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00:43, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Episode 7-1: Street Dreams.

Posted by The MarshalFor group 0
Sky Dog
player, 163 posts
3W 2R 0B
Shaman. Strange.
Wed 29 May 2013
at 07:16
  • msg #6

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog's grin turned fixed and feral as the other's thin blade scored a shallow slash across his cheek. He ducked aside but stayed close, feinting, not giving the thing the advantage of its reach. So long as it was engaged with him, the town would be unmolested.

A curious part of him wondered what Dalix would have made of his fight with the vampire back home, if he'd known it'd come down to a botched trap and an iron kettle wielded calf-deep in a freezing stream. Faster, stronger, more fearless than a man. The shaman's only edge was cunning.



A man with good vision would probably be terrified to fight half-blind, judging his opponent's whereabouts by sound, scent and brief flashes of clarity, but this was Sky Dog's world, whether in the three-month night of the North or the blue darkness of an American summer. Since there was no means to steal the thing's socks, he cut high at its next lunge, at once sidestepping and ducking under the blade.

Briefly, Sky Dog's blood pulsed cold under his skin: although the stroke had missed, his attacker had made no move to protect the hat. The thought could not be followed, however, since the lethal hairline glimmer of steel dived at him again. The shaman hauled at the thing's trousers as he ducked, as much from instinct as any conscious plan to tangle the killer, but ended having to drop and roll away from brutal slashes intended to blind, maim, and bleed.

Even as he came up, knife part-raised to shield his face, the demon was upon him again.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:06, Mon 24 June 2013.
The Butcher
NPC, 3 posts
Thu 30 May 2013
at 20:48
  • msg #7

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

A manic look in his eyes, the swipe at his hat caused him no pause, though he did dance away to the strange man’s lunge towards him. He spun around, nimbly, and moved with no waste. The Siberian managed to evade most of his attacks as he moved away, but impossibly fast steps took the killer back within striking range of Sky Dog as if the shaman had not even moved an inch away. The distance to him was nothing, and within a heartbeat again he was at Sky Dog with his knife, slashing at the shaman’s head.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
The Butcher
NPC, 4 posts
Mon 3 Jun 2013
at 22:07
  • msg #8

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Once again, the manic killer moved in for another attack on his quarry, who had proven himself quite adept at evading his attacks. This didn't seem to anger him or do anything to make him seem any crazier than he did at first. He dove in, changing up his attack. Instead of slashing at the Siberian's head, he pulled back and then swept in with a commanding slice at Sky Dog's midsection.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 167 posts
3W 0R 0B
Shaman. Strange.
Mon 3 Jun 2013
at 22:28
  • msg #9

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog failed to read the intent in a swift flick of his opponent's wrist; the lethal silver spark dipped into the shadows of his shirt, trailing a cold trail of pain.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
The Marshal
GM, 548 posts
Good: 2W1B // Bad 5W2R1B
Mon 3 Jun 2013
at 22:32
  • msg #10

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

OOC: Sky Dog still has another action he can use before the bad guy goes again. That's 1 Wound to the Guts location, and 1 Wind. Not bad, all things considered.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 168 posts
3W 0R 0B
Shaman. Strange.
Mon 3 Jun 2013
at 22:45
  • msg #11

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

The shaman barked a short laugh of shock at the sudden sting scoring his ribs and tried to swing his own blade up under the thing's guard whilst it was pressing him closely.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
The Marshal
GM, 555 posts
Good: 2W1B // Bad 5W2R1B
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 15:30
  • msg #12

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

The man, the monster, the thing...it danced back almost playfully from Sky Dog's slash at him. His face was twisted in a demented grin, his lips drawn back in a rictus snarl. He threw himself again at Sky Dog, this time circling behind the Siberian and slashing at his leg as if to hamstring him. 


The demon, the nightmare...it circled around in front of him, as quick as a passing thought, ready to strike home again, when a loud noise boomed out of the night - the flurry of buckshot. It caught the man up short, knocking him back a few feet. After a moment, the nightmare man began to stand up, as if the blast from the shotgun had only shaken him. A robed giant of a man stood between Sky Dog and the other, protecting the shaman. He spoke English in an accent unfamiliar to the Siberian. 


"Whatever you are, you are an evil thing, and you cannot pass here. I sanctify this land in the name of God." The man from the nightmare sprang towards him, but as he began to advance closer to the priest and Sky Dog, he started to falter as if every second was causing him great pain. He recoiled from them, and directed a silent hateful stare towards them before fleeing into the night towards the southern and central part of town.


The giant man looked down at Sky Dog. "What was that thing?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 21:07, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 171 posts
3W 0R 0B
Shaman. Strange.
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 17:57
  • msg #13

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog laughed. Lowering his blade from where he'd raised it to fend off a leap where he lay downed by a hack to the calf and an instinctive flinch away from buckshot, he looked up at Father Iglesias, catching his breath. "I had thought you would know that!"

The shaman grinned and made his best attempt to rise. "It is very like the hostages - the vampir - in my country, but a little different. An American un-dead, yes?" Sky Dog winced, testing his balance, and started heading for the stables. "It is also like the walking ones at Hays, I think. Very fast."

He paused and beckoned the priest a little closer with the intent to talk, taking stock of the slash in his shirt and side as he did so.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 11 posts
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 18:09
  • msg #14

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

The priest looked at Sky Dog as if he was not quite right in the head when he was laughing. "Not a vampire, or other undead creature, I think. I have seen the both before, and this thing is very different from either. I blessed that shot, but it was as nothing to it. It should have had some effect. This is something wrong...or evil. But different, I think. Did you find a way to hurt it?"
Sky Dog
player, 172 posts
2W 0R 0B
Shaman. Strange.
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 18:56
  • msg #15

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"It was not like anything I had fought before," Sky Dog said, shaking his head. "Perhaps iron would have done it injury, but it was too fast for me - I was...defending, always. You say it is not like an American vampir? Please, I would know how it is not-like-" Sky Dog grinned, lupine. "-so that I have more knowledge, of the sickened things in this country. It is not against the church-Tsar's word to tell a heathen, I hope?"

He set off limping for the stables again. "...I think it will try to go to the Dog Eye building, where they have trouble already, and then to hide...I will fetch my steed and go there. Would you give onward a message to the deputies here? It is my fear some trouble will come, whilst all the noise is-" Sky Dog flicked a hand at the night sky. The continued grip on his knife was all that indicated the sudden assault on his person, life, and parts of his soul might have shaken the young man.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 12 posts
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 22:06
  • msg #16

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"It was hard to see his face, but I did not see the fangs that you see on a vampire also. There is this too - if there is a vampire in the area, we will have heard about it. People or animals killed and drained of blood. If this one is a vampire, it may be his first night of attacks. But...most important: My ammunition was blessed against the undead. If he was a vampire, it should have worked on him. Or anything that is already dead. So I know this thing is still of the living, so it is not a vampire," he said. "And I have never seen a vampire with a doctor's scalpel." As they walked to the stable, he happened to notice Sky Dog's unusual gait, which drew the priest's eyes to the man's leg.

"You are bleeding. The man, he has cut you."
Sky Dog
player, 173 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Tue 4 Jun 2013
at 23:40
  • msg #17

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog listened with quiet interest. "They must swell to great size, your American vampires, with such drinking at once! Are they also weaker in the day?"

"Still, this one, we have found its tracks and it has killed before, where I am charged with others to walk Wyitterp's law - near to the Dog Eye, yes? It is gathering pieces of men to make something, I have not seen what...but you saw how it is fast, and without pain, but not clever..."
The shaman shook his head again, frowning. "I do not know. I saw a spirit in this country that was an old, mean water-animal, walking like a man in the shadows of the world: it had a wicked look. Perhaps it is one like that animal, who has crawled into the skin of a man who is open to spirits, whilst he is...uncautious. I do not know."

The giant priest's belated observation set Sky Dog laughing. "Ha! Ha! AHAHAhaha..." the shaman eventually had to pause, half to wheeze at his companion's perplexity. He fished a key from inside his shirt. "Oh priest, I do not mock you. Come, I will embrace you like a Russian. No harm. No harm." Sky Dog reached out with his left arm to roughly hug as much of the holy man as he could reach. "Will you take a message, if I speak it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Wed 05 June 2013.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 13 posts
Wed 5 Jun 2013
at 17:40
  • msg #18

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"Yes, of course they are weak during the day."

He didn't know quite what to make of Sky Dog, like most people, probably assuming the fellow was drunk or not well in the mind. Could Wyatt Earp have possibly deputized this lunatic? The priest, unusually tall for even this day, towered over Sky Dog, awkwardly accepting the Siberian's offered embrace.

"No, I will not take a message, but I will accompany you, in case the thing comes back for you. Let us go find your steed, and then be off," he said.
Sky Dog
player, 174 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Wed 5 Jun 2013
at 18:22
  • msg #19

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

The shaman considered this with a kink of a smile, yet hard eyes. He nodded once and  slipped into the stables. He reappeared shortly with a thick-furred pelt wrapped about him like a blanket - bear, the priest came to realise, but white - leading a nervous, blindfolded and mostly-shaved reindeer.

The gate negociated and locked, Sky Dog used the outer rail and the pole he was carrying to mount up one-legged and rested his injured limb across his steed's blanketed shoulders. "His name is Igor," Sky Dog informed the priest, after reassuring the beast in a murmur.

Examining the injury more by touch and the smell and taste of the blood than by sight, Sky Dog pinned his knife under his raised calf and reached back to a panier for salt. "First, it is well to find a deputy of these parts...you know where they are meeting, maybe?"
Father Iglesias
NPC, 14 posts
Fri 14 Jun 2013
at 13:19
  • msg #20

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"You keep an...unusual mount, but I suppose yours are an unusual people, by our way of thinking," the priest observed.

"There is a man who was deputized to walk this area, but it is a very quiet part, and far from the rest of the town. Even before the fireworks, there was almost no one here. He has likely gone home for the night."

The fireworks continued to burst into the dark Kansas night. The night was brightly lit by the waxing moon, which would soon be full, in a few days probably. But the fireworks added sparkling color, dazzling reds, blues, and whites, and the sounds were loud as well.

"Come, let me see where you are bleeding. I can do something for this, before we go to the Dog Eye. You have friends there? Or a room? A place to wait? It is not good for you to be out tonight, I think, with this killer here."
Sky Dog
player, 176 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Sat 15 Jun 2013
at 16:55
  • msg #21

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog grinned. "It is very different, to be a guardian of deer than a keeper of sheeps," he agreed, then bared his teeth a little at the sting of salt on his sliced flesh. "Hssht...ah? There is a problem, then: before, the...thing, it has killed the brother of a man whose want is to hunt the niigers. It is my fear that while he is angry, and this-" he gestured at the fireworks, then leant back to rummage further. "-shooting is making a great sound hard to hear, he may do violence, in this area."

Sky Dog paused and looked at the priest, somewhere between confused and amused. "What will you?" he asked, though willing enough to show the wound, his white calf blood-slick but nigh-hairless as a boy's.

"It is a thin cut, and did not hit a sinew - when it is tied, it will very fast heal to itself. This," he indicated his side, beckoning the Father around to see how movement had left a clumsy, angled gash. "-I am less sure of."

"Friends, yes,"
the shaman agreed after a little thought. "-but also the killing-thing might go there...if it does hunt me, for knowing a shamán might end him, I should go out of the settlement, maybe? It is less risk, maybe that it should attack another or leap from behind buildings."

*Hhhuf* Igor added, head up and nostrils flared.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 15 posts
Mon 17 Jun 2013
at 20:41
  • msg #22

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"I can pray for your healing, maybe, but maybe you do not like that. Also, I know some of the healing of wounds. I cannot put a man back together, not entirely but smaller wounds and cuts I can heal," he said.

"Both of these, if you have some things for the making of bandages, I can attend to. Else, any simple cloth we can tear and use, though it will not be as well but good enough. They are just small scratches." He grinned.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:08, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 179 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Tue 18 Jun 2013
at 14:11
  • msg #23

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"Why for? To my people, the great spirit, it is all spirit, even those Faces that are also themselves...if you went to hunt, you would go with one who had Bayanay - the Lord of the Taiga, yes? - that their onnir shone with Him, and you would hunt well. On the sea, it is well to ask the Sea-Mother, and such and on...I have seen priests with closed souls, thinking - Ha! - really they have caught God in their buildings and He stays there...but you, you do have the Christ-Bird-God in your onnir. I see it; I would accept your medicine." He grinned, then nodded.

The shaman gained a faint smirk and mutely sought out cloth from his tradestuffs, cutting enough unbleached muslin to bind his leg and handing the remainder to the priest, greatly amused. He shucked the bearskin to lie behind him, attending to his calf, then peeled his bloodied shirt off his side when the priest was ready.

"Little scratches, yes," Sky Dog agreed. He seemed to permit rather than tolerate the brush of the big man's hands across his torso, watching the night. "I hope I will not have what is a big scratch for you, if I am ever coming to end so many of the...sickened things. It is well to be in one piece!"
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:08, Mon 24 June 2013.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 16 posts
Wed 19 Jun 2013
at 18:32
  • msg #24

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"Christ Bird God?" he asked curiously. He had known a few of the native peoples of this country in his time, and converted a few of them as well, though others had taken umbrage at his doing so and had threatened him with violence. This man, though, was stranger than most. If he had smelled of liquor, his behavior might have made more sense. At the present, the priest attributed this to the man being a primitive. 

He worked with his hands while he awaited an answer from the man, cleaning the wound with a little holy water at first, and then bandaging him, silently listening.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:08, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 180 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Wed 19 Jun 2013
at 19:54
  • msg #25

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

The Evenki youth watched the sky a moment, rubbing his free heel against Igor's sandpapery chest. The tin animals on his shirt seemed to flash red, white, sapphire-blue glances at the priest, moving with each nudge and the shaman's breathing.

"I have understood it wrongly, maybe...your god of the settlements, he went into a maiden by touching her head as a bird, yes? So she did bear him into the Middle World as her blood only and the god for the most of his onnir, to be the great shamán JesuChrist." He frowned slightly. "It does happen, for our older siblings the spirits they think differently to us."

Sky Dog lapsed into silence, but just as abruptly barked out a raven's laugh, struck by some odd irony. "Ha! When mortals learn a very little of the ways of...you say angels? demons? -enough to be speaking with them often, it can seem pretty crazy." The thin slice of grin broadened. "It is not a learning that can be walked away from...it is like scars on the body. Easily seen!"
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:06, Mon 24 June 2013.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 17 posts
Wed 19 Jun 2013
at 20:40
  • msg #26

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"Your ways of thinking and ours, are quite different. We do not worship bird spirits and animal spirits, like your people. Christ was not a bird...But this is not the time to explain all of that. We can talk about Chris and birds and animals later. First, we must speak on what to do next," he said.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:05, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 181 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Wed 19 Jun 2013
at 21:38
  • msg #27

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

" 'Worship'? " Sky Dog nodded. "It would be well to sit at samovar and speak of such. As there is no deputy, I think it would be well to go swiftly and tell the darker people to be wary and perhaps to wake him, if they are there, and then as fast to the Dog Eye, for if the killing-thing goes there."

The youth licked dry lips, letting down his shirt and taking up the pole. "If it wishes to kill myself only, I will lure it to the river - if it does not fear running water, at the least it will be slow there, yes?"
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:05, Mon 24 June 2013.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 18 posts
Mon 24 Jun 2013
at 21:34
  • msg #28

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"There is a flop house, that is to the southern part of the town. It is like a building where people stay for very little cost, poorer people who have less in coin and less for trading. This is where many of the negros in the town are living now," he said.

"If you think perhaps there will be a violence against them, I will join you as well to give them warning, but I do not have a horse."
This message was last updated by the player at 21:35, Mon 24 June 2013.
Sky Dog
player, 182 posts
2W 1R 1B
Shaman. Strange.
Mon 24 Jun 2013
at 22:40
  • msg #29

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

Sky Dog blinked, then rubbed at his forehead with the heel of his hand. "I do not know if it is wrong with myself or with the land here - in the taiga, my direction-knowing is better than the clever iron...here, I am always pulling to west." Troubled, the shaman shook his head and tapped Igor into motion left-handed with the pole, keeping his injured leg up but reclaiming his knife.

"If we can pass the Dog Eye to go there, it is well...we will not go so swiftly you are long left without cause-"
he indicated the blindfolded reindeer "-as Igor must trust my eyes that are not frighted by the explosions."

Indeed, Igor's pace, accompanied by the jingle of bells and steady clicking of tendons, should not prove too uncomfortable for a man of Father Iglesias' size, providing he stepped out with a little haste.
Father Iglesias
NPC, 19 posts
Wed 26 Jun 2013
at 22:27
  • msg #30

Re: Episode 7-1: Street Dreams

"Come, we will head in that direction," he said, and began to lead strange Siberian shaman steadily southward.
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