Initially during the intense standoff with the Vulture Walker’s pack, the only options on the table by Eli were to die fighting or have Crafty come to judge them. Once the Skin Dancers presented they knew something about Samuel Haight, Eli decided to see what the pack thought.
Most of the pack was willing to hear them out believing Samuel Haight to be a far greater evil than just a pack of four Skin Dancers. All of us agreed to this save for Jonathon. He was vehemently opposed to such an idea, believing we would be going down the same path as the White Howlers. Although the pack wasn’t able to convince Jonathon the decision was worthwhile, he reluctantly agreed with the pack vote.
Chloe, the one who asked to speak with us first, told us the pack was formed under the direction of Samson. Samson had taken on Tick as a pack totem and Tick had promised a deal to Samson to be the second coming of Samuel Haight. However, the Vulture Walkers pack had no idea what the deal was. When we asked where Tick was, they told us she resided in her realm which they visited by using a fetish given to Samson known as the Supplement’s Compass.
The pack told us after the last battle Samson began to act strangely, not caring about making more Skin Dancers. He left earlier and was supposed to return, but hadn’t shown up yet. In fact, they told us the last time they interacted with Tick; she seemed to be talking more to the pack than Samson. They have decided to ditch Samson, follow the real way of Garou, and only kill Black Spiral Dancers unless attacked by other Garou.
I have faith they’ll continue to make the right choice so I decided to teach them the Litany. Bjorn helped me out while Eli went to get the compass the pack had told us was in the basement. After offering to help us whenever they can to prove their sincerity, they left in the van. In the basement, we found more skins, some Spiral skins, and some regular Garou skins. We chose to burn the Spiral skins and sent a message to have Crafty collect the rest of the skins in order so we didn’t have to risk being questioned by the other Septs.
Eli attuned himself to the compass and a portal appeared on the floor below us. We boarded it and were taken through the Umbra to the realm of Tick. It was a thrilling experience, as I had never seen anything like where we traveled. When we finally arrived, we caught our first glimpse of Tick. She was a sort of rotund tick the size of an elephant.
Tick was surprisingly cordial, greeting us and immediately telling us she knew why we were here. We asked how Samuel Haight had been reborn and why. Tick was able to create a fetish out of a small piece of Samuel Haight’s skin and use it along with other Garou skins to create Samson. This gave Samson Samuel Haight’s memories and powers.
Samson was charged with building a pack to take on Minotaur, whom Tick believes is corrupt, and cleanse the tribe. Tick believes with the tribe cleansed, they can be accepted into the Garou Nation as the 14th tribe. I admit, the idea of redeeming an entire tribe appeals to me very much. Maybe this would be an action that could make up for the terrible loss of my foster parents during my First Change.
However, Samson has strayed from the path set before him. We all believed Samson may be taking on too many of Samuel Haight’s memories and traits and has thus turned against Tick and his pack. In order for Tick to help us, she required one of us to take her on as a personal totem. Jonathon was considering it and I volunteered if he chose not to. Ultimately, he accepted.
The mission was to either have us cleanse Minotaur or kill him and have Tick take his place. If we cleansed him, Tick would still have to feed off him to remove him from his position as tribe totem. Either method sounded less than pleasant to me as the stories of Minotaur’s anger pretty much assured me there would be a fight in it for us.
Still, as the respectful pack we are, we decided to attempt the cleansing first as killing a spirit of Gaia is never a good thing. Jonathon and I spent the next week studying the Rite of Cleansing while the rest of the pack helped around the Sept. After we learned the Rite, Eli arranged for a nice party to be thrown for the kinfolk for all of their help in the past. He gave a wonderful speech about how they are just as important to the Sept as we are. Now, it would time to make any final arrangements before heading off to Minotaur’s realm.