(Edmundo's) Strange Encounters

**Yumyumcrow** · Oct 11th, 2013 11:46 PM

Day sleep did not come for Luna Bloodgood.

True, as the sun rose she felt her limbs stiffen as her muscles locked into place. This was normal; this was how it was. In her haven, hidden from the sun by thick curtains, blankets, and shuttered windows, the Gangrel drifted in a listless haze - floating even as her body turned into an inert corpse, eyes unblinking, staring at the ceiling. Day sleep should have followed - an enfolding black oblivion, timeless, ending only with the descent of the sun beyond the horizon at the end of the day. But not today...

Instead, Luna found herself dragged sideways to a blasted wasteland, framed by dark waters. A lion slept in a cage. Scavengers (to Luna they seemed to be Coyotes) scavenged among the broken rocks, digging for bones: they were creatures rank with sickness - flesh mangey and limp, broken pawed, gap toothed, partially blind, bleeding and sore - yet they hunted incessantly, whining and yapping piteously.

One of the slavering things was getting awfully close...

@Beej Luna Bloodgood What do you do?

Oct 12th, 2013 12:15 AM

Luna rose slowly to hear feet, looking down she was in worn denim pants, an old canvas shirt softened by washing and sun and scuffed up boots. Her long curly hair hangs down low unbraided. She looks around her and moves several steps away from the coyotes. She considers the lion a moment. She seen pictures in books, it looked about what she would expect.

Hmmmm. she muses, looking at the land around her. She was not rash though. The Spirits had brought her to this place for a reason.

**Yumyumcrow** · Oct 12th, 2013 12:27 AM

The place - a finger of land, blasted and desolate. It is littered with curious shaped stones and disturbing rocks. There is no wind and all is quiet apart from the yapping and whining of the coyote-creatures. She is ignored by them and the lion that lies, sphinx-like, in its great cage.

A slavering coyote is drawing closer, limping. It snuffles and paws at the earth. And it is coming right up to Luna, panting in excitement and in pain...

Oct 12th, 2013 12:40 AM

Luna gave the creature her critical eye, assessing what seemed to be wrong with it as she took a few more catious steps back.

1suxx

Oct 12th, 2013 03:42 AM

This particular coyote-beast looks rapid and suffering some sort of foot ailment. It slavers constantly and limps on maladjusted paws that don't sit right. Each movement gives it pain from the whimpering sounds it makes... yet it is drawn closer and closer, snuffing and tearing at the barren earth If Luna didn't think better, she could say it is almost compelled to seek something buried under the soil

Luna circles to the left while projecting a presence of calm and authority. She was the superior and uninjured one. It was about controlling the energy and emotion. If she presented a face that was not one of prey the creature would not attack. At least that was how it was in the waking world.

For a moment there was a connection. The coyote raised its head and paused, as if it was listening for something. While it does not back off, it does stand in some confusion. Weakness makes it tremble in its extremities

"What do you look for?" she asked, calmly and cooly. In the back of her mind she wandered what the the sick coyote represented.

"Bones. Dead bones. Live bones. Bones remember. Bones have power. Bones stop the pain." The sad creature shifts its weight around, panting and drooling. Luna can feel her Beast now. It is there, a wolven thing of shadow and fang, hackles raised.

Shit shit Luna thinks as she looks between the coyote and the Wolf. She could be hurt here, really hurt, but not die. In the end they were here at the power of the Kachina and messages could not be carried if the rider was dead. "Bones..bones remember. How do bones stop the pain?" she asks holding firm in her stance.

"Bones are the essence of that which is dead. But they remember... life." The creature was apparently unable to contain itself anymore and began its relentless snuffling. For one absurd moment, Luna felt she was watching a pig disguised as coyote, snuffling for truffles. "Bones are free. Bones are scattered..." Off to her side, her Beast seemed to focus itself and gave warning growl.

Luna nodded and then began to track laterally toward the lion cage. It probably wasn't the smartest move but on the other hand, a big lion could possibly give the Wolf some pause so she could figure out more. "And you?" She asked loudly toward the quiet lion. "Can I ask your name?"

Luna flows across the landscape effortlessly. She outpaces her wolven shadow and leaves behind the limping coyote. There are other coyote-things roaming the blasted land and they are all doing the same thing as the one she spoke to - pawing at the earth, digging at the stones and buried bones with a fervour bordering on madness. The lion sits as still and as posed as a statue inside its massive and baroque cage. It appears to be asleep.

Bones. Bones are life. Digging up old bones... Luna thinks for a second before looking at the lock. She almost squats down but remembers that could easily be an attack trigger for the Wolf or a Coyote, she tries to roll a bone with her boot up to the edge of the cage.

The land is strewn with bones it seems. Luna easily obtains one - a skull staring defiantly from the ground. It makes a heavy, hollow, rock-like noise as it bounces and rolls into the cage. The cage has thick bars and a chunky, massive lock that is thick with gilt and hidden menace. They key hole alone is the size of Luna's hand. As the skull rolls into the cage, her Beast starts to growl and back, taking a defensive stance. At the same time, the slavering Coyote yips in triumph, circling the wolf. The commotion draws the attention of the other coyotes... And quietly, disturbingly, the lion's eyes snap open and stare with a calm weight and disinterest...

Luna hooks the toe of her boot under the skull and flips up, grabbing it in the air. "Hello." she says politely seeing that it's eyes are now open. She then walks around the cage to lock while keeping an eye on the Wolf. The question that now faced her was, was the Wolf afraid the Lion because it was power that she could control against it? Or was it a sandstorm that no one could control?

"WHY ARE YOU IN MY DREAM?" the Lion asks quietly with a voice like a thunder. It appears completely oblivious to the coyotes that are now starting to move towards the wolf that is howling, growling and snarling. The lone coyote she first conversed with is dancing about it, pawing the earth and yipping madly, driving the Beast insane. The wolf snarls... but its voice is lost in the quiet roar of the lion's words

Now what are they I wonder? The coyotes should be weak and easy prey for the Wolf and yet it was afraid. But they didn't seem to bother her or rather bothered with her. "Someone brought me here. Crow Mother...or Left-Handed Hunter? Do you often dream here?"

"THIS IS NOT YOUR PLACE, DREAMER. YOU SEE THAT WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT. LISTEN... I CAN HEAR THE POISONED ONES BUT CANNOT SEE THEM. THEY ARE CLOSE." The power of the lion's voice throbbed through the cage, yet it never spoke above a whisper. The whining cacophony was distracting now. Above it all, her Beast howled in utter frenzy.

"Poisoned ones...yes they want the bones. What are they? What makes them poisioned?" She asks keeping an eye on the Wolf. Finally she was getting somewhere.

The Dream shakes but holds! Luna can choose to let it slip or maintain it by force of will! The wolf, alone, appears ineffectual at keeping the coyote's at bay. The big and paw at the ground right at the wolf's feet squabbling amongst themselves - even turning on one another.

"THEY ARE THAT WHICH MUST NOT BE SPOKEN OF. THE DEVOURER'S SPAWN! BROKEN FAILURES! I HEAR THEM COME!" The lion intoned, half to Luna, and half to itself.

"Who is the Devourer?" Luna looks back toward the coyotes and Wolf. Wait a minute. If I'm with it, then they are there not here. Of course! The Wolf was scared and the land was barren. Crow Mother sees the land and how barren it is, not a yucca or grass in sight. So she sends Left-Handed Hunter to point the way to the hunt. "Where do you sleep! Tell me, I can help! Crow Mother sees the land!"

"YOU ARE POWERFUL, MORTAL, TO WIN THROUGH TO THIS PLACE. SEEK OUT SHE WHO CARRIED MY HEART AND SHE WILL TEACH YOU." The Lion remains where it lay, with its eyes wide open. For a moment, Luna could almost swear that there was another presence in the cage. The wolf, her Beast, was howling in a frenzied rage. The coyotes yipped in triumph, pawing at the earth. Luna caught a glimpse of bones...

Luna squints, look at the bones that drew her attention. "What is your name? And her name? So she'll know you sent me?"

"I AM THE LION THAT WAITS. SHE IS SHE WHO CARRIED MY HEART. THE SERVANTS AND THE PRIESTS SHALL KNOW." The lion intoned with quiet power. The coyote pack dig and paw, tossing up a ragged skin and, of all things, an alligator skull.

She looked at the skull and then remembered what was tucked away in her truck. What if they're not there but here... "Shit!" Willing her self off the island, she broke from the Dream and crashed back into the Day Sleep. But even as it tried to pull her down she fought through it. Her eyes snapped open under the blankets. Her hand shot under the pillow and grabbed the revolver as she flipped off the blankets sitting up and brought the revolver up.

Luna awakens with a strange feeling as her consciousness crashes back into her inert body. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Her room is empty and secured against both the sun and intruders. Everything is as it should be... and yet.....and yet... the room is secure. Someone is testing the door, scratching it at, feeling its firm rigidity. In the quiet, she can hear a rasping, panting, breath. It reminds her of the coyote.

As luck - pure, beautiful and bounteous Fortune! - would have it, dusk is coming on! The shadows are starting to creep from under the shuttered windows

Seeing the shadows Luna grins...she just can't help it. Putting the revolver on the pillow she grabs the shotgun leaning against small rickety nightstand. Rising from the bed she racks the shotgun CHUCK CHUCK. "I'll feast on your bones!"

Whoever they are, they are now trying to jimmy open the lock sealing the room...and then stops. There is a pause. Voices, muffled by the walls, go off in staccato conversation. The presence in front of her door withdraws. An angry voice follows it.

Luna waits hands gripping the shotgun one eye on light coming from the beneath the curtains, the other on the door.

Her unseen enemy has been startled and does not double back - this time. Darkness falls.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-10-11 23:27:14		Luna Bloodgood rolls 5 to Dream (10 Again)		10, 2, 6, 4, 1, 3		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-10-12 00:35:56		LB rolls 6 to Wit+AK+Spec (1s Subtract)		3, 8, 5, 7, 4, 7		1 success

(Edmundo's) Strange Encounters

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