Things have gotten interesting, to say the very least, since Alptraum's "introduction" to Chevalier Pierre DuValle. The chevalier, apparently quite eager to be rid of this dreaded blood monster, has agreed to a cooperative effort with Alptraum, and toward that end has taken part in multiple forays in search of it … and Alptraum has had to come up with various excuses for avoiding the chevalier's hospitality at dinner. It's only a matter of time before Pierre suspects that there's something unusual about Alptraum's dining habits – but for now, the hunt for the blood beast seems to be enough to occupy the chevalier's thoughts.

So far, their efforts have been for naught: although there have been further sightings of the monster, bad weather has made it difficult to go out some nights, and in any case, Alptraum and DuValle haven't been the ones making the sightings – They've only been able to go on panicked reports of what few villagers still survive in these parts, and though their fears may be sincere, there is no doubt that many of the sightings were the result of imagination gone wild, overreactions to strange noises and shadows in the night. In any case, one thing has become clear: this creature does not come out during the daylight, but rather only at night.

Another thing is clear: the rainy season is over with. Now, it has begun to snow, though it is not so cold that the snow remains long through the following day. Nonetheless, that has proven the most significant breakthrough – for tonight, during Alptraum's patrol, he spied some dark marks in the white blanket of freshly fallen snow … and upon further investigation, found these marks to be tracks made by no man nor beast native to this world. He quickly found Autumn-Storm and Chevalier DuValle, to apprise them of his find, and now they are ready to follow his orders, his plan, for capturing this foul beast, since of the three of them, he's arguably the most familiar with its nature.

The ebon Eeee runs his claws through his mane of white hair and looks off into the distance. "Okay, I think now's our best chance to eliminate this creature. It reacts violently to water, hence why I asked to have a few containers prepared that we can use to drive it, or stall it to escape if need be," Alptraum explains. "My plan is fairly simple. I'd like you and Autumn-Storm to head up to the bluff that overlooks the river below and set up a couple trip lines close to the edge then hide. My intent is to find it, then use myself as bait to lure the creature on a chance after me. If I can lure it to that bluff, I'm hoping it'll get tangled up and fall off the edge. If not, then you two can use the water jugs to drive it back and over. If anything goes wrong, I want both of you out of there. I'll try and deal with it from there. I can at least fly, which makes it a bit safer for me to go toe-to-toe with it and still have a hope of escaping. If either of you have better ideas, feel free to share."

Autumn-Storm signs, "I'll manage the trip-lines."

Pierre nods. "It sounds like a serviceable plan to me. And if aught goes wrong … then we can always resort to violence." He smirks.

"You haven't seen this thing rip people apart. It's not pretty. I don't think any of us could take it out in a fight. I'm not sure a crossbow will do much damage. As for a sword … well, I wouldn't want to get that close. I'd like to see all of us come back alive from this, okay? If it flops, we regroup and devise a new plan." Alptraum says. "Well, time continues to flow, so we'd best get moving. Good luck to both of you."

Autumn-Storm nods seriously, then sprints off into the foliage, coils of wire in hand. Pierre checks his collection of talismans and weapons of exotic materials.

"I take it you're going with me then, Pierre?" Alptraum asks.

"I do not think I can fly," Pierre says. "There now. I think everything is in order. I shall go and hide and wait for the prey, shall I not? Unless you wish to make a change of plans and have me follow you through the woods."

"K – … No, that's quite all right," Alptraum responds, checking over his crossbow, then loading it. "I'll see you in a bit then, hopefully with the creature in tow. Do be careful, Pierre; this isn't some sort of zombie. This thing is nasty and pure evil." With that, Alptraum spreads his leathery wings and takes to the cold air.

The chevalier tosses off a salute, then disappears into the tangle of trees.

For now, Alptraum is alone in the night sky.

The Eeee hisses softly as the cold air "bites" his wings. He turns slowly in the air and flies back toward the direction he saw the marks in the snow. As he flies, his ears cant, listening for any sounds of movement below.

And … there it is. The wretched horror is digging around in frustration, small wisps of foul steam rising and hissing from where it touches puddles in the snow. It is prodding around the ruins of a house where Alptraum found one of its previous victims. Perhaps hunting isn't going so well for the monster.

Alptraum glides downward and settles to the ground gently, a good distance away from the thing. "Okay, you can do this. Get its attention … try to draw it away," he thinks. He walks forward toward and shouts out, "Kurt, you … monstrosity! I had hoped you would have perished after a time, but luck doesn't smile upon me. Let's end this. You still want to kill me, right? Well, come and get me."

The creature abruptly stops its foraging. With a crackle of dried, crusted blood, and a gurgle of fluids underneath shifting, its disproportionate head swivels around, on an elongated, almost Naga-like neck. Atop the trunk is a bloated parody of Kurt's face, twisted into an Olympian mask's grimace of anger. Its jaw wrenches open so quickly that the "skin" cracks and flakes away, showering powder to the ground, and with a shuffling of spider-like legs, it turns about to face the bat. The body coils up to spring.

The Eeee turns and runs full-speed. Seconds later, his wings unfurl and heleaps into the air. "Airborne, I can outmaneuver it … I hope," he thinks.

As the bat makes to the air, and bobs and weaves, teasing the monster along, the creature goes for the bait more readily than Alptraum could have hoped for. It seems scarce heartbeats before he sees the thin silvery ribbon of the brook ahead in the dim Procession-light, through the fluffy flakes of snow that dance down from the sky – and that creature is coming right after him!

The Eeee starts pushing his wings a bit harder, to try and gain some distance so he can still land and try to run safely. His eyes narrow to silvery slits, his hand gripping his crossbow snugly. If need be, he'll fire a single shot to keep the creature's interest in him. "Come on!" he shouts back. "You can do better than that, Kurt. I thought you wanted to kill me! If you don't, your master's days are numbered! I will find him!"

Another bestial roar echoes from the monster, and if Alptraum's allies didn't know the monster was coming, they've had ample warning now. Up ahead, there's an opening in the trees – a place to touch down, to run that last distance to where the vegetation so wonderfully hides the bluff beyond. This is it…

Alptraum folds in his wings slightly and swoops toward the opening in the trees, preparing to land and fire off a bolt at the monster.

The crossbow bolt goes flying, not even close to hitting its mark, considering that Alptraum hasn't exactly the time to aim carefully. Nonetheless, he certainly has that thing's attention, and the time spent firing that bolt puts him that much closer to the beast. Closer … closer … and as he crashes through the underbrush, the ground gives way underneath his feet, bits breaking away with the thundering charge of the monster. He breaks free of the branches, snapping out his wings, just barely escaping those blood-crusted claws … and he is airborne even as the creature comes smashing through, and – with a furious roaring scream – falls into the river along with a slide of torn vegetation and collapsed earth. Into the icy water it goes, and steam rises, hissing and sizzling as the monster touches the water.

Pierre leaps from hiding – but before he can reach the monster, Autumn-Storm is there in a flash. She makes a bestial sound that, in any other context, would seem a pathetic attempt by some small creature to sound like a mighty roaring beast – but she brandishes in her hand a flashing dagger, and leaps onto the monster's back, slashing into it like a madwoman, cutting at its elongated neck, tearing at the metal chain until she has dug into the crust enough, fluids spurting out and drenching her, that she can grab hold of the links.

The creature thrashes about, one of its legs falling apart, and starts to find purchase on the bank, but then the cheetah yanks at the exposed talisman, still stabbing, chipping, rending away … and pulls it free.

Alptraum takes careful aim at the creature with the crossbow, mindful of aiming away from the cheetah. "Autumn-Storm, get off that thing!" he shouts, then pulls the trigger, releasing the bolt.

If it weren't such a huge creature, the shot would most assuredly miss, but this monster presents quite a target, with ample places to hit. The bolt buries itself into the creature's hide, and sizzles where it impacts. He hears the sound of a few other impacts, and can tell that Pierre must be contributing to the mayhem. As for Autumn-Storm, her dagger sinks into the creature's hide with a sickening slurch, and rather than staying around to pound on the thing – or to try to go in after her dagger – the blood-soaked cheetah just leaps off of the monster.

However, she fails to find purchase on the bluff, as it has been greatly eroded by the monster's passage. She clasps at a piece of foliage, but it tears free. The cheetah pinwheels, then gets hit by a flailing leg, and is knocked into the icy water of the brook.

The monster roars, its head rearing back, and then its mouth just keeps widening … and then the jaw falls free of its now skull-like face. The roar gives way to a bubbling gurgle, and huge chunks of its "flesh" slough off, falling into the brook, polluting its waters.

The Eeee curses loudly and drops his crossbow on the ground. He runs, then jumps over the bluff-edge, after the cheetah. "You're crazy, Traum, but I don't think she can swim," the Eeee has a moment to think.

As Alptraum rushes over to save Autumn-Storm from death by drowning, he sees her fouled form … sitting in the shallows. Perhaps the brook just isn't quite deep enough to properly drown in. Nonetheless, it is enough to give the monster pause. Its roaring has ceased, and its remains are slowly crumbling and sizzling, dissolving and washing away downstream.

The Eeee unfurls his wings and aborts his dive, seeing that Autumn isn't drowning. Instead, he lands near the brook, then wades out to the cheetah and tries to help her out of the water.

Autumn-Storm, looking miserable, but grinning madly nonetheless, reaches up, grabbing Alptraum's arm, and nearly pulling him down as she tugs on him. Nonetheless, he manages to keep his footing, and they're both up – if somewhat wobbly and quite cold. Autumn-Storm holds up the metal talisman she plucked from the monster, caked with filth that is slowly sizzling away – a grim trophy.

Alptraum stumbles as the cheetah pulls on his arm, but he grins anyway. "That was the craziest, and one of the bravest things I've ever seen someone do. And now you have two of those things," he tells her, grinning. "Let's get out of this water before we both freeze. I've got to get my crossbow, so, meet you on top of the bluff?"

Autumn-Storm nods, and shudders, as if only now noticing the cold.

Pierre laughs, and makes a mock cry of anguish. "Alas, but there is nothing to hang on my mantle as a trophy! Ah, but it would have been a very ugly head indeed!"

"I'll loan you my cloak when you get up there," Alptraum tells her. He then takes off and lands a few moments later on the bluff and collects his crossbow. "Ah, but you do have a great story to tell others now," he then calls out to the Gallee.

"If our business is done here," Pierre says, "then back to my manor. With any luck, all traces of this monster will be washed away when we come back to check in the morn."

Alptraum looks out over his unlikely allies: an obnoxious Gallee and a crazed cheetah. In spite of it all, he grins and replies, "Sounds good to me. We'll be out of your hair by morning. Got to continue on and find this creature's master." This time, Alptraum salutes the Gallee and waits for them to join him and head back to the Gallee's manor.