Heritage : Kate's Quest

[Keira Kelly]

( This is going to be the thread for Kate's journey to find out who her parents were and which will lead to her new weapons. It can be open for anyone but I'll also be moving it forwards. )

Fangs gnashed and claws flashed through the darkness just as Kate jumped backwards, narrowly missing her. If it hadn't been for her athletic training and upkeep, they wouldn't have; thankfully that left the beast stumped for a fraction of a second as it tried to figure out how the large Crinos target had outmanoeuvred its attack. It was fast but not fast enough. As it swung again, Kate parried the attacks with her sword, wishing she had something else for her offhand be it another weapon or something to deflect the beast's claws. Whether the Wyrm creature had once been human or merely sported a few human-like traits, it was hard to tell. The thing had yet to make any meaningful sounds other than screams and growls but the Fianna wasn't discounting the brute's intelligence. She had learned better than to underestimate the enemy. Overestimating only led to a quicker victory; underestimating was a sure way to lead to your own death, a death ending with a surprised look on one's face.

Kate let out a curse in High Garou as she was forced to retreat under the onslaught of four arms with razor sharp claws swinging before her. They made as effective a block for her sword as they did slicing tools. With four sets of weapons to worry about, Kate had to be careful too that her sword-hand and arm weren't caught off guard while dealing with the other claws and teeth. She risked briefly to look around, trying to spot the others of her pack but the ambush had spread them out in the forest, enough that the darkness and trees blocked a lot of view but she could hear them engaged in their own fights. The Wyrm foe had been equal in number so it was time to end this, she thought to herself. She swung at her foe, seeing an opening, severing one of its arms but the blow slowed her attack enough; the creature barely seemed to register the loss of a limb and instead, its fanged mouth, dripping with vile goo, closed around the blade. The sound of the metal bending terminated with a sharp pop as the blade broke in the Wyrm-creature's mouth. It shook its head, throwing the broken end of the blade off into the darkness. Kate stared in disbelief for a moment at the hilt with only a jagged shard of metal sticking from it, then to the creature, whose mouth now dripped with ichor-like blood, the smell of which was beyond vile. It was then that a deep, chesty, wet sound issued from the creature, something that could only be akin to laughter but as evil as laughter could get.

The Fianna's muzzle curled up in a snarl, accompanied by a deep growl. The sword has not been much special but it had been given to her by her Tribe back home... it had served her well for the past few years and she'd grown to think of it as her companion almost. And now it was broken beyond repair. Brilliant.... Just bloody brilliant. And the beast was now advancing on her. True she had her own claws and teeth but this beast... its skin was acidic or something, aside from the thick, armour-like scales that covered its back. She'd made contact with the dangerous, softer side of it once or twice and still could feel the burns; there was no way she wanted to bite or claw at it unless she had no other choice. As she backed up, she saw something directly above her. She growled a quick challenge at the beast and took the handle of her broken sword in her jaws, crouching and springing upwards, catching hold of a sturdy, horizontal branch a good twenty feet off the ground. She swung a couple of times to get the momentum and swung herself up into a crouch on top of the branch. She looked down at the creature, staring up, trying to see her in the shadowed foliage above. It had lost her dark-furred form for the moment. Something she needed to take quick advantage of. She judged the distance, the forces needed and leapt, landing lightly on the hard armour just rear of the creature's head. She sunk one clawed hand between the plates to stabilize herself, trying to ignore the feel of the acidic skin on her fingertips; it would only take a moment.

The sudden extra weight had staggered the brute and in its shock and confusion, Kate grabbed the broken sword end from her mouth and swung it at the side of the abomination's neck, sinking the sharp, torn metal in to the hilt. She quickly dragged on it, causing as much damage as she could as the beast let out an inhuman, painful screech of agony. Ichor blood sprayed, drops of it hitting Kate's hand before she had a chance to draw back, burning her further. As she jumped back off the mortally wounded creature, she held her hand close as she winced but kept her eyes on the beast. It turned to face her, the neck wound no longer spraying but copious amounts of its blood poured down to the forest floor, the remains of her sword still sticking from its neck as the dead leaves beneath foot smoked from the corrosive blood. It took once step towards her, another slower one and stopped, staring at her for a moment before the inhuman bulk simply dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. A death rattle issued from its hideous remains. Kate watched a minute longer, making sure that it was no longer a threat before she raised her head, letting loose a howl of victory that filled the nearby woods, victory filled with a promise of no mercy to her foes. Let the other abominations know that one of theirs had fallen and soon the rest would join it. Let her pack mates know which way the battle was now going.

She took a final glance at her sword, the metal pitted and corroded; if it had been repairable at all before, it wasn't now and so with just a small pause for a moment of regret for the blade, she turned and ran off into the night, searching for the closest battle to join in aide of her packmates.

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The fights had been dire at times but in losing numbers, the Wyrm-foes had been put at a disadvantage. With every beast that fell, that left more Garou to fall on the rest. Now that the forest lay silent, though still filled with the noxious scents of the various abomination creatures, Kate surveyed the scene and her pack still in Crinos form should there be any more enemies lying in wait. It didn't appear so but she wouldn't be caught unprepared, especially without her sword.

That led to a problem though; she had no weapon now and the Sept didn't really have any to spare. Each Garou had their own which fit them, gained at some point during their life from various places. The only nearby source of weapons Kate knew of was that witch that Akane had once visited, something Kate refused to copy. The witch was allied with a horse.. of all things, a horse, a prey animal. She wasn't worthy of preparing weapons for a predator, despite what the Glass Walker might think. If only there were Fianna nearby, she thought morosely to herself; her own Tribe had some expert weaponsmiths, both among the Garou and among their Kinfolk. The Sept she and her pack were now allied to had neither weaponsmiths nor even Kinfolk... aside from Kate herself.

She made a sound, as close to a cynical laugh as she could make in her Crinos form. By Gaia, she didn't even know her own parents... if they'd been Kin, or maybe if one had been Garou too. At the very least, she knew her mother must have been homid if not human because she was homid as well; she guessed her father probably was homid too, as that seemed to be the general preference of homid Garou, but that was only a guess. Who they were, even if one or either of them were actually Fianna, Kate didn't know for sure, but the colour of her pelt and eyes, and shape of her wolfen forms hinted that they must have been fairly strong in Fianna blood. If one of her parents had been Garou, if they hadn't given her up to the human world... maybe she'd have had things passed on to her when she had come of age, maybe she'd have had a special weapon or talismans... If, if, if.... She sighed. There was no point into wishing it was so when it wasn't.

She turned to start heading back towards the others, to start on their trek back to the caern when Kate stopped suddenly. There, in the dark, just through the trees, she spotted something lighter than the dark night. She froze as she recognized the shape of a deer, a stag. The dim glow around it spoke that it was more than just a normal animal as did the perfection of it and its impressive display of antlers. It wasn't just a stag... it was Stag, she realized. Or perhaps one of his servants but.. if it was here, it was by Stag's command likely. As she stood still, it approached; she could only hope that one of the others wouldn't turn back and think it nothing more than prey or something to frighten it off.

She had disparaged Horse in her mind not long ago, but Stag was something different, more than just prey. Horse was Weaver-tainted while Stag was pure, full of the Wyld but balanced. Stag was prey to be respected; not a creature that let itself be ordered around by humans, but that which lived wild and untamed. Kate dropped her head as the spirit came close. It was the totem of her tribe and despite having pledged herself to Fenris with her packmates, she still felt a connection deep within her to her tribe's chosen spirit. In a way, in her heart, she always honoured both Stag and Fenris, deer and wolf, prey and predator. They were both sides of the same thing, of the way of the world, of death and life and the cycle of Gaia. She could not respect one without the other. Even the wolf respected the deer it pursued; taking only the weak and sickly, knowing that chasing the strong would only ensure a lost meal at best, injury or death at worst.

As the Stag came up to her, it stopped, unafraid of the Crinos-form Garou standing before it, dwarfing it. It made no attempt to speak but merely regarded her for a few moments longer before it turned and ran into the woods, disappearing from sight. Kate stood dumbfounded. What had it wanted? Perhaps just to see one of it's children, far from home... But it had come at a very specific moment... just as she had been thinking of her parents, her heritage. She needed to find out more about that, about her lineage and she had heard there were ways of doing such a thing. In the past, back with the other Fianna, the service had been offered to her but Kate had declined it. She had been given up, send to a human orphanage at a young age, thrown through foster care. There had been no spirit sent to watch her for signs of her First Change, to let the Fianna tribe nearby know of her presence. It had been other things and the bloody outcome of her First Change that had drawn them to her. Her parents hadn't wanted her and had discarded her as a baby. That had told her enough to make her not want to ever seek them out. It had been the reaction of a child. As a mother now, she could no more understand why... how they could have left her with strangers but she understood now better the dangers of living as a Garou. And if it was as she had always feared, if she had simply been unwanted... well, she had her family now to support her and that was what mattered.

She would go to her Sept-mates in the morning, see if one of them knew the rite to determine lineage and accept whatever the truth was. With that decided, she rushed finally to catch up with her packmates before they got too far away.