camp.

       The ground is stained with the refuse of the murderous work, with no attempt made to clean - the smell is unspeakable. Inside one of the human-leather tents, a space has been set aside with crude leather straps on a wooden slab - no doubt a place to do more of their dark work. As for the knife itself - it looks as though it was once a proper knife blade which got broken off, and rather than being properly repaired, was simply bound to a crude wooden handle in a poor excuse at craftsmanship. It doesn't reek particularly of Wyrm, at least no more than everything else in this Gaia-forsaken camp. The work of digging a ditch can be started, aided by Chatro muscle.

+SHIFT> Memnon shifted into form Homid!

+ROLL/+DICE> Memnon: Charisma + Rituals vs. 7 -> 2 successes.

+LOSE/+BURN> Memnon burns 1 Willpower.

While the ladies are burning and burying the body Memnon preps the rite of cleansing. He shift to his human form then takes out chalk to inscribe a circle into the area. He makes a fire then places then pulls out a flask that has purified water within it. He pours the water on the branch after it has dried he places the branch into the fire. With the branch now smoldering Memnon walks counter clockwise and instructs the females to roar away the tainted presence of this place.

       Earth, in the form of a pure branch. Wind, in the form of smoke. Fire, and water - the four elements connect and form a circle, and in so doing, sew closed the foul tears, burn out the corruption, rinse the wound, and breathe new life into Gaia's world. The city out there - the rot might be too great. Some speak of end times. But here, and now, in this piece of Gaia, for which her children continue to fight valiantly - the necrotic spot of Gaia's soul is cleansed, and when the ritual is done, it... doesn't give a definite form of feedback. But it might feel, just a bit, as though the accumulated torment and torture here has... evaporated. And indeed, with Memnon's ability to sniff out the Wyrm, the rot does seem to have been smoked off of the surface of the spiritual landscape here - the tents stand, but the land is clean once more.