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Who: Willow Rosenberg (

frogfear) and you!
What: November Catch-All
When: November
Where: Around Trench and Sleeper Farm

Content Warnings: Standard event warnings

Sleeper Farm A (Wolfwalker Option)

She's the wolf when she wakes up on the floor of the stall, chained to the wall by the muzzle on her face, but she's getting more and more accustomed to this happening when she's asleep. It hits her after a few seconds that she has no idea where her human body is, and the realization drives her to her feet in a moment of sheer panic. The last thing she remembers is heading back to the house after leaving the Archives, which means whatever happened, probably happened on the way home. She has to get out of here.

Willow plants her feet and pulls back against the chain, whipping her head back and forth to try to forcibly pull herself free. It doesn't even budge a little, though, in spite of her efforts, and she feels weaker than normal, like she's been recovering from a bad bout of the flu. She flops to the ground in frustration and exhaustion, sides heaving.

She can smell the oil, blood, and strange fermented odor in the air she can't quite identify. And... another Sleeper? She turns her head, as though realizing suddenly that she's not alone. Maybe they can get each other out. Little help, please?

Sleeper Farm B (Human Option)

It's a stroke of sheer luck that Willow's managed to free herself unassisted, and is now free to try to find a way out. It's probably a blessing in disguise that her powers are barely accessible. She's been working to gain control over her ability to pick up on the emotions of those around her, and somewhere like this, full of pain and terror, she'd much rather not to be hit full force with it anyway. Still. There's enough getting through that she's aware that there's someone else trapped down here too. This place seems particularly ominous, and of course she can't leave someone else abandoned down here if there's any chance she can help.

She's a little nervous of calling attention to herself, though, as she creeps along the corridor, peering into the stalls to try to find someone else, so she stays quiet. She's spotted a couple of the Zealots creeping around, but she's been fortunate enough to be able to avoid them so far. Finally, she spots a figure in a corner of one of the stalls and lets out a relieved sigh.

"Hey. Hey, can you hear me?" She whispers.

Blood Crazed Zealots

Willow could feel the strange sensation of being watched as she left the school, then of being followed. A couple times she glances around, and finds herself seemingly alone on the streets. It feels oddly deserted, though - she's used to seeing more people out and about, even if it is beginning to get dark.

Another glance behind her, and she spots a hooded figure who seems to radiate a particularly malevolent presence. She's reminded a little bit of the first time she spotted Maul on the streets of Deerington, but she's already well aware it's not him. It's definitely something else. It feels like something out of a bad dream.

She picks up the pace, and tries to add some twists and turns into her usual route to try to lose them, but each time she glances back, they're still there, and still following. Puck appears as well, called forth unconsciously by her nervousness, and the fox trots alongside her with his ears pinned back against his head. He doesn't like it either.

She takes another look behind her as she turns a corner and crashes straight into another Sleeper, with a startled cry, and she immediately backs up and looks contrite. "Oh! Um. Sorry - Sorry. I - uh, thought you were something else."

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She likely had a point. Did anyone want any kind of direct confrontation with a Pthumerian? Even the chance of it might deter many from making the attempt, which made him think that their purpose wasn't information. What did they have that cloaked figures would want? "Maybe it isn't knowledge they want then..."

Brutal snorted and lowered a great head, shaking it back and forth to show off impressively large horns. His Omen stamped and threatened to charge. It was the only warning that would be given.

"Do you know any good magic for a fight yet?" He expected it was coming to a fight.

"Don't worry about me," Willow answers, shaking her head stubbornly. She looks around for something to defend herself with and picks up a sizeable tree branch. In other words no, no, she still has not learned any blood magic that might be useful in a fight. Or at least nothing she's confident enough to try.

The cloaked figure approaches from the direction they were headed in. It's tall, and its face is hidden by a hood. It points a finger directly at Savage, and in a demanding, gravelly voice, says, "Leave."

"Fine, I won't," he said simply and turned back to the confrontation that was shaping up in front of them. He could hear her arming herself, though he didn't bother to look back to make certain it was an appropriate weapon. If she didn't have a spell to use, that was fine by him.

Brute moved aside and took up position behind the cloaked figure. At the voice demanding he leave, Savage pulled his saberstaff from his belt and pointed it back at the figure. "No, get lost."

"A sacrifice must be taken," the cloaked figure answers flatly. If it's concerned about being attacked by any of them, it shows no sign of it. "Another will come for you soon. Now go."

Willow adjusts her grip on the branch. "Get away from us!"

The figure chuckles. "There's power in this one, even if she refuses to use it. No matter." It waves a gloved hand, and heavy chains with sharp hooks appear out of thin air.

Savage experienced a brief chill. Those were the kinds of words that the Nightsisters would use when things were not going well for the planet. He knew his wasn't the only culture to do that either, but he had expected to avoid it here in Trench. Instantly, he felt his anger stirring. "There aren't any sacrifices here."

He gripped his saberstaff and finally lit on end, holding it out. Brute bellowed and charged forward in an attempt to bash the cloaked figure aside.

"Her power is hers, and if she chooses to crush you with it, that's for her to decide." He actually didn't move from his position, guarding Willow rather than leave space for the figure to potentially get around him easily.

The bellow is enough warning to give the figure the opportunity to spring out of the way of Brute's charge with unnatural speed. They snarl, and make a sweeping gesture with one hand to send the hooks flying through the air at the two.

"Watch out!" Willow calls a warning to Savage as she raises the branch in case he's unable to stop the hooks. Puck dives through his legs to attack the figure, snapping and snarling at their legs.

Brute tore through the empty air and with a snort, the Omen twisted to search for the cloaked figure in question. The Reek began to line up the next charge for when the cloaked figure would have to land, assuming they did land. If not, a determined Reek would find other ways to destroy an enemy.

Savage was watching the hooks, letting them close until they were in range in which case he slashed through both with his saberstaff and then threw out a hand to use the Force to blow the figure backwards after Puck had a good snap or two.

The figure is unnaturally fast and while Puck manages to force them off balance and to keep moving, he isn't able to actually make contact, although he does manage to avoid being kicked himself as their attacker tries to defend themselves.

"Wretched beasts!" The figure snarls as they're knocked off their feet as Savage shoves them through the Force. It's more of a struggle than they expected to keep up with the the two Omens, and Savage as well, so they summon more hooks to send flying at Puck and Brute.

Savage saw the hooks and barked a 'go' at Brute. The Reek bellowed and dissolved to green smoke, drawing back along the ground to him to avoid being struck. Brute was far less nimble than Puck and had to use other methods to avoid injury.

He stepped forward while the figure was distracted with the Omens to clench a hand in the air to try to Force Choke the figure. If he could catch the person by the neck with it, only breaking his concentration would allow an escape.

Puck dodges through the hooks as Brute disappears to attack the cloaked figure again, grabbing them by the leg as Savage reaches out to Force Choke them. The figure lets out a scream of rage and pain before their breath is choked off. Their head rolls back as they claw at their neck, letting the hood fall away and revealing a heavily scarred and mutilated face.

Willow jumps back in alarm. "Oh, that can't be good..."

There were plenty of ugly mutilated species in the galaxy, many of them carving out an existence in the seedy underbelly of society. That didn't bother him one bit, not when he had a hold of the cloaked figure. He walked forward, keeping the figure in the air, choking the man slowly and with relish.

This one had tried to hurt Willow. He'd pay for such trespasses, as his brother would say.

If allowed to, he would kill this man without hesitation. Brute had reappeared again, groaning out a sound of victory.

Part of Willow wants to stop Savage from killing their attacker, but she's trying to be realistic. Their attacker may look like it was human at one point, but likely, they're something else, so she merely looks away as Savage dispatches the creature.

Puck returns to her side, and she tosses the branch away. "We, uh, we should get out of here..."

With a clench of his fist, he snapped the disfigured man's neck with an audible snap. He waited for the body to go limp before he released his grip and sent it well down the alley where they had been approached.

He turned away, uncaring for the death and reached out to pat Brute on the shoulder. "Yes. He may have friends," he agreed and gestured at her to take the lead. "Let's get you home."

Willow glances past Savage down the alleyway where he's sent the disfigured man's remains, as though half expecting him to come back to life and come after them a second time. If anything, though, she feels more clear headed than she has since she left the school, although it's not lost on her that the situation could have gone far worse if not for Savage.

"Yeah, yeah. It's, um, probably better to clear out before his friends show up," she looks up and down the street, and starts to head back towards home. "Thank you."

The dead won through combat meant little to him. Perhaps on his way back he might decide if he wanted to make a meal of the man on his way back. For now, priority was to see Willow to her home and assume that she was safe there.

He nodded his head to Brute who acknowledged with a grunt and trotted ahead to scout the distance. He gestured for Willow to keep up with him, his saberstaff in hand for the time being. He would not risk a sneak attack.

Puck takes off to do a little scouting of his own as they walk through the streets. He's a little less focused in his efforts, though. Sometimes he trots alongside Brute, sometimes he disappears to investigate a side street or an alley, and other times he drops back behind them to ensure they're not being followed.

Willow stays close to Savage as they wind their way through the streets back to the mansion. She's focused on keeping an eye on what's happening around then, trying to help make sure they run into no further problems.

Brute was entirely focused, large horned head swinging this way and that as the omen scented the air and looked around. He knew his way to Willow's home and took them the fastest and most direct route. Brute didn't bother with abiding by traffic either; he was on mission and that meant ignoring whatever stood in his way achieving that goal which included pedestrians and vehicles.

He turned his head as Willow remained close, low chuffing sound in his throat. "When we get you home, I suggest staying inside." It seemed to him that there were plenty more of those figures than the one they had already encountered, and he had his doubts killing one of them was going to bring them favourable attention.

"Yeah... Yeah, that's probably a good idea, at least for now," Willow answers with a nod. Hopefully the robed figures decide to move on from Trench soon, though. There's clearly more than just that one.

She glances at Savage. "You should be careful too - sounds like they're after you too, and you probably painted a great big bullseye on your back helping me."

He nodded his head with a low grumble for effect. While he thought she would fight to defend herself, he wasn't so convinced she was do well with a stick or rocks that were present in the streets. It was best that they avoided these cloaked figures. "You have a means to defend yourself in your house if a fight comes to you there?"

He shrugged to her warning. He wasn't hard to miss in the streets, and he would welcome a fight. So would Brutal. "I'm used to being wanted for such things. I'm not concerned," he remarked, even if he would take precautions once he knew she was safe. "But I will be careful."

Willow nods. The house is place she feels safest in all of Trench. "Yeah, I'll be okay at home. Don't worry." Her friends are all there too, so she's not alone either, which helps.

It's not at all a surprise that he seems mostly unconcerned about her warning. He's strong, and she knows he likes a good fight. "I think they were messing with my head a little - it was getting hard to remember what direction I was supposed to be going in before I ran into you."

He followed Brute until his Omen stopped outside of Willow's house. Brute moved off to check the area to be certain that it remained safe. "Good, keep yourself safe. People would probably be upset if you were injured."

He nodded his head. He expected that there was been some kind of blood magic, though why they would use it was something he needed to consider. He thought only Sleepers used blood magic. "So it seems that we've made the trip safely. I expect that means the cloaked figures are at a distance right now."

"Thank you. That goes for you too. Watch yourself out there." She gives him a little smile, then pauses. Suddenly remembering the book, digs it out of her bag and hands it to him. "Here, don't forget this too. If things are gonna be like this all month it might be harder for us to get together."

Puck catches up moments later, after investigating the area nearby. He stares up at Savage for a long moment before nodding slowly at him. He appreciates the help as well.

He nodded his head to her warning to mind himself, and he intended to return home to make certain that his brother was safe. The last thing he wanted was to be separated and have his brother captured. Now that he had Willow safely back to her home, he felt it would be easier to go home.

He looked down at Puck, nodding his head in return. Brute returned and gave the other Omen a sniff and a nudge before moving off. "Inside. We'll practice when it's safe," he said, holding up the book. He would keep practicing until then.

Puck gives Brute a small nudge with his nose before heading towards the house. He pauses on the step to wait for Willow to join him.

"Yeah, don't worry - I'm going. Thank you again. And be safe out there," she says before turning to head inside.

Savage nodded his head, waiting until her door was closed before he rested an arm on Brute's cheek horn and turning to walk away. He intended to head back home to check on if his brother was safe and sound.

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