Character History - Claudia (adapted from Tabletop)
Claudia was born in a small town in the valley, but even though it was a small town it still had its bad elements. Her father, for one, left her mother upon hearing she was pregnant. She never heard from him again, not even to recieve child support. When Claudia was born people commented that she looked more like her father, she had his brown curly hair, which disappointed her mother somewhat because she was still a little bitter about him leaving her without a trace. But she loved Claudia with all her heart. She would teach little Claudia about the wonders of nature, the importance of recycling and not littering, which she admitted was a little much for a three year old to comprehend but Claudia was a fast learner and loved learning things from her mother. When Claudia was five her mother was killed by a drunk driver and she was sent to live with her only other relative, her aunt Marilyn. Marilyn was already a foster parent so it was easy for her to adjust to having another child living under her roof and Claudia was already friends with the other three kids: Craig, Brenda, and Brian. Claudia liked it there and the other kids were so nice, even though they were all older, but not by much. It wasn't until she was fifteen that Marilyn decided that Claudia learn her true nature. Marilyn knew about werewolves and her mother's tribe. They had been very close sisters and shared a lot.
"Are you a werewolf too?" Claudia asked.
"No, I'm not. I guess it's a genetic thing, like my eyes are blue but your mother's eyes were brown or something. I'm not sure how it works exactly."
"But... how do you know that I'm a... werewolf? I mean I could be normal like you, couldn't I?
"Your mother knew. The moment you were born, she just knew. She told me so."
Aunt Marilyn had an even bigger secret to tell Claudia. At this point she didn't think anything could surprise her, she was beyond shock; or so she thought. Her aunt then told her that the other three kids, Craig, Brenda, and Brian, were also werewolves who were orphaned by various circumstances. It took Claudia a while to process all this new information, her whole world was suddenly turned upside down. The other kids were happy that Claudia was finally told about her heritage and helped her through the confusion.They were very supportive. Claudia was the last of the group to learn their true lineage. She was glad the others were there to help her, they were like a support group made of close family. They taught her how to shift forms and to not let anyone else know their little secret.
Claudia was happy, she spent all her time hanging out in the town's central park with the other kids. They grew close and decided that when they got a little older that they would form their own pack. Unfortunately they were the only Garou in the town and they were all just cubs, they had no elders to teach them anything. Their only source of information about the Garou nation was Aunt Marilyn, and there really wasn't very much she could teach them. They were stuck in a rut, but they were together.
One night Claudia awoke to the sounds of sirens. She looked out her bedroom window to see a large fire coming from the town central park. She woke everyone else and they ran down to the park. The park was engulfed in flames. They were horrified but there wasn't really anything the could do. They were all seeply saddened by this event, they had treated the park as though it was their caern. They were heartbroken. They didn't know what to do. Even though it was a public park they still held it as something special. Aunt Marilyn brought them inside , she knew the park was important to them; however she had an idea. She remembered the old pack, the pack Claudia's mother belonged to, had a caern in the woods that they might be able to reclaim. It was out in the woods. Craig said that he remembered having been there once when he was very young. Then Craig became very sad. His father was killed in a battle defending the caern from an attack, in fact many member of that sept were killed in that battle. Brenda was uneasy with the idea of going back to the caern, she wondered if what killed the old sept members might still be in the caern, the old caern was in a cave after all. Brian pointed out that there was only one way to find out. Claudia really didn't feel ready for any sort of battle, she never was a really physical person. She was nervous and decided to meditate on the problem and to mentally prepare for the possibility of physical violence. They were all still cubs and weren't very experienced in thinking as a pack. She knew that it wasn't the best idea in the world but if there was a chance they could reclaim the old caern she was going to try her best. But first they were going to need supplies, she would not let them go into the cave unprepared.
The next day they borrowed Aunt Marilyn's pickup truck and were going around town to all the hardware stores, camping supply stores, and even the local army surplus store to get anything they believed might help out in their attempt to take back the caern. On their way to the department of forestry to get a map of the area (Brian knew a guy who worked there), Claudia got a strange feeling. Something wasn't right. Then she noticed a man was following them. This strange feeling she was getting was coming from him. She didn't like him, something about him was wrong. And on top of that he looked somewhat familiar, she remembered seeing him before... earlier that day. In fact the more she thought about it she'd seen him several times that day. She told Craig but he said he already knew. He told her that he'd seen him around town before and that he hung out at a club where the mages hung out. She asked Craig what a mage was and he told her that his father said that mages were magic using humans. She asked him if he knew why this strange guy was following them. Craig had no idea. Claudia had had enough, she decided she was going to find out. She spun around and walked right up to the stranger.
"Why are you following us?" she asked flatly.
To her surprise the man turned around and started to walk away. Claudia stood stunned a moment, her jaw nearly hitting the ground.
"Don't walk away when i'm talking to you!" she shouted, then she smacked him in the back of the head. This last move surprised even her. She stood there watching the man run away, still not sure what she just did.
Meanwhile Brenda and Brian howled with laughter.
"Way to protect the pack, Claudia... or should I call you 'Bitchslaps Mages'?" chuckled Craig. She just giggled nervously.
They finished piling their supplies and provisions into Aunt Marilyn's pickup truck and pulled out their newly aquired map of the area surrounding the old caern to determine which back road or old logging trail would take them closest to it. Then they set out on their quest, Craig navagating and Brenda driving (because she just got her licence, Craig still had his beginner's, and both Brian and Claudia were too young). They followed an old logging trail that passed a few meters from the mouth of the cave. When they arrived they proceeded to equip themselves with ropes, flashlights, and other things which they felt might come in handy. The mouth of the cave was actually fairly large and was at the edge of a nice clearing. It was very peaceful there and it was easy to see why their parents chose this place. There were small areas where flowers grew in rows, obviously planted by someone. As they entered the cave they saw some wooden benches off to one side and deeper in the cave there was a large flat rock that was probably used as a table. As they went deeper into the cave it opened up into an enormous area that was perfect as a main meeting room. There were hand made bookshelves and chairs, a cupboard, paintings on the walls and in the center was a huge pit for a fire. It was amazing, as they looked at the things that belonged at their parents they felt closer to them. Claudia gazed at the paintings, Craig looked at the books on the shelves, Brian peered down the tunnel leading deeper into the cave, Brenda stared at the fire pit.
"You can picture them, can't you." Brenda said absently. "Sitting around the fire, telling stories..."
Claudia nodded, then went back to looking at the paintings on the walls, one of which looked a little like her mother. Then a strange feeling came over her. It was like the feeling she got when that man was following them earlier, only much worse. She didn't like this feeling. Something was wrong, very wrong, but she didn't know why. Suddenly a noise came from down the tunnel that lead deeper into the cave. Brian immediately went to investigate.
"Brian! We've got to stay together!" Craig shouted as he ran down the tunnel after him. Brenda ran after the two of them with Claudia following behind her. She could hear Craig shouting for Brian to wait for them further down the tunnel but she could not see them. She knew this was bad, that they should get out of there. Suddenly the ground gave way underneath her and she fell. She fell for what felt to her like forever until she hit the ground hard. She gasped and tried to regain the air that was knocked out of her. When she was breathing normally again she assessed herself; nothing broken, just a gash on her forehead and a few bruises. She pulled her mini-light out of her pocket and looked up. She was a few dozen feet down, not as far down as it felt when she was falling, but the walls were definately too steep to climb back up. She shouted for Brenda, hoping she would have heard her fall, but there was no response. She looked around. She was in a small tunnel, only about 4 feet high and very narrow. The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach was intense, she had to find a way out. She shifted into lupis, picked a direction, and started walking with her mini-light sticking out of her mouth. She hoped that the way she was going was in the general direction of the mouth of the cave but she knew that she might have gotten turned around in the fall. All she was certain of at that point was that she had to get out. It smelles bad in the tunnel; a damp, musty smell, and something else... Her muzzle brushed against something soft. She moved back a step but whatever brushed her nose was stuck to it. She pawed it off and cringed. A spiderweb. She started to panic. Spiders, why did it have to be spiders? She hated them more than anything. She trembled. Then she took a deep breath and tried to remember her mother's lessons on meditation. She sat for a moment and closed her eyes. Her attempt at meditation was cut short by that feeling in the pit of her stomach growing in intensity, making the fur on the back of her neck stand on end. Then she heard a noise behind her. She definately wasn't going to wait around to find out what it was, she was going to get out! She continued down the narrow passageway. She could feel more spiderwebs brush across her muzzle, she could hear the noise behind her becoming louder and more numerous. She increased her speed down the tunnel but the noises behind her grew even louder. She knew two things: she _was_ being chased and that it wasn't by one thing, it was by many things. She was almost running by that point, and in her state of near panic she never saw the ground beneath her end abruptly. She fell into a crevice, howling loudly. However she landed on something soft... and sticky. She flailed wildly but just managed to get herself even more entangled. She dropped her mini-light when she fell, she could tell it was somewhere behind her because she could see it's light being reflected around a bit by the glistening walls of the crevice. But then she noticed something. The walls, not only were they glistening, they were also moving. All around her the walls were moving. Tiny specks of light moving down the wall towards her. She could see through the web, below her was some sort of sparkling surface. Her heart beat pounded in her head, her stomach was in knots, her terrified whimpers echoed in the crevice. She lost control and in a flash of blind fear she shifted into Crinos. The sudden weight gain was enough to rip through the giant web into the sparkling blackness below.
*SPLASH*
She landed in a pool of water about chest deep. She gasped for sir and realized she wasn't dead. Then she looked up. Her mini-light still stuck to the edge of the web reflected movement still coming down the walls towards her. She looked around and saw a tunnel heading off to the left. She ran for it. She had no idea where she was going, she just was focusing on out-running her pursuers. Scrambling through the cracks and tunnels she raced, slowly becoming aware that she was gradually headed upwards. Just then she stopped, her eyes wide with horror. A dead end. She screamed in anguish and frustration as she pounded on the cold, damp rock. The noises were getting closer and she lost control again. She screamed again and punched a fist through the rock wall and opened a hole into a passageway on the other side. Frantically she tore at the hole to make it big enough for her to climb through. She managed to squeeze through. She whined loudly at the sight of her broken and bloody fist and the deep gash that ran all the way down her right leg from her hip to her calf, from the jagged edge of the hole she squeezed through. Just then she heard something coming from the tunnel ahead of her. She struggled to stand up as she saw a light shine on her, it was Brian. He was a little dirty but unharmed. He immediately shifted into Crinos also and ran over to help her.
"What happened to you? What's going on?"
"We've got to get out of here NOW! They're coming!"
"Who? Who's coming? You're bleeding all over the place..."
They both heard the noises coming from the hole and turned to look just in time to see three five-foot tall spiders attempt to climb through the hole.
"Get back!" Brian growled as he tried to push Claudia behind him. He roared at the spiders, who didn't seem to be intimidated, or at least didn't show it. The first spider crawled through the hole and Brian lunged at it. Claudia stood back in horror, tears of fear in her eyes. Brian fought furiously and managed to kill all three of them. He stood there over the corpse, battered and bleeding, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly his ears pricked up and he looked down into the hole.
"Run." he said.
She stood there a moment, tears streaming down her blood-stained cheeks.
"RUN!" he roared at her.
She turned to run just as a dozen spiders crashed through the holse, ripping the wall wide open. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brian get ripped apart completely, with still more spiders coming through. She ran through the passageway faster than she'd ever run in her life. She didn't even know where she was going. She was running blindly, wildly, crashing through stalagmites, until she heard voices coming from a side tunnel she had just ran past. She spun around and saw Craig and Brenda emerge from the side tunnel.
"Claudia? What's going on!?! What happened?!?" Craig exclaimed upon seeing Claudia in Crinos, torn and bloody.
"Come on! We've got to get out of here NOW!" she yelped.
But it was already too late.
Criag and Brenda were still in homid and never stood a chance against the horde of rampaging giant spiders.
Claudia took off like a rocket down the tunnel, all the while emitting the most horrific wailing noise to ever come out of any beast to ever walk the earth. Up ahead she saw a large hole in the tunnel floor. At her present speed she knew she could easily clear the hole until she saw a pair of long thin legs poke up out of the hole.
"Oh god! They're everywhere!"
Another spider, much larger than the others, attempeted to climb out of the hole ahead of her and block off her only possible exit. Then she remembered the necklace her mother gave her when she was little, her Elk Tooth necklace. Using the necklace she lept high into the air, just missing the spider's jaws as they snapped at her. She landed on the other side and bolted down the tunnel. As she ran further down the tunnel it began to get wider until it opened up into a large cavern. A wave of relief washed over her when she realized where she was, she was in the main meeting room, she was almost out!! She lept over the fire pit and headed straight for the entrance, with the monster spider and all of it's minions hot on her heels. She could feel a wave of relief wash over her when the entrance to the cave was in sight. She shot from the mouth of the cave like a bullet, sprang across the clearing, and lept clear over the hood of Aunt Marilyn's truck. She ran into the forest and did not stop. She ran through the trees alongside the logging trail, knowing that this was the way back to town. Slowly the massive knots in her stomach untied themselves but she did not stop. Just before she reached the main road into town she switched into lupis form and followed the road into town, still sticking to the cover of the trees. Luckily Aunt Marilyn's house was near the outskirts of town, the woods ended at her backyard. She peeked out of the bushes and made sure nobody was looking, then quickly scampered up the back porch steps and squeezed through the doggie door. She ran upstairs into her room and hid under the bed. Her muscles ached and her body burned everywhere, especially where she was wounded. She curled up into a ball and whimpered quietly.
Marilyn came home several hours later to find spots of blood on her kitchen floor and bloody patch of fur stuck on the doggie door. No ammount of coaxing from Marilyn could get Claudia to come out from under the bed. She refused to speak, eat, sleep, or do anything other than lie under the bed and shiver for nearly a week. Marilyn did her best to treat her wounds, those of which she could reach, from under the bed. Slowly she began to respond to Marilyn. She began to eat things and eventually, painfully, recounted what had happened in the cave. Marilyn told her that what happened wasn't her fault, she had no way of knowing what was in there, but Claudia woudn't listen. Every time she closed her eyes she would see them. She couldn't sleep. Her guilt was intense.
A month passed and Claudia hadn't left the house once. Marilyn told Claudia that she was to go and fetch her truck. Claudia started to shake at the thought of going back to that cave. Marilyn didn't give her any options, she was to go face her fears and bring back the truck as proof. Claudia's mind raced as she tried to think up an excuse not to go. She pointed out that she didn't have her licence. Marilyn grabbed a book off the bookshelf and presented it to her. A driver's manual.
"Learn." was all Marilyn said.
Claudia left the house slowly, looking over her shoulder as if to say "don't make me do this" but Marilyn stood firm. Claudia had a lot of respect for Marilyn so she did what she was told. She walked along the road out of town until she got to the old logging road. She took a deep breath and began to walk down the road. The closer she got to the cave the more nervous she got. After walking for about an hour she saw the truck up ahead. She started to tremble. Slowly she crept up the car, keeping a constant eye on the cave. When she reached the truck she ducked behind it. She was shaking a lot, her forehead moist with sweat. She peeked over the hood of the truck, expecting to see the spiders come chasing after her, but to her surprise there was nothing. Carefully she opened the door of the truck and slid into the driver's seat. Fumbling through the pages of the driver's manual she managed to get the handle of the controls and she just thanked her Aunt that her truck wasn't a standard. She slowly got the truck turned around without hitting any trees and then stepped on the gas and headed back home. When she finally reached the main road she stopped the truck and cried. She cried for a long time, then she noticed it beginning to get dark, so she carefully pulled out onto the main road and headed home. Marilyn was waiting for her on the porch. Claudia parked the truck and got out, her lower lip trembling. Marilyn could see Claudia's eyes were very red from crying. She ran down the front steps and held Claudia, then began to cry also.
A few years passed, Claudia came home one day to find Marilyn waiting for her on the couch with a photograph on her lap, and tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" asked Claudia as she sat beside her and looked at the photograph. It was a photo of her mother.
"Claudia, you can't stay here any longer."
"What? What do you mean?"
"There isn't anything here for you. There hasn't been in some time. There's a lot of good you can do and a lot of things you can learn, but you can't do or learn anything here. You need to be with others like you."
Claudia's heart felt as though it was being torn in half. The more Marilyn was saying the more she hurt. She couldn't believe what Marilyn was saying. She didn't want to hear anymore, but somehow she knew it was true. She couldn't stay. She started to cry.
"Claudia... you have to go to Halifax."
She took a deep breath.
"I know." she whispered.
Go back.