Cave of Secrets: Well, I'm Stumped (WtA)

Okay, so, trying to get a head start on this before I start officially falling behind, we've got the write-up for my most recent Werewolf game.




So after locating the still, Ray returns to the sept to report in while everyone is still reeling in awkward silence from witnessing the argument between Bury the Hatchet and Raptor Strike.

He fills them in on what he found, amid a lot of "On a scale of 1 to 5, how bad is it?" talk. But Ray's having none of their fancy mathematics and spells it out for them: There's a camp of Kinfolk (probably Spiral Kin) who've taken over a still a mile and change from the sept. As much as Jerry doesn't want to bother Strike with it, he and Ray go and report in on what Ray found. Strike's assessment, despite his bad mood, is to be optimistic and assume that these are the Stumps, as the alternative is that there are two well-armed groups of Spiral Kin romping around the area.

So this leads to a discussion of plans and possibilities. Jerry's torn between watching the still for when the Spirals inevitably show up and ambush them, or taking over the still and having a bunch of Garou camp out to jump the Spirals. They're undecided on a longer-term plan, but the suggestion is to take out the Stumps sooner rather than later and at least deny the Spirals a potential staging area. But as there isn't an immediate threat, Strike suggests resting up for the night and hitting them in the morning.

Jerry also talks it over with the rest of the pack and decides to properly induct Ray on a probationary period (basically because we're coming up on a point where, OOCly, it's silly to deny him the pack benefits). There really isn't a good 'hey, induct this guy into our pack for a while' ritual (and Rite of the Pizza is difficult in a rural sept) so we improvised something where the pack just got Black Unicorn's blessing.

So the next day, Jerry sends Ray out to do a scouting run of the side of the hill where they'll be approaching the still. He also suggests that, if at all possible, Ray mark the traps on the hillside. (For a variety of obvious reasons, moonshiners have all manner of ridiculous jury-rigged traps to protect their bread and butter) Ray, being a lupus, asks semi-jokingly if by 'marking' he should pee on the traps so the others can spot them, and Jerry clarifies that that was actually sort of his intent.

So Ray heads up the hill and in some way shape or form finds and marks most of the traps. He also determines that the setup is off the grid (there's a gas generator on the far side of the house up there), and that there's some rusty diesel trucks up there.

Jerry's worried that killing the Kinfolk is going to create enough of a smell of blood and who knows what else that it'd tip off the Spirals, and Ray points out that to a lupus nose, it already smells like a massacre up there. Åke also suggests starting in on some sabotage to make it harder for the Kinfolk to escape if things go wrong. Ray suggests keeping it simple; cutting the fuel lines on the vehicles. So Wants-to-Know sneaks up the hill with Blur of the Milky Eye and uses his Fang Dagger to just start cutting all of the lines under the trucks (since, being a lupus who didn't grow up around trucks, he doesn't know what 'fuel lines' look like). He also spots some ATVs and gets to work messing those up, as well.

Meanwhile, Jerry has a plan to lure some of the still guards away and take them down quickly before the rest of the group is alerted. He finds a tree at the far end of the clearing where the Stumps are set up and uses Wuxing to set it on fire.

So four of maybe a dozen or so guys take off to investigate the fire, and as soon as they're away from the others Åke and Ray descend upon them. Åke quickly takes one apart but then botches another attack roll and as a result takes a shotgun blast point-blank from another Stump (but thanks to Troll Skin, manages to soak it). Ray proceeds to bring that guy down and take his head off. Another tries to run and Åke pretty much de-spines him and takes a chunk out of another. That guy falls and gets a shot off at Åke, at which point Ray grabs his arm and rips it out of the socket.

So, fun for everyone, amirite?

We actually had to leave off mid-combat, but not before a huge guy with leathery skin kicks open the front door of the house and stomps outside, bellowing in a voice with an unearthly timbre that someone better tell him what the fuck is going on...