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

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.

Downtime, New Kinfolk, Possession, and the Apocalypse… (Game 29)

Being grounded to the Sept wasn’t the worst punishment in the world, but it certainly felt that way. I understood why they did it though. With so many things going on, it would be easy for any of the other Septs to blame us for their troubles. Still, the downtime did give me some time to take care of things.

I observed a lot during this time. The Vulture Walkers and Lion’s Vengeance packs ran bawn patrol during this time while the Irish Destroyers worked on the forge. Mackie cleaned with Sheeba and Jason while complaining about the lack of parties lately. Ryan and Leein continued working on the kin-fetch hunter spirits. It was something completely new and I hoped I might learn how to do it someday to help find pups in need.

The pack each had things they wanted to accomplish during this time. Born Twice worked on his combat maneuvers and Gina paid him a visit since he couldn’t leave. His brother Magnus stopped by and annoyed him briefly. He still wants to be a big brother to Bjorn, but Bjorn won’t let him. I’ll have to remember to talk to Bjorn about this sometime soon.

I continued my workouts with Stag’s Daughter and we invited Savage Heart to join us. She secretly informed us that she doesn’t believe Minotaur will let the Skin Dancers join the Nation. He acts like a tyrant mad king. I fear something will have to be done about him soon lest all our work be undone.

My father stopped by and I got to spend some time with him. We had a picnic together and I got to learn more about my mother. She was a Garou of two sides. While in the company of her pack she appeared stern and powerful, however, my father told me in private she was very loving and caring to him in spite of the fact it was for the pregnancy that led to me.

I managed to convince Lionheart to let me see Ryan. After some cajoling from Lindsey he agreed, but only if he shadowed me with Lindsey due to the threat of Alyssa and her hive. I took Ryan to the park, not wanting to deal with the pollution. Kenith was cheerful but cautious about all this, wanting to know just about every detail on where I was going. I assured him I was just taking him to the park to play. He relented and we went. However, Ryan seemed nervous and unsure. I wondered if he had ever even been to a park before. Still, it was good day and I was happy to have had it.

The next day, Magnus dropped by again with tacos from a local stand. They were pretty good. He talked about his ideas for getting a job. He figured he would get a low-level job and work his way up from there. He mentioned he was worried about his brother and I tried to comfort him that things were okay. Afterwards, he gave me a small kiss and was on his way. I think I should take the relationship to the next level. He doesn’t act like all the other guys I’ve met.

I checked in with Stag’s Daughter. She had been continuing her Rites. She was concerned about her lack of Rage and her reaction to our packmates he were ejected from the Battleground. Although I believed more Rage for her might be a benefit, I knew myself how destructive too much Rage can be seeing two members enter the Thrall of the Wyrm. She also noted a certain allure to the Black Spirals, their unity, and their mysterious ways. I admit, I also found them fascinating, but it was best to maintain a good distance in observation or be drawn into the Wyrm’s clutches.

Lionheart, when not accompanying me to see Ryan, spent a good deal of time with Q. The totem spirit remained neutral in his position to any conversation Lionheart spoke. He seemed to not take any one side, often repeating any statements or questions with more questions. The rest of the pack did a little training, but mostly just rested around the Sept.

As the downtime wound down, Eli and Bjorn had a discussion about Wrong Moon chasing after Killer-of-Dogs’ mother. While there was nothing stopping him from doing such a thing, if he was doing so to simply annoy his packmate it would be wrong. Wrong Moon lied about his intentions somewhat and Eli forbid him from seeing Maria unless he was truly intent on mating with her.

The next day, Lionheart returned with supplies while Stag’s Daughter, Savage Heart, and I returned from our daily exercises. A four-wheeler could be heard in the distance as Cliff approached. He asked Gina to go with Ariel to see the five kinfolk as Lindsey had some things to take care of. He also asked us to come to the lodge to see something. At the lodge, a TV announced that William’s “father” had made a bid on the land where the Sept was. There would be an audit in order to determine the land’s worth. I questioned whether this was wise because of the risk of Veil breaches and it effectively put a target on our location, but was dismissed at the notion by Eli.

Afterwards, Stag’s Daughter spoke to us about reentering the Battleground and seeing who slaughtered the Sept of the Stone Sea. There was discussion about the involvement of the Three Waters and the traitor, but it was unanimous that we would go. However, first we needed to take care of couple things.

Walks-With-Spirits mentioned that Ryan knew the Rite of Heritage and asked that it be used on Sheeba to determine her parentage. It was deemed dishonorable to do so unless Sheeba herself asked that it be used. I still wondered who her parents were. I felt it would be useful to know who they were. Maybe they could lead us to the traitor, but it was best not to worry about it at the moment.

Eli spoke with Crafty about the audit. He told us he would keep things contained as much as possible. We wouldn’t have to worry much considering the size of the park.

After this, we headed back to the Battleground. Killer-Of-Dogs managed to find the battle we were looking for. We watched the Sept of the Stone Sea going about their business until out of nowhere, six Garou came out of the Umbra and slaughtered them. There wasn’t even a fight. It was completely dishonorable and the Sept couldn’t even defend themselves.

After the battle, one of them shifted into Homid revealing Prestige, which was not surprising. He spoke to one of the Garou who shifted down to reveal Hansen McDoogle of the Gaia’s Wraith pack. He told him to purify the area of Wyrm taint and they will be compensated. We all knew there was no Wyrm taint, but it could not be determined whether Prestige was the traitor or simply duped into destroying the Sept. Either way, we had our first lead to go on and the direct notion who not to trust.

Afterwards, we returned to our battle with the Black Spiral Dancers last week to view our tactics. It was agreed we needed to do more things together as a pack in order to work better as a unit.

Once back at the Sept, we decided to check the Talen bottle quest and find the next clue:

With an enemy’s mutual hate; you shall take the time to build

To change one another’s fate; the enemy shall shield

Then torch this parchment to reveal

Your reward you shall unseal

Stag’s Daughter determined that we needed to ally ourselves with an enemy against another enemy. They would hold onto the parchment. Once trust is earned with this enemy, they will burn the parchment revealing the fetish we have been questing for.

That night, we ran together, howling at the moon in our first group workout. Afterwards, we went to bed.

At about 3 in the morning, Eli heard an unknown howl. After waking us up, we headed to the source of the howl. On the way, we passed the Lion’s Vengeance pack heading to the cabin. Agnis and Bjorn broke off and headed with them. After talking with the elders, we were all to gather at the cabin.

Mackie didn’t seem very happy when we returned. He told us we weren’t his first choice for this, but we would have to do. The Sept of the Raging Storm had a member who needed help, but could not ask their Sept for it. Although he thinks a large group might be intimidating, he thought it might be good for us.

Heading to the location given to us took nearly an hour and a half. We found ourselves in the mountains across Highway 9. There, we came across a woman named Tale Catcher and her wolf kin. She asked us for a favor. Her stepsister Serenity was not blood and could not deal with the Garou lifestyle. The Veil had been lifted for herself and her mother. It had come to Tale Catcher’s attention through another Garou that Serenity was in the process of being possessed. She wanted us to help her.

After being given the address located in Santa Cruz, we returned to the Sept to speak with Ryan about possession. The outlook wasn’t pleasant. He told us Gaian spirits don’t use possession as it is a forceful violation. There are only three ways to deal with it. Kill the host or the spirit possessing them. Either way both will die. The second was to use the gift of exorcism, which none of us had, but it required healers as the process severely damages and usually kills the host. Finally, we could remove the victim from the influence that brought the spirit on and hope it gives up.

Heading to Serenity’s place, we found her mother about to leave in a rundown van. Agnis approached her and asked if we could go inside. She agreed to it and we headed in. There, we found Serenity who was a bit younger than us. She was playing video games and obviously didn’t want to be disturbed, cursing us out when we called for her. Upon realizing we weren’t her mother, she stopped playing the game.

Talking with her, we got the distinct feeling she was becoming something of a temptress as she was very coy with Miguel. William rooted around in her room, attempting to check out her video games. I detected Wyrm taint in the room, which in hindsight was fairly obvious. Still, as William moved a pair of her panties from the console, he heard Serenity’s voice in his head. It appeared the possession had gotten far enough along that she was beginning to exhibit powers.

Realizing it was the technology after Agnis checked the Umbra, we decided to get her away from the area. We opted to take her to where the Sept of the Stone Sea used to be and have her camp there for at least a couple of weeks. We would warn her mother as well just in case. John and Jonathon would take first watch making sure no technology is nearby. Hopefully, this would stop the possession.

After taking care of Serenity, we headed back to the Sept where Ariel and Gina gave us the rundown on the five kinfolk Stained Coat had sent over. The outlook wasn’t good. They had been abused, used, and abandoned by Septs who cared little for their kinfolk. Honestly, I sort of agreed they should get what they wanted. It wasn’t the right thing to think, but kinfolk should be treated with respect, not tossed away like equipment.

It was obvious Kirsten wanted Eli sexually. This put him in a uncomfortable position as he knew that Lindsey wouldn’t take kindly to the idea of sharing. Taking William aside, Bjorn and I convinced him to vie for her affections. I hope that this would prevent any conflict and keep Kirsten from becoming a Skin Dancer. The rest of the feast went smoothly after that.

In the middle of the night, Cliff came by on four-wheeler again. It was an emergency and Eli needed to head to Lindsey’s house right away. Eli went, but not before asking us to be on standby in case something happened.

Inside Lindsey’s house, a woman in a top hat and covered in blood sat with Lindsey. Infuriated, but not willing to risk Lindsey’s safety, Eli asked what the woman wanted. Her name was Massacre and she needed a favor from our pack. There had been other Garou wandering onto her domain and she wanted them gone. She mentioned the names Gretchen and Mordecai, one of which was familiar to us. Apparently, Gretchen and Mordecai had entered into an agreement to work with each other.

The terms of the agreement with Massacre were to never enter the Hunter Hill Winery district and never sell our land. The last part was very curious to me. Why would she be concerned about us selling our land? In exchange for doing this, she would help us in ways that she was capable of like money or information.

Eli asked what if he just killed her right then. Massacre promptly mentioned that she had implanted a command into Lindsey that she would kill herself and her baby if she did not return in two days. The mention of a baby took Eli back and made him pause for a moment. After this, Massacre ordered Lindsey to go to her bedroom and sleep.

Caught in a rock and a hard place, Eli agreed to consider the arrangement only if she returned to remove the command. Massacre then left right before we arrived. Waking Lindsey up, we talked for a while about her pregnancy. It was the reason she didn’t go to interview the new kinfolk. After chatting for a little while, we let go back to bed, the incident being wiped from her mind by Massacre and not causing any emotional turmoil.

Returning to the Sept, we found Cliff with Ariel. Ariel had just had a vision of violence in the city that spreads further until it engulfs everything. It sounded like a vision of the Apocalypse. We must stop it…

A Skin Dancer’s Proposal and a Legendary Mission… (Game 27)

After the moot and the joining of the Vulture Pack, most of the pack started work on trying to decipher a way into the Legendary realm to complete the bottle quest. Unfortunately, things seemed to be a standstill with no solid information from the Spirits or any of the Sept members.

After two days of investigating, Savage Heart of the Vulture Walkers came to us with a proposal from someone she knew. With her was a box of steaks from a Skin Dancer known as Stained Coat. She told us the Garou had been one of the original Skin Dancers under Samuel Haight. However, after the death of the Skinner and roaming for some time, he changed his views on the Garou Nation.

Stained Coat now worked with kinfolk trying to dissuade them from becoming a Skin Dancer. He had heard by chance of our Sept and what it did with the Vulture Walkers pack. He was offering five kinfolk to take off his hands to help teach them that the Nation isn’t as bad as it appears. He offered the steaks as a sign of good faith on his part.

Eli decided it was a good idea to at least hear what he said and Savage Heart had one of Cliff’s vans prepared for us. We began our drive to Santa Cruz when Eli spoke of getting on the quest in the bottle. I voiced my concerns about leaving the Sept right now. With the addition of the Vulture Walkers, Sheeba, the destruction of the Sept of the Stone Sea, and the general distrust for our Sept, I was worried we would be attacked after we left on the quest. I didn’t know how long the quest would take and it wasn’t a risk I cared for.

Eli noted my concerns, but was confident the Sept would be fine in our absence. As we traveled, I noticed all of the little annoyances I hadn’t seen before with the city. Humans casually trashed and polluted the planet. My senses were overloaded from it, but I still hoped people would change with some nudging to the right direction.

Arriving at the Humphrey Inn, we were greeted by a kind old lady who took us to Stained Coat. He was a very jovial and energetic person for a Skin Dancer. We ordered food and he told us about why we had come. The Kinfolk he had were non-Fianna kinfolk who wanted the Rite of the Sacred Rebirth. Stained Coat had been bluffing them for some time in the hopes they might change their minds. He had been giving them tests in order to dissuade them, but he was running out of time as per his agreement with them of one year of tasks.

He had hoped with the remaining five months we could show them compassion and love and change their hearts for the better. We asked about his success rate and he told us it was about 75%. Most of the success stories either went back to a different Sept than their home one or left the Garou Nation entirely. The other quarter of them he either changed into Skin Dancers or more ominously and implied, killed them in order to prevent bloodshed.

His only agreement with us was to treat them well and if at the end of the five months they wanted to leave, we let them go. They were also free to stay if they were happy after the five month period was up. Eli realized it was not something that could be done in a single day. It was take some time to get them integrated with our kinfolk. Stained Coat told us he would be staying in the area for five days and would give an additional five days on the Humphrey Inn in order for us to prepare. Eli decided to run it by Crafty first and then get back with Stained Coat to which he agreed.

Heading back to the Sept, we debated whether or not to let the new kinfolk interact with the Vulture Walkers as it might sway their opinion in the opposite direction Stained Coat intended. After much discussion, we decided it would be best to remain honest with them.

At the Sept, Jonathon decided to take some time in the Umbra while Eli spoke with Crafty. Crafty said it was our decision and that more kinfolk would always be a good idea. He suggested sending Lindsey and Ariel, especially her since she was a psychologist and they may have lingering emotional and mental issues from their treatment. We also addressed the concerns over leaving the Sept on a journey, but Crafty told us the Sept would hold as it did when we were dead.

With things arranged, we turned our attention to the Talen bottle. Unfortunately, Miguel seemed to have misplaced the paper and as such we spent several hours looking for it. We finally managed to secure it. We gathered up all fetishes and gear we needed and got ready to enter the Umbra. As we entered the Umbra, Agnis called for her Stag familiar, Jonathon reunited with us and told us Tick could navigate Q’s moon bridge to the realm. She only wanted secrets for the cost of secrets owed to the spirits she got the information from.

Q opened the moon bridge and we began to walk it. Along the way, Eli revealed his fear of never getting Lindsey pregnant. With the secret revealed, Tick told us that spirits may enter the realm, but are made material. Bjorn mentioned he was unsure whether he would make a good leader. Tick then revealed that in the Legendary realm, death is real.

More secrets came out as John felt bad about sleeping with a married woman. Tick revealed that time passes abnormally in the realm. A year could only last minutes or even seconds. Agnis revealed that she could use no other weapon besides her staff. Tick told us that you cannot leave until you complete the mission that is given to you upon entry. Failure means death and do not underestimate anything you encounter in the realm as it is different every time you enter.

Jonathon revealed that he really wanted to keep the patch of skin he obtained from Samuel Haight even if it tainted him. Finally, Tick revealed that everything reforms in the realm is spirit, but immune to the delirium.

Twelve minutes later, we arrived at what appeared to be a massive, broken tree. A large rock blocked what appeared to be an entrance into the tree. We decided before going any farther to leave all of the spirits behind as their deaths would be permanent and this would not be wise to bring them. We would rely on our wits and skills alone.

Castle

The one wishing to undergo the mission would have to move the rock. In the end, we decided to move it together since we were all wanting to go on the mission. Pushing the rock, we found ourselves on a shoreline, a castle in the distance. Looking at ourselves, we looked the same, but our clothes and gear had been changed to appropriate attire for the apparent time period we were now in, save for those who were naked.

Heading towards the castle, we encountered a village who exalted John, calling him Finn. John convinced them to get clothes for those lacking any as we looked at the stone and straw houses. John estimated it to be around 900 AD. After interacting with the villagers, we headed into the castle where John met a woman who was his wife here. She was happy to see him and had the servants in the castle get us better clothes.

Una Mac Cumhall

We were led to our guest rooms and clothed while everyone in the castle prepared for a banquet tonight. John was taken to his room and bathed by his wife and had custom clothes for himself.

Banquet-in-the-Great-Hall

Arriving at the banquet, we sat at a table on a platform away from the villagers. They greeted us during the affair, sometimes offering gifts as we ate. As we ate, the fae arrived, appearing wholly in their true forms. They were tiny sprites and the most impressive one of them was the fairy queen. I wondered for a second if it was Mabe.

fairy_queen

The fairy queen offered to dance for us and John agreed. Her dance was beautiful, fluttering about in the air. So entrancing was it, that we found ourselves falling asleep. It was the best sleep I had ever had, especially considering the problems I’ve had before.

messenger

We all awoke the next morning. A messenger had arrived from Scotland. He brought a message of a giant named Angus who challenged Finn for the title of Supreme Giant. He was building a bridge of stones by throwing them into the water with his name in glyphs on the rocks. He offered to give us mercy if we abandon our name, place, and people. John told him to return a message telling Angus not to strain himself making the bridge, obviously not taking the threat seriously.

The messenger wondered about the hospitality of the Fianna to which John offered drinks for him. Before the messenger left, John inquired as to what the challenge was. It would be a fight to the death.  The fairy queen offered her counsel that calling upon the Sept might look badly and suggested building a bridge to meet his.

Agreeing to it, we all banded together as a pack and a village to accomplish this task. It would take three years to build the bridge to the halfway point of Angus’ path, but we accomplished it in record time thanks to the Fae magic. Still, not a day went by that I worried about the state of our Sept back home. However, this gave me time to work on my stamina and train my body harder as we got to know all of the villagers.

causeway 3

We all pondered what the realm meant  to each of us. I felt this was the world the Garou had hoped for, but lost. Bjorn wondered if this world would be the same to someone else who entered it. Miguel noticed the Fae used to interact with the humans as well. Agnis felt this is what Garou should be doing with the humans in the real world. John though the realm morphed to fit us. Eli realized the Garou conflict is everywhere, even near realms. Jonathon realized it might be possible for Garou and humans to interact peacefully.

After completing the task, we had a month long celebration on our success. The same messenger arrived during the celebration. It seems the cheers of our partying caught Angus’ ear that had gone off course fighting golden men and giant birds. He would arrive within three days now that he had torn down the old bridge and corrected his error. John offered hospitality to the messenger again as we debated what to do.

We spent many hours poring over ideas no matter how silly they might seem. The fairy queen suggested trickery and much of the pack agreed as a fight with Angus who was reported to be three times a man’s size by Una, John’s wife, would be suicide. Finally, Eli decided to call upon the ancestors for the story of Finn MacCumhall.

It turns out that Finn offered to fight Angus during this time, in spite of it being a death sentence. At the last moment, as Angus arrived, Una placed a blanket over Finn’s head in his Crinos form. When Angus asked where Finn was, she told he was not here and that this was her baby. Tricked into believing Finn was far larger than he, Angus left, destroying his bridge along the way.

Aengus the Giant

We did this exact thing as Angus arrived and it worked perfectly. With that taken care of, we found ourselves in the Umbra outside the Sept. Only five minutes had passed according to Q and Tick. We placed the note back in the bottle and pulled it out to the see the next quest which only Jonathon could read.

“Test your glory, test your might, find a spirit who can show you right, blood of enemies you must, on this parchment prove your kill, protect your prize at all costs, or this test shall be lost.”

We pondered it for a moment before Agnis realized we would be heading to the Battleground. We would need a spirit of War to lead us to it and we would have to place the blood of our enemies on the paper and then get it back to the bottle safely. I didn’t like where this was going…