Encounterlogs
Ashs Odd Encounter Sr Jack 240918
Ash finds themselves in a precarious situation on a moonlit night, wandering Sanctuary Way with a sense that danger lurks around every corner. Their instincts prove correct when they detect the presence of Haley, a familiar adversary turned vampire who had nearly captured Ash in a past encounter. In a desperate bid to escape detection, Ash transforms into a bat, taking refuge in the trees while conjuring a distraction with will o' wisps and illusions of fae children. However, Haley's keen senses and vampiric abilities pose a significant threat, leading to a tense cat-and-mouse chase through the forest. Despite the danger, Ash's clever use of distractions and their innate agility allows them to momentarily evade Haley's grasp.
The chase escalates as Haley transforms into a bat herself, demonstrating her newfound power and determination to hunt down Ash under the command of her mysterious master. The pursuit leads them toward the relative safety of the Warden's Wood, where Ash hopes the enchantments of White Oak may offer protection. In a dramatic climax, both Ash and Haley land within the protected bounds of the Institute, reverting to their human forms in a confrontation that tests Ash's resolve and magical prowess. Utilizing a mixture of psychic persuasion and the threat of physical force, Ash manages to fend off Haley's hypnotic influence, forcing her to retreat. Exhausted and shaken, Ash seeks refuge within the Union, pondering their next moves while grappling with the repercussions of the night's events and the ongoing threat posed by Haley and her master. This harrowing encounter leaves Ash both physically and mentally taxed, yet determined to confront the dangers that lie ahead.
(Ash's odd encounter(SRJack):SRJack)
[Tue Sep 17 2024]
On Sanctuary Way
A winding dirt road leads through the woods.
It is night, about 71F(21C) degrees, There is a waning gibbous moon.
(A group of supernatural hunters is out to get your target. Maybe for sport, maybe from ideology, in either case they need to survive for long enough that their allies can come and help them deal with the threat.
)
Ash is wandering a narrow road in the woods, half-feral under the light of the waning gibbous moon. Their hazel eyes glance left and right furtively, as if expecting someone - or something - to leap out at any given moment. The hint of fur starts from their artificially pointed ears every time they hear something, but they relax after a moment, recognizing every time that this isn't *it*, the *moment*, where death comes for them.
They have a hunted look about them, but it's less fear, more caution, body poised to react. They seem like they have reason to believe that someone is after them and theirs, and they want to be ready. And yet... they're in the woods in the dead of night. A strange response to being hunted... but that's how it is.
Someone is after Ash. Is it who Ash thinks? Is it someone else? It's hard to know -- but there is a shadow in the night, flitting from tree to tree, and that heart-rending, thumping, concerning sense that comes in the pit of one's stomach that suggests danger. It's there in their heart, pacing them, along with the movements in the shadowy woods they can't quite focus on.
So close to the full moon, there are howls in the night -- but they are distant. No, what's close up in something far more silent. To Ash's supernaturally tuned nose, it smells like nothing: it smells like death.
Ash attempts to step into the shadows to escape - ah, but they've already done that this night, haven't they? It won't work, not now, not yet. They didn't want to do this, not again, but they're not taking chances tonight. They let their clothes melt away as....
Ash(bat) flies up into a tree, hanging quietly as they wait. They let their hunter come into view while they watch. Who... no, definitely *what*... is after them?
A bat -- some tiny thing, Ash(bat) is, a white gasp against dark branches in the night. Beneath, on silent feet, pads a young woman. Ash(bat) recognizes her: he faced her in a hotel room a week or so ago, the would-be turned student Haley. She's sniffing for something as she pauses in the road-way, as if trying to track Ash(bat) by scent and not able to quite understand the change he has had.
Ash(bat) considers a moment, thinking. They are not very powerful... they can't wrestle her down, they won't kill her. Not tonight, not like this. Not without even a weapon. Though... that doesn't mean that they're ready to fly away. Not quite yet. They emit just the faintest of lights - but as they do, they summon more, off to the side. A cloud of Will o' wisps form a ghostly shape, wandering through the woods.
As their distraction takes place, Ash(bat) flits to the largest branch they can find, and slowly, *slowly* start to shift back. Careful... careful. Quietly - or, at least, that's the intent. And while they do, their illusion begins. Children, fae, running through the woods. Always out of the corner of her eyes. Flashes. They come for the ghostly sillhouette, but then run past, brush past, on a hunt of their own.
As soon as they've returned to their human form, Ash(bat) starts to sing.
As Ash settles, as the Will-O-Wisps rise, Haley turns. At first there is excitement on her face. She's in a pair of gray yoga pants, a tank top, runners, with hair that streams back from a pale face like some reflection of the moon. As she turns, the bobbing light of the Will-O-Wisps plays across her face, and then it catches on her fangs -- catches on some terrible smile.
Then bobbing children appear, and excitement turns to confusion. She turns again, twisting... and then Ash's song begins.
"You are my fire... My one desire!" She might expect it to be Ash singing, but no... she can see Ash sneaking past quickly, lit by a faint will o' wisp that provides *just* enough foot light to prevent their stumbling as they hurry down the road. No, it's that useless glowing will o' wisp singing instead, the one she knows now isn't real. It's moved nearer to the trees, taunting and - quite obviously - distracting her from her actual quarry. "Believe when I say... I want it that way!"
Ash is getting away! All of the children jump between her and the fleeing form, their forms singing along even if their voices aren't there. "*Tell me why*!" The voice sings jubilantly, swinging into the chorus. "You've become a vamp and hunt us! Tell me why! You have to start this whole fuss!" The will o' wisps start to fade back, still singing. "Tell me why! I never want to hear you say...."
Spinning again, the young vampire tries to find Ash -- she tries to track him with her eyes, but this is a confusing, chaotic, and VERY FAE kind of mess. The sound of his song floats over her, and there's a pause; some shake, really, even as Ash can feel the imprint take hold. "Where are you?" she asks, her eyes seeming to almost glow in the moonlight. "My Master set me on all of you," she says, as if distracted. "I don't know what his hatred for White Oak is -- but he recruited me and my sisters to hunt you."
Ash is tempted - very tempted, to ask more. But, they know that the longer they stay, the easier it is for her to catch on. And as soon as the table turns, they do not have much chance of getting free. They decide to play it cautious... this time. This is, at least, enough to get started with. A vampire who hates White Oak, and who has caught not just Haley, but her sisters, as well? No. No, there's still too many questions. But, it's not safe to ask them.
doesn't answer, simply turning into a bat behind their will o' wisp distraction, flying off. They use their size and silent wings to follow her, instead. Perhaps she will lead somewhere interesting... or perhaps she will escape again.
Perhaps -- or perhaps she will turn back to Ash(bat). When he shifts again, she sniffs, and now the teenage vampire is onto the Fae. She throws herself into the air, and she, too, is turning -- into a raven-hued bat. There's a click-click as now the Haley-bat seeks the Ash-bat with some low echolocation.
Ash(bat) clearly didn't expect that - she's already that powerful? They flee, diving through the forest and dipping, dodging through the trees. Their illusions won't be of any help here, not to another bat. They do their best to shake her off, as their brain scrambles for a way out of this.
She is young, certainly, to have that power -- she must have seized it, through blood sacrifice or the gift of a dark master. A dark Master ... who is it who set Childe Haley upon the students of White Oak? On black wings, she sweeps towards Ash(bat), the click-click-clicking echoing in Ash(bat)'s own bat-brain. Now the chase is on, with the nearly full moon casting some chiaroscuro net of shadows through the trees.
Ash(bat) makes a quick decision, and loops through the air. Under some branches, and through... heading towards the Warden Woods. Northwest, still using the forest for cover, but this way, they at least have a goal to head towards. If not, this isn't the only trick they have up their sleeve. There's quite a few ways to escape someone hunting you, and Ash(bat) has been quite studied in them.
A goal is right -- wise. Ash(bat) is on swift wings, though the black-winged bat seems to fly at least as fast as him, if not faster. Up ahead, through the moonlight, he can see the eaves of the Warden's Wood. Will White Oak's enchantment still protect him there? It's hard to know -- she is gaining fast.
Ash(bat) puts their all into it, summoning up even the strings of fate to assist them as they flee her quickened wings. Just a little... just a little further... almost... they can hear her behind them. They realize that they won't have the time to shift again, at this rate, they're - no, there! The woods!
dives, and then they can practically *feel* themself breaking through the Institute's barrier. They shift back into their human form, nude, for a running landing as they flip around, teeth bared, to the vampire who has followed them thus far. They've got a fist ready for her - though the protection spell should (probably?) prevent them from punching her, they ready it anyways.
Does it? The bat is landing, too -- shifting back into a naked young woman, her hair whipped around her like a black halo. She bares her fangs, eyes on Ash(bat), as she falls into a crouch. There's a lunging motion, some failure to catch him, and then she's looking for Ash(bat)'s eyes with her own.
Ash doesn't have their sunglasses, nude - but they have their voice. "Leave me!" The command is laced with psychic persuasion, hoping the song still has her, as they stomp their feet. Two can play that game - and their eyes can Trance, as well.
And if it's a game of chance? Between who will ensorcle the other first? The fae knows that the strings of fate are at *their* beck and call. Bad luck may come for them, but mal de ojo - the evil eye - stares right back.
Vampires are past masters at hypnotism, and there is a sudden pressure on Ash's mind: some mental compulsion. << Come with me >>, the voice demands, and the desire to come with Haley -- to leave the safety of White Oak's precinct -- is overwhelming. Ash's conscious mind isn't even aware, but his subconscious? It might resist, at some psychic price.
Ash resists, naturally. They've been hunted for hours now, their home has been trashed, their friend is missing, and they haven't been able to make to a safe place of rest... they are on edge, their proverbial hackles raised, adrenaline still in their veins. They fight back - sure, they have some 'curiosity', they have some 'fear'; but do they really 'pity' her enough to offer their neck to her? Their empathy is low, but it's there. Those are the sort of pressures that might draw them... but no, they pay the price, instead.
They pay the price -- and are free. A headache rocks Ash's head even as Haley steps back, hissing in her nakedness. Her eyes flash with pain, but then she is turning: turning to flee, to become a bat again and hurry herself away from Ash, his will, and the damnable Warden's wards that protect him.
Ash stumbles back, hand to their head... but they don't relax until she's completely gone from sight. And then they stumble over to the Union, to enter the campus proper. Whether to report her to some campus authority, or to simply slink back to the safety of their dorm, they're not yet sure. Perhaps to the clinic... yes. They can get some clothes and things from there. Then they can figure out their next step... maybe hunting, themself, to make up for this pain.
With head pounding, Ash has survived yet another night in Haven... though for all they know, it may be their last.
The chase escalates as Haley transforms into a bat herself, demonstrating her newfound power and determination to hunt down Ash under the command of her mysterious master. The pursuit leads them toward the relative safety of the Warden's Wood, where Ash hopes the enchantments of White Oak may offer protection. In a dramatic climax, both Ash and Haley land within the protected bounds of the Institute, reverting to their human forms in a confrontation that tests Ash's resolve and magical prowess. Utilizing a mixture of psychic persuasion and the threat of physical force, Ash manages to fend off Haley's hypnotic influence, forcing her to retreat. Exhausted and shaken, Ash seeks refuge within the Union, pondering their next moves while grappling with the repercussions of the night's events and the ongoing threat posed by Haley and her master. This harrowing encounter leaves Ash both physically and mentally taxed, yet determined to confront the dangers that lie ahead.
(Ash's odd encounter(SRJack):SRJack)
[Tue Sep 17 2024]
On Sanctuary Way
A winding dirt road leads through the woods.
It is night, about 71F(21C) degrees, There is a waning gibbous moon.
(A group of supernatural hunters is out to get your target. Maybe for sport, maybe from ideology, in either case they need to survive for long enough that their allies can come and help them deal with the threat.
)
Ash is wandering a narrow road in the woods, half-feral under the light of the waning gibbous moon. Their hazel eyes glance left and right furtively, as if expecting someone - or something - to leap out at any given moment. The hint of fur starts from their artificially pointed ears every time they hear something, but they relax after a moment, recognizing every time that this isn't *it*, the *moment*, where death comes for them.
They have a hunted look about them, but it's less fear, more caution, body poised to react. They seem like they have reason to believe that someone is after them and theirs, and they want to be ready. And yet... they're in the woods in the dead of night. A strange response to being hunted... but that's how it is.
Someone is after Ash. Is it who Ash thinks? Is it someone else? It's hard to know -- but there is a shadow in the night, flitting from tree to tree, and that heart-rending, thumping, concerning sense that comes in the pit of one's stomach that suggests danger. It's there in their heart, pacing them, along with the movements in the shadowy woods they can't quite focus on.
So close to the full moon, there are howls in the night -- but they are distant. No, what's close up in something far more silent. To Ash's supernaturally tuned nose, it smells like nothing: it smells like death.
Ash attempts to step into the shadows to escape - ah, but they've already done that this night, haven't they? It won't work, not now, not yet. They didn't want to do this, not again, but they're not taking chances tonight. They let their clothes melt away as....
Ash(bat) flies up into a tree, hanging quietly as they wait. They let their hunter come into view while they watch. Who... no, definitely *what*... is after them?
A bat -- some tiny thing, Ash(bat) is, a white gasp against dark branches in the night. Beneath, on silent feet, pads a young woman. Ash(bat) recognizes her: he faced her in a hotel room a week or so ago, the would-be turned student Haley. She's sniffing for something as she pauses in the road-way, as if trying to track Ash(bat) by scent and not able to quite understand the change he has had.
Ash(bat) considers a moment, thinking. They are not very powerful... they can't wrestle her down, they won't kill her. Not tonight, not like this. Not without even a weapon. Though... that doesn't mean that they're ready to fly away. Not quite yet. They emit just the faintest of lights - but as they do, they summon more, off to the side. A cloud of Will o' wisps form a ghostly shape, wandering through the woods.
As their distraction takes place, Ash(bat) flits to the largest branch they can find, and slowly, *slowly* start to shift back. Careful... careful. Quietly - or, at least, that's the intent. And while they do, their illusion begins. Children, fae, running through the woods. Always out of the corner of her eyes. Flashes. They come for the ghostly sillhouette, but then run past, brush past, on a hunt of their own.
As soon as they've returned to their human form, Ash(bat) starts to sing.
As Ash settles, as the Will-O-Wisps rise, Haley turns. At first there is excitement on her face. She's in a pair of gray yoga pants, a tank top, runners, with hair that streams back from a pale face like some reflection of the moon. As she turns, the bobbing light of the Will-O-Wisps plays across her face, and then it catches on her fangs -- catches on some terrible smile.
Then bobbing children appear, and excitement turns to confusion. She turns again, twisting... and then Ash's song begins.
"You are my fire... My one desire!" She might expect it to be Ash singing, but no... she can see Ash sneaking past quickly, lit by a faint will o' wisp that provides *just* enough foot light to prevent their stumbling as they hurry down the road. No, it's that useless glowing will o' wisp singing instead, the one she knows now isn't real. It's moved nearer to the trees, taunting and - quite obviously - distracting her from her actual quarry. "Believe when I say... I want it that way!"
Ash is getting away! All of the children jump between her and the fleeing form, their forms singing along even if their voices aren't there. "*Tell me why*!" The voice sings jubilantly, swinging into the chorus. "You've become a vamp and hunt us! Tell me why! You have to start this whole fuss!" The will o' wisps start to fade back, still singing. "Tell me why! I never want to hear you say...."
Spinning again, the young vampire tries to find Ash -- she tries to track him with her eyes, but this is a confusing, chaotic, and VERY FAE kind of mess. The sound of his song floats over her, and there's a pause; some shake, really, even as Ash can feel the imprint take hold. "Where are you?" she asks, her eyes seeming to almost glow in the moonlight. "My Master set me on all of you," she says, as if distracted. "I don't know what his hatred for White Oak is -- but he recruited me and my sisters to hunt you."
Ash is tempted - very tempted, to ask more. But, they know that the longer they stay, the easier it is for her to catch on. And as soon as the table turns, they do not have much chance of getting free. They decide to play it cautious... this time. This is, at least, enough to get started with. A vampire who hates White Oak, and who has caught not just Haley, but her sisters, as well? No. No, there's still too many questions. But, it's not safe to ask them.
doesn't answer, simply turning into a bat behind their will o' wisp distraction, flying off. They use their size and silent wings to follow her, instead. Perhaps she will lead somewhere interesting... or perhaps she will escape again.
Perhaps -- or perhaps she will turn back to Ash(bat). When he shifts again, she sniffs, and now the teenage vampire is onto the Fae. She throws herself into the air, and she, too, is turning -- into a raven-hued bat. There's a click-click as now the Haley-bat seeks the Ash-bat with some low echolocation.
Ash(bat) clearly didn't expect that - she's already that powerful? They flee, diving through the forest and dipping, dodging through the trees. Their illusions won't be of any help here, not to another bat. They do their best to shake her off, as their brain scrambles for a way out of this.
She is young, certainly, to have that power -- she must have seized it, through blood sacrifice or the gift of a dark master. A dark Master ... who is it who set Childe Haley upon the students of White Oak? On black wings, she sweeps towards Ash(bat), the click-click-clicking echoing in Ash(bat)'s own bat-brain. Now the chase is on, with the nearly full moon casting some chiaroscuro net of shadows through the trees.
Ash(bat) makes a quick decision, and loops through the air. Under some branches, and through... heading towards the Warden Woods. Northwest, still using the forest for cover, but this way, they at least have a goal to head towards. If not, this isn't the only trick they have up their sleeve. There's quite a few ways to escape someone hunting you, and Ash(bat) has been quite studied in them.
A goal is right -- wise. Ash(bat) is on swift wings, though the black-winged bat seems to fly at least as fast as him, if not faster. Up ahead, through the moonlight, he can see the eaves of the Warden's Wood. Will White Oak's enchantment still protect him there? It's hard to know -- she is gaining fast.
Ash(bat) puts their all into it, summoning up even the strings of fate to assist them as they flee her quickened wings. Just a little... just a little further... almost... they can hear her behind them. They realize that they won't have the time to shift again, at this rate, they're - no, there! The woods!
dives, and then they can practically *feel* themself breaking through the Institute's barrier. They shift back into their human form, nude, for a running landing as they flip around, teeth bared, to the vampire who has followed them thus far. They've got a fist ready for her - though the protection spell should (probably?) prevent them from punching her, they ready it anyways.
Does it? The bat is landing, too -- shifting back into a naked young woman, her hair whipped around her like a black halo. She bares her fangs, eyes on Ash(bat), as she falls into a crouch. There's a lunging motion, some failure to catch him, and then she's looking for Ash(bat)'s eyes with her own.
Ash doesn't have their sunglasses, nude - but they have their voice. "Leave me!" The command is laced with psychic persuasion, hoping the song still has her, as they stomp their feet. Two can play that game - and their eyes can Trance, as well.
And if it's a game of chance? Between who will ensorcle the other first? The fae knows that the strings of fate are at *their* beck and call. Bad luck may come for them, but mal de ojo - the evil eye - stares right back.
Vampires are past masters at hypnotism, and there is a sudden pressure on Ash's mind: some mental compulsion. << Come with me >>, the voice demands, and the desire to come with Haley -- to leave the safety of White Oak's precinct -- is overwhelming. Ash's conscious mind isn't even aware, but his subconscious? It might resist, at some psychic price.
Ash resists, naturally. They've been hunted for hours now, their home has been trashed, their friend is missing, and they haven't been able to make to a safe place of rest... they are on edge, their proverbial hackles raised, adrenaline still in their veins. They fight back - sure, they have some 'curiosity', they have some 'fear'; but do they really 'pity' her enough to offer their neck to her? Their empathy is low, but it's there. Those are the sort of pressures that might draw them... but no, they pay the price, instead.
They pay the price -- and are free. A headache rocks Ash's head even as Haley steps back, hissing in her nakedness. Her eyes flash with pain, but then she is turning: turning to flee, to become a bat again and hurry herself away from Ash, his will, and the damnable Warden's wards that protect him.
Ash stumbles back, hand to their head... but they don't relax until she's completely gone from sight. And then they stumble over to the Union, to enter the campus proper. Whether to report her to some campus authority, or to simply slink back to the safety of their dorm, they're not yet sure. Perhaps to the clinic... yes. They can get some clothes and things from there. Then they can figure out their next step... maybe hunting, themself, to make up for this pain.
With head pounding, Ash has survived yet another night in Haven... though for all they know, it may be their last.