Monthly Archives: January 2016

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

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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)

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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)

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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.