Author Archives: Chris

Making Baneskins and the Mabe Problem… (Game 41)

After returning from dispatching the Pride Slayers, we took a day of well needed rest. As night fell, the moot began. After taking care of the opening ceremonies, Crafty started right in with business. He announced that the Mage threat was very real. While we have negotiated a shaky truce, any more aggressive actions will be met with a declaration of war. Crafty told us that the Hand of Fionn have been noticing an increase in bane activity in the city.

Ryan then asked for the bone and he told us that while White Lion is waiting for the White Lion’s Pride pack to do their mega quest, he has taken in Roedeer and Elk. Silent Hunter has been dividing up smaller quests for the rest of the Sept.

Mackie then took the bone. Because of Ariel’s death and her importance to the Sept, kinfolk are now going to be allowed positions within the Sept. Daniel then took the bone and told us as a Sept to not get wrapped up in the politics of the area. We as a Sept will not be joining their union, but will remain neutral much like the Sept of the Raging Storm has.

Gruffy then took the bone and told us that the Irish Destroyers have been keeping up relations with the Sept of the Three Waters. We can now ask for guidance and assistance, but we will owe them something in return.

Scourge-of-the-Woods then took the bone. There have been more tourists in the area lately thanks to summer approaching. We must always remain vigilant and be cautious of them. Also, there have been reports of two packs of wild wolves running around in California and they are legally protected. We must be careful not to draw attention to ourselves.

Pasthealer then took the bone. The Vulture Walkers are doing really well. There have been some sightings of the Fang and Claw pack in the area moving around secretly. The Vulture Walkers have said they won’t allow them to stay without permission. They may cause trouble in the future.

BosWyrm then took the bone. The Hand of Fionn has accepted Short Paw into the pack as a member and she is now an official member of the Sept. Any mistreatment towards her will result in the pack leaving the sept. BosWyrm is very serious about this.

Merrick of the Truth Hunters pack then took the bone. The Truth Hunters are offering to relieve the Vulture Walkers of their bawn patrol so that they can take up some quests for the Sept.

Finally, Bjorn took the bone as Eli was predisposed taking care of Lindsey from her ordeal. The only thing we had to report was the fact that the Mages were dealing with something called a Bane Mummy. We believed that it was likely a Wyrm creature of some sorts that we might have to deal with in the future.

After this, we worked on our renown and began the after business ceremony. All of the other members of the Sept partied, but I asked Bjorn to see my son with Magnus. He agreed and I spent the night at my father’s getting to know my son better and having a real family moment for once.

The next morning, Silent Hunter approached us after I returned to the Sept. He told us in order to make a Baneskin we would need the following: a piece of cloth personal to us, and a piece of Bane after killing it. After that, we would need to summon a Mockingbird and convince it to join with the fetish.

Thankfully, finding them would not be hard as BosWyrm knew where they were. Deciding to take care of this right now, BosWyrm directed us to a restaurant near the port named Aldo’s Restaurant. We all grabbed a piece of cloth personal to us. I chose a piece of the dress that Kenith got me on our first date. It was a nice dress and I tried to make sure it was still wearable after the fact.

Heading to Aldo’s, the first thing we noticed immediately that was off was a man eating out of a dumpster. At first, we thought he was just a homeless man until we saw him eating inedible things like cans. We realized that a bane had to be at work here.

Heading into the Umbra, we saw a bane standing over where the man was. Behind him was another one just like it. It was oddly not part of him like we would normally see. Jonathon told us it was a Thinbone. They made their victims grow extremely hungry, sucking the sustenance out of them before the human could digest it, until the human wore down and died.

In the distance, Agnis could see another bane hiding behind a tree that she pointed out to us. As soon as she pointed out, the Thinbones attacked. Jonathon activated his Battle Mandala gift while we attacked the two banes. I managed to kill my Thinbone after Jonathon snared it. Bjorn managed to kill his at the same time while Agnis snuck up on the odd looking bane near the tree.

We approached the bane near the tree. It had a glowing orb in the center of his face, but no eyes. Jonathon told us it was a Scryer. It worked for a larger bane and reported back to it. We were going to attack it but Jonathon waved us off and said he could command it. We let Jonathon do his thing and suddenly he told the Scryer to summon more banes.

Shocked and agitated with Jonathon, I immediately summoned up Luna’s Armor to protect me. Four Scrags appeared before including a type of bane that I had never seen before. We wasted no time and began attacking the Scrags. As we did, the unknown bane disappeared suddenly. With no time to think about it, we continued to assault them. The Scrags used a power on us that forced on us that caused myself to frenzy and lose control for the third time in my life. The power forced Bjorn to enter the Thrall of the Wyrm unfortunately.

I dropped my weapons and viciously attacked my target while Bjorn charged Miguel. Thankfully, Miguel had abilities to disappear from sight and it redirected Bjorn to another Scrag. We kept fighting and Agnis was transformed into a Centaur like creature due to Drona. We managed to finally take them down while Bjorn and I frenzied until exhausted.

Once done, Quetzal informed us that the bane was a Phantasmi and was in the material realm. We shifted back to the material world where the bane had a body composed of trash and was shaking the dumpster around looking for something. Jonathon commanded the bane to go back to the Umbra. There, with Agnis, Quetzal managed to blast the creature and destroy it before it could attack her.

With all of our bane pieces grabbed, we looked around for what the bane was interested in at the dumpster. There, we found a tied up bag with a powdery substance that was Wyrm tainted. Looking around the area, we considered it might have come from Tomas. We had always been aware that Tomas was doing something illegal, but we turned a blind eye considering he was a participating member of the Sept.

Worried, we headed for his boat. There, we found two women apparently dead from drugs with a large collection of drugs strewn about. Looking in the boat, we found Tomas high on drugs. We asked him where he got the drugs, but he only told us that his boss Hector Hulio Iglesias. We chastised him for what he was doing. He offered us money to fix the problem, not understanding the spiritual damage he was doing. It occurred to me his drugs might be what got Lightning Claws’ kinfolk hooked. Bjorn told us to get everything cleaned up and made Miguel decide what to do with Tomas. Miguel decided to send Tomas into rehab with Wrong Moon’s money. Jonathon and I performed the Rite of Cleansing on the boat and then Bjorn reported it to the DEA as we left.

We returned to the Sept and got some rest for the night. We awoke the next morning and began the summoning for the Mockingbirds. I managed to get three very happy spirits out of the eight, but three summoned from the others were just a bit bitter, but thankfully not hostile.

I went first in bargaining with the spirit. I tried speaking with it, but it just repeated everything I said back to it. I asked Jonathon what he thought and he told me to do what comes natural. When the spirit repeated what Jonathon said, I realized what to do. I told the spirit “I’m going to get into the fetish.” When it repeated it, I held up my prepared fetish. Realizing that I wasn’t going to get angry and had tricked it, it obliged.

Jonathon went next and the spirit sounded like Kelly. It asked him if he was willing to take her (Kelly) into such a place where she could die. It was trying to convince Jonathon that if he cared about the spirit, he would not want to take her there. He managed to convince the spirit that they would be safe together. It obliged and entered the fetish.

Agnis went next. The spirit sounded like Slavis, the Spiral that had threatened Gina. It tried to taunt her into believing that it would be corrupted if it went to Malfeas. Agnis, undaunted, told it that they would see for themselves then. Realizing she had no fear of the realm, it entered the fetish.

The rest of the spirits entered the fetish with no tests but had a ban. Jonathon’s demanded to be tested against every bane they met. Bjorn’s wanted to feel the mortal wind again. Eli’s needed to be in the sun and could not be concealed. Wrong Moon’s demanded that food be spilled on it once a month and then the wearer must say oopsie, also the name of the spirit. Miguel’s demanded to listen to other people problems before telling them “twiddling” and continue it until they chase them away. Agnis’ demanded to go everywhere with her and listen in on conversations. Finally, mine demanded to always be kept close and never left behind.

With our Baneskin fetishes taken care of, Daniel called us over to see him. On his cell phone, there was a report being told about Scott LLC, Wrong Moon’s father’s company. Jerome Scott had been found dead. William had thus became the sole member of his fortune. However, the assets were frozen until William came forward and claimed the company. The last known place that Jerome had purchased was the mansion that Wrong Moon and Daniel lived in. We would have to bring this before the elders.

In the meantime before we met with them, we worked on a few gifts. Bjorn suffered probably the harshest chiminage I had ever heard of after summoning Sheeba. He was forced to go to Wolfhome and stay with Scar until the Metis released him.

After a couple of the pack learned some gifts, Mackie called us to him. Because both Agnis and I had challenged for Artho Rank at the same time, he asked whether we challenge separately or as a pack. We decided on challenging as a pack. Mackie went to get his bottle and we sat at the fire pit and discussed what the challenge would be.

It turns out a good deed had turned itself around on us. Because Mabe had been freed due to Miguel’s inaction, she was now attempting to bring magic back into the world. She is killing anyone who opposes her. The true Fae used to be here at one time, but as magic faded from the world, only the half-Fae remain, such as those brought back from the Hedge. Her being able to remain here is very dangerous. We must go speak with Royal Ascot in the Wasteland and uphold our oaths as Tuatha De Fionn.

The Wasteland wasn’t a realm of course, but a building in San Francisco. We headed there by moon bridge and met with Royal. He took us up to the office and laid it all out for us. There was no simple solution to the problem. She had the power to end us all in one fell swoop. He had tried for the whole tribe, but only managed to get us. Zanatos had heard of Mabe being captured and went looking for her at our Sept. He wanted to free her and be her king. Fortunately, that did not work out for him.

Mabe is bringing glamour back into the world and quickly throwing the balance of power out of whack. She is bringing back the old ways and normal people would see the half-Fae for what they really are. They might also see the Garou for what they are, ruining the protection of the Delirium. Her powers might even begin to affect others like us as well.

She is basically attempting to link the Hedge with the regular world. If we fail at this task, we’re doomed along with him as well. We asked how to defeat her, but Royal looked depressed when we asked. She is basically a God. Jonathon suggested imprisoning her again.

Royal told us her history that she is the warrior queen of the true fairies. She at one time took kings who had one foot in the mortal world and one in the Fae. She ruled with strict morals. She was eventually dethroned by her son Oberon. She was not concerned with this until Oberon erected the barrier removing the true Fae from the material world. Oberon then banished her so she created the Unseelie kingdom.

At around 1100 AD, she disappeared without a trace. There were some rumors about her location like Magus Mavue, an area where you left a stone and got good luck or took one and had bad luck. There was also the rumor that Osin created the box and trapped her in it with a blessing from the Fae.

Right now, Mabe is staying in the Lotus building. She is only inhabiting the body of the girl we met and is pure spirit. We would have to bind if we wanted to talk some sense into her. With nothing more to add, Royal dismissed us. We now had an epic challenge on our hands…

Negotiating a Truce and the End of the Pride Slayers… (Game 40)

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We had already left the area after speaking with Curtis when we decided to converse with each other and determine what to do. I told Eli that I wanted to speak with Kenith and that he needed to know the situation. Eli, however, in a move not normal for him, decided that we needed to see the Mages personally at Alcatraz.

We needed someone to watch the children in the meantime. Agnis suggested Mother Abby, a Bone Gnawer who took care of her after the First Change. However, we ultimately settled on just having Miguel watch the kids at a hotel. We weren’t planning on fighting the Mages, hopefully.

Bjorn offered caution about the meeting. It was true that we were meeting them on their own turf. We had no idea of what they could do to us. Still, there was no dissuading Eli from going there. He dialed up Curtis on my phone and arranged a meeting with whoever was in charge of the Cabal. He strongly emphasized that it would be a peaceful meeting and no one in the pack wanted violence. Curtis replied that the Mages already had a boat waiting for them at the pier near the abandoned prison.

Heading there, we took a small boat to the island. We headed to where the guards used to live when Alcatraz was in use. There, a man with a staff named Max Baker greeted us. He told us that he was the leader of the Golden City Cabal. I wondered if he was the man at the beach the day we were revived.

Max led us through the prison, telling us about it along the way, guiding us to the Officer’s Club. There, he sat down on a chair and offered us seats. Max got right down to business speaking of how we had killed two of his people. It was obvious he was attempting to make the argument that it was our fault entirely. Eli tried to reason with him that his Cabal’s actions, more specifically Robert’s, had endangered my child. However, Max rebuffed him telling him that they had not taken a Garou child and therefore felt they had done nothing wrong.

I could tell that Eli was getting agitated at the situation. His words to Max had taken of the feeling of veiled threats. Still, Eli tried his best to rein his temper in. Max told us that they had only plundered two “nodes” as he called it. Neither of these were in use by werewolves at the time. Jonathon spoke up and mentioned that Robert was taking direct action against the werewolves by creating this sort of spiritual bomb. Once again, Max blew us off stating that Robert’s loyalty was not in question and that he was second to Max himself. He wouldn’t help us kill any more of his kind.

Eli, getting ever more frustrated, told Max that all he wanted was three things. He wanted to ensure that either Robert or anyone else of his Cabal stop messing with their “nodes”, to remove the spell off of my son Ryan, and remove the spell off of Mordecai and his ilk in order so we could track them.

Max told us that he had never hurt caerns before, not wanting to start an all-out war that he could not likely win. He could not remove the spell of the Fathom’s as they would have to be present. He also could not undo the impressed Avatar on Ryan. Hopefully, in the future, the boy would become a Mage, likely right around the same time I became a Garou. I could feel my own anger rising from his statement.

Bjorn tried to reason with Max, telling him that Robert himself had been manipulated by someone into doing this. Once again, Max denied any wrongdoing on Robert’s part. Words became heated and both sides nearly declared war on each other. Eli let himself cool down for a second and tried to begin again. Max mentioned that it’s Robert’s job to go out and find “nodes”. I told Max that Robert had made my son into a spiritual time bomb.

At this point, Agnis spoke up. She told Max that the actions that Robert had been involved in had a ripple effect. While we had killed two Mages and sadly a score of humans, his actions have led to near-war in our area and the losses are counted in the dozens. Max seemed to reconsider. He told us that he would make sure Robert did not take any “nodes” that are occupied and would leave kinfolk alone.

We still asked if there was anything that could be done for my son. Unfortunately, he would need a master of spirits in order to accomplish anything. This, of course, was Robert. Still, Max mentioned that it would take a tremendous amount of power to do so. Jonathon volunteered his spiritual essence for the task. Max also mentioned that it would take a great deal of time. Eli wanted to know what he would want for such a task. At that moment, Jonathon whispered to Eli that we, as Garou, could probably take care of this on our own. Eli then dropped the topic entirely.

Max then made a farewell speech to us as he showed us to the door. It was obvious he was genuine in his efforts to prevent a war. As he was doing it though, he began to repeat the same things a couple of times. His jacket appeared to be torn and white powder ran down his neck. I asked him if everything was okay.

As Max started to speak with us about it, Jonathon stepped sideways. Max mentioned that it wasn’t a good idea and we agreed. Still, we knew Jonathon would be alright. I asked him about the day that we returned to life. He was there. He had taken us out of a temporal paradox that might have done severe damage to the world. He owed a debt to someone and did not do it personally though. I asked who he owed the debt to, but he just smiled leaving me to wonder if it was Kenith or the Mind Mage.

In the Umbra, Jonathon found the area to be like it was at Robert’s place. It was obvious that he had set up the defenses here. Jonathon enacted a gift that would sap the area of spiritual energy, but it ultimately had no effect on the situation. Jonathon tried to return to the material world and suddenly found himself in the ocean. He had been teleported away. Obviously a clever defense to keep out Garou.

Panicking, he tried to contact Tick to lead him back to shore. Tick was able to, but it looked like it would take a great deal of time. Jonathon called out to Quetzal and had him take him via moon bridge right into the hotel that Miguel was at.

[At Alcatraz…]

I thanked Max for bringing us back even though he didn’t do it on his own accord. We left and suddenly found ourselves at the dock. After contacting Miguel, Eli discovered that it had been three hours since we started speaking with Max. It was obvious that something had been done to us. We wondered if the negotiations had gone less than stellar and Max had to undo something. He even hinted to something of that effect before we left, but none of us understood what he meant.

As we headed back to the hotel, Agnis suggested that we still make Robert pay for what he had done. Normally, I didn’t want to hurt others not of the Wyrm, but in this case, I was in complete agreement. Eli said the issue had been resolved so unless something else happened, we were to leave him alone.

After arriving at the hotel, we spoke quietly in another room about what to do next. Jonathon suggested an exorcism. I knew what it was, but had no ability to do so. Still, I was worried. We had been told before that exorcisms don’t go that well for the victim. It was a risk and up to me. I decided I wanted to speak with someone about whether or not it could even be performed.

Eli wanted to deal with his father. He wanted to use Morgan to get to Mordecai and get Lindsey back. He made the phone call to him, but it wasn’t good news. Morgan told him that the Mages had come and got Kenith. He had no contact with Mordecai and didn’t know where he was. He also told Eli that he was done with the Mages since they broke their word and similarly with the Spirals after Gretchen decided to kill our line. He can offer Eli no more protection since he won’t come with Morgan.

After the call ended, Bjorn wanted to know what they were going to do with the children. I suggested that Ryan could stay with my father. He was his paternal grandfather and should spend some time with his biological family. Thankfully, they agreed with me. We took him to my father’s place, explaining the situation to my father. I then explained things and tried to put my son at ease before we left for the Sept.

Returning to the Sept, Bjorn went to find Gruffy and attempt his challenge while Eli brought Crafty back up to speed on what was going on. Jonathon went to get Ryan in the meantime. Gruffy told Bjorn to head to the Pin Gallery. He can take the pack for support. He must preside over judgment on several non-Sleeping Lion Sept disputes.

Jonathon came to me shortly after Bjorn spoke with Gruffy. He had been told by Ryan that while an exorcism might be possible, he had no idea if what was attached to my son was even a spirit. He suggested speaking with Star Screamer. I knew that if I asked for his help I would owe them, but I was more than willing to do so.

Bjorn wasted no time and took us to the Pin Gallery. There, we as a pack except for Bjorn, stood on the sidelines and waited for things to begin. No-Hands-Catches-Fish, Gruffy, and Stands-with-Claws were there at the back of the gallery at a table. There was a spot open for Bjorn which he took.

No-Hands-Catches Fish told Bjorn that he would be the final arbiter in judgement for these cases. There will be consequences for his decisions. If the situation gets too hard for him, he would feel free to put his hand on Stands-with-Claws shoulder and she will take over. No-Hands told him it would be alright and just make the decision you believe is correct.

The first people to approach the table was a Garou named Kinsey “Happy Feet” Morrison and a familiar face, Lightning Claws. She had seen Lightning Claws severely abusing and nearly raping a kinfolk. She attempted to stop the situation, but Lightning uttered a warning growl. Undeterred, she antagonized him again until he attacked her. Her plea is for the kinfolk to be placed in protection.

Bjorn went to questioning from that point on. He asked if Lightning was a higher, to which he was. He was Adren, she was Fostern. Just on this simple premise, Bjorn said that she should have backed down. However, he did not issue a judgement yet. He asked Lightning about the kinfolk and why they were being punished. He told Bjorn that the kinfolk had been in trouble with drugs before. They had been dealing and using them. It was the second time Lightning had spoken with the kinfolk. When asked if the punishment was necessary, Lightning only retorted that it was what got through to them.

Bjorn asked a final question about how he got the kinfolk clean the last time. Lightning just said he spoke with them.

Bjorn then issued a judgement. He decided that Lightning Claws was in the wrong for mistreating the kinfolk and not respecting those beneath you. He needed to be spoken to about his treatment of kinfolk. However, Bjorn ultimately decided that Kinsey was in the wrong and she should have issued a proper challenge to him or brought it before the elders. Her heart was in the right place, but Bjorn had to deny her request.

Next up were two Garou that we had never met before. One was a Shadow Lord named LeeAnn “Sweet Tongue” Bolinger and the other was a Bone Gnawer named “Questions the Ways”. In an assignment, Sweet Tongue had been gathering intel about local leeches in order to find their head leech and dispatch him for her quest. Questions-the-Ways attacked her contact that she was speaking with. He could have waited until she finished speaking with the contact before driving them away. She failed her quest because of it. She wants Questions-the-Ways punished.

Questions-the-Ways then spoke his turn. Sweet Tongue had been in his territory. He really didn’t care much about the leech as they were always around. What he was concerned about was that Sweet Tongue was offering human sacrifices to this leech in order to obtain information. He then chose to scare them off.

Bjorn then started his questioning. Was she really giving sacrifices? Sweet Tongue did not deny this, only saying that no one would miss the people she was giving the leech. Did she know it was his territory? Sweet Tongue said yes. Was the territory recognized by the Sept? Questions-the-Ways said yes it was. When asked why she didn’t just speak with Questions-the-Ways, Sweet Tongue said she didn’t care, she just wanted to complete her quest. She didn’t plan on taking any of the sacrifices from his territory. It would homeless people that she wouldn’t miss.

Bjorn rendered his decision that Questions-the-Ways could not be punished for his actions. Indeed, he recommended Sweet Tongue be punished for her actions, but since he was not here to render such a judgement he could do it. Sweet Tongue, however, was understanding of the decision.

The final judgement for Bjorn came in the form of a Garou named Black Patch. He hauled in a Garou with a bag on his head. Removing the bag, it was Mordecai. He had apparently been caught in the area. During this announcement of the accused, we learned that Mordecai’s Garou name was Bloody Tongue for the first time.

Black Patch announced his crimes. Mordecai had killed others out of greed, raped, and committed other atrocities. He was cast out of the Sept of the Open Mind. Later, he attempted to return to the Sept, but ended up killing an elder who knew his secret. He then went on to tell what we already knew about the Pride Slayers. Bjorn must pass judgement on his fate.

I could see that Bjorn had a sense of uneasiness about judging his brother. Before he could begin the questioning, Mordecai blurted out a message, obviously intended for Eli as he looked to him during it. He said that it was going to be a massacre, something he reiterated twice in the message. Look for the massacre. The Pride Slayers have abandoned their leader for the admirations of a female. Black Patch then hit him and told him to be quiet.

Questioning did not go on long. Bjorn only asked if he was willing to change and reform his ways. Mordecai gave one of the least convincing answers ever heard. Bjorn had no choice but to sentence him to death. Black Patch offered to be the one to do it and we could see a tear in Mordecai’s eye as Black Patch went to decapitate him. Before he did, Mordecai whispered something to Black Patch.

Bringing a klaive down on his neck, Mordecai died quickly and painlessly. When asked what he whispered to Black Patch, he merely said that his brother was his legacy and his family would live on in the Silver Record.

With this done, Bjorn had succeeded in his quest. He was now rank 4, Artho, the first in the pack to do so.

However, with Mordecai’s message, there was no time to waste. We broke with the formalities and headed out. We knew that Massacre would have Lindsey’s location and I quickly made a Questing Stone for the vampire.

Finding her in a tent in a garbage dump in a nearby woods, she was still heavily burnt from the vineyard fire and likely other battles. Only Eli and Bjorn could fit in the tent, but we could still easily hear so we waited nearby.

Massacre was sorry that they took Lindsey. She tried to help, but she was obviously no match for a full pack of werewolves. Eli told her that the attack on the vineyard was not us, but our enemies. Massacre went on to say that a large group of vampires had suckered the Pride Slayers into joining up with them. Mordecai apparently protected Lindsey from the group, but they kicked him out. They decided to use Lindsey as a hostage to draw us in. Massacre wanted us to kill them and we would be square with her.

It was obvious we were going to take care of the situation, but we needed to prepare. Bjorn’s test had ran late and it was getting dark so attacking tonight would have been dangerous, if not suicide. We knew that vampires slept in the day so we used this time to rest and prepare.

The next day, Agnis had her Questing Stone guide us to an abandoned mansion. There, we used the Questing Stone to pinpoint Lindsey’s exact location. We prepared all of our gifts and made a surprise attack from the Umbra. The fight was over in seconds with the Pride Slayers. It was nearly two on one and they were still sleeping. I stabbed my klaive through Specs head and ripped it forward while Eli and John shredded two of them. Agnis and William dueled Switchback and took him down. During this time, Jonathon quickly grabbed Lindsey and fled the house.

After dispatching the Pride Slayers pack, we made short work of the sleeping vampires who could not rise during the day. Leaving the house, we began our journey back to the Sept. A great chapter had finally closed in our lives…

Being Lead Off Course and a Sad Revelation… (Game 39)

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After returning to the Sept, we immediately contacted Daniel and arranged to meet at Wrong Moon’s mansion. We made our way to the mansion where Daniel had sat down and poured us some whiskey to drink.

Daniel told us about his venture into Malfeas. He had went to rescue a friend there and found out about the kidnapping of several kinfolk and cubs. He took a makeshift pack into the realm and tried to stop the plot. He failed and lost everyone in the process, escaping just barely. He said there was somewhere in the realm waiting for him and didn’t want to return. The trip would change us.

Malfeas is a strange realm. We would need the Baneskins to make it past the banes since they don’t operate the same way as regular people. The other residents of the realm won’t attack us unless we attack them first. The realm has a strange sense of solidarity. You can, however, defend yourself in the realm without fearing reprisal. However, an attack on a resident marks you with a beacon that all of the creatures in the realm can see.

Daniel couldn’t tell us too much more. He knew that everyone who left Malfeas had to be cleansed. If you couldn’t be cleansed then it was already too late for you and you were falling to the Wyrm. Gaian Rites don’t work in the realm and death is very real there. The landscape is fairly static there. Don’t take any totems into the realm. He also didn’t know a way to get out and you would have to find your own way out. When asked about how he got out, he said his way was his own. I knew how he did it, but I said nothing.

Daniel had sent for someone who studied the realm. He would be able to help us more. He asked to be left alone and to not speak of the realm to him again. I felt bad. I had seen what he had went through, but I didn’t have the courage to tell him what I knew.

We left and returned to the cabin. Mackie was there. He told us that Short Paw would be joining the Sept. She will become a part of the Ghost of the Fionn pack. Mackie doesn’t like her, but of course, he didn’t like anyone that wasn’t a Fianna. She will be here on a trial basis for the time being.

After this conversation, Crafty knocked on the door. He brought with him a guest, a Wendigo Ahroun named Saqui. He wanted to pay his respects after hearing about Rage Heart’s sacrifice. We introduce ourselves and tell him that he can stay as long as he likes. Eli spoke of how valiant Rage Heart’s sacrifice allowed us to have the means to continue our mission to save Lion’s brood. We then took him to Rage Heart’s gravesite where he sat down and began to mourn for his friend. He said he would mourn for three days and we left him be.

As we returned back to the cabin, Gruffy intercepted us. He asked Bjorn several questions about his various tasks as a Philodox and whether he was ready to achieve the next rank. He told Bjorn when he was ready to do his challenge to find him.

We returned to the cabin and waited for several hours. As it began to get dark, the Vulture Walkers approached us and told us we had a visitor. It was Daniel’s friend, Silent Hunter. He was Bone Gnawer Theurge. He asked us to go somewhere safe. We offered to talk at the fire pit. He wanted to relax before we got to speaking. We offered him some booze before our discussion.

Silent Hunter told us soon after relaxing about the various totems that had fallen. He started with the totems of War. Carrion Bird was the first, a corrupted totem that occasionally rode the fence and took in Gaian packs. Green Dragon was the other War totem and easily the strongest of the bunch, often taken as a Black Spiral Dancer totem.

He then moved onto the only Wisdom totem, Caern Rattler. It had disappeared and was not able to be summoned. The last two were totems of Cunning. Galea was the first. She was the Mother of all Banes, often worshipped as a demon goddess. Silent Hunter didn’t believe she could be saved. Finally, Kelpie was the last totem. It was a weakened Incarna that had no use. There were still Gafflings running around, but that was about it.

Moving on, he told us that you only have twelve weeks in Malfeas tops. After that, the corruption is too great and you’re lost to the Wyrm. He went in once and will never go back again. He told us that he doesn’t want us to call him friend because he can’t stand the thought of us dying in the realm. He will try to dissuade us from doing it if possible.

We all wanted to do it. I started to speak of how I have seen the realm through the Sept’s ancestor visions, but I was cut off by the sudden arrival of Scourge-of-the-Woods. He told us to follow him immediately and we did in Lupus form along with Silent Hunter following.

He took us to the lodge. In the back of the lodge under a tree with broken limbs, there was a bloody box. Opening the box, we were shocked and angered to find Ariel’s head. There was a note in the box that Eli read. It was from Morgan.

Agnis immediately set about making a Questing Stone for her body and I frantically told Eli that I needed to get my son. It was apparent that Kenith’s house was no longer a safe haven as we had once thought. Eli told us that we would be hunting down the Mages as they might have a way to break the spell on Morgan and stop him. Bjorn also mentioned using the Fae’s favor to do such a task.

First off, however, we needed to tell Crafty of the tragedy. We took the head back to the cabin and had Crafty gather all of the Sept members. Silent Hunter went with Ryan to strengthen up the Umbra border. We all decided that we would have to kill Morgan. We also took into consideration about communicating peacefully with the Mages considering they were on the outs with Morgan. Crafty then went to the caern with Wyrmbreaker.

We decided to use the rest of the night to gather up any other kinfolk we could to protect them. We started with the immediate family members available. We managed to get my father, Magnus, Lizbeth, Maria, and Tomas. Thankfully, Gina was already there along with Clifford. However, Eli was worried about Lindsey so we decided to make her the next person to get.

Arriving at her trailer, we found nothing in her place. Most of her place was cleaned out, but not ransacked. There was note there from Lindsey. She had left to not be saddened at the loss of Eli. She asked that he not look for her. However, Eli believed that the note was a hint to her location and what was more important. Eli deduced that Lindsey and Lily had been separated.

Testing out this theory, Agnis made a stone for Lindsey and I made one for Lily. Lindsey’s did not work, indicating that she was with either Morgan or Mordecai. However, Lily’s did work. As I used hers, I also took out my son’s Questing Stone. They seemed to point in the same direction. Eli took my Questing Stone and told us to get some rest while he drove us in the direction of the stones.

Morning came and we found ourselves at Kenith’s place. My son was there as well. Eli parked some distance away and walked up to the house. Getting close enough, he activated his Whisper Catching gift and listened in.

Eli managed to hear his father speaking with someone. Morgan was demanding that the other person enact the same ritual on Lily in order to make her untraceable. However, the other person was blowing him off.

Eli woke up Bjorn through Quetzal and explained the situation. Waking us up, Bjorn led us up to the house. As we made our way there, John managed to damage Morgan’s tires so that he could not escape. As we all got closer to the door, we could feel our spiritual energies drop some. William went ahead and just opened the door.

Entering the room, we saw Morgan holding Lily along with Robert Kincaid. Eli rushed up to his father as Robert vanished from sight. I started looking around for my son. Eli took his daughter back from Morgan and handed her to John. He then slammed his father up against the wall.

Morgan quickly explained that he had to get us here, but we arrived earlier than he expected. We needed to stop the Mages. The Mages were after our caern. If we didn’t stop Robert now, it would be too late. Eli then knocked his father out while he went to look for Robert.

I made my way through the house before arriving in the basement. There, I found Kenith with my son, Ryan. I asked for my child and he offered him freely. He knew something bad was going to happen and it would be a good idea that he come with me. During this time, I activated my gift to detect lies. Ryan seemed a bit apprehensive and Kenith told him everything would be okay, which I knew was a lie. I tried to comfort him as we left the house for the van.

Eli found himself in a dark zone where the house would be in the Umbra. It was as if the Umbra didn’t even exist in this area. The atmosphere seemed thick and hard to breathe in. Realizing he could not find Robert, he exited the Umbra.

Eli then went and confronted Kenith about his father’s doing. Kenith did not have any idea what was going on to which Bjorn told Eli he was being truthful through Quetzal. Eli and Agnis laid it all out for Kenith that Robert was going to harm our Sept and he needed to help us if he could. During this time, I checked my son to determine if he was a Kinfolk. My gift told me that he was a Kinfolk, but there was something off about him.

Waking Morgan and taking him out of the house, Eli continued his interrogation while I sat with the children in the van. The Mages wanted to destroy our caern for some reason. The Mages had a way to compel Morgan to kill Ariel. It took everything he could to write the note to give us a clue as to where he was. We were supposed to come later after Morgan had convinced them to drop the protection. We could then track Lily and kill them all. Morgan knew about Kenith and Kenith’s “son”. He knew that Robert had an “impressed Avatar” on Ryan and that the child had basically became a walking bomb.

During this time, Jonathon attempted to create a Questing Stone for Robert, but Morgan told him that he was a master of Spirits and it would likely not work correctly. Morgan told Eli the three names that he had heard: Tom Lance, James Dickie, and Curtis White.

Morgan had learned that whenever a child is brought into the family whether by blood or adoption, they are given an “impressed Avatar.” The child would have to die or he would destroy the Sept if he went there. Morgan did not know how it worked, just the basics. The Spirals had not been active for some time. The Mages have always been the real threat. They are coming for the Sept and likely have more than one plan. He had dealt with Kenith and Morgan before, but only Robert had demonstrated magical ability.

Morgan suggests letting him go and he will find Mordecai and then get into contact with us. As Morgan makes his way back to the van, he sees my child and told us that he had to die. I began asking what was going on. Bjorn tried to calm me down and said he would explain everything in a minute. He kept making motions that Ryan needed to die.

Bjorn explained everything to me as we prepared to leave and I was quite angry inside for what had happened to my son. As he did this, Morgan asked for a knife. Realizing that he could get something from Kenith, he went into the house and interrogated him. Less than 10 minutes later, Morgan had the addresses for the three names he had given earlier.

Dumping Kenith in the trunk of his car before he realized the tires were damaged, I quickly asked Kenith what an “impressed Avatar” was. He didn’t know, nor would he give up the location of his coven, forcing us to look into the names of the Mages Morgan gave us. Morgan told us that he would put the word out that he had Kenith and hopefully it would draw him out.

We decided we would let Morgan go for now and look into the addresses that he had given us. It was 50/50 on interrogating them or just killing the Mages on the list. We headed to the Full House Casino Sales business. They sold equipment for casinos like roulette tables.

I opted to take this one, hoping for no bloodshed. I tried my best to be as sexual as possible and find Tom Lance. Admittedly, while I had the looks, I didn’t have the skill thanks to my upbringing. I asked one of the salespersons there if I could see Tom Lance. He arrived within a couple minutes. I tried to apply my charm to him, but I feel my head go a little funny. I asked to speak privately with him and he obliged.

Heading back to the entrance foyer of the business, I dropped all pretenses with him and got straight to business. I told him I knew what he was and I needed to see Robert. I asked him where he met with the rest of his cabal. When he told me McDonald’s, I snapped a little inside. It just seemed so stupid. I stabbed him with my fang dagger and he appeared to literally explode. Standing there, a bit dumbstruck since my dagger had never done that kind of damage, I called out to Bjorn through Quetzal.

Bjorn came into the foyer to find me standing there with nothing, Tom had messed with my mind and was escaping. Thankfully, John caught him in the process of leaving and attacked him. However, because he shifted to Crinos, the other patrons began to panic. Agnis and the others quickly went to task of eliminating them. I couldn’t do it though as I had sworn to myself to never kill humans after what I did to my foster parents.

With everyone taken care of, we quickly fled the scene and worked on the next address. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant, an upscale restaurant. We were greeted by a waiter and I asked for his name. He told me James Dickie and I alerted Eli that this was our guy. He seated us and asked for our drink orders. As he did, Eli asked to speak with him privately. James obliged and took Eli to a closed off section of the restaurant.

Eli told James that he knew Robert and attempted to bluff him into leaving, that way Eli could dispatch him or interrogate depending on how the situation unfolded. James excused himself and Eli turned on his Whisper Catching and tried to listen in. James flees the restaurant while Eli sneaks out and shifts into Glabro form. James is on the phone with another person talking about someone named Tutu who is causing problems again.

After James hangs up, Eli tosses his hammer and kills James. He makes it look like a mugging and takes his phone. Once Eli alerts us that James is dead, we quickly make an excuse, pay for our drinks, and leave the restaurant.

Eli goes through the phone and locates the last person he spoke with: Curtis White, the last person on our list before Robert. Bluffing Curtis, Eli manages to arrange a meeting behind a 7/11 nearby Port Dock 16, the last address on the list. The text conversation goes on for some time with Curtis mentioning you can’t trust Robert. At this point, we came to realization that these Mages weren’t Robert’s cabal, but actually Kenith’s.

Deciding we needed information and to reduce the damage we already had done, John knocked Curtis out as he arrived at the location. We took him in our van to a nearby park where Miguel took my son to play and watched Lily.

Once Curtis awoke, he at first seemed cooperative until Bjorn mentioned Tutu. He then told us we’d have to kill him before he said anything more. Eli opened up a bit and told him we had nothing to do with Tutu and in fact we were werewolves. He told him about how we had already mistakenly killed two of his cabal thinking they were Robert’s cabal and how we wanted to stop Robert from destroying our Sept.

Curtis then realized we were working on the same side and he was and opened up. Robert was trying to use my son as a bomb of sorts and Curtis just believed it was a random Garou’s child. An impressed Avatar is an Avatar forced onto a “sleeper” or someone who doesn’t know about magic. The Avatar eventually awakens and the person becomes a Mage. However, from what I could tell, Ryan’s Avatar was corrupted in some way. Instead of just awakening, he would absorb our caern, or node as Curtis called it, explode, and then feed the power back to Robert.

Robert was attempting to stop Tutu, a Bane Mummy. This Tutu was extremely powerful. Curtis, however, disagreed with this plan, along with the other members of his cabal. They didn’t need any additional power and messing with the werewolves was suicide in their eyes. Robert just wanted to take control of the coven. Killing Tutu just appeared more as a ploy than a real goal.

Eli asked if Kenith knew and Curtis said no. The rest of the coven was aware of this plan and his cabal was one of the dissenters stopping it from being put into motion. Eli then told Curtis the truth about me being the mother of the child. We asked if the Avatar could be removed, but Curtis didn’t believe so as it is part of the soul. Jonathon mentioned an exorcism, but none of us had that gift it was possible Ryan would die in the process.

Eli convinced Curtis to stay in contact with us as we work to stop Robert. He agreed and hopefully now Curtis could convince the coven of how dangerous this idea was. I now knew I needed to speak with Kenith and let him know the truth…

Darkness Rising and the Return of an Old Friend… (Game 38)

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After returning to the Sept, we filled Crafty in on everything that had gone on from our return from the dead to this moment. Crafty was happy to see us, but we could tell that he wasn’t pleased with the events involving his clone.

Crafty told us that because the Pride Slayers had been involved in the attack on the Sept of the Angry Earth and likely his own capture, they would have to be dealt with. He would head to the Sept of the Three Waters and covertly work on repairing the damage his clone had done.

I mentioned that there might be additional clones since his clone had a number two. Crafty told me we would cross that bridge when we got to it.

As we gathered together to determine our next plan of action, I mentioned to Eli that killing his brother might cause some problems with his father. I recommended that he speak with his father and sort things out beforehand. Eli wanted clarity on the issue, but was apprehensive on killing his family. He wanted to interrogate them and find out their involvement. After that, he would decide what to do. If they are in league with the Spirals, however, Crafty told us to treat them as enemies of the Garou Nation.

Finding Mordecai was nearly impossible thanks to the ritual the Mages cast on him. However, I wondered if it was possible for us to track one of his packmates. I attempted to make a Questing Stone for Vorpal, but it spun wildly and I couldn’t get a lock. Trying it for Switchback did the same thing. It was obvious they were protected by proxy or they had the ritual done on them as well.

Because of this, Eli had to call his father and arrange a meeting with him. Morgan was still in the same place as last time, so Eli took just himself and Bjorn to not cause any alarm to his father. The meeting was tense to say the least. Morgan initially thought that Eli came to do him harm, but Eli dismissed this. Eli wanted to know where Mordecai was, but Morgan saw through this and knew there was a possibility that he was going to kill him. Thankfully, Bjorn managed to convince Morgan to give us some information. Morgan gave the option of direct confrontation with Mordecai which could go bad or to find him through the people that cast the ritual on him. Eli chose the former.

Mordecai was staying at the Fisherman’s Grotto on the wharf. We made our way there and Eli chose to go alone to meet his brother. I asked to see my son while he was at the meeting and Eli was fine with that. Tension broke out for a moment when Rage Heart suggested that Eli’s dedication to the Sept was being tested against his loyalty to his family. Eli put Rage Heart back in his place and told his that he was doing what he believed was right for the Sept. Agnis would accompany me to see my son while the others in the pack secured a hotel room in case we were going to be here for a while.

Eli entered the Grotto and the meeting was already off to a shaky start. His pack looked jumpy and didn’t want Eli there. Eli spotted a girl tied to a post nearby as he got closer. Eli bluntly asked about the attack on the Sept of the Angry Earth, disregarding any offers of food or drink. Mordecai was straightforward and told Eli that it was a job and nothing more. He didn’t have any ill-will towards to the Sept, he was just doing what Morgan told him to do.

Mordecai said that he was making big changes in this house. His pack would wipe out the rest of the Septs except ours because given the choice, he wanted his brother’s to remain. However, this would make our area weak against the Spirals. Eli asked about their sister, but Mordecai didn’t know where she was. Mordecai told him they couldn’t break the ritual without messing them all up.

At that point, Vision spoke up and said this situation wasn’t cool as he could see Quetzal remaining nearby. Mordecai told him to lose the bird. Eli, in turn, told him to ditch his pack so they could talk one on one. Mordecai complied and Eli sent away Quetzal, but not without some warning from our Totem spirit.

Mordecai said that the Ahroun left their marks on everything. Basically, it’s how they got caught in the act. Mordecai is following Order 34 of Morgan’s playbook. All of the other Septs get wiped out. In turn, because we are what’s left, we get wiped out by the Black Spirals. He offers Eli the chance to have the ritual cast on him correctly this time and he run with his pack. He even offered to have all of us get the ritual and we run as two packs doing the dirty work.

Of course, Eli denied this for the time being. He wanted to know how this would fix the Gaian Garou. Mordecai told him the Nation was wrong in many of their beliefs and needed to be torn down before it could be fixed. When he started this mission, he was unaware of Grethen’s intent. It wasn’t until they started killing our line that everything came out. They called it off afterward. Mordecai also said the hives were getting ready to wipe us out and had begun uniting. Eli asked if Gretchen and Alyssa had united, but he didn’t know who they were.

Mordecai even spoke of Lex’s possible attempt to make a fomor army. It showed he was working with the Wyrm just as much as he was the Weaver. Mordecai then went for some booze. During this time, Eli untied the girl’s gag and discovered she was Sarah Linder. They had killed her whole pack and were deciding on what to do with her. She was from the Valley. Eli calls Quetzal back and relays what he has discovered.

During this time, I had arrived at Kenith’s house with Agnis. I noticed a sports car outside of his house with Morgan Fathom going up to the door. He was invited in and we could hear shouting from the inside of the house. I decided I was going to go there anyway regardless. After ringing the doorbell, a man I didn’t know answered the door. I asked for Kenith, but he was still in Europe. The man abruptly slammed the door in my face.

Mordecai returns with some alcohol while Eli tells him he wants the girl to go free. Mordecai thinks this is a mistake as she will mess with your head and screw your pack. He tells Eli that she’s not a Garou. They don’t know what she is. Eli wants to take the girl and leave while Mordecai suggests joining up one more time.

Eli tells him we should part ways here as brothers and not fall to disagreement. Mordecai still warns him of how she’ll mess with you, but ultimately relents when he sees that Eli is not going to bend. Mordecai hugged Eli and wished him good luck. He also told Eli to not worry about his pack messing with him. Eli left with Sarah and he could see the rest of the Pride Slayers weren’t happy about the arrangement.

Eli told Sarah to stick with him as they went to the hotel to meet Bjorn. Eli and Bjorn exchanged the girl. I mindspeaked to Eli that his father was here and we needed his ability to listen in on conversations. Eli came by moon bridge and got close enough to listen in.

Eli could hear his father talking to the man inside. Morgan was calmer, but still mad in his tone. He told the man, Robert, that he had almost sold them out and they needed to get their house in order. They needed to wrap their business up and get out of here. Morgan then left and we stayed to listen in on any other potential conversations.

Eli could hear the man inside speaking with someone on the phone. He spoke of gathering up all of the cabals, all of the big ones. It was obvious they were planning something dangerous. I suggested to Eli that I tell him of my true nature. He didn’t give any response to that, but did tell me that we have his name and could find him later if we needed to. Agnis wanted us to get Ryan out of here immediately and I was wondering why Kenith lied about his dad not being well.

During this time, Bjorn figured out that Sarah wasn’t a Garou. She admitted she was a Nuwisha, but masqueraded as a Bone Gnawer. The Thunder Mountain Sept had accepted her as such. She begged him not to tell anyone about it. She wanted to know where our Sept was, but Bjorn just gave her a vague area. She warned Bjorn about the Black Spirals in our area. Bjorn wanted to know why Mordecai and his pack had her. She told him they knew her secret. The Black Spirals had been summoning up tons of banes in the area. There was a very powerful bane they were trying to awaken. The situation sounded very much like what we witnessed in the Dark Ages.

Eli, Agnis, and I made our way back in the middle of the conversation. She told us that Septs from all over California had been gathering together, even abandoning Hives. She wanted to speak with out Sept leader and she could give some names that might help us in stopping whatever they are doing. We decided to steal a van and make our way back to the Sept.

Eli called Daniel to get a hold of Crafty as he was still over at the Sept of the Three Waters smoothing things over. Shortly thereafter, Crafty got in touch with Eli and he told him the situation. Crafty told us to meet at Wrong Moon’s mansion so we could discuss this without having Sarah enter the Sept.

Arriving at the mansion, Eli told Crafty about the Pride Slayers and their involvement in everything. They were being manipulated by Morgan to do his bidding and that he had plans for our Sept. Crafty then declared Morgan and the Pride Slayers enemies of the Nation. However, he was not sure if he would send our pack to do the deed due to Eli’s family relations. Still, Agnis suggested that the Pride Slayers may be saveable. It would be harder than the Vulture Walkers, but still worth the effort.

Crafty and Daniel took Sarah into the back of the mansion and privately discussed what she knew. After a brief conversation, Crafty decided to give Sarah sanctuary at our Sept.

We made our way to the Sept as an emergency meeting was called. Daniel spoke with the rest of the elders on what was going on while the other packs slowly arrived. After about an hour of conversing, the Vulture Walkers told us that Crafty wanted to speak with us.

Now that the packs are back we must make a decision. Crafty will go to the Sept of the Three Waters and relay Sarah’s information. More importantly, now that White Lion, Elk, and Roedeer have rejoined, Lion wants us to redeem his fallen brood. This is dangerous as many of them now reside in Malfeas and we may lose our sanity in the process. Unfortunately, Jonathon was needed for this. I ask why we can’t go and Crafty told us that our rank was too low and three Theurges are needed for this mission.

From the treeline, we could hear Sarah. She was standing at the Sept border. She offered us a method to help. She knew a secret Rite that could have an ancestor help them in the flesh. Ryan said there was no known Garou ritual that could do this to which Sarah retorted that she was Nuwisha. Crafty wanted to know if Eli knew this and he shook his head yes, but told him he was honor bound not to speak of it.

Crafty told us it was up to us to choose. It didn’t take long. Everyone seemed on board for the idea. The Sept was called together around Jonathon’s grave.

Short Paw called Coyote and asks that he give us the spirit of Jonathon to assist us. She looked at Eli and asked for something of his. Eli’s bag vibrates and he pulls out the treasure box. She looked at the treasure box in awe. She told us that his spirit is trying to return. She wondered what the box was and told us we must free the spirit. Eli opened the box and Sarah began to sing a chant.

Unfortunately, as Sarah held he hand to the ground, it was not enough. There would have to be a sacrifice. One of the Garou would have to take Jonathon’s place in death. Rage Heart immediately offered himself up. Eli asked if he was sure, but Rage Heart only told it’s what a Ahroun does for his pack.

Taking Rage Heart’s hand, she continued her chant. As she did, Rage Heart’s eyes rolled back into his head and the dirt beneath her stirred. Finally, as the Rite was completed, Rage Heart fell to the ground and Jonathon’s hand came forth from the dirt. We pulled him out and he was confused as to what had happened.

William and I did the Gathering for the Departed on Rage Heart as we buried him. We all spoke words of kindness, even those who didn’t know him well. I remembered his confidence in me when I tried to become Alpha long ago. Eli, distraught by this, went into the woods and unleashed his Rage, completing his chiminage to the spirits.

That night, we held an impromptu Sept meeting. We welcomed Jonathon back and he was surprised to have Tick with him again. Ryan then sat down with us. He asked us if we understood what we were up against. From the vision of my mother’s fate, I understood it better than most. Bjorn asked where we could quickly learn to get ready for it. Ryan told us that Daniel had been to Malfeas, but he may not want to speak of it. He didn’t want us going down into Malfeas and the other dark Near Realms.

Bjorn then asked about the lost spirits. Ryan doesn’t know, but he told us Lion would speak with us about them. He will likely present it from easiest to hardest. However, there is a strong chance we would lose pack members along the way. This is nothing to take lightly. Because of how important this rejoining is to the world, they didn’t want us involved in their war in the Nation. They wanted us to take the war to the Triat itself.

With the gravity of the situation ahead of us, we decided it was time to speak with Daniel about his Descent. I was nervous to say the least…

Revenge of the Clones… (Game 37)

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It would be ten days before our next mission as a pack. We spent the time doing the things we wanted or loved most. Born Twice spent some time with Gina before working on learning the Rite of Binding from Leein. I would have trained him, but I had my own business to take care of. Before the moot he would have to create a Talen for her as he currently lacked the ability. He opted to create a Wind Snorkel to which the air spirit he bound requested he fill another non-pack Garou full of pride.

Stag’s Daughter continued training her hardest. I spent most of the week with her, but I would have to isolate myself to do what I needed to in the Sept. She learned a kinfolk Gift and accepted the chiminage from Cat to explore everything. It was obvious Agnis wanted to have the kinfolk learn whatever gifts they were capable of.

Wrong Moon suffered nightmares of his First Change. He saw the ghost of his real father and the ghost gave him a quest. He would have to take a piece of redwood and burn it with his pack to learn the Gift of Dreamspeak. Wrong Moon seemed shaken from the experience, something most of us had never seen.

Lionheart spent most of the time being with Lindsey and his child and learning Gifts. He would have to let his Rage go over three nights with no control to learn Heart of Fury. His next chiminage was to rub earth on his for seven days in both the material and umbral realms to learn the Gift Troll Skin.

I found myself learning Baptism of Fire from Leein for my healing Talen. I also went to see Ryan, but he wasn’t there. He had gone on a trip to Europe for the time being. Saddened, Magnus took me to a restaurant, but I couldn’t tolerate the city anymore. Upset, I returned to the Sept to consider what to do. I decided not to summon my mother in my current emotional state and settled for sleeping in the Sept.

As I slept in the Sept, I dreamed of the past. I saw Daniel again as a young man. I watched him pursue my mother, forming a pack along the way. I saw the betrayal by his former packmate, Prescott Solomon, and felt the searing pain of my mother’s death. More than ever I wanted to confront Daniel about it. I could see the pain and sadness in his eyes, but couldn’t bring myself to talk to him.

With our downtime closing, we awoke on the 14^th to a visitor to the Sept. It was a Wendigo Theurge named Learns-From-Crows. In exchange for sleeping in our Sept, he wanted to train Agnis and myself in the knowledge of Epiphs. Epiphs were pocket realms created by strong emotions or other powerful ideas. It is believed by some that the Near Realms were created by a collision of various Epiphs.

Agreeing to his terms, he took Agnis and I into an Epiph of jealousy. It was an odd white room with red chairs that didn’t obey the laws of physics. I could feel my jealousy for the Wendigo, but I couldn’t understand why. We sat in the chairs there for a short time before the feeling overwhelmed me. Finally, Learns-From-Crows took us back into the Prenumbra. He told us it is important to learn the signs of being in an Epiph because you can lose yourself and become trapped in one. He also told one can always escape an Epiph back in the Prenumbra provided you realize you are in one. He finally told us of Glens and Blights and what they represented.

After we were done with this, the Moot took place later in the evening. There was quite a bit of business to discuss. The Truth Hunters had been inducted into the Sept. However, oddly, unlike before we had no say in their induction.

It was certain now that the Sept of the Angry Earth fell due to Black Spirals. It was also certain that the Ahroun and the Pride Slayers were involved. The Sept of the Three Waters was looking, but had no leads currently. It would be imperative to find the Ronin Garou.

Mackie then told us about the Silver Record and what it was. Many Garou had different ideas of what it was, but it was mostly a collection of records, guides, glyphs, and poems. It wasn’t exactly a static collection of stories. There were passages about learning gifts as well.

Ryan told us that Roedeer, Elk, and White Lion have reunited. The Hand of the Fionn and the Truth Hunters were being sent on a spirit quest in secret. We would learn what they were doing after they had accomplished it.

Learns-From-Crows thanked us for our hospitality and hoped to visit our Sept in the future. It was obviously brown nosing, but we were grateful for his knowledge and hoped to see him again soon.

Finally, after the kin were let in, Gina informed everyone that she was pregnant. I was happy for her, but saddened that I had not gotten pregnant. I still didn’t give up and continued to try with Magnus that night. We drank, sang, and enjoyed the rest of the night.

The next morning, we had a familiar visitor. Rage Heart had returned. Rage Heart explained where he had been for all this time. He went to the Sept of the Raging Storm. Although he never became a formal member there, they assisted him in controlling his Rage by immersing him in the Battleground. This tempered him to which even Wrong Moon attempted to aggravate him to no success. He wanted to rejoin the pack and we were willing to accept him in.

Crafty had told us he wanted us to take care of the Pride Slayers, but we wanted to get Wrong Moon’s Gift out of the way. We opted to quickly take care of this. Sitting down, Wrong Moon burned the bark while we drifted off to sleep.

We found ourselves standing outside of a carnival. The place looked somewhat sinister. Standing at the entrance was Mackie. Admission was only ten cents, which oddly we all had in our hands. Mackie split himself in two and led us into the carnival. He directed us to see the house of mirrors.

We entered and made our way through the first room. Here we came across a plain looking mirror. It was the Mirror of Regret.

Wrong Moon looked into the mirror first. He saw his first girlfriend from before the First Change mauled. She yelled at him for killing her. Wrong Moon pleaded with her that it wasn’t his fault, but the image would not stop yelling at him. Oddly, we could not see what he saw in the mirror.

Bjorn looked into the mirror next. He saw Shannon Johnson, the kinfolk we saved from being beaten by Lightning Claws. She scolded him for not intervening and simply taking No-Hands-Catches-Fish’s word on the matter being handled. She was beaten and raped to death because of his inaction.

Stag’s Daughter looked into the mirror next. She saw her parents yelling at her for running away during her First Change and letting them die at the hands of the Black Spirals.

I looked into the mirror next and only saw Ryan. He cried and told me that I had given up on him. He said he hated me. I broke down crying and Bjorn tried to comfort me because of it.

John looked into the mirror next and saw Regina Sanders. She left her husband for him. When he never came back she took to drinking. She got drunk one night and wrecked her car, killing her in the accident.

Rage Heart stared into the mirror and saw a friend named Saqui who had been shunned because he offered to help Rage Heart when no one else would. He was angry that Rage Heart returned to those that had failed him and neglected him. Rage Heart angrily smashed the mirror in response only for it to rebuild itself.

Lionheart saw Rage Heart staring back at him for not coming for him.

With our regrets faced, we moved onto the next room with another plain mirror. This was the Mirror of Doubt.

Lionheart went first and saw his packmates dead at his feet. Lionheart unleashed his Rage on the mirror as Rage Heart held us back. It took nearly an hour for him to wear himself out, but he finally ran out of energy.

Bjorn went next and saw Lionheart in front of all the Garou in the Sept. He was now leader of the Sept and had taken Gina as his mate. He shoke his head and moved on.

John saw the death of Jonathon and his leaving the campsite because he was hungry.

Stag’s Daughter saw herself surrounded by spirits as the pack was calcified by them. The spirits would not acknowledge her existence.

Wrong Moon saw himself covered in scars, cowering in a corner. Bitch of the Wyrm was there as she belittled him and then proceeded to get him aroused.

Rage Heart saw himself leaving the pack again to which we all changed into Saqui.

I saw myself leaving the Sept as Garou pelted me with random objects. I was carrying a child, a Metis cub.

With our doubts faced, we moved onto another mirror. It was large at 6 feet tall by 12 feet wide. As we all stood by the mirror, our reflections yelled insults and hurt feelings towards others. Lionheart berated Miguel for losing Mabe while Wrong Moon yelled at Stag’s Daughter for not knowing her role. Born Twice yelled at me for attempting to be a Philodox while Stag’s Daughter told John he was worthless for not having a mate or any Sept duties. John called Rage Heart a terrible packmate while Miguel told Wrong Moon he was a terrible packmate. Finally, Rage Heart yelled at Eli for not searching for him and I similarly yelled at Eli for not taking my son seriously and retrieving him.

Realizing these were perhaps buried feelings or even simply just possibilities, we passed out of the house of mirrors. There, lying on the ground, was a dead skeletal mouse. The mouse told us he remembered being devoured by the owl. Thanks to his time with Jonathon he has become a Twice Born. He can now see the future. He is bound by rules though and breaking them ruins his gifts.

We will be tested three times in the future. One will be a test of betrayal. Next, a test of Revival. Finally, a test of Enlightenment. He has given us the first clue at the cost of becoming bound to this realm. He then reformed into a box and told us to open this only when you are sure you need it. We could softly hear the voice of Jonathon: “you are now and have always been my friends.”

After this, Crafty came around the corner and tried ushering us to the next attraction. However, another Crafty appeared, and soon the entire area was filled with them. It soon became clear that this was the clue that the Twice Born had given us.

We began to debate the meaning of this. It was apparent that Crafty was the betrayer, but how? The clones provided the clue of Crafty being in league with the Weaver. We then checked the clone’s eyes and realized they had numbers like the clones that Lex Baritune was making. Suddenly, Rage Heart mentioned that what if Crafty wasn’t Crafty anymore?

Our eyes opened up as we heard Crafty and Gruffy conversing as they headed this way. Crafty approached us and wanted to know why we hadn’t dealt with the Ronin Garou pack yet. Eli told him we were just taking care of this dream quest for Wrong Moon quickly and then would be on our way. Crafty really pushed the issue of us taking care of the Pride Slayers.

I detected that he was a human and after letting Eli know it, he outed him. Crafty tried to deflect but Eli showed Gruffy the number in his eye like all of the other clones we had seen. We called for an emergency meeting.

Gathering everyone who wasn’t out on a mission we told Ryan to pull anyone back that Crafty had sent out. We checked everyone’s eyes to ensure no one else had been cloned but thankfully it was only Crafty. Wrong Moon persuaded the fake Crafty to tell us what he had been up to. Apparently, he had been created by Lex Baritune to keep the other Septs from uniting and taking him down. The Sept of the Silver Fury had been investigating him for some time. We knew this because we remembered meeting with them after rescuing Tina Carter. The fake Crafty had been in place for nearly two years now.

We wanted to warn the other Septs of the fake Crafty’s actions, but Mackie advised against it. He didn’t think the other Septs deserved to know. He thought it would make us look weak, but my worries were that the clone could have spread tons of false information about us leading up to a war between the Septs. Still, we decided not to say anything for the time being. Ryan wanted this to be resolved internally as well.

We decided to take of the situation immediately before anything else could go wrong. We would take down Lex’s operation to prevent anymore clones. I had a Questing Stone made for Crafty and Lex Baritune. We asked Daniel to come with us as he could jam the technology in the area and make it easier for us to slip without Lex seeing us. Stag’s Daughter put a print behind each of our ears in case we had been cloned in order to prevent us from being fooled.

Driving to the Ferry Halim as we did five years before, Daniel disabled the security as we made our way in. Searching for Crafty on the second floor, we found him in a pod being kept asleep with gas. Wrong Moon prepared to open the case as the rest of the pack headed to the third floor to confront Lex.

Making our way just outside his bedroom. I offered to take the lead and we kicked open the door. Lex shot up and looked at us but it was far too late for him. I plunged my klaive directly into his skull. With Lex dead, Eli grabbed the master computer to the building in the room for any other data we could determine. We began destroying everything we could see.

Wrong Moon then got the word to open the pod. Opening the pod with his gifts, he was immediately burned from the silver gas in the pod. Cutting the power, the gas stopped and Crafty woke up to surprise at seeing us. He told us the gas prevented him from waking up or healing. He knew what Lex had done, but was unable to do anything.

Crafty told us he was attacked from behind as we gathered back together. Although he didn’t see who it was, we assumed it had to be the Pride Slayers. Since they had no allegiance, they would be happy to do the task for Lex. This also brought light to why the fake Crafty wanted them dead. He was covering his tracks to ensure no one would know Lex was behind to the fractured relationship the Septs had.

We quickly made our way out of the building as we set it on fire, hopefully destroying all of the cloning processes. We gathered Daniel with us and made our way back to the Sept. Although there were still some unanswered questions like where was the other Crafty clone since ours was number two and were their clones of us, we were happy to have the real Crafty back.

A Metis’ Secured Future and New Ancestor Visions… (Game 36)

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After resting up, we made our journey to the final Incarna, Eshtarra, avatar of Gaia herself. Bright Vision opened the door for us as before and we began a long boring walk that winded down into the Earth itself.

As we arrived in her realm, it appeared on initial glance as no different than Earth itself. However, as I looked around, I could see how lush and fertile the world looked. There were no signs of civilization here. This was the time before man. The air smelled pure and clean.

In the distance, we heard howls of warning. We prepared ourselves and Eli issued a Howl of Greeting in order to state our intentions. Four wolves, the size of horses, appeared from the trees. There were star constellations on their bodies. Eli asked them for an audience with Eshtarra and to our surprise they spoke perfect English. They knew we were Fianna and said the Song Teller would be pleased before running into the forest.

We shifted to Lupus and gave chase. Arriving at a throne, they took their place next to it. From the distance, Eshtarra arrived, naked save for a covering of vines on her. She sat down and demanded that we sing for her. Wrong Moon stepped up and did a good job while Agnis danced for her. Pleased with our performance, she wanted to know why we were here.

We told her that we sought her aid in securing a place for Crazy Eye at the Sept of the Stars and her unique child. She immediately accepted, but wanted to know why we didn’t just take her in. We told her of the turmoil in our area and how dangerous it would be for her to stay there.

She nodded as though she understood and then offered us some advice. She talked about the fallout of the Fianna and the White Howlers after the Howlers fell to the Wyrm. She suggested that healing the rifts between the tribes is the key to healing the Triat. The Weaver was out of control.

However, she told us our destinies had already been chosen and we would soon see. Things have already started that have led us to this path. As she spoke, the trees began to wrap around her. Whatever was to take place was going to happen. She then became one with the forest and left us. With her cryptic statement in our heads, we returned to the Sept of the Stars.

Giving Altair and Crazy Eye the good news, Altair agreed to let Crazy Eye stay with them. Crazy Eye then offered to let us name her child when it was born. I immediately offered up Kyle/Kylie in honor of Ryan’s fallen brother. She will call on us when the child is born. Altair then told us that our Septs are now connected and we can moon bridge to their Sept when we need to.

Returning home with our news, Crafty immediately called for a moot. There was a lot of business to discuss. We enacted all of the usual rituals and then got the breaking of the bone.

When we were away, many things took place. Hunter Hill Vineyard caught fire, likely due to our insistence to Alyssa that Gretchen had her Hive there. It would two years before it got running again.

Lindsey had her child and named it Lily Fathom after Eli’s father. Morgan had stopped by shortly after her birth but didn’t cause any trouble.

A note on a lightpost near our Sept came from Alyssa who had no encounters at the Vineyard except for a vampire that got away.

Gina graduated thanks to a lot of help from Kenith’s lawfirm. She now worked in forensics at the police department.

Cliff was doing very well. Thanks to Daniel, James got a job with the park department. He cleans up the park. He still drinks a lot, but seems to have it under control for the time being.

Crafty is still leaving the Sept a lot. Ryan and the others are beginning to worry about him. He spend a great deal of his time working with the Sept of the Three Waters trying to keep them off our back while they try to force to us to ally with them. However, so far, there has been nothing to worry about from the Sept of the Three Waters.

Ghost and BosWyrm formed their own pack called the Hand of Fionn. They will become a powerful pack of guerrilla style fighters.

However, not all was good. Nicolaus Bishop lost his Vinery job due to the fire. He has been working 60 hours a week to salvage things. My father and Daniel have been working with him constantly to help and hopefully keep him from leaving the Sept.

Cindy Lawson and Scourge-of-the-Woods are now an item. It helped Scourge who was becoming dangerously close to giving up his human side. She often brings scraps of food for Rusty and Rivet.

Kristen Fitzpatrick is in a relationship with Gruffy and works as a Roller Derby model.

With the Sept business done, we all broke off to our respective friends and lovers. I spent some quality time with Magnus, but I’m still not pregnant yet. I’m hoping nothing is wrong with me.

Later in the night, Pasthealer approached us. During the first moot when we were gone, he saw Crafty and Spot speaking. She was thanking Crafty for getting the Metis out of here. This sounded like it was meant in a good way. He then told us something far more dark. As far as they could tell, the Sept of the Angry Earth was attacked by Spirals. The attack wasn’t like the others. BosWyrm wanted to investigate, but Crafty told him no. Afterwards, Crafty began speaking with the Sept of the Three Waters on a regular basis.

Instead, Pasthealer went to the Battleground and searched it out. There, he found the Spirals timed it perfectly. They waited for the Shadow Lords to leave and then demolished the Red Talons there. However, in the distance, there was a Gaian pack, picking off stragglers. He managed to get two of the names: Vorpal and Switchback from the Gaian pack. Before the pack left, they were attacked from behind by Spirals. He only got one name of the Spirals: Defiler of the Dead. The Gaian pack managed to repel the Spirals and left with neither losing any of their numbers.

Afterwards, Pasthealer went to speak with Crafty. Crafty acted like he did not know the names. We were torn on letting him in through mindspeak, but before we could say anything, a Howl of Warning went off.

Heading in the direction, we found Scourge with a pack of Garou. They introduced themselves as the Truth Hunter pack. They wanted to join our Sept. We asked how they knew about it and they told us their pack totem, Roedeer told them to. Roedeer, as it turns out, was once a strong ally of Lion. It was related to Stag, protecting its followers and making sure they survive.

They came from the Sept of the Rising Moon, but they were no longer allied with them. Eli left to get Ryan with Pasthealer while we cleansed them to make sure Scratch didn’t get angry. Ryan headed into the Umbra after hearing about the situation from Eli. He went to speak with Roedeer personally.

The Irish Destroyers then arrived by us. Gruffy was curious about Roedeer. He told us that Ryan had been speaking with Lion a lot about Lion’s brood. Most of them are gone, but three remain: Roedeer, Elk, and White Lion.

We headed to Ryan and he told us he wanted to speak with us. Roedeer was hurt very badly by the fall of the White Howlers. Elk told Roedeer to come here. There is a big spiritual power play in action right now. He told us that he needed to go into the Umbra on a spirit quest so Leein would be the acting Master of the Rite for the time being. The Hand of Fionn would accompany him for protection. We told him about the cryptic statements that the Incarna of Luna and Gaia told us.

We then asked him about his quest, but he would not tell us. He did say the quest was about us and he would let us know when he returns. In the meantime, he told us to go speak with Lion.

Entering the heart of the Sept, White Lion was waiting for us. He was pleased to see us. He told us of how our ancestors did a great many deeds. He told us through our ancestors we were able to overcome the Drowned King. He asked us to sleep in the Sept and dream of our ancestors.

Bjorn asked about Roedeer getting a quest from Elk. White Lion told us that he gave Elk the quest. He then told us he is in our blood and that our legacy would be revealed in time. With that, he vanished and we slept in the Sept for the night. My sleep was restless that night as my vision was nightmarish. When we awoke we told each other of our visions.

Bjorn spoke of Lothar the Challenger who started out as a Silver Fang at the Sept of the Winding River. Lothar did not feel like he belonged, clashing with Septmates, and falling into a deep depression near Harano. Stag then came to him and told him of how sometimes you must question the ways of things. Stag then offered to make him a Fianna where he would belong. After passing the Rite, he went to the Sept of the Tri-Spiral. They were reluctant to have him join, but due to Lothar’s questioning and change of heart, they accepted him into the Sept.

Wrong Moon told us of his ancestor in the Colonial times, Lynn McCibbon. Lynn showed Wrong Moon the ways of the Ragabash and showed him what would happen to Lynn in the future. He would die in a bloody battle with soldiers wielding Weaver weapons. The message was clear: we must watch out for the Weaver.

Stag’s Daughter told us the story of Cateran Firebrand after the Bear Claw pack broke up. He was the first Garou in a long time in his family and as such, was told he would be a legend. In that time, he joined a Sept led by Brawn Bane Slayer. He had been called a coward for his actions in Russia and the Sept displayed less than favorable treatment of him in spite of gaining the Warder position.

Things began to transpire in the area he lived in, and Cateran recognized these odd events as the exact same things that happened in Russia before the Spirals attacked. He tried to warn the Sept of the danger, but they refused to listen to him. Although they did take him seriously about nearby Spirals, they dismissed their danger as the Sept decided to destroy them by charging into the Hive. Cateran pleaded with them to not do so, but they called him a coward and left.

With only the remaining kinfolk, Cateran rallied them into shape for what he knew would be coming. The Kinfolk would do their best to guard the material world while Cateran would enter the Umbra and protect the caern. Sure enough, the Spirals came full force. The kinfolk did their best and held the ground in the material while Cateran took a Hero’s Stand and fought himself to the death on the monument in the center of the caern. Amazingly, he held the caern. With that, he earned his legendary status.

My vision was a nightmare and something I did not expect. I found myself watching the last moments of my mother’s life. She had been kidnapped by a former packmate turned to the Wyrm. The man called himself Poison Tongue, but his former name had been Prescott Solomon. He had a plan to kill Daniel and had allied himself with a vampire.

As Daniel descended into the dark pit where my mother was, Poison Tongue taunted him. He revealed that my mother and Daniel had been lovers, something he never told me. In fact, I was shocked that Daniel had never bothered to tell me how my mother died. I had never thought to ask. After some banter, Poison Tongue had the vampire send his creation, a mockery of a Thunderwyrm, after Daniel and his pack as the Spiral shoved his Baneklaive through my mother’s back.

The battle went on for some time, but ultimately, Daniel’s pack stopped the creature at the cost of most of their lives. Daniel dueled Poison Tongue, but was nearly defeated before my mother used Faith, my fang dagger, to shear his arm off his body. Poison Tongue then did the killing blow to my mother. I could only watch in sadness as she tried to say her last words to Daniel, but died in his arms. Daniel went to attack again, but his only remaining packmate sacrificed himself so that Daniel, his packmate’s grand klaive, and my fang dagger made it out of the realm ending the vision.

With the visions laid before us, most of the pack seemed to gain some clarity about their ancestors. I felt shaken and saddened by what I had seen. I needed to make some plans now that I had returned. I think it was time to speak with my mother’s spirit for the first time…

Speaking with the Celestines… (Game 35)

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As we gathered together to head to the Aetherial Realm, Jim Lee told us that his debt to the Sept had been fulfilled. He had made arrangements to meet with Bright Vision who would guide us along our journey. Ryan then opened the moon bridge for us and we crossed onto it.

On the moon bridge, Jim Lee told us to hold hands and showed us how to shuffle very slowly. Since moon bridges warp space and time some, taking a few steps becomes like miles. This way, he could show us how to enter the realm. Halfway across the moon bridge, we were up in the clouds during daytime. Jim Lee told us that all moon bridges pass through the prenumbra and into the Aetherial Realm. The Stargazers know how to get there.

Sensing this was the place, Jim Lee had us jump off the bridge. There he told us to wait until Bright Vision arrived. During this time, we asked him about the Stargazers considering he was the only one we had ever met. They were a meditative tribe who were less prone to their Rage than the other tribes. They enjoyed enigmas and riddles and prized wisdom above all else. They were the only tribe with strong connections to the Beast Courts, a group of shapeshifters not Garou.

After conversing for a little bit, a lantern could be seen in the distance. A young woman, who appeared partially transparent, arrived. It was Bright Vision and she dismissed Jim Lee. She told us to follow her to the Sept of the Stars. She told us that the spirits have agreed to watch over us during journey. As she led us to the Sept, she pointed out the holes in the clouds. This was the way out of the realm. Here, you would float down to your starting point.

As we traveled, Bright Vision spoke of how a pregnant Metis had been foretold in the Prophecy of the Phoenix. Her child could either lead the Wyrm’s armies to the destruction of all or guide the Garou to saving Gaia. We would have to speak with Altair about meeting with the Celestines for their protection of Crazy Eye.

Arriving at the Sept, the elderly Altair met with us, but immediately went to see Crazy Eye. He was obviously very interested in the child she carried. Altair told us the rules after he stopped fawning over Crazy Eye. The Sept is guarded by the realm itself. We were not to touch any of the walls as they lead to other places in the orary. We also could not disturb anyone in the meditation chamber.

We were led into a room with pillows on the floor and told to meditate on the test at hand. We would need to convince at least two out of three of the Celestines we met into letting Crazy Eye stay here. We took this time to talk amongst ourselves about what to do with the child. Some like Wrong Moon, thought we should just kill it and not take the risk of it becoming a pawn of the Wyrm. Eli silenced that kind of talk thankfully.

Still, there was some debate about punishments for Crazy Eye and Crafty for his actions. Bjorn believed Crazy Eye deserved to be punished, but in light of her losing her lover, her Sept, and now being hunted, this seemed moot. When discussing Crafty, his actions did not seem to be the greater issue at hand as opposed to his foreknowledge of the attack on the Sept of the Angry Earth. If he did indeed know it was going to happen, he should be punished. Otherwise, it was viewed that Crafty did the best he could given the situation.

After our discussion, we decided to get moving on the meetings with the Celestines. Our first one was the Incarna of Luna, Sokhta. Bright Vision opened the moon bridge to her realm by pushing on the wall in a pattern. Beginning our travels on the moon bridge I noticed Miguel began to float away followed by the rest of us. I thought quickly and realized we would need to will ourselves to have weight.

With a bit of effort, all of the pack was back on the moon bridge. Traveling forward, lunes appeared to us and told us to go back. They even created an off ramp of sorts to return to the Sept. Still, we pressed on. We finally made our way to what appeared to be a wall of light. Unsure of what to do at first, I tried to replicate what Bright Vision did earlier. I was successful and found us a way into the realm.

In the realm, everything was made of silver, yet it did not bother me. It was moonsilver. All over the ground were plants made of silver. In the center of the path we were on we could see a man made of silver. He told us we could take the plants provided we gave back some of our spiritual energies. Both Wrong Moon and myself took a few plants and replenished it with our energies.

Heading forward, we saw a moon stone and several weapons made of moonsilver. We chose not to take them as we had no right. Continuing on, we could see the path turning into a dress. In the dress was Sokhta. We bowed to her and awaited her response.

She asked why we continued even when the lunes told us not to. Eli replied that it was our quest and we must complete it. She asked why we didn’t take any of the moonsilver weapons or the moon stone. Eli told her that we did not have permission, nor was it offered. She told us to ask our question. Eli asked if the Sept of the Stars should protect Crazy Eye. The response was certainly interesting.

The Metis cub was an act of desperation on the part of Gaia. It shows strong Wyld tendencies. We could kill it to prevent it from becoming a pawn of the Wyrm, but that would deprive us of a possible salvation. Eli told her it was not our place to judge, but asked why not our Sept? Being hidden in the Sept of the Stars would place it far away from the Wyrm’s influence. She then asked us our opinions of the cub. Most were favorable and I saw no reason to kill the child.

Sokhta agreed to help us and granted us one question. Eli asks her why we are here? In an even more cryptic response, Sokhta told us that we were meant for this quest since the beginning. We would test our mettle here and in the future we would undergo a quest that would save Lion and change the very way both our worlds work.

Then, Sokhta summoned lunes that took us back to the wall of light. From here, we walked back to the Sept. We returned to the Sept and rested. It turns out it had been nine weeks since the journey. After a day of rest, we had Bright Vision open the doorway to another realm. This time we would follow the solar winds to the realm of Neptune and meet the Incarna Shantar.

We followed the moon bridge into space for a long time until we came to the Umbral sun. The Umbral sun shot out a ring of power and a strong gust of wind could be felt. Wrong Moon reached out and was caught by this wind. We quickly grabbed on and were carried to Neptune.

On Neptune, we were surprised to land in water. In fact, the entire planet was made up of water. In the distance we could see a ten story tall cube made of water. A man made of water appeared and headed in that direction. We shifted to Lupus and quickly followed, swimming as fast as we could.

As we approached the cube, the water man dissipated. We entered the cube and arrived at a front desk. Only a single sign was there that said “meeting on 7^th floor.” We headed to the elevator there and went to the 7^th floor. There, we seen another sign that led us to meeting room 706. Heading inside, we found ourselves in a large meeting room with a huge table stretching the length of the room.

Sitting down at the table, an offer came from nowhere for whatever food we would like. Half of the pack ordered something, but I abstained. I didn’t feel comfortable with it. After the pack ate, Shantar appeared. She was a monstrous looking amalgamation of a squid and a woman.

Shantar asked why we were here. Eli told her about Crazy Eye and the Metis child. Shantar said it was the most creative thing Gaia had came up with in eons. She believed it has the touch of the Wyld and might be the first of many Metis children possible.

She talked about all of her visitors like the Glass Walkers. She offered to make tools for us. They would be mundane and not fetish level tools. Quetzal warned us that she is tainted with the Weaver. Agnis suggested a video camera that works in the Battleground, but that was not within her power. We asked for a blessing on Crazy Eye, but she declined stating it was too much of the Wyld for her. We thanked her for her time and left.

A water plume sent us back to the moon bridge and we returned to the Sept. There it had been almost three months since we left the last time. We had one more Celestine to speak with…

A Sept’s Request and Bombshells Are Revealed… (Game 34)

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We returned home that night and rested. The following morning Ryan took Agnis and I aside. He was calling in the favors for all of the Rites he had taught us. We would have to obtain a new Sept guardian. Ryan had already chose Wyvern as our spirit. I asked why he chose this and he told me that Wyverns are spirits of War and will die to defend a Sept. They won’t just warn us about something like Mabe would.

After gathering with pack, Eli had decided to return the Talen bottle to the Silver Fangs. Completing the quest might draw the ire of the Silver Fangs for something we should not have had in the first place. In the meantime, Eli wanted to speak with the Sept of the Angry Earth in the hopes of preparing them for the worst. Crafty, however, told him to hold off on this until our Sept guardian had been established and then the Sept would determine the best course of action.

As it was up to Agnis and I to obtain Wyvern’s guardianship, we set up the Rite of Summoning. I decided now was a good time to push my abilities to the max and went for an Incarna. We ensured the ritual sacrifice was there and the rest of the pack went about marking the area as I meditated. With assistance from the pack and additional spiritual energies, I made a phenomenal summoning, drawing forward a friendly Wyvern spirit named Scratch.

Deciding it was Agnis’ turn, I motioned to her for the negotiations part of the Summoning. Agnis asked for Scratch to become our guardian. He was enthusiastic about doing so, but would require an oath. We must ensure that no Wyrm creatures or objects enter the bawn. Secondly, if the Sept is under siege, we must defend it to the death. Agnis agreed that this was acceptable. Thus, Scratch was our new guardian.

Returning from the Umbra, Daniel Morris approached us. He asked us if we were in the middle of anything. Quite the contrary, we told him we were just finishing up. He wanted to speak with us about joining the Sept and getting to know him. He had already spoken with all of the other packs and we were last on the list since he knew of our importance and wanted to wait.

He first started by telling us that the fall of his former Sept was entirely his fault. He had heard of the massing of Spirals near his Sept. Vampires had also returned, after being long thought destroyed in the area. He had spoke with the elders about what to do about it. The Sept had decided on completely eradicating them once and for all.

Daniel considered joining the fight to bring his power and experience to assist the other packs and the elders agreed. Daniel had made it to one of the fighting packs and began taking on several vampires However, it was a trick. The attacks that had been happening were merely a diversion. By the time Daniel had realized it, the Spirals had already violated and destroyed the caern along with all the other Garou and kinfolk there. He made his way to James to use as a bargaining chip since the kinfolk had long been discarded from his Sept.

We asked what brought him here. He told us chance, but Bjorn’s earring was able to determine that was a lie. Still, we didn’t say anything as it would be rude. His reasons were his own. He told us that he would never again become Sept leader for his failure. He had spoken with the elders of our Sept and was given the task of bringing Nicolaus into the fold so he wouldn’t be so bitter.

Eli asked him what his views were on the kinfolk. He viewed them as tools, but still requiring a gentle touch. He still believes that they should be treated with respect and he will help them as much as possible. Those that provide for the Sept get perks, but those that don’t get nothing. It was a bit harsh, but much better than what I had heard of other Septs and their treatment of the kinfolk.

We asked him what he thought about the Skin Dancers. He hated them, but bore the Vulture Walkers pack no ill will because one you are reborn, you are reborn. Simple as that. Bjorn asked how long he had been at the Sept in Chicago. He was there for 30 years, pretty much all of his life. He led the Sept for a decade. He can bring much to the Sept. There were concerns about his Weaver influences, but Daniel reassured us that whatever he couldn’t do in the Sept would be done in the city to help preserve the balance.

Personally, he thinks that the Weaver is very useful. Still, he understands that we don’t deal with it very deeply to the point that our pack is gently made fun of for myself carrying a cell phone. Still, until the kinfolk can develop a means of communication outside of it, I stand by my belief in carrying it.

He plans on making the Sept his new home. When asked about his auspice, he answered Philodox. After we finished our conversation, we took some time out to do some drinking before Daniel left us again. Getting with Crafty, we unanimously said yes to Daniel joining the Sept. I was happy to be around him again. I don’t feel I have a crush on him anymore, but I do look up to and respect him. I told the pack I would return shortly as I created a few Breath of Gaia Talens for the pack and one to give to the Sept of the Angry Earth as a peace offering.

Bjorn cooked the rest of the sacrifice off as Crafty told us that Stands with Claw has called a meeting with the remaining Septs on what to do about the fall of the two Septs. He also notes that Daniel can stay here, but he doubts he will. Crafty is going to push for a Grand Moot. Eli wanted to contact the Sept of the Angry Earth about being prepared for war, but Crafty told him to wait until the meeting with Stands with Claw was over. I returned and gave the Talens to everyone including the extra to Eli for a meeting whenever we might get to it.

After our small party ended, Spot approached us. She began questioning us about all the weird things going on lately. Most importantly, she was curious why Crafty kept disappearing for various amounts of time. Indeed, I had become curious about why Crafty would vanish for several hours at a time. She believed our Sept was vulnerable. Many of our Sept positions weren’t filled yet. It was true. Ever since returning, we had been too busy to accept positions.

Still, Eli shot down the idea of anyone following Crafty around. It wasn’t honorable and right now we didn’t need to be creating dissension amongst our Sept with the issues at hand.

After Spot left, Ryan approached. March Lion, Master of the Rite at the Sept of the Western Eye, requested our Sept’s presence. In exchange for helping them with an issue, they would link their moonstone to ours. Their Sept was connected to over 30 other Septs including the Sept of the Tri-Spiral, the Fianna homeland. We were to go with him to complete this mission considering the Vulture pack were too inexperienced and all of the other packs were on duty.

I voiced my concerns about spreading Garou too thin while the threat of attack is still imminent. Eli went to catch up with Crafty before he went to his meeting and asked him about the Sept’s defenses. Crafty said he already had it under control after hearing about the meeting. Still, Eli chose to have Agnis, Bjorn, and Wrong Moon go to the meeting while the rest of us stayed here to guard it.

Ryan opened the moon bridge for them to go to the Sept. After about an hour or so, Bjorn called on me to come to the Sept. Doing as I was told, the rest of the pack accompanied me. Apparently, the Sept of the Western Eye was a mixed Sept of Children of Gaia and Uktena. The Uktena there worked Rites in order to keep a powerful bane known as the Cataclysm dormant. Whenever they failed at their duties, powerful earthquakes were known to happen. They wanted me to learn the Rite as only I had the necessary training. I agreed to and the rest of the pack was sworn to secrecy to never tell of this Rite. We all agreed and I underwent the training.

The training took nearly six weeks and was exhausted everyday. There was a great deal of physical activity and spiritual resolve needed for it, but I finally managed to learn the Rite. With that, Hot Eye, the Garou who initially greeted us, agreed to link our two Septs. This would allow us to finally call on some outside allies if an attack happened.

During the time there, the rest of the pack learned quite a bit about the area. It turns out that this Sept was the one Mordecai met us at. There was a low-level pack of Black Spiral Dancers nearby called the Underlings from the Horrid Hole Pit trying to make a name for themselves lately. Someone had also offered to pay the billion dollar cleanup of the irradiated section of Navy Pier. We knew who it was but said nothing of it. The Sept was mostly Lupus who stayed away from the city and the Sept itself was linked to all of the other tribe main Septs. Our pack was allowed to participate in the Wild Hunt, but was excluded from any other activities.

Returning back after a month and a half, things were still there thankfully. Mackie called us into the cabin and told us about the meeting. It lasted 97 hours. Stands with Claw asked that all Septs be united under her banner. The Sept of the Silver Fury quickly agreed to it and the Sept of the Angry Earth was a no-show again. This left just our Sept and Crafty said he would have to confer with the rest of the Sept before agreeing to something.

Stands with Claw believed that the fall of the Sept of the Raging Storm was Wyrm related. Personally, we couldn’t be sure since we had not gotten to examine that Sept in the Battlefield yet. Crafty said at the meeting it could be Gaian. The others denied this, but eventually they had to secede the point that it was at least possible. The Sept of the Stone Sea was most certainly Gaian, however. Three packs were dispatched to look into what happened at the Sept of the Raging Storm. Spot was spoken with about looking into for our Sept. There was still a strong possibility we could be attacked so all guards were on full alert.

The Moot had been held off until we returned so we would have both November’s and December’s Moot in one sitting. As Mackie left, we discussed some things amongst ourselves. I wanted to see what actually happened at the Raging Storm when it was attacked. I also noted the possibility of Prestige being in with the camp of Get that want the destruction of all the other Septs. Agnis noted trust issues with Spot. She was curious why she wasn’t there at the destruction of her own Sept.

Since asking Spot didn’t require any long distance travel, we went to look for her. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find her. The Irish Destroyers, her pack, didn’t seem to know where she was either. I simultaneously hoped she did and didn’t follow Crafty as while the information would be useful, it would also cause all sorts of problems if caught.

The Moot began several hours later. Everything had been prepared as usual. The breaking of the bone took place. Crafty took the bone. He told us Daniel is now an official member of the Sept. Daniel found an opportunity for Nick. The job will provide financial stability and give some much needed alleviation to Cliff who had been stressed a lot lately. Daniel also promised to improve the Sept with Cliff.

Scourge of the Woods then took the bone. He noted that positions needed to be taken. He asked for Sept Warder, a position that had been empty since the death of Kyle. Everyone gave him approval for it. Red Tongue wished to hold Caller of the Wyld and Master of Howls. Caller of the Wyld was Jonathon’s former position and everyone agreed for him to take it.

After this, Spot took the bone. She stared ominously at Crafty and I had a feeling she knew what he was up to. She told us that we had all been deceived. Crafty knew about the attack on the Sept of the Stone Sea. Crafty then took the bone from Spot. He walked into the middle and began to lay it on us.

Crafty confirmed it. He did know about the attack and because of it, he had started to neglect his duties to Mabe which caused us to lose her. Nine Toes from the Sept of the Stone Sea sent for him. He had told Crafty that the Sept had three Metis: Crazy Eye, Tongue Twister, and Sheeba.

Crazy Eye and Tongue Twister had a relationship. Because they were Metis, the Sept knew but did not concern themselves with it until something happened. Crazy Eye became pregnant. Something that should not have been possible.

During this time, Nine Toes discovered that a camp of Garou known as the Protectors of Gaia were looking into the Sept. Inside of this camp was the Judges of Doom, a group of Shadow Lord Philodox who want to kill this impossible child. They were testing the Sept to see if they would do the right thing. Because of this, Nine Toes sent Spot and Sheeba away to avoid what was coming. The Sept of the Stone Sea and Crafty let the attack happen as Crafty rushed Crazy Eye to safety. The Sept of the Three Waters efforts to cover up the attack led Crafty to believe they have members of the Judges of Doom among them.

Now Crafty was forced to take Crazy Eye somewhere to safety. A Stargazer named Jim Lee owed Crafty a favor and he was going to call it in to take her. He asks if any other members of the Sept wish to volunteer. Everyone stepped forward. Given the circumstances and protection of the Sept needed, Crafty chose our pack for its experience. Crafty then handed the bone back to Spot, but she could not say anything and gave it to Scourge.

With that, Crafty went to get Crazy Eye while the rest of us enjoyed the fun portion of the Moot. We all sat and drank with our respective friends and mates. I took time to sit next to Magnus as I figured we wouldn’t get much time in the future. Crazy Eye came in and I sat with her, trying to make her feel at ease here.

As we enjoyed our time, Cliff’s phone rang. He answered it and promptly gave it to Eli. Alyssa was on the other end of the line. She demanded an audience with us. Annoyed, but unwilling to lose a potential source of information, we made our way to Hunter’s Point.

Alyssa was worried about the lack of contact lately. She wanted information in exchange for what information she had given us. Although she also seemed interested in William, something that Eli would not allow. We told her about most of Gretchen’s plans that we had stopped and Mordecai, but we left out anything about Morgan buying up Hunter’s Point in the hopes it would follow through and we could be done with her.

Alyssa wanted a personal pet to replace the spy she lost recently. She wanted one of us, but Eli wouldn’t let it happen. She was glad we didn’t attack as she had an entire pack of female Black Spirals standing by. I guessed it had to be her pack. We left, but not before Eli tried to utter Randy loud enough for them to hear. No one responded so it was obvious none of them were her.

Returning to the Sept, the Stargazer Jim Lee was there. We would have to go to the Sky Sept in the Aetherial Realm. For the rest of the night, we spent time with our mates and friends. Our mates were certainly upset about us leaving. I tried again with Magnus to get pregnant.

We awoke the next morning ready to venture off into a new realm…

Loss of a Sept Guardian and Interrogating the Ahroun… (Game 33)

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We made our run back to the Sept as fast as possible. Thankfully, the Red Talons were frenzied and could not follow us into the Umbra, but you could never be too careful. It was early, but the Sept was up and running already. Scourge of the Woods was already on top of things as we approached. He grabbed rope and took the Ahroun from me, tying him to a tree.

The Ahroun woke shortly thereafter and was not happy to say the least. He didn’t frenzy or attempt to shift, but we could tell he wasn’t going to be cooperative. The only thing he said to us was that he was going to railroad us.

As he sat tied up, Sheeba and Jason arrived and identified him immediately. With our true culprit in hand, Eli went to get Crafty. As Eli got close to Crafty, he could see him having a heated, but still somewhat civil conversation with Ryan. The Irish Destroyers were there cleaning up as the two elders stopped their conversation on Eli’s approach. Eli explained the situation. Mackie wanted to talk with him, but Crafty shut him down.

Crafty said that he was going to the Sept of the Three Waters. We would need to determine the location of the trial and prepare for a potential attack from the Red Talons. Crafty explicitly told Eli that the Ahroun was not to be messed with. Everything would have to be legit or else our Sept could suffer the consequences. Crafty ordered Mackie to set up a protection ring around the bawn with the Irish Destroyers and any other available Garou.

Eli returned and told us what Crafty had said. The Ahroun said he would not admit to anything and we simply ignored him. Miguel went to urinate while we stood around unsure of what to do next. Bjorn observed the Ahroun closely and was able to determine he was a Get of Fenris from his tattoos, something that the Ahroun attempted to cover up upon Bjorn learning this.

Suddenly, a howl of warning went off. Eli took me with him as we went to see what was going on near the cabin area. There, we could see Mackie and Ryan surrounding the moon stone. There were Shadow Lords all around us as our Sept members were holding them down, but not attacking. We tried to approach, but Crafty waved us off. Blitz, the Garou who had been here before, seen us and went Crinos causing the rest of the Shadow Lords to follow. Our Sept members then went next to hold them back, but Eli and I held our ground in Homid as we believed we had done nothing wrong.

After everyone calmed down, Blitz warned us about an assault on our Sept if we lied to them. Crafty managed to calm the situation down and tell them they had the Ahroun and he would stand trial for his actions. They left, finding Crafty’s diplomacy acceptable.

Crafty asked Eli to walk with him and I headed back to where the Ahroun was being held. Crafty then told Eli about the situation. Apparently, some members of the Sept of the Three Waters did not want the Ahroun to stand trial. He obviously either had dirt on other members of the Sept or they were in with him on his actions. The problem was really deep. Even if we managed to make the Ahroun stand trial and punish the guilty parties, someone else would just take their place. Crafty told Eli that there had to be camps involved.

Eli still demanded justice. Crafty retorted that we couldn’t hold the trial without making us look like villains or slanted against him since we had personal bias. The Sept of the Three Waters wanted to hold the trial, but Eli found that unacceptable as they would just sweep it under the rug like they did with the Sept of the Stone Sea. In the meantime, Crafty told him we would have to guard him closely because if he slipped out of sight, he could not be found thanks to whatever Rite had been performed on him.

As Eli relayed this through mindspeak, Bjorn told Eli to tell Crafty about how we found the Ahroun. Eli told Crafty, but left out a few details due to its insidious nature. Crafty seemed impressed and asked Eli what would he do in this situation? Crafty told him he could do some things, but he might lose favor with the Sept of the Three Waters. However, Eli diminished their importance and that they weren’t that much of an ally to begin with because they always demanded something in return for help.

Deciding that he would need more input, Eli went to confer with the rest of us and then we would confer with the elders afterwards. In the meantime, John and William would watch the Ahroun.

It was a tough conversation to say the least. There was so many things we had been keeping from the rest of the Sept and Crafty. Agnis said that the time for secrecy had ended and if we didn’t act now, we may not have the ability to. We all agreed and decided we would tell Crafty everything. We knew we would need a conclave to work on the situation. We would have to bring all of the Septs together or else the Black Spirals plot to destroy the Septs would succeed.

Eli met Crafty at the edge of the caern and laid it all out for him. He wasn’t mad, probably due to his Ragabash nature. Ryan had managed to create a Talen that would get two truths out of the Ahroun. It was a feather that we had to lay on his head. We needed to use it before the trial in order to ensure we got the information in case things got swept under the rug.

After giving us the feather, Ryan called for Crafty. Apparently, there was an emergency and Blitz needed to speak with Crafty. Nodding to him, we quickly made our way back to the Ahroun. He was still sitting there sternly. We debated for a moment to make sure we got the correct wording on the questions to get the best answer possible. We placed the feather upon his head and asked our first question:

“What is your complete meaning and purpose of killing these Garou?”

His answer wasn’t anything shocking. He simply hated us. He thought that Lion leading this Sept was a bad idea from the start. He viewed us as parasites since we took all of the Fianna from the Sept of the Three Waters. He had been watching us since the battle at the pier. We were surviving just because of the Sept of the Three Waters. He had killed 16 Garou in battle, not including Jonathon and the two Lupus. He killed the Lupus to lead the Shadow Lords here.

We went ahead with our second question as the first question didn’t really give any insight into his crimes.

“Who doesn’t want you on trial and why?”

With this, the Ahroun started laying out at least half a dozen names: Gretchen, Raging Wild, Wyrmflayer, Prestige, Bristles, and the rest of his Get of Fenris brothers. He named Gretchen because she had consorted with him in bringing down the Septs. Prestige was listed because the Ahroun had personally witnessed the carnage of the death of the Sept of the Stone Sea. Wyrmflayer had worked on the alienation of the Sept of the Raging Storm. Bristles knew of the Ahroun’s connection to the mages who enacted his protection rite. Raging Wild was the head of the Get of Fenris and the camp hell bent on destroying all of the other Septs. Finally, for his Get brothers because they are all one.

It was a bombshell. It linked the Ahroun back to nearly every single bad event that has happened since we arrived. A few even before we arrived. He had put the fetish in our bawn in order for us to solve it and earn the ire of any nearby Silver Fangs. We refuted this by saying that we were going to return it to them. We tried to appeal to his good side that he was heading down the path of the Wyrm, specifically Beast of War. He blew us off saying he just used the Spirals like they used him. I thought to myself that this is what Rage Heart could have become had he not gotten his Rage in check.

He then tried to antagonize us with the death of Jonathon. Eli throttled him and for a second and it looked like he might actually kill him. He said Jonathon didn’t even fight back while he killed him. I offered a rebuttal that Jonathon’s purpose was with the spirits and not fighting. Bjorn managed to convince Eli to not kill him, stating it wasn’t worth it. After this was done, the Ahroun realized what he had said because of the feather. He said he was still going to railroad us.

As he ranted on, Gruffy came up and grabbed us. We left John and William with the Ahroun while we ran to the caern. Apparently, the Sept of the Angry Earth had been attacked just like the Sept of the Stone Sea. Most of the Red Talons were dead and the caern totem had been severed. There was nothing there.

Blitz knew that we didn’t do it. It suddenly dawned on us that the Ahroun had mentioned this. He wanted the Shadow Lords to show up at our Sept in order to weaken the Sept of the Angry Earth for attack. We tried to appeal to them to stay with us, but they blew us off and most of them had moved to the Sept of the Three Waters. Agnis then told Crafty what we learned and suggested putting ourselves on trial in order to get the truth out. Eli wanted to go to the Sept of the Raging Storm in order to prevent them from being blamed for this event.

As we returned to the Ahroun, William was telling John a story with their backs to the tree. The Ahroun had escaped. Before we even had time to assess the situation, Cliff arrived. He had heard from Lindsey that Scott was in the hospital. Eli asked Crafty if we could leave and take care of him and he approved. Sending Agnis and I to the hospital, we were to heal him. We took the park van and drove as fast as we could.

Arriving at the hospital, Lindsey met us and told us that there were four other people with this strange affliction. It caused black ooze to come out of there orifices and generally put them on the edge of death. Lindsey cleared out the area and let us do our work. I healed Scott while Agnis checked for Wyrm taint. It took a little effort but I finally healed Scott and Agnis found no Wyrm taint. He had no memory of getting sick, but was thankful we helped him. We worked as much as we could on the others before our spiritual reserves were expended. Agnis checked the Umbra for any signs, but couldn’t get any leads on what caused this.

After healing, Lindsey got another call. Tomas was now sick with this mystery plague. He was at his boat and could not move. The only common connection the other victims had were they worked at the same restaurant. As we made our way out of the hospital, they were bringing in even more people was the disease. We quickly got in the van and drove to Tomas. Now, the CDC was going to be called in.

As more of the disease spread, Miguel told Eli about how Mabe put a curse on his mother because he would not free her. It’s possible that anyone his mother touches gets sick. Eli told Crafty about it and he looked disappointed. He said she was tricky and he could fix the situation once he got her box. Heading to his personal cabin area, he could not find the box. They all assumed the Ahroun had taken the box.

Luckily, while the Ahroun could not be tracked, the box could be. Ryan enacted the Rite of the Questing Stone for it and gave them the piece of wood he used. They headed into the Umbra and used a moon bridge to follow it to a house near the beach. Checking the situation out carefully, they found no one in the house. Deciding to act, they entered the house.

Inside, they found the Ahroun, dead. No cause of death could be determined. Worse still, the box was open. Looking around the house, the pack found two dead parents. The teenage girl who lived there was missing. Eli considered calling in the debt to secure Mabe, but opted not to.

As the pack took stock of everything, my phone that I had entrusted to Eli rang. Maria, Miguel’s mother was on the other end. She asked to talk to Miguel. She said someone was at the door named Jenny that she didn’t know. Miguel told her to keep the door closed and tell them she was sick. He hung up, but no more than five minutes later, she called back again. This time there was a scream on the other end.

Moon bridging to Maria’s place, Agnis and I joined up with the pack. A young girl with blue hair was there. It was obvious that it was Mabe in human form. She meant us no ill will. She only returned to take the curse off of Miguel’s mother. She thought that when Miguel rejected her that it was a test. We asked if she would go back to guarding the Sept, but she politely declined. She might have if Miguel would have let her free, but we told her he was the wrong person for the job.

Mabe decided she would travel the world for a while, looking for a king. We suggested Royal Ascot, but he was king of the Seelie fae and she was Queen of the Unseelie fae, so it wouldn’t work. Zanatos was also brought up, but she only married mortals who would then go on to be prosperous. Still, we thanked her for her time as the guardian of our Sept and invited her to visit any time she pleased.

Moon bridging back to the Sept, Tomas called and said he was feeling better. We spoke with Crafty about the situation. He wasn’t happy about losing Mabe, but he figured he could only hold onto her for a few more years anyway. He wasn’t mad at us thankfully. We would now need a new Sept guardian. White Elk was suggested among other spirits, but the more pressing matter was the Grand Moot. Crafty asked if we were still going to have it which we agreed to it. However, before we did so, Eli wanted us to get in touch with the Sept of the Raging Storm before they were blamed. We were now in a race against time to stop an all-out war from happening…

Family Reunions… (Game 32)

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The next seven weeks went by like a blur. The Sept was extremely busy. Wrong Moon’s father finalized the purchase of the park and had a mansion built for him. I found myself worried about the added activity and damage to the forest, but the elders were ok with it and I let it go for the time being.

Along with all of the work being done on Wrong Moon’s mansion, Crafty decided that four more cabins would need to be built to house the growing Septs Garou. Mackie bonded with the Vulture Walkers at this time and was teaching Sheeba and Jason. His jokes and lessons were all the same as when he taught us, but they were still effective nonetheless.

Ryan worked hard with us during this time teaching any Rites he could. I spent a great deal of time with him and fully mastered my knowledge of Rituals. I felt more confident and hopefully had enough Rites to fill in the void left by Jonathon’s death. I know I’d never be as good with the spirits as he was, but I could always try my hardest.

The Irish Destroyers also worked on rituals with the elders. Killer of Dogs bugged them to let him help them, but never followed through oddly. During this time, the Vulture Walkers goaded Sheeba and Jason to join their pack.

Lion’s Vengeance did bawn patrol with the Vulture Walkers. Scourge of the Woods had been spending a lot more time in Lupus form, but he had taken an interest in Cindy Lawson who was rooming with Stanley Locke. Stanley, himself, was working at Costco and had become very close with Leein. The two were quickly becoming an item.

Born Twice was still struggling to get along with his brother Magnus. Things were getting a little better, but I don’t think Magnus realizes how Bjorn feels. I may have to talk to him about it. When not dealing with his brother, Bjorn summoned his ancestor from the Dark Ages, Talks-with-Herbs and learned a gift. He also learned another gift with the help of Ryan. He still spent his time with Gina who continued on working to graduate school. She also began hinting at wanting to become pregnant.

Killer of Dogs, apparently, was forced to pester everyone for a request to learn gifts. Hopefully, he doesn’t get hurt for his actions.

Stag’s Daughter spent time learning Rites and Gifts. She proposed an idea to tattoo Serenity to protect her from evil spirits, but Ryan shot the idea down. He did applaud her thinking however.

Lindsey continued working while pregnant. Everyone showered her with attention and seeing her stomach grow over time sparked my maternal desires. I wanted to get pregnant again and I now thought I could do so safely because of how strong the Sept was becoming.

Ariel and Cliff haven’t been around much as they would like. Both have been very busy with their jobs.

Rusty and Rivet got themselves into some trouble getting too close to the construction zone. They were reprimanded by Scourge and I don’t think they will be doing that again.

Monica had been getting along great with Scott. It looks like they might be an item soon. I’m glad I suggested it because I know they had a lot in common and could understand each other better than anyone else.

Maria now had an apartment and legal status. She worked at a local Mexican restaurant. Tomas, however, isn’t seen outside of Moots.

Kristen has been attempting to get close to Wrong Moon. He’s resisting and it’s making her want him even more. I hope that he will stop being afraid of girls and give in to her. When not hitting on him, she works at the state hospital in the cafeteria.

Magnus has been happy to spend all of his time with me. He keeps talking about saving up for nice things, dates, etc., but I told him he doesn’t have to. I’m just happy he’s around.

The only real problem during this time was Nick. He doesn’t like the Fianna lifestyle and missed his old life with the Glass Walkers, minus being robbed by them. Worse still, after the Glass Walkers got done taking over his life, they left it in disarray and would have black marks for the rest of his life. My father got him a job, but even after that, we can all tell he’s not happy. We may have to let him go.

After the downtime, another Moot arrived on Halloween. Apparently, this Moot was special. It was the festival of Sam Hain. The Fianna used this time to have a grand feast and there was a lot of celebration. During this time, the gauntlet is very thin and communing with the ancestors is much easier.

The cracking of the bone took place as usual and the first order of business was Daniel Morris and James Sever joining the Sept. James was a given, but Daniel was a little in the air. The elders were completely fine with the idea. They found him honorable, but shy which was unbecoming of most Garou his rank. Lionheart was worried about if a Glass Walker joined the Sept that the Weaver presence would be increased. I interjected that the presence has already been increased with Wrong Moon’s mansion being built.

Ryan said he doesn’t like the Glass Walkers as a tribe, but as a Garou, he knew Daniel was solid. Still, there was some question of how he escaped the destruction of his Sept when most believed he should have died with it. There was a lot of debate about what to do next. Most agreed that they wanted to hear his story and how he made it out of the Sept alive. Some wanted him to work with Nick on improving his views on life. A few, like Mackie, didn’t want him to join at all. In the end, since the vote fell to us, we decided to hear his story and then decide what to do next moot.

The next order of business involved Wrong Moon. The deal with his father could be very dangerous. The elders wanted to ensure his name was on the deed in case someone managed to get to his father and cause all kinds of problems. Personally, I wasn’t happy that he bought the land at all, nor that he was building a mansion on the strip.

With the business taken care of for the moot, our usual fun began. We drank and spent time with the kinfolk while they played music of all varieties. Most of us spent our time with respective mates and friends. I took the time to have sex with Magnus in one of the rooms of the lodge, though I would have preferred something a little closer to nature.

After the party, we went for our run, killing a deer along the way. Eli got the first of the kill as usual and then we all dined. It was a good moot.

[The next morning from Miguel’s perspective…]

Miguel awoke early in the morning to someone running their hands through his hands. He could hear a voice speaking.

“Free me!”

It was Mabe. Miguel, without even opening his eyes, responded.

“Why should I?”

Ominously, Mabe retorted that now she would have to make him.

[Back to the group…]

After doing our regular exercises, Eli sent Agnis and I to the drop point to check for letters like usual. This time, there happened to be a letter there.

“Mister Fathom is in San Francisco. Last seen leaving Kincaid law firm. Mordecai not seen, but always nearby. Can’t lift the Rite on them so you’ll just have to do old-fashioned detective work.”

Returning to the Sept, we delivered the letter to Eli. Debate broke out on how to approach the situation and how we would even travel there. We weren’t sure if we should just go to Kenith directly. There was still some curiosity if he was the Mind Mage. Finally, we decided to just take a van and talk with him directly. On the way there, we searched out a good place for moon bridging later.

We called ahead to let Kenith know we were coming. After we arrived, I mentioned that it would be better for me to play with Ryan during this time, in case he said something that set me off. Eli agreed and we knocked on the door. Kenith answered the door, unusual for him. He already had a lunch packed for Ryan, but I told him we would just be in the backyard while Eli spoke with him.

[With the pack…]

As the pack sat down to talk with Kenith, Agnis attempted to sense Wyrm taint. She didn’t get any more than the usual that you would for being in the city. After accepting some drinks from Kenith, Bjorn laid it all out about Morgan and the potential danger to Ryan and Caitlyn. Even after Eli tried to sway the conversation with Morgan being a great danger to Caitlyn, he wouldn’t bend on lawyer/client confidentiality. He was curious why Caitlyn hadn’t said anything, but he decided on a Quid Pro Quo sort of arrangement.

He wanted to know if Caitlyn was seeing someone else. Bjorn responded honestly with yes and that it was his brother, but he wasn’t sure how serious the relationship was. He asked if Caitlyn loved her, but Bjorn wasn’t sure. He did know that his brother definitely loved him.

At this point, Kenith revealed that Morgan was staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. He was buying up real estate in San Francisco. Right now he was trying to buy Navy Pier, the location of the Hive where Alyssa resides.

His next question was whether Magnus was the reason Caitlyn didn’t come around. This was a flat no from Bjorn who told him it was obligations. He then asked if his brother needed a job, but this question never got answered.

During this time, Bjorn determined that he was definitely a Mage. Kenith went on to tell the pack that Morgan had legal troubles and was rumored to be in human trafficking. Kenith did refuse to divulge anything regarding that, but the information they got was enough to find Morgan.

[To Caitlyn…]

I enjoyed spending the little time I got with Ryan. He was very smart, but curious. I felt like he didn’t get enough interaction from the rest of the world. Still, it was good to spend time with him.

After getting the scoop from the pack that Kenith was a mage and that the pack was heading into town to eat, Eli suggested I stay there for a while and get some quality time with Ryan and Kenith.

The time together was a little unnerving. Kenith wasn’t shy about asking hard questions. He asked why I never came around. I told him he seemed different to me now, more concerned about money and the flashier things in life than before. He laid it out that he was a father now and had to provide for Ryan. I could accept that. The rest of the dinner went fairly smooth although I still had to deal with hard questions. I felt like I should just take the renown and tell him what I am, especially since I knew what he was.

[Meanwhile, with the rest of the pack…]

Eli and the gang headed to the Stinking Rose to touch base with the Fae. They were given their usual table and fed like before. Royal Ascot came by and mentioned all of the free meals they had been getting. Eli felt uncomfortable by this conversation as he might have to use the bird to pay for the hospitality. Royal just laughed and said he just busting his balls before taking care of the check.

[Back together…]

Once we had gotten back together, we decided to case the hotel that Morgan was staying at. Eli sent Agnis and Miguel to find the scoop on how many were staying in the penthouse. During this time, I offered to enact the Rite of Heritage on Eli and determine who his parents are. I performed for the first time in my own special way, but the results were terrifying. Instead of it working, an extremely loud lion’s roar was heard, nearly strong enough to break the windows of the car. Realizing we would stand out because of this, we moved the van while we waited for Agnis and Miguel.

After they returned from casing the hotel, we learned there was only one person in the penthouse. Deciding we could no longer be in the shadows, we went up to meet him. Eli went in first while we waited in the hallway. A man named Danny passed us on the way in, but didn’t pay us any mind.

Eli approached cautiously, and Morgan confirmed his identity and Eli’s. With it appearing as though it was safe, Eli motioned for the rest of the pack to enter. Eli wanted to know how things got the way they are and why he was trying to kill him and his pack.

Morgan said that he took on the contract to kill all of us from Gretchen. However, Morgan found out about Eli being one of the targets and decided to not follow through with it. He later found out the targets included the entire bloodline of his family including his other son Mordecai and his daughter Randy. During this time, Gretchen hired the Dead Man’s Hand because Morgan wasn’t moving fast enough. Morgan, however, had developed so many contacts over the years that he was able to call them off with just a phone call.

When Eli asked how this all started, Morgan kind of rambled about how it all started back in New York with a falling out with his cousin Mal. Afterwards, he took up hunting Garou. His mother was Renee “Dreamseeker” Fathom of the Sept of the Three Waters and she died during childbirth, but Bjorn determined that part was a lie. During the course of his time hunting, he took up other unsavory activities like human trafficking and smuggling.

However, Morgan said he was out of the hunting business. He was in San Francisco strictly for land purchasing. When asked why, he told us he wanted to leave something for his family. He had been here for two months, which is how Gretchen managed to get a hold of him. He was willing to set up a meeting with Mordecai and clear everything up if we liked. We agreed and he gave us the location of the Golden Gate Bridge Park. Before leaving, he offered his card to Eli in case anything happened, he could call on Morgan to help take care of it.

We traveled to the park, unsure of what would happened next, but determined to resolve things. Mordecai could be seen with four others, his pack. He was strangely friendly. He asked us if we had seen it. At first, we didn’t know what he meant, then we remembered the messages that played on the news. It was a warning since neither he nor Morgan were willing to follow through with the contract.

After this, he showed us a medallion. It was Roman in make and very old. He told us he could help us find the Ahroun, the source of all the trouble in our area. The medallion had ties all the way back to the White Howlers. He talked about how they fought the Romans and went into the Spiral looking for more power to defeat them, which became their downfall.

He wanted Eli to join him. When asked what he meant by that, he cryptically said to set things right with the Garou Nation. His pack traveled around the globe to different Septs. He would speak with them about killing both Spirals and Gaians alike. When the Sept attacked, they would kill them. Eli politely turned down this offer, but Mordecai said it was an open invitation whenever he wanted.

Eli then asked about his mother. Mordecai didn’t remember much of her, only that she was gone a lot. She actually died two to three years after Eli was born. He had suspicions that their father killed her. After the conversation ended, Mordecai gave Eli a hug and we entered the Umbra.

In the Umbra, we debated what to do before finally activating the medallion. The medallion turned into a white elk. He asked us why we smelled like lion. We told him we were followers of lion. He said he would lead us to the one we seek and opened a moon bridge. As we traveled the moon bridge, he recalled the history of the Fianna and the White Howlers and how we are joined to them. As we arrived, he asked us not to take vengeance out on the Ahroun because too much violence has been done against ourselves.

Peeking out of the Umbra, we could see a shadowy figure standing over the body of two Lupus Garou. Emerging from the Umbra, he caught out gaze.

“Looks like someone found out they were being betrayed. Who tipped you off?”

He then suggested we return to our Sept with the bodies. We could see glyphs carved in the nearby trees, just like Jonathon’s death. We weren’t sure of what to do and then we heard the howls. We knew we were in a bad situation. We could see in the far distance Red Talon Hispos charging forward in full frenzy.

The Ahroun shifted to Crinos and prepared for an attack. Agnis and I shifted as well. She hit him with Drona, lightly dazing him. I followed up with a haymaker, surprisingly knocking him out in one shot. We grabbed his body and headed into the Umbra. This was not going to end well…

Werewolf: The Return

The Sleeping Lion has awoken…

Author Archives: Chris

Making Baneskins and the Mabe Problem… (Game 41)

Negotiating a Truce and the End of the Pride Slayers… (Game 40)

Being Lead Off Course and a Sad Revelation… (Game 39)

Darkness Rising and the Return of an Old Friend… (Game 38)

Revenge of the Clones… (Game 37)

A Metis’ Secured Future and New Ancestor Visions… (Game 36)

Speaking with the Celestines… (Game 35)

A Sept’s Request and Bombshells Are Revealed… (Game 34)

Loss of a Sept Guardian and Interrogating the Ahroun… (Game 33)

Family Reunions… (Game 32)