Aww shit (ATTN: Sworn)

Kellie, Ethan and JJ went off to have a "chat" about Ethan and JJ. They went into one of the neighboring homes, as none of them have sold in the neighborhood but yours. Everyone's name is on the deed.

Having a home set up means the lot of hem can start tog et thte spirit world in more order. Gwen takes a place in the basemenet and, after a brief meditating session, goes through the locus to take a look at the spirit world. She's expecting the world to be as bleak and empty as elsewhere, but these nights something had been bothering her, setting her on edge, like a centipede crawling up and down her spine. While Ethan and co. were having their discussion, she was determined to make sure notihng was sneaking up on them.

Starting from the basement, she went a slow route, in a rough spiral around the spirit side neighborhood, with nose, ears, and two-world eyes at the ready.

The house is empty of spirits. Only motes survive on the spirit side. The bodies that ethan and kellie buried in the backyard have stained the upper floor with death resonance, but that will hopefullly go away in time. Mateo is up there, trying to install a dart board.

Gwen keeps branching outward. Nothing special in what she's seen up to now, though she makes a note to buy some flowers and try to get a garden going, to get rid of that unpleasant resonance.

She shifts tu Urshul, to make searching easier, and branches out some more to the neighboring houses. She figues if one home was full of Claimed, another might be. She also takes the time to learn the lay of the land, which window leads where, and so on. There might be a place-that-is-not-a-place nearby where spirits are hidden.

Also worthy of note is the fact that she will take the time to check on her alpha and co. once she gets to that house. Going to the side for a conversation without the whole pack just doesn't seem right.

(While I'm at it, any particular resonance from the basement locus?)

not that you are easily able to determine.

All of the other houses are the same as yours, some motes, a little more decay than there should be, but overall OK. It takes until a little past 8 in the evening before you are able to check in on your alpha and them for the third time (its been a very heated discussion).

The problem is thus:

When you enter, you find that they are dead. all of them. Ethan's heart had been torn out from behind, while JJ and Kellie had their throats severed.

Death rage check
(if you pass, Wits+Investigation to learn more about the scene)

Gwen, seeing the scene, cries out in sheer despair. She can feel the Rage welling up inside, wanting rip everything to ribbons, to make the world pay for what happened here, whatever it is. Before she can lose herself in wanton destruction, however, her mentor's most important teaching comes back : You worst enemy is yourself, and rage is the worst part of that enemy. Gwen looks at the floor, instead of at her dead packamtes, and breathes. Iiiinn, and oouuut. Iiiiin, and ouut.

04-25 12:19:07 Gwen rolls 10 dice to resist Kuruth (used WP) 2 successes
1,1,2,7,1, 8,8,4,5,2

After a few agonizing minutes of this routine, she feels she can look up again, and does. Shes whimpers like a wounded animal as soon as she does, but manages to stay cool. She starts turning the rage to finding out what happened here, and then, then she can rip the one responsible to shreds. Taking the time to stroke her nuzzle against each of the Uratha's untangible hides (from this side of the Gauntlet anyway), she takes in as much as she can from the scene of death and blood.

04-25 12:23:09 Gwen rolls 3 dice to investigate the scene 2 successes
3,1,10,10,7 Holy smokes, can you say 'lucky bastard'?

And once the human is done investigating, she promises herself, the wolf shall hunt.

Whatever killed them hit ethan first, and ripped out his heart. The other two didn't even have a chacne to get up before getting hit with claw marks across the throats. The claws were narrower than typical gauru claws, and did horrific wounds to the three packmates. They also don't have a drop of blood in them, nor is there any blood on the scene. But there are a lot of blood motes here. The door is broken in the back of the house, just utterly smashed off its hinges, lying in the wooden deck of the backyard.

Gwen lets back her head ans howls, a mournful sound that could contain more pain only if she somehow dove into a pool of razors and then washed herself in lemonade.

A single thought comes, unbidden : How the hell am I going to break this to Mateo? He'll freak and break everything in half.

No. Deal with it when it comes, Gwen thinks to herself. If she can give Mateo a decent target for his Rage, then the point is mute. She turns to Urhan's tracking affinity, and sniffs around, determined to find what she can in the spirit world.

((Any scent trails in the Hisil?))

No scent trails in the hisil. (By the way, you are now in charge of your pack)

((Not exactly the happiest path to promotion, but it'll do))

After her long howl, Gwen heads back, slowly, head hung low. Once she's back in the pack's den in the physical world, she shifts back to Hishu and, with a deep breath, looks through the house for Mateo. This is not going to be easy.

Mateo has finished up the dart board. The power drill and wood shaving attesting to the fact that he does know a bit about woodwork.

"Hey, what's up?"

All right, Gwen, deep breath, here goes nothing. Her voice is somber as she talks, showing more grief than she'd like. "Hey. Let's go take a walk in the Shadow, alright? We gotta do some talking." At least in the spirit world, there's very little he can damage if and when he goes completely bonkers.

"OK, sure, what's up?"

The two of you cross the gauntlet just fine.

Gwen motion Mateo to a chair. "Have a seat." Once they're both sitting, she takes a spot next to him, and leans close, making sure to make him feel like she's there. "Look, I have no idea how to do this, I'll just come right out with it." Please, Lord, let him not think I'm coming on to him, she thinks briefly. "Kellie, JJ, the boss. They're gone." She keeps a close eye on him. Come on, keep it together.

"What do you mean gone?" He's taking this very seriously, and is not happy.

Gwen is at a loss for words. "I mean they're... god damn it, they're dead." She swallows back tears. "Something ripped their thoats out. They never had a chance."

You see the rage building in him, the anger the fury. But he controls himself, somehow. He doesn't shift into Gauru. The chair he was sitting on however, he throws through the wall in anger.

"GRAHHHHHH!"

Gwen stays wary for the first few seconds after giving the news, certain she was going to face a full-on raging Rahu. She shakes her head. "I know, man. Believe me, I know. We'll find the thing, or things, and make'em pay each wound a hundred times over. First, though, we tend to the pack. Think you're up to helping me give them a decent burial? After that, we'll find the trail."

"Yeah, Yeah lets do that." He heads to his truck and gets the shovel, before forcefully digging in the backyard of the house. (Time is about 10:00 pm). Each shovel full of dirt is a great pain to him.
Later on, he helps carry over the bodies to each hole in the ground.

"Thanks, Mateo. I'm sure it means a lot to them." Gwen helps him, carrying at least one of the bodies, digging what she can. Before they put the bodies in, however, Gwen stays Mateo's hand. "Let's do this the right way." She's usually big on secrecy, but this is different. She leads Mateo in the Funeral rite for each of their packmates, leaving some of their blood in each of the graves and howling their sorrow at the sky. ((Won't bother rolling unless you ask))

Once it's all done, Gwen breathes heavily, spent from the physical and spiritual exertion. "Now," she says, "let's see what we can find out about the next prey of the Sworn."

She goes back to the house, and sniffs around in Uhran form. On the one hand, to find information about the asshole(s), and on the other, to commit to memory the scent of their packmates : JJ's perfume, Ethan's hair gel, Kellie's shampoo.

The murderer left no scent. No scent at all marks his passing, except the smell of musty cloth.

Crap. Double crap and triple crap. "Nothing, and no spirits to help us either" she says, half in wolf-speak and half in first tongue. She takes a look around for visual traces, actual physical tracks.

((Assuming none are there, that's be too easy ))

Finding nothing, she growls, and goes back to Hishu. "Asshole'll have to wait. If you know people in town, try and get'em on its trail. Meanwhile, there's someone I have to talk to."

"Yes boss."