Sings-for-the-Spirit teaches Finn some minor hunting rituals - prayer for the pray and hunting prayer. He wants to learn them as a consequence of both having the Beast Speech gift and having the encounter with all the tortured animal spirits at VAAR. Finn also checks his exam timetable - its not ideal, as he has one exam on the Monday after the pack want to leave for the Atrocity Realm. He can't just ditch it either, its one of his first year exams that he's already failed. He tries to think of a way to get special consideration for that exam but not the others - he could try and persuade the pack to wait 3 more days, but they might miss the next Moot. ("all we found was his phone" "A whale... aaaaarhg").
Kasumi debates trying to organise some leave from her boss. Its not exactly last minute, but it is short notice. She opts to plan for a "I feel ill" on the Thursday and just not show up for some time.
Sinead spends her time learning spirit awakening and trying to think of a talen the sept needs. The only sept weakeness she can think of to cover might be that there's not many lupus in the sept, something to help cover that lack? She tries to teach Will cleansing, but their brains just don't do rites in the same way, so they give up after a day of locking horns, and Will goes off to learn cleansing from Ends-the-Quiet.
Tillie and Will go out looking for second hand cars. Will comes back from doing the rounds of used car places, with pamphlets, magic beans and having given them his phone number. Tillie points out that in some cases the photos appear to have been photoshopped - for instance this car has two steering wheels. ("you're off the mission"). They go over their requirements ("boot space big enough for bodies and unconscious metis"). They end up torn between a hilux and a landrover - more space to carry things, versus space for everyone inside. The hilux has a good back cover, but hasn't been as well maintained. They end up going for the landrover on a private sale, and Will unleashes the awesome spiritual power of the garou to knock over $5K off the price so they end up getting it for $18K.
Kasumi gives Elaine a call and asks her to come over and chat about the spirit that went to her computer. Kasumi gives her the run down - wyldish/weaver spirit that 'moves through dangerous places' that tried to access her pc. Elaine says that there's a lot of unusual spirits out there, because the net has only really existed for a while. Elaine asks what their goal is with this spirit - protect her pc or find the spirit or ? Elaine asks if they've tried capturing the spirit? Kasumi hadn't even thought of that. ("argh we're being cot-blocked"). Elaine offers some general advice - best defense on the pc is adding more spirit power to it, with awakening or adding more charged up components. She's a bit bemused that there's nothing on the pc - they should either use it or not worry about this spirit. Anything beyond this general advice comes under the heading of secret tribal knowledge, and Elaine points out that Kasumi decided to not stay at the Glasswalker sept. So, if Elaine spends her time teaching Kasumi, what's in it for Hidden Green? Sleeping Lore has a lot more garou than they do, 4 packs versus two, and frankly teaching Kasumi will be a drain on their resources that they'd need replenished in some fashion. Kasumi says she'll thik about it, and she appreciates the advice.
While Sinead is learning awakening from Chris McNeil, Kirsty drops past and asks what all the news about them going to the Atrocity realm is? Sinead says "yes, we're going", but it turns out its not that they are going that's bemusing Kirsty, but that the Uktena woman from Scars Atoning is taking them. Why? What's in it for her? Sinead says that Jane just offered to help out, and Kirsty's feeling is that the Uktena offering to help for no price is the sort of event that you should make a note of. It just doesn't happen. Kirsty thinks that mostly the Uktena take over thing and don't tell you anything. She thinks that the guy from Grinding Stone is alright, but all the others are really ... self interested. ("you have a woman's auspice, my lord"). Kirsty suggest that Sinead and the others watch their asses way out in the dangerous parts of the Umbra once she's lead them out there.
Later, the pack talk about this amongst themselves - it could be that Jane's repaying the debt the Sept owes the pack, she wants to get a favour later, she wants to see something in the Atrocity realm to do with the pack or bunyip? Oh, wait, they were all talking about mage stuff, and the Uktena are known for their interest in occult and magical things. (ten minute distraction about posessed or awakened trams) (Jess misses 15 mins of chron "What are you talking about?" "Awakening a tram" "Why are you _doing this_?"). Its certainly something to ask.
Finn does some food kitchen help when he needs a study break.
The pack spends some time planning what they are going to and find out about - Tony Staley, Fergusson's and McKoys. The Mage house full of dead bodies is a distinct atrocity, and might be worth finding out about. Joe Ridgeway - he appeared to have been murdered or possibly eaten. Maybe the recent animal installation? what about the blue berets at Scars Atoning, especially the bodies in the corpse.
Kasumi rings in sick, and Finn calls the faculty and says he's had a family emergency that he has to respond to. They both are terribly deceptive and lose honour, but convincing nonetheless. Tillie organises for a backpack, rope and torch to get dedicated ("butt... hat?")
Jane moonbridges in, and the Lost Prophets and her head out to the mage house after discussion - the symbolic correspondance with that site is strong. The house has been burnt dowwn and the basement has been filled in, but its still not fun to look at in the Umbra. Its almost like a photo that's been oversharpened.
Jane leads them into the Umbra, out further from the city. After much walking, they are heading up a hill when the path gradually becomes bright and brighter until its clear they are on a moonpath. They travel for some time through the Umbral mists. The Path is not fully lit, and at one point Jane says to avoid a particularly shadowy part as unsafe.
At one point during their travel they can see something large in the distance. Its glowing, and oddly coloured - its almost like a landscape rather than a spirit. It hurts to look at. Sensing for wyrm shows not much, but sensing for wyld makes Finn's brain hurt and everything seem three dimensional ("everything was 3d?" "you thought that, but now you know better"). Jane does not know what it is, and advocates waiting until its passed before continuing.
After more time, the path gets brighter. As they approach, the pack can see lunes spinning around the path. Figuring that lunes usually defend the paths, the garou opt to pass through quickly and move on as fast as possible.
As people start to flag, Jane looks for somewhere to stop. She's keeping an eye out for crossroads, where two moon paths cross. As the wander, their path starts to widen out and clear. The pack find themselves in an open space with building ruins. There's grass and a moon and a few desultory trees. Finn points out that the ruins seem Roman, and starts looking through the fallen chunks of stone. Everyone else smells woodsmoke, and then notices the homid and lupus coming out from within some of the ruins.
The pack scan the incoming figures surreptiously - they are not wyrm tainted, but they are definitely garou. Jane's bodylanguage is alert but not alarmed, so they pack opt to follow her lead. Will quietly says that the approaching garou have a lot of pure breed, and he bets they are Silver Fangs. Its obvious from body language who the pack leader is, and he greets the garou in garou tongue.
Tillie formally introduces herself as pack leader, but before she is able to introduce her pack, Jane announces herself as an a rank 3 Uktena galliard, and Elder of Scars Atoning sept, the caern of the centre of which was saved from the wyrm by the Lost Prophets. The other pack leader is Phillip Benovides, a rank 3 galliard of the Silver Fangs, and packleader of Defends of the Trail of Swords from Spain (mixed rank 2 and 3 lupus and homid). He says that he's intrigued by Jane's description, and invites the garou to join their campsite.
Finn is invited to tell the story of finding Scars Atoning, which he does with gusto. The Silver Fangs are impressed, even while giving them a side eye about some of the details. The Silver Fangs say that they are on a Quest - (oh god finally food) - to the Legendary Realm to tell/become a particular story about some of Phillip's ancestors, who defeated a type of fomori in the past which has reappeared. Lost Prophets seem a bit envious about this given they are going to the horror realm. There's a bit of discussion about the Legendary realm - its the place where stories live, because while people know that there was a story about this type of fomori, no one is quite up to date on the details, so they are going there to find things out.
There are stories and songs swapped. The Silver Fangs are a little bemused by the mixed nature of the Lost Prophets pack, and the fact they are being led by an Uktena, a tribe with which they have almost no familiarity. Finn asks if they know anything about mages, but they have had no direct contact, and the only stories they know of magic using humans sound more like witches than the fire/death/demon folks that Lost Prophets have encountered.
The Lost Prophets find themselves deferring a bit to the Silver Fangs, as the pure breed eats into the lupus parts of their psyche. Its not that the other pack is using gifts on them, its just some sort of instinct that keeps sneaking up on them. ("Its like seeing someone your own age with all their adult shit together while you're still renting and working casual jobs." "I'm baffled by those people, and I have a kid"). ("Becc with a mouthful of testicles")
When Lost Prophets wake, the Silver Fangs have headed off already. Jane searches around the clearing for a while then picks a direction to continue to search. ("Exposit all over the place!"). They walk for what feels like another day, and the Moon Path gradually grows darker. A breeze starts, and it brings the smell of death, and a sound that grows louder - thousands of people screaming. The ground starts to get sticky, and move unpleasantly under their feet. The garou come up a small rise, and the mists clear a way, revealing an endless landscape of mud and dead vegetation and the scents of rotting and death, with a constant despairing scream carried by the wind. Jane confirms that this is the Atrocity Realm.
She talks them through what to do now - they decide to let their theurge to lead them to try and find the scenes they want, and take off across the landscape as she leads. They can't really trace with scent, as the mud smells of decaying organic matter (like the remnants of floods), and there's always a sound of horror that sounds like its just out of sight. Banes like tiny mosquitos are carried on the wind past them, and they find the occasional pits with maggot-like banes feeding on something in the small holes.
Sinead wanders for a while and then says that she's just not feeling it - there's no sense of a 'right' way for her to go as much as she looks around the place. Some of the rises are rocky, and they can get up high enough to see something move in the distant fog, but there's no instinctual attraction to any of it. After a bit of discussion, Will is chosen to see if he would have any more luck.
Suddenly Jane vanishes. And then she reappears, a bit worse for wear looking, and bloody. She says that is what happens, the realm takes you to your own scenes. The pack, having a spiritual bond, should go together, but she may be taken to her own issues. The pack offer to help if they can, but Jane says there really isn't much that they can do. If she disappears and does not reappear, they should try and make their own way back to the Realm and their caern.
In the distanct, Kasumi suddenly spots some figures struggling through the mud. She points it out to the others - one of the figures falls and lands in the mud while the others try and lift it. They check with Jane and she's not sure what's going on, she's never met anyone else in the Realm. Lost Prophets approach cautiously, travelling down across a filthy rivlet at the bottom of a ditch and then back up. There are three figures, and one of them spots the approaching pack, changing to crinos form and standing up and waving. Will senses them and confirms they are werewolves, and starts jogging toward them. Tillie senses for wyrm, and even admidst all the wyrm in this realm she can sense ... something not right... its not the figures.. its something nearby. She alerts the rest of the pack that there's something up as the crinos figure ahead slumps to all fours.
As Will, who is pretty sure they are garou that need help, jogs forward he becomes aware that his feet are saying one thing and his brain is telling him another. There is a sudden shimmer and there's suddenly a huge pit in front of them, lined by slimy mud. Something lunges up out of the muddle of it, all pincers and mandibles and bony plates. Sinead is caught completely off guard and cannot figure out where the other garou have gone. Will and Finn on the other hand leap into combat, spending rage profligerately. Finn goes with his forward momentum, takes a couple of steps and leaps up onto its back. Will is attacked and badly hurt - he frenzies and attacks. Finn smashes into the spirit from his back, obviously rendering much essence from it. Internally, its not biological, its dry and dusty. The spirit attempts to snap Finn off its back, but doesn't attack well. Finn attacks again, ruining more of the spirit.
Kasumi, Tillie and Jane wade into the combat. Tillie punches claws through and tears off a pincer. Will launches into the spirit's face, and lands the final few blows - as he is frenzying, he doesn't really stop attacking, and keeps punching and clawing mud. Finn leaps off the discorporating spirit elegantly and off to one side. The pack wait for Will to get his shit back together.
They try again to find the mage house stuff. Will is concentrating on the feel of the place, the things they found, how they got there and trying to think of all the associations he can to try and find the scene... but no luck. They stop and talk some more, and Finn offers to give it a go. Finn tries the same thing, but he is walking for a few minutes and then asks whether the same wards that stopped anything of the house appearing in the Umbra might also affect its spiritual impact here? There is some discussion and the pack and Jane agree that it might be the problem. Despite the horrible things happening, the spiritual essence that is generated from them has gone somewhere else or been shorted out or something. They're not sure on the why, but it doesn't explain why they are not having any luck.
More discussion and then go to plan B - the attack on the McCoys. Finn leads the way. There is a flicker, and the pack are somewhere else. They are in the street in South Yarra, behind the brick utility shed next to the rail line. The full moon is descending to the west, and a car is approaching from the north. ("You can interact to some degree" "In that case we should hide"). The SUV swings into the driveway, headlights go off and engine goes off. That is when a black crinos form - not a familiar one - bounds down off the embankment onto the car. Claws smash through glass, screaming starts. Tillie says she's waiting with Finn, Will should go to the car, Sinead goes along the street, to look for mages or evidence thereof, and Kasumi goes to look where the crinos was originally in case they were there.
Will heads for the screaming to get a closer look. He senses to confirm that its a garou and the garou's head snaps around and stares right at him. Its a large black shape with many scars ("its not me!"), matted fur and glowing green eyes. It stares at him and roars loudly; Will decides that he shouldn't ruin the scene and should maybe go back to where he was. He does so quickly, and the crinos returns to murdering the car and its passengers. Sinead heads to the little nest where they smelt a remnant smell in the embankment. There are two strong scents - a dank water smell starts in the nest, but as the trail heads down the hill it changes and a sweaty unwashed smell gets stronger. It is definitely the same scent as they detected lurking in the bushes where Tony Staley was killed.
The unknown garou stands up, and deliberately changes direction, facing Sinead and roars. She's a bit panicked for a second, but its clear that its looking above her - and then it runs off to her left. She turns around and sees the moon behind her, but nothing else lunging out of the darkness.
Kasumi spots two figures in the sky. They descend into the middle of the street - male, tallish, trenchcoats, one with long hair. One takes a few steps foward and jestures. A huge column of flame erupts from the car and after a moment or two, the two figures rise back up into the sky. Kasumi sprints along and tries to get a scent from where they landed - there's not much there and the smell of burning car is flooding it rapidly, but she can briefly smell two human scents (not dank water or anything).
The scene blinks out and the pack are back in the raw mud and horror of the Atrocity Realm. Jane glances their way and confirms that they just flickered out for a second.
The pack consult a little bit - its sounding like a garou, but they want to confirm events from the first encounter that seemed to not have mages. (Tony Staley). They follow Finn along for a few hours when suddenly things change from windy, sludge, horror to dry and extremely hot. They are on a plain of spinfex, with red sandy soil. The pack are on a small rise and it descends to a dip with a road before rising up again to a small hill. On the side of the road is a sedan, presumably broken down as it has the bonnet up. A young woman in a sort of Daisy-Duke-like get up leaning over the engine and perusing it. Will feels her get up appears to be recent looking, within the last ten years.The road is gravel, and in the distance a dust cloud announces the approach of another car. The pack approach the young lady to try and sense for wyrm and unnatural, staying in lupus and threading through the grasses. Tillie gets close enough and senses for wyrm. There is an underlying wyrm sense that is the atrocity realm, but there's something else over there that's wyrmy in a point source kind of way - its either her or something nearby.
The other car approaches, and its a ute. It slows and pulls over as the pack get within 20m or so. Two guys get out - jeans, singlet & shirt - and head over to the young lady. Tillie says they are not wyrmy. The general feeling is she's going to kill them, so the pack are a little bit taken aback when something erupts out of the ground on the far side of the road. Its large, and mostly like a moving heap of dirt. It envelopes the closest guy and there are muffled screaming. The woman does not really react, and is definitely not even surprised. The remaining guy is definitely surprised. He yells and starts to sprint back to the ute.
The dust starts to fall away and its clear its a crinos shape within the dirt. Kasumi stops dead because she can see that its Tillie. The crinos leaps away from the fallen body, still streaming fine red dust, and chases the other guy. The girl saunters over to the fallen body. Will senses her and realises she's a fomori, a fact that seems reasonable when she squats down and starts scooping blood out of the neck wound and lapping at it. Finn thinks the attacking werewolf is female, as she runs after fleeing guy and brings him down, and starts biting through flesh, crunching bone. Will is watching the crinos kill the guy and suddenly realises the crinos is familiar despite the red dust coating everything - oh wait, its Tillie. Oh.
Tillie realises that the crinos is her as well and says "what the fuck is going on". Bzzzt. Atrocity realm. Jane looks puzzled at the "what the _fuck_" expressions on 4 of the 5 Lost Prophets members. Tillie asks if the realm can show you something fake? Jane says no. Why? Tillie maintains that they just saw something not relevant to what they are looking for, but is impossible. Finn asks if the realm can show you future atrocities. Jane sighs and says that she has heard speculation but never any confirmed cases of this happening.
The pack focus more on Tony Staley, led by Will. Jane flickers out and back in with some significant burns. She asks them to wait, and Sinead also heals her. Jane declines the option to explain, and says they should continue onward. After some hours, the pack suffer the same flicker and stumble their way into parkland. They appear to be near the community centre where Tony Staley was killed. They are outside a hedge fence from the grounds, and can see him coming down the street some distance away. That means that their mystery assailant is behind the hedge fence.
Kasumi activates her ragabashery powers and sneaks back around the fence to try and get in behind the assailant. She practically vanishes and drifts away in the dark, finding a hole in the fence and slipping through it. Tillie senses wyrm through the fence, and finds that the point source on the other side is not just tainted but of the wyrm, at least as strongly as a fomori. Oh. That sort of suggests the possibility of them being a Black Spiral Dancer.
Kasumi gets close enough to smell - its a chronically unwashed smell, with clothes that have been worn for ages, mixed with rubbish. He smells like an extremely decrepit homeless person, mixed with stagnant water and strong cigarette smoke. He's wearing worn cargo pants and at least two shirts. The scent is definitely the one they found on first investigation and at the atrocity version of the McCoy house. Will sneaks in behind Kasumi and scents for true form - garou. He then doubles back and scans the sky for mages - he doesn't see any, but does see bats, so he's figuring he isn't just missing them. Finn senses for unnatural from behind the fence and gets a mix of wyrm, wyld, weaver that usually follows garou.
Tony approaches, using his phone and with head phones on, totally oblivious to the approaching death. As he gets within the grounds of the community centre, the guy takes off. Half way to Tony, he changes form into crinos - very dark fur, some scarring. Tillie mentally runs through possible tribes - Black Fury, Silent Strider, Shadowlords, are almost always black. He's almost certainly a homid. He seems to have a bit of fur tied to one arm (or tail?)? And maybe some other items that are hard to really get a clear look at. He has no purebreed. The crinos hits Tony, once from behind and up, which spins Tony around. He claws Tony again upward, sending giblets everywhere. It almost a deliberate effort to make a mess, a statement. Kasumi manages to sneak forward rapidly to get a look at the face of the crinos, and sees the glowing green eyes again - not just pale green, but almost like a glowstick level of glowing.
The scene ends and they end up back with Jane. They swap details and its very strongly sounding like a Dancer. Or at least a wyrm corrupted garou? They contemplate finding one more scene and maybe deliberately dying there? The pack and Jane feel like they have at least a bit longer that they could survive the realm, but Jane wants to leave at the same time ideally. That would require them being in the same scene.
The Lost Prophets concentrate on the Fergusson's, figuring there might be some more hints to the identity of either the purported Dancer or the mages that were nearby. There is a flicker and the pack find themselves not in the streets of Abbotsford, but in bushland, atop a rocky outcrop. Its dark except for firelight reflecting on trees nearby. They can hear talking, but its not english ("does it sound like someone listing place names in Australia?") but it might be an aboriginal language. The tone is calm. There are scents of people, and wood smoke, and strange food smells. There is an odd scent on the air, drifting in - wolf like perhaps? The pack creep closer to the edge of their outcrop.
They can definitely see aboriginal people - there are small fires, and bark-shelters of some sort. They hear a horse, as do some of the people in the gully - they react with alarm. The horse sounds get louder and three horsemen break out of the bushlands. They are not shooting, but they do have guns. At least one of them appear to be kinfolk according to Will's nose. The horsemen kick shelters, and cause havoc, avoiding aboriginal men with weapons. They look like extras from a Ned Kelly film - big old looking beards. They cause some chaos, wheel and ride off again, drawing a number of people as pursuit. Unfortunately, that is the point where three people and two 'dogs' run in to the clearing. One of them is Will. No, wait, its not Will, although the first impression was that it was Will, in modern clothes even. Finn clings to this impression, becoming more confused about his position amidst the 19th century looking people. Will tentatively calls on his ancestors despite better advice, but cannot get the right mental state. He senses and finds that the five newcomers are garou.
The pack squabble about whether its Will or not down there. Finn thinks its Will - everyone else sees some family resemblence, but its not Will. ("I love the idea that you bound a fight." "Now what?" "Put it in the oven!" "Store it with the can of whoopass")
The two wolves and their three human companions start attacking people violently. They are not using guns, but claws and teeth, and knives or just punching. They are not shapeshifting. One of the aboriginal guys attacks one of them with a spear; it is wrestled off him and then it is used to impale him through the torso. Sensing wyrm says that they are not of the wyrm, but there is some level of taint. Will senses the aboriginal people, and gets a weird kinfolk-like sense, but not quite right (tribal differences? but he's sensed bonegnawer kinfolk before). Tillie tries to get a sense for tribe on these attacking werewolves - european is the best she can do.
("What sort of an idiot brings an erection to a knife fight?")
An aboriginal guy runs back toward the almost-Will with a hatchet. He and almost-Will fight briefly: in short the fight goes hatchetting, hatchetting, ow broken arm, ow broken nose, dropped the hatchett, ow, oh look a hatchett. Almost-Will seems to ignore his wounds despite the gaping flesh.
As soon as there is no resistance, the invading garou stop fighting and killing. The garou menace the cowering humans, herding them into a big pile. There are about 12 to 15 people left out of the 25 that were camping here - 5 obviously dead, some badly wounded, some fled.
The pack listen in, and despite the expectation, there are not a lot of german sounding accents - everyone sounds Australian. They can pick up names - almost-Will is "James". The other two homids are "Bert" and "Charles", and the lupus are Bane-Tooth and Chainbreaker.
James asks some of the aboriginal women who belongs to the dead guy. He eventually finds one of them speaks enough english to convey the question. No one wants to answer, and he starts to yell. They give up a young woman while he goes and gets a hatchett. He gives it to her handle first. "Tell her, he was brave and strong" There is some conversation amongst the aboriginal people and the older woman says "she says you still killed him". "Yes, I was stronger". She is told to get her things and go, which she does, scrabbling some gear together and heading out into the dark.
The scene does not appear to end at this point, concerneing everyone. ("its not going to be in the Atrocity realm if it gets better"). One of the other garou asks if they should kill them all. James says "No, we wait for the Urrah". The pack have a brief consultation - Will thinks it means 'glasswalker' or 'bonegnawer', which makes the others glare at him because they think it means 'dishonourable' or 'an outcast'.
The pack hear something out in the darkness, as do the other garou down in the campsite. Its the sound of a very distressed horse. Two of the european pack - Charles and Bane-Tooth - are sent out to see what is going on. After 5 minutes there is a wolf yelp, and then silence. Lost Prophets decide to send super stealthy Kasumi out into the dark on her own to see what is going on. What could go wrong. She can smell blood after a short while, which clarifies to be horse blood. She finds a steaming dead horse and rider after a short time. Through the trees in the distance, she can see a glabro figure striding through the forest, heading back toward the campsite. Kasumi ghosts along behind the figure. The first thing she notices is that its a her, not a him. The second is that they are dripping blood, as if wounded - its quite a lot of blood. The third thing she senses is that they are creeping, keeping to shadows and such, and not being obvious.
The glabro woman starts angling slightly for the high ground opposite Lost Prophet's vantage. When she's not far from breaching cover, she lobs something she's carrying toward the fire. The Lost Prophets see something come rolling down the slope and stop before it reaches the fire. Its about head sized, primarily because its a head. The pack can't identify it, but one of the homids goes over and gets it and says "its Charles". A female voice in garou tongue yells "I see you have a new pack. Did you tell them what happened to the old one?" Kasumi can hear it from the glabro ahead of her - she speaks and then moves quickly, staying in cover. The voice had a slight german accent.
The three garou appear to be on the edge of frenzy. The glabro woman comes into the firelight enough to be seen. Bert loses it, changes to crinos, and runs toward her. Kasumi opts to circle around and return to her pack on top of the rocks as the woman fades back into the bushland The sounds of roaring and fighting erupt from the bushland, but after a minute or two, it goes silent.
The glabro woman emerges from the trees again, carrying two axes. She is covered in blood, and clearly injured. Chain-breaker breaks and runs for her, but she commands "LEAVE" in garou tongue, and she cowers, and then runs off. Its clear the woman has used a gift to command that lesser rank garou.
The woman and James have a brief verbal altercation - "I told you to leave them alone." "And why would I listen to what you say?". She changes to homid while walking toward him (short curly brown hair, dressed in relatively practical clothing, not period dress. Sort of hunting-style thing). Its clear that even from this brief interaction that they have a deep, personal hatred - they know each other well, and they hate each other thoroughly.
They launch into combat - still in homid. That seems bizarre, but there might be ritualised element to it. Or perhaps, using teeth and claws would be aggravated and lead to death, and they don't want to kill one another? Or the axes are silver and its the only way to not take silver damage? Its really unclear. His bushknife doesn't seem to be silver, but the axes are pretty shiny.
James is slightly winning - there's a lot of blocking and trying to get the advantage rather than just hammering one another and hoping not to die. Most of the aboriginal people are still cowering and trying to keep out of the way, but some flee in the confusion.
Two horsemen ride back in and look concerned. One of them unlimbers his rifle, aims and fires at the woman. It hits her in the head with a spray of blood and brains and she drops to the ground, clearly dead. James screams, and spins around, glaring at the horseman, and trying to not frenzy. Tillie is baffled that James seems more out of control over this than his pack being murdered and wonders if they are siblings - but their faces are much different. James hurls his knife at the horseman, impaling him in the chest, and knocking him from the saddle.
James eventually gets himself under control and starts giving orders to the remaining henchman/horseman. "Burn that (pointing at the woman) and that (pointing at the fallen horseman)." "I don't think he's dead" "Did I ask?". The horseman starts dragging the other guy to the fire, throws tonnes of brush on it, building it up and throws both bodies on. The fallen horseman starts to scream, and bubble, but goes unconscious or dead quickly. The others leave.. and the scene ends.
They tell Jane they hit a random scene. She says none of the scenes will be random, there must be a reason. They compare some info and she isn't sure why, but asks whether it might be the potential bunyip connection? She presses them a bit, but they really don't know, and want to leave a discussion to getting back home.
("I don't recall eating a human being. What am I, a bonegnawer").
Lost Prophets take a few minutes to refocus after the intense scene that went some time. They concentrate on the scene they want to find - the Ferguson house - and start off again.
After some time there is a flicker, and they are on a Melbourne street. It seems like the right place, and indeed they spot the Ferguson house next to the 3 storey apartment block. They'd not seen the house before except in the umbra because they came late to the party. Despite the concern of some of the pack, they split up into two groups to try and watch to see the approach of - presumably - the garou.
Kasumi leads Will out the back, stealthily getting stuck on roses, stepping in dog shit, creaking the gate and generally forgotting how to ragabash. The others find a dark shadow on the street. Sinead is scanning around when she spots a crinos silhouette just standing still on top of the units next to the Ferguson house. It appears to have its arms stretched and to be looking upward. She points it out to Finn and Tillie. Oh, he's doing the same thing he did at the McCoys - looking at the moon.
He stands there for a good two minutes while the pack watch. At the end of that time, he stops and takes a few steps backward, then does a running leap off the top of the apartment block, and straight through the roof, still in crinos form. Kasumi and Will are alerted to his presence by bits of roof tile flying through the neighbourhood, and Will jumps the fence and runs up to the back of the house. Sinead and Tillie close in on the house to try and see what might happen next. Most of the windows have pulled blinds or closed blinds, but they search around for some glimpse inside. Tillie suddenly remembers the description of the Ferguson's wounds - as if someone had driven a car through a wall and into them - and realises that the same description would apply to a crinos falling through roof plaster onto people. They try and find the nearest window to the hole in the roof.
Will looks in the kitchen window and then goes through the back door. He can hear muffled noises from within the house, and heads for them. Will opens the door stealthily, and can see a crinos form on top of a squashed bed, with dark liquid up the walls. A strong smell of blood prevails without. The crinos is attacking the bed and the people in it - not frenzy, just kiling them.
Sinead and Tillie catch up, sneaking in. The crinos smells exactly like the guy from the other two attacks, and as his head turns back and forth they can see green glow coming from his eyes. He makes eye contact with Will, who slams the door and says "CHEESE IT". They go a few steps into the house and hear the sound of exploding glass, so the crinos has clearly decided to go the other way.
Finn, who has been creeping closer while still keeping a look out, sees the crinos explode out of the side of the house, and then run his way. It swerves onto the road, hitting a car and setting off the alarm. He then spots Tillie and Sinead's heads stick out of the ex-window before they pull back in.
Tillie, Sinead and Will debate briefly hiding in the house to see what happens next before Sinead says "Hello? Huge house fire?" ("Dammit, so close to setting you all alight") and sanity prevailing. The opt to go out the window and hide on the other side of the fence next to the units.
Kasumi spots two figures in the sky, floating down from the north east and landing out of her sight (probably in the Ferguson house or yard). Sinead spots them in the sky flying down, and the other garou find a knothole to peer through. The mages land silently - no jetson's noise, just a gentle landing. They are dressed in fairly normal clothing, one with long hair, one with short. Tillie senses wyrm - there is still the underlying atrocity realm sense, but also a strong taint from them. They're not corrupted, but they are strongly tainted.
Kasumi uses her gift to blur indistinctly and sneaks closer. Tillie sneaks around to try and get a scent from the drive, where they landed. Will senses for unnatural - two senses, cold and metally, ("fast metal, like a robot hummingbird") just like they picked up from the site in the realm when they investigated. The metallic sense flares strongly, and two bodies float out of the smashed window (wrapped in blankets, etc), followed by one of the mages (short haired one). One of the pack gets a reasonable look at his face - European, maybe a bit swarthy. He and they fly off up into the sky. The other one is inside, doing something.
Tillie gets two seperate male smells. They eat food, they wear shop clothes. There's nothing special about the smells, but she could convey them to the others.
The unnatural sense of coldness builds up, and suddenly there is smoke and then flames. It starts deep inside the house, and spreads very quickly - unnaturally quickly. Will can see through a knothole and the smashed window and he can see the last mage with his hands waving over the walls and fire appearing behind that. He's concentrating, but setting everything on fire. ("its a _european_ wasp. ") As he leaves, the pack get a decent look at his face - again, european, maybe southern? Long hair.
And the scene ends and the pack are back in the muck and the screaming. Jane appears to have noticed their flicker and they confirm they found the scene they wanted. They have more of a sense of exactly what was happeing, if not why. ("What's the connection between Staley, Fergusons and McCoys?" "They were all murdered by a werewolf?") Is it an elemental thing? Bodies in water, and fire? And Staley... um. hmm. But there were no sign of mages for the first death either, which wasn't clear at the time due to a lack of sense unnatural. Although the evidence did change. Maybe they started following things because they know someone in the morgue who told them about weird knife attacks? (Pakistani dalek)
They debate what to do now, but Tillie wants them to leave while they aren't exhausted. They talk with Jane about how to find a scene to leave, which no one is looking forward to.
Jane takes the lead, and after a few hours, the atrocity realm fades away and a new scene appears. Its bushland, and Jane is with them. ("Is Will?" "Yes. Many bodies. One will" "Its the triumph of the Will"). Its less dry than the last forest they were in, more slightly rainforesty? There is a nearby aboriginal encampment, which Jane leads them towards. They can hear horse riders coming, and white people turn up with extra spare food and blankets. The pack wince and take the food. ("When they said 'get killed in the scene' I had assumed it was going to be murder, not a slow death from dysentry and smallpox"). They start to all feel ill and dizzy, and some of the humans start to puke. Its clear they've been poisoned. The white folks pull out guns and start to shoot people who have been disabled by the poison, and each of the pack is forced to control their natural inclination to fight back as they are shot to death.
The pack all appear in the Umbra, amidst the mists. None of them is well pleased with things, and its a very quiet trip as they try and find a moon path back to the Realm. They mists clear occasionally, and they can see that its near - or just past - ahroun moon, which means they've been gone 4 to 7 days. It feels like 4, but that's not a certainty. ("You don't have to pee in the Umbra - for recreational purposes, go nuts"). Jane eventually finds a moon path for them, and leads them back toward the physical realm (dodging ahroun lunes and their endless enthusiasm for fighting the wyrm). Boobook joins them at some point, flying off and returning as suits him. When they arrive, they find it is....
The pack and and Jane they return to the caern, and braindump to Graeme and Cossack about what happened. Black Spiral Dancer? maybe. Wyrm tainted, yes. Mages controlling? Cleaning up? don't know. Cossack thinks it does sound like a Dancer, which would be the first in a while - he doesn't look surprised tho. On the other hand... one? Why not a pack? Hmm. Will thinks that given the mages seem so keen on spirit stuff (fetishs, etc), there's a high chance its mage controlled, but it could be a Dancer as well. There is a bit more discussion about options, and then Cossack says they will talk more at the Moot on Friday. Jane heads back via Moon Bridge.
Sinead tries to think about how to make the talen she wants to make for her challenge. She has decided to make something that lets the user see what the true form of someone really is. She needs to think of a spirit and a material form. (rastamouse, they live). She could go for something associated with deception like a lyrebird. Mystic totems? Maybe Chimera - or maybe an alternative sense, like smell is the way to go, and she could try a wolf or ferret smell. Beagles? Rat? Tribe totem, that's good. Ancestor spirit? Starlight? Surveillence weaver spirits? She is sufficient depleted that she's going to need to tap Boobook for gnosis to do the binding.
The pack get together and talk about the personal scenes they saw in the Atrocity Realm, and what to do about it. Tillie offers to let Will use his gift on her as long as he doesn't ask any other questions ("Did you take my beer?" "Yes, and i'd do it again" "I haven't even used the gift yet". "my question is 'what is love?'") They talk about the vision - it wasn't just that the desert crinos looked like Tillie, but it also moved like Tillie. On the other hand, for a brief moment it looked like Will in the other scene (except for Finn, who saw Will the whole time) so maybe its not that it was Tillie, but someone spiritually connected to Tillie? Was it from the future? Jane thought no, but admitted other people did think that.
They decide to give Cossack the head's up. They head into the caern and find Cossack to give him the rest of the info. Lost Prophets explain about the Tillie scene and then the Will scene. Cossack straight up asks Tillie and she says "no" and he seems to believe her. Was it just the realm just messing with them? He thinks that it can't lie, but it can hide things under layers of symbology and abstraction - have you eaten anything else you feel guilty about? ("Will's beer" "DAMMIT" "I ate all your bees") The person in the scene that looked like Will might well have been an ancestor, for instances - that would explain the get up. Is it possible Tillie has a closer relative? Tillie has no idea about any relatives, unless she's related to anyone at her old caern. Cossack says that she could try and get some information from the Shadowlord tribe - he's not going to push her on this, but it is a distinct possibility. On the other hand, the strength of Will's ancestral connection increases the chance that they would see something from his history, so they shouldn't focus. ("the shadowlords have skeletons in the closet. the get of fenris have skulls nailed about the door"). Tillie asks whether her parents had to have been Shadowlords and Cossack hmss and hrrs, and says that he thinks that one of them almost certainly was, but he can't confirm that Grandfather Thunder wouldn't accept a random garou as a shadowlord, but the Shadowlords do tip the hat to practicality over honour. On the other hand, 'Kennedy' is a fairly irish sounding name. Finding out would mean talking to tribe people - Cossack can't do it, but as a rank 2 Shadowlord, Tillie has some standing to ask.
Cossack asks if they want to mention these things at the moot. Will asks if they are relevant, and Cossacks says he can't say how, but he'd expect so. Tillie says she's strangely reluctant, but she'll think about it. ("I feel like the core of the litany breach comes from eating the head". "That applies to a couple of tenets")
Kasumi calls work and says that she's been in the hospital with gastro again. And she's home now - she might be in tomrrow, but its more likely to be Monday. Someone takes a message to that extent, putting off the problem to another day.
Sinead decides to contact a chimera spirit and ask it to be bound to a pair of aviator sunglasses, combining the symbology of mirrors and glasses ("but what if you need to go to a nightclub and then you're that dickhead wearing sunglasses"). She gets a packmate to dedicate them, and performs the summoning ritual for several hours. When the chimera spirit arrives, it does not make itself visible, but does speak to Sinead. Sinead explains what she requires and offers in return to learn three sleight-of-hand tricks (enigmatic puzzles) and perform them at the Moot in July, in return for it being bound into a talen. ("who the fuck keeps a bowl of wax fruit"). ("if you have icecream, i will give you icecream. If you have no ice cream, I will take it away. It is an icecream koan"). (http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/35anu4) (why yes, everyone was distracted). The spirit agrees to her offer, which the whole pack regards as suspiciously easy.
Kasumi gives her doctor friend a call about needing a medical certificate. For gastro. Again. He says he wants her to come in, which she does. When he sees her, she explains that work has been extremely stressful, and she was having mental trouble, but he doesn't want to tell work that. She is extremely convincing (9 9 9 10 10) and he agrees but he does want her to work out a mental health plan to help reduce her ongoing stress. She agrees.
Opening howl! The moot rites start the moot and replenish the caern and assembled garou's gnosis. Spirits are thanked for their help in the last month, especially the totem spirits. The pack take this opportunity to renew their connection to their totem. Matters turn quickly to talking about Lost Prophets' discoveries in the Atrocity Realm. Is it a Dancer? Probably. It could just be some Lost Cub not attached to a sept (eyes flicker to Sinead briefly, not as an accusation, just as an association). The Get of Pennington say that they know one guy who wanders through sometimes, but its not him. Is it just one or is it a pack? If it is Dancers, you'd expect a pack? if its just one, did the Mages bring it? Its behaviour seems almost ritualised. Why are the mages interacting? It seems unlikely to be out of the goodness of their heart. Cossack brings the conversation to practicalities - they have a description (visual and olfactory) and they'll get people to keep an eye out, and let Hidden Green know as well.
Will suggests making some sort of spiritual activity that will draw the attention of the mages. Tricky to manage without making it obvious enough for humans as well, but possibly viable - they certainly seem to have interest in fetishes, based on the attempts to steal the one in the museum and the posession of the Cracking Stone and the wyrm mask at the house in Airport West. Various spirit help is proposed, like bloodhound or wolf spirits, or aerial spirits to help find the individual. The problem lies in the effort required - it either needs to be a powerful enough spirit to be able to clearly perceive the realm world and the murders, in which case its will take a lot of chiminage and/or gnosis, or its going to be a smaller spirit bound to a talen, in which case the garou will be carrying it around and need to be nearby. Its not 'no', its just it might require some planning. Tillie asks about whether the surge in spiritual energy from ritualised murders might be detectable, and that leads to some thoughtful faces. Hidden Green could make drones? Pretty obvious, but maybe? ("this is how the robot uprising begins"). They could burn down the city and start again? yes, thank you Kirsty. After about an hour, there are some possible leads to follow but nothing to act on today.
There is some talk about doing stuff tonight - if the pattern holds, then there will be murders tonight (4 murders? if he's going on pattern, it's gone 1, 2, 3 already), so people should keep their eyes out while revelling.
Cossack brings the topic to a close, but asks Lost Prophets "was there anything else about your trip you think was relevant?" Its neutral, but leading. Before the pack can answer, Kirsty asks if they worked out why Jane was keen on taking them to the Atrocity Realm. Tillie says they asked but Jane just had things she wanted to see. There is a certain amount of scoffing from across the Sept but no actual honour-losing criticism of other tribes. Tillie says that in addition to the Dancer things, they did see some things that cannot be true ("you better fucking back me!") or didn't make sense. She's a bit vague and people respond with "yes, like?". There's a call to let the galliard talk from the peanut gallery. The Elders aren't saying anything, but the other packs are a bit confused about the lack of detail given she brought it up. Lost Prophets huddle for a moment or two and then decide to be more upfront.
Finn starts with the antlion story ("A tale of great valour!"), and then explains first about Will's presumed ancestor attacking an aboriginal encampment, and then a fight to the death amongst garou (expackmates?). Generally the response from people echoes Cossack's suggestion of Will's strong ancestral connection bringing them that scene - maybe that's what Jane Redfeather wanted to see? Aboriginal or bunyip things? Well, she wasn't there, so she didn't see it, and they didn't tell her. She didn't press for details either. Emma ends the conversation before it turns into random bitching about Uktena. Lost Prophets explain the other scene and there's some "ohhh". Someone says "if Tillie killed someone, she'd just say" and that breaks a bit of the tension. Maybe its like Will, that there's some relative out there that is symbolically linked to Tillie? She says that she has no idea - metis not known for their sibling ties and all. Ian pipes up and says "I'm just a galliard, but does no one else think this is the second doppleganger thing related to Tillie?" Oh yeah. Maybe whatever it was that was pretending to be Mandras wandered off to pretend to be Tillie after that? That's a possibility the pack hadn't considered.
There's some more desultory talk about the Atrocity realm, and then matters turn to other sept business. There's some more info from the fomori installation - links back to American and Asian companies, but nothing local. Info is being passed back to other septs along the usual tribe paths. Hand of Lore had to deal with an incursion on midwinter's eve, a whole load of winter spirits made their way into the realm in an apartment block and caused havoc, including some deaths (frozen to death - not just got too cold, but actually froze). They appeared to get through a snowglobe somehow - it had some spiritual resonance that allowed spirits through. Get of Pennington had to deal with a fomori involved in bullying and abuse at some local junior soccer clubs.
Sinead steps up and presents her completed challenge talen. Ian comments that it won't fit his glabro head, and Finn says "change to homid then". Ian gives him the eye, trying to figure out if he's being funny, but Finn just forgot that he couldn't. Emma examines the glasses and asks her some questions about the spirit within, and the chiminage she chose. She also asks about the first part of the challenge, which was to work out what the sept needed - was there a reason that Sinead didn't just ask what they needed? ("I feel like we're always asking for help" "Well, you tend to call back with 'shit's on fire' not 'i can't open this can'"). Sinead is a bit taken aback, and just assumed that she had to do it on her own. Emma replies that the strength of the garou is in their bonds - between pack members, and septs and tribes - and Sinead should not be afraid to rely on other garou. The Elders speak briefly and agree to recognise Sinead as rank 2. Other renown is also recognised through the sept.
Kasumi asks one of the theurges to summon a mouse spirit to learn a gift. Mouse appears after a couple of hours, but seems unimpressed with the pack's owl totem. They manage to come to an agreement nonetheless, and Kasumi gets Taken the Forgotten gift from Mouse in return for making a mouse home once a month for a year - one of which is in a pack member's house - safe from owl. ("hot cocoa and a mouse" "you gotta make it like a tim tam slam - " "EWWWWW". "Fucking rat!" "Mouse! Don't be racist")
Will asks Emma to summon an incarna so he can learn Call to Duty. She calls to Wolf, and he considers chiminage. Maybe he could become a kids football referee? Lots of judging and respect, but difficult to fit in around garou life. He could not lose Honour in the next month.
Sinead gets Chris to summon Rat to teach her Commands the Spirit. She is watching him and realises he is calling to a particular aspect of Rat, a war rat, Rat-that-Commands (maybe a rat king?). Its not sneaky rat, its big ferocious Rat. She contemplates chiminage - dedicating kills, war cries, runs a bum fight, obeying the next 3 commands from her packleader in a lupus fashion... disobey the next 3 commands from her packleader, etc. Rat appears after a relatively short summoning - "WHAT" "This tribe member wishes to learn a gift from you". Rat turns to Sinead. "WHAT" "I wish to learn the gift Command Spirit. In return I will conduct two episodes of industrial sabotague in your name." "FIVE". "Three". "YES. WITHIN AREAS HIGHEST OF GAUNTLET." "Deal." "THINGS MUST BE DESTROYED" "Within the next three months." "YES". The spirit scurries up Sinead and stares in her eyes - something is transferred and Sinead has a knowledge of the gift.
Stories and songs! ("And now a new composition, "I didn't mean to make fun of your deformity"" ... "Ian replies with some beat poetry - *punch punch punch*" "I call it 'lament of the white male' or 'fall of privilege'"). Cossack relevantly tells the story of the fall of the White Howlers. Things get more agitated and head for the Revel. All the sept will be keeping an eye out for the homeless murdering garou as they spread out. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL5L0RZFXUw)
Lost Prophets join in the fun, and clear out some minor bits and pieces. There's no sign of murder hobos.
Sinead comes back after the revel and hangs out with Graeme listening to the police scanner, and waiting to see if they get a call from a kinfolk informant. This way if the murdering happens and so she's ready to call the pack and get them to get moving. She stays up well into the morning. There's still no reports of people being murdered even by lunchtime. ("You stay awake, because that sounds like a grand experiment - I'm going to sleep").
Weirdly, the pack do not have the normal moot dream. It seems that having a pack member not asleep avoids the usual screaming. Interesting to know. Even that night, when they do all collapse, there's no dream - either its connected to the murdering (which there appears to be none) or more likely to the Moot.
The pack catch up with their mortal lives a bit, while waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kasumi goes and buys headphones for her magic computer. Sinead takes out a book of magic tricks from the library and buys a pack of cards. Finn tries to catch up with Sarah.
Kasumi goes back to work and has a meeting with her boss and a HR respresentative booked. Despite her extreme suspicion, and the mental cries from her pack to pretend to be pregnant, drink soap or pretend to have cancer, she simply goes to the meeting. The HR representative is called Caroline, and says that she's not here to be punitive, but to offer access to the company's internal health support system. She could get tested, and regardless of how much the tests cost, the company would pay for it. Caroline seems very genuine and Kasumi's boss just smiles and nods, but Kasumi politely declines, saying she has a family doctor already who is helping her manage things.
Tillie gets a call in the late afternoon from Graeme and says that their friend has visited, but it was in Williamstown. He gives her an address, which is an unused warehouse. The pack collect Kasumi and head out there in the spirit world. There's no one there at the moment. Its a warehouse near the shoreline, with a big sign saying "for rent or sale" which is a sign no one has been there for a time. Sinead peeks from the Umbra. The place is an empty concrete shell, with a small amount of police tape flapping about on the side door. Internally its clear there's been a fire, and she can smell smoke and accelerant, and a rotting flesh smell. She thinks that by the smell, there's been a bunch of live people here today - a large variety of people, spaced over the day. Probably police. Before that, there has been rotting blood and flesh left here for a couple of days, and even in winter, that's a strong smell. Not long before that there was a fire - along with some petrol or similar accelerant. Before that, she thinks that people were living here - somewhere between 3 or 5 people, based on the smells and on the unburnt bits of the stuff left here. She checks the outside for their green-eyed friend, but doesn't find any signs - the bayside is pretty pungent, and might be hiding things.
The pack speculate about whether there are connections between all the victims again - maybe something they can't see that connects them all to the murderer? They did investigate this, and didn't find a lot of evidence for that. Further looking around suggests this is pretty much an isolated location, without many people going past day in and day out. There's no obvious claw marks on the walls or signs of bursting in.
Its weird that no one noticed the warehouse fire. It would have all been internal (its not structural), but it would have been noisy too, surely? And there's no sign it was put out by fire engines, it just burnt out (not everything is consumed). Plus the killing. Weird... but is it supernaturally weird?
They head back to the caern and dump on Graeme. He takes the bare details and says that Tillie has a visitor - Michelle Leaps-Beyond-the-Reach-of-the-Wyrm, Darius' seneschal, turned up about 30 minutes ago and asked for them. Tillie has no idea what a Seneschal is, and Graeme says he thinks its basically Darius' executive PA. She wouldn't tell Graeme or Emma what is was about, so Graeme sent her, er, suggested she goes to Carmel's to wait. Despite Will's cynicism about the Silver Fang's claim to primacy being more based on their murder-gifts than their natural birthright, they go to Carmel's. Carmel is there, and looks moderately unimpressed - she points to a lady sitting on her own.
Michelle is probably in her mid30s, with hair pulled back neatly, wearing an expensive suit. She spots them coming in and suggests they go and speak somewhere quiet, like that park over there. The pack and the Silver Fang head over away from people. Quietly there is a formal introduction - she is Michelle Leaps-Beyond-the-Reach-of-the-Wyrm, a rank 3 Silver Fang metis ragabash, and the seneschal of King Darius. She has been asked by Darius to ask them to meet someone in a matter concerning the Bunyip. Tillie says "sure" without arguing at all. Michelle says that it is a few hours trip - she has obtained a vehicle to make the trip, but the pack beg off and want to take their murder-van.
The pack organise a convoy - Kasumi wants to take her prius, and Finn calls shotgun. They go via the caern and give Cossack and Graeme a heads up about what's happening. Cossack says that they shouldn't feel that they have to obey - but on the other hand, don't not do anything just because. The pack meet Michelle and driving an expensive van (on her own - possibly she thought she'd be conveying the whole pack as well) and head north up the Hume and then up toward Bendigo, stopping only to eat Maccas and let Kasumi pee. They see Michelle on the phone at one point. Eventually they pull off at Echucha and into a carpark. Michelle pulls up next to a flash Mercedes, and the pack park a bit away. Michelle gets out and interacts with the driver on the other car - they get out and it is actually Darius.
Darius is in his mid-40s, with thinning blond hair and a receding chin - he's not particularly threatening until they notice that under his bespoke suit he is as muscled as you would expect a rank 5 ahroun would be. Finn nudges Tillie and says that there is someone else in the car too. Darius comes over - he is polite and thanks them for coming. He has a request to make; he is acting as a go-between for a friend of his, who is looking for help from the Lost Prophets in a matter concerning the bunyip. This 'friend' wishes to remain anonymous until (unless) the pack agree to assist - the first part of the assistance would be to test their alleged affinity with the Bunyip. Tillie asks about the rest and Darius replies that if there is no affinity, there is no need for them to know. He repeats that he is acting as a go-between here, which makes the pack a bit concerned - given that he's a rank 5 Silver Fang ahroun, head of the Jindabyne Council and a Sept Leader of the Crackenback caern, he is probably the highest ranked garou in the country.
Tillie asks for a moment to confer with her pack, and they head back into the murder van. Its pointed out that the last time they met Darius, they thwarted his plans for the Scars Atoning caern by acting as champions for the Fianna. Its pretty unlikely that he has some secret plan to get them all killed in revenge, but they probably should review things closely. Its a bit weird to meet him after a car drive, rather than in the Umbra or having people visit by Moonbridge. They head back and Tillie says that she reserves the right to pull out if she feels that the pack is being put in an inappropriate amount of danger. Darius agrees and goes to the far side of his car and has a brief discusson though a cracked window. The window goes up again and the door opens (players make wild guesses about who it might be) and Cernonous, one of the Child of Gaia council members, steps out. Cernonous is in 50s, heavy set features and barrell chested, dressed in pants and shirt (he reminds Richard of a university academic).
They are formally introduced - Cernonous is a rank 4 Child of Gaia metis theurge, and Arm of the Goddess of the Nimbin Sept. (Sort of a sept leader as far as Lost Prophets can determine). Cernonous thanks them for at least hearing him out. He says that the contact that the pack had with Bunyip spirits at Grinding Stone constitutes the first verified non-aggressive contact with Bunyip spirits since the other tribes instigated the War of Rage against them (pack members twitch a bit at "other tribes", but it does match up with some of the stories they know that the Glass Walker and Children of Gaia tribes both went "nah-uh!" and refused to join in the formal war). He wants to investigate that - if they have an affinity with the Bunyip, what does it entail. Tillie asks to what end, and Cernonous says he doesn't want to go into that at this juncture. Tillie asks why Cernonous did not come directly to them, and he discreetly says that not all garou are for the return of the bunyip. If he was to be seen directly interacting with Lost Prophets, it might cause some opposition from some tribes.
The pack ask what this test entails. Cernonous says that following the end of the War of Rage and in the time since there have been instances where the umbra appears to have turned against the garou - storms, spirits attacking, and so on - and there were sometimes suggestions that the bunyip were responsible. It was never confirmed, partly because often whole packs would vanish, or individual garou would be driven mad. The visions that Lost Prophets had at Grinding Stone and the events are Scars Atoning constitute the first non-hostile connection anyone has had to the Bunyip. As these events seem to happen most commonly away from European habitation (and the resulting Weaver overrun), he suggests that they spend some time driving around isolated areas and seeing if they can trigger such a visitation, and see what the bunyip response is. The pack suggest that this is dangerous, but not stupid. Will says that when it happened to them, it was because a caern was under attack - is that what he expects? Cernonous says that it might be that the garou that were attacked had stumbled into some sort of sacred area without knowing, but its not his plan. When does he want to get on with it? Right now would suit Cernonous, but Lost Prophets have mortal lives to take care of first.
Lost Prophets ask for a bit of time to chat off nearby. They want to make sure that anything that he finds out related to them he conveys to the pack - no "that's very interesting" and not telling them. Cernonous says that he's hoping that they manage some sort of peaceful contact - nothing more fine grained than that. Tillie asks who else knows about his plan. Cernonous says he is trying to keep things as secret as possible - some individual garou and whole tribes might oppose him. The Red Talons and Uktena spring to mind, which surprises Lost Prophets a little - they thought that the Uktena would be all in. They ask about times. Cernonous was thinking 3 to 5 days to begin with. It might not work straight away. ("I'm part pirate. don't oppress me")
After some chatting, the pack say that they can't get away today. They will try and work things out for this weekend maybe? Kasumi's mortal life is an important pack resource. Plus they have Dancer stuff to chase in Melbourne. Cernonous thinks that is probably ok, though he doesn't really want to delay too much. He gives them a mobile number and says that they should let him know when they can. They pack head back to Melbourne, squabbling about music choice the whole way.
"FULL MOON KILLER STRIKES AGAIN". The newspapers have finally cottoned onto this pattern of fire and murder at the full moon and have published a full page or two on the details. Oddly, they don't appear to have linked Tony Staley to the events, only the Fergussons, McCoys and the Williamstown fire. There is a suspicion of a serial killer working in Melbourne. ("Your metis deformity - you're born to two male werewolves")
Tillie goes to see Graeme who says that he wanted to talk to her anyway. She wants to talk about plans to deal with Mages and Dancers, and he says good because that's what he was interested in too - he wants her or someone from her pack to go to Hidden Green and give them descriptions of everyone they saw. Tillie moans and groans but bullies the others into coming with her.
They head over and come up the lift and meet Felix again. He's keen on getting a visual description of the people they saw in the Atrocity realm so they can train up some awakened cameras to identify them. Lost Prophets are keen to try and provide an accurate description, and having them all there helps somewhat. Asimov, one of the Alternative, is a decent sketch artist and produces a pencil portraiture that most of the pack agrees is accurate enough. They also provide descriptions of the mages they saw flying around, and mention that as they were flying, it might be worth trying to spend some effort watching the skiiies. ("homid form shape. in the sky. report that one, regardless of their face") Despite the fears of Lost Prophets, there's no sign of Steel Hunters. Elaine has a word with Kasumi about her computer and reiterates that her offer remains open.
Will gets a call to go and do some lifting for some cash in hand.
Sinead is practicing tricks ("*CARD* tricks") at the sept when Marion walks past and asks what the hell she's doing. Sinead tries to show her, and Marion manages to not only ruin the trick but hide the card she picked. Marion says "sit the fuck down" and shows her some better misdirections - she's not a great teacher in words, but is able to demonstrate things really well. Marion says she learnt how to do some of these sorts of tricks when doing street performance, and she's happy to share some of them with Sinead. Most of the conversation has 'Peter' in it every 4th paragraph, so it seems that that their relationship is still on the go.
Finn wanders past while this is going on and asks Marion if she wants to jam. Marion is a bit bemused but up for it - why the hell not. Peter is coming to an open mike night this evening, did Finn want to come to that? Sure! Good! Ace. Neat.