(Reliquary) Frankincense and Blood

**Yumyumcrow** · Dec 6th, 2014 04:59 PM

There is more to the Barrens that waste ground and empty rural fringe. There are lonely roads and labyrinthine industrial parks and nature reserves too. Not many people though. Especially at night...

Although tonight might be a little different... There is a scent on the wind. It is faint to be sure - barely there - and it would most likely have long been lost to the cool wind had it not been buoyed by a thick skein of incense. The scent is rare and exotic and, when one caches a whiff of it, so very out of place amid the warehouses and empty lots of the industrial park.

The scent appears to originate in the warehouse over there: its lost in a neglected fringe of the industrial park, hard by the edge of the nature reserve. Some of the lighting needs replacing and only a single light strives valiantly agains the shrouding darkness. Its convenient really - lost in shadow, one might easily pass over the old building with its rusty roof and dingy lot.

But the smell wafts from that hidden place. And vampires like the dark.

After much prevarication - I have new plot for new people Shepard Tre . For purposes of disclosure this scene is linked to a wider plot involving @Travis06489

Dec 7th, 2014 01:16 AM

Sometimes the night took you places. Tonight it took Nolan out passed the mobs of people of the communal zone to the barrens. The walk wasn't so bad if you were dedicated, and one found ways to fill the time.

Night's like this were when the Haunt could talk to God. No. It wasn't a conversation exactly, but if you listened closely you could hear Him in the wind and feel Him earth and smell him in the air.

Wait. What is that smell?..

The slow methodical steps of the Sanctified were brought to a halt. Something was in the air, dancing across it. Nolan felt himself being pulled towards the scent, and towards the warehouse. He stops himself just outside of the light. This was an odd night, and he did not know this place. Curiosity was getting the better of him, but common sense held out for a moment. He wouldn't expose himself yet. Instead he glanced around the exterior of the warehouse doing his best to see if he could find the source of the smell.

Though nothing stands out, he empowers himself just the same. Birmingham taught him better than to allow for surprises.

Eye Spy...Not a thing

-1 Vitae to activate Vigor

Dec 7th, 2014 10:12 AM

Fionn went walking to explore the boundaries of the city.
His mind was dwelling on thoughts of home and how much he missed it.
His feet took him along footpaths, the sides of roads and muddy tracks with a mind of their own.
Quite by chance Fionn found himself in the barrens, the gloomy rundown air of the area matched his sombre mood.
He caught a whiff of something on the wind and came to investigate it.

Something odd about that scent, slightly sweet and yet smoky. People make scents like that. the beast urged in his mind.
He hadn't fed properly since he'd arrived in the city as he didn't want to offend the Thane.
But that scent was very alluring to him for some reason

The scent drew him into an industrial estate, grimy warehouses and filthy lockups.
Fionn gripped the strap of his satchel and felt the reassuring bump of it against his side when he walked.
The stun guns, night vision goggles, lockpicks, a pair of torches, a simple alarm detection and disabling kit (some flour, a small mirror, wire cutters, pliers, an earthed screwdriver) were inside.

When Fionn came round a corner he saw someone standing in the road staring into a dark building that was set away from the single street light.
He approached the figure and his beast whispered Feed, drink his blood, no-one will know you were here. Nolan Rhoads
Fionn hid in the shadows and approached carefully.
When he got closer he saw it was a man and a strange feeling swept over him.
Run away, stay back. He's one of them and he means to hurt you.

Fionn stepped out of the shadows into the weak light and slipped a stun gun out of the satchel. Keeping his hand behind his back in case the stranger turned violent.
"Hello there, I don't mean to disturb you. I came here to..well to see where a scent on the air lead to. I'm Fionn."

Dec 7th, 2014 04:23 PM

It was a treat, the crimson flow of a rabbit in my belly and the thrill of a hunt in the evening air. The air, that smell. It didn’t belong here not this far out that was a natural smell altered by human means.

I pull the arrow from the rabbit’s corpse and toss the flesh into the back of my Jeep. A dozen more arrows sit in their quiver as I put my nose to the wind, my bow now slung over my shoulder. Always a thrill to hunt, to track, to live.

A moment and I have it, and off like hound on the trail. A short time later I find myself at the fringe of natural and unnatural. The broken and forgotten warehouses stand like monuments to greed and industrial phallicy against the night sky.

I use the broken lights to my advantage as I creep through the alleyway staying upwind to the scent. Coming to a dead halt as my Beast lashes out at presence of another. My hands move with the memory of muscle and an arrow finds its way into the whisker biscuit of the bow.

Hearing the other speak about following the scent on the air to here peaks my curiosity. Not many people out this late in the Barrens, even fewer of my kind.
From behind the two men I make presence apparent.

“Evenin, fella’s. Take it yur nose lead ya ear as well?”

It takes a moment but I recognize the creepy little man with the even more creepy eyes from court. I give him a nod, but keep my bow at the ready.

Feeding Roll:

2 suxx

Health: Full WP: Full Blood: 6/11 Aspect of the Predator

Dec 7th, 2014 04:52 PM

Foot steps rang in Nolan's ears, but they weren't coming from the building.

Behind me...

The Haunt turns slowly, deliberately, and his eyes settle on the man. Innocuous little thing. He seemed friendly enough, though the night might swallow him up at any moment. The darkness certainly was more forceful than the Is that an Irish accent? Far from home little Irishman.

Then suddenly a Beast appeared. Not unfamiliar, but one that Nolan wanted to rip and tear nonetheless. Muscles clenched as once again Rage and Reason grappled in his mind. Then it passed. Reason prevailed, and Nolan remained a man.

"Good to see you out of the office friend." Nolan offers a nod in return, and a smrik crossed his face. Who carries a bow around like that? We're still in the city

"Apparently we were all drawn here by the smell, but..." His posture shifts back towards the Shadow. "This isn't a very nice neighborhood. Sure you want to be snooping around a place like this so long after dark?" There was no threat, yet, but Nolan didn't know this man. He could smell the blood, or maybe it was just the incense. Whether he was a Wolf or a Sheep was yet to be determined, and this was already a strange night.

Cold unblinking eyes settled on Fionn and waited to see how he would respond to the question.

**Yumyumcrow** · Dec 8th, 2014 01:58 AM

Keep going. Don't mind me

I'll jump in where I'm needed.

Dec 8th, 2014 02:46 AM

Fionn kept his voice calm, the playful lilt of his brogue trying to keep the tension out of the atmosphere between them.
"I mean no harm Haunt, I just went for a walk and my feet took me here. If this is your home, say the word and I will leave. If you're here on Official Business I will help if I can. I don't want to cause any trouble when I'm new in town." Nolan Rhoads

Fionn noticed the new arrival approach with a loaded bow. The dangerous look of the man draws his attention, while trying not to be rude to the Haunt he isn't holding a loaded weapon while the stranger is.
Tre
Careful he could be one of the Marshals men the beast warned at the sight of him, when the man got closer the scent of death and blood drifted in the breeze.
"Blood, sweet blood. Oh to feed, to feel that Dark blessing making him strong, and whole and alive." the thought coming unbidden in his mind.

Fionn eyes were drawn to a few spots of blood on the mans wrist, his mouth opened he so wanted to taste that blood. Even if it meant sucking on the mans shirt just to drown out the growing hunger within. He took a half step towards him and stared at the mans arm, a flicker of need on his face.

Then the presence of the man reached him and his beast roared.
A trap, it's a trap. He's one of them! This is Ennis all over again, flee before they hunt you. Bastard, bastard, faithless bastard!

Fionn wrestled with his emotions, the urge to feed and the will to flee. When the beast was forcible calmed Fionn blinked in surprise.
He'd swept the stun gun out from behind his back, pointed it directly at the new arrival. Clicked off the safety and pressed the charge button. A small spark of blue electricity danced across the two sets of prongs.

"What have you done Fionn, that was not a good idea. Now if that guy is official you're in a whole world of trouble. Stay calm and sort this out. Don't bring the Marshall down on you, not here." his thoughts rang in his head, calculating the best way to resolve this.

"Easy there friend, I think there's something in the breeze tonight. Making us all a little ....tense. Weapons have a nasty habit of going off, I don't think either of us really wants to start the evening with suspicious wounds in case we have to explain ourselves to people who get ...interested in our activities here. Why don't you point the bow at the ground and I will do the same. Then you put the arrow back where you keep it and I will put the gun away in my pocket. That way no-one is going to ....accidentally... do something rash and let things get too far out of hand. " Fionn spoke carefully, his Irish brogue sounding more pronounced as he spoke.

Fionn pointed the stun gun at the ground, near the stranger but not at him.

"Maybe some introductions will calm things down. I'm Fionn, a childe of the Shadow. My Speaker knows I'm here and I've broken no laws while I've been here. I'm not here on Official Business and this is not my home. Why don't the two of you introduce yourselves, say if this is your home, and if you are on Official Business.

Dec 8th, 2014 08:38 PM

I take a step back at the blue fire dancing across the prongs reflecting in the agitation of my eyes.

I let the arrow slide from its mount and place it under my long coat, it disappears someplace along my hip. A low growl in my voice as I speak, “Arrows up, but bows stayin. Naw ya can keep yur head so long as ya done do anything else as dumb as tryin ta threatin people wit yur lil toy there. I’d rather like ta keep things civil.”

My eyes stay focused on the Shadow in front of me, but I still keep a presence of mind for the Haunt behind him. “AJ.”

“No one calls this place ome, lest ta ma understandin, hell this is where they send tha naughty kids ta feed if they don play well wit others at court. We’re on tha fringes of tha Barrens, so anyone out ere at this time a night aint up to much good.”

The rigidity of my body lessens, “ Ya sumpin in tha air is right, I could smell it clear cross tha fields wit lil wind blowin that direction. It aint right.”

Dec 9th, 2014 01:46 AM

The appearance of the stun gun added sudden tension to Nolan's mood. An arrow you could pull out, but electricity...that hurt. His right hand drifted into his pocket and wrapped itself around a pair of brass knuckles.

Why on earth is he speaking so freely? We're in a public place!

As AJ put away his arrow, Nolan stepped between the two. His right hand remained in his pocket. "AJ, it seems we've mistaken a newcomer for just another Sheep." Nolan leaned over and almost whispered to Fionn. "Though wearing the Mask when approaching people you don't know is quite risky. Mistakes could have been made." He holds up this hand with the brass knuckles. Mistakes like these.

The Haunt turns away from the Savage and Shadow and back to the warehouse. "Fionn, my name is Nolan. Neither AJ nor I are here on any kind of business." Briefly, he imagined what would happen if Fionn pulled the stun gun on Lord Baldwin. It was not a pleasant thought.

"It seems like our noses brought us together. We might as well figure out what that smell is don't you think?" He begins taking slow steps towards the warehouse.

At this point anything would be better than brandishing weapons in a public space. Blood and incense. Someone must have had a bad night.

Dec 9th, 2014 02:57 AM

Fionn watched the arrow slip out of the bow and under AJ's coat.
Fionn nodded slowly and pressed a button on the side of the barrel with his right thumb, a light flashes softly in the dark, red...orange....green.
The lightening fades from the prongs and Fionn slides his thumb along a slide in the barrel and the trigger guard kicks behind the trigger preventing it from being pulled.

When Nolan shows Fionn his brass knuckles, his mind flashes back to an earlier time when big brutes had given him a reminder not to look too closely into something.
He shuddered at the memory and felt like his fangs wanted to extend in memory of that pain and fear.

Pulling himself together he looked AJ in the eye.
"Sorry if I'm being a little jumpy but I don't know anyone from these parts. Thought I might have got myself into trouble by being here. Nice to meet you AJ, I have a feeling I'm awfully lucky you're a reasonable sort or I could be wearing a few of those arrows and not enjoying the experience much."

He looked at Nolan.
"Thanks for the reminder to be more careful. Thank you for your patience with strangers, I don't think I'd be quite so chatty if you decided I needed a little education from those knuckles."

Slowly making sure to be very visible Fionn opened his coat and slipped the stun gun into a holster inside the coat.

"Now that you two fine gents have so gallantly resisted the temptation to dance with me, why don't I do something useful."

Fionn slowly opened the satchel and drew out the night vision goggles, holding them by the strap and letting them dangle.
"We could try using these to see if there's anything going on from here. I have torches if you'd prefer to poke around inside. Don't want to be about as useful as a chocolate teapot."

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-07 01:15:12		Nolan Rhoads rolls 4 to Wits+Comp (10 Again)		6, 5, 7, 6		failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-06 21:26:34		Ajax smith rolls 5 to Feed roll (pres: 4 + persuasion: 3 = 7 capped at 5) (10 Again)		4, 3, 8, 9, 3		2 successes

(Reliquary) Frankincense and Blood

Similar Threads

(Reliquary) The Dark Room

(Reliquary) Wholesale Investigations

(Reliquary) Case Reopened?

(Fresh Blood) Blood on the Road

(Reliquary) Portent of Clarity