CRISTATA

By Peloquin ([email protected])

Prelude

Damn. The very minute Jim had stopped the car to take a leak he'd been surrounded by Spirals. And they didn't look friendly. Especially when they entered Crinos...

"Nhrr, little Glassswalkuhrr. you sshhhould've stayed at hrroome..."

This was it. He was going to die. All because he was afraid of flying, and refused to go to Chicago by train.

Something rustled in the bushes.

All eyes turned in the direction of the sound.

And a little porcupine waddled into the clearing.

"Hrruh? Whhrat the hell...?"

The Spiral leader kicked at the little animal, but as he did the spines on the little creatures back shimmered briefly, becoming pure silver. The Spiral howled and hopped around on one foot, clutching the smoking pierce wounds where some thin spines were still attached. And then things got really weird.

The porcupine grew, rapidly forming some sort of Crinos form, about six feet tall, his spines thickening and lengthening into 3 ft long spearlike spikes, and his body rippling with sinewy muscle. He grinned at the wounded leader, and then whirled around in a pirouet, sending twenty or so spikes of silver into the already injured beast over a distance of ten feet. The Spiral gave a gurgle, a spike buried in his throat, and then slumped forward, as dead as a dodo. With that done the...porcupine (?) turned towards the other Spirals. And spoke, in a surprisingly clear human voice.

"I know what yer thinkin'...did he fire all his spikes, or maybe just a few? So I guess you have to ask yourself a question...do I feel lucky today? Well? Do ya, punks!?!"

The remaining Spirals stared at each other for about a second before screaming and running off into the woods.

The porcupine shrank into a short human with a wild hairstyle, clutching his sides laughing. "Oh, man, that was fun...you okay?"

Jim nodded, still stunned.

"Yeah, well, some of my brothers are waiting for them in the woods, and we'll finally get rid of that Hive...you owe me one, pal. I'll look you up the next time I'm in Detroit...the name is Silverspike. Don't you forget it.

He took up a small mirror from his camouflage clothes, and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Jim drove non-stop to the Chicago conference, because this was too big a news than a plain budget report.

Nickname

Skulkers

Description

They never tell their tale to anyone outside the tribe. But according to them, Gaia created them to be invisible scouts and secret police, to root out the Wyrm where they knew they could get away with it. "Let the others worry about their visible power in the human world, and we'll take care of their country cousins." But as time has passed, they have realized that the Wyrm's real power lies with the humans, and therefore they are now coming to the cities. Well. They have been there all along, but only to check out the situation. They are scouts, after all.

Appearance

They only have three forms: Homid, Crinos and Cristata. In Crinos form they only increase a few inches in size, but their other advantages make up for that totally. In Cristata form they are just plain little porcupines, cute and harmless...not! Homid form is usually pretty short; they're never above six feet in height, and may not take the Merit Huge Size. They also gain an additional dot to put in any Social of your choice; as they are pretty cute li'l buggers. Now, they have the same Auspices as the Garou, but they also have an annoying tendency to never treat any situation totally seriously, and they love their own sense of humor.

Forms

Spines do damage Attackers strength +3. Claws and teeth as usual.

Dex +0

Forms	Str	Sta	Cha	Man	App
Homid	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0
Crinos	+2	+5	+3	-1	-1	-1
Cristata	-all	+1	-2	-1	-1	+1

Gifts

Well, they can't have Spines of the Porcupine, because they already have it by nature, but they do have two of their own:

Spears of the Porcupine (Level 2)

Spines of Silver (Level 3)

Other traits

They have a special Brawl maneuver, Lightning Blast, in which they do the above mentioned pirouet and fire their spines, the damage of the spines is increased +2. You need Brawl 5 to use this maneuver. Roll Athletics +Dexterity diff:6.

Prejudice

Garou: Well, we've kept out of the way of the sourpusses for eons, and we'll run circles around them in the cities. Heh. Talk about chasing their tails...

"Never heard of such a thing. What were they called?"

Kindred: Ooooh, spooky, honestly. Isn't it hard to talk wiff dose tiff?

"The what? Oh, come on, I'm not completely stupid you know."

Faery: Now these guys have the right idea: Fight, party, drink and make more of your own kind...pity they've become so serious lately.

"Oh, them...they're almost as bad as the Pooka..."

Mages: Abracadabra, hocus pocus, and hey presto, I just got myself killed!

"Yeah, right, and I'm Ronald Reagan..."

Quote

The name is Pine...Porcu Pine... (breaks into laughter and writes down the joke)