CAST OF PLAYERS:
Debora Silkotch…………..Casey Gavin…………………………..…Human Psionic
Jera Morrison…………..….Alseyne Aulaudin……………………Sidhe Changeling
Kendall Nye………….……Joseph McAdoo………………………..Ronin Garou
Aaron Murphy……………..Claws-of-Honor………………………Were-Tiger
Jeremy Whitener………….Korin Alabaster…………………………Were-Mongoose
Rachelle Phifer…………….Amaya……………………………………Ghoul
Aron Head………………….Story/Setting/Everything Else…….Game Master
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“We just need a moment to prep,” Alseyne said to the restive Mongoose.
She, Pip and Wynne all extended their hands over each other’s. With closed eyes they murmured,
“Bitter death you may control
But over living’s light you have no hold!
Break now we demand!
Break now we command!”
They pulled back their hands. Pip turned his over, revealing a brilliant sphere beaming with golden daylight.
Korin shielded his eyes from the glare, but it quickly dimmed.
“It will glow once you’ve reached the Necromancer.” Pip handed the object to Korin. “Smash it once you’ve reached him. The closer the better.”
Korin nodded. “Okay…get close, smash this and then hold out for the calvary. Casey, can you guide me to him? I mean if you can find him?”
Casey shook her her head regretfully. “I can definitely sense the Necromancer’s presence in the house, but I can’t tell where he is physically. His magicks are interfering with my psionics.”
Korin took the sphere carefully in hand. “How gentle do I need to be with this thing? I mean I don’t want to break it before I get in there.”
“Well,” Pip offered, “It’s not Grandma’s china. But it ain’t Tupperware either.”
“You’ll want to be careful with it,” Alseyne cautioned.
The Mongoose took a deep breath. “Well here goes nothing….anyone wanna give me a push?” Without waiting for a response he turned to face the house, and with one final rub of the button he murmured, “Full speed ahead.” Springing forth with all the lithe power gracing his form he made a beeline for the front porch.
Casey and the Changelings watched as the Mangoose tore across the field.
*Casey.* Amaya’s voice spoke in her head. *Casey, he knows you’re here…or well someone’s here, and there is something up stairs, god only knows what. Casey, he’s armed… be careful. *
** We’re on our way… hold tight… **
*Okay.*
“I hate this part,” Pip groused. His eyes flashed from the fallen warriors on the field to Korin to the porch.
BLAM! BLAM!
“Crap!” the satyr cursed.
“He’s alright,” Wynne said pointing to Korin, who had dropped to the deck of the porch, avoiding the gunfire.
“Can you see the shooter?” Pip demanded.
“I can’t,” Wynne answered.
“It’s the baboon.” Casey didn’t need line of sight to “see” him. “Phil. He’s in the hallway…just beyond the door. He’s taking cover behind a wall.”
Alseyne looked thoughtful. “Think you can jam his gun from here, Casey?” She used her own gun as an example as she pointed out the firing pin, “If you can make it so this part here doesn’t move then his bullets won’t be a threat to Korin or the boys.” She nodded towards the others on the lawn.
“I don’t think so. The gun doesn’t have a mind, so I can’t get a sense of it.”
“I wonder if with the three of us to lend you some strength you might be able to pull the guys back out of the field kinetically.”
Casey brightened. “That I can do.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Pip nodded.
Aleyne held her hand out to Casey to allow her to draw strength. Her hand trembled visibly, but there was no sign in her face or body language to suggest that she remembered the disastrous results from the last time they’d done this.
Casey held Alseyne’s hand and Pip’s, her eyes focused on the fallen. With a frown of concentration, a powerful will of force reached out and hauled all three to the safety of the trees. At once, they each awoke.
“At least it doesn’t last once you’re out of the field,” Alseyne commented to Pip as she extended a hand to help the Stonewolf to his feet.
“Ach, a field of dreams. Cursed.” BranAdoo accepted the changeling’s hand, rising to his feet. “Dammit.”
Claws indulged in a long feline stretch and looked around. With his tail lashing, he sat up and looked at the house. “We’re here and it’s still there… that didn’t go well, huh?”
“At least Korin got through the field,” Alseyne said. “Let’s hope he can handle himself in there while we try to figure out how to get through it out here.” She looked at Pip and Wynne. “What do you two think? Think we’ve got enough juice left to get at least one of our front-liners through the field awake? Maybe with Casey pushing him to give him some….” her voice trailed off as her eyes widened in realization. “Shit! I’m such an idiot! If I’d been thinking I’d have asked Casey to push the boys on through the field to the front porch!”
Pip slapped his head in V8 fashion. “D’oh! How did we miss that?!”
“Korin’s got through to the house.. ” BranAdoo echoed the Sidhe. “Damned mongoose best be quick or he’ll be quickly dead. What about the hostage? ”
“Casey said she was ok, I think. The monkey’s focusing on Korin right now.” Alseyne glanced around the group. “So…do we try a telekinetic shove through the field for you boys or should we attempt another shield & let you try to run through again?”
“I think we should shift position now. My thoughts ring with words violent, words like mortar and trebuchet,” the Stonewolf growled. “As I was being attacked I would find from whence my enemies come and if in my power, strike back swift, hard and thorough. ” He rubbed his stone muzzle. “Then perhaps our next attack planned, tossing me as a cannonball into the house appeals.”
Alseyne nodded thoughtfully. “Moving would be a good thing. And if Casey can get you up above the field and then drop you, kinetically shielding you from harm as you land, it might just help us get the drop on the baboon, even if the being Casey sensed is aware of our plan.” She glanced at the girl inquiringly.
“I can lift the Stonewolf and toss him,” Casey considered, “And probably shield him too, but I’m not sure I’d be able to do anything else at the same time. He’d have to go in first and then be on his own in there while I shield the rest of us into the house.”
“I… We…” the Stonewolf added, “Can manage a great fall. No need to shield us on the way down.”
“Those wings?” Pip pointed,”They’re ornamental then?”
“They are.”
“Fancy.”
Claws looked around at the area. “Is the magic only on the ground?”
“The area of effect,” Pip explained, “Is like a donut…”
“Bagel,” Yggthor corrected.
“What?” Pip looked at him
“A bagel,” The Troll maintained.
“Why not a donut?” Pip complained “They’re both the same shape.”
“A bagel is a healthier choice.”
“Who’s explaining this? Me or you?”
“You are, but I think you should emphasize healthy choices,” Yggthor asserted. “Your leadership should exhibit wisdom in all things including diet.”
Pip scowled.
Claws just stared at Yggthor. “Healthy… have you been paying attention to what we do?”
BranAdoo visibly suppressed a snicker at that.
“All the more reason to eat healthy,” Yggthor answered.
“Is this really important?” Wynne asked.
Sighing, Pip shook his head. “No… I guess not. So… the area of effect is like a bagel…”
“A whole wheat bagel,” Yggthor interjected.
“Do you want to hear this or not?” Pip growled.
“Okay… okay…”
“The center of the area of effect is empty,” Pip continued while providing Yggthor a generous dose of the stink-eye. “If we can get over the sides, we’re home free in the center.”
“How tall are the sides?” Wynne asked.
“About a hundred feet,” Pip answered.
Claws looked down at his feet, which were significantly larger than 12 inches, looked at his fingers for a moment, as if contemplating, and then looked up. “That’s quite a way up. I’m not sure I can jump that high.”
“If you weren’t so bogged down with all that red meat,” Yggthor suggested, “You’d probably feel lighter on your feet. Seriously, have you ever considered a salad?”
The khan, in his crinos form, grinned widely. “See these teeth? Do they look to you like teeth meant for rabbit food? No. If anything, they’re meant for the rabbits… hmmm… give me one of those salads. I’ll use it for catching rabbits.”
“If Korin on his mission to disrupt the magics succeeds, high jumping may unneeded be,” the Stonewolf counseled.
Alseyne frowned. “We Kithain could always hopscotch over it. We just need to get Casey and Claws through then. I’d say two of us jump over — probably Yggthor and the General. Then we get Casey and Claws through the field — or over it if Casey thinks she can manage to levitate both of them — and then the rest of us jump over.”
“Hopscotch?” BranAdoo asked.
“It’s a spell that lets us jump extremely far — up or down or just over,” Alseyne explained.
“If I can’t lift us both together, I can do it one at a time for sure,” Casey said. “I can send Claws over and then hop across with the rest of you.”
“Mmmm…let’s try that. See if you can ‘carry’ both of you. If not, we go over in two waves — Bran and Yggthor along with Claws and the rest of us with you. That’s what we were planning on doing originally anyway.”
“Okay. Ready, Claws?” Casey made a small lifting gesture. Ready or not, the big cat was hoisted into the air three feet from the ground, along with Casey herself. It took a reasonable amount of effort, but she knew she’d be able to carry them both to the house.
Claws twisted unhappily in the air. “Maybe I should try to jump after all.”
“So, someone want to teach me the Hopscotch?” the Stonewolf rumbled.
Alseyne looked startled. “Doesn’t the General know it already? It’s so basic I assumed he had to know it, even if it was under a different name.”
“It’s not a mind meld,” BranAdoo grumbled. “We’ve not had time to chat and share.” He scratched his stone chin. “However…General? Can you teach me or do I relax and let you have control? ”
“Aye,” the General’s voice responded. “I’ll do the magicks here.”
Suddenly a great golden flash of light exploded from the house.
Pip brought up the opera glasses. “It’s down!”
Yggthor hauled up his axe and howled as he charged the structure.
The Stonewolf joined in the howl as he followed the troll warrior.
Claws twisted toward the house, his feet churning, his claws digging into the nothingness of thin air. He looked back at Casey, frustration lining his face. “Put me down! Must get into the fight!!!”
Casey lowered him and herself swiftly to the ground and watched the bastet launch toward the house, much like the friction-powered toy trucks her brother used to play with as a child.
As his feet dug in, throwing up grass and dirt, Claws shifted to his saber-toothed form for better traction and balance. With a roar he took off, covering the ground lost to the troll and general.