Limbo pages all: Ah, where were we? Oh, yes.
Athena pages all: Athena had just leaped off the cliff and everybody was staring at her apprehensively.
The dust-filled air of this place makes Athena's leap into open space spectacular in the winds and eddies she leaves behind her sudden pounce forward.
Athena does not so much fly as plummet, her vector taking her on a rapid, diagonal course with destruction on the emotionless, straight, flat plane below.
Deep-Fires seems helpless to do anything but stare in shock and horror, four paws seemingly rooted to the ground where he stands. His hackles are up, his ears perked, seemingly caught in a moment in time.
Falcon's Wing whines again, watching the Fury plummet to her doom, frozen, and then breaks into a gallop, looking frantically for breaks in the cliff, ways to climb down.
Sings-in-Shadow lifts his muzzle and lets out a howl of pure anguish.
A low, feminine chuckle sounds in the ears of the anxious observers. */Children/* the deep voice of a matron says with a touch of bitter fondness.
For Athena, the sensation is rather like the shifting of forms, except localized. The exquisite almost-pain ripples over her back and neck and shoulders, and those above see gray and brown pinions burst out of her body, just in time to catch the roaring wind enough to slow her fall. The downsweep of the wings is instinctive and not quite enough to keep Athena from smacking into the land below, raising a dust cloud that obscures whether it was enough to save her or not.
You paged Athena with '5 nonagg as you experience that sudden stop at the end... but you're not dead, and you've got wings. :)'.
From afar, Athena blows out her breath in relief. Even if she wasn't dead somehow but this didn't happen, we'd have to seriously reconsider the totem we chose. :-) Augh...
Falcon's Wing yelps in pure joy, and dives off the cliff himself.
Sings-in-Shadow's howl is cut short by Derrick's bark, and he lowers his muzzle just in time to see the Fang fling himself off the cliff. His eyes widen in horror, ears flattening against his skull.
If eve a wolf could look utterly confused, Deep-Fires does right about now. His whole body is stiff with shock and uncertainty. Have you all lsot your minds?
Sings-in-Shadow crouches low to the ground, tail tucked between trembling hind legs. He whines, a long, drawn-out sound of terror and anguish.
Deep-Fires turns his head slowly towards Sings-in-Shadow, If we are all going to die, we may as well do it together. This one will not leave them.
Sings-in-Shadow trembles visibly, green eyes rolling in their sockets to show the white. Gaia, he whimpers. Oh, gaia. And then, with a banshee-like howl of terror, the metis charges toward the edge of the cliff and leaps, shifting instictively into Crinos.
The wings tear out of Derrick's back at the apex of his leap, long, slender silent brown, black, and gray feathered arches that catch the wind. Unfortunately, they are just a little small. Derrick's plunge is slower overall than Athena's, and somewhat more controlled.
Erik's wings are *definitely* inadequate to the task of carrying a Crinos safely to the bottom, and he drops like a stone held up by a spoonbending psychic's tricks. The Umbra being the Umbra, and the laws of physics failing to apply completely, Falcon's Wing and Sings-in-Shadow hit bottom simultaneously, raising an enormous roiling dustcloud that completely obscures their fate.
You paged Falcon's Wing with '3 nonagg'.
You paged Sings-in-Shadow with '6 nonagg'.
Sings-in-Shadow pages: Ow.
From afar, Falcon's Wing bows at your feet. Nonagg?
Falcon's Wing pages: Not unconscious, either. Hokay.
Sings-in-Shadow pages: Well, if /you/ were a falling Garou, wouldn't /you/ shift to Crinos? :)
Long distance to Sings-in-Shadow: Limbo nods and grins.
Now that there is no one to see him, Deep-Fires' fur trembles openly as he stares helplessly at the expanse of dust-filled drop below him. He peers down where Sings-in-Shadow has gone, ears flicking back and forth. Finally, he shakes himself out thoroughly, stares one more time, and leaps blindly into the dust below him.
Sings-in-Shadow makes a rather nasty thudding sound as he hits the ground.
Sings-in-Shadow pages all: Ow. Ow. 'Scuse me while I lie here for a few minutes while my bones knit.
Falcon's Wing emits a brief yelp, from out of the dust. And then silence.
Athena huddles on the ground, obscured by the dust, quite still.
Wings arch and provide Deep-Fires with a bit of glide-ability, but fail miserably to keep the fourth Garou aloft. Dusty lives up to his homid name as he slams into the gray-dust below.
You paged Deep-Fires with '3 nonagg'.
Sings-in-Shadow lies still, eyes closed and breathing raggedly.
The dust settles gently over the four broken Garou, leaving a thin layer of gray over them. A few moths flitter in amazed circles. The wings fade away.
After a few moments, Athena slowly raises her head to peer over at the cliff from this side.
Deep-Fires grunts as he hits the ground, the sound quickly followed by a not-so-soft whine of pain. Ow! It is several minutes before he stands up, oh-so-carefully testing himself. What is wrong with you people?
Falcon's Wing says, stirring, Ow. He looks up at Dusty from the ground and says, It's Owl. Owl gives wings.
Sings-in-Shadow begins to stir after several minutes as his body reknits itself together. ~Wisdom,~ he rumbles softly. ~And we jump off the bloody cliff. Ow.~
Athena looks fixedly at the cliff. When she's healed, she staggers closer to them, looking for another way down. Or up.
From the plain-side,the cliff face is frightfully steep, but there are a few rocky outcrops that could be used to scale it. In the far distance, however, something resembling narrow stairs appear to be carved into the side of the cliff.
Deep-Fires whrufs a skeptical sound, then shakes the dust out of his fur. Well, most of it, anyway. His ears back, he lifts his muzzle carefully to look at Athena. What now, Cliff-Leaper? Where from here?
Another low chuckle sounds, and from out of the settling dust walks an older woman, just edging into her twilight years, hair still golden and, really, the only spot of color in this dismal place.
Athena glances over her shoulder and says shakily, I do not know.
Sings-in-Shadow pushes to his feet, the dingy gray coat hanging from his shoulders, dust-covered and still looking to be a bit woozy and shell-shocked. He looks upward toward the edge of the cliff and blanches.
Falcon's Wing gets up, slowly, and starts to look arounf for alternatives, but stops abruptly as the woman appears.
The woman rakes her fingers through her thick hair, her face of broad, good-natured peasant variety, her hands calloused by hard work. */That, children, was the most impressive display of faith I have ever seen. Not wisdom, perhaps, but faith, definitely./*
Athena says plaintively, ~I thought we were supposed to have faith in our totem.~
Sings-in-Shadow turns toward the woman. His ears swivel forward and then flatten back, embarrassed. He beats at his coat a bit, sending a few flurries of dust to the ground and remains silent.
Falcon's Wing looks only faintly abashed. ~We haven't... She's not our Totem yet.~ He looks up at the woman. ~Are you? What are you asking of us?~
Deep-Fires shakes himself out again, ears flattening immediately as he becomes aware of the woman. His tail droops a bit in immediate respect for the woman. Aren't wisdom and faith opposites?
Sings-in-Shadow rumbles softly, ~No, /reason/ and faith are opposites. ... Right?~ After that jump, he doesn't seem certain of much.
She smiles kindly, that extraordinary maternal smile that immediately recalls warmth and comfort. */Wisdom and faith are not *necessarily* opposites... yes, reason is, I believe, the true opposite to faith. Foolishness is the opposite of wisdom in all things, although none are exclusive of each other./* She pauses, again raking a hand through her discordantly beautiful hair. */I will accept you as my children conditional upon your retrieval of a group of my sisters that are held in that citadel./* She points away toward the menacing edifice five miles distant with one of her blunt fingers. */You must do it with stealth, cunning, and a certain amount of style./* Her face breaks into a broad grin. */Second condition: there are two among you that stifle my breath with the Weaver upon you. Find some way to do away with that./*
Falcon's Wing blinks, and casts a glance at Dusty. ~That mean they're... Tainted, or something? Or just, well, influenced?~
Sings-in-Shadow flinches at mention of the Weaver and looks away, shoulders hunching under the dusty gray coat.
Deep-Fires flinches as well, a shudder rippling through the lupine frame. He looks over at Erik. I bet she means us.
Sings-in-Shadow glances at Dusty, his ears down and back still, ratlike tail held close between his legs. ~I'm sure she does,~ he murmurs.
Athena pads in a circle and then nudges Dusty. I wonder how to do that. An encounter with the Wyld?
The woman watches Dusty and Erik through narrowed eyes, then replies to Derrick, */Tainted. Deeply./*
Falcon's Wing says, tentatively, ~I could try... Cleansing. I know the Rite. But isn't that just for Wyrm things?~
Deep-Fires's body stiffens as Athena brushes past him, and he turns his muzzle in her direction. This one will be fine, he asserts.
Athena glances at Falcon's Wing. Things can be Wyld-tainted, I know.
Falcon's Wing cocks his head slightly. Does Cleansing work on them, then?
The woman idly braids and unbraids a lock of her hair. */I think that your normal means of Cleansing will not avail here./*
Falcon's Wing's tail goes down miserably. Then... How? I mean, can you give us clues? Would the Render's idea work, or would giving us ideas be cheating or something?
Her broad, flat chin tips up and she peers at the pack through slitted eyes. */Perhaps her idea would work. Perhaps you will find an opportunity within the keep./*
Athena curls up on the ground, clearly thinking very hard. ~Rite to Rite...~ She glances up at the owl-woman. ~It will give us time to think, anyhow. Thank you, lady. For saving children.~
Falcon's Wing looks over in the direction of the keep, and then back, tail rising slightly, ears pricking forward in thought. Right. Ok. Then we should do that... At least. He whurfs in agreement with Athena. For saving people with faith, even.
Sings-in-Shadow lowers his muzzle to the woman. ~Thank you,~ the metis rumbles softly, before shifting down to the wolf form.
Deep-Fires is silent, his nose and tail nearly touching the dust at his feet. After a moment, he adds a soft whurf of gratitude to the others' voices before preparing to turn away.
The woman nods and turns away. */You will find me in the forest above, as far from this dreary place as possible./*
Falcon's Wing looks after her for a moment, and then snorts and saying, C'mon. Let's go see if this place has back doors, lopes off.
Athena looks after the owl-lady for a long, long moment, and then turns and follows the others.
Deep-Fires is already turning away, his tail raising gradually as he gets further away.
Sings-in-Shadow, his ears still back and his tail down, hobbles after the rest of the pack.