After a moment Mason excuses himself to get ready to go deal with the issue, but before he does that. "I am unable to speak French. Seeing as this is some random town in France. I am assuming English is going to be rare." he states. "Any chance you know of a way around that?"

  Once Mistral leaves he sets the duffel on the bed. He then starts to unpack the stash. Money, empty guns, knives, several sets of clothes later. He chuckles. "Not exactly how I figured my day would go."

"Many of my countrymen speak English well enough, although they will likely consider you un rustre américain for insisting upon it in France."  Mistral put a finger to her lips and considered, then offered. "I do have a way around every language barrier, but I have only ever utilized it upon myself.  It should work on others... en théorie."  She gave a faint smile and asked drily, "Would you care to be a guinea pig fluent in all languages?"

Should Mason agree to be a test subject, Mistral would speak a single cryptic syllable with a gesture toward his forehead.  She then asked him in French, "<Can you understand my words?  Let us hear your enunciation.>"  Mason understood her words perfectly despite having never been fluent in French prior to now.  In fact, he reckoned that right now he could speak, read and write in any language.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:41, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

  "I don't mind being considered an uneducated moron. Helps folks underestimate me which leads to them slipping up."

"Pourquoi madame je crois que c'est vraiment intéressant. Je vous remercie beaucoup, mais puis-je demander combien de temps cela devrait-il durer ? Simplement par curiosité." he says. He clasps his hands over his mouth. <"Truly amazing ma'am. Thank you. Times like this I wonder why we are usually so hostile to each other and then I remember.">

Why madam I believe that this is truly interesting. I thank you much, but might I ask how long should this last?  Merely as a curiousness. Going forward I will stay with what the norm is for that. Just IC it made more sense that way.

Mistral answered in French, "<Twenty four hours.  Speak to me again if you would find it useful for longer.  Your accent is quite serviceable.>"

The archmage gave an enigmatic smile to the remark about their kinds being hostile, and replied, "<I find that we of supernatural nature hold far more in common than we do differences, and that what we do is more important than what we are.  To presume hostility is unproductive, at best.>"  She inclined her head to Mason and said, "<Let us hope we have not underestimated each other's capacity for civility, no?  Better not to test such things, for surely it would go poorly.>"  The tone of that final word left little doubt which of them she believed it would go poorly for.

The faint smile returned to Mistral's lips, and she said, "<Will there be anything else?>"

 He takes a moment to think. "I am not the best with my words sometimes. I meant no disrespect. We see that working together and finding a way to share the loci is in our best interests. But our groups as a whole do not. That is simple truth. As you probably know my kind rarely runs alone. I have chosen that to protect that which my kind has given up on. They gave up for reasons I disagree with. I seek knowledge. And I am as you know an Uratha. One makes me take verbal short cuts and the other makes me short tempered. Like it or not in my case. See there I go again." the beginning is stilted and formal sounding as if it is something he has memorized. And the last is said with some humor to it.

"No disrespect taken.  The historic difficulty between our kinds is a fact worth noting, and you are wise to address it."  Mistral maintained a placid expression and tone of voice throughout this exchange, "I share your hope that we might one day move past such unfruitful divisions.  I believe a time is soon coming where greater circumstances will oblige us all to choose whether to ally for survival or die divided.  There is much yet to be done, but we have made a start."

Mistral found it interesting that Mason ran alone, which was indeed unusual for les loups-garous, as he said himself.  She then asked, "You say that you run alone, but is that your preference?  There are likely some here who would assist in your work, if you wish it."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:21, Thu 18 Aug 2022.

PM

"I work alone out of habit. Generally both easier and much safer if I do. Most folks don't handle bloodbaths well which is what happens if I go full on monster mode if you will. I have a gun but it is for show. Most back down when I pull a gun and point it in their direction. And if it doesn't well getting shot isn't much so long as it is a normal round." he jokes mostly because he knows it is true. "However since I don't know this group of wolves I am more than willing to take help with me. Who or what did you have in mind?"

OOC: Mistral has been given a list of available NPCs. I'm gonna let her make the decision on who to contact (mostly because I want to see the crew she puts together for this :P)

Mistral inclined her head in acknowledgment, "I will make inquiries."

After a few minutes spent conferring either via slate or less-conventional means, the hooded archmage turned back to Mason and said, "I have gathered for you a team.  Do not be deceived by appearances.  First, allow me to introduce mon ami synthétique, Scar."  A well-built, dark-skinned man with a telltale scar marring half of a handsome face appeared in a swirl of mist.  He looked more or less like a regular guy, albeit one who could handle himself.

"Next, Wraith, a spirit from the dead storms of Stygia."  A fluffy black cat appeared and plopped down next to Mistral.  The feline fixed Mason with an ill-tempered glare, then let out a low-pitched meow that vibrated the floors, "MAOW."

"Last but never least, Chevalier Jitters, spirit knight of the black bean and a steadfast ally through many difficulties."  Through the chamber door marched an extraordinarily large squirrel in full knightly regalia with a katana sheathed across his back and a steely look in his beady black eyes.  The rodent knight performed a courtly bow toward Mason and then stood at attention.

Mistral turned to each of them and said, "Mes amies, this is Mason.  He is a new potential member of the Ark who seeks to mend damage done to the Shadow, starting here.  Would you be willing to aid him?"  Mason might think such bizarre companions to perhaps be a setup to some sort of prank, but Mistral and definitely Sir Jitters were taking it quite seriously.

 Scar was still wearing a construction uniform and was covered with dirt but he offered Mason a friendly smile and a handshake.


 Wraith simply sits and stares at you judgingly without making any other moves. Despite being a cat, his very presence fills the air with menace.


 Finally, Jitters the squirrel. After his bow, he takes his place at Scar's side.

  "Ok then. A G-Man, a not cat, and a physical spirit. This should be interesting." he says. He shakes Scar's hand. "Wait a sec did you just say that the cat is a spirit of the Soul Storm of Stygia? Yeah that explains that."

 When Jitters bows to him he bows back not as courtly and not nearly as cleanly. "For now I can understand you no matter what you say thanks to Mistral, but at somewhere around 24 hours that will cease. So in case we are in the field longer than 24 hours all of you at least understand English right?"

 Jitters nodded. "Of course."

 Scar shook Mason's hand with a smile. "Yes sir. I understand all languages."

 However, Wraith just stared at you. "Maow."

 The sound that death cat made was pure bass. Deeper than any cat you'd ever heard before, somehow adding even more weight to the small cat's imposing presence.

  "Alright then folks let us see what we can find out about this wolf problem we have." Mason says as he opens the portal and moves to the French countryside. They make the hike to the known border of what the wolves should consider their area and he lets out a human sounding howl. He just stands there waiting for a response.

 The others join Mason on his hike and, roughly 10 minutes later, a young woman comes out of the trees. She eyes present company and speaks. The French in her voice is thick but you can understand it without trouble.

 "And who are you, Lone Wolf, to be in such company?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:33, Thu 08 Sept 2022.

  "I was told a story about a town being controlled by some of us. We stopped doing that a long time ago. So I came to see if this was true. And if so why would one of our most basic laws be broken. I knew I was out numbered so these beings were asked to come along." he kind of shrugs. "I seek peace nothing more and an understanding of why. Balance must be maintained as best as we can. Otherwise consequences follow swiftly."

 "'Controlled' isn't really the word I'd use. 'Influenced' is perhaps a bit more appropriate. I'm assuming you have already met the mages. They have unleashed the Tarrasque upon the world and seek to protect it. Mages have trouble with their magic when humans are present so we gathered those who had already been terrorized by the creature to aid us in exterminating it."

  "Influenced isn't a whole lot better, but it is a start. And what do you mean, by Tarresque? A terror spirit? Or some kind of animal?" he asks more for clarification on what they were dealing with. "And why would they do that? Also and I'm curious how you know that they did that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:25, Wed 14 Sept 2022.

 "Because they admitted to it! It is a large, invisible monster with spines and claws, capable of rending the limbs off a fully transformed Garou.... and it has, multiple times."

  "Ok well that settles that then. So why is this Tarrasque attacking only Garou? Why us as opposed to say wiping out the humans in the area?" he asks unsure of exactly where this would go. But answers and attempting to gain some level of peace were his main concern. "Believe me all I seek is a resolution. Peaceful is the preferred route, but I know how all this normally plays out."

 "It's not only us. It has stalked many of the villagers and has already attacked one of them. It's why they were so eager to join us on our last hunt. It ended... poorly."

"I see. Now the fact it was one villager that was attacked makes for an interesting situation. Werewolves and one lone villager. Interesting. Ok so one last question. Would you like to find some actual answers Miss...? You know I never got your name. I am Mason." he says as if forgetting the niceties of interaction was commonplace.

 "Auria... and yes, yes I would."

 She didn't seem offended. The nicities of interaction were often forgotten among the Garou.

 "Now would you happen to have any information on the villager that was attacked? Mainly was the method the same as the Garou that were attacked." he says more friendly and offers to let her walk first. "I have a few working theories, but without what happened to him, I'm assuming it is a him, I can't be sure." he pauses to allow her to relay that information.


"Were the Garou injuries the same? Were any of them different? If so how?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:44, Wed 21 Sept 2022.

 "A far as I can tell, the villager was spiked. I mean, we were too, but then our limbs were ripped off."