Rex carefully sheathes his comparatively diminutive blade, and then hangs forward to lay his hands flat on the ground, stretching out his back and legs. "That was rough," he mutters, his long hair trailing on the ground. He swings his body upright again. "Am I improving at *all*?" he asks hopelessly.
Layla steps daintily down the road from the direction of town. At the sight of others, she lifts a hand a waves a greeting.
Rowan sticks another herb into his pocket and, after shifting back down to lupus, tilts his head and pads slowly towards the voices.
Lucas looks surprised at Rex's forlorn question. "Sure y'are. You've got some bad habits to unlearn, an' that always feels like takin' three steps back for every step forward, but we'll have a proper khara'ul out of you yet." The big smith grins brightly and deals Rex a good-natured clout on the shoulder. "And you're a good sight farther along than a lot of our fighting anda, that's certain. Oh! Hullo, Layla!" he calls a greeting to the newcomer. "Sorry if'n we're blockin' th'road, here."
Rex blushes and grins sheepishly under the smith's praise, and only staggers a little under the blow. "M'glad, then. Thank you, Mr. Maker." He bows briefly, with an embarrassed duck of the head that suggests he heard it was the right thing to do once upon a time and still isn't sure that it is.
Lucas shakes the stiffness out of his heavy hemp shirt, making a face as he shrugs the cold fabric over his steaming shoulders. He rubs his hands up and down his arms briskly to warm the sleeves faster. "Oi! Well, it's good for the soul, eh?" he remarks. "And how are you today, Miz Sunshine?" he inquires with a mischevious glint in his blue eyes.
Sunshine smiles gently as she sees Lucas and the lad with him. Walking slowly she approaches the pair, nodding to Layla. With an amused gleam in her eyes, she answers. "I'm very well, Mr. Maker. How are yourself and your companions?"
Layla gives Sunshine an answering nod as she skirts a small mud puddle and moves to the side of the road.
The smith laughs easily. "Sweaty and stinky, Ma'am. Young Rex here has been kind enough to let me pretend to be Gurkhan for an hour or so a day."
Rowan leans against a tree, as he approaches, and smiles faintly, watching.
Sunshine pages: Gurkhan just means instructor, or is it someone in particular?
Sunshine smiles up at Lucas for a moment and then gives Rex an approving nod. "Good for you, Rex. Lucas had excellent training for the position, and it's time he put it to use."
Rex twists to one side, then the other, his spine making popping noises both ways. Then he goes to pick up his red flannel shirt. "He's awful good at it," he tells Sunshine with a rueful little laugh. "I thought I was exercisin' enough to do good at this. But at least I'll be better in a fight than just target practice now."
Layla hides a grin at Rex's words.
Sunshine seems amused by this, especially since her training for fights is all directed at avoiding them and cleaning up the aftermath. "I'm sure you're doing very indeed," she says, only the barest hint of her amusement showing in her tone.
Lucas grins. "Ah reckon once we get you set up in a good, solid kata, we can start the riding lessons," he tells the lion-kin. He fixes each of the others with a meaningful look. "And the rest of you, too, if Ah can convince you. Even if you think you'll never fight, there may come a time when one of us'll have to carry you off in a hurry, and not all of us got the knack of keeping you on if you can't keep yourself on, eh?" Lucas evidently refers to himself and his equine Kin.
Rowan, who's certainly not invisible, just inaudible until now, says, "I'm a /huge/ fan of the idea, Lucas, sir."
Sunshine's eyes twinkle merrily as she glances first at Rowan, then back at Lucas. "You know I've no objections to riding lessons, Lucas."
Rex's eyes are shining and he's grinning into the distance. Only the daftest person wouldn't be able to see Rex's imaginings: Rex, the mighty hero, riding one of the mighty Perunka war-steeds. He entirely misses the parts of the conversation immediately following Lucas' announcement of riding lessons, but manages to snap back to himself when a cold breeze reminds him to put his shirt *on* instead of just standing there, holding it.
The smith's grin stretches a trifle wider at Sunny's assertion. "That Ah do know, Ma'am," he agrees. "Anytime you want a refresher course, you know where t'find me." In a slightly less familiar tone, he asks if Rowan has any horse experience?
Rowan shakes his head. "Not a lot recently. Had a good friend who was one of your people, when I was younger, but I doubt much of the experience's stayed in my brain."
Sunshine stands aside a little, to let Lucas speak with the younger people present. She watches each of them in turn, beginning with Rowan, studying the young man quietly, and managing not to stare as she does so.
Lucas nods. "It'll come back to you," he assures him. "So, do you all want t'maybe meet all together? Tomorrow afternoon, maybe? That way, Ah can do the talky-stuff all at once. Maybe you could spread the word and see if any of the other anda will come..."
Rowan pages the room: Was that word (anda) on purpose, or a typo?
Rowan gives the man a small, only half mock, salute. "Makes sense to me. I'll bug folks."
Sunshine shakes her head regretfully. "I'm afraid I have to be in town at the beginning of the afternoon, and I have no idea how long it will take. I will see if I can make it later along in the afternoon."
Abruptly, Lucas staggers forward with a low, gutteral grunt. In almost the same motion, he is clutching at the sleeves and arms of anyone standing close enough to his right hand. "Down!" he shouts in a voice of utter command. "Everybody down!"
Rex drops obediently. Sometimes, it's a good thing to have been a pack omega for a long time.
Rowan is, certainly, used to people commanding in battle sorts of situations, since he's down and crouching behind the tree as soon as he can, scanning around warily.
Layla hits the pavement. She looks around wildly from her prone position.
The sound of a shot echoes off the barn.
Lucas holds still, listening for a second shot so he can triangulate.
Sunshine is good at dropping, but she was closest to Lucas, and the pressure of his hands assists her descent.
Rowan is busily shifting into lupus, senses straining.
A second shot takes a chunk out of the corner of the barn.
Rex pages to Rowan and Lucas: The shot seems to have come from a bit of high ground and trees about 300 yards off to the south.
Layla takes a cue from Rowan and shifts into lupus.
Lucas is, because he is Lucas, shielding Sunshine's body with his own. Although given his size and hers, he'd be blocking her anyway. At the second shot, he urges her to cover behind the bole of Rowan's tree.
Rowan, sort of reflexively, tilts his head towards Lucas, but almost immediately after Lucas urges Sunshine over to his tree, he's off, keeping low to the ground, trying to stay under cover, heading south.
Sunshine glances over her shoulder towards where she thinks the shots are coming from, then begins very quietly mouthing something. At Lucas's urging, she scuttles behind the tree, without any pause in her murmurings.
Rex looks around, alarmed and waiting for directions.
"Rex," Lucas hisses, "Get the non-coms into deeper cover. Layla -- that sniper may not be the only one. Circle wide. I'll back up Rowan."
A third shot barely misses Rowan, but the round explodes as it hits the ground near him.
Layla slinks off, army-dog style, to circle the perimeter.
Rowan barely represses a yelp of pain, and starts speeding up, Blurring around the edges but being far less careful, generally, to hide himself, sacrificing secrecy for speed.
Rex glances around to see if Arslag is in view. Not seeing the dog, he crawls quickly toward Sunshine. "Yessir!" he whispers.
A fourth shot catches Layla along her right flank.
With that, Lucas springs to his feet, snatches his sword from its place by the wall, and makes for the hilltop, keeping in cover as best he can, and taking a slightly different path from the one Rowan took. He gives one sharp, trilling whistle as he goes.
Layla snarls in pain and moves much more quickly though the bushes.
Sunshine winces faintly at each yelp of pain, but she's far too practical not to understand, bone deep, that she can't help if she's hurt, so she stays well-hidden behind the tree.
There is open former farmland between the barn and the hillock. The trees are fairly thick on top of the hill, but dwindle rapidly to shrubs toward the base.
Another blur of brown fur materializes seemingly out of nowhere: Arslag, arrowing in at a tangent to Lucas' path. The smith mutters something to the dog and points at the hilltop, after which the mutt rockets off on yet another route toward the hidden enemy.
A fifth shot zings past Lucas to stop in the barn wall, and then there is a flurry of motion on the hilltop.
Rowan keeps galloping, doing occasional zags and zigs so as not to be /completely/ targettable.
Layla continues to scurry, diving for cover whenever convient.
Rex reaches Sunshine's side. "I think," he whispers, "that if we wait just a moment, we can fall back around the side of the barn. Better than a li'l ol' tree, I s'pose."
Sunshine stays hidden, still repeating whatever it is that she's murmuring. She shakes her head to Rex, breaking off only long enough to say, "You go."
Thunder follows at the dog's heels as the massive forms of the two Perunka Kin follow his path from the barn. As they pull alongside, Lucas' form twists and grows until he, too runs on flying hooves, though the Gift of the Centaur permits him to maintain hold of his sword. He rips it free with a metallic whine and tosses the empty sheath aside.
A nightmarish figure, all oily smoke and flashing talons, rushes like a wave out of the cover of the trees. Bits of trees fly aside as it comes through them. It shrieks a challenge at the oncoming Perunka and Garou.
Rex looks perplexed and worried. "But, ma'am, he *tole* me to get you t'deeper cover!"
"Rowan! Find the shooter!" Lucas cries. "We'll deal with this!"
Layla, in a blur of tawny-red fur, advances on the Uglies up ahead.
Rowan seems about to roar a challenge of his own, but breaks off, his entire body expressing frustration, and keeps galloping toward the sniper.
Yet another shot rings out, but the bullet doesn't come near enough to anyone for them to hear it. The thing surges down the hillside, and seems to grow a few dozen limbs with razor-sharp claws on them.
As the the Thing comes down the hillside, the two Perunka Kin do the seeming impossible and grow even larger. This Stormrunner form is positively terrifying in its huge-ness -- the two already-large drafters are now approaching the size of small houses. Shrubs and saplings snap and crackle like kindling beneath their massive hooves and their shrill cries of fury echo back from the distant farm buildings and send what birds weren't already spooked by the gunfire into hasty, panicked flight.
Sunshine watches, from the shelter of the tree, refusing to allow Rex to guide her farther away, since, in her estimation, no one is paying attention to them anyway. She doesn't stop her murmurings because of this, however.
The two Garou catch a glimpse of someone fleeing from the hilltop with what appears to be a rifle in hand. Meanwhile, the Thing of Corruption flings itself into flailing combat with the Perunka and his Kin.
Rowan can't go all that much faster, but he certainly tries to, restraining a useless snarl as he goes.
Rex, after a few more abortive tries to get Sunshine to move, settles down next to her to watch the carnage.
Lucas, now dwarfed by his enraged companions, utters a war-cry of his own and lays into the thing with his sword, favoring his wounded shoulder as little as he dares.
Layla scrambles up the hillside, preparing to throw herself into the fray against the new Ugly.
The Thing's many limbs whistle through the air, trying to firmly implant themselves in flesh. One manages to thunk solidly into Campion's haunch, two grapple bloodily at Lucas, and another catches Layla across one ear.
The gunner, fleeing, glances back in time to be tackled from one side by Arslag. He falls, the rifle skittering out of his hands, but he whips out a heavy billyclub, which he uses to effect on Arslag's side. Unfortunately, this leaves him wide open for Rowan.
Campion's scream of rage sends chills to anyone who's never before heard a horse's scream, and it's echoed in close succession by Harebell and Lucas himself. Hooves and teeth and blade are whirling, stamping, bloody chaos.
Layla snarls. She dives at the monstrosity, dodging limbs, to bite at the torso.
Rowan might have been in enough control of himself not to completely lose it, to be able to save enough of the man to question, had he not heard Arslag's ribs breaking with such firmness. As it is, he merely leaps on the man, shifting as he does so into Crinos, teeth and claws both ripping at him ferociously.
Sunshine winces, though she's heard the sounds of combat and horses' screams before, more often than she'd like.
The Thing goes down under the onslaught of Perunka, Garou, and Kin. Lucas shears off several of the things limbs with a mighty blow. Layla dodges and twists to the center of the mass and manages to take an apparently vital chunk out of the heart of the Thing. The vast, trampling hooves of the Kin smash other parts into the earth. The Thing shrieks again and explodes in an oily stench that sticks to the combatants and nauseates all involves.
The man manages to use the billyclub to jam Rowan's jaws open, but is disemboweled. He screams, pulls a revolver from a holster at his side, and shoots Rowan at point blank range, which buys him enough time to blow his own brains out.
Layla leaps away from the oily thing and looks over the damage.
Sunshine is moving towards Rowan as soon as the splatters of Thing have hit the ground. She'd make a fine target if there were any other nasties lurking in the woods, but seems utterly unconcerned about that as she pelts towards the young Garou.
Rex leaps to his feet after a moment of stunned silence, and sprints after Sunshine, one hand on his sword hilt, eyes scanning the trees and horizon for more nasties.
Rowan doesn't appear to have been hit, in point of fact. He appears to have been knocked arse over teakettle, and is staring at nothing in particular as if he'd just been given the shock of his life.
Breathing hard and favoring his left arm, Lucas calls out to the frenzied Kin, who are stomping the foul-smelling ooze as far into the ground as they can. "Khulan! Ease down! Ease down!" he rumbles, reaching out to touch them to calmness. Eventually, the pair backs off, though their ears remain in constane motion and the white rims still show around their eyes. Harebell, still twitchy, sinks her teeth into the smith's forearm, narrowly missing crushing his hand.
Arslag makes an unhappy whimpering noise, now that he's not busy fighting.
Lucas snarls something at the mare and she shies away from him, ears flattened. She and Campion move down the hill away from the stink, and Lucas seems to shink in upon himself as he returns to his human shape and his usual number of legs. "Arslag! Arslag!" he cries, worry sounding hollow in his usually smooth baritone. He makes his way to the wounded dog, dropping to his knees and examining the extent of his injuries.
Sunshine skids to a halt on the leaf litter near Rowan. She gives his side a glance and then gives him a somewhat puzzled look at she notices that the point-blank shot doesn't appear to have hit him. Concluding that the young Garou can handle himself, she moves quickly over to Arslag, sinking down on her heels and running a very gentle hand along his side.
Arslag can't seem to find a comfortable position, so remains standing, though his ears and tail are down. He licks Lucas' face, and tries to lick Sunshine's face when she gets close enough.
Rex pauses away from Rowan and the huddle around Arslag, though he shoots worried glances that way and toward Layla. He continues to scan for any more nasties that might arrive, though he keeps his eyes resolutely away from the bloody mess beyond Rowan.
Sunshine murmurs quiet nothings to the dog as she checks his ribs, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she finds the rib that broke the surface of the skin. She rummages in her pockets, and comes up with a small flask and several pouches of herbs.
Rowan is breathing a little hard, and is still in Crinos. He looks a little wild, but at sight of both Sunshine and Arslag, manages to shift down. "She, uh. Says that prayin' is music to her ears. So keep up with it." He seems to have found this urgent, as he then flops over onto his back and stares up at the sky.
Campion and Harebell, calming at last, return to their usual sizes. They remain alert, though, sentitive ears swiveling to catch any new, threatening sounds, nostrils flaring in offense at the foul stench that still emanates from the battle site.
Arslag yelps, just a little, when Sunshine touches the worst of the wound, but his tail wags some.
You paged Rex with 'Lucas, chruch-boy that he is, *is* praying silently to himself.'
Sunshine uses whatever's in the flask to clean the exit site and her hands, which apparently stings. That done to her satisfaction, she begins easing the bones back where they belong, trusting Lucas to keep Arslag from moving and injuring himself further.
Rex pages: Lucas is rewarded by a clean-smelling breeze that carries the worst of the stench off.
Arslag whines pathetically, as only a dog can.
You paged Rex with 'He thanks Lilith for it, and for protecting us all, especially whatever it was that happened with Rowan.'.
Lucas tells Arslag how brave and strong he is.
Sunshine keeps up a steady stream of murmuring for the dog's ears as she gets as many of the broken ribs as she can find lined up. "Rowan," she says as she gently works the last one into place, "In the large pocket at the back of my tunic, the one with the orange seam. Get the bandages, please."
Layla, off to the side, watches the proceedings with a critical eye as she grooms her wounds.
"Can the rest of us walk?" Lucas asks. "This'll go easier inside, and Miz Sarah might have more supplies. Rex -- Do you reckon you could go scare up an old shutter, or one of my bits of scrap to carry ol' Arslag here t'bed on?"
Rowan has been breathing steadily, in and out, rhythmically, since he flopped, with a great degree of energy, onto the ground. Some who've seen him fight before would find this a hallmark of him trying to come down off frenzy or near frenzy. Well, and complete terror and awe, as well. Sunshine's voice penetrates this only slowly, so he says, first, "Huh?" and then rewinds it in his head and says, "Oh." At which point he gets the bandages.
Sunshine says "It's alright here, Lucas. Open them, so I can take the ones inside, child." When Rowan has done so, she carefully takes the bandages not touched by Rowan from the center of the package and begins wrapping Arslag's chest in them. Thank you, Rowan."
Rowan opens them fairly carefully, just nodding at her thanks.
Sunshine finishes of the wrapping with the outer, sturdier bandages, leaving the dog with just barely enough room to breathe. She scratches him gently behind the ears as she stands, "I would carry him inside now, Lucas, were I you."
Rex turns to obey Lucas, then pauses, unsure. His hands flex, ball into fists, and flex again.
Arslag gives Sunshine a look of unspeakable gratitude, though he seems unhappy with the stiffness around his chest. He whines again and licks his nose.
Sunshine smiles down at the dog before looking around at the others. It's both odd and oddly comforting to realize that most of them don't need her assistance.
"Can you be quick?" Lucas asks Rex politely.
Rex nods, blushes, then sprints for the barn. He emerges a few moments later, carrying an old tabletop.
Rowan is, actually, bleeding gently from the side, but he seems not to notice it.
Sunshine pages: Layla posed that she was grooming her wounds, so I'm assuming she was out of breed-form and therefore healing supernaturally...
Rowan may not have noticed the bleeding from his side, but Sunshine does. She puts on hand on his shoulder, turning him so that she can see the wound. Holding the torn remains of his shirt aside for a moment, she beckons Rex over as soon as he's set the tabletop down for Lucas. "You can pick the silver out of here as well as I can, young man. Lucas, don't strain yourself over that dog until I've had a chance to look at your shoulder." Her voice is a bit sharp as she realizes that, supernatural or not, people need healing after all.
Rowan looks down at himself in confusion, and then blanches. "Oh," he says, a little wobbly.
Rex hurries over. "Yes'm," he says, still chastened by Lucas' gentle remonstrance earlier. He holds out his hands, expecting antiseptic or tools or both.
"Yes, Ma'am," Lucas submits meekly. As he continues to comfort and distract Arslag, the two Kin amble over, drooping their heads to blow warm horsy breath into his ears. He reaches up a hand to scratch under their whiskered jaws. "Ah wish we had a flyer," he muses aloud. "Ah want to make sure there was only the one. But Ah heard somethin's up with the Corax girl?"
Rowan pauses. "She, uh, you, um. You should talk to her, but we got reason to keep her away from the Caern now."
Sunshine hands Rex the small flask as she heads towards Layla. He'll have to make do with his fingers, as her finer tools are not easily accessible. She digs out a pair of tweezers as she hurries towards the younger woman, crouching down to clear her wounds of silver and bandage them. Once that's done, she trudges back up the hill towards Lucas and his kin. "The Goddess was not gentle with her," she comments, though Lilith isn't known for being particularly gentle with anyone.
Rex washes his hands in some of the contents of the flask, and sets to pulling tiny bits of silver out of Rowan's side as gently as possible.
Rowan does a lot of wincing and occasional grunting. And one whimper. A perfect patient, he's not.
"We're all still alive, Ah reckon," Lucas asserts. "And that's better than we had any right to expect, considerin' they had several free shots at us and some kind of Corruptor thing besides." He shakes his head. "What if they'd come at night? Or gotten one of us alone?"
Sunshine looks over the two Perunka kin quietly, digging different, and apparently second-choice, bags of herbs from her pockets to treat their wounds. "Don't think of it, Lucas, it didn't happen."
Rowan says, around gritted teeth, "It's why we patrol in pairs, Lucas."
"No, it didn't happen. And Ah reckon Ah'm mighty thankful for that." After a moment, the smith adds, "Wards don't do us much good if they knick us all outside 'em."
Rex looks over at the dead man for a moment, then turns his gaze back to Rowan. "I wonder what this whole thing was, anyway? They're usually better'n that. I mean, the Hive is crawlin' with Garou, an' their Village is crawlin' with Kin. Why send only one?"
Lucas shrugs, and winces as the slug shifts in the flesh of his shoulder. "Mighta been lookin' to prove somethin'. Rowan -- you get a look at his face 'fore you tore it off?" he deadpans.
Sunshine finishes up with the horses, complimenting them both on their bravery and courage before turning to Lucas. "Sit, Lucas. I can't reach your shoulder from here," she says tiredly. "Isn't that part of their madness? To send more than we could hope to fight, or so little as to distract us into thinking we might have a chance?" She's tired, and the tones in her voice are those of the normal mortal who has seen more than is consistent with pleasant dreams.
Rowan, still unbandaged but free of silver, casts Lucas a rather humorless smile, and checks the man's clothing.
At the weariness in Sunshine's face and voice, Lucas opens his mouth to speak, his face and body language both focusing on her in concern -- and something like old tenderness. Then he quashes the impulse and sits back on the ground.
Taking the tweezers out again, Sunshine begins prying the slug out of the Perunka's shoulder. "Hold still," she says, perhaps more sharply than she intended to. Finally, she holds out the slug, dropping it into Lucas's other hand, and then begins bandaging the shoulder with the last of the bandages from another, inside pocket.
Rex stands up and moves over to Arslag, convincing the dog -- and helping him -- to lie down on the tabletop.
Rowan stares at something he found in the guy's pocket. A picture of Teresa, to be specific. "Well. He's /Hive/ allright. Why the fuck they sent him on his own, I have no damn idea."
Sunshine leans her head lightly against Lucas' shoulder for a moment as she finishes wrapping it, murmuring a final quiet prayer with closed eyes. As she lifts her head, she says rather sharply, "He wasn't exactly on his own, Rowan, or have you forgotten that *thing* already?"
Rowan says, penitently, "I was kind of assuming it was linked to him. But you're right, this wasn't solo."
Lucas catches Sunny's hand as she moves away from him and murmurs a quiet "Thank you -- for all of us."
Lucas rotates his shoulder experimentally a few times and smiles. Then he turns to Rowan, "Ah reckon your nose is gonna be better than mine in any form. Soon's I get Arslag settled, will you come with me to see how far back we can track him?"
Sunshine leans back towards Lucas and kisses him chastely on the cheek. "You're welcome, Lucas, as always," she says as she stands. She looks over the group for a moment and then collects her flask from Rex.
You paged Rex with 'Does Lucas, with his spirit-summoning experience, have theories about where the Ugly came from -- meaning how it got here and what its connection to the man was ?'.
Rowan nods. "Certainly."
Sunshine urges Layla to her feet and heads back towards the Farm with the young woman, not giving the others a backwards glance.
"You see anything like a talen on him?" Lucas asks Rowan after a moment's thought. He moves toward Arslag's door and assumes someone will take the cue and head for the other end.
Rex stands ready at the other end of the tabletop, one hand resting on Arslag's head to keep him lying down.
Rowan tosses the egg in one hand. "Think this might be something. Smells... awful."
"Good," Lucas nods to Rowan, then he glances at Rex, to make sure they both lift at the same time. "You're a good dog, Arslag," he tells the dog. "Did you know your buddy Rex here's a lion, too?" He whickers over his shoulder to the two horses, who fall in line.
You paged the room: '...and they all troop back to the farm. I wonder who gets to explain all the collateral damage to the hillside ?'.
Rowan pages the room: we get to help clean it up!
You paged Sunshine with 'Gurkhan is "warleader". And of course, Sunny would remember that
Sunshine pages: And do I know what it means, if it was on purpose?:-)
You paged the room: 'that was on purpose. It's one of his Mongolianisms. Anyone who's hung out with him for any period of time (including at Moots) would know it means, sort of "brothers" -- he uses it for "members of the gumi"'.
There is a clatter from inside the barn, and the two Perunka-kin appear around the side of the building as silently as their hooves allow.
Lucas soothes the dog's head as Sunshine examines him. The smith doesn't have to say anything to Sunshine, and so he doesn't, though his open face says plenty.
You paged the room: 'the shots her silver. Not a aproblem for the horses or Lucas...'.
Sunshine pages the room: *Now* you tell me...:-)
Sunshine pages the room: Could I have a tally of the injuries, please?
You paged the room: 'did the Ugly do Agg ?'.
Rowan pages the room: Sorry. I forgot. 1 agg from silver shrapnel, see.
Rex pages the room: The Ugly did agg, yes, though that doesn't matter for the Kin.
Rex pages the room: Layla took 2 agg from silver and 1 agg from the Ugly.
You paged the room: 'Lucas took two agg from the Ugly, but I'll need someone to dig out this bullet before I heal it over...'.
Rex pages: Well, the guy probably couldn't have done the summoning of something that big. So either there's a big honcho theurge around here somewhere, or the guy was carrying that thing around, bound into a talen.