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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Skin Dancers, Becoming Adren, and Building a Klaive… (Game 30)

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The next morning after hearing Ariel’s vision, we awoke to Sheeba and Jason returning from their Rite of Passage. They immediately went to see Crafty and Ryan. We called in to the cabin shortly afterwards. Crafty told us that the pair would have quite a tale to tell at the next moot. Apparently, they were helped by a pack of Skin Dancers on their Rite. The pack asked if they could speak with our pack

After a little discussion, we decided we would speak with them. We owed them for helping our Sept members. Crafty mentioned they didn’t take advantage of the pair as they would have been easy pickings for more pelts. They were at the Talking Tree, north of highway 9 near the mountains where we met Tale Catcher.

We started to leave, but not even getting more than six steps towards it, Q implored Eli to head to the campsite. Making a mad dash there, we found the campsite in disarray, Serenity lying on the ground bloody and beaten. Jonathon’s backpack is nearby and neither packmate is anywhere to be seen. It was obvious a struggle had taken place. I healed Serenity and it was most certainly a Garou who was here as she was still struck by the Delirium.

Eli hunted for a scent, finding a weak lead on John and Jonathon’s going deeper into the woods. There was a drag path nearby and it was certainly his. About 125 yards down the drag path, we found Jonathon, dead and gutted. A wave of strong sorrow welled up my heart and I could see it in the other packmates, especially Eli.

Through Q, Eli called out to John. It turned out that he left the campsite because Jonathon was annoying him. He kept trying to learn about the bane, constantly going into the Umbra and back. After a day of this, John went back to the Sept to get a little peace. He had only been gone an hour.

I looked around the area and found a strange carving in the tree. It looked like a glyph of some sort with 8 – 1 below it. From examining him, we could tell that it was more than one Garou and that Jonathon didn’t even have time to shift. I swore to myself he would be avenged regardless of how I felt about vengeance.

We took Jonathon’s body back to the Sept. We dug a hole next to Kyle and Mackie did the Rite for the Departed. We all spoke of how Jonathon affected our lives before burying him. We placed the stones near his headstone and I softly said our prayer for the deceased. We then released his fetish and talen spirits back into the Umbra.

In spite of the tragedy that just happened, we resolved to speak with the Skin Dancer pack by the Talking Tree. The run took about an hour, but I’d been training so hard lately it wasn’t even draining. Looking at the tree, we could hear the wind blowing through it, making it sound like it was talking. Of course, Agnis realized it would truly talk to us in the Umbra.

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Sure enough, our first vision in the Umbra was a tree speaking to us about a pack that stood before us. It didn’t want them near it, so we proceeded to get to business. The smallest of the pack, Lenny Jones, introduced us to his pack, the Fang and Claw pack. We politely introduced ourselves and Eli asked what they wanted.

It turns out that our actions in cleansing Minotaur, killing Samuel Haight, and redeeming the Vulture Walkers pack had caused a schism in the Skin Dancer ranks. A small portion of the Skin Dancers wanted to join the Nation and put their pasts behind them. However, the bulk of the tribe still followed Minotaur. More troubling is the fact that Minotaur called for war against the Garou Nation and was considering an alliance with the Black Spiral Dancers. This was very distressing to me. A pack of Skin Dancers trying to skin is one thing, but our deepest, most bitter enemy skinning us as well could lead to the fall of the entire Nation.

We thanked them for helping our Sept members, but we could tell they smelled of the Wyrm, especially the Theurge of the pack. They asked for sanctuary from our Sept but their Wyrm taint made going there impossible. Eli became upset after they mentioned they had trafficked with banes in order to learn their gifts. He tried to leave, but Bjorn and I asked to reconsider, my point being it was rude to leave in such a curt fashion and Bjorn mentioning this was a Sept decision, not his.

Reconsidering for a moment, Eli listened to the rest of their argument. The Skin Dancers could not access any Gaian spirits due to their taint, and even one cleansed would still find themselves limited. They found themselves with no other option but to traffic with banes. The Skin Dancers that make up the loyalists to Minotaur are considering making an alliance with the Black Spiral Dancers. The Fang and Claw pack was created by Nicolas Carver aka Samson to do just this. However, they want to turn away from this path.

They want to destroy the ritual, which I found curious as I didn’t know there was such a way to do so, and let the tribe develop naturally. We could tell from looking at them that the pack had its differences. Lenny was a survivor and would make whatever choice best suited his survival. The Theurge was especially troubling after asking if he would give up trafficking with banes, he lied. He also seemed to be heading deeper into the Wyrm’s clutches. In the end, we agreed to sanctuary, but not at the Sept. They would have the next three weeks to work on their attack against Minotaur and we would watch out for them.

As the night wore on, we returned to the Sept for the Moot. We told Crafty about the situation and he was cautious, but went along with us. John was sent to watch after Serenity and not let anything happen to her this time.

The Moot began with Scourge of the Woods breaking the bone. We all sat around telling stories of Jonathon at first. Mackie told a story about Jonathon complaining about the Fianna drinking too much. Mackie told him the Fianna drink to celebrate, ease the pain, honor those that are gone, and appreciate the spirits. Jonathon never complained about drinking afterwards.

We all had our own anecdotes about Walks with Spirits, but I could only add I hoped to be as good as a Theurge with the spirits as he was.

pathstone

Afterwards, Jason and Sheeba came forward and told of their saving at the hands of the Fang and Claw pack. It turned out their Rite of Passage was to obtain a pathstone for the Sept. We would now be able to link quickly with any Septs within our Sept’s power range. Jason and Sheeba were threatened by a Garou who was Gaian and obviously from this area. The Fang and Claw pack scared them away. It was a worthy Rite of Passage and they were graciously accepted to Cliath rank.

Crafty then said that Lion was nearly completed with paying his debt to Griffin. He’s growing in power and when the debt it paid off, he might return to a position of power, even once again a tribe totem. It was exciting news to be sure.

He also mentioned that surveyors for William’s father would be in the area next week. I didn’t like the idea much because buying the land was about the least low profile thing William could have done. Still, the Sept thought it was right so I acquiesced. We would have to keep them out of the Sept for the obvious reason of protecting the Litany. He also mentioned Serenity is still being taken care of for a favor to the Sept of the Raging Storm.

Gruffy then took the bone and told us that Spot had joined the Irish Destroyers pack.

Anthony, after hearing about what was going on in the Skin Dancer ranks, became disgusted with it and offered his pack to take the Rite of Renunciation. No one disagreed and Ryan performed the ritual. He brought forward an earthen bowl and asked that everyone in the Sept give something of themselves. I choose my gold cross as it was precious to me as the Vulture Walker pack was to the Sept. After anointing them for lack of a better word, they were made Fianna at Cliath rank.

After this, a large debate broke out between our pack with occasional chime ins from the Vulture Walker pack about giving sanctuary to the Fang and Claw pack. Eli, being stubborn and capricious as he is, said we should just wash our hands of it, if not destroy any other Skin Dancers outright. He fell back on the same argument of not opening our Sept up to just anyone. It was a tiring discussion with Agnis and I emphasizing that the true victories against the Wyrm were small ones. We would view each person who came to us based on their merits and not an open invitation for anyone.

We finally decided to give them sanctuary, but away from the Sept as we couldn’t convince them to cleanse themselves earlier. The Vulture Walker pack would watch them for the time being.

Ryan then mentioned that what would found near Jonathon’s body was not a glyph, but part of a ritual. What that entailed is unknown since it appears we stopped it, but it was definitely Gaian.

After the breaking of the bone was taken care of, we moved on to our renown. After all was said and done, we were ready for our Rank 3 challenges. Bjorn would have to better the relationship between the Sept of the Three Waters, Miguel would do a scavenger hunt, I would lead a Rite which would be judged not on my ability, but that of my pack, Agnis would make a klaive in two months’ time, Eli would complete a staredown challenge, and William we could not say for certain as we lacked a proper Galliard to initiate his.

Eli started his staredown with Scourge of the Woods immediately. He lasted for four hours into the early morning as others spent time watching and going about their business. Sadly, Eli broke and was not able to win his challenge. He would have to try again at the next moot.

The rest of the night was a joyous affair. We danced, drank, and cheered as we always do. I decided tonight was the night and had sex with Magnus at the lodge for the first time. I took him as my mate in the hopes I might have another child. I still missed Ryan and constantly thought of ways to get him to the Sept. Still, I kept quiet about this, not wanting to bother my packmates.

Two days later, Miguel did his scavenger hunt. He succeeded in it and was the first to earn his Adren rank. Meanwhile, Bjorn and Eli worked on forging the klaive with the newly finished forge. I pondered how I would lead the Rite while teaching Agnis the finer points of Rituals. Eli managed to best Scourge of the Woods in a rematch after honing his skills for the month. He beat him in an hour flat, becoming the second member of the pack to be Adren rank.

After learning that Falcon was the Three Waters totem, we got to work on finishing the klaive. I spent some time with Eli and Bjorn to learn the basics of metalsmithing. Agnis managed to finish learning the Rite of the Fetish from Ryan. I needed Bjorn to learn the Rite of Cleansing for my summoning and to cleanse the klaive so I agreed to teach it to him for a favor: better his relationship with his brother.

In the meantime, three weeks had passed and the Fang and Claw pack needed our assistance to summon Tick for their mission to stop Minotaur. I obliged and it gave me time to refine the technique I would use later with the summoning for the klaive. I finished up after a few hours and politely left so they could be alone with Tick.

Bjorn and Eli did an excellent job on the klaive. They partially decorated it with engravings in the blade. Afterwards, they gave it to Agnis who placed it in the river for one month and then placed it in the belly of a freshly killed Elk for three nights. Bjorn then cleansed the klaive. I prepared my meditation for the next task.

Finally, the moment of summoning the Fetish spirits had arrived. We determined that we needed a spirit to align with the Sept of the Three Waters and Wyvern would be it. I was going all out and was going to summon a Celestine. I had Agnis mark the area in a circular pattern and Bjorn went around after her cleansing the markings. I then had William howl songs of greeting for the spirit while Eli and Miguel hunted a fresh kill.

After a significant bolstering of spiritual energy from my packmates, I dug two large holes for my feet in Crinos form, shifted, placed my feet in the holes, and covered them with dirt. I cut myself, bleeding from my arms and hands, held the kill up for Wyvern, and howled to summon him. Suprisingly, my preparation worked out stunningly well. Wyvern came immediately and was friendly.

Now, it was Agnis’ turn. She began dancing and howling to Wyvern. He seemed interested and after Agnis’ sacrificed part of her spiritual essence, he agreed to have an avatar of his bound into the klaive. He asked what the ban would be for the klaive. Agnis stated it must be used honorably and never against the Sept of the Sleeping Lion. With that, he asked what the name of the klaive would be. Bjorn suggested Wyvern’s Sting and so it was.

The rite was finished and Agnis took the time to decorate the fetish with traditional Fianna garb. It was agreed by Leein that both Agnis and I had passed our rank challenge in superb fashion. We had obtained Adren rank.

It was agreed by the pack that Bjorn should give the klaive to the Sept in order to pass his challenge. A meeting was set up at the Pin Gallery where the pack, Stands-With-Claw, and No-Hands-Catches-Fish stood by watching. Bjorn’s offer was rocky at first, wanting to get William’s challenge done and trying to make amends for past negative deeds, even though most were unintentional.

Before things got out of hand, Bjorn asked that Stands-With-Claw view the klaive we had wrapped in the pelt of the elk we killed earlier. She seemed impressed, but tried to diminish our work. Still, we knew the klaive was great and likely one of the best she would ever see so we didn’t press the issue. She mentioned all of the various negative things we had done like snatching up Ariel. After a little more negotiating from Bjorn, Stands-With-Claw relented and agreed to let challenges be done with their Sept, but added one more provision: we would have to try to convince Crafty to support the Sept of the Three Waters more in a show of consolidation.

Agreeing to this, Stands-With-Claw looked at No-Hands and asked him if it was good. He agreed and we could tell he knew his Sept leader had just been making a big show of things for no other purpose than to look strong. Bjorn passed his challenge and went to Adren rank.

With the door open for challenges, we asked that William be allowed to take his challenge. They agreed and he was taken to the Sept. There, in front of the entire Sept, he met a Lupus by the name of Ga-Ga-Baroot. William was to write a song, poem, or story about him and how great he was. After learning a bit about him, William succeeded by singing out a story of his life. The Sept approved, though Prestige looked less than interested, and William made Adren rank. The only packmate left to do so was John and he would have to wait until he finished guarding Serenity.

With the challenges complete, we had another moot. It was a fun affair with less seriousness than the last two. During the moot, our pack pledged more dedication to Q and strengthened him even more. We spent the rest of the cheering and having a great time. I made love to Magnus in the hopes of having another child.

The night after the moot, Cliff came to Sept in a panic. We needed to go see Lindsey again. Taking a moon bridge, we immediately arrived into her trailer to find Massacre, the vampire Eli had met earlier. He wasn’t happy and I tried to keep him from doing anything rude lest we break Q’s ban. She tells us she has a problem. There is a vampire making more vampires by simply drinking from them, which should not be possible. This was something new to me as I had to no knowledge of vampires.

The vampire is in Santa Cruz, hiding in the sewers for the next few days. Massacre agreed to not arrive at Lindsey’s anymore. We now had a hunt on our hands.

A Grand Moot… (Game 23)

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As we all slept the night of our return, Eli was plagued with nightmares. He could hear and see Bjorn and Jonathon yelling for help. The duo appeared to be struggling in water and didn’t know which way to go. Eli woke us all up; I had just drifted to sleep from my distraught emotions, and told us we needed to head to the beach where we fought the Drowned King.

Returning to the beach, we found Bjorn trying to resuscitate Jonathon, who was face down on the beach. Bjorn apparently seen us in Crinos form, his vision blended between the Umbral and the physical. Jonathon, on the other hand, was completely disconnected and unresponsive.

I quickly realized they had been in the Umbra too long. By ignoring the physical, they were becoming more spirit than flesh. However, once the additional spiritual energy wore off from the ancestors, they would return to normal. Jonathon, however, may take some time considering his innate love for the spirits and the Umbra.

We returned to the Sept and Eli filled Bjorn in on what had happened to us. We then went back to sleep. Once we awoke, Cliff had breakfast ready and Gina was ecstatic to find Bjorn alive. She took care of him as the spiritual energies wore off and his vision returned to normal. Jonathon remained the same however.

Eli suggested we keep Jonathon in the cabin until he returned to normal, which was a good idea, given his occasional lapses in personality. It would ultimately be better to have another Garou nearby in case he wandered off.

We returned to the Sept to see all of the work that had been done on the cabin now that it was daytime. A nearby den had been created for Rusty and Rivet who were happy to see us. Ariel arrived and gave them some scraps, showing how far along she had come with becoming comfortable with them. We had the day to pass until the moot so most of the pack went about normal Sept business. I personally dedicated some new clothes to myself and spent some time meditating in the hear t of the Sept in the hopes it would calm my emotions some.

As night fell, a howl rang out for the moot to begin. It was a very well done howl and it was obvious that it belonged to Red Tongue thanks to his Lupus heritage. We joined in on the howl in Lupus form and began the moot. With the Lion’s pelt out and ourselves near the stones, we called out to Lion as normal and Red Tongue and Scourge grabbed a deer for the sacrifice. Still, I noticed Red Tongue and Scourge eyeing us, which made me feel they were suspicious of us in some way. I kept this to myself.

After calling out to Lion, Scourge of the Woods held the bone and asked if anyone wanted the bone to speak. Crafty first took the bone, stating he was happy for our return. Mackie then took the bone and reinforced the need for unity or the Sept will fall. Gruffy then took the bone and mentioned that we were Fostern, but with no deed names. We would be named by our packmates.

Naturally, most of us didn’t have a deed name, nor could we think of one. Some of us had ideas already, but the majority were named by the pack. Eli was Lionheart under my suggestion. John became Strikes-with-Fury. William was named Wrong Moon due to his glaring Ragabash tendencies. I suggested Stag’s Daughter for Agnis since Stag had guided her to us. Miguel, in a move unseen, chose to reject his Press One name and chose Killer-of-Dogs. Bjorn remained Born Twice. Finally, I was last. It took some debate, but the pack decided on Earth Mother. It was somewhat unexpected for me, but I accepted it graciously.

Ryan then took the bone and we were awarded renown for our deeds. Afterwards, Eli took the bone and mentioned how we would have to start over to earn our positions, but we were willing to take any help and advice the new packs would offer. Bjorn then asked for the bone and said that he hoped we could work with each other.

With no more Sept business, the kinfolk brought out food, drinks, and alcohol. I had learned to resist toxins recently and I did not feel like getting drunk considering what I had been through. Still, I drank to not worry anyone in the Sept.

Tania One-Boon offered a toast to new beginnings and old friends. Afterwards, Mackie, as a Galliard is to do, told us about events after our “death.” He told us how the Irish Destroyers joined and fragmented into two packs and how this infuriated Stands-With-Claw. We were no longer given aid from the Sept of the Three Waters without first providing aid to them.

The Irish Destroyers, before fragmenting, had to push back the Sept of the Silver Fury, as they were getting more aggressive. They had grown in number and we had not until our return. The Irish Destroyers forced an ultimatum on them to leave the Sept alone provided it did not look weak or else war would be declared. Thankfully, they backed down.

Due to the Silver Fury Sept’s aggressive actions, the Sept had tried sending out kin-fetch spirits in the hopes of growing the Sept, but to no avail.

Ryan then mentioned Kyle’s death to Harano. It was a sad notion and one I felt somewhat responsible for since we were too consumed with business and fighting to pay attention to our Septmates.

On a positive note, Mabe had relaxed her stance on outside spirits and they can join the area, albeit with rigorous testing to be safe. Around this time, a Silent Strider passed through the area and asked to meditate for three days for three hours each. Three was apparently a good number for the Fianna, which Mackie explained, but I didn’t see the significance myself. At least not yet anyway.

Crafty mentioned then mentioned we needed to get our kinfolk here, which made my heart beat faster. He ideally wanted one kinfolk per Garou, but anyone than that would be excellent. Having more kinfolk will reduce the workload on the current kin. There was also some debate when we were gone about the Sept going multi-tribal. There will also be challenges coming for the positions we once held and they will be handled at moots.

Gruffy then speaks up. He is the Master of the Challenge. He says he is old school and adheres tightly to the creeds. He is just and impartial. He is covered in tattoos and knows the ritual to inscribe ink into our flesh. He offers to do one for us tonight as an act of generosity.

Leein then speaks up. She gets along with Mabe because the fae likes her hair. She is into spirits more than most. She is here for any spirit related matters we might need assistance with.

Scourge of the Woods and Red Tongue spoke up. Scourge was the holder of the bone and bawn protector. He tells us he is very dedicated to protecting the Sept and he’s good at it. Scourge speaks for Red Tongue as he hates the Homid form. He is a ferocious warrior, but will protect us with his life. He also likes to have fun on his downtime.

Lindsey then speaks up. She died four years ago, figuratively, when the pack died. She got wasted and passed out one night shortly after our deaths. There, she had a dream of a Garou named Smoke Paw who told her to be strong , that the pack was safe, and that they would return. After having the dream, she went clean, stopped smoking, and only drank for moots. She walked to the park and Cliff helped her get a job. She offered to repay him, but he refused. She went back to school and got a degree in nursing. She now works at the Dominican Hospital and is looking for a new home.

Gina then spoke up. She lost hope with our deaths. She had her 17th birthday shortly after it and it was the worst birthday ever. She was already struggling and then found herself kicked out of her home due to the Sept of the Three Waters cutting off all aid. She moved in with Cliff, finished high school, and had him explain the Garou politics to her. She mentioned that Kenith came looking for me, and had been for years after our date. She told him the same thing she told everyone else who came looking for us: we had gone home. Still, Kenith’s law firm, no doubt in part because of him, offered Gina a scholarship to SCU for biology. I was happy at hearing this.

Cliff then talked. Things had been mostly the same, except finances. Lindsey helped when she could and he tried to get any of his family from Washington to come down. Sadly, they had all under gone the Change and could not help. He tried getting a hold of Foss’s wife, but she was still broke up over his death.

Ariel then told us about Jonathon’s death and how his body disappeared. This gave the Sept leaders hope we would return. Coincidentally, Ariel lost her precognition powers until two months before we returned. They started small at first, but then returned to their old strength as before. She doesn’t fret over it much now and works for a mental hospital. It seems fitting since before we intervened, she thought she herself was going crazy. She has now dedicated herself to learning more about the world of the Garou.

Rusty and Rivet then jumped in, licking and rubbing up on us, showing their affection for us. Afterwards, Mackie then stood up, wanting to hear of our adventure and how we came back.

Wrong Moon then recanted an epic tale of our deaths, the journey through time learning about our ancestors, and finally our return to the world where we defeated the Drowned King.

Crafty then took a moment to answer any questions we might have. Bjorn asked about the Hive, but Crafty told him it’s still there, wherever that might be. Eli wondered about the other Septs, but they too were mostly unchanged with Rage Heart still staying at the Sept of the Angry Earth.

Bjorn wanted to know what we could do for the Sept, which was find the kinfolk and Garou and attend to any Sept business needed at the moment. I wondered about who filled what positions. It devolved into a debate about us being favored, which felt a bit venomous coming from Tania, the current Den Mother. Eli suggested we just attend to Sept business, which I agreed on, and I only wanted to know who had filled what.

Mackie then asked what we learned from the experience of fighting the Drowned King. Eli mentioned Alexander’s failure in the Dark Ages. Bjorn added about how not he was looking for the right tribe, but also all of his ancestors were as well. William mentioned how to much pride can lead to a fall. John spoke of how unity was needed or the Nation would fall. Agnis took away the wisdom of her ancestors, both their failures and successes. Finally, I mentioned how close our lines were with the White Howlers themselves with both Miguel and Eli being descended from White Howler kinfolk, one of my ancestors in love with a White Howler who fell to the Wyrm, and even my great-grandfather who was the product of a Black Spiral Kinfolk and Fianna Garou.

After this, Crafty told us it was time to party for the rest of the night. While I had been drinking earlier as toasts went about, I had decided not to get drunk thanks to my new gift to resist toxins. I didn’t feel like getting drunk tonight.

Lindsey brought out food and special alcohol Mackie had brewed himself. Bjorn took a moment to ask if Red Tongue ever got drunk, but Mackie told him he didn’t.

Gruffy came out with the ink and a tapping needle for the ritual to inscribe ink in us. He offered to a tattoo for each of us. Eli chose a glyph name on his chest of all of the packmates including Rage Heart inside a lion’s mouth as it roared. John got a Fianna symbol on his heart across his chest. Agnis got the crescent moon and a Celtic knot while William got Kyle’s name across his back. I got a set of bongo drums on my right arm as I had an idea for a fetish later on.

As Gina picked up trash, Ariel brought out a portable speaker for some music. Ariel and the others danced River-dance style as Eli passed out his Unbroken Cord fetish gifted from the ancestors. I chose a simple bracelet for my portion. Cliff then grabbed me and we danced for a little while. It was fun. Agnis asked Ryan about the Celtic knot she had always carried and he told her it was a fetish and what it did. I then asked Leein about the Rite of Heritage and finding out if I have any other relatives besides my son.

Afterwards, as drinking began to get heavy, John and I decided to go to sleep that night and not party. We were made fun of, but I didn’t care. I just really wasn’t in a partying mood this night.

The next morning, most of the Sept woke up with little or no clothes and severely dehydrated. Mackie found a sausage and thought it was a penis. We all laughed a little. Cliff told him it was for our breakfast. Bjorn went with the kinfolk to make breakfast for us while we talked about the night before and all the crazy antics that the Sept had.

Eli asked again about Sept business. Once again, it was to gather as many kinfolk and Garou as we could. We decided after breakfast to get this done immediately. I asked Leein to do the Rite of Heritage on me so I could determine if I had any more relatives alive. I managed to learn about all my relatives back to Killian. As it turned out, my biological father, a man named John Rosie was alive and in Chicago, my hometown. I was thrilled and a little scared to meet him hopefully soon. Sadly though, my mother Melina Greyweather was dead. John and the others all called out to their relatives to have them come to the Sept.

William, surprisingly, was not wanted for murder as his parent’s chauffeur took the blame for the murder he committed during his First Change. Still, he would not be able to bring him, but maybe he could get his mother to come.

After taking care of the Kinfolk arrangements save mine until I could figure out a way to get my father and son here, we headed back to the cabin. There, Miguel found a bottle with glyphs on the side of it and a rolled up piece of paper in it. Without thinking about it, he opened the bottle to which Leein seen as she walked in. She was surprised and told us it was a spirit cryptex, a talen of sorts.

The wording on the paper is nonsense to us until Miguel was donated some spiritual energy. The paper told of a powerful fetish from the Flux realm. The paper told that a legendary quest must be done to solve the first part of three quests in order to learn the location of this object. After the first quest is completed, you place the paper back in the bottle to find the next quest. However, if you fail the quest or don’t do it and place the paper back in the bottle, the spirit is released and the object will be lost.

Wanting to know more about it, we entered the Umbra to speak with Mabe to find out who left it for us. Upon finding her, we found she had changed considerably. She was much more human looking and could speak in two word sentences instead of riddles. She gave the bottle to us in exchange for helping Adela return to her true self.

Mabe told us she found the bottle at the north end of the bawn. I investigated it, but found nothing of interest there. Mabe wants us to solve the puzzle and we tell her we’ll try after we take care of our affairs. She’s happy to hear it and we left the Umbra.

With the others kinfolk set to arrive and the hope of my son and father coming to the Sept, I had newfound hope for the future. I anxiously awaited the arrival of new Sept members as we got to work on other Sept business…