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Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #30 on Jun 22, 2012, 5:10pm »
He had them now. He was high along the ridge line, crawling through the wet woods, picking every step with no thought and immense intuition, his eyes burning his hate toward the men that laughed, jeered and carried on like the useless asses they were below him.
Oh, he wanted to tear into the gully and murder them. He wanted to step from the trees and simply file down their line, killing them all with ease. He thought of how wonderful it would feel to snap through one and see the horror in another's eyes as he quite suddenly came for them, then onto the next...
But some tether remained. None could question his resolve when it came to the Vanguard, he had fought tooth and nail and not rested in months to see it come to life once more. But more than that, he led them when they had no leader, he instilled the code in them; he persevered and insisted to see that what they did was true and pure, was right.
Know all things, then act.
He didn't want to know more. He didn't need to. Each and every one of them smelled like blood. Each and every one of them was in his woods. They were not meant to be here. Each one of them carried the spoils of their kills, creatures snuffed out without warrant and without reason...
He hated poachers. He LOATHED poachers.
But he wasn't entirely sure he could murder them. No. But something else could.
Grayell had not run on all fours in some time. He had been lost in too many thoughts that swirled about the wolf, he thought on his humanity, he thought about family; he thought about his life with Kiko and whether she would rather be the wolf moreso than human. He had given some thought to not letting it run, to let the moons pass by until it was lost to him. But not now.
Now, he slipped into that fur and onto those paws as easily as he breathed then stole through the wilds as a shadow might, descending from his vantage point and cutting through the woods with an easy gait, heading off the 'men' and then finding the trail. He would give them one opportunity to demonstrate what kind of men they were. He was sure he knew, he was completely convinced he had them pegged... but he would give them one very last chance to prove him wrong.
So, as a wolf; Grayell sat in the middle of the path and waited for them to round the corner. They would make this choice, not he.
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Re: Race! « Reply #31 on Jun 23, 2012, 3:03am »
Kiko’s skull felt like it was breaking apart. The fury echoing in her head enraged the wolf. She came rushing up out of the blackness of pain and demanded to be set free. And Kiko, who had spent years, learning how to coexist with her, gave in.
The change started at her hands as it had so long ago. Her fingers snapped away from her head, elongated, thickened, grew to twice their normal size and it did not stop at her fingers. No; her palms, nails, and arms were growing too. Her body was gaining muscle mass rapidly, the bones shattering and reuniting into a wider frame around her shoulders, neck, chest and thighs. She was clawing at the balcony now, the clothing she had on yanked free with uncaring paws and discarded without thought.
Kiko dropped from the tree house to the ground and she was already running. She offered no voice to the world, just speed, saving her breath for the race to reach him. Her spine bent and those longer limbs tore past the clearing and were into the deeper woods inhumanly fast.
She could smell him.
She knew where he had gone.
She would find him.
And if anyone tried to stop her… death would be the least of their worries.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
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Re: Race! « Reply #32 on Jun 23, 2012, 7:23am »
They rounded the corner and Grayell sat, flat on his haunches, his tongue hanging from his maw, no malice nor murder in his posture. The men spotted him quickly enough... and without a single thought and very few, inbred words; they levelled their bows and shot.
He had sincerely hoped they would.
He sprung from the ground, arrows sinking in the dirt where he had sat, one grazing by his maw, but another finding his shoulder. The impact was enough in this form to halt his charge, him dropping and rolling into the dirt and grass, the arrow lodged deep in his flesh. He made no noise, no sound, no cry of pain. He could smell the blood and taste he mud, he could see the hatred they had in their eyes for he; a simple animal.
So he did not move. The men quarrelled and bickered amongst one another, trepidous as they prowled toward him, arrows knocked, arms true. Surely he was dead. One of them was close enough to be sure of it in fact, he crouched and looked upon Grayell laying there, prodded him with his bow and found no reaction.
"It's dead! The damn fool animal is dead! How easy was that lads?"
He'd turned his back and was rising to his feet and it was then that Grayell mirrored him, standing upright as well. He was larger, taller and bulkier than the poacher, but it was likely his shifting back to a man that snatched the mocking laughter from his allies faces and smeared them with abject terror.
"I will admit. That was close. A couple more inches, I'd be dead for certain. Ung."
He'd yanked the arrow out and tossed it away, was now pressing one hand to the slick wound, rolling his shoulder and looking at the damage. The closer man was slowly turning toward him, trembling. Those bows were rising once more.
Grayell looked up, the green streaked across his face and meant for war, a growl no less wolf dragging it's way past his clenched teeth.
"No... you... it cannot be..."
"Oh? It is."
He drove the ridge of his hand across the man's face, shattering the jaw with ease and with enough force to spin him like a top, but before his target could so much as stumble from the blow; Grayell had roared his unshackled rage and driven his foot into the man's chest with enough force to send him clean off his feet and crashing bodily into his two nearest partners. Their bows were now useless, but there likely was not a weapon in the greater reaches that would halt the now blooming bloodbath...
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
[b]Walk on the edge and bleed.[/b][0:Running With The Pack][1:Wherever I May Roam]
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Re: Race! « Reply #33 on Jun 23, 2012, 6:55pm »
Kiko's path had taken her straight to the corpse of the old wolf. And that added a whole new level of fury to her already burning rage. But, she could not stop now and see to his burial, either.
And it was that fact, more than any other, which truly enflamed the part of her that was still human. Not the puppies that would never have his gift of experience, not the death; as horrible as that was, it was the inability, in this moment, to give voice to the howling grief that tore her guts to shreds.
And now she had the reason for the flood of inexplicable rage.
Her Chosen had found him first and he had followed the murderers.
All these thoughts pounded into her skull as she ran. They obliterated her waning energy, sent a shockwave of adrenaline straight up her spine, and pulled her body forward in huge leaps that stole yards instead of feet from the earth.
The trail was easy to follow and she did not give a damn about stealth. She was a member of the Vanguard it was true, the first member in this new version. She knew the tenets.
1. Know all things, then act. 2. Balance, always. 3. Protect the land, and by extension its creatures.
She knew enough. They had taken a life. She would restore the balance. Kiko flung her body forward toward the sounds of battle.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #34 on Jun 23, 2012, 7:15pm »
He was a thing when she broke into the clearing, green and wet crimson now painting his face and chest, the simple knife held under hand and slashing through the air, a ribbon of carotid fluid spurting in it's wake, the hapless poacher falling away to lay upon the lifeless corpse of the second he had taken.
A spear came at his side and he spun, taking a slash across his hip as his hand snapped onto the haft. He yanked on it whilst the man was still pressing his weight upon it, slammed his foot down upon it and rammed the knife into the gut of it's wielder with a snarl. He held it there, face to face with the now dying man, the burning hatred in his eyes the last curse upon the poacher's dreadful soul.
They meant to kill him. They meant to kill anything. They were waste and whilst his justice was harsh, they asked for no quarter.
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
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Re: Race! « Reply #35 on Jun 23, 2012, 8:43pm »
Kiko hit the battle in time to see the flung spear. A snarl of fury erupted from her mouth and the two archers close enough to snatch were caught up one in each paw. She bashed them together face to face and then flung them aside like so much trash. She did not care what happened to them when they landed either.
"FOOLS!"
The word was ground out of a mouth better suited to tearing flesh. Much of her rage had been nullified when seeing her Chosen alive.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #36 on Jun 23, 2012, 8:50pm »
Grayell was surrounded but revelled in it, she had seen him swarmed many times before and it was then that his reckless battle lust was most dangerous. Still, he gambled every time he allowed the enemy so much opportunity and even with his speed, his strength and his razor honed senses, it was an unnecessary risk.
But Grayell thrived on combat. He needed to feel endangered or it was pointless. To simply be smart, kill this way and that, to fell them all without actually immersing himself in the blood and the gore... that was no affirmation. No, he had to flirt with death to remind himself of his being alive and just how bloody hard he had fought to remain so.
He had yanked another man's arm down, his hand on their wrist. His leg had lifted, hooked and caught the back of their neck behind his knee and then he tumbled, rolled over and threw them out, tearing at that arm once more. The neck and the shoulder were done in a hurry and he was rolling to his side, springing up like a cat, growling and then again lunging for another.
He fought like an animal, both knees colliding with the next victim's chest, his hands gripping the back of their head. He took them down with him, twisted and tore, severing their spine as well. It was brutal and efficient, explosive and alarming to watch. A man, a bloodied and painted man was tearing through them with little but a knife and his bare hands.
Two of them broke from their partners, deciding they had no stones large enough for this battle... and witnessed Kiko discarding her first target's like unwanted toys.
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
[b]Walk on the edge and bleed.[/b][0:Running With The Pack][1:Wherever I May Roam]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 2,180
Re: Race! « Reply #37 on Jun 25, 2012, 8:39pm »
She had thought much of her rage abolished.
She was wrong.
Two of them had decided to run. It was the absolute worse decision they could have made. It enflamed the predator, the animal howling in the confines her head; how dare they come to her place, her patch, her territory, destroy the balance and then attempt to flee. Kiko vaulted forward with one paw extended and slapped them to the ground like wayward children nearly taking off their heads.
These worthless creatures had murdered the old wolf and they had dared strike her mate.
She yanked one of them off the ground by his armor and tore his arms right off. His legs did not fare much better, either. The tendons were bulkier, the muscle thicker, but it made no difference to Kiko. She ripped them apart as easily as one would a wishbone from a turkey and she wasn’t finished either. Her fist punched through his chest, claws digging deep furrows in the flesh, ribs cracking and breaking before pulling his heart out.
She threw the now useless organ at the face of his comrade then wrapped a paw around his throat sooner than he could react. He was hoisted into the air that way. When his dangling legs came within reach of her other hand she twisted him over and broke his spine on her blood spattered thigh.
It was a terrible way to die. But, it was swift.
A horrifying snarl broke from her mouth. Kiko’s muzzle was shoved into the air. She roared out the next sound; a challenge, a taunt, and grief all rolled into one. Her paws were empty, the pieces of men all around her in a wide circle. Blood, gore and things worse than that matted her fur in a dozen places.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #38 on Jun 25, 2012, 9:22pm »
Kiko had slaughtered the two men who looked to flee. She now had the problem of two more archers, both at distance and both apart, looking to kill her. A man broke from the others, screaming some nonsense about his brother being treated like Mr Potatohead and brought his lance to bear, charging directly at her.
The remaining four were finding Grayell an handful. He certainly seemed like the easier enemy, bloody and human for starters, and only wielding that tiny hunting knife of his. Hardly a weapon at all really and less than intimidating.
But that knife was dislodged from the temple of the last he'd killed and slowly, calmly, he rose from where he was crouched over the body and looked to them. They had spread out and closed in, circling him with blades drawn now. Their heads were low, their weapons swaying, them picking their footing as they surveyed their victim, like sharks brushing up against what is to be their kill.
His eyes had looked at the face of each and every one. He saw nothing there that would stay his hand. There would be more blood in this clearing, his or theirs; both...
He rocked his head back and looked to the sky. The cloud seemed to part for him, to let him look well past the trees, well past the clouds, as if his eyes would find something there. A moment of serenity, the wind cooing in his ear, the sun on his blood soaked skin, the trees swaying back and forth as if they watched over him in this battle. His eyes closed and he smiled.
The spear came for his heart. The sword behind looked to hit his neck. To the right, the back of his legs. The left to the gut. They were upon him.
He lowered and twisted. His hand came up and snatched the haft of the spear and slid it over his shoulder, striking the face of the man behind. His knife, reversed in his hand curled up and raked across the spear wielders throat. His hand still on that spear, the knife whipped down and by his side to stab behind him now as he leaned, lowered as if playing limbo, thrusting into the gut of the man who'd meant to hit his gut. His legs sliding low through the dirt, too low for the sword to hit his knees, he know torqued on that spear and turned his body, twisted and hooked out his legs. The momentum brought him upright in a dervish of motion and the blade came around, over; and plunged downward into the man's nape.
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
[b]Walk on the edge and bleed.[/b][0:Running With The Pack][1:Wherever I May Roam]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 2,180
Re: Race! « Reply #39 on Jun 26, 2012, 4:38am »
Kiko stood her ground. The lance wielder was charging straight toward her. She twisted to the side at the last moment and grabbed the hilt of the lance. She pulled him forward that way. Maybe, it was the shock of missing his target; as large as it was. Maybe, it was the fact that she had avoided it by moving so fast. Maybe, it was just her appearance. Either way, his hands remained latched to the weapon in a death grip.
She gave him that, too; death. Kiko’s muzzle came down and her teeth hit the gap between his head and shoulder. She tore great hunks of flesh from his throat while her other hand severed his hamstrings.
Kiko used him as a shield, as well, the lance ripped from his dying body just about the time two arrows thudded into his back. Another snarl wrinkled up her blood-stained muzzle and she flung him toward the closest archer. Kiko bolted after the other one and her eyes were no longer sane.
Kiko had spent years training with the Garou. Days when she had learned to deal with the baser instincts that came from sharing her body with an animal and what some considered a monster. The reality of it was, naturally, nothing like the legends she had heard at her grandfather’s knee. She had that etched, for all time, the day Katsurou died. However, knowing it and living with it were two completely different things.
The pain of her brother’s death faded. The images had been stored away in the shelf of her brain and grown dusty with disuse. Life took over. That was the way of things. The Wolf and she had plenty to handle with rebuilding the Vanguard.
It must be said; at this point, that Kiko enjoyed battle. She never felt more alive when dying was only a mistake away.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #40 on Jun 26, 2012, 4:52am »
Grayell stared down that last man as he stumbled, fell to his knees. He stared the hate he had for him dead into his soul and cursed him to die then, spat on his flickering light of hope at living. He then jerked the knife free and the blood sprayed, hit the air as mist and showered the scene like a summer rain.
He turned, looked to Kiko almost upon the last who had not even gotten another arrow free of his quiver... and yelled.
"CHOSEN!!
We need that one alive."
Oh yes. Better off the stupid sod was dead, but that would come soon enough. This was far too large a party to be some drunken hunters trying to make a quick buck. They all smelled of murder and something worse, of foreign places and blood money. And they all had the stink of a dead wolf... naye dead wolves upon them.
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
[b]Walk on the edge and bleed.[/b][0:Running With The Pack][1:Wherever I May Roam]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 2,180
Re: Race! « Reply #41 on Jun 26, 2012, 6:37am »
Kiko twisted her head around at the shout. She was crouched over the body of the archer, one of her great paws planted on his face and the other pinning his squirming body to the earth.
Her head was low between her shoulders and her spine was bent in the shape of an animal instead of a man. She bared her canines in a challenging snarl before speaking. The words were ground out harsh and rough from a wrinkled muzzle liberally smeared with gore.
“We need no one like this ALIVE.”
Her claws had punctured flesh. Fresh blood began to spill from his body. The pleading words started.
“No… n-no… no… please. Please… d-don’t let her kill me.”
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #42 on Jun 26, 2012, 6:44am »
Grayell walked closer, then stood beside Kiko's shoulders. A hand settled to her neck, stroking slightly. A wild man, smeared with war paint and blood and a half-wolf, both having just torn the poacher's party to nothing. Grayell let out a tiny, mocking huff of air and shook his head.
"What? Now who am I to refuse my lover? A woman will have her way after all..."
Kiko Administrator [M:765:2229:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=378&page=1#8679] member is offline
[b]Walk on the edge and bleed.[/b][0:Running With The Pack][1:Wherever I May Roam]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 2,180
Re: Race! « Reply #43 on Jun 26, 2012, 6:55am »
If the man wasn't already terrified before he certainly was now. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and the next stream of words were spoken between gasps of horror. His body had gone absolutely still, too, stunned by those words.
"...W-what? You... you... your... l-lover?"
He had also, just now, seemed to realize he was bleeding. The new words were strident and panicked.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Grayell Administrator [M:945:3807:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=372&page=1#226] member is offline
[b]"I've got your white wolf right here..."[/b][0:Baying at the moon...][1:Running with the pack...]
Joined: Aug 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 5,602
Re: Race! « Reply #44 on Jun 26, 2012, 6:59am »
Grayell smiled, in a manner far too casual for this occasion and extended his arm. His hand waved in and a bloody tendril writhed up the man's chest then curled and tugged a pendant from his chest. Grayell snatched it as it lifted and then let the blood fall again, looking at the pendant.
"Oh, I cannot stop her. Nor do I want to. I would give her anything you see,,,
Now tell me. You're all wearing these. I want to know what they mean."
Getting no quick response, Grayell sighed and slipped to sit on the ground. He looked altogether bored.
Welcome to The Menagerie. We are a free role playing game with less rules and more freedom. After many years, a couple of hosts and a few different game systems, we feel that less is more. Players get to be truly creative, which in turn leads to more enjoyment in game.
We invite you to join us in crafting our world and look forward to making friends. Should you have any questions, feel free to post in our chat box or ask any of our members or staff.
May you enjoy your stay.
It must be said that this game is the product of continued dedication and friendship.
Grayell: Game inventor and closet basement geek.
Yukiko: Admin and dream-weaver.
Marlena: Admin and promoter extraordinaire.
The Menagerie has enjoyed many incarnations, revamps, reimaginings and renovations and none of it would have been possible without the ongoing support of my friends, the players. Their unwavering loyalty and endless dedication to this project has been stellar.
I would like to thank all admin and staff past and present, in particular Tiberius.
I would like to thank friends and staff no longer with us, and to the few I hold most dear: John, Roland, Alex, Azriel and Jenkins.
Thank you all.
All images are the property of their creator.
Our 2nd site archive with: Total posts 70665, Total topics 1819 & Total Members 86.
...or our first site archive with: Total posts 69401, Total topics 1325 & Total members 145
...OR the very humble start of our game at our friends, www.Heroscapers.com.
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