As we gathered together to head to the Aetherial Realm, Jim Lee told us that his debt to the Sept had been fulfilled. He had made arrangements to meet with Bright Vision who would guide us along our journey. Ryan then opened the moon bridge for us and we crossed onto it.
On the moon bridge, Jim Lee told us to hold hands and showed us how to shuffle very slowly. Since moon bridges warp space and time some, taking a few steps becomes like miles. This way, he could show us how to enter the realm. Halfway across the moon bridge, we were up in the clouds during daytime. Jim Lee told us that all moon bridges pass through the prenumbra and into the Aetherial Realm. The Stargazers know how to get there.
Sensing this was the place, Jim Lee had us jump off the bridge. There he told us to wait until Bright Vision arrived. During this time, we asked him about the Stargazers considering he was the only one we had ever met. They were a meditative tribe who were less prone to their Rage than the other tribes. They enjoyed enigmas and riddles and prized wisdom above all else. They were the only tribe with strong connections to the Beast Courts, a group of shapeshifters not Garou.
After conversing for a little bit, a lantern could be seen in the distance. A young woman, who appeared partially transparent, arrived. It was Bright Vision and she dismissed Jim Lee. She told us to follow her to the Sept of the Stars. She told us that the spirits have agreed to watch over us during journey. As she led us to the Sept, she pointed out the holes in the clouds. This was the way out of the realm. Here, you would float down to your starting point.
As we traveled, Bright Vision spoke of how a pregnant Metis had been foretold in the Prophecy of the Phoenix. Her child could either lead the Wyrm’s armies to the destruction of all or guide the Garou to saving Gaia. We would have to speak with Altair about meeting with the Celestines for their protection of Crazy Eye.
Arriving at the Sept, the elderly Altair met with us, but immediately went to see Crazy Eye. He was obviously very interested in the child she carried. Altair told us the rules after he stopped fawning over Crazy Eye. The Sept is guarded by the realm itself. We were not to touch any of the walls as they lead to other places in the orary. We also could not disturb anyone in the meditation chamber.
We were led into a room with pillows on the floor and told to meditate on the test at hand. We would need to convince at least two out of three of the Celestines we met into letting Crazy Eye stay here. We took this time to talk amongst ourselves about what to do with the child. Some like Wrong Moon, thought we should just kill it and not take the risk of it becoming a pawn of the Wyrm. Eli silenced that kind of talk thankfully.
Still, there was some debate about punishments for Crazy Eye and Crafty for his actions. Bjorn believed Crazy Eye deserved to be punished, but in light of her losing her lover, her Sept, and now being hunted, this seemed moot. When discussing Crafty, his actions did not seem to be the greater issue at hand as opposed to his foreknowledge of the attack on the Sept of the Angry Earth. If he did indeed know it was going to happen, he should be punished. Otherwise, it was viewed that Crafty did the best he could given the situation.
After our discussion, we decided to get moving on the meetings with the Celestines. Our first one was the Incarna of Luna, Sokhta. Bright Vision opened the moon bridge to her realm by pushing on the wall in a pattern. Beginning our travels on the moon bridge I noticed Miguel began to float away followed by the rest of us. I thought quickly and realized we would need to will ourselves to have weight.
With a bit of effort, all of the pack was back on the moon bridge. Traveling forward, lunes appeared to us and told us to go back. They even created an off ramp of sorts to return to the Sept. Still, we pressed on. We finally made our way to what appeared to be a wall of light. Unsure of what to do at first, I tried to replicate what Bright Vision did earlier. I was successful and found us a way into the realm.
In the realm, everything was made of silver, yet it did not bother me. It was moonsilver. All over the ground were plants made of silver. In the center of the path we were on we could see a man made of silver. He told us we could take the plants provided we gave back some of our spiritual energies. Both Wrong Moon and myself took a few plants and replenished it with our energies.
Heading forward, we saw a moon stone and several weapons made of moonsilver. We chose not to take them as we had no right. Continuing on, we could see the path turning into a dress. In the dress was Sokhta. We bowed to her and awaited her response.
She asked why we continued even when the lunes told us not to. Eli replied that it was our quest and we must complete it. She asked why we didn’t take any of the moonsilver weapons or the moon stone. Eli told her that we did not have permission, nor was it offered. She told us to ask our question. Eli asked if the Sept of the Stars should protect Crazy Eye. The response was certainly interesting.
The Metis cub was an act of desperation on the part of Gaia. It shows strong Wyld tendencies. We could kill it to prevent it from becoming a pawn of the Wyrm, but that would deprive us of a possible salvation. Eli told her it was not our place to judge, but asked why not our Sept? Being hidden in the Sept of the Stars would place it far away from the Wyrm’s influence. She then asked us our opinions of the cub. Most were favorable and I saw no reason to kill the child.
Sokhta agreed to help us and granted us one question. Eli asks her why we are here? In an even more cryptic response, Sokhta told us that we were meant for this quest since the beginning. We would test our mettle here and in the future we would undergo a quest that would save Lion and change the very way both our worlds work.
Then, Sokhta summoned lunes that took us back to the wall of light. From here, we walked back to the Sept. We returned to the Sept and rested. It turns out it had been nine weeks since the journey. After a day of rest, we had Bright Vision open the doorway to another realm. This time we would follow the solar winds to the realm of Neptune and meet the Incarna Shantar.
We followed the moon bridge into space for a long time until we came to the Umbral sun. The Umbral sun shot out a ring of power and a strong gust of wind could be felt. Wrong Moon reached out and was caught by this wind. We quickly grabbed on and were carried to Neptune.
On Neptune, we were surprised to land in water. In fact, the entire planet was made up of water. In the distance we could see a ten story tall cube made of water. A man made of water appeared and headed in that direction. We shifted to Lupus and quickly followed, swimming as fast as we could.
As we approached the cube, the water man dissipated. We entered the cube and arrived at a front desk. Only a single sign was there that said “meeting on 7th floor.” We headed to the elevator there and went to the 7th floor. There, we seen another sign that led us to meeting room 706. Heading inside, we found ourselves in a large meeting room with a huge table stretching the length of the room.
Sitting down at the table, an offer came from nowhere for whatever food we would like. Half of the pack ordered something, but I abstained. I didn’t feel comfortable with it. After the pack ate, Shantar appeared. She was a monstrous looking amalgamation of a squid and a woman.
Shantar asked why we were here. Eli told her about Crazy Eye and the Metis child. Shantar said it was the most creative thing Gaia had came up with in eons. She believed it has the touch of the Wyld and might be the first of many Metis children possible.
She talked about all of her visitors like the Glass Walkers. She offered to make tools for us. They would be mundane and not fetish level tools. Quetzal warned us that she is tainted with the Weaver. Agnis suggested a video camera that works in the Battleground, but that was not within her power. We asked for a blessing on Crazy Eye, but she declined stating it was too much of the Wyld for her. We thanked her for her time and left.
A water plume sent us back to the moon bridge and we returned to the Sept. There it had been almost three months since we left the last time. We had one more Celestine to speak with…
