Werewolf The Forsaken : Luna's Avatars Chronicles

Discontinued

2010-03-28T05:12:00.002-04:00

The forums have also been discontinued.

Too much time consuming, and my own players, in general, did not wish to follow through with it.
Life keeps us all busy.

We still continue the games, and there's so much that has happened. Perhaps we'll continue one day if there interest is there, but for now, do not expect any updates.

Thanks

Chronicles

2007-02-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry everyone, but this project has been discontinued due to lack of appreciation.
We still largly use the forums for those interested in the roleplay involved or whatever story might occur, but unless i get comments of people actually interested in knowing what's going on, i have no interest in writting any more of what happens at our bi-weekly games.

Sorry for those that showed interest, hopefully you can see us on the forums.
Thanks.

Reptle

Survival 101 - (Finding Mike)

2006-09-12T19:39:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Finding Mike
Game 2
Blog Entry 16

Damien, Ryan, Alice, Amaru and Leaf scurried the area for a moment, still finding no one while night was beginning to settle in. Amaru was first to speak, his voice weak and strangled with disgust while he pointed behind thick folliage where he found two rotting bodies. Damien and Ryan took a look at what the mage had found: two dead men whose corpses had already bloated with decomposition. They were still intact enough to show heavy marks and bruises caused by fighting.

Alice kept looking, until, behind the curtains of one of the tents, she found another body with its face in the dirt. She called out to the men who were still investigating their find, and turned the body over on its back. It felt heavy and stiff, as if it had been filled with sand. Mike stared up at her with wide, but expressionless eyes. Life had gone out of them a while back. His throat was lacerated into a deep cut, from left to right like a second, red, toothless grin. Dirt had filled it, bugs as well. The blood from the deep gash had coagulated. Mike's clothes were ripped, from his pants to his shirt. It had gone into a dark pink shade as it had absorbed the blood coming from more gaping wounds on the chest and below.

The smell of rot had already begun filling the air as soon as she had moved the corpse over. She had to cover her mouth and nose with her hand, standing up to let the others glance down at what remained of Mike Ironside.

This had happened a while back, but not nearly late enough for the body to start decomposing to an unrecognizable shape.

"That's him alright...", Damien whispered, "What the heck were you doing to get into so much trouble?"

The corpse only looked with gaping eyes back, the red gash in his throat grinning further in response. Ryan sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head softly. Mike had been the kind to head off on his own, getting into a lot of trouble, but no trouble was so great his packmates would not have been able to help. Guilt momentarily filled the leader, and now, he had no idea what to do. Burying him seemed like the right answer, the right, human way of thinking answer, but at the same time, he felt it was not quite right.

Not quite right until a little evening fog settled in above his feet and covered Mike like a soft sheet. And still he remained stuck there, watching and watching, while the sheet covered Mike some more and some more and eventually, it was impossible to see him at all, and it was impossible to see ten feet before you, then five feet, then two feet.

Alice rubbed at her arms and shuddered violently, her breath shaping the fog at her lips.

And they knew then that something was wrong.

They knew something was coming.

But they saw nothing.

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (Awakened Sight)

2006-09-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Awakened Sight
Game 2
Blog Entry 15

The table was about ten meters long, with leather chairs for what looked like what could have been company meetings and such. The man who stared with a glare and fire in his eyes and his hands on the table kept his gaze on the group as they sat down with some discomfort. He looked at them all, one by one, one after the other, studying their faces, their shapes, their intention in such dreaded and deadly silence it would have put a black hole to shame.

Eventually, he rested deeper into his chair in a more relaxed pose and crossed his arms. His voice came heavy and demanding, "Why are you here? What do you seek from us?"

The pack's gaze moved to Ryan, the leader and the one who should speak, who stood in a similar matter as the leader in his large black leather chair, his arms crossed and his eyes closed for a moment until he finally glanced back with rock hard determination for truth, "We're looking for one of our comrades who disapeared recently: Mike Ironside. Apparently, your 'friends' have something to do with his disapearance."

The man rose an eyebrow, startled at first, then relaxed his shoulders with a soft sigh of what seemed like relief, "His disapearance is accidental, I can assure you that much. Your friend is a fiesty one, and managed to kill off one of my men in the process..."

Ryan's eyes turned deadly along with the rest of his pack, "You assaulted him, he defended himself, that's what happens when you mess with--"

"Assaulted him!?", the man nearly cried, "what are you talking about?"

Now it was a question look that went through Mike's packmates.

The man went on, adjusting his collar as if it had been too warm to keep up, "No one assaulted your friend, Mister Cohen, let me assure you. We were merely trying to help him, but he would not listen to reason and acted as if we were there to harm him. Things turned sour though... More then we had expected."

"That's Mike for you", Damien sighed to himself and shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"If it was no assault, then what was it", Ryan asked, clearly not convinced, "what were you trying to do?"

The man brushed a heavy hand through his grey hair, thinking thoroughly before speaking once more as if it would have been a crime to do so, "Have you heard of a young boy named Killy Mathiews?"

Now the pack's attention was all on the man who had broke into a sweat from both the heat of the room and probably the built up stress. Only Alice rose an eyebrow with little interest, though she listened on.

"Yes", was all Ryan eventually said, "Yes we have. What about him?"

He nodded at Luna's Avatars leader almost casually, "The boy's a reknown artist, as you may know, well known and now needed in the media and artistic area. Also, you may be aware of the tragedy that took place a year ago when criminals invaded his home and held him and a family member hostage for a period of five hours until all hell broke lose and his sister was killed in the commotion."

Ryan and Damien nodded. Alice hid a small grin on the corners of her lips.

"The matter of death was rather mysterious, and there were no witnesses but the traumatized boy whose mind closed off the event to prevent him from going mad. He spent a week in intensive care in a hospital in Canada, and let's say that some good souls have been looking into him and his family since then, despite the mysterious events that unfolded during the hostage situation."

Another nod from the crowd.

"In the past few weeks however, he's gone missing, and your friend, Mister Ironside, has been the main suspect of a kidnapping theory for quite some time now. When we found him the first time, he was in very bad shape, laying naked and badly injured on the side of a road outside Boulder. We brought him back to one of our facility and restrained him mostly for security mesures, but he managed to escape before we could interrogate him. Let me make this clear, we're aware he's probably not the kidnapper, and all we wanted was for him to help us in our investgation since he had been seen with Killy Mathiews before his disapearance. Considering he was in a bad situation when we found him, we were also providing him protection and clearance of his name."

"So... you were trying to help?"

"It's like I said, we weren't looking for a fight. When we found him in his home, he considered us a threat and immediatly attacked my men. They did their best to defend themselves, and he escaped. We have since lost track of him."

There was a long moment of silence as the information was being registered, slowly, but surely. Alice escaped a soft sigh of boredom and annoyance. Mike meant nothing to her compared to what he meant to his packmates for various reasons, and frankly, neither did the boy. Her encounter with the red head had been brief and amusing to say the least, but he was nothing to make a fuss over.

"He's still alive...", Ryan muttered under his breathe.

"What?", the man asked with a frown, "are you sure?"

"Yes, he's still very much alive. We've known Killy personaly, and he was not kidnapped, he left. He betrayed us and left with a man we had captured weeks ago."

Damien growled in his throat at the mention of a betrayal: he did not take kindly to being associated to traitors, and until Killy came home with blood on his hands or proof of having intentionally hurt a packmate, Killy was still on his good side. Better yet, Damien was proud the boy had finaly decided to show to guts and had finally made some decisions of his own, regardless of what they were.

"Explain, I don't quite understand."

Ryan took a deep breath, uncrossing his arms and setting his sweating palms on his lap as if ashamed of his story, "Were you aware Killy Mathiews was Uratha?"

"No. I was not."

"Well, he is. He was part of this pack with us, and left with someone who had been causing trouble in our neighborhood. He's still alive and walking the mile with that man, in fact. Mike did nothing to him, and neither did any of us. He left on his own free will."

The man lowered his head and stroke his chin, his eyes wide, nodding, understanding, "Well, it does explain a lot of things, now that we have that information...", there was another moment of quiet, and then, "Do you wish for us to continue our search then? I'm sure at least his parents would like some insight on the investigation, even if it means hiding some parts of the truth to them."

Ryan waited a moment, pinching his lips with uncertainty, then nodded, "Might as well, I don't see why not."

The meeting ended better then it had begun, and hands were shaken, even if hesitant and misstrustful. Damien eventually asked in which direction Mike had been found the first time the mages had brought him to their facility, which indicated further out North West. He remembered Mike saying something about his tribal packmates establishing camp and how he had found them dead there. Mike was the type to want to go back in time of crisis even if he were the only one left alive and pures still roamed the area. So Leaf spent no time requesting Elation to scout in that direction in hopes to find more clues. In the meantime, Amaru was asked by his higher up to stick with Luna's Avatars a while longer for both research reasons and report anything unusual as well.

Elation did not come back, but after about forty-five minutes, Leaf showed concern for the bird as it had found something, but dared not approach it at all. Something had scared her and she was not going down. Again, it could have had nothing to do with Mike's disapearance, but last they had thought so, they had somewhat been lucky. And so they left the compound and went on their way, following Leaf into the woods until a small shadow passed them from above as Elation herself led them to destination.

What they found beyond the woods and bushes was indeed a camp that could have looked like the stone age military. A stench of death and decay filled the air. No one, no living being, was in sight either. Birds had stopped chirping and even bugs made no more sounds despite the heat as the light of day dimmed on them. Further ahead, a series of lined up stones had been set like graves... which they apparently were.

"I think we found Mike's hiding place", Damien mused, more then happy with how Karma had led them thus far.

"Maybe, but it doesn't seem like even a living soul is around. The old man isn't here", Alice said.

But it was far from the truth.

To be continued....

Survival 101 - (Silver Tauntings)

2006-09-12T19:31:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Silver Tauntings
Game 2
Blog Entry 14

"She'll get it! I swear she will!", the man cried, "you!", he pointed at the large red wolf with its teeth set against one of the mages' throat, "get away from him, now!"

The man heard a click from where he had forgotten to look, and now found Ryan pointing the barel of a gun at his head. He gulped but did not back down, keeping the silver blade by Alice.

"You get away from her now", Ryan hissed.

You touch one hair from her head, and you die, Damien thought, but remained in position.

"Let's make a deal then, you let us go unharmed, and I release her."

Ryan remained quiet, staring coldly into the assailant's eyes.

"Ryan...", Alice muttered, "do what he says, for fuck's sake, do what he says!"

The leader's glance went from the man, to the unnusually frightened woman who was trembling like a leaf and sobbing silently but in sheer panic, hugging at her arms so tightly her red nails dug into her skin, then passed her at Damien who still held onto the mage by the throat, "you release her first."

"No deal, nothing tells me you won't rip us to shreds as soon as I do."

Ryan looked down on the woman again, her eyes were closed, warm tears running down her red cheeks. At least she looked more lively then in the car when they had rode up to Boulder, but now it was a different type of crisis, "and nothing tells me you won't shoot us down the moment I lower my weapon and Bonecrusher releases his hostage."

"RYAN!", Alice cried now with panic and anger, "JUST DO WHAT HE FUCKIN' SAYS! PLEASE!"

He might have told her to shut up, had times been different. Whatever was wrong with her was only making him that more nervous. He liked his lips nervously, glaring back at the man some more.

"Then take me instead", the man said at last, "let him go and take me hostage."

Time seemed to keep still for a while, where even Alice's sudden pleading were shut off. After a few seconds that seemed like hours, Ryan motionned for Damien to let go of his prey. The large wolf did as he was asked, stepping away reluctantly, then returning to his massive, human form, his fists ready to strike whenever more trouble would spurr.

Ryan, on the other hand, did not lower his weapon just yet, "Your end of the bargain."

The man nodded, looking back at his comrades, "Go! You'll hear from me soon enough."

Though they hesitated, they ran into a retreat faster then they ever had. Only when he was sure they were out of range did he lower the silver weapon, which was snatched away from his hand as soon as it would not be harmful to Alice and threw it far and out of range. Alice let out what seemed like a soft whimper which turned into heavy sobs as soon as the metal was away from her skin, first crawling away, then getting up, punching a nearby tree in her rage, then collapsing with her back at it. Her sobs came louder, her fingers gripping at her black hair, her eyes wide and leaking tears.

Ryan slowly lowered the gun, the barrel soon pointing down at the ground, "What's your name?"

"Amaru", he said softly, contrary to the bitter response Ryan had expected, "What are you doing around these parts? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

Damien sniffed with impatience, "apparently it is!"

Amaru nodded his head, "We were simply trying to scare you away... Had we known..."

"We're looking for the Awakened Sight hideout", Damien cut him off, "and I have a feeling you know something about it."

Amaru jammed, bitting at his lip and looking at the distressed woman for a moment before his attention went back on Damien's mass. Though he seemed reluctant to speak at first, Ryan quickly explained their situation, that of wanting to find a missing comrade which seemed linked to the mage's in the region. Amaru came to realise the trespassers had meant nothing bad or hurtful, and agreed to lead them on, as they would never be able to find the desired location without him. It was a relief that he wanted to cooperate, and hopefully, no more blood would be spilled.

Under the men's eyes, Amaru carefully approached the distressed woman, lowering himself and offering his hand. Damien watched him carefully, ready to put a stop to this charade as soon as it might look to turn bad. Alice recoiled like a child, crying for him to get away, crawling out of reach and hoping to even lose sight of him.

"Please... let me help you...", he said gently, his hand still extended toward her invitingly, "I'm sorry about what I did, I really am. I would have never hurt you. Just.. let me help and redeem myself."

Alice's large, frightened eyes stayed on him a while, then she seemed to plead Ryan for an answer. Mascara had ran down her cheeks in black lines with the tears and her lips quivered uneasilly. She looked like nothing but a child caught in a closing box. Ryan nodded at her, approving of her next action when she reached out a trembling hand and Amaru took it. At once she felt an overwhelming warth around and within her something seemed to soothe her panic and fear. Although it worked, for a long while after, Alice would remain quiet and keep her distance from everyone. Even as Damien attempted to speak to her in order to understand his reaction, she refused to speak of it.

Amaru held his end of the deal and led Luna's Avatars to the destination they seeked, to the Awakened Sight's hideout. With a spell, he cast away the protective barrier that held and concealed the establishment, opening to what could have looked like a military compound. Considering Amaru was being held hostage by the pack, it took little convincing to let them inside to meet up with the leader for some well deserved details.

Soon, they were led into a room in waiting. When a man entered, with grey hair and a clean black suit, he was immediatly recognized as one of the men who had been struck in the earlier fight, and his deadly glare held nothing but hatred for the group. There was a long moment of silence when he sat down... one that seemed too long for comfort, but one that, fortunatly, would not last....

To be ccontinued...

Survival 101 - (The Trap)

2006-09-12T19:29:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - The Trap
Game 2
Blog Entry 13

It was so sudden that none of them saw it coming, nor even heard it coming at all. They might have seen the nets had they paid more attention to their surrounding, and they might have seen the people standing behind trees, watching them go by. They may have even heard them speak to each other, giving information on the urathas' wereabouts, but none of them expected an ambush when it happened.

Electricity surveiyed through their bodies, unable to speak nor scream while it rushed in and out of them. Their eyes rolled back in their heads and theior muscles tensed into painful cramps. Damien cried with fury and anger, ripping the net with bare, large teeth and escaping the hold it had on him. The people near drew in their breathes, not expecting anyone to be able to get out of their electrical net.

The net itself, which had been large enough to handle the group, stopped it's shocking when Damien broke the link, sending the others to draw in a deep and painful breathe back into their aching lungs. Ryan attempted to get up, but was met with guns pointing straight at him while Alice remained on the ground. Ryan hissed as if in pain and lowered himself with his hands at his side, arms crossing over his belly in order to hide the weapons he was aiming for. The woman remained on the ground and waited for Ryan to attract the attention with his attack to strike.

Damien, on the other hand, found himself with an agenda of his own, breaking bones and sending the rest uncountious with each strike of his fist. With the men unbalanced and not expecting an escape route for the pack, they were out of options and desperatly fought to stay on their feet and not die or get hurt.
One of them, what seemed like the leader, found himself knocked down completely by Damien before he pounced at another mage, ripping at his arm and soon aiming for the throat.

From above, a dark shadow set himself with arrows and a handmade bow, shooting at the mages, once in a while nearly hitting his own packmates but at the very least, help out.

Leaf attempted to speak, reason with them, but it was to no avail.

But what could have turned in Luna's Avatars favors turned sour when one of the men, an asian looking man transformed a dagger into a silver sword and moved it close to Alice's neck. "Don't move!", he cried, "Don't you move or she gets it! I swear, she gets it!"

Feeling the coolness of the silver steel by her cheek, the woman whimpered...

.... then tears ran down her cheeks in heavy flows.

".... Ryan.... help me....", was all she managed to whisper.

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (North West to Awakened Sight)

2006-09-12T19:25:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - North West to Awakened Sight
Game 2
Blog Entry 12

It took a while, driving North West to the nearest wooden area. Leaf felt most at ease in his environment, and it showed. He seemed less tensed, and made less mistakes, less slips of the tongue that could have angered the Urathas he was following furthermore. Damien did not care much for the location. He had travelled a lot, be it in the city or in the woods. Besides, new experiences were always fun. Miguel expressed little care, and neither did Ryan. Alice did not seem bothered either, but she did prefer the streets of the city to the woods.

The walk was long, however, and humidity stuck to their clothes and skin as they walked. Eventually, taking a rest seemed to be the best option as fatigue took them over one after the other. They found a spot by an abandonned cave deep within the woods, dirty, old but fairly enough for the short time they would spend there anyway.

Sorrik wasted no time in setting himself by a small pool of water no larger then the palm of his hand, chanting and casually gesturing mysteriously around it until a soft glow escaped from the water: essence. Perhaps it was to make amends with those he had angered earlier that he had done such, but he offered them the essence with a contented and gentle smile. Alice refused it, Damien inquired he needed none of it, but Miguel and Ryan, who had recently been into a fight with each other, dug in hungrily to restore their lost energy. It was refreshing and welcomed at this point.

Later on, Alice and Damien left to gather some food; fresh meat from the woods: a young deer that had nearly escaped them had Damien not managed to cut it off and rip its throat to shreds. Bringing it back, most ate their share hungrilly, for the exception of Alice, who only nibbled at a piece and left the rest to the beast. Her skin was turning grey again, and she seemed troubled, looking out at the distance. Leaf seemed to want to cheer her worries, whatever they were, by making shapes with the fire used to keep them warm, but Alice seemed to care very little, glaring at him and leaving him baffled and wondering.

In the end, the night was quiet and relaxing. One may have believed any type of enemies would have attacked then, but if they had planned anything, it was not at night. When the sun began to rise and small dropplets of water slid down leafs of the trees, the wolves and the mage set foot to find the hideout again. Miguel kept his distance, watching from the shadows and out of sight while the group looked for clues that seemed nearly impossible to gather... until Alice found shapes within the earth and grass resembling footsteps. It could have been anything, a lead into nothing, but it was better then having no lead at all, and so the group followed suit, trying to find if they belonged to lost sheeps or to those they seeked. Damien transformed into his beast form, his wolf form, in order to follow a sent on these tracks.

What they found in the end, when they felt as if their body was being ripped apart and their eyes rolled in the back of their head, was more then they had expected or had bargained for...

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (The Newspaper Part 3 (Sid) )

2006-05-22T21:27:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - The Newspaper - Part 3 (Sid)
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 11

"All in!", a man in a casino five minutes north of Bolder said as he pushed the chips on the green carpet.

In fact, it was the fifth time in a row that he bet all his fortune at the table, and people were gathering. The clerk behind the table and the roulette was beginning to show impatience, his left brow twitching uneasily. But the man putting his life savings at stake seemed to take no notice, smiling broadly up at the clerk and the ladies around him. Because this man, who called himself Sid, liked the attention he was getting, probably just as much as the feeling of putting all he had at risk... and winning it right back.

The problem was not that he lost. The problem was the he never lost. When he did, it was because he had asked Lady Fate to take it easy at the beginning of the night so not to arise suspicions on himself. Half way through the night though, he would usually lose himself to the winning sensation, and by then, security would have their eye on him, until they got tired of seeing him take the casino's money. They never had any proof of him cheating, but it was best not to take any chances.

And it was about to happen again. Two men in black walked into the crowd and put a hand on each of Sid's shoulders, asking him to follow them to the exits. Sometimes he argued he wanted to finish his betting, sometimes he didn't. This time he did, but it did not last very long as he was escorted back to the parking lot.

He walked back to his car with his head still up high as if nothing had happened. Then again, he was used to it by now. It was almost like a game. He was about to unlock the door of his car when he saw some unwanted scratch on the paint above the driver's door. He thought them to be made by a key at first. People sometimes got offended when they lost their bets, even more to someone who never lost. But these marks looked like they could have been made by a whole set of keys at this point. He looked up when he heard a high pitched squeal, and soon, noticed a shadow circling above him and his vehicle. He did not have to look twice to know who the hawk belonged to, though not too amused with the marks it had made on his car in order to get noticed. The crying of the bird alone would have been enough. Perhaps its owner had thought it to be funny to break the paint right off the metal... In the end, Sid somewhat shrugged it off. He could fix it, or pay to get it fixed. He was not short of money.

And if he were, he could always win the lottery.

-----------

Back in Boulder, the group of Urathas and the Mage stood by the side of the road in front of Mike's home.

Leaf smiled with triumph at the pack and the woman, "She's found him. He's on his way right now."

"How long?", Ryan repeated himself. Time was wasting away, and the more it went, the more he feared for the very worst.

"Thirty minutes... Maybe forty-five at most, depending on the traffic."

Ryan nodded silently, contented but not happy with more minutes wasted away at staring at an empty house and the grey sky.

Somewhere within the pack of Urathas, the question was risen as to how Elation, the hawk they had seen, could be of any possible help. Animals were not stupid, but they had little time to waste with humans, mages, or Urathas, unless extremely well trained. And if she was, well, here came the fantasy story again. The story of the Hermit and its highly intelligent bird who only answered to its master. So Leaf explained it was a spirit host who answered to him, and with which he could communicate telepathically. Better yet, if need be, he could see through the animal's eyes, which he had done to find his friend.

Damien and Miguel seemed to send a glare toward the mage, before showing a cornered smile. It was like looking at two brothers who looked completely like the opposite of each other, only their mannerism was so similar it was comical. A Uratha's primary job was to keep the balance between the Spirit World and this very world. Elation was an exception that would need to be sent back, apparently.

Leaf stood surprised by the ignorance showing on the pack of wolves in human skins. Were they not aware spirits could possess living beings? Well, they probably did, but not like Elation. Ah! What inferior beasts Urathas were! Could they not see such things at all? And when they did, they wanted to destroy it. It only proved his point furthermore. When Damien's voice rose dangerously, his words were cut right off by a spell sealing his lips tightly together. His eyes gleamed with such ferocious rage that even Alice and Ryan stood back. Not that the comments being made did not affect them, but it was clear, from the smile on Leaf's face that the Mage was only playing games.

Where Urathas were not aware of everything Mages could see, this one was unaware of the dangerous situation he was into. Only when Miguel joined in with Damien that his smile, as well as the humor in his eyes, vanished completely into worry and understanding.

Leaf had lived in the woods most of his life. Humans, Urathas, Mages... it mattered little. A little teasing had never hurt, but this one had pushed the wrong buttons, and now he came to realize it. With Damien and Miguel's eyes blaring and their bodies in a stance of fighting, he found himself stepping back and raising his hands defensively, soon glancing past them at the woman and the pack's alpha for help. It never came. Maybe Ryan shrugged him off as he usually would - let the smart mouth get out of this one on his own, he sure deserved it. Alice showed little care for what happened to the native american. She didn't care, or was too busy concealing the pain below her left breast that had struck again...

Leaf made a quick motion in the air as if trying to catch the wind, letting Damien's lips go free for him to speak, then hurried to sit down cross legged, chanting something in another language while he made quick circles in the grass with a bone. Meanwhile, Damien and Miguel raged for him to stand and care to repeat what he had said, dare challenge their class again. But before they could do anything at all, a soft light surrounded Leaf. It circled him, then shaped his body into that of a canine, until it looked like an identical replica of a wolf. The beast stood on four legs, walked up to Miguel, then licked his right hand in a friendly way.

Miguel's glare turned deadly for a moment, the pupils of his eyes dilating dangerously... then back to a smaller, more natural black circle. He rose his left hand where the newspaper had been rolled up, and struck it down on the wolf's head, "Don't you dare do anything like that again!", he spat, but his features had already relaxed and seemed a little more friendly.

The wolf yelped, but not in pain as much as surprise, then the body shaped itself back into that of a human. Leaf bowed his head before both Damien and Miguel especially, as they had been the one who had seemed to be the most affected by his comments, "I apologize. I meant nothing of it, really. It won't happen again."

"It better not", Damien replied dryly, but his features had also relaxed.

More words could have been exchanged, but a flapping sound startled them before it could be done. Elation landed on Leaf's shoulder, perching herself comfortably. Then there was the roar of a warm engine coming from the north. A car pulled over into the driveway slowly, coming to a complete halt about three feet from Ryan and Alice. It looked expensive, scarlet red, and would have probably glistened nicely had the sun been out on that day.

A man stood out, closed the door, and smiled at the group, or more precisely, at the friend who had called him to this place. Leaf returned the grin, gripping his good old friend's hand into a long time no see shake. When he glanced back at the small crowd pending introduction, he smiled once more, and introduced himself as Sid. That smile could have made the hearts melt, it was clear. He wore a white, long sleeved shirt that showed little to no ruffles on it, but was not tucked into his black pants. His brown hair was not quite neatly combed, standing up, but it was in no way close to Miguel's messy hairstyle. That smile, the cockiness of his posture, showed he knew he looked good, and he knew he could get away with a lot because of those looks. Alice returned a similar, lust filled smile, while the men seemed to either snort in jealousy or seemed to care little.

Leaf briefly explained the situation to his friend, handing him the cursed newspaper. Sid looked through it quickly, stopping at the obituaries, just as the Urathas had. Only his gaze did not go blank, nor did his eyeballs go white under the eyelids. Instead, he nodded his understanding, pointing at the paper, "It's a hidden mark for a Cabal", he explained more to Leaf then to the others.

"A Cabal?", one of the Urathas repeated.

"A group of mages", Sid let them know, which, it seemed was like a pack of Urathas.

"The name on it shows Awakened Sight. I heard of them before, but never found myself having to deal with them. I think they're supposed to be residing somewhere in the woods North West of Boulder. At least, that's what I heard."

So it had been a hidden sign. Well, they were not about to sit back and wait for another one. Already, as Sid departed after another warm smile and bidding farewell to them and Leaf, Ryan lead them to the woods where they would find Awakened Sight in hopes to get more answers.

To be continued....

Survival 101 - (Joseph Stanley and Leaf)

2006-05-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Joseph Stanley and Leaf
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 10

The funerals had just ended when the SUV parked by the cemetery. They were moving the coffin down into the earth at that very moment. A small crowd of people surrounded the hole, crying, whimpering, asking how and why poor Joseph Stanley had to leave them so soon.

Miguel zipped his trench coat up to his neck and hid his hands in his pockets. Ryan did the same, closing his green coat and tucking the jersey shirt into his blue jeans. Alice's tears came as she wished, sobbing while holding onto Damien's arm. It took a while, less then an hour at least, until anyone had departed from the hole. The machines used to lower the coffin were still there, but the operators had probably taken a break or were just waiting for the rest of them to leave before finishing their job, because they were nowhere in sight.

Only now that they had found Stanley, there was not much they could do, or any information they could gain. Re-opening the coffin could have been an option, but one they did not want to consider yet. So they stared down at the closed lid, with its flowers and the family pictures that had been thrown. The coffin did not look like it had been very expensive.

They were about to turn on their heals when a new figure appeared at the other end of the cemetery. Through the tombstones, a man in his late forties seemed to be coming straight out of the wooden area surrounding them. His skin was tanned as the native American he was, his clothes torn and ragged over his shoulders. His hair, white, had been put into a pony tail. His face was serious, with a few red and green marks on them. The more he approached, the more he seemed like an hermit character out of a fantasy story.

He looked at them gravely, then down at the hole sadly, pinching his lips together and sighing heavily. Lowering himself, he picked up a dry flower, and as he looked at it, unbelievingly, its petals gained a bright blue color, opening up and back to life, its small leaves going from grey to green again like opening arms. The pack and Alice looked at each other with both amazement and surprise, looking at the man tossing the flower down with the rest of them, before turning on his heals and heading back the way he came from.

Alice moved forward, kneeling by the hole and taking a hold of the flower. It felt humid, alive, between her fingers. She inspected it carefully, standing back up as she did so. The flower really was alive again. With a smile, she decided she really liked that flower too. It was special, definitely held something now - whatever it was.

"Put it back", the man said, his very first words to the Urathas, "it doesn't belong to you."

She rose an eyebrow, about to argue with him, but thought better of it, letting it fall back into the hole with a sour smile. Once the hermit was satisfied, he turned back toward the forest to walk away, but it was Miguel who interrupted him, asking him who he was, if he knew Stanley at all. He confirmed he did, indeed, know Stanley, and finally asked them what their business was with him. When Ryan let him know that Stanley may have had information about their missing friend, the hermit seemed interested.

"You're not normal humans", he said then.

The group confirmed being Urathas... and the man, in return, introduced himself a Leaf, a rogue mage.

Of course, the flower trick had confirmed that, as if Leaf had intentionally decided to show his abilities in order to see the reactions of the strangers, which had been fascination, yes, but there had been no fear, per say. Normal humans would have asked a thousand questions, would have wanted to follow him back into the forest, would have wanted to try and learn the trick. This group of people had not shown any of these signs. Instead, they had analyzed, and realized long before they found out his name that he was not a regular human.

Ryan explained the situation to Leaf, from Mike's disappearance to the newspaper ordeal, which seemed to accentuate his curiosity that much more.

"Stanley would be the last person to use violence as a means of attack", Leaf confirmed. With this, he requested to be taken back to Mike's house so he could see signs the Urathas may have missed. Ryan accepted, much to the silent protests of his pack against carrying a mage with them.

Once they arrived at Mike's home, it only took Leaf a moment to confirm that, indeed, it had been the work of Mages, yes. But there was little traces left of anything. If he could see the newspaper in order to see what could cause Urathas to lose their memories of reading the section of the obituary, it would have been of great help. Miguel let them know he could get a copy, but they would need to wait for a while. It took about fifteen minutes before the Irraka returned from a neighbor's home with the said paper.

Leaf opened it, looked it up, found the section, and confirmed, "There is a seal here, I'm guessing this is what's been fizzling at your memories. But I can't read it... even less disactivate it." There was a moment of silence, followed by defeated groans from the group of Urathas, which was interrupted by the hermit, "but I have a friend who might be able to help with that, if you'd just let me find him."

"How long?", Ryan asked.

"It'll depend on how long it'll take Elation to find him", he let the alpha know. Questions rose as to what the name was about, but when Leaf looked up at the sky and the bird going in circles there, it became obvious he was speaking about his pet. There were no physical words exchanged, but once the bird flew into a random direction, Leaf glanced back at the pack, "She'll find him for us."

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (The Newspaper Part 2 (The Librarian))

2006-05-16T16:55:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - The Newspaper Part 2 (The Librarian)
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 9

The library was just as big as it looked from the outside, with three floors, all opened to see them from the entrance. There was a red, ruby carpet that started from the doors to stairs that snaked their way up to the second, then the third floor. There were probably other stairs elsewhere, and most likely an elevator or two, but Damien did not find them on his first look. As libraries went, it was not as quiet as one would imagine: there were plenty of whispers, college girls giggling in their corner, either talking about homework or the boy next door. Damien could also hear children laughing loudly from somewhere deep on the first, maybe second floor, most likely reading funny books like Charlie the Choo-Choo, or a Garfield comic book.

Damien stepped up to the round counter where a woman... or a man, frankly, he could not be sure, was deep in her/his paperwork. If it was a woman, she was dressed so heavily the lumps of her breasts did not show, and her hair was cut in a bowl like shape around her ears. Her features were between that of an unfortunate man... or an unfortunate woman. There was no make-up to prove it could have been a female at all, and the way he/she moved were not significant of either gender. Even when she - he decided it was a she for the moment, especially with that disturbing non gender voice that followed - raised her head to look at him and smiled, no features betrayed a side of the gender more then the other.

"Yes, yes, can I help you?", she said with the strangest accent Damien had ever heard. It sounded a mix of sophisticated rubbish, with a Indian/Muslim accent. Now, not only could he not tell the gender of the person, but finding out the origins was just as impossible.

He let her know he was looking for the newspaper archives. She nodded, pointing him in the right direction, but he insisted she followed him there, saying he was no good with these machines, that he had never used them before. In a sense, it was not all false. He had never needed to look at news archives before. So she followed him there, and sat by the projector for him, running her long, mishapped fingers along the keyboard. Damien let her know of the day, and the newspaper he needed, and she found it quickly for him. Once done, she was about to leave, raising from the seat again, but Damien stopped her.

"Wait! I'm not too sure still... How do I find the obituaries...?"

"Oh! That's very simple, yes yes!", she said, sitting back down and flipping through the paper until she would get to the part. Damien did not look at the screen starting from then, fearing he would read the part by mistake and forget all about what he had to do. When she was showing signs of wanting to leave again, he brought his large hand down on the back of the chair, leaning down and pocking his finger at the screen.

"Wait up!", he told her, "I still need your help for a bit. Do you think you could print this for me?"

But she shook her head, saying there were no printers for these files for copyright issues. Damien nodded his understanding, but asked her if she minded writing down the information on the screen. Of course, it struck her as odd, and said that he could do it on his own. Damien shook his head, pointing at the screen again. He needed this information. Someone he knew passed away, and he needed the information to go to the funerals, which made sense. But when she asked him what the name of the person was, he stalled for a moment, then said that it was a long lost friend of a family member, and that he did not know his last name, so he needed to make some research. Of course, the librarian agreed, understood, but suggested he came back with said family member to look it up.

Now Damien was starting to lose his patience. How hard was it to write down a name and an address? There were about four pages of names, yes, but at least half of them were "in remembrance of the death of" that dated back to years ago. It was getting confusing and hard. That woman, if it was a woman at all, was starting to get on his nerves, asking too many questions.

Eventually, he shook his head with impatience, "I can't read. It's not something I want people to know, even less my family."

"Oh... oh I see, yes yes... Um... well... um...", she reached for a piece of paper and a pencil, "Well um.... okay, here, give me a moment..."

Damien nodded and thanked her. He had guessed it would have come down to this, but he had nearly messed up as well. After about ten minutes, the librarian handed him the piece of paper, smiling at him. She looked a little more like a woman now, but he still could not be sure. She escorted him back to the door, still smiling, and Damien had a hunch it meant he had just made a new friend. She had made her good deed of the day by helping someone they way she had after all. He owed her, that was for sure. When he reached back into his pocket and handed her a piece of paper with his cell phone number scribbled on it, she took it questioningly. He let her know that she had been of great help, and if she needed anything, to give him a call.

She even opened the door for him, waving at him when he left. If she had realized that Damien had just given her a written note, she may not have been this happy. Then again, there were illiterate people who understood numbers and how to write them, compared to writing words, and that's probably what she would tell herself in the end.

"Made a new friend?", Alice smirked, looking at the genderless being waving at Damien before going back inside the large building.

Damien made no reply to this, but handed over the list for Ryan to see. But all he could see was a bunch of names with funeral dates. It meant nothing, and did not give any clues as to what could have had Ryan, Alice and Miguel forget about reading the obituaries, nor did not give anything about Miguel going into Death Rage for no apparent reason. It seemed they were still at a dead end. They were about to give up when Miguel, who had remained quiet all this time, looked at the woman, "Hey Alice... if I say Stan... what do you think about?"

"Ley...", the word came casually, quickly, automatically.

Miguel snapped his fingers, "That's it! Stanley! Whenever I think about the paper... that's what comes to mind, Stan.. and Ley. Stanley!"

Ryan nodded, then looked over the list again with Damien, his finder tracing down the names.

"There is a Joseph Stanley in there...", Ryan said, confirming it was the only Stanley in the list, "... and according to this, the funerals are happening as we speak."

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (Return to Mike's Residence)

2006-05-16T16:43:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Return to Mike's Residence
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 8

When Alice voiced going back to Mike's place to see if anything had been missed, no one objected to it. They had nothing to lose after all, except maybe Mike, but going to his hometown was most likely one step closer to finding the old man.

Ryan drove the pack back to Boulder. The ride was quiet. The road was clear, the sky grey and threatening to rain at any given time. A few drops of water splashed over the windshield, but that was as far the the bad weather went all day. Ryan concentrated his gaze on the road with his lips tightly shut and thinking as silently as he usually did. Mike was gone. Their tribute to Muraco kept being delayed. Things sure weren't going his way. He was not the type of man to show his utter emotions, even speak of them, but it was obvious the events troubled him. Of course, would anyone ask him, he would shrug it off as he always did.

However, as he drove, he caught a glimpse of something rather unusual from the corner of his eye. Miguel, as usual, sat in the back of the SUV, while Damien's large bulk sat in the backseat with his head lowered and his body slightly crouched. Alice was sitting in the passenger's seat next to Ryan, rubbing at her temple with her eyes closed. Her skin had gone from its pretty tanned bronze to a grayish complexion. A glimmer of sweat had appeared above her brows as well. Ryan slowed the pace of the SUV, giving her a few more glances, until finally, he asked her if she needed him to stop by the side of the road for some fresh air. The woman shook her head faintly, inquiring it was not necessary... but it only took less then a minute until she asked him to stop the vehicle. She stepped out in a hurry, ran by the ditch about ten feet from the group, fell to her knees, and threw up. After long minutes with her head down to stare at her lap, she finally stood back up, going back to her seat and not looking at any of the passengers. Not looking at Damien's whose frown betrayed worry and wonder. He decided to keep it to himself for the time being.

"Will you be alright?", Ryan asked her.

And to this, she replied she was fine, that it was nothing to worry about, and that they should be on their way.

Miguel snorted from the back of the SUV, "Heh, can't bring women anywhere, they always get in the way."

"Fuck you, Miguel", she spat back at him, to which he made a shark like mocking grin back at her in the rear view mirror.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

But she only rolled her eyes and set herself deep into the seat once more, looking outside as Ryan followed the road to Boulder again. By the time they got to the town, Alice had gained back her colors.

Upon finding Mike's house, it seemed to have been untouched since Damien's last investigation. Still, from the outside, the residence looked clean and undamaged, but as soon as the group entered by the door inside the garage door, they found themselves taking a deep breathe, finding the mess. Unfortunately, not only was the blood Damien had found gone, but there were no more clues to explain what could have happened to Mike. Obviously, had there been any, it would have been wiped out and away just like the blood.

And so they were at an impasse once again. There was nothing that could help them find clues about Mike's disappearance and obvious attackers. But they were not about to give up. The newspaper was brought up again, and although there was a lot of unease concerning the issue, it was obvious they would find the answers in the newspaper. It would be a good way to find out if, also, only the newspaper brought back to Denver had been cursed - if it was at all - or if all the newspapers to the date of the previous day were bugged. It was soon agreed that going to the local library would enable them to find previous newspapers archived, such as the Bolder News.

They found a large, old building, with bronze statues of random important people on each side of marble stairs. They were probably early Maire's, or the founders of Boulder, standing proudly with their chest puffed in their expensive clothes. On top of a large clock and tower was the American flag, flowing wildly with the wind. There were plenty of people going up and down the stairs, most of them university students, some children with graphic novels, others just plain people looking for a good novel of their choice.

Ryan pulled the SUV by the side of the road and by the entrance, looking at the two sets of wooden and metal doors. Everyone stepped out of the car, and Ryan stepped forward, looking back once before disappearing in the library. When the doors closed behind him, a thought most likely occurred to the pack and the woman. What if, by any misfortune, it sent Ryan into Death Rage as it had Miguel? This time, there were plenty of innocents to slay, not just a few people who knew of Ryan's real identity. There were children, elders, men and women, innocent bystanders not even looking back at the man with the green coat and the jersey shirt hanging lose over his jeans. He looked no different then they, like this, looking for archives... looking for something that had nearly gotten him killed.

When he stepped out of the library again, he had not gone into Death Rage, nor had he lost his mind. But when he looked at them, his gaze looked empty for a moment. When Damien asked him if he had found the paper, all Ryan did was glance at him strangely, saying "Found what?"

Damien shook his head and sighed. So the other newspapers were bugged as well. Sending Ryan back inside was out of the question, as the risk of seeing him turn into a wild, dangerous beast had gone a notch higher. Was there no way to read the newspaper at all?

"Maybe normal humans can read it fine", Alice inquired, "for all we know, supernatural beings could be the only ones affected. Humans wouldn't give a shit for this type of thing. If they did and found out about it, imagine the uproar. Besides, if it affected humans, we would've known already. News and gossips go by fast. This place would be infested with reporters from all over the country."

Ryan and Damien agreed it was most likely the case. Humans were fast to go to conclusions, and if Luna's Avatars had noticed something was odd when you read a part of the newspapers, other people were bound to have noticed too. Not everyone read their newspapers alone at peace. So what they needed to find was a human to read the obituaries aloud. Simple enough... or was it?

Damien scratched his bald head, looking at the doors with a sigh, and stepped forward, saying he would be back; that he had an idea.

The pack and Alice blinked at him, and watched him disappear behind the large, heavy doors of the Boulder Library.

To be Continued...

Survival 101 - (Lost Game and Traitors)

2006-05-11T13:30:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Lost Game and Traitors
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 7

Alice seemed to take quite a while getting dressed downstairs, but as she came back to enter the conversation about what had just happened with Miguel, neither Ryan nor Damien commented on it. Either that or they truly had not noticed she had been gone for quite longer then she should have been. Nevertheless, despite the situation, she seemed nearly radiant, if not happy, with a soft smile crossing her lips.

It was not very long until Miguel himself showed up, passing the team and sitting on a random chair. Alice was not very surprised to see he had escaped his bounds, and neither did his two packmates, who knew him quite well. Miguel looked exhausted, but whatever injuries he had suffered seemed to have either disappeared or did not bother him at all. Only Alice was staring at him as if waiting for something, or was it just another lustful gaze she was throwing at him?

Little was said - although the mention of Miguel's death rage did steer him a bit - until Miguel sprung from his seat as if he had been stabbed from under. His hands roamed through his pockets in what seemed like sheer panic. Alice raised an eyebrow, looking at him questioningly, but also observing his movements. Damien and Ryan looked at him oddly, even came to ask what was wrong, but Miguel was already gone, running downstairs. The woman, with her hands behind her back, watched him run downstairs in a hurry. A look of mischief and amusement went through her, having a good idea why Miguel had become so suddenly agitated. Without a word, Miguel ran back upstairs and outside... then back inside and up into his room. Still, the woman followed his running with sheer interest, while the other men wondered what had gotten to Miguel like so. The fear of having him go into Death Rage once more came to mind as well.

"Who went into my room?!", Miguel's enraged voice echoed from up the stairs.

Alice walked forward, not intimidated by the man's anger at all, and even smiled as she told him nothing but the truth: she had gone into his room, yes. She had also gone into Ryan's room, and had also put Mike's room upside down to look for a decent weapon to save her life and probably those of that very pack. She made sure to remind him how he had gone into Death Rage, and as she did so, that damned grin, the same she had used on Killy a little while back, radiated on her pretty features. But that seemed to irritate Miguel that much more as he clearly believed she was lying and trying to look good in front of his packmates. He accused her of looking through his journal next. Oh, she had, that she had, but had found nothing of interest. She shrugged it off, saying she had had little interest in his boyish fantasies while her life had been at stake.

Perhaps it was Damien's intervention that changed Miguel's mind when he went up the stairs with heavy and angry steps.

He trailed the Irraka back to his room, finding him to be even more furious about the situation. Killy's family picture had vanished from his pockets! Alice had gone through his things! What if she had found a way to read his journal? He knew Killy had come back to the get his precious photograph, but who could have given its location away? Well, with Mike gone again, Miguel's rage came to such a point he believed he had been the one to let Killy know Miguel was holding onto the picture. And why the hell not? Why wouldn't he let the Cahalith know of it, if it were not just to sit back and enjoy seeing someone struggle again? Because Mike seemed to enjoy that so much that, in the end, it had cost Miguel and Killy near brotherhood to come to an abrupt end.

"He's dead! If I find him first, he's dead! I'll slash his chest and slit his throat myself", Miguel raged about how he would get to Mike, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! In fact... I don't think I can trust any of you anymore!"

Damien's own rageous, deep voice cut him in his tracks, stepping forward and hard on the wooden floor, "Why is it that whenever someone disapears they immediatly become traitors?!"

Miguel glared at him through half closed eyelids, opening his mouth to spat back at his packmate. Damien rose his large hands in front of Miguel to hush him before he would go on, then Damien pointed at Miguel's left side, asking him what it was. Though Miguel attempted to argue how ridiculous the Blood Talon was being, Damien still repeated himself, this time raising his voice a notch, pointing at Miguel's left side once again. When Miguel answered it was a sword he held in its shakle to the left, Damien pointed to Miguel's right, to his second sword. When Miguel agreed it was there, his voice lowered slightly.

"Well both of those were in ME!", Damien exclaimed, "I don't care if you don't remember it, because I sure do! Now, you wanna stop associating me with traitors? Because the list seems to be growing."

And to that, Miguel said nothing, lowering his head with shame and understanding, but still keeping his eyecontact with Damien nevertheless. There was still a bit of pride left to Miguel after all, and he was not about to be fully defeated yet. He would hold to his beliefs strongly, his hatred for what he believed Mike had done never leaving his eyes. Although he saw Damien's point clearly, doubts about his packmates were still present, and were not about to leave anytime soon.

Damien shook his head, sighing heavily. If that had not been enough to reason with Miguel, then nothing was going to work. Damien had probably had enough of Miguel's behaviour up to that point, and the fact that he had gone into Death Rage and attacked his own packmates had also ticked him off. It had not been Miguel's fault, obviously, but he could still feel the cold steel of the blades deep in his chest... and that, he enjoyed no more then bullets.

He then went back downstairs where Ryan and Alice were still patiently waiting.... Alice was still smiling with mischeaf, but since she seemed to do that often, there were no questions asked.

Eventually, Miguel followed back downstairs without so much of a word, his features cold as ice. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, and watched the rest of them talk about the trip to the forest, the newspaper, and eventually, how they could not leave without Mike.

And all the while, Alice looked at Miguel with that same, sinful, mischeavous and lust filled smile...

To be continued....

Survival 101 - (Muraco's Help and the Journal)

2006-05-10T20:08:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Muraco's Help and the Journal
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 6

When Muraco appeared to Luna's Avatars, sending the beasts away from each other, it also had them return to their initial, human forms. The warm light which came from the spirit would engulf them all, healing their wounds within a matter of seconds.

It looked at the three pack members: three of five that had once held a powerful bound despite the latest stories of the kid departing and the old man caring for himself and none other. It did not even send Alice a second, let alone one glance, worried about the remaining Urathas who looked up to it. It walked up to Damien next, licking at his wounds, making the bloody holes close on themselves until no trace of the incident was left.

A soft moan came from Ryan as he gained back his consciousness back - and to a point, his humanity back just as well - sitting up slowly and rubbing at his temples in pain and probably confusion as well.

Alice found herself rushing by Ryan's side, asking him if he was alright, if he was with her, and most importantly, if he was not going to lose it again. But he assured her he was fine. Shaken up, most definitely, but he was very much fine. Damien too, in the end, seemed to be alright, and by the time he, Alice and Ryan were able to sigh with relief that the whole ordeal was over, Muraco had retreated away.

Miguel, on the other hand, did not join them for that. He remained lifeless on the dirty and cracked floor, far from waking up like his packmates had. The woman walked up to him slowly, looking at him with a mixture of worry and perhaps hatred: he had been the one to turn into the savage beast first after all. She moved her knee down by his side, inspecting him carefully. Whatever she was looking for though, she would keep it to herself for the moment, but later... later it would come back to her, and later, she would laugh and cry over his chest. But for now, her emotions betrayed none of what would come. What she found however, by his side and drawn in his own blood, was the scarlet red picture of an encircled closed eye. It meant little to her, but perhaps it could come in handy later.

Once Alice mentioned she had shot Miguel with the tranquilizer gun, alarm came to Ryan and Damien's features. The toxin in his body could easily become deadly when in human form. It had been used to take down a Zi'ir after all, a beast uncontrollable and in such panic and guilt the best way to take it down without killing it was to use something as strong as what could take down an elephant. A normal human's nervous system would never survive the amount of tranquilizer juice.

But Damien was quick in the situation: perhaps an adrenaline rush would cancel the toxin's effects. There was still one more needle left from the gathering that had happened a while back to wake Nick from his coma. Damien struck the large needle in Miguel's heart, pumping the adrenaline into his body as he had previously with Nick. And much like Nick, Miguel's nerves went on edge, his body crisping and convulsing painfully until he would drop back on the ground, his eyes shut and his muscles limp, but with a heartbeat that soon gained a normal pace.

Time was not wasted then. The metallic table that could have served as a surgery table or a bed was set back in place by both Damien and Ryan while Alice watched, dumb folded by the latest events. That, and being unable to move because of a sudden pain below her left breast; one she tried to conceal, even to herself, and pass it as nothing but stress. Damien used whatever he could find: ropes, belts and chains for the most part, to bind Miguel to the table. If he were to awake with another rage, then let him find his way out of the restrains and give the three remaining Urathas a few moments to brace themselves rather then be surprised as they had been the first time.

Upstairs and away from its packmates eyes, the wolf spirit appeared once again, ripping the dreaded newspaper in pieces violently with both its teeth and claws. It rose its hind leg, and like any canine, peed on the remains, before vanishing into thin air once more.

Ryan and Damien, exhausted, but still fine, nevertheless, left the mess that had been made to go to the first floor to rest and drink from the unbroken bottles.

Alice decided to give Ryan his weapon back, heading back to the bedrooms on the top floor of the house. She could have kept it to herself, but with no more darts, it had been rendered useless. Well, at least for the moment. As she stepped out of the Luna's Avatars' Alpha's room, she strolled past Miguel's opened door, recalling the book she had thrown on the floor in her haste. As casually as it could have been her very own room, she pushed the door further open and stepped in.

The room was still dark, aside from the soft beam of moonlight that came through a small opening in the ceiling. Miguel's complexion was naturally slightly darker then the average white person - not by much, however - but it was still a wonder how his skin could not turn as grey as wax, living in darkness like he enjoyed doing so. His eyes would look redder, the bags under his eyes would probably turn darker, all that amplified with the mingled black hair. In the end, he would look like the living dead, to say the least. Maybe he was just lucky or it had not happened yet, Alice mused at the thought as she picked up the small book.

On it, she found the same symbol she had noticed Miguel had drawn with his blood.

When she opened the journal though, she found nothing but blank pages. She flipped through them quickly with her thumb and forefinger, sometimes licking at them for a better grip. Still, there was no writing. No scribbling or even the glimpse of a drawing.

She was rather disappointed, most probably hoping to find something with which she could corner Miguel into telling her what had happened to Nick, or just to find out the man's little secrets which she would be more then delighted to find and later use to her advantage.

But no, there was nothing. With a defeated sigh, she threw the empty journal over on the bed and left without giving the room or even the book a second glance.

(Note from Maria: The following of Survival 101, Session 1 happened on the forum. You can read what happened by following this link here: http://wtfchronicles.proboards52.com/index.cgi?board=roleplay&action=display&thread=1142301801 We suggest you read it for better understanding of what is next to come, really. :) Have fun! )

(End of Session 1)
To be continued...

Survival 101 - (Alice's Faith)

2006-04-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Alice's Faith
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 5

She wanted to leave: go out the front door, never look back, get out of town.

Downstairs, the fight was on, on and heavy. Alice did not hear Damien's cry for help to his pack totem, or perhaps she was not paying attention as her human form took over once again. The exit to the outside world looked so damned inviting, now that it was coming into view on the first floor. But something drew her back, held her inside the house. Whatever it was, it pained her as she heard the canine yelps beneath her feet.

Reluctant - perhaps she was still trying to convince herself that Luna's Avatars were nothing but the Brady Bunch on a bad day - she found herself sprinting up the stairs to the second floor for the pack members' rooms. In their bedrooms, she knew there were potential weapons: guns she could use. They had taken them after the mafia gang massacre a while ago, she clearly remembered it. She too, had taken some, but had brought one to the motel where Nick rested, and one in what used to have been Killy's room. Unfortunatly, the boy's room had been in the basement where the fight still raged.

First, she scurried through Mike's bedroom, finding nothing. Then she burst into Miguel's dark room, finding, yet again, no weapon she could use. There was nothing useful for her, for the exeption of a diary which she came upon while rumminaging through a ritual shrine. Though taking note of the object, she tossed it to the ground, going about her search, yet still finding absolutly nothing. Not even a blade other then her own that she could have used.

Distressed, but not losing hope, next and last came Ryan's room. A knot was forming in her stomach by then, painful and heavy, one she hardly understood yet. She spent the longest time in the alpha's bedroom, at first finding it to be as deprived of weapons as the rest of the rooms. Refusing to give up and believe Ryan held all his firearms on him, she kept on searching, passionate and uncaring for the artifacts she might break while a new sort of panic was taking her over. It took a while, but finally, she found a suitable weapon: it was the tranquilizer gun the pack had used on Nathan way back when, with one dart remaining. She escaped a sour laughter of victory, taking a hold of the gun and hurrying back to the basement.

In the infirmary room, the fight was still going on strong, this time between Ryan and Miguel alone - a blind, bloody fight for nothing short of anguished survival. Damien's luck was to be uncountious, as both Garuu's saw no more interest in a lifeless meat sack.

Blood sprayed over walls, furr raising in patches with each hit one or the other was taking. Ryan's bloodied and dripping hand eventually rose to his shoulder level, striking Miguel hard enough to send him crashing through the wall, taking the bar on the other side along with him. The sound of breaking bottles and crooked wood and plaster was followed by a painful howl, which tripled Miguel's blind determination at winning the current fight, for the beast before him - even before death rage had taken his new found enemy over - was not Ryan Cohen, nor Steel-Jaw, nor his alpha. It was a prey, an enemy in the way of his basic survival.

When Alice arrived in the basement with the tranquilizer gun, she found Miguel and Ryan looked like a train had hit them both simultaneously. She had gotten there in time to see the black Garuu step back into the infirmary room, his furr patched out by bleeding meat over his chest and arms, his jaw dripping crimson saliva, while Ryan looked just as bad, if not worst.

Taking a deep breathe, she set herself in the stairs, aiming at both beasts. She did not care to aim at one particular Garuu, as long as it hit one of them and sent them to dreamland. But then what?, she thought, there's still going to be one standing, and I'll be the next target. But as she aimed and thought this over, she found she prefered having to deal with one of them then the two of them at once. She pulled the trigger at last, squeezing so tightly her nerves twitched painfully at the fingertip.

The dart hit Miguel in the shoulder, but he did not seem to register it at all, swinging back and forth at the rusty red animal in front of him. Alice had nearly lost hope the dart had been loaded at all when she noticed Miguel wavering, getting tired while the toxins in his bloodstream finally had an effect.

She watched uneasilly, getting mentaly prepared to have Ryan swirl on his paws and come at her, but none of that happened. In fact, her eyes grew wide as she looked over the large barel of the weapon, before moving it down slowly. As a white light blinded her, Miguel and Ryan were sent back to crash against opposing walls, then fell sprawled on the ground.

"Stop it!", came a commanding voice, shared between a beautiful, mystical creature's, and that of a human being's. A wolf now stood in the middle of the room, its furr as white as the milky way, shining with an imaginary moonlight in waves. Its eyes, a piercing blue, were authoritary, but also soft, if not sad and pleading.

Alice found herself dropping down in a sitting position in the stairs, staring in awe at Muraco, Luna's Avatar's pack totem, whom she came to see for the very first time.

"Wow...", was all she managed to whisper...

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (Death Rage)

2006-04-24T19:25:00.000-04:00

Survival 101 - Death Rage
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 4

Miguel was brought down to the infirmary room in the basement with no second thoughts. Damien inspected his packmate for injuries of any kind: lifting the eyelids, and looking for a heartbeat that was existent but alarmly irregular.

But despite Miguel's sudden and severe condition, something felt amiss, completely wrong; Even more so then the situation itself. None of Miguel's packmates nor Alice could sense danger as Killy would have been able to would he still be amongst them, but the feeling of wrongness was still present and strong.

That feeling was amplified when Miguel opened his eyes widely. He was not coming back to his senses, oh, quite the opposite. Within a few seconds and a beast like howl, his bones cracked and set into place, growing, reshaping themselves to become a large monster: Garuu.

It took everyone aback. The urathas around Miguel were surprised, but not so much either, as they had all felt it coming somehow. Maybe they needed to see it with their own eyes though, and their wish had been brutally granted. And before there could be any further reaction from them, not so much of a gasp even, Miguel held both his swords in his large hands, turning them over as if they were murderous daggers, before stabbing down on the closest target: Damien. Blood sprung over the large man's opened lips, his eyes wide, and not yet registering his own packmate had deliberatly pierced the weapons through him. Miguel had already taken the wakisashis out of Damien before a single wet gurgle would escape him, and the swords were thrown randomly with brute force, the blades becoming one with the walls on each side of the room.

Ryan did not wait to see more, his shotgun already in hands, and by the time the swords had hit the walls, Alice too, had her kamas ready.

Stumbling back momentarilly, Damien held his hand against his chest, blood gushing through his fingers in heavy flows, but still, unlike Alice and Ryan, he would refuse to engage in battle with his packmate. He refused to believe Miguel would attack him on his own free will, and he would until the very, bitter end.

Alice attempted to inflict a wound on the large Garuu before her. Maybe it was with a certain hope, but it was in vain, even she knew it far too much. In the end, she barely scratched him. Ryan, on the other hand, managed to pound a round into Miguel in hopes to slow him down as well. Only, taking down Miguel was not like it had been when he had, with the rest of Luna's Avatars, taken down Nathan. Miguel was a packmate. Perhaps that in his silent panic, he had forgotten the notion that attacking your own packmate was the worst sin of all; or perhaps he knew, but could think of no better way to stop the Irraka in death rage before him. And if he did know it, he was also aware of the risk of death rage engulfing his very soul.

Because that shotgun blast was not only the first, it became the last as well. Ryan's body grew in mass and muscles under the ripping clothes, his skin stretching with the transformation. Before Alice and Damien could exchange a worried glance, Ryan was in death rage also, uncarring to destroy whatever he touched, whatever got in his way.

"Get out! Get out now!", Damien ordered Alice through red, gritted teeth. If one of them was in danger, it was Alice, as she had yet to join Luna's Avatars, and thus became a stranger to the beasts.

"Don't have to tell me twice!", she hissed back, her own shape changing into that of her wolf form. She calculated her escape long before she had sprinted toward one of the two Garuu uncountiously guarding each exit. She managed a swift move, sliding between Ryan's legs and out into the basement toward the stairs.

Within the infirmary, only Ryan, Miguel, and Damien remained, but Damien refused attacking them, counciously fighting his own instincts to go into death rage when one of the beast came at him and slugged him square. From the commotion, the hellish cries, howls and claws, it was hard to tell which, between Ryan and Miguel, was attacking him.

But eventually, even a strong Uratha like Damien could only take so much. His reluctance at fighting those he was bound to drove him to collapse - but before he did, his last cry was for Muraco to come to their aid, because as far as things were going, no one was to come out of this alive...

To be Continued...

Survival 101 - (The Newspaper)

2006-03-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

Survival 101 - The Newspaper
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 3

Damien was back in Denver by one o'clock at night. The drive back had been horrible: the weather had been awful, with heavy rain and thunder, which was not the first and only thing irritating Damien. Mike's disappearance was on his mind, especially after Mike had let him and the pack know about the trouble he had put himself into during the three weeks separation. And during the ride back, he nearly had an accident, being cut rudely by another driver; he attempted to memorized the licence plate, swearing he would take care of that imbecile once the ordeal with Mike was settled, but the weather was too bad, and thus the driver set off in the night.

Either his packmates were worried and were eagerly awaiting news about Mike, or they were simply not tired: everyone was quite awake when the Rahu came home. He explained what he had found, how he had found the house, and let them browse through the items: the coat and the newspaper. Nothing interesting was found about Mike's coat. It was charged with electricity, but otherwise, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.

Miguel took a look at the newspaper in hopes to find the daily cartoons, but was soon frustrated to find there was none. He flipped through the page a moment, finding the Obituary section. Though it may have been meant as a quick joke to read them instead of cartoons, Miguel's gaze seemed to darken as he read. As if in a blank state, he closed the newspaper and handed it back to Damien. Damien's brows turned into a frown, asking Miguel if he was alright, but Miguel simply shrugged and let them know there were no cartoons for him to read. Alice shrugged off the comment, not paying attention to Miguel's reaction, and asked to take a look at the paper in case she may find something that could have been missed.

Like Miguel, she browsed through the paper, finding the obituary just as Miguel had. Maybe there could have been some clues, considering how morbid that section was: everything came back to death, once someone thought about it for a while. As she read it however, like Miguel, her gaze turned into a blank, and as if hypnotized by an unknown force, closed the newspaper to give it back to Ryan or Damien, inquiring there was nothing for her to read. Obviously, it got Ryan and Damien's attention, alerting them something was out of place. As much as they tried to tell Miguel and Alice that they had read through the Obituaries Section, none of them could recall it. Damien had the idea to film one of them while reading to at least give them a proof that they had dozed off on them, pointing at Miguel whom he knew had a cell phone capable of doing the task... which was when Miguel became rather nervous.

He did take out his cell phone, but seemed determined to rid it of something before Damien could get his hands on it. Spotting the lies, Damien wasted no time to chase Miguel across the house to see whatever the Irraka was hiding from him. It was pure luck that made it so Damien reached Miguel just after he was able to either delete or send whatever he was hiding. He gladly offered the phone to Damien with a victory grin after. Damien stared down at the object, looking quickly for whatever Miguel could have been hiding, but he shrugged it right off when he found nothing of interest.

At the other end of the house, Ryan found a message on his own cell phone, finding a picture of Alice giving Damien a kiss on the cheek, which Miguel had just managed to send to him, signed "Send to Amy". Ryan made an amused smile, shook his head, and closed the phone, though he never deleted it. The woman did not seem to care much for what it was, not even looking over at the picture. In the end, she did not really believe it concerned her at all anyway.

When the commotion died down - it had made the tension drop momentarily, at the very least - the subject went back to the oddities of the newspaper. Miguel and Alice would not change their version: they had not read the newspaper. Shaking his head, he opened the paper again, reading aloud the section on which he and the woman had froze earlier -- and it happened once more: Miguel's gaze turned blank, folding the paper back and handing it over to whoever wanted to give it a look. By then, Alice was starting to believe something was definitely wrong and both Ryan and Damien may have been right all along. Damien seemed to find it rather funny, saying he could pay to do see Miguel do that over and over, even offering Alice to give it another go at it. But Alice refused, asking Miguel to give it one more shot to see where he stalled. Miguel rolled his eyes, having yet again no memory of having read anything at all.

But this time, Miguel never handed over the paper to either Ryan or Damien. He did not let them know there were no cartoons, nor did he stare blankly. His eyes rolled back in his head, leaving nothing but white...
... and he collapsed.

To be continued...

Survival 101 - (The Search for Mike)

2006-03-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

Survival 101 – The Search for Mike
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 2

Once Alice and Nick left the house, Damien looked over at his packmates with a worried expression. Mike may have had a tendency to leave without much of a word, but it had been a few days now. Something just did not feel right about the situation. Something was obviously amiss. The large man was not about to go into the woods and leave his packmate behind, as much as he could not stand the old man. So Damien set off to Bolder, where Mike had resided before coming to Denver and forming the pack.

It was a good, long drive, but one that would turn out to be much worth it in the end. Mike's home was still surrounded by the police's yellow tape as if it was a danger zone, but no one was around to guard the small residence. It was all the better for Damien, and easier for him to access the house. Like a respectable man, he went to the front door and knocked his large fist on it. As expected, there was no response. He looked around quickly to find any sign of a spare key, and as predictable as Mike could be, the key was right under the welcome mat. Damien attempted to use it on the door, but it would no go into its rightful hole. Looking through the lock, he found something seemed to be stuck inside of it, or perhaps something had been melted inside. He slammed his shoulder into the door, but it never moved, as if the door itself - it was an old door and should have shattered easily with Damien's weight and brute force - was made of metal or had turned into a wall on its own. He even looked inside the house from the front window, but found nothing suspicious. The inside was rather clean.

After much inspection, Damien wondered if there was not a door in the garage that would lead inside the house itself. Of course, the garage door was locked, but it only made Damien smile as he was about to prove how strong he could be. He settled his large fingers between the concrete and the garage door, braced himself, and the door was easily forced up and opened. Smirking, he stepped into the garage, finding, as expected, a door leading into Mike's kitchen. He tried the key on that door, and luckily, it not only fit in the hole, it turned and unlocked the door.

What he found when he opened the door was completely shocking. Whatever he had seen through the windows from the outside had been an utter lie: The inside of the house was a complete wreck. The broken and upside down furniture, and the patches of blood clearly indicated a fight had taken place. He moved his fingers in the still damp blood, tasting it momentarily. It belonged to Mike. Mike and two others he did not know about. He went about his search, finding little to nothing more to reconstruct what had happened. It seemed as if a wall had been created to block the front door, the one Damien had not been able to bust opened. The lock had been melted down as well, enabling anyone to use a key to enter the residence. By the door, he found an opened newspaper set on that very morning's date, and Mike's coat, which had seemed to be charged with electricity; the fabric inside stuck together in complicated and heavy folds.

Keeping the taste of blood on his tongue, Damien took both items – they had little significance, but somehow, Damien felt the need to take them with him - and throw them into the SUV, before turning into his Urhan form in hopes to trail the scent the blood had given him. Unfortunately, the clues did not go any further then the road itself. From what he could find, however, Mike was gone, but still alive. What he managed to gather from the rest was that one of the two men he had managed to somewhat identify had not survived and had been dragged out.

Damien found it best to return home at that point; return home and let the others know what he had found and maybe get new theories from what could have happened...

One way or another, his search was over, and Mike was still not home.

To be continued...

Survival 101 (The Patient in the Basement)

2006-03-28T17:21:00.000-05:00

Survival 101 – The Patient in the Basement
March 4th 2006
Blog Entry 1

The next step in training that Ryan was hoping to accomplish was to head off into the woods for a week in wolf form only. It would be a tribute to Muraco, Luna's Avatars Totem, since many oats were broken with Killy and Mike's departure after the S.W.A.T. team attack, among other things.

Although Mike had disappeared once more while the pack and Alice gathered, there was little worry for that moment. Mike had a tendency to disappear, either to vent off or for his own privacy. That was, if he had not been called by Max once more. Mike was always extremely stubborn, and even if, after his last adventures, he had ended up nearly dead - either by Nathan Wolfe's hand or by a few malicious Pures - he would go off on his own again without listening to the advice of the younger and less experienced pack members.

Another point was then raised by Damien: he still had a patient to take care of: Nick. Nick was still in a heavy coma, recovering from an unknown but nearly deadly attack. Ryan remained determined to go into the woods, thus many solutions were given. Alice and Damien believed it would be easier to take Nick along, carrying him and looking over him during the trip, but it also proved to be tricky and dangerous for the pack, and Nick himself. Miguel, on the other hand, seemed to believe that putting Nick out of his misery right now was the best way to go. Leaving Nick to their neighbour pack, New Hope, was also another solution. Leaving him alone was out of the question. Unless he woke up, there seemed to be no satisfying solution to this... And it clicked; waking him up. They had to find a way to wake Nick up. Damien inquired that an adrenaline shot to the heart might have his nerves pump up enough to force him awake. He could very well end up a vegetable, but then again, waking up from a long coma could have the same effects. Ryan agreed for this to be the best solution, and sent Miguel and Alice, the two Irrakas, on the run to get the needed shots.

In the middle of the night, it was not very hard to find an ambulance parked near a 24 hours convenience store or donut shop. Though there was little communication between Alice and Miguel, it seemed they knew their roles already. Alice walked up to the driver's window, knocked, and went about her seduction on both ambulance workers. Though confused by the appearance of a beautiful woman at this time of the night, they welcomed it and let her sit between them while Miguel, in the back, worked around trying to find the adrenaline shot Damien had described him. An incoming call came in, some code Alice knew nothing about, but the agitation from both men told her it was an urgent call. She tried to hold them up a moment longer, but they were determined to go, and even as she asked to come along, they let her know it would not be very professional. Reluctant, she left the ambulance with two phone numbers in her hands. She watched the ambulance depart, leaving Miguel to close his cell phone with an amused grin. Realizing he had been the one to make the call, she couldn't help to return the grin, though admitted being disappointed they had to let those two men go so quickly, to which Miguel replied she had had enough fun for one night. Alice couldn’t help giving him that malicious look and inquiring he was being jealous, which of course, he denied.

Upon returning home, Damien set the necessary accessories ready. There was no guaranty it was going to work at all, but at least there was a glimmer of hope. The large needle was struck into Nick's heart. There was little to no reaction at first, until his nerves and muscles tensed, his eyes even opened, but he dropped back with his nerves twitching. Eventually, his heartbeat gained a more natural pace, but it was obvious that forcing him back to consciousness would accelerate the healing factor.

Alice spent a great deal of time by his side, waiting for him to wake up for real. Though she did her best to hide her relief when he finally opened his eyes, she couldn't help but show compassion and care for him. When Nick finally came back to his senses, he was panicked at first, being in an unknown environment. To him, a few minutes had passed since he had been attacked, unlike the few weeks he had been in a comatose state in the basement of the house. Miguel was also there with a witty comment to make when Nick opened his eyes. Alice ordered him to get Damien when Nick let them know how his body felt on fire, and for once, at the very least, Miguel seemed to take her seriously and spent no time fetching the large man.

Unfortunately for Luna's Avatars, the pack learned little to nothing new about the situation and how Nick had ended up with his arm torn right off. Apparently, one of the street gang members, Jim, had complained earlier about an old lady and how she had scared him. Nick remembered how the men had laughed, but the joke soon died when Jim just never returned. Nick also remembered being followed, and as his senses turned high, he did what he could to escape... something. Something got the attention of whatever had chased him, and he managed to hide in his home, but just barely. Then everything turned to a blur, and a few weeks later, he had woken up to Alice stroking his hair in the basement of Luna's Avatars home.

Nick recovered fast once he was awakened. His arm had yet to grow back fully, and unfortunately for the Cahalith, he was not going to be able to draw much for a while. Nevertheless, he was glad to be alive. After a few days or so of watching over him, Damien found he was good to go and definitely out of danger. Alice took this time, thinking she and Damien were alone - and having forgotten how Miguel had sworn to follow her and keep an eye on her wherever she went - to thank him for what he had done for Nick and in a sense, for her. She gave Damien a quick peck on the cheek, not realising Miguel was having the fun of his life taking a picture of the scene with his cell phone.

In the end, Nick thanked the pack sincerely for helping him and taking care of him, though embarrassed to have been such a burden for so long. Miguel offered him his old trench coat so he could hide his missing arm, while Damien offered him a rabbit, and finally, Alice unhooked the necklace she held dearly onto and clipped it to Nick's good wrist to wish him good luck. He refused to go back to his home, even pondered leaving town, but Alice offered her motel room until he would find a more suitable place.

She stayed with him for a while, letting him know how things were going between her and Luna's Avatars. She never mentioned her ordeals with Miguel or anything too bad. She did not want to worry him, especially since he had been the one to point her in that pack's direction. He smiled and listened, happy to know she had considered the option. Before reaching the motel, Nick looked her in the eyes with that same kind smile, "Look what they did for me and I'm not even part of the pack. Just imagine how they can treat their packmates." Alice lowered her gaze at this comment, but said no more.

Finally, she left him to rest...

To be continued...

Target Practice (Annoyance and Training)

2006-03-28T16:31:00.000-05:00

Target Practice – Annoyance and Training
Feb 18th, 2006
Blog Entry 2

The search for the dojo did not last very long. Soon, Ryan and Mike found themselves renting a place for past the evening, once the main courses of karate and jujitsu would be over with. Then and only then would they be allowed in. Or perhaps they simply got lucky the master and owner of the place was a good hearted and trusting guy for leaving unattended strangers in his dojo in the middle of the night.

In the meanwhile, Alice, Damien and Miguel found themselves staying at home and trying to pass the time. Alice’s headache only grew as Miguel walked in more circles… and then found a way to stand in front of the television and play with a small puzzle that was on top of the shelf.

Alice grew annoyed quickly by the way the other Irraka teased her. She was on edge as much as any of them, for her own personal reasons, and he seemed to be asking for a fight she was beginning to be more then willing to give him. Perhaps it was Damien, sitting by her side and watching her – even asking if there was anything he could do for her as he noticed her impatience for Miguel’s actions – that had her think twice about taking her kusarigamas and dropping Miguel’s blood on the very floor. Or perhaps it was the Alpha and the Beta’s return that stopped her altogether.

Ryan spoke to them casually about what had been found, and how they should get prepared. In two days from then, their initial training would begin. The pack and Alice agreed to it, but Alice did not want to stay much longer in this home. At least, for now, not with the likes of Miguel near.

She stretched as she moved from the couch, handing over the remote control to Ryan, before glancing at Damien with an amused grin, “Say, I’m up for some action. You haven’t been to The Arena in a while, haven’t you?” Damien returned an equal grin, agreeing that a good fight and a few bucks would be more then welcomed. As he and the woman left, Ryan sat down and switched the channels in a similar way Alice had. As soon as he found a hockey game, however, his thumb stopped stomping on the channels button and watched with interest… until Miguel resumed playing with the puzzle on the shelf and blocking the television. Ryan tried to move over, but, like Alice, he soon grew annoyed, “You’re not transparent”, he let Miguel know sourly. And perhaps that was what the Irraka had wanted to hear all along, as he simply blended with his environment so Ryan could finally see the game.

---

Two days later, as expected, the pack and Alice reunited at the dojo Ryan and Mike had picked up for them to train. The point was for everyone to learn what one another was capable of, and perhaps even learn a few new tricks. Mike showed a few kung fu moves: what he was truly good at. He showed a few random moves, some easier then others, as well as blocking and defence ones, which everyone practiced. Mostly, Ryan and Damien teamed up, leaving Alice and Miguel to team up. Though neither seemed very delighted by this very twist of fate, there was a cruel pleasure in the pairing. Both were looking forward to stomp one another down, and both got a good kick out of it at one point or another in the training.

Later on came Damien’s turn to show some of his boxing moves, which once more, were practiced by the rest of the pack. It almost looked funny, if not stupid, for those who preferred to use weapons rather then brawl.

Miguel showed a few moves with wooden swords next, urging others to try it after him. Once again, the result became more or less similar, where those not used to slashing weapons were taken aback and felt out of place.

Alice showed a few moves herself, though reluctant and somewhat uninterested in showing what she was capable of until she would be part of the pack. She was a Storm Lord after all, and to her, it was like exposing her weaknesses in front of the world. But in the end, she cooperated and showed a few tricks, probably to prove herself once more.

(Note from Maria: For reasons not worth mentioning, the game more or less ended there. Reptle, the storyteller, briefed the rest of the players about the use of guns and firearms at this point. Lots of notes were taken, and a few points were given for the training itself. It was useful considering he had just gotten the Armory book and a lot of things ended up changing in the time.

I decided to keep the training very brief for well, it’s not really relevant to the story. It’s more funny then anything else really. ;) Thanks for reading! Luv, Maria.)

End of Training Practice.

Training Practice (Ryan's Decision)

2006-03-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

Target Practice - Ryan's Decision
Feb 18th, 2006
Blog Entry 1

The sirens from the upcoming police alerted Luna's Avatars to take their leave before it was too late. Ryan ordered his packmates and Alice to take as many weapons as they could with them and head back to the SUV. Once back in the vehicule - oddly enough, Dave and his friend had not attempted to escape as they had watched the fight with horror. Worst yet, they had clearly seen those five people getting shot at, nearly falling to their death, yet here they were, looking as if they had been hit by a truck, but very much alive - the SUV departed quickly, leaving the gruesome scene behind them.

On their way home - Ryan had made sure to indicate that their original plan to attack the wound on the island had fallen down the drain for now - Dave and his friend were dropped down unconscious from the SUV in a random area by the river. They were no use to any of them any longer anyway.

Alice was first to voice out her anger toward Mike's action. She made it clear that she was trying her best to prove herself to Luna's Avatars, and considering it was not something she usually did, it was a great effort on her part. However, she was not up for another suicidal fight, and the next time, they would be on their own to fight head firstagainst sub-machine guns and pistols. Miguel found himself agreeing with Alice, and about how the unnecessary bloodshed could have been avoided. Mike argued his way was the only way, but he soon found the pack was not agreeing with his vision of things. His excessive attitude had nearly killed the entire pack, as well as the outsider, and a lot of lives had been taken for nothing.

Once back home, the pack took a few deep breathes to calm down. Mike went to his room to patch the rest of his wounds up. Soon enough, Ryan called both Mike and Damien to his office, leaving both Miguel and Alice downstairs.

Alice kept her hand over the dreamcatcher attached to the collar around her neck, closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe for a silent prayer for luck and presence to her real father, as she did in times of stress. Miguel, pacing back and forth nervously, gazed upon her and asked her what was special about the dreamcatcher. Although she hesitated in giving her answers, she let him know of its origins, how it had been in her family for many generations: it was a good luck charm and a way to remember the good parts of the past. Miguel commented on not living in the past, and resumed his pacing, soon giving Alice a bad headache.

Upstairs, Ryan discussed a very serious issue with Damien and Mike: the lack of team spirit. This pack seemed dismanbled since Killy's departure, even more so after spending three weeks on their own. Luna's Avatars lacked the skills necessary to survive as a pack. They needed to train as a group, needed to learn each others strenghts and weaknesses to work accordingly when the time came. A lot of locations for this were suggested: a dojo, an abandonned warehouse, other random locations. In the end, it was decided a dojo would have been best to practice melee and physical skills.

Downstairs, Alice decided to let into curiousity and let herself ask why Miguel was suddenly so nervous. As she expected, Miguel responded there was no reason for her to know. She could have pushed, used her seductive ways on him, but decided against it for the moment. The time would eventually come for her to get to him, but until then, she would patiently wait. However, her headache from his back and forth motion was getting to her, and so she decided to open the television and see the news. As expected, the news about the warehouse they had just raided was on every channel in Denver. Soon bored from it, she switched the channels quickly without really looking for anything in particular.

Mike passed by and headed downstairs to practice after being dismissed by Ryan. Soon, it was Damien's turn to come downstairs, leaving Ryan to reload his guns. He also shifted momentarilly to urhan form and back to human form to get his shotgun back.

Finally, Ryan and Mike left to find the right Dojo to proceed with the training he hoped to accomplish...

To be Continued....

Fallen Angel (Suicidal Attempt)

2006-03-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt. 7 - Suicidal Attempt
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 7

In the meanwhile, Mike, Miguel and Alice had remained by their position, patiently, or impatiently, waiting for Ryan and Damien to come back. Though Alice somewhat stayed quiet and watched the duo before her argue: Miguel seemed to find a delightful pleasure in teasing Mike about leaving and coming back in a few hours, while Mike only grew more impatient and annoyed at his packmate's attitude. All in all though, things remained quiet and not very threatening. The wait was simply rather long.... Alice even came to believe that Miguel's words about leaving and coming back later were not such a bad idea either...

The walk was not very long for Ryan and Damien. In truth, their stolen car was parked almost under their nose while their ears picked up the techno beats coming from the Blue Ice Club. Though they were glad to have found their stolen goods so quickly, it was little, if not enough for neither of them. Whoever had stolen the car along with Ryan's shotgun would need to learn their lesson about playing dangerously with the Luna's Avatars pack. Damien made up a plan to hide in the back of the car while the guys came back to get it, and when the time would come when they would leave and be on the road, they would have the fright of their lives... And so Damien went about his plan. He hid his large frame in the back and patiently waited. The wait did not last very long, and so two young men came out of the club, heading for the car.

Unsuspecting of what was to come, one of them set himself in the driver's seat, while the other was about to take his place in the passenger's seat, when something, or someone, came crashing into him, sandwiching the man between the door and the car itself. Ryan, having been a hockey player - the London Knights, the team called itself in fact - knew how to knock down an opponent and cause enough damage so it would take a while for them to get back on their feet. And so, again, his abilities came in handy, stunning one of the men into a blood curling scream before being pushed roughly into the car. Damien spent no time in taking a hold on the driver before he could call for help or try to escape. Though they had not been on the road to cause even more damage, the reaction was as good as expected. The two young men were terrified beyond anything. Worst yet, when one of the bouncers from the Blue Ice Club came to investigate, Damien called him by his name and the bouncer just backed off and let him deal with his business. The men knew they were done for at that very moment. After a few more scares and good beatings

Damien and Ryan met back with Mike, Alice and Miguel eventually. Though asking for their names, both young men refused to let them know, fearing dearly for their lives: in truth, they had bought the car off the local little mafia that went about Denver. It had not been the first time Luna's Avatars had had to encounter them. They had promised not to bother the Urathas any longer. It had been a deal, and one that should never have been broken. This time, the pack was going for revenge. Alice recognized one of the men as Dave, a young man who had spent part of a night with her during one of the three weeks she had spent alone in Denver at the beginning. Dave called to her for help, but she only seemed to enjoy seeing his frightened face. Did he not remember their encounter had broken his wallet rather badly? Now he was asking her for help? Ah, how ironic. Still, Dave and his friend showed them the way to the Warehouse where the purchase of the vehicule had happened.

Once there, Alice remained behind with both terrified men. Giggling and mocking them, she still watched carefully the events unfolding at the gates of the werehouse. The four members of Luna's avatars had made their way up to one of the guards at the gate, but things did not go as planned. As much as Dave and his friend had refused to hand over the password, Damien had an idea on how to get inside and pay a visit to the big boss. However, Mike's subtility being at its lowest, the eldest decided he had no more patience for games, and slammed his fist down on the guard, alarming the rest of the guards and general members of the mafia group behind the gates.

Miguel motionned for Alice to get out of the vehicule and help them - for that moment, any resentment and trust issues were put aside - and the young woman jumped in for help. The fight happened quickly and was nearly deadly to the pack and the woman. Damien hid behind a corpse for as much as he could; Miguel opened a hole in the metallic gate with his wakizashi for the rest of the pack to meet the gunners inside; Alice and Miguel went in, soon followed by Mike and Damien; Alice and Ryan were nearly gunned down; the pack and Alice managed to take down enough of the gunners that the rest of the gang hid themselves inside the werehouse. Exhausted, the pack observed the mess that had been caused, and prayed to Mother Luna for having miraculously survived this suicidal attempt...

It was the sound of the sirens from the police that told them they had to escape before getting into further trouble....

End of Fallen Angel

(Note from Maria: The last fight happened extremely fast and a LOT of small things happened. I went quickly over it, considering there would be too much to cover, and it probably was not THAT important. Also, I want to appologize for the lack of updates. This week was very very busy for me, but I'll be resuming without a problem now :) Thanks for your patience! Again, I don't think I forgot anything (considering the game happened a month ago) but if I did, please lemme know so I can correct it! Luv, Maria. )

Fallen Angel (The Challenge and the Spirits)

2006-02-22T14:51:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt. 6 - The Challenge and the Spirits
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 6

Unfortunatly for Alice, the writing did not last more then a few words; interrupted by Miguel a second time, she escaped an annoyed sigh and put the small notebook away. Anger rose through her, realising Miguel had most likely heard the exchanged words between her and Damien: words she had wished to keep private between the both of them. However, she calmed down and hid behind her natural mask again.

Sitting back to back against the tree, Alice found Miguel's voice had dropped down a good notch from his previous attempt at intimidating her. Now he spoke to her in a calm way, but still, he seemed distant and somewhat uncaring. This conversation did not last very long. Miguel, upon hearing the conversation with Damien, now challenged Alice to tell him why he should trust her. She may have chosen to remain silent, or she may have been unable to respond altogether. Either way, Miguel rose from his sitting position, walking a few steps away from the young woman, before glancing over his shoulder, "I know what happened to Nick", came his words. It was enough for Alice to stand up and run up to him. Her expression showing both disbelief and distress, she ordered Miguel to share what he knew, but he refused, challenging her one last time to find a reason for him to trust her if she wished to have the answers she seeked. Then he disappeared, leaving her wide eyed.

What relieved the tension was Damien's voice... was he singing?! Even from outside, one could hear the large man singing to his rubber ducky while he took a bath. It was always a wonder how such a big man like Damien, so intimidating and borderline scary on the battlefield, could be reduced to an eight year old boy in the body of a bodybuilder at times. Better yet, he found no shame at all in singing his serenade to the plastic, floating duck. Well, it was a way to bring a few laughter and smiles to his packmates before leaving for the suicidal mission that was to be the closing of the Wound on the island.

The pack gathered together soon after to leave for the island, where they would find the Wound and hopefully close it before it got out of hand. Most packmates believed this mission to be out of line and would most likely destroy them all. Being able to speak to the spirits was one thing, but inviting them for teas and cookies in hopes to close an malignent Wound was another. However, Ryan, the pack's Alpha, had a plan all along: one he had not yet shared with the rest of his packmates. He ordered the truck to be parked in the parkinglot where the boats used to cross to the island were hidden. The rest of the pack got ready to stir up the boats when Ryan announced a change of plans. Ordering Alice, Mike and Miguel to stay put, he ordered Damien to drive him to an abandonned Newspaper Factory, where he would attempt to cross the gauntlet with the help of a damaged Loci, to contact the spirits for information on the ban of the feline spirits residing near the Wound.

The factory was old, barely standing still. It creaked uneasilly with every step made, dust rising high, clogging the nostrils and lungs. It was rather empty, with a few boxes here and there, signs of a few fires probably made by teenagers who had thrown a party or just crashed there. In fact, both Damien and Ryan found now dead evidence of the little parties taking place in the area. They found a young man, or what remained of a young man who appeared to have been chewed on. From the looks of things, the boy had been eaten by rats...

Nevertheless, business was business, and there was no time to waste on the Beshilu at this time. Damien and Ryan crossed into the Hisil into an alternate world of their surroundings. Though still dark and weary, the factory seemed that much more alive with its twisted machinery and newspaper riding the floors, walls, and cogs. Signs of the factory collapsing soon came from the pillars, eaten and rotten to their core. At any given time, the Newspaper Factory could collapse on them.

Though slightly clueless at first, Ryan approached an old blank newspaper set on one of the ever so large machines. Hesitating a moment, he finally attempted to put to good use what Ardent, the Ithaeur from the New Hopes pack, had taught Ryan about spirit communication. A few words escaped his lips, and he waited for a reply. Random letters and numbers were scribbled upon the blank page, soon scratched out and disapearing, like an invisible pencil and eraser had went to work. Ryan made a few more attempts to verbally apprehend the paper spirit, only to receive the same answer: random scribbles, scratched out, erased. After a moment, however, it seemed Ryan figured what could be done and bit down on his index, drawing blood. He then proceeded to write his request on the page with his own blood.

Fortunatly, Ryan's new attempt at communicating worked, and the spirit answered accordingly. Not with words, but with moving images. Ryan asked about the feline spirits who had previously attacked him and his pack in their own home, apparently the same ones guarding the Wound. He went straight to the point: what was their ban so they could be defeated? Last encounter had been nearly deadly, and there had not been much of a chance to fight back.

A still image of a man with a lantern appeared on the page. A black circle surrounded the lantern. The man was surrounded by the creatures, and soon, the lantern was turned off and a horrible scream was followed. Ryan and Damien exchanged glances, wondering what the spirit meant. The image scribbled itself again, this time, with a clear difference: the man was holding a tourch. Also, the image was frozen in time, unlike the last one. It seemed nothing more would give them any clue as to what the spirit meant. When Ryan drew a question mark, he felt his essence being drained away from him, his very soul being sucked of life as a warmth engulfed him. Though it did not last very long, it was enough to surprise Ryan and have him stumble back from the spirit's action. However, the image of the man and his torch was no more still. The man walked into darkness, brandishing the fire with a clear look of fear upon his face. The room itself in which Ryan and Damien stood went to darkness next. The man from the previous image now appeared as a ghost of the past. The look of fear upon his features was even more evident with this three dimentional version of the moving image. Dark shadows surrounded the man, the feline spirits, but unlike previously with the lantern, it seemed the spirits would not approach the man. The episode came to an end, and the newspaper closed itself together, refusing to speak furthermore. Obviously, the issue of a light source was important... and both men remembered how electricity had gone out in the house before the feline spirits had made their attack. According to the image of the man holding the lantern and its unnatural light, the feline spirits were unaffected and had brutaly attacked him. They turn off that source and use it to their advantage. So then, could it be that natural light sources from the fire on the torch would do the trick? Both Ryan and Damien believed so.

Eager to get back to their packmates with their newfound information, Damien and Ryan, after coming out of the Hisil, came back to a missing car and a few words spray canned where it used to stand: "FUCK YOU". Where Ryan found himself to be rather crushed and unhappy his brand new Shotgun had gone away with the car, Damien, on the other hand, only smiled and rubbed his hands together.

End of The Challenge and the Spirits

(Note from the Maria: I don't think I forgot anything, but if I did, feel free to let me know so I can edit it accordingly. ^^ Keep in mind it was my first blog entry, so I wouldn't be surprised if I DID miss some things at first. Thank you! )

Maria Taking Over

2006-02-21T16:49:00.000-05:00

Hello!

This is Maria (Alice / Killy ), temporarily taking over the blog. Reptle is incredibly busy with school at the moment, and since I don't have that much time to spend on school (more on work), I offered to help out with completing the blog entries until he's able to take over again.

Feel free to leave comments, and have fun! ^_^

Luv,
Maria

Fallen Angel (Trust)

2006-02-14T11:32:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt. 3 - Trust
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 5

Alice was getting real sick and tired of Mike's attitude. She stood outside as she stared at Mike make a fool of her once again. He turned down the dual, which was pretty typical of him, but made her pretty annoyed. If she joined this pack, something had to be done about his attitude, otherwise their claws and teeth might eventually meet. But for now, she let it pass and walked over to an old battered tree. It looked in pretty bad shape at mid level, but she knew perfectly well. When she stepped outside, Mike was practicing sinking his fists into it. A form of ritual he did at least once per day. Part of her was hoping that some days a bunch of tree spirits would return the favor.

With those thoughts, Alice rested against the tree. It was another warm day in Denver and the shade of the tree. It was normally always like that around here. Normally warm during the day and cold at night, temperatures constantly changing between 20 and -12 degrees Celsius. There was a slight breeze and part of her could not help but feel as though someone, something was watching her. It was most likely in her mind though, as it wasn't the first time she felt like such, yet knowing completely well that nothing was around, or at least never brave enough to actually show itself. She did exactly what she always did in those moments, and began writing another letter to her mentor.

For the first few moments, she actually had peace and quiet as she wrote her honest opinion on the pack. It was then that Miguel interrupted her thoughts and made a slight comment on her letter. Alice looked up and noticed him above on a branch, giving her his usual neutral cold stare before leaping to the ground a few paces away. She returned a cold comment about privacy, which then lead to Miguel giving her a warning. He wanted to make sure she understood that at no moment, in their territory, would she go unwatched.

Before a reply could really be managed, Mike showed his face outside again. It was rather amazing that he ordered Miguel to back off. He did not appreciate being ordered to stop; scouting was after all what he does best. He confirmed the order and reluctantly walked away from Alice, but to his surprise, as he crossed Mike’s path, a whisper was given to keep an eye out on her. Miguel replied positively that both his eyes would be kept on her, that Mike had nothing to worry on that. Within a few moments, Miguel was gone.

Mike took a few steps towards Alice, who was trying to resume her moment of peace. But of course the moment he opened his mouth to speak, the conversation went to hell. It was amazing that they weren’t at each others throat. Most Uratha would have dealt with their differences in such ways until only one of the two remained standing. Granted it was never meant to lead to the death of one another, for such act is strongly against their own code of morale. Things didn’t turn to that luckily and Mike simple gave her a similar warning as Miguel had, and clearly showed his lack of trust, before departing himself indoors.

Alice was getting extremely confused and angered at this. She was doing exactly what Lucy and Nick had suggested, she was actually willing to give these guys a chance and yet they were being total pricks with her. Only Damien showed a slight interest of care in his tone.

Damien chose a good moment to return from his walk and noticed Alice in the yard alone and writing something. The big guy was never shy and joined Alice for the fresh afternoon air. He sat down besides her and began by confirming the beautiful weather. It was still unsure as to what had made him in such good news, but best guess was excitement as the battle that was to come.

Alice told him how everyone seemed to hate and mistrust her. He was actually quite surprised at that and questioned her on whom. It was no surprise to hear that Mike was being an ass… in fact if he heard otherwise he would have been seriously worried. But he was indeed surprised at how she viewed Miguel, considering him a wannabe Dark Hero. Damien pointed out that Alice herself, in fact, did not give trust away so easily. Trust isn’t something that can be easily given, but sometimes must be earned. Within a pack, you normally have no option but to trust the other with your very life… and it was perhaps why some of them were still skeptical about Alice.

To Alice’s surprise, Damien let her know that he actually trusted Miguel. Even if he did not agree completely with all he does. He even mentioned that he believes he may even have broken his arm when they both were kids. No grudge was held as the times are obviously different.

Alice trusted her mentor, Lucy, before. But unfortunately times are also different for her now. Her life was taken to some Vampires a few years ago, and since then she still wrote letters to her, even knowing how pointless they were as nobody would truly receive them. But it was still her way to cope with some of what happened and gave her motivation to stay strong.

She asked him exactly what happened with that previous kid, Killy Mathiews. Miguel had mentioned the name before, and it seemed to upset him. Damien told her of the Oath of the Moon and how breaking the laws could reduce ones soul to nothing but a monster of legends, an actual werewolf, better known to the People, as Zi’ir. The pack recently rescued what they thought was a Zi’ir. His name was Nathan, and Killy grew quite attached for some strange reason. And then one day both of them were gone.

Miguel had tasted Nathan’s blood during the capture and when he noticed his packmate was missing, he decided to go after him and recover him. Things were still unsure as to exactly what happened, but Miguel spoke that Killy betrayed him and left him for dead. Alice understood a bit better now why Miguel had such a hard time trusting just anyone. She greatly appreciated that Damien finally told her what was going on.

She inquired on Nick’s condition, and was glad to know he was slowly, but surely recovering. She asked Damien to keep this to himself, but swore to hunt down the ones who did this to him. Damien was quite happy that she was finally starting to trust people and with that, he parted ways and let her to complete her letter in peace and quiet…

End of Trust

Fallen Angel (Return)

2006-02-08T19:00:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt. 3 - Return
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 4

With Mike's return, the pack was once more one big happy dysfunctional family. Everybody had previously wished to hurt Mike in different ways for various reasons. Not that they hated the guy, he was after all a packmate. But the old man was very arrogant and annoying. He always got himself in the worst of troubles and therefore found himself on Damien's hospital bed to get patched up. But, like all pack of wolves, every member had his place. In Mike's case it was rather unique. When it came to missions and serious work, he was the beta of the group and everyone had to listen to his words. But other then that, everyone saw him more as an Omega, the lowest rank in a pack.

Alice grew more and more annoyed at him though. His comments and rudeness... he's either really bad at trying to hit on her, or is even an asshole with really beautiful women. Miguel was constantly making fun of the old man but mostly in jest. Damien on the other hand grew annoyed at the lack of seriousness and shifted in Dalu, threatening everyone to remain quiet so Ryan could explain the ideas behind the plan.

The plan was not much, and even seemed ridiculous at best. Ardent, the New Hopes pack Ithaeur, had shown Ryan the basics of the First Tongue and the plan was to try to slaughter the dominant spirit inside the wounded area. They were still without a plan to defeat the 3 Shadow Prowlers that lurked within in its perimeter, most likely defending their sacred twisted tree of birth. The order was given... With or without any further knowledge on the issue, in 3 hours time the problem had to be taken care of
.
The meeting was then adjourned and left everyone to decide on how to prepare for another suicidal attempt at keeping the peace. Mike asked around for a sparring partner, although everyone knew quite well he was just really pushing to get owned by Damien once again. Damien, on the other hand, refused. His temper towards Mike was at a high already, and he wanted to avoid, as much as possible, breaking one too many of his bones. Not that it would normally bother him that much, but 3 hours before a mission was not the best time to send a packmate in recovery.

It wasn't really a surprise that Mike did not ask Miguel for a battle with the way he was turned down last time. Last thing Miguel needed to do was to strike back at a packmate.. specially after the trouble that still haunted him with Killy. The wound in his flesh may be healed, but the one in his soul remained.

To everyone's surprise, Alice offered to battle with Mike. She would only need to have a word in private with Ryan first, and then go meet the old martial artist outside to practice. Miguel wondered if she had accepted his challenge in order to get revenge for all the insults that was thrown her way, or if perhaps she was actually trying to bury whatever bad blood ran between them. Although there was many more possibility that Miguel considered... he did not dare speak them out loud...

Ryan went upstairs, followed by Alice. He walked into his room and headed towards the bar behind his computer desk and began pouring drinks. His room was the biggest of them all, but it was mainly due to his leadership of the pack. He knew quite well that if ever he was challenged for his position and lost the battle, he would need to move out and leave the spoils to the victor. Alice walked over to his desk and began curiously inspecting it's content. Not being satisfied with the outside, she began peeking inside the top drawers as Ryan continued pouring his usual drink.

In this house, nothing remains a secret for very long, or certainly not to a scout who's very purpose was to uncover the truth. Miguel took the opportunity of the wide open door to quietly sneak into Ryan's room and settled himself on the right wall, just besides the dresser. He "Blended" in that spot and remained motionless, keeping his gaze on Alice.

The room was split in two section, divided by his large library of randomly selected books. Miguel had often wondered if there was importance to those book, or if they had just been bought in order to fill the holes in the shelves. On the left most part of the room, split by the library, was mainly used as an office. In the middle, was Ryan's main desk that held the general accessories. Phone, Pen containers, paper clips, random paperwork that still needed to be filed and his laptop. In front of his desk held two large comfy leather chairs for those that came to discuss business. And behind his desk was his miniature bar.

Alice sat down on Ryan's desk and crossed her legs as she carefully inspected a signed puck from Ryan's drawers. She questioned him on it's value, curious if it was worth anything. Ryan returned a gaze as he walked towards her and gave her the drink he had prepared. He then gently grabbed the puck from her hands and set it back in his desk as he informed her that he had not purchased it, but that he had gotten it signed himself. Although he mentioned that on ebay the price of such item could be worth a few thousands easily, to which grabbed Alice's attention and brought a smile to her lips.

Business between the two was really odd, Miguel noticed. He was in fact surprised that Ryan was letting Alice sit on his desk, it was completely unprofessional... except for a seductress like herself. She was mainly curious on the “how, when and what“ of the initiation, looking a bit forward to getting it over with and finally getting accepted amongst them before her other instincts took over and made her walk away.

Alice was informed that initiations would take place later, as for now more serious troubles worried them. And of course nothing was to suggest that she wasn't being tested during this mission either, so she could not really turn it down just in case. She left Ryan's room with that knowledge and closed the door behind her, and returned to the main floor in seek of Mike for that "friendly" dual.

Miguel unblended and walked gently towards Ryan as he spoke out his feelings towards this possible new member. He found that Ryan had too much of a soft spot for her but did not wish to mention anything about it, knowing quite well that even Ryan knew that it was a sin to look at her in any such way. Without a comment or reply, but a gentle nod from Ryan, that he heard what Miguel had to say, he turned around and left Ryan's room as well.

Miguel didn't trust her, she was hiding too many secrets... And he was going to find out what they were, one way or another.

End of Return

Fallen Angel (News)

2006-02-06T08:45:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt.3 - News
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 3

Upon arriving home, Damien gave a quick glance around. He noticed, through the patio door, Miguel in the back yard training with his weapons. Feeling rather proud of his little hunting incident, he decided to stop by and brag to Miguel, but he replied with little interest, or maybe just making sure not to slice something off, knowing quite well that his weapons were battle ready.

A quick note was spoken about the neighbor to the left who, like most old folks, was increasingly paranoid about the strange individuals the lived next door. Over the past few months the pack had done their very best to keep a low profile, but also couldn't help the occasional tease to freak the old man out. Watching Miguel swing his deadly blades around like a martial artist certainly wasn't too comforting, but he had seen much, much worst.

Damien eventually left Miguel to his training and caught up with Alice, who stopped by to visit Nick in the room dedicated as the infirmary. His condition of course still had not changed as she moves her fingers in his hair. Damien stopped by and changed his bandages, checking up on his regenerating and making comforting Alice to some degree then eventually moved on elsewhere.

Ryan stepped into the living room and sat down comfortably on one of the couches as he flipped through the channels. Quickly taking a glimpse at the sports channels he eventually moved on to the more important part, the News. A lot of what was mentioned wasn't really anything new, although he was still puzzled at a few of them. Strange disappearance that was occurring in the area, now it's radius was growing more and more every day. A body that had been recovered thorn to pieces in Sloan Lake waters, as well as the disappearance and possible death of Nick Foster.

He still had no idea what happened to Nick, and until he would wake up, there was really no way to find out. As for the disappearance, he was certain that both of them were somehow connected. A month ago it was all believed to have been caused by a Uratha by the name of Nathan. It was recently discovered that Nathan was a Predator King, and the news did not bring happiness to Damien's ears. As for the body that was recovered, that didn't worry him much, for he knew quite well how it got thorn into pieces to begin with.

Ryan gazes towards Damien as he makes his way into the living room and engage in a short conversation. Sharing of news and information until Miguel finally returned from his training and lazily sat down on another couch to relax and listen in on what the leader had to share.

Alice was called forth as well as she left Nicks side and came back upstairs to lean on a wall and listen as to what Ryan had to say. He wasn't giving out much information as many of the pack objected, rejected or simply laugh at the little knowledge they had with what they would be dealing with. Ryan of course believed he knew what he was doing.

The conversation turned to the disappearances as Damien wished to investigate more the troubles to the north, which made Miguel on edge and nervous, insisting that the problem to the south to be dealt with was of much more importance. Damien spotted something in his voice and inquired on it, but Miguel refused to speak on it. Ryan did not like the looks of it either, knowing quite well it's not Miguel's habit to keep secrets, or at least not from him as he was still respected by him for his leadership of the pack

Ryan gazes at Miguel seriously as he ordered him to tell him what was on his mind, using a gift he had previously learned known as the "Snarl of Command", but proved inefficient against Miguel who simply refused to speak further of the issue. Ryan sent out a low threat, the information had better not bring up the danger of the pack, otherwise he would pay for not revealing information that might have stopped it.

The room was silent and gazes were exchanged, the air was thick and it got only worst as Mike walked in the door...

End of News

Fallen Angel (Hunting)

2006-02-05T17:43:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt.3 - Hunting
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 2

Throughout the night, Ryan's cell phone woke him up. Max contacted him in desire to meet up with Mike urgently. When the bright rays of the sun woke them up, Mike still had not returned and many only wondered why he had been called forth so late in the middle of the night, or more importantly, why he actually agreed to go at such a time without actually making a fuss.

The morning was quiet as always, and Ryan went about to do his normal routine. Cleaning his guns, making sure to keep them fully loaded and filling his stomach with left over frozen pizza being amongst the most important.

Alice was up early, and decided to bus over to a nearby stop, her final destination being the pack's house. She knew that Ryan probably awaited her arrival before he made any plans happen... or possibly even initiate her amongst them. In politeness she knocked and awaited an answer, only to find Ryan's sleepy, yet curious gaze, coming from the side window of the house, one that gave a better look at the front door then any other. He answered the door and upon normal greetings being exchanged, he simply warmed that she had no need to knock, the door was always opened to her as she was their guest in their territory for the moment.

She stood about and exchanged gazes with Miguel who had also just risen from his bed, but any words that might have been mentioned was soon interrupted by Damien's shouts. None of the others paid particular attention to that, nor even the loud noises that followed. They had all gotten used to his way of life. Alice of course too curious went downstairs and followed the trail of noise, as she opens her temporary room's door to find Damien having a conversation with himself while attempting to learn the complexity of computers.

The discussion between the two went rather well, it only ended up it the computer's screen being crushed under his large fists as he grew annoyed with it. Alice sighed to herself, having wanted to keep the belongings in the room intact, knowing quite well that it wasn't truly hers, or not yet anyway. It still bothered her that they just gave up Killy's room so easily, what if the kid came back?

Those thoughts were pushed aside as Damien offered Alice to go rabbit hunting for breakfast. They were both interrupted by Miguel who spoke out at the current frozen leftover pizza in the fridge. Alice didn't seem to mind the idea of that as breakfast, but soon ignored the issue when Damien gave out his clear opinion on pizza compared to the taste of a bloody piece of meat in his teeth. Miguel threw a joke about "joining the dark side" as he swallowed down his own slice and grinned as he made his way back upstairs.

The hunt went well, as Damien's survival skills were never an issue to worry about. He knew where to find the trail of prey he was specifically looking for, human or animal alike. Amazing really for a Blood Talon, who had more skills in such then the Hunter in Darkness... Miguel often turned down the offer to join him in the hunt. He knew quite well that his skill did not match that of the Blood Talon, and therefor to avoid humiliation he simply did his own hunting without any others knowing.

Both Alice and Damien, but in their Urhan form, were cut short in their feast as a shot was heard from afar. A large mosquito bit Damien as he knew quite well what was going on. Alice just looked at him surprised and stunned as she looked around the area, until eventually her own paw was hit by a graze of a bullet.

It gave Damien the perfect opportunity to spot his assailant. Had the hunter been keeping an eye out on his first target, he would have sworn the large wolf had a grin as it sneaked it's way towards his prey. Alice on the other had was only ducking in bushes and behind tress, she was almost tempted to shift back in her Hishu form, but she knew quite well that it wouldn't help matters. Perhaps the human would stop shooting her, perhaps not... She didn't even know where he was hiding to begin with, all she had was a general direction and made her way little by little, trying to follow Damien's trail which was way ahead of her.

Wolves don't climb tress, they say... wolves don't attack human beings, they say... Words that this human being will never believe again. Atop the 3rd branch, 20 feet or so above the ground, the hunter remained as he took his time to spot and take down his target. His final shot missed and was sent somewhere off into the sky as Damien stood inches from him, jaws deep within his arm. The man panicked of course, it wasn't physically possible. He attempted to bash his rifle against the wolf, but it only made him angry.

Damien simply jumped down, forcing the human to follow as his arm was attached to his teeth. The wolf landed on his feet, while the human managed to fall and roll away on the ground. For a moment the hunter went for his gun but realized that he had already shot his bullet and would need at least a moment to reload it. He turned around and began to ran.

His face went red, maybe it was the blood that spilled from his face, or maybe it was humiliation at how he had been trapped and cornered by the very same targets he had previously called prey. The hunter stumbled back, hand to his throat as Alice landed on the ground nearby and showed her red teeth at the human, snarling with a terrible anger.

Damien didn't hesitate to pounce and tackle the human down, which he was now whimpering, crying, sobbing and praying, eyes closed as the scent of urine ran clear in the lupus' nostrils.The human was lucky, but he would probably never hunt again. As much as Alice demanded justice and that this human be made an example of, Damien knew quite well that justice would not fully be served that way. It was best that the human learned his place... and after all, if he ever returned, with the taste of his prey running down his throat, he knew finding him again would be an easy, and most likely fun task.

After the weapon was buried, they both made their way back home with nothing but a small story of cat and mouse to brag about.

End of Hunting

Fallen Angel (Intro)

2006-02-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

Fallen Angel Pt.3 - Intro
Feb 4, 2006
Blog Entry 1

(notes or questions on this game session should be posted on the Forum. Please inquire there as there's a LOT of information for me to write down. Thank you.)

Late January 06
The night of their return, none of them were particularly sleeping. Damien was all fired up and ready for some action any moment now. Miguel had a terrible secret that he knew all too well would need to be brought up eventually. Ryan has just came back from New Hopes pack after visiting Arden, the pack Ithaeur in seeks of answers of the spirits and now he had notions of the first tongue to remember, as he would know that they may soon be put to the test. Mike has been troubled since his return, the world was pissing him off, so was his pack and he answered accordingly, but the death of his mentor send off bad vibes and troubles even his sleep. Alice on the other hand was probably the most relaxed of them, though not officially in the pack. She was constantly bothered by the past, her lack of trust in others, the pain it all involved. Part of her wanted to leave, but the Uratha in her demanded she stayed.. or maybe it simply was the voices in her head. Both her mentor, Lucy, and Nick had been trying to push her towards a pack. Now neither was in any state to possibly offer her advice. Lucy had been slain long ago by Vampires, and now Nick was in the packs house, in a hospital bed, constantly being monitored and examined...

Damien made a good job at keeping the Uratha alive, although his werewolf regeneration certainly helped perform any major operation without the major risks that a human might have. Now it was just a matter of time, if his body would heal, and when it did... would he finally wake up?

It was still unsure as to what had happened to him, Nick Foster was a Ghost Wolf on the territory and had been given temporary permission to remain until the Luna's Avatars had decided exactly what they wanted or expected of him. Damien kept a close eye out on him, more then the rest, and during one of his many visits for information on the neighborhood activities, he found Nick in a very messed up state. It was amazing he still breathed. Nicks left arm was completely missing, neither chunks, nor pieces remained in sight.

That night... not many slept, as much as they tried, they all knew of the troubles that plagued them too well.

End of Intro

Current lack of updates

2006-02-03T12:12:00.000-05:00

Yeah, i know.. i havn't updated in a while. But worry not, I am indeed going to keep you all updated on the game events. Next one is this saturday and i'll make sure to make a post within the following day of what happened (that way i won't forget either).

I've been writing some notes in my book about all that's happened as of yet and as soon as that's complete, I'll start making the resume of it.

In the meanwhile, some stories and character information, as well as just a General chat with myself or the players involved in this game, are all available via the Forum. Feel free to join us and make comments or just say hello!

New Beginnings (Intro)

2006-01-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

Note: First thing i wanted to establish was a pack. With trial and error in the past, i realized it's better for the pack to have a reason to be there together, rather then letting them all seperate. So the game started with them all making their way in a secluded area on the outskirts of Denver. They had all received a special invitation by Max Roman, an Elodoth, Iron Master (Werewolf Core p.299)

Max Roman is a powerful, charismatic leader with a dream: uniting the Tribes of Luna under a common banner and goal.

-----New Beginnings (Intro)-----

Everyone had gotten a special call, the reason was never clear, but everyone knew what it would be about. They were Uratha from different places all with one thing in common: none had ever been initiated in a pack.

Miguel "Umbra" Xejo, 2 years since his First Change. Fate chose that he was to be an Irraka, reborn under the New Moon. He spent the first of his year as a Ghost Wolf, never quite finding balance with what he was, never fully understanding it. Afterwards he was tested and accepted as a member of the Hunters in Darkness and spend some time with his mentor's pack, Kole "Spirit Seeker" Talcen. He was reluctant to follow Max' call, but he could not follow Kole forever and needed to make his own way in his new life.

Damien "Bonecrusher" Franz, was a bully... from birth and even to this day. His First Change did not help either, for he was reborn a Rahu, under the Full Moon. He made his way in life by signing up in street-fighting. His first change did bring out a sense of justice out of him, and put his bully ways for the greater good and joined the Blood Talons. He does not need to shift in order to crush anything in his path... but when he does use his other forms, the heavens cry out, the shadows grow still and blood will be spilled.

Ryan "Steel-Jaw" Cohen, a sharpshooter... but his ability only later develloped to firearms. He was in fact a Hockey player for the London Knights. His first change happened on a Half Moon, reborn an Elodoth and ruining his hockey career. He dreams of how things could be had he never been chosen, but realized long ago that it shall remain just that... a dream. His Grandfather and Uncle brought him into Uratha society where he joined the Iron Masters. His Uncle eventually pushed him to answer Max' call and to find out his real goal in life. As much as he may not realize it... he has much in common with max and would like to follow in his footsteps.

Mike "Steel Feather" Ironside, a business man in the region of Boulder, north west of Denver. He lived a pretty relaxed life with only the normal daily paperwork to stress in out. Never quite enough to bring on the First Change. But it was just a matter of time, and eventually when he risked losing his business, he fought with all his strength to stop it. He was reborn an Irraka, under the New Moon and learned of the Rage that had burned within him for ages. He joined the Blood Talons and looked upon their teachings to balance himself in his new life.

Killy "Miracle" Mathiew, is a very special kid. He was given a gift at a very young age to express his emotions in the form of artwork. Killy and his sister, Suzie were held prisoners one day, unsure of the reasons behind their capture, but when the police refused to listen to the demands, they decided to make an example of one of the two. His First Changed happened then, born under the Gibbous Moon, a Cahalith. During his rage he killed his sister in the process. Luckely for him the disturbance had caught the attention of Mila Julis who became his mentor and brought him into the Iron Masters. Unfortunately she noticed something strange about him, a sadness that filled his soul. The death of his sister left a crater at the bottom of his soul and he could never forgive himself. When Max called, Killy answered and followed, much against Mila's advice.

-----Intro End-----

And there we have it, all 5 characters involved in the creation of the pack. More information is available on them on the Forums. Feel free to ask one of them or all of us a question if your not sure about something, or simply wish to know more.

Picture (left to right): Damien, Ryan, Killy, Miguel, Mike
Art by Maria Sunderland. Please check the sidebar for link to her Deviant Site.
Well worth your time ^^

Character Creation (Very first session)

2006-01-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

It all started September 24.

We gathered together an entire session to work on character creation and make sure everything was in order. Typical character sheets that can be downloaded and printed are 2 sheets, but i added my own as well as some modications.
A Lot of work was put into the creation of the characters as i'm very picky with knowing the details.

The character sheets consists of 2 seperators:

The first one contains 9 pages.
- 2 Main page available on White-Wolf;
- Expanded Gifts sheet;
- WOD page number 4 (consist of History, Appearance and sketches);
- Notes sheet (for any important event which occurs in the course of the chronicle;
- An NPC and a Pack Relations sheet (you can't just love all your friends, some of them just deserve to be at the top of your "to seriously injury" list.);
- An experience sheet (I like to keep track of exactly when, what and how things have been earned and spent);
- And finally a sheet that will tell them exactly how i will be giving out experience, as well as how much it costs to raise an attribute or skill.

The 2nd contains 7 pages:
- The Final Questions (useful information and questions that would help complete a character. There are 4 pages worth.
- A Lexicon and a First Tongue page (which can be found in the Werewolf book pages 18-19;

I'm hoping to scan them and eventually set them online for others to view.

Welcome to the World of Darkness

2006-01-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

For all that are not familiar with the World of Darkness, it is a tabletop game that was created by White Wolf. ( www.white-wolf.com )

The World of Darkness follows follows 3 game set:
Werewolf the Forsaken
Vampire the Requiem
Mage the Awakening

I got together 4 other friends and started this game September 24, 2005. We've been getting together almost every 2 weeks on a Saturday in order to play. This has got to be one of the best game i've had the honor of Storytelling and could not have been done without the players.

I've been Storytelling various Werewolf the Apocalypse games (Old World of Dark of Darkness) for years, but there was always problems, or the storyline always went extremely slow. Didn't help that i had sometimes more then 10 players, although it was still an honor that so many were interested in joining.

I had retired from Storytelling and gave up on Werewolf the Apocalypse after the Chronicle came to an end. When White-Wolf announced the close of the game and the launch of the New World of Darkness, i was interested and wanted to at least collect the Main Rule Book for Collectors sakes. I loved what i read and really saw the difference between the two system. It was also nice that all 3 (Werewolf, Vampire & Mage) were now following the same Core Rulebook, something that the old system did not follow, and therefor the 3 different games back then could not work really well together.

I am quite impress with how the Forsaken game has been going and the players seem to be enjoying it greatly. And I wanted to push the limits of the enjoyments by creating a website on the accomplishments of the players and their characters.

A lot of the times i get friends who ask me how the game went, and what happened. Well, now they got a chance to find out for themselves if they are interested, as well as get in contact with the players behind the characters.

I have a lot of history to work on though, since 9 games have passed since then and many things have happened. I will try my best to make a breif resume of what happened during each session (as best as I can remember them). And i will of course keep you all updated every 2nd Saturday when we play the game. Feel free to participate as best as you can by posting your comments, and visiting the Forums available.

Thank you and I'll keep you posted shortly =)

Reptle