Tag Archives: kenith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Family Reunions… (Game 32)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[The next morning from Miguel’s perspective…]

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

“Free me!”

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

“Why should I?”

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

[Back to the group…]

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

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

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

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

[With the pack…]

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

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

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

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

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

[To Caitlyn…]

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

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

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

[Meanwhile, with the rest of the pack…]

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

[Back together…]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Son, the Fae, and New Sept Members…(Game 25)

After making my questing stones, we debated on how to get to Chicago. There was a good deal of debate on how to make it there, even tossing in the idea of William’s father helping us, but ultimately, we decided to have Q moon bridge us there. It required two jumps since his range couldn’t take us all the way. I, along with Eli and Bjorn, gave Q some spiritual power as the trip would most certainly tax him and we didn’t want to abuse his power.

Our first jump took us to outside edge of a small city, but we were not spotted. The second jump got us to just near the area of the kinfolk whom I left Ryan with. We made our way to the house that looked to be somewhat ran down, but still livable. We all went up to the door and I knocked.

James Sever answered the door and he looked worn down like the house and was clearly drunk. He invited us in and gave beers to most of the pack as I asked him where my son was. He told me that CPS had taken my son away. I had to fight back the urge to give into my Rage at the sound of that. He told us his wife had died several years ago and CPS took the child away two years ago. He begged the Sept of the Second City for aid, but they just disregarded him.

At hearing the story, I couldn’t find myself being enraged anymore. I pitied him and wondered why the Sept I had come from had become so callous to one of their own. We talked it over briefly through Q about what we could do for him, but since he was a Glass Walker kinfolk, the Sept would have to let us have him. So we had to leave James. We tried to give him some money for his troubles, but he wouldn’t accept it.

I decided that the Sept would have the best chance of finding my son. I had a questing stone, but it could take us anywhere and with no idea how long it would take to find him. We headed just outside the bawn and asked Q to introduce us as not to offend anyone. Unfortunately, he returned with less than savory news of their attitude towards Q. Jonathon managed to have Tick look over the situation and she returned with information that the city was under siege by “fomor who drink blood.” It was obvious it was vampires.

There was once again nothing we could do here so I checked my questing stones. My son’s pointed west and my father’s pointed south-east. While I wanted to get to my son, the fact that my stone worked at all let me know he was alive. I decided that getting my father first would save us time since we had no idea where my son specifically was.

Traveling to his location, we found ourselves outside a Harris bank. It was several stories tall and actually decent. We entered the bank and I asked for John Rosie. When asked who would be needing him, I first gave my regular last name, but I realized this would not register to him and changed it to Caitlyn Greyweather.

Making my way up to his office along with Bjorn, I introduced myself and told him I was his daughter. He took the news surprisingly well and gave me a somewhat awkward hug. He asked me about my mother, but I could only tell her she had died, not knowing the circumstances. He was saddened to here, but wanted to know why I had come. I told him I wanted him to return to our Sept. He asked if I could give him a few weeks to get ready and I told him yes. Bjorn spoke through Q to me about taking him out to dinner tonight. I asked if he wanted to and he accepted. In the meantime, he offered to put us up in a hotel. I didn’t want to impose but he insisted so I accepted. I hugged him and we left for the hotel.

Arriving at the hotel, we were checking in to our rooms when Jonathon mindspeaked to me that Tick had told him the city wasn’t safe at night. Banes were out in force and we needed to get out of here. Ignoring this for the moment, we got our rooms and discussed the situation. We figured we could handle the banes for the moment and decided to stay until I had dinner with my father.

Eli took the opportunity to ask Q to try again at the Sept. This time, he managed to get an audience with Spirit Talker, the Theurge who did my Rite of Passage. Apparently, 20 years ago, vampires were feuding with each other and the Garou. The vampires had formed an alliance with Black Spiral Dancers and the Garou of the city decided to wipe them both off the map. Now, however, the vampires are returning and the Sept has entered into a three-day moot in order to determine what best to do. After hearing the story, it was determined that we needed to get my father out as soon as possible.

I went to dinner that night at the bank’s connected restaurant. I decided to not bring the issue about leaving just yet. I wanted to get to know him for a bit. He told about how he knew he was a kinfolk, but hadn’t participated that much. I asked him about my mother. He didn’t know her very well, but did remember her being very beautiful and kind to him. The conversation went on for some time as he asked about myself as well. Finally, as things wound down, I brought the issue to him about the city’s problem. I apologized to him about the rush, but I was concerned he might get caught in the crossfire. He asked for just a week and I told him yes, but to be very careful.

I went back to the hotel that night and slept with a little unease about things. Waking up the next morning, we decided since the Sept was out of the question, we would just have to do things the hard way. We rented a car thanks to William and began traveling west. It eventually took us out of the city. We kept following the path for three days, stopping periodically to use the bathroom and hunt. Finally, we found ourselves at a large estate in San Francisco.

We stood there looking at the house for some time, but we were not sure how to approach. Eli suggested we talk with Royal Ascot to touch base with the Fae and see if they knew anything. It was a quick trip to the Stinking Rose where Washington was still serving as a bouncer of sorts. He didn’t recognize us, which wasn’t surprising, but once we asked for Royal, he led us right to the table we were at last time we were here.

Royal was happy to see us and wondered why we had never used the paper bird for our favor. He called for garlic as Eli gave him the short of what happened to us. He filled us in on how Adela was doing and how she intended to “take someone across the hedge”, a phrase I was unfamiliar with. Afterwards, she would be on her own.

After getting reacquainted, we asked about the mansion, but Royal didn’t know who it belonged to. I quietly suggested using the bird to get my son back, but this idea was shot down sadly. With Eli deciding to hold onto the bird in spite of Royal’s suggestion he could get the child back within an hour, we figured we would have to do it ourselves. We bid Royal goodbye and returned to the mansion.

At the mansion, Jonathon went to speak with the owner of the house. He was greeted by a butler who gave him the last name of the residence: Kincaid. I immediately knew who owned the house or at least the family. Making an appointment to speak with the owner about a personal matter, Jonathon gave a fake name and that we would return at 10:30 pm.

After leaving, I suggested we head to an internet café and look into the Kincaid family. It was headed by Walter Kincaid, the most prominent lawyer in the west coast. Things weren’t looking good for getting my son back I feared.

Deciding that we needed to look presentable, William offered to buy us some clothes for an upscale business. We agreed, but didn’t want to go overboard as doing too much with any forms of income from his family might lead the killers to his father.

Returning to the mansion, we debated on how to approach the situation. I figured it was just simpler to ask for him back and explain what happened to me, even if it was a lie. Knocking on the door, I was surprised to see Kenith who invited us in. He wondered what had happened to me. I lied and told him I was comatose from a car accident and had been taken care of at home by distant relatives. He asked why I came to see him, but I told him I thought he knew why as I wanted my son back.

When Kenith responded that might be tricky, I was nervous. He had his father try to locate me and came across my son. Ryan had been taken by CPS and Kenith worked hard for a year and a half to adopt him. He is well cared for and has the best education. I wanted to be a part of his life again and Kenith agreed it would be a good idea. He offered to introduce me to him over dinner some time and I agreed considering I didn’t want to scare him.

I wondered about the house and Kenith told me that he had taken over the mansion after his father’s heart attack. I didn’t know if his father was still alive, but I could only assume no. As we did talked, William decided to help himself to some of Kenith’s alcohol, but we reprimanded him. Kenith asked if I still had his business  card and personal number and I told him yes.

After this, I mindspeaked with Eli about being unsure of what to do in the situation as we couldn’t just take Ryan without causing legal issues. As we communicated, things became unusually static ridden, something that had never happened before. As we prepared to leave, Eli sternly asked if Ryan would be safer with him rather than his mother. He replied yes, and the thought was heartbreaking to me. Still, as we left, I gave him a hug and quietly whispered to him thank you for taking care of my son. Kenith broke off, headed to his bar, and grabbed some recent pictures of Ryan for me. I was happy to see how he had grown and was feeling much better at seeing him, even if only in a picture for the moment.

As we left, Bjorn told us he wasn’t human, but didn’t know exactly what he was. It was a cause for concern, but given the recent deaths of other kinfolk and my occasionally violent lifestyle, I had to come to terms with the fact that this ultimately might be better. At least until my father arrived and things settled down. Eli tried to listen in at a distance to determine if Kenith had anything to say to his butler, but heard nearby rustling and whispering by a bush.

Heading to the source of the sounds, we found Adela, the Fae we helped years ago. She didn’t recognize us at first, but with some coaxing, her memory returned. Eli had overheard her talking about getting the child. She admitted to it as she had a debt to repay us.

She wanted to take the child across the hedge at first, but she had looked into the child’s past and knew who his mother was so she decided to help get him back for us. She told us she couldn’t take the child across anyway as he had a powerful, fierce spirit, something that made me curious to hear. However, the last time she tried to get him, she nearly forgot who she was due to the house or something protecting it. She was obviously scared of Kenith’s place and it made me more curious as to what he actually was. Some of the pack suggested he might be the Mind Mage who helped me out and I considered the possibility.

As Adela appeared to be talking to someone else we could not see for a moment, we asked who she spoke to and she told us the hedge itself. She told us to go to a nearby bar and she would explain things more clearly. Heading to the bar, she told us to wait for her for a moment and offers us a drink in the meantime.

As we wait, we heard the familiar voice of Carl Kolchak. He had gotten out of prison and was still ranting about the clones. This time, however, he appeared to be more of a drunk than actual threat like before, but it was still thankful he didn’t recognize us.

Adela called us up and wanted to know where we had been for the last four years. William explained the situation in Galliard fashion while we noticed a bag hanging on the wall wiggling back and forth. Asking about it, she told us she acquired it some time ago as she opened the bag. Inside was a staff named Drona, backwards Gaelic for chaos. The staff stood upright for a moment before flying into Agnis’ hand. Adela was a bit perplexed, but happy considering this would repay her debt.

Afterwards, we talked about the hedge and Arcadia, where the Fae live by myself offering a secret about my crush on the Sept leader at Chicago. William offered up a secret about being afraid to have sex in order to learn about what happens when someone is taken over the hedge. The result was not pleasant. They are broken and destroyed spiritually until they become a Fae. It was obvious my son’s spirit wouldn’t be broken so she could not take him across the hedge.

Jonathon offered a secret about not wanting to fight for information about Mabe after Adela mentioned her. It turned out she was the Fae queen. She was ancient and very powerful, but bound to the Sept. How Crafty managed to do something like this was a worrisome to me. Still, for the next several hours she told us of her exploits, which seemed bizarre to us, but completely natural to her. I assumed this is what we might sound like to non-Garou.

After leaving Adela’s, we returned to the Sept and found a man waiting for us. It was Thomas Segundo, Miguel’s uncle. He was happy to see Miguel and had brought his mother here. We went to his boat to get her and he told us he had a job as a boat inspector. He would be gone for 36 hours each week from Tuesday to Thursday. His illegal activities were not missed upon someone even like myself. He also asked we call him the Tooth when in mixed company.

Afterwards, we returned to the Sept with Miguel’s mother who was kind, but worried about where to stay and how to make any sort of money. We figured she could stay at the lodge until more permanent arrangements could be made.

Q called on us to enter the Umbra just after this. Upon entering, he asked for a favor, the first time he had ever asked anything of us. We were to head to the edge of the bawn. There, a tortoise spirit was waiting with Q. He was the totem for the Sept of the Stone Sea. He was forcibly severed from his caern by a profane rite by Gaian Garou, something very disturbing to hear. Q wants us to look into it and determine who did it. We agreed and headed to their Sept immediately.

There, at the Wilder Ranch, we oddly found the Vulture pack piling bodies to be burned, obviously for the protection of the Veil. Upon seeing us, they immediately prepared for an attack, but we told them we weren’t here to fight. We explained that we had been asked to look into what happened here. They told us they eventually traveled to this Sept after they couldn’t find us to cleanse them. Here they were cleansed and given seven quests to complete of which they did four so far. Afterwards, they would be accepted by the Sept. However, with the Sept in ruins they felt they had been screwed again. I felt bad for them since they were actually trying to redeem themselves.

They asked that since they did not need to be cleansed, they wanted us to locate the last remaining Sept member, Spot, who would vouch for them so they could go to another Sept. We agreed to and Bjorn did the questing stone rite that led us into Santa Cruz. At the top of the clock tower, we found Spot and a metis named Sheeba. Spot believed the attack was due to their Sept taking in a Metis from two unknown members of the Sept of the Three Waters. We offered justice to her and not vengeance as neither of the Sept totems would have wanted something like that.

Still, with nowhere to go, we offered to take them to our Sept and possibly bring them in. An impromptu moot was called and we were all allowed to give our opinion. Everyone was willing to accept Spot and Sheeba into the Sept save for Mackie, which was expected given his views on mixed Septs. The Vulture Walkers were a different matter. A little over half wanted them to join and only William and Jonathon were opposed to them.

In the end, after everything was said, Sheeba and Spot would join the Sept and the Vulture Walkers would complete their last three quests and be brought before Lion to determine their worthiness. It had been a long journey, but I finally partially secured my son. I also felt better about how the Sept was growing. I now looked forward to a little downtime to work on my rituals to become Ritemaster for the pack as Bjorn had taken over Beta. I hope I can do this….

Sharks, Love Making, and Creepers… (Game 14)

After everything that had happened to me, I slept that night peacefully. I awoke early in the morning as Kyle was taking Miguel and William on bawn patrol. Jonathon continued to study with Ryan on his Rites.

As it became afternoon, Kyle gathered Bjorn, Eli, John, and myself together for more klaive duel training. He showed us a new move called a feint. I paired off with Bjorn as usual and John and Eli paired up. We took turns practicing our feint maneuver.

Once we were comfortable with the new technique, Kyle gathered us together. He wanted to create a sort of mock tournament with us utilizing all of the techniques we had learned. I was paired up against John and Eli was against Bjorn.

My match with John went horribly. We squared off in Homid form and my size and strength cost me dearly. I wasn’t invested in hurting John since this was merely a practice. I tried to disarm, but was disarmed in response. I channeled my Rage to shift into Glabro form, one that I rarely used to equalize the battle, and grab my weapon. I came back to attack again with a solid feint, but John managed to knock me out with a strike to my head.

Kyle stopped the fight and woke me up. I shifted back into Glabro to heal up and reflect on my loss. While I rested, Bjorn and Eli fought. The battle continued much longer than my fight with John. It was a back and forth fight until Kyle yelled at Eli to consider the loss of his packmates that could happen in a fight. This pushed Eli to fight harder. He channeled his Rage and finally overcame Bjorn.

What happened next was a bit of shock. Kyle flipped out saying that Eli could have ended the fight, that we weren’t taking it seriously, and we were worthless. He threw his bat into the woods and went into the bawn. After my loss, it certainly didn’t make me feel any better.

Mackie heard the commotion and opened the cabin door. He called us over and asked about our dueling. We told him things were going fine until Kyle lost it. He then asked if we wanted to talk with him.

Initially, no one spoke up. We really didn’t have much to talk about until Eli mentioned being outnumbered by the other Septs and what do we do. Bjorn also wondered about balancing everything in life. Mackie decided it was time for a drink and a chat. Although I was a bit more accustomed to drinking, I still didn’t prefer it, but it was best not to be difficult about things.

Mackie told the rest to get things ready in the cabin as he had me walk with him. He told me about how he seen me lose and not to take it too hard. He elbowed me a little, as he said, “not that he knew anything about losing.” I know he was trying to cheer me up, but it didn’t really help as losing here might mean losing later, and I didn’t want to risk not being about to help and protect my pack.

We all sat down together and took a drink as Mackie laid down the hard truth. He admired us for going to school and holding down jobs, but being a Garou comes first. We needed to grow up because these things would cause us problems, especially the human relationships. I didn’t like that notion because without any real joy or happiness in our lives I thought you would be more prone to Harano. Still, I continued listening intently.

The battle with Samuel Haight was great and we were recognized for this, but these things happen all the time so we shouldn’t dwell on it. There would be another fight and they typically came to you instead of you looking for it.

Eli asked about respecting those of greater rank and vice versa. Would we always do as they say? Mackie told us no, but we would have to remain respectful in our answers. Unfortunately, as Mackie told us, this could create an enemy for life if we weren’t careful.

Bjorn asked about the Mages after meeting them in my Chimare. Mackie knew nothing of them as they were simply not in the homeland. We took another drink and Mackie told us it was fine that we were doing things that we wanted to do like jobs and school, but just to remember to be Garou first. With that, we took a double shot and left the cabin, finishing our discussion with Mackie.

After this, I needed to arrange a date with Kenith. I was somewhat nervous as this would be my first real date with a guy since before my pregnancy. I called the law office and got a secretary. I arranged for the date to take place Friday and to be picked up at the Worstell Hotel.

Eli borrowed my phone afterwards and decided to quit his job, dedicating himself entirely to Garou affairs. I suppose it was a good notion for him, but I couldn’t do it. We spent the rest of the day doing minor things around the Sept before heading to sleep.

As we slept, we were all given the same vision of a natural bridge near the ocean. Hellhounds appeared taunting us with the threat of our impending death. Their insides exploded and a huge worm with teeth appeared. I felt like I was drowning and awoke to choking on seawater. I spit it out as we all woke up at the same time.

We woke up everyone at the Sept to tell them of the vision we seen. Mackie told us that spirits send visions. We mulled over what it could mean. Some thoughts included things about vampires and the Wyrm, but Crafty said to not worry about it. Things would take their course.

With that, Mackie noticed the bottled water had turned black. The water was a black, sludge like consistency from being slightly tainted by the Wyrm. Crafty looked worried and headed into the back, near the river. He returned saying things appeared fine with the water. As Mackie poured out the tainted water, it created ripples moving in the direction of the ocean. Mackie told us it was a message. I asked if I should cleanse the water to prevent it from spreading farther into the Sept, but Mackie said the taint was minor and to not worry about it.

With that, Eli had me take us into the Umbra. I was a little worried since I didn’t have as much spiritual strength as Jonathon, but I managed to do it quite successfully. At least I was able to do one thing right today. We headed towards the river and noticed no water spirits. There was Wyrm taint in the river on the bawn, but it had not made it to the caern. What was more disconcerting was that Mabe had not detected anything. We left the Umbra and decided to cancel our dates to investigate our vision.

I felt bad rescheduling after I had just made the date. I made up an excuse of a sewer problem and told Kenith’s secretary I would call back to reschedule. John called Regina, who was agitated about not seeing him. The kinfolk took it a lot better knowing the stakes involved.

The vision happened at night, so we had time to kill. Eli and I went into the caern to meditate. I replenished with spiritual energy I could from the spirits. John tried to contact his ancestors and learn about the worm we seen. It would normally be a sea lamprey feeding on sea creatures, but this one was obviously supernatural. He also learned that the Celtic hellhounds were a representation of death much like the Grim Reaper was to us in America.

With ourselves prepared, we headed to the Natural Bridges State Park. There we saw the bridge from our dreams. We waited throughout the day as beachgoers enjoyed their time. However, as it got dark, the beachgoers seemed to get uneasy and some looked sick. They left as night fell and we climbed the natural bridge to get ready for what was coming.

I could tell the water was tainted and it was rising unnaturally. It only came up around the bridge where we stood. We all shifted to Crinos form and prepared for the inevitable. Without warning, a high-pressure jet of water came from nowhere and stuck Eli hard.

From the ocean, a massive water elemental rose up. It had to have been 25 feet tall at least. John leapt onto the water elemental attacking it and managing to stay on it with effort kicking his feet. I was nervous as I had never encountered anything like this before. I wasn’t even sure if I could leap far enough to hit it. Still, we all leapt at it and I managed to get to it.

We all worked at striking it, but I was faring no better at fighting than I was the day before. John’s legs gave out and he dropped to the ocean floor. Things were not looking good as sharks appeared beneath the elemental. Instead of attacking us, they attacked the water elemental. Eli managed to deliver the finishing blow to the manifested spirit and we tumbled to now normal ocean.

As we made our way back to the beach, two of the sharks shifted into Homid form. I had never heard of other shapeshifters before so this was eye opening for me. One of the two came forward and held a necklace that seemed to enable him to talk to us in our heads. His name was Great Tooth, he was a Rokea, and he had been following and fighting this elemental since it manifested in the physical world.

He had been near the beaches waiting for what he called a dirtwalker. We inquired about what that was and he told us it was a Rokea who stayed on land instead of the sea. He would stay for three turns of the Great Wound. We asked what that meant and he drew us a picture of the sun. He would be here for three days until he found the dirtwalker.

We asked what could make the elemental of such power and he told us it was the drown one, also known as the sunken king. We asked if we could help, but the Rokea implied for us stay out of it. We chatted with him a little more and learned a little of their language and how they describe the Triat. Great Tooth’s partner sounded off for him to return and he left without saying a word.

With our work done, we returned to the Sept to tell Mackie. He told us again that things would come to us. We rescheduled our dates. Eli was concerned with me being distanced from the pack, but he devised a way to be near in case something happened. Quetzal also had the ability to open a Moon Bridge right to their location so things were ok.

We all got ready for our dates the following morning. I got myself dressed in the dress I had bought with Gina and we gathered up. Gina picked us up, and then picked up Regina. We tried chatting a little with her on the way there, but it was mostly unimportant small talk. It was obvious we really didn’t have much in common. Gina dropped me off at the hotel and I waited for Kenith to have me picked up.

Right at about 1 pm, a white limo approached and a female chauffeur came out. She asked if I was Caitlyn and I told her yes. She said Kenith had things to do for the day and she was to get me ready for our date. We went in the limo to a store called Neiman Harris. There, a man was waiting for us and the chauffeur gave him a credit card. He was told to find me a dress. Even though I already had one on, I went ahead with it.

I got a lovely black dress that went down to about my knees. It was a modest dress and I appreciated the fact it wouldn’t demean me. After getting my dress, it was paid for on the credit card and we left to head to a salon to get my hair done. They did a wonderful job feathering my hair and making it fuller. After this, I was taken to get my nails done with a full manicure and pedicure. They painted them a wonderful candy apple red.

Once this was done, I was taken to a spa where they gave me a full body treatment. I sat in a sauna for a while, then had a mud bath, followed by a full body message. I had never been pampered like this before, but it was great. I had only seen this kind of thing on TV and it was better than it looked. After my spa treatment, the chauffeur took me on a tour of San Francisco. It was nice to get to know the area so I wouldn’t be lost the next time I visited. I was eager to see Kenith.

[Eli, Bjorn, and John’s dates…]

Eli and Bjorn decided to go to a different restaurant than John as he took Regina to Red Lobster. At the restaurant with John, Regina asked him if they were an item. She said they weren’t spending enough time together and she wasn’t sure if she should be looking for other guys. John just told her to tell other guys she had a boyfriend and he would murder them if they tried anything. Satisfied and obviously turned on, they abruptly left the restaurant.

Eli and Bjorn sat with Lindsey and Gina at their restaurant. Lindsey asked Eli if she should quit her job and focus more on school. She felt she would be worthless if she couldn’t conceive or get a good job. If she stayed at her job, her boss had obvious designs on having sex with her, but without a job she wouldn’t have any money. Eli offered to take care of her and told her she would never be worthless.

Bjorn spoke with Gina about a conversation involving No Hands and her mother. She overheard them talking about the Shannon Johnson incident. Apparently, No Hands had managed to smooth things over and Lightning Claws was treating her better. No Hands believed it was a ploy by Prestige to stir up trouble and gain more allies in the Sept of the Three Waters. From that, he would cause more trouble and build more allies. It was obvious Prestige was trying to take over leadership of the Sept and the White Lion’s Pride pack was just collateral damage in the process.

After eating their food, Bjorn contacted John and told him they were going to the Golden Gate Bridge to watch the sunset.

[Back to Caitlyn…]

For dinner, Kenith’s chauffeur took me to a restaurant named Harris. I had never heard of it, but I could tell from the outside it was expensive. I sat around for what had to have been 20 minutes when Kenith finally showed up. He apologized for being so late, but I didn’t hold it against him since I had to postpone our date yesterday.

We ordered some wine and began to have a pleasant conversation. He wanted to know about me and I told him many things, obviously lying a little here and there to not break the Veil. I didn’t want to tell him my true location so I fudged an address around the area. Still, he paid close attention and I could tell he was actually interested in me instead of just sex.

The waiter came back and Kenith ordered some veal. I wasn’t sure what to order so I told them to give me the same. I asked him about himself and he told me he was studying to be a lawyer. He worked for his father and whatever he didn’t spend on his business account he was able to use for himself. It allowed him to provide these nice dates. The veal came and I got to try it for the first time. It was really tender and very good. Of course, I would haven’t expected any less considering how upscale the restaurant was.

[At the Golden Gate Bridge…]

Bjorn used his new gift Open Seal in order to break into one of the towers on the Golden Gate Bridge. The couples were having a good time as they sat and watched the sunset. Regina though, seemed antsy, and it was obvious she wanted to spend some quality time with John. John stalled for a little bit and asked the other packmates about getting a somewhat cheap hotel. Lindsey offered to do so, but Eli told her not to do it. Eli used some money and had Lindsey get three rooms at a cheap, but not bad hotel.

With each of the couples in their own rooms, they all had their sexual encounters with each other. Lindsey and Eli had a blast while John and Regina went at ferociously. Bjorn was trying to get Gina to go a little wilder and she asked him to turn on the TV so no one would hear them. Bjorn turned on the TV and started having sex when a breaking newscast came on the TV. Bjorn stopped for a brief moment to hear the news.

The newscaster said that Officer Kent Wells had been killed during a foot chase with a suspect. At the same time, his son Brent accidently fell out of his second story bedroom window, hitting the pool deck and suffering severe brain damage. Brent was in a coma at the time and the newscaster sent his regards for a speedy recovery for Brent.

Gina asked if something was wrong, but Bjorn just told her it was nothing, thinking it involved William. In truth, it did involve William, and someone was obviously covering William’s tracks. Who did it though, was unknown to the pack. Afterwards, the couples finished up having sex and went to bed.

[Back to Caitlyn…]

After finishing most of my meal, Kenith offered to have dessert. I accepted, but I didn’t know what to order. He suggested the crème brûlée, which I had only heard of, but not ever tried. They brought the flaming custard out to us shortly after ordering. It was actually delicious and lemon flavored.

After finishing our dessert, Kenith offered to give me his personal number. He opened up his briefcase and I saw a picture of Logan’s father from the vision I had that one night in the Sept. He looked older, for obvious reasons, but I was sure it was him. I didn’t say anything to him about it, but I wondered what Kenith had to do with him. He then gave me two numbers, a pager number and his personal cell phone. The pager was for emergencies.

After giving me a number, he asked if there was anything I wanted to do. I suggested we could watch a movie at his place. We headed back to his apartment, which was pretty nice. We sat down to watch Pretty Woman, which there was a slight bit of irony not lost on me. He popped some popcorn in an older air popper and sat it down next to me.

After a little while of watching the movie, I decided to climb on top of him and make love to him. I had just recovered from losing my mind entirely and I wanted this. He was a bit cool to the touch, but was very good at treating me right. We had sex for quite some time, switching positions several times, before I felt satisfied. With that, I feel asleep next to him.

[Back to the hotel…]

Bjorn was awoken to the sound of Gina’s phone ringing. Checking the caller id, he realized it was Lisa. He woke Gina up and she talked on the phone for a moment. There was obvious concern in her voice. She said to stay calm and she would send the guys over. Hanging up the phone, she told Bjorn that Lisa was frightened by a guy creeping around her house.

Bjorn got the rest of the pack up and gathered them together. John snuck out, not wanting to wake Regina up. He left a note going out to get some food in case she woke up.

I awoke to Quetzal telling me to meet up with the pack. I quickly got dressed in my old dress and found Kenith watching TV. I told him I didn’t realize how late it was and I needed to go. He asked if anything was wrong. I kissed him and told no and I would contact him later. I grabbed up my belongings and headed out of his apartment. I ducked into a back alley and had Quetzal make a Moon Bridge to the rest of the pack.

After getting together with the rest of the pack, Quetzal once again opened a Moon Bridge to an alleyway near Lisa’s house. We made our way to her house and ducked into the backyard. There, we saw a man attempting to attach a camera to a tree pointing into her house. John shook the tree and the man finally noticed us.

He asked us what we were doing and Eli responded asking the same of him. He told us he was doing his job as an investigator. We asked him his name and he responded with Carl Kolchak. He asked us ours. I didn’t mind giving him my real name, but the other pack members chose to give him fake names, which clearly made him annoyed.

The conversation went back and forth for a while with him demeaning us about being kids and us telling him his actions were illegal before we finally got to the important aspect: William. He had been looking into William’s appearance at the Fourth of July party. Bjorn mentioned if he had anything to do with Kent Wells. He said yes and Bjorn mentioned he died tonight and his son was severely injured. Carl responded that Brent had died at midnight.

The pack was clearly getting agitated before I finally stepped forward and tried to politely ask him what he was doing. I told him we only seen William during the party looking to spend his money before heading south.

He merely wanted a picture of Tom Carter, Lisa’s father. He thought he might have something to do with William, but it seemed like he was implying there was something more. Still, we agreed to let him take his picture, though it may be some time since Tom worked late on software development and Lisa’s mother had died a year ago. We told him we would give his camera back tomorrow at 5 pm so he wouldn’t have to return and scare Lisa again. He agreed to this and tipped his hat to us, leaving in a beat-up car.

I went into the house and found Lisa. I told her things were going to be all right. With things taken care of, the rest of the pack headed back to the hotel to spend time with their girlfriends. I had Quetzal open another Moon Bridge back to the Sept since I didn’t want to be a fifth wheel. It had been a couple of days of ups and downs, but I laid down that night glowing with happiness from the night with Kenith.

I hoped the rest of the pack had a fun time as I said a prayer for myself and fell asleep…