A Counter Raid(Eric)

October 24, 2025

PlotLog

Date: 2025-10-23 13:15

(A Counter Raid(Eric):Eric)

[Thu Oct 23 2025]

Cresting a snowy hill above a township in shambles
The bleak landscape of Westrend spreads in every direction beneath an iron grey sky, unsullied snowfall muffling each and every sound in a heavy, somnolent blanket of pristine white. This low hill provides only a moderate elevation, arisen from a rumpled fold in the plains rather than any true climb, though it still offers a commanding view of what lies ahead. To the south, upon the shores of a placid fjord rests the ruins of a medium-sized town, stone walls and buildings alike cast into shambles as if by the hand of some angry child. Wisps of smoke yet drift from the destroyed settlement in pale streamers unfurling upon the air, carrying the distant scents of charred wood and cooking meat clearly to this vantage.

It is night, about -12F(-24C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It’s raining. The mist is heaviest At High and Oakwood/span> There is a waxing crescent moon.

The wind howls all around you in fitful gusts, whipping at clothing and tossing flurries of snow dancing into the air. From atop the hill there’s no shelter from it, and it bites akin to razored teeth. To the north, east, and west spreads the rest of Westrend as an indistinct canvas, while to the south rests what remains of Cragteeth, nestling on the shore of a placid fjord.

Tessa stuffs her hands in her pockets, staying close to Eric’s side.

Mercy stands frozen for a while and just stares at the area, then down at the snow under her boots.

“Snow,” Tessa says to Mercy, like it’s necessary.

unzips the bag over his shoulder, producing the weighty heft of his axe from within and settling it over one broad shoulder.

Mercy can’t resist crouching down to grab a fistful of the stuff in a gloved palm, poking and feeling at it like the very new and interesting thing that it is.

As the group step from the mirrorgate, Ekaterina immediately zips her jacket; Why take the risk even when flexing petulently. “Just like home.” the Russian hams up, gaze tracking to Tenzin, Mercy, Tessa, Matias, Avalon and finally to Eric with a degree of situational awareness.

“It’s like I never left Norway…” Avalon says resting the hammer on the ground and glancing up at the night skie, shaking his head from side to side before asking, the rest of the group with a slight tilt of his head “Do I need to communicate a lot? Or can I shift? You know, wolverines live in snowy climates, nocturnal predators…”

Matias stands with a shiver as the wind more or less cuts through the leather and fabrics of his outfit. Denim, wool, and leather not designed for a fjord but aside from involuntary shivering and a decidedly gritted jaw the latino is silent and plods along behind Eric

“I don’t want to smell it,” Tessa says, immediately, to Avalon, managing to not say anything bitchy to Mercy about puppies and snow by the stink-based PTSD rearing its head.

Tenzin immediately withers as they step through the gate and into subzero. His sandals are eyed like they were deathtraps. “I forgot my boots,” the man tsks. “It was this cold where you are from?” he asks Ekaterina with a broad frown.

“If it is yellow, you do not eat it, da.” Ekaterina shares informatively with Mercy.

“You’re going to at some point…” Avalon informs Tessa with a bright smile, punctuation “It’s strong enough to be smelled even in these climates, it marks territory…”

Down below in the village proper, the twinkling of several campfires glows amidst the otherwise pervasive night. Wisps of smoke drift lazily through the air, and even for those with less than sensitive noses, there’s the smell of charring wood and cooking meat. Occasionally, over the wind, the waves in the fjord can be heard, along with a clank of metal, seeming very, very far away despite relative proximity.

Tenzin advises Mercy as he rubs his hands to stay warm, “Do not touch it.”

“Eat some snow,” Tessa suggests to Mercy. “It’s just water.”

Tessa is also, pointedly, ignoring Avalon.

Eric says “things should be relatively straightforward, once we get into it. It just depends, do we care about being stealthy firsh, or are we just… Walking in like we own the place“

Mercy just stays crouched there, a ball of snow in her fist, perplexed. Then she realizes the opportunity and pitches the little bundle of snow at Tenzin. They’re surrounded by throwable material now, game on.

“This is your taskforce.” Ekaterina reminds Eric. “The question is if you wish this to be a hit and run, or if you wish us to be quiet.”

“This does not seem to be the kind of group that can do quiet.” Matias points out with a grouchy sounding baritone and a chatter of teeth.

“Well, you guys decide the approach, and I will change according to it” Avalon says right after Eric speaks, shrugging his shoulders and bending down towards the ground- It seems he won’t wait for an answer, as moments later he’s already shifting into the afore mentioned wolverine

Eric purses his lips, then nods to Matias. “Literally was just thinking that,” he mutters, frowning over at Mercy.

Tessa points the blade of her knife at the wolverine, saying, “You stay over there, stinkbear. Or I’ll cry.”

Tenzin ponders choices quietly as he peers down at the campfires in civilization below. Out of his thoughts he is disturbed by Mercy’s snowball. “Ouch. You are playing games while we are here on official business?” he scolds, picking up a pound of snow and flinging it right back.

“Can we run to the fires, please?” he begs of Eric.

Mercy hmphs softly as she stands back up. “Can do quiet jus’ fine if yer askin’ fer it, an’ also behave myse-” Smack. A ball of snow bursts into pieces against the side of her head. “Aw HELL NAW.” she whirls around, the action made more dramatic thanks to Tenzin’s cloak, and grabs more snow to lob at him while the others deliberate.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) ignores the threat of the knife, and instead rushes towards Tessa to rub the sides of its body against her leg, intent to leave some of its foul scent on the woman- It seems really eager to bother her like this. And, for good measure, the animal then paces back towards Eric, repeating the process

“If we are after raiders on boats, the most obvious thing is… Is this where they launch from and if not how do you plan to board boats to kill them?” Matias says with yet more teeth chattering and with the wind whipping this way and that a rosey cheeks sigh of dismay.

“I am good at stealth.” Ekaterina shares, though waits for others to decide.

From down below, there comes the distant shouts of an alarm being raised, figures suddenly darting along the crumbling remnants of what may have once been an outer wall. Some move sleek and graceful on four legs, bounding from shadow to shadow, while others bear the glint of metal in gloved hands. Very distinctly, a bellowing of orders cleaves through all of it, and though it remains indistinct, the spear in an upraised hand pointed towards the hill is anything but.

Tessa kicks, ineffectually, at Avalon(Gulo Gulo), saying, “God I hate you, you absolute fucking dick,” covering her mouth and nose with her hoodie, tears glittering on her lashes, eyes literally watering from the stink.

Eric heaves out a breath, swatting at Avalon(Gulo Gulo) as he comes too close. “Goddamnit Av,” he mutters, before catching sight of the commotion.

Eric says “I guess that’s our answer. Shock and awe it is“

Mercy says “We’ll give ’em the ol’ razzle dazzle.“

Tessa bounces on her toes once, then asks, lovingly, to Eric, “Charge time?”

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) makes sure to, on its stinking path, rub as well against one of Matias’ legs, leaving the fetid stench of its mark behind as it moves closer towards the noise of the commotion, directing its gaze down the mountain, before glancing back towards Eric, albeit, speechless and devoid of many human expressions

Tenzin begins to run for the fires but skids to a butt-first landing in the snow when the alarm goes up. Shivering and misty of breath, he watches carefully from his position. “We have been spotted, ha? Perhaps if we are lucky, they set up a fire nearby here and then we fight,” he hopes for raider hospitality.

Mercy says “Hm, maybe I oughta shift.“

unfortunately Avalon(Gulo Gulo) does not make it to Matias’s legs as the man simply lifts his hand and says, “Alto.” and Avalon(Gulo Gulo) finds itself frozen in place. To which the man casually walks far enough away that should the animal attempt it again he will just repeat.

“If you shift, let me do the line.” Producing a knife as the alarm is sounded, Ekaterina casually mentions, “I think maybe no stealth.”

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) is surprised by sudden paralysis, stuck in place as its pupils dart around, only for a growl to follow, born in his throat but unable to fully escape the stuck shut mouth

Eric hefts his axe in both hands, and nods sharply to Tessa, braids whipping about him in the wind. “Charge time, I guess. Lets make ’em shit their britches.” He takes off at a loose jog, barefoot through the snow, and the answer comes in a chorus of bloodchilling howls and roars from wolves and men waiting below to tear them to pieces.

“So before we assault this large werewolf filled place… Is it just kill everyone, kill the werewolves, kill the people with weapons. Because with Avalon and myself here… If you say kill everyone, I can just avalanche the settlement?” Matias says while looking down at his pant leg and then Avalon(Gulo Gulo)

Mercy decides, between the cold and threat of fellow wolves probably much larger than her, to go with her other, preferred method of fighting this time around. She has enough courtesy to remove the cloak and hand it back off to Tenzin first, though.

Tessa slips the blade from its sheath in her pocket, before she’s sprinting along, down the hill, one of the half of the party who is completely used to running in snow – and actually wearing appropriate clothing. Ish. Imagine that.

Mercy also takes a few steps away from the group to go ahead and do that.

Looping through the air and landing nowhere close, ranging shots arc upward, landing further down the hill and disappearing into the snow. The whistle of the arrows is lost in the wind, but the glittering points flicker and gleam as they come with the promise of deadly impact.

As arrows begin to try and reach them Matias just lifts his hand and exhales a breath and suddenly the winds shift towards the settlement and away from their position.

Stepping in beside Eric, Ekaterina supposes, calling over the wind. “Let us see which of them were smart enough to wear the brown pants.”

“Cry havock and let slip the dog of war!” she adds after a beat, where Mercy(wolf) shifts.

Tenzin had already been eying his cloak on Mercy(wolf) when he’d heard her idea. He catches the thick garment and drapes it over himself, gritting his teeth as the hideous noises of transformation come. His tension is rustled by Ekaterina’s warcry, at which he lets out a high-pitched giggle. That hit him hard.

Eric blinks at Ekaterina sidelong, mouth open, and it nearly costs him as he trips, skidding a few yards before recovering in a heavy, momentum-fueled run.

Mercy(wolf) allows herself a minute to try and adjust to the sensation of snow beneath her paws as she returns closer to the group, noting the potential for clumsy movement on such a foreign and uneven surface she isn’t used to running through.

After being stuck for a couple seconds, the wolverine soon unshifts back into Avalon, remaining laid down on the snow though, almost as if it wasn’t as cold as it truly is, asking from his spot there, with a brief glance towards Matias “So, are we going avalanche? I can turn big if so”

Mercy(wolf) eyes Avalon after he shifts back, still clothed with all his belongings, and secretly burns with envy.

Furious calls drift to your ears on the wind, underpinned by the cranking and creaking of heavier machinery. There are no more arrows, the wind having defeated them completely, but the raiders now struggle to tug away oilcloth from twinned contraptions mounted atop the crumbling remnants. Two ballistae await only to be armed before unleashing larger projectiles towards the group, and the Wolfbrothers scramble about them attempting to do just that before the group reaches them.

Mercy(wolf) angles her eyes and ears to the enemy’s direction, lips curling back in a snarl.

Glancing down to her boots, then to the skidding Eric, Ekaterina shrugs, then follows the man, though with more methodical foot work.

Matias seems to have the arrows handled, and that’s not Ekaterina’s job. So instead, she picks her waysteadily, each foot fall taken with care, though with a haste that still causes her to skid periodically.

Matias lifts up a hand and grips the rosary uttering something in spanish as the entire thing glows for a moment and he opens his eyes with a few blinks. “Well Eric?”

“I support bearvalanche,” Tessa calls to the group, trying to keep the wind from carrying it away.

Tenzin holds his position, given that Matias and Avalon appear to be offering a quick massacre by way of avalanche. Though he is among the team tasked with taking out these infidels, the idea does not appear to sit well with him.

Eric digs his heels in, tipping over backwards with a thump and essentially ending up at Ekaterina’s feet on his back. “New plan,” he grunts, rolling over. “Avalanche those before we get shot with spears, please.”

“Avalanche then” Avalon replies with a nod to Matias, seemingly not waiting for the approval from the group that the arcanist looks for- Destroying someone’ clothes envy moments later as his body starts to shift once more, growing way too much, way too fast. Limbs changing form and position as another mane of hair grows on his body, growing fangs and claws bigger than some weapons, the size just increasing without stop until the man turns into a beast of a bit more than eleven tons

The man replies with a nod to Matias, seemingly not waiting for the approval from the group that the arcanist looks for- Destroying someone’ clothes envy moments later as his body starts to shift once more, growing way too much, way too fast. Limbs changing form and position as another mane of hair grows on his body, growing fangs and claws bigger than some weapons, the size just increasing without stop until the man turns into a beast of a bit more than eleven tons, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) taking only a couple seconds to stand to attention, glancing down the hill

The man replies with a nod to Matias, seemingly not waiting for the approval from the group that the arcanist looks for- Destroying Mercy(wolf)’s clothes envy moments later as his body starts to shift once more, growing way too much, way too fast. Limbs changing form and position as another mane of hair grows on his body, growing fangs and claws bigger than some weapons, the size just increasing without stop until the man turns into a beast of a bit more than eleven tons, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) taking only a couple seconds to stand to attention, glancing down the hill

At the agreement from someone Matias takes a deep breath and walks to the edge of where they overlook. The ground begins to slide as topsoil turns into sand. The wind picks up and then to get the whole thing shaking a clap of his hands together and lightning arcs out of his joined hands striking several spots burning snow away but also creating an echoing thunderclap in the hopes of sending a sheet of snow, sand, and rubble tumbling down to the settlemnet. Unfortunately it seems to be ineffective.

At the agreement from Eric Matias takes a deep breath and walks to the edge of where they overlook. The ground begins to slide as topsoil turns into sand. The wind picks up and then to get the whole thing shaking a clap of his hands together and lightning arcs out of his joined hands striking several spots burning snow away but also creating an echoing thunderclap in the hopes of sending a sheet of snow, sand, and rubble tumbling down to the settlemnet. Unfortunately it seems to be ineffective.

Tenzin’s expression darkens as the group makes its choices, and he glances to the campfires below. “We are no longer rescuing villagers then?” he asks coldly.

Skidding to a stop before she can go ass over tit across Eric and spiral ever onwards, Ekaterina digs the heels of her boots in. There’s a moment of dependents where she reaches for a weapon that’s not there, though catches herself in time, snorting at herself- thankfully dragged away, kicking and screaming into the wind.

The Russian steps back, then, offering a hand up to Eric as she notices that Tessa, Matias, someone and Tenzin and Mercy(wolf) have not moved yet. Then someone’ shadow falls, and Ekaterina looks up– then up– then up some more, eyes widening.

The lightning strike sends the fur-clad figures of raiders diving for cover, leaving the ballistae exposed and not yet fully loaded. Only hesitantly do they begin to poke their heads back up, peering up towards the group and throwing jeers and hooting laughter in their direction.

The Russian steps back, then, offering a hand up to Eric as she notices that Tessa, Matias, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) and Tenzin and Mercy(wolf) have not moved yet. Then someone’ shadow falls, and Ekaterina looks up– then up– then up some more, eyes widening.

Eric stumbles up, offering Tenzin a hand. “We still are, if any are alive. We don’t know for sure. They eat people, Ten. If there are any, we’ll help them.”

Matias steps back as Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) comes forward and says, “Oh this should do it, hopefully.”

The Russian steps back, then, offering a hand up to Eric as she notices that Tessa, Matias, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) and Tenzin and Mercy(wolf) have not moved yet. Then Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi)’s shadow falls, and Ekaterina looks up– then up– then up some more, eyes widening.

“And you are expecting there to be survivors hopefully after the avalanche falls on them all,” Tenzin flatly questions Eric, despite the mention on cannibalism. He pointedly does not take the man’s hand, instead letting Ekaterina do so. It is a bad time to be talking, but the monk does as he does.

“Stealth is now gone completely.” Ekaterina notes to Tenzin as he finishes. “Big bear.”

Mercy(wolf) keeps well out of someone’ way and branches off to more of an outer perimeter, keeping watch for anyone who might attempt to encroach on them quietly while also inching herself ever closer to the enemies in anticipation of an inevitable clash.

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) stands on its hind legs moments later, feat that seems hard enough by itself considering the weight of the creature, taking a couple steps closer to the very same spot that Matias has tried to target, and, without much warning towards the group, giving a tiny little jump, only for the eleven tons to descend on the ground moments later, followed by some thrashing from the bear that seems almost like its frolicking- But unfortunately, the avalanche isn’t happening, they must have picked the wrong structural spot to attempt it

Mercy(wolf) keeps well out of Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi)’s way and branches off to more of an outer perimeter, keeping watch for anyone who might attempt to encroach on them quietly while also inching herself ever closer to the enemies in anticipation of an inevitable clash.

It’s clear now as they rise from behind cover and up from the snow, there’s about fifteen raiders, five shifted fully into wolves and ten halfway between, wielding weapons in hands more akin to paws. Those still with enough humanity to operate machinery leverage a spear into at least one of the ballistae, and they take aim at the largest target, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi). With an ominous rattle it’s lancing towards the creature, while the five fully shifted wolves bound up the hill to meet the party head on.

Tessa keeps a good few strides behind the giant bear, for obvious reasons, trying to stay near Eric, whether for protection for her or him, who knows. Still, she moves, the wind biting at her bare hands.

Eric puffs fogged breath into the air, asking Tenzin, “I want to save them too, but can we talk about this later? We have a bit of a situation.” He points at the five oncoming wolves with the blade of his axe, settling into a wide, braced stance.

“Ah well we tried to make it easy.” Matias says with a forlorn and chattery comment as the ballista fires at Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) and wolves begin to rush, he pulls a blade out and begins to fall back towards the edge of the group.

“Yes, it is,” Tenzin mutters to Ekaterina aside, not looking very surprised. After one lingering look at Eric, he keeps his thoughts to himself, expression hardened like the snow had froze it over. The monk prepares to meet the enemies, clutching his morning star at the ready.

Calling out unhelpfully, Ekaterina bellows down at the advancing wolves, “I only braught so many knives. Some of you will have to share.” Before- tossing out a metric fuck ton of caltrops to impede them.

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) isn’t really able to stop the ballista from shooting at it, what it can do on the other side, is regulate its own body to an abnormal extent, numbing its own body the moment the weapon finally fires, tanking the incoming spear without issue or complaint, rising from the ground on its fours now and slowly walking closer to the ground, standing between the party and the incoming wolves

Mercy(wolf) gets fired up the second she sees fellow wolves charging her way, limbs kicking up snow as she lunges about in place, teeth snapping eagerly.

Lost in bloodrage and fury, the lead wolf, a hulking gray beast, plows directly into the field of caltrops, going down in a flailing tangle of blood and limbs. His four companions only just barely manage to stop in time, casting bow waves of snow ahead of them as they paddle their paws in place to halt. The leader isn’t dead, but he’s down and whimpering, while his four companions split to either side. Smelling what they believe to be weakness, one pair launches themselves snapping at Tessa, while the others spring for Ekaterina, attempting to slip around the form of Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi).

A silvered knife springing into Ekaterina’s hand, the Russian prepairs, if any wolves get close, to toss them back into the waiting gigantic target that is Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi), letting the beast handle the problem, posture suggesting that Ekaterina will throw others to Mercy(wolf) when/if possible.

Tenzin eyes are for Mercy(wolf) and Ekaterina. He rushes in, seeking to intercept the nearest wolf that’s headed for her with a tandem move, except he may fling his catch instead behind him.

Eric plants himself firmly at Tessa’s side, hand raised, awaiting his moment as the wolves approach. He winces as another rattling TWANG! cleaves the air, a second spear arcing up to slam into Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi), it’s basically impossible to miss at this range and with how big it is, after all.

The first wolf leaps for Ekaterina’s throat, teeth bared, but in a moment it’s flying over her shoulder with a whine of protest, landing sprawled, belly-up at Mercy(wolf)’s paws. The second barrels into Tenzin, it too finding itself flying past him to land stunned near Matias. The pair approaching Eric and Tessa pause, jaws slavering, seemingly shocked at the fate of their comrades. They begin to slink backwards, as if considering a hasty escape.

Mercy(wolf) kicks off to dart for Ekaterina as Tenzin does in an effort to intercept, bodily, though the snow presents some effort in getting there quickly and she is too late- though thankfully the other wolf and its cohorts are tossed away before any damage is done. As one lands nearby, Mercy’s instincts take over and in a split second she’s on top of it, jaws attempting to form a grip around its throat and finish the job.

When the werewolf goes flying from Tenzin’s throw Matias looks down at it, kneels down and prepares to cut its throat but oh no it involuntary spasms and his hand slips and he has stabbed himself in the thigh and he stares at it and stares at the wolf and then stares at the wound and goes, *aaaaaaaaah*

The second spear Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) definitely feels, its body moving slightly in the opposite direction of the incoming projectile- But that doesn’t stop the bear from approaching its target. Since one of the wolves ended up landing next to Mercy(wolf), the giant instead directs itself towards the one by Matias, and as the arcanist fails its attempt at ending the werewolf, it’s instead Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) that does it. Lowering a massive paw over it, stabbing claws big as swords deep into the wolf, before descending it maw over it to seemingly eat the thing while life still clings to it, in a matter of seconds painting the snow in red and brown, and probably Matias due to the proximity, blood and guts flying indistinctly in the vicinity

The two advancing wolves handled with the aid of Mercy(wolf), Tenzin and Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi), Ekaterina makes a strategic retreat, moving to Matias already reaching for a medkit, ready to triage the professor’s leg wound.

A series of gargling snarls and fading whines come from the entanglement that is Mercy(wolf) and her foe, who quickly grows still beneath her weight. Blood drips heavily from her muzzle as she backs away to start heading for Tenzin and Ekaterina again, steaming faintly when it hits the snow.

Seeing Tessa engaged with his fellow, the final retreating wolf leaps at her back, aiming to crush her between them despite her silvered blade. That’s when Eric strikes, jerking his hand backward, telekinetically ripping the beast through the air to slam down at Tenzin’s feet. He’s moving forrward even before its body hits the snow, bracketing the wolf facing Tessa and sweeping his axe through the air to help finish it. There comes the growling and snapping of debate from down below, before the ten remaining raiders are slipping away, back between the skeletons of buildings, leaving the ballista unmanned and the way into the village open, for now.

Matias is covered in gore, has a hook blade in his thigh, and looks to Ekaterina as she approaches. He has not pulled the hook blade out yet, because it is keeping him from starting to bleed out. “Ow… The wolf… grabbed my wrist and stabbed me.” he lies behind gritted teeth and then motions to the blade left in his right thigh.

Seeing as now three wolves are dead and the fourth is at the mercy of Tenzin and company, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) instead decides to turn downhill, not towards the retreating troops, but instead towards the leader of the pack, that had survived the caltrops. Standing once more on its hind legs, the bear lets out a deafening growl threatening, any fear that the pack connection and death might have caused only working to empower the beast as it lands and starts rushing downhill, looking to finish the left behind werewolf

Mercy(wolf) turns a sharp look downward and stops, ears up, eyes wide, the sight of fleeing prey tugging at her need to chase. Someone had once said she was more wolf than girl and in this instance that assessment was proving accurate, long limbs spurring the red wolf into a clumsy run down the snowy hill and towards the village.

“On three.” Ekaterina invites Matias, making no comment to the validity or not of the claim. “You remove the blade and I will tie this off.”

She doesn’t count down yet, giving Matias the chance to do so if he so wishes or alternative suggestions if not. “Maybe try the wizard thing again to handle the rest?” she suggests.

“One, two, three, hyah!” Matias pulls the blade out as it begins to gush dark blood. Not arterial flow, but it is a leg wound. He is also shivering so the hookblade gets set back behind himself as he looks down the mountain. “I think I will stick with lightning, that is a small group, surely there are more in the encampment.” and then just to keep things safe. While Ekaterina works he whispers a few things and suddenly thick evergreen like bushes begin to grow between them and the ballista to spare Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) more shots.

Tenzin takes just one look to ascertain that the wolf had been taken care of. Ekaterina is already moving to help Matias. Good enough for him. Before he might look to Mercy(wolf), there’s a magical flying wolf that crashlands before him. He eyes it with the spark of a bad idea, slamming his silver-spiked morning star into its side to disorient it, and holding tight onto its back like he could giddy-up on that thing after the raiders. “Cooperate if you wish to live,” he whispers to it. But he does not speak Wildling and this is a wolf, so anything can happen. At the very least, he disrespects its dignity.

The leader of the pack hauls himself to his feet, then yelps and goes over again in the snow, whining, growling, snapping as the shadow of the great bear falls over him. He starts trying to wriggle away down the hill through the snow, but as Matias speaks those plants not only shelter those still on the hill, they halt his escape.

Ekaterina works quickly, swabbing, then bandaging the wound as best she can, though of course, a leg wound is a leg wound. “We will be slowed, but is not life threatening. Your medic can handle when we get back.” is her assessment.

The silver morningstar crunches into the wolf’s ribs, brutally snapping bone and mincing flesh due to its vulnerability. The beast drools blood from its mouth, gasping, though in its death throes it snaps at Tenzin, trying in one last spiteful act to bite him.

It’s no challenge at all. The pack leader is now tangled in bushes, bleeding profusely, and disoriented. Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) pulps him into a fine paste, rampaging all over the once proud wolf and leaving behind what could, charitably, be called a smear in the snow. The party has taken the hill. Bodies lie everywhere, and below, the burned husk of the town awaits.

“Matias, you regenerate, right?” Tessa asks the injured man, wiping wolf blood off a knife on Eric.

Tenzin flinches back as the wolf tries to sink teeth into skin, even as it bleeds. “Perhaps I should have hit more gently first,” he self-reflects. Not wanting the beast to suffer any longer, his mercy is a raise of his silvered weapon high and he slams it down on its skull like moonfall.

“I do not.” Matias says while looking at Ekaterina’s handywork and rising up with a grimace but he is able to walk and so he can get down the hill, probably. “But I will be fine if worse comes to worse I will just turn into a cat and ride Avalon.”

Eric kisses Tessa’s cheek, seemingly unbothered, before turning around to eye Matias. “I can carry you while you do wizard shit,” he offers. “Y’know, if it won’t hurt your dignity too much.”

“I think I can keep up in the back. Most wizard shit does not need me to be in the front.” Matias explains

Stepping back, Ekaterina slips the med kit away. “Not a problem.”

Eric says “good deal, Gandalf. Just don’t fall off any bridges“

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) approaches the trapped wolf, only to lower a paw over it, doing the weight alone break a couple bones and immobilize, only to then, instead of just ending the thing- Making a point of driving its mouth towards the wolf’s legs, ripping them apart one by one, letting it experience the whole thing before starting to eat the poor animal without killing it first, just like your usual friendly wild bear. It doesn’t even seem to pay attention to the town or make sure the party is alright at the moment, it’s just dining

Turning from Matias to face down the hill again, Ekaterina notices Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi)’s handywork, and swallows, hard.

Eric wipes his axe on the snow, squinting off after Mercy(wolf). “We should probably go after her before she gets ambushed,” he notes, before side-eyeing Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi).

Mercy(wolf) is not especially graceful at the best of times, but as she ambles down the hill on foreign terrain she is like a runaway vehicle manned by a drunk driver. Legs scramble to keep her upright and in momentum while she tumbles and careens through deeper patches of snow here and there, occasionally faceplanting as her forelegs buckle, a steadily thicker beard of ice and snow clinging to her fur.

Eric says “Av. HEY, AV! This isn’t dinnertime. Take front?“

“Your dad needed a snack,” Tessa says to Eric, turning the ring on her finger, considering, but not offering it up to Matias.

A long, baying, deep howl resonates from within the settlement, arising from a chest altogether more broad than any heard before. After a moment it fades away, not gone, but sliding from bestial sound into mocking laughter.

Ekaterina asks Matias, “Can you do the Thor thing?”

Eric says “thank god I’m not the one being asked that this time“

Matias begins to follow the group with a stiff walk, he is not immbolized but its obvious he is going to favor one leg over the other and cannot sprint but he can ‘fast walk’ like a lurching hobo.

“The one where you call lightning down to destroy the enemy army?” Ekaterina suggests.

Tenzin makes a face at dinner time, but seeing that Mercy(wolf) is now a reddish blur down the hill, he sighs and goes on a sprint after her in his sandals. The state of his feet in the snow are probably not well. He dares not call out to stop her descent, lest any more attention be attracted than it already is.

Eric sighs and sets off down the hill after Mercy(wolf), padding through the snow in his bare feet. “I hate being laughed at,” he confides, then seeing Tenzin hauling ass he breaks into a loose-kneed jog in pursuit.

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) slowly lifts its head from the pile of at this point pure gore, glancing around at the calling out group and making- Well, some sort of noise, likely no one here can understand bears so it likely just sounds generic to them. Shaking its head to the sides a couple times to clean some of the leftovers of meat on its face, the bear slowly starts moving downhill, following the tracks of the not so proficient Mercy(wolf), its size shifting as it descends the mountain, becoming increasingly smaller, the fur shifting from fluffy and light brown to a darker and more sturdy color, and soon, it’s not an ursine approaching the village but one very rude member of the family of the weasels

Tessa notices the puppy that has skidded off, and instead of enjoying the pain of Matias longer, she’s running, slipping, and running more down the hill, surprisingly staying on her feet. But, if she needed to stop, she’s definitely going ass over tea kettle.

Trusting Tenzin to manage the matter of Mercy(wolf), Ekaterina remains near to Matias, not obstructively close, but near enough that should he require it, there’s some aid.

An eye on Tessa and Eric, she pointedly avoids the bear, having decided that someone can handle itself as the group hall ass at various speeds behind Mercy(wolf).

Trusting Tenzin to manage the matter of Mercy(wolf), Ekaterina remains near to Matias, not obstructively close, but near enough that should he require it, there’s some aid.

An eye on Tessa and Eric, she pointedly avoids the bear, having decided that Avalon(Gulo Gulo) can handle itself as the group hall ass at various speeds behind Mercy(wolf).

In changing forms, and sizes, Avalon(Gulo Gulo) has lost both the spears that were still attached to the bear’s body, the animal seemingly walking easily on the snow despite, well, snow and reduced mobility, almost brought back to its natural habitat while both of the wounds left behind by the attacks of the balista seem to be healing in real time, way faster than most supernatural regeneration

As the group approaches the crumbled walls, there’s no opposition to stop them. In fact, once that laughter fades there’s no sign of life at all, apart from the twinkling campfires further into the village. The twinned ballistae sit unmanned, and Eric points to them with his axe. “Leave those,” he calls out. “I want them for later.” The only real obstacle the group faces is the town itself, heaping piles of crumbling stone, sagging wood, and things better left unidentified abutting the back of the wall. There’s a single broad, cleared avenue running through it all, blatant and obvious as a danger sign, but any other traversal will be across the unsteady terrain.

“These raiders have the home field advantage.” Ekaterina reminds, already looking out over the settlement for obvious hiding spots and potential routs that will need to be overcome, that history in policing and the military in full swing. “They will know where to hide, where to gather and where to press us. We are new to this. So tread carefully.”

Mercy(wolf) finally halts near the village’s edge, a cautious pause to sniff at the air and locate anyone or anything nearby of interest.

Tessa skids to a stop, slamming into Eric’s back with an “oof”. Her eyes flicking around the area with soft curiosity in her gaze. She stays as far from Avalon(Gulo Gulo) as she reasonably can.

On the other side, Avalon(Gulo Gulo) seems eager enough to approach the group once more, seemingly in quite the good mood after having its meal, the animal starts walking around in little bounces the moment snow is a bit less dense, mouth slightly open, and greeting the whole party once more with its insufferable stench

Studying the avenue, Ekaterina pauses to get a full lay of the land, one eye on Mercy(wolf) as she pauses to sniff the air, her tone lowered, though loud enough to carry to Eric, Tessa, Tenzin, Mercy(wolf), Avalon(Gulo Gulo) and Matias. “There are a lot of niches and alcoves for ambushers along this stretch.”

Mostly addressed to Eric as the team leader, the Russian asks, a brow bouncing, “Are we just going to walk into the obvious trap? I can toss in smoke or teargas, but anything more advanced will not work here.”

“We are saving people from this village correct, taking them out of here?” Matias asks

Mercy(wolf) whines audibly to try and communicate that she’d detected something to the others, glancing at them from over a shoulder.

Eric furrows his brow, peering down the avenue. “That is definitely the most obvious trap I’ve ever seen, yeah.” He nods to Matias. “Not sure how many are left, but if any are we’re taking them out of here. Kill all hostiles, rescue all friendlies. Simple.” A pause. “If we live, I mean.”

“What is it, Mercy? Little Timmy?” Tessa asks, drifting over to the wolf, trusting her to have a modicum of intelligence, and not attack someone while they’re offworld. Apparently she’s an optimist.

Matias eyeballs the building material of the settlement, stone, wood, magical mortar?

Ekaterina looks over to Mercy(wolf) at that whine.

Tenzin is a little winded after the run but he is the closest to Mercy(wolf) when the group reaches the site. His panting escapes as mist, blood heated for a while longer. His eyes go to the wolf and he lopes closer, carefully clutching his morningstar as he looks beyond her.

Eric prods at the rubble with a bare toe. “Supposedly they have runecasters, whatever that means,” he informs Matias. “So, might be magic in here somewhere? I’m not super familiar. Doesn’t look like it did them much good though.”

Eric says “I’m worried if we go over the rubble folks are gonna fall through and get split up and all that nonsense. But uh“

Mercy(wolf) bares her teeth at Tessa in a standard show of displeasure, and warning, wishing she had a voice with which to express the desire to see the woman be trapped in a well instead of little Timmy. Then her large head turns to Ekaterina and Tenzin, eyes flicking between them as she jerks her muzzle inward, trying very hard to body language communicate the possibility of human scent that’s still living. Maybe.

As if to punctuate Mercy(wolf)’s gestures, a sudden wail comes from deeper in, a child’s voice raised in obvious terror.

Mercy(wolf) swivels her ears towards the sound and tenses, posture alert.

“We need a method of better communication when you do this.” Ekaterina grumbles. “People ahe–”

The question bitten off, Ekaterina sighs . “Fuck. We are going to walk into the trap to save the children.” It’s not a question.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) doesn’t seem nearly as worried about the situation as the rest of the party, approaching the wall of one of the buildings to rub the side of its body against it, before attempting to go for a second attempt at Matias’ leg, that is now injured

Eric tilts his head at the sound, and after a moment he just grunts. “Yeah, we are. Fuck my life. Ekat take point, gas it. Lets move.”

Matias seems to reconsider whatever was on his mind and looks around the group spying Avalon(Gulo Gulo) making its way towards him. There is a breath and a snap of his fingers again freezing Avalon(Gulo Gulo) in place. “What are we worried about here, just crossbows and stuff because I am sure if we send Avalon to charge. He will be fine, especially if I wind wall him.”

Matias says “Or gas it, I will stand back here.“

Tessa’s shitt attitude breaks in an instant, and she agrees with Ekaterina, saying, “Three seconds for a plan before I run in there… we are not leaving a child behind.” Anyone who looks at her can see the set of her jaw and the hand on her lower belly, through her hoodie.

Mercy(wolf) puts her nose to the snow then back up into the air, attempting to isolate the scent of someone still alive that she can follow.

Eric says “I’m not sure what they have. The wind did work against the bows though“

“Pooh bear is likely the safest method. He can survive and we can move in once the enemy reveals themselves.” Ekaterina suggests.

Tenzin doesn’t rush in. Now that everyone is alerted to what Mercy(wolf) has found, he waits for them to come to a decision rather than risk himself be put in the middle of said decision a second too early.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) stops in its tracks the moment Matias snaps his fingers, it’s almost like magic! It growls again, but there’s not much the animal can do- For a moment it contemplates unshifting, then it thinks about the temperature of the area and decides against it

Eric says “what the ever-loving hell is Pooh Bear“

Eric says “but fine, do it. We need to move“

“Winnie the pooh, so… no plans? Because I’m resisting running in right now, and I’m getting squirrely,” Tessa announces, irritation obvious in her tone.

This is for all of you, so instead of calltry, can everyone try to notice what is about to happen with whatever perception you have, please?

Tessa is dumb and blind.

Well. He’s not very sneaky, apparently, but he certainly tries. A single raider, clad in ragged furs and with a knife in hand, rises like a wraith from where he lay beneath the snow directly behind Matias. He raises his blade to strike, teeth set in a snarl within a half-shifted hybrid muzzle.

Matias just stuns the hybrid shifter with another snap of his fingers and then suggests Avalon(Gulo Gulo), “Kill him for me would you and I will stop doing it to.”

Tessa is distracted by motherly instincts, and entirely focused on that crying child, running off and leaving Matias, and the group, to deal with that shit, blissfully unaware.

Quick as a whip, Ekaterina lets fly from where she is near Matias with a silvered knife, the blade leaving Ekaterina’s fingers to (hopefully) thunk into the raider.

He’s frozen, then he’s dead, Ekaterina’s knife thunking into his throat like he’s a redshirt on Star Trek. RIP, raider. Thou didst try. Eric’s not even paying attention, he’s instantly charging off after Tessa, completely forgetting the plan and roaring at the top of his lungs as he barrels down the main avenue.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) jumps up to try and bite the neck of the stunned raider, only for the knife to take out the hybrid shifter instead. The critter falling back down to the ground with the corpse of the aggressor, and, seeming more worried about the lost prey than some child, it instead bites down on the neck of the dead person, ensuring said death

Retrieving her knife, Ekaterina wipes it off before turning–

A torrent of Russian expletives escape the scarred woman’s lips as she runs after Eric and Tessa, litany of curses still flowing.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) is a carnivore animal that often scavenges, that’s like eighty percent of its diet

Tenzin pinches a migraine back between his brows and jogs off after the others, as well.

Mercy(wolf) lopes along once the threat is very quickly handled, keeping her nose to the air for a more concrete trail while her senses are assaulted by a myriad of scents.

As she runs, Ekaterina places two fingers to her lips, whistles to (possibly) get Mercy(wolf)’s attention and yells, “Release the hounds!”

Mercy(wolf) hears the whistle and just starts running now. She isn’t even sure where she’s going but she’s trying to get there fast.

Surprisingly, the trek down the avenue is entirely uneventful. Nobody pops out. Nobody rains boiling oil down on them. Nothing. It’s just a long, arduous run, jog, or walk through a twisting corridor of piled up debris. Jagged pieces offer the occasional danger in scraping elbows or legs, but that’s all. Still, each new turn presents alcoves and crannies where danger might lurk, and so it still takes all their focus. In place of raiders, many of those out of the way places hold skeletons or frozen corpses, half-eaten, decaying, or left as blocks of ice.

In another place, Tessa might say of Mercy(wolf), “Damn, she fast as fuck boyee” but she’s running in the direction of where she heard that cry, and that’s all that matters to her.

Matias stays with Avalon(Gulo Gulo) with his limp and watches as the group moves on, “So Avalon is the pregnancy yours or Erics?” he wonders conversationally while the wolverine eats someone.

Mercy(wolf) is, perhaps surprisingly, in pursuit of the same path as Tessa more pointedly than in search for her next challenger. She may have the maternal instincts of a woodchipper, but even she wouldn’t leave a kid behind.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) lifts its gaze from the corpse soon to be carcass to look up at Matias, but it doesn’t offer much to go off of, it’s an animal face after all- The man would likely shrug, the wolverine is unable to do so. And so instead there’s a little sneeze and a shake of its head, almost dog-like, before it slowly begins walking in the same direction as the rest rushed, moving slowly as to remain close enough to the wounded Matias

Tessa is the first to see it, as the passage is too narrow to allow anyone to pass her, really. The avenue opens onto what was once the central square, now a soot-streaked, mud-clogged forum with a ring of fires at the center. Bold as can be, a naked, hairy mountain of a man stands near seven feet tall in the very heart of that ring, firelight glinting off the piercings studding his bulk. Behind him, a group of hybrids some twenty strong clusters around a wooden pen holding only a few bedraggled villagers, including two children, a man, and two women.

Matias walks along with Avalon(Gulo Gulo) and suggests, “It is a shame that supernatural traits tend to skip so many generations, but I suppose you would try and activate any descendants you had to bring them into the fold hm?”

Ekaterina skids to a stop, clustered near Eric, Tessa and Mercy(wolf).

Tessa gets out of the way, a side step, then she skids to a stop. She’s not intimidated by the giant man, but she is looking at him with absolute hate, knuckles white on the grip of her latest blade.

The towering fellow tosses aside a leg, a human leg, that he was chewing on, grease dripping into a beard that reaches easily to his waist. He scratches at his balls with the crusted nails of one hand, then swaggers forward, stepping to the edge of the ring to consider them all with a gimlet eye. He growls something, low and threatening in Old Norse.

Against his best judgement, Avalon unshifts out of pure instinct to reply- Only to find himself naked, in subzero temperatures, and brace for himself at the sudden change of temperature, he might be hairy, but not as hairy as the animal version. He manages to mutter “If I… Wasted my time looking after offspring” Speech already shuddering and teeth clacking a little “I would have no life… Let them go and die… Likely humans anyways”

Matias perks up his eyebrows at Avalon and points out, “There is an eighty percent activation rate for people with known supernatural lineages. You could have had a little army of fae knights to lead about. Little Avalons.”

At some point Avalon and Matias will catch up with the group, just whenever.

Tenzin follows the group without word or comment, catching his breath as he emerges from that passage, too. His fists ball at the cannibalism on full display and immediately starts counting the heads still attached to uncaged bodies, and looks up and around for anything that may help give them an advantage. The monk forgets that they have supernaturals who can take care of this many men with ease.

“My blood isn’t so pure as to present every generation…” Avalon replies in turn to Matias, now with the cold, he’s the slow one, and it seems that, not eager to keep experiencing the harsh climate on his bare skin, soon enough speech is discarded in the favor of health, shifting once more, happy under the protection of his greasy and oily layer of fur

Another series of silvered knives manifest between Ekaterina’s fingers, but she doesn’t advance, yet.

Ekaterina doesn’t throw, she doesn’t move, though that rage that pervasively leaks from behind those eyes is at boiling point.

If they were still in New Haven, the woman’s static-filled aura would be writhing with storm winds and cascading lightning, but here, there is only a look of purest, unabating hatred. This man has forefitted his right to life, and the only thing that is preserving Ekaterina from throwing down without a second thought is- The prisoners.

“Sorry, I only speak English, Spanish, and fuck you,” Tessa says, pinching the blade of the knife in her hand, looking at the leader, ready to toss as soon as the Fae make their leisurely meander to join everyone else.

Mercy(wolf) stands off near Tenzin and Ekaterina, head low, hackles raised and a perpetual growl that rises in volume reverberating in her throat.

The leader gargles up something entirely nasty, spitting the gob of phlegm to the ground at their feet. He barks something over his shoulder to his men, then he’s falling forward onto all fours, changing, shifting, bones snapping and rearranging and most of all, growing. That deep, baying howl from earlier returns, now pouring, as the party can see, from the muzzle of a wolf easily matching Avalon’s bear form in size. It lofts itself to paws the size of hubcaps, baring yellowed teeth at them, luminous eyes twinned lanterns of hate and malice. Behind him, perhaps thirty feet from where the group now stands, the cluster of twenty raiders around the pen splits, roughly half rushing forward to support while the other half begin reaching in towards the prisoners with weapons raised.

Eyes narrow, Ekaterina’s lips pull back, and Ekaterina snarls, a barely human thing. White knuckled those gripped knives quiver with barely repressed murder lust.

Eric raises his voice, bellowing, “Now would be an excellent time for some wizard shit, please!”

Mercy(wolf) is pretty damn bold most of the time and more than willing to take on larger, more experienced, scarier foes regardless of her chances. Even still, her ears draw back in a subtle show of worry when this one shifts into a wolf of decidedly ‘what the fuck’ in size.

Matias comes around the corner with Avalon(Gulo Gulo) sees the bus sized wolf and just snaps his fingers again freezing it but throws in some palpatine-esque ultimate power by launching lightning right into its frozen face.

Matias says “Sorry sorry… We were discussing children.“

Tessa possesses very little to zero sense of self-preservation, and a knife leaves her hand, at the leader, before she’s off, in a diagonal, toward the prisoners, more knives tossed at specifically whoever’s closest to the children.

Avalon(Gulo Gulo) arrives by the side of Matias, glancing at the stunned wolf that is getting Palpatine-d, and advancing a couple steps past the sorcerer, it begins to shift and morph once more, within little time growing back to the abnormally sized beast that it was not too long ago, remaining out of the way of the lightning strikes, but close enough to keep the arcanist safe from any retaliation

The enormous wolf goes tumbling head over tail backwards, unable to even flail in its stunned state, a scorched patch bubbling on the broad plane of his chest. But, even as they watch, that too begins to rapidly heal, though the wound is deep enough it will take some time yet. What doesn’t heal, however, is the sliver of silver that sticks into the beast as Tessa throws, the flesh trying again and again to close, but peeling away again and again as it meets silver. He’s still stunned, but that great head starts to groggily shake itself back to alertness.

The lightning is thrown- Ekaterina snaps.

Sprinting after the lightning bolt towards the stunned wolf, a knife is thrown, Ekaterina already moving in to recklessly tackle the huge creature regardless of safety.

The dam burst, the gauntlet thrown and Ekaterina charges her nemesis.

As the group begins to aggress the big boy wolf and its minions Matias briefly shifts into a cat, skimper scampers with its one bump leg past the fight only to remanifest as a man. Approaching the hostages he starts throwing lightning left and right at those with weapons raised at them.

Ten of the hybrid raiders rush the group, and at the sight of Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) they swerve away from Matias to rush Ekaterina, Mercy(wolf), and Tenzin. Eric is keeping close on Tessa’s heels, as she’s for some reason? Decided to charge the other 10 on her own, flinging knives that wing several of them with punishing silver.. It does draw their attention, for better or worse, to her instead of the prisoners.

Seeing as Matias has moved on to attack the raiders and there’s no longer that need for outright protection, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) moves towards the other big shifter, mildly surprised to see both healing and aversion for silver in a singular shifter. But taking the healing wound from the lightning, and the attacks from the other party members to the beast- The bear simply attempts to make things short and prevent anymore healing by opening its maw and trying to rip the head of the giant wolf right off

There are half-assed attempts to use raiders as bodyshields, throwing them away from her, tripping her, though Ekaterina’s attention is solidly on the big boy. As fruitless as it might be, Ekaterina stabs, gouges, kicks, punches and claws at the wolf leader.

Tenzin had been about to go in and assist Ekaterina but it looks like he’s too late. He focuses on taking down what raiders come his way with his weapon and fighting senses.

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) looms over the giant werewolf, and showing no mercy, it opens its maw and lowers it over the shifter’s head, fangs sinking into the meat with ease, and mustering all the strength of- Well, a bear scaled up, it pulls and rips. Rushes of adrenaline coursing through its muscles to finally achieve the task. The head comes off- And in turn its flung towards some of the raiders keeping the hostages. The feat is followed up by a loud roar of the bear, that admittedly sounds a lot like a shout, before maybe to cause more fear or to further prove a point- The sharp claws fall on the decapited body, splashing blood all over the place

As Tessa takes those blows willingly, one particularly hard one strikes her in the back, sending her tumbling. It does mean she reaches the prisoners, that’s not particularly hard, especially when she’s bodily knocked into the fence surrounding them. What really does the trick is that they’re all focused on her, which lets Matias unleash electrical hell into their backs, frying wolves left and right with bursts of power. There’s no time for them to do anything to the prisoners, or even to capitalize on Tessa being off balance, before half are already dead and smoking. The remaining five turn back towards Matias, charging at him in a blind attempt to finish him before he can do any more damage. The enormous head of their leader crashing into their line doesn’t help, knocking three of them prone beneath the weight.

Mercy(wolf) leaves the giant wolf to fight someone in its own weight class, bracing herself as the raiders come charging in her group’s direction. She waits and watches for the barest hint of a straggler, someone straying too far from their cluster, but regardless as they encroach she leaps forward to close the gap, launching herself teeth-first at the nearest one to try and make quick work of him.

As easily as snipping the head from a flower, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) crunches the enormous wolf’s skull. A legendary raider, a werewolf old and weathered, battle-tested, dead before he can even rise fully. Between Matias’s sorcery and Ekaterina’s blind charge, he’s held in place long enough to die as ireverently as he lived. There will be no songs, no tales. He’s just, dead, and hot blood sprays everywhere.

“Okay I have wizard. So protection, please.” Matias calls outs to the others as Tessa is recovering, half the backline is dead, and he is getting bumrushed by the remainder. He cannot really backpedal at this point so those in hybrid or wolf form are stunned, others are lightning’d but he is really just pulling out the hookblade in case he gets mauled before his help arrives!

“Baby, cages!” Tessa yells, her voice firm, not showing, even as she has to force down the pain, ignore it, not able to just shut it off like SOME PEOPLE, that she’s hurt, and hurt bad. No, she’s heading to free the kids, more important than anything to her.

Tenzin moves through the raiders like the wind itself, it’s clear these are not particularly trained fighters but rather brutes who thrive on fear and strength. Still, with as many as there are they start to enclose him, until Mercy(wolf) darts in. The wolf literally nipping at their heels and hamstrings gives him more space, and amidst the clash of metal and the growling of hybrids and full wolves, the screams of the villagers, the pounding of footsteps and the boom of lightning, they begin to topple like dominos.

Eric crashes into the cages at Tessa’s side, hewing through wood with frenzied sweeps of his axe, cleaving her an opening without bothering to open the locks. Then he’s bounding towards the back of Matias’s still standing assailants, planting a foot atop the fallen to cave in their skulls with quick blows of his weapon. That leaves two who flank Matias, swinging heavy swords at the wizard in a frenzy.

Matias is more than happy to limp walk further back while hurling lightning so someone can play blocker for him and then begin catching his breath. Contrary to popular belief unlimited lightning power still exerts effort and he is all sweaty either from that leg wound or spending the last minute being a electrical battery.

Matias is more than happy to limp walk further back while hurling lightning so Eric can play blocker for him and then begin catching his breath. Contrary to popular belief unlimited lightning power still exerts effort and he is all sweaty either from that leg wound or spending the last minute being a electrical battery.

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) seems to be satisfied with having killed the giant shifter, and soon it moves on towards Matias, who is requesting assitance- In his current form he isn’t the fastest, but on its path it makes sure to step over every single raider that has been left behind, ensuring that those out of combat actually end up dead, by pure virtue of its weight crushing them down

Matias continues to back hobble as more people and Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) come to play blockers for him, panting while getting a water bottle out of his blazer and chugging some.

For a long moment, even as Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) tares the head from the wolf– Even as those gigantic bear paws hammer down, spraying blood, bone fragments and gore like as much discarded clay, Ekaterina continues to stab relentlessly– pointlessly at the thing, given into a barbarian rage of her own.

That then is embodied the reason for Ekaterina’s psych evaluations, for the hesitation to take Temple leadership, to interact too closely with the city’s wolf population. It’s pure hatred– reckless, mindless, cruel- Then she recognizes there are others and she sprints.

Spattered with gore and moving like a bat out of hell, Ekaterina does her best Red Sonja impression (partly by being dyed red by gallons of monster shifter blood) partly by that killing lust that sees her barrel into the next wolf in line, tripping it, using it as a living shield against its friends, then savagely cutting its throat.

She-demon with a sword Ekaterina is not, but there is a knife that runs red with the blood of her enemies as Eric, Tessa, Tenzin, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi), Matias and Ekaterina fights on.

Tessa bends down to help, gently, remove each person from the cages, taking her time to ensure they’re out, and briefly checking for obvious wounds – she’s not a medic, and it shows – but trusting the group to their murder mission.

Eric holds his own against the last two, barely, until Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) arrives from behind to make it a simple matter. He pants for breath, leaning on his axe, glancing over to Matias. “I don’t remember Palpatine needing a water break,” he calls out, before turning to look back at how Tenzin and Mercy(wolf) are doing.

“Movies are really good at making things look easy.” Matias says with another swig of water and since there does not appear to be anyone trying to kill him, he finds a wall to lean against whilst the group cleans up.

Unlike most around, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) seems to be taking the matter with quite the calm- He’s gotten dinner, he’s beheaded some wolf, and he’s happily stomped over corpses to see them splash the area. And now, standing between Matias and Eric on one side, and two remaining raiders on the other, the bear can barely contain its excitement as it tries to fall over one- Though admittedly the beast isn’t the quickest- Only to try and fit half of the enemy into its maw, attempting to eat the barbarian alive on the spot

Eric gets splattered with all the remnants from Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi)’s messy meal, and groans, glaring up at the creature.

Mercy(wolf) goes down with her quarry and briefly disappears in the crowd as they move around their fallen comrade and the wolf atop him, but she then emerges from behind another, almost airborne, jaws wide as they sail towards the back of his neck, trying to pick them off one snap at a time before they can overwhelm Tenzin.

Once there are no longer enemies to stab, Ekaterina begins to come down from that high slowly. Her breathing is heavy, great sucking breaths and a snarl slowly replaced with unsteady gusts of snorted air as the scarred woman stands there, drentched in gore.

Tenzin is not used to fighting in perfect synergy with something like Mercy(wolf) but he learns on the fly. Staying out of Ekaterina’s way specifically, he stays focused on what comes and goes, blocks and blows, and the challenge of finding weak points between multiple opponents.

Like wheat before the scythe do the final raiders fall, crushed by Tenzin, chomped by Mercy(wolf), butchered by the furious Ekaterina. Eric does what he can to help from across the square, tugging them telekinetically to the ground here and there, but it’s a slaughter any way you slice it, and Ekaterina is definitely doing the slicing. As the final raider crumbles to the ground, all is still, just for a single heartbeat. Then the crying of the children resumes, they and the adults alike clambering out with Tessa’s help, unwounded but hollow-eyed and shaken. Eric glances around, blood-spattered himself, braids whipping in the wind, then shakes open the tote slung over his shoulder. “Get the heads. Heads, villagers, we leave.” He sets to the butchery himself, decapitating the raiders nearest him and tossing what he can into the bag. “Less a few because Avalon is a hungry boy, I guess.”

After turning another warrior into essentially minced meat, Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) turns towards Matias to stare at the man, laying on the ground with likely a little more than a thump. And then Eric is urging to collect heads and run and with a little exhale the beast stands on fours again, pacing slowly towards the discarded and decapitated head of the massive shifter, taking it with its mouth and carrying it around

Ekaterina takes no part in the decapitations. Instead, she makes her way to the avenue head, austencibly as a guard, though partly to get some air after that unsightly expression of rage- It’s not shame as such, but more so self recriminating fury at herself for not preserving that self control.

Matias limps along with the departing Ekaterina unfortunately given all the combat, he looks like he took a blood bath and the chill outside likely causes steam to come off his grisly appearance.

Tessa escaped most of the bloodbath by virtue of not being near it, but she’s not… willing to help with the beheading, and not armed for it, even if she was. She squats down to brush a little of the blood on a child’s face away, shushing them with a sweet tone, showing that gentle, kind nature she claims to have. She presses a bit of food in a wrapped package into one of the women’s hands, then gives a smile, turning away to cough, a bit of blood spattered onto the snow as she starts to come down from the adrenaline.

Mercy(wolf) performs a few anxious spins to keep watchful eyes on their surroundings, looking for more enemies or any residual movement from the ones already on the ground. Finding none, she lets herself relax a touch and lumbers back over to Tenzin, thickly bloodied saliva dripping from her panting maw.

Neither does Tenzin take any heads from the bodies. Cold and weary from the exertion and the climate, he drops to one knee at a wavering sway and is once again trying to catch his breath. Mercy(wolf) is regarded with a gauging look and a grateful dip of his head. He checks around for any other villagers that may need freeing.

Eric sighs, and just keeps on working at it alone, moving from corpse to corpse. It’s backbreaking work, and he’s sweating profusely by the time he’s done, covered up to the elbows in gore. “He wanted proof,” he defends himself to the group at large, scowling. “Only way y’all get paid and only way I get what he owes me.” He zips up the bag, though blood still drips through the fabric to spatter in his wake. “I don’t smell any more, just these. Merc?” He looks to Mercy(wolf), raising his brow at the wolf and tapping his nose.

And in no time, since werewolves revert to human form upon death, the head that Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) holds also changes in size, resulting on the pressure the beast was putting on holding it to turn into it closing its mouth, smashing one more head that Eric could have harvested- One more piece of person lost to the fluffy animal. Instead, as the huge creature listens to Eric, it takes the beheaded and now human body of the once-werewolf and takes it with him, following Eric with his new proof of completion, and maybe huffing a bit to scare some the probably already terrified hostages

Mercy(wolf) catches Eric’s cue and lifts her nose back up into the air, though it’s so heavy with the metallic tang of blood who knows if she’ll catch the scent of anything else.

Eric sets about poking through the tattered clothes and other belongings left thrown about, tossed amidst piles of bones. It’s clear this is where all the villagers were kept, and just as clear that only the four with them remain. Still, he gives Mercy(wolf) time just to make sure, before settling his bag of heads a little more securely on his shoulder. He falls in at Tessa’s flank, herding the villagers forward so they remain at the center of the group. “Mission accomplished, I guess. Lets get these folks out of here. Tenzin, you able to find them shelter, food? That seems like your thing.”

Tenzin moves with the others, staying closer to Mercy(wolf) and Ekaterina’s side of the formation back. “I am afraid I have nothing of my own to offer, but I could ah, direct them to the New Faith Homeless Shelter in the city,” he considers as the best option. “There are usually donations that flow through there.” What he does do, as well, is count how many will be following them out of the mirrorgate.

“Temple has a stipend for rehousing. We can see them get to the shelter, da.” Ekaterina agrees with Tenzin.

Matias is frozen through, bloody and looks to be just huddled up while trudging back to the mirror.

Matias says “Next time, more emphasis on the cold.“

The trek back through the ruined town and up the hill is uneventful. The wind continues to blow, just as it did when they came, the sound forlorn and as chilling as the cold itself. They’ve saved four prisoners out of a settlement that should have held thousands. It’s a small, nearly meaningless victory, but it is, perhaps to some of them, better than nothing. They came. They conquered. And they left death in their wake.

Ekaterina agrees whole heartedly with Matias. “Da. Next time let us know to get winter gear and a drycleaner ready- Blood never comes out right.”

Avalon(Ursus Arctos Middendorffi) only starts unshifting once mirrorgating is the next thing to do, after all, it’s going to be hard to fit that size of bear through a mirror- And as such the animal starts reverting to a naked human, leaving the dead leader of the raiders to a side of the travel spot, offering Eric his proof