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The Festival Concludes and The Sept on Trial… (Game 51)

As the second day started, mock battles began to break out. We took part in them with Stag’s Daughter winning a couple of them.

As the food truck approached again with a refill, Cormac approached us. He wanted to ask a few questions. He wondered why we were so forgiving of the Metis. Lionheart told him that the Metis has no choice in whether it is born and it’s unfair to punish it. He also asked about the Vulture Walkers pack that had been converted to Fianna. It was a great feat, but he wondered why they hadn’t been invited. Lionheart cut him off saying that it was up to the elders to decide who they wanted to go.

As Cormac began to speak again, Tears of the Land approached us. Cormac left in a hush and kept his head down around her. She wanted to know about Ryan and how he was doing. We told her that he was doing fine. She mentioned that she was the one who gave Kyle his bat. It once belonged to a fomor before she cleansed it.

She then took us to the shelter where the caern of Plenty was. Inside the shelter, the walls were covered with gold. In the center of the shelter was a large stone with a glyph on it. She touched it and disappeared. We followed suit and were transported into a room filled with food, drink, and various items on a massive table. The food here was magically enchanted and we could eat it which we tried. In times of famine, the kin were fed from this room. However, all of the weapons and various other items that lined the room were not to be touched. They were cursed with Fae magic and would doom the thief who took them. We were amazed that such Fae magic still existed in the world.

After we left the shelter, Tears of the Land gave me a marble to give to Ryan. She said it was something of a joke to him, but there was nothing funny about it. She believed that a spirit would love this marble.

As we returned, Tears of the Land took center stage and began to prepare a rite. Both Agnis, myself, and many other Theurges began to mimic it in order to get an idea of how to do it later. The rite would take thirty minutes of chanting and humming before she vomited onto a piece of cardboard. Here she inscribed a glyph in the name of a Garthor Bane. With that, a Great Hunt was on.

As we began to search out whatever this bane was, Lionheart spoke with Sebastian. Sebastian thought it was dishonorable that the Sept did not inform us of what we were participating in. Either way, we needed to hunt this bane. Some of the packs headed into the Umbra while others ran the bawn.

I took us into the Umbra while Agnis called upon her ancestors and learned that Garthor Banes are very nasty and vile. They are very susceptible to the ritual and come when it is enacted. There is great honor to the pack that kills it. As we began to hunt, Lionheart caught the scents of seven of these creatures in the area. He managed to keep the scent and it appeared as though none of the other packs had caught onto it as we headed into a forested area.

As we searched the forest, Lionheart realized that something was wrong. There were more than one of these creatures here. As we reached a clearing we caught sight of one, Agnis activated the Battle Mandala gift and bound the spirit to the area. The rest of us prepared for the fight. Lionheart utilized Balor’s Gaze and incapacitated the one in sight when suddenly, two more burst from the ground.

The insight that these banes burrow was lost on us at the moment, but we turned to fight them anyway. The battle was rough, but they weren’t the toughest creatures that we had ever faced. We carried their bodies back to the stage. We had more kills than any of the other packs and there were some looks of envy on their faces. We threw the bodies onto a pile and burned them.

This would finish up the moot and festival proper. We said our goodbyes to the people that we had met during the two days that we were there. During that time, the Ard Righ approached us. He was grateful that we had the time to learn about each other. Lionheart thanked him for the invitation. However, Bron requested that we rank up at the Sept of the Tri-Spiral from now on instead of our home Sept. Lionheart said the he would look into it.

As Bron left, Colin returned and told us that we could stay the last night in either the Sept or the cabin. We choose the Sept naturally.

The next day, we said more goodbyes and made our way back via moon bridge to the Sept of the Western Eye and then home. Crafty, Mackie, and Ryan were waiting there for us. They were sad. Police checked the area about the body, but haven’t gotten close to the Sept yet. However, the fire at the lodge is being ruled as an Arson. The area is tainted by the balefire until the remains of the building are removed. The area will begin to absorb Wyrm taint and banes will flock to it in the meantime.

Crafty asked about the visit, but it was easy to tell that Lionheart was irritated. He said that it was good, but wondered why Crafty and the rest of the Sept never told us about the traditional Fianna values. With that, Mackie and Ryan nodded to Crafty and left. Crafty had us sit down at the camp fire area and chat with him.

Crafty originally wanted to build a traditional Fianna Sept. However, because none of us were raised traditional and the influx of non-Fianna arrived, he abandoned the idea. He left out camps because he was worried that they would cause infighting. We also did not have the proper community for challenges so he had to make it up as he went along. However, Crafty wants to head to a more traditional way of learning. We asked if he was forced to go traditional. He wasn’t forced, but the Sept would not be considered a proper official Fianna Sept if we didn’t. Crafty told us that there were rumors that the Ard Righ wanted this Sept to be the American home base for the Fianna.

Personally, I didn’t think doing things the traditional way made any difference, a point agreed by not only Agnis, but also Bjorn which was surprising. With that, Crafty took his leave and had Mackie come and speak with us.

Mackie seemed about apologetic about bringing us into his camp. He gave us the rundown on most of the Fianna camps that he knew about. Many were opposed to some of the ways we did things, some had their own agendas, and others were very close to our camp. Technically, we weren’t officially a part of the Tuatha De Fionn, but Mackie said that leaving now could cause issues with the Fae. We didn’t see any reason to leave now so the issue was moot.

After Mackie got up, Ryan was the next to arrive. He was also apologetic about not revealing more about the Fianna traditions. He was even more bothered by the fact that our mission had been revealed to all. There was no point in hiding it anymore. The spirits spoke to just about everyone. The Nation now had its eyes on us.

I offered the marble to Ryan telling him it was from Tears of the Land. He promptly rejected it with a laugh. He told us that she took the Fae way of life seriously and by accepting that, he would be in her debt. He noted that she failed to tell us that Kyle was in her debt for obtaining the baseball bat we used to see him carry. As we laughed for a minute, a commotion was heard from outside.

Prestige had arrived, unannounced and without permission, with four Garou in Crinos form. He then made a proclamation as many Sept members held back the urge to attack him, myself included, that we were to be put on trial as a Sept.

Prestige spoke “if not for the few acts of honor your Sept would have been wiped off of Gaia already. Your charges include:

A.     Litany violation: Combat the Wyrm where ever it dwells and where ever it Breeds, 4 counts

1.      Evidence suggests that The White Lions Pride pack had dealings with Black Spiral Dancers

2.      Evidence suggests that the White Lions Pride Pack has had dealings with Skin Dancers

3.      Evidence suggests that Sept kinfolk has relations with a leech

4.      Evidence suggests that the Truth Hunters had dealings with Black Spiral Dancers

B.     Litany Violation: Respect the Territory of another 2 counts

1.      Evidence suggest the Truth Hunters came into our bawn intentionally looking for the Sept and left as soon as they knew they were caught doing so.

2.      Evidence suggests that the Hand of Fionn has worked the area north of us that is known as our territory

C.     Litany Violation: Do not suffer my people to tend to thy Sickness 1 count

1.      Evidence suggests that this Sept has taken unto itself an individual that has already been condemned by this law.

D.     Litany Violation: Ye shall take no action that causes a caern to be violated 4 counts

1.      Evidence suggests one of your kin destroyed an entire Sept. It was known that the kin had this power and it was not stopped.

2.      Evidence suggests the Sept has allowed non-Gaian Garou onto caern grounds

3.      Evidence suggests the Sept refused a treaty that would protect it from any enemy threats in the area and has refused knowing well that the local threat is at an all-time high

4.      Evidence suggests that the Sept has groomed a pack intentionally from the moment it was formed to run this sept. The White Lion’s Pride pack are in no shape in any way to do so which puts its own caern at risk.

As I have said, if not for the honorable few actions taken in the past more charges would have been added. You have one week to mount a defense.”

With that, he abruptly left as quickly as he arrived. Spot approached us. She told us there was a spy in our midst. Once again, we were under the gun…

A Festival to Remember… (Game 50)

It was still a week out before the festival began in Ireland, so we decided to do some preparations in the meantime. Agnis and I learned the Rite of the Opened Caern, however, midway through training, we were abruptly told to head to an area on Highway 9. A dead body had been found and the police were investigating it. Suspecting foul play and located close to William’s, the police made their way there.

Bjorn quickly called Daniel to get him out of the building and then made sure that William’s lawyer intercepted them in order to prevent breaches of the Veil. Daniel did a little investigation and heard that an anonymous tip lead the police to the dead body. It was obvious that Jonathon was at it once again.

Still, the rest of the week was uneventful, if not uncomfortable. Daniel and William could not be at the mansion, the lodge was burned down, and all kinfolk were on high alert. We took the time to learn a few gifts and then did preparations for attending the festival.

The next day, we made a moon bridge jump to the Sept of the Western Eye and were greeted by Hot Eye. He was glad to see us and sent word to the Sept of the Tri-Spiral that we were coming before sending us on our way via Moon Bridge.

Arriving at the Sept, we were greeted by the leaders of the Sept: Bron Mac Fionn (Sept Leader), Son of Moonlight (Warder), Eilis (pack leader of the Alpha Wild Hunters), Cormac Mac Eire, Tears of the Land (Master of the Rite and Keeper of the Song), Mary O’Reilly Deidire (Keeper of the Land), Winds Across the Hills, and Colin O’Doul.

They were very friendly and very eager to speak with us later. They told us that Colin is our escort and he will tell us about the area and guide us to the Sept when the festival begins. Until then, we are to remain at a cabin just outside a nearby town.

As we headed to the cabin, Colin told us about the Sept. The caern has three centers marked off with shelters. The Sept remains one of the oldest and most powerful Sept in the world. Each entrance to the shelters is guarded by the Tri-Spiral stones. Each shelter itself holds a caern consisting of Gnosis, Plenty, and Honor.

The Sept’s totems are Stag and Danube, the spirit of Ireland. The caerns themselves are over 4,000 years old. They were founded when the Fianna chased the ancient Fomor known as the Firbolg away from the lands with the help of the Fae. This began the long standing friendship with the Fae. There are faerie rings around the Sept that will take you directly to just outside the entrance of Arcadia, realm of the Fae.

As we got closer to the cabin, Colin continued on. The Keeper of the Song is required to know all songs pertaining the glory and life of the Sept. To take the position they are required to sing them all, a task that takes three days. Colin went on to say that all of the Septs in Ireland would come to defend the Sept of the Tri-Spiral if they were in danger.

We finally arrived at the cabin and rested for a while. It wasn’t more than two hours there when a visitor arrived. He introduced himself as Pride Walker, grandson of Mackie. He wanted to know how we were doing and gave us some information about the festival. The first night would be storytelling and healing. He warned us not to reveal our camp to anyone as not all of them get along. We must also ensure that our fetishes are in plain view. Obviously I was a little uncomfortable with this considering I would have to be shirtless to display my tattoo fetish.

Before he left he offered us the reason why he exiled Mackie. As a Philodox, he was required to judge a fellow Garou to obtain the rank of Adren. The Sept chose Mackie as he no longer had use. However, Pride Walker could not kill his grandfather as the Litany commanded. Instead, he exiled him, where he then arrived at our Sept.

After Pride Walker left, we rested for the night. At 4 am, Colin arrived at the cabin and wanted to know about our fetishes. As a cub, he was required to be able to recite every one of our fetishes and their origins. This was required for his Rite of Passage. I could already see the differences in the way they ran their Sept compared to ours.

We gave Colin all of the information about our fetishes and he looked as though he remembered the majority of it. He took us to a large field where hundreds of Garou were waiting. On top of a large stage set up near the center was Bron Mac Fionn. Everyone, including us, entered Lupus form and howled. Bron announced that the festival had begun.

A truck pulled into the field with lots of food and drink. The next few hours were spent dancing and eating as we enjoyed our time. After about seven hours of enjoyment, stories began to break out amongst the group about their various exploits, each trying to outdo the other. Bjorn spoke of Kelpie, in order to get the word about her return out while Agnis told the origin of her staff, Drona. Finally, we topped it all off with a group telling of our journey through time and how we defeated the Drowned King.

Five more hours went by and some of Garou had already passed out from too much alcohol. In that time, we spoke with several Garou. Some of which were Smoking Wolf, Aaron Tricks-the-Spirits, Patty Paints-the-Spirits, Allison Bane Renderer, Stacy Notebook, and Ronny Lucky-Step. Each would take us aside and ask us various questions.

Smoking Wolf went to Miguel and asked about whether or not his Hispanic descent caused any discrimination issues like it does here. Of course we had never discriminated anyone based on race or gender at our Sept, but it was interesting to hear that it happened out here. He also wondered about the kin being involved in early rites, but we realized we had never knew if you could teach a kin rites other than the Ritual of the Sacred Rebirth.

Aaron Tricks-the-Spirits asked about our mission and how we intended to turn a spirit corrupted by the Wyrm against their allegiance when they had so thoroughly become entrenched in it. We had agreed not to speak of our mission beforehand, but it appeared as though the spirits had been spreading the word. Lionheart chose to have him speak with Agnis and I at a later time.

Patty Paints-the-Spirits was interested in our fetishes. She wondered if it was dishonorable to the spirit to not release a spirit in a fetish that had been given to you. I retorted politely that Faith was a family heirloom and the others were gifted to me from my ancestors. I would be dishonoring them by rejecting it.

Allison Bane Renderer wondered if the dancing during the Trial of the Ahroun is the same in the United States as it is here. Lionheart deflected the question since he had amnesia, he could not say for certain.

Stacy Notebook wanted to know about the Silver Record. I could tell she was still very new to the Garou world, but we weren’t that advanced either to be honest. We could only tell her what Mackie had told us about the Silver Record.

Finally, Ronny Lucky-Step wanted to know if our duties as pack in the United States were similar. Unfortunately, we could not answer that question, showing just how out of step we were with the traditional Fianna upbringing. I could see that Lionheart was not pleased with the questions. Ronny asked about camps and if we knew them, but we kept quiet and deflected his question.

As the first day came to any end, we felt completely different from the rest of the Fianna. Lionheart wasn’t happy about the whole affair and felt like he had been set up to come here. Still, we rested in the field and anticipated the next day.

Chaos at the Sept and Another Totem to Redeem… (Game 49)

With Jonathon revealed to be the true enemy of the Sept, and not Prescott like we initially thought, an emergency moot was called. Having a former Septmate turn to the Wyrm is the absolute worst thing to happen to a Sept. It was obvious he knew all of our weaknesses.

The moot began as usual with all of the normal protocol. Ryan told of how we would soon have guests visiting the Sept. Due to the possible danger involved with it, the Rite of the Opened Caern would be required for anyone using the Sept, including Sept members. This was a precaution to prevent any corruption to the caern.

With that, Crafty took the bone and spoke of the danger of Jonathon. Due to his hiding and the great risk of hunting him, Crafty to us that we would not look for him, but wait for his next move. This obviously irritated some of the Sept like the Hand of the Fionn, who wanted to personally hunt him down.

Crafty also spoke of the continued consolidation of the Septs by the Sept of the Three Waters. They had attempted to get the Sept of the Raging Storm under them, but were turned away. The Three Waters Sept is now feeling threatened and because of it, Crafty is no longer a member of the Sept. In the meantime, the Irish Destroyers were working on keeping the situation calm.

Crafty then told us that he had to turn Gavin Quinn away. We couldn’t take on strange Garou at this time and had no place for him in the Sept. I was disheartened by this as he had rescued me. Still, if we wanted to dispute this, we could speak with Crafty and Scourge tomorrow.

Ryan then took the bone again. The Hand of the Fionn pack had enacted the Rite of the Loyal Pack. The Sept had recently had contact with the Sept of the Tri-Spiral. A biannual moot is happening in Ireland soon. It will be a congregation of all Fianna available to celebrate and tell stories. We are asked to attend.

Mackie took the bone and told the Sept that he would not be attending the festival in Ireland. He would also be presiding over Bjorn and Gina’s wedding.

Daniel then took the bone. He had been making arrangements for a few kinfolk that had survived the death of his former Sept. There were two Glass Walker kin and one Bone Gnawer kin. They are relocating to LA and he will visit them monthly.

Gruffy then took the bone. The Den Mother position that Tania occupies has been extended to cover the kinfolk as well. The Sept of the Three Waters has been preventing us from gaining any new kin or cubs. They are not enemies yet, but they are doing underhanded tactics to make things difficult for us. Gruffy offered condolences for me and Logan’s loss.

Heals-the-Past was next with the bone. He also offered condolences for our loss and wanted his pack to take up positions since we could not do so right now.

BosWyrm then took the bone. He offered thanks to the Vulture Walkers pack for taking on bawn patrol so that his pack could start doing quests for the Sept.

Hunts-With-Grace from the Truth Hunters pack was next to take the bone. He offered condolences to us and told us that the Sept of the Raging Storm had been struggling to maintain the area north of here due to the loss of the Sept of the Silver Fury.

Logan then took the bone. He told the Sept of the deal he made with Caern Rattler and that the totem would return to full strength in ten years and be available. He also spoke of the deal we made with Pegasus for friendship with the Black Fury tribe.

With business concluded, we began the wedding for Bjorn and Gina. Everyone spoke words of praise for the couple while Mackie officiated it. Afterwards, we all enjoyed our company and danced and drank. I spent time with Magnus in the hopes of getting pregnant.

At the end of the moot, we decided as a pack to attend the Fianna holiday.

The next day, we came across Ryan, Silent Hunter, and Learns from Crows talking. They called us over. Learns from Crows believes that it might be possible to grab Kelpie and empower it to the point of gaining Incarna status. If there’s intelligence in the spirit we find, it would be possible to assist it until it gained enough strength.

In the meantime though, Logan wanted to repay the debt we owed while traveling the Underworld. The first two, involving Tim and Sandy, we’re easily remedied with a couple of phone calls. The next two though, would take a little work.

We headed to Chicago via Moon Bridge from Sebastian. We searched out the nursing home that Katie, Marvin’s girlfriend, resided at. Agnis made contact with her and told her what Marvin told her to say over tea. After a couple of hours of conversing, Katie was happy, and Marvin could now move on.

We stayed at a local motel in Chicago as it was getting late by then. The next day, we jumped to Ohio and found the boy Ryan Stone. William spoke with him and gave him the information his mother told us, but he also inadvertently scared the child in the process. Still, the task was accomplished.

We returned to the Sept and slept for a bit in the cabin. After a short nap, we headed to the beach. Agnis took us into the Umbra and I summoned a Kelpie jaggling. The jaggling was hesitant, but didn’t come near us, staying in the ocean. Logan implored the spirit to come near and explained the mission we were tasked with.

Through a difficult conversation in Spirit Speech, we were able to determine that Kelpie was still intelligent. It had several requirements before it could be brought pack as a totem. She would need a pack to take on, nine human sacrifices, and her name must be spread everywhere. With our task partially fulfilled, we returned to the Sept.

We found it in disarray as Sept members were running everywhere. I first thought that there were Spirals on the bawn, but I was only half-right. Scourge met us there and told us to head east. We did so and the smell of balefire entered our noses as we got close. The police and the fire department were there and we could see the lodge burning. I took us into the Umbra where Crafty, Ryan, and Mackie were waiting. They told us we would have to put out the fire and cleanse both the material and umbra areas here or banes would start to gather.

The next day we returned to the area and cleansed it with our baneskins on in order to slip past the ones that had gathered there. We drove off the banes, but would have to wait until the investigation of the area was complete before doing the material version of the lodge. Sadly, we found out from the news that several people had died including Maria O’Hare, Miguel’s mother.

A little despondent, we weren’t sure what to do for the moment until Hunts-With-Grace approached us. He had captured a Skin Dancer in Santa Cruz. He said his name was Stained Coat and he knew us. We explained the situation to Hunts-With-Grace and told him we would take care of the situation. Hunts-With-Grace said he would have to tell Crafty about this which we were fine with.

We headed into town and met Stained Coat at a local motel. He told us that he had tried to contact the kinfolk he brought here, but they had changed their phone numbers. We explained about the trouble we had and we were forced to change their numbers. He told us that he had two more kinfolk for us, but these would be the last. With some of our Sept members not understanding the situation we had arranged and the consolidation of the Skin Dancers under Minotaur, he could not return. There were very few rebels left and there was even talk of the Skin Dancers uniting with the Spirals. This was most troubling news to hear. The combined two tribes could easily swallow the Gaian Nation whole if left unchecked.

The two kinfolk he had were Ted Winks and Terry Adams. Terry was a Glass Walker kin who struggled to keep jobs, had a temper, and wanted revenge after his Garou brother died. Ted was Get kin. His brother was a Garou. He was picked on by the Sept and wanted to commit a mass shooting to show them he could be tough. His brother told him he was stupid for thinking such a thing. He decided on revenge shortly afterwards.

Stained Coat gave us their location at a nearby motel. We thanked him for the kin and headed to meet them. Our initial impressions upon meeting the two were they were both capable of being saved. Terry mostly just wanted respect, but didn’t want to work hard. This was something we might be able to work on with him about contributing to a Sept in some meaningful way. Ted was wounded animal. He would need to be treated with care and kindness, but we believed that he would fit in with no problems.

We worked with them on meeting our leader and gave them our number. We would have two new kinfolk, but we would need many more at the rate we were losing members…

A Pack Totem Lost, But A Tribe Totem Recovered… (Game 48)

The pack captured a deer and Agnis and I began the Rite known as Descent Into The Underworld. It took the death of the deer and several painted symbols, but we pulled it off successfully. Upon enacting the Rite, everything shifted like entering the Umbra except it was hazy, almost like a fog. Colors were muted to the point that you could barely make them out. However, we could see the living world overlapping the land of the dead. It was certainly a disorienting experience.

We could see the shadowy figures of Sept members mulling about as we decided where to go next. As Caern Rattler was related to water, we determined that heading to the beach was the best idea. As we made our way there, the world began to look much more gloomy and dark. We could see bones floating in the ocean. In the distance, we could see a light. As it approached, we could tell that it was something of what could be best described as a pirate ship.

On board the ship there appeared to be the skeleton figure of a soldier. He welcomed us aboard and we accepted his offer. His name was Captain Marvin Douglas. He could tell that we were living by how bright our lifeforce was to him. We stood out like a sore thumb on the beach. We were lucky to be found by him as there are specters that roam the land of the dead, sucking the lifeforce out of living creatures and other wraiths.

We asked what wraiths were and he told us that they were ghosts of humans that still had unfinished business. Once their business was complete, they moved on to the next plane of existence, whatever that might be. It was fascinating to me because it made me believe once again that there was a heaven and hell for regular people. He told us that wraiths have a shadow and that indulging in too much violence or anger causes the shadow to take over and they then become specters. He was also curious about what we were and we explained our heritage and purpose here.

Marvin had picked us up because he had people on board that needed our assistance. In exchange for taking us to the middle of the Underworld, where we might get closer to our mission. However, he told us to avoid the cities as there are many specters there. In the meantime, he brought up several people that needed our assistance. We agreed to listen to their plights and see what we could do for them.

Cindy Stone was the first one. She died in a car crash and afterwards her son was shipped for foster home to foster home. He had started turning into a real brat and she didn’t want him going down a bad path. Her son’s name was Ryan Stone and all he has to do is hold onto the brooch she gave him and he’ll be fine.

Sandy Aaron was next. She had a granddaughter named Maxine that was in a deep depression. All we had to do was inform her there was a key under the floorboard in the bathroom. It would unlock something in the house she knew about that would help her.

Next, was Tim McCoon. He seemed much happier about our assistance. His wife had killed him and got away with it. He wanted us to get the murder weapon and make sure she’s gets what she deserves. She threw the murder weapon into his casket and was buried with it. His wife’s name is Karen.

Finally, Marvin told us that he needed help as well. His girlfriend and love of his life Katie Wayne had never gotten over her loss of him. They shared a joint and had sex in her parents basement the night before he was shipped off. We can tell her that to confirm that it’s really him and console her over his death.

It took a day’s journey and in that time, we learned that Marvin had won the boat from Legionaires, a faction of wraiths in the Underworld. He had beat them in a game of cards and had spent the last fifty years sailing around picking up lost souls in need of help. We finally reached our destination: Stygia. It was the home base of all dead.

Before we got off the boat, Tim approached us and gave us two coins. They were forged from other souls in the Underworld and used as currency. A ghoulish fact that disturbed. Apparently, every soul can be forged into an item and it’s permanent. A disturbing end to one’s existence.

Marvin warned us before we left to avoid the Legionaires and specters along with the Maelstroms. They are storms made of angry souls. These storms can rip apart anything especially us. We thanked him for his help and began making our way to find Caern Rattler.

We headed north for about three days journey in the nothingness of the Underworld. Hunger was setting in and we were forced to draw on our spiritual reserves to stay mobile. On the third day we can across a Maelstrom. Looking around, we found no real shelter but a nearby hill. With little time on our side, we dug into the hill and huddled together. I made a Questing Stone for Caern Rattler and Bjorn tried to call on his ancestors for help in this situation, but nothing worked.

Another day’s journey came and went as we followed the Questing Stone. Here was came across the 47 pillars called the judges of Ma’at. These were the pillars where Tutu would complete his trials to return to the physical realm. At that point, we realized that Q was no longer with us. As we stood there, a man in a cloak approached us fast. We could smell the decay and death on him. It was Caern Rattler.

We implored him to return to Lion. He told us that he was the spirit of people and times long past. He was something of an ancestor, chronicling history. However, the Drowned King managed to sever his ties to the past. He has missed out on the last six years of time.

Because of this, Caern Rattler had been severely weakened. He had to slumber this long before he could even manifest again. He must regain his lost knowledge before he is capable of rejoining any totems. It will likely take him a decade. However, once this is complete, he will rejoin Lion’s brood.

Unfortunately, because of Lion’s fall, he would need a patron in the meantime. As Lion is under Griffin at the moment, he cannot join him because Griffin only takes in animal totems. He suggests speaking with Pegasus about the matter and seeing if she will agree to take him on. He would send us from here a Sept that could help us via Moon Bridge.

In the midst of this, we individually we being assaulted with images of Q being summoned by Jonathon to Malfeas. He warned us not to come for him.

We finally arrived at the Sept of the Moon Blessing in Kentucky. Hattie Thunderwife greeted us along with her pack. Her packmate Lew told us that their Sept is one of visions and they knew that we would be coming. They would be willing to take us to Pegasus’s realm in exchange for having the males of our pack mate with their kin. Their strength in numbers was down and they needed strong blood to help the Sept. Logan agreed to it.

As we made our way to the lodging they had at their Sept, we received our final visions from Q. Jonathon was no more. He had given himself to the Black Spiral. He was doing something to Q and Q begged us not to come. His last words to us were to never forget. In spite of this issue, we decided to do what we must and deal with the issue when we returned home. The boys went to mating while I took the first opportunity in a long time to get seriously drunk. I just wanted to forget about everything for a little while.

The next day, as I nursed a hangover, we debated on what to do about Jonathon. I argued, in spite of everything he did to us, he should be placed in Erebus now that we knew there was a way to redeem Spirals. However, none of the pack agreed with save Agnis, but even she wanted to have put in Erebus for the sheer torture of it rather than any redemption. Logan finally stated that Jonathon was a dead man, but we wouldn’t look for him, instead focusing only on the mission.

Another pack greeted us and told us they would assist us in getting to Pegasus. Only women may activate the Talen we are given by them. When we do so, we will be transported to Pegasus’s realm. They highly advise that any men in the group grovel before her in order to show respect. If we are successful, the Daughters of the Moon pack will visit our Sept.

Before we headed out, Logan informed Crafty of the arrival of potential guests and the crimes that Jonathon had committed. Crafty told him they would speak of it when they returned.

I activated the Talen and we were immediately transported to somewhere in the Aetherial Realm. We then were moved into Pegasus’s realm. Here we stood before Pegasus. She asked what we needed of her. We told her that Caern Rattler needed a patron. She wanted to know what she got in return. We told her that she would gain great chiminage.

Pegasus agreed to our terms in exchange for one thing: we must pledge some level of loyalty to the Black Furies. Because of this, word would reach Minotaur, her enemy, and he would know this as well. With that agreed to, Pegasus sent us back to our Sept via Moon Bridge.

The next day, we called for an emergency moot. During this moot, we told Crafty everything we had seen. Jonathon was declared an enemy of the Sept and to kill on sight. Due to this, we pushed Daniel harder to find better jobs for the kinfolk away from the Sept.

Afterwards, we summoned Quetzal again after debate on what totem to take. We had almost always been a pack of Honor and we saw no need to change now. Our new totem was Sebastian. He was far vainer and much less fatherly than Q, but still represented us. He was far less powerful than Q, but we knew we could enhance over time. It was time to work on the next totems…

A Somber Sad Affair… (Game 47)

I found myself struggling to run in Lupus form back to the Sept with the strange Garou named Gavin who helped me. Given our states after the capture, Gavin managed to hotwire a nearby car in a parking lot and we got on the road much faster than our damaged bodies could handle.

Along the way, he attempted to get to know me. I was apprehensive at first, but when he told me that he had a mission to come to my Sept from Roedeer, I opened up a bit more. I told him about our Sept and our mission. I know I shouldn’t have, but I could tell he wasn’t lying and I knew to trust the spirits.

[At the Sept…]

The Sept was in high alert. With the assault on the kinfolk and the potential for his daughter to be alive, Logan still wanted to head out to New York and find her. However, things took a major hitch when, after asking for some time alone from Q, Caitlyn had been kidnapped. Scourge-of-the-Woods put the entire Sept on lockdown till something could be done about the kinfolk and Caitlyn could be located. Attempts at finding her through a Questing Stone failed and Prescott Solomon seemed the obvious agent given his ability to render the Questing Stone worthless.

As the week went on, Logan worked with Daniel to get the remaining kinfolk relocated, new phones, new names, and new jobs to shield them from further attack. During those three days, William attempted to contact Caitlyn through Dreamspeak and Q, but to no avail.

Silent Hunter approached Logan with the idea that Caern Rattler might be in the Underworld. Given that Caern Rattler was tasked with collecting all knowledge and memories, his “death” would likely be an appropriate reason for his disappearance. There were several other signs he noticed like Caern Rattler being linked to water and the pack’s “death” at the hands of the Drowned King.

[Back to Caitlyn…]

After three days of non-stop torture and sleep deprevation, I was glad to be at the edge of the bawn. Gavin stopped near the edge of the road and we walked towards the Sept as I called for Q. Bjorn and Agnis met us at the bawn and we hugged and greeted each other happily. Of course, there were many questions as to what had happened, but I needed rest first. Gavin agreed to answer some of the questions and tell them about himself if they were willing to let him in.

With that, Bjorn asked Logan about it who seemed interested and agreed. I made my way back to the cabin and cleaned up and rested, already broken and exhausted from the last two weeks.

Gavin had a lot to say to the pack. He was once a Black Spiral Dancer who had been redeemed through the Near Realm of Erebus. He once belonged to the Sept of the Tri-Spiral before they found out his heritage that Bron Mac Fionn had been hiding from them. While he was still allowed to stay, Gavin decided it would be better to not press his luck.

Wandering for some time, he was approached by Roedeer. The spirit gave him a mission to come to the Sept of the Sleeping Lion and offer his knowledge of Malfeas and be a guide once we entered. However, to prove his worthiness of this mission, Gavin was required to not travel by car, with the exception of getting across the ocean to America. Here, he would travel from Sept to Sept, helping the ones he could. It would take him nearly six years, but he had now made it.

Logan seemed interested in having him join, but he would leave the decision up the elders. Gavin asked though that he not mention his dark past to his elders lest he jepordize his chances.

Although we were all back together, Logan wanted revenge on Prescott for his actions to the Sept. It would likely be a suicide mission if he did so. He spoke to Crafty about the situation and Crafty told him that going for Prescott would be too dangerous of an idea. Instead, looking into Caern Rattler was a better idea. Logan still wanted to look into Lily’s whereabouts, but agreed to Crafty’s idea. He would go as soon as I was well-rested.

During this time, Logan called his father. Morgan hadn’t found anything out about Lily yet and was going to extreme lengths to do so. Logan told him to stop and instead start going after Prescott. This would be the best idea that he could muster to deal with the issue. Morgan agreed to it and they hung up.

Also, William, Bjorn, and Agnis got together on an idea for solving two birds with one stone. Both William and Agnis had trouble having sex with anyone due to past incidents. William accidently killed his girlfriend and Agnis was nearly raped. This caused much fear in them and the risk that any sex they have might cause them to enter Crinos form and frenzy. With Logan’s approval, they decided they would plan it out and do it when they had the time.

Afterwards, Gruffy called Bjorn over to speak with him privately. He wanted to know what Bjorn was doing about mates. Because of our higher rank, once most became Artho, they didn’t take mates after that. Bjorn hadn’t given it too much consideration. He really hadn’t even signed off on Magnus and I. Still, he would look into it.

Gruffy then gave Bjorn the bad news. Lily is likely dead. Apparently, Lindsey found out when body parts that the Sept was fairly sure were Lily’s, were mailed to her. Lindsey is teetering on the brink and is now possibly suicidal. Bjorn looked distressed, but called Logan over and told her about the situation.

Logan told Bjorn that he would have to smell the body parts to determine if it was her. He also took the moment to apologize to Q for sending Morgan after his daughter. It was wrong of him and in the moment he felt driven by vengeance. Q, of course, accepted saying that we were all his children and that we must not fall to revenge for it is the way of the Wyrm.

We headed to Gina’s where Lindsey currently was. Logan told Lindsey that she would be spending some time with us at the cabin for the time being until she felt better. I even took the moment, although painful to myself, to express my sympathy after losing Ryan. Agnis took the moment to create an aura of peace for Lindsey that helped quite a bit.

We brought Lindsey back to the cabin and I went to see Magnus. I spent some time alone with him and told him I wanted another child. I had wanted one for a while, but now more than ever.

After spending some time with Magnus, Logan had me summon the kin-fetch spirit for Lily that I had placed on her earlier. Unfortunately, there was no link and it all but confirmed her death.

Later that night, we had a Gathering for the Departed for Ryan and Lily, even though they were not Garou. Everyone spoke their words of comfort and sympathy and we ended it with adding stones next to Kyle and Rage Heart.

I was still upset over the events going on so I took Logan with me to speak with Daniel. If Prescott was behind these attacks, we needed to know anything more we could about him. Daniel, however, was uncooperative. He was very somber and I could tell that just thinking about the events disturbed him. I tried to get him to talk about his klaive and the prophecy attached to it in the hopes that it would inspire the Sept to keep pushing forward. Unfortunately, Daniel just told that it should be kept between us. I wanted some form of hope or even belief, but Daniel just told me that I’m all he has left.

Afterwards, Logan went to Gavin who was still on the bawn to ask about any names he might have heard that were close to Prescott. If we could not track him, maybe we could track someone close to him. Gavin told us Michelle Kwon was her name, a secretary not to Prescott, but to the FBI team leader “Eagle”. It worked and pointed north.

The next day, I didn’t see Gavin anywhere so I was a bit saddened that he wouldn’t be joining us at the Sept. We had formally decided to go after Caern Rattler. In the meantime, Tania One-Boon would take up a formal position as Kinfolk Tracker. She would ensure the kinfolk were properly monitored. It was now time to enter the land of the dead…

Those Who Hunt the Night… (Project Twilight Game 1 – 2, crossover with The Return)

On July 13, 2010, at the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles, Max Shearman was under orders to form a team to investigate and incident that happened just off the coast of Santa Cruz. Working under the Special Affairs Department or SAD for short, the team was intended to investigate paranormal or supernatural events in the America and abroad.

Max assembled a team consisting of: Connor “Eagle” Whitmore, a veteran SAD agent, Nathan “Mask” Gibbons, an NSA agent and infiltration expert, Mark “Firewall” Stillwall, a hacker conscripted in to the SAD after encountering vampires, Michael “Mr. Green” Jones, a rookie cop with a gang-related past, Thomas “Boy Scout” Quinn, a detective avoiding a psych review after encountering a werewolf, Ryan “Genome” Murphy, a biologist and geneticist looking into supernatural physiology, and Izabelle “Fixer” Lenor, an amnesiac NSA cleaner.

The team was assembled to look into the reappearance of a cruise ship named the Queen Zenobia. The ship had disappeared nearly five years earlier and was presumed lost at sea. The only hail came as a lethargic and disturbing call from the communications officer.

Each of the members of the team were chosen for their respective talents and Eagle was made team leader due to experience and rank. They headed out to the beach area that had been roped off from the public.

At the beach, strange blobs of flesh were showing up on the shoreline. They appeared to most closely resemble leeches. Genome investigated a corpse as the others checked the shore for any evidence. As they did, Boy Scout was attacked by one of the creatures that was merely faking death. They dispatched of it and Genome looked more closely at the corpses on the beach.

It took several hours, but Genome was able to determine that the genetic code of the creature had been altered by means of a mutagenic retrovirus the likes of which he had never seen. Further, the bodies on the shore were at least 95.6% human. Tired of waiting, Eagle took the team on a motorboat and headed into the ship.

In the ship, they found other mutated creatures roaming the ship that they were forced to put down as they worked their way up and down the levels. Here they found a CIA agent named Rachel Sinclair that had lost her partner Renard. They were also sent into the ship to investigate the event. Taking Rachel along, they made their way to the communications room. Here they found a massive mutated creature with a lamprey like mouth for a head, a practically lifeless human body dangling from it. The human body mumbled speech, but was not conscious and was clearly the communications officer.

Fixer managed to get behind it and the team assault the creature simultaneously, killing it for good. Here, they found a man hiding in the locker of the communications room. His name was Bryan Emmerich, a nuclear physicist who was paid to man the nuclear reactor that had been retrofitted into the Queen Zenobia.

When asked why they would do something like this, he said the people responsible, calling themselves only the Organization, needed it to power the lab at the bottom of the ship. Eagle had Bryan take them down to the lab with a key card they found on the dead body of the mutated communications officer.

In the lab, the team found evidence of experimentation with viruses and using the blood from vampires to create the mutagen. Inside a massive tank nearby there was a red liquid, obviously the bulk load of the virus.

As they investigated the area, they could hear gunfire distantly. Mask went investigating and he traced it to an area outside the lab. He ran into Renard the CIA agent, but held him hostage, not knowing who he was. He was brought before the rest of the team that were about to leave before they ran into a man named Jack Norman. He had injected himself with an enormous load of the virus and had sustained a gunshot from Renard before collapsing. Jack went on about stopping the Organization for their betrayal before passing out. Renard then showed them where an antidote was being made and logs of how someone had sabotaged the ship, leaking the virus out.

Eagle asked if the antidote could cure Jack, but Renard believed that the amount he injected could not be cured. Eagle summarily executed him before he could transform. With all of the information they had, Eagle called back to Shearman and had them bring in the ship, their first mission a success.

5 years later…

Eagle awoke to find himself disoriented. He checked around his house to find that somehow five years had passed with him having no memory of it. He looked into his files and found that all of his cases had been taken care of and nothing was out of place.

Confused, Eagle called up Firewall and Boy Scout, who both of them had experienced the same phenomenon. Neither of them could find anything out of place at their homes so Eagle gathered them together. The three of them attempted to look into anything out of the ordinary in their lives, but none could come up with a concrete conclusion. Firewall believed it was the Nosferatu due to his paranoia of them and Eagle did not discount this idea.

A couple hours passed before Eagle received a phone call about coming into work. The team went in to the usual meeting room. There, Shearman sat with a semi-familiar face. They recognized Bryan Emmerich from the ship. He had to be constripted into the SAD due to his sensitive knowledge. He was being placed on the team due to the absence of Mask, Genome, and Fixer who were taking care of other business related to their fields. Boy Scout asked what his call sign was and Bryan retorted “A-Bomb”.

At first, the team sat as Shearman went over pending cases, each member trying to discern what they might have missed. As they did, the team gradually noticed a commotion in the halls. Apparently, as Boy Scout found out from his mentor, the director and his strike team had captured three werewolves. Eagle knew this had only happened one other time with his cousin Raoul Duke.

Heading down to what should have been a restricted area, dozens of SAD agents were trying to look into the cells. Eagle finally had the local security agent there tell them to get them away as he was approached by the strike team leader, Brock Rumlow along with his teammate Monster. Apparently, director Jeremiah Rush had viewed their cases and the success rates and determined that Eagle’s team would be the perfect group to interrogate the werewolves. If he had any questions, he was to speak with the director which Eagle promptly did. With that, Rumlow handed Eagle a dossier on all they had about the captives.

Heading up to Rush’s office, he found the one-armed director disheveled and tired. Still, Rush was willing to give him any information that Eagle required. Eagle wanted to know what he wanted to get out of the werewolves and any information he could give that might assist them in their interrogation.

Rush said that he was tired of the simple investigation of supernatural creatures and it was now their duty as the SAD to exterminate them. He was willing to grant Eagle permission to use any enhanced interrogation techniques he preferred, with an emphasis on any. He does not view these creatures as human and therefore not subject to the US Constitution. He, however, isn’t able to give much more information than what is in the dossier.

Heading back down, he gathers his team and makes his way back to the lab. Eagle went over each of the captives: a red wolf with no apparent name with his only contents of a collar and a charm on it, a male named Gavin Quinn who was riddled with scars and only possessed a picture of what appeared to be a twin brother, and a female named Caitlyn Whelan with several tattoos, two bladed weapons, a bag of black powder, and wearing a gold wolf’s head necklace. The two human-looking werewolves had been stripped naked and all three were chained to the wall.

Eagle decided to handle the wolf first and called Duke for some advice on how to handle the situation. Duke could only tell Eagle that like people they are all different and each one will have to be handled differently. On the basis of the wolf one, however, don’t treat it like a common dog. They are intelligent and can understand your language perfectly.

Eagle entered the room with the wolf with Boy Scout as Firewall went to work on dictating and recording the events. Eagle maintained a system of yes/no answers with the wolf and managed to get his name, Scratching Claws. Scratching Claws provided his tribe through body language and markings on the floor. As they did this, an equipment failure happened and the team was forced to use pencil and paper to write down what they were seeing.

Scratching Claws noted that there was a Black Spiral Dancer somewhere nearby, motioning his head upwards. However, he could not tell who. Eagle, in a bid to keep the wolf cooperative, brought him a raw steak from the kitchen that the wolf readily devoured. Eagle was able to determine that the wolf did not like humans in the least and would readily kill any that he could if he was free.

With little more they could get out of the wolf due to a language barrier, they decided to move onto Caitlyn. Eagle tried to stall her out, making her wait almost an entire day in the cold in order to look like her rescuer when he came in and offered her clothes, food, and water. Caitlyn accepted her clothes, but rejected the food and water. Eagle tried to be cordial and bluff her into believing he was there to help, but Caitlyn saw right through him. She still remained polite.

Eagle wanted to know whatever he could from her. Caitlyn gave Eagle as much vague information as she could. She told him about the tribes and that not all werewolves wanted to kill humans. In fact, most werewolves wanted to avoid humans altogether. When asked about the Black Spiral Dancers, she told them that they were enemies of all the other tribes. However, Caitlyn either refused or artfully dodged any questions that would give anything away about her home, friends, or other werewolf locations.

When asked why she killed four men as per her dossier, Caitlyn denied this and said the guy who led the team (Brock) activated some sort of magical device that sapped the life out of the men there and gave him strength. She had been walking outside her area and was tricked into believing that Brock was someone friendly. Before she knew it, Brock had beaten her unconscious. While she traveled they put something on her neck, the gold necklace that Eagle could see. They also injected her with some that prevented her from changing forms.

Eagle grew suspicious now that things weren’t as they seem. Before his loss of time, Thomas Little was the director of SAD and the excuse he heard was “personal business” caused him to have to leave SAD for the time being. Not trusting Rush, but not sure what to do. Eagle went to question Caitlyn again when there was a knock on the door.

Brock was standing at the door and said that the girl would need another injection of the suppressing chemical and was to see “the Doctor.” Eagle adamantly refused and said that he would have to chemical administered as Rush gave him full access to the prisoners. Angry, but unwilling to cause issues, Brock handed the chemical injector to Eagle who then gave it to Boy Scout.

As Boy Scout injected Caitlyn in her leg, she sniffed Boy Scout and realized that he was a werewolf like her whispering it to him and asking why she was doing this. Incredulous and stunned, Boy Scout could not even respond when he heard it. In the meantime, Eagle had Firewall grab a picture of Rush, suspicious of the nature of his director.

Firewall brought the picture to Eagle and he showed it to Caitlyn who identified him as Prescott Solomon, a Black Spiral Dancer. Tearfully, she told them he had engineered a plan that killed her son. He had been devastating her entire Sept. Convinced that things were not as they used to be and not trusting anyone in the building, Eagle had Firewall call in Duke for a favor to get him a helicopter to remove these werewolves from the building, believing no good would come of them if they stayed. However, while Duke was able to make it happen, it would take at least three to four hours to mobilize. They would have to prepare in the meantime.

Because of the wait, Eagle sent Boy Scout and A-Bomb to speak with Gavin Quinn. Gavin toyed with the two interrogators whenever they asked questions. At first, he merely asked for a steak dinner, but when he received it, he did not touch it. Unlike Caitlyn, Gavin was more than willing to reveal intimate details like his past, locations of Septs, and viewpoints on tribes. However, with each question, his requests got increasingly bizarre like asking for a life-size stand-up of John Cena, lacy purple underwear, and $14.63.

As time ticked down, the team devised a plan to let the wolf go as a cover for them while the two human-like werewolves boarded the helicopter with them. They would take them to Duke who would do what he saw fit with them. Explaining the plan to Caitlyn and Scratching Claws who both agreed to it, they were interrupted by Gavin who demanded their attention.

Gavin had told them that the entire capture was a set-up to determine what was going on in the SAD. All of the other Septs in the area had been exterminated and the Garou in the Sept he was staying at were baffled as to how. When Boy Scout asked if Caitlyn was lying about being a werewolf, he replied no, that the entire team was. He noted that none of them bothered to realize that the entire team were orphans?

When asked why they hadn’t changed, that’s why Plan B had been looking into the situation. Plan B was Monster from Brock’s strike team. He had been hiding amongst them to get more evidence. Gavin told them that something had happened to them to prevent them from changing. When the team balked at the idea they would all be gathered together as a sheer impossible coincidence, Gavin said the spirits work in mysterious ways. Of course, this prompted Gavin to give them a quick crash course in the Umbra.

With time running out, Eagle released all of the captives and met with Plan B in the evidence room who gave the Garou back their belongings. He had the ability to disrupt the communication and power at the building, but it would have to be quick as the strike team would soon figure it out. Due to the nature of this ability, Eagle would have to ensure that the helicopter was a far away from Plan B’s location in the power room.

As they decided on a five minute window to attempt this, Eagle returned to see Caitlyn cutting open her hand and extracting green ooze from it. The chemical injected into her was a spiritual toxin and she would need to get it out before leaving.

Hitting their window, the group made their way to the top of the building. As they exited the building, Brock and several agents could be seen on the opposite end near the helicopter. Brock was unaware of the plan to escape so thankfully, he ignored the chopper. Reaching for an object on his neck, he activated and sucked the life force from the agents behind him. He swelled to huge Hulk-like proportions and leapt at the group.

Striking Caitlyn first, he leveled her in one punch, knocking her out. Gavin quickly ran to Caitlyn and used the bag of powder on her, reviving her as the team discharged their guns on Brock with little effect. Scratching Claws leapt onto him tearing a solid chunk from him before being thrown off. Caitlyn used what strength she could and flung her dagger into his shoulder.

Brock yelled in pain and removed the dagger, much of his wounds healing quickly. The team fired again and Scratching Claws tore a massive chunk from him. Firewall assisted Caitlyn to the helicopter grabbing her dagger along the way. Finally, Boy Scout and A-Bomb simultaneously unloaded their pistols into his head at point blank range, killing him.

Boarding the plane, the commander of the plane, Steven Thompson, asked where to go. Gavin quickly threw out that he knows a safe place close to here where they can’t be found. Eagle agreed and they were taken to a forest outside of Los Angeles.

Dropping them off, Eagle gave all the information he had obtained from the captive Garou and told him to get it to Duke. Here, they were greeted by a huge mountain man named Heals-the-Land. He told them that Scratching Claws would be safe to stay here. He along with Plan B, who would be coming later, would be able to help them understand their destiny better. He would have Gavin escort Caitlyn back to her Sept. They were free to stay here and he assured them that no one would be able to find them here. It was time for Eagle’s team to discover their destinies…

A Vision of the Past… (Game 45 – 46, White Howlers game 1 – 2)

As we prepared to head for Lily and the Birthday Massacre pack, Crafty suggested that we rest in the Sept for clarity. Eli and the pack decided to heed his advice and rest in the Sept. However, I could not. I was too pent up from the death of my family. I walked the bawn instead.

As the pack dreamed in the Sept, they were given a vision of the past. They saw the White Howlers before their fall. It was 25 BC, before the first assault of the Drowned King. They watched as the Riders of the Storm pack who followed Caern Rattler as their totem. They belonged to the Sept of the Spinning Waters.

The pack comprised of Warsong, a Galliard who was the alpha, the Theurge River Speaks, the Ahrouns Left Paw and Crusher-of-the-Wyrm, the Ragabash Iron Wall, and the prophetic Theurge Sees-the-Beyond, ran the bawn for their early days.

The Riders of the Storm pack were contacted by their Master of the Rite and asked us to retrieve a new pup. We needed to find Morg and bring the pup back here. We must speak with the Cornavii tribe. They have clashed with the Orcadi tribe who have sided with the Roman’s. Now the Orcadi tribe are basically farmer slaves.

The pack made its journey immediately. It was short and the Cornavii tribe was enamored with them. Madi was the leader of the tribe and wanted to know what they wanted. They told him they were looking for Morg. He fed them and told them to speak with Carr, mother of Morg. Her brother is Finn, a Garou.

As the pack ate, a boy came in and said there was a body nearby. Madi went to check it out. After he returned, the pack traveled with him to the body. Instead of one body, there were actually four bodies there including horses that had been mutilated. It was definitely a Garou killing. There was likely three or four Garou there at the time of the killing. It was not normal for the Garou to kill the horse. There were strange scents in the area, but the pack could not track them.

The pack took care of the bodies in accordance to their totem’s ban. Madi tells the pack that they were prophesized to be here. He will assist them if he can. There was an evil nearby that the pack would have to look into. Madi told them that the “warriors of the Lion come and seek but do find what they are looking for. Doom to those in their way. Everything is white as it once was.”

The pack shifted to Lupus and began to track the scent. Sees-the-Beyond picked up the strongest scent and lead the pack to four men at a campfire. However, a man had snuck up on the pack and announced his presence. He was Cassius Truth Thruster and the rest of the men were his pack. They were Siminol Shatterheart, Atticus Broken Throne, Justin Shield of Gaia, and Philo Smile Splitter.

They offered the pack a drink and told the pack that they were Silver Fangs. They were wronged by one of ours. They have the bodies nearby as a show of good faith that it was self-defense. Cassius took Warsong to the bodies. It was an adult male and a boy of roughly 11 years old. There was a pile of weapons nearby.

He tells them that they meant no disrespect but even though Sees-the-Beyond could not understand his language, she could tell that he was not being entirely true. He seems to be making it up as he goes along. The pack is named Claw of the Falcon pack and they are waited for their troops to arrive from Rome.

The pack disposes of the bodies properly. Warsong told Cassius that the deaths do not look as he described them. However, Cassius only counters that he is trying to avoid bloodshed between the tribes. He told them that the fight happened to the north. Cassius offered to let the pack stay the night and they agreed, however they alternated watch during the night.

The next morning, Cassius and his pack headed southwest towards the caerns and the Riders of the Storm made their way north. There they found large rocks near the shore and signs of a battle. As they went to investigate, the rocks seem to come alive and become mud golems. The pack defended themselves and used their speed to their advantage. A lengthy battle ensured, but the pack triumphed.

Searching the area, the pack found five scrolls with ritualistic symbols written on it. There is some Latin, but nothing concrete. Nearby there is a boat with empty crates. As the pack searched the area, they spotted an eagle circling nearby. Crusher-of-the-Wyrm charged to its direction and we followed.

Sees-the-Beyond follows Crusher-of-the-Wyrm over a hill to see a druid standing near columns of stones reminiscent of Stonehenge. Sees-the-Beyond took the lead and headed down to meet the druid. He was apprehensive but she managed to put him at ease. He is Isic the Druid.

After Sees-the-Beyond explained who they were and what they were doing, he asked her and the rest of the pack to come immediately. Following him, the pack is lead into the center of the columns. Here Isic chants and sprinkles powder on the fire pit in the center. Upon lighting the fire, a great bright light comes from it. The smoke from the fire forms a lion.

The lion speaks through Isic and tells the pack that he is White Lion, brother to Khan. In the past, he saved a Fianna pack known as the Lion’s Paw. Many years ago the White Howlers and Fianna worked together to complete great quests. The humans survived the Ice Age thanks to White Lion. Once the ice melted, the tribes split and went their separate ways. White Lion then told the pack that the Finn’s Bite pack needed the Riders of the Storm and they would have to head west to the Orcadi tribe and speak with Jetti.

With that, the smoke dissipated. River Speaks summoned a jaggling to send a message to their Sept about what they were undertaking at the moment. Warsong sent the pack out to find the proper materials to take one of the nearby boats.

After taking the boat as far west as the pack could go, they arrived at Orcadi. They met with Chief Keany. He told the pack that there was a pack nearby led by McFay of the Finnian tribe along with his packmates, Rends-the-Beast and Brosh Hunts-with-Skills. They worked with White Lion and may be the pack the Riders of the Storm need to speak with.

Heading outside of the village, the pack made their way to McFay. He told the Riders of the Storm that they would want to work with them to protect the Arcadia Gateway. In Arcadia, trolls were revolting against the people there. Wyrm creatures were also attempting to disrupt the gateway there.

As McFay was from the camp of the White Lion, once there cause was put into place, they must continue until it is complete. The Riders of the Storm agreed to join the camp. They were mystically marked with three claw marks in the place of their choice.

The pack would enter the Arcadia Gateway while McFay and his pack would defend the gateway from Wyrm creatures. The pack would have to find Lysander to learn more of what to do. Heading into the Umbra, the Riders of the Storm entered the stone doorway into the realm of the Fae.

They found themselves heading down a stone path. Turning around, there was no exit. They would have to complete the mission to return. The forest was rather pleasant and they could see a castle down the path. Getting close to the castle, they arrived at a town situated outside of the castle. It appeared tha the town was completely empty.

The pack slowly traveled through the village until they came across a small female. Sees-the-Beyond attempted to communicate with her. She nudged a rock to the Theurge who nudged it back. Nothing went on until Sees-the-Beyond mentioned Lysander. The small female wanted to know why we wanted him. She asked they were from Finn’s Bite. Warsong tells her no, but also informs her that the Riders of the Storm were sent to assist the problem.

She told the pack to follow her. Along the way, the pack asked her questions about the situation. Apparently, the trolls simply left the village and started attacking anyone who got near them. There are actually 25,000 people in the town, but they are in hiding either physically or through glamour until the troll revolt stops. She told the pack that her name was Nancy.

Heading into the castle and to the throne room, the pack was brought before King Lysander. They all bowed respectfully and the king offered them food. Warsong accepted and heard the king out about the problems with the trolls.

Lysander believed that the trolls were hiding in the Neutral Zone, a place between the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms. He was going to have the pack meet with his Sword, or bodyguard. In the meantime, the pack asked about the trolls with questions ranging from height, danger, and whether or not they were allowed to kill them. The king said that most of the trolls were about 12 feet tall, some shorter and a few taller. They were all dangerous, but the pack was not to kill them unless they had no alternative.

Shanara the Sword arrives and escorts the pack with her. As the pack walked with her, she told them about the various types of trolls and the tactics that they use. She asked the pack whether they accepted any gifts and the pack answered that they accepted the king’s food. She told them that they were effectively his slaves until he felt they had repaid their debt to him. This was not known to the White Howlers who had little contact with the Fae.

Shanara had proposed a one-on-one duel with a chosen champion of the trolls to dispute the issue, but the king rejected this idea saying that her job was to protect him. Shanara led the pack to a gathering of various Fae. As the Fae and pack prepared for battle, Sees-the-Beyond painted a picture of the future with her fetish paintbrush.

As Sees-the-Beyond painted, the rest of the pack met with the colorful individuals of the gathering. Some included a dwarf named Casp who wondered why the Fianna weren’t assisting them, a pooka named Paul who wanted to trade for a magic egg, and another Fae named Cappel who didn’t think the group could win.

As Sees-the-Beyond finished her painting, it was twelve Garou dancing around a Lion’s pelt. Warsong made a stirring speech and rallied the troops by pointing out that this painting signified victory for them. With the Fae fired up, they waited for the trolls.

When the trolls did arrive, only ¾ of the predicted number came. Still, the fight was brutal and the Fae started strong, but began to lose ground quickly. As the pack charged in, each member, even Sees-the-Beyond who was the physically weakest, managed to slay a troll. Iron Wall managed to sneak behind the commander of the trolls and slay him from behind, showing the cunning tactics of the White Howlers. This forced the trolls to retreat, not expecting to encounter this kind of resistance.

As the trolls retreated, Warsong told Shanara to take the rest of the Fae back and consider the fight a victory. The pack then tracked the trolls back to their lair, a massive craggy hill. The pack debated what to do next, as they had Iron Wall sneak into the lair and learn what he could. As he did, he discovered a massive troll, at least a couple hundred feet high, resting deep within the cave. Near the troll was a small box with a ring inside. The ring was determined to be evil and not of this place. Most of the script on it was indecipherable, but there are some things that resembled the script the pack had seen on the Silver Fang gear

Heading outside, Iron Wall presented the ring to Warsong who then decided that someone would have to wear it and test its abilities. Crusher-of-the-Wyrm volunteered and put on the ring. No immediate effects took place so he wandered into the cave. When confronted by two trolls, he told them to put their fingers on their nose. When they complied, he had them take him to the master of the cave. There, he told the troll to give up his rebellion and return to where they belonged. The massive troll, without a word, turned around and walked away, taking most of the cavern with him mystically.

With the mission complete, the pack returned to the entrance to Arcadia. There, they met McFay. Six years had passed in that time. The pack showed him the ring and all agreed that the Silver Fangs must never get their hands on it. They destroyed and left the realm, heading back to their home. With that, the vision ended.

All Hell Breaks Loose… (Game 44)

We spent our first night in Egypt, Eli and William looked for a hotel to stay for the night. In the meantime, the rest of us went looking for the Silent Strider Sept nearby. After looking for a few hours, we realized that we were being followed. We tried to play it cool and get a glance at the person following us. Bjorn managed to get a look at them and they were all dressed in black, but he couldn’t get much more from it.

We tried to duck into an alley and see if the person following us would pass by. It was a woman and we managed to get behind her and start following it. Bjorn could tell that she was a Garou. She managed to duck into a nearby shop and we followed. Looking around, John was approached by the woman. She knew that we were Garou as well. She told us to head to their Sept or leave. Bjorn used his gift to decipher languages and spoke to her in Egyptian, telling her that we are looking for the Silent Striders.

Bjorn went on to tell her that we were attempting to kill the Bane Mummy known as Tutu. We need any help that they can provide us. She didn’t know what a Bane Mummy was so we explained it to her. She has a packmate that can teach us the Rite Descent into the Underworld so we could get to Tutu after he reforms. She will have to speak with her people to determine whether they will help us. She introduced herself as Miha Moon Shadow of the Long Strides pack of the Mahat Sept. It is a Sept based on honor, law, and justice.

She was willing to take us there, but she would have to clear it with her Sept leader first. She asked us to come with her because it was not safe. There were leeches in the city. Bjorn had me go outside and contact Eli and William through Q to come to the Sept. We followed her and headed out of town.

Here we arrived at their Sept. It was something like a bazaar with various shops in the bawn. We were to head to booth number 12. A kinfolk was running the booth and we told him that we were there to see the leader of the Sept. He requested that we place all Weaver items in a storage box in order to keep the caern pure. The only item we had was my cell phone and readily handed it over. He gave us some fruit as hospitality and we waited for Moon Shadow to return.

She returned to the booth shortly with Somar Foot on Path. He took us to a private area where we could speak more openly. He is the Pharaoh or leader of the Sept of Mahat. He wanted to know what we needed. Eli explained the situation to him. Somar told us that they don’t deal with mummies. Although they were the dominant Sept in the area, they could not spare any manpower. However, he did say that he could offer training if need be. I gave him my healing talen in exchange for training the Rite we would need. Agnis also gave a talen for training.

In the meantime, the rest of the pack would try to learn as much information about the area, the Garou here, and any history that they could in order to prepare for the confrontation with Tutu. It was going to take several weeks for Agnis and me to learn the Rite so the pack learned everything they could. They learned that the mummies required a test in order to return and that we would have to perform such tests in order to get close enough to stop Tutu.

Once we entered the Underworld, we would see ghosts. I was terrified at the notion of running into my foster parents after I killed them during my First Change. When you go deeper, there is great death and decay here. There are dead cities there and beyond that you run into the pillars of time. The dead cannot pass, but we could because we were still alive. This is where Tutu undertakes his tests in order to return to life.

The Sept had attempted to do rites to determine where the mummies undergo there tests, but all have failed. There are usually three tests, but there can be as many as seven. When he arrives, we can cancel his tests. We might even have to do battle with his spirit.

After the grueling training for three weeks, Agnis and I were ready for our descent. Eli spoke with Somar and he agreed to set up a moon bridge for us if we ever wanted to return. We left the Sept and I went to get my phone. There were eight messages left for me.

Message one was from Lindsey. I could tell she was upset and she told me in the message to not mention it to Eli as he would want to return to the Sept to fix things. She wouldn’t even tell me what had been happening. She just wanted us to know that the Sept was working on it and she loved Eli.

The second message was from Gina’s phone. It was Crafty. He told us not to worry and that things were being taken care of. He told us that he had two packs working on it and the kids would be returned shortly. I shuddered as I heard it.

The third message was from Fatmoa. He had friends at his place and they were working on something now. He wasn’t sure that it would help but they were still going to try.

The fourth message was from Cliff. He just wanted to keep in touch with us. The kids were somewhere out by Illinois and the Irish Destroyers were going after them. I felt myself begin to shake.

The fifth message came from Lindsey. She needed Logan to call her immediately.

The sixth message came from Gina’s phone again. It was Crafty. All of the kinfolk are at the Sept. They were in trouble. He needed us back as soon as possible.

The seventh and eighth messages were panicked and wanted to know where we were.

Realizing things were going bad, I had Eli call Crafty to figure out what had happened. Eli’s conversation was not pleasant to say the least. My father was attacked. He was stapled to the floor, raped repeatedly, and left to die of dehydration.

Lindsey was also raped, but not killed. Lily had been taken by her attackers and Crafty was not sure exactly where she was.

Whoever attacked him, kidnapped my son and dropped him off near the Sept of the Silver Fury. Black Spiral Dancers then chased the child onto their bawn. The Sept took him in and didn’t know about the avatar. It activated, destroying the caern, and killing my son. The survivors of the Sept went to the Sept of the Three Waters and are still trying to figure it out.

Because of this, the Sept of the Three Waters wants to merge with us. They would effectively take over our Sept and run both. Crafty once again stonewalled them. Prestige said that the Sept of the Silver Fury could be revived, but it would take a massive effort.

Eli then hung up with Crafty and called his father. He told him to find Lily and kill everything that crosses his path. We then headed to Fatmoa as I nervously worried about what was happening in the Sept. Fatmoa gave us some herbs that when burnt, would lead us right to where Tutu reforms. However, it will only work once. Eli sadly told him that something is really wrong at our home and we would have to postpone the mission, but we would contact him when the time is right.

Eli then took us to the desert and had Bjorn give me the terrible truth. I fell to my knees. I knew in my heart already what had happened without even being told but I wanted to deny it. I sobbed hard, feeling my world give way. Sadly, Miguel was obligated to uphold the ban of his baneskin and mocked me repeatedly until Bjorn was forced to get him away from me. Bjorn comforted me, but it was only temporary. I felt I would never be the same.

We returned that night demoralized. Everything we had worked for in the last month had been for nothing. Eli informed Crafty about Prescott and how it was very likely it was him along with possibility of Jonathon if he fell to the Wyrm. Stands-with-Claw and Prestige still want a merger with our Sept becoming a patrol point for the Three Waters, but Crafty was against it.

Daniel went with the Hand of Fionn to New York on a solid lead. He went three days ago and they were expecting him any moment. Eli went to speak with Lindsey alone. He took back to the cabin and he could see that she was emotionally flat, in a state of shock.

She described the attackers to Eli. It was clearly the Birthday Massacre pack, along with two others that she could not make out. Eli guessed silently that it was likely Prescott and Jonathon. When asked why she wasn’t dead, Lindsey told Eli that Massacre came to her. She gave her some blood and it healed her. However, Lindsey told Eli that if she did anything to her that she would never to speak to him again.

Eli then told Bjorn to speak with Gina. In the meantime, I walked the bawn with Agnis trying to deal with all of my emotions. Gina took Bjorn to my father’s place. She worked to cover things up for the sake of the Garou Nation. However, Gina did not know how they got in. Bjorn left Gina for a second and headed into the Umbra. He found spirit tracks and guessed that they had to have used a scryer bane.

At that point my phone rang. It was Cliff. Apparently, Maria spoke with Cliff that Tomas had escaped rehab. He was getting ready to be questioned by the DEA when he ran. I spoke to Bjorn through Q to get Maria. Bjorn and Gina headed off to the restaurant where Maria worked to find her in mid-conversation with a DEA agent named Hank Schrader. He was interrogating her and she was giving him a lot of leading information before Bjorn cut him off. Bjorn never gave him his name and took Maria from there.

Bjorn then informed Eli of the situation. He told Bjorn to move Maria and have Cliff deny everything to help keep things covered up.

A few hours passed and I still could not get my emotions situated. I wanted to see my son and father’s body.

Suddenly, we got word that there was a commotion going on in the center of Santa Cruz. There was someone in the bell tower where we found Spot and Sheeba shouting to everyone. Heading downtown, we could see that it was Tomas.

Agnis attempted to take care of the situation and talk with Tomas. She headed into the Umbra and headed up the clock tower. The pattern spiders were swarming there so she took extra precaution to not disturb them. At the top of the clock tower, she reentered the material world and spoke with Tomas.

Agnis could tell that Tomas was still high on drugs. He told her about how he was once married with a wife and child on the way. After she was hit by a car, things just went south from there. He knew that he had screwed up badly. He asked Agnis how he should kill himself, but she just left the choice up to him. As Tomas went to jump from the tower, everything went dark. Once power resumed, Tomas was nowhere to be found. Agnis managed to go through the Umbra and return to us. We made a Questing Stone for him and it pointed towards the harbor.

Making our way there, we found Tomas speaking with someone. They told him that if he ever returned they would kill him. They gave him some money and clothes in a duffel bag and sent him away on a boat. Bjorn was able to determine that it was a vampire.

We followed him for a while before I got impatient and called out to him. I wanted to know what he was doing with Tomas. He told us that he owed a favor to Massacre. He was going to see Massacre tomorrow at 10 pm. Eli arranged a meeting for us at a local McDonald’s.

The next night, we headed to the McDonald’s at spoke with Massacre. She unfortunately didn’t see anything during this time, but she tries to check in on our kinfolk whenever she can. She told the other vampire we met named Benny that they were off limits for drinking. She also hadn’t seen Jonathon lately. We exchanged phone numbers and parted ways on good terms, Eli satisfied that Massacre was looking out for our best interests.

I considered going into the Underworld to speak with my father as believed he would be there, but decided not to. Eli asked Q if he still felt any connection to Jonathon and Q told him no. We debated on tracking the Birthday Massacre pack. I made a Questing Stone for Slavis and Agnis made one for Lily. Both of them pointed east.

Eli asked Crafty what we should do and he told us that he would accept whatever decision we wanted to do. Eli did suggest a position in the Sept for keeping track on kinfolk, an idea that was well-received. Ultimately, we decided to go after them.

I don’t know what to do now. I’ve felt empty and sad for these last few days. I don’t know if I can go on much longer.

Helping Ryan Whelan and Learning about Mummies… (Game 43)

We finally got some time to rest as we had returned to the Sept from our mission. We contemplated what to do next. Eli reaffirmed his leadership, saying that what happened to Jonathon was his own doing and the event with the banes was a direct result of not listening to Bjorn. Any disobedience would be punished severely.

Mackie then came into the cabin and spoke with us. He was glad to see us and congratulated us on our success. He made our promotion to Artho official. We were now one step closer to being ready for our mission to Malfeas.

Alexander Mac Fionn

After taking the night to rest, we started the next day immediately training hard. After Agnis and I’s morning exercise routine, we gathered together and began working on learning gifts. I summoned Alexander Mac Fionn so Bjorn could learn Speech of All Things. He would have to call upon an ancestor once a week for a month and speak in their native tongue.

I asked Alexander to teach me Banish Totem, so I might better be able to disrupt the enemy packs. He told me that in order to learn such a gift, I would have to learn what it is like to be removed from my pack totem. I would not be able to access Q’s benefits for a week.

Pain Incarna

After this, Agnis summoned a pain spirit. Agnis wanted to learn Spirit Ward. She would be required to utilize the power for one week until she could do it without even thinking. I asked to learn exorcism in order to combat banes and possibly help people possessed by them. I would have to inflict pain on myself every time I used the gift in order to understand the pain that spirits felt from it.

Eli asked to learn Balor’s Gaze. The Pain spirit required that Eli rip out one of his eyes and crush it in his hand. When it regrows, it will be the eye that empowers the gift.

Spider Spirit

Next, I summoned a Spider spirit. Agnis wanted to learn Battle Mandala. The Spider spirit requested that she never purposely kill a spider.

I asked to be taught Umbral Tether. The Spider spirit requested that every time I enter the Umbra for the next month, I must use the gift and create my “web”.

Eli asked to learn Wraith of Gaia from the Spider. He would have to raise his hands in an offensive position like a spider might when attacked every time he used the gift.

After we learned our gifts, we noticed that the trees were bending in the wind. We knew that the spirits requested our presence. We went into the Umbra and I cast my line as demanded by Spider. We headed in the direction that the trees were bending and met Scratch near the edge of the bawn.

wind spirit messenger

Scratch told us that a spirit requested our presence. A spirit of Wind appeared. Its presence so revered that even Q bowed before it. The spirit projected a message into our heads via Spirit Speech. It showed a piece of paper blowing in the breeze. On the paper was an address for a McDonald’s on Canterbury Street in Santa Cruz. A name said Stephen Thompson of the Golden City Cabal.

We knew it was the Mages trying to contact us. We thanked her for the message and Bjorn gave her some spiritual energy before it disappeared. We thanked Scratch for bringing this to our attention and ran to the restaurant in Lupus form.

There, at the restaurant, we met Stephen Thompson and his associate, Susan Strange. Stephen got right down to business upon meeting us. He was willing to attempt to remove the Avatar from my son in exchange for us taking care of something that had been troubling their Cabal. He wanted us to take care of Tutu, the Bane Mummy. Eli was quick to note that the deal was heavily weighted in their favor. If we manage to kill Tutu, they win. If we fail, they lose nothing. If they can’t pull the Avatar out, they can activate it, earning them another Mage.

Stephen, however, countered that we had nothing to bargain with. I wanted to know if he had to become a Mage, when I could see him. Stephen said it would likely be when he came of age, so about five years or so until he could control his powers.

Eli asked for another assurance about the child’s safety, but the girl, Susan, chimed in that they didn’t need us and they were wasting their time. Stephen quickly told her to be quiet and Eli told her to be quiet as well. Stephen said there was no assurance.

Eli spoke to Bjorn through Q and asked what he thought. Bjorn told Eli it was likely a good idea since we would be eliminating something Wyrm related anyway. Eli then came out and asked me directly, since I was cut off from Q for the time being, what my feelings were on it. I felt heartbreak inside for the situation, but I told Eli that if the worst case scenario was waiting five years to see my son, I would do it.

Eli agreed to their terms and asked for more information on Tutu. Stephen told us he was known as the “doubly evil one”. He wasn’t a physical threat like we were, but he never dies. He can be killed, but he always returns to life in time. He was a tomb raider in life. He was ruthless and didn’t care what he violated. He was captured at some point and transformed into a Bane Mummy. He is half flesh and half spirit, much like we are.

The Cabal had once tried to talk to him and reason with him, but it didn’t work. Once he set his mind to a certain thing, he never stops. Apparently, the Golden City Cabal had poisoned him 70 years ago and he has been coming back ever since. He had already been killed fourteen times this year.

Tutu has a base of operations in a place called the Hot Tub Movie Club. They didn’t know if he had any real powers, but he was into alchemy. Their main problem with him is he always manages to thwart their plans. He’s managed to kill over fifty Mages in 27 years. They were going to banish him permanently, but they needed the power of our nodes to do it. Finally, there were rumors that he had the power to kill you by saying your true name.

With all the information they had on him given to us, they gave a phone number where we could contact them once we had completed our task. Before they left, however, I asked Stephen what Kenith’s feelings were on what had transpired. Truthfully, no one had asked him about it yet. However, he reiterated that what Robert did was for the good of the Cabal. Something I internally disagreed with.

After they left, we mulled over the situation. It was possible we could fail at this and then have to deal with a Bane Mummy that never dies or leaves the Sept alone. Either way, the situation is a win-win for them. I also suggested that they could simply lie about helping Ryan and turn him into a bomb for some other unknowing Sept. Agnis suggested binding him somewhere or maybe placing him inside a fetish or even cleanse him.

Heading back to the Sept, we entered the Umbra where I anchored my line in spite of now actually going anywhere, and slept in the Sept to contact our ancestors. I reached out to Jamie Andraste, one of my oldest ancestors to learn about the Mummies. She entered me and gave me the knowledge that the Bane Mummies were to the Mummies like the Black Spiral Dancers are to us. They are not banes in the way that we think of them. We can separate the spirit from the body, but they cannot be bound. It was true that if they knew your name they could control you or even kill you. Finally, Jamie told me that she had met a Mummy by the name of Fatmoa Belalle in her travels.

With what little knowledge we could get out of that, we were once again in discussion about what to do. Bjorn suggested draw and quartering Tutu and keeping the parts away from each other so he can’t reform. Ultimately, we decided it was a better idea to speak with Fatmoa and find out if there was a way to permanently defeat Tutu.

Bjorn made a questing stone and it pointed west. We made a pop culture guess that Fatmoa would be in Egypt. Bjorn used triangulation to determine that it was likely in Egypt. However, getting there would be difficult. I could not access Q’s benefits and moon bridge for the time being so we would have to use more mundane methods. We decided to have Miguel make us forged passports and travel by airplane. William would pay for the tickets.

It would take eight days for Miguel to finish them. In the meantime, I worked with Ryan to learn a couple minor Rites to continue to boost my prowess. During this time, William finalized his deal with Stu and his father’s company. He would keep the two houses and two of his father’s cars. The rest would be liquidated. With over 500 million dollars in funds, William signed the papers.

CITY_OF_SUEZ,_EGYPT

We took the long plane trip to Egypt shortly thereafter. It was a very long flight and I hadn’t been on a plane in a few years. It made me feel nervous and all of the pre-flight screening didn’t fare well with my Rage. Still, we all managed to get there.

With Bjorn’s questing stone, we traveled in Egypt to the city of Suez. There, we managed to locate the Mummy that Jamie had mentioned. I used Speech of the World to speak his language while Bjorn used his new gift in order to communicate with him. We asked to speak with him and he clearly didn’t have a clue who we were until we mentioned Tutu.

Taking us to a nearby house, he asked if we were from the Council of Horus. We explained who and what we were and what we were attempting to accomplish. He seemed disenchanted by the answer. We asked if there was any way to kill Tutu. Fatmoa told us that we would have to have had the Spell of Life cast on us to have a chance. Considering it was how Mummies were created, according to him, it was unlikely we could kill him.

Tutu belonged to a dynasty of unholy mockeries made with a corrupted version of the original Spell of Life. They were also known as Apepnu and followed a creed that sounded very close to Nihilism. Thousands of years ago, an immensely powerful vampire named Set attempted to use the Spell of Life, but it was corrupted leading to the creation of Bane Mummies. The Bane Mummies serve only two masters: Set and Apophis. Apophis was described as the corrupter and the Serpent. This sounded disturbingly like the Defiler Wyrm to me.

Tutu can be fought and killed, but it must be in the Underworld. We would have to kill him in the material world and locate his reform point in the Underworld. There, we could possibly fight him and permanently kill him. However, he can detach his head and act as a sort of cobra. We would effectively be fighting two Bane Mummies.

When Tutu attempts to reform, he must pass several spiritual quests. This is why there appeared to be a roughly two week gap in between his reappearances. Mummies can disrupt the test, but we can’t. However, Agnis suggested the idea of calling on our ancestors as they are pure spirit and might be able to slow him down enough that we could destroy him. Fatmoa was still not convinced, but was more than willing to give it a shot. He gave a contact phone number. I would once again have to take up the empty spot left by Jonathon and learn the Rite to allow us passage into the Underworld…

The Binding of Mabe and an Old Enemy of Daniel’s Returns… (Game 42)

Returning from the Wasteland to the Sept, Jonathon went to study at the Sept while Bjorn did his chiminage with Shebia in Wolfhome. Because of the issue of William’s family and his family’s company, Eli wanted to take care of the situation. William’s finances would always be useful to the Sept and without his controlling interest, his company might take back the Sept which was now owned by Scott LLC.

Getting ahold of William’s family lawyer, Eli convinced William to speak with Stu Smith. Eli was told by Stu that William must speak with Max Dechon, the next highest majority shareholder next to William’s family.

In the meantime, we went to Crafty and asked about Ossian. He told us a story of his ancestor:

“I inherited the box from my great Grandfather before he passed. He was a storyteller of great reknown and was happy to tell me the story of Mabe and the box. Long ago a Fae wandering into a Fianna Sept and met a young Fianna by the name of Finn. Finn was so struck by her kindness and beauty that he fell in love with her. It so happens that another loved her too, a wizard of great power that was feared throughout the land. When he found out about the werewolf and Fae union and banished her back to her homeworld in Arcadia. Finn and his pack attempted to hunt down his true love to no avail until one day while on a quest, the pack found two Fae guarding a young boy, who looked very similar to Finn. He over took the guards and brought the boy back to the Sept where it was confirmed that he was Garou with Fae Blood.

This boy grew into a great warrior and was named Ossian. He had many adventures but the one of note was the capturing of Mabe, Queen of the Fae. It was told to my great Grandfather that because he was half fae he was able to move freely between Arcadia and Earth as we would travel into the Umbra. Ossin made a pact with the current King of the Unseelie to banish her from both realms for 1000 years. It was well known that she could not be killed so banishment was the only option but Ossian knew of another way, which was binding her to an object using Rites he had learned from his Garou side and his own Fae magic. By using a little trickery he talked Mabe into the box and chiminage was that she would be freed after 1000 years or completed duties.

Ossian as to not be tempted by Mabe’s power gave the box to a child of one of his packmates, which was my great great, great, great, great ( you get the point) grandfather.

Now my great grandfather told me to use the box before the 1000 years were up and when I found the Caern here I thought it prudent, for one hundred years the Caern would have an incredibly powerful guardian, but I underestimated her trickery. As her time to be freed grew closer her powers increased and she was able to use her own free will to get herself freed with simple manipulation, and that is how my story of the box ends.”

With his story concluded, I asked if he wanted to be present when I summon Ossian. Crafty was interested and so was Mackie. I started the ritual as completed it as normal, but nothing happened for the first time in my role as ritemaster. Mackie then suggested doing the Rite of the Questing Stone out of morbid curiosity. Agnis did the rite and strangely, it worked. We all questioned how he could be alive after over 1,000 years of time had passed.

Still, not wasting time, Eli got us a park van and we made the trip where the stone pointed. The trip was long and took over a day. We headed north and found ourselves in Seattle, Washington. The city smelled far worse than San Francisco and was an assault on our senses.

Heading into downtown, we found the stone pointing downward. With only one possible solution, we headed down into the sewers to find him. It didn’t take long and we ran into Ossian. He warned us to stay away, but we still got closer. It was obvious he was a bit frightened or cautious of us. Eli told him what had happened with Mabe and that we were trying to prevent her from spreading glamour all over the world. Agnis told him that we had the option of talking Mabe down, but Ossian immediately shot that idea down. Mabe would never be talked down.

With only one other moral option, we would have to bind her. In order for Ossian to agree to such a thing, he required that in the future he would demand six days of sanctuary at a time of his choosing. Eli agreed to it and Ossian took off a piece of a braided cord and wrapped around Eli’s wrist as they shook. The cord became a tattoo on Eli’s wrist, a form of magic we could not determine but guessed it was Fae. It was likely to bind and force Eli to honor his agreement.

Ossian told us that the ritual to bind Mabe is actually very simple and similar to the Rite of Binding. We would need to create fae markings in a circle in order to create the binding area. The markings can be concealed and any size, but he didn’t recommend making it too large. There are four sets of markings with three in each set totaling 12.

A box would have to be carved with care much like we would with a fetish. Ossian’s blood would have to be placed in the box. After taking care of this, we would have to set the terms with a maximum of 1,000 years as its limit. There must be a task that she can fulfill and the magic would weaken over time.

He warned us that if she leaves the ritual before it completes, it will fail. He fooled her once by telling her that he was going to show her Gaian rites. He doesn’t believe she will be fooled again. He gave us the blood and he left us cautiously.

As we drove back to the Sept, William went to take care of his family affair. William went to his mansion in the Sept and met Max there. The press was swarming around his property. There, Max was waiting with a smoke and drink as he started speak with William.

He tried to be sympathetic to William saying that is was tragic for his father’s passing, but business would have to go on. He basically insulted William and told him that he wasn’t worthy or capable of running the company. The board would accept him taking over the company and then offering his resignation. In return, he would receive a generous package worth nearly $622 million after liquidating his father’s property and stock. He would have access to the family lawyer and any other needs.

The conversation was short. He had eight days to respond. Max then took his leave and William spoke with his lawyer, Stu Smith, about the issue. Stu recommended he wait ten days before giving a response in order to make Max sweat a bit. William agreed to sell out the entire fortune save the two houses, his current mansion and the one in New York for the Sept to have somewhere to stay on the east coast. He also mentioned that he would create a team of his choosing to assist him. William wanted Nicolaus to be part of his team in order to help out the downtrodden kinfolk.

Returning to the Sept, I asked Crafty if he would be willing to create the box for Mabe. He happily agreed and we prepared for what came next. Agnis, during this time, asked Quetzal privately if being deceptive or violent towards Mabe to stop her broke his ban. Q told her that due to enormity of the issue and potential for great suffering that using somewhat dishonorable tactics was acceptable in this situation.

After Agnis informed us that we could use just about any method to stop her, we went about looking for any advantages we could use. Miguel managed to channel Cormack, his Dark Age ancestor, and learn that the fae hate cold iron, basically pure iron. Eli continued with the idea of bargaining, but still wanted to have a forcible option. We decided to work on shackles for her. I assisted Eli as we took a few days to create nearly perfect shackles.

Eli tried to ask Ryan for any assistance he could offer, but Ryan told him that it is a challenge and therefore he could not assist him. Still, with all the information and planning we had, we decided that we were ready for the binding.

Taking Q’s moon bridge to San Francisco, we located a safe spot in the Golden Gate Park. Agnis and I went about carving the symbols discreetly while Eli spoke with Royal about any possible weaknesses in Mabe. Royal didn’t have much to offer and the mention of cold iron was not well received. It would physically hurt her, but would not be the way to go to inhibit her powers. With no other assistance from him, Eli returned to our trap.

It was time to invite Mabe out to the area. William volunteered and Eli reluctantly agreed to let him give the invitation. William arrived at the location Royal told us about. It was a lovely building, at least from what he could see.

Heading into the building, William managed to get by security, seeing Royal there in the lobby. He was shown to her room by security. Mabe was happy to see William when he arrived. He told her that we missed her and we wanted to invite her to a meeting where the pack had information she might want to know. She agreed to go as long as William ate an apple. Hesitant, but not willing to back out, William ate the apple. Upon eating it, he was show a world of glamour and power that Mabe would rule. She wanted all of us to be with her.

Although the vision ended, he was still being affected by the glamour. As he took the elevator up to her room, he could see an ogre cranking the elevator to make it go up and down. Heading into the lobby he could see Royal in his true appearance in the process. Glamour was flowing freely here due to Mabe’s presence.

Outside of the building, they called a carriage with a Red Cap Fae as a driver and headed to the park. At the park, we could see that William was being affected by her magic, but it didn’t deter us from our mission. Mabe was sad to see the world in the state that it was. Eli wanted her to stop with her goal as it could hurt and kill many people on both sides of the fence. Mabe told Eli that she would be willing to stop right now if she had a king. She wanted to marry Eli.

Eli obviously didn’t want to do this, but I quickly interjected to go ahead and do it. We would do the “Garou marriage ritual” and it would be taken care of. She wanted to have a proper Fae wedding, but we agreed to do that after she did our ritual. However, she required a witness. William grabbed the Red Cap and brought him to the ritual.

Agnis and I began doing the Rite, dancing around the area as John attempted to make up a speech on the spot. Mabe quickly caught on to the situation and tried to prevent us with illusions. She made Eli believe that he was a cockroach. John grabbed Mabe as she tried to slink away while slapping Eli. He felt it, but could not shake his vision. He finally managed to shake it as we watched on.

Mabe then tried to afflict me with a vision of a battlefield and enemies attacking me. I knew from watching Eli that this was a trick. I took the sword I was holding and managed to stab myself until I fell unconscious as I wouldn’t risk accidently attacking my friends.

John was affected next. He let go of Mabe which Eli then grabbed her. He saw a hostage situation with a man who had babies taped to him and was holding a woman hostage. He tried to disarm and beat him. In reality, he was beating the Red Cap.

Miguel got affected next with a vision of a mental hospital. He had apparently been hallucinating that he was a werewolf. Miguel went with the vision and left the hospital. In reality, Miguel was leaving the circle.

Agnis got affected next, only this time, she saw a blonde-haired girl sitting a white room with her. She told Agnis to think of love and happiness. She told Agnis that the glamour could make the world better and all she has to do is want it. Agnis resisted and told the girl that she had work to do. The girl told her that she was sorry that she felt this way and would kill her later for this.

As she said that, green light emanated off of my body along with Miguel’s, Agnis’, and John’s. I came to and immediately got up and continued the ritual. Mabe was angry and blamed William for this.

Suddenly, William found himself in an illusion. He was standing next to the moon as it smoked a cigarette. It asked him to tell it a story. William quickly made up an epic tale of the how Mabe was trying to change the world and of a deadly serpent, one that he had seen in the vision, and how our pack had to stop it.

The moon was impressed and as he completed the tale, sparks began to fly from us. Mabe’s body fell to the ground and her smoke form came from it. She started to speak of how she would get free, but she was sucked into the box before she could finish.

With the ritual done, we had passed our challenge. With only returning to the Sept and being recognized for this left, we went home. We laid down and rested for the night when Eli awoke in the middle of the night. A note was near him:

Guys,

Shouldn’t be gone long. I found a spirit that knows some secrets and I found a guy that knows it personally. His name is Prescott Solomon, a Glasswalker. Saw him around Williams place looking for Daniel and told me about the Spirit. I told Q to cut me off for a while because I didn’t want him getting involved in negotiations. Prescott said the spirit wouldn’t like it much and I’ll need any edge I can get. Can you guys tell Daniel I’m with his friend and he’ll come back for him when we finish up.

 

PS. Sorry again about the Bane thing

Feel like a heel for almost getting

us killed over a dumb mistake.

 

I tried to warn Eli about how dangerous Prescott was, having seen the Sept’s vision of it, and how we needed to speak with Daniel about this. Eli blew me off and even insinuated that Daniel was in on it as well. He told me to speak with Daniel while he went to Crafty.

Crafty had nothing. He wanted to know what we were going to do. Eli wanted to go after Jonathon. I spoke with Daniel in the meantime, finally letting him in on the fact that I knew what had happened to him in Malfeas. He told me that if Jonathon was with him, then he was already dead and that Prescott would lead us into hell itself. All was doomed. For the first time, I genuinely didn’t know what to do next…