Werewolf Part 2 : Bane of the Wyrm Pack

[Keira Kelly]

1 YEAR LATER

In the past year, the pack has become one of a strike team for the Sept. We perform this job rather well, with the council of the Sept trusting our pack with many tasks. We are sent out to deal with small to medium sized targets of corruption which threaten Gaia or the humans of the surrounding area however we mainly now reside in residences within the city, most of us being roommates together as the pack bond keeps us wanting to be near each other.

Our work during this past year has also become more vital as the city of Essen is falling to a vicious new biker gang that has claimed the city as its new headquarters. Crime and murder have increased drastically in the past months, drive-by shootings and extortion being their favourite operations. Nobody walks the streets at night anymore. Even the police force of Essen is unable to gather enough manpower to respond. It has been discovered by the Sept that there are Fomori among the gang just recently and that is where we start off anew.

We had been sent after one of the suspected Fomori gang members but when he caught wind of us tracking him, he made off. The pack has split up to cover ground in the city but made plans to reconvene at the caern a few hours later. Those hours passed fruitlessly for all and when they had passed, we made out way back separately to the Sept's home. Veli, Kate, Akane and Benno arrived, one after the other just as dusk began to fall on the forest. They waited longer but eventually as the sky blackened, it became clear that something was wrong; the twins, Trude and Vlad, and Mist-Runner were missing.

Upon questioning, none of the Sept admitting to seeing them at any point at the caern though none of them had been outside of the cave anyways. The Bane of the Wyrm Pack though were not about to leave three of their own somewhere out there. They set off, heaving through the woods, back towards the city where they had last seen their young packmates.

Kate was worried as she hiked through the woods, something just didn't feel right about all of this and she could see from the others with her, they felt the same way. She had to keep herself from breaking into a run to get back to where they'd been; it could be the twins and Mist had just gotten caught up somewhere... that was probably it, or maybe they'd gotten turned around in the city... none of them were very used to cities with Mist being lupus and the twins having been taken in by the Sept at a very young age. She could feel the small sword she kept in the scabbard bumping against her thigh with each step; it wasn't a particularly good sword but it was fine for now. She intended to get a better one made for herself one of these days but for now, this one did all right. She glanced through the darkness of the trees, half wishing she could take on one of the other forms right now just for the better night vision but decided against it, especially if they were going to be going into Essen.

"You don't think they found that Fomori, do you?" she asked, breaking the tense silence. "They wouldn't take something like that on all by themselves..." she added, wondering if that was true or not. The twins were still kind of young and Mist.. well she wasn't exactly a real fighter.. if any of them had found the target, they would have gotten the rest of the pack first.. at least Kate hoped that was so. Maybe it was something else... but there were so many potential dangers in a city, especially for a lupus.. Kate couldn't help her mind going to all the possibilities. "It will be okay, they probably got lost..." she said,almost more trying to convince herself than the others.

[rivaan]

“Who knows…” Akane replied to Kate’s question.” It could have been anything from getting lost to getting ambushed. All is possible, so I would suggest we are battle ready.” The albino said as she ran side by side with the rest. Her usual mantle she used when coming to the forest, was replaced by a pair of baggy jeans to not limit her movement speed, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket and small bag attached to her belt. On the inner side of the jacket, there were a lot of randomly placed small metal plates, she herself sew to add to the possible defense of it. In 3 special containers in her small bag, she carried some amount of caltrops she used for some special tactics when needed. In her small arsenal of useful little things, she also carried thin metal wire, small blades, a couple of small bottles with oil, and small bags with chalk and metal dust, there were a few other things, but not as important as those.
“That’s why I proposed to buy some phones and use them.” She said.” We would have just called by now and know if they got lost or something is up… and depending on the model I would have been able to track the location if needed.”

[Keira Kelly]

Kate turned a sour look at the Glass Walker. "We don't need phones.. and we are always battle-ready." she replied. "Plus phones can be destroyed just as well as natural means of communication can be silenced." She didn't like the idea of carrying around a phone everywhere; it was merely something to distract. Besides, who did she have to call other than her own packmates, who were usually within hearing distance anyways. Besides, she didn't want to end up being labelled urrah too by carrying around a weaver device. "Besides, phones are just one extra thing to carry around, especially if we shift. We might not know any more about where they are with phones than we would without and plus, how do you suppose Mist would use one, hmm?" she asked. Mist really hated spending any time in bipedal form not to mention that the lupus had never quite got the hang of human technology and she was proud of it. She'd refused to learn those kind of things. "Technology can't solve every problem.." she added.

[Veli Alvar]

Veli was confident in the abilities of all of his packmates and so he didn't worry too much about the twins and Mist. The German breeze was as cold as the night was; the breeze just happened to make it feel freezing. This didn't stop Veli from wearing just a jersey-fabric white t-shirt with black cargo pants. He enjoyed jersey-fabric shirts for their stretch fit which allowed it to cling to his torso without the danger of it getting caught on something. It seemed like the only pants he wore were cargos, possibly because they aren't as restrictive as jeans and with many pockets it allowed space to carry things that weren't too big. He was definitely feeling the cold but his mind was so focused on finding the others that it didn't even bother him.

"I'm sure they're fine." Veli said in a reassuring voice. It was a bad habit to be sure of things that you aren't; it created false promises but pack composure was to be maintained and Velis mind was always on the pack. "They have been through enough with us to hold their own anyway until we can find them. If anything, we will hear them howl." he told the group.

[rivaan]

"I will let you know some mobiles can be equiped with GPS devices, especially if they are kids models, so the parents can track their children if needed." Akane replied annoyed." I'm not trying to make you take one everywhere you go, but in this day and age of technology, not having one makes it even more suspicious. I'm just proposing to have one when we split for situations like this one. In natural enviroment howl will be a good way of locating someone, but in the city, the buildings could create a echo effect or the noise from all the cars and people will just overpower it, depending on where we are." She said." This complete denial of technology one day might be the cause of our kind's downfall..." She muttered tiredly
"That aside do we have any idea where they last were?" She asked." What part of the city they went to?"

[Keira Kelly]

Kate threw Akane another annoyed look. "Of course I know that. I have lived in the human world too... but like I said, if something went wrong, the GPS wouldn't function if the phone was destroyed. I'd rather rely on my own abilities and instincts than have technology as a crutch. I am no urrah..." she countered. "I don't think it will be our downfall." she countered. "We are the hand of Gaia's balance and a big part of that balance is limiting the Weaver's power, not using it for our own means and extending its webs even further. Have you been to the Umbra, Akane? Seen what a city looks like there?" she asked with a shudder. She'd seen it once or twice back in England with her own Fianna brethren, seen how the Weaver could entangle everything. "No, it's letting the Triat become unbalanced that could be our downfall and why we strive so hard to keep it balanced." she explained.

She shook her head with a shrug. "We just all split up our own ways.. Mist is harder to track but look at these broken branches..." she replied, indicating with her hand. "The twins don't care about covering up their trail. I bet this was them and it's fairly fresh.. only a couple of hours maybe?" she added after touching the ends of the branches, finding it sticky with sap. Kate wasn't the most well versed in tracking but she'd have to have been blind not to see these broken branches, even in the dark. The light-coloured inner wood stood out in the gloom.

As she prepared to carry on, she heard something and paused. There it was again. A high-pitched bark like that of a cub calling for help. That was a cry for help... and it was Mist's voice. It came again, weaker and the ending trailed off in a whine of pain. Kate's heart sank at the sound; that meant they weren't just lost after all... something had happened.

[Veli Alvar]

Veli stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the bark. He had to shake his head to make sure he wasn't hearing... Mist?! Veli didn't want to believe it.. would she really be in that much trouble to call for help? What about the twins? So many things going through his mind but so little time to think. His facial expression suddenly became bright with anger. His eyes extremely intense and a burning sensation quickly covered Velis entire chest. He was ready to rip anything apart - whether it was a tree that happened to fall and incapacitate Mist or minions of the Wyrm, there was no discrimination.

"Find out where that bark is coming from and you dart in that direction, NOW!" he ordered. It was a shame his own tracking skills left a lot to be desired but he wasn't going to let that stop him from rushing to her aid. Somebody had to have a good ear for pinpointing the direction and the more seconds that passed, the more danger that Mist was in. Veli continued to look around trying to determine the direction the best he could.

[Keira Kelly]

Kate had heard the call well enough and it had come a few times. She pointed slightly off course of the direction they'd been travelling. "There. It came from that direction!" she cried, ready to run the moment the others did, the moment her alpha did. She'd heard the pain in the voice, the call for help... so pitiful sounding. She drew her sword, prepared to take on anything that might be hurting her packmates. "It was that way and not too far off, between us and the city...."

[rivaan]

"Oi, what's with the waiting?" Akane quickly asked and looked at Veli with awaikening eyes. It was pretty obvious she wanted to move... He nodded so... "On it!" Akane quickly said quickly rushed in the direction Kate confirmed earlier. A pack mate in danger and the way she sounded, the albino didn't like it. She ran as fast as she could, jumping over roots of the trees, or using low branches to do a moving swing on them to jump even further. As she ran, Akane kept her hands, close to the pockets where she kept the smokescreens and the glass and metal dust bombs...

[Veli Alvar]

The moment Kate had pointed in the direction that Mist was barking from, Veli took off without heed making snarling noise as he took each breath. That was the signal for everybody else to follow, as if they needed anything else to go by. He ran as fast as he could muster, striding over any impeding obstacles on the ground. He was determined to get to Mist in time to save her and even the twins if they were in trouble along with her! "Gaia, have mercy on my packmates!" he thought to himself.