Logs:Pack Kill

From Tenebrous Isles
Jump to: navigation, search
Pack Kill

A group of random hikers comes across a feeding

Dramatis Personae

Bjorn, Enola, Felix, Iara, Lei, Sylvi, and Tabby. Loa as GM. NPCs: Aswang

6 November, 2008


Sometimes an easy meal doesn't come cheap

Location

Windward Coast, A Wooded Roundabout

Plot(s)

Plot:The Calf Eaters


Late enough at night that things tend to slow down, even in a 24/7 type of town like Oahu, there are always little adventures cropping up that can be had. Whether it's just a couple of people deciding to go out and make their way along a short hike, or a whole group of friends planning to go out and have a good time in the dark, in the woods, where other people would definitely find them in the morning if they passed out, this was a good place for it.

With the heavy clouds overhead, there wasn't much in the way of starlight, but in the woods there is a group of people set up in a circle, with a bunch of artificial torches burning brightly. The light from their camp seems to send out a glow to the rest of the surrounding woods, making them somewhat eerily illuminated in strange, random, stabbings of light. The laughter while people tell ghost stories or random jokes also filters through the evening and echoes oddly down the trail, making it a little bit woogie out there for anyone choosing to go on a hike this late night.


Sylvi was out, for some ungodly reason. Likely her usual companions were doing their own thing, and so too was she, because she was here, in the woods, without them. Still, as a woman that seemed to pride herself on knowing the whole island just for the sheer topographical thrill of it, why not be out at night, alone, walking along a path through the woods? At least she'd dressed to be there, wearing a set of jeans that fit her snugly and managed to avoid the reckless endangerment of excess fabric. Her feet are covered in a set of hiking boots, light gray with bright orange ties, and they seem fairly rugged despite the lack of heavy staining. For a shirt, Syl had on just a simple Tshirt in light, heather gray that looked fairly thin, and indeed was at least thin enough to leave her dark, sports-style bra obvious through the fabric even with the odd, inconsistent lightning of the night.


It was not unusual for Iara to venture out at all odd hours of the night, hiking even in pitch darkness at times, her other senses perhaps more than making up for lack of night vision as she confidently strides through the hiking trails, shouldering a small backpack on one shoulder as she explores a new trail. Dressed in black khakis, a white t-shirt and a thin red jacket, she seems comfy enough as she slowly makes her way towards the circle of light, ears pricking at the sound of laughter from up ahead.


Enola has gone out night hiking with Lei. Her only real concession to hiking at night is boots rather than sandals. She has as often a cigar lit and wafting sweet smoke. Her black silk top hat rests atop Lei's head and she seems in good spirits enjoying the night hiking.


Someone else was on the night hiking kick, someone used to it. Bjorn made his way along the woods, pausing as he heard the laughter and saw the lights. While used to bumping into the occasional fellow night hiker, he only once bumped into someone who set up a camp. His hair is completely tied back into a tail tonight, perhaps to keep from snagging on unseen branches. Dressed in his grey hiking shoes, blue jeans instead of his usual shorts of late, and a grey tee with black letters that stated, 'In my defense, I was left unsupervised' he makes his way toward the sounds of laughter. After all could be a possible party, and he might know someone.


Tabby stopped to place her hand against a tree, her nose wrinkling is she sniffed at the air. "These chingado mountain ranges need to decide which fucking way the wind is blowing. Can't track boars... Nothing." The Latina was dressed for the outdoors with her gray hoodie zipped up and hood up, tan cargo shorts, hiking boots, with pack on her back, and 4 D-Cell maglite that looked more like a blowtorch from the light it was giving off. Kneeling down, she picked at the ground and vegetation.


Felix spent a good deal of his time in the woods, enjoying the feeling of getting lost in the smug knowledge he'd find his way out somehow. He wasn't hiking so much as traipsing, having more or less decided to take a direct route and see where it would lead him. He wasn't making much of an effort to be quiet, his feet crunching underbrush as he moved along. There was a pair of earbuds in his ears and he moved along with the music, bobbing his head and shuffling along. His feet, clad in sturdy hiking boots, jumped and stepped and jived, his arms out and moving, pinwheeling and waving as he danced through the forest. So of course it wasn't the sound of laughter but the light that caught his attention, noting the fire through the trees. Eyebrows going up, he started grooving in that direction. Dressed in a pair of faded dungarees and a leather jacket, he wore only a white t-shirt underneath, which showed off his lean, muscled build. As he got closer he sniffed the air, trying to see if he could catch any telltale scents of interest.


Lei walks along at Enola's side, moving with surety, despite the lack of decent lighting. She's wearing a fairly usual outfit for her, consisting of jean shorts and a light tank-top, thick hiking boots on her feet. And then there's the hat on her head, something she's not quite used to with how often she reaches up to adjust it. As she walks along she's talking with Enola, or perhaps at, hands lifting to point one way or another, when they're not busy with that hat. "... And if you head in that direction for a bit there's this one clearing that makes for a perfect campsite. While over there a ways is an old trail that is only slightly overgrown. I haven't actually fully followed it to the end, yet, but one of these days I will."


For anyone coming toward the sound of a gathering, the group hanging out in the woods was nothing more than maybe 8 adults, hanging around with a few lean-to tents set up. Nothing major, and no pit fire, because of course that's what gets you shut down here in these areas. Instead, they were just hanging out, drinking from thermoses, talking to each other. Among the group there were 5 men and 3 women, the latter all seemingly paired up with one of the men of the group as they sat on either felled logs or folding seats. Two of them women looked to be strongly of local ancestry, while the third woman seemed to be more along the lines of stronger Asian decent, and was likewise almost pregnant enough that the 3/4 mile or so they must have hiked to get here might well have been a real, half day struggle. She was seated comfortably in a folding chair, with one of the men standing behind her. Of the 5 men, two looked fairly local and the other three looked to be some sort of blended hapa-haole, mixed with the lighter races. None of them stood out overly much. Whenever they caught sight of other people hiking or peering in at the lit area their camp created, a rousing round of "Aloha!" was given, called in good cheer. Nothing stank of illegal anything, though to anyone with a keen nose, the scent of hot chocolate, coffee, and some sort of rum-ish alcohol could be caught.


Sylvi couldn't help but grin at the fact that Oahu, well and truly, was nothing but a small world. Spotting a familiar form, she called out a greeting of "God Kveldt, Bjorn!" When she noted the broad and familiar back as she came around a bend of the hiking trail. It would seem she was heading toward the camp to have a curious peek as well. As she strode up behind the larger man, Sylvi gave him a friendly hip-check, though nothing so hard as she might send the man falling into the bushes. That's just not friendly, after all. Then she spoke to him brightly in her native tongue, her Norwegian accent clear as day.

Sylvi says, in Norwegian, "What are you up to, out here all alone, big guy?"


Iara's nose twitches a bit as she nears the campsite, smelling the hint of alcohol almost immediately. Not much of a drinker herself, she still offers a small shy smile and nod to the group. "Umm, aloha." She does not move any nearer to the group, not wanting to interrupt, hovering on the edge instead. And it seems that others are hiking the same trail, and she glances over her shoulder, spying a familiar Bjorn and Sylvi, both of which are offered another shy smile and wave. "Aloha, you two. How have you been? It's been a while.."


Enola puffs on her cigar and chuckles pointing "Ooh campsite hoe." she says with a warm smile and gives Lei a warm lean against before reaching up to steal her hat back. People mean that Papa might want to party who knows for sure, might as well be prepared.


Smiling as he hears a familiar voice, Bjorn glances back in time to get hip checked, Sylvi being one of the few people can can get the big man to move from one, even if doing it lightly. "God Kveldt Sylvi." He moves to slide an arm around her and give her a hug as he goes to answer the fellow Norwegian on the night out. A wave is offered at the sounds of Aloha from the group at the campsite, but he speaks to Sylvi in his native tongue since she started it.

Bjorn says, in Norwegian, " I'm doing alright, I come out here at night from time to time. Keeps the senses sharp, and is normally quiet. What brings you out?"


Tabby lifted her chin as she sniffed the wind again and brought herself standing. Slapping her free hand against her shorts to get rid of the dust, she sighed heavily. "Mierda..." The woman mumbled as she scanned her immediate surrounding with the beam of flashlight. Once she sorted out that she was going to dive down some hill, she started walking in the direction of the campsite at relaxed pace.


Coming into the clearing, Felix pulled his earbuds out, grinning widely at the assembled crowd with a hand up in greeting. "Aloha! I'm one more there's room for!" With a laugh he waded in to the crowd, trading hand clasps and back hugs with total strangers. Coffee he accepted, along with a bit of rum. He grinned as he spotted Iara, giving her a nod as he walked towards the little knot of mostly familiar figures. Coming up he offered Bjorn a wave. "Hey Bjorn. Iara. How's it going?" He looked to Sylvi, smiling brightly at the Nordic woman. "And hello. I'm Felix." Spotting a familiar top hat, he gave Enola and Lei a high wave as they came towards the clearing.


Lei lets out a surprised sound and tries to duck away when Enola reaches for the hat, though not quick enough to prevent it being taken. She pouts at Enola before turning her head, nose up in the air in a faux appearance of snobbishness. "Ha'aheo no paha 'oe i kena papale kupalaka, pehea la," says Leilani in a haughty tone, before she looks toward the campsite and calls out, "Aloha! Pehea E?oukou?" As she says this she angles the path she's walking toward the campsite itself.


The sound of birds seemed to die down as more people were around making noise. Even the insects seem to have gone entirely, until only the faint sound of the wind could be heard in the branches of the bushes and trees.

One of the men in the camp site called out to the few people he could see along the edges of the brighter ring of light near where he and his friends were set up relaxing. "Aloha over there, you're welcome to come get water, or if you want some hot chocolate or coffee. Not sure how much we have left to drink of any rum, but if you can arm wrestle it off Hanaloi over there, maybe you get some of that, too." He chuckled as he was shoved slightly, presumably by Hanaloi.

The pregnant woman laughed, then held her belly and made a face. "Oh! I have to go sing to the trees for a minute!" Then, the process of standing began. It was obviously a bit on the hilarious side as the poor, overburdened woman managed to teeter to the upright on her feet. One of the other women popped up to help, even feting a light, when the man that had been standing behind the pregnant woman stopped her, taking the light himself. "I'll take her out there, you guys stay here and enjoy. She's gonna need a stronger arm to hold onto so she doesn't go swimming on accident, neh?" And of course, everyone laughed, including the pregnant woman, who also smacked him on the shoulder. The two made their way out into the bushes, slow and careful, until the glow of their lamp could only barely be seen as they'd hidden away behind trees and other bushy foliage. A low, dull, thud could be heard.


Sylvi laughed brightly and comfortably wrapped an arm around Bjorn, grinning up at the guy. "Ah, you know. Just taking a break from the sisters for a little while. Deciding what the rest of the night will look like." Apparently she'd elected to switch to English. Sylvi offered Iara a wide smile and nodded to her. "God Kveldt, Iara. And God Kvedlt, Felix." Holding her right hand out to Felix to shake his hand, Sylvi gave him the same, happy smile. "A pleasure, I'm Sylvi. So many friends on one trail, a good night for a hike, ja?" She watched curiously as Enola and Lei came closer, offering them both smiles, then the same for Tabby as she spotted the beam of her flashlight, then the woman emerging from the woods near the camp site. Turning her attention to the man in the camp that had offered, Sylvi nodded to him. "I wouldn't turn away a water, I forgot my backpack in the car and nothing I'm carrying on me is good for thirst." She accepted the water gratefully, nodding to the man. "Mahalo." Yes, it sounded totally weird to say it with a Norwegian accent, but she did so anyway. Her eyes followed the man and woman leaving the camp site, and she seemed to continue to watch that direction for a long moment. "I can't imagine trying to pee in the woods while that pregnant, it must be like carrying a bowling ball to the water closet with you." This said aside to possibly Bjorn, as she'd stayed near the familiar man.


Iara giggles a bit as she spots Felix traipsing along, dancing to his music once he is close enough. She offers him a small wave, "Aloha, Felix. Wow, lots of people out here tonight. So much for a quiet hike in the woods..." she sighs a bit, glancing around. A polite nod and smile is given to the top hat woman and her companion, although she does not seem to know them much more than that. "Aloha, you two." Tabby is also noticed with a slightly shy, bite of the lip, nodding slowly to her as well. "Aloha again, Tabby..Ummm are you looking for something..?" she ventures, noting her intense scanning of her surroundings.


Enola smiles "No idea what you said." she says and giggles and blows a kiss. "I'll assume it was 'you look lovely in that hat'." she grins and puffs on her cigar as she follows along with Lei towards the campsite, grinning to herself. She waves back, her pale skin is almost glowing in the darkness, all the time she's spent on the island and she stays nice and milky, lots of zinc oxide to the rescue.


A wave is given to all the familiar people in turn that he spots and that greet the mountain of a man, along with the requisite, "Aloha." He looks to Sylvi and cough/snickers slightly at her comment, but then before replying to her looks about at the low thud sound. Sniffing the air briefly, Bjorn looks about a moment and then cranes his neck ever so slightly, perhaps wondering if he can hear something over the conversational noise at the campsite. Maybe he's just paranoid, though after fighting sand crabs, potential mirror soul swapping, and a wrong side of the island pork fiasco one can't take too many chances lately.


The craning of his neck seems to pay off for the large man, maybe his height kept him above it all as it were. Bjorn says suddenly, "Something's not right..." And patting Sylvi's shoulder he moves off in the direction where the two went off to...make water. He calls out, "Aloha, everything alright out there?" What was curiosity and paranoia before quickly becomes dread and worry as he picks up the pace sniffing the air again, a look of dread crossing his features.


Tabby kept her maglite beam down as not to blind anyone more than the halo at her feet did. She chuckled as the campers offered water and coffee. "Gracias, but if I don't drink my own, my pack is never going to get lighter." Clicking off the maglite, she raised her hand long enough to offer a wave to the others, breathing out another a laugh, "I couldn't imagine it either. I'd probably stay on my couch right near my car keys." Tabby glanced at the retreating pregnant woman and back. Looking back to Iara, "Tracking wild boar... Which I can say is going less than well as I seem to have campsite." She winked at Iara, her nose wrinkling as she looked back to where the couple had headed towards. She glanced at Bjorn moving in that direction. "And maybe I found my pigs..." Tabby turned, heading diagonally, and widening the spacing between her and Bjorn, "Sangre y orina..."


Felix accepted the hand from Sylvi, giving a quick, firm handshake and laughing. "Yeah I'll say. Usually it's just me, music and bumping into trees for a few hours." He grinned, watching the couple depart into the woods before looking to Iara. "Yeah right? It's also a good way to find parties half the time." At the sound in the woods, Felix looked over slightly before shrugging and taking another sip of his laced coffee. Then he heard something else and paused, looking back over in that direction. "That doesn't sound right. Or that's a hell of a bladder problem." He downed the coffee in a few quick goes and started moving towards the sound in the forest, calling out. "Everything ok?" He nodded to Bjorn as the man did the same, but kept heading forwards towards the noises. He was moving after Tabby, running a hand through his hair. He looked to the ex-cop. "Blood and what now?"


Lei does her best to keep her face straight, though her lips quirk in a small smile as she replies to Enola, "Well, it was definitely something about your hat." She gives a nod of greeting in return to Iara, before lifting a hand to wave to Felix. Though anything she was about to say in greeting is cut off by Bjorn's words, head turning to watch as he walks off. When his pace picks up her features turn to a determined cast, an sh starts moves to quickly follow. Though trying to keep pace with someone of his size is likely an exercise in futility, even with her own long stride.


The stillness continued on the air, the sounds of animals and insects all quieted. And the wind continued to move gently through the trees.

At the camp, people seem less dulled than they could have been. Maybe because they were out with a pregnant woman already? All of the 6 people left there stood up, peering curiously at those that seemed to be following their friends into the woods. "Hey brah, they just going to make sure she can still pee standing up, neh? All's Ok!" This from the friendly man that had offered drinks.

Seen only by Enola: From the woods, a man comes walking. He looks highly confused. It definitely looks like the man that had walked over with the pregnant woman. He's not exactly walking in a straight line and he only barely dodges getting thwacked in the face by flying branches as others pass him toward the area he'd been in.

The tide is high and rising.


Sylvi sucked in a little breath and nodded, glancing at the people that all seemed fairly ready to move forward. She didn't argue with Bjorn, Tabby, or anyone else heading into the woods where the pregnant lady had gone to pee. Instead she just moved forward with the large man in tandem, looking disturbingly... ready. Maybe the muscles weren't just for show? Who knew. In fact, as she moved, she pulled the hair tie from where she'd been wearing it on her wrist and pulled all of her thick, blonde, hair back into a ponytail, then whirled it up into a bun at the base of her skull, getting it out of her way. It left her slightly narrowed, careful eyes free so she could more easily see if necessary.


Iara narrows her eyes, ears pricking up as she turns in the direction of the pair. "Hmm? What is it, Bjorn?" although with a soft frown, she steps towards the path the pregnant woman and her companion took, but pauses hesitantly, not wanting to invade their privacy but clearly concerned for their well-being. "She seemed pretty far along, I hope she's alright.." She pauses only a moment longer, catching something..Not quite right in the air and frowns softly. "I really have a bad feeling about this as well." And with that resolve, Iara takes several more steps after the pair, searching for them in the forage as she does not hear a response from either Bjorn or Felix's calls. "Hello? Are you in here? Are you two alright?"


Enola starts to follow after Lei and then she notes the man and stops. "Hey, what's up? Something happen? Where's the lady she fall or something?" she asks. Her cigar in her fingers and her top hat sitting at just such a jaunty angle.


As Enola speaks to someone, it should likely be noted that it looks like she's talking to a tree.


Behind the bushes where the two had gone to go let loose a little aqua vida, a man lay on the ground. He's face down, the back of his head is covered in inky, liquid, and seems a bit concave for a skull. His body is entirely too relaxed to be considered awake or aware. There's no sign of the pregnant woman, and the light they'd carried with them into the darkness was sitting on the ground, off.


Blinking as he sees the man upon the ground, with a nasty head wound Bjorn calls out, "We need a medic over here!" He crouches down briefly to check for the man's pulse, though a man of medicine he is not so he can't do anything else really. Instead he focuses on the ground and any signs of tracks or the like, though he sniffs the air instead and toward the ground, and cranes his neck back and forth again off into the night, trying to hear something, anything. Not really in the best of forms for such he makes the best of it for now, at least until he can get further away from the campsite.


Tabby frowned a touched as she sniffed at the air, slowing her steps as she spoke to Felix. "I'm one of those individuals that keeps a running dialog with themselves. By commenting or asking a question, Gato, you're inviting yourself into my head-space." The Latina shook her head, "It's a dangerous place to be, hombre." She kept moving to where the man was face down. Strapping out of her pack as she knelt down next to the man, "Some tell those campers to call the cops and ambulance." Tabby checked over for immediate signs of the wound besides the obvious, checking his neck. "Bjorn, you may want to lose the clothes."


As they came into the clearing and found the dead body, Felix visibly paled. Leaning against a tree, he retched slightly, turning his head to spit. He cast about, tilting his head as he tried to find some trace of the woman. In the end he could only shake his head helplessly. "Damn I have no idea where they went..."


Lei comes to a stop when she comes upon the area where the man is lying on the ground. She starts toward him, though when Bjorn calls out for a medic and kneels down beside the man she turns her attention elsewhere. Her eyes scan the ground before she takes a couple steps and kneels down, looking at something, one hand moving with her fingers spread, as though to measure something. Standing up again she says, "The woman was dragged off this way. And I say dragged, as there's no footprints. Looks like she was trying to grab the ground to avoid it. Not seeing any prints for whatever took her, either." She steps over to the fallen light and picks it up, fiddling with it to see if it still turns on, or if it is broken. Either way, with or without light, the Hawaiian woman moves to start following the tracks that she could see.


As Lei fiddles with the light, it comes up and is once again, bright.

The friendly man from the camp came following everyone into the woods and stopped, looking like he'd been shot in the chest. "Leroy? Le... LEROY?!" His voice cut through the woods, obviously heartache there as he rushed forward and shook the man, trying to get him to wake up. "Come on man, don't do this to me brah! Cindy's got the baby man... Cindy?" He looks around, eyes wide and showing far too much white. "CINDY?!" He screamed her name and looked at the surrounding trees, his eyes fixing on Lei as she seems to know where she's going after the woman. "She's pregnant, you gotta find her! She needs to come help with Leroy!" He looked back toward camp and screamed out loudly "HANALOI! CALL THE 911 MAN! Need an ambulance, get the cops here, brah. HURRY UP!" The friendly man looked at Tabby as she checked out his friend, hope on his face. "Is he gonna be all OK then? Just need a little stitches, neh, sistah?" Yeah... Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

The pathway Lei's found to follow isn't much of one, but since she's able to see the pattern in it, she's got it down. It decidedly leads deeper into the woods. Past the area people simply wandered through around the path, and into areas where people usually don't tread, because there's not many great places for camping and it's just walking through woods hoping to get lost at that point.


Sylvi reached over to pat Felix's shoulder firmly as he seemed about ready to heave up some of that good coffee. "Be steady Felix. I'm pretty sure that we need to focus on the woman before we get rid of our stomachs for her man." She offered Felix a smile, then looked over at Lei, nodding to her. "I'll be right behind you, let's go find her." Sylvi's jaw set and her lips took on a grim sort of flat line as she moved behind the other woman.


Iara's eyes widen at the sight of the man on the ground, wrinkling her nose at the black inky stuff on the back of his head. "What..Happened?" but she wastes no more words on trying to figure out what happened. Instead, drawing a deep breath, trying to calm herself and focus, she kneels by the man, checking his pulse, his breathing and circulation, cautious of his head wound, not wanting to move him until she has ascertained his injuries..But it's quite obvious by now that they arrived too late.

With a soft sigh she steps back, letting the man who comes running towards his dead friend to pay his respects. "I'm sorry, we were too late..But maybe we can still save that woman.." she murmurs a soft prayer over the dead man's body before rising to her feet, looking away towards the skies as she marks the sign of the cross. Drawing a deep breath, she glances around and spies Lei trudging deeper into the woods. "Hmm, did you find something?" she calls out, peering at the ground thoughtfully then hurrying to follow after her.


Seen only by Enola: The man Enola's speaking to seems to be repeating over and over, in a mumble, the word "Baby?" while he looks around. When Enola talks to him, he reaches out to take her shoulders, and his hands feel like cool, sweet, gusts of air along her skin. He doesn't have the usual consistency of living tissue, but instead that odd, watery component with just enough viscocity to feel real. He looks in her face and he cries out "BABY?!" As he shakes Enola back and forth roughly, or at least tries to. He's a little too out of it to focus enough on real force.


Enola rocks side to side and has to catch her top hat and straiten it to avoid loosing it, moving like a woman being shaken by someone trying to get a point across. "No hey hey... listen carefully. You want help, you have to tell me which way they went." she swings her hand in a gentle slapping motion, like a mime reenacting a scene from any movie where someone is hysterical. "Come on buddy, gotta help me if I'm gonna help you."


As Lei seems to know which way they went, Bjorn nods and stands fully, ready to follow her, Sylvi, and the others. He starts moving with, and untucks his shirt, but doesn't take it off yet, cause... yeah that'd look really weird for guys at the camp wondering why the white dude is gonna go streak at a time like this. So for now he follows along, until they're far enough away from camp, though he sniffs the air still occasionally, perhaps trying to pick up cocoa, or coffee scent, or maybe residual urine from the poor woman, something to go on.


Tabby checked over the body one last time even as Iara said her prayer over the man. "Pendejo..." She glanced as the others headed off to where the woman was dragged off, and got her feet back under her. Glancing back towards the camp, her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. Grabbing her pack, she slung it over her shoulder and headed back towards camp.


Felix nodded, wiping his mouth as he looked to Sylvi. His eyes were red and angry, and there was something else behind them. "Thanks. Right..." He was still casting about as Lei found the trail and started following it, the others picking up after. Wiping his face, he spared a look back to Enola and the dead man before nodding. "Enough of this shit."

The change was fast and fluid, though that made it no easier to look at. There was the crunch of broken bones as Felix's body spasmed and warped, arms and hands elongating, legs cracking and growing degitigrade. His clothes melted away as bright scles covered his body, two huge wings forcing themselves out from either side of his contorting and lengthening spine. His eyes seemed to swell and pop, replaced by bright yellow orbs with nictitating membranes. A long tailed lashed at the ground as Felix's face extended into a reptilian muzzle, the maw full of long, curved teeth. Without a sound he rustled himself, spreading vibrant, multi-colored wings. Powerful rear legs bunching, he launched into the air, flying from above to get a better vantage point. Catching wind of something he banked, beating wings as he raced above the others.


With a brief nod as response to the questions Lei moves through the forest, following the signs of the passage of the woman. She does call out as she goes, "Enola, see if he'll come along and let's go. She's this way." When Felix changes she stops, the sound of it enough to draw her attention back that way, and stares at him, before he's taking off, then she shakes her head and mutters, "Focus on the missing civilian now, wonder about that later." At one point she stops and crouches down by a root, picking something up and holding it up to the light. A fingernail. Then she's straightening up and moving further along, only to pause shortly thereafter, examining what looks to be punctures in the ground. She traces the edges with a frown before shaking her head and saying, "I have no clue what could cause this, especially so infrequently." Then she stands up and continues along the trail.


Loa dropped Keyla.


Loa dropped Leyla.


Back in the camp, the friendly guy that had tried to get Leroy to wake up had stood up and wandered back, sobbing. Everyone else at camp was either at stages of puking or sobbing as well and looked completely ragged. One of the women was on the phone with the emergency services number, giving them the location and the situation as best she could. When Tabby came out of the woods toward them she was on the receiving end of 6 sets of wide eyes, all looking hopeful that she had good news, a couple of them wiping tears or vomit off of their chins and cheeks.


As the group was scattered along in various placements, some following the pathway that had been left behind by the struggling Cindy, others heading elsewhere to take care of business in their own way, a rustling violently occurred in the trees overhead. One moment people were simply moving along, and the next, something viciously launched itself at the tracking party.

The creature likely took a second or two to really understand, as it looked like it had the torso of a woman, bare from the waist up, with a semi-normal appearing head covered in long, sickly, sweat-soaked, black hair that trailed down around the shoulders. That's where the similarities to humanity ended, though. Protruding from her body were 8 long, dangerously arachnid legs that ended in sharp, spiky points that punctured the ground deeply as the creature landed. When it launched itself forward at Sylvi, it did so with a horrendous shriek, displaying a massive, lip-splittingly wide set of jaws filled with long, blackened, and rather pointed teeth. Instead of biting at Sylvi, it swiped at her with a long arm, the fingers on its hand tipped in long, filthy claws that raked across the blonde's shoulder and ripped open her shirt, leaving red welts behind on her skin.


Sylvi reeled back, reached into the little inner-waistband holster at the line of her jeans and pulling free a knife. She threw it at the creature that had attacked her, the blade going wide and thudding off of a tree instead of hitting the beast. "WHAT THE HELL?" Her voice wasn't filled with warmth, but instead anger, and her blue-gray eyes flashed with a nice, toasty rage.


Iara blinks slowly, falling into step with Felix now, shivering softly, the gruesome memory of the dead man still fresh in her mind. "Felix, are you gonna be alright? I guess I wasn't expecting that..Maybe it was an accident.." well one can always hope..But it seems quite unlikely..And she pauses to sniff the air, a soft frown marring her features. "Blood and urine..So they did come this way.."

She clenches her fists, tensing slightly, readying for..Whatever lays ahead. Of course that's when the young man suddenly transforms into a wyvern and she steps back, not nearly surprised as she probably should be, but then again it isn't the first time she's seen this. Shaking her head, Iara quickens her pace, desperate to find the pregnant woman before..Something else finds her.

However, with danger so near, and with the sounds of whimpering coming from the camp, her first priority is to get the campers to safety. "You guys go on ahead, I'd better check on the others." she turns around and hurries off to join Tabby, well aware of the sounds of a horrifying shriek somewhere in the woods behind her.

"Everyone, you need to get out of here, now! It's not safe, trust me. We can mourn your friend later."


The tide is high and slack.


Seen only by Enola: The man lifts one of his arms from Enola's shoulder and points, then screams into her face "BABY!" in a voice that's gone hollow and harrowed. He's, naturally, pointing in the same direction that Lei et all have wandered into the woods. "BABY!"

Enola nods her head "Alright, fine, you're still confused that's okay pretty normal." She makes a few arm gestures like she's turning someone around. Then she throws her arm out like it's over someone's shoulder and starts walking "Just show me the way okay? You can do that for me." she says to the air as she walks into the forest looking like James Stewart in Harvey.


A second figure much like the first seems to come from the very darkness of the forest, and she was moving at quite the clip. While the blonde hair on Sylvi's head may have been a lure for the first creature, this one was clearly aiming herself directly for Lei, the leader of the tracking party. As she ran across the earth, her long, spidery legs made deep punctures into the ground. Her long arm reached out to try to grab seemingly a handful of flesh right off Lei's bones, but the quick tracker managed to dodge out of the way by the skin of her teeth, leaving the creature's hand and claws filled with nothing but air. The frustrated scream that left the half-woman was something of a harrowing ululation, and the trees around them seemed to shudder in response to it.


Moving along taking his shirt off as they get further away, Bjorn blinks as Felix shifts and flies off. "I really gotta learn the clothes thing..." At the mention of the tracks as he kicks off his hiking shoes he adds, "Maybe they lea-" and then OMGBADDIES LEAPING! He blinks and either tries to get his jeans off in record time, though with zero time more likely he's gonna need new pants as he shifts, the already mountain of a man growing, and growing, and growing some more until his eleven foot couple thousand pound furry frame bellows out a challenge, especially to the one that hurt Sylvi... not that she couldn't take care of herself, just cause it pissed him off to see it hurt her. He lunges at the beastie type to try to claw it in turn, just with a few thousand pounds of added umph to his, delivering a large swipe at it.


Tabby neared the group, and stood there silently for a moment as she looked at the individuals at the camp. She took a deep breath, and was about to speak when the shriek inhuman shriek echoed through the trees. Tabby grimaced, "I want you all to grab lights and move back towards the road to wait for the police!" Turning on a heel, she broke into a run through the woods, allowing her sensitive nose and ears towards the search party in all haste. The Latina just crashed through the brush ignoring the cut and scrapes on the way.


From above, Felix was well aware of the commotion below. He swooped up and dove, eyes half closed as he crashed through the canopy. As he came through the foliage he caught sight of a huge bear assaulting a spider legged woman, another tangling with Lei. Bright eyes focused on an available target, and the wyvern's mouth opened in a trumpeting roar as it dove, arms outstretched and talons grasping. With a screech of triumph it slammed into the monstrous woman, clawing and tearing at her as he sought to gain purchase on her, teeth sinking into a shoulder.


Lei scampers to the side as the second figure charges at her, barely succeeding in getting out of the way. She stares uncertainly at the spider-woman creature, glancing between it and the light in her hands. "Not... The greatest weapon," she mutters. But then there's a flying lizard of some sort landing on it, prompting Lei to let out a sigh of relief. Though she doesn't take long to revel in that relief, the Hawaiian woman dropping the light and quickly kicking off her boots while stripping off her shirt and shorts. Then her body twists and rearranges itself, until a stocky jaguar is in the woman's place. Letting out a barking roar the jaguar launches itself at the thing that attacked her, though it's followed by her scrambling on the ground and letting out another roar when the thing skitters out of the way of her attack.


Being suddenly mauled by a huge bear wasn't in the expected playbook, apparently, and the Aswang that had started off by attacking Sylvi was suddenly being mauled by a damn polar bear. On Oahu. Letting out a screeching sound of rage and dismay, the creature turned its head toward Bjorn's neck and bit at him, ripping out some of the thick, seemingly white fur as she scraped at his skin with her nasty teeth.


The tide is high and ebbing.


Sylvi cocked her head to the side as Bjorn went after the same Aswang she'd been dealing with. Of course, in flew Felix the Wyvern, and then Sylvi couldn't help her broad grin as Lei also then shapeshifted into, of all things on Oahu, a jaguar. "Well then, true colors it is!" Sylvi's shirt tore a bit as two heavy, massive wings were then just jutting out proudly from her back, covered in thick, sleek, raven's feathers. Her eyes flashed with a strange, greenish tint for a moment as she took a few fast steps, plucked up her knife from where it had landed, and wheeled around on the creature that had attacked her and Bjorn, slicing deeply into its stomach. The satisfied sound the Valkyrie made as blood splattered out onto her clothes and across Bjorn's white fur was something that should likely make hackles stand up. "At least you bleed, bitch." She ground out between her teeth at the wretched baby-eater.


The aswang Felix and Lei were fighting against seemed disoriented, attempting to handle the attacks from both of them, dodging and moving like she was trying to find an angle to hit them. She lashed out wildly, trying to claw into Felix, but he was so far away from her claws by the time she reached out, it was as if she was just reaching for nothing but air.


Getting his neck bit into /hurt/ Now he was pissed. As Sylvi stabbed the thing violently Bjorn roared in anger, the giant polar bear grappling the thing and biting it in the face and head, trying to.. well if not eat the Aswang then definitely remove it's head from it's shoulders. He squeezes and bites at it trying to end the thing that hurt it and his friends.


Tabby snarls as she takes in the spiderwomen moving, "Que chingados?" Dropping her pack and maglite on the ground, she pulled her hoodie over her head with the crackle of static. The scar on the back of her neck flared with a cold blue light, spreading all the way around her neck in the bruising pattern of a chain collar. "Time to go full loba loco," her voice rattled as her canines extended, her eyes talking on an amber light. With an inhuman snarl, she dropped to all fours as her flesh swelled and ripped as a bloody Eurasian wolf burst out of her, leaving her humanity on the ground in tatters. The ectoplasm-slickened wolf charged like mad hound, leaping and locking onto Keyla's arachnid leg. The momentum of the barreling wolf causing the leg to rip from its socket and splitting its underside before the wolf was thrown free. The canine got down to its feet, the cold-lit brand around its neck burning as the shewolf snarled and foamed at the Aswang.


As the aswang struck Felix was already leaping back, hitting the ground on all fours six feet away. Shaking himself, he hunkered down and started sprinting forwards, his gait more of a lope than a run, but efficient. He cleared the distance at speed and launched himself, passing by in a swipe that saw claws designed to kill slice cleanly through the Aswang's flesh. He landed on the other side of it, skidding to a halt and spinning around. Tail lashing, he began to circle it for another attempt, padding on splayed hand feet.


Leilani the jaguar let out a low growl and started to circle the Aswang that she and Felix were fighting. As Felix struck Lei took the opportunity to dart into the trees and undergrowth around the area, natural camouflage helping her disappear from view, as she continued to move around the creature, looking for an opportune angle of attack.


The creature locked in battle with Bjorn, Sylvi, and Tabby reared her head back and screamed into BjornBear's face. It clawed and bit at him in a frantic rush in an attempt to get away, or kill, tear through, ANYTHING to do enough damage to be free. It got in a good gouge or two along the way, also, as tufts of white fur went flying into the air around her.


Sylvi, unhappy with the fact that the creature was still attacking, let out a sound of surprise as Tabby came flying into the area and literally ripped the aswang's leg out of the socket. Sylvi gave the wolf a fierce smile, then launched herself forward with the aid of her massive, black wings, only to drive the blade of her knife deeply up under the back of the aswang's skull. The sound of her blade scraping was loud, and quite odd, as it echoed behind the creatures eyes. It wasn't until she had to hold the Aswang's body by the shoulder and rip the knife back out of her skull that Sylvi was convinced the creature was dead, though she stared at it for a moment as it lay crumpled on the ground as if she were daring it to move.


The other aswang in battle with Felix and Lei continued to attack as best she could, though it seemed as though every time she reached out to harm, the query was just out of reach. Finally, though, she managed to bring her claws around enough to actually cause an angry series of red, raised, marks to appear on Felix's flesh.


The Aswang he was crushing and eating on dies in his arms, so Bjorn is now angry from being all cut up, and needing someone to take it out on. Shaking his head Bjorn stands and roars again, his eleven foot frame looming, then charges at the other one, moving to trample the Aswang into the ground so the rest can beat on it and finish it off hopefully.


The she wolf watched the polar bear go charging through the aswang. With a snarl, the hair on her mane stood on end, and held her ears close to the sides of her head. Barking and snapping at the many legs of the Aswang, Fenrir's harbinger was a whirlwind of fangs and fur. The seemingly random strikes were made to keep the aswang off balanced until, the wolf managed to latch onto a foot, whipping her head violently until the aswang got it back. The wolfen Tabby spit and snarled as ropes of saliva fell from her jaws.


As Bjorn came in and slammed into the Aswang, and Tabby drove in as well, Felix leapt, landing on the polar bear's back to launch himself clean at the Aswang. His jaws closed around the creatures face and bit down hard, the crunch of bone audible before he let go and fell to the ground, leaping away fast to leave an opening for the next attack.


Lei crouches down in the underbrush, watching the fight continue. The creature she was fighting is staggered by the bear, injured by the wolf, and absolutely mauled by the wyvern. But it's still standing. So the jaguar leaps out of her hiding place and onto the aswang's back, jaws closing on the back of it's skull. Fun fact, jaguar jaws can shatter skulls. Claws dig in for purchase as those jaws tighten, until with a sickening crack the flesh, crushed skull, and meat beneath is torn away, and the feline jumps clear of the newly created corpse.


Turning in time to watch a pack of completely dissimilar animals of a rather fantastic variety destroy the last Aswang, Sylvi took a deep breath. "That was actually really fucking amazing. You guys are a sight." She lifted her chin then, searching with her eyes and frowning slightly. "Where's the woman? Where would they leave her?" As both Aswang had seem to come from the trees, Sylvi flexed her broad wings once, then again, before jumping into the air and using the wide expanse to pull her up higher. "Help me find the woman!" She called down to the fierce animals below as she moved forward a bit, likely looking rather odd as a jean-and-Tshirt clad woman with raven's wings would.


The trail of the woman leads a bit deeper into the forest, not far though. And it's up in a tree, where the woman is fixed into the Y bend of a tall, older growth mammoth of a trunk. She's breathing, unconscious and bleeding, the blood dripping down the trunk to pool shallow at the base of the tree.


The stars in the east begin to look washed out as the sapphire night sky pales.


Bjorn sniffs the air, standing on his hind legs, letting his height work for him smelling at the trees. He growls at Sylvi, or up at her and starts to move over to the tree that seems to be where the woman is located.


With Aswang down, the she wolf growled her displeasure at what amounted to the zoo in the area. The brand around her neck continued to burn as she watched the valkyrie up in the air. Sylvi had at least ninety percent of her attention as she started a very wide circle.


As the Aswang fell, Felix stepped away from it, licking bloody chops and eyeing the corpse wearily. When it didn't move again he snorted at it and turned away, giving a toothy grin at Sylvi's comment. Lei he looked at curiously, blinking nictitating membranes at her. But then there was the woman to find after all. With a grunt at Bjorn he cocked his head, listening before letting out a soft trumpet and began loping off towards where the woman had been left. When he spoke his voice was lyrical and fluting. "Do we take her back to her friends or straight to the hospital? There are already stories of a big bright bird that drops off injured women so..." He shrugged, rolling winged shoulders.


Lei turns her head this way and that, nose twitching and eyes scanning the surrounding forest. Then the jaguar looks up at Sylvi and lets out a loud, coughing roar before her head turns to look in a particular direction. Though unlike Bjorn and Felix she doesn't head that way herself. Once it seems the winged woman has gotten the idea, from her and the others, her body is twisting, changing again, losing it's feline shape to return to that of a human. Leilani moves to gather her clothes, pulling them back on while absently licking her bloodied lips. "Well," she says. "It's been fun." There's no hint of anything but sincerity in Lei's voice as she says this. "But now I have to go figure out where in the woods Enola wandered off to. She has the keys." That said the native born woman wanders off, leaving the light where she dropped it, and looking disappointedly at her socks and undergarments in her hands, which didn't survive the change.


Sylvi followed instructions well, it would seem. When she came to the woman, Syl alighted to the branch near her, then reached under her to carefully unwedge her from the Y of the tree, then pulled her into her arms gently. "I'm going to glide her over to where the ambulance will be, in the parking area. It's better to get her the medical treatment now, or as soon as possible, and they can handle it if her baby comes. Get out of here and be careful, I don't know if that was the only two of them." Sylvi called this to the others, then, holding the woman, she moved up a little more in the tree, taking a few hops and jumps as assisted by her wings. Once she was high enough up, she leapt out entirely, and started the glide over other treetops toward the parking lot, where flashing red and white lights could be seen.


Shaking his head some more after the other have found the woman with him, Bjorn eventually sits down. Not sure at the moment where his clothing went, and all bitten and scratched up He slowly lets himself shift back, his wounds sealing up as the fur disappears and his body shrinks back to it's normal large man size. As he finishes he grunts and yells out, "Satans forpulte raevkjorte dritt av en monoknull-kuk!" and just lays back on the ground, naked and sore, catching his breath. He'll worry about the clothing in a moment.


Pink-gold light gilds the land as the sun creeps over the eastern horizon into a cloudless blue sky.


The she wolf stared until the valkyrie was flying off, then turned in place. Yelping as two feminine hands came reaching out of its mouth. Its head and throat distended as fur and flesh ripped. Tabby stood up, tearing the gray and tawny fur as pulling away over her naked, save for the ectoplasmic slime dipping off her. "I'd like to start by saying... Fuck all you. I have to burst my way of that bitch or she is burst her way out. There's none of this majestic sprinkles of light or growth spurts. It is the actual sensation of a loba puta chewing her way out of me, or me ripping my way out of her." She kicked a slab of melting, bloody, furred flesh towards Felix. "That's yours. If its her pussy, I hope you wreak that mierda." The Latina wore her typical distaste as she walked over to her bag and clothes.


Felix bobbed his head as Lei took off, watching her leave. "Be well! Say hi to Enola." There was a cough and the wyvern shook his head, wiping his bloodied muzzle on the back of one hand-foot. "Damn things taste terrible? What are they anyway?" Sylvi's advice sank in quickly and he nodded to the Nordic woman. "I'll fly home. No worries. Be safe Sylvi." He watched her leave too, staring for a bit before he shook his head and padded back towards the clearing. Bjorn's nude situation got a gravely chuckle and he swung his crested head back and forth. "Even though I don't know what that means, I feel like I know exactly what that means. Whatever Tabby was going on about, when she kicked the blood sack of meat and fur at him, he dodged away and eyed it, before making hacking sound and looking away. Shaking himself off, he grunted and screamed as the transformation reversed himself. Bone and meat turned liquid and reformed as his clothes reemerged, and he was standing there wiping blood off his face, looking tired. "Jesus shit Tabby... I think I'll pass. I'd sooner go see if Ink has a spare orgy or something." Still eyeing the woman he walked out towards the woods, spitting every so often to rid his mouth of the taste of vampire monster.