15784/The things that go growl in the night

The things that go growl in the night
Date of Scene:	11 November 2023
Location:	Small village near the New Mexico/Mexico border.
Synopsis:	A group of random, magic super beings went out to the desert and found some very strange creatures for their trouble.
Cast of Characters:	Harry Dresden, Wonder Girl, Thomas Raith, Willow Rosenberg, Painkiller Jane, Faith Lehane

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Harry Dresden has posed:
There are a lot of people that plan to move on the operation to the south. At Harry's request, several different means of arrival are used so if there is anything wrong with some arrival, others will make it.

Thomas and Faith fly together to the site Willow scryed out. Cassie flies herself as well, in another plane. Satana will teleport in to meet them a little later. Harry, Willow, and Jane venture into the Ways. Harry makes it clear to not engage anything there, eyes straight ahead and run before you fight. Theirs is the most treacherous and they have a few close calls with the fae.

Eventually, they all arrive at the over look that Harry designates to the place. Given he is the only one that didn't have a vision, it's a good thing Willow scryed.

Wonder Girl has posed:
The good thing about flying under her own power. Cassie does not have to worry about things like having to explain why she's arrived armed to the teeth. The blonde setting down rather gently coming in rather quick till she gets about a foot from the ground before floating and then landing, feet in black leather boots, shin high with a few inches of spike heel. Benefits of flight, heels are no problem and the short stack blonde needs all the inches she can get.

Very clingy red leather jeans hug her lower half, some gold metallic stars sewn in around the front pockets with a black belt and a gold =W= buckle. Her top just as clingy, a black muscle top with a high neck, a gold zipper with a wide ring attached to the fastener pulled up under her chin almost like a collar while the teeth lock together to the middle of her torso, bisecting a golden =W= emblem similar to her belt.

The rest of her accessories come in the for of her silverish Bracers of Submission on her wrists, her own lightning enchanted lass hanging coiled up on a hip and most noticeably a round shield and sword strapped to her back.

Harry did say there might be more of those monsters they all dreamed about.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith does not like flying. It doesn't agree with him, even when it is done in the luxury of Silverlight Production's Private Jet. Unfortunatly to drive down would have meant leaving last week so here he is, looking a little green around the gills.. and yet still like he is ready to walk the runway.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"You mean you don't know.. oh boy."

Willow often was compared to being ditzy while she ponders though a problem, but even she knows to make sure so knows where to go. Except when she was looking for the bits and pieces of the Librarian horde.

The Ways were.. Different. Very.. very.. different.

"You didn't tell me they were going to try to get you!" And her. When they came out on the other side, she frowned. "Do we have to go back that way?"

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane comes dressed for action, which in her case involves a lot of red. Leather pants and bustier, long coat left open over a double holster rig slung low on her hips. The coat is heavy; Jane is packing a lot of extra ammo, at Harry's suggestion.

She is new to all this mystical mumbo-jumbo, but she knows better than to ask questions when she's told to keep eyes front and not get distracted through the Ways. Looking around at the assembling group, she folds her arms and keeps the red-lensed shades pulled down. "Okay, that was a first." she replies, definitely agreeing with Willow. "I think maybe I'll just grab an Uber or something for the trip back."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry opens the Ways and leads them out. Harry nods to Willow and replies,"I wanted you to see it once so you understood. I talked to Thomas and you can fly back with them if you want. The Ways are not safe...but they are passable if you do it wisely and I wanted you to understand that." Harry's a rough teacher.

He glances at Jane and nods,"I can speak to my brother about you flying back with him as well. I told you the place was dangerous, now you understand."

He motions his hands around, indicating people as he names them,"Cassie, Thomas, Willow, and Jane." he offers by means of introduction.

"There will be three more that should join us. Faith is back up, Satana as well. My friend River should be nearby helping set a trap for the big ones."

Wonder Girl has posed:
The smallish blonde waggles fingers as people start arriving. The woman tries to look as casual as possible despite looking ready to slay a dragon. "Soo, while my inner archeology student is wanting to squee, we're not here for that kind of study yet?" she asks and hmms.

"So what sot of trap do we need to watch out for. Saves blundering my backside into something while avoiding another thing and putting people at risk." Cassie adds "Monsters probably just standard hack and slash?" the more you know is half the battle.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smiles slightly, "Not a problem, the pilot won't mind if I bring a few extra passangers then I left with... And don't worry the jet has been throughly cleaned since the last time anyone recorded a scene in it." He says with a playful grin. He nods to Jane who he is meeting for the first time. "Thomas Raith, Incubus."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Considering the choice of taking the way back with Thomas, or the Ways, Willow whispered, "I would rather take the Ways back with you, Harry, if you don't mind. Please."

Sure they are dangerous, but at least Willow knows what she is getting into.

"The Fae are more dangerous than they seem." She looks around. Nods to everyone. And holds her satchel close - you never knew when something packed into the depths of her satchel may be important. Too bad she wasn't allowed to bring her laptop. Without it she felt naked. "Now what?"

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane arches a crimson brow at Thomas, lowering the shades a bit to show her green eyes as well. "Incubus?" She shoots Harry a 'what the hell kinda job is this, anyway' look, and the smirk speaks volumes. "Fae. Should I have brought silver bullets or something? I'm really not up on my lore. Hope .40 caliber FMJ rounds are up to the job."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry pauses and looks out over the valley before them. Sheep and goats as far as can be seen. He nods to Cassie and tells her,"As near as I can tell. The dogman creatures are tough and strong, but eventually I think physical destruction is the key. Chupa cabra are not as sturdy."

He glances at Jane and replies,"Iron is the best weapon against the fae. The touch of it burns them, but they aren't fond of bullets."

He frowns and holds up his hand. His eyes narrow and he looks around,"You hear that?" he asks softly.

For the record, all that can be heard is a breeze, nervous bleating, and otherwise dead silence.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane isn't complaining at the luxury jet offered her. Hey, sometimes - most times - dating a wealthy incubus pays off in big ways. She grins, enjoying a luxury wine as she peers out the window of the jet, probably harassing Thomas with repeated 'are we there yet?'s along the way.

When they do arrive at the designated meetup point, she'll approach from the opposite side of the valley, peering around, "You know, not to be picky or anything but it sure as hell would have been simpler if we all arrived in one fell swoop you know?" dark eyes sweep the area, making note of other familiar faces once they come into view.

Wonder Girl has posed:
"You kinda want cold iron if it's Fae like Harry said Jane. Or something otherwise mystically imbued." Cassandra pats the lasso at her hip. The sword and shield on her back made with some ancient Themysciran techniques as well. Kinda cribbed from Hephaestus.

"I live in New York State, but I'm all over the place. Faster for me to come on my own. The winds are kinda murder on a girl's hair when you aren't divinely descended too." she adds playfully.

The woman keeps her enhanced senses peeled, the lack of sound bar goats being goats gets a hmm. "Soo, shouldn't there be more people about? Looking after the goats or I should be able to smell food and other signs of civilization?" she wonders and seems a little more tense.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith chuckles to Faith, shaking his head. "I have an entire emergency shut down system to turn off every bit of electronics in my Club for whenever Harry stops by... and you wabt to get in a jet with him?" He asks with a raised eyebrow, nodding to Jane and adding, "They deffinately don't like getting hit with bullets of any sort... Though if you are traveling the ways, might wanna avoid iron anyway... they might see it as an acto of war... Like bringing plutonium into the white House.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow tried to hear what Harry did. No go. Other than the nervous bleating - which could be attributable to the group making sheep nervous - there was nothing that she could pinpoint that should have got Harry on edge.

So she tries mage-sight. Maybe it's not something you can hear with your ears.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
"Cold iron? Next time I'll bring a crowbar." Jane offers. She opens the coat a little wider, tucking it behind the butts of her pistols. "And I'll definitely take that jet ride back. Hope you don't mind blood on the upholstery." Because Jane doesn't know how to get into a fight without ending up bleeding somehow. Her attention turns to the flock as well, at least briefly. "They know something else is here." Then she starts looking around, head on a swivel and drawing both guns.

Harry Dresden has posed:
It is quiet and Harry mutters,"I know you all talked about the village in your dreams. This is where the energy lead us." Reaching into his duster, he produces a small blasting rod. He shakes his left wrist and a bracelet of round charms falls below the sleeve of his duster.

In the distance, there is a small village. It lies behind where Faith is watching from. The kids are the only thing missing as maybe they have the good sense to not be out here anymore.

Suddenly, three goats bleat wild and get dragged to the ground by small clawed hands. The other goats turn to run towards Faith's direction, but stop from that too. Goats looking past her into the night and clearly not sure what to do."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane checks her weapons, having brought a Sabre from AI, in addition to her claws and of course stakes and holy water. Utility belts have proven useful, kept hanging securely around her hips, and other than that she's dressed in tight red leather pants, a short tight black top that shows off her mid riff and black arm warmers although the cold never seems to get to her much.

"Oh, right..I get it now..Heh, maybe the shepherd got eaten already, or maybe he put 'em out here as an offering for the big bad.."

And then suddenly some goats get dragged to the ground and her dark eyes narrow, not missing a beat as she rushes down the valley towards those dark claws. "Enough talk, time for action!"

Wonder Girl has posed:
When she had this dream, Wonder Girl was not carrying her weapons or even her lasso. "There's that Deja Vu I was expecting. Or is it Vuja De?" someone played an old Carlin bit for her at some point.

Rising off the ground she floats over to where goats are being pulled down. She can move very quick, moving to start yanking monster claws about as she uncoils her lasso around the first wrist she sees and with a flick of her wrist and then a tug to move the first monster to where Faith and her very stylish outfit almost matching Cassandra's can get her shots in while the blonde moves on to herding the next. "Offerings or at least distractions to keep humans alive. Understandable. But probably unsustainable. Livestock gets expensive." she ponders as she winds up the next loop of her lariat.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Nothing..

Nothing..

Noth - woah. Lookie here.

All around them were little monsters, hiding in the shadows. But what was really a problem was the three BIG monsters getting closer.. and closer.. and CLOSER beyond Faith. It would seem the goats /were/ frightened of something. And were not attacking her, rather escaping the only way that they could go - through Faith.

"Uhm.." Willow points. "There. Monsters, And they are coming this way."

Painkiller Jane has posed:
The goats let out the panicked bleating and Jane draws both guns without hesitation. Thumbs click off the safeties. Willow starts pointing out monsters and Jane makes note of the directions, leaving the goats to the others. Guns up and at the ready, she takes a couple steps closer to Willow, then. "You point and I'll shoot." she declares.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Magic runs into the air and Harry prepares the blasting rod, heat filling the chill desert night air. He takes aim and lets a blast fly at a few of the little critters that came up on the blind side. His eyes widen and the larger staff moves towards a pair of massive shadows trying to flank the group.

Three big monsters near Faith. 8 chupa cabra on the field around the goat dropping like flies. Two more big creatures coming up on the group's blind side.

The growls over the dogmen are eclipsed by a whooping sound beyond the ones Harry is concentrating on and behind them, something bigger rises in the shadows.

"Concetrate on the ones ahead." Harry growls and points the staff at one of the flanking dogmen,"Forzare!" A shock wave hits the creature as the other dogman get pounded from behind with two fists connected to a powerful looking humanoid in the darkness.

Near Faith, the three dogmen approaching manage to not notice her until she sees them as well. They look between her and the others, hesitating a moment.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith draws his owns weapons, a Kukri and a Calvery saber. Nothing magical or special about them, just Razor sharp steal. He doesn't waste time on words or quips, fallin in beside Faith so that they are watching each other's backs. They've done this before, many time is fact. They know how to work together.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Hey! Harry was right. Fire worked on many more things then Force lightning did! Who knew??

Willow was able to protect herself surprisingly. With her studies in magic lately, and more so in her ego-boosting she did very well. Paying attention to the biggest ones right in front of her. Well, still off in the distance..ish.

"I think the biggest monster is ordering the smaller ones?" At least they were afraid of him..? Her..? It..? She kept on throwing fireballs the size of her head at it.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane frowns, hearing the heavy footsteps before she sees them, and it's awful nice of Cassie to help tug em towards her eager sharp blade as she spins around to slash into the hideous monster, imaging it looks like the monster of her dreams. "Eat dirt, ugly!" she snarls, hoping it's a bit less invulnerable than in her nightmares.l

Thankfully Thomas has her back, and he's already moving in to back her up, striking at any extra monsters that try to get her blind side.

Wonder Girl has posed:
The lasso mostly works well on crowd control setting the Chupacabras for others like Faith to take out. "So something bigger than the big dog creatures?"

She has one dog creature bound up and with a frown that looks more like a snarl at the idea of being snuck up on. There's a flash and the sound of electricity, like a bolt of lightning, channeled from the blonde through the lasso and into the creature.

"I should probably go take care of that. Give you guys more breathing room." she says with a suggestion while she keeps electrocuting that dog creature with divine lightning.

It's really going to smell bad as it gets cooked though very unevenly.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane holds fire, at least for the moment. Let the critters get closer. "Sounds great, then. You focus on the big one and I'll keep the little ones off of you." she replies to Willow.

The dogmen are big, but the chupa cabra are quick. One slips through, then another. BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!... BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!

Jane fires controlled bursts, staying cool and collected and picking off the chupa cabra one at a time.

Harry Dresden has posed:
War is Hell and what happens with the gathering of heroes and the three dogmen is war at it's grimest state. The chupacabra fall easy enough. They are tough, but magic and brute force is soemthing all together different from normal guns and pitchforks.

The electricity attack on one of the dogmen gets a loud snarl and howl and it drops to its knees, but it doesn't fall. Everyone concentrates on the bad things, but it's not an easy fall on the dog beasts.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow to Jane. "You've got it!"

The littler ones (in the realm of things they were smaller than the BIG ones) kept attacking them. Trying to take them down. While Harry's group returns the favour. It was, as Harry said, war. Or close to it.

"Keep the chupacabra off of me, and.. geez.." To heck with fireballs, she concentrates on the one with a steady stream of fire out of her hands. That was new, as well. Willow had been taking lessons. "Let him get out of that! Hah!"

Wonder Girl has posed:
The lightning alone isn't doing the job. But it definitely clearly hurts.

That's when Cassanda draw her sword. A long sword with a leather wrapped hilt with a silver handguard. Lightning bolts etched into the blade either side. Stormcloud it was named. Forged to be more durable, and sharper than many weapons, definitely anything by mundane manufacturing. There are better, but this one was made especially for her.

When the lasso releases the creature. Cassie moves with her super human speed, slashing at the dog beast with multiple swings and putting a considerable amount of her strength behind it.

Wonder Girl may need some good dry cleaning for that outfit while she's impersonating a blender forged by the Gods of Olympus.

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Damn, shoulda brought the m? scythe, give it a whirl.." mutters Faith as she moves with surprising speed and agility, spinning and twirling and dancing around the giant dog men, trying to cut at their weak spots, anticipating their superior strength and toughness. aBut of course they hadn't quite figured out a lot of stuff regarding the legendary weapon, so for now it's just the mundane stuff.

Not that it will hold Faith back too much..Hopefully. She goes in for a low swipe at the dog man 's back knee, hoping to cripple it, slow it down some! and of course Thomas does his best to follow suit, reinforcing her attacks, moving seamlessly with her as if they had choreographed the whole thing..

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Two more chupacabra rush in towards Jane and Willow, this time lunging together. BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!... BLAM!... Jane drops one but only wings the other before it sinks its teeth deeply into her shoulder. She is shaken around as predator worries its prey, which gives her a moment to put the gun barrel right to the creature's head. BLAM! "Another coat ruined." she mutters.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Willow's concentrated fire, literally, staggers the the big beast. It doesn't know how to deal with the fire, let alone the flames staying live on it and burning it. It lunges at her, then the firewall. Finally this one turns tail and runs.

Cassie does what has to be done. It doesn't live if it is in pieces and when she separates the head from the body, it stops trying to fight at all, falling to the ground in a heap.

Faith and Thomas' dance partner still has some fight in it, but it is slower than it was. Blood oozes from several wounds and it struggles to stand.

The creature that runs away is suddenly being pursued by a massive, hair covered, bipedal creature that looks like a mix between a man and ape. It doesn't mess with the heroes, merely moves to run down the burning creature with a loud whooping sound.

Jane finally puts down the last of the attacking chupacabra. The others are either dead or have fled the area like the burned dog man is trying to do.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow scares the one of the dogman after a pretty concentrated fight. And yet she gives a 'eeek' at how close the chupacabra gets to her. And nearly hides behind Jane. It is almost comical if you look at it.

"Thanks Jane! He nearly got me!"

Taking the size of what they still have to go, "Is everyone okay? Where's Harry?" She looks for him expressly.

Wonder Girl has posed:
The head of the creature she took on falls, the upper limbs and then legs. There's more than a few pieces landing in a messy pile. "Anyone need a hand? You guts totally have this, but hey team work, dream work, and all that!" she offers while she flicks her wrist holding the lasso and manages to coil it back up. They taught her so many nifty tricks on Themyscira.

The monster being chased by a monster gets a hmm. "I'm fine. Soo should we expect a second wave, or like a big bad?" Asking about Harry gets a smile. "I'm expecting he's just gone through the wringer fighting something so terrifying it would make Trigon look like a fluffy cuddly kitten." honestly, you never know sometimes. "Or he could be getting us some cerveza. I could do with some. I think I got monster gunk in my mouth." she makes an eww face. She's going to be using a lot of shampoo later on.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane prises the last chupacabra's teeth from her left shoulder now that she's decorated the grass with its brains. That arm hangs limp, blood running slowly down the sleeve of her torn coat.

"Don't mention it, Willow. Don't suppose you can teach me that fire trick, can you?" After a few moments she can lift the shoulder, rolling it around while making loud, grinding sounds that also make her wince. The blood stops oozing, skin knitting first and then the muscle. The joint and the soft tissue will be the last to heal, and it will hurt the most.

"Anybody else up for a drink?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Walking out of the shadows, Harry appears. He has several scratches on his face, a deep one in his abdomen (it is controlled), and limping a little. The two dogmen that tried to blind side them are lying on the ground not moving.

Harry leans on the walking stick a little and he says,"I'm here."

The run away dogman comes flying through the air and lands with the rest of the dead bodies. The creature that chased it is finally moving slow enough to be seen. He is close to 10 feet tall, well over 300 pounds, and is humanoid is shape.

He nods towards Harry and says,"Someone will need to take him or he will have to remain here with me until he is healed. He's in no shape to move through the NeverNever."

Harry coughs and says,"Everybody, this is Strength of a River in His Shoulders." The big creature nods to them all,"Most of your people call my species sasquatch." he supplies.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow smiles softly at Jane. "Thanks. I.. I guess. Do you know magic?"

Her real relief came when Harry *reappeared* - although she wasn't quite comfortable (yet!) with the Sasquatch. "What happened to him? What happened to you Harry?" So far she had never tried to do magic for healing spells.

Her teeth caught at her lower lip. But Strength seems to be nice? She was willing to give him a change. He had to be as nice as Spike or Angel, and she considered them friends. "Hi, I'm Willow. thanks for helping Harry."

Wonder Girl has posed:
"Sup!" Cassie greets and smiles up and up at the Sasquatch pretty much twice her height. "We can probably shove Harry into Thomas' plane overshoot the states toCanada for treatment. No spooky ass tele-tunneling through those Ways." she suggests with a grin. The sword wiped clean on one of the dead bodies before it gets twirled about in her hand so she can sheath it back over her shoulder with her shield. "If you're worried about the plane falling out of the sky, I can keep it in the air. It's mostly about placement of weight and keeping flying speed." not that she's ever done it herself.

She's Olympian, not Kryptonian.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Painkiller Jane shakes her head to Willow. "Not a bit, I'm afraid." she replies. Rolling her shoulder again, there's less popping and crackling now. She pops out the clips in both guns and reloads while they are talking. "Strength of a River, hmm? I'm Jane. Just Jane. And thanks for the help."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry shakes his head and says,"I'll stay here for a few days until I can walk again." He looks at Cassie and says,"Unless you want to carry it the whole way back. If I get near it, the thing will never take off, let alone fly."

Harry nods his head towards the sasquatch and says,"River Shoulders will keep with me until I can go back through the ways." The sasquatch nods and replies,"Absolutely."

For a legendary animal that doesn't existist, the sasquatch is well spoken and groomed.

Harry looks at Willow and tells her,"You will have to fly back with Thomas and Faith, take an expensive uber, or wait here until I am healed."

Things pan out the way they pan out and everyone is left with their choice on how they descide to get back home.