Chronology

Finally the pack are summoned to the caern for a Last Call meeting and are told by Herman that the Rite is concluded, and they have shown the many attributes prized by rat. They will for hereafter be known to the Bonegnawers and may use their Bonegnawer names when interacting with any other garou or spirits of the tribe. ("I'm multiclassing as Bone Gnawer/Bone Gnawer" "Dual wielding bones. *eyebrows*") Rat is summoned and confirms the Rite masters' statements by sniffing the pack. A massive pissup ensues and It Wasn't Me are shouted many drinks. Even Mother Pasta comes and congratulates them on their efforts, if perhaps a little grudgingly. ("You're work friends now" "Visiting consultants").

December 2 - Philodox waxing

Once awake and sober, the pack consider their options. They could head straight into the Umbra but they decide that calling in at home would be a good plan, and then they can go from there. ("Hoburne") They Moonbridge home, pat Gus, give Melissa the stinkeye for the mess in their flat, and then find the elders. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH3F2X9JdOs)

The Scryers started chasing up the pack's theory about cathedrals - they crawled St Paul's and found that there was... nothing. There's no secret tunnels to the Yarra or raving holy men. So they moved on to St Patrick's and despite thinking they'd cottoned onto something when they found claims of occult art with pagan influences... that turned out to be bogus. But they kept investigating, and checked out St Mary's by the Sea, which was the next closest cathedral. It is currently not in use because its being renovated, but a bunch of stuff was taken off the outside first. But then some of the outside decorations disappeared - specifically a bunch of gargoyles that were on the outside.

("I wanna go to the rat world. " "Wait, even as I say it... no I don't") The pack decide they can spend some time looking into this missing gargoyle problem. Tillie peeks at the Sept and the others guide her to the site, a bit west of Vic Market. In the Umbra, the site has a miasma of decay about it - the walls and all look like they are crumbling, and the grounds have a "this is a rental" look to them. The main building is topped by a gossamer tower, built of weaver stuff, but without the solid look that the rest of the spiritual world building has. In the realm, this tower doesn't exist, and it doesn't seem as run down - as if renovations had recently been done and fairly extensively.

The pack sense about for wyrm and other unnatural senses. Wyrmwise, its no more than the rest of the city - unhappily high, but not obvious intense points. Unnatural senses are more intriguing - there's a new sense that they haven't touched before. Its not death-demon sense or mage sense, but it does feel bright and hard, and seems to be centred on the cathedral building. Its a little off-putting. ("We do have Kasumi's butt with us"). Lost Prophets are fairly significantly on-guard for horror. ("I'm gay for violence").

Inside, the Umbral building is much richer, and less decayed or abandoned. There are spirits moving about inside - the sort of random human-esque spirits that are found through much of the CBD. They look like "church goer" spirits, and they move idly from place to place and then sit down for a while. Meanwhile in the Realm, there are a few people here given its midday. They are doing... church... things. ("who's the packleader of the church." "and then i'll challenge him, and I'll become pack leader"). The inside has been renovated as per the outside, and looks much fancier - its not complete, and there is some scaffolding inside where bits are in progress. The same unnatural sense is inside as outside - its maybe concentrated on the altar, but its not really as strong as the pack would expect. People come here every week, 800 strong, and do ritually things - it should maybe be stronger?

It doesn't appear to be the sort of church where the priest in charge lives in a room next door - the residence is probably one of the surrounding other rooms. They do find a room where people change before coming in to officiate.

Tillie sniffs about and tries to look for the person who might be in charge. They track him down and find him in a conference in the main part of the church with some of the people doing restoration. He doesn't sense of wyrm. They head for his office in the other buildings, trying to find it by scenting, and find it before too long . He is the Reverend Doctor Joseph de la Salle, according to the name tag. He has a computer but it looks more like the office you have to have meetings and such rather than a working office. Many of the surrounding offices look more working day to day, as its the head of the Melbourne Diocese. They sense through looking for weirdness, and don't really find any.

The pack try to find some evidence of what might have happened with the gargoyles that were stolen. Their initial lead was the church newsletter from the start of last year, where it just talks about them going missing, so it wasn't that they sold them. Kasumi suggests looking for historical photos through the offices and find that yes, there's big historical prints on the walls from the cathedral's history. The pack can see some on the external walls, but they're not the great winged things they were expecting - there's faces, and little lizardy things and that sort of stuff, tucked around the edge of the church. Its like marginailia rather than a major feature. Is... this ... a wash? They're nothing like the gargoyles the pack fought - is it just that some people stole them for their home garden? There's no senses here of magic or such, and these seem to not be what they have encountered. (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a4/78/2a/a4782a8b4287de937b3363ee1f75dab9.jpg)

There's no way to trace if the gargoyles were stolen, and the only weird thing appears to be the bright and hard sense, so the pack go looking for other churches to see if they can pick that up in other places. ("#notallserpents" "Dune is long and dry in parts" condoms as worms). J Random Church? no. St Paul's cathedral, yes, if not identical... bluer? Sometimes the gift is hard to interpret. The cathedral is almost the same in the Umbra, as you'd expect from a place of nominal spiritualism, but the sense is still weak. Its like a place with pollution, not somewhere with fomori ready to pour out of the cupboards. Maybe its a time thing? Or a size of congregation? Or mages have done something to harvest the energy and the pack can sense a reflection? Its sort of not surprising that there's this energy in the Umbra, given the ritual and regular nature of church attendance. So... where is all the energy? If it was something draining just Melbourne, surely it'd be part of garou lore "Don't go to churches, its full of silver and magic" They head home and ask Graeme.

Graeme has no idea, but he goes and gets Ends-the-Quiet, who might know. Ends-the-Quiet has no studied such a thing, but his tribemates have suggesed that there are other Umbras - the Garou travel to an Umbra of the heart and soul, but there are spirit worlds of the mind. They believe the energy goes to those places instead. ("WOAH that was a lot of lightning")

Now what? The Scryers were thorough, but they don't have Sense Unnatural, so it might be they missed something that only the protagonists would notice. The weird sense and the missing gargoyles are things, but they don't seem a solid lead that needs following right now. The pack consult with their Elders. They could stick around for Sunday, but having gone to all this effort to become nominal Bone Gnawers, maybe they should get on with their quest for Marion in the Bone Gnawer homelands. Cossack is pro that, because it might lead to more bums on seats if Alex is willing to come back - even just the bit that they've done so far has had some positive outcomes in terms of interSept relations. In the meantime the Scryers can keep looking into churches as a lead - there's also Geelong and Ballarat that aren't too far away ("and no one from Melbourne would ever think to look there").

Right, so going to the Homeland. Much like other Umbral places, intent is the guide. They should follow their hearts along Moon paths, but look for tunnels. The pack make some preparations, mostly dedicating food things to bribe spirits with, but also checking in on what spirits they might encounter - rats, but also racoons and pigeons and lost dogs and trash spirits. Possible bin chickens these days. ("Turns out I always smell like peanut butter, that's my metis deformity" "we should probably take that heroin out, lets not give that to rats"). They've got a few hours so they spend a bit of time continuing their efforts for possum.

Once the Moon is ris, Lost Prophets head off with Sinead in the lead. They wander the city a bit before she leads them into a scout hall that appears ("You're Thor, I can't even thit") in the Umbra. At the end is a cupboard, and when they open it there is a Moon Path inside. ("Don't accept turkish delight from strangers" "This Narnia smells very bad"). Odd... but sure, why not. Off they go.

("I get it - the same way that kids get an aversion to cherry flavouring drank a lot of cough medicine, kids that drank a lot of dishwashing liquid don't like fake lemon flavour"). Hours of walking later and there is a change in the Moonpath nature - it becomes a lot more concretey and roofed. After a bit more, they find a sort of manhole floating in the air above them. They can't jump and fall onto it, gravity goes down all the way to the roof/floor. They manage to lift someone up and manage to lever it out of its setting, though its a bit confusing to have to pull the metal disk down against resistance of gravity pulling it the other way. Sinead pulls herself up only to find gravity reverses as they get through the surface, and spins wildly before crashing into the 'ground' inside the tunnel ("Theoretically, a Wendigo with high pure breed could become an honourary member of all extant tribes" "Female Wendigo"),

("if you stick your hand in that bassinet, I'm going to cut it off") The tunnel is clearly artificial. Its dim, and partly filled with dirt and guff. As the pack travel, it gets damper and more rank. It becomes redolent of fecal matter. Damp soil becomes a shallow puddle becomes waist deep scummy water. ("You know how we asked about peeing in the Umbra before? It all comes here"). After another few hours, the pack becomes aware of a chittering sound - it resolves itself before long into a swarm of rats, swimming through the water, climbing all over each other and scuttling along the walls where possible. Scarface Claw senses for wyrm, and finds that the swarm is relatively excessive-wyrm-free, as is the surrounds. Although somewhat grossed out, It Wasn't Me stand still and endure the swarm of rats that scrabbles over them, climbs their hair and so on. Everyone except Pork Chop gets nipped hard - not hard enough to break skin, but enough to make it clear it was an option. ("Back in the day, it was like 'rats rats rats'. I'm on crack")

The rat swarm passes and continues up the tunnel. The pack continue, and the water level drops. After another interminable trip, they spot light filtering down from a grill above them. City noises are filtering down from above and they can see sky and trees. The pack lift each other up and lift the grill up and climb out. They sense wyrm and are both reassured and confused by the low levels they can pick up. The pack has emerged into a city park. There are lawns, there are trees, there are wide paths, benches and bins. In the distance they can see cars moving along roads and buildings behind that look commercial. There are people-spirits wandering around the place. smiling politely at one another as they walk past one another.

The pack sniff about - rats, but not in a bad way. The bins are full of delicious food - fresh burgers, popcorn, milkshakes are in the bin, untouched and still wrapped. Scarface Claw eats the burger and finds that its pretty good, despite the revulsion of Godzilla. The milkshake is cold and the bench next to the bin is warm and soft and slightly furry.

The shops have pretend writing - somewhere between letter shaped nonsense and just utilitarian "Food" "Drink" without branding. The spirit people smile at the pack and one another - "morning!" "Good morning!" "Hi John!" "I must be on my way - have a nice day!". The pack decide to speak to rats instead. They wander over to a large one, eating its way through food in the bin and engage. Its gorging itself and trying to talk while eating. Fairy Bread asks where they might find Father Rat? Not here. Well, who's in charge and tells them what to do? The rat laughs hysterically. Ok, who's the most cunning. Oh me. I'm the most cunning. Bring me presents. The rat asks Pork Chop what's going on. She says they have questions. Hmm, the rat could take them to see people? It wants them to do something tho. There's a secret box inside the building over there, and I wanna know what's inside. ("Argh fucking boxes"). The guy inside won't tell me. Its a hard box. Oh, a safe, right.

The building is like a noir hotel - art deco architecture, high ceilings and fans, a lift that has a hand closed door. There's a clerk behind the desk who says "hi". Scarface Claw tries to book a room. For all of them? They'll need a big room. Sure. Fairy Bread says they have valuables they want to store and the clerk says they can help with that. Might heads back outside to talk to the rat in the bin while the others keep talking. That'll be 10 dollarbucks. Scarface Claw tries to palm nothing onto the guy's hand and he wants to know what sort of scam they are pulling. He glances outside and says that they are with the rat, no way. Might asks what the box is like - um, its big and heavy and it has a circle on the front and its full of secrets. yeah, ok that's a safe.

The guy says "no, no. no working with the rat. Get out". The pack squabbles with him a bit. Pork Chop tries to seduce him with her wiles. He says that she's with the rat too but she's persistent. She intimates that she might not want the room for sleeping, and he says that this is not that sort of place, its a family hotel. He's going to ask them to leave or he'll call the police ("just two little rats in the car"). Plan B, Sinead heads to the elevator. "Hey wait, you can't go up unless you're a guest!" She walks slowly into the lift, closes it and pulls the lever. The clerk jumps up and goes through the door next to his desk and carefully locks it giving the rest of the pack the eye. They stare back, because they could just jump the desk. The clerk heads up the stairs yelling "no you're not a guest!" while the rest of It Wasn't Me go around the back. Godzilla pops the safe and they find that inside is a small statue of a horse, made from bits of soft drink can. Pork Chop amuses herself by riding the lift up and down making the clerk puffed while the rest of the pack saunter out.

They head back and the rat whispers to Scarface Claw that Might doesn't know what a box is. And he smells funny. The rat seems intrigued by their answer but agrees that they fulfilled their part of the deal, and after orienting itself, it runs off. While they travel, the pack enquire as to the rat's name (or what they should call it) and it says 'Steve'. The rat whispers to other rats as it goes past ("probably telling them about the box"). The pack see other animal spirits - pigeons, bin chickens, street dogs, a racoon as they wander along. There are parks regularly in each block.

Steve leads them to an old-style cinema. They're showing a Wile E Coyote marathon according to the big sign above the ticket booth. They give Steve some candy ("oh my god i thought you said 'handy'" "The sugar's sunk in, hasn't it") ("I love cheese as much as the next person - " "I don't think you do, because its either her and she can't eat it, or its me and no chance").

Figuring the old lady in the ticket booth will want dollarbucks too, Might goes out onto the street and panhandles money. Passing spiritpeople are willing to give him coins, but Fairy Bread takes up busking a bit further down and gets handfulls of coins. They return in short order and ask for tickets to the cinema and pay the nice lady before heading in. ("~ aaand afterrrr allll you're my wonderrr walllll~" "I make that joke once."). ("And you thought i was being rude, she just used your full name").

Inside there are two cinemas, but only one is being used. There is indeed a Wile E Coyote marathon playing, with some people up the front booing the road runner and cheering the coyote. It Wasn't Me slip down behind them, and Might uses his gifts - these are garou, like alive garou. One of them shushes the pack. None of them are Marion. They are strongly mediterranean looking. There's some eye contact and nodding without real introductions

Scarface Claw tries to interrupt and gets shushed again with some pointing at the screen. Scarface Claw changes to garou tongue and tries "I wish to speak" "Shh. Watching pictures". He speaks to someone else and they stumble through "break, um, soon" in English. Scarface is happy to wait, she loves cartoons. ("They were my goddamn cocopops too"). After 15 mins the lights come on and everyone stretches. One of the other pack is pushed forward and changes to glabro, saying in garou tongue "I am Andrea Kostas, packleader of Trikala-One-Nil. " Scarface Claw introduces the pack by their Bonegnawer names and (after clarifying that Trikala-One-Nil don't live here) explains they are looking for their fallen comrade, to see if they have become an ancestor spirit or whatever. Andrea says that's not something they know anything about, but she can take them to an Elder who might be able to help.

As they travel, they talk about the religious overtones in the immortal and unkillable Wile E Coyote and what's in the safe in the hotel. Scarface Claw asks about the Elder and one of the other pack sniggers. She tries to figure out whats funny by asking what he might want, but Andrea doesn't know.

They are strolling down a street when a policecar pulls over and two overweight cops in generic uniforms get out and start hassling all the garou. They are not wyrmy. "Are you strangers here? Do you have papers?" It Wasn't Me notice that Trikala-One-Nil are arguing in greek with the other cop. "We don't need papers, we live here" "You don't look like people that live here. Everyone that lives here says 'good morning' when I come up to them! HA!" Fairy Bread says "Good morning officer" and Pork Chop says "Good afternoon" and this paradox seems to paralyse the cop. "Good day John, how's your day been" from Might just makes it worse. Frankly the cops are either insane or imbeciles and the garou are able to talk them around in circles without much effort before just walking off. ("You were proceeding with intent!")

There are a lot of parks, even for people used to Melbourne. There's kids, but not any teenagers. Trikala-One-Nil are not leading them in a straight line, but seem to be navigating by landmarks and some chatter. When Scarface points out that they'd just doubled back, Andrea says that some places are not as nice as others, and they wanted to avoid that. She leads them to a large park, with a lake and paths and such. Through the trees they can see a large structure, but its only when they get closer that it resolves into a boat. Or at least the ribs of a boat and a lot of boat-building activity. It is covered in rats - some running in carrying things, more running out carrying things. Andrea talks to the rats and they say the guy is up on top ("Form of an ice submarine." "Crap, its cold and I can't sink").

She whistles and a head sticks over the edge of the ship then a voice faintly says "Ahhh! You've come!" and it vanishes again. The progress of the voice to come to the ground is charted by the sound of arguments and the occasional plunge through a surprisingly open bit of decking, before a trench coat clad white guy with a long grey beard and hair emerges down a gang plank and runs over. He exuberantly greets the packs with "You've come at last!" in English, leaving the greek Gnawers a bit confused. Godzilla says "who are you?" "I'm Father Noah. I know who you are - you're the last survivors of the Apocalypse. The flood must have come and now we must all leave. That's why you're here! AH! Heimrich! It has been too long." He pumps Might's hand enthusiastically who denies being Heimrich. Might uses his Scent of the True Form gift and finds that he's a garou... mostly. There's just a tiny bit of another sense around him, like that of a spirit. Its not seperate like he's posessed, but entertwined. Godzilla suggests he might have been away from the physical world for far too long.

Father Noah asks if they want to buy tickets. The boat is not yet complete but they are working hard, and before long they wil be ready. When the giant waves come and wipe everything out they will be ready. "How much will tickets be?" "I ... dont... know". They have a discussion about how it won't be money, but useful things like fetishes that garou can use to pay for tickets. Or cultural items. Or important lore.

As Andrea waves bye, Scarface Claw explains that they are here seeking information about Marion; how she died and they are looking for her. Noah seems confused why they didn't have the body, but then realises they mean after she died. Did they think she had bought tickets for the boat? Has anyone? Not as such. Right. They ask how many people would be able to come? Clearly not everyone, and many will choose to fight to the last, and he appreciates their sacrifice, allowing him and his crew to escape and find a new home. Anyone that can pay for a ticket and.. knows... how to build some of a ship. How long until the apocalypse? Not very long, in It Wasn't Me's opinion. Well, no time to waste then, he should get back to it. Scarface Claw says if they helped him, could he spare some time to help them? Well, yes actually - he's lost his special compass. Last time he saw it, Thomas had it. Is Thomas a rat? Yes. About so long, grey, dark tips, very becoming colour. And he had it, but he cannot remember what happened to it then. Or when that was. If they can find the compass, possibly by finding Thomas, he'll have some spare time to help them with their dead friend.

The pack contemplate their options; could they summon Thomas? Or Steve back, to tell them where Thomas is. Hmm. Does anyone here know where Thomas is? There's a chorus of "I'm Thomas!" from at least 50 of the rats in those swarming around. Ah. Thomas that had the compass? Which compass? The special one. ... Which one? Oh. Has Father Noah lost his compass again? Yes. They could try Lost and Found at the police station? Where's the station? Its a building, with lights at the front. And it says police out the front, and ont he lights. And people dressed in blue. And they have a lost and found.

The pack just wander. They find it by smell and sight, turn back to homid and wander in. There's a large waiting area with a huge desk at one end - its a hubbub and hustle with people and police moving around. The pack head for the desk sergeant and Godzilla asks about a lost compass. He says they'll need to fill out a lost and found form. Just the lost part. He hands Godzilla a 6 page form with small point text, packed with questions. ("Finally, my battle!"). The level of detail is ridiculous. She asks if she can just look in the box and the sergeant says that there isn't one. Where are the lost and found items then? In Lost and Found. Are there any compasses there? He doesn't know, they'd have to fill in a form. Other people spirits come and get forms too, equally stupid.

Godzilla says she's finished, and he gets her to sign and date it, and so does he. Right, 6 to 8 weeks for processing and then if they have a compass, they'll get in contact with her. If they don't then other stations will receive and inter-site form asking them to check too, in another 2 to 4 weeks. Godzilla starts to pretend cry and asks if she can just look today, she really needs it now. No, sorry. Scarface Claw asks if there's an expedition form, to make it go faster? He looks around and then says no. Might asks if there's an extra fee they could pay. "Are you attempting to bribe an officer of the law?" No! Oh good, have you any idea how many forms there are to fill out to receive a bribe? Pork Chop asks if she can speak to a superior officer? Yes, hang on. Here's the form for that. Pork Chop writes "Fuck you. Manager" on it and the sergeant says that's not right, he won't be able to process it. Here, have another one. She tries to insist and he says she needs to do the form. Pork Chop eats it and he apologises but he can't process a form with any - wait a second. He brings out a book of regulations and pages through it. Has she spat on it? Yeah, nah, he can't process a form with human spit on it. Sorry. It not like he's antagonising her, he seems just resigned to the whole process. Pork Chop shows her boobs. The sergeant sighs and flags down another cop, saying she's a sex worker and he has to take her an interview room. Sorry, its the rules. You can't be naked inside a police station. Two police come up and say they have to interview her. She says she's not the right person and they ask if she was naked on a city street? Are you sure? Yes? No? Were you... soliciting? No. The police get confused about whether she's a solicitor then, and what a solicitor does. Pork Chop says she defends criminals and the police are pretty adamant that they don't like criminals and don't want them defended. CAn she speak to a manager? She'll need to fill in the form. She already has. Oh, did John process it? No, he couldn't. Oh she'll need to fill in another one. I ate it. "John, can we process a form someone's eaten?" "No, i checked the book and it'll have human spit on it" "Ahh" "Can you show me your manager's chair?" "Why do you want to see the chair?" "I like chairs" "Ok, we'll check". "Don't run away, its hard to catch you".

Godzilla grabs a handful of forms, then comes in the side door with handfuls of forms. John can see her come in - "Why are yuo behind the desk?" "John told me to" "I'm John" "The other John" "Why did John tell you to come behind the desk? " "To deliver forms" "Are they filled in?" "No" "If they're not filled in, they have to go on the shelves" He jestures - there are many many shelves of paper forms for him to hand out to people under the desk, but sadly no giant box for lost and found. Kasumi has an itching feeling about how disorganised it is, but manages to resist being compelled to sort it out. Brian comes back wheeling a chair and shows it to Pork Chop. "Why idn't you manager in it?" "You just wanted to see their chair" Brian sits in the chair. "Hey your the manager now, could you talk to me" "Oh, you'll need to fill in a form". Godzilla gives a little scream and steals a done of forms and starts writing her own form. She has a tonne of examples, and writes up a Lost and Found Permission Expedition Combination form 12B, which entitles the person on it to go the lost and found to look for things. ("Are you doing anything" "I'm in awe of what's happening").

Godzilla finishes her form and takes it around the front to John. He's never seen one before and isn't sure how to process it. Godzilla overwhelms him with instructions and then says he - "I can't leave the desk" - an officer has to take her - "just you?" - and anyone she's annotated in section 6 to lost and found now. Like, right now. John signs and dates the form and carefully makes sure he hasn't missed any instructions - "its been signed by a police officer, its official". He can't think of any reason to not let them go, so then flags an officer to take them to Lost and Found - "and you probably should bring them back, but it doesn't say".

He leads them through the bustling corridors. There's no computers - thinking about it, they haven't seen any the whole time they're there. There are people typing on typewriters. Their guide says this is the room for Lost and Found, and after checking that they are allowed inside too, opens the door. Its a little bit Warehouse 23 - shelves and shelves of boxes, heading off into the distance. The pack start opening boxes and it turns out that they're all full of lost and found forms. They're not in any order. Despite a lot of eye twitching, it turns out some of them are found forms, with information about the thing that has been found... but not the thing. Oh. My. God. It occurs to the whole pack that this is pointless... except that they are in the Umbra. They just need to concentrate on campuses... er compasses and wait for the realm to respond to their natures. They find that with this in mind, they can touch a box and know its no good. ("This is a thumb he found"). They walk further into the room and the boxes start to have more appeal - but at the same time, the lights are starting to sometimes be out or flickery. After more time, they can hear moving, and laughing, and chittering and boxes move as if something was running behind it. This is unsettling. The distance they can see is reduced - its not foggy, its sort of dark. Might asks if they are wandering into the bit of the Umbra where lost things go? The null zone! Hmm, maybe.

Fairy Bread yells that he found it. Its a special compass, reported found by a Thomas. He checks the address and its 62 Womerah Avenue. Wait... waaaait. That's the address of the Hive in Sydney. Something runs behind the boxes laughing. It Wasn't Me decide that discretion is the better part of valour and run for it back to the door, and thusly onto the front desk. They bug John for a map of the city - once he confirms they are't going to make a run for it with the map, he lends them it. In an effort to distract him, Scarface Claw asks what form he gets the least. John says he's only ever got a Lost and Found Permission Expedition Combination form 12B once. John goes off to look, in the cabinet full of unusual forms. Oh no, he needs a form to open the cabinet. Oh thank goodness its on top. He messes it up tho, and has to get more. He picks up a form form and starts filling it out, but he has to justify all the times he's used the unusual form forms. Meanwhile the pack look up the address they have - its not a map of Sydney, but their address does exist. Godzilla takes extra forms just in case. ("we need an expedited 'shove it up your ass form'" "Expect in 6-8 weeks" "We'll shove it up someone's ass when one becomes available" "We're under staffed and over worked. And under assed").

The pack head off through the urban landscape. ("oragami it into a dildo or something). The city's nature slowly changes from hilarious comedy city to bad neighbourhood to south of the tracks to if we were humans we'd be about to be murdered. There's less and less people spirits on the streets - the happy "Hi Johns" are replaced by people scuttling along quickly and hooden figures hiding down alleys.

Its not Sydney, but as they get close to the street name it starts to feel like Sydney. Its like a feeling akin to deja vu. They find the street and then the number - its a 6 story apartment block that looks pretty abandoned. Windows are smashed, the walls on the outside are stained, detritus has built up on paths, etc. The Hive was not like this - it was a 2 story terrace house, but yet the pack still get the feeling that its familiar like Sydney and the Hive. Scarface Claw senses for wyrm and finds the whole building it heavily redolent with wyrm taint and corruption. Sense Unnatural suggests that there's no other surprising senses. There's weaver, as you'd expect, and wyld, but its strung out, like a film or balloon stretched. That's odd, but not at such a level that its immediately upsetting. ("Gus is a spy dog" "Its just a room full of boxes")

( Kitten Kong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb59dEHRt5Q) Figuring that at any moment things could go south, the pack prepare for war before heading in. Inside there's rubble and panels missing and rubbish built up in corners. There's grafitti on the walls, but its not real grafitti its the idea of grafitti. The pack eye the lift, but given the doors are open and the lift is below ground level and 1000 horror movies, the stairs are probably the better option. There's 2 apartments on the ground floor, and the rest of it is building maintenance. One of them has had the door kicked in, and has furniture that's been set on fire and so on. The other is more empty, and most the fittings are gone.

They move up a level, keeping an eye out. ("what do you call a ladder that's not straight up... oh yeah stairs"). As they walk along in crinos form, the floor collapses under them in places, and bits of concrete flake off and fall down the stair well. All the pack are much too dextrous to be more than slightly discommoded by this, but it speaks poorly of the structural integreity, and they may have to go up 6 floors to find this compass. The second floor is more or less like the ground, but also features some holes in the roof that look unstable.

As they walk along a corridor on the second floor, one of them the cameras turns to follow them. Godzilla leaps up and grabs the camera and pulls it down - cables start to pour out of the roof rather than it breaking off and wrapping around Godzilla. Uhoh. The rest of It Wasn't Me spring into action. They bravely fight some electrical and data cables before Godzilla can be strangled, but they do in the process find that using all their strength to smash things weakens the already damaged building. ("What is it with Tillie getting stuck in the floor" "A horizontal ladder is a tripping hazard") Might checks the cable and camera and finds that there's distinctly a sesne of wyrm - maybe it was a bane or something?

On the next level is much of the same until it apartment number 4 they find something that looks like an art installation. There's a roof to floor column of tightly packed detritus, made up of rubbish and construction materials and other artificial materials. Cables run through it and surface from place to place. Its about a metre across at the middle, where its skinnist, and 2 at the roof and floor. It doesn't look like it belongs here - senseing of wyrm suggests a strong, corruption sense. Other gifts say its a bane.

The pack opt to smash it, partly on the basis that the gm pulled out some minatures. ("we had something called 'yellow medicine'" "Whiskey"). After Fairy Bread smashes his claws into it, the pillar erupts into activity. It seems to be much more dense than they were expecting. Fairy Bread finds the floor a bit spongy when he strikes again and the walls crumbly. Scarface Claw strikes too and then both of them are bitten by animated electrical cables snaking out from the wall behind them. Piles of concrete hiding around the room turn out to be also animated - lumps held together with bits of rebar leap at the pack. Godzilla picks one of them up to use it as a club. Pack members are stabbed as chunks of steal spring out of the column, and cabling snakes up from the hole in the kitchen and around Pork Chop's legs. ("~~ dex and braawwwl everything I tear apart, ~~")

Might smashes at the pillar, and bits of concrete and metal go flying. Fairy Bread and Scarface Claw jam cables that bit them into the pillar, but they just pull back out and electrocute them again. Pork Chop tears at the cabling wrapped around her legs and finds some of it is metal and other bits just plastic, which comes apart ok. The concrete banes attack people's knees - Might gets a piece of rebar stabbed between his shin bones, and it gets stuck and he frenzies. Godzilla is stabbed at by random bits of metal extruded, but manages to dodge it ("Stabbo Averto!"). Random garbage flows into the room, carried by a breeze and plates itself all over the pillar. Godzilla pounds the pillar again with the concrete bane ("How do you not have melee?" "because I know...karate") Might smashes the bane that hurt him. Fairy Bread pulls the cables out of the wall, without being able to disconnect them.

Scarface Claw tells everyone to attack the pillar but they are a bit distracted. Might is stabbed in the small of the pack by the pillar. Another concrete bane comes out of the hole and starts whaling on Pork Chop. The bane smashes at Might, breaking the bones in his legs - he falls down and reverts to breed form. Godzilla uses her PowerSurge gift to cause a blackout, hoping to shut down some of the wyrmlings. Fairy Bread pulls the cable clean out of the wall. Pork Chops kicks off the last of her grapplations.

("Man with the ergot smile" "The what? "Ergot" "Oh thought you said yogart") Fairy Bread and Scarface Claw spend rage to improve their attacking. This seems to turn the tide. Pork Chop leaps over and heals Might up somewhat to bring him back from the verge of death. More smashing at the centre of the pillar - enough stuff comes off the outside to reveal a goopy biological core. This seems to be less resistant to being torn to pieces, so eventually the pillar starts to collapse. Godzilla smashes it with the concrete bane she's holding, and Fairy Bread and Scarface Claw finish it. The little concrete banes appear to be sufficiently independant of the pillar to keep going, but the pack make short work of them.

("soak your knees") The pack look around in the aftermath. The edges of the roof and floor where the pillar was is black and decayed looking. There's no sign of a compass in the debris ("detect plot device"), so they go back to climbing the floors. They make it all the way up to the roof and move out onto the top - in lupus, to try and not fall through the roof. ("have to make sure we don't *sunglasses* bring the house down". "Get out"). They sense for wyrm and find the levels are dropping away. They check ths sky and the paper work. Godzilla yells out 'Thomas' and out of one of the roof vents a rat sticks its head out and says "What?"

Um. "Do you have a compass?" "What if I do?" Might makes the formal introductions but the rat seems unmoved. "We're friends of Steves." "I'm not speaking to Steve at the moment". The pack wave the lost and found form and say Noah needs it. Thomas says that he said he didn't need it any more - if he wants it, what will they give him for it? They offer candy, but Thomas seems unmoved. What if they stomped on Steve? "What's wrong with you, I said we weren't getting on, not I wanted him murdered" Scarface Claw offers a horse made out of drink cans. Thomas is having trouble envisioning what that would look like, so he's not sure how cool that is. Thomas says they've got lots of stuff... hey, like the thing on Godzilla's foot. "My shoe?" "Sure". There's some negotiation about the shoe - its the best thing Godzilla has. Does it float? No. Oh. Oh, in water, sure - I thought you meant in the air. Godzilla says he can have both of them, its useless on its own ("Ugh" "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH JUST ONE SHOE! The rat can have it"). Thomas is pretty keen on both and slowly brings the compass up through the vent. Its only a bit smaller than him, so he struggles. They do the trade, leaving Thomas with a pair of $120 shoes and the pack with what looks to be a normal compass with the word 'speshul' carved into the back.

Despite some feeling from the pack that the needle should point toward plot, it does seem to point more or less the same way all the time. I guess they could call that north? The compass feels like it might have been something real that had been dedicated, but its not a fetish or a talen. The pack resolve to just take it back to Noah.

Its getting apparently late when they arrive back in the park and eventually get Noah's attention. He's pretty chuffed they found his special compass - he gives it to Steve to put it somewhere safe. Noah asks if they still want a recipe. No, dead friend. Ah, yes, Thomas should take them to the library, to the reading room. They need to look at the... uh... newspapers that's it. Thomas says sure and takes off. He's not the same as the previous Thomas, a much greyer colour and sleeker rat. He leads them straight to a public building, adjacent to the park, with pillars and steps and all ("Neo georgian"). Its a warm and inviting place.

The doors are open so the pack stroll in. There's not any people in the building at all that they can see. There's lots of shelves with lots of missing books. The garou ask Thomas about the missing books - people borrow them. Makes sense. Is there a librarian? Thomas cautiously says yes, but they should keep their voice down. They don't want to meet the librarian. Thomas says they need the reading room. Scarface points to a sign and says "that one says reading room". Thomas looks amazed and says he didn't hear anything. There is some staring and then most of the pack head toward the indicated room.

In the meantime, Fairy Bread and Might head for the catalog. It seems.. kind of... insane, but they persist - Fairy Bread wants to find anything about the Bunyip. After an hour of trying to understand the catalog and the shelving plan, he manages to find a thin folio of "Recollections of a far land" - a thin collection of stories from the first few Bone Gnawers to go to Australia.

The rest of the pack look in the reading room. There seem to be newspapers from all over the world here, and so the pack look for Sydney papers about the right time. The papers mostly look normal but they find little snippets of Bone Gnawer news - "The sept leader of Five Ways sept was forced to use a punishment ritual", etc - tucked in between. On the day of the attack they find a little snippet that ssays "Marion Perry, homid fostern of the Sept of Sleeping Lore, was killed today fighting Black Spiral Dancers at the Hive of Corrupted Flesh". There are some details on her life and on the lives of the others who died that day. Interesting.

A few days later there is a mention of her memorial ceremony at Sleeping Lore, where she was given the deed name of Howls of Brass. Later they find an entry that looks a bit like a bad newpaper print - the letters are not crisp, but look almost like they've been printed on paper that dye runs on, or by older type. It says "Marion Perry(?) passed through the homeland today, leaving no known emanations, manifestations or residue". Hmmmm. It doesn't look good for the plan of finding her ancestor spirit. Godzilla tries to find other references that might give her a sense of the alternatives?

A brief aside - Might has had training from two different tribes about ancestory spirits, and both are different and both are demonstratably true. The Get very much conceptualise their ancestor spirits as whole and complete individuals - when you call upon one, you bring them whole and total to the fore. Those that died honourably in battle are absle to go to the homeland and lay in wait for the final battle. When you channel an ancestor, you are making a connection to the homeland.

The Stargazers on the other hand, think your soul is compoent parts, and it breaks up on death. The garou nature is reborn. There are parts of your soul that are reborn. They concentrate on the knowledge and skills those ancestors had, and bring them to the fore that way - not as whole people, but as small pieces of wisdom. They are channelling your own parts of soul to draw forth the ancestor's information. Might's training with Ends-the-Quiet was mostly to quell some of the noisier voices in his head, and he found the different technique - of conceptualising them as skills to be drawn on - a good way of quietening out the cacophany.

That's only two tribes - each of the others probably has its own variations on those feelings. So there is no definitive answer.

Godzilla finds instances where people become emanations in the homeland, and one where they arose at the sept where they had lived their whole lives. While she is hunting, she finds a mention of a Mother Strack from Sleeping Lore dying, but also a mention of Sinead acting as a psychopomp, and an emanaton arising immediately. Ah, the whole sea hates her issues. Passing through without leaving a trace doesn't seem that rare - and it seems to be associated with lower ranked garou.

They head back to Father Noah. Its full dark at this point - the city lights are on and its bustling and warm. Its still a pleasant vibe - all the "hi John!"s are gone, but the people that are moving around are cheerful and friendly also. Little alcoves abound. Father Noah is asleep when they get there, but wakes quickly - he is confused but denied he was was napping. Too busy. He doesn't seem too surprised at their findings. He will take them to see someone else tomorrow who is an ancestor spirit - he might know more. Its probably worth some sleep - the pack isn't sure how long its been since they've slept. The Moon is big and bright.

December 2 + 1

Predawn, It Wasn't Me is woken by the sound of rat carpentry starting up. They find Father Noah in an argument with some rats over how big lions are - the rats think they are only a couple inches high and quite thin, based on pictures they've seen, and Father Noah is trying to convince them otherwise. Scarface Claw shows them how big relative to hispo form, and they are concerned that she might be a lion. Or at least that Might might be. Escaping this pointless conflict, he agrees to take them off to see someone.

As they travel, Noah says they are going to see Abu Nawas ("father of Nawas, apparently"). He leads them through the city pointing things out - donut shop. A tree. Nawas was a Bone Gnawer poet and scholar who lived in ancient Persia. Noah appears to be navigating much like Trikala-one-Nil was - he adjusts their path based on what they can see as they travel. He leads them to a grocery store and says "wait here, I'll check he's happy to accept visitors" and disappears into a door at the back. Five minutes go past but despite cyncism from some members of the pack, it appears that Noah hasn't ditched them when he returns and jestures for them to come in.

They head up some stairs to a room above the shop - its sparsely furnished and the gentleman inside is sitting at a low table, writing. He has scrolls around him that indicates he's been writing for a while. Scarface Claw senses for wyrm, and the guy gives her the eye. Formal introductions all around - Abu Nawas, formally a Bone Gnawer Galliard, It Wasn't Me, smiling politely. Noah makes his apologies and goes back to his plan to escape the Apocalypse. Nawas says that Noah has given him a brief description of their tale - he would like to hear it from the start. He normally has his walk now, perhaps they could tell him as they stroll. As they leave the room, it seems warmer - they come out through what was previously a grocery store, but now appears to be more of a market stall in shop form. The pack are slightly bemused to find they appear to be in Aladdin - where before there were cars on the street, now there are camels. The polite bustle has been replaced with a much more robust city of an Middle Eastern bent.

Fairy Bread goes through the story from being approached by Cernonous to finding bunyip remains and talking with Bartholomew and the Lightning Man and then the nexus crawler and getting the bone to Cernonous and then his murder and the mysteries arond that, and then storms and the ritual and the Dancers and the totem manifesting and then the sticks and assault the hive, and Marion's death and then the reaction from Alex and then a year later Monash contacting them and Pork Chop's dream and then back to Sydney so they could come here. The stories are sometimes interrupted by having to explain Australian context, especially the bunyip. ("And then we killed them because they weren't exactly like us" "Thank you for summing up human culture for the last 4500 years"). As they travel Abu Nawas greets many people, gives alms to the poor and speaks briefly to merchants. They move slowly through the markets and streets.

After Fairy Bread winds down, Abu Nawas thinks for a time and then speaks. He says that what they are looking for is, at best, ambigious. Despite having been here for many centuries, he is still ignorant of the absolute truth of his own nature. Is he the complete and whole soul of Abu Nawas, stopped here for a time in the Bone Gnawer homeland? Is he an echo of that soul, a piece of ephemera shaped into an echo of that fallen Garou and serving a purpose for the homeland. In which case, has the real Abu Nawas been born and died a dozen times since then? Or is he a vital fragment of the soul, working to some end, while the rest of his soul waits to be rejoined before moving on to another life.

Their quest is very interesting. It has a cyclic nature; they have returned to Sydney to remediate some of their actions the first time around. And at the homeland, they have found a site that they feel is very similar to the Hive where they fought and Marion died. And then they were looking for a compass - perhaps akin to the fetish sticks of finding they were given.

They other intriguing thing is the goal of their quest itself - the seeking after secrets of death is an intensely spiritual journey, whether its in garou stories or human myth. Those that make the journey are driven by strong emotions, often love of the fallen, but sometimes by hate or revenge - things that are all consuming. They will forgive him for saying so, but their connection to Marian and Alex is not this sort of intense feeling. The Umbra is a spiritual place, a realm of symbols and emotions. It responds to the frame of perception in which they act - if you are motivated through spiritual will rather than conscious will you are more likely to find success. Yet they have already found more information about what might have happened to Marion after her death than others might have been able to uncover in a year of searching. Fairy Bread says that they are driven to do what is right, but Abu Nawas says everyone believes they are doing what is right. He wonders whether there isn't something else drawing them down this path. (Bunyip? Guilt?). He says that if they had tried to replicate what they have achieved even so far at another time, they would not have managed to get as far. Its certainly food for thought.

Behind them a voice shouts "Abu Nawas! You are under arrest by order of the Caliph!"

(songs from aladdin, discussion about aladdin's nipples) 10 guards, armed with clubs, swords and pikes come rapidly through the crowd, intent on Abu Nawas. He sighs and says perhaps his last poem was too critical of the Caliph. Perhaps It Wasn't Me could handle this for him? Ideally without too many deaths, he has to keep living here. Scarface Claw senses for wyrm but finds that the guards are basically the same as the realm (not very high). ("I target Abu Nawas and use taking the forgotten" "Who?")

The pack blow into crinos and try to fake out the guard by claiming that Abu Nawas is under the protection of Djinn! While all the nearby animals and many passersby react like "Shiiiiit!" the guard grit their teeth and charge in. The front row have clubs, the second rows have swords and the back two have polearms - all of them have some basic armor. Some attack Pork Chop, some Scarface Claw. Might smacks a guy in the face and knocks him out. Fairy Bread gives someone a sore arm. Godzilla pulls a net down from one of the stalls and hurls it over one of the guards. Scarface Claw bangs a guy on the head and dazes him. Might punches in another face. Scarface Claw lifts her immediate opponent into the air above her head. Fairy Bread smacks the netted guy out. Might tries to copy Scarface Claw, but can't get a good grip. Despite cries for some more cinematic combat from Might ("SHIELD! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBnnX_pZWp8) most of the pack keep their feet on the ground. Godzilla picks up a watermelon and hurls it at one of the guards, smashing him in the head. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OZjHjJToVo)

Fairy Bread tries to scare guards away, but they just stare at him. He nearly frenzies from feeling stupid. Scarface Claw throws the guy she has off the grounds at then throws him at two of the others, but gets stabbed heavily in the neck by a polearm by a third opponent. Might and Fairy Bread take that guy out while Pork Chop leaps across to heal her pack leader, fixing most of the giant stab hole. Godzilla continues her melon onslaught ("FREAK YOU MELON FARMER") and smashes another guard in the face. Pork Chop leaps through one of the market spots and back out onto the road to attack. Scarface Claw smashes another polearm guard so hard she knocks the brains out of his head. The last guard falls back, slashing at Scarface Claw on his way out, but then gets clocked in the face by Might throwing a helmet.

Now all the guards are dead or unconscious, It Wasn't Me return to homid and Abu Nawas. He looks a bit taken aback and suggests that they find somewhere to eat and rest and clean up. They scamper through the streets until they find a coffeehouse (the word for which took forever to find) where Abu Nawas is presumably a known associate, as the blood spattered pack are taken to the back and given a bucket and towel to clean up. When they come into the main part of the place, Abu Nawas has a low table covered in food and drink. A hookah is placed in the middle of the table ("Don't") and they are invited to partake. ("I know this, this is hummus"). Fairy Bread takes a huge breath as the others realise that its packed with hashish, not tobacco. The others shrug and have a go too. Godzilla and Might slowly slump and stop responding.

After a few hours, Abu Nawas returns to the here and now. He says he has had a thought - totems. Not much happens to their people that they are not aware of - they are guides, mentors and guardians to an entire tribe. But they are bound by very intricate laws about what they can divulge and to who. Those rules can be... played, to some degree. Right now they are in a cusp - an edge between one realm and the next. They are between the Bonegnawer Homeland and the Legendary Realm. The Legendary Realm is a place where garou go to connect with their tribal heritage, to play through stories and histories as they should have been. In many of these stories, the totems are actively involved.

So, what he suggests is that they approach Rat through a story where he is compelled to answer a question. And when the time comes, they substitute their own question instead of the stories question - with luck Rat will be compelled to answer the question still, even though it is not the right one. This may break them out of the story, which is bad behaviour, but not in any epic kind of way - its just bad manners. But they need to make sure that Rat agrees to answer the question and they have to ask the right question; a direct, simple question that Rat cannot wiggle out of. Something like "what happened to Marion Perry when she died"

He has a story in mind. It is the story of Nydourl and Bethsheba. It is a kind of death quest - the story of the first garou to find and venerate the Flea totem. He stands up and gets the attention of the room, obviously intending to tell the story here, while Scarface Claw tries to rouse Godzilla and Might ("no, no, more I'm too stoned"). ("HA SUCK ON THAT")

"Once upon a time, in a small village in what is probably now India, lived a Bone Gnawer youth called Nydourl. He lived a quiet life with his family and people, until one day when plague came to his village, borne by rats. Nydourl could not die from the plague, being Garou, but watched as one by one his family and his people succumbed to the plague."

"When his mother, the last of his family was dead, Nydourl resolved to speak with the only other Bone Gnawer that he knew - the Wise One, who lived in a cave in a hill not far from the village. Nydourl travelled to the cave and spoke to the Wise One, who was old and creaky. Nydourl wished to know why Rat, the protector and teacher of his people, had turned so harshly against them. The Wise One said that only Rat knew what Rat knew, and that the rats do as Rat says. Nydourl said that he would seek to find Rat. He would learn why it was that Rat had turned against his people and he would make Rat stop."

"Having cremated his family, Nydourl left his village with only a bit of food, a small knife and the clothes he wore. He travelled for many days upon many roads and he had many adventures. But he could not find Rat anywhere."

The pack travel for many days when the wilds start to clear and be replaced with fields, and a small town comes into view. It has a wooden pallisade and there is a small queue of people waiting to get inside. ("Do you have any fruits or vegetables?"). While they are waiting to go inside, Scarface Claw notices a glint on the ground. She bends down to see what it is, and finds a golden ring in the dust. It does not have an inscription inside ("Its not a bloody panto!") , but it does have a feathery engraving on the outside. Its for someone with smaller fingers than Scarface Claw - she senses for unnatural taint on it, but there's nothing apparent. There's no lingering scents either.

The town is fairly primitive - mudbricks and wood. The guards are armed with pointy sticks - it looks a bit bronze ageish. Ish. ("We're going to Madagascar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV5JD490ZL4")

"That evening, Nydourl approached a large town. He strolled in and began to look for a place where he could sleep the night. As he walked through the town, he came to the market place. By a large stone plinth in the centre of the market place, a line of people were standing. The hands of each were tied and each was tied to the person in front and behind by rope. A slave master was near-by, settling his slaves down for the night to be ready for the market in the morning. Nydourl could see that one of the people in the line, a young woman, was one of the Changing Breed, even if she was in her human form. Nydourl resolved to free the woman and the other slaves."

"That night, when everyone in town was asleep. Nydourl crept back to the market place. The slaves were sleeping near the stone plinth in the centre. By stealth, Nydourl crept up to the slaves and cut their ropes with his knife. The woman he freed last. When the slaves realised that they were free, they leapt up and began running in all directions. Nydourl and the woman slipped away into the night."

The pack wander about and find the town is centred on its market - not currently occupied by traders, but its the centre of the urban space. As they wander, guards stop them and say there's a curfew, and they cannot be out at night. (potion of girlfriend specifically but really you have to start here or maybe here )

They contemplate what to do - get arrested and sent to a jail full of rats, or find the most rat infested hotel to speak to rats. ("I see it more as subverting her sexual nature into violence" "I'm very frustrated" "Well, I'd expect you to be very fulfilled cos you're violent all the time). The opt for option #2 first of all, and find the stinkiest rat infested hostel they can. However, the greasy proprieter still wants coin to stay. ("And I huffed, and I puffed and I murdered your family"). Might suggests if they can clear the rats out of the stable, they could sleep there? Sure. ("This is getting more and more biblical")

Fairy Bread tries to persuade the rats that the pack could find them a new home in return for being taken to Rat, but they're just rats, not rat spirits and don't really understand. ("Can I see a show of hands for 'rat homicide'... that's 1."). The pack try and figure out where the rats are coming from - this town has fancy covered ditches and the rats are using that to move around. The highest concentration of rats appears to be about the market place.

Though the market isn't in use, there is signs that its heavily used some days, and right now there's a small crowd there looking at a slave owner settling his stock down for the night. ("we've tried literally nothing and we're at a loss"). Fairy Bread starts yelling at the rats to get out, and the locals start to back away and not make eye contact. Scarface Claw and Might notice that they're being stared at by one of the slaves. She and Might head over there but the slaver heads them off and says tomorrow. Scarface Claw says she wants to make a purchase and he says she looks too scruffy to be able to afford any. Which one was she looking at? Scarface Claw points at the staring slave. The slaver snaps his fingers at the woman to stand up. He cannot guarantee she is a virgin, but she is young and strong. Might looks down where she was squatting - she had been marking out a weird picture. How weird. He points it out to Pork Chop who says its a garou glyph but she's not sure what its for.

While Fairy Bread is starting to get the attention of the guards, Might uses his Scent of the True Form gift - the woman smells funny. Its not Garou, but it is familiar. Its nothing he's sensed before, but its close enough to be a changing breed. ("Shark head!" "Its not a fucking shark" "~Suck my dick, I'm a shark! ~" "I don't remember that in Moana"). While the slaver waxes lyrical about the features of this young slave woman and how she'd make a fine wife for a younger son of a townsfolk. ("Ask her what her favourite animal is" "If you could change into any animal, what sort of animal would it be"). ("Can we take the forgotten on her?" "She's a person." "Technically she's a posession right now").

Scarface Claw says she'll do. Slaver says that he'll be taking bids tomorrow. Scarface Claw says she's in a hurry and holds the ring up - Might says "Not your father's ring!" very convincingly. The rest of the pack notice that the slave woman's eyes go wide and she nearly says something when she sees the ring. The slavers says its very fine work, but he will need the evaluator to confirm its gold. He sends a boy to get the man and offers refreshments while they wait. Scarface Claw says if the man says it is good, she expects more than just the woman. The slaver sucks his teeth and says they will see. The evaluator comes and confirms that its gold (with a faint "you bet it is" from the direction of the woman slave) and the haggling continues. They get some coins as well as the woman, enough to pay for their accomodation away from the rat hotel. Godzilla slips away from the others so she can spy on the slaver and his friends to steal the ring back later.

The woman is freed from her bonds; the slaver suggests that they buy restraints - he could sell them some? No, well, your problem if she runs away. The majority of the pack head away before asking the woman who she is. She says she is Bethsheba of the Corax (wereravens) ("she does not speak for the trees") and she owes them a favour in return for her freedom. Scarface Claw says that they will get her ring back before they leave the town, annd Bethsheba says that she would appreciate that. ("let the record show the GM said 'dick fingers'"). Fairy Bread is fairly impressed with the wereravenness of it all. ("Becky, lemme smash")

That night, while the rest of the pack sleep in a relatively rat free comfort, with the help of her gifts, Godzilla ghosts out of the accomodation, through town, into the house that the slaver is staying at, into his room, into his stuff, steals the ring with her taking the forgotten gift and then ghosts back to bed for a good night's sleep.

"As they ran through the night, Nydourl noticed that the woman was wearing a golden ring with engravings of feathers on the outside. When they finally stopped running, Nydourl introduced himself. The woman said that her name was Bethsheba and that she was one of the Corax, wereravens who are messengers and learners of secrets. Bethsheba said that as Nydourl had helped her, that she would help him. Nydourl took off the ring he was wearing (he had no pockets) and said that he had found it. Bethsheba said that she had lost it earlier, and now that he had helped her twice, she would help him twice."

"Nydourl told Bethsheba his story, and of his search for Rat. Bethsheba was wiser than Nydourl and knew that Rat would not give up a secret except for a secret in return - one that he could not refuse. Likewise he would not give a gift (the gift of lifting the plague) without a gift in return. Bethsheba said that she would help Nydourl find a secret and a gift."

"Now Rat had thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. Bethsheba knew that Rat's seventh son, Tenacity, had disappeared and had probably been kidnapped. Rat was searching everywhere for his son. If they could learn where Tenacity was, that would be a secret that Rat would give anything to know."

"Bethsheba also knew that Tenacity had been last seen in a large port city to the west. She told Nydourl what she knew, and they resolved to set out immediately for the city."

"They travelled for many days and had many adventures on the way. Then one day they came over a hill and down into a large city beside the western sea. Nydourl had never seen such a large city before. Nor had he seen so many cats before. They were everywhere: in the streets, in the alleys, on the rooftops, in the houses, in the shops. Nydourl asked a shepherd about the cats. The shepherd said that only recently had the city been swamped by cats, and that no-one knew where they were coming from."

One day the pack crests a hill and finds themselves looking down on a port city nestled on the bay where a river meets the sea. As they head down the road, the pack notice that there are an unusual number of cats lurking in the grass. ("back in the day..." "My notes literally say 'cats cats cats'"). ("You're going to end up with a new deed name" "Yells-at-Gaia" "if you can talk to them, they can give consent." "NO!") ("Take me down to this port city.. " "Where the grass is green and the cats are shitty?"). As they head to the city the population density of felines increases. Might senses unnatural and finds nothing of note. Fairy Bread tries talking to them and eventually finds one that doesn't just snarl and hiss. He asks about rats - there aren't any. Not even a particularly tenacious one. It ate a couple but now they've gone. Now its hungry. Got food? Fairy Bread raids his pockets til he finds something. He finds another just outside the city and asks if its seen rats, espcially one that's hard to catch? No. No rats in the place of lots of boxes. So many people but no rats.

Inside the city there are cats everywhere and is a burgeoning trade in cat byproducts. As they head toward the docks, the cat density increases. The docks are extensive, its obvious that the city works on trade. Fairy Bread tries to look in the covered ditches for rats. The pack contemplate where a rat might hide, but Bethsheba says that Tenacity has been missing for so long, it is more likely he has been taken. But by who? Maybe by the Prince of Cats, Tibbles. Maybe if the rat who is called Tenacity is captured, all rats lose that attribute, and they get easier to catch or deal with?

Godzilla bugs a local craftsman, repairing his nets. She asks him how long there have been so many cats. It came with the spring - there were some cats, then lots of cats and now the cats are making more cats, and its just cats cats cats as far as they eye can see. They are getting into everything and causing a lot of trouble. ("Its a catastrophe"). At least there are not many mice and rats any more. He hasn't seen a rat for months. There were rats before the cats - its a city, its docks, its fisherboats. Now every now and again a boat will dock and there'll be rats on it, and cats swarm the boat. And that's funny.

FairyBread talks to cats some more, incurring fears of lunacy in the local populace. Most of the cats aren't having a bar of this wolf thing but enough of them are hungry enough to at least want to chat. One of him came here in a box that was in another box and that box was wobbly. There were lots of other cats in the box and she didn't like it. She used to be in a place with trees and less humans and their boxes and much less cats. Ok, so someone's bringing in cats? ("Remind me tell you about toxoplasmosis at the end" "Do you have it or do you want it?").

Godzilla asks her net friend if someone's bringing in cats? He says that that would be mental, why would anyone do that. Hey, watch this guy. A fisherboat comes toward the docks, and cats start to amass on the pier. Cats fall into the water but the locals are just amused. The fishermen take handfuls of offal and hurl them away from where they are trying to dock to distract the cats but its not totally successful. Cats and pelicans who had been hanging around start to fight.

"Nydourl and Bethsheba walked through the city until they reached the docks. Several galleys waited by the docks, but one galley Nydourl spotted straight away because of the foul Wyrm taint that drifted from it and it's crew. A nearby pottery vendor told them that it was a pirate galley, and that everyone was too scared of the pirates to do anything about them. Nydourl and Bethsheba resolved to keep an eye on the pirate galley and it's crew."

"Late that night, Nydourl and Bethsheba watched the galley from the shadows. No-one else was in sight when pirates started carrying large crates down the gangway from the galley to the docks. The pirates opened the crates, and dozens of cats leapt out and ran in every direction (although not back to the pirate galley)."

Most of the boats in the harbour are simple fisherboats, but a few of them are bigger, made of wood, with rowers and sails. The pack wander up and down looking for big boats, smelling for cats - everything smells of cats and cat wee though. They try asking random people about suspicious activity, and when the garou say they are trying to get rid of the cat problem they get a lot of cooperation. A bit too much in some cases as people share their conspiracy theory ideas about how its clearly those wrong headed different people from the town 2 miles away. They're chatting to a cabbage salesman at the crappier end of the docks about suspicious activity - he says no, but his eyes flicker to the boat at the very end of docks. ("https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/354/591/17c.png") They press the point about the boat and the cabbage salesman becomes extremely nervous and denies any knowledge of the boat. He has to go, and he picks up the handles on his barrow and scatters. The garou try to bribe him, but he says "I don't know you" and leaves. They try asking a cat, but are thwarted by the cat's inability to grasp pointing. Plan B - they just go and look.

The boat appears to have rowers either side as well as a large sail, and people that appear to be crew. It has a fast, sleek, look about it. Many people around are pointedly not looking at it. ("So no one would notice if we took it. " "You want to take the forgotten on the whole boat"). They start asking people close to the ship - no one is interested in talking about the ship. They are scared of the ship and disemble badly as Godzilla asks. However there's an extremely drunk guy that she thought was asleep near where one person was being ineffectually interviewed, and he slurrs that they are pirates and everyone doesn't wanna get chain ganged onto the ship. He is extremely confused apart from that.

The pack think to Sense Wyrm and the ship reeks of wyrm even from this distance. Ah. Bethsheba says that if the pirates are of the wyrm, that gives them a motivation for kidnapping Tenacity, weakening Rat and thus the Bone Gnawer tribe. But they should probably confirm that before just frontal assaulting the ship, she says, implying the garou are perhaps simple minded beings. ("I'm comfortable with who I am"). Maybe they can tempt some sailors off the boat. Roughly they've spotted 10 crewmen on the boat, plus rowers. Maybe they're slaves tho - Bethsheba does some aerial overview and confirms they are chained in place.

The pack watch til nighttime, to see if pirates go out clubbing. The city winds down - there are torches about but only where people deliberately add them, and so big bits of the city go dark. The boat has some light on it, and the pack can see there's still two crewmen looking out for anyone approaching.

A couple of hours after dark there's some activity - two pirates come up from the underdecks carrying a box with shoulder yokes at either end. They come off the boat and walk it all the way down to the shore line while two further pirates watch them from the ship. The two pirates put it down and open the front, and cats start to pour out. The pack decide, given the confirmation, to take some steps and capture one of them.

As the pirates are packing up their box, 5 lupus come barrelling out of the dark. The cats that are still there react accordingly and one guy gets a cat to the face and drops the box. The other one is surprised by this ("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t6Gsg6l_oQ - dogs go ouaf") and stumbles down with the box. Scarface Claw says the cat guy is a fomori and the other is just tainted - kill the fomori. Fairy Bread, Godzilla and Scarface Claw attack the fomori, Pork Chop knocks down the other pirate by slamming into him. The fomori has some exciting claws but three garou pretty much end him in seconds. The other pirate is trying to get away, but Pork Chop just knocks him down again. Godzilla grabs his leg and starts dragging him fast across the docks. There is a hue and cry from the pirate ship. Fairy Bread grabs the other leg - an arrow comes from the parrot ship and hits his shoulder blade but doesn't sink in. 10 seconds later and the only evidence the attack happened is the disappearing yelling in the darkness.

The garou knock their prisoner out, and hide - once the pursuit has given up they interrogate the pirate. He is eventually very forthcoming. He says that the pirates did indeed capture Tenacity at the Captain's orders, and that he was taken to an island out at sea. He says that it was a single craggy isle, but he doesn't know where. Since then they've been going up and down the coastline and captureing cats, then bringing them here. There are 10 people on the boat. The pirate is dispatched.

When the pack return to the docks to observe, it seems like the pirates are taking the threat seriously. There's now 4 people on guard, and the ship has been let to drift some distance away from the pier. ("What we need is a diverrrsion" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkYEX0UTLyM) They decide to stealthily swim in and attack. Pork Chop and Fairy Bread will swim in from stage right, and Scarface Claw and Godzilla from the left. The plan is to murder as quiet as possible with Might distracts by jumping and barking from the shore.

The pack members swim silently to the boat and climb up in glabro - well, everyone but Pork Chop manages. Fairy Bread lays down and offers an arm to help pull her up but nearly gets pulled back off the boat. He realises that one of the slaves is looking at him. He indicates 'ssh'. Godzilla glances to her left and notices there were two pirates asleep under the front cover over the deck.

"Bethsheba suddenly realised what was going on. The pirates were bringing in cats in order to keep all the rats out of the city. As long as there were no rats in the city, they would have no way to find out the Tenacity had been here or where he had gone. Since the pirates were involved in keeping the rats away, they must know something about what happened to Tenacity."

"Bethsheba told this to Nydourl, who decided to sneak onto the galley to see what he could find. While the pirates were busy with their cats, Nydourl quickly and quietly ran up the gangway and onto the galley. In the galley were many slaves, tied to the benches from where they pulled the oars. Nydourl spoke to one of the slaves, an old man who had been there longer than anyone. The old man told Nydourl that just before they started their regular cat-carrying trips, the galley had made a voyage to a small rocky island far out to sea, and that they had carried no cargo except for a rat in a box. He knew that it was a rat in the box because it kept gnawing it's way out of the box and running around the ship, with all the pirates chasing it. The pirates would catch it and put it in a new box, but it always managed to chew it's way out."

"Nydourl crept back off the boat and told Bethsheba what he had learned. They decided that they must get to the island. The easiest way would be on the pirate galley. Bethsheba said that they should approach the pirates and offer to pay them gold for passage to another city along the coast. The pirates would wait until the galley was out at sea before attempting to steal the gold, whereupon they could defeat the pirates and take the galley. Nydourl agreed to this plan."

"Nydourl and Bethsheba approached the evil pirate captain in a dock-side tavern, and offered gold for passage to another port. Bethseba used her powers of illusion to create the image of gold to fool the captain. The captain agreed and said that they would be setting off in the morning. Nydourl and Bethsheba agreed to be there."

"The next morning the galley left port. Bethsehba knew that the pirates would probably wait until they thought the passengers were asleep before they tried anything. Sure enough, that night, while Nydourl and Bethsheba pretended to sleep, half a dozen of the pirates crept up to attack them. Nydourl quickly killed the pirates before they could raise the alarm. He then crept up to where the slaves were being held and freed them. Before the pirates knew what had happened, they had been overrun by slaves and tossed over board."

[REVISION - Kasumi and Will swap places because Andrew could make this session and Becc couldn't.] Scarface Claw senses for wyrm and discovers the pirates are fomori, so her and Might creep up onto the front platform to try to chop the heads off sleeping pirates. Scarface Claw hacks accurately through the sleeping pirate, but as Might crashes his sword down, the pirate turns over and is nicked lightly on the neck. The pirate wakes up but his brief moment of consciousness is ended when he's stabbed by both Might and Scarface Claw.

Meanwhile, Fairy Bread hauls Pork Chop up and they both dive into the rowers' space and try to hide or at least ambiguate themselves. Showing a certain amount of sensibleness, the rowers that wake all freeze and don't make any noise - its possible the glabro-inspiring delerium has something to do with it. As the pirates walking guard go past them, they leap up and grab a leg each. Pork Chop half pulls her opponent into the rowers pit, but Fairy Bread times it badly and doesn't really shift his. They both yell, and attract attention. Pork Chop yanks on her opponent a bit harder and he falls on his back into the pit.

Scarface Claw runs toward the front of the boat, and Might runs up to backup Fairy Bread who punches the fomori in the dick. ("If I took 4 to the crotch, I'd fall down" "Four what?" "Four finger exploding crotch tecnique"). Pork Chop's opponent turns out to be a firebreathing fomori much to the horror of both Pork Chop and the slaves she is fighting aroun. Fairy Bread gets shot in the throat by one of the guards from the front of the boat, who has had his attention drawn by the fight. ("Don't go full Get").

Pork Chop stomps on the fomori's abdomen to try and wind him so he can't breathe fire again. Might stabs Fairy Bread's opponent and he goes down holding his guts in. ("I hope you caught a live fish, otherwise you have a different problem" "you have an ecological disaster here sir" "More disturbing is that they are still biting at the lines"). Fairy Bread leaps out of the rower pit to support his pack leader, but gets shot from the archer on the rear platform and then again from above - there's a guy balanced on the cross beam shooting down. He keeps running up to the rear platform to flank the bowman. Pork Chop keeps stamping but less effectually. Might starts to climb the mast angled so he doesn't get shot, but the bowman bamfs out and re-appears at the front of the boat.

Two more pirates come up from the cargo space. Pork Chop's guy breathes a small amount of fire, clearly having trouble breathing in. Scarface Claw reaches the rear platform and stabs the bowman with a sword, and in return he drops the bow and stabs her. From deeper into the boat is a terrible cry, full of madness and woe. Fairy Bread decides that he is going to nope his way away from the that noise and runs straight over the side of the boat into the ocean. Pork Chop runs off to the front of the boat.

Might expends some rage and drops back down then runs over to the teleporting fomori. One of the two new fomori runs to Scarface Claw, and the other heads over to help his firebreathing friend out the rowing pit. Scarface Claw is stabbed but the pirate's sword breaks off. Firestarter gets out of the pit, Pork Chop realises there's nothing to be scared of but the chance of failure and spins around and rams him back into the pit. ("This sword thing worked well at the start" "Well, that's because they were laying down and asleep"). Might grabs and pins the bowman. The miniboss, um, captain emerges from the downstairs - he is glabrosized and appears to be armored. Godzilla stops messing about on the foreshore and starts running to the ship on the ground this appears to be going poorly. ("I think you misunderstand this relationship. You kill things, and I peck out their eyes after they're dead")

Fairy Bread comes to his senses and heads back to the ship. Might starts twisting the arms of the bowman. Firestarter staggers to his feet, and his friend suddenly has 6 inches long spikes emerge from all over. The ex-sword owner pulls out a belt knife and stabs at Scarface Claw. ("I'm gunna destroy their citrus stores. Playing the long game, they're all going to get scurvy"). Mr TP bamfs out and reappears toward the back of the ship but he leaves his bow behind, so Might picks it up. ("ho Ho ho now I have a bow"). Scarface Claw finally gets a clean shot and cuts the exbowman in half. The miniboss heads toward her. Pork Chop punches the Firestarter out cold and back into the rower pit. Bamf guy bamfs up to the back platform and grabs the fallen bow.

Might shoots at Captain Howlio and hits him. Godzilla does a running leap into the rowing slave pit. Scarface Claw stabs the pirate blocking the ladder and he staggers but does not drop. Pork Chop draws the sword off the unconscious Firestarter and stabs Spike in the guts, who collapses. Bamf blinks out onto the mast again. Captain my Captain vaguely jumps at the fence but sort of slips. Fairy Bread climbs rapidly onboard again. Might snipes Bamf. The slaves are all yelling - for or against the pack? Who knows. Scarface Claw fells the wounded pirate. Pork Chop runs toward the boss fight and slams into the Captain as Scarface Claw stabs him with her sword. ("Or as I will refer to them now - Fill. " "Not 'Winn'" "Pork face chore"). Bamf fumbles the bow and drops the arrow. Fairy Bread charges toward the Captain. Might shoots Bamf who falls off the crossbeam on the mast and hits the deck from some height. The captain, still prone, bites Pork Chops' leg. She stabs down with the sword and does for the captain.

Scarface Claw starts making plans to evaluate who is dead and alive and search the ship. If that's no help and the slaves don't know, then they'll interrogate some nearly dead pirates.

The pack free the slaves, and despite the fact that they are shapeshifting monsters, the slaves seem pleased. Some of them want to stay in the city because this is their home town, but the others want to be helpful. Some of them turned out to be captives from other ships and one of them is able to tell the pack where the island is. Huzzah, now they can kick the surviving pirates into shark infested waters.

So off they set to find the island, sailing across the seas. The slaves are confused by the pack's constant "arrrr!" and caribbean references but are otherwise happy to help their saviours. ("I wouldn't call that spraying." "I was on the receiving aend; I'll tell you when its spraying and when its not" "Don't actually taste it." "how do you know its fresh?" "straight from the tap" "ew, this one's corked"). They sailed for many days, and had many adventures.

Eventually they arrived at the craggy island, protruding from the surrounding seas. At the top is a castle - at the bottom a rickety deck provides somewhere to moor the boat. The slaves wish the pack good luck but are not leaving the deck of the ship in case of more pirates, so off they tramp up the winding path. No one rains oil or arrows down on them as they circle the peak. At the top of the trail is a huge metal doorway ("we knock" "it resounds"), adorned with a round inset thing with 3 skulls, top first pointing to a round thing.

As they approach the skull that is upright speaks - "Answer my riddle. Suceed and pass; fail and be cast into madness and death. Place your hand upon the seal". Under the skull is an obvious place to put a hand, and Godzilla does. The metal flowers and seals her hand in place. "The more there is, the less you can see". Godzilla pauses for a moment then says "Darkess". Her hand is released and the disk circles around so another skull is upright - "Answer my riddle. Succeed and pass; fail and be cast into madness and death. Place your hand upon the seal".

Once again Godzilla casually places her hand on the seal and metal flows up and binds her to the door. ("Ask your question doorkeeper, I am not afraid") "If you eat me you will die". Godzilla immediately says "nothing" and the door releases her. Once again the disk spins and another head speaks "Answer my etc". "What is broken by naming it?" Godzilla is unsure but Might and Pork Chop both mentally suggest 'silence' and she goes with that despite threats of a) madness and b) death. Fortunately, the door agrees and the metal retreats and the gates swing open.

Inside the castle appears to be abandoned. Rubbish and detritus has built up, there's no smoke or smells of activity. There are wooden buildings into the courtyard, but some of them seem damaged by time. ("They're portables?" "yeah we hired some mercenaries and...") Scarface Claw senses for wyrm and finds some deep in the keep; Might sense for unnatural and finds the wyld is also strong here. Bethsheba says to be on guard, but she'd expect to sense if Tenacity was here.

The pack head into the one stone building that makes up the castle. Might sniffs about and can smell one rat, and lots of people. But they are old. Hmm If Tenacity was here a month and ago? Might points out the clouds scudding past at speed. There's clearly something weird going on with time here.

They explore through in crinos form. The mystic senses lead them though the castle to a large chamber. Their door opens onto a platform with a few broad steps leading down to a sandy floor. Regular stone pillars hold the roof up, and at the far end a figure slumped on a throne. Sensing suggests that the figure is the source of most of the wyrm but with some wyld, but the floor is dominated by a wyld sense. The pack ask Bethsheba to fly down that way and check it out from up close. She reluctantly says yes; as she approaches the figure, it moves, and it laughs a cackly, hollow laugh; it points at the pack and says something they have trouble making out. Or rather everyone by Scarface Claw can't hear it; she hears "You are too late, it has been taken, taken to the Rajah of Madness!" and it collapses.

Hmm. They still want to check the situation out from closer. Might throws an apple out and nothing happens. He shoots an arrow, and nothing hapens. Bethsheba comes back and says she thinks the cackling man is now dead. Might takes a tentative step out and the sands shimer and change colour when his foot touches them. Each step makes the colours expand out like ripples. He decides to take this with him and bends down to pick some up, triggering off other ripples. When Scarface Claw steps down the extra steps send ripples bouncing off the walls and each other and the pack find themselves hypnotised by the intricate pattens that they make. ("and 5 successes against you... and you... and you.... oh no") Every pack member except Pork Chop find themselves moving down onto the sands and making more and more complex patterns. Pork Chop, perhaps more used to tripping balls, finds that she realises some time has passed and struggles to tear her eyes away. She manages to tear her eyes away and stare at the ceiling. If she looks down, its catching her eyes again.

Pork Chop walks slowly over to Fairy Bread and tries to make him look away. He isn't keen, but she slaps him hard enough a couple of times, and manages to break the spell. It takes some effort to drag him out and he has to stay out of the room to not be caught again. She goes back in and tries to pull the others out. Might and Godzilla are pretty caught - in fact, Might gets more and more involved and has the idea to make more and more complicated pictures. She does manage to smack Scarface Claw hard enough to break her out of it and drag her outside. Between them, they manage to get fashion blindfolds and still manage to navigate around the room without being able to see and pull Might out, but Godzilla is still super invested. Might manages to get a handful of sand and hurl it into her face, temporarily blinding her until they can get her out of the room. ("in the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed snake is king").

Eventually the pack manage to get out of the castle and back to the boat to consider their next move. Should they travel to the Court of the Rajah of Madness? No, says Bethsheba, its in Malfeas. But knowing that is a good secret. Now they need to get Rat a gift. ("Magic sand. Take that! *throws sand*"). Bethsheba says that Rat would need strength and courage to travel into Malfeas to retrieve his son, and those are attributes Rat does not possess. So, they should travel to Lion and try to get his strength and courage to give to Rat. She knows that Lion lives in the ancient lands to the west and they should travel there post haste.

("Lets get our slaves to take us there" "We probably shouldn't refer to them as *our* slaves". "Stick with us lads, and all the treasure you can eat" "All the cat you can eat")

"The journey west took many days, and they had many adventures on the way. Eventually, they reached the far western shore. Here Nydourl and Bethsheba bid farewell to their crew, despite their entreaties to stay, and headed inland."

"They travelled for many days until they reached the lands where Lion lived. Both Nydourl and Bethsheba were in animal form when they came across mongoose running through the long grass. When asked where he was running to, mongoose said that Lion had pronounced that his daughter was to be married to the most worthy, and that all the animals were gathering. Then mongoose ran off."

"Bethsheba thought that this would be a good opportunity. If Nydourl in wolf form could be chosen as most worthy, then he could reveal his true nature and perhaps bargain with Lion for what they really wanted. Nydourl agreed, so off they went towards Lion's home."

"Eventually they reached the rock in the grasslands where Lion lived. A great throng of animals had already gathered, and more were arriving all the time. By evening, all the animals had arrived, and Lion appeared on the rock. After telling the hyenas, who were squabbling over Elton John's carcass, to keep it down, he proclaimed that there would be three tests to determine who was the most worthy to marry his daughter. There would be a test of speed, a test of strength and a test of courage. The testing would begin in the morning, so all the animals settled down to sleep. Bethsheba pointed out to Nydourl that they would probably have to cheat in order to win, and as Nydourl was Bone Gnawer, he thought that was cool."

("You're not allowed to tell kids factually incorrect things just to annoy their teachers later" "Like what?" "like that oysters are a type of weasel") ("Swiss Army Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrK1f4TsQfM") ("Tinga Tinga Tales https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRC8SS2sHMg") The pack try and work out how they can cheat to win ("We eat them"). ("Its a dick I made from a diesel engine"). Maybe they could turn the race into a relay race? If they knew which way to go. Maybe Might could seduce the lion? They'll probably just need to win 2 of 3. Scarface Claw suggests sabotaguing the other animals. ("by... cutting... their ... feet... off"). Pork Chop suggests partying too hard and making everyone too hung over to run properly? Maybe a bonfire? Gazelle's being harassed by bees? ("high five everyone, good luck.... BZZZZ") Maybe they could stop the animals getting a good night's sleep? Wolves howling all night? Taking the forgotten? ("You have no daughter" "The winner will be my... adopted ... son? Why am I doing this?"). Scarface Claw could go out invisibly and tweak ears and such.

Fairy Bread heads out into the darkness and uses his Call of the Wyld gift to really stop anyone from getting much sleep. Godzilla starts spreading rumours that the faster animals will be sneaking up and eating some of them prey animals. Gozilla will indeed Beeeees some of the fastest animals in the morning. Might gets some sleep because he'll be running. Scarface Claw pokes animals and messes with them. When not howling, Fairy Bread uses Mimic and Dreamspeak to disrupt other animals. ("I'm not worried about tortoise" "I dunno, it has a good track record")

Come the morning, many of the animals are tired, emotional and skittish. There's rumours that the whole thing is a trick by lion and the other fierce animals to get everyone to run off and get eaten. Some animals are being pursued by hornets for some reason. Lion explains the test of speed in greater detail. Everyone line up and run toward the rising sun - run until they find mandaril, who is some distance away that way. Scarface Claw turn invisible and runs off which all the animals are getting sorted out. Bethsheba takes off up into the sky to provide aerial surveillence. No one wants to be near the hyenas or cheetah, so it takes a while to get everyone lined up happily.

"In the morning all the animals assembled at the rock again. Lion pronounced the test of speed. Basically, all the animals were to run towards the sun until they reached mandrill. The first animal to do so would be the winner."

"Bethsheba thought fast, and as the race was about to begin, she told Nydourl to delay the race somehow. Nydourl took a stick and crept up behind gazelle, then broke the stick. Gazelle, being flighty, took off before the signal to start was given. Other animals also took off and a great deal of confusion reigned. It took quite a while to get everything back under control again."

"As the race was about the begin again, Nydourl thumped the ground behind rabbit. Rabbit shot across in front of leopard, who gave chase. Once again chaos ensued for quite a time before everything was settle down again."

"Meanwhile the sun was moving across the sky. Finally, after several false starts, the animals were ready, Lion gave the signal and the animals were off, running towards the sun. But Nydourl had delayed the race for so long that the sun had shifted across the sky. Bethsheba had marked the point on the horizon where the sun had stood at the time the race was supposed to begin, and she flew in that direction, with Nydourl following."

Lion says 'ready.. set..' and some of the skittish gazelles leap away and start to pelt off. Lion calls "no wait!" but they're already gone. Might was on a hairtrigger and had called on lupus ancestors for hints to run as a wolf, and leaps away, encouraging the animals near him to run too. It takes over an hour or so to stop all the animals that shot off and bring them back to the start line and then longer to calm them down. Bethsheba flies down to talk to the pack, giggling a bit and asks if they can do some more false starts, because the race was toward the sun, and then sun has moved in the time that this has taken. If they can do another false start or two, most of the animals will be running in the wrong direction, and she can show them which way to go.

Between Fairy Bread's efforts to Mimic Lion or other animals shouting go or stop, and Might's false starting them again, it is late morning before the race legitimately starts. Wolf runs off toward where he knows Mandarill is, but the other animals run toward the sun. He eventually finds Mandarill well before any other animal, confusing Mandarill. The other animals ran for a couple of hours and then realised they've gone not the right way and then swerve all over the place. Its evening before all the other animals give up and come back, and there is some grumbling that Wolf has won, but Lion has decreed it to be so.

"They ran alone across the grasslands for hours until they spotted mandrill waiting alone under a tree. Nydourl ran up, and the somewhat perplexed mandrill declared wolf the winner. Nydourl, Bethsheba and Mandrill headed back towards Lion at a more leisurely pace than before."

"It took the other animals a long time to realise that something was wrong, whereupon they started running in all directions. It wasn't until late afternoon that they started to trickle back to the rock, where they found mandrill and wolf waiting. By evening all the animals had returned, and Lion declared that wolf had won the test of speed. There was much murmuring and muttering amongst the animals, but there was nothing that they could do. They all lay down to sleep and await the next test."

"In the morning, Lion pronounced the test of strength. A single great rock stood near the rock where Lion lived. The animal who could push the rock the furthest without stopping would be the winner of the test of strength. One by one the animals attempted to push the rock. Bethsheba figured that there were enough animals to keep this going all day and told Nydourl that he should go last."

"The rock was so big that most of the animals couldn't move it at all. Only the strongest animals could budge it, and it was no surprise that Elephant moved the rock the furthest of all those tested so far. The day wore on as the animals pushed and it had become dark when only Nydourl was left. Nydourl suggested to Lion that perhaps they should leave his testing until morning, as not all animals could see well in the dark, and he wouldn't want any of the contestants to harbour any doubts about his success or failure. Lion agreed and declared that the final contestant, wolf, would attempt the test in the morning. Again all the animals settled down to rest."

At dusk, Lion announces the second test. There is a single large rock near his home. The animal that can push it the furthest will be the winner. The tests shall recommence in the morning with the dawn. The pack engage in some competitive analysis. Elephant. Rhino. ("Blue whale! *WOOOOO*). Maybe they can make the rock heavier? Maybe its time to get spirits on board. A wyld spirit to make the rock lighter? ("I threw it into the stratosphere... technically I win?") Or an elemental to affect the rock. A spirit to make Might extremely strong? Make them all invisible? Hmm. Scarface Claw can be invisible and Godzilla can be extremely hard to see - they could slow the rock down for everyone but Might. ("I'm not above poisoning an elephant") They also concentrate on keeping the animals tired and ineffectual overnight.

The next day the tests begin. Scarface Claw is nearly run over by the rock when rhino starts to push but manages to get out of the way. Its hard to stop ("Stop the rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pURJDToKA0k") when it gets some movement going. ("just go tickle them"). Bethsheba uses her powers of illusion to make a mouse run in front of Elephant and similar sorts of gags. It takes a long time to get through the day, and its nearly dusk when it becomes Wolf's turn ("the sun has gone down and the moon has come up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_HoMkkRHv8") The two minimalist visible garou in crinos sneak to the other side of the rock and help Wolf push. As Wolf clearly struggles to move the rock, straining and groaning, it starts rolling along. All the other animals are gobsmacked at how far he is making it go. In the end, Wolf having moved the rock at least half again as far as Elephant even, Lion declares Wolf is the winner.

"Once all the animals were asleep, Nydourl and Bethsheba crept away. Bethsheba was looking for something in the few trees in the grassland, and soon she found it: a large bee's nest. She told Nydourl to remove the bees nest and take it back to the rock. The bees were all sleepy and didn't give Nydourl much grief when he pulled the nest off the tree and carried it back to the rock. Under Bethsheba's direction, Nydourl climbed to the top of the rock and looked for a large crack. When he found one, he opened up the bee's nest and carefully poured the honey into the crack in the rock. Nydourl and Bethsheba then headed out into the grasslands again."

"This time Bethsheba was looking for something on the ground, and soon she found it: a large ant's nest. Bethsheba called to the ants and told them of a very special rock that she had found that produced honey. The ants were very excited, and all immediately headed off in the direction she had said. Nydourl and Bethsheba headed back to Lion's rock to get some sleep."

"The next morning, the animals awoke to watch wolf undergo the test of strength. The ants had travelled slowly all through the night, and as Nydourl walked up to the rock, he saw the last ant disappearing underneath the rock. Nydourl placed his front paws against the rock and began to push. Much to the surprise of all the other animals the rock very slowly began to move. What's more it kept on moving. The animals slowly trailed after wolf as he kept pushing the rock, past the place where even elephant could push the rock no further. Wolf pushed the rock at least twice as far as elephant had. Raven, actually Bethsheba, circled overhead, crying that they should all head back to Lion to hear his verdict. All the animals turned and headed back to Lion, which was just as well, because they didn't see that the rock was inclined to keep moving even when wolf was no longer pushing it."

"When all the animals were assembled, Lion declared that wolf had won the test of strength. Again there was much muttering and mumbling amongst the animals, but there was nothing that they could do. Lion declared that the test of courage would take place after nightfall."

("its turns out the courage test is the night of the wedding" "he doesn't have a daughter, its just lion." "in curls"). Lion says that the final test will be the test of courage, to be held on the following evening. Over night, all the animals spread out more than they have the previous nights and cluster up with friendly animals. Everyone finally gets a sleep.

Late the next day, Lion gathers the animals that are bothering to compete in the test of courage, and takes them a distance away to the crest of a hill. They arrive shortly after dark and find themselves looking down on a human village. Lion says the test of courage is to go into the human village and steal a burning brand from their fire and bring it back to Lion. For some reason, Wolf is trying not to laugh.

Many of the animals cannot even bring themselves to enter the village. Those that can are too scared of the fire, so one by one they they fail, leaving only wolf. Godzilla sneaks down, through the pallisade and grabs a brand. ("I set fire to the grassland as I return"). She brings it up toward Lion. Bethsheba flies down and changes to human form, indicating Godzilla should do the same. ("no, I wanted a wife!")

"Nydourl trotted up to Lion, threw the brand in the air, changed into human form, and grabbed it as it descended. Immediately all the other animals began to scream and roar and screech. Lion demanded to know what was going on. Nydourl pointed out that Lion had placed no restrictions upon who was eligible to be tested. In theory even a human could have entered the contest, had he been privy to the event and had some desire to be married to a lion. However, said Nydourl, if Lion was prepared to grant a gift at least as valuable as his daughter, then Nydourl could be persuaded to renounce all claims to her."

"Lion, perhaps realising that there are few things worse than having one of the Changing Breed for a relation, agreed. Nydourl asked for the gift of Lion's strength and courage. Lion muttered a bit but agreed again. Returning to his rock, Lion wrapped his strength and courage up in leaves into a pretty parcel and gave them to Nydourl. Nydourl and Bethsheba took their leave of Lion and the other animals."

"Nydourl and Bethsheba travelled far and wide for many days, and they had many adventures. Wherever they went, they spoke to rats that they met, telling them that they had a valuable secret and gift for Rat, and asking where they might find him. Eventually, they found themselves at the biggest city in the world, where they were told Rat lived. They made there way to a great palace, and by secret ways found their way to a golden room under the palace, where Rat lay on cushions surrounded by food. Nydourl said to Rat that he had travelled far to see him, as there was a secret that he wanted to know, and that he would give Rat a great secret in return. Nydourl was strangely insistent that Rat should agree to give up his secret in return for the secret offered (?), and hinted that the secret concerned the whereabouts of Rat's son Tenacity. Eventually Rat agreed that he would give his secret if Nydourl's information was valuable. Nydourl told Rat that Tenacity had been taken to the Rajah of Madness in Malfeas. Rat agreed that this was a valuable secret and that he would grant a secret in return. Nydourl asked Rat "What is the full tale of Marion Perry's (^%#^$%^$%) spirit from her death til now...."

As they speak the wrong question, the world starts to distort, shudder and tear. The realm does not appreciate it and its not a nice sensation. At the end of the sentance things rupture and change.

It Wasn't Me are standing in the grottiest toilet, not just in Scotland but in the whole world. Next to them is standing Abu Nuwas, and an unremarkable looking rat is sitting on a broken toilet tank, lashing it's tail in an annoyed fashion. Rat says to Abu that he does not enjoy being taken for an idiot, nor does he enjoy being insulted in this way. Abu remains impassive. Rat says to It Wasn't Me that they should be careful about treating Incarna in such a cavalier manner, and that other, more self-important Incarna would take the same treatment with less humour and good grace. Scarface Claw apologises for their presumption. Rat asks Abu if he is familiar with the idea of the tri-partite goddess, and says that they should seek the living face, the still face and the new face. Abu thanks Rat, and It Wasn't Me find themselves back in Abu's little room above a shop.

Abu says that the three faced goddess concept is common in many different forms in most ancient mythologies. It even has it's bearing in Garou legend. In this case it bears upon the Greek version of the three Fates - Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. Clotho spun the thread of a life, Lachesis measured the thread of a life and Atropos cut the thread of a life. However the thread of an existence encompasses many such threads of life, it's just that the Greeks didn't believe in reincarnation. The point is that just as the thread of a life can be followed from birth to death, the thread of an existence can be followed over the thread of more than one life. Abu says that Rat is suggesting that instead of going from Birth through Life to Death, you can follow from Life through Death to Birth, thus finding the position of the individual after death.

In this case however, the faces that Rat referred to are faces of Gaia: the living face of Gaia, the still face of Gaia and the new face of Gaia. Abu says that they must seek these faces out, whatever they are, to follow the thread. They discuss things a bit more and Abu suggests that they may be looking for avatars of Gaia in the penumbra. Abu thinks that its interesting that Rat has suggested that Marion's fate is beyond him, and into the arms of the Mother. They are warriors of Gaia, but normally they would work through the tribe totems rather than approaching the goddess directly. That was the secret that rat has given up. ("Every time someone wants something from me, they'll do this Nydourl story").

Abu cannot help them much further. Might expresses his deep appreciation of his efforts ("Despite being both an elder and a spirit, he has been deeply, unambiguously helpful to us without demanding anything in return"). ("Courtship of the Mermaid" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXnjoBC91zk) ("I'm on Smoko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc) ("Mercy Pear https://www.patreon.com/posts/25656624) He tells them how to find their way back - basically head back into the tunnels and then try and find a moon path to get home. They wind through random tunnels for a while until the finally emerge from the tunnel into the umbral mists again. They find a Moon Path and head for the Cemetery.

A timeless period later, they follow the Moon Path down into the Penumbra around the Cemetery. There they find Cossack and others, who tell them that the date is...

Sunday December 4 - Philodox waxing

So despite it being subjectively months and months, its only been 2 days. Lost Prophets brain dump everything that happened. Will recommends that Abu Nawas should get full props at the next Moot. ("We can watch Aladdin in his honour" "Racist?" "A little bit. Slightly racist. No meanly racist. Nicely racist" "Disney racist" "Well, not Walt Disney racist, because he was really racist, but - "). ("You're a glasswalker homid verging on 10 gnosis. You're starting to be overflowing" "You're incontinent with gnosis". "Perhaps a little soggy" "Just gushing" "Is it better to gush or ooze?" "Seeping?" "Redolent" "Swollen" "Turgid" "Tumescent" "You're like a condom full of spiritual energy" "Kiss my essence") Frankly the Elders are a bit overwhelmed. Will says they should probably hit up Monash for some thoughts, and Emma says she was going to suggest that maybe Monash and Grek might be people to talk to about faces of Gaia and the giant spirit quest. Cossack does the Rite of Recognition for the pack before they turn in.

Monday December 5 - Galliard waxing

The pack Moonbridge via Jindabyne to get to Carnarvon gorge, this time taking their sword and armor along, because it was so cool to use swords against pirates. They once again relate the tale to the Elders here - Cherrie BAckward Glance, Indira Songs of Sorrow, Grek and Monash End to the Darkness. When they finish, Grek speaks and says that following a thread of existence like this is a relatively profound idea. The faces of Gaia are probably spiritual rather than symbolic (Of course, the spiritual is all about symbolism, but hopefully you know what I mean) The Living Face of Gaia should perhaps be some form of avatar of Gaia. The Still Face might be an aspect of Gaia in the Deadlands. There certainly are elements of Gaia in the Shadowlands. Sometimes the Silent Striders travel there. The New Face might be a a fundamental creative aspect of Gaia, and they might need to take a jaunt into the Deep Umbra. The Living Face seems like the first place to try, Indira suggests that there's one person who would have a possibility of knowing anything about an avatar of Gaia - he's made it his life work cataloging spirits. He's a Fianna by the name of Bartholomew Wise in the Ways o of the Wyrm. Lost Prophets point out that they know him, he was around for the whole... Sydney... thing... hmm.

That seems a good place to start. Monash can organise to Moonbridge them to Sydney and then they can drive from there. ("Who's Greg?") Should they take Alex? Monash suggests that they shouldn't - its their journey but it might be better to turn up with results rather than trying to get him involved. The pack ruminate briefly and agree. Off to Sydney where they rub in the Bone Gnawer's face how much better at being Bone Gnawers It Wasn't Me are. (no not really). They give the quick version of the story and ask to borrow a car - Herman lends them a beaten up landrover for the trip. ("That's kind of you" "Well, its a 3 hour car trip, so you either need to take this or steal one. And if you steal one, there's an even chance it'll lead to a breach of the Veil. So.")

Brrm brrm, 3 hours later. ("HELLA DREAMS! *hurls sand*" "Maybe that's how this should work - that the sand in the face confuses real events and crazy dreams"). Tillie calls on the way and gives him a warning they are coming and a chance to run for the horizon. When they arrive he asks what they've broken now. "Nothing, but we did get made into honorary bonegnawers. " "I'll get my pen". They tell the long, long version of the story, talking into the night time. Bart cooks while they continue to talk.

When they've finished, he says there aren't too many spirits he'd describe as avatars of Gaia. There's really only one that springs to mind. Its a totem spirit of a caern - more specifically of the caern near Etadunna, where the Talons and Fenrir stop the other tribe from getting the caern, where Lost Prophets fought a nexus crawler and Will's ex girlfriend was hanging out. Well. Nicely cyclic. Considering events, he'd suggest that they make it an official visit - go and speak to Carla Grimmson first, the Get of Fenris council member. They ask if he can think of any other spirit or spot that might count as a Still face or a New Face. Maybe rainbow serpent? Its the obvious rebirth spirit - there are others, but not quite as pure. They like the idea of rainbow serpent, even with the need to tell the Jinabyne Council, but no one has seen rainbow serpent in living memory .

They opt to drive back to Sydney tomorrow and then moonbridge to Carla, because otherwise its 16 hour drive. Bartholomew is caught up on all the other news. Will suggests maybe they should retell Nydourl and Bethsheba the right way a few times to make up for the damage they might have done.

Tuesday December 6 - Galliard waxing

Driving to Sydney, Moonbridging to Jindabyne where some of the Silver Fangs give the pack a bit of side eye on being asked to Moonbridge them to St Mary Peak in the Flinders Ranges. They point out that they're on business for Monash and Grek and the Silver Fangs point out that neither of them are Elders here, but grudingly agree to send them.

The Moonbridge opens out onto a peak of angled, weathered rock near the top of the ridgeline. They are met by the Gatekeeper and Carla Grimmson. It is hot and dry. They go through the formal introduction. Carla says "Not to be rude, but what do you want". They say they would like to access the caern at Etadunna again and speak to caern totem, as part of a quest from Monash End-to-the-Darkness. Will says that they're seeking her intervention due to his history with the packleader there. She raises her eyebrows and says she hopes they'd have talked with the Fenris anyway.

Carla considers this. Its an interesting request, given the history. She has a counter suggestion ("is it go fuck yourself?"). The status of that caern is not ideal - it is a Get caern, in the Get protectorate but the Red Talons refuse to give up their claim to it. Will asks why there can't be a mixed tribal Sept there? Carla says its not the Get of Fenris way to mix people from different groups together - there are practical and idealogical reasons for that. Will points out that there are other places where Get and Red Talons have shared caerns tho, in the far north. Carla says that the Red Talons insist that the caern is theirs, unequivocally. If that dispute was resolved, there might be room there to experiment with that setup again. But more directly to Lost Prophets, if the dispute was resolved favourably, she would be willing to look equally favourably on allowing them to vist the caern.

Kasumi asks if Carla is asking them to mediate a dispute that has been going for decades. Carla says that their position as a .. mostly... neutral party, and their renown on certain topics might put them in a position where they might be able to mediate it, yes. She would also be willing to owe them a favour at the Council in a matter that does not affect the Get, and she understands they may have some trouble with Dancers - a couple of Fenris packs at the right time might prove helpful there? This hopefully demonstrates how serious she is about the matter?

There's a snag though - she can't just appoint them without some demonstration that they are worthy. They'd need to demonstrate that they would be fit to act in this matter. Tillie twitches slightly and says ok. While the pack wait to be sent into fight their way out of some disgusting wyrm pit, Carla instead says she wants them to find out why at Grinding Stone earlier this year, Huros Bathes in Blood killed Hans Dieter. ("The caern warder?" "I can't believe you remembered that"). The pack vaguely remember hearing about this, but no details. Will asks if they can say they are working at her direction, and Carla shrugs. ("We should go to the Get of Fenris homeland and try to follow Dieter's dead spirit...")

The Lost Prophets agree to this and ask if they can get sent home now. They Moonbridge back to Jindabyne and then to the Cemetery ("sorry, sorry, sorry"). They brain dump at Cossack and discuss some of the practicalities and possibilities. Cossack says that its an interesting thing to ask for, because Carla and Huros had been pack mates for some time. All Graeme knows about Hans is that he was a racist skinhead - he came to Melbourne a few times, he caused some trouble, the end. Tillie says that she's planning to go speak quiet to Malajimbarra. Cossack is pro - at least start low key.

The pack drive down to Grinding Stone, and approach in the established way. They are met by some of Blood Claw part the way along the track. Mark Sutherland queries why they are here and what they want. Tillie says they want to speak to Malajimbarra. Mark says that's acceptable - Eric will take them. Eric does so - he takes them to near the caern centre, such that they can hear it grinding away. In a small clearing is Commands-the-Waters, Malajimbarra and Huros. ("Matilda Kennedy of the Lost Prophets, and here are my dudes"). Commands-the-Wates is formal, but not antagonistic - they explain that they would like to speak to Malajimbarra, and head off somewhere private.

Tillie explains that following things up for Monash has led them here and needing to know what happened between Huros and Hans. Malajimbarra considers this and says "I think you need to explain further". Tillie gives Malajimbarra the structure of what they are doing ("I told you it was complicated"). Will tries to keep an eye on Malajimbarra and tries to read his reactions during the story. He basically seems moderately intrigued.

Malajimbarra says that the situation is not good, and it might be good to have an external prompt to resolve it. So, around the start of April, Huros killed Hans. He said that Hans was a traitor, trying to undermine the Sept for his own gain. This was true, but incomplete. Commands-the-Waters was reluctant to challenge Huros over it at the time - she assumed that the matter would become clearer, and there was some concern about how it might cause tensions in the sept. However, as it turned out, not resolving it has caused more tension in the Sept. It is currently in an untenable and slowly worsening situation. Blood Claw were annoyed at Fenris killing Fenris. Heralds of War were annoyed at the killing of a pack mate. Gaia's Rage's reaction was a little strange - it came a few weeks later rather than instantly. Each pack has distanced themselves somewhat from the Sept as a whole, and it leaves the Sept badly coordinated and vunerable.

Lost Prophets ask if they could just challenge Huros at the Moot on Friday. Malajimbarra suggests that he would either reject the challenge on the basis they have no standing in the Sept, or he would accept and set a challenge where his physicality would be overwhelming. Will could challenge on a tribal basis (given what happened to Finn last moot) but the rank 4 ahroun will probably eat his face. Malajimbarra says there were questions when it happened about why Huros dealt with it the way he did, instead of as part of Sept business, but he claimed it was his right as an Elder. Tillie asks if they could get all the Sept to say "tell us or you're out"? Perhaps, but they would need to get the cooperation of each pack, and as things stand there isn't a lot of love between them. Kasumi asks how did it go down? Malajimbarra says Huros killed Hans alone, on one of the paths leading in from Anakie. He didn't deny that he had done so, but refused to discuss it any further past his first declaration. ("Wait, does that mean the fairy park is in the bawn?")

Malajimbarra is happy for them to investigate - he feels that if he raises it with the other elders, it will become a matter of contention and make things worse. The pack contemplate their options - the Black Furies would be the most open to "spirit quest" as a good reason to stick their nose in. Or Blood Claw might be wanting to know why their tribemate was killed? Ok, Tillie will got visit the Furies on their own because everyone else is too penisy or too weavery ("What??" "What's your tribe symbol?"). The others will saunter out via the way they came in and try to spot Blood Claw.

Tillie takes off to the northwest where Malajimbarra says that the Furies often hang out. She howls a bit as she approaches, and hears an answering "wait there" howl. After a short time a lupus comes her way, changes into homid - Athena Tirebass. She's not unfriendly, but she is direct - "Why are you here?". Tillie says that she's following one of those thousand branch spirit trips. Athena asks if its Brenna related? No, its about what happened between Huros and Hans. Athena says she doesn't know - Huros killed him? She seems puzzled. Tillie enquires if she knows anything? Hans was a dickhead. Yes, she knew that. Does Athena know if it might've been nothing Sept related, but a personal matter between the two of them? Yeah, maybe it was - there wasn't anything obvious that anyone else knew about. Athena says that Sveta and Mark were both pissed off with Huros, the other Elders didn't follow up - so, it seems they trust Huros more than the packs, so.. its soured things a bit. Hmm. Tillie offers to catch Athena up on everything about Brenna and Athena suggests telling the rest of her pack too. That seems like a plan, so off they go. Athena changes form and this time is facing away from Tillie, so Tillie can see that on the back of her head is another face, twisted and deformed and sort of dead looking. Oh.

In the meantime, the others go along the Anakie path, and they spot most of Blood Claw more or less where they were. Will approaches Mark, Giovanni and Eric who ask if they are going. Will says no - they're on this spirit quest thing that's taken them into Fenris territory and to be allowed to do that, and the Elders want them to find out why Huros killed Hands. And thus here they are.

Mark's expression shuts down, but Eric's goes "whaaaaa?". "Which Elders?" "Carla." "Why didn't she just come and ask?" "I genuinely don't know" Mark says that he's not in the habit of discussing sept business with outsiders for no reason and stares at Will expectantly. Will counters that its tribe business. "Is it?" with a significant look at Kasumi, Finn and Sinead lurking off to one side. They start to go. "It sounds like more a pack thing. Is *your* interest a tribe interest? Doesn't sound like it." Mark still seems a bit expectant, but Will isn't quite getting why - he's not saying "get out" but he's not just telling them. Oh wait. ("He's not looking for you to pee on him - I love that you guys go from 'I'll talk to him until his ear falls off' to 'that didn't work, just pee on him'" "Challenging seems like a big deal tho - at our sept it'd be all 'ooo'" "The Get of Fenris challenge over 'what time is it'. Constant. Testing. To. Prove. Strength"). Will challenges Mark formally to answer the question.

Mark says Tillie's not here. Fight. Homid form only. Two on two - her (Kasumi) and you, me and Giovanni. ("He's got a knife. Its strapped to his dick" *thrusting*) Kasumi says no gifts and they shrug and say sure. People square off. Giovanni punches Kasumi square in the face. Mark goes to kick Will in the knee, but slips over. Kasumi kicks him in the head and is punched again by Giovanni while Mark gets up. Will is faster than the two Blood Claw garou, except people are spending rage as well. Will and Kasumi concentrate on knocking Mark down. Kasumi dodges out of the way of the lumbering SilverFang and strikes him again. Mark king-hits Will in the face, but he takes it on the chin. Will and Kasumi both strike Mark and he goes down. Unfortunately Giovanni kicks out Kasumi's knee with a sickening wet noise, and she goes down on one leg. She grits her teeth and grabs his legs ("ha ha, its just callouses") getting a grip on his ankle. Giovanni goes to kick her in the face ("but she's got his foot" "one success does not indicate 'got'") but Kasumi protects thousands of dollars with of orthodontistry by soaking. Kasumi punches Giovanni in the crotch but he jumps. Will works the body a bit. Kasumi wraps both arms around Giovani's legs and pulls them together - he's significantly off balance. He tries to grab Kasumi's damaged leg but cannot grab it, and he loses his balance. It takes a few more moments, but between Kasumi's grip and Will being free to punch, Giovanni is clearly defeated, so he concedes.

("Baby's first attack on Titan"). Once Giovanni and Mark regain consciousness, Will gets straight to the point and asks them why Huros killed Hans, but Mark says he doesn't know. ("Why did we just fght them then!!"). Lost Prophets enquire around the event then. Huros said Hans was being a traitor, but wouldn't say how. And he took it in his own hands rather than brinigng him before the Sept. Kick him around, and kick him out, sure - but unless he was putting the caern in immediate danger, why not be public. And then the Elders didn't push him on it, and seemed to take his side.

Mark says Sveta was pretty pissed that Huros interceded without asking her. And then the Furies cracked the shits a week or so later - probably Penny agitating on behalf of Sveta (not that the pack know who Penny is), and that's why they cared. Will asks if Penny is one of the Furies? Yeah, a Shadowlord in the Black Fury pack.

Will asks if Mark would stand with other sept members to force the issue. Mark shrugs and says Hans wasn't in their pack - he wasn't interested in the stuff they were, he was more interested on power over the humans. He fancied himself a bit of a political guy, which is more Sveta's thing. He was surprised that Sveta didn't challenge over it to be honest. Will queries about the using the Sept for his own gain thing that Malajimbarra said - Mark shrugs and does't remember that. Anything about Hans' personal life? He lived in Anakie, he liked to be out influencing humans. Was Hans messing with Huros' kin? Mark doesn't think there's any here, and Huros is pretty focussed on the caern so not really open to new relationships. Hans knew people in National Action, and made himself known to people in Family First and One Nation in the towns. Could he have been trying to get Sept members or their kin involved in that? Mark doesn't know.

Meanwhile, Tillie is led into a campsite with 4 other young women - Kathryn Bess (red curly hair, homid ahroun fostern), Amelia (homid galliard ), Defends-the-Fallen (grey lupus, rank 1) and Penelope (homid shadow lord ragabash fostern). They give a rough rundown about Brenna and Tillie's back history - born as a Black Fury, ended up somehow in southwestern Tasmania with the Shadow Lords. ("My ass is bleeding mystically") She gives a rundown on the whole saga without trying to make it a song and dance and does an adequate job with a lot of "And then..." . Nonetheless Kathryn really seems into it - Athena clearly knows some of it. Amelia is attentative but not emotive. Penny seems to be listening but msotly with an eye for telling it properly.

Now that she's finished talking, Tillie asks about what she came here for - why did Huros kill Hans? The Furies are a bit indifferent - one meathead killed another meathead. Any insights? Hans was a bit of a dick. yeah, that's been a theme. They all seem a bit blase about it which doesn't quite gel. Tillie says she got the impression that the Sept wasn't functioning too well? The Furies shrug and say that they guess? Tillie realises Athena isn't really participating in the conversation. She's doing other things around the campsite - firewood, going for to pee, etc. Tillie says "Where would you go next if you were me?" Kathryn jumps in and says it depends how much she neess to know - ask Huros? Ask Mark? Ask Sveta's pack - they might have a better idea what he was doing. Tillie asks if it came down to it, and Huros was being called on his behaviour - would they support it? Kathryn says that Commands-the-Waters called him on it and he just basically said "no", so.... ? There's some ummnig and ahhing, and Athena finally participates, saying "We'd have to think about it".

Athena escorts Tillie back and Tillie asks what was up - she was sort of disconnected from the conversation. Athena says she just did't have anything else to say. Tillie's not sure if its legit or if she's faking that.

Tillie says she's on the way back and Will should ask Mark where Sveta is. He doesn't know - that pack is often out and about away from the Sept (which is fair enough - there's not always everyone at their sept either). Mark intimates its probably time for them to go, and the Lost Prophets head back to their car to make some decisions about what they do now. They decide to try and find Sveta, and finally remember they have magic to make that easy - she's apparently in Durdiwarrah. After some back and forth trying to work out which driveway is hers. By the time they go back and forth its clear she's noticed and is waiting for them on the porch, and looks unimpressed.

Tillie is straight forward - she needs a favour. They have this task set by a Jindabyne council member and its gone here and there and ended up here and now she needs to know why Huros killed Hans. Sveta blinks and and says that that's an interesting request. She certainly could tell them some things, in return for a favour owed. Tillie grits her teeth and says yes, fine. Sveta says that there wasn't a pre-existing thing between Huros and Hans - it was out of the blue. Hans spent some time in Meredith and also in Melbourne. He had a house in Anakie but he was renting - she gives them the address. Hans certainly had his own shit going on - he was ambitious and keen. He might have found out something to use against Huros but that's speculation but he didn't share it with her. Sveta gives Tillie the eye and says she knows Tillie probably doesn't want to owe her, so lets make it easier - if Tillie finds out what Hans was doing, she should tell Sveta first and that will make them even. Tillie is keen to clear the slate as soon as possible and says that's fine. They swap phone numbers (or at least Kasumi's phone number).

The pack go and check Hans' old house out from the Umbra. The people now living there just seem to be humans. They hunt around and try to see if he had left any caches or whatever stashed either in the realm or the Umbra and find a small metal box with about $2k in old notes, two handguns (not new) and a passport for 'Jack Young' from about 7 years ago. Jack Young is not Hans, he's an older guy. There is some head scratching until Kasumi does a quick web surf and finds a Jack Young who was a leader of National Action til he went to jail about 7 years ago. Right, ok, this is probably not relevant, but they do pocket all three items.

Mayne they'll have more luck in Meredith. Off they go and decide to start with the pub. Oh, the festival is this weekend, ok that might be relevant soon. After a good pub feed, Will and Finn start circling around and trying to find if anyone recognises Hans. Will gets distracted talking to a guy called Mark who has been surfing and going to music festivals, but while Finn is asking the older barman if he has seen Hans recently (because Hans owes him money) a guy two seats up says "hang on, I think I've met that guy" - they compare notes on tattoos and the guys says yeah, that's him. Maybe they could get a table and - looks at empty glass - Finn orders one flagon ("one beer cup please") and two glasses for them and they find a table to chat.

Finn's new friend is called Phil and he's clearly a few sheets to the wind already. Phil says that he's friends with this other man in town, Chris Milne. They've worked a bunch of jobs together and got on well. Chris was living with this woman, but earlier this year, the rumour was that she was cheating on him. Phil was working with Chris at the time, and one day Chris decided to watch and see if it was true. He wanted Phil along as a witness. Chris left ostensibly for work one day, but came back an hour later with Phil. The parked in the car up the road and waited. An hour later, a guy fitting Hans' description walked out the door. They hadn't seen him arrive, so he'd been there at least an hour. Chris and Phil went in the house. Chris's girlfriend (Phil can't remember her name exactly; Joan? Jane? Janet? Jeanette? It started with a J anyway) was there and seemed "worked up". Chris asked her what she had been doing, and she said nothing. At this point Chris started yelling, and Phil left. Phil heard that they broke up and she disappeared. Chris was particularly upset, as she was pregnant. It'd been a real whirlwind thing - they go together at the festival the December before, she got knocked up pretty quick and then it was over. But Chris was pretty messed up about it, he had been invested. Finn asks a couple of questions and orders another receptacle of lager. Phil says that he only kind of met her once or twice, but Chris had gone on a bit, um, he thinks she lived over on a farm at Durdiwarrah or somewhere, but he isn't sure where. She had dark hair and he thinks eyes, and sort of olivish skin maybe? Not a tan, she was just like it, like she had I-tie grandparents or something. But they didn't know the bald guy - he was not someone Chris or he knew at all.

Finn says thanks, that sounds like his guy - maybe he can find out some more this way and trace him and get the money they guy owes. He leaves Phil the rest of the beer as a thanks and heads off.

("I know what its going to be... a NEEEERD"). Will revokes his last theory where Commands-the-Waters had done something dodgy and Huros was covering it up and now thinks that Huros knocked up a Black Fury kinfolk and Hans found out. He does a questing stone and they find Chris Milne is in his house, sitting in his favourite chair drinking beer and eating chips. (stupid 5 successes). They wander there and Kasumi peeks through time. Its about 9 pm and Chris is watching tv. Kasumi looks around smelling for a lady - its been 8 or 9 months, so, no. There's no recent smells that aren't Chris in his house. He does't seem as messy as they were expecting. He has a lot of photos around, and some of them look local. He appears to be a photographer - Kasumi can find albums and wallets of photos and some SLR cameras. He has a computer that they plan to crawl through later. There's not a shrine to either his missing girlfriend or potential child. In the computer room, there are some photos that appear to have been torn or cut at some point - their proportions are all wrong. They're on a shelf, not still in frames. If he's old school there might be negatives around somewhere.

They've got options - approach him? Mess with his dreams? break in an examine his stuff? Option C it is. Kasumi drifts through the gauntlet and creeps ninja-like around his house. She looks through photo albums and find that they're dated, and there's a bunch missing between December 2010 and March 2011. This one has taken a lot longer to fill up that then others, as if he'd lost some enthusiasm for the hobby after that. That does give them the surrounding photos to check through negatives for, and hopefully be able to find the missing ones that way. Kasumi opts to take handfuls of negatives and worry about sorting them out later. She fires up his machine, realises its Windows 95 and manages to turn the speakrs off before the loud startup sound.

Chris appears to use it partly for basic games, and also facebook, which kindly connects without asking for password. Kasumi tries putting her name into the search bar, starting with 'J' and finds that he's searched for 'Joan Jett'. That's probably not her. ... but odd that he searched on facebook for it. Hmm. It comes up with a bunch of fan pages and some matches, but they are in the US. So. Maybe.. her name is Joan Jett? Kasumi scrolls back through his timeline for stuff in the time period. While Chris has perhaps cleaned out his photos, other people have not necessarily done so, and so there are photos from 2010 December music festival where he's tagged and he's clearly with a woman who is not.

Will prompts to look at her with the eye of Gaian faith - does she have scars and tatts and guff that might make them think she's a garou? Not... absolutely yes... but deeply suspiciously maybe. its the obvious scarring that's the most garou like, but its not heavily apparent in all the photos. A couple of these photos, he's asked for someone to untag him, but there's been no response. The woman has dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, a mole on her face, jeans and a singlet - which is what reveals tattoos and scars. No obvious tribal tattoos, but it seems likely. Scrolling forward from this time there are some photos, and one of them says "Chris and Joan".

Sinead does a questing stone for 'Joan Jett' and gets a feeling that she's off to the east a bit. Its weirdly muted, but comes from not a huge distance away. Following it leads them to quite near the bawn of Grinding Stone - it fades there. They're now a bit concerned about having to tell Sveta. And Carla. What might be going on. Was Hans wandering around knocking up people's kinfolk for fun and riches? Sinead does the ritual again and is pretty sure that its taking them into the bawn of the caern proper. They could barge in? Hmm, if 'Joan' is a garou, then is she in Sveta's pack? Athena's? .. actually, Tillie says there were a couple of strange turns of phrase and non-sequitors during her conversation with the Furies that she didn't really pay much attention to, but now, with context, they might suggest there was another pack member in Gaia's Rage.

So, do they howl and run in ("we thought this was our caern, they all the look the same from the umbra") and hope the get Malajimbarra or the Furies? Or just go in the normal way and ask to see Malajimbrra. Lets do that rather than knocking at a window or the back door. They meet Eric and Ingrid near the front door again who are baffled. Lost Prophets say they're here to see Malajimbarra and when the two Get suggest its late, Tillie shrugs and says "its werewolf-o-clock". They concede her point. Eric takes them along to find Malajimbarra, who is still awake and willing to talk to them privately.

As tactfully as possible, Tillie asks if there's a 6th Black Fury in Athena's pack, goes by the name Joan Jett. Malajimbarra asks if they mean Jana? What about her? Tillie says that she's come up in their investigation and didn't meet her with the other Furies. Will mentally asks if they should spill and the others aren't keen. Malajimbarra asks if they think Jana knows something about the situation and they nod. Malajimbarra says he is happy to give them leave to go and walk through and speak to Jana now but he's clearly curious.

Again, they opt to just go with Tillie while keeping everyone else into the mental loop. Will reiterates that if the whole scandal is about a metis baby and a bunch of randos turn up and make demands about being told what is going on, it might go poorly. Tread carefully. Tillie gives a "hellooo" howl and gets another "wait there" reply. Athena and Amelia come along in lupus after a bit and change to homid. Tillie says she's come to talk to Jana, and Athena says 'fuck' before she gets control of her reactions. Ah. Athena sends Amelia away and says she'll be there soon. When she's gone Athena asks why they want to speak to Jana, and Tillie says that she's involved, you know she's involved and while Tillie isn't exactly sure how, she wants to speak to Jana about it. What happens if Athena says no? Well Tillie will have to respect that, but to get what she wants, she needs to go back to Carla. And she can go back with theories and maybes, or she can go back with facts. ("But there's 'the truuth' - and 'the truth!'" ) Athena sighs and say ok.

They head off to a different location than last time. Athena's body language is 'unhappy'. There's a campsite with bedding at this new location ("oooo glamping!"). The Furies she met before are there and also the facebook lady. Athena takes Jana away with Tillie ("I have some questions - how much *do* you like rock and roll"). Tillie gives an intro and Jana turns out to be a rank 3 ragabash Black Fury. Tillie checks what Athena said about them, and Athena talked only about Brenna. Tillie explains about their quest and Carla's request. ("Daniel's has added more vegan flavours" "Smelly vegan. Righteous vegan. Judgy vegan." "And apple custard!"). Jana's face shuts down. Tillie says they followed a lead about Hans and it led to her. Nothing else within the Sept seemed relevant, so they looked outside. She's not here to make accusations. She needs to tell Carla why Huros killed Hans, but she doesn't need to say anything else if she knows for sure. But if its just speculation, she'll need to provide a bunch of information as to why they think this. Jana seems pretty upset and annoyed, while trying to keep a mask. She glances at Athena who has gritted teeth but isn't saying yes or no. Jana asks if Tillie can give her some time to think about it, and Tillie says yes. They could meet offsite? Athena says how about we come to you? Back into the city, presuming they're going home. Sure, there's only an hour drive to get back (Cemetery to Anakie Gorge). Tillie has some mental conversation about whether they should tell Jana that they have to tell Sveta what Hans was doing; Kasumi and Will say no and Sinead and Finn say yes. Kasumi says that they could tell her that Hans wanted to sex Jana, regardless of whether he did or didn't. Tillie toys with being a total Shadowlord and just stiffing Sveta ("who is going to look down on you for lying to a Shadowlord" "From one Shadowlord to another, I'm only going to tell you half the truth"). Tillie decides not to say anything now, but to tell Jana before she tells Sveta. Athena walks Tillie out. Swiftly. Tillie says they'll go now and stop causing troule ("Stop. Making. Promises.")

Wednesday 7th December - Ahroun waxing

Sinead is walking through the tunnels under Preston. There is Green Dragon goo all over the walls. As she walks, the tunnels start to descend in ways that they did not in real life. It gets darker and darker and as the light dims, she has a sense of danger in the murk. It is completely dark and suddenly the sound of engines reverberates from many directions. Headlights come on, and a truck starts to drive toward her. She is unable to move, and the lights approach and then in a shift of perspective, they become gargoyle eyes and it flies just past her.

Sinead wakes, with bloodied eyes and mouth. Finn is woken by the surge of panic and they wake their respective pack members. Once the panic has faded, they try and relate the dream to things (looooong distraction about cheap luncheon meat) before checking it with the Elders. Cossack is concerned they missed something - he wants Lost Prophets to wander about up there and see if anything concerns them, especially Sinead. Tillie also spreads rumours, er, gives them an update on things they have noticed. She's talking about Hans when she discovers Ian is back because he sticks his head around the door and says "I know that guy, he's a knob". Ian apparently interacted with Hans in a way that involved someone getting beaten up.

Will suggests that maybe the dream was talking about the past. Emma says that it can be a thing with foretelling using water - the future and past get muddled together. But they will react as if they are being given a warning.

Lost Prophets goes hunting through Preston. They try searching for wyrm and for magic, but if anything this area is still cleaner than the rest of equivilent Melbourne over all. There are some little glitches, but nothing leaps out at them. They check out new constrution and the tunnels and some truck depots, just in case. They rule out a bunch of places at least.

When they get back to the caern, they find that Malajimbarra has come to visit. He says that he has some questions. Jana has abdicated from the Sept and her pack and Commands-the-Waters would like to know why and what part Lost Prophets had in it. What did they speak to Jana about? Tillie says she has to think for a moment - one because it was personal, and two because she made a deal with Sveta that she would tell Sveta first when she knew. Malajimbarra says that is not difficult to make the leap to what might have happened. Tillie says that they're not really sure of the details, but they asked Jana about why Hans visited her when she was pregnant and now she's left. ("can we send Athena a fruit basket?")

Lost Prophets aren't exactly sure what was going on - something illicit about the pregnancy and Hans found out and was blackmailing Jana, and Huros took offence? Did she have an abortion and that's bad? Its certainly a contentious point amongst the garou, much like people. Metis? Was it Huros'?

The pack debate whether they should speak to Sveta now - they don't "know" what Hans was doing, but Tillie wants to get rid of the obligation. Will suggests that they could dump the obligation only if they intend to do no further investigation, which is not the case. Also if they tell her stuff and she says "that wasn't the deal", they are left in an awkward position. Also if they tell her what they know now, they haven't really fulfilled part of the agreement - they just told Malajimbarra what they know now.

(pp"I have this theory that Carla did this on purpose - she's weakening Commands-the-Water's hold on the Sept, and then pushing Huros to challenge, and be backed up by the other get of fenris.. if he wins there's now a new Get of Fenris sept there. And then we try and get the Red Talons t give up their claim to the disputed sept. And then, if that works, she's promised to send 2 packs of Fenris to help us with the Dancers... will they leave, or will they shrug and say 'well maybe you need us here, you coulnd't handle the Dancers'". "I'm not saying its right, but the Get of Fenris did think of this" "Its not like anyone from that region of europe has ever drifted from authoratarian to fascist before").

Thursday 8th December - Ahroun waxing

("Pour one cream out for Becc"). Next morning at the Sept, they have a catch up with the other packs too, just to relate the dream etc. At the end, Chris say "no offence, but... you've had visions before and we went on alert, and it turned out to be a nothing." He's not saying they ignroe it, but he's not sure they should go all out to investigate it when there's other things going on. Sinead says she's just the messenger. Emma says that this is a different source of visions - and the other things that she's seen have come true. She re-states Will's query about whether its forward or backward too. Overall the Sept is going to investigate, but not go insane about it. Cossack wants one pack to investigate - Lost Prophets are investigating things, and Chris says that the Get of Pennington are in the middle of things... leaving Christine to say "yeah, ok. After the moot". She looks at Chris and asks if they can borrow Melissa to help look as well. It turns out she's been learning things from Kirsty Surfs-the-Train.

The Lost Prophets spend the day helping look about Preston and looking for more dead possums for the Moot Friday. Finn insists on trying to touch base with the human world. Will talks to Ends-the-Quiet about how to deal with Charlotte - whether she could be summoned and bound for isntance.

Finn gets a reply from his SMS to Tom. Its not an invitation, but neither is it being fobbed off. Tom says that they'll be at a gig tonight. Finn isn't explicitly invited, probably because he's so unreliable, but they do tell him where they'll be and when, so he decides to make the effort. ("Sleeping with my pack leader's sister. The most forbidden fruit").

Tillie gets home after her day and becomes aware someone else is in the house. She pauses and uses her useless homid nose to sniff and her powerful garou gifts to sense wyrm. There's no wyrm, but she cannot tell who it is. She calls out, and a figure moves to the end of the corridor - its Huros. She says hello and tries to be casual. Huros replies in a calm, low and controlled voice. He says he wants to know what her pack was doing in his Sept. Tillie asks what he's doing in the house - asking her the question. Tillie cries out mentally for those packmates who are nearby but Finn says he's in a barcrush and can't get out.

Tillie says that they were looking into something for a Council Member, and Huros pushes her on it. ("He can't jsut go around killing people, can he? Eventually he's going to get in trouble"). Tillie doesn't want to tell him, but Huros says that they have been intruding into Sept matters, and he would appreciate some honesty. Sinead and Will show up about this point and make it clear that they are here. Huros looks at them and then focuses on Tillie - he basically acknowledges they exist. Tillie finally says that she will be open with him, but she wants Huros to answer her questions. He says he will listen to them. Tillie says they are looking for a face of Gaia in order to accomplish a task, and to do so they need to go to the disputed caern near Etadunna and for that they had to speak to Carla and ask a favour. Carla wants them to do something for her, but to prove they have the skills for that, she sent them to Grinding Stone to find out why Huros killed Hans. Now, they still don't know - they know it involves Jana and Hans was a dick head, but that's it. Huros asks why Jana left. Tillie says that they spoke to her about the things they did know, and asked her if she knew why. Jana said she wanted to think about it, but then news came she left.

Huros asks for her questions. What happened? I have said. If that was satisfactory to people, they wouldn't be here. Huros says that he does not answer to her. And he has said. Tillie tries another angle and says she knows Hans tried to undermine the Sept. Huros pauses a moment and says that it would be best if the matter was not spoken of again. He starts to leave and Tillie says this can't be the end. Huros asks if she is challenging him on this. Will interrupts and says that she's stating a fact. If he wants it to be dead and buried, there has to be a better resolution. Huros says that is between himself and Carla. ("If he's taken steps to keep a tenuous alliance between three packs n the sept together, but now some idiots are coming from outside and stirring up the exact trouble that he was trying to prevent, just to get in favour with another Elder I don't even like any more").

Meanwhile, Finn has just broken free of the bar crush when it becomes clear the emergency is over. Tom wants to have a cigarette outside anyway, so they head out. He's having a smoke when his eyes flick behind Finn and says "Friend of yours?" Finn turns around and gets a bar stool to the face. His nose breaks with a sickening crunch, and his rage surges forward and nearly takes over. The second blow he wears ok. Finn gets a glance of his assailant - its a tall, brawny woman with red curly hair and a furious expression on her face. Finn opts to cheese it and rans, yelling mentally.

He swerves down an alley and is trying to put some speed down . Behind him is shouted "YOU INTERFERING FUCKS" and then he cops a thrown bar stool to the shins and goes face down onto the concrete and passes out (despite a brief alternative universe where he frenzies). The other pack mates sigh and start to go find him. Kasumi's phone rings and Graeme says they just got word from Grinding Stone to keep an eye out for Kathryn Bess - one of the Furies in Jana's pack - as she was going to Melbourne and she's really pissed. Kasumi thanks him for the belated information.

Sinead questing stone's for Finn. The ritual leads her to an alley where police are questioning people at some music gig. The pack do the equivilent of pulling their hats low and follow the rite a bit longer. Sinead says he's in that dumpster, but the cops can see them. The rest of the pack opt to wait, leaving Finn in the dumpster for an hour until the excitement has gone. They could jump in and out of the Umbra, but its extremely high gauntlet here.

Once the cops are gone, they open up the dumpster and heal Finn enough for him to regain conciousness. Finn changes to glabro and waits for 10s for all his wounds to heal. Once his skankiness climbs out of the bin, his phone goes beep about 8 times in a row. ("At least you're not behind a fish shop. Or a brothel") His hour of messages from Tom begin: "Dude where are you" "Dude seriously where are you" "Dude are you ok?" "I hope you're ok" "I really hope nothing has happened" [10 minutes] "Why does this always happen when you come out?" Finn replies and apologies. The pack compare notes about who that was and why and wonder if there will just be continuous repercussions.

Paranoidedly they Questing Stone all of Athena's pack. Four of them are at brisbane ranges, Jana is unclear and Kathryn is still in Melbourne.

Tillie decides to seek advice and goes and braindumps at Graeme. and demands to know why its hard. Graeme speculates that these sorts of journeys do have some struggles to overcome. Many of the elements are cyclic - this one is not really. Graeme thinks they are going to have to commit - they can't walk the middle line between their options now. They could chase Jana, but she left and who knows where she's gone - she might have gone to the Black Fury homeland, for isntance. They could challenge Huros - no one thinks this will end well. Or they could go to Carla now. She might say "not enough, go back" or "not enough, nick off" or "yeah ok". There's no reason to not test it. Graeme says he hasn't had much experience with Carla, but what he's heard is that she is a bit unpredictable - she doesn't meet the archetypes. Or the could try and talk to Commands-the-Waters about it? They talk about Huros and being Caern Warder and how because you are always there, its hard not to think of yourself as central to the caern. Graeme mentions that Monash will be attending the Moot tonight - Graeme doesn't think he's checking up on them, but still.

Friday 9th December - Ahroun - Moot Night

The pack prepare for closing out their possum duties at the Moot. They evaluate their possum esky - between their efforts and the other packs they have about 100 different possums to honour. Finn prepares Prayer for the Prey and Gathering for the Departed to do this evening.

Midafternoon Graeme finds Tillie and says she has a visitor at the gate. She guesses about 8 people before saying "how about you just tell me" and Graeme says its Kathryn Bess and she wants to talk to Tillie. ("See, they love the dog more than Finn"). ("Don't promise anything,and don't let her off easy ... seriously we owe them a lot and this is their fuckup that can be to negate a lot of it." "Oh you were doing so well there - justice, etc" "He has absolutely been hanging out with the shadowlord too long")

Tillie walks out to the gate. Kathryn sees her coming and says hi as she gets near. Kathryn says that she thinks she owes Tillie's packmate an apology. She knows it wasn't Flynn's fault. "er, Finn". "Oh sorry". She just lost her temper at him being there and all chilled out when things are going so pear shaped. But in the cold light of dawn and all that - sorry. Tillie accepts the apology on Finn's behalf even while he's mentally saying she should apologise to his face. Could they do anything? Should she talke to Athena? Kathryn says it will be loud and yelly if she does. Will mentally asks her to grill Kathryn about what happened. Tillie says that Athena's not the only cross one, Huros came and menaced her yesterday. Kathryn's confused and asks what that has to do wit Jana. Tillie asks why Jana left then if it wasn't to do with Huros - Kathryn asks what Tillie said to her, cos Jana left after talking to Tillie. Tillie approximates and says she asks what she thought was some unrelated questions - what she asked them earleir. Kathryn said that she just thought Tillie had, uh, upset her. There's some staring and Kathryn says she should go.

Moot! Monash End-to-the-Darkness shows up about an hour before hand and speaks to the Elders, but is obviously just being an observer not a major part.

Opening Howl - all the spirits are summoned and thanked for their help. Will emphasises how helpeful Abu Nawas was to their whole trip. Lost Prophets name and honour all the fallen possums at this point. Finn performs Prayer for the Prey, taking some responsibility for the cars killing possums in the city and then Gathering for the Departed for all the possums. Monash seems bemused.

Cracking the bone - Ian is formally recognised as rank 3. His challenge was not set, he had to find something himelf. He travelled far and ended up in England, where he discovered a wyrm intrusion in a location between two septs that hated one another and had to encourage packs from either sept to help and destroy it. Scryers report there was no solid result from the Cathedral idea, but its still worth continuing once they're not looking into Preston again. The Get of Pennington are keeping an eye on a potential lost cub called Gerrit who might be looking to change (he's a child of kinfolk). They've also been making sure the places where Uktena's blood fell. They're wyld and weird but seem to be fading out rather than building up.

The Lost Prophets dump their brains out to the sept too, and also get involved in tale telling. Oddly Sinead tells the best and most engaging story though Finn's tale of possums is expertly spoken. Christine and Georgina come and talk to Lost Prophets about Alex and ask how he was ("Ungrateful!). They talk a while in what's happened so far - the two garou are pretty keen to hear how things are going. The rest of the Moot goes smoothly - the pack participate in the Revel and recharge their rage.

Saturday 10th December - Ahroun waning

Even though they expect the horrible dream, its still a case of heart slamming into rib cage level of terror.

There's no immediate reports of Full Moon Killer victims, but the sept remains on alert. About half way though the morning, Tillie is visited by a magpie spirit. "are you the one?" "Which one?" "The one I'm meant to see." "Who are you meant to see?" "One with scars". Frankly it seems chronically stupid. It says that it was sent by ... um... why? To tell her something. He's left. Who? The big guy. The one with white on top. He yells a lot. Shouted at the wolf one. Who sent him? Tall. hair. he called. He sings good. Something about heads. After some back and forth, they work out "it came to a head and the shouty one with white on top left. " They think Malajimbarra might have sent this message but surely a rank 4 theurge would do a better job of getting a messenger. Will questing stone's Huros and finds he's in the Umbra near Bendigo somewhere. Odd. They cannot get a response for Jana. Is there anything else the messenger can tell them? The man who can sing was in a hurry.

Thirty minutes later Kasumi gets a call from Sveta. She lets it go to voicemail and they consult before calling her back. Sveta only wants to talk to Tillie, so there's some phone tag back and forth. ("I'm promoting Will to pack leader of the phone only"). Sveta says she thought they had a deal about informing her first when they found out what Hans was doing. Tillie says they still don't know but Sveta says other people have spoken to her and they seemed to feel she had some information relevant to the situation, or at least worth acting on. Tillie says she had some tenuous threads but that was all -- she can explain what she knows. Sveta says "how about that, and I'll see if I can draw conclusions." She sounds pissed.

Tllie says that Hans and Huros had a falling out over non-sept related things, and Jana was involved somehow. That's about all she knows for sure. Tillie opts to leave out the pregnancy on the grounds it was a coincidence. How was Jana involved? Hans came and bugged her at her boyfriend's house, and that upset Jana somehow right about the same time. And when Tillie asked her about it, Jana left. There is some mental arguing within the pack about whether the pregnancy is worth mentioning - Will in particular thinks that she's being deceptive by not mentioning it as possibly relevant. Sveta seems surprised that Jana left after Tillie spoke to her - Athena didn't mention that at the Moot. Ah. Sveta says whatever they intended, it stirred things up - Commands-the-Water demanded that Huros explain himself or leave, and Huros chose to leave. Will mentally says that given that Huros gave up his sept position rather than discuss this, he is not going to talk to them now. Maybe its time to talk to Carla.

The pack figure that they've wrecked enough things here, now its time to move onto the red talons and make their lives miserable. But first they need to check in with Carla and see if she's even willing to accept them. They Moonbridge to Jindabyne and then across to St Mary Peak.

Carla takes them aside to talk privately and asks what they have to say. They tell her that they've discovered Huros killed Hans because Hans was in some way involved with one of Athena's packmembers. Carla doesn't know who Athena is, but knew there was a Black Fury pack. Tillie says Huros has now been confronted by Commands-the-Waters. and has left, but Carla knew that. Carla tries to lay out what Tillie is saying a bit more clearly - so Hans and one of the Furies had an altercation (or something) and Huros didn't, for some reason, bring it in front of the Sept, but just killed him. What sort of altercation? Tillie says she doesn't know and Carla gives her a look. Will says that they can only speculate - Carla would love to hear their speculation. It might have had something to do with a pregnancy. Tillie is quick to point out that they didn't hear it from Jana's mouth - some random human in a pub told them. Carla gives them another look. She asks if the spoke to Huros, and Tillie says only at her house, where he turned up randomly and told her to pull her head in. Tillie says they've hit a point where people have quit the Sept rather than tell people things; she genuinely thinks they can't get anything else. Carla looks at Tillie and says she has the body language of someone that has not done well and now fears the rolled up newspaper. Tillie shrugs and says they haven't answered the question. Carla shrugs - true, but the question was a means to an end. It remains to be seen whether they have reached the end; but they turned up things that had been festering and tentatively she's willing to accept them - but she wants them to not speak further of what happened, and she'll take it up from here.

So, to progress, they will need to get Mamu to agree. Will asks how one speaks to Mamu. Carla recommends they travel to the Shattered Wheel sept where Mamu is sept leader, which is south eastish of the town of Boulia in Queensland. The Red Talons wil not accept a Moon Brdige from non-Talon septs, so they'll haev to travel the long way - she will lend them a car. Its about 12 hours north. She points out that tho they will be driving past the contested caern, they do not yet have her permission to stop there, so just keep on.

They set off in a well provisioned 4 wheel drive, and given they have twelve hours, Lost Prophets review their contact with Mamu. He's suggested that the Talons should have the new caern, and that Sydney should be allowed to sink into the sea. They've no idea how he feels about them personally. When they get there, they'll run on foot (feet) through the Umbra howling to try and attract attention. They plan to get some accomodation, have a wash, leave their weaver things behind (Sinead and Kasumi) - Kasumi actually decides to undedicate her phone etc, but Sinead will just leave hers behind. ("Signs: http://www.naturalwanders.com/stockbox/gallery/locations/australia/southaustralia/birdsvilletrack/LICENSED_SDM_RemoteAreaWarningSign_30110720.jpg")

Its 10pm before they get there and they decide to get a night's sleep and then go at dawn in the morning. ("I tuned out for a second and suddenly the conversation made no sense" "Are you new here?")

Sunday 11th December - Ahroun waning

Early the next morning, Finn gets a call on his phone from a Sargeant Dennison. They have a report that Finn was involved in an altercation in front of a bar on Exhibition st. Finn makes a non-commital noise and the good Sergeant asks if he could come in and make a statement. Finn says now's not a good time, he's on holiday. There's silence on the far end and then he's asked if he could give a rough idea of what happened on the phone - Finn says he was hanging out with a friend and someone hit him in the head and so he ran and then went down an alley to get away. Sgt Dennison says that from what he can see on the cameras, he was struck very hard - did he seek medical help? Finn replies that yeah, he was worried about concussion so he did. Where? ummm. So.. why didn't he report the incident? Finn says he didn't get a good look at what hit him, or who hit him, so he didn't think there was much point. The Sgt says that she seemed to know him - Finn acts surprised it was a woman. The sergeant asks if he could let them know when he'll be back, because they'd really like to speak to him. Finn says he's backpacking around north for at least a month. Oh and he's in a bad cellular area, it could cut out at any mo-. He hangs up and turns it off.

Kasumi undedicates her stuff. Sinead leaves anything synthetic that's not attached. Everyone washes thoroughly and heads to the Umbra. The spirit world is hilly rainforest, which is confusing as the realm is dead flat and boring and desert. The pack run and howl, occasionally Finn giving it a boost of Call of the Wyld. They hunt around looking for scents. It becomes clear that the route they have chosen is the direction that the talons use regularly - they can trace scents from a number of garou over the last month or so and that lets them get a direct line toward the Talons.

After a few hours they get a reply to one of their howls. "Is anyone there?" "Yes?" "We are approaching. Meet?" "Yes.". After another half hour they spot another pack of four garou coming. Both packs stop and then approach slowly. It turns out that they have met one of the garou before - First-to-Bleed (RT Ga 2), who is pack leader of Far Waters, but they met previously at the contested caern as a member of Head Harvest. "You are here" "yes, we seek Mamu" "Why?" "We seek permission to go to a place the Talons claim" "Come." Far Waters move in and out of the Umbra, using the different terrains to their advantage. They step mostly using water courses - still water in various lagoons in the desert ("And not using puddles of urine"). Eventually they reach a place wiht a lot of wolf smells - "You will wait". Far Waters stop and sit - not on guard but watching.

Lost Prophets try and lay in some plans. What do they do if he says no? Challenge? Mamu is a rank 5 ahroun, that mightn't end well. Be straight forward and explain they are on a spirit quest? They should be very straight forward in what they want and what they want to do. They cover what they know about the contested caern too - it was a Red Talon caern and then homids drew on maps and said it was a Get one now, and the Talons went "stick it". ("It sounds like the Talons are out of line" "Maybe we don't lead with that."). There's some worry about what the mediation might might involve, but that's maybe getting ahead of themselves. Who should talk? Pack Leader? Metis? Maybe not the Get of Fenris. ("Dogs are resolute cousin fuckers" "don't flirt with Mamu I don't think you're his type"). Tillie or Finn - Finn wil prepare a report on how they got here. ("I'm promoting you to pack leader of phone. Also known as 'receptionist'" "Hello. yes this is dog" "Its my phone tho - do I just hadn it over?" "you've got an assistant, its a promotion")

Another two hours pass before First-to-Bleed returns, along with Mamu and another garou who is introduced as Follows-the-Rains (red talon theurge rank 3), ritemaster of the Shattered Wheel sept. Tillie says that they are on a spirit quest, seeking the Living Face of Gaia. We need access to the caern at Etadunna, where the caern spirit is an avatar of Gaia. We have sought Carla's permission for this and she has suggested this pack act as mediators to resolve the argument. They seek Mamu's permission and participation. She is watching Mamu and as she continues to talk she can see him getting restless about the long winded words, and insteads deliberately brings her speech a bit more forthright toward the end.

Before Mamu can reply, another Garou approaches, limping. Their foot does not appear to have been injured, it looks more like a metis issue. Mamu notices them approach and states he did not give permission. The newcomer says if these are the ones of which Mamu speaks, perhaps he should try. There is a certain amount of bodylanguage changing and Mamu takes the newcomer away. There is a confrontation - Mamu is angry and demanding, the new garou is submissive but insistent. As they talk Mamu gets angrier and Follows-the-Rain starts to look uneasy and takes a few steps over toward them. Mamu appears to be on the verge of throating the other garou when he suddenly stops and does the dog equivilent of "FINE", shaking his mane. He walks off and faces away.

The other garou approaches, and appears to already know who they are. He is Crookpaw, a rank 3 ragabash metis of the Red Talons. He has, in a short time, heard many interesting things about their pack. He is not from Shattered Wheel, or indeed any Australian sept. He was born near the lands of the Wendigo and he travels ("trable?" "its way less serious when you're sick"). He has taken a task upon himself. The Red Talons do not attempt to argue like homids do - they do not attempt to justify or explain themselves verbally, they let their actions speak. But this can lead to misunderstandings, and so Crookpaw attempts to speak for those without a voice. ("I am the Lorax"). He has heard a lot about things in Australia, especially about the Bunyip and their pack. Would they indulge him in attempting to provide some insight?

He asks Finn to tell the story of the Death of the Bunyip. Finn blinks but does the best that he can - he recites the story as he heard it from the Fianna not long after his First Change. At points while Finn talks, Crookpaw interrupts. He questions Wyrmbaiter's motives in the story - revenge is not a very Red Talon thing; even against the humans the tribe does not want revenge, but just to balance things again. And for the Talons, familial bonds are not strong, but they lose themselves in the bonds of pack. Perhaps Wyrmbaiter was not a normal Red Talon?

Crookpaw interrupts again after a time and says he's never heard of a Red Talon with a klaive. The tribe does not regard weapons as valid tools compared to the might of claws. He interrupts again when the story speaks of the Talon tearing his way into the Umbra - again, this is not the Red Talon way. His tribe find places where they may naturally move between worlds - Finn says that they watched this as they followed Far Waters to this place. Crookpaw asks him to continue.

Finn finishes his story with an encounter between Wyrmbaiter and Dancer who claimed to have tricked the garou. Finn points out that this last part of the story appears to have been a later addition; even his Fianna Elders accept that the tone is different from the original story. Its just another inconsitency in the story.

Crookpaw says perhaps Wyrmbaiter was not an ideal Red Talon - the craving for revenge and the bonds to his sister were not as the lupus tribe believe they should behave, but not every tribe member holds to the same beliefs, and not every individual is necessarily as good at sticking to the beliefs of their tribe as they would like to. Or perhaps he's been confused with another garou. Crookpaw has been told many stories in the time he has been here, and all of them speak of chaos in the Umbra during the War of Tears. Normally the stories of garou can be verified by spirits. But these stories cannot - they often happened far from tribal caerns, and the native spirits will not speak of them.

Perhaps it is not that whole story - perhaps it is a story told by other tribes to lay the blame at the feet of the Red Talons, who will not speak for themselves. Finn says the story does not paint the Fianna well? Crookpaw counters that by making a story of it, and making it about pride, they have slightly distanced themselves from the blame.

He will tell them of the Red Talon's stories if they will listen? The Talons came to the outback and the Bunyip resisted them. But they knew humans and other garou would come, and fight and take. In the Pure Lands, the Talons fought on all sides - they fought with and for the european brethren, they fought against the Wendigo and the Uktena, and they fought most strongly for the caerns of the Croatan. (The tribe that was destroyed fighting againt wyrm spirits the europeans brought). They fought for the caerns so that they could be protected and returned to the Croatan when they returned.

The Talons do think the War of Tears was started by a Red Talon, and that they fought through the war. They fought mostly to save Bunyip caerns so that they could be returned to the Bunyip. The War ended with the extinction of the bunyip, but the Red Talons protect their caerns.

He has one final question - until the War of Tears, the Bunyip were elusive and difficult to find. They slipped away easily, fueling the frustrations of the Garou. But within a year of the war being declared, all of them had been hunted down and killed? For 100 years they were as smoke. He asks they think on these things, and then he turns and leaves.

Meanwhile, Mamu has been talking with Follows-the-Rains and First-to-Bleed. Follows-the-Rains comes to the Lost Prophets and says Mamu will try to talk the problem away. They must show they can solve Talon problems. There are men who have come. The Talons wish them to go, and none like them to ever return. First-to-Bleed will show them. ("Bring me 5 heads")

Far Waters lead Lost Prophets away from the meeting place and through the Umbral landscape. They stop and First-to-Bleed indicates in this place in the Realm are the men they wish to have gone. These men dig. Make them go. Make no other return. The pack peek and find they are looking at a bit of desert with trucks parked and part unloaded. One of the trucks has a large drill on the back being assembled. There are about a half dozen guys involved in the whole setup.

Kasumi peeks and can hear as well as see. Or would be able to if the drill on the back of the truck wasn't slamming its way through rock. She can see a number of vehicles - a truck with the rig on it, and it pulls a trailer with a generator and a geolab on it and a 4 wheel drive that has a kitchenette sort of trailer. There are some tents set up at the site. Four people appear to be running the drill and one geologist hanging out in the lab. Kasumi can't see any samples being worked on - she tries to work out the kinds of machines that are here, but they're a bit esoteric. She gets a feeling that maybe they aren't super high tech analysis in this trailer.

After about an hour, the geologist comes out and has a shouted conversation with the crew. Its not going as fast as they wanted but they're not worried. They check various readouts and its ok so far. The pack have a quick review of powers vs technology - Jam Technology, Control Simple Machine, Power Surge spring to mind.

Tactics are contemplated - the best idea appears to be to make them think (via spirits) that what they wanted is not here, the end, move on. ("Pirate gold!" "Nazi gold!" "Japanese gold!")

Kasumi tries to look for a company name. Its slightly odd, but she is actually struggling to find one - there are names, but some are the name of the company that make the drills, the riggers are wearing random company gear etc. Eventually she finds 'Caeculus Exploration' in enough places to assume that its the right one - its not on the name of the trucks or anything, so maybe its a small company?

The geo guy turns out to be french, as determined by the language he is writing emails in. While they are watching him, the sattelite phone rings, and he answers with "Site 3. Yeah, everything is going fine. Bits of harder rock, we might stay the night. Ok, later." Dammit. There's more of them. Maybe they need to go through paperwork instead. Kasumi scans the walls for maps, but finds that they are geological ones, not topographical ones. She spends a while looking at them and thinks she's sorted it, though she's not sure how they relate to the physical world - there seem to be 3 teams, and they have 3 sites to do. They've each done one already, this is the second site. There's also a basecamp, kind of central to the whole operation.

("Do we.. hear me out here... do we flood the place?") They contemplate options - flooding? Earthquaking? Will has an elemental friend who could maybe help them out. What if the pack bind a spirit here to just wreck tech every time it comes out? Presumably if that was viable, the Talons would have done that. Earthquakes seem likely to draw more attention - surprise new fault lines and all that. Its probably better to let them decide they found nothing here and they should go.

So... deception spirits? Illusions spirits? Faeries? It might take a mix of tactics. Spirits of deception it is. The pack consider the concept of dealing with spirits of deception and prepare to just bind them. To... um... hangon, more plan needed. Bind it to the site? Bind it to one person? Do all three sites? Make a talen? Get a bigger spirit that can affect everyone at one spot? This geologist doesn't seem to be in charge - so who is?

The pack try and relate the basecamp to the map, a process aided by it being a mostly flat and unimpeded plain. At basecamp the pack find 4 trucks, and a couple of 4 wheel drives. One of the trucks has 'Caeculus Exploration' stencilled on one side, but the others are unlabeled. One has had portaloos on it. There's a lab/office truck, a generator truck and one that seems to be a kitchen. Some of the people here are support staff, but it seems setup for more people that are here. It looks like one of the drill teams is here - some riggers and some geologists and one guy who might be a company man? The site is using water from a permanent water hole here. There's some wyrm here, but not FernGully level of wyrm.

The crew that has come back is mostly waiting for food, but the two geologists are working on the laptops in the lab truck. The kitchen truck is basically making pub food - more in depth than the smaller trailer back at site #3 but not fancy. The geologists are a man and a woman - they are working on previous core samples, which explains where they went. There's no jumping up and down and hugging, but neither are they cursing and flinging them out the window. The riggers are of mixed ethnicities, but the company guy is Australian by accent.

The pack watch for a while - despite what they thought, the manager guys (Bertrand) doesn't seem to be in charge, its actually the two geologists Casey Trewin and Amanda Zhu. They get the sense that their team's drilling did not go well, and they pulled back, and are planning to move slightly and try again tomorrow. ("make them see something totally uninteresting" "Pull out the core sample and its just porridge" "Humans." "Coconuts" "ET Atari cartridges" "Its just ants." "Beige rental carpet" "Can we just 'taking the forgotten' them?" ). Its clear some results are being stored on computers - the pack will need to take steps there too.

Ok, well, they may as well get plan A on the roll. Sinead summons a significant deception spirit and it shows up and seems reasonably pro helping here out. Or is it? Will and Kasumi help Sinead with the binding. The spirit sinks into the two geologists, who have the most strange dreams. Sinead can be sure the ritual went well... or can she?

So now Will, Kasumi and Finn head for site #2, and Sinead and Tillie head for site #3. They three garou arrive at camp #2 a couple hours before dawn - they find that they are having to put some effort into mentally hearing the rest of the pack. This site has a similar setup to site #3 - two trucks, two four wheel drives, but they have a freestanding drill, with a bigger bore. There's still a campfire embering on - people are asleep in tents ornear the fire. The carcass of a kangaroo is hanging from a structure made of bits of drill frame. Now to identify the geologist, umm. Kasumi points out that the guy that works in the little mobile lab is probably the one they want, and so they chair sniff to figure out which one he is. Will settles down to spend some time summoning a deception spirit. (".. there's 4 1's").

Meanwhile, back at site #3, Sinead settles in to do a ritual - she doesn't do as well as the first time, but the spirit shows up. She can see through it, but it changes everything it shadows. The spirit doesn't seem as happy with her, so she just grabs it with the binding ritual and locks it to the rite. The binding goes much better than the summoning and she locks the spirit to the geologist, which is good because he was evaluating the previous day's sample and being enthusiastic.

Meanwhile, back at site #2, Will realises he's in the realm, naked and standing in a fire. He runs behind the truck with some yelling incoherently behind him ("Its not even my birthday"). Kasumi and Finn look confused as Will runs behind a hill in the Umbra. Will steps sideways to get back to the Umbra. Finn mentally says "Will what are you doing?" but Will hears "ogglngbfgiegregergn" and that's what Will says back too. Kasumi chases Will and sees that he's not there. She peeks and says him behind a truck in the Realm, hidden from the miners starting to wake up. Phew thinks Will, I'm back in the Umbra now - he should get back on the ritual, and so he restarts it. Finn thinks of his Mindspeak gift, so he peeks and sees Will, connecting the two together. OMG that's not Will, its just the deception spirit being tricky. There's Will back there! Off runs Finn, babbling nonsense and leaving Kasumi.

Kasumi peeks and sees one of the miners going near Will, who has come out from behind the truck. Will can see the deception spirit approaching, excellent. Kasumi squeals, and looks in a puddle to step sideways. She activates her Blur of the Milky Eye gift to try and hide details of the naked Japanese lady ("you're pixelated like Japanese porn") Will calls out in garou tongue "spirit! heed my call!" but as he does a pair of trousers and a blouse appear in mid air, just hovering. Now he can't figure out what is a deception spirit. Um. He tries sense of the true form. Ok, the one in front of him is a human. What's the trousers then? Oh that's a garou. Um. At which point the spirit ceases to be able to affect Will, and he realises he's nude, in the Realm and talking to a drill rigger, and the pants and blouse was actually Kasumi. Finn suddenly realises he's being fooled too, and starts running back. The rigger is trying to approach slowly and reassuringly, but Kasumi is violently gesticulating. Will turns and books it into the desert in an effort to preserve the Veil, while Kasumi mentally shrieks and uses the truck mirror to get back into the Umbra. ("naked man's gone into the bush" "Story of my life")

Meanwhile the two riggers who saw this wake the others and try to convince them. There's a lot of staring and speaking in languages the pack doesn't understand, but the impression they get is "what the fuck were you drinking". ("piss off ghost!")

Will starts the ritual again while the others communicate to Sinead and Tillie enough to know what's going on and they say they'll come when they've finished. This time Will does much better, possibly cos he's just shouting threats. The spirit comes more obviously and is just babbling things at them ("Fred Nile's the future. Do you really like salami? Your children are all brilliant. You should cut your own hair"). Will quietly binds it into the geologist with great flair and efficiency.

Now everyone heads back to the site. They want to mess up the machines, so they make sure they have power and no one in the building. Every now and again the company guy goes in there, but just to get pens, kind of thing. The pack opt to watch and wait for them to be having lunch, then Kasumi steps out while Finn awakens the instrument and its bound and instructs it to remember what its recording now, while Kasumi puts in the samples from a metre or two below the surface.

When people phone in or come to base camp later in the day, they all seem confused and dejected. ("Suck on that, life's work!" "Take that, hopes and dreams!") All the results were terrible and they are looking at how to try and move to the next site. The geologists all have a big powow about the results at night and try running it through the machines just to be sure, and everything is coming up with nothing. Maybe their GPS is broken? They check back with people left at the old spots, but no. They are holding bright red core samples and claiming its just basalt. Some of the riggers are giving them the eye and making eye contact with one another. One goes so far to come over and point at a section and say that it looks good to him, but the geo folks tell him its just burnt sandstone and test it to be sure. The riggers looks pretty puzzled, but just shrug.

They decide to move, because the existing sites are so terrible. They'll hit the last sites tomorrow and see what they can turn up.

Tuesday 13th December - Ahroun waning

Each site starts off at dawn, packing everything down to move to the final drill site. Lost Prophets contemplate that if the geologists take their samples home and test them on different machines, that might give the gig up. They could destroy the samples? Replace them? Taunt them until they become angry? Will has a basalt friend who was able to help with earth things, but maybe they could get other elementals to help too? They could dedicate them all? Taking the Forgotten them? Maybe bind an earth elemental to a talen to help sort it.

They spend the day watching geologists get cross. Finn is sent back to Boulia to try and make sure the hotel doesn't report them as lost in the desert. The others contemplate how to get rid of or replace the samples with dud ones. The pack move about during the day, keeping an eye on the new sites and on the progress. They show up at site #1 shortly after the drill has busted in some fashion - it seems from the argument Trewin was pushing the riggers too hard and the drill broke down. They're taking it apart to try and get it back in order. After a few hours they manage to get the drill running well enough to pull their sample out, only to find that there's nothing in it (tm).

That night there is a full meeting at basecamp. Although Trewin and Zhu argue they should keep looking, everyone else is pretty doubtful - the issue seems revolve mostly about money and how much it costs to be out here every day. Eventually the decision is that the big drill will be used one more day while everyone else heads back - its one last hope they can find something in the most likely of places. Finn comes back tired but successful in assuring humans that they haven't been lost in the wilds.

Wednesday 14th December - Galliard waning

The pack decide to summon an elemental to help mess with the samples but get it to wait for them to give the word once the last sample has arrived. Sinead and Will perform the ritual to summon the elemental and do a spectacular job. After hours, the ground shakes and a giant 6 legged stone lizard erupts from the ground. It has no eyes but does have a giant glowing emerald on its forehead. It says its name is Gortak. The pack explain what they want and why and it seems happy to be of assistance and sympathetic to their cause. Gortak is happy to remove the treasures than men seek.

Meanwhile at the remaining site, they start early and try to make good progress. Trewin and Zhu stay and are watching nervously. When the sample comes up, the geologists straight away say its nonsense. The riggers, who don't speak english, are trying to say that they appear to be insane. Once the instruments agree the riggers just give up and walk off. Everyone is badly tempered. Once this sample is near the others, Gortak begins its efforts to change the cores to the dull and interest free samples that the geologists think they are. ("They built this house on an old condom burial ground").

Thursday 15th December - Galliard waning

Finally the miners are all leaving, under the belief that there is nothing here. ("Assert your dominance by killing her"). Victory? Yes, it seems to be. Now the pack need to return to talk to Mamu.

("depression era computer professionals, from the 90s when stuff was really expensive.") The pack heads back to Mamu to report success. They do not get very far before First to Bleed and her pack find them - they probably weren't spying but were nearby. They are happy to escort Lost Prophets back by going in and out of the Umbra as they travel. Mamu and Follows-the-Rains come to find out how they fared. Tillie explains that they have fooled the homids into thinking that what they wanted is not here. They fooled their eyes and fooled their machines, and then we changed the rock they had dug up to be not what they seek. There is some more discussion and the pack explain how they did what they did. The Talons don't really understand the idea - and are a bit uncomfortbale with the concept - of a deception spirit, but they say that any spirit that can hide in plain sight would be able to help.

Will says that if humans find out that there is iron rock there, others will return, despite this being part of the problem they were set. Though the Lost Prophets have some trepidation that their solution is not permanent enough, the Talons seem content with knowing how to make homids leave - Mamu expresses no concern with this, as only a homid would think they could change the world in a permanent fashion, and the explanation of how to stop the humans is a valuable part of their efforts. As long as their trick will work again, this acceptable.

Mamu says that he will meet them at the caern tomorrow night. They're going to have to cheese it. Will asks if they can talk to Crookpaw before they leave? Mamu says yes. Crookpaw shows after a couple of hours and Will explains that he needs to understand the Red Talon's attitude to this disputed caern, especially around "hey, why can't you just get along". Crookpaw says he understands there have been violent exchanges there in the past. Crookpaw asks how Will thinks it would work. There'd be a sept, with various elder positions? Who would be in charge? The Sept leader. And for matters between septs, if it was within the Get protectorate? Tillie says 'yes, that's what working together means'. Crookpaw says the Talons do not like a clouded understanding of dominance, and this might be difficult. It is not impossible, but there is no precedent. Precedent could be set, but it would need to be guided so that it was set correctly. It is not without merit but it would need to be clear. ("And punched the surly face of Gaia") The Lost Prophets are unsure about where the difficulty lies.

Crookpaw says there are also concerns about how easy it is to subvert a sept from within - garou of one tribe could challenge their Elders for positions until one tribe controlled all the positions without violating the litany. The Lost Prophets suggest oaths and bounds could be set, and its pointed out that these may clash with the Litany - challenging weak leaders, etc. In short, its more complicated than it might initially seem. Crookpaw says that they should talk further at the place of talking.

The Lost Prophets change to lupus and are escorted by Far Waters toward Boulia. Late on the Thursday they arrive, tired and inexplicably muddy and nude. They step out into the hotel, and shower. Tillie declares that they'll be driving through the night, in case something goes wrong - they don't want to be late. Will suggests cleansing - last time they went to this Sept a nexus crawler followed them somehow ("Red talon taint is not a thing"). Will sends his mouse spirit friend to take a message to Carla.

As they drive, Tillie asks what he's ging to do about Lise. "Not have sex with her". He's really not sure to be honest. The pack take turns driving. Will is showing his sweet off road skills at 2am and goes off the track, bashing through the flat sandy landscape. Ten minutes late he says "Oh um. Where's the road?" An hour is wasted trying to find the dirt track in a desert that's mostly dirt tracks between bushes.

Friday 16th December - Philodox waning

The Lost Prophets pull up a couple of clicks from the Etadunna campsite and hide the car ("I just want to leave a 'Gone Fishing' sign on it") in case of curious policemen again. They head into the Umbra and howl as they trot in lupus. Before long they hear a reply and see the Red Talon pack Head Harvest, pack leader Flies-like-a-Stone approach. There are some formal greetings and they say they know that the Elders are coming. Is there somewhere for the Lost Prophets to wait? Here. Ok then. The two packs swap some information - Tillie asks Head Harvest of things they have done, and Will asks if they ever found why the nexus crawler appeared here. No. Ok then. Will sings the praises of Abu Nawas.

About half way through the recounting of things that are going on, they hear a familiar voice say "Bragging again eh?". Its Lise. Will says "Good to see you again Lise", and tries to make some small talk. She ignores that and says that she assumes this is all some plan to get their name up in lights for minimal effort; but in the meantime don't come any closer to the caern. As she leaves, Will uses his sense of the true form gift on Lise. She's garou, but he also gets a strange other scent to her that he doesn't know - its very weak, like a little catch right at the end. ("Don't have sex with Lise. Give it to the glasswalkers" "That's a mixed message").

After a time the Talons say they have things to do, leaving Lost Prophets to plot and plan. Rule together? Pick one? Their sept works well with a mix of tribes, and so does Grinding Stone... well, ok, recent events notwithstanding. This caern is only a bit inside Get of Fenris territory, could the protectorate boundaries change? They could guilt trip the two septs - on the otherhand, maybe implying that the rank 4 and 5 leaders of the most warlike trubes they are failing the one tenet of the litany all tribes agree on? Maybe they could punch it out for whoever gets the caern? Singing Midnight Oil songs?

Mamu arrives shortly before dusk with Follows-the-Rains and Far-Waters. They politely greet the pack, but then go off to do Red Talon things. At twilight, Carla shows up along with Alison Nedinis, the Master of the Rite from her sept (Rank 4 Theurge) and a pack called the Sons of Hati. It takes a while for Raging Storm to show up, so Will talks to Carla a bit about the situation - she suggests waiting for tomorrow, but Will wants to know. She says there's been attempts previously to resolve the situation but she inherited a stop gap solution that sort of walked and it wasn't a priority to sort out. The previous attempts were universally attacks, either to just push packs away or kill them. All of them were fairly expensive in terms of fallen garou. When they came she thought it would be an opportunity to resolve the situation. Raging Storm say they have prepared a space for the Get of Fenris, pointedly not inviting the Lost Prophets.

Tillie makes a point of setting them between to two tribal camps, mostly so they don't murder each other in the night ("Its what I'd do"). Later in the evening there is a kerfuffle at the Fenrir campsite. Will wanders over there to see what's up. It looks like Lise is the centre of the fuss. Will wanders up all the way and asks one of the Sons of Hati what's going on. Apparently Lise has challenged to be the voice of the Get of Fenris tomorrow and - crunch - so far has just won 1 of three challenges by punching a guy in the face. While watch hangs about, she also engages in challenges of honour and wisdom as set by Carla. She does ok on wisdom, but good on honour and glory. Carla agrees she may be the voice.

After Lise wins her right to talk, the Lost Prophets plot and plan about how to present their mixed-caern plan. They find out that the caern is one of stamina or endurance - its the one tree on a plain of scrubby brush. ("I don't want to grandstand." "Is that because Lise will throw stuff at you?" "It will needless antagonise one of the two parties, yes"). ("If you two can't get on, I will turn this caern around and no one will get to go on holiday") ("Are you trying to sell 'genetic diversity' to a tribe that might have recently been involved in a political movement that had some association with racial purity?")

At about 1 in the morning, Crookpaw limps his way into the caern area. He acknowledges them but continues to the Red Talon camp.

Saturday 17th December - Philodox waning

Will wakes up, having the sense of having dreamt most of the night. The only clear memory tho is the vision he had of Charlotte at this caern: he is standing next to Charlotte at Etadunna while she speaks to the caern spirit. Charlotte says that she offers 100 years of her descendant's garou heritage as demonstration of her sincerity. The spirit accepts, and leans forward to touch her, shattering her into shards that are scattered away. ("Willie Jackin!")

Sinead also has a dream, and it does leave her with blood in her eyes and out her nose. She is in the tunnels, cleaning goo off the walls again. This time, the tunnels lead downward, getting darker and darker. It becomes pitch black when she has descended. An engine starts up, rumbling like a truck or bus engine. Headlights come on, facing straight toward her. More engines start - one after another. The truck in front suddenly accellerates toward her (much faster than a normal truck could) and when its not far away the headlights change to gargoyle eyes and then she wakes. Sinead has a much stronger sense of danger this time - last time she jumepd, this time her heart is beating fast and it takes a moment or two to calm down.

The pack decide to speak to their pack totem. They walk back from the caern a way, and do the ritual to summon Boobook. Sinead asks Boobook about her dreams and he says that she has a gift from the ocean. She can sense things through the currents of time. Boobook cannot provide any information on the gift - it is not his gift. He thinks understanding the dream is the key to knowing what its about. Sinead wonders about normal dream interpretation but Boobook says that these are not voices from her subconscious, but information from the ocean. Kind of. The information sort of comes from how the ocean sees events, which prompts some thought about trucks and the sea. ("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXbX0TYB2Ic - TISM Mourningtown Ride")

Not long after dawn, both parties come toward the pack, who opt to stay at a distance ("righteous sexy" "still against the litany") from the caern to demonstrate good will. Will has been nominated to speak, and so he does an introduction covering why they are here and what they want to achieve. Finn tells a tale to set the tone - he has prepared the story of the founding of the Jindabyne Council, as an example of what the garou can do when the act together. ("Werewolves doing a 'welcome to country' does not sit right, does it")

Will speaks again, reiterating that a Sept is the traditional way to protect a caern. They propose Head Harvest and Raging Storm come togehter to form a caern, filling leadership positions by challenging for them. Clipping the end of his sentance, Lise says that the caern is within the protectorate and that it was given to the Get of Fenris when the Jindabyne Council was formed. Crookpaw, who is speaking for the Talons, says that the original boundary had this as Talon's and the Fenris talked the boundaries differently later. The Red Talons are the only true heirs to the Bunyip and will hold this caern for their return. Lise says that all the tribes made sacrifices when the boundaries were formed. The claim of "once held it" is not sufficient. Who could get there to defend it first? Moonbridges make that a bit of a non-event.

Will asks what objections to forming a sept together they have? The Get feel that this is already their caern, why should they concede some control? Crookpaw says that the Fenrir do not hold to the same ideals as the Talons. They would all fight the wyrm, but what would happen if the Bunyip returned? The Get body language seems to be "what if they sky was pink" ie: whatever. The Lost Prophets say that would be an event of such significance that the all the tribes would need to act together.

Crookpaw reiterates what he told the pack earlier - the Talons do not enjoy having a murky chain of command. The mixed sept might have difficulty resolving issues outside the sept if there was a difference of opinion in where the Sept Elders should look to for leadership. They also would be concern that the balance between the two tribes could be easily upset - the Fenris test their leaders. The Red Talons test also, but not at each Moot. Kasumi mentions that in Victoria, there are mixed caerns. In the background one of the Get coughs 'urrah', which the Lost Prophets ignore. Crookpaw says the septs of homids are not like the septs of lupus. Will asks if there are no shared Red Talon septs? No. There are talons who live elsewhere, but no Red Talon caern includes members of other tribes. It would be difficult. Lise interrupts and says that they haven't agreed, so the discussion is moot. Mentally, the Lost Prophets have a discussion about about not snubbing Lise just because they don't like her. Tillie asks Lise what it would take for the Fenris to agree to this? Lise shrugs and says perhaps if at the new Sept, the Get of Fenris were always the Sept Leader and the Master of the Challenge? Limiting who can challenge? That seems unGet like. Maybe that there can only be less Talons than Fenris? That seems hard to police and manage. Twin Sept leaders? Then there is no alpha, or worse, two alphas.

Will mentally says that he's a bit concerned that if they hand Carla a precedent that they can alter borders of protectorates as they see fit, it might be a worse outcome even though it solves their problem - it might mean the Fenris try that on against, say, the Fianna.

Negotiations go awkwardly - both tribes think that they are the rightful stewards already, so getting them to make concessions to get something they already have. Finn asks why the Get haven't made a Sept. Lise does not know, and Carla speaks up - the situation is one she'd inherited. It was stable, if not optimal. And who says that the Get haven't tried before. There have been attempts, opposed by the Red Talons. She didn't feel it necessary to start that kind of conflict. She says that she's not averse to some concessions if that will succesfully create a sept, but this solution does seem to cause some problems. Perhaps they could let this sit and see how people feel in a couple hours - what other ideas do they have.

Perhaps they could go for something simple - the sept positions are open to any Red Talon or Get of Fenris challenger. Its considered part of the Get protectorate, but the Red Talons are always welcome to defend the sept and challenge for the sept positions. Maybe new Sept positions of a rep from each tribe? There is no tradition of this. (which is not no, its just "we do not do this") There's some concern that if its not a tradition, people might, over time, with some sept position churn, decide to not do it any more. Maybe, with spirit oaths?

Sinead mentally suggests they need to find the deal breakers for this idea for each tribe and what they'll concentrate on. She thinks that they are concentrating too much on what the Get want and they'll get out of it. Kasumi is concerned if they find a way to pass it to the Red Talons, its like its ok to take a bite out of other tribes protectorate.

Other options - take it to the Jindabyne Council? Maybe they should ask the caern spirit. Actually... they probably should talk to the spirit and see if it has a preference. Tillie suggests a spirit quest ("Are you just trying to fob your quest onto them?"). Both these options are more spiritual than political, which might work more toward the ideals of the Red Talons. No one is opposed to them speaking to the caern spirit... on THIS topic.

Do any of the tribes have anything in mind that they would need to concede this caern? Lise and Carla discuss quietly and Lise says that the Get would need another caern in return. Crookpaw marvels that they think a caern can be traded - the Talons are there for the caern, not the other way around. Will rephrases - what would you give the Fenris in return for not stopping the Talons forming a sept at this caern. Crookpaw considers. They would not give up the stewardship of another caern. There may be other things which could be offered.

By about midday, Mamu has left Crookpaw to speak, and Carla steps away not long after. The pack suggest they stop to eat, and then talk to the caern spirit.

The Garou come back after midday to talk to the caern spirit. Sinead suggests she and Alison and Follows-the-Rains do the ritual and Sinead shows them how its done. The tree in the Umbra starts to glow internally, as if from a great distance. The spirit seems to rise as if from a great distance. The caern spirit is an aboriginal woman, seemingly huge, with a distinct air of sadness around her. Will greets her and explains why they have called upon her ("Two tribes -" "- one cup" "- go to war?" "-both alike in dignity, in fair Etadunna..." ) - these two tribes both claim the right to form a sept to protect their caern, and they are getting in each other's way. Will has an urge to call upon his ancestors for help, and so much to the GMs surprise, he goes with this urge.

Will turns and looks at Tillie with undisguised disgust and says in a german accent "Only a shadowlord would think of killing their pack member". The rest of Lost Prophets suddenly realise that Will is not on the pack link. Finn says "hi Charlotte" loudly. Suddenly Lise, standing three steps away, flips to crinos and smashes Will in the face. Everyone is shocked. Tillie mentally says "Sinead, keep talking to the totem, everyone else jump on Lise!" Finn declines to participate. Lise kicks Will again hard in the ribs before Kasumi and Tillie leap into Crinos and grab her arms, pinning her down. The rest of the Get jump up and despite a bit of Raging Storm jumping on Lost Prophets, the rest of the Get are interested in stopping Lise. The Talons are all on alert, ready to respond, but not otherwise jumping in. Carla looks unimpressed at the hubbaloo.

Will is at the caern ("look down, are there boobs?" "You're on a zorse"). The sky is grey - its not clouds, its just grey. There are numerous indigenous people here, standing arrayed around the tree. The nearest ones turn to look at him - they have a pearly, grey dead eyes. In the tree, there is what he knows to be a tree burial - long boughs bound into sheets of bark or woven material of some sort, painted with bright colours, the only colour he can see. The colours fade out while he watches and it goes a grey, dusty colour. Will starts to move toward the tree - the people don't do anyhting more than turn and follow him. He notices that they are all dressed differently - some have fur cloaks, some have red clothe, some have no clothes, just paint. He walks to the tree and touches it - the tree is cold.

Lise is not going quietly. Finn and Tillie hear her yell something like "That bitch stole my family's garou heritage!" Eventually one of the Sons of Hati hits Lise in the head a ouple times with a hammer. Tillie takes the chance to check out Will - he's been bashed to death, effectively. They opt to heal him first to get him closer to being live.

Will is snatched away and finds himself in a very beaten body lying on the ground about mid afternoon. He groans and changes to glabro to let his body recover quicker. ("death realm.... ah ahhh. fighter of the .. life realm... ahh ahhh" )

After the Sons of Hati are told to take Raging Storm away, Carla asks if they could get on. Sinead takes over talking. She resummarises - two tribes, both claim, caern is unprotected, best steps?

The spirit speaks - all the garou present hear it loudly inside their heads. "I came to the far north, and I strode east until I met my consort where he came from the sea. From there I walked the country, leaving my children to be born. Now my children have fallen silent, and those that remain do not sing the old songs, but wail like newborns lost in a forest. My children are gone; dust covers their bones. All here stand with blood on their hands." There's no mad. Its all sorrow. ("That's nto advice. That's opinion. Bitch, I did not ask for your opinion'). Kasumi says that they (the garou) wish to make amends, and some part of that is to defend this caern. The spirit repeats - "All here stand with blood on their hands. Do as you will". It fades. ("I wish Abu Nawas was here"). ("i guess its not unreasonable. We're at a funeral. The mother is weeping over the dead children. We, the killers of the children, have a dispute over the catering table." "Actually, its more we can't decide who should live in the house of the people we murdered, and we've asked her to decide" )

Carla asks if they might have a short break while she goes and resolves some tribal issues. Everyone seems to feel that's ok. Will apologises to the Red Talons for the interruption - he has an ancestor spirit close to him who has a strong connection to this place, and it overwhelmed him. Mamu gives a non-commital grunt - somewhere between "fucking white people nonsense" and "you have explained. Good". Lost Prophets keep their eye on the Get, and they see Raging Storm - sans Lise - leave as if to patrol or soemthing. ("Piss off ghost!") ("the get of fenris may rule but only if they admit they are the *worst*")

Maybe they should give it to the Children of Gaia - they didn't hae blood on their hans, right? Well, there's probably individual members that did. Maybe they should give it to the Wendigo? ("all they have to do is come and get it"). Maybe they should speeak to each tribe seperately. It sounds like the Get might be ok with the Talons being there, but its a concession and what might the Talons offer? Alterantively the Red Talons weren't no'ing the idea, but were worried about the Fenrir challenging all the time. Will considers the Get claim legitimate in the sense of by agreements they have it as part of their protectorate, and the Talons have the argument that they had it once. Tillie points out that the Talons say they are holding it for the bunyip and they care about this specific one - the Fenris don't seem to have a specific attachment to this caern. Though Crookpaw said there was no deep history on the caern. Some brief discussion of the difference in challenging between the tribes - both tribes challenge mroe than, say, the Bone Gnawers, but the Get challenge constantly to test everyone all the time, and its no big deal. The Red Talons will challenge if they see weakness, and its a deal but the Right Thing.

Maybe if there was a tradition that the caern was led by a lupus always. Maybe that'll make a compromise between the tribes - they might still be Get, but then the Red Talons will expect to be able to understand the Sept Leader more.

Carla sends a message back after a time asking if they can have the day to sort things out. They can see Lise is talking with Carla, not being beaten with a spike. Will asks the messenger to ask if he should come and explain to Carla too. The messenger comes back and says 'no. She says she'll come to you'.

Is there anything the Talons might give up for the concession on the leadership? Fetishes? Maybe Mamu could just owe Carla a bunch of favours? The pack go and talk to the talons. Crookpaw is happy to listen to them. They try and convey the idea that the Get may be willing to listen if they feel they are getting something for what they feel are concessions. Perhaps if the Get agreed the Sept Leader will always be lupus, the Red Talons could... ? Crookpaw says it seems the feel both Tribes would be fit guardians. Tillie says they see no lack of fitness on either side. Will says they make no judgement ("isn't that what you do? Aren't you literally the judge?") Tillie pushes the complementary strengths angle. ("we could just quote Star Wars at them, and they'd never know"). Mamu gets up, shakes and walks off. Its unclear what that means exactly, though Follows-the-Rains leaves too.

Crookpaw says that the idea is interesting, but that in itself is a concession on the side of the Talons. Its not their way. He's not saying no - no is really clear in garou tongue. Lost Prophets ask if he knows of times when the Red Talons shared a caern and Crookpaw says he is not aware. So its possible that there is a precedent, maybe Red Talons near Silverfangs or Wendigo? He concedes that he has not been everywhere. Crookpaw says that Talons would not necessarily regard it as their Sept, even if it was their caern. Could he ask tribal spirits?

Crookpaw asks if they have thought more on what he spoke of when they first met - Tillie says that she thinks that the Red Talons stated intent to pass the caern to the bunyip when they return is a good one. Crookpaw states that Carla is more political and will not bend unless someone has a hold over here in some fashion. Mamu acts from more spiritual motives. Tillie says that someone asked what would happen if the Bunyip returned - she thinks that all the protectorates would have to change. Crookpaw says that he does believe it would happen - from what he has been told, some tribes would not be inclined to relinquish any caerns. Will says that the Fenris believe that only the strongest should hold caerns, and if they can take the caern from someone, well, they weren't strong enough. Crookpaw says he explained why they fought - to save the caerns for the bunyip.

The pack talk mentally and wonder if they could get the Get of Fenris to agree that on the return of the bunyip, they'd return the caern. The Fenrir might believe its never going to happen, so its a promise easily made. Its important to the Red Talons, so it might work for them.

The pack contemplate sending a message to Bartholomew Wise-in-the-Ways-of-the-Wyrm asking about Red Talons shared caerns, but given that Crookpaw said "Talons don't talk" its probably not worth it. ("Abraham Lincoln EAGLE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iowMStq6Eg0" "CLEVELAND! *fistshaking* - http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=515 and http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=515")

Around dusk there is a howl well away from the caern, with a "hello, what's going on" tone to it - it does't appear to be anyone from the current negotiation. Both Head Harvest and Raging Storm get up to go, eye each other off and then go in the same direction (but not together). Lost Prophets roll their eyes and follow in between. The other packs find the howlers first, and engage in conversation - Lost Prophets pull up in a moment or two and realise its the Ngalyod pack. Fujiko is speaking to the two pack leaders and asking what might be happening - Lise says its none of her business, but Flies-like-a-Stone is not as abrasive. Fujiko says that they had recieved word that there was some activity at this caern and they came to see if the Talons and Fenrir had gone to war.

When the Lost Prophets approach, Alex Sees-for-Miles has a definite "what are *you* doing here" expression. The discussion continues but ends when Fujiko says she will speak to Mamu and Carla. Lise starts to push it, but Fujiko just keeps walking and Lise opts to not take the Get road. ("I feel like you have a soft spot for people you put your penis in." "Its often the way"). As they walk, Fujiko's path leads her a bit more toward Tillie and she asks what their role is here. Tillie explains. Fujiko blinks and asks how it is progressing. "Ok." "Very constructive" "not great". Clearly the pack is split. Sadly the caern spirit hates them all. Fujiko asks if Tillie would feel if her pack remain. Tillie is keen. The Ngalyod pack check in with Carla first and then Mamu, asking if it is ok with them to stay - Carla agrees and Mamu grunts, so close enough to yes.

Will calls a pack huddle and asks if they need to tell the council what he saw when Charlotte took over briefly. They reckon its probably for the best, and they can tell just Mamu and Carla and say job done. Will goes to speak to the Talons, and Crookpaw says he will listen. Will insists and the metis shrugs and takes him to speak to Mamu. The Talons listen to his tale - Follows-the-Rains asks if he thinks they were doing a ritual. Will considers, but he doesn't think so. Crookpaw asks what Will thinks they were doing. They were staring at the tree. They were solemn. Maybe waiting? Follows-the-Rain comments that the dead do not hunt or sing or sleep which seems to be basically "who knows what they were doing then". Lost Prophets head off after some brief talk.

Carla comes over to the pack after a while, coming by herself. She asks how things are going and Will says 'Constructively'. Tillie thinks slow but forward - how's Carla think its going. She says that she was hoping for ... some sort of insight, or evidence of their alleged connection to the bunyip. But the caern spirit seemed unimpressed. Will discharges his obligation to tell Carla of the vision he had. Carla muses that it was the same tree as their Sydney bunyip bone came from. Back to the topic at hand - she feels that the Red Talon claim to hold the caern for the bunyip is a hollow one. She reiterates that if they can convince the Talons to let go of their claim to her territory she is willing to be very generous in return - not just agreeing to their request to speak to the caern spirit, but providing other help like Fenris packs to fight Dancers.

The pack ask what the Get of Fenris would require in exchange for the Red Talons being able to be part of the sept formed here. Carla says she'd need to have veto on individuals - there'll be Talons who are not worth the trouble. She's not opposed to the idea - and could maybe extend that to memebrs of other tribes. Lost Prophets aren't sure the Red Talons will accept that - maybe if it worked both ways and Mamu could veto particular Get? Carla's not keen - its Get territory, and this would already be a concession. What else? Maybe some form of spirit oath that they accept the territory is Fenrir territory and they wouldn't use any insider knowledge to over throw from within. Will says that he thinks that the Talons see themselves as caretakers or stewards of the caernss on the Bunyip behalf. If they had the understanding that the caern would be given back to the bunyip if they return? Carla is pretty dismissive that its a valid stance - the bunyip aren't coming back. The pack reiterate that its a pretty easy concession then, right? Carla says to give her time to think on it.

Will sums up - so, if until the Bunyip return, the Talons acknowledge that this is Get of Fenris territory. The Red Talons would be allowed to be members of the Sept and they wouldn't be relentlessly challenged in their positions. Carla can't make promises about that. Will says and finally the Get would give up the caern to any bunyip. Carla hmms and says she'd need a veto still but maybe that could work. She doesn't think Mamu will go for it, but having this stance challenged might progress things are a greater speed. She wants tot hink on it overnight.

Tillie asks if they need to worry about Lise? Is she still speaking for the Get? Carla says that Lise has some strong arguments about the situation. They are welcome to send a challenger against the chosen voice of the Get of Fenris, but until that time, its not of their concern who speaks for the tribe. Its an internal matter. Will explains that he was briefly possessed by an ancestor spirit who has links to the site. Charlotte Heart-of-Iron. Carla says she's heard the name . Will says she lived during the War of Tears and was strongly convinced that the Garou of that time were foolishly mistaking what the bunyip were doing - they weren't defending themselves, but engaged in some other project they wanted to finish before the war ended, and it was of grave importance to know what that was. As a result, she oversteps the bounds of what normal behaviour and has possessed him several times. Carla says she's heard the bones of that story. Will continues, saying she has a historical connection to this place. He thinks Lise's ancestors also have a conneciton, but he's not sure how. Beyond that, he doesn't have a problem with her. Carla says she made some interesting claims of this ancestor, in terms of things she might have traded to spirits. Will says he's not sure - he think Charlotte made some deals with powerful spirits though. Carla says that is interesting, but has no further comment.

The pack head to talk to Mamu. ("he could take my blood - " "YOU ALL HEARD HER"). Crookpaw is willing to speak to them and they sit down to talk. Will says they are trying to hash things out one on one before going back to it tomorrow. Crookpaw says that he saw them speak to Carla. Carla would be willing to accept some Red Talons in the sept, along with an agreement about the constant challenging. And perhaps some mutual ability to veto particular garou joining the sept. And they'll agree, when the Bunyip return, to share the caern with the bunyip. At the last, Crookpaw goes still. "This was your thought?" They suggested it just a possibility. In exchange, the Talons would have to acknowlege this is Get territory until the Bunyip return. And maybe Mamu could offer to vote with Carla on matters that don't affect the Talons? For a limited number of times. Crookpaw is a bit doubtful Mamu would buy that.

Crookpaw says that the things that make the Talons uncomfortable with sharing would also apply to the Bunyip. If they were to say that this was all for the bunyip when they return? This is a thing that would need to be spoken of to Mamu. Should he speak of it now? Lost Prophets think that it would be valuable, if they could come along with some positive options tomorrow then things will go far. ("If you let us make a sept, we've got some sweet blankets to give you")

Crookpaw goes some distance away to speak to Mamu. There is some talk. Much like when Crookpaw and Mamu interacted at Shattered Wheel, Mamu's body language is angry, and it grows angier. Crookpaw's is submissive but insistent. Mamu looks really really angry when Crookpaw breaks off and says something while looking at Lost Prophets. He comes back and says they should suggest to Mamu now.

The pack move to Mamu rapidly planning mentally about what they say and how. They change to lupus on the way there and Will will speak for the pack. ("Peter Dinklage horror film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6169694/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_10"). They greet Mamu and Will says that he has things to suggest that may resolve this dispute. The Red Talons would acknowledge this territory is the Get's until the Bunyip return. The Fenris will agree to retreat from the caern to the Bunyip on their return. The Fenris and Talons will form a sept together, and will give an oath to not force the other tribes out. Each protectorate leader could veto individual garou for the Sept. Mamu could also give help to Carla on topics that do not afect the Talons.

Mamu's body language starts poorly and grows more angry as Will talks. Some of the other Talons get to their feet but are unsure what to do. Suddenly Mamu leaps at Will, teeth bared - he is not frenzying, but he is furious. Will attempts to dodge out the way, but Mamu still catches him by the throat. Blood is drawn. Tillie and Kasumi do not attack but spread out to best leap in and defend him if required. Will's rage surges forward, he changes to crinos and is about to frenzy. Finn uses his Call of the Wyld gift and howls a mentally-bolster-willpower howl for his packmates, lending Will what strength he can and letting him call on his own Strength of Purpose gift.

The garou stop in this tableau for 10 seconds before Mamu releases Will and backs off a few steps. He changes up to hispo and then crinos form and speaks "You. Are not. Garou. None of you. Yes, we will do this thing". Mamu turns and leaves. ("You;re in year 7 geography and that valley looks so inviting" "its the small hillock at the front")

At a discrete distance, the Ngalyod pack has shown up to see what all the noise was, and further off the Get are clearly looking this way. They check that no one is being murdered.

Sunday 18th December - Philodox waning

("Well maybe you should have thought of that before you Dorian Gray'd it") ("I keep taking these chronic flaws, Where's all my sweet merits?") Will waits until he can see Lise seperating from everyone else and wanders toward her. She seems him coming and crosses her arms.
"Lise"
"What do you want?"
"Can we talk?"
"Do you ever stop?"
"How do you know who Charlotte was?"
"You're not the only one with Ancestor spirits that talk to you. I don't know what game you're playing with the Red Talons or what do you think you're doing, but its not going to work. "I'm not working with the red talons..."
"Sure"
"We're here because Carla put us up to it"
"Ahunh"
"You're welcome to use gifts to see that I'm telling the truth"
"How do you know who Charlotte is and not fuck her off as hard as possible?"
"She possessed me for some weeks"
"She's been controlling you for years"
"What do you know about her?"
"I know she traded away 4 generations of my garou heritage. I know she has some bullshit about the bunyip going on. I know she's been controlling you since you went through first change. 'oh i just mysteriously left the get of fenris to a caern full of bonegnawers and misfits and mysteriously ended up with a pack that's messing about with bunyip' "
"The sept I ended up at, I went to to help wrench control back from ancestor spirits"
"Yeah, You went there because of things your ancestor spirits were doing."
"Not because they were telling me to, because I was trying to get them all to shut up ... er. Why did you coem here?"
"We've had this discussion"
"yeah but a little birdie told me that you didn't get sent here, its not true"
"Your bird is wrong. And now I am here, I will be stopping you - and that silly bitch riding you - from getting anywhere near this caern. And doing it for the honour of the Get at the same time. So you can take your grandstaanding, and whatever stupidity the Talons have convinced you of, and fuck right off"
"I saw in Charlotte's memory that she came here"
"yes, she has some thing about the bunyip. She thinks they were doing something secret. And they were - they were turning to the Wyrm. Why else did they not just submit? Why did they have to get hunted to every last member if they didn't have something to hide? Why not just surrender and submit. So what they were up to was obviously Wyrm tainted, and they knew we'd destroy them all anyway. So, no, I don't think we need to know and we definitely don't need to bring them back."
"We should know what they were doing even if you're right"
"No, they're gone"
"Look I'm not asking you to be recruited into working with Charlotte -"
"I dont understand why you're not nailing her down and tearing her into pieces"
"I've got plans"
"Which she knows."
"Yes, that is a problem"
"Is that the main reason you hate me, because of Charlotte"
"I'm not pleased being stuck in this backwater while you're off being glory hounds. But yeah, I'm unhappy with your actions - which are Charlotte's actions - are still going after everything she's done"
Will suddenly remembers he has truth of gaia
"So, unless you have something else to say"
"Alright. I'll let you know how stuff with Charlotte goes. Good talk. Actually I think that one of your ancestor spirits is controlling you like Charlotte tries to control me"
"Uhunh. Cos, I'm the one who left the tribe to hang out with a motley group of flea ridden bonegnawers in the city. She has been deluding you since day one"
"I left Grinding Stone to get help with the overwhelming ancestor spirits"
"And mysteriously at this Bonegnawer sept, it all stops. She's been leading you by the nose - the whole thing with the bone when you go here. And the nexus crawler, where'd that come from? Oh no, the Bunyip don't work with the wyrm - its just coincidence that it showed up when you were here. And mysteriously you're back here again. And just as mysteriously, she takes control of you when you're talking to the caern spirit. You want to convince me - leave that lot, come back to the Fenris and talk to me again in a year"
"I, uh, went to your old Sept. They said you weren't sent from there"
"Ok"
"Is that not true?"
"No" She's not telling a lie.

Will tries to reiterate that its weird Lise is here, and that she might be being controlled as well, but she's resistant to the idea and walks off.

Tillie is pretty pissed that Lise is flat out not behaving in an honourable fashion. ("Challenge her for the axe! I don't even know what it does, I just want it because she has it") Will gives consideration to summning and binding Charlotte into a rock and leaving it somewhere nearby, just to stop her messing with her.

People start assembling as per yesterday. The Red Talons have a weird body language - they are confused. Will kicks things off and leaps straight into it. He makes the suggestion they floated past Mamu last night - the Red Talons will concede that this is Get territory to form a Sept. The Talons will always be allowed to join the sept. Much of the onlooking garou seem to have a "yeah yeah same as yesterday" vibe to their faces. Both tribes will swear an oath on a spirit that they will not attempt to force the other out. Both tribe leaders get a veto on undesirable members of the Sept. And the Get will concede the caern to the Bunyip when they return.

There are mixed responses to the last - some of the Get were tuned out and snapped back into listening. The talons in general seem discomforted. Crookpaw speaks for the Talons - "the suggestion that the Get would return the caern to the Bunyip as we would is important". Lise starts to talk and says that not being able challenge people means that there's no way to know if they are fit enough to be members. She handwaves at the concession to the Bunyip but Carla interrupts and says that she's given the matter some thought and these terms are acceptable to the Get. Lise's face goes pale and red and she clearly is surprised and unhappy. Carla continues and says that as long the Talons concede this territory is Get territory, she can accept the stipulation that the Get would need to concede the caern to the Bunyip if they return. She clarifies that it would need to be a pack of Bunyip, supported by the tribe totems, not just one individual. (Internally the Lost Prophets start to freak out because they think they have now set a precedent and if Cernonous's clones show up with Rainbow Serpent, shit's on). Mamu's body language is stoic. Crookpaw says that as long as the Get understand that the Talons will spare no sacrifice to retake the caern if the compact is not honoured. Many of the other Talons look confused and upset.

Fujiko speaks up and suggests each tribe would like to have a moment to discuss things internally. Kasumi mouths "THANK YOU" at her. Lise laser death stares the Lost Prophets as both tribes seperate. The Get are pretty amazed but happy - the only thing they had to agree to is "if the genocided tribe come back, give them the caern" and they don't think that will ever happen. WEll, everyone except Lise, who is remonstrating with Carla loudly about how its a trick. Lise is almost frothing at the mouth or challenging, but Carla's body language is very confident. It looks like Lise is about to challenge, but then she suddenly backs down and stomps off. Meanwhile, the Talons are showing confusion and some anger, but Mamu snaps and snarls and the others fall into line.

After about 30minutes the two tribes come back together and indicate they are willing to accept this resolution. The specific of the spirit to be bound into the agreement will be determined later. Carla seems to be about to take control of the flow of the conversation, but before she does one of the other Sons of Hati say that people might want to check into the Realm - from the north a dust storm is sweeping through, which leads to some panic it might be an approaching Bunyip as per the duststorms the pack has seen. There's no storm in the Umbra though, only in the Realm. The pack sense unnatural - the storm in the Realm does have heightened supernatural senses but that doesn't include the usual death senses that come with the bunyip. Sense wyrm shows nothing. When the storm sweeps through in the Realm, something changes in the Umbra as well - its hard to be specific, its just a subtle change came over the whole site. ("Its the bunyip showing up now there's a caern") The Realm becomes impenetrable, but the Garou just continue as they were in the Umbra.

Once it becomes clear there's no danger, Carla says that the new sept will be open to members from other tribes if any wish to join, and that they will be hoping to establish a new sept here as soon as possible. Crookpaw speaks for the Talons - he says they will remember and reinterates they will spare no effort to retake the caern if the compact is broken. Alison Nedinis contacts the caern spirit (Imberombera, for what its worth) and is informed of what has been agreed - the spirit accepts that this is what is going to happen. ("we decided who gets the dead guy's house - that guy dad killed")

While the spirit is summoned forth, Carla says that the Lost Prophets have some question they would like to ask. The pack desperately remmeber why they are doing this - oh yes, following the thread of Marion Perry's life as suggested by Rat. The spirit listens to the whole involved story and then leans forward out of the tree toward Sinead then pauses - it says "let us try something new" and it reaches for Kasumi. Kasumi briefly drops off the mental link and then comes back. From Kasumi's point of view she now has a thread in her head - she can sense/see it when she closes her eyes. It doesn't lead in a direction, and she can't grab it - it seems to be symbolic. ("Plupid floropope")

Once the totem has gone back into slumper and the official part of the duties have been ended, the Talons turn to leave. Crookpaw finds Lost Prophets before he goes. He says that he hopes they are aware of the strength of Mamu's sacrifice. He has done this because he has some strong belief in their connection to the bunyip through the Lost Prophets. He believes they will return. Tillie says she is fairly convinced also. Crookpaw hopes they will think further on the things he has said - on the War of Tears and the Talons. Will says he does not think this compact would have been possible without Crookpaw. Tillie says he should feel welcome to find them at any point. There may be issues getting this new sept organised. And there may be trouble for Mamu. Some may see weakness. Crookpaw is to continue his travels and no longer stay here.

The Get that was monitoring the dust storm calls out saying that the storm has gone, but people might want to come and look at this - he vanishes into the realm and others follow. Around the edge of the rise that the tree has grown on there bit of rock have been exposed by the dust storm. On the faces of these rocks they can see symbols carved into the stone. Various garou poke at them - the Lost Prophets say that they have seen these before, at Scars Atoning and in the cave that Bartholomew showed them that chained the wyrm beast. Finn wanders about comparing these symbols with the ones he's studied at the cave Caern and finds some parallels and dissimilarities. When he informs people, there's some concern that maybe there's a wyrm beast here? The pack think no - they see a bunch of the other symbols at Scars Atoning and there's no sign of a wyrm beast there. Alison says she would expect that the appearance now suggests the caern spirit is accepting of the Get in their role as caern defenders.

The pack organise to get their 4wheel drive back to St Mary's Peak, and then moonbridge back home via Jindabyne

The pack get home and brain dump at Elders. The conversation wanders a bit. Will really wants to lock Charlotte down. Tillie wants to remember to tell Bartholomew. The Elders are surprised, but impressed. Elders got the messages about Sinead's evil dreams - they're not well impressed either. The most concerning thing is the mix of gargoyles and green dragon goo. Suggests Dancers and Mages woring together - they already do on the Full Moon Killer, but this suggests more interaction. Are the trucks symbolic of industry? Travel? Transport? Roads and tunnels? Hmm. They shuld recheck the Burnley Tunnell. Old train stations? Trucking companies? Quarries? They organise to send a message to Grek and Monash to tell them that they've unlocked part 1 of their quest. Renown is recognised. ("Getting down is overrated" "Getting funky however.." "Also overrated")

Will wanders off to talk to Ends-the-Quiet about Charlotte. He's concerned that Lise's accusations about being controlled by Charlotte were based in some truth. Ends-the-Quiet asks if in his understanding of this ancestor, was she capable of subtly? He thinks no, but she is patient. Ends-the-Quiet suggests patience is the base of subtlty. Ends-the-Quiet says that it seems not impossible that Charlotte has had a hand in his progress, but on the other hand it might just have been a coicidence that brought him to Sleeping Lore. Possibly its not Will that has been brought here, but Charlotte under the control of forces that want to restore the Bunyip and Will is just along for the ride. Will explains his plan of binding Charlotte into a fetish and using her powers to help his self-control.

Ends-the-Quiet says that ancestor spirits often become so because they are happy with their lot - they serve a specific function to the garou, and thus its not often appropriate that they be bound to a fetish. On the otherhand, Charlotte is behaving more like a ghost than an ancestor spirit - she has her own goals and aims and is driven by it. If Will went to the homeland, could he get other Ancestor spirits to pull her head in? Maybe it'd be a better idea to fight her there. Ends-the-Quiet isn't sure that she would be content in a fetish.

He feels there are two places where Will could act - he could take steps to block his ancestor, he could take steps to change himself. Ends-the-Quiet suggests that if he is intended to bind his Ancestory to a object, he must be absolutely sure before beginning this math. He would, for the moment, recommend Will does not call on his ancestors.

The pack go off a distance. The topic of Finn disobeying Tillie in a fight comes up and the paxk decide to try and sort this out. Tillie's stance is she is the packleader and needs to know that Finn will have the pack's back in a fight. Finn says that Tillie has been riding roughshod over him in non-garou matters and even in other ways - specifically he's pissed she accepted Kathryn's apology for hitting Finn in public about 10 days ago. Finn thinks that he should have worked it out with Kathryn, that's how it would be done back home, but Tillie says back when she came from, someone would fight until one of them was dead, and she's not doing "back home" things here.

Finn should have brought it up before, not in the middle of a fight - Finn points out they've been unbelievably busy in the last ten days and there's been no time (also it was months ago for the players and practicalities made it impossible in-session). Tillie says that he shouldn't be stepping out of a fight where his pack members are in danger, that's not the way to deal with this. Finn counters that it was in hand, he wasn't needed. Finn says he doesn't think Tillie is taking him seriously - his contribution isn't valued, especially when compared to whenever he speaks to other Fianna and they say "when are you coming home?", and are actively clamouring for him to be part of their septs. He's valued there, but here no one not shown any of the same interest in his contribution.

Tillie stares and says "do you want to be here? Cos the pack isn't just convenience, its family?" "So are the people in Warrnambool". Tillie says that the pack needs to be his priority. Finn says that its not working for him back in return.

Will encourages Finn to actually challenge, but Finn says he does not want to be pack leader - Will says that he should challenge Tillie to take him seriously. Finn says that he will do that if that's what it takes for Tillie to have some respect. Tillie says that she has respect, otherwise he wouldn't be here. Then why didn't Tillie trust him to handle Kathryn? She thought Finn would have got into an argument and then a frenzy and she was protecting everyone - that was a garou thing and she made a call as packleader about what was best. If he had problems with that, then fine - but when she says "jump" in a fight, she can't take the time to check in. Meanwhile, she need to know that he's in - that he's not going to abandon the pack if she makes decisions he doesn't like, and gets a better offer.

Will makes a suggestion - Finn should apologise for the Litany breach, but then challenge Tillie. The others give him the eye and say he's spent too long with the Get. Will points out that there's two issues tho - the lack of joining the fight, and Finn's arguments about not being taken seriously. ("you know what would help you sort this out? Contacting your ancestors"). ("its not flunking the rage rolls that's the problem")

Finn says the other issue he has is demands on things that aren't demandable - he can't stir up the creative process on demand. Also, he was hoping to be able to take the contact with Kathryn and maintain it to help him with his rank challenge. This is not the first time he's been brained by a Black Fury, and it that encounter left him without a real way to proceed. While Tillie didn't know that, he was pretty disappointed.

They sort of resolve it thusly - Tillie will be open to feedback more, but not in combat. In combat, frog jump. Finn says that if he doesn't feel like there's change, he isn't going to put up with it, which leads to some eyeballing and querying about his commitment. Finn blinks and says its not that, its about more self-respect. He can't stay in a pack where the pet dog has a greater standing.

Finn agrees that Will can do a Rite of Contrition on his behalf for the litany breach, which they do to the Caern Totem as a proxy for the general spirit world.

The pack head home. Kasumi checks her email, and finds while work is light on the ground, she has many invitations to Christmas and New Years functions.

Tillie and Will make a paranoia check, making sure no one has been inside the house. No extra scents. Finn checks their answering service - its full. Uhoh. There's 3 calls from Sgt Dennison, but there are 7 messages from his mum, increasingly angry and upset. ("I better call my mum before the cops"). The three police messages are two from before they called his mobile and one after. ("I'd just go the "I'm a self-centred university student" option - some guy hit me, but it doesn't hurt cos he's a pussy and then some of my friends and me just went on a road trip without telling anyone").

Finn calls his mum and just acts like the police are overreacting, he's fine. And then there was a uni thing - it was part of the archaeology unit his was doing. Someone drpped out of a field trip and he was next on the list. Between shrugging it off and implying he was doing well in his one subject, he manages to convince her to calm down. However he is going home for Christmas, and its only the fastest talking that stops that from being tomorrow - he needs to be home in say three or four days.

He opts to head to the police station to report in, and use his magic. Finn ends up with a 90m wait til a harrassed looking Dennison finds him and takes him to a closet with a table in it. Dennison first of all wants to know where he's been - Finn says they went to Queensland. His parents didn't know anything about it? It was spur of the moment. Dennison suggests its good practice to let someone know where you're going and how long if they're doing a long ... interstate... outback trip. He wants a quick statement - Finn says he was at the bar, heard someone yell, he ran off to get out of the situation, got struck in the back,ran off, when he stopped the person wasn't there. Dennison stares at him and asks if Finn understand there's CCTV there. And they have statements from other people. Has he seen anyone medical? No. He had a lump, nothing else. Dennison says that the woman that hit him made a beeline through the crowd to hit *him*. "Oh I didn't even know it was a woman." Finn says he doesn't know about anyone that he's annoyed to that degree and Dennison stares then says "wait here" and comes back with photos taken out of the cctv footage. Its definitely Kathryn Bess coming to his him. There's three photos, just before she hits him, after, and right as he ran off. Can Finn explain? No. He doesn't know her, or why she hit him? Maybe she hit the wrong guys? Dennison says she chased him. ("Oh. I'm sorry, you're not Frank"). Finn shrugs and says they'd have to ask her, he really has no idea who she is or what she wanted. Dennison gives up, goes over the statement again and gets him to sign it. ("I think perjury is the least crime I've done recently"). ("Tree law")

Later that evening, Grek arrives and word is sent. The pack come to the caern and brain dump everything that's happened, and .. now what. ("Stop putting your sticky milky balls in my mouth"). Grek thinks that what they have done is interesting - not just politically interesting but also spiritually. So, now they need to follow the thread of Marion's life from life to death, and find the Still Face of Gaia. He says that his tribe have rituals that allow garou to step and reach the Shadowlands, but as they do not have the knowledge about what to do then, he thiks that it is for the best if he comes with them. There's a catch though - the ritual requires the sacrifice of a sentient being. They usually find a fomori or someone irrevocably turned to the wyrm. Cossack says they can probably help with that - it looks like some of the Full Moon Killer murders were a copy cat around Hampton, and the Scryers have been looking into it. There's the murder that the Lost Prophets looked into but there was also one a month before that hasn't been reported and another after the most recent moon. The link between them appears to be that all three women work on Hampston St. The Scryers have been tooling around there trying to find whoever did it.

They ring Christine and Tillie says they have a problem and she wants to help them with it. "You're coming to do my gardening?" No, fomori. Christine says she'll get Georgina to come talk to them. After about 30m Georgina does show up, looking a lot like someone who had been in bed before they got called. Tillie apologies and asks what she knows. The Scryers have been assuming that whoever it is also works on Hampton St, so they've been cruising the street during the day, and scoping around at night looking at people who live locally. Its been a few nights short on sleep, and they were giving it a miss tonight, and if nothing came up tomorrow, it was pretty much it for the investigation so far. Tillie asks if they've been talking to business owners? Not specifically. Maybe there's another connection between them all too? Georgina doesn't think so, but maybe?

The first lady was found in a storm water drain. She'd been muffled, stabbed pretty thoroughly and cached. The woman in the barrell they recall had been killed on a construction site. Whoever has been doing it has been assaulting the women almost in public, its been very showy, and then leaving them to be found. Its almost like they know the habits of the women well enough to take a chance.

The other pack had a bit of a look into private lives, but didn't find much - one of them lived with her parents, one on her own, one with a housemate. To be honest, they found the link about working on the same street and just went with that. They've been cruising around sensing people that work there during the day then doing the same at night for people that live there. Tillie contemplates whether they could summon a spirit to help out? Given they have a specific area. Georgina says sure, she'll mention that tomorrow, cos she's had less than four hours sleep for the last five nights and would like to go to sleep now.

The Lost Prophets go and meditate in the caern. Well, Sinead and Tillie do, Will falls asleep in the grass.

Monday 19th December - Philodox waning

Bright and shiny the next day, Kasumi and Will dress in suits (Will having found his at the op shop) and print some fake business cards at OfficeWorks, and get a cheap phone. They're deeply suspicious about the real estate agent being the source of all this evil so they go to the one where one girl vanished from. Its a slightly swanky place, all about selling local mansions, rather than rentals and tenants. There is an extremely heavily made up woman behind the desk. Kasumi - or 'Cynthia' - approaches her while Will uses his magic to make her easier to convince. Kasumi says they've been retained by the family of one of the other girls to investigate in parallel with the police. Apparently Amanda had only been working here for two months. Had anyone been calling her a lot? No one that she'd mentioned as a worry. Had she been seeing anyone? Not that she knows. How many people work here - 8? They ask for contact information for everyone and the receptionist says they should make an appointment for Mr O'Donnell. She calls him - he will be free late this afternoon. Was anyone close to Amanda in the last two months? Not really - the agents are in and out a lot of the time, so hardly here for lunch and socialising. Mr O'Donnall wasn't interested in talking to the media, but cooperated with the police.

They move on to the Safeway, where Jennifer Edwards was working. They go to the service desk and ask to speak to the manager if they're free. The assistant manager will be down in a minute. A woman comes and finds them and seems keen to help - she's Tanya and Kasumi is Cynthia and Will is Jack Wilson. Kasumi goes with the same story - other family's hiring them to investigate. They have questions - Jennifer was a nice girl, she'd been working here for a year and a half, and was heading for a position away from the front desks. She was meant to be working an extra shift but she never showed up. She'd never said anything about stalkers or had issues with workmates. Tanya says someworkmates took and extra day off when news broke but she seems suspicious on the legitimacy of their claims. They have a Chubb security for the shop. No one came in lamenting about not being able to see her. Tanya's not keen to give them any contact info for co-workers but between Will's persuasion gift and his extreme guilt tricking, she says she can give them names, but no details ("That's fine we have questing stone"). ("We should taking the forgotten the stairs up to the office").

("Practice head") ("These teeth can stay - https://twitter.com/KeatonPatti/status/1001906391987245067") They sense for wyrm on the way out and don't spot more than all the processed food.

In the Umbra, Christine and co show up to compare notes. There's a certain amount of confusion about the number of victims and when they were killed, mostly from the sleep deprived reports from Georgina. It turns out that there's been 4 victims. Barrell-girl, Jennifer Edwards, was investigated by the Lost Prophets in October but she was actually the second victim. The first was killed in September and hidden, but the Scryers found her in a storm water drain. They haven't notified anyone yet as there's already some level of police presence. ("Warning: serial killer operating in area"). Will asks if they smelled anyone else - serial killers are weird and might have come back.

All four were killed on or just after the full moon. There seems to be some sort of escalation - the first was killed and hidden, the second was killed and put in the fire barrel, the third was killed in or at her car then the car torched, and the forth was just killed flat out on the street. The Scryers were unable to get a scent from the last one, despite investigating relatively soon after - it was so public that lots of people were there and muddled it. The Scryers are pretty much ready to throw in the towel, at least until the next Full Moon.

The pack contemplate a spirit to help, but decide to stick to the talking to people plan for the moment. ("Narelle and me have decided what's going on your tombstone. 'Good dad. Terrible person' "). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea_human_foot_discoveries). Kasumi and Will (or Cynthia and Jack) head in in their human skin disguises again. Its a very shmancy place - its not a chain teenage-supplying cheapo place. There's no security guard on the door, but the pack members spot the cameras out the front.

As they head in, Will engages his persuasion gift on the heavily made up woman behind the desk. She gives him the eye, evaluating his assets and general worth and finding him lacking. They introduce themselves and she says that they're not interested in hawkers. Kasumi corrects the misimpression and asks if she's the manager - apparently no. She has an appointment soon, what is it that they want. Kasumi explains and the woman says that the manager has made it very clear that they are not to engage with members of the press, or anyone else investigating that isn't a member of the police force. Kasumi asks if they can meet the manager then and the woman says she's not sure if the manager is free. Will turns on the charm and concern and gets her name - Madelaine - and talks to her about the need to ensure that no other women will get hurt. ("you're leaving marks on the glass" "Smears"). ("eventually she'll graduate to a giant gummy" "That'd be much eaier to birth"). He is extremely, supernaturally persuasive, but despite the calls from the chorus, keeps her pants on. Madelaine says that the manager was very clear, but as long as they are discrete, she thinks that the manager would be happy to meet them. She'll see if there's an appointment free this afternoon - there is one at 2? She reiterates the need for discretion.

They push Madelaine about information about the killed woman. She doesn't know much - the manager doesn't encourage socialisation at work, its more professional than that. Has she noticed anyone lingering about the shop? No, the manager would report that to the police if they were outside and she would make it clear that they're only interested in serious customers to anyone inside. Will queries the desire for such intense discretion - the manager is worried about the reputation of the shop. They get a lot of repeat customers, if they did not feel safe, they might not return. Was Jacqueline concerned about her safety? No, she walked alone a lot. No new boyfriends? Madelaine doesn't really no - the manager doesn't encourage chit chat. She thinked Jacqueline lived with her parents, didn't seem like much of an, um, dater? She says that anything else they should followup with the manager. Will leaves their card. ("She's gagging for the knot"."Did you just gag a little?")

When they return there's an older woman there, and Madelaine is not there. The woman seems less than pleased that they are her 2 o'clock, but Will's powers take the edge off a little. There's no sense of wyrm about her. She's very brusque and asks for it to be quick as she has a 2.15 appointment. Kasumi introduces them and the woman says she'll be confirming their story of a parellel investigation with the local police station. Will asks if Jackie - Jacqueline! - sorry Jacqueline, give any indication she was worried about anything? No, it was a normal Friday night, she finished up and walked home. Has she noticed anyone - No if she'd noticed anyone out of place, she would have immediately informed the police. She's shared the footage of the video security system with the police, and she's sure they would have shared anything untoward with her. She doesn't think that there's any connection with the shop. Did Jacqueline alwasy park - she walked from her parents. She enjoyed walking. She walked up and down the street during her lunch break. Have there been any strange calls or similar since? Only journalists. Anything else relevant? Does she know where Jacqueline walked to? Down toward the station, there was a cafe she liked. It has a name like Nirvana or something. The two of them head off, and Kasumi who is sick of the managers bitchiness, tries to power surge the shop, but muffs it and just vents gnosis into the world. She's coming back at night to destroy the camera footage.

The pack are a bit suspicious about the cafe and try to find it. It turns out its not called Nirvana, its Utopia. They cruise inside it and check that there's no obvious wyrm taint inside it. ("Its not Nirvana, its Bean Spirit"). Kasumi gets a couple of photos of Jacqueline Towers and Amanda Choi onto her phone. The place is quietening down, its post lunch and has a few people buying their afternoon coffee queuing up. Kasumi and Will comes in and Will engages his normal mindcontrol powers. They give their shpiel about what they are doing and when the cafe people are friendly and helpful show them the photo of Jacqueline Towers and Amanda Choi - yes, both of them came in here regularly until recently. oh wow! The customers are scanned - again - for Wyrm. Did they come for coffee and cake? Well, the first one was, the other - hang on, can I finish serving people and help you? She sorts herself out while Kasumi tries to find photos from the other two woman killed and sits up the back with the garou while some of the other staff are close enough to overhear if they can.

The young lady shares that Amanda Choi was always in and out, but not in a huge rushing cross way. Jacqueline used to come in almost every lunch and sometimes before hand. The others - er, maybe? A lot of people come through. Some of the other staff are keeping half an eye and ear on the conversation and when Will ask about other people lurking around being strange, one of the other staff members says the creepy nightfill people from Woolworths. They come in after 6 and before 8 in the morning, and they're dodgy weirdos. Some of them. The other staff members say he's being too harsh, but Phil says they come in a group, and some of them are not right. And they sometimes hang out at the front blocking the path. ("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihltJMkeOjI")("Nannas in the backseat grinding her teeth 'just drive cunt'") They pass her a card and say if they can think of anything else, please give them a call.

Out the front, Will and Kasumi check for cameras - there's a couple nearby on various shops. They opt to meet their 3pm - Peter O'Donnell, the manager of the real estate agency where Amanda worked. He's very enthusiastic and keen and making lots of eye contact, but the pack assume he's wyrm tainted just on employment alone. He would love to get this person caught before anyone else is put at risk or property values are endangered. They ask him a bunch of questions - he can tell them that Amanda did not live locally. He joined their agency a few months ago, and she was very hard working, often in and out of the office to meet clients. She was keen rather than driven. He doesn't think she had an ongoing relationship - it might have been that she'd been in one and it had gone badly, but she didn't explain directly. He doesn't know about any dodgy clients - she didn't have an established clientele, so there wasn't a lot of repeat customers. They do get people who sometimes have unrealistic expectations, and that can lead to some antagonism, but none of it was directed at Amanda. There's so much foottraffic here he couldn't realistically say if anyone was lingering - he's not in the office a lot of the time either, so if Sarah at the front desk didn't notice anyone, probably not. There's no valuables on site - no one's going to come in and steal the houses from here, ha ha. Amanda drove, she had asked about parking - just visiting all the clients and sites make the train a little impractical. Sometimes she'd be parked out the back in the general parking for their business, but all the agents have parked there. The access way that goes to the back of the building comes out in the Woolworths car park. She didn't really have a routine - she did like the cafe across the way, he'd recommended it to her. He isn't aware of any social connections she had to other people in the street. He can't really give them a list of client contacts she'd had in the week before her death - they don't really oversee the agents that tightly. The police took her computer and the data on it. Once they are finished, he gives them a very firm handshake with a little bit too much eye contact. ("I'm looking up what's required to be a private investigator"). ("We could just hire unemployed people to be private investigators for centrelink debts. And then they wouldn't be unemployed. But then there wouldn't be anyone to investigate, so they'd be unemployed again. Its a boom bust cycle")

Right. Pizza. Hanging out. Spying on the other businesses to confirm they're not saying "phew, through those investigators off base". Erasing all the security footage from the jeweler in petty revenge. Eventually the night shift people show up and eventually the pack can actually peek, and scan them from the Umbra. There's one person who stands out when they look for wyrm taint - shortish guy, buzzcut hair, late 20s and quite a lot of taint. His name is apparently 'Henry'. While the others sniff and try to pin Henry's smell to the construction site, Kasumi steps into the admin office and finds that while there is a password, the person who works in here during the day just leaves themself logged in and turns off the monitor. So she finds there are three Henry's, but only one of them works nightshift shifts - she gets his details and finds he's Henry Allen and he lives over in Moorabin. Now, they need a bad guy, and he's a bad guy - do they need to confirm that he's the guy murdering women and then burning them? They should at least put a nominal amount of effort to find out.

Mr Allen lives in a set of units on a single block. Its kind of crappy and badly maintained. ("You and your 'peek to make sure he doesn't have a housemate' paranoia"). He appears to live alone though, and there's no convoluted trap setup to get them. Its a dark, dim unit with one bedroom and a single living space, no one else appears to come here. There's a lingering miasma of wyrm taint, but no throbbing idol, and no one has been murdered here. The pack step and look around - Sinead sniffs out shoes that smell of burnt kerosene faintly. The others look around and turn up a false back at the rear of a laundry cupboard that contains a box full of dvds ("was he wearing a go pro??") and a handmade wolverine knife thing - its a couple of kris blades welded inexpertly onto some brass knuckles or handframe. There's about 20 burnt dvds and the pack sigh and put one on. Its not gopro nor cctv footage - it looks like a snuff film, and they're not sure its fake. The others are similar or very violent porn. Yeah... ok, this is the guy. ("Its side quests all the way down. And to the side")

The Lost Prophets contemplate their options - report him? Just vanish him? ([Vide of lyd dancing] "I've got a spare meredith ticket") They scope out the units. They don't think Allen drives, because his car port is full of junk. How should they get him out of his unit into a car? Who will see it? They could try and ambush him on the way home? Fake a call to his work saying someone's broken into his house? Knock him out and throw him over the fence of the back-neighbour? Use Will's butterfly friend to make him look like something else? Fake being from Craig's list? They scope around to see if any of the neighbours are going to be keeping an eye out - two of them seem to be elderly women that might be?

Ok, the plan is to get some high-vis and show up to the door like someone just picking something up. In the meantime, other pack members will step in, knock him out, put him in a dedicated box, and shift that out the door. Hmm, maybe just knocking him out is a bit dodge - they get Sinead to summon a sleep spirit instead, and plan to bind it to him. She does so with grace and dignity and so the spirit is happy to do what she wants to do. They plan to wait for Allen, then bind it to him when he shows up.

Tuesday 20th December - Theurge waning

Allen shows up after 8am, walking down his street. He gets home, showers, messes about on his phone, and heads to bed before too long. Once he's asleep, Sinead binds the spirit to him to keep him out. The others step out with their deidcated box, and lob him into it - he's pretty unconscious. Will gets the box up with help, and heads out the front door. In the meantime, Sinead has been watching the widow across the street - she looks out when the murdervan pulls up, but when someone in high vis looking like a courier gets out, she drops the curtain and goes back to watching her Wheel of Fortune marathon.

They call the caern on the way. Graeme doesn't know when and where Grek will need him, but doesn't want them bringing the filthy protoformori into the caern. They should find somewehere to keep him for a bit. Tillie opts to leave him in Sinead and Kasumi's garage. Once they've got him in there, they tie him up properly. He's still asleep. Graeme calls and says Grek doesn't want him til midnight ("you should challenge him over it") - and then the ritual will have to be done in the Realm, because otherwise they need to get Allen into the Umbra somehow. The pack contemplate leaving his doona at the body in the stormdrain, but disposing of evidence isn't really going to be their issue.

Allen wakes up late in the day, but he's pretty thoroughly tied up. He freaks out, but can't really get away or cry out an after an hour or two he slumps into a fugue state. Will is a bit concerned that there's some followup on Allen that needs to happen, and speaks to the Sept to make sure they chase up where the movies came from to make sure there isn't some local nest of murder freaks in Melbourne that needs dealing with.

Wednesday 21st December

Just before midnight the pack brings Allen in and drag him along paths. Grek has done some preparation and gets them to drop Allen in front of him. Grek begins the ritual - Sinead isn't familiar with it at all. It takes about 20 minutes and at the climax, Grek cuts Allen's throat. Colours start to fade out of the world around them ("snow down to Jess metres"). Everything starts to slow down, and the pack get dizzy. Sinead and Finn can still make sense of the world around them, but the others are really struggling to be able to focus on anything and stay upright. Grek looks a bit woobly as well. Sinead and Finn see the ghost-like spirits that linger at the caern flocking their way. They are pouring through the graves toward the pack. After 10 seconds, they can see that the spirits are actually following something - its Boobook. He flies their direction, ahead of the other spirits, and flares his wings above them and dives as the pack feel themselves falling in toward Allen's body.

The pack are falling, and spinning wildly when they feel a wrenching sensation that makes the whole process worse. Somehow they are falling sideways and then feel that they suddenly rise... and they erupt from the ground. Tillie is throwing up not only her lunch but somehow Will's. Will is able to not throw up on himself, but is otherwise disoriented. The others manage to get it together after a minute or two. They are in a bushland environment, and its night time. There's no moon and there's no stars and there's no Grek here. The ground is broken where they've sprung up from it. The trees are alive... greenish. But the colours are muted. There's no bug noises, or any other animals. Sinead starts to summon Boobook.

About 2 minutes into the ritual, they other pack members here a howl not far away, but its not a Garou howl - its a bunyip. There's no meaning in the howl, its just demented screaming. Finn senses around and finds that the place senses of Demonic, Wyld, Wyrm... oh. Another howling starts up. And then another. And two more. All of them are concentrated into one quadrant, but it sounds like they are approaching. The pack stop Sinead summoning and decide to run like fuck. ("There's bunyip, we should report this to the council. Let's go")

They take off in the opposite direction to the approaching howls. They can see as if it was a moonlit night, even though the sky is just black. The air smells not right - its still, and is missing a stack of smells the'd expect in this sort of environment, around animal life. Its flat and lightly wooded, so they make good time.

Will's concentrating on the noise of the howls come from behind them so he misses the approaching crinos-size bunyip aheaad of them. Sinead senses for wyrrm and finds that the bunyip conming their way is moderately wyrm tainted. It is approaching with eyes rolling and a mad expression on its face.

("Stupid poorly written reality") The pack decide to pile on. Various people blow to crinos and don't quite frenzy. Kasumi grabs an arm. Sinead tries to but gets savaged by the bunyip biting her ("job interviews must be weird for you") Tillie runs up to help and claws the bunyip - its clearly a spirit from the way it responds to being clawed, not a physical being. It savages her in return. The spirit is clearly moving much faster than usual, using its rage. Kasumi lets go as its clear no one else is on with plan-grapple and bites but because everyone is moving around like crazy she accidentally bites Tillie. Tillie then gets savaged by the bunyip spirit and goes down. Kasumi slams the spirit extremely hard, which draws its attention and it returns the favour.

While the pack are fighting, two human figures shamble out of the brush. They both are shrivelled and dead looking, and probably aboriginal in ethnicity. They are moving very slowly.

Kasumi lunges forward and bites the spirit but bites her own tongue. Sinead heals Tillie and starts her heart back up. Kasumi is savaged and falls down, reverting to homid. Will smashes the spirit. Sinead heals Kasumi up somewhat. Will is attacked and wounded. Will attacks again and the spirit is disrupted - it turns into a black vapour and drifts away. They sense the shambling the zombies - they mostly sense like the world around them. The bunyip though is a mix of the realm with a lot more rage. The pack dodge the two slowly moving zombies and pelt off.

The sounds of howling Bunyip continue behind them. One of them is closing at a very slow rate. The pack break out of the wooded areas and onto a meadow that leads down to a creek. They hit the creek after sensing to make sure its not a trap, and try to lose their scents. They head downstream at a reasonable speed, but they can hear the howling get closer. One of the bunyip breaks the tree line and stops, looking about. It doesn't seem to actually be scenting them, just looking - it takes off straight toward them, not following their scent, but honing on them.

Another howl echos from the other side of the creek - its a bunyip howl, but instead of being the mad screaming that is chasing them, its more a "hey, over here". The Lost Prophets break out of the creek and start heading toward that howl. They run up one hillside and down a valley and then the howl comes again - there are the sounds of pursuing frenzying bunyip behind them still. At the top of the next ridge there is a natural stack of huge granite boulders. Tillie can see light at the top of it, flickering. They sense for wyrm, but there's nothing unusual ahead. Figuring its better than getting run down and eaten, the pack change to forms with fingers and start to climb. Or at least everyone but Tillie does. Her wounds are still causing her some grief. She changes to glabro and finds the smaller hands are more useful for this sort of thing. ( https://www.visitmountbuffalo.com.au/index.php?p=1_25 and https://www.visitmelbourne.com/regions/gippsland/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/walking-and-hiking/vv-mushroom-rocks but more so)

The others are rising quickly up the stack of boulders as Tillie starts to climb. When she's only a couple of metres up, the howling stops - she looks back and sees the bunyip that was in a killing rage in lupus, just moving around the landscape without purpose. Figuring they should have climbed a tree earlier, she heads up after the others.

When they reach the top, the find a shallow bowl in the topmost boulder. A campfire is burning there, and an aboriginal man is crouched next to it (not Grek). He is looking at the pack as they scramble onto the top of the boulder. Its an older guy, covered with scars and tattoos. Will starts to give formal introductions of the pack, and the man stands and changes form into crinos and the pack recognise him - it is the spirit that they fought last year in Sydney.

He speaks in garou tongue. It is odd, accented strangely, and the rhythm is off, but they can understand him. "You may call me Watcher. I do not remember what my name was". Tillie asks where they are, and he says that they are in the hell that his people have been consigned to. He knows that they have met before. They helped him, and now he will help them here. Tillie asks how long he's been here and how did the bunyip get here ("You murdered them"). The Watcher says he has been here for not quite a year. He lived an extremely long time ago, when the white men were just stories and the other garou tribes were known to them only in the oldest of stories. When he died, he chose that his spirit would serve his people, and he went into a fetish. But while he slumbered, a great tide of darkness came, and when it passed the fetish was held by alien garou. They sought to take the place of his people, and they asked many questions. They wished to know rites and secret knowledge of his people - they knew much already but he refused to answer them and denied them the power of the fetish he was bound to.

He came to the posession of one of the alien garoup who lived much in fear and anger. He was turning slowly to the wyrm. This one did a ritual that broke him from the fetish and sent him to the bone. He left the bone, and there was a place of hard walls and bright lights and warm ice - in his fear and confusion, he frenzied and killed others who were there.

The Lost Prophets compare notes from when these events happened - there was no spirit in the bone when they got it for Cernonous. And they did not see any fetish in the room, but they didn't look hard.

They ask Watcher to continue. He says that he weakened and was forced to return to the bone where he had been bound. While this happened, others came, ones that were corrupt and of the wyrm. They attempted to bring that corruption to him. He tried to escape the bone and his binding to it, but each time he tired and was forced to return. Some strength was leant to him from a source he does not understand from the land of the dead. Some strength was sent to him by an alien totme (the punk girl?). And then another spirit reached out to touch the bone and it weakened the binds the wyrm garou put upon him. Sinead says that was her fetish and shows him the Cracking Stone. He seems confused by it and says he thinks he once knew things about this fetish, but he now cannot remember them. But he says it is important and she should keep it safe.

This suggests that the Dancers did not have some long game, or grand plan, they were just opportunistic and noticed the bone (something something frenzying garou). They talk a little more about the Cracking Stone and the wyrm beast caves - Watcher says that information was sacred and secret and he is unhappy that they know these things.

They talk about his tribe - Watcher says they have been abandoned by Gaia and Ngalyod to this hell. The pack ask if they can help, and Watcher says if their tribe totem will not help, how could they. There is nothing for him to do but wait and forget. Tillie says she thinks that its clear he doesn't want to be here? Watcher says they have been consigned here, by their totems perhaps? By the other tribes' actions perhaps.

Will says that the one Watcher said was doing forbidden things - they think that he was their friend Cernonous who was attempting to return the bunyip. The ones who were of the wyrm? Watcher says that they ceased their attempts to corrupt him and the bone that he was bound to was returned to the ones that had him before. But the bindings were weakened and he was able to call out to others of his people and they helped him free and then he fell to this place. Will asks if the ones that had the bone were wyrm servants - no, but he was returned to them. The pack scratch their heads a bit. Darius? Inanna? Will scratches his head and says that Christine had the bone, she brought it back to the council. She gave it to Inanna, and then... he thinks that Inanna handed it to Tjinderi Knowing-Smile of the Uktena. Is it the whole Council, not a tribe? They try and remember what happened around there - as well as the Watcher and Michelle and maybe Darius, someone broke into Cernonous' lab and house and stole things. Same someone? Dunno - there was a polutiony smell, and a faint sandy dust smell ("Why don't you tap your ancestor spirits Will?")

Tillie asks why the others stopped chasing them? This is his place. Has he seen any others like them? No, only his people. Will talks about Charlote and says that she thought that his people were not fighting back in the war and doing something else more important, and she wanted to know what it was. Does Watcher know? He says he died generations before and does not remember (or want to remember) much of his life. He was slumbering within his fetish at the time of the war. Kasumi checks what sort of fetish he was in - it takes a bit of back and forth but they eventually work out he was bound into a didgeredoo. Will asks if they have been able to contact the tribe totem? Watcher says Ngalyod has abandoned his people, why else would they be condemned here.

Kasumi explains about their quest - he hasn't heard of a Still Face, though he does know the name Imberombera. They need to move on. Watcher says some of his people leave this place - in their rage and fury they are able to leave. There are others who are not mad, but they do not leave this place. Will asks about the first time the Watcher broke out of the bone - there was one there trying to do things that he shouldn't? Watcher says he does not remember. He panicked and frenzied trying to escape - it was bright and there was warm ice and hard surfaces everywhere. It does sound like Cernonous' lab.

While the pack are staring into the distance thinking of questions, they see movement for the first time. Some of the trees are moving. No, wait there's something like a heat wave in front of them. Oh, its coming this way. The pack sense on it - it has more wyrm than the realm but it is not of the wyrm. They ask Watcher who says he has no word for it - they are entities of this place. Some are helpful and others are harmful. Not helpful. As it gets closer, it becomes clear that its not a heat mirage in front of things - instead the actual space is wibbling along in a strange way. It skims along the ground, dipping into the ground a little, and while it does that the ground also goes wobbly. It approaches Sinead who chooses to passively wait and see what happens. The sensation is strange. It has no smell. It envelops Sinead and then backs up and sinks into the stone. Stone and dirt flow up and make a figure. Some of the campfire is dragged into this effect and incorporated. When its finished, it has made a Sinead out of rock and dirt and fire. They try and talk to it, and it echos back a distorted version of their words. Sinead reaches out and toward it, and it mimics the motion - not exactly but close. It starts to make weird noises and it becomes clear that it is starting to respirate. Kasumi asks the Watcher sho says these things take many forms, and some are malevont and others are benevolent. They sense Unnatural - it senses like the gargoyles, demonic and stronger than this realm.

Eventually it masters talking enough to be understood. It thinks Sinead was different to other things here. It gets up and starts doing things. Kasumi asks if it takes other forms often? Yes, when it finds something new. When its not finding and copying, what is it? Sinead does not know the words so it cannot speak the words. It can only make the noisesound she makes. It gets bored and the stuff melts back more or less where it was and it wibbles away. Sinead, taking advantage of the quiet, does a questing stone for Grek but no luck. Will summons Boobook but their totem does not appear. ("To be fair, Boobook isn't dead. I feel this is a win")

They ask Watcher about some of the things that they have encountered, but he really does not remember much about his life. He knows Imberombera and Ngalyod, but not Nlaloonjurrie for instance. Will realises that Watcher has not said the word 'Bunyip' once during the whole conversation, always saying 'my people'. They query him on this and he says that the word they use - Bunyip - there were some that could be called that for they followed the Bunyip totem. He does not remember his people's totem. All follow Ngalyod, but each group has another. He knows the word 'Yongar' for kangaroo but not any of the other names. They don't change into other animals, but into the little ones. There's some back and forth but it does seem like he means thylacines. Tribe is not the word they use for each group - the closes they can come to agreement on is 'clan'? They're all Ngalyod's children, in a way closer than all garou are children of Gaia. Maybe like Septs? Kasumi asks if the Bunyip were outcasts? No, he does not think so. ("I'm gunna stop there to give you a week to think about it")

They look over the side - there's now hundreds of zombies in a big crowd around the bottom of the plinth. The pack are a bit concerned about how to get through them, and ask the Watcher ("You're in the Umbra, you've got owl as a totem, why can't you fly?"). He has not seen this happen before and wasn't expecting it - but the zombies are slow and not much of a threat. Will tries to work out if they can just jump and clear most of them? That is.. probably going to hurt, but yes, they should be able to leap out and crowdsurf the horde. ("yes, you can use your surfing speciality")

Why not, eh. The change to hispo to get a good run up and be heavy when they crash into the crowd. The pack leap off into the air in a spectrum from 'gracefully' to 'like a plunging rock'. Will and Tillie don't get the distance they want, and come down mid-crowd, but end up uninjured on their feet. Sinead leaps an immense distance, but starts to spin as she falls 60' down, and lands face first with her body curved over and breaking her own neck, turning herself into a canine scorpion. Kasumi bounces once or twice but comes up ok. Finn breaks his front legs as he lands and flips around a few times and nearly flips out into frenzy.

Will and Tillie start bludgeoning their way through zombies toward the unconscious Sinead. Finn takes a moment to change to crinos so he has some functional limbs. ("I'm so pleased at how well my plan is going"). Tillie flips to crinos and scoops up the now homid Sinead. Kasumi pushes toward the thin edge of the crowd as the zombie all slowly respond to the pack's presence and start to surge their way. Will ploughs through the crowd like a rugby player in hispo form sending them flying as he goes.

When they hit the bottom of the hill, a crazed bunyip howl immediately starts up some distance away. The Watcher joins them fairly quickly, and he changes to lupus (thylacine) and leads them in the other direction.

The pack are running through bushland, bushland, bushland, deserty grassland, deserty grassland... wait. The shift isn't sudden, its gradual, but there's a strange mental effect where they become aware of it only after they've been running in desert for a while. The desert is Australian as well, but there was just a time when they weren't paying attention and then "hey, why are we here". The Watcher is still with them, and looking at Tillie - he asks why she brought them here. Tilie is confused, but the Watcher is insistent that she brought them to this place. They sense around to try and get a feel of what might be happening - its more or less the same as before. On the horizon though, they can see a stack of rocks ("its boxes." "Stack of 7 boxes. They had to come from somewhere"). They head that way cautiously.

As they approach, it becomes clear its a stack of largish boulders, some sort of red rocks. Tillie starts to get a sense of deja vu, especially when she sees someone standing in front of the rocks. This time though, its an old aboriginal lady - despite her different appearance it feels like the time she was on her way to the Abyss. The pack can see there are other rocks positioned in a ring around the central pillar. The woman stares at them as they approach. Will tries to use his scent of the true form gift but no luck so he tries sense unnatural - strong demonic, weak wyrm, strong wyld and moderate fae. Say what. Its not just the lady, its the rocks as well. ("I'm a little concerned you went to the abyss" "I was looking for a lost sock" "That just raises more questions").

Tillie says "greetings". The woman speaks, but the voice does not come from her mouth and her mouth does not make the shapes of the words she is speaking. "I have been calling you. I will have been going to see you running with the night in your hands." Tillie groans as she remembers about this whole time mix up. "You have killed the moon. I will see it." "Where are we?" "You are at the crossroads. We are going to have been speaking again. I will call you. " "Which way should I go now?" "The choice has always been yours. But you stand in danger of losing yourselves. There was going to be a darkness within you" "Who are you?" "We are the people of the crossroads" ("you know, i have been wanting to get good at the guitar")

The pack notice a shambling zombie is coming close, and they notice another stand up a distance away. "When will you see me again?" Nothing "Where's the still face of Gaia?" Silence. ok, well, maybe running with the night in her hands was the Elder Fae? "These things I have been seeing as visions. I see truth. I see the future and the past. I do not choose what I see. I see you. You called to me this time. I will call to you in others." "Where are we?" "You stand at the crossroads in the lands of the dead." "Between where and where?" "Where do you want to go?" "Grek!" "You must choose" ("You mean 'you' or 'youse'?"). More shamblers are building up, and the sound of approaching bunyip is becoming concerning - they opt to hop it away from the cryptic woman.

They try and hold Grek in their hearts and run for it. They run for a time and there is another shift - from desert grassland to an alpine forest. Its eucalypts and heath, but they can smell snow. The Watcher has taken the lead, rather than following Tillie. He leads the pack to a protected dell with some trees. In the tree is a bundle of sticks with paint on them - Will says he saw this before when he switched place with Charlotte, he thinks its a tree burial. The Watcher speaks up to the bundle. It does not move, but it does reply in a language they do not understand. He then switches back to Garou tongue and explains why they are and what they want. The voice from the bundle is very deep, a bass voice - "why would I help those responsible for the extermination of my people?" The pack try and give some answers - they are still fighting against the wyrm and for Gaia? Will says they are the descendants of those who fought them, and they seek to make amends. "Even unto death you plague us. You will not rest until you have taken all" "We seek to help?" "Others made the same claim, but in the end, they stood together and my people fell. Even in death you leave us no rest" "We helped the Watcher" "If you help us, we will promise to tell the tale of what happened to your people" "What consolation is that to the dead? Your stories are not our stories." "We'll tell your stories?" "Again, you seek to take all. You came and you had no place here. You took. You killed. You slaughtered because you wanted. Not because you needed. Not because it was yours. There was no wyrm here til you came" The pack think this is a bit untrue, but dont want to necessarily bring that up. "We're still in the service of Gaia and fight the wyrm -" "Gaia has abandoned us. Ngalyod has abandoned us. We are broken from the cycle and we are lost, at your hand" "Maybe we could look to fix that" "It cannot be undone" "... it can't make it any worse to help us?" There is a rude and skeptical silence.

The pack are a little bit out of ideas and look to the Watcher. He has been, unsurprisingly, watching, and listening. He speaks up and says that if the Sleeper will not help, then the Lost Prophets are stuck here. They may as well stay here and annoy the Sleeper. There is an annoyed silence and then the Sleeper spits out "See the Fisher"

They run like crazy. There is another sudden realisation/change shift and the pack are running through heathland with sandy soil. They can smell the sea and eventually head the sound of surf. The land rolls up and down a little, but generally heads down. They crest a tall sand dune and can see a long flat beach with a person standing in the surf fishing. There's a large canoe drawn up on the beach. The Watcher heads down that way and the garou follow. When they hit the beach proper, the sound of chasing bunyip stops.

The man turns to see them, but continues stalking fish with a spear. As the pack approach there is soem confusion of scale - but it seems to be that the Fisher is just enormously tall and thin (over 6'8''). Despite some concerns that he might blow away in a gust of wind or hide in cracks in rocks, he appears to be a mortal. The Fisher stabs at the water again and brings up a silvery fish which he ties to his belt before heading into shore. He looks curiously at the garou while Watcher explains who they are and why he is helping. The Lost Prophets also explain that they are looking for the Still Face of Gaia but the name means nothing to the Fisher. However, he says he will help them return to the penumbral equivilent of the Shadowlands because the Watcher has asked him to. They will have to go with him in the boat. The pack ask if the Watcher will come and he says that this is as far as he will come - he will now return to his place. The pack thank him for his help in getting them back home and not torn to pieces by his people.

The pack help push the canoe out past the immediate surf. Will is frankly in his element and relaxes slightly. The pack sit at the front and the Fisher paddles while standing. Kasumi is in front of him and he asks why she does not appear as the others? She is from another people. Did they invade these ones as these ones invaded his people's country? Noooooo. Lets go with no. He seems confused as to why she is with them. Kasumi tries to explain that she came as part of her mortal life, but this just makes him more confused. Her kin do not have their land? Do they wander lost? The pack explain that it is easier to travel. The Fisher says that some of his people thought that it was because they were not in their own country that they took and took - they were trying to fill the gap. Kasumi says there were too many people in the old place, and the Fisher says was it not their duty to ensure there weren't too many people?

Some distance from the shoreline, it becomes misty and then foggy. It is very similar to the Umbral mists that they have experienced when travelling on moonpaths. The Fisher says they should watch for things that live between worlds - there are creatures that lurk in the places between. Will turns around to look at him and ask questions and is struck by the fact that the tall cadaverous guy at the back of a boat is ferrying them from one world to another. He starts looking for change in his pockets but he soesn't have any pockets.

From off to one side, a tall and strong wave sweeps across the waters. Pack members grab the side of the boat to try and keep their balance. They ask what that was and the Fisher says that it was a thing such as he described. They try and ask if he's talking about weaver spiders, but he says they are creatures that do not fit into the realms and wander, not things of the weaver.

Erupting at the front of the boat is a whale sized thing, but instead of a whale head it has a head full of eyes and mouths and tentacles. It lands on the front of the canoe, trying to knock some of the pack out. Everyone manages to keep their footing (or seating), but Tillie grabbed by tentacles ("no, your orifices!"). She uses her gifts and blasts the whale monster with fire. Will activates his Fangs gift, Sinead uses Spirit Snare to weaken the monster. Kasumi changes to lupus by spending rage and then runs forward through the boat, misteps and plunges into the water and under the monster. Finn leaps up on top of the whale thing and flips to Crinos.

The whale monster yeets Tillie off into the mists. ("welcome to the YOcean"). Will attempts to follow Finn but ends up clinging to the front of the monster and flips to crinos and frenzies. Kasumi is bitten by undersea mouths. A tentacle tries to whap Finn but misses him. Kasumi tries to find her way out from under the monster but swimming in lupus is tricky. She tries not to panic. Finn starts mining for brains. Will is bitten. Sinead is wrapped in tentacles. Tillie starts to swim back but isn't sure which way to go. Sinead blows to Crinos and isn't as pinned, lunges forward to bite the tentacle but accidentally bites herself. The tentacle goes to throw her but only drags her out of the boat and away. A random mouth opens up and takes in Finn's foot and bites flesh away. Kasumi comes to the surface. Finn can't punch through the thick skin. Will frenzies all across the monster's face, rending flesh and eyes away. Tentacles grab him hard.

Tillie swims back far enough that she can see what's going on. Sinead swims to the monster. Will is rung out like a wet rag. Finn finds that everything under the bone is more like jelly - it doesn't have any structure. Its like uncooked fish sticks. Finn is smacked by a tentacle in the ear. Will is only held by one tentacle now. Tillie swims up to the side of the monster and gets up onto one side. Sinead gets onto the boat, planning to help Will. Will is plunged under the water, and Finn is grabbed by a tentacle. Will still manages to chew holes in the tentacle holding him. Finn claws with his free hand and chews more hole up in its skull. The Fisher manages to free to boat and starts paddling backwards. Tillie punches her way through the skin and it ruptures and starts to cascade goo out. The others manage to get free of it before it sinks into the deeps.

The Fisher paddles endlessly through mists. Before they see anything the pack heaar the sound of rolling waves. Eventually the canoe is picked up by swells and ahead a beach becomes visible, with sea waves rolling onto it slowly. The canoe is guided expertly in and the Fisher says this is where they wished to go - the penumbra of the shadowlands. They thank him for his help and watch as he launches the canoe back out onto the ocean.

The pack are at the bottom of a brushy cliff maybe 30m high - its not vertical, but very steep. There is a proper sky and stars - there's a hint that the moon might be coming up, but they can't see. They questing stone for Grek and Will gets a response a distance away kinda that away - its along the beach and maybe inland a bit. Tillie senses for wyrm and finds that there's a sense underlying the whole realm - mostly of death, unsurprisingly. Kasumi senses for Unnatural - dead, demonic, wyrm, as you'd sort of expect. They follow the beach along but after a short run, the cliff edges come down to the water, and they can see rocks under the surface. Rather than swim and chance the sea and Sinead, they double back a bit and scramble up a gully that probably has water in it when it rains.

At the top of the gully, under a bush is a dead guy who appears to have been sleeping rough. Tillie tries to check he's actually dead and her hand goes through him - not in a gooey way, but like an illusion. He is sensed and barely appears to register more than the realm around him. Will tries his Sense the true form gift - there is only the smallest of scents, and the gift says that there's barely more here than ephemera formed up into a very minor spirit. Its like the echo of ghost. They look at his clothes - Will reckons he's probably only died in the last couple of years based on the styles.

Moving past him, they come out onto a track that runs along the top of the rise. Its a dirt track but a made road, not one etched by use. Nearby there are a couple of buildings or at least structures that look quite old. The pack investigate - one of the buildings has an old lady in a bed, apparently asleep. All their senses suggest she's like the other guy, almost part of the realm. This realm has more 'life' than the bunyip realm - the air moves, there stars are moving, there's clouds, and they can see the moon rising over near the horizon. They spot some kangaroos, but also sheep and chickens - the domestic ones smell like animals or spirit versions of animals. The pack investigate around the buildings they see as they keep heading toward where Grek is - the buildings go from rough bark shack to sort of modern house. The roads change from dirt to tarmac and then vanish again. The houses aren't contiguous either. It feels like Melbourne, at least the newer stuff. The places seem all the same place but over different times?

They find more people, and sometimes its clear how they died - one guy torn in half in mid-air on a road. Someone on the ground that's blue. Hangon, that's the bay - they're sort of near Sandringham? Ok that means Grek is near the CBD somewhere. The buildings are torn up or destroyed buildings, and ditto with the roads? Dead stuff as well as dead people. So if its dead Melbourne, si there anything they want to investigate? Mostly the Full Moon Killer stuff really - will those deaths be visible? The deaths that they are seeing aren't maybe significant, but.. maybe they're accidents? Unexpected deaths? Oh well, the Elsternwick one is nearish by.

They get surprised by how swampy it is, but slog their way through to where the murder happened. There are some signs of burning - there's a corpse in midair that is very charred. There's not realy much more here that they haven't seen before, but good to test it.

The landscape becomes more recognisable as they travel along - more buildings have been destroyed closer to the CBD, so they get a more contiguous urban landscape. At one point there's a chunk of railway up on a bridge that seems to stop randomly. In an intersection they spot two people upside down with severe injuries, floating a couple of feet off the ground. One of the weird vibration things they encountered in the Bunyip land floats along toward one of them and seems to sink into the image. The corpse-image becomes animate, and sort of drops down awkwardly like someone badly dismounting monkey bars. Its a woman who has clearly suffered a severe head trauma, with her forehead all crushed in and her eyes pointing in weird directions. The corpse looks around and then starts heading toward the pack.

The Lost Prophets are not too concerned by its approach and just wait. As it gets near it speaks a bit garbledly "someone wants you". The pack try and establish who it is but the creature just seems confused by the question. It can take them though. It points more or less the direction of Grek according to the ritual. Will tries sense of the true form and gets two senses - one of the corpse, and one of the wibbly thing that goes in it. It senses of demonic and wyrm and death , in that order which is a bit concerning. They name her Sally.

Sally clomps up along toward the CBD with the pack trailing behind. She leads them up to the corner of Victoria Parade and Spring St and points at a building and says "soeonee's there" The pack look a bit confused as this isns't where they'd expect him. Its a hospital looking building about where St Vincent's hospital is. They howl for him and Sally looks confused. She heads inside and holds the door saying again "someone's here". The pack sense and are a bit unsettled by the amount of wyrm within the building, and Sally has a largish dollop they're not pleased with. They ask her who is in there and she shrugs. What's he look like? Two long bits at the bottom, two long bits on the side, and a round bit on top. Why can't they come out here? Sally doesn't know. Tell them to come out here. She shrugs and says ok and heads inside. Tillie sniffs about and tries to scent Grek at all in the area - nope.

She comes back out and says "it says to come in. its busy. its sitting" Will uses his Truth of Gaia gift and asks more questions to which it lies "You're lying!" "No" This is also a lie. The pack change form into Crinos, figuring shit's going down. Will and Tillie lunge forward and obliterate the body of Sally, but find that the vibrational entity is freed by this. ("Piss off ghost!"). There is an unearthly shrieking sound from within and two figures in hospital gowns appear at broken windows - one on the ground floor and one above the main doors. The figures are warping and changing shape - fingers are getting longer and heads are sinking into the bodies and bone pieces slide up like armor.

Finn and Kasumi run to the ground floor window and Finn smashes the figure back into the building - all the bone that had formed up over his face is smashed. The body freezes back in place and the vibration entity escapes into the air. ("If the game was another 5 years on, i'd be changing our name to 'yeet the rich'"). Sinead uses her battle mandala gift but finds that it surprisingly has a reliance on the environment of the Umbra and here it instead sucks gnosis out of her.

Will leaps up and grabs the figure out of the window. He grabs it by one leg and pulls, but he doesn't drop down as fast as he should. Its a little odd to watch as Will slowly sinks down - Tillie waiting and smashes the body when its in reach. ("Leyland brothers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk0-2tP-UtM") Finn slashes the wibbly thing but isn't able to interact with it - though its hard to watch his hand appearing to warm and buckle. Sinead deactivates her gift so it doesn't drag more gnosis out of her.

Will and Tillie's opponent freezes in its mostly destroyed state and the wibbling appears next to it. Kasumi watches the wibbly thing that they de-hosted sink into another body in the room it was coming out of. ("we're going to find the real person who asked for us. They're not rude"). Inside the hospital there's a crashing sound and glass breaking.

The pack decide to not trust Sally, but after a brief evaluation of the litany, fall back into Exhibition Gardens in a wise decision to not run inside. Kasumi and Finn obliterate the one that is following them out of the building - they notice that the wibbly thing is wibbling slower, and seems smaller, when it comes out of the corpse this time. They seem to lose some energy in this process.

They are back to the edge of the park when the doors are smashed open and a large figure come lurching out. Its bigger than a person and it quickly becomes apparently that its 2 or maybe 3 people morphed into one body. Gross. However, they do need to take steps at this point.

The pack wait for the amalgum body to come to them atop a low wall. It runs their way and it quickly becomes apparent that its rising up through the air. It doesn't seem to be looking for a height advantage though, its more that its running up an invisible ramp to get up to their height. The pack fan out and as it reaches them, lunge in and start tearing it to pieces from all directions. They pull some of the bodies apart but it doesn't seem to be affected by the shredding, still animating the corpses around. It pounds Will in the ear as another corpse heads their way out of the hospital. Will and Sinead finish tearing the big one apart and another wibbly thing comes out of it and drifts back to the hospital. Tillie turns and obliterates the new one in a single go. The pack contemplate briefly heading back in to clear it out, but decide that discretion is the better part of valour.

They back off a kilometer or so toward the cemetery and start doing a Questing Stone for Grek. While Sinead is doing that, another wibbly thing comes along an inhabits the body of a young man who appears to have died of a drug overdose. The somewhat dishelved figure turns and says "Someone's looking for you". The garou sigh and prepare to obliterate it, but it follows up with "it said to say that it was at your home". That sounds awfully like a threat, but on the other hand, how? They try and clarify if the guy means their home or another place and it just looks confused. "Shall I take you?" "Just wait" "Ok". Sinead finishes her questing stone ritual and it says that Grek is pretty nearby. They ask the guy where the someone is and he points in more or less the same direciton. Sinead says that the ritual says either their house or the Sept - they're more or less in the same direction. "Who sent you? " "One like you, alive and stuff" Will remember his ability to tell lies and activates the gift and then asks the same question and it replies the same. It appears to be truth.

Their guide and the ritual lead them to the cemetery in the end. Oddly, it looks a lot like the cemetery in the Realm, unlike everywhere else which has been 'dead' buildings. The sole difference is the bright rainbowy colour of Mr Allen's dead corpse floating in mid air - its the only brightly coloured thing that they've seen since they got here. With the body is Grek, who looks relieved to see them.

They give him the very quick run down of where they've been and what they've seen. He looks a bit shocked and bemused. From his point of view they've only been a couple of hours. (Will senses for wyrm on the dead junkie and finds that there's not much) He had sent out some demons (confirmed!) to find them (but not the evil hospital ones) on the grounds that if they were back in the Realm they were safe but on the chance they were here somewhere he should stay and find them.

They give Grek the 20 minute explanation for where they've been and what they saw (headings and a section summary). Grek says that its highly significant - no one has made any claims of finding the bunyip homeland, if that is where they were, or even where the bunuyip went. Its not surprising that they are here, in the lands of the dead, really. They mention the part their pack totem seemed to play, but Grek says that he did not see Boobook at all during the ritual. Figuring why not, they try and summon their pack totem. While Sinead is doing that, Grek tells them that the way back home is through stepping while touching the corpse of this fomori.

Sinead finishes her ritual and they see Boobook come flying across the cemetery, but they can tell quickly that its not their Boobook specifically. The spirit that arrives is a boobook - its darker and when it flares its wings to land, there is a brief moment where the pack can hear voices, conversations for a second and then stops. Sinead explains to the spirit that they are seeking their pack totem. This boobook says that that spirit, his brood-kin, remains in the realm of the living. Will says that they thought their totem had come with them to the Deadlands. The spirit just looks at him. So... how are you? They thank the spirit for coming when they called and it flies away - there's another burst of voices, and there are flashes of colour under its wings. There's a suspicion that this owl spirit is acting like a psychopomp, and carrying spirits of the dead. ("You perform a necessary function" "Yeah, garbage collection")

Grek's plan is that there are entities here that they can consult for information. He wants to go to a place that's called the Museum, where destroyed artifacts accumulate, and speak to someone there. Its also pretty benign so they will be able to rest.

While they are walking, the pack ask Grek about the demons. He says they are native to all the deadlands, and that they are formless. They talk about how the mages seem to have servitors like this and Grek says that its odd they can almost casually bring some of the demons through and give them form - his understanding is that it is a hard thing to do normally. The pack suddenly remember the guy that they captured and how he died, melted - its very reminiscent of what the demons were doing to the corpses. Ew. The mages give them forms, which they seem to enjoy. The pack think on the various groups of mages they've seen - not all of them seem to be able to bring the gargoyles to bear. So there's the Strawman, the guys that were in Braybrook, the ones who attacked Lost Prophets in Sunbury, and the ones chasing the Full Moon Killer? Oh yeah, and the ones that had the house in Lysterfield. Different sorts of magics too? Fast metal vs death? (https://societywestasia.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/the-moustache-spoon/)

They arrive at a church in Toorak - it shows some signs of having burnt down at some point, but its not either one of the churches they've checked out for mages nor is it reminiscant of their gothic cathedral dream. Grek leads them inside and through the building to a door at the back, which opens up a passage that couldn't possibly fit inside the building. He leads them along the corridor - it cuts back and forth a few times, and goes up and down stairs, but doesn't have any side corridors or doors. It feels a bit reminiscient of a moon path in some ways. Its travelling more or less straight, not like it doubles back on itself or anything - it has an odd feel like a path travelling through difficult terrain.

Eventually the corridor comes to a door and when they open it, the room on the far side is a large space full of rugs. There are blue-coloured, Persian-style rugs on all the available walls, floor and ceiling. Large openings lead into more rooms further along. The only thing not a rug is the classical statue in the middle of the room. ("is it Abu Nawas?"). Tillie sniffs about - the rugs smell used with dusty and human and animal scents, and what might be the dyes. The scents don't seem to spread like they might normally - she has to go up close. None of them are exactly the same. Will senses unnatural - there are death and wyrm elements here, but there is a lot more weaver here than there was in the Shadow Penumbra. The statue in the middle is also demonic, so its probably possessed. Will goes and looks at it, and it turns its head, looks at him, then walks away. ("Maybe we should put a real statue in a city plaza and see how much money will people will put in a pot without realising ''This guy is really good''")

Grek says this is a good place to stop - this is the Museum. Its fairly benign, and so it might be a good place to stop and rest, especially after their many adventures. Grek helps heal Tillie's aggravated wounds - Sinead is feeling a bit gnosis-lite, but there's not really a caern option to regain any and she's not sure about beating up or dealing with spirits here.

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +2??

There's no day or night, so basically when the pack decide they've had enough rest, the garou had off. Grek says they are looking for an entity called the Curator - it is not a demon, but closer to the idea of a spirit in this realm. Despite some fear that Grek has no idea where he's going nad is just here to hang out, he picks a direction and heads off. The garou travel through room after room of strange artifacts; roof tiles, bar fridges, prosthetic limbs, weapons. The pack want to take stuff, but Grek suggests asking first. Despite the vast number of items, they all appear to be unique - its not 10 copies of the same tile, but like the rug room, each one is a different example of a type. Everything appears to be carefully arranged in shelves, cabinets or attached to the wall. Rooms of buttons, green ones, red ones, differnt shapes, differnt holes. This could be endless. The pack ask Grek whether this is an example of everything that's been wrecked and he says that's one theory. A room of kitchen sinks ("is the ruccus there?"). Some rooms are big, some are small, some have little sub-areas. ("Is there a room full of fetishes?" "Yes. But much like with google, you need to be more specific").

After many hours, in a room that appears to be full of 18thC furniture, they come across two figures. One is a younger man in middle-eastern-ish garb, ("no its not Abu Nawas") the other is a woman in a power suit. Apparently this is the Curator - both of them. Grek formally introduces the pack and explains why they are there. This takes a while so the pack impolitely use their sensory gifts on the Curator - the Curator senses a bit like the death realm, in an instantiated sense; weaver, given the order of the artifacts perhaps not surprising; no demonic, a minor amount of wyrm and wyld.

The Curator looks at itself and the woman speaks - she says they may be able to offer advice for a direction to investigate, but they would like help with a minor issue first. It is easier to show than explain. The Curator leads them along more hallways. Lawnmowers. Underpants. Not... really... sure what these things are? The Curator says they are an attachment to shoes from Roman times. Oh. In the distance, as they walk, a faint buzzing sound starts to be perceptable. Fluroescent tubses. The noise starts to differentiate into a clear mechnical/engine noise, and it is dopplering.

The pack walk out into the biggest room they have seen. Its over 100 meters high and hundreds of meters long. They've emerged from an archway on the side and as they come out an old style biplane buzzes past them and then up into the air, banking at the far end of the room and then flying through an array of planes suspended from the roof, diving and rising. The roof itself is glass, the first such roof they've seen, and they can see a grey sky. As it buzzes past them it does a half roll and they can see in the pilot seat is a gold-framed painted portrait of a pope, with arms sticking out and holding the controls. ("you know how I keep saying the fae realm is all fucked up..." "which pope?")

The Curator says that it would appreciate if they could stop the Pope, ideally with as little damage to the plane and the portrait as possible. ("We need to find a portrait of an anti-pope"). Tillie checks if this happens a lot and the Curator says that demons sometimes manage to gain control of objects here. Ahhh. Will asks if the Curator can remove the demon - yes, but it is harder further away and then the plane might crash. Can they borrow anything in the museum to catch the plane? Yes that would be allowed - ideally without breaking those things too.

The pack plan for some time and consider their options. ("How about halt the coward's flight" "he's not running away" "Get the AA gun") ("we could do something interesting and hope he lands" "Maybe he can't land, and the expression is panic?" "a ritual in latin?" "make a giant pile of pornography?") As the plan flies past they can see the aerons, the flaps, are a fairly simple lever, offering the possibility of using control simple machine to take them under control. Will wants to get a jet-catching net from an aircraft carrier or maybe bungee cords and parachutes.

The decide to go with the glasswalker gift and forcing the plane down then weighting it down with crinos as they catch it. Kasumi reaches out with her gifts and ("I gotta say, that's an amazing botch") touches something other than the weaver spirits she was expecting, and passes out, slumping heavily to the ground. The rest of the pack sigh and contemplate a weekend at bernie's option briefly before going back to the grappling hooks, bungie cords and parachutes option.

("dont worry, i rolled all the 1s" "I like your optimism") The pack spread out and lob grappling hooks at the plane. The hooks bite in and the parachutes expand out rapidly. The plane slows and slews all over the sky but the next chute smooths it out. It starts to drop rapidly as the demon pope fights the controls. 4 garou ran around trying to position themselves to catch the plane as it heads for the ground and manage to time it well enough to grab it and hit the brakes. Will climbs up to get the pope ("Your eminence") and sees a weird glowing purpley-orange swirl, hovering in the space behind the pope. It senses of an intense deadlands sense - like the place they are in, but concentrated and with some wyld. Its energetic in feeling. He grabs the painting out and lowers it down to the rest of the pack. The pope comes quietly.

When they brings the painting over, the female curator sort of flicks it and the demon vibration shoots out the back and off through a wall. She pushes the arms back into the painting until it looks more like a painting. Kasumi comes around and smells burning engine ("Did we win?") but everyone seems to be ok. Will asks about the vortex - the male curator says that its a hole from one world to another. Sometimes demons do them to give themselves more strength. Despite some urging from the packleader to stick their heads in it, the pack opt to leave it alone. (https://giphy.com/gifs/h54tukB1PBHKTu55z6/html5)

Pope Innocent VII (Cosimo de' Migliorati), pope from Oct. 17, 1404 to Nov. 6, 1406, was born at Sulmona in 1336. He was made papal vice-chamberlain and archbishop of Ravenna by Urban VI and cardinal priest of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, bishop of Bologna and papal legate to England by Boniface IX. He was unanimously chosen to succeed Boniface. The election was opposed at Rome by a considerable party but peace was maintained by the aid of Ladislaus of Naples, in return for which Innocent agreed not to come to terms with the antipope Benedict XIII, except on condition that he should recognise the claims of Ladislaus to Naples. Innocent issued at the close of 1404 a summons for a general council to heal the schism, but the council never assembled, as the Romans rose in arms to secure an extension of their liberties and finally, maddened by the murder of some of their leaders by the pope's nephew Ludovico de' Migliorati, compelled Innocent to take refuge at Viterbo (Aug. 6, 1405). Later, recognising the pope's innocence of this outrage, they made their submission to him in Jan. 1406. He returned to Rome in March, and, by a bull of Sept. 1, restored the city's decayed university. He died on Nov. 6, 1406.

The male Curator says to Grek that they should look first in the Necropolis. This seems to mean something to the Strider Elder, and he thanks them for this advice. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdvD4Fhc_K8)

He leads the pack back out of the museum, and on the way he gives them a run down. The Necropolis is a bit of a misnomer, but its stuck. Its lots of different lands, not just one city. It seems to be a place connected to the connection between life and death - all life leads to death and but all death leads to life. There is life there, and a lot of it... after a fashion. The difference is that things that are born, they are extremely decayed. And as they age, they become more more lifelike - they live the reverse of the degeneration process. Will asks if it is part of the process of human souls and rebirth and Grek says that it used to be thought that things that died in the Necropolis were reborn in the Realm, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The Necropolis was on his list of places to check - the life cycle, strange as it is, suggests a strong Gaian connection.

The only downside is that all the activity also attracts lots of demons who seem to like the activity - there are fiefdoms where powerful demons referred to as Tyrants rule over people (deadworld spirits) and demons alike. They're to be avoided if possible - they're stronger than any individual pack could manage. Some demons fight the Tyrants to help the people.

Grek knows where there's a passage from the shadow penumbra to the Necropolis, so he will lead them there now. ("Gotta sleep with a demon, add it to the list" "Its a bucket list Will, not a fuckit list" "Don't leave any gifts")

The pack and the Jindabyne council member head out with handfuls of reusable condoms. ("just turn them inside out") They head away from the CBD and find the same effect as when they arrived - the buildings quickly become more sporadic and older looking. After about half an hour of travelling back in time and around many many corpses they spot some movement ahead. Its one of the corpses, but its moving around in a circle or square. It senses like the realm, not like a demon - its a sort of pointsource of deadlands energy with a bit of wyld and weaver. They approach the woman - she's pale, but not rotting. She's just shuffling around in a circle maybe 10 or 15' across. She's moving her lips without making any sound - the pack try and figure out what she might be saying. She's maybe saying something about trying to get somewhere? They're not sure. And maybe something about milk. Its not easy. She doesn't react to the pack at all - they try and get in her way, but she walks through them

They ask Grek - he says for some reason this intersection is haunted. Sometimes the corpse-images are active. Some are even sentient and aware of their circumstances. The outcome is usually that those places in the Realm are haunted. Will tries to get an idea of where they are and when she's from - somewhere around Box Hill and she's wearing modern clothes, but they're generic jeans and tshirt. They talk to Grek some more - he's never seen animals move like this, or fomori.

After a couple of hours travel, Grek leads them off the main path. The track gets harder and harder to follow, and the garou end up in lupus form, pushing through undergrowth. They emerge in a new place, a more european forest in the middle of winter. The trees have few leaves, bark is peeling away. Finn senses - deadlands, more wyld than usual, more weaver and more wyrm. The larger trees look unwell, the smaller ones look dead and the occasional sapling is like a crumbling stick, barely there. A skeleton bird flies past. Mobile carapaces are probably beetles. ("you look awful, all fleshy") Its off putting but cool.

The pack follow along behind Grek as he leads them from the wilderness into rolling cultivated hills. Herds of rotting cows and sheep dot the brown grass. At one point a barely existant skeleton playing pan pipes stops at their approach and runs off toward a distant farm house yelling, After a few hours the road is clearly heading to a city build on a rise above a river. More travellers join them on the road and they react in a surprised but not horrified by the gooey fleshiness of the garou.

Just before the city are a series of stone plinths. Each plinth is occupied by the healthiest people the pack has seen all day, except for the fact that they are dead. Its mostly old people, with one or two youngsters, but they are also flesh and gooey. The Lost Prophets spot that one or two of them are transparent - they seem to be fading out rather than rotting away .. again.

The pack continue on, and find that the gate is guarded by two pikemen who block the way from these freaks. Grek makes some sort of hand sign and they change their stance and let the pack pass. Once they are through the gate the find a statue on a stone platform that appears to be demon-imbued - it turns to watch the garou extremely intensely as they walk on by. The culture appears to be borderline iron/bronze age- tey see people with iron tools, but there's definitely bronze and even stone implements in use. Conversely, the stone that makes up some of the buildings and the walls is carefully and expertly shaped - despite it being very hard, it almost looks as if it has flowed into place on some buildings. The whole city has a kind of greek/eastern european vibe in a lot of ways.

Grek leads them to a large stone building near the centre of town with a 'civic' vibe to it. It has more of the morphed stone than most of the other buildings. The guards at the gates to this building are less keen on letting random zombies into their guarded premises but Grek says he wishes it by the terms of the Compact. The guards decide this is now above their pay level and send for their boss who speaks to Grek and accepts he is who he says he is. Grek leads them through the halls until they emerge into a spacious room with chairs around the outside, with 40 or 50 people sitting and standing together in smell groups. They are almost universally old looking but also mostly intact - a bit of theatrical makeup and they could pass for alive people. The humans are intersperced with a few statues - more demon inhabited stone work moving around. They seem to be deep in discussion. They mostly are wearing the same sort of uniform - maybe like a dress uniform.

A man approaches and Grek greets him as Mausaleous. They clearly know one another and exchange pleasantries. Other people are watching this interaction with varying levels of interest. Grek explains who Lost Prophets are and why they are here with him. General headshaking and hubhub from people, but one of the statues approach. It is made of roughly hewn dark stone. It explains that the demons have their own stories - one says that all these lands spill from the nightmares of a sleeping Leviathan. It is almost always female and the source of all creation. Grek says this does sound like a Gaian spirit of some sort. The demon continues, saying that there is supposedly a passage from the Necropolis to where this spirit lays. The demon says that he has been told some of Grek's people have named it "The Atropos Well". Finn ahhs - Atropos is the final fate, the one that cuts the thread of a life. This does sound promising. They ask where the passage is? The demon says that the story he has heard suggests it is in the mountains on the far side of the domain of the Manyfold Lord - not many days travel, but there is war between here and there.

Grek appears to know the Manyfold Lord. Or at least of them. And he can take them there. He suggests maybe a night to stop and rest might be worth while given they'll have to be travelling a lot from here on. The pack agree and lodgings are arranged in the Council building. About half way through the evening the moon arises, and it still appears to be a philodox moon, so the garou bathe in delicious rage. ("pope force 9")

Will wanders off back to find people and ask questions about the morphed stone and the demons and mages. He finds some of the demon statues are still about and they are happy to talk - there is some issues with trying to convey concepts between them, but they have some analogies that they use to the other humans here. The statue suggests that the things the garou have observed (especially the seemingly casual way that demons are brought to the Realm) may imply that the mages are interacting with powerful Tyrants or Nether Kings - both extremely powerful demons. The Manyfold Lord is a Tyrant, and they are looking to cross his lands - the statue suggests avoiding the Lord at all costs.

Will tries to get an idea of what the Tyrants might get out of an interaction with a mage in the Realm - deaths? Deaths might ease the way between each world, or there may be inherent value in a killing to them. Would a Tyrant get some value out of a trapped ghost? If someone was killing people and trapping their spirits as they died, and then passing that to Tyrants somehow? The demon isn't really sure - it hasn't heard of anything like that but maybe if its a newly discovered use? Will tries to link the mages to the angry ghosts that are the bunyip through the fetishes the mages had or were looking through. The nature of the bunyip is unique, and so the nature of benefit to the Tyrants would also be so. Maybe its not something special, but bulk - they did have a lot of dead people in a cellar that no one had missed.

They discuss the gargoyles - its unlikely that when the pack destroy the physical form of the demon that you're damaging the motivating entity - it may cost them effort, like it seemed to at the hospital, but its not damage.

He asks about the morphed stone and the statue confirms that it is demons as they know it who do this. Its not done commonly, there needs to be a person who has something that a demon wants. Its done for art, but its also done for defence - once something has been reshaped and set thusly, it is harder to reshape.

Will asks about the war they need to travel through and conflict in general. There is a lot of conflict here - specifically various demons want to expand their lands and so they bump into their neighbours and bicker. The next land along (brown shirts) is an aly of this land, but not as well defended. On the far side they border the Manyfold Lord's land (grey shirts) which is an aggressive and unpleasant fiefdom. There are many fiefdoms - 30 that this one interacts with regularly. Some take slaves, though this one does not.

Later that same bee.... Sinead has the same dream that has haunted her before. She is in the tunnels, cleaning goo off the walls again. This time, the tunnels lead downward, getting darker and darker. It becomes pitch black when she has descended. An engine starts up, rumbling like a truck or bus engine. Headlights come on, facing straight toward her. More engines start - one after another. The truck in front suddenly accellerates toward her (much faster than a normal truck could) and when its not far away the headlights change to gargoyle eyes and then she wakes.

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +3??

Sinead starts the day with a rapidly beating heart and almost a panicked frenzy. The sense of impending doom is much stronger than last time. Oddly, she is not bleeding from the everything this time. The pack, now wide awake from the empathy, contemplate why? Perhaps its not a gift, its someone fucking with her?

Grek shows up before long with another person in tow, and says he has to leave for a time. Will surreptiously activates his Truth of Gaia gift. The pack ask why and he says he has to deal with an issue here. It should not take long and he should be able to catch them up. The directions for where they need to go are fairly straight forward. They ask again and Grek says its tribal business.

They should head east - the lands of the Citadel stretch for some distance but they should reach the border within a day or two. The next land is an ally of the Citadel, wearing brown uniforms. It will take a day or two to cross that land. Then they will reach the lands of the Manyfold Lord and that may take a few days to cross. Just keep heading east until they hit the mountains, and then wait for a few days for Grek. Should they come back? Grek leaves it to their judgement - it is their quest not his quest, and if he does not show up, he would encourage them to continue. He suggests not getting too involved in the fighting - each side might try and involve them. He's not too familiar with the mountains, so if they move on, leave a clear path.

They talk about the things Will found out and Sinead's dreams - he agrees that there are signs of urgency or imminence around them and is only making this side journey under duress. He shares a little tribal lore - the entity who cursed his tribe with eternal wandering, Sutekh, is said to be one of the Nether Kings. Grek also reiterates not engaging with any of the Tyrants.

The pack shift to lupus and book it. The Citadel lands are fairly domesticated - even the stands of forest appears to be heavily tended. There are easily avoided villages as they keep heading east. ("Juicy freaks!").

They move from Citadel lands to brown-uniform lands about two thirds of the way through the day. The landscape becomes a bit less tame, with stretches of more wild looking landscape. Tillie says they should keep going into the night now that there's places they can hide during the day - less likely to run into soldiers fighting then.

By about dusk they are heading through underbrush when they smell smoke as the wind swirls their direction. It smells less like wildfire and more like sausages. They creep up slowly and successfully. The pack see a small group of brown-uniformed soldiers camping. They have a guard, but he is not paying attention to potential wild animals and so they can get quite close. The soldiers are on a relatively easy patrol, and gossip while eating. They heard a lot of things about skirmishes on the border (a fair way away) but nothing like fixed battles between armies. The pack converse mentally and decide to not engage even with these purported allies and sneak around.

They take off running after dark. The countryside continues to get rougher - its no hassle to lupus, but it takes on a yet more wild note. They spot some abandoned farms as they travel. They can spot patrols because they are carrying torches. On the downside, its a little harder to navigate because they need to head east, which is harder to determine before the moon comes up. Helpfully, the moon rises about half way through the night and is still philodox.

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +4??

Toward the end of the night, ("we sleep in the trees" "... do you mean in a small wood or in the trees" "the latter. Is that not what wolves do?" "what, like bats, hanging upside down?" "I was thinking more like leopards" "I am the lupus, I sleep in the trees"), they find somewhere to stop and rest. A watch is posted while everyone else flakes out. At one point Finn hears hoofbeats ("probably zebras." "Giraffes") some distance away, though he never spots the source. In the later afternoon, Kasumi hears a metal on metal sound and yelling. She wakes Finn so there's some one aware where she is, and she creeps off toward it (the direction we were going).

At the far edge of the small wood they were in, the land comes up to a ridge, overlooking a long slow river valley. In the valley there is a battle going on - maybe 15 people a side, brown shirts vs grey shirts. There's already some wounded. A few of the grey shirted soldiers are warping like the hospital zombies. ("I make what is known as the pee sack... Its not a water balloon of pee... It might have been a water balloon of pee.... I don't have a water balloon of pee" "not anymore" "I don't know how we got here"). She relays this back to Finn while watching. He starts to wake everyone up and gives them the options. They're too far away for Kasumi to really sense. She watches as the brown shirts are being slowly beaten back. 12:9. 12:8. 11:8. 10:8. 10:7. 10:6, 10:5, 10:4. And in short order there's no battle in any more. ("Dog's can't see colour, sorry"). The grey shirts mess with the bodies for a bit, hiding them, and then head on. They look more like a scouting group than a force to invade. The garou watch and wait for them to leave and then continue in an easterly direction.

As they travel, they find a burnt out village and then another that is still on fire and has dead bodies. They need to slow down and zig zag more to avoid patrols even at night.

After much travelling, the pack come to a small gorge with a river at the bottom. Its significantly sliced a big hole through the landscape kind of out of nowhere. There's no obvious way to cross it in lupus form. From Grek's description, this is the border between the brownshirts and the Manyfold Lord, which means they have made good time; but on the downside his description included some slightly different landscape, so with all the travelling at night and avoiding patrols they've probably not gone directly east as much as they'd like.

They contemplate options - its too far to jump over, but they could maybe scramble down it even in the dark and then up the far side. They sniff about to make sure there won't be any surprise patrols or crocodiles or owlbears. On the opposite side, about 500m upstream they can see that a smaller tributary has cut its way down into the gorge, making an easier way to get up on the far side. Climbing down will be easier, and then they can scramble up this side. The pack change to forms with hands and then fall/climb down the sharp slope to the river. Its not a wide waterway, and so they can swim across and then hobble up the erosional valley on the other side.

Once they get back up onto the plain, they can't see mountains in the night, but they can more or less orient themselves east. The pack head off. The landscape continues to change to a more primeval state - there's some agriculture in sections but the land between them seems to be wild, rahter than reverted. There's more nomadic herds than farms of potatos.

Toward dawn there's a big open space to be crossed, and then a fairly thick forest ahead. However as the pack go to head across the space, they can hear the sound of hoofbeats again.

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +5??

The pack keep heading as east as best they can. They find a spot where a tree lets them get above the canopy - there are indeed mountains to the east. They keep travelling even though its day time now. The forest has another another hour of finding their way along game tracks and trying to stay east. There's the occasional sign that people come through sometimes, but not enough to suggest that its often. The woods break eventually - they can see more wood or forest ahead the way they are heading, some distance away. The mountains are not appreciably closer after an hour - still a day or two off.

Stealthily, the Lost Prophets creep through the landscape - they're not making their best time, but they really want to not engage with any more soldiers. ("you love when we fuck up" "I'm amused when you fuck up"). They easily avoid some mounted patrols. All the patrols seem to have some level of demon presence, often at the front, leading the patrol. Most of them have one, but one has three. They avoid a settlement - less a village and more a military fort, with a wooden palisade around it.

A bit past midday, they notice a bird circling around well above them, keeping pace as they run across a scrubby area. There's some brief contemplation if its Grek, but its more likely to be trouble - its too high to sense. It flies off after a time, but its back an hour or so later. Finn thinks that its some sort of raptor, which adds to the thought that its spying on them. The garou decide to try and lose it - the next woods they come to, they stop and hide for a time. They decide to stop til nighttime, then change direction and heading northish for a time keeping to the cover, and then not heading east directly like they have been until now. (https://data.whicdn.com/images/5089259/original.png)

Once then sun has gone down they do their best How Not To Be Seen. It appears to be effective - between their slinking and the totem powers, they're pretty sure they've lost the tail. However, even at night there seem to be patrols - they're smaller, and just appear to be demons on horseback without any unpossessed accompaniment. Its not hard to avoid them between the terrain and the dark.

Tillie spots that they still have aerial problems. However, the bird.. or birds? .. are much lower down and appear to be seeking them rather than be tracking them. Its going in a straight line roughly across their path and disappearing for some time again, like its searching the more open areas. Occasionally it occludes the moon. She points it out and a couple other pack members can spot it but its fast and hard to see against the dark sky. They might be able to ambush it, its skimming around lowish - but they'd have to lay in wait in trees for it to come close. (spear thrower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLG2o6TcnQ)

Toward the end of the evening they cross a wide marshy valley and into another wood. Sinead, who clearly watched the right episodes of Bear Grylls while stoned, notices that this wood seems extremely lush in terms of wildlife and limited in terms of tracks, and there's no sign of human presence. She can't see any footprints or anything, but while she's looking intently, she can hear a distant crashing and rumbling.

The pack opt for hiding and then sending Tillie-Raven back to see what's what. They vanish into the thick undergrowth. A number of small furry animals bound through the forest trying to get away from whatever is making this hubhub in the forest. Tillie lays down and sends her spirit out. Its dark and hard to see where she's going so it takes a fair bit of effort to get into the air

Once she's in the air, spotting the disturbance isn't too hard - trees are shaking and moving and occasionally being knocked down in the forest where the noise is coming from. Its hidden by the canopy somewhat, but she gets glimpses here and there as it makes its way roughly toward where the pack are hidden - its not making a beeline, but more aiming across their path. At a first glance, it appears to be a giant wheel. The second time it breaks cover she's able to see that the spokes are made up of human bodies, with all their heads at the hub. A third glance as it breaks cover a bit and she can see that the arms are shooting out and pulling it along, while the feet are all merged into the rim of the wheel. (FEAR NOT! https://staff.unimelb.edu.au/engineering/news/124-10-january-2020/new-staff-member-in-marketing). Of course, all the bodies making this up are rotting to various degrees, so the whole thing is somewhat offputting.

The hidden members of the pack notice a small doe running in panic along the animal track they were following and then bounding into the underbrush as they hear the crashing sounds coming close. ("Serpentine! Serpentine!"). They hunker down and continue to try and be part of the landscape as the wheel rolls/crashes into view into pursuit. This close up they can see the heads are all bonded into one lump at the centre of the wheel, with faces staring off in every direction. Fortunately it appears to be focussed on its quarry and also veers off into the woods, smashing through the woods.

The pack continue to hide, and eventually the normal noises return. Figuring this is the sign that lights are green they return to their bodies or stand up as per seems appropriate. ("When you get back to your body Will's just teabagging you. 'I didn't have any pencils'" "its a good way to get it bitten off" "'Wanna know how i got these scars?'")

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +6??

They run on, and come the dawn they reach the end of the lush forest, and they can see mountains. They don't just erupt out of the flat landscape and up to snow, but foothills and slopes are starting to become apparent. During the day they hear horses and see a few patrols. There's no obvious signs of settlement from their location.

Come the night, and the pack start running again. The ground is rising slowly (as they run, not in some weird earth movement way). After about an hour some of the pack start to get a niggly feeling like something's not right. Kasumi and Tillie especially start to get... tetchy. They stop and try to sense around (having been mocked for the lack of sensing last night) to get an idea if they can tell if something's up. There's no immediate point sources in the sea of deadlandsness - the same dead sense and wyrm sense from the realm. There's a kind of pine smell down from the mountains, but nothing else on the wind.

Kasumi spots something maybe 20 minutes back from where they are now, moving along their previous path. She can't really make it out except when it crests a hill - its a fair bit back. Its like it's hunting them tho.. oh that's why they feel weird. The garou are not good at being prey.

The pack head on, but keep an eye out for a good ambush location. They find some steepish banks either side of a creek that has cut its way into the rock and figure they can use this. The garou run up the creek and then split up, one group either side of the ravine and lay in wait. Sinead and Tillie have the best view and can see down the way they came. After a time they spot a very fast moving canine form. As it comes closer they can see its weird white coloured, and after a few more minutes they can see it is Grek. He has something giftish going on that makes him very difficult to see precisely. The pack stop stop hiding, stand up and wave; Grek sees them and heads their direction. ("have i got some news for you")

They compare notes, especially about the giant wheel. Grek says that they probably encountered the Manyfold Lord - hiding was a good plan. He went around the forest, which was partly why he has taken a while to find them. There is a significant patrol of demons possessing horses and riders and hounds coming after the pack though, so it is a good idea to get moving now and hopefully make it out of the Manyfold Lord's domain as soon as they can.

They compare notes a bit as they run. Grek thinks they have drifted from the original plan of heading directly east, but he had a few ways to track them so that wasn't an issue. Telling him about their fights explains some of the stranger senses of what they ight have been doing.

Toward the end of the night, they can look back and see the signs of their pursuers. There's a reasonablely large group of horsemen and what looks like dogs some distance behind. After an hour its obvious that the horses are gaining on them. Given they've got dogs, they'll have to lose the scent as well as the visual trail they're leaving.

Tillie's keen to lose or at least slow their pursuers, so she looks around for some sheer or near sheer cliffs they can climb to make it hard for the horses to follow. ("Spider horse!") Its not the direction they want to go, but at this stage they don't have a firm idea of where to end up anyway. The pack run northish and find some of the terrain they want to do this. They climb up and then head back southish again. They can spot the horsemen reaching the cliff face and mill about for a bit. Then a few of them dismount and head up the same sheer face. The rest look like they're trying to find alternative paths while these 3 scouts run on in pursuit.

Kasumi glances back at the pursuit. She sees one of them run to a tree and then just stop, and appear to slide to the ground. From high up the tree a large bird takes off and fly toward them and climbing. It reaches where they are and starts to circle. Oh good. ("We yote you"). ("I take the forgotten on me, so it forgets there's a me to follow") ("We flip the bird the bird"). Figuring they can't do much about this in the current environment, they just keep booking it while the bird tracks them.

Hours of fleeing while the bird continues to hang out - the demons can't catch them easily when they keep going up the cliffs but they aren't going to lose them either. At one point they see a smaller group galloping a distance away - they might be splitting up to find an easier way up.

Late in the afternoon they find themselves splashing over a reasonably significant stream. They go to head up it a bit to help lose tracks, but as they are looking to cross they spot horsemen heading their way less than 500m away. They continue up the stream as it goes around a spur before they opt to bolt up the slope on the far side. The hoofbeats suddenly stop and they can hear strange barky howls. The pack look over the ridge and see that about half the demons that were looking for them are milling about on the far side of the creek. They squint and try to work out what's going on - its not a "hmm which way did they go!" sort of meeting. Its not that the demons can't cross water. Maybe its someone else's territory? Is there something worse than them here? ("Will could look for ancestral guidance")

Figuring that they'll take advantage of the confusion, the pack book it further away. As they are heading up the hill, Kasumi mentally says she can see a person ahead trying to hide behind the tree. Tillie says she can see them there near that rock, but it turns out that's a different person again. Kasumi senses - there's a realm sense, but not a demon sense. Tillie asks Grek and he also thinks they are people, and not wearing uniforms. Kasumi gives a hellooo and after a moment of indecision, some of the people step out of their hiding places and approach cautiously. There's some questioning of essential natures - no, they're not demons, and neither are the pack for all they are disgustingly warm and moist. There's a brief quiet discussion from this group and two scoutier people head down the slope but give the pack a wide berth.

The pack are welcomed as long as they aren't demons and aren't working for the Manyfold Lord. Tillie says they're seeking a levianthan, to blank looks. They return to the issue at hand - the demons that are trying to get here. Apparently the stream is a boundary over which demons cannot cross. Introductions are made - the leader of this party is Pel. They will wait for the scouts to return. Grek asks if they have met any other shapeshangers and apparently no. The scouts return and say there some fallen people, but the others have fled. The pack aren't sure what 'fallen' entails, but Pel sends 4 guys with the scouts carrying weird sticks wrapped in canvas or hides. When they return they are carrying some people on litters who look deformed and stretched, a bit like the demon-warped people they've seen before.

Pel says they should go back to the village. Tillie asks if his people have a name but Pel says they're mostly outlaws, not a domain. They start walking along and find that they're on a bit of a plateau and its easy going. Despite the people's revulson at their weird heartbeating and constant chest movement, they do seem to be more or less nice rather than luring them into a garou BBQ. On the way back to their village, Pel explains that for the most part the people that live here are escapees from the Manyfold Lord, and that they heard the horses coming and went to see if someone else was making a break for the border. They have some ways to resist demon possession - the opposite of some of the people who are conditioned to not resist. ("Some people are squirrels." "Gregor is a weird name").

The Lost Prophets are brought to the village about sundown. It looks like a more or less permanent installation - stone buildings with thatched roofs. There's a small herd of rotting sheep, a number of small decayed garden beds, and children running about ("Will's under strict instructions to not sleep with anyway"). It looks like family groups. Pel takes them to the leader Trag who says they are welcome to visit. The villagers take the chance to have a sort of gathering and have a group meal ("anything from a tin is probably safe") sing songs and tell stories. Finn takes the opportunity to tell his story and remind his pack what on earth they are here for. ("How weird is t they get more attractive when they die?")

When the story has finished, The Lost Prophets ask if the villagers know where the Atropos Well is. Not by that name, what's it like? Um there's a chasm near something called to Atropos well that leads to a Leviathan. Blank looks all around. Someone at the back says there's that spring where you can see a woman's face on the wall near it? No it doesn't! yes it does! This is obviously a contentious issue where some folks think that it does and others think they see what they want to see - what about the place where the water flows backwards, that's interesting. The pack express a desire to see maybe a few interesting places and the villagers have a friendly "oh no this is better" sort of discussion. They're mostly interested in places associated with water - given the 'well' part of what they are looking for.

Wednesday 21st December - Theurge waning - +7??

Next morning, various lay abouts agree to show these weirdos some of the strange places. They start with the spring with the lady's face (or not). Its about 30m away from the village - its on sort of a plateau/flat in the hills and so that's more or less the village territory. Pel comes with them and four other guys.

The pack reach the spring with their guides. Its a trickle out of a rock that makes a pool at the base of the face. The face is pointed out... squinting with the eye of faith, its possible that the various shapes of the rock maybe make a face? If some of it was wet? Apparently the spring is sometimes more vigourous, so that could happen? if the sun was at the right angle? Will senses, and can't identify any particular aspects to the spring. Its the younger men who think that there's a face - perhaps they see what they want to see. They drink it and it seems like a fresh mineral spring ("it does not taste of woman" "It has not known the taste of a woman") The pack ask if they can move on now and off they go.

Its slow going because the hunters are also looking for food. The pack offer to help but when they hunt down rabbits in lupus and kill them by biting there's less enthusiasm for the help. ("Paternity shirt with hand holds built in"). After a couple of hours they are led down a path down to a stream that noodles along its bed, into a pond, and then... up... a slope. It only goes up a few feet in the space of about 12 feet, but it definitely flows up the slope. There's a wyldish kind of sense in the area. Its not strong, but its there. There's also an odd echo of a demonic .. noise? There's a noise that sounds like a demon. The garou drink the water and don't float up and away into the space. Its just a normal stream coming down from the snowline - but it goes up for a bit, and then it just behaves normally. Rolling stuff up the slope doesn't fail to conform to expectations. The wyld/demon sense just comes from the ridge - its sort of an oval shaped ridge maybe 30 feet long along its longest access. The pack ask the hunters - its always been like this, since their ancestors moved in here and built the village. About 6 generations. And it might have been here before that too. Will wonders whether this is part of a giant face on the lanscape - maybe this is an eye? Maaaaybe? It seems a bit of a long shot.

They chat about what this might be and the Still Face and looking for a Gaian sense. Grek, who has been looking dissatisfied, says that that might be a better way forward than this randomly looking at minor strange phenonomea - what are the attributes of a Gaian avatar in the dead worlds going to be? Gaia is life, but death is a part of life. Perhaps they need to find something more dead than usual? Or given the realm they are in, more densely "alive" that seems dead. They ask Pel - is there a larger than normal tree that looks like its on the verge of death, but has done for some time? He says he'll think on it, but nothing springs to mind.

Tel suggests maybe looking at the moving stones in the meantime. This is a harder place to get to - he scrambled there one day when he thought he saw people on horseback. They have to push through brambles to get up onto a ridgeline, where the soil has washed away, exposing a kind of crumbly rock which has weathered into lots of little stones. As they scramble up, lots of stones cascade down and the pack give Tel a bit of stink eye in case that's just what he means. Tel says no, its not like that, though it is subtle. The pack sense - there is a wyld sense here, but not as strong as the water. Its kind of flickery. Kasumi is sensing when there's sort of a spark, and a couple of rocks jump sideways. Will who has got a ridiculous number of successes says that he can detect a demon sense all the way through the ridgeline, deep into the rock. Its welling up from underneath - but not like water, more like smoke drifting through. Its interwoven with the wyld sense. Every now and again the demonic sense twitches and then there's a wyld discharge. Maybe there's something underground? Should they be looking for caves? ("Hymen Hyphen Hymen")

They ask the hunters and Pel says there is an area where there's some caves including a really big sinkhole that sometimes makes weird noises. Its in an area where they do a fair bit of hunting because there's a lot more animals there. The Lost Prophets ask about the noises? They're a low, deep, humm. The villagers think that maybe they should take their dead things back to the village, but Pel's happy to come with them. The garou ask more about caves but Pel says that there's bears and other animals that like to live in caves so they generally don't try and find any.

Pel says its a bit of a hike to get to the caves and Tillie shrugs and says they have no other commitments or ideas. Grek interrupts and says he has an increasing sense of urgency as if time was running out - he doesn't know if its for them or Alex or related to the dreams Sinead has. He thinks that this sightseeing is a bit trivial, and Tillie says if he has a better idea she'd like to hear it. There's a moment of tense standoff but it doesn't progress.

Its later afternoon when Pel says they're reaching the edge of the area that is good hunting. They still want to find caves? There's a mountain where there's a few. Oh and that downward cave that makes weird noises. Sounds good, say the pack. Will senses as they work and finds a weird increasing energy that's familiar but hard to place. Sinead says there's a lot more trees than there has been, and she can sort of pick signs that there's a lot of animal activity too.

The second sense increases until it matches the level of sense from the deadlands. Will suddenly realises that its a life/Gaian sense but its in combination with its almost exact opposite. At not long before dusk, they crest a small ridge and head down into a valley. It looks like it once had watch flowing through it, but its dry now. Pel points out ahead the hole. Even from a distance they can see it - its in a scrubby sort of meadow, and its about 30' across in the floor of the valley. The pack head over with enthusiasm, tempered only slightly by the crumbly edge. Even while giving that the respect it might deserve and leaning over carefully, the pack can see that the hole descends some way. ("IIIiiim stiiiilll falllling!")

Finn sends his faerie lights down there and can't see an end before he can't really see them. While he's concentrating down there, Kasumi looks about and sees that some of the nearby rocks appear to be not quite randomly placed. They appear to have been positioned into a kind of rock shelter, and she can see a figure inside. The figure appears to have several sources of spiritual energy - its not demons, its actually spirits, such as they are normally familiar with. Its pointed out to Grek and Pel - Pel is surprised, he'd never seen it before. Grek says to show caution. As they approach jauntily, the pack realise the figure isn't moving. Oh, when they get close enough they can see its a corpse, of a normal type for them. Pel is grossed out by the dead alive looking person.

The garou approach - the figure is sitting with its head down but appears to be sort of mummified naturally. Its dressed in what Tillie think is "olden days" and Finn suggests maybe mediveal Persian - a tunic. They investigate around - the sources of energy are the corpse, but around it. Grek syggests that they are a Silent Strider - they are clearly not native to here, there's some hints on the jewelery and he thinks he can see tattoos. Grek moves the corpse out, to the surprise of the pack, but he says that he would return them to the tribe.

Kasumi looks around further inside. There's no signs of writing or pictures on the inside of the shelter, but there is some sign of smoke. She senses and says that there's something left behind. She can see some worked sticks or bits of wood. Tillie touches them and - screams of incoherent rage - snatches her hand away. Nope nope nope. Tillie tells Grek whatever it is is mad. Her checks it out, wincing, and says that its an old fetish where the spirit has gone mad. Grek pries it out and finds its a flail (like old agricultural flail).

Grek sorts out the corpse. One of the senses was a flint knife in a kind of carrying loop. He looks around the neck and pulls off some sort of amulet and says its definitely a Strider - but when the pack ask to see what it is, he says its a Strider fetish and it is tribal business and puts it away. Will quietly uses his Truth of Gaia gift while talking to Grek. Grek removes another necklace of amber beads and says he's not quite sure what that is. The corpse also had a scroll stashed inside its tunic - Grek (or any of the pack) can't read it. Tillie asks if it'll tell them who is he, but Grek really isn't sure - however, one Garou with four fetishes is not going to be a cub, so maybe they'll be able to figure it out. The strider amulet is not a fetish casually given to cubs, for instance. He asks Lost Prophets to try and find a way to tie the corpse to himself. No one is really sure why he was here. Grek prevaricates and looks at Pel, saying its Garou business. Subtly changes the topic.

They check out the assume'd well. Hanging Kasumi over the edge, there's no path and no weird gravity effects. She does suggest it might be climbable though. They lob a bit rock in... it takes so long and makes an odd noise that Kasumi thinks it went across the whole gap before it hit the bottom. Ok, that's deep. ("Would... falling forver kill us? I mean, terminal velocity is only so fast... ")

Ok. Climbing down. It seems to be the only way to go. Pel thinks they are crazy people, but he'll stay here tonight in case they come back (also its too late to get home). Will makes some rough torches and they start heading down in glabro and find the going not too hard. Every now and again there's sort of a natural platform. The light dims with the sunset and the descent but it never fades out totally. It goes to a sort of shades of grey vision, and they can see enough to keep climbing. They end up spread around the hole.

After a time, Tillie and Finn start finding things harder and harder. They slip every now and again and even the platforms don't seem as easy to relax on. Its almost like they're being pulled into the hole. Will senses but there's nothing different. Everyone else is doing ok. Its like the dark is pulling at them - they feel like there's a sense that the endless dark below is pulling at them. The others aren't having anywhere near the same trouble. Will tries to edge around and see if he can be helpful by spotting out easier climbs to Tillie and finds that it is harder on this side. He scrambles back the other way and squints at it then sighs and says the tunnel is tipping away from vertical and Tillie and Finn are on the increasingly roof side. The two pack members scooch around and find that its much easier on the side that's becoming floor.

After an interminable time, the shaft has slowly turned into a tunnel. They are an extraordinary distance down into the ground, which is concerning if they need to come back. Grek says that the tunnel appears more like a moon bridge to him - they have probably left the Necropolis, but he doesn't know where they are now.

Suddenly the tunnel opens into an immense chamber. In their weird grey vision they can see that the space in front of them is filled with different forms - geometric shapes, animals, people, almost anything that could be imagined. It all appears to be made of the same homogenous material.

The pack investigate - Will tries to get a sense of whether this is carvings or people turned to stone. Its probably the latter ahead of the former as the level of detail varies between each form. This lady has wrinkles, that elephant looks like a kids drawing. Kasumi senses for unnatural and finds an immense demonic source underneath the cavern. Oh and its rising. The wibbly energy source starts to rise in the middle of the cavern and spreads toward the pack as it rises higher. It seems huge and energetic, wibbling raidly. Kasumi says that there's not much wyrm amidst the demonic sense. Will senses the True Form - he finds that every single bit of the stone forms has a demonic sense to it. Its not demons, but all of it has been changed by demonic powers. The giant thing is just a demon, which is sort of reassuring, ish.

The demonic vibration seems to vanish and one of the statues starts to move toward them. It appears to be a human make form, but there' no detail, including facial features. Will does the formal introduction. A mouth appears on the head shape and red light emits as it speaks. Its extremely bright in the dark caverns. It asks why they have come and they explain that they are seeking the Still Face of Gaia. It does not know that name. Will enquiries what this place is and the demon says this is where it waits and guards what lies beyond. What does lie beyond? The demon says if they do not know, then they are ill prepared to continue. "Is this the well of Atropos?". It says one of their people has called it this before. So what lies beyond then? It is the Sundering - the last moment when creation was in balance before everything fell into corruption. They are not whom it guards from, so they may pass. Who does it guard from? Others like itself. Who is it? It has no use for names. Why do you guard it? This is the task it was given. By who? The All-Mother. Well... that's a good sign? They are seeking a face of the all-mother. Then perhaps what they seek is here - it points across to the other side of the chamber and says that their path continues there.

On the other side of the chamber is another tunnel, much smaller than their previous descent. They start down it and become aware of a noise. It grows rapidly - its a scream, one of loss and despair. It grows quickly as they continue and it quickly becomes almost a physical force to push against. Sinead and Finn in particular are struggling and something inside Sinead suddenly snaps and she bolts blindly back up the tunnel. The others try calling out but when its clear she's not thinking coherently they take off after her too. The sound diminishes as they leave and ceases when when they emerge into the shape cavern.

Where previously it was very still, now whole thing is in motion . A stone ocean crases against a stone beach, other parts of the cave are growing and shrinking or moving in a set path. Despite this visual cacophany they spot Sinead wrapped in a ball in a stone forest waving gently in a non-existent breeze. The pack crowd around her but don't try to push while they think about what to do. ("Can I just [puts fingers in ears]?" "Sure" "They'll grow back" "I .. just thought you meant block your ears, not burst the drums with claws").

Sinead slowly gets her shit together. The pack make some preparatons but unfortunately it turns out that its not a physical sensation, but more a spiritual scream, and stuffing fingertips in their ears, connected or otherwise, doesn't actually help. The pack retreat slightly and consider their option. They try to think of some rousing camp songs but it turns out they all have different musical taste. Will suggests a meditation session to get their heads together, and this seems a plan. ("I could roll it, I need a leadership tick?" "Oh really. What do you need that for?"). Finn leads the pack in trying to get their shit together to some level of help.

They head down the tunnel again and despite the calming influence of meditating as a pack, Sinead freaks out again and heads back up. This time when she emerges into the cavern it is a vista of different sorts of craters. Kasumi experiments with leading the way into the screaming with her eyes closed and trying to get some sort of reaction from the golden thread in her eyes, but there's no luck there. (blind folded running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQEBzauVIlA)

The pack try more pack morale building. They're going to sprint down the corridor in lupus. Kasumi tries to build team work ("how about you just come sit in the car.... maybe we could just wear the balaclava for a bit in the car... lets drive past the bank") and then fire them up down the corridor. Finn and Will roar down ahead. Kasumi declares her statements are all lies and starts back up the hill. Tillie says "FUCK NO", and scruffs her and drags her down the corridor. Finn tries his call of the wyld gift to try and empower his packmates to keep going. ("you wake her, you settle her")

They struggle along further. With momentum, gifts and general pack behaviour they manage to fight against the screaming and reach the end of the tunnel. It ends on a platform that extends from a cliff face, into an endless void. It has no railing or anything. The face it extends from seems endless, up, down, sideways. In the far, far distance is a single point of light. The screaming is a physical presence, making it hard to think or concentrate. ("There's no edge to the platform" "What do you mean there's no edge?" "Well, its not fractal, it just stops"). Kasumi sticks her hand out and finds there is a pulling sensation. They ask Grek whether its a leap of faith situation, and he suggests they try other options first.

They sense. There's a deadlands sense. Wyrm, Wyld and Weaver and a fourth sense that Kasumi is not sure on. An extremely strong Gaia sense from the distant light. Sensing Wyrm says that the wyrm sense is more akin to the wyrm beast cave in the Blue Mountains than anything else, which is worrying. The rock face is too smooth to climb. The platform appears to be made of the same material. ("What if we jump up and down on it -" "No.") There's no smells other than packmates. ("What's it taste like?" "Grey"). Kasumi gets Will to hold her while she leans out. She can feel the pulling sense growing stronger and suddenly spiritual energy is torn away from her, leaving burns and rotting skin in strange patterns on the arm sticking out. ("A degloving injury!")

They stare at the light but after a while its sort of burned into their retinas. Kasumi tries to line it up with the string in her brain, but to no avail ("Is there some clue or item we were given 6 months ago in real time that's relevant?") They call out, but their voices do not echo, but are absorbed away. Finn tries to peek, but there's no gauntlet, which would make sense if it was a moment in time before the world of matter and spirit was torn apart. They could go back and ask the demon if it could build a bridge? Maybe they could summon a spirit? Will doesn't think he could get into the right mindset given the ongoing screaming.

The pack retreat from the screaming back to the demon chamber. When the arrive there's still a riot of activity, but its simple geomatric forms coming up out fo the floor and then sinking down. They call out and a humanoid form erupts out of the ground, forming a 12' tall woman, much more detailed than the male form earlier. She looks sort of African ("you're just saying that cos she's tall") Will asks if it can tell them more about the Sundering. It says that it was when matter and spirit is torn apart, creation is unbalanced and fell into corruption. It says that they are badly affected and the pack agree. It suggests that they are creatures of two worlds, and they are more badly affected than it is as a creature of one world.

Will says they need to get across the void. ("Please" "Spend a willpower point"). What will they offer in return? The pack suggest they could offer knowledge, stories ("let me tell you of Abu Nawas"). It asks for a favour and a knowing of the shapes that they have known. There's a bit of back and forth - they want know what the consequences are. It will just see their memories of things they have experienced. Also it will ask one thing of their pack - Kasumi says they're unlikely to come back and the demon says that is a known thing. It picks Kasumi and her experiences to know. ("She's been a liquid so there's bonus extra forms"). The pack agree.

The demon approaches Kasumi and looks at her. Her memories race to the fore and speed through her life. ("hey, do you have a secret sister?" "no there's no point where you go 'hey, what happened there?'" ("drudgery drudgery drudgery horror!" "Kasumi's always seemed asexual to me" "I'm just picky"). She has a weird deja vu when the process ends.

The demon jestures and 6 drinking fountains rise up. It says that it is unable to possess them as they are now - if they consume as much of the liquid as possible, it can possess that and guide them. The liquid rock stuff doesn't really have a taste or a smell and its hard to want to swallow, but they start to gulp it down as hard as possible. It doesn't just settle into their stomachs but it feels like its spreading out throughout their bodies, into limbs and head and everywhere ("I'm gunna need to pee like Seabiscuit"). They feel heavier and more sluggish. The woman melts and then they feel a tingling sense rise up through their bodies. Their limbs move without volition and turn them, walking woodenly down the corridor

There is still screaming, but it feels like its a long way away. The garou woodenly walk along to the platform and then step straight off, floating limply into the void. They travel an endless time through nothingness with just Sinead's singing of the doom song to mark time. The light stays the same endlessly.

Suddenly it erupts and all of them are knocked to their knees as liquid explodes out of them. It draws from their toes and ankles and fingers and head into their stomach and then all over the floor. All in all, it's a pretty miserable five minutes of anyone's life. ("i'm gunna vomit like Seabiscuit") Tillie recovers first. She's on her hands and knees on flagonstone floor. Looking up she can see barstools. A bar. Drinks, shelves, mirrors. Lots of downlights. ("Are we in Sydney again? " "Of course Sydney was where everything went wrong"). In the other direction the floor just ends adn there is the endless void. There's a woman sitting at the end of the bar, punk AF, staring at them. She waves and says "hi".

Tillie subtley senses while her packmates are still puking up their shoes - there's wyrm, weaver, wyld and a 4th sense that is unknown. But everything else is Gaia - floor, woman, bar, etc. Not 'gaian' but Gaia.

The woman says "Are you alright? It can be a rough trip to get in - the bouncer is a bit picky. Feel free to get yourself someting to drink - the booze is good but the service is terrible". Tillie asks if she can sit and the woman says sure and introduces herself as Gai. Tillie waves at her pack who are starting to get to their feet and introduces them too. Finn staggers over and asks if he can drink anything, because of it being an underworld situation. Gai looks around and says she's never seen any mafia here?

"Been here a while?" "Yeah I come for some peace and quiet?" "Where are you from?" "Oh sort of everywhere. I've been a lot of places" Gai turns the conversation to them, where they are from, why they are here? ("She smells like a mother's love" "Tillie wouldn't know what that is like") Oh Australia, she's known some people from there. She tells Will to make some drinks, he looks like a man that has worked a bar. ("I'll have a moscow mule" "I don't know what that is - you can have a cosmopolitan or a long island iced tea") Gai drinks his first effort and says that sometimes its hard to get everything in balance, or its not a good outcome. Will finds the bar is pretty well stocked, including with a baseball bat which he decides is his now. Gai asks about them. Tillie says they are looking for the Still Face of Gaia - Gai hasn't heard of it, is it a place? Oh why are they looking for it? Kasumi says that they had a friend who died and they're looking to see what happened after she died. Because her close friend is really messed up about it. How'd she die? A fight, that's pretty hard core. Gai keeps asking questions about how the fight started, and then why they were there and then.. She just keeps asking questions about what happened before that, and the pack find themselves sort of running over events backwards from Marion's death. They don't pull any punches on the mythic stuff, and she just goes with it.

Sinead is drinking and listening and finds herself getting sleepy and a bit vague. Most of the rest of the pack are a bit sleepy and garralous while Finn just stares at them ("and then there was a huge tentacle monster - this wasn't a hentai thing, don't start with that"). Tillie asks about the void and Gai just looks confused - Tillie says that its a bit of a bad neighbourhood and Gai says she kinda likes it. She comes here for just a moment of peace before everything goes back to being crazy.

The pack suddenly realise Grek is not here despite coming across the void. They wave at the demon and it inhabits the grey goo they puked up everywhere and makes a human form. Kasumi asks where Grek is and the demon says that he's here - he is just not experiencing this moment. They talk a bit more and the demon conveys that it thinks they are not perceiving what it is perceiving about the situation. The pack shrug and decide to get on with enjoying the hallucination or whatever it is.

The conversation seems to go for hours, like Gai is just one of those people that you can chat about everything with without even really knowing them. She asks many questions about them all, talking about their lives. They also ask her about her life and Gai says she grew up in a bit of a messed up situation. Her parents had a weird modern relationship, there was her mum and her dad and her mum's boyfriend, and it was ok for a while. But then her dad had some sort of midlife crisis - he was really wrapped up in his work and had a moment of self doubt about it all and went off to express himself or whatever. Mum was a bit here there and everywhere at the best of times, and after this she got more and more out of control - popping pills and in and out of institutions, not making a lot of sense. And then it turned out her boyfriend was a bit of a pervert and things got a bit yuck. But it turned out sort of more or less ok.

The pack try and explore the edge of what they can and can't ask, symbolically or whatever. Will asks when she was born - she's not really sure, they lived out in the middle of nowhere and they only kept track of seasons roughtly, let along years. ("We had no concept of time"). She travelled a lot too, but without any documentation she had to go the back ways. Home schooled? yeah, she had to learn a lot of things herself.

Tillie asks what she'd do if she was they. Gai hmms and asks where they last saw this friend. Sydney? Gai pulls out her phone and starts poking at it. She's met a lot of people, but she doesn't always put them in the contacts by their names. Poke poke poke. She's from Melbourne, but died in Sydney. Sometimes they're in by places, or physical descriptions. Oh hay, she's got her. Gai writes down something on a coaster while Kasumi looks at her phone - its not working. Gai notices her checking and says the signal here is terrible, that's part of why she comes here, people can't bug her too much.

Gai hands the coaster across to Kasumi - people see there's just a splodge on the back of the coaster - who takes it. The thread in her head expands out and a second point appears on the thread, and from there the gold thread leads out into the dark again.

Gai suggests that it might be time to get their friend (Sinead) home. Will asks if they could help her in anyway? Or, perhaps, other people she knows that might need help? Gai says ah, sure, why not, give her their numbers and she'll put them into her phone ("Concerning, but sure!"). She also takes photos of them to make sure she remembers who they are. Gai points them at the back door so they don't have to take the long way out. Will asks her to sign the baseball bat - "sure its not the weirdest thing I've been asked to sign" ("Welcome to Jamaica I hope you enjoy your stay"). ("Just before we go - " "you need to pee?"). Finn asks what she thinks happens when they die - Gai says she isn't sure, but she's seen some weird shit. Maybe what people expect is what they get? Like people think they just stop, and so they do? But she's been places where there was a vibe. Maybe its as varied as what happens to you when you live?

The Lost Prophets open the door and bright daylight blinds them and they shut their eyes. When they open them again they are in the Cemetery with Grek and the vibrantly coloured corpse of Mr Allen. Will curses as he realises his baseball bat is gone. ("This is the worst thing since finding out we can't fly in the Umbra"). Grek looks confused until they briefly explain and he reiterates that it is their path, not his. He saw nothing until suddenly the light expanded and he was here.

Kasumi plays with the string in her head, but it doesn't seem to point at anything or move when she moves ("its the top level quest marker")

The pack decide they've had enough of this and touch Allen and step. Rather than the sinking feeling they experienced before, they get a giddy, rising sensation. When they erupt into the Umbra of the cemetery its extremely bright, intenseley scented and loud. ("Open a moonbridge to my alone place"). Figuring they should report in, they head to Graeme's house. On the way there they can see Ian open a top floor window and he yells at them to piss off. They ask what year it is and he accuses them of stealing his material and also says its Christmas Day.

December 25th - Ragabash waxing

Fuck, says Finn. He's meant to be at Warrnambool now (well technically two days ago). Maybe he can moonbridge. All the pack members with distant, dead or estranged family start offering helpful suggestions like pretending he was in a car crash.

Graeme and Ian are home and are glad to see them. Well, Graeme is. Lost Prophets give Graeme a run down on everything back from the bar. He's moderately horrified about everything they found out pertainant to Sydney and the Bunyip in general. Sinead's had more visions of gargoygles and engines. So... what have you been up to?

Graeme says they've been looking into things and not getting very far. They found a pet smuggling ring and a bunch of student fomori at LaTrobe Uni eating international students. They don't seem relevant, but looking into it as consumed some time. He'll let other people catch them up on that.

He suggests that they let Monash known they are back. Grek says that they should probably continue as soon as possible and Graeme gives him a look. Finn says a couple days, and Grek says that he would expect them to focus on this quest given its clear significance and the dreams he has been having about time running out. Kasumi says that they've had about 8 subjective days and many of those were spent fighting and running. They need at least a night to catch their breath. Graeme says Cossack won't be back for a few hours and he'll want to speak to them too. He also asks if they know where to go? Grek says that he would expect that the New Face will be found in the Wyld Reaches of the Deep Umbra, and Monash as a Stargazer might know more. He concedes that a day's delay won't be too bad. Tillie mentally says that they don't want to waste all the effort they've spent by taking time out for lunch.

Will calls his mum for Christmas. Finn prevaricates over what he should do at this point. He tries ringing Russell at the Rippling Waters caern but he gets Sandra on the phone instead. Russell isn't there and she doesn't have a mobile number for him. Finn leaves a message. He finds their answering machine and triggers it, finding a number of calls from his mum ("What train are you going to be on" "What day are you coming" "Why aren't you returning my calls" "Look this is unfair Finn") and one from his younger sister Ciara ("DUDE"). He calls Sandra back and explains that he has family issues as he has garou business but he's meant to be at his mum's place. He was hoping that someone could cover for him? Sandra isn't too sympathetic and suggests he needs to own the problem. Just cos he's a long way away and busy doesn't negate his need to spend time on this relationship if he still wants it. ("This is much easier when you're an orphan.... I'm not saying we should kill your mum")

While the Lost Prophets make up excuses ("Shave your head, hare krisna costime" "I've been in rehab" "I got a fancy job, cash in hand" "say you were arrested" "Mental breakdown" "We can give you a really bad head injury?" "We have an *answering machine*??" "Your girlfriend got pregnant" "And now we've sorted that out" "yeah tell your catholic mum you had an abortion" "Oh abortion, oo la la" "you got the flu?") Finn ponders his options. ("You can borrow Tillie's bike if you can ride" "I can ride a moped" "you cannot borrow Tillie's bike"). In the end he borrows the murdervan and drives down while the rest of the pack stays home.

Everyone else spends some time meditating in the caern to get some gnosis back before Cossack returns. ("I'm one tick away from enigmas 5" "You are almost the best jigsaw player. You would beat almost everyone at jigsaw" "I've got 5" "But you're human and recognised that its not a competitive game") Once he does there's more braindumping and talking about the things they learned (but not as much as the GM planned beecause Andrew wasn't there). Monash End-to-the-Darkness Moonbridges in at evening and they have to go back over a whole lot of it.

Grek is of the opinion that the pack visited the Bunyip homeland - if its in the Deadlands, that explains why no one ever got a whiff of its presence in the Umbra. If true that's a revelation even on its own. The Watcher's story does implicate the Uktena pretty hard - Monash can confirm that Tjinderi Knowing-Smile, the Uktena tribe representative on the Council, took posession of the bone, but they did not pass on to the Council that the spirit within had been freed. This will come up at the Council meeting next time they meet (in about a week) on New years. Tillie asks if she'd be receptive to questions and the two Council members laugh and laugh and laugh (no not really). It would probably be expected that the pack come and relate what they were told.

They talk about where next - the New Face of Gaia. There are places in the Realm where - or when - they might be able to find an avatar of the goddess who epitomises new beginnings but they aren't as certain as it might be in the Umbra. Monash agrees with Grek that the Wyld Reaches, in the Deep Umbra, outside of normal realms, is probably the best place, but he disagrees that Grek should be their guide. He suggests the easiest way to get there would be through the Aetherial realm (through the sky), and he knows that there are people in that realm who can provide instruction on how to get to the Deep Umbra from there. The pack ask who, and he says there's a Stargazer elder there. Grek and he have a polite disagreement - Grek has been to the Deep Umbra, but not that part and not that way, but Monash has not been there but has a plan. In the end Grek concedes Monash's idea is faster and he concerned about time. Cossack says that the pack clearly need at least a night's rest and they need to wait for Finn to come back. In the end they decide to leave tomorrow night.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, the sept has been looking into Sinead's dreams. The get of Penington found a pure breed pet smuggling ring, but it took a while to establish that it wasn't super wyrm related. The Scryers found the student formori that were eating other students and assuming their identies. The Sept have tried to investigate any truck or engine related site within the splash zone in Preston, including petrol stations. Kirsty suggested maybe the goo had got into engines to mess with them, but they weren't sure how to test that The gargoyle imply mages, but there's been no sign of them.

Other unsettling thoughts - can demons inhabit machines? The pack saw demons in paintings and corpses, so maybe? Grek sees no immediate reason they couldn't, though all the ones they've seen in Melbourne were in stone. There may be limitations that the garou don't know, but if the demons are inhabiting machinery, that's bad. Given the dream is down a tunnel, digging machinery? Haunted trains?

One of the other things resolved while they are talking is the fate of the fetish's found with the Strider dummy. In recognition of their help in finding and returning the Strider to the tribe, Grek offers the pack two of the fetishes he was carrying - the amber necklace is a Monkey Puzzle, which makes it always seem like you're in homid form regardless of what form you are in. The other is called a d'siah - its a special flint knife. It causes aggravated damage to creatures of the wyrm, and can be activated to drain gnosis and transfer it to the user. Its a bit hard to use properly, but with time Sinead, for instance, could benefit from it. The pack respectfully thank him for the gifts - they're both quite drained, and will need to be left in the caern to regenerate their gnosis for a bit. Grek will take the other fetishes, and return them to the tribe - the other amulet is an important tribe fetish, but it might have been what killed the owner.

At the end of the night the pack head to their respective houses and fall over. Kasumi gives Gus pats and then calls her family in Japan, wishing them merry KFC day. She calls Melissa and says thanks for taking care of Gus and also they're going again. Mel says that she's going away for a couple of days, but she's organised with Graeme to have someone else feed Gus those days (and maybe walk him). She doesn't know who - Graeme wouldn't tell her, just said it was someone who lived nearby and would help. ("Roald Dahl, children's author and body horror novellist"). They talk briefly about Melissa's efforts to learn about garou life, and she is still keen but its taking a long time.

Sinead has some preliminary messages asking what she's planning to be on New Year's Eve, and whether she might be available for some black market commerce. She too has some human relationships that have been a bit neglected and she's running low on stock.

Will rings his dad and wishes him a happy christmas. Tillie continues to appreciate her lack of human contact. The pack decide to bring the faerie sword and armor this time, and so they spend some time working out who would be best gifted with it. ("no, you can have sex, just unsatisfying sex not to completion")

December 25 - Ragabash waxing

Emma finds the pack early in the day and says that given they are tired and worn out, the Sept will do a Sacred Hunt ritual before they leave to refresh their gnosis.

Kasumi queries with Graeme who will be in her house. He says that a friend of the caern is available. ("Is it Scott?"). They'll just come in and feed the dog and leave. They won't be on her stuff - they're not garou. Nor kinfolk. ("They're allowed one poop").

Half way through the day Finn comes back on the mental link and warns the pack that some people seem to think that Kasumi is his girlfriend - word gets around and small town syndrome still applies in Melbourne. Also his little sister is dating someone from Rippling Waters - Steve from One Phone Call. Is there a chance that his sister is a late blooming garou tho? yes, but that's their problem really. She might also be in Melbourne next year going to uni, so that's something to look forward to. In other news Finn needs to find a way to cover his rent ("oh she got really mad, didn't she") as his new found independance shows that he's capable of being independant.

Toward the end of the day, there's more preparation. Finn spends a bit of time getting some gnosis back. Christine and Chris, as representative sof their packs, turn up with some weaver talens that might help the pack keep their sanity. The discussion is that the Deep Umbra is differnt from every other part of reality - every other part has a base set of rules like gravity and causality. They're going outside of Gaia. Sort of. And they'll be exposed to high levels of Wyld energy. So these talens will help them keep mind, body and soul together. There's 6 talens each, all different. (https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02062020.shtml)

At dusk, Emma performs the Sacred Hunt right, summoning an Engling to act as their sacrificial lamb, or rather Stag. (Finn performs his rites also) The spirit agrees to help, and the ritual is completed. The three packs take off in the Umbra after the spirit, but the Scryers and Get of Pennington hang back and leave the actual hunt for Lost Prophets. Eventually they catch the spirit and respectfully tear it to pieces for its delicious energy.

Monash End-to-the-Darkness arrives shortly after that and leads them toward Mt Macedon in the Umbra. They hit the mountain and begin to rise up the side. As they ascend, the Umbral fog closes and their pathway goes from being bushland to a more moon path feeling. However, its still a ragabash moon, and the pathway is hard to find, and strange noises and hoots echo through the foggy areas near them.

After some long amount of time the fogs clear and they emerge out onto the tops of what seem like clouds. The sky seems a lot closer and there's a lot of crazy shit going on up there - stars, nebuli and comets brightly visible in many directions. The moon is immensely present even as a new moon. Closer to the pack bird spirits, bug spirits, wind spirits and many other sorts of airborne spirits flock here there and everywhere - its extremely loud as they all verbalise. ("Are there any giant wheels on fire with swords"). While the pack sit there a bit flabberghasted, Boobook flies down and lands on Tillie

("Speaking of moons..." "...I was confused by your sudden attack of relevancy" "Oh by the way, apophis - " "That's better") ("we watched Willow in English" "... instead of the original Korean?" "The subject.") Boobok has no particular agenda for being here, but just indicates that he wishes to spend time with the pack.

Monash indicates they are looking for a Stargazer Sept in the Aetherial Realm. He sets off toward the minimalist sun. The pack look at all the madness and make a comment about how they're going to end up in faerie land again, and Monash stays that the Aetherial Realm does have paths through to Arcadia Gateway, and nearly any other realm that has a sky.

After a time of travelling, there's something odd about Tillie ("Is she smiling?"). Her footfalls have a bit of an echo to them, almost a roll, and the clouds seems to be a bit darker around her. After a bit of speculation the pack think its probably related to her Tribe Totem - as much as she's not super keen on on the Shadow Lords, it seems the totem has a hold on her still. Will asks about travelling to the Shadow Lord home land, and Monash agrees that there may be paths from here to there. Certainly they have mountains involved.

While they walk, the pack run over a couple of bits of their Cernonous encounters. When they ran into a bunyip with Cernonous there was an Uktena (Jacky Gecko) there, who was a pilot in a plane that crashed.

The pack is walking on clouds, and as clouds do, they sometimes break up. The pack is forced to navigate based on the moving chunks of cloud - they sometimes have to wait for clouds to intersect or jump down to a lower levels and then run to get across, then climb back up. Monash says its almost impossible to hurt themselves though they shouldn't jump down through the gaps in the clouds.

After hours of travelling, a cloud mountain starts ot become visible in front of them. Monash confirms that's where they are headed. As they get closer, it becomes clear the top is adorned with a crazy Escher like castle with big gaps in the contiguous walls. ("Quick look for David bowie"). Its all kind of silvery colour, reflecting he spiritss.

They ascend the mountains ("There will be 3 tests" "Really?" "No"). When they approach the castle walls a figure appears from the side of the wall ("poof, not T1000") - its a man, probably Persian, middle aged. They sense like crazy - the castle is wyldier than maybe normal and the guy has the sort of mix of triad energies that suggest he might be garou. Will gives formal greetings on behalf of the pack and Monash introduces himself. The newcomer says he is Altair, a Stargazer Ahroun Elder (rank 5), Sept Leader of the Sept of the Stars. He says that the Lost Prophets are welcome here - he has heard their name whispered on the wind. However there is a spirit chiminage by which they must abide - the pack may not enter without offering a secret of the Umbra, answering a riddle or providing them with a riddle.

Despite egging on from the GM to make up a riddle, the pack opt to answer a riddle. Altair speaks, saying "With sable skirts soaring high, a twirling dancer, her partners picture painted in light". Despite a disagreement about what colour sable is, and a suggestion the answer is always "Hitler", the pack the answer is "The Moon". Altair says they are correct and may enter. He jestures toward them and touches the wall behind him and they suddenly are inside a building. ("Eat my fluids!" "Eat? I know its hot here, but perhaps drink?")("Stop laughing mum, I dont want a milk shake") Tillie tentatively touches a wall and appears up in a dojo-esque room. She tries to touch the wall next to here in the same spot and re-appears in the corridor sort of near the others. Altair gives her a look but says no where in the Orrery is dangerous. Despite cries of "put your butt on it" to Kasumi, they decide to just follow.

The pack spot another couple of garou as they move around. Altair bloops them around the building and eventually into a large room with a large glass bubble on one wall. They walk along the floor and then onto the wall and perspective shifts - the bubble is a huge dome across the roof. The sky is hugely visible across the dome and it appears to be acting as a lens - the sky seems even more intense and larger. ("I was just testing it out on you. You're New Mexico" "Keep the nuking to a minimum").

Altair asks why they have travelled here and they give him the entire run down from Marion's death in Sydney to the Still Face of Gaia and now they are here to find the New Face. He agrees that the Wyld Reaches are a good place to find such a Gaian avatar and he can assist them with travelling to them - but once they are there, there's little useful advice he can provide. He says that it sounds like there are many things that have come to light on their journey that suggests there is more significane to their path than finding comfort for one sept mate. Altair says that already their reputation has spead - as he said he has heard their name before, carried by the spirits. He suggests they should be aware that they may begin to draw personal attention from minions of the Wyrm - their destiny is an unknown one, but as more is revealed, they will grow in importance.

Altair will perform a ritual for them that will allow them to pass through an Anchorhead, which is a weaver doorway between the Umbra and the Deep Umbra. The pack await the inevitable "but I want you to" but he seems genuinely just happy to help. Altair says that its not precisely a secrety, but it is a little known fact that if you ascend high enough in the Aetherial Realm you can fly. There are places in the Orrery where they are high enough. They must fly slightly to one side of Phoebe, the aspect of the Moon in this realm. Eventually they will pass her, and the Wyld Reaches should start to become visible as a smear of colour in the far distance. Once there they should look for a weaver construct - it will be the Anchorhead and it wll allow them to pass beyond.

Once the Lost Prophets have no further questions, Altair leads them out through various passageways in the Orrery. Eventually they appears on a platform, or possibly a wall, that is far above the rest of the castle. He demonstrates that it is possible to just will themselves into the air ("just as if your totem was owl") and the pack try it out. Kasumi struggles with the rule breaking, ("I don't know how to relax!") and the rest of the pack have to drag her into the air. Finn finds that he has to windmill his arms a lot to keep oriented appropriately. ("I'm the silver surfer!").

Monash indicates that he is not going to follow them further - the rest of the trip is on them. The pack bids farewell to the two Stargazer elders and focus on the space that they believe has the Wyld Reaches in it. To return, they should come back through an anchorhead - but maybe not the same one. But once they are in the Aetherial Realm, descent is much simpler than ascent. They cannot hurt themselves falling out of the realm (* unless they go somewhere horrifying).

Altair performs the ritual - it is like no other ritual they have seen before. (The Rite of Becoming) He gives them a token as part of the ritual - a piece of braided copper, hair and ivy. ("Are you sure we're not going to Arcadia?"). The pack rise off waving goodbye.

The first hour is awesome. They can do flips and spin around and fly in circles and... ok bored now. It takes just enough effort to make progress to make it hard to do anything else, and once the Orrery has fallen away there's not much in the way of points of reference. Tillie premptively makes sure the pack is keeping track of one another.

Staring at Phoebe as they travel onward, the pack spot little sparkles and streaks a bit like lasers. Maybe they are looking at lunes? Could be? ("Don't go and hang out with your step mum" "Isnt she mum mum?" "No that's gaia. Luna is more your crazy aunt that has the best drugs that she more or less knows what they are") Suddenly there is a twinkle and massively bright light erupting out of the moon. Most of the pack swerve with no problems, but Kasumi is hit broadside on, and Finn spins out of control off sideways.

Kasumi has an impression of garou travelling, walking along.. a Moon Bridge? Oh no, these are Moon Bridges. When its faded, she is floating on her own... somewhere? The rest of the pack can't see her and she can't see them. ("That's against the Litany" "The Litany broke me" "No, there's one specific way it has to go in to be against the Litany, everything else is just injuries" "There's two specific orifices they're not allowed in" "Not allowed to eat them an not allowed to fuck them." "Oh. I forgot about canabalism, what'st he second vagu?") There's some mental "Where are you?" "I'm in front of the moon" before someone thinks to ask Boobook - he says he can sense her, and so he is sent to find Kasumi and bring her back. The speed at which he drops away gives some sense of how fast they've been moving. Its a little while before he appears to the descended Garou and then a little while to drag her back, but no one seems worse for wear for the delay.

Time passes. They start to get a sense of paralax. Pheobe appears to be sliding past them. They sanity check a few times to make sure they're still heading up, but it feels like they're starting to pass the Moon. Everyone keeps an eye out for the colours except for Sinead who has visual glare from looking at a star that seemed to think she was giving it the eye. They can make out a colourful smear across the dark sky that seems to be the way to go. Its sublte to begin with, but as time passes they intensify (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191030.html)

All of the squinting that direction means the pack see a sort of faint smear ahead of them. Its like white whispy cloud between them and the colours, slowly making its way across the sky. Over time the whispiness becomes individual dots of light. And then it can be resolved into a bright large shape at the bottom, with something trailing up higher. They're moving toward it, and its slowly moving across in front of them. As the pack approach, Kasumi says "are... they spiders?" The smear is a swarm of immense weaver spiders with something trailing off above them, ballooning across the sky.

The pack try and take evasive maneuvers but the descending spiders seem to be able to match their speed and agility and keep descending at them while the rest of the smear continues on across the sky.

The spiders approach slowly, allowing the pack to prepare as best as they can before engaging. Kasumi blurs out with her ragabash gifts. ("Are we called upon to fight the weaver?" "Let's do a quick poll. Yes, Maybe, Yes, No, Yes") Finn howls an inspiring howl to fortify the pack. Will looks around for something to sharpen his claws on, but there's nothing.

Tillie floors it and runs ahead of the pack, trailed by Will. Spiders shoot web at the players or stab at them with extremely sharp blades with limited success. Sinead moves closer to use her battle mandala gifts. Finn flies into toward the spiders. Tillie draws the faerie sword and slashes wildly at the spider ("I dropped the sword in heaven").

Kasumi stops to consider the foe. She stares at it for a bit and the mentally says "Cut the parachute, they'll fall away". Will tries to use his Jam Technology gift in case as weaver spiders they are susceptible, but they don't seem affected. Sinead activates her Battle Mandala gift and it erupts around her in a huge sphere instead of a circle on the ground. Tillie is spaffed by one of the weaver spiders and somewhat calcified, making it harder to move around, and then Finn and Will gets it. They both leap up and past spider legs and attack the cabling that is holding the spider's parachute. ("Spider spaff, spider spaff o/~"). Finn smashes all but one cable and the spider starts to spin.

Tillie swords the cabling and severs the whole parachute in one swipe. The spider starts to plunge past everyone down toward the earth, but Tillie seems glued to its frame of reference and is going with it. Finn slices again and the last cabling is severed and he starts to fall with the spider too. Kasumi flies past and punches Tillie to get the calcification out of her.

Spiders calcify people more - Sinead finds herself the target of aggravated spiders and can barely move. She dives at the disappearing Finn and scruffs him off the spider - he comes away with a bit of resistance. Tillie leaps off her spider vehicle and manages to leap free, leaving it to continue to gain speed. Kasumi punches calcification out of Sinead. Tillie heads up back toward the spiders and gets weaver-nuked. ("Finally my excessive rage is coming up Willhouse"). Will nukes a parachute and Sinead grabs him off the spider as they both start to plunge downward.

Kasumi flies up behind Tillie and kicks her on the way past to help with the calcification, but times it really badly and smashes Tillie hard enough to break ribs. She's then stabbed by a spider and starts to go unconscious. ("We'll get through this together." "I'm floating in space" "temporarily" "Oh no") ("I'm not calcified any more, stop punching me" "That's what you think, I can see you need more punching") Another spider goes falling away with Will onboard. Tillie opts to channel her rage and remain conscious, if crippled. Finn punches ineffectually at a spider and is heavily calcified but eventually severs enough parachute to send the fourth one away. Sinead is also caught up heavily in weaver stuff.

Kasumi punches Sinead and nearly kills her as well as removing huge amounts of calcification. The pack is down to one spider and pile on. Kasumi makes herself visible by attacking and gets smashed for her audacity. Because there are now 5 garou piling onto one spider, they manage to sever the remaining cables before too long and send it plunging down through the Aetherial realm.

Everyone punches each other to remove the calcification. ("Can you whip semen?" "... Ok, google, can you whip semen. Semen meringue, here we go.. There's a recipe for mojitos")

The pack are flying toward the nebula when suddenly the colours erupt around them. They are floating in a place of swirling multicoloured clouds and vortices, bizarre patterns and constant shift. All of their senses are dazzled by random sounds, smells and lights from time to time. ("david bowie, nipples, the usual"). There's no telling which way to go let alone which way is up so they just head in a random direction while sensing for unnatural to try and pick up the Weaver sense they need.

After a time, an object becomes visible. It senses heavily of weaver but with a wyrm patina. The object, about the size of a house, is in constant flux between precise geometric shapes - cube, pyramid, hexagon, etc. ("plato was right!"). The wyrm sense is unnuanced, not sort of flavoured as heavily as it might be if they were expecting a particular kind of spirit. Will reaches out and touches it, and vanishes.

He appears in a large space, much larger than the outside. It is somewhat rectangular, with hard white surfaces that glow somewhat. ("You're inside a fridge"). The walls have a variety of protrubances, all cubic, and all seeming to be made of the same thing. Similar to the protrubances, cubes of the same material float in the air inside the space. At the far end is some sort of detailed pattern he can't really precisely describe - partly, it turns out, because it is obscured by some smokey spirits that start streaming his way that sense of wyrm strongly.

Having passed all this onto the rest of the pack, they also touch the object and appear in the same space. (Not absolutely). The pack wait for the banes to stream down toward them, leaving clouds of smoke behind. Finn howls a bolstering sort of howl, that would sustain a bear in trying times. Will smashes at the first bane and discovers that gravity is not perhaps as absolute as he thought as he goes tumbling through the air. The rest of the pack discover similar problems with they hit with too much gusto and spin out into space.

The banes attack but while numerous don't seem particularly strong. Sinead activates her battle mandala gift and again a spherical (not just circular) glowing pattern erupts, chewing away at the banes. The tumbling garou keep fighting the banes and when they hit they change direction drastically. From the far end of the space, there is activity at the pattern Will saw - spiders appear to be emerging from the various parts and running down the walls. I wonder if they will be friends.

Will lands on one of the hovering blocks and gravity reasserts from that orientation, but its only temporary as he claws a bane and goes flying again. Kasumi tries to throw herself toward a square but finds that without purchase its very difficult. ("its another use for my ass"). Finn claws and Tillie slices with the sword and both of them go up now.

The weaver spiders stop from time to time and appear to be calcifying banes that are further from the pack. As they approach the battle mandala patterns also damage them, but they don't appear to react and avoid it. ("feed me popcorn" "its a life of quiet dignity") ("no, really cheap wafer biscuits" "That's all aldi had left. you have to wipe your arse with that now"). The spiders also attack the pack, but seem to lose interest once they are not touching a surface. With a certain amount of effort, the pack are able to end up with all of their members floating about while the spiders clean up the remaining banes.

By the time the spiders have finished, the pack have drifted toward the pattern at the end of the space. They can get a better view of the pattern - its like a fractal made up out of squares, interleaved in eye-watering fashion. When all the banes are gone, the spiders head back to the pattern and seem to slip into it, between some of the squares.

The pack are able to use each other to end up back on the walls, and the spiders dont seem to react to their presence any more. The pattern is almost certainly the gate that their tokens should react to, and so the Lost Prophets approach. As they close, the pattern starts to react, shifting and altering. Some of the squares seem to move back, some forward, some around one another. The movement is intricate and hard to follow as it moves about. ("Kasumi's butt first") Eventually the pattern starts to leave a space in the centre wherein the pack can see a grey, formless void. They grasp their sanity tokens and head that way.

First impressions are not sound, but not silence. Not sight but not darkness. They can feel a connection from the tokens Altair gave them back to something, presumably the Anchorhead - there is a resistance when they pull 'away'. The garou find their thoughts skitter away and random thoughts pop into their head about strange things. Kasumi can kind of perceive something around them. Existence is contoured in many dimensions, and she can differentiate between what could be up and down but isn't. Everyone else sees only madness and unformed potential. Kasumi can tell which ways would be harder to travel and which ways would be easier - sort of an up and down but they're not. That way is too yellow, can't go that way. None of the rest of Lost Prophets can tell which way to go. Kasumi helps them make a daisy chain and she'll lead the way.

Kasumi senses an independant shifting of contours in the direction she was going, and she thinks it might be a spirit. The leads the others around it. They have a brief and subliminal impression of the spirit, just as a not sense of what they are sensing now.

They go further and further into the Wyld. The further they go, the stronger Kasumi's sense of direction becomes, the more it makes sense to her. The others are losing coherence, and start to use the Weaver talens providing blissful periods of calm. Will finds the first one he activates fails miserably, and so he's forced to use another straight away. The talens provide a moment of lucidity and calm after the madness ("everything's just everything"), calming down all the thoughts they have about why broccoli makes them angry and why pink needs to on the top of things. ("Rage against broccoli sounds like a Sesame Street take on rage against the machine where kids won't eat the food" "FUCK YOU I WON't EAT WHAT YOU TELL ME!")

Kasumi checks her thread. She finds its active... its taut? or there's something different about it. Its the first time she's seen anything happening with it.

They travel onward - Tillie washed by a surge of wyld energy, destroying all the effects of the weaver talen and sending her into madness. She manages to keep it together enough to activate an extra talen and returns more or less to sanity.

Kasumi draws more detail out of things as she travels - things become clearer and she finds moving easier. She can hear the others over the mental link right in the centre of crazy town. She tries to find a stable spot to stop to give them a break, but everything is in flux all the time. More talens are used - Sinead finds that she's losing bodily coherence faster than mental coherence and has to use an extra weaver talen to stop her legs from becoming aerosols.

They reach a point where half the talens are gone, except for Kasumi who has needed none. They're trying to hold out as long as they can but there comes a point where thumbs and anger are getting confused and each member has to trigger a talen. While everyone is sane, people have the thought about trying to work together to provide mental focus - perhaps singing a song mentally to help them keep it together. The real trick is finding a song ("Bananas in pyjamas... maybe not something that surreal") ("The dog days are over was #10 in JJJ hottest 100. Seems apt" "Dunno that you wanna sing Florence songs out here, she might show up"). It does help mentally, though it doesn't help the physical sensations or surges of emotions. Kasumi says it helps her drag people along more easily so she's pro.

They travel onwards, and there are more surges of Wyld here and there to be dodged. Will uses resist pain to cut out some of the random surges and then Strength of Purpose which actually seems to help the entire pack focus. Finn tries to use Call of the Wyld but there's no consistency in how loud he is, or how far the sound will travel or how green it is or what pitch is flavoured strawberry, so he cannot keep it going enough to inspire the pack. ("hooray i'm being useful i'm having a wonderful time")

Tillie and Will use their last talens even after Kasumi has distributed her own. They use their clothes to try and make some kind of cables to join the whole pack together. Kasumi reaches a spot she describes as a hollow - its a dip in the local continua like a broad shallow bowl. The others can sense only a falling sensation. She tries to sense unnatural and now she's blind to the wyld forever. Will tries sense of the true form to get an idea of what's happening - nothing has a true form here. Kasumi says there's a thing in the bowl, like a heartbeat. The others can just sense a rhythm.

The heartbeat comes with a sense of dejavu like they've felt it before. Kasumi closes her eyes and tries to sense the string. Its imminent. It has a strong sense of imminence. She feels like this is the right place. She checks the rest of the pack - some of them are bleeding up and others are cruciform. She tries to call out but she's not sure who she is talking to. ("I think i'm changing into an ionic sphere. " "I'm iambic pentameter") . The others just say "go to it", so Kasumi heads butt-first toward it.

She does not "touch" it, but she receives a wash of images. Sights - blue waves washing on a sandy beach, gum forests, snow falls on rocky mountains, shimmering heat-haze on a vast red desert, deep green wet jungles, kangaroos, wombats, cockatoos, flies, lizards, fish. Sounds - cicadas and birds singing, wind in the trees, the crackle of bush fires, rushing water, rain and thunder, silence, unknown animals calling. Scents - salt spray and sand, dust and smoke, flowers and eucalyptus, blood, animal scents.

A tiny Wyld spirit is trundling past Kasumi, and she reaches out to it. It says hi, and Kasumi finds that she can speak with it, which is unusual (for unusual read impossible). The little Wyld spirit seems fairly bemused about the matter too, and wants to know how she did that - how did she make things all in a straight line. She tries to ask its name, and it doesn't understand.

The mote tells Kasumi that she is very close to the edge of anything that can be called anything. The beginning of creation as it can be understood. (Of course the problem is that describing it as having an edge in any understandable fashion suggests at least an attenuated understanding of what lies on the other side of the edge. One cannot define the parameters without an understanding of what constitutes not existing within those parameters. So you can understand the notion of approaching the edge, but the idea of the edge itself in this place is inconceivable. Not that Kasumi really cares). The wyld spirit asks if her ability to make a straight line of things is because of the thing in her head. It asks if she wants it to finish it and Kasumi is very adamant that indeed she does.

The spirit reaches toward her and into her head and the string changes. It is the time of imminence. The string stetches out further and further, but it starts to pull her, dragging the rest of the roped together pack with her. It exerts a force, an attractive force, to alter certain elements about herself in an increasing fashion. She perceives it as an increasing component in her relationship with the contours available and that component continues to increase. Increase. Increase.

There is a brief glimpse of the shattered remains of the tiny weaver realm spinning and sparkling, with broken spiders tumbling away, before the pack perceives the swirling comforting madness of the Wyld Reaches. ("The New Face of Gaia was the mental illnesses that were within us all along")

The pack hurtle through the wyld reaches, punching through nebulae and multicoloured clouds. They emerge from the wyld reaches moving at what is apparently an enormous speed - where previously it took what felt like days to travel from Phoebe to the wyld reaches, they can perceptively see the moon changing as they zoom toward the ground. Finn shares his fears of some sort of meteoric impact. They zoom past the moon and ahead the clouds start to become visible. For a brief moment or two there is a confusion of aerial life and then the pack hits the cloud layer.

They emerge from the clouds at a much slower and reasonable pace for something that wants to remain integral when it stops. Trees start to emerge from the Umbral mists and the pack find themselves moving at a brisk walking speed above the ground - they land with a little hop skip and a jump.

The Lost Prophets are definitely in the Umbra - its a tropical area, with gums and palms mixed together. Maybe they're in a weird bit of the mixed Umbra? It feels sort of familiar. Kasumi still has a strong urge to head in a particular direction, so they go with it. A few minutes of walking and they come around a corner and see Indira Songs-of-Sorrow, one of the Elders of the Carnarvon Gorge. They're back to where everything started. She seems baffled that they are here and how they are suddenly in the caern. Tillie says they came in the moondoor ("Are we ourselveS? I pinch Will") causing Indira to look at her funny. Will says they were on an Umbral quest - yes, but how did they just appear. They say they were in the Deep Umbra and got shot back here. Where's Monash? They don't realy know, Tillie says he left them in the Orrery. Indira looks at her weirdly and says "what?" There's some back and forth but Indira says she doesn't understand what she's saying. When the rest of the pack listen with their ears instead of their brains, Tillie is indeed not speaking English. She can speak Garou tongue fine, but when she tries to talk it comes out as another language. Its not one that the others understand. Maybe its some sort of hangover from being in the Wyld?

Ok if they're not with Monash, why are they here? They try and explain that the New Face of Gaia sent them here, and they are on a spirit quest and they need to go... this way. Tillie tries to explain in garou tongue they came through the space door. Indira is a bit concerned, but .. lead on.

They walk along when Boobook arrives and flies along with them. Eventually Kasumi says the sense leads her into the Realm. They're not heading into the caern, but rather out to the surrounding bawn. Indira asks if they are here to see Alex. They're not sure. She says that Alex has actually been improving in the last couple of weeks - not cured, perhaps but showing better signs than he has the whole time he's been here. Will says that if he just got better on his own, that's a bit infuriating, but Tillie points out that it might have still been them that drove the change (as above, so below, kind of thing).

Kasumi's sense leads them to a path and eventually to a fairly large A-frame cabin which seems to be a cabin for rangers at the National Park. A guy comes out onto the verandah as they approach and asks if he can help them? He looks like he might be a ranger. Will uses his scent of the true form gift and determines the guy is kinfolk not garou which changes the plan they originally were going to go with. He gives a kind of nod to Indira while Lost Prophets are formulating their mental plan, which turns out to be to just look at Indira pleadingly. She rolls her eyes out her head and asks "John, we were looking for Alex, is he here?" John says that he is. "These are some old friends of Alex, they knew him before he came here. " "Oh, ok,... did you want to come in?"

The pack barge into the cabin. As they mill about awkwardly just inside, they see Alex coming down from an upper floor carrying a sleeping baby ("wut"). When he sees them he makes shushing motions at the pack. As he approaches, Kasumi says that the feeling is dragging her right to the two of them. Alex comes toward John, saying May is asleep and he's just got Roberta out as well. As he passed Kasumi, the thread in her head flickers and fades out. John takes the baby from Alex who comes back and whispers hi. Tillie says "hi" and Alex stares at her. Oh yeah, not making sense. Kasumi suggests they go outside to talk and so all the garou tramp out onto the verandah.

The first thing out of Alex's mouth is 'sorry'. He knows he said a bunch of stuff last time they were here which was not fair, he just couldn't seem to get past Marion's death. They say they understand and ask about the baby - that's Roberta, May and John's baby girl. Despite some ridiculous babble about werewolves imprinting on infants, ("you people know werewolves aren't birds right") Kasumi says that the last time they were hear, Monash invited them to come and see him. Tillie just bullies the others into talking for her, and gets them to ask when she was born, and if that's when Alex started to pick up? It was more the last 3 weeks - the last 2 weeks of her pregnancy and the week since she was born. The Lost Prophets says "give us a moment" and mentally confer.

They're not sure whether to tell Alex that Roberta is Marion. I mean, if she is 99.9% sure to be garou, and maybe have Marion as an ancestor spirit? She's not _Marion_ per se, but the garou-y bits of Marion. So should they tell him? What if he gets obsessive? Does he even know about all the shit they have been doing?

Indira comes out from inside and asks if everything is ok. The Lost Prophets say yes, they were just going to explain to Alex everything that's been happening. She asks if maybe it would be better with the rest of the Sept there? Tillie mentally thinks that that might be a hell of a surprise to Alex in public. They mention that to Indira, who says it might be an idea - she suggests Alex to take them off to a remote location to chat.

Tuesday 27th December - Ragabash waxing

- oh, only the next day. Subjectively it felt like weeks but it had been less than 24 hours. Baffling.

They settle in and Kasumi gives him the salient points. They started by wanting to help, which led to becoming Bone Gnawers and going to the Homeland and then Abu Nawas and then Nydourl and tricking rat, and then the three faces of Gaia, which meant talking to Carla and Mamu and resolving the disputed caern and then going to the death realm and bunyip shennanigans and skipping the pope plan and then Gaia in a bar and then the wyld reaches and nearly being obliterated and then back to Roberta. "Ok" says Alex. And then "OH".

So. Alex says he wants some time to think, but generally "thanks"? Its just a lot to take in at once. He heads off - deep in thought rather than being freaked out.

Now what? Kasumi is enjoying everyting being nice and rational but they're just not sure what to do otherwise. They go looking for other garou by thumping about and being loud. Eventually Dale finds them, though it seems he knew they were this direction. He says he saw Alex heading away, what's happening there? Everyting seems to be ok they just gave him some big news and he's thinking. Dale seems ok with them waiting around for a bit - as long as they don't mind just hanging out in the Umbra somewhere? He takes them to somewhere out of the way - as they are traveling, Tillie talks out of habit and Dale stares at her asking why she's speaking Bahasa Indonesian? Wyld shit. Right. He speaks back to her but she doesn't understand it. How whacky the wyld is.

The sun goes down and someone from the Sept sticks their head in to see how its all going from time to time. Alex eventually returns and sits to chat. "I think good. Overwhelming, but good". Tillie asks via the others whether Alex already knew? Maybe he did, yah. But he just thought it was the normal sort of "wow, baby". He asks if they're worried about him obsessing about Roberta? A bit. She won't grow up to be Marion - May and John are not Marion's family. Alex says that one day he'd like to hear the whole thing, but for now that's enough. He's going to stay here, but he wants to give them a note for Christine and Georgina if they are going back? They are - amongst other things they've got Sinead's really worrying dreams. They ask him about those dreams, in case he has a fresh perspective; but Alex's information is all out of date so he can't really offer anything. He does suggest if there's train associations, there's some random bits of access tunnels made through the loop? He says that the Cave Clan guys have explored some of them, they're not very long.

Dale comes back after a while and asks what their plans are. He's happy to Moonbridge them back if they are not staying, but is keen on them coming back to tell the story to the whole Sept and possibly even John and May. Alex gives them his note for Christine. Dale organises a Moonbridge and the pack head home.

They reach home at about 11pm, and people are surprised to see them already. Did it go horribly wrong? No, fortunately, and so the pack start to explain everything. Cossack and Graeme are there, but as they talk other Sept members and Elders filter in and listen and ask questions. Time passes and they go back and forth over bits of the whole quest ("We could go to bed now; or, you could get us some drinks..."). As wrecked as the pack are, they're still going at 3 in the morning. At one point Christine gets her note and goes outside to read it.

At about 3.30am Cossack manages to wind all the conversation up and says that he'll do the Rite of Recognition now. He performs the rite and then says that although that members of the Lost Prophets had challenged for Adren, and challenges had been set, they had put these personal challenges aside to help an ex-sept member. And when it became that the events unfolding were more significant than the fate of one garou, they continued to follow this path. The knowledge that they discovered, and the conduct of the pack, indicate to the Elders that Finn McKenzie, Kasumi Umani and Will Jackson should all be recognised as Adren of the Sept. He performs the formal ritual to recognise them accordingly to general nods and pleased sounds from the Sept that are there. Cossack, on the QT afterward, suggests that it would be no bad thing to complete the tasks they had been set just to confirm. ("We have the field promotion, but now...").

Wednesday 28 December - Theurge waxing

4.7 hours later, something wakes Kasumi. She's not 100% sure what it was until she hears the squeak of the front screen door closing - it must have been it opening. She rushes to the door, turning lights on and checking for murder piles. The sun's well up. She is about to throw the door open when she has a moment of caution ("Say shazaam") and looks out the peephole. There's no one there but the door isn't shut properly. ("If its a flaming bag, don't put it out with your foot"). Sinead wanders up and senses for wyrm through the door while mostly asleep but say there's nothing. They open it, and a package falls in. Its just a small stuffed envelope without an address. Kasumi mentally wakes the others.

She brings it inside and pulls the blinds, changes to glabro and sniffs ("if in doubt, use the snout"). There's a recent strong scent of a male teenager who carried the envelope in the hand he'd eaten maccas with earlier. There's a fainter sense of something sort of plasticy, different from the scent of the packaging. She cautiously opens it. There is 1 (one) USB stick and 2 (two) pieces of paper. She looks at the paper first, finding that its a photo copy of a police report with some pen on it. Its from 5 days ago, and therefore probably not them. There was apparently an incident in Coburg North where the driver of a truck ran off the road after too much Christmas cheer and pranged into a brick wall. No one was hurt, there was some property damage and there was a small amount of suspected methamphetamines in the glove box. The driver was arrested and the truck impounded. The arresting officer was John Henke, and that name is circled in red on the photocopier, and the owner of the truck was Coulton Pty Ltd, owner Gerald Coulton, and that name is also circled. Neither of these names mean anything to any of the pack but Will is pretty concerned about the association between Sinead's dream and the truck.

Kasumi very suspiciously starts up her spare spare laptop and puts the usb stick into it. She runs the antiviral software over it, but its a couple years old and she doesn't want to connect it up to anything to update it. There's only one file, and its an audio file from a phone. She gives it a play

[a few moments of silence and then the ratchetting sound of a roll-a-door opening]

Man A: You're lucky John found it, or you'd be totally fucked, and none of your fancy friends could help you.
Man B: I want to see it.
[jingling and clunking sounds, a metallic bang. the sound of movement and shifting. a quieter bang, and then more jingling]
Man B: What do you want?
Man A: 50K. By Friday night
Man B: [incoherent stuttering] Are you fucking crazy? I can't get that sort of fucking money together just like that? Jesus fuck, there's no way -
Man A: If you get caught, you'll never see the light of day again
Man B: Jesus fuck. [pause] Screw you, fine, Friday. Fuck.

[Voices dade, ratchetting sound again. end of recording]

Maybe that's the arresting officer and the owner? But Man A says John so probably another individual. But in the meantime there's not much else to go with. Kasumi waves Gus's leash at Sinead and says lets go for a walk. Kasumi heads out in lupus with Sinead walking her and sniffs along trying to trace the scent that dropped the package. In the meantime, Will does a Questing Stone on John Henke and does quite well.

Kasumi follows the scent after person who left it. In about 20 minutes they find him waiting for a tram with two other people. He doesn't sense of anything super natural. Sinead heads straight at him and says "so I saw you drop a packet at my door on my camera. What's going on?" and something about her clearly freaks the kid out - he tries disembling a bit but her stare stops him getting far into it. "So what?". "You wanna tell me why?" "its not illegal" *hardstare* "depends what's in the envelope". Check mate. Apparently the guy just gave him $50 to drop shit there, he didn't say what was in it. What guy? The guy. Youngish, greek guy, suit. "Can you drop this for me?" and it seemed like a good idea. Where did they meet? Sort of near Sydney rd, and this guy had been trying to work out if he had enough cash for coffee and the guy said "I'll give you $50 if you drop this at this address for me". He can't remember the name of the coffee place, it was just a coffee place. "That's my tram, I gotta go". The other two people are giving them both the eye pretty hard core.

Claude? There's no way you'd ID Claude as greek. And if Ion wanted them to know something, he'd just tell them. A mage? Another mysterious benefactor, awesome. Add them to Red Wolf or Fujiko.

Having got a bead on Henke, they opt to go check him out. By the time Tillie et al have made it into the car, Kasumi and Sinead are good to be picked up, so off they go to the rough area where Will was able to identify his location. Once they are there, Will does another roll and gets a good enough result to become aware that Henke is moving around (presuming patrolling), and to be able to slowly close in on him. Henke and partner stop at a bakery at a small set of shops, and the pack take this chance to leap out and walk past, sensing as they do. There are two of them - late 20s and early 40s, both male, both anglo with short hair - but the pack aren't sure which one is Henke. The early 40s one is wyrm tainted, more than they're happy with, but not approaching a fomor level of awoogas.

Figuring that he'll come back to the local cop hshop at the end of his shift, they go back to Fawkner police station and lurk there in the Umbra peering about. The Umbra is hard and unyielding, probably reflecting the authoritarian nature of the police. There are spirits about, but its not wall to wall banes or anything. While they are waiting, Tillie peeks and checks for wyrm - no one is fomori, there's not evil barrels here, but a few of the cops have enough wyrm to make them persons of interest. About 11, the two cops return and come back to be recharged, or to fill in paper work. The peeking pack member is able to identify that Henke is the older one of the two. They listen in and find that he's not going to go home, lowering the chance of Ridgewaying him, but he is instead going to go straight to the MCG for the Boxing Day test after their shift ends at 12.

Hmm. They could come back and find Henke at their leisure. The Lost Prophets go bck to the murder van and look up Coulton Pty Ltd. It looks like this is a company with a few ventures in its portfolio, but the major one is a fancy furniture importer/retailer in High St Armadale. There's a moment of concern about whether maybe they import stone statues, but it looks like they're just wood furniture. They drive down to check it out and come back in the Umbra. Its an old area, near train lines, tram lines and a large electrical transformer bank, and as such is pretty weavery. Kasumi is left in the realm as the only vaguely appropriate one to be buying furniture here while the rest scope from their spy realm.

Will discovers he can't peek, so Sinead takes up the job. Kasumi comes in and finds that it is as expected fancy. Lots of space taken up by individual pieces rather than everything packed in tight. The bell rings as she comes in, and a fancy looking salestaffer comes out, checking her out. Its priced accordingly - the smallest sidetable is about $500. Kasumi says she's looking for coffee tables and starts to get the shpiel. She talks to the staffer about maybe wanting something specific and finds out that they do bespoke staff, once their craftsmen have been able to determine the requirements.

In the Umbra, the place looks fairly blandly normal. Comparing to what the can see peeking, its been repurposed from its original nature. There's a lot of weaver spiders around, and some banes (usual background level). Peeking, there's a courtyard at the rear with large gates on wheels where they obviously receive goods. Some of the site is taken up by storage, carefully packed and covered in padding. There's a couple of pcs in that warehouse area, and an office & kitchen with more. There's only one other person working, two finger typing something about orders.

Will suggests trying to find out about their bespoke work - it looks like they have some sort of thing in Seymour, about an hour and half drive up Hume highway. It sounds like there's a significant workshop there with more than a couple of employees. The bespoke stuff that seems to make the most money, but its the floor stock that gets bought the most. Some of it seems to be shipped from overseas (Italy mostly?) There's no obvious wyrm taint beyond norml city sort of variance going on here.

Hmmm. Ok, right, maybe the driver? Jamie Emery appears to be in Ivanhoe, which is not very far away. Despite the proximity on the map to other events, the GM assures them its a coincidence and they should focus, so they step from a park and run back to Emery's house. The Umbra is the usual drab suburban landscape, with random bits of weaver stuff clogging the ground and sky. Peeking, Emery appears to be in his late 40s or early 50s and is wearing his best lounging shorts. He seems live on his own in a 2 bedroom house, and appears to have made himself a nest out of pizza boxes and beer cans to watch the cricket on tv with. There's some sign he had a bit of a head wound, but its healing ("Really, you took all this meth to watch cricket?") He senses of less wyrm than the cop Henke. Top 50% of people in city, but not down the worrying end of the bell curve.

While they are waiting, Emery gets a phone call, and he straightens up a bit, turns the tv off and seems to be paying a lot of attention. Tillie is peeking well enough to here - its the company lawyer, and rather than "and here's you ass canning package", its more going over what happened and making sure that Emery understands the company has no liability. Apparently Mr Coulton isn't keen to let him go (years of service, first time its been a problem), but there has to be consequences from his breaking their OHS policies around drink driving, and illegal substances. There seems to be a bit of ass covering. They get to hear Emery's story - the meth had been there a while, he'd forgotten about it. But he did stop and visit a mate for a bit of christmas cheer just at the north edge of the city and had a bit too much.

The lawyer appears as baffled as the pack as to why Emery isn't being let go, and Emery reiterates that he appreciates the support. They recommend he pleads guilty and shows some remorse eearly on.

The pack consider their options - who is Man A? Man B is presumably Coulton... but maybe he's not. They could go to Seymour, but its enough of a trick to make that not their first response. They questing Stone Coulton and find that he's a very short distance away, back in Kew. Back to the murder van and a quick drive to a very nice family house in Kew. Another park and back to the house.

In the Umbra, as part of an established neighbourhood, there are more houses realised, even though they look older than the physical houses. Many of the walls and gates seem more obvious. There are much less trees in the Umbra than there are in the realm - lots of non-natives. Everything's a bit shrivelled and crappy looking.

Peeking into the house, its been moderately modernised, with lots of nice furniture. There is a woman in her 40s moving about, a child about 10 on a computer, and a mid 40s, dark haired anglo guy walking back and forth in his office talking on the phone, presumably Coulton. Sense unnatural suggests he's somewhat wyrmy - maybe slightly less than Henke? The other two people seem to be ok, and there's no obvious wyrm pit.

Back to Coulton - he appears to be talking to someone about getting money. He sounds like Man B on the recording. He has a pad in front of him with names and amounts - a brief bit of maths from Finn who is peeking, suggests he has about $28K and he apparently needs $50K by tomorrow sometime. Some of the amounts of money are in the $5-$6 but the vast majority are sub $1k. The conversation on the phone is that he needs to get his money back, the guy owes $750, but the guy says he has $600. Coulton says he'll come get it now, scribbles out the $750 for "Dave" and writes $600, and then starts to get keys, etc to head out.

Scoping out the rest of the site - they appear to have cleaners and gardeners. Finn thinks they have a second daughter who isn't here - he gets names for the others, Olivia, Charlotte and Sophia. Neither Olivia nor Charlotte are exhibiting any amount of stress compared to Coulton. Coulton has a safe in his office, and the door is open - he has a fat stack of mixed notes there. No suspicious packages of flour or corriandor with them though.

So... who is man A? Another dodgy cop at Fawkner? A friend? Who sent them the info? Glasswalkers or others around Ion or Irena? Who would they be so oblique about it?

Coulton comes out his office and speaks to his wife, saying he has to go out for a bit. She reminds him they need to get ready by 6 for the charity dinner tonight. They have an argument about whether they are going or not, which she wins. He heads out annoyed, at a run. The pack run back to their car and leap back through the Umbra and manage to catch up to Coulton.

While they drive after Coulton, Will finds he's really starting to find things a bit weird. He's had a day of just being slightly off physically, but driving the car has really brought it all to a head. He's had his phone in the wrong pocket. And he put his watch on the wrong arm... and now there's something about changing gear and turning on the windscreen instead of the blinkers. And whacking his hand into the window when he goes to change the radio... Wait. Will is pretty sure that he didn't use to be left handed. Something has happened out in the Wyld and he's been inverted or at least left/right hand reversed. Maybe it'll wear off?

The pack follow Coulton into a maze of back streets in Richmond. He stops in front of some terrace houses, and they drop a couple of packmates into the Umbra while looking for somewhere to park. The Umbra is not great - Richmond is still polluted from hundred plus years of light industrial work, and spawns a regular trickle of banes to plague the rest of the city. So they need to keep their eyes out while they follow Coulton.

Coulton is confronting one of a bunch of stoners for money. The guy who had apparently said he had $600 not $750 is now saying he only has $500 at the moment. Coulton is not pleased, but he doesn't seem like he has any option other than to argue with the guy who just shrugs and says "that's what I have" about 5 times. Coulton suggests the other people in the house, but the guy shrugs. He leaves after 10 fruitless minutes.

The pack head back to Coulton's house at their leisure, find somewhere to go into the Umbra and then Kasumi peeks. Coulton has been home a time, and is sitting in his office with his head in his hands. He stops to rifle through a notebook full of hand written notes, scanning for something. They're not sure why he isn't just spending money they have, or selling a car or something. And who has books full of people that owe money. He's torn out some pages from this notebook which have all been scribbled over and he puts them into a potbellied stove in his office to burn. Kasumi gets a chance to look at the pages without scribbling, and it looks like names and phone numbers and a couple of words - but without context they're just words.

Coulton spends 30minutes walking back and forth and grinding his teeth. Twice he pulls all the cash out of the safe and counts it, and it comes to a total quite close to the number written down on his paper, putting the kibosh to the pack's thought that it was in addition to the paper number. Olivia comes in and he jumps, she says he needs to get ready, and so he packs everything back into the safe and shuts it.

Over the next while, Coulton and his wife get ready. The older daughter comes home. Pizza shows up at 7 and a baby sitter by 745. It looks like they are getting dressed up for a pretty formal do. The pack check the office and find that there's a lock and its a bit seperate from the rest of the house so they should be able to step in. The tickets seem fancy, sparkly with their own matching envelope.

Once Coulton has been gone for a bit, Kasumi scans about and finds that there is a security system, and there are cameras pointing around the outside of the house. She should be ok staying away from the windows in the office. While Kasumi steps, Tillie peeks to keep an eye on her. ("For the purposes of my employment, I need to look at video of 13 year old girls feet"). Kasumi creeps around and touches the safe with her Open Seal gift. She has a look inside - there's no coriander nor omo, but there is the fat stack of cash, the books she saw and the pad that he's been writing on. He has some financial documents in here but they seem legit.

Now, how should they fuck with Coulton. Take his money and leave a note say "contact us" - killing Coulton through a heart attack would certainly wrap up their leads. They look through the books - they're clearly some way to track some sort of illegal cash. The phone numbers look not right - they're probably not phone numbers, its some amount of money encoded in it somehow. They decide that Sinead should come in and stuff the money in her bag of shadows - a quick check on the other people in the house says that the babysitter and the 10yo are playing a boardgame and then 14yo is using a device with headphones on. They could steal the money and leave a note? It seems fraught if he doesn't come home and look? They could sms his phone from a burner? Eithr way, they need to decide what to do with him. They decide a park nearby to the furniture place is the way to go, so Sinead steps in, grabs the cash and puts in the bag and her and Kasumi step out.

Now that they are away from the house, they craft an SMS - "We have your money. Come to Armadale park at 3am, alone. If you cooperate you can have it back." - and wait for the appropriate time to send it. In the meantime, Kasumi goes and gets the burner phone and the usb with the recording on it, and dedicates them - but as she completes the ritual, Finn feels the gnosis leaving his self and entering the phone. Whaaaat. The pack randomly accuse the wyld as being responsible for this too.

They decide to wait for Coulton to rock up and then send the SMS. They don't come home until after midnight. Olivia is driving, Coulton having had a couple of sustaining wines. ("Oh no, how can he drive then??") They pay the babysitter in cash, Coulton goes straight upstairs without going in his office. Blooop goes the sms. Coulton looks at it and goes a bit grey. Then he bolts out of the room and sprints down the stairs, bursting into his office. He sees the safe door open and the money missing and starts hyperventilating. ("Just as planned"). Olivia comes in and panics, assuming he's having a heart attack. Coulton says some things to her, but isn't making any sense. She gets out her phone to call the ambulance, and he leaps up and smacks it flying, "I'm fine. I just need some air!" and runs out the front door.

Coulton isn't going to the car, he's walking and looking at his phone. He half starts replying or writing something on his phone. He finally makes a call, but not to the pack. The person he has called is a bit annoyed at being woken up, but Coulton says shut up this is important, he needs him to do a reverse lookup on the burner number. The guy at the other end says fine and does some typing. Its apparently owned by James Smith and they live an address that doesn't exist. Coulton swears, says he owes the guy and hangs up. He gets some SMSes from his wife but ignores them and then she calls which he also ignores. Finally after 30m, he texts the pack "ok".

Coulton then spends the next little while crafting some cock and bull story for his wife about how a friend's had an emergency and then rings her and apologises intensely while trying to convey the story and patches up any inconsistencies in it. He walks to a strip of shops and gets a nasty coffee from a 7-11 and tries to sober up while walking back. He gets home, then gets the car and drives off to meet them.

Meanwhile, Will has got a hoodie and positioned himself strategically on a bench under an oak tree in the park. Kasumi and Sinead are hiding somewhere nearby just out of sight.

Coulton pulls up about 15 minutes early and stops, turns his lights off. After about 5 minutes he gets out and starts cautiously looking around. Will stands up to attract his attention. Coulton comes over and Will uses his persuasion and truth of gaia gifts before starting the conversation with "tell us about this - " and playing the recording. Coulton slumps. Will basically interrogates him while trying to imply that they're investigating in some capacity and don't care about Coulton, and are looking for bigger fish.

Kasumi and Sinead creep closer to be right there. Sinead gives her position away by walking into a tree branch right in the eye and dancing around with a watering eye, but Kasumi is silence.

Coulton asks what they want. Will says he wants to know who the people on the recording are. Coulton admits he's one, and says that the other is a guy called Webber. He's a cop, a senior one. Brian Webber. Coulton knows him just as, you know, sometimes you know people. Will says "why don't you tell me what 'it' is." and after a bit of hedging Coulton says that its guns and ammunition. Hunh, think the pack. Will nods as if he knew that, he just wanted to confirm Coulton to confirm it. So where are they going to? Coulton says it doesn't matter if they're going to let him push the deal through. Emery, Jamie, just fucked up and the cops found it - they're just opportunistic. Will suggests that they could get Webber off Coulton's back, but in order to do so, they need to know where these are going, and who to. And they will make sure it doesn't come back to Coulton. Coulton says that if they get Webber off his back and he can make his delivery, he'd be clean. Will says Webber doesn't need Internal Affairs looking into why he's interfering with a Federal police gun running investigation, so he's easy to get rid of. Coulton makes the leap that Will is suggesting and says that the guns are going to a guy called Yeager. He doesn't know the guy's full name - he sends guys to pick them up. Tell us everything about Yeager - how did he contact you, how do you contact him. Coulton says Yeager didn't contact him directly, someone else said "hey, you can get stuff subtley down from Sydney right?" and connected them up. He's not keen to name names, but Will implies that the more time they have to spend digging the harder it is for Coulton to not be implicated. If he just tellst hem, they will be gone.

Coulton says that there's been a few deliveries. He hasn't met Yeager, he's just spoken to him on the phone. Someone else vouched for him - he hasn't heard of the guy before. He's out west. He got the impresson that he wasn't the only one bringing things down. Will asks how many guns and how often. This time there's 4 shotguns and a couple of automatic rifles, and the ammunition for them. ("That doesn't seem a big deal, but maybe I've been watching american tv" "you are also more or less immune to being shot"). The last two were more less the same. Yeagers guys just come to him at the shop - soon as they're in, they're gone. He calls Yeagers guys to come and get them straight away. Kasumi leans in from behind Coulton and puts down the burner phone for Coulton to put the number into, and he jumps a mile, clearly unaware she'd been there for 10 minutes.

Kasumi asks where the stuff is, and Coulton says that its in the impound lot. The stuff is on the truck. The impound lot's in Preston. He'll pay Webber, Webber clears it so he can take the truck out of the impound lot. How'd he know Webber and John? Well, earlier this year, shit went a bit south all over the place and some people got taken out of the equation. And then you know a guy and he knows a guy and you have a drink for another guy and you meet a 4th guy. He's a dodgy cop that knows dodgy people.

Will pushes on how he knows Yeager. Coulton says that he just got a hook up, they met a couple of times and he seemed legit. Will gets a look and says "Wait, you met Yeager? " "yeah, enough to get a feel for whether he was a cop." "What's he look like?" "Big guy, kind of built. Like, really built. Caucasian, bleached blonde hair. Tatts. Bit taller than me". Will looks at him funny and says "You said you hadn't met him". Coulton looks a bit panicked and says "I meant I didn't know him. We just met." Will is more annoyed that his Truth of Gaia gift didn't work. He shakes his head and says that normally he is good at telling when people are lying, but now he can't trust anything that Coulton said and he's going to have to go to lengths to confirm everything. Coulton looks panicked and says he just made a mistake cos he's tired. Was it just guns? Yeah, guns and ammunition, figured he was just passing them on, after the other shit last year and people being taken out and cops finding people, and people fucking each other's shit up, there was a need for more guns. Ah. Yes, that'd be Irena and Ion's fault.

Is there anything else Coulton would like to correct? As we end this conversation, you're getting your money back, you aren't in trouble with Yeager, you're looking good. So, lets not mess this up, eh? Coulton says he might have missed details, but that's what happened. Will suggests it would be good if there weren't any more deliveries to anyone and he doesn't mention this conversation to anyone.

Coulton says not to push his luck, but this delivery is late already. When might it be sorted. Will shrugs. Coulton says that Yeager was expecting it at Christmas. Will shrugs again and slides the cash over. Coulton looks a bit flabberghasted that he's getting it back, and takes it. ("I feel gleeful we might kill a policeman, how exciting.") Was there anyone else there at the impound lot? No, well, some cops working there.

The pack head away, leaving a surprised gunrunner. They head to the police impound lot in Preston. Its one large warehouse with a very restricted entry and exit. There's lights on as they cruise past ("there's people there?" "yes, because people that do things that cause their cars to get impounded make other bad decisions too"). There's a non-zero number of cameras and the gauntlet is high.

They find somewhere nearby to step and come back and peek. Kasumi manages to get enough of a peek to check the place out. There's single point of entry with some offices with good views on people coming and going. Once inside vehicles are parked in rows at and angle, and are wheel clamped down. Figuring this will probably hold the truck down well enough to keep it nice and still while they bounce around inside, they forgo the original plan to get spirits to help. All the trucks are in the first row, and Coulton's is conveniently painted with the company name to make it easy to find it. Watching for a time shows that the staff do a patrol every now and again, but mostly rely on cameras through out the place.

Figuring Kasumi will need to stealth in, Sinead peeks and gets a better view anyway. The truck is damaged on the left hand side and in fact the body has been warped slightly, causing the doors not to shut properly. They appear to have been chained shut at some point and the chain locked with a padlock - this is good because it means anyone trying to get in has a delay and also some light filters in from outside. Its not a lot, but its better than the none they were prepared for. Its lightly wyrmy - not much but there when they look for it.

They can see that there's furniture strapped to either side of the truck leaving a space in the middle. The furniture has padding over it, but in the crash some of the ropes holding it in place and the padding tied down has slipped and one of the bits of furniture has busted and they can see a gun taped to the back of the drawers. This may be tricky to find it all, and they need to find it all. They peek around and find some of them at least, but the rest are going to take a search. Kasumi opts to take Will with her to help move things around and search. ("You have your dedicated... sock mask?" "Balaclava")

Will and Kasumi ninja around the truck, lifting and moving things almost without noise, pulling duct tape off without the distinct sound it usually makes. They end up with a pile of guns and several boxes of ammunition. There are 4 automatic shotguns with a lot of ammunition. The rifles appear to be military - they have a full auto mode and a fair bit of ammunition for them. This is not just unlicensed guns, they're really illegal. ("and theyre reading the sticker that says 'if its rockin', don't bother knockin'") They start the dedication ritual and once again just at the point where they channel gnosis out, the ritual does not drain from Will at all, and Kasumi is drained more than expected, and Finn loses some as well. ("Stupid Wyld!")

They step out into the Umbra taking the guns with them, and Kasumi activates her ragabash gift for Henke and Webber. Hopefully that worked? Right. Now.... sleep, actually. They've had 4 hours or so since the 26th and need to get their heads down. The guns are taken through the Umbra to Kasumi and Sinead's house.

Thursday 29 December - Theurge waxing

Sinead wakes yelling. The sense of danger is intensely imminent and her heart is beating fast. It feels like something's just leapt out and attacked her. ("he scream at own ass") The rest of the pack are woken up by the sudden adrenalin surge. Will and Finn notice that Tillie is swearing in English outloud, not Indonesian. Hunh. Well... good.

Hunh. The depot they just came from was real near where they cleaned the goop up. Hmmm. ("DOOOM" " doooom")

Kasumi sends a message to Coulton saying "Don't call Henke or Webber. Tell us if they call you".

The Lost Prophets opt to go and speak to the Elders. Graeme is about - he says that they haven't really progressed on it since they came back from the deadlands. There were some suggestions about gargoyles possessing machines? But they don't have anyone to check that out really - maybe the Lost Prophets should be the ones looking into it, but what they're doing no also seems relevant. Although.... is there any chance they are being distracted? Like deliberately to keep them away from investigating the dream? There's been no sense of magic or much wyrm?

Will says maybe the trucks in the dream is connected to the truck running guns suggests something a bit more relevant? It does seem imminient right when they are trying to see where the guns go? Maybe its a bit flimsy - one truck to a dream full of engines connected to gargoyles. Graeme suggests maybe follow it up today and tomorrow, but then its the new year, and they might want to see about shuffling tasks about with the rest of the Sept? Maybe someone else could chase up Webber?

What can they do about following up who gave them the note and recording? Graeme asks if they traced where the scent came from and there's a bit of "um, no". Ok. While some of the pack chase Webber, Will and Kasumi will go and see what they can do about the scent - they might be able to get something, even after a day.

Sinead gets a sense that Webber is somewhere down near Caulfield. They take off that way in the murder van while Will and Kasumi head to her place and do the dog-walking gag again. Kasumi struggles to trace the scent, its been a day and though it hasn't rained, people have moved around a fair bit ("but what about lockdown"). She spends a bit of time having to double back and trying to find little fragments of scent, but it does lead them back to a shopping precint. Before she gets there tho, she can smell something unusual and extremely astringent, drifting on the air. It doesn't sense of anything supernatural at all, but its very stingy. She starts losing the kids scent and Will can begin to pick it up even in homid form. They can see people in the area making a face as they wander past. Its almost too strong a smell to say what it is.

Will tries to find the source. He finds, just down a sidestreet, a patch of thin naturestrip is covered in an oily residue of some sort. Its across the footpath as well, but has been smeared a bit by people walking. It appears to have been sprayed from the road side rather than the house there. A passerby sees Will looking at it, and says "yeah, its been stenched since yesterday. Don't get too close, it gets on your shoes and sticks". Will asks what it is, was it the council? Nah, he spoke to someone yesterday who heard a pop right before the smell. Someone's set off a stink bomb - one of the people that live a couple doors up says they say a teenager in a hoodie heading off fast just before it went off. Its not making him feel sick particularly, its just extremely strong smell.

Will and Kasumi are a bit worried its someone at the house, but it does look like someone's set something off at the edge of the road. Was the hoodie wearing hooligan the guy that did the drop off? Maybe, but they'd have been able to smell that. They head back to Kasumi's house, step and return, but neither of them can peek, so they go back to the Sept and step into the Umbra, peek there and make their way to the spot. The scent isn't in the Umbra at all, which is good, and there's no other weirdnesses in the spirit shadow. Hmm. They go home and clean.

Coulton has replied to Kasumi. "Got an ETA? Worried about delivery time" "Can deliver tonight, arrange pickup tomorrow" "I want to ship it back out straight away" "Ok. Deliver tonight. Arrange pickup for later in the day" "Why delay" Pause "Delivery later tonight then"

Meanwhile the others get in the murder van and head down to bayside and do another questing stone, allowing them to close in on Webber. He's in Elsternwick, in a suburban house. They do their usual find somewhere to stop and step, and come back. The street is made up of older houses in the Umbra, mostly just shells of weaver stuff. The ground is parched and not supporting a lot of tree spirits. The ritual pulls them toward the one house that's in the street that seems more broken down than any of the others. ("Its buttered bread time, bitches"). It looks like its decayed, not never been there. Tillie senses for wyrm and finds that there's some corruption inside the building, even from the outside. Its not an overwhelming sense, but its spread through. The three of them sneak inside as surreptiously as they can.

The three garou sneak in through the house, avoiding the holes in the floor. Tillie peeks through a door way where a door has slumped off the upper hinge. There's a writhing mass of millipede-like banes, bright red with human faces. The pile is about beanbag sized and appears to be in what's probably the lounge room. Tillie peeks into the realm - there's a guy sitting in shorts with a can of beer watching tv. There's too much furniture for the space, and the surfaces are covered in stuff as well. She senses for wyrm and finds that the guy is heavily tainted, but not corrupted.

Sensing in the Umbra , the spirits are definitely banes. In addition to the sound of tiny feet across the floor, they're whispering - its not words, but it has an emotional conveyence. ""whisperyeswhispertakeitwhisperdeservewhisperwhisperyourswhisperwant" ("I think a bat just crashed into the window") They opt to wait for Will and Kasumi to come down as well, rather than step into a potentially bad situaiton

The pack assemble about 2pm and make their plans. They'll set up to burst in through the windows and doors so they're not crowding in through the door. Sinead bursts in through the window and attacks one of the banes. Finn falls in through the window. Kasumi leaps adeptly through the window after Sinead and slashes. Will leaps in and over Finn, and slashes ineffectually. The banes mostly scatter - a couple lunge at packmates while the others head for holes in the wall and floor. Sinead and Will are hit. Tillie is last to the party but brings a hammer, almost obliterating one of the spirits. ("its not a botch, but...")

Sinead smashes a spirit. Will grabs some of the spirits before it can get down a hole. Some of the other spirits make it into the holes. Finn tries to intercept one similarly and grabs one that was just about gone. Kasumi rips off some of the spiritual plaster board to try and uncover spirits. Sinead rips up a chunk of floor where one spirit went and finds 4 more writhing about in the underfloor space. Will slowly pulls his spirit apart.

In response to the damage the pack are inflicting to the building, a pattern spider emerges from the damaged weaver stuff. Tillie ignores it and lunges into the hole and attacks one of the spirits The spider starts to calcify Sinead so she shifts focus to attack it. Will disposes of the spirit he pinned and Finn wrends the one he's caught into pieces. The spider continues to calcify Sinead some while she smashes it up, and Kasumi helps. Millipede spirits escape into the walls and floor while Will tries to follow them in lupus. Finn helps against the spider while Tillie claws millipede. The spider is disrupted.

The pack try and track the millipedes that got away under the house or in the walls, but they've been all over the place. Sensing wyrm isn't as helpful as it might be as they've been here a while but they find and smash another. Maybe Cleansing will sort it out? It won't hurt.

But first, peeking. Webber is more or less where he was before, with a few more cans. They sense him again - defintely tainted and not corrupted. There's no tentacles inside those pants. Webber appears to be married - his wife does not sense anywhere near as heavily of wyrm as he does. ("Important question - what's the score in the cricket"). There's no sign of kids, either nor or in photos.

They initiate a cleansing - Sinead leads the ritual and Will and Finn help. However, just like the last couple of times they've done rituals that involve channelling gnosis, the energy surges from random pack members - mostly from Sinead but also some from Will, but not from Finn

The pack plan about tonight. How are they going to transfer the guns and then watch any other participants. Should they summon a spirit and tag the guys who pick it up? They mightn't have time - it takes about 10 minutes to bind a spirit, and they mightn't linger. Or maybe a spirit could hide their car? Not invisibilty, but not making it noticable as a vehicle that is pursuing? ("Bring the bunny girl")

While Sinead summons Mouse to help them out, the others make some prep. They stick the sword and armor in the murder van and then contemplate their other options. They move the guns and ammo into the murdervan in a couple of canvas bags.

Now the practicalities of watching the handover - some in the umbra some in the realm? The gauntlet is high, making it hard to follow the people who do the pickup. Could they avoid the spirit realms? Someone could be a sleeping stray dog watching from outside? Tillie's raven form? Both? Both, seems sensible.

Who's going to get the guns there? They could take the to his house and make that his problem. ("We left them in the nearby kids playground under the slide" "Loaded" "Go quickly"). Maybe they could wrap them up in christmas paper. The pack call Coulton and say they'll bring the gifts over tonight? ("its will in the dodgiest santa outfit"). He says he'll be working late at the shop, they could drop them there? Fine.

Sinead calls Mouse and Mouse is ecstatic to be asked, bringing its children to speak to the Wolf who has called. Sinead shares some of her gnosis with the swarm and asks Mouse to hide their car, which Mouse is very happy to do. Sinead binds Mouse to the car and thinks that the ritual will last a few hours. Will loses gnosis this time though - obviously the wyld taint is still in effect.

Will, on the grounds Coulton has seen him, is nominated to bring the bags along. He is dropped off on High St and walks two totally unsuspicious duffle bags down the side street and pushes the buzzer. Coulton opens the door and says he was expecting them in a vehicle. He looks about totally nonchalantly (not). He gets Will to put the bags in the store room where the undisplayed furniture goes. Coulton confirms that Webber and Henke are not a problem? Sure, says Will. Coulton seems a bit unsure, but Will says that they took care of it. Don't speak to them again - Will points out that they wouldn't have the guns if it wasn't sorted. Coulton says he'll call Yeager now, yeah? Are you going to stay? Will says he'll go once the call has been made.

Coulton makes a brief call saying that its all good to go. Yeah, he's good to go now. At the shop. And then hangs up. Ok, good. They said half an hour or so. Will says ok, good . bye.

Tillie says nevermore and sends her raven spirit out into the world. Kasumi slinks around with her Ragabash engaged and lurks in some shadows. About 40 minutes later, a non descript white commodore comes down the street and pulls into the driveway, and a passenger gets out and pushes the buzzer. Kasumi senses unnatural at a distance, and finds that she's not pleased by the levels of wyrm on one of the guys on the back. The gate opens and the car drives in - Kasumi decides at the last second to sneak in behind the car, but as they get out, one of the passengers says "is that your dog?" "What? crap, no. It can wait, I'll get it out later" "Where's Yeager?" "He's busy. Your late" "yeah, problems in Sydney"

The four passengers are all dressed in the same sort of casual gear - sneakers, tracksuit pants, etc - and all probably 25-35, tattoos and pretty muscled. They're all anglo/european. "Where's the truck?" "I had to get it repacked, so the stuff is already out" They give Coulton a look and two of them check out the place up high - maybe for cameras? Coulton says they're already in bags ready to go, and the main guy says "Nah, we'll switch them to our own" ("Are they worried that the bag is bugged? Actually that would have been clever, we should have done that"). They go into the store room and there's some mild motions. They come out and load their bags back in the boot. Tillie flies down to listen more carefully. The main guy takes another bag out of the car and throws it to Coulton. "$30K". Coulton nods. Coulton opens the gate as the car does a 3 point turn to go. Kasumi takes this opportunity to pee on Coulton's stuff while maintaining eye contact and then heads out the gate while its open ("oh that's how we should track people by enchanting my pee")

The invisi-raven gives chase while Kasumi gets in the murder van and the van takes off after the pack. Because its all suburban stop start traffic, Tillie is able to keep up long enough for Will to get onto tracking the commodore and then lets the raven revert.

Yeager's pick up guys head for the freeway and head into the city. They go through the tunnel and head out over the Westgate. The pack can see them looking around a little and checking out cars, but they ignore the murder van. Yeager's guys head out a fair way, but move to the left and get off the freeway at Werribee. Will keeps following them. They get off the exit and turn left, but then almost immediately they turn right into an industrial/commercial site. The pack eyeball it as they drive on, looking for somewhere to stop - it looks like a newish strip of concrete boxes, each one doing some sort of car service?

The landscape is very flat and mostly market gardens, so its a couple hundred meters before the pack find a side road to turn down and leave the car. They come back in the umbra and find the landscape is pretty marshy in the Umbra, and the concrete buildings are just sketchy weavery stuff - just a rough structure made of weaver. Kasumi senses unnatural and finds that there's a distinct odour of wyrm about the place.

When they peek, the Lost Prophets find that the place seems to be shutting up as its just on 9pm. The series of shops turns out to be probably one business with different things they offer around cars. The structure is new, and looks like its meant to be one of a few similar places along here, but its the only one built so far. There's about 15 people here, closing up. Tillie is peeking and she spots the car they were following in one of the 8 or so bays here, with a rollerdoor pulled down behind it. No one is in it, and she can see the empty bags they used on shelf, so they've clearly had time to unload while the pack made its way back. She senses for wyrm and finds there's a distinct wyrm sense about the place - several of the people send out a lot of awoogas and she thinks they are fomori. The water cooler is heavily tainted too. Almost everyone is tainted. ("Lets murder all of them"). They're all guys, a mix of ethnicities but all about the same age, tattoos, etc. Despite concerns from admist the pack, these guys don't seem to have the same level of military precision that the blue berets had - they're much more casual.

Tillie tries to find the person in charge. She spots the driver that they were following chatting to an older guy, and someone calls to him "Hey Yeager?", suggesting that's probably Yeager. No one is rushing off - there's a couple of beers been opened and people have started a fire in a drum out the front.

Someone comes out of the office and says "Hey Yeager, phone!" and he heads in. Tillie and peek-guide are up the other end, but they scramble down to the office end of the setup to hear the call. By the time she gets there she hears a voice say "- rings again, its up to you. *click*" How rude, they didn't say bye. Yeager casualy puts the phone down, and heads back out into the first bay and picks up his conversation. Will peeks so he can look for security cameras. He can't see any, but given the newness of the site, it'd be weird to not have any?

Finn gets a frisson of wrongness and looks around for its source. Out in the marshy space abutting the site there's a sort of glimmer and a number of moving shapes become apparent. Sense unnatural suggests there's a strong source of wyrm out there. ("Its not a nexus crawler is it?" "No. Its a group of nexus crawlers" "I always imagine them as the flying spaghetti monster" "Yes" "Wait, yes, its a group of nexus crawlers"). Sinead senses for wyrm and thinks that they are reasonably strong banes.

The pack pull their attention to the Umbra and head for the spirits, sharpening claws and howling out to strengthen the pack's resolve as they go. The spirits fly over the landscape toward the pack - when they are close enough the pack can see the spirits are like a grey cloud with eyes sticking out, and mouths that slide in and out from behind the eyes. Offputting

Sinead uses her Battle Mandala gift and a glowing pattern appears around the pack. The spirits drift closer and the pack attack. Claws seems to pop eyeballs fairly easy, but it turns out at the spirits have a sort of gaze power and when all their eyes stare at one of the garou, they are frozen in place and an easy target for the flowering mouths. The banes are quick to bite and chew the pack, especially the frozen members, but the pack are also insanely dangerous, and so in short order the banes are destroyed.

Lost Prophets look around just to confirm that there's no other immediate danger lunging at them, then Kasumi peeks to see what's going on. It looks as if some sort of alarm has been raised, as all of the lazy motion that was happening before has been replaced with people running and shouting. A couple of the guys are carrying shotguns and looking about. Yeager is running from the office along the front of the roller door areas, clutching something in his hands and yelling "get the fucking guns and be ready". It doesn't look like they can see the pack in the spirit world, they're looking about for where the fire is.

The pack have a brief mental conversation about what they should do while jogging closer to the garages. Some of the people here are fomori and such, but a lot of them are humans and randomly stepping out of the Umbra in crinos form is not great for the veil, assuming any of them are going to live. As the garou jog toward the building, it becomes clearer that Yeager has a handful of papers, and he's running straight at the bin that has a fire in it.

Seeing Yeager so intent makes the pack think that they really want to stop him, and to hell with the Veil. Each member of the pack steps sideways on their own, and frankly the ridiculous evenness of their rolls really helps determine the success of the rest of the battle. Everyone steps in an instant and appears in the middle of the carpark. Sinead is still sprinting and heads straight for Yeager, and tackles him into one of the car bays, crashing with him into the concrete wall.

Some of the humans freak out and drop what they're holding and run for the hills. Some of the others stop dead and just stare. Will peels off and engages one of the guys they'd identified as a fomori and tears him a new giant one, leaving the guy kicking and bleeding out on the ground.

Yeager kind of shape shifts - big plates emerge from his skin, covering his face and arms, and presumably his chest and all judging from the effect on his clothes. He also gains about a foot in height. One of the fomori who was in the kitchen explodes out and breathes out an enormous cloud of foul air, burning eyes and lungs. One of the shotgun wielders fires repeatedly at Will, suggesting this is not your garden variety shotgun.

Kasumi and Finn run to intercept one of the other fomori while Tillie, weilding Mr Pointy, heads in to help Sinead. Yeager grapples Sinead, confusing her as this normally doesn't happen to crinos. Some of the guys are pulling guns out, but a few are already armed and shoot at her and Tillie, though one of them is on his hands and knees vomiting and coughing from being caught in the cloud of evil. Will takes exception to the shotgun weilder, channels his rage, and leaps over and disembowels him. ("prepare the condolence card for his mum" "That's what I like to hear. Sorry mum")

Sinead tries to break away from Yeager, but can't get enough leverage. Will grabs the gun off one of the stymied humans and runs back out into the carnage, stomping on the nearly dead fomori on the ground. The fomori running up to Finn and Kasumi has a massive truck spanner and tries to smash Finn with it. Tillie is shot at but some of them miss and the others are mostly ineffectual. ("Ugh soak 1. I rolled 11 dice").

Will runs across the carpark and smashes into the firedrum, sending ashes and burning bits of timber into one of the other fomori. ("you're fired" "we didn't start that fire"). Yeager drops the grapple and punches Sinead hard. Tillie is shot at some more, but decides to focus on the goal and uses the fairy sword to try and chop off Yeager's hand. She manages to sever tendons and muscles, but not cut through the bone. Nonetheless, he can no longer make a fist and the papers are dropped all over the place.

Sinead sweeps her hand along the ground, scooping up papers and running out of the building into the car park in a single smooth move. Another fomori runs at Finn and Kasumi, and his skin starts to go weird and glisteny, and a dark colour. Kasumi tears through the arm and legs of the big guy hitting them with a spanner, crippling him down to the bone. Yeager springs spikes from all over his body and punches Tillie with the ones on his hands.

Will ignores the human with the gun that he hit with fire, and concentrates on one of the glistening fomori closing in on Kasumi and Finn. He finds when he claws the guy that he appears to be covered in tar, and his hands stick and the fomori flesh closes around him a bit. ("Normally I'm not that squeamish about biting things... but maybe this one." "I agree with Richard's advice to not hit him with your other hand"). ("I'd love to come help you cut him to pieces, but I've just realised that I'm on my own with the main bad guy and 3 guys with guns and a fomor breathing hideous fumes")

Yeager takes off and crashes into Sinead while all spiky and sharp. She keeps her feet and isn't badly sounded. Tillie is shot in the chest by the fume breathing fomori, and starts to cough and choke. The tar-covered fomori knifes Will, using being stuck to the garou to his advantage.

Kasumi breaks off to help Tillie, cos of the numbers disparity. Tillie lunges to her feet and cuts the fuming fomori in half with the fae sword despite her sucking chest wound. Finn figures Will can manage and also that the sticky fomori is gross, and goes to help Sinead given she has the primary objectives; he claws Yeager from behind, rending flesh all off him.

The gentlemens in the bay with Tillie decide enough is enough of this rubbish and one of them flips the rifle to auto and discharges the whole clip ("Will, why don't you use that gift you have to wreck up technology" "Oh. Oh yeah") into Tillie and Kasumi, and the other shoots Tillie, killing her. She slumps to the ground in breed form, yay crinos. ("I didn't clarify this last week, but ... are we cool with killing everyone?") One of the others decides he's had enough of this shit and leaves, running out into the carpark.

Sinead manages to stuff the papers into the bag of shadows and activate it, so they are safely away. Will swings himself around in an effort to fling the fomori off and into the fire, which suceeds in breaking him free and sending the fomori staggering over into the debris from the fire drum. Yeager grabs the bag of Shadows off Sinead, bringing the exciting possibility of losing the renown for losing a fetish as well as all the Veil breach. ("Its good he wants it, that means its important" "You only want it because he wants it. That's Tillie in a nutshell")

Kasumi uses her Mother's Touch gift to try and get Tillie back to life. ("Why am I not smarter?"). For the first time in days a packmember spends their own gnosis. Will claws the sticky fomor again and is stuck on him again - although he does a lot of damage, the fomor does not seem to care. Sinead reaches out and touches the bag, grabs her mirror and steps sideways, taking the bag of shadows with her. ("its hard." "Four tens." "Well then" "Plus a willpower"). Despite the pack's fears, Yeager does not shift with her.

The sticky fomor hurls a handful of burning embers and ash into Will's face, blinding him and blinding-him-but-for-sniffing. Finn briefly contemplates grappling the spiky Yeager, but decides that he's just going take him out instead, which he does. Will rips his hand away from the sticky fomor but now isn't sure where he is. Finn is hit with a shotgun from people that have crept up from near the office and wounded. Will is shot again fairly ineffectually. Kasumi is shot at a lot, but they miss.

Sinead appears in the Umbra and checks that everyone's still alive. She looks around for somewhere to stash her fetish, but she's not keen to just leave it about. Will decides he's had enough of this rubbish and triggers his Jam Technology gifts, and Kasumi loses the gnosis for it. ("Tillie's still unconscious?" "She could just be slacking"). Kasumi heals Tillie again to try and bring her back to life, and this time the gnosis comes from Will. Will is hit with something hot but manages to not be badly hurt.

Finn rushes one of the guys shooting him and slashes him down with claws. Will is still struggling to open his eyes and flails around with his claws trying to hit the sticky fomori - he hits something, but given his hannd gets stuck again, he's pretty sure who. Tillie starts to breath again and looks around for what's going on. One of the humans puts the shotgun near Finn and tries to pull the trigger and nothing happens. Other humans look confused'ly at their guns too.

Tille leaps up, grabs the sword and takes advantage of the temporarily lapse in general weaver rulings, crippling one gun weilder. Finn smashes the human who shot him. Sinead decides to head back to the Realm given Yeager is gone. Will yells out to try and capture some. ("as the leader is up and running, I am also going to engage in murder"). Kasumi decides the guy that full auto'd her and Tillie has had enough of being alive - as she closes, she can see in his eyes that he's like a prey animal in the spotlight, so she fulfils that destiny. Will is stabbed again. One of the remaining people try to club Finn with a shotgun butt.

Being short any effective opponents, Kasumi starts to head out after the guy who ran for it, but steps on and slip off one of the fallen bodies. Will manages to clear his eyes with his off hand, and then grabs the knife hand of mr sticky, pinning him without getting stuck to the tar skin. Sinead appears in the realm and sees one of the escaping gunmen going past her, so she runs and crashtackles him, winding him and making him lose his stride.

Jam Technology wears off as one of the last gunfighters cuts lose with a full auto empty of the magazine, shooting up Will and his pinned fomori and Tillie. Tillie lies down for a little rest and waits for all the holes to clean up. The fomor is killed and Will is badly injured and nearly frenzies. ("Can I pull off the corpse?" "I know what you mean") Will hurls the corpse in frustration but it just kind of flops about without coming unstuck.

Finn rips the weapon off one of the paralysed guys. Tillie stumbles forward and grabs the autofirer before he can reload. Will rips the gun out of his hands and hurls it away. Kasumi starts grabbing nearly dead people and hauls them into the bay with one of the guys that was fleeing blindly but got stuck in a bay.

The pack look around and contemplate their options. There's a lot of physical evidence here. And the cops will probably be here in no time. Ok, fire, and lots of it. How do they handle their prisoners - grab a car and take them away? Will suggests if they spray the site in chemicals including a pile of bodies, then his fire spirit ally could come and keep the fire going more than it might otherwise. Can the butterfly spirit hide him and the prisoners in a car? Kasumi votes for just add them to the pile, the cops will be here in 5 minutes. ("I've got 4 hostages and a water cooler, because in these circumstances its important to stay hydrated")

The Lost Prophets look at the cars, look at their prisoners, look at the clock, sigh and shoot all the prisoners. Their bodies are added to the pile of death in one of the bays.

Sinead and Kasumi head to the office and ransack things. Kasumi concentrates on the computer. Its a desk top and some sort of OEM thing where the case can't be opened, so she just goes to crinos and claws the case open and takes it. ("And I take the little ball out the mouse"). Tillie peeks and makes sure the Umbra isn't full of evil. Sinead zens her way around the place finding all the clues. All the cars here have keys hanging on little hooks making it easy to steal some cars. There's order forms and receipts and business stuff. It looks like Yeager's the owner, or at least manager. His first name is Albrecht. The business stuff seems to be legit. Sinead steals the cashbox. There's no signs of monitors for cameras. She can find a bit more guns and ammunition - more here than just what they got from Coulton. She finds a small safe, which is open - its got a pile of unmarked used bills as well. In a drawer, she finds three identical cheap phones, all off. People dragging bodies are told to get Yeager's phone out his pocket and fortunately he's on the top of the pile. Finn says that he can see flashing lights coming down the freeway and faintly here sirens. Will lobs some tires onto the pile as well to slow the cops down further.

The sound of approaching sirens means its time to go. Tillie goes invisible and humps over the landscape with everything except the harddrive and the papers taken off Yeager, while everyone else is going to go through the Umbra to get away. They need to get the murder van out of the area before the cops come looking. She shouldn't take it back via the freeway though, that'll be suspicious. Will gets a lighter and burns himself mildly to calls on his fire spirit friend, then drops the lighter and makes sure its burning away before stepping into the spirit world.

Tillie's about a quarter of the way back when the cops get to the building. She's about half the way to the car when something explodes with a fair bit of enthusiasm. She's most of the way back when it becomes clear they didn't find all of the ammunition. She starts the car without lights and drives away for a bit as subtley as she can, toward Point Cook. ("Make a manipulation and drive roll, something I never thought I'd say"). Tillie finds somewhere to ditch the car at Point Cook that won't be too suspicious, which is good because its got some of the guns in the car.

Meanwhile in the Umbra, fire motes appear and are mostly consumed by Will's friend. Weaver spiders manifest, but don't seem able to trap the fire.

Everyone meets up, and they pull out the papers from Yeager . Its a list of surnames and addresses. hey, there's Casetti. And Heaton. Teesdale. Wait, that's sept people names. But this isn't garou houses, this is somewhere else. Oh. This is a list of kinfolk. Whaaaat. Sinead says she recognises most of them. There's a number that's listed with each address - Sinead *thinks* that it might be the number of people that live there. They're not sure if this is just kinfolk for their caern - Garou are not good at sharing, especially with kinfolk and especially with kinfolk and other garou. They decide this needs to get back to the caern right now, and sprint as fast as they can

When they arrive, Graeme and Ian are there. The Lost Prophets explain what they think they've found and where and the swearing begins. Its a list of not just kinfolk but also Sept associates. He calls Nadine and contacts Cossack. Graeme's brother is on the list. He's pretty sure its just people from their caern, though its not everyone. The Lost Prophets are a bit concerned that there might be lists from Hidden Green and Grinding Stone too. The Elders start to talk about what they need to do - they're like to move everyone, but not everyone here is fully aware of garou and everything and they can't just turn up and say "move". Tillie says that she'd like to trace the two calls that went to the garage while they were there - they could try and use remote terminals but the Elders say that they would be better off speaking right to the exchange spirits. While everyone is talking, members of other packs show up at are brought up to speed.

Will is concerned about the coordination between the fomori and the banes that attacked in the Umbra. They've met fomor before who could, but it wasn't easy, and that's the general knowledge about fomori - they can occasionally reach the umbra but it doesn't come 'naturally'. Someone needs to followup with the site and the people who ran off. Someone needs to look at the harddrive - but the normal someone's are going to be moving house suddenly. The Sept is real short of people on the ground suddenly for everything they're going to need to do for the next couple of days.

Cossack says they'll have to concentrate on the people that can't be told and moved first - there's a bunch of kinfolk who can be told that they should pack and be ready to have a short holiday, but they'll need to work out where to take them, and binding spirits to guard over anyone else is going to take the most time. Kasumi says what if they get moved while under surveilence? They'll have to take that chance - having been rumbled that might have moved the schedule up. Christine pipes up and says when they were in Sydney, a dancer said something about a traitor just before she killed them. She put it down mostly to trying to psych her out, or maybe taking in general, but ... its a bit worrying given how comprehensive this list is.

Jobs are allocated - Lost Prophets need to go check the site and followup on any leads there, such as the phone call and who told them about the police report in the first place? Cossack will follow up with the other septs. The other packs will start dealing with people on the list. People are monitoring the police band and the situation is still significant.

The Lost Prophets head home and deal with their still pretty gloopy clothes. Tillie just gets in and our of the shower, but Will opts for switching except for underpants ("Just the budgie smugglers"). ("Febreeze! BAM the dirt is gone") Kasumi gives hers a quick rinse and in the dryer for well-that'll-do. The pack head out toward Werribee. They borrow a car to do so, so they can empty the van but then leave it there. This done, they split up - Kasumi and Sinead will go to the exchange and try to quiz the spirit, while everyone else will go to the site and peek to see what's what. ("What's a zo? ... ohhh a zoo")

Tillie peeks while Will keeps a lookout in the Umbra. There are fire spirits and motes and bits of burning weaver stuff, but no signs of anything more concerning. In the realm the fire is out, but it looks like the fire brigade had to go all out, and so the forensic people are sobbing into their hands. There's foam everywhere. They're scouring the area and finding shell cases etc, taking photos and so on. There's traffic control on the road, and traffic isn't being allowed through - the area includes where the van was parked, so that was a good call. There's computer guys looking at the remnants of the pc and being lightly baffled about the damage on it. Tillie senses for wyrm, and finds a bit across some of the authority figures, but less than, say, Henke. There's no one from some mysterious agency looking into it. ("I'm looking for that thing in cop shows where a bunch of people roll in and they're like 'We're taking this over' and the cop's like 'you can't do that this is my crime scene' and then the president calls and is like 'this is the president, they're taking over'") Will says to look for people using super science or eating the evidence. It seems to be a local investigation even though there are phone calls to more senior police about what might have happened. There's a strong feeling that Mr Yeager might have been 'known to police'. No one appears surprised that something happened though the degree is a bit overwhelming and perhaps a bit theatrical. There is a sense of bafflement that there's so many dead people in a pile, presumably all from one side? Meaning the other side either took no hits, or had enough people to take all the fallen with them, which means a ... bus load? Or were mercenary enough to pile *everyone* in the fire? Helicopters are sweeping around the place with big search lights on.

At the police road block, there are a few tv vans filming from a distance, but it looks less like srs journalists and more like camera techs getting footage for people to talk over tomorrow.

Meanwhile north of Werribee, Kasumi and Sinead are staring at a large geometric spirit, somewhere between a spider and an installation. Bright coloured lights flicker across it, and movement seems to be occuring at the points where its connected to the weaver stuff that mimics the telephone lines and all. The spirit is definitely awake and active. Kasumi tries to schmooze her way into getting the spirit to accept some secret glasswalker magic commands, but its not having a bar of it. ("I speak in dialup"). Oh well, plan B - binding this spirit. Sinead leads the ritual and Kasumi helps, because the spirit is pretty significant. The spirit resists, but it can't get away, so it tries to disrupt the ritual, but in the end Sinead's spiritual authority exceeds it enough to get it to ask some questions - she's not sure how long it will last. (Also some of the gnosis comes from Finn isntead of the ritualists)

"What were the last two numbers that called this number?" The spirit replies with a stream of data that includes the numbers and times of the last two calls - from this number at 6.02pm and that number at 5.37pm. That's not right, the calls were around 9pm. They double check the number and make sure its right. Did they call another number and it was redirected? Hmm. Did something magic happen? Kasumi uses a question asking if there's other phone numbers that are associated with this address. The spirit spits another stream of data and a mobile number - they think that was Yeager's mobile. What numbers called that? Still no match to the 9pm calls again. Kasumi tries rephrasing the question - there were two calls that came to this number, what was the numbers that made them. The spirit replies with the two calls that match that query came from these numbers - but the numbers are gibberish, a bit like line noise instead of legit numbers. Hunh. Encrypted secure line? Magic? (https://twitter.com/badedgecases)

Is there a physical address associated with the linenoise number? The response is something akin to 'Invalid key'. Who last accessed this data? It is unable to answer the question, and it repeats the data again - Kasumi manages to gather its trying to express that no changes have been made to this information since it was created.

So.. mages? Dancers? Encrypted military? Traitorous clones?

"We only need to accuse the Elders" The names were printed, that's worrying - it means there might be other copies of that info. Does this tie back to the Doppleganger of Mandras? How does this link to the 'greek guy' who dropped the info off to them?

The harddrive is growing in importance to the pack - they might need to get it and go through it and see if the original file of names is on there somewhere. With that file, some weaver magic might be able to trace the file?

In terms of who warned them... Was it maybe someone at Henke's police station? That knows about werewolves? Irena? Ion? Why would they be so indirect? Maybe they could find Yeager's house?

Right. Yeager's phones. To try and shield it from the cops being weird about it, they find a building with a lift. ("I was distracted by google dashboard"). While Kasumi contemplates searching his phone Tillie looks up his address in the white pages and finds it in the white pages. Yeager's phone has a lot of contacts, mostly as firstname without much context and a number. There's not a lot of history ("hey dood guns?") tho - it looks like he deletes his history as he goes. There's maybe a month's worth here and all the sms' past then is gone, as well as the call log. Location services aren't turned on. Stuff's saved to the phone not the sim card. It looks like he's taking some basic steps to keep his phone data safe. ("And that's how Becc died") ("you picked the right day to wear underwear")

The burner phones appear to have been used to deal with different sets of people - like each phone was for a differnt group. They find Coultons names and some other surnames that are familiar from the news or from their fun and games with organised crime earlier in the year with Ion and Irena's war. One of the phones tho has only one contact - A - and no messages. ("Send a message saying... what's up, A?" "New phone, who dis") It looks less used than the other two. Kasumi tries smelling it but can't sense anything different on it ("they all smell like fomori pocket") ("you're an influencer now" "oh no!")

If they have a number, could they find a weaver spirit to find the phone? Unsure, but given Kasumi's phone diving gift, that's probably a yes, but it might take a while to find a spirit capable of doing something akin to that ("he says, having to admit that, but worrying about setting precedent") It'd take an.. intricate weaver spirit, as opposed to the baseline workers.

The Lost Prophets are pretty dead, having had a rough subjective couple of weeks, and decide that they need 4 hours sleep before getting back to it.

Friday 30th December - Theurge waxing

Beep. beep. beep *rage*

They've got a couple messages from Sept folks asking for updates, but not much else seems to have happened in 4 hours. They whole pack heads off down to Yeager's address to see what they can see.

Cruising past, it looks like a rental in a street full of slightly run down houses. They sense wyrm on the way past and don't find much. The garou find somewhere to step and come back through the Umbra. There's a distinct wyrm resonance in the Umbra around the house, and it looks a bit cruddier than th other houses. There's no point sources and it feels more like a reflection from the Realm than a source of evil on its own. Will peeks to see what's happening and where he might be burying the hookers.

Its 3 bedroom house, and there is a certain amount of wyrm in areas where Yeager probably hangs out a lot (kitchen, bedroom, etc). There's no one else here right now, and there's no sign that anyone else lives her normally. One bedroom is a bedroom, the other is kind of a basic gym and the last one seems to have crap stacked up. It looks like a bit of a worn out rental - signs the walls might have had holes, and the roof leaked and the kitchen's got some dents. Ok, they need to look in the Realm to get a better idea of what's going on.

Will and Finn remain in the Umbra while the other 3 come and look for stuff. Tillie senses for wyrm, Kasumi for unnatural and Sinead creeps around in lupus sniffing. The gifts show places where Yeager has hung out, but also a couple of tubs of protein powder in the kitchen - inside them is a bad smelling black ... materials? It senses similar to the water cooler from the car site last night. It doesn't look like a commercially produced product. There's a fair bit. Parallels are drawn between this and the steroid fomori last year. It doesn't look like the stuff you'd get people to eat voluntarily.

Sinead can smell some faint smells from other people a few months back. There are very strong recent smells that haven't been here before - recent like the last 24 hours. That's a bit worrying, but maybe it was the police? The pack look around and notice that there are a couple of spaces in the 3rd bedroom that might have been a computer and some boxes? Maybe it was the guys that ran away? Its maybe 3 people and the smells have been all over the house, possibly starting from the front door? The lock appears to have been forced or tampered with in some fashion, but in a subtle way, not breaking the frame. The place hasn't been ransacked, there's just things gone. Ok, its either police or its someone that knew what they were looking for and where to find it. Oh, there's deadlocks but they're open.

Maybe they can bug the neighbours. Will finds somewhere to step out of the Umbra in a stealthy fashion and saunters up to next door and turns on the charm, or at least the gifts that let him be charming. The door is opened by a woman behind a security door and Will asks if he can ask questions. He has a bunch of cover story ready, but it turns out Christine is happy to talk without asking probing questions. She asks if something bad happened because the police were there this morning? Ah. They were here before dawn, with two cars. The guy's always been unfriendly and a bit strange. They went up to the door, banged for a bit, then went in. She was watching from inside because she had to get up, and she saw the lights and watched from inside. Will claims he's a journalist and he's investigating the fire at Werribee. Christine says she heard about that on the radio.

She says that Yeager was surly and not very neighbourly. He used to have people there all the time with loud cars and getting drunk and making a lot of noise til late, but it stopped in the last two months. From their point of view it was good because it was quieter, so they didn't really worry about why. No one has been visiting from then at all - well, not with a loud revving car and beer, anyway. I mean, she's at work during the day, but all that noise just stopped. She's seen him with lights on in the middle of the night though - like at 4am or something, lots of lights on.

Christine goes on to tell Will about Mark and Francine and how they don't mow their lawn properly, leave their bins out too long, and then complain that other people park on the street. Darren's a good guy, but his mower got stolen. And on the otherside is a grandmother who doesn't speak English and Mark and Francine make fun of her. What jerks. Will manages to disengage and speaks briefly to the other neighbours and gets a similar profile - was annoyingly garrolous, then suddenly it all stopped about two months ago. The pack theorise that its in context of him becoming a fomori.

Meanwhile, back inside, the pack find a sealable baggy and take a sample of the chopped up cockroaches or whatever it is that Yeager has in these protein bottles, and take it via the bag of Shadows. ("Its called a cop shop I assume I can buy a cop")

The pack's pretty much out of leads at this end of town, so they head back to grab the hard drive from the caern and see if the file that Yeager had a printout of is on there. While heading back they catch the police presser about last night's shenannigans - they believe that about 3pm today, a confrontation between criminal elements took place in an establishment belonging to a person or persons whom police have suspected to have engaged in illegal activity. The aforesaid confrontation resulted in a large number casualties before police arrived on the scene, where a significant chemical fire had been started. Police are seeking information from members of the public if they were in the area or saw anything suspicious, but urge that they should not approach anyone involved as they may be heavily armed and dangerous. The police decline to speculate at this stage as to the causes of the confrontation. ("It could have been 12 guys with guns, or one guy with 12 guns")

On the way back, Tillie tries to get a better sense of what the roughly chopped up beetle mix is in terms of wyrm. She has to put her hands in it and get a feel for it. It legimitately seems to be roughchopped beetles and inverterbrates, at least to begin with. She gets a sudden insight that it has had wyrm stuff put on it - oh.. like the black goo from Preston. Either that, directly, or something derived from it. It has a similar kind of resonance.

Back at the caern there is a sense of frenetic energy from the Elders - all the other packs are out and about. Graeme is distracted talking to Nadine and making notes. He just waves at the hard drive when they ask about it. Kasumi takes it back to her place and plugs it in. Its not encrypted or anything. Its got a version of windows and office, and some business software on it. She doesn't get a sense that it was used by someone adept at computers particularly - everything is in one or two folders in MyDocuments. There's lists of everyone who works there and a bunch of business stuff like suppliers and work done (not under the table anyway). They've got bank account details and such too. It looks like Yeager used to run a different business and moved to this one about 6 months ago. Given the amounts cars cost to repair and maintain, its impossible to say if was laundering money hidden in the coming and going. Some searches on the previous address shows some noise complaints and a court case when someone was arrested for afray. Some legal complaints about bad workmanship.

Kasumi sets up a search for the list of kinfolk, but thinks it'll be a while to grep everything, so in the meantime they report in for kinfolk help. They head back and brain dump what they know and have determined for discussion. After explaining about the beetles, Ends-the-Quiet asks if this is what Sinead's dream has been forewarning of? There's a long pause from everyone. There are cars. Danger. No gargoyles? Maybe one of the mages warned them? Gargoyle coming out of the dark wasn't a rush but a "emerging into the light"? Ends-the-Quiet says on the other hand, the mages have shown the ability to find garou at will - maybe they have been using that power to find the caern's kinfolk and associates. ("Long day" "Not as long as your beard" "That's not what I thought you were going to say") Hmm. HMMMM. No one is 100% convinced but there's a bit of lessening of tension.

Lost Prophets are put on kinfolk detail, along with Melissa. Nadine asks Finn to come along and talk to some of the Fianna at Scars Atoning with her and see if there's scope for homing some kinfolk people with them? Carmel is going to head to Reconciliation and see if the Children of Gaia/Fianna caern can help out too. He's up for that, and so they moonbridge away. In the meantime, the rest of the pack head off to help summoning and binding.

When Finn and Nadine bamf into the cave caern, Donald and Davis are there to greet them. Finn gives them the short version of what's going on and says that they'd appreciate some help with their kinfolk. David says that he is happy to try and help. Donald is concerned that they don't know the source, let alone have taken steps - he thinks that if they take in some Sleeping Lore kinfolk, it might put their in danger. Finn suggests some sort of non-contact refuge - do they have anyway of just quietly making something available without needing contact with Sept relations? Hmm, that could be viable - they'll look into it and send a message back?

Most of the Sept folk are in the inner city, so between helping out with randoms, Kasumi drops past home and checks the computer - there's no file on the computer with the surnames she got it to look for. Dammit.

Summoning and binding, a variety of guarding, monitoring and hiding spirits to bind to kinfolk and associates. Melissa is pretty chirpy, asking questions like "where have you guys been, everyone is very shifty about it?" and "can I drive the car?" ("no") and "can I change the radio?" Will says they've been deep in the Umbra - its been complicated and pretty strange. They can maybe tell her after the next Moot.

There's some speculation about the beetle stuff - the blue berets were involved in the steroid fomori and scars atoning. They were maybe doing experiments in how to get spirit energy into the Umbra and ? Into people? Are they partnering with the mages? The beetles were way more home cooking than the injectable steroids, but its on the same line? Its disturbing the beetles resonated with the water cooler. Maybe they were all drinking it - because even the ones that weren't fomori, not all of them seemed to react to the Delerium. Are they heading for fomori? Something else? Holding onto guns which made them brave?

One of the return trips to the Sept finds David Thewlis there, and the end of a conversation where they've made sure that a caravan park can take a sudden booking of about 20 people without worrying about who will pay for it. That's all the remote scope they can manage on short notice. The Sleeping Lore Elders seem happy to accept that, and David says he'll head back and organise it now then. Carmel's had a bit more luck and the filthy hippies at Healesville can take in a wide variety of people - make a phone call and they'll do what they can.

Toward the end of the night they've pretty much dealt with anyone who can't be moved and can be easily monitored. Now they're looking at kinfolk who can be told "you're in danger, move". Will and Sinead have been sent off to help a kinfolk without a phone called Evan get it together and go. He's a 25yo that lives in a granny flat out the back of a house. They've manage to convince him they are legit and he should get it together. Suddenly two policemen are in the front room looking around. "So, Evan" Will sense unnatural and finds that while they are a bit tainted, its not the worst. One of them is looking in rooms without being asked while the other comes to see Evan's packing. "Going somewhere?" "Yes? Going for a holiday." "With your mates here?", giving Will the eye. "We've got a witness who says you were selling to a teenage kid up near Smith St" Evan says that wasn't him. Will tries to use his gifts to influence the cops "Is he under arrest?" "Your name is?" "I don't have to tell you my name. Evan, do you know these guys?" Evan seems to be trying to convey something to Will just through staring and babbling "Nah, its fine, it wasn't me, its ok". Will says unless they've got a warrant, or are arresting him, they should move on. The second cop gives Will the eyeball while the first one says "How long you going to be gone Evan?" "You don't have to answer that." "er.... just a couple of days". "It'd be a shame if we had to talk to you buy you weren't available" The cops leave, eyeballing everyone.

Evan says "don't wind them up man!" They have a brief discussion about Evan has rights, but Evan says how the cops can set him up whenever, highlighting the difference in capabilities between the garou and their poor kinfolk.

Tillie is leaving Graeme's when Barry waves her down and asks which direction they are going now. Tillie checks her list and they are mostly heading west. Barry says they've got mostly people east, and this one guy west - could they get Lost Prophets to chase him down? They're going to Richmond, detouring by Essendon would be a pain. Tillie says "sure" and gets the details (Marc, Essendon). Kasumi suggests telling Graeme that they've done a swap, so Tillie sticks her head back in and tells him. Graeme says that Marc is Ken's cousin, he just assumed that they would want to sort it. He doesn't mind if they swap as long as no one is missed.

The address is unit 2 on a house block. Tillie immediately senses wyrm when she approaches but there's nothing really. There are a couple of dream catchers hanging on the front porch. The door is opened before she gets there - a guy with shoulder length blonde hair opens it and steps out. He's got on combat boots, urban camo pants and a 3-wolf-moon shirt. "Ah hi!" "You're Marc?" "yeah, you're Tillie right?" "yeah... wait, how did you know that". Marc says word gets around, cos people are pretty interested. Tillie gets a twitch and when Kasumi tries to escape back to the car says she comes inside or else.

Inside Marc has a couple of big wolf posters, and a katana above the heater on display. Marc says "you're Kat something?" and "I don't know you, sorry" to Melissa. "No, I'm new". "Why are you here?" They tell Marc he needs to go, and Marc doesn't want to. Someone called and said there was trouble, but he wants to stay and help. He can be helpful! Tillie tries to scare him, but if anything Marc goes wow that's so cool and badass. He says that he knows karate and he's got a mirror on a chain, and if it goes really bad, he's got like a silver knife. He doesn't want to get shipped off - if bad stuff is happening, they'll need everyone to help. ("I rolled 10 dice and I got 5 1s").

Tillie grits her teeth and says "ok, if you can be helpful... can you... I need to confer with my .. associates. Are you sure you know martial arts, you're nto fucking about? " Marc's confidence deflates a little, but he says he's been doing training. Tillie takes the other two out of the house and says "he's an idiot, just run with it". She comes back in and says she has a job, but it might be hazardous and she can't tell him here because his house might be bugged. She needs to get him out now cos they might have been in his very house. Marc says he makes sure things are locked and he leaves a hair on the fridge door to stop people stealing the food. "Marc, you pack your bags. Kasumi, you call them back and say we have someone." Marc wants to know what it is, and Tillie says its surveillence. Marc is a bit suspicious. Kasumi says "One moment while i go outside and call.. the people", and heads out, looking up Barry's number and intending to phone dive just to smack him upside the head. "We are at Marc's house." "Thanks for that, its very helpful. I, uh, have to go. " beeeeep. ("Its not a good use of gnosis"). Tillie says she'll give him the address, but he can't write it down. Kasumi says don't input it into anything electronic and Marc is all "oh yeah!". He says he'll write it on his arm - as he moves his sleeves aside, they can see that he's drawn a reasonable bonegnawer symbol on his arm with texta. Tillie says that he has to remember it ("Don't trust him to remember it" "I'm hoping he loses it" "he'll come home") but eventually compromise on him writing it on a piece of paper and eating it.

Marc wants to know what the mission is and also if Tillie ever punched out a tree spirit. They tell him to watch the house, and if he sees anything suspicios, write it down. He is doubtful on writing it down, but Tillie just says burn it then. Sure, ok. ("he's going to burn the house down" "Not my fucking problem"). Marc drags Tillie to his room to show her all his cool surveillence stuff he's bought like night googles and a parabolic mike. Melissa and Kasumi are left in the kitchen - Melissa says that she thought this was all more serious than this. Kasumi asks if she knows what a neckbeard or an otaku is? Melissa has heard of the latter. Kasumi says this man has a "raging boner" for werewolf culture and she be avoided. Melissa says her parents know shit, and it means she has to creep around a lot, but this guy knows lots and appears to be an idiot. Is this as confusing for Kasumi as it is for her? Yes. And also she is going to murder Barry. ("He needs a girlfriend" "No" "Like having a japanese girlfriend" "NO" "Except a werewolf girlfriend" "OR a japanese werewolf girlfriend")

The pack return to the Sept for more assignments. They get another small handful, including the Cosgriffs, Gavan and Megan, who are a bit in the know. The pack show up and confirm that the kinfolk got the call, and find that they are mid-packing, but their daughter Angela isn't here. Angela is 15 and she left her phone at home. She's gone out to a friend's place. They rang the friend, and their parents said that the two girls have gone to see a movie - but they're not sure what cinemas they went to in the end. She'll be back eventually, but -. Sinead says they can't wait for eventually, they'll go get her.

Sinead does sufficiently well on the roll to know which particular cinema Angela is in at Broadmeadows. Off they roll in the murder van, except for Will who wants to scout around and try to figure out if he can trace any of the surveillence. The Cosgriffs give him the eye a bit as he looks around the household, but don't stop him. He slips into the Umbra and looks about, using his gifts to try and trace any potential bad guys. In the house, there is a slight deadlands sense - its not magic or demons, its just the background deadlands. Its mostly concentrated in the missing daughter's bedroom. Its not strong - there's like a slight pressure or breeze flowing out of her room. Are these kinfolk actually Strider kin? They've not noticed this at anyone else's house. Will thinks to warn his pack members trying to find Angela. Its not going to be active mage magic, that feels different... but maybe its the lingering echo of something?

In the Umbra, this house is more real, only a bit. Will contemplates asking if he can look through her room, but figures that's going to make the parents concerned. Instead he bamfs out (only wearing underwear as we all realised later). He looks around. It a small room, there's no room for giant blood rituals on the floor. Its full of clothes and stuff. He thinks that he can still sense the deadlands feeling, but its less here than in the Umbra.

He goes back to the Umbra and tries to see if anyone in the immediate area is standing at the window and unnaturally staring at this house, but a few hours of searching does not turn up anything weird.

Meanwhile... Sinead points at cinema 6, playing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ("I believe its one that goes for about 6 weeks?") Kasumi goes to buy her and Melissa a ticket while the others plan to subvert the dominant paradigm and step in and out of the spirit world. Fortunately at the moment, Finn remembers he's not wearing his dedicated clothes. Kasumi tries to get Melissa in on a concession but she manages to jesture and indicate that one has not the gnosis to dedicate more than these shorts and top, and thus she has no ID or anything. Two adults please. ("I have dedicated underwear and my balaclava" "That's certainly a mental image"). Finn comes back and says "no pants". Three. Adults. Please.

The Broadmeadows shopping centre is a combination of two much weaver and a thin patina of wyrm over everything. its not a great place to hang out to be honest. Tillie peeks while Sinead keeps an eye out for banes. Tillie spots a bunch of teenagers in the dark, Sinead says somewhere up the back. The others come in through the door and grab a seat as surreptiously as they can.

Finn senses for unnatural and tries to narrow it down ("just sniff all the teenagers" "that's a terrible idea) but there's a few people here given the heat outside. Tillie sighs and says they should have looked for photos. Will isn't too far away and goes to look for some - there's a few; Angela is anglo, has kinda curly shoulder length blondish hair and glasses. A bit spotty. He can describe her smell a bit too in garou tongue. ("She kinda looks a bit like... that movie, with the guy? The girl in that. But blonde instead of brunette")

With that helpful description, Tillie can pin it right down and goes right up in her business from the Umbra. Kasumi and Finn see Angela jump about a foot in the air and look around sharply. She takes her glasses off and squints around the cinema. Tillie tries to sense unnatural and can't really pick anything. Kasumi says "hang on. Remember the pyschic kinfolk at the hospital?" and the pack squint at her and think its the same girl a year and a half later. ohhhhhh.

Ok, they need to go and word her up that its time to go. Kasumi says "here's the plan. Melissa, get me a choctop. We're going to sit and enjoy the movie for 45 minutes". Tillie queries this plan and Kasumi pulls expert knowledge - as a Glasswalker Homid, she says this is the best way to solve this *human* problem. ("you can challenge at any time during peace"). ("you don't know me, but I knew your father")

At the end of the movie, Kasumi followers her out and says "Oh hi Angela" ("come jump in my van"). Angela is chatting with her friends (2m, 3f) about the movie. Angela looks at her funny and Kasumi says "I know your parents, we've met before". Angela says "sorry?" Kasumi asks to talk to her seperately but Angela isn't super keen to leave her friends and go with this strange asian woman. Kasumi leans in and says "there's been a bit of an emergency, and you didn't take your phone. Your parents need you. You can borrow my phone if you need to call home." She's convincing enough that Angela says she'll call but she'll use a friend's phone. The pack hear her have a conversation with her parents that goes very quickly and Angela says "I've gotta go guys, I'll see you soon, byeeeee" and leaves with Kasumi and Melissa

Finn approachs before long, and then Sinead and Tillie. Angela clearly recognises Sinead, but is also a bit freaked out that there's 5 total psychopaths come for her and wants to know what's going on. Tillie says ask your parents. Kasumi says they need to leave town for a few days and Angela is cross she's going to miss out on a New Years party.

They get to the car with all 5 garou and one tiny kinfolk. After a brief conversation Melissa sighs and gets in the boot. Angela clearly remembers Sinead. "So. .. seen any ghosts recently?" "yes, all the time. Why do *you* smell of ghosts?" "Mumble. Just go home"

Angela is delivered safely. The rest of the night is filled with difficult cases that can't just move without help, returning to the Sept for rest and recharging and then getting back out there.

Saturday 31st December - Philodox waxing

At dawn, the Sept has returned to the caern, having successfully moved or set watchers over nearly 400 people, 300 of which had to move. Cossack congratulates the gathered garou for their efforts in 36 hours of panic. Its not over, they've just solved the immediate problem. He knows that a lot of people had plans for this evening and he thinks they need a break. However, he'd like at least one member of each pack to remain at the Sept. Tillie volunteers herself as she has no plans ("I hate people, I hate new years" "you're scared of fireworks" "I was going to go to whatever Sinead dragged me to, but this is way better"). Carmel will stay as well. The Scyers were already on guard duty, and half the pack will be there. Cossack asks that no one gets more than lightly munted and t keep their wits about them.

The Lost Prophets catch up to Barry, who is trying to hide behind Chris. "Sorry man, he's Ken's cousin, we'd have *never* got rid of him". Ken says that Marc won't listen because he's older. Barry agrees he owes them a favour. Or maybe Chris does, he's pack leader. "And if he starts a fire, its on your head". Barry checks what they told him and they explain that they got him to spy on the safe house. Oh. Kay. Tillie says Barry should have warned them and he retorts that they'd have said no.

Melissa angles to catch up with Sinead for going out, but begs a lift home from Kasumi while the others fall asleep. She wants to talk about whether she should do uni next year, she's been thinking about it, and it'd be good to concentrate on the werewolf stuff, but at the same time her parents want her to start uni and it'd be good to go through with her friends.

Kasumi says its difficult, and important. For example, Finn has struggled, but Emma works at the university as a lecturer, and Aquinas is a phd student. It depends on individual character, and on passion. Melissa says she doesn't want to give it up, just wondering about deferring. Kasumi says that it is good to have a goal - doing it just because, and this attitude "p's get degrees" is not a wise one. ("You're not here"). It will depend on your pack and how busy they are. She was unable to do this and a full time job - she now works sporadically around the garou business. She could do it part time - 5 years instead of 3? 2 years is nothing over time.

Melissa raises another topic - a lot of the people they ran into in the last 24 hours knew .. a bit. Plus that guy. Her parents know nnothing and its starting to get in the way. How does she get that fixed? Kasumi says her parents are in Japan. She is pro some distance between Melissa and her parents rather than telling them she is a whirling death machine. Telling them in any way that doesn't make them think she's joined a cult is hard. Melissa says she's already said some stuff about getting counselling and help and her parents were skittish on it.

Anyway she was talking to Kirsty, who thought the whole degree thing was a waste of time. Kasumi makes an "ugh" noise and Melissa looks at her funny. Kasumi says there are many people from many walks of life, and yet Kirsty's path is unique. Melissa says she's pretty interesting, and she's explained some things that she was having trouble with. Kasumi agrees that that is good. But she is a passionate person, and doesn't always think things through. She's not a planner. Melissa says Kirsty's helped her with some things to help her not freak out constantly. Yes, she is very knowledgeable about werewolf things, not necessarily about werewolf things. Just take it with a grain of salt. Also get soem sleep. Then go out and try and enjoy the evening. She'd recommend not taking drugs, her biology is a bit incompatible.

Kasumi says that... well, there is always pretending. Say she's signed up, go to things with her friends... and get a fake failing out transcript or something to give a reason to go to part time.

Sleep. dear gaia.

Midday, Sinead's phone rings. She squints at it and sees its Melissa, and so answers without opening her eyes. Melissa is cross - she's been supergrounded. She forgot there was a family grandma thing last night because she was out doing kinfolk things. She got home at dawn and her dad saw her come in, and they had a fight and then it got louder and broader, and she's now basically either grounded at home tonight or .. well, it was a big fight. She's opting to go with the grounding, but like she spoke to Kasumi about, she really wants to sort something out so this doesn't happen again. Sinead says that its probably the honourable thing to do, staying home, and it shows that she's being mature about it. And yes, they can help with - YAWN - sorting this out soon. Also, keep with not frenzying on your parents. Sinead reiterates the distance thing, and says that they'll never be able to tell them everything. Melissa will have to take control of her own life and maybe move out. Melissa is a bit surprised by the idea. Sinead says it can be an amicable distance, it doesn't have to be remote, just at arm's length Some of Lost Prophets burned the bridge because they had to. But Finn didn't, he's just 4 hours away.

Melissa says that's the most sensible thing anyone's said about the situation. They can't work it out tonight. And, the best way to keep the situation amicable now is to admit you fucked up and missed the dinner with your grandmother, and accept the punishment. That's the honourable thing from a garou point of view, and also admitting you were wrong to your parents might make a way of starting the conversation. Melissa sighs and says that sounds like a good idea. She should get off the phone before she's noticed, and Sinead should enjoy her clubbing and hopefully Melissa will see them in a couple of days. Mmmhmm. Sinead pulls up the blanket and goes back to sleep. ("where have to train up that girl's gnosis so she can dedicate her phone like a proper glasswalker")

Maybe there's werewolf share housing Melissa could meet up with? Or live with some kinfolk. Normally a new cub would join an existing pack. The Get of Pennington were keeping an eye on another lost cub they found, maybe they and Melissa would get together?

("how does this work again?")

Kasumi picks her best option for events for tonight, which is a dinner at a lebanese resteraunt on Russel St with a client who is looking to send more work her way. She arrives to find that although the place can seat 40, 48 are coming, and the owners have had to move the large round tables closer together. It quickly becomes loud as many exuberant staff members come in, and then gets louder again as the resteraunt takes longer than usual to provide food and people get stuck into the beers.

Kasumi is not drinking, and one of her dinner companions is also sticking to water. He is introduced to Kasumi as Houtan, another consultant that helps with their logistic issues. He's a moderately good looking persian gentleman. Houtan is introduced to Kasumi by a second host. Houtan appears to have noticed that she's not drinking as well, but makes no comment. They make idle chitchat as outsiders - comparing some notes on when and why they came to Australia and so on. Kasumi is introduced to Houtan by a third one of the hosts. He's clearly as uncomfortable as she is and happy to have someone else to talk to. They've never met before because she is in head office and he's out at the sites.

The venue has booked a belly dancer, but having evaluated the health and safety constraints, the young lady in question is sticking to the space around the door rather than moving around the tables. There's some basic hooting and clapping from the red faced gentlemen at table 7. Houtan appears interested in watching the entertainment. Kasumi opts for "leave me alone I'm eating" body language. At least the food, when it finally arrives, is pretty good.

Someone backhands a wine glass off a table to cries of 'taxi' and Kasumi mentally says fuck this. There's dessert left to go, but its 8pm and she's done her duty. She says bye to Houtan, and starts making her way to the managing director. Houtan clearly didn't realise just going was an option and gets up and gets his stuff together too. Kasumi says thank you for the meal, but she sadly has to go - busy night and all that. She certainly doesn't say "your employees are babboons" or "I'm going home to pat my dog". Houtan makes his apologies too and holds the door for Kasumi.

They make some idle chit chat on the street for a few moments, not just because neither of them can smoothly exit a conversation. Houtan tentatively asks if she has other plans for the evening, and Kasumi says she does. Ah. He was going to ask if she wanted to come to a gathering in Brighton he was planning to go to - there'll be numerous ex-pats from around the world there, she would be welcome. Kasumi toys with the idea briefly but says another time - she asks to trade contact information which gets her a business card with his full name (wooo questing stone) - Houtan Dabiri. Kasumi finally says "I should go" and leaves for her car.

Meanwhile, Finn, Sinead and Will are only just getting out the door. Sinead is in charge of events and has decreed they will be going to the Forum, which is hosting a general pre-drinks and music event where a mate is DJing early on. They join the line up and move along pretty quickly as other people leave. Before long they're inside. Sinead's mate (Ant) is already on - rather than his usual personal collection, he's read the room and is playing to the crowd. He's playing more recognisable songs, but messing with them on the fly, mixing between songs and sometmies entertwining them. There's a small number of people dancing, and Will joins them with moves that speak more of atheleticism than expressiveness.

Finn heads straight for the bar. Sinead runs into a couple of people she knows here for Ant as well. Will has decided that things are too frenetic to really invest much in making moves on people, so of course he finds himself the focus of a young lady who joins him in his dancing, and when a few songs have gone by, introduces herself as Anissa.

Sinead is approached by a guy she sort of knows who asks awkward leading questions because he wishes to purchase some illicit pharmaceuticals. Sinead leaves him hanging and he awkwards away. She continues her catch up with people before a tall and very beardy aquaintence asks straight up if she's selling tonight and gives her a thumbs up when she indicates she's not. There's clearly a bit of demand this evening.

Anissa offers to get Will a drink. While she's gone, her friend Cora keeps him from getting bored or distracted. What an excellent wingman. The crowd starts to thicken a bit, or at least increase in noise level. Sinead is approached by a Subtle Guy who she fobs off, but not before security takes an interest in her. Figuring this is the signal for time to go, Sinead gives the others a heads up that she's wrapping up. However she sees a woman by the name of Daina that she knows, who wants to know where she's been for the last two months. Sinead lies by ommission that she went to Sydney for a bit. They talk for a bit, before Daina asks if she's selling tonight. Sinead says not here but she's about to go anyway, so if Daina wants to come with her they can make a mutually beneficial exchance away from nosy neighbours. Daina asks for a price and winces slightly, saying she's a bit short. Hmm, she could get Sinead into an awesome house party in Fitzroy to cover the last $20 or so? That's where Daina's headed, and she's pretty sure that she could get another person in as a guest? Sinead hmms and hrrms, but amongst other issues doesn't wanna ditch Finn and Will, so she suggests maybe Daina could owe her the $20 another day. No, seriously. Not with interest. Yes, its fine. For her, because she's good for it.

Will says that his ride is heading off, and its been lovely meeting Anissa, and here's his number. Anissa says she's planning to go across the river to a gig in the Alexandria gardens where you can see fireworks, does Will want to come? He says that he has vague plans, sticking with some mates first for a bit. Anissa, seeing this has no appeal, suggests that she was thinking about moving on after that to a thing that's on in Port Melbourne - some open air music and dancing thing that's full visible for the fireworks, but not as mainstream as the gardens thing? Will says to give him a buzz later when she heads there, and he'll see where the night is at, and yeah, maybe that'd be cool.

Sinead, Will and Finn head back to the murder van, where Sinead finishes her financial interacctions with Daina. They drive up to Brunswick East and find that there seems to be some sort of local neighbourhood event wrapping up in the park across the road from the party, so they're forced to park a distance away. They walk back past people with picnic remnants and strollers - the garou notice that there are drums still playing in the park, and some people are taking a while to finish up to go.

However they're more interested in their party. As they are going in, someone coming out turns around and says "eyyy!". Its Ken! He asks why they are here - Sinead knows Kim and Ken says "ah, I'm mates with Jeff". They chat briefly - Ken is off to a beer hall in Collingwood, do they wanna come? People politely decline in favour of the party they have just arrived at. Ken waves and heads off.

The party already has a nice vibe. The house rambles up and down and then out the back. There's a courtyard and gates out to the alley in the back. People fill the corridors and kitchen, but there is space to move. Sinead finds Kim, who demands she comes and sits next to him. Kim is extremely fabulous. He says that he is their king today because he has become bereft in love, and will give commands to fulfil her wishes. What would she like? Smoke, gin, cocktails? Hmm, what cocktails are there? Kim has no idea. You there,... Brett? Brad! Bread. Go fetch the lady a cocktail. Sinead is impressed he has minions. He does now, because he is their king. Sinead thinks Kim is quite drunk and enuciating as clearly as possible.

Will is moving around and trying to get a sense of where would be a good spot to settle in. The party seems to have a lot of people from different groups, but they are mingling instead of seperating. Finn comes into the kitchen and sees Tom, they guy he was going to form a band with. Tom glances away from Finn and expressly makes no eye contact. Finn decides to not push the issue and gets a drink

Kasumi is well at home by this point and has poured 1 red wine, and sat on the couch with Gus. She hears the occasional loud voice of people walking past, and one of the 6 townhouses has a few people over. Its just past 10, so she should call her parents for the obligatory phone call.

Tillie is sharpening weapons and chatting to Carmel when they see Barry come walking in, looking a bit sour. Carmel calls out and asks "Didn't you have a date tonight?" "Past tense. Lets move on. Need any help?" Tillie says is been quiet. Barry seems surprised there haven't been lots of drunk idiots walking through. Tillie says that she needs more apologies about Marc. Barry says at least he's out of town, instead of drunkenly wandering about "accidentally" near garou things. He doesn't *know* but he has some sense that the zoo and surrounds are important. Tillie asks Barry more about his human date as a way of torturing him. The short version is that he thought he'd met a nice girl, but it turned out she thought that the greens want everyone to eat vegan kale and the environment is fine, look at all these plants. It didn't end well. So he's going to work out his annoyance on idiots that come into the caern. He's going to walk up to the north east corner.

Kim has fashioned himself a throne - one chair on top of another chair basically. There is a car horn bip bip and people start to pile into the courtyard, making it a bit crowded and chaotic for a bit until the people driving down the little alley out the back can get past to their house.

Kasumi's parents answer quickly and have pleasant things to say. Kasumi has pleasant things to say. Everything is pleasant, if perhaps a little bit led toward topics of relationships and how business is going. It doesn't go long as they are waiting for phone calls from the siblings behaving themselves, staying in the country and having a child.

Finn becomes aware that he's responding unconsciously to the sound of the drums from the park. He's tapping his hand to the beat, and the beat keeps doing a weird thing where it gets simpler and a bit messed up for a while then comes back as a more complicated sound. He checks with Sinead and Will that they can hear drums and its not just him. Nope, they can hear it. Finn gets up and moves around a bit just to shake the beat out of his legs. He keeps seeing Tom, and getting blanked. There's eye contact once and then Tom glances away.

Sinead finds herself offered the odd joint and tokes up slightly - its a different vibe from the earlier place where people were coming up and asking her if she was dealing. One guy eyes her off but gets the tells that say she's not on duty.

Will has numerous people willing to chat to him. What do you do for a quid? Oh odd jobs lifting things, like at the docks and um yeah he trails off. Seen any bands? Oh no I'm way out of the loop, who's good? He mentions a couple of SA bands. And some stuff he did back at the start of the year. Its becoming clear that he is .. disconnected from these people and their mundane lives. Its a bit sobering to be honest.

About 11.15, the three garou compare notes - Sinead was going to hit somewhere else for the actual midnight. But everything here is going well, so they decide to stick with it. ("No one has explicitly said you can't bring your dog to the caern").

One of the women who has sort of been involved in the conversation suddenly says "do you want a drink?" to Will. ("Surprise, its not midouri, its ketamine"). He says sure and she goes to get him one. She comes back and says "here" and then stands next to him a bit awkwardly. ("Check her for tattoos!" "How thoroughly?"). Having had the realisation he's disconnected from the flow of the conversation, he must be a bit aware of it, because this woman is similarly not really in the flow of it. Just to check she's not a werewolf too, he uses his Scent of the True Form gift. Nope, she's human. 5 minutes later in the middle of someone else talking, she turns and says "Oh, I'm Astrid" and shakes Will's hand. Will figures he's bored and uncomfortable, and says "wanna go check out those drums?" "Sure." Off they go.

As they go into the park, Astrid doesn't do any of the flirty things that Will was expecting. She walks along the path and points out where the drums are and heads that way. ("she's a robot!") He's a little bemused, figuring he was being hit on, and now feeling like he's stepped on as step that isn't there. He tries to get conversation happening and whenever he says something, Astrid focusses on him extremely intently with a direct stare, but she's still terrible at keeping the conversation flowing. ("I wanna check out the drums" "Well, fortunately they are drumming so its easy to find them").

Will and Astrid rock up and see that there's a moderate sized party of drummers. There's 4 large drums and a bunch of smaller ones in a circle, being played, but also some people just sitting and drinking. There's some tiki torches providing some light. The people playing drums are extremely sweaty, some of the other folks look pretty pink still. Despite Will's fear, there's no supernatural elements. Some other folks come up to see what's happening and get encouraged o join in. One of the women picks up a drum stick and the drum circle drops back to a simple beat. She gives some experimental whacks, and the drummers try to work to her beat. They lose it a bit, but try to encourage her to be involved ("You should check the chat"). She loses it eventually.

Someone asks Will if he wants to join in - he asks Astrid if she wants to and after a few objections "I will if you will" and Will shrugs. The drummers start a simple slow beat and wait for the two of them to set the pace. Will has a bit of a talent for it, or at least experience at the Moots. He gets more and more complicated with what he's beating out and the other drummers work around what he's playing. Astrid clearly reaches a limit to her ability, but rather than just giving up, she sticks with that level. ("The problem with having a heart that beats with fury at all times..."). He mentally tells Finn to come over, and Finn is up for it. He seems keen and when he shows up people offer to jump him straight into it. ("its easy to get into it and lose track of time" "suddenly its 1666")

Tillie points out that its about 10 to 12. Will figures he's kind of dumped Astrid and looks around to see where she is. Right behind him, a little too close. Oh hi! His phone bloops about 4 times and he looks to find its Anissa saying she's at the good event and its good. A photo of her and Cora. Is he likely to make it? Er, I'm stuck in Brunswick at a drumming circle, no, I'm not. He does not get a reply. Astrid asks if Will has done that before and he says not like that, no She thinks it was good. Will asks if she wants to make out. She says "sure" and kinda lunges at him.

Sinead hears a party counting down to 12, but they're pretty early. Tillie spots some weird lights at the edge of the caern in the Umbra and goes to see what it is. There's flashes of light like a bright camera flash. She keeps heading that way but asks Kasumi if there's anything similar happening where she is. Nope, nothing there. When Tillie gets close enough she can see spirits trying to come into the caern, and hitting something like a forcefield at the fence. She sense and they are definitely banes. Tillie says "everyone here, RIGHT NOW". Finn is still deep in a drum trance, but Will has a sudden surge of intense focus and Sinead hears people start to cheer in the next house.

Kasumi refocuses on the realm in time to see Gus' ears go up, and then to see him jump down onto the ground. Where he was sitting there is suddenly a hole in the couch on the upright. That's weird. Then the window shatters and there is a painful sensation in her leg.

Sinead and Will realise that its not cheering, its screams, and that's not fireworks, that's gun fire and its out the front of the house. Sinead starts to sprint into the house through the crowd. Will tells Astrid to get on the ground and runs toward the house.

Kasumi uses her Power Surge gift and turns the power off in her and the nearby houses. ("I know where everything is mother fucker, do you?") Hovever the gunman outside cuts loose with full auto and smashes out the window shooting up Kasumi's house. She is hit and hurt, and Gus makes a yipe! noise.

Will pelts across the park, trying to get close enough to be able to use his Jam Technology roll. Sinead heads up the far side of the house hoping there's a gap between the house and the fence. She is about to dive down the gap when she hears someone cut loose with an automatic at the front of the house and the screaming intensifies.

Tillie peeks and sees something crinos sized smashing its way through the caern fence off Lygon st. She can really only see it because it seems to be glowing purple. She howls out a warning while she sprints through the Umbra to that location, but she can hear other people howling warnings as well.

Having heard the shooting, Will leans into his rage and sprints faster to the house. Finn finally mentally catches up and starts to run as fast as he can. Will makes it to the road and uses his gift, and then senses for unnatural. He can see that there are 3 people with guns going into the house - the rear one has a shotgun and a jerry can, and he thinks that the middle one has some sort of submachine gun.

Sinead stops at the last shadow on the side of the house. She can hear and smell someone and a lot of blood on the deck - she's pretty sure that's a victim not a killer though.

Tillie leaps through the Gauntlet. She sees that despite her expectations the creature smashing its way into the caern is not actually a crinos. Its taller, and made of stony blobs. Its head has no features, its just a smooth sort of vaguely cylindrical blob. It appears to be sheathed in lightning, arcing and crawling all over it. ("its gumby." "i've changed my mind, I want to go back")

Kasumi sprints out the corridor and outside, and blows to crinos. She sees there are 3 gunmen - two appears to have some sort of automatic weapon and the 3rd has a shotgun. None of them have berets or armor - they smell and look like people that have been living rough. They're all male but not heavily built. She is shot at by one of the autos and the shotgun but they don't really hit. The other guy is reloading.

Will runs inside and grabs the rear guy in a textbook grapple but can't convert it into a pin. He wrenches the shotgun off the guy and spins him about. Sinead doubles back and leaps off the fences and dives through the open window into the dining room, landing knee first in the hummus. There are some injured people in the room and a homeless lookin' guy with a machine gun looking around.

Tillie fades into the background with her chamelon gift, just in time to not be shot. Bullets strike the gravestones around her, but she can't see where they're coming from, and they don't seem to be sure where she is. ("they're like baloons full of blood and organs")

Will points the shotgun at the humans and yells "drop it!". The back two turn around - the guy that previously possessed the shotgun just looks confused and holds still, but the guy behind raises his auto and tries to pull the trigger, despite his compatriot being between himself and Will. Nothing happens and he also looks baffled. The third guy tries to shoot Sinead, and when it doesn't work he also seems existentially baffled. Sinead runs straight at the gunman and slams him into the door frame, knocking him to the ground.

Kasumi spends rage like she was an ahroun and explodes into action. She smashes the closest auto owner in a single blow. She gets shot again, lightly about the body. She eviscerates the shotgun owners, and he falls down convulsing, while she leaps across to the third guy and tears hunks of flesh off of him. He's still staggering around with his weapon, so she rends him again and he collapses.

Aware his gift won't last forver, Will shoves past the first opponent and grabs the snub auto and wrenches it out of the 2nd guy's hands. Finn grabs the shotgun Will kicked backwards and smashes the butt into one of the bad people's faces. Will tries to smash his gun less opponent

Kasumi senses - there is a sense of wyrm and of magic lingering around the cooling corpses. They smell very unwashed, and also possess a slightly off smell about their sweat - they might have been drugged?

Now she's invisible, Tillie senses to try and figure out what this thing is. It senses of wyrm a moderate amount, but not enough to suggest its a wyrm monster. Its definitely made of stone, and is smashing random tombstones in its way, heading in a straight line for the centre of the caern. More gunshots ping around, and she thinks they are coming from the top of the houses on the other side of the road.

Tillie bursts into action. She strikes at the stone figure but not very effectually. Unfortunately the purple lightning cascades down the sword and burns her. As ponderous as the thing is, it swings a fist and Tillie isn't able to dodge. More lightning. Sword smash. Lightning. Ow. That least blow sends fractures through its body. ("If i pull it out, I become King of England"). However then Tillie shot by someone outside the caern.

Sinead is suddenly the focus of a full clip of ammunition from the prone oppponent as Will's gift wears off. She lays down for a little nap/organ failure. The ex-shotgunny guy smashes the jerry can he was holding with his boot and the garou can smell petrol leaking. The other guy tries to snatch his gun off Will to no avail.

Will turns the gun against the gunman next to him. Sinead, nearly unconscious, looks about and tries to figure out if there'll be any witnesses if she changes form - she thinks a couple of people are still alive, but they aren't conscious.

Meanwhile back at the caern, Tillie continues to stab at the stone construct, and be accordingly electrocuted.

Finn wrenches the petrol can off the gunman - its got holes in it and leaks some petrol out as they tussle over it. Will shoots the middle gunman again.

Kasumi runs back into her house, hoping no one has spotted her in crinos and covered in blood. She morphs to lupus as she heads in.

Tillie smashes the arm off the golem and its electricty goes out. Tillie is shot by one of the random snipers. It burns as it goes through in a way that makes her think 'silver'. She can suddenly hear Cossack's voice in her head ("That's not welcome there"). "Where's the rest of your pack?" "They're under attack and on their way". He says everyone has been attacked - almost all members of the Sept outside of the caern. The golem thing swipes at her and she ducks.

Finn's opponent tries to grab his petrol can back but doesn't have the muscles. Will's tries to grapple him but isn't able to do more than just hang on. The other gunman reloads his gun. Sinead sees this, and blows a rage to go to crinos so she's not as crippled. She doesn't quite freak out and frenzy but she does bite the guy that shot her and nearly tear his arm off. Finn runs out onto the porch and attempts to fling the jerry can into the distance. It doesn't go as far as he hoped, but does disappear into the vegetation.

Kasumi finds Gus hiding under the bench. He has been shot lightly. She debates lightly then decides to heal Gus. Finn loses some gnosis. She shuts Gus in the laundry and then hoofs it to the caern in lupus.

Tillie smashes the golem once more and it fractures suddenly as if it is made of glass. Pieces fall off and break as she turns and runs for cover amidst the gravestones and large trees.

The now mangled gentleman points his gun at Sinead and pulls the trigger but all the bullets go back through the existing holes (or something, stupid WoD system). Finn glances backward to see the previous owner of the jerry can scoop up the shotgun that Will had thrown outside the door and point it his way, fires it and lowers the property value. ("I'm not surprised Leroy Jenkins there has no dots in firearms or melee") Will figures the Veil has been slipped, flips to crinos and claws the other gunman, tearing him in two in a definitive fashion. Finn grabs the hot shotgun to try and wrench it away, but doesn't get control of it, so channels some rage. Sinead ensures that her opponent is no longer a going concern by biting the rest of his arm off. Finn and his opponent are tugging the shotgun around when it goes off. Finn is clipped and finds that its loaded with silver. He doesn't freak out and frenzy. Will continues his roll and claws the shotgun holder from behind, tearing muscles and breaking bones and sending hm flying out into the front yard. (/singing/"That's the sound... of violence")

All immediate threats vanquished, they grab the submachine guns, stuff them into the bag of shadows. Will tries to hide any damning physical evidence on the shotgun by sloshing it around in the bigs of dead and disembled gunmen before tossing it into the shadows. The three garou flip to lupus and run off for the caern as fast as possible.

Tille is crouched down in cover watching 4 gunmen come in and wondering how she's going to deal with them and their silver when Cossack enters her thoughts again. He says that there's something big and bad coming up Swanston St, and he needs her to get over that way to stop it. She sighs and sneaks off, trying to not get seen. She stays in crinos given her chamelon gift, and tries to get to where Cossack says the problem comes from. Tillie can hear gunfire behind her, but nothing directed her way. After a couple of minutes, she hits the fence and senses and peers, trying to figure things out.

Finn, Will and Sinead are running southward down Lygon St and start to notice a certain amount of car based carnage. Cars seem to have been hit, or have swerved to avoid something.

There's nothing in Tillie's immediate vicinity that seems a candidate for Cossack's request, but further away she can see bright lights and the roar of an engine. Its probably a truck and it is starting to make the pack congniscant of their earlier dreams. There's the sound of horns and metal-on-metal impact from down that way, and Tillie can see its a tanker. She senses for wyrm and finds that it is extremely wyrmish. She leaps the fence and heads out onto the street with hope that her gift will keep the Veil intact.

Tille runs down the street toward the approaching tanker and can now see there's a gargoyle driving it. Of course. She prepares to try and pull some Morpheus nonsense as it goes past. ("This seems the best way to stop it" "I'm just worried its going to stop on my face"). The two of them start to pass and Tillie does a huge swing into the tires on the drivers side. The fae sword passes through the first wheel and into the second, and they both explode. Tillie manages to keep her grip on the sword as the truck sails past her. It swerves to the right, and jackknifes. When the trailer hits the roundabout it tips over and slides top first across the road and hits the trees, stopping suddenly.

Kasumi is sprinting past Princes Park on the north west side of the caern and planning to cross the ovals to get in on that side. She sees a truck wildly driving across the ovals a couple hundred metres ahead, and then smash through the fence into the caern.

Tillie dodges around the stopped cars and heads to the fallen tanker to check it out. She can see that the cabin has been crushed in by one of the impacts, and the gargoyle inside appears to be somewhat pinned by the crushed cabin. Its trying to get out, but its not having much luck. She decides to put a stop to that, and moves around the truck trying to find a good place to get up and smash the shit out of it with a sword. She spots an interesting set of wires and sort of clay stuff on the back - even Tillie's limited knowledge of human things suggests that looks like a bomb.

Kasumi heads toward the crashed truck and tries to peek while running on the flat oval. She is a distance away still but thinks that the banes are still being kept outside the caern even though the trucks have penetrated the walls. ("I can taking the forgotten the truck. Standing next to it, like 'what truck'? This is the mauseleum") She sprints closer to the truck and that's when the bomb explodes. Burning liquid lands on Kasumi and burns her badly. Its sticky and flammable as well as mixed with fragments of metal.

Tillie is hundreds of metres away and hears the explosion then sees the fireball. She finishes stabbing the gargoyle through a window and decides to hop it as fast as possible toward the kaboom. She hasn't got very far when she's knocked down by her truck kabooming. Tillie also gets burnt by some of the liquid and shrapnel. ("Its just a minus 1. That you will heal in an hour. Unless we are dead")

Kasumi recovers a bit and is able to look about. No two things are not on fire. It looks like liquid has gone up in a hemisphere from her truck and spread into the caern and back out into the oval. Several trees are knocked down, or on fire. The ground is covered by the liquid that the tankers were holding - its black and .. oh its very similar to the goop that they cleaned out of the sewers, only its in the realm. There is another explosion to the north, but its much smaller and has a different timbre to it.

The three pack members canoning down Lygon St can see and hear the explosion at the north side of the caern. They pick up speed.

Kasumi heads into the caern to try and get a sense as to whether these explosions were created to breach the caern defenses. When she is safely in the caern and peeks she can see that where the liquid has fallen, the golden light has been extinguished and banes are indeed streaming into the caern proper.

Tillie puts herself out and peeks, and sees something similar - the truck she knocked down was pointed into the caern, and while the explosion was slightly muffled by the tanker being on its side, what did explode squirted straight into the caern. It looks like spirits are pouring into that hole on her side also. Where the liquid has fallen, things seem dimmer - the light is reduced and its almost like a shadow has fallen across that area. As Tillie watches, she can see the edges of the shadow are moving and spreading.

Finn, Will and Sinead arrive at the top right corner of the caern. They can see a tanker crashed into the walls, but its intact. There are signs of an explosion (crater, burning trees, etc) about 60m to the west. The windscreen has been kicked out but there's no sign of a gargoyle. They opt to get out of the realm, and step into the Umbra. There appears to be no breach here - there are banes and spirits still clustered around the outside of the caern where there's no exploded dragon blood or whatever.

Tillie looks back at the realm and sees 3 SUVs screech up where the breach is, and guys with guns get out. They don't appear to be blue berets or anything, but they do look organised, and they head into the caern cautiously threw the wrecked fence.

Kasumi runs further into the caern and steps. ("There's gunmen in the realm, there's gunmen in the realm, high ho the dairy oh") She can also see the shadow spreading, like tendrils stream ahead and thicken til they join together. The banes look like mindless idiot banes for the most part. They don't appear to be streaming toward a particular location or anything.

Finn contemplates trying to do a cleansing ritual, but the problem is bigger than that. They can hear howls around the caern, but mostly they are battle cries. Finn howls out a "warning-banes!" sort of howl. Will contemplates finding Ends-the-Quiet and seeing if they can open moon bridges to the Get caern, but that seems impractical and so he calls his mouse friend to take a message to Grinding Stone.

Sinead heads for Kasumi, bringing her theurge gifts. Finn goes to the centre of the caern looking for the rest of the sept. Will heads toward Tillie, but calls on his allied battle spirit, who shows up like an einherjar and shores up the entire pack's rage.

Will runs toward Tillie through the Umbra, sharpening his claws and activating his other biting gifts, and channeling strength of purpose to regain some resolve. Tillie and Kasumi are a bit baffled as to what to do. They swat small banes that come their way and keep a look out for anything bigger coming through the breach. They spot the occasional larger bane either flying through or sculking across the graves. Tillie senses unnatural and finds that the shadow is as wyrmy as you'd think, but there's also a magical sense to the shadow - as if it wasn't magical, but had been the focus of magic.

Kasumi peeks and sees that while the goop and shadow had a close to 1:1 match when the trucks exploded ,the shadow is moving into the centre of the caern but the goop is not.

Tillie spots a few humanoid banes slipping into the caern and heading inward in a possibly sentient way, so she goes to intercept those.

Finn sees Graeme in the centre of the caern, engaged in something ritually perhaps? He's certainly concentrating. Graeme waves a hand and acknoledges Finn's presence then points nearby - the Umbral shotgun is nearby, so Finn picks it up and attunes to it. He peeks to get an idea of what is going on in the Realm - there's nothing immediate, but he can hear gunfire and howling from multiple directions. He spots some recently deceased gargoyles not far off - soemthing has smashed them pretty hard. O... kay. He stops peeking, and takes up position defending Graeme.

Tillie hears Cossack's voice again and he asks where all her pack is. She gives him a rundown and he says that Emma is coming her way to help - anyone that can jam the guns, get into the Realm. Where's Melissa, with Sinead? Er, no, she's at home. Shit. Cossack says that he's coming Kasumi's way. If anyone is in the realm on the north west side, pick their targets carefully as there are some kinfolk coming in with guns as well.

("If they come at you weilding computers, I can help") Will finds somewhere to step into the Realm. He appears in shade and behind a grave and can see two gunmen with their backs to him.

Tillie is still mostly invisible, and so she runs up behind one of the humanoid spirits - it looks like a person hunched over with a hoodie on, and knives for hands - and stabs it in the back. IT whirls around and knifes her ineffectually.

Kasumi attracts the attention of a larger pollution bane which roars in toward her. It is a grey cloud with roiling faces snarling at her. ("You thought we were singing the same lyrics spontaneously?") She tears at the spirit, rending holes in it. On the other side of the shadow, she sees a figure she doesn't know activating battle mandala near the breach. Its not Sinead, who mentally says she's coming up behind Kasumi and she can see Cossack nearby.

Cossack is in crinos form and he makes jestures in front of himself. When he moves his hands, light is left behind. There is a rather unpleasant... sensation as his hands move as well.

Will can see the gunmen are looking ahead of him, obviously searching about for something. He activates his jam technology gift, and prepares to attack. He creeps up as best he can in crinos form and catches them by surprise. ("Like the nature documentaries where the polar bear sneaks up on a baby seal")

Kasumi shreads the spirit more, tearing at its essence. Finn can see some banes coming toward the centre of the caern, and prepares himself. The slasher misses Tillie. Kasumi is threatened by but not hurt by the cloud. Tillie uses the fae sword and nearly disperses the slasher.

Will can see that the gunmen have armor on, but he isn't worried about it. He tears muscle and bone away from the neck and shoulder of the first one of them, and he drops the gun. The other guy points his gun at Will and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. ("He poos himself", "That's the next action").

Sinead and Kasumi can see the banes that were heading into the caern losing their mind. The smallest and most mote like banes start attacking one another, banging into each other, flying high up in the sky and crashing into the ground. They lose all coherency in their behaviour. They also see the unknown figure's mandala get swarmed by the black shadow and start to go out quickly. Sinead uses her battle mandala gift and an enormous sparkling pattern erups across the ground.

Tillie is knifed at ineffectually. Finn can see a bane closing in on him and Graeme - its a cloud of little insects that make an unpleasant sound as they close. He fires the shotgun at the cloud ("ooo I love shot guns") and shreds some of its essence away.

Will spins around and claws the second gunman, disemboweling him fairly thoroughly. He kicks the first gun well away and moves on. Kasumi tears the spirit into pieces.

He can't tell what it is, but Finn can feel the bane use some sort of power on Graeme who sets his stance more and grits his teeth.

Tillie obliterates the bane in front of her. She suddenly feels a cold sensation on her leg and can see a tentacle of shadow winding aroud her. She feels some of her spiritual energy flowing away. Emma clearly gets close enough as Tillie sees a battle mandala erupt around her - but it doesn't appear where the shadow lies.

Sinead and Kasumi can see the figure that did the battle mandala dropping the gift and running away from the swarming shadow. Near the edges of where the banes are milling about insanely, white figures start to appear. They appear to be the caern's "ghosts" that flitter about ineffectually - except now they are working to herd the minor banes, pushing them back toward the hole. Its not working on the bigger banes, who don't seem to be affected by Cossack's efforts either.

Finn blows the bane totally out of the sky. Will looks about for what the gunmen were searching for and notices a few more dead guys dressed like the gunmen he killed about 25m away. He keeps looking and finds Carmel unconscious in homid behind a tomb. She appears to have been shot a lot in the torso and shows no sign of healing up.

Tillie sees that the flying banes are unaffected by the battle mandala as strongly as the ones on the ground. Two slasher spirits run out of the crowd and head toward Emma, so Tillie sprints after them.

Kasumi peers through the swarm - she cannot identify the figure who was helping with the banes, though she does have a sneaking suspicion that it might not be a living garou but a spirit of some sort. That's odd, but ok.

Sinead contemplates helping Will (Carmel), but he's on the other side of the caern. She says bring Carmel across if he can, but that's not really practical either.

Tillie attacks the mugger spirit from behind and slashes wildly at it.

Tillie smashes the knife-handed spirit and obliterates it with the fae sword. The other one vanishes in some fashion. Finn takes potshots at random minor banes closing in on the centre of caern. He can tell that Graeme is channelling gnosis into whatever he's doing.

Will channels his ancestors to help him with getting an idea how Carmel is. Their knowledge suffuses him and he thinks that she has been badly wounded with silver and has been knocked unconscious. There might still be silver in the wounds. She'll probably recover, but she's also vunerable to anyone who might just shoot her unconscious body in the face.

Kasumi runs to the edge of the caern and tries to see if anything big is coming, as that is her great fear. She can see extralarge banes but nothing like Dancers.

Emma moves and starts making venn diagrams with more Battle Mandalas.

Finn sees another buzzing cloud of gnats come toward him. The spirit inspires his rage and Finn finds himself awash in anger and fury, and it erupts - he not just frenzies but moves into thrall of the wyrm. He immediately tries to attack the gnats spirit.

Sinead tries a sort of "come on if you're hard enough" taunt on some of the bigger spirits in the cloud, and moves backward to draw them into the mandala.

Tillie peeks into the Realm to see if the spirit materialised. She can't see it there, but there is a small squad of about 10 humans moving through the realm near her - they are armed and covering each other.

Will calls on his illusion spirit and asks it to hide Carmel's body as just part of a grave here. Kasumi loses a gnosis as she lunges at one of the smoglings that is resisting Cossack's magic. The spirit swarms her and fills her eyes and mouth with burning smoke.

The knife-hand spirit appears out of the shadows and stabs at Tillie. ("argh wrong shadow") but she's only lightly impacts by the blow. It moves quicker than the average bear but the second slash misses.

Finn is frenzying wildly and tearing great holes in the spirit while it does the same to him, but his bodily integrity is greater, even though he isn't able to use his "psychotic furry chainsaw" powers to any great effect either.

Tillie continues her "put the pointy end in the other fellow" plan using the fae sword to great advantage.

Kasumi taunts the spirit into chasing her into the mandala which starts to chew at it. ("'Stumbling into success' is my biography")

Sinead is attacked ineffectually. Kasumi sees two crinos appear in the middle of the shadow/bane swarm - its Kirsty Surfs-the-Train and Chris from Get of Pennington. They look wounded and now they're in the middle of all the spirits.

Tillie's slasher friend vanishes, but this time she's more aware of where it will come from and turns slowly around, eyeing off the darker bits of shadows. Emma does another battle mandala, making an enormous venn diagram of spirit pain.

Finn continues his furious spiritual warrior attack on one bane, ineffectually waving his hand on. ("Graeme's got nothing to worry about").

More spirits close in on Sinead.

Will is heavily struck by talons as a gargoyle sweeps past him, tearing away flesh and fur before swooping back up into the sky. He takes three steps and launches himself into the air, leaping 3 stories high and heavily smashes the gargoyle on the wing. ("250kg of wolf man shoots into the sky") ("Why would it be wearing a wig?")

Kasumi finds the burning senstations are fading. She claws at the smog spirit, shredding away its essence. Sinead resists the attacks of the banes she's aggro'd into the mandala, as does Kasumi.

Finn tremere-frenzies against the bane some more.

Tillie sees the murder spirit approaching and is less surprised by its attack. She notices the shadow is flowing faster up the path that one of Emma's mandala's forms on the ground, snuffing out the bright light. Tillie ends the bane she is fighting.

Kirsty frenzies. Sinead smashes the banes closest to her.

Finn finally gets his shit together and smashes the gnat-rage bane

One of the clouds of buzzing insects strafes Sinead who finds her rage surge all the way up. She nearly but quite frenzies and opts to then channel all that rage from the bane back at it in claw form. Kasumi is damaged by the smog spirit she is fighting.

Will hits the ground and rolls. The gargoyle has less of a smooth landing, but it doesn't shatter when it hits the ground either. He sprints over to engage. He can hear heavy gunfire to the south and some howling. The gargoyle claws at him as he approaches.

Sinead tears the rage spirit a new one. Finn randomly thrashes around, clawing and biting at anything in his way. Emma tells Tillie to keep a look out for big things coming up through the breach.

Will smashes the gargoyle in two with his second blow. Kasumi claws ferociously at one of the smoglings attacking her. Sinead continues to smash at the spirit that gave her all this delicious rage while one of the smoglings attacks Kasumi.

Tillie thinks the banes are dying off a bit, and she can't see anything major coming - oh wait, she spots a couple of dragon-like spirits undulating their way in through the breach. They look like the spirits the pack fought under Preston. She keeps an eye on them and gets prepared.

Chris McNeil moves away from Kirsty, who is frenzying, and out of the black goo. Sinead, moving in a rage filled blur, smashes at the bugs again, while the smoglings attack and gas Kasumi, who splutters and spits as her eyes burn.

Finn bites at something and chews it up.

Will spots a helicopter coming in relatively low from the east, prompting speculation that its berets or channel 7, or something else of the wyrm. On the ground and nearish where he heard gunfire before, he can see a smoky burst of flame and smoke.

Emma tells Tillie to watch out for any incoming Dancers, and Tillie passes that on to her pack.

Sinead smashes the spirit into pieces and runs over to help Kasumi who rids herself of one spirit opponent. Will jogs south as stealthily as he can, keeping to trees and shadows.

Finn savages more of whatever he's savaging. ("Lets hope he dug up a grave or something" "Lets hope he's not eating a friend"). He gains some gnosis, and then runs off back vaguely toward Graeme, but something attacks him on the way.

Tillie watches one of the dragonets arch up and then slide into the ground within the shadow. The other scampers along the Umbra toward Emma, and she moves to intercept.

To the south of Will, the sound of gunfire cuts off abruptly. Tillie can see that the black shadow is moving up the threads of the mandala quickly (cf the very slow crawl otherwise). She yells this information to Emma and Sinead, and swords the dragonet heading for Emma. She finds that the spirit's scales are not just decorative, but provide some level of armor.

Kasumi shreds at the spirits attacking her. Will continues to move stealthily toward the gunmen. The helicopter has slowed as its reached the caern, and two searchlights stab out to the ground.

Finn shreds whatever he encounters. The dragonet bites at Tillie, but her natural resilience overcomes. Emma takes some steps out of one of the venn diagram mandala and the one that is most being overwhelmed by the black shadow winks out.

Kasumi accidentally takes a deep breath of the smog bane as it attacks her and goes into a coughing fit. Will can spot something off to the west smashing things like tombs.

Tillie strikes at the dragonet again, again encountering its natural armor, but damaging the spirit. Another dragonet erupts from the shadow, but its not near an opponent. She is attacked by the one she's fighting.

Kasumi tears at the remnants of the smog spirit, as it is almost worn down. Will gets clouse enough to see that the large moving creature is some sort of metal-plated golem, idly smashing at tombs as it goes past toward the centre of the caern. He contemplates that its just there to flush out garou for the gunmen to take out, and decides to let it go and continue to creep down to the south.

Finn continues killing and smashing and eating. Kasumi sees one of the caern glowing white ghost spirits clip the edge of the blackness and it visibly dims.

Tillie continues to engage the dragonet as it bites and snarls.

The helicopter is searching about for movement, forcing Will to creep more than scoot. He hears another short sharp burst of fire to the south, and then sees more fire from the direction the golem went.

Sinead, aware that the shadow is using the mandala to spread, opts to disperse her mandala now that the caern spirits are containing the banes here.

Given that there are no immediate spirit threats, Sinead peeks to see what is going on in the realm. She can see the black goop, and a couple of corpses in the middle of it - probably some of the gunmen. She can see some of them have gone past their position and are moving slowly into the caern in a group of three. ("Where are the cops when you need them?"). She drops the mandala before the shadow can use it to creep.

Kasumi takes off toward the centre of the caern to see if Finn is eating their Caern Warder.

Finn snaps out of his frenzy suddenly like jumping into ice water. There is a person in front of him - not someone he knows. They are close enough that they must have just touched him. It is a person of east asian appearance. There is a trail of destruction behind him and a smog bane attacking him.

Tillie attacks the dragonet but it shrugs off the blow. Emma does something giftily behind her and speaks in spirit speech.

Finn is mauled by the evil cloud. He returns the favour obliterating it, and then asks the figure in front of him if he was what got rid of the frenzy and gets a nod in return. His saviour slips off and runs to the north.

Will contemplates leaving the gunmen to run around in circles in the realm and heading to the umbra, but given these opponents have some physical goop that created the black shadow, its probably good to get rid of them. He gives the newly sentient Finn a heads up about the incoming giant golem.

Tillie is savaged by the dragonet she's chopping to pieces. The other dragonet that was heading toward her veers suddenly and leaps into the air taking out banes. She decapitates the dragon. Emma drops another mandala.

Sinead heads deeper into the caern to try and get ahead of the gunmen so she can lay in wait.

Will can see a flash of gunfire. It appears to be aimed into the sky. ("At the helicopter. What a twist"). One of the spotlights goes out and glass rains down toward the ground. He keeps sneaking around low to the ground and under trees to try and flank these gunmen.

Finn mvoes back to Graeme who appears not to have been murdered by any particular frenzying garou, and picks up the Umbral shotgun from where he threw it.

Emma says if there's nothing big coming immediately, go into the realm and support Will getting rid of gunmen. Send Sinead here. The helicopter moves toward the people shooting at it. The dragonet chews its way through a swathe of minor banes. Sinead gets the message from Tillie and starts sprinting toward Emma.

Invisibletillie heads toward where she thinks to where the gunmen are though the Umbra. She can see Marcus, bloodstained and unimpressed looking, hanging out in the Umbra. Tillie tries to get his attention but he seems otherwise focussed - she thinks he's peeking. She gets up close to him and speaks and he says there's a couple of small squads of gunmen.

Will takes a moment to distinguish the gunmen from tombstones or possible friendlies. He can see three of them ahead of him - two of them are looking up at the helicopter and the third is keeping a look out. He decides to circle them and try to get behind in order to use his gifts to stop their guns from working.

Finn takes up his post guarding Graeme again, keeping a look out for more spirits. Kasumi super peeks to see whats going on. She can see gunmen creeping from the west, and a golem coming from the south east wrecking things as it comes along - its covered in metal plates, so its probably the one Will saw. Kasumi can also see Ken running in ("LEEErOOOOY!") from the east in a straight line to the large golem.

Tillie finds a spot with a bit of cover, hidden in a copse of trees and steps into the realm. The helicopter hovers over the gunmen and lights them up with their remaining spotlight. Will isn't keen to run into the light in case he ends up live on Channel 7 news.

Kasumi steps out as well near the centre of the caern.

The two gunmen do a three round burst and the other big light goes out on the helicopter. Tillie, nearby them, senses wyrm as she approaches and gets enough of a sense to come to the conclusion that they are fomori. ("MAybe its Hidden Green's helicopter").

Will takes this chance, while the fomori are blinded and glass is falling down, to sneak up and Jam Technology.

Ken crashes into the golem and makes it stagger lightly. Kasumi comes running up, with her eyes on the golem. intending to leap onto its head. Finn thinks that Graeme is looking a bit odd - he's got an odd sheen to his skin. He senses unnatural and finds nothing unexpected, but strong energy flows - almost all out of Graeme.

The helicopter banks sharply and zooms away.

The golem punches at Ken in a show and ponderous way, but does not connect. Sinead is booking it across the Umbra to get to Emma.

Tillie charges out to stabby stabby and cuts the trailing gunman clean in half. The other two spin around and pull their triggers... and nothing happens.

("I attempt to mount the golem"). Kasumi leaps onto the golem's shoulders and gets a good mount. Ken smashes at it with claws, but they don't make a lot of headway through an inch or so of steel on top of stone.

Will blows a rage to shift to crinos and his rage surges up and he frenzies, leaping on the nearest gunman and shredding him with his claws. Tillie rolls her eyes and leaves the two gun-free gunmen to Will-o-matic-blender, and sneaks off toward the other small squad she saw not too far away. ("Maybe we should get Finn and the Umbral shotgun down here. Can he shoot?" "No" "I've been extremely lucky so far" "That's what I'd like to rely on").

Marcus appears near Will and jumps away so as not to get murderised. Will obliterates the crippled gunman.

The formori that Will is opposing drops his useless gun and pulls out a machete-like blade and waves it ineffectually at the frenzying werewolf. The gunmen that were to the west of Will and Tillie turn and head toward the roaring sound of him frenzying.

Tillie circles around them invisibly. Finn peeks and sees gunmen approaching, but is getting itchy about Kasumi fighting the golem just nearby as well.

Will smashes the machette wielding fomori, but he's still on his feet. A second blow fixes that issue.

Kasumi attempts to rip the head off the firebreathing golem, but it isn't easily disassembled. Ken punches it, but the steel plating stops that from having much effect.

The golem reaches up and grabs Kasumi by the neck. She yells to Ken to grab a leg.

Will, bereft of opponents and out of rage manages to get a handle on his mental state and the urge to kill fading... fading... faaaading.

Finn can see Kasumi is in some strife, and can see several sets of 3-man squads coming in from the west.

The fomori having edged toward Will, and Tillie slipped behind them, she is able to creep up on the 3rd guy at the back as they take shots at Will. Will is shot twice by the front riflemen.

Sinead is still sprinting through the Umbra to get to Emma, who she can at least now see. Emma has dropped all her mandalas, but appears to have started another one further back. There is a swarm of spirits around her in some amount of turmoil.

Ken dives for a golem leg and gets a moderate grip. The golem wrenches Kasumi off its head and uses her as a club to smash Ken, but its pretty ineffectual. ("we should get a big spear and stick it up its butt" "yeah, its just like a toy, put a pencil up its butt and reset it").

Tillie moves up silently and cuts the shotgun wielding fomori at the back into two pieces.

Will dives for cover behind some graves.

Kasumi scrambles to her feet and tries clawing at the golems legs

Tillie takes a couple steps forward and decapitates the next rifleman in a single blow. ("I dont have a gif for a head, but assume its over here somewhere"). The other fomori notices this and flicks his weapon to full auto and empties the entire clip at Tillie. She takes some damage and nearly frenzies.

Ken whistles a jaunty little tune. Kasumi is baffled for a second, but then rust erupts across the armor all over the golem. The main chest plate drops a cloud of orange powder.

Tillie takes a step and runs the gunman through - he falls to the ground coughing blood.

Emma sees Sinead coming and yells "snare that" and points to a largish bane heading her way. Sinead is now close enough to see that some of the banes and one of the dragonets are fighting other minor banes, and appearing to defend Emma.

The golem causes a firey doom, encompassing the area around Ken and Kasumi. Kasumi and Ken nearly frenzy. The fire wasn't so much breathed out as sourced around the golem's head. Kasumi attacks the chest plate of the golem. Some rust flakes come out and get in her eye.

Will changes to lupus to sprint up to the centre of the caern. Finn sees the burst of fire and hears Kasumi's mental owfuck. He groans and heads her way still in the Umbra. Tillie runs along in crinos form toward the centre of the caern, and sees Marcus, yelling at him to follow.

Ken claws the golem's chest plate, and it cracks in half - he even appears to scratch up the surface of the golem. Finn steps sideways and appears instantly, firing the shotgun at the golem.

Sinead uses her spirit snare gift and Kasumi feels a tearing sensation at her soul. Sinead locks down the smog spirit thoroughly, and Emma then uses one of her gifts to take control of the bane.

Tillie, Will and Marcus sprint north toward the golem and the centre of the caern. They can hear the sound of approaching sirens - not from any specific direction, or rather all of them. They can also hear the sound of helicopters.

Kasumi is punched by the golem into the ground, breaking her ribs and probably doing some internal damage. Finn is sniped by some of the approaching fomori, attracted to the golem combat.

Finn aims once more at the golem but it goes wide. Kasumi staggers around to the left, trying to get the golem between her and any gunmen. Ken smashes stone fragments off the golem.

Sinead ghostbusts another spirit and Emma grabs control of it. Unfortunately this drains yet more energy from Kasumi, who leans into her rage to keep herself conscious and mobile. However as she staggers, there is a surge of energy up from the caern itself, knitting together her wounds to some degree.

Tillie heads toward the fire golem, while Will cuts around behind the gun men in lupus, trying to get close enough to use his Jam Technology gift most effectively.

Finn is hit by a shotgun blast from the gunmen creeping closer - it burns and he is hurt badly, suggesting its loaded with silver in some fashion. He's also shot up by the rifleman - or at least one of them, the other shoots the golem. He runs for some cover, or at least out of line of sight from the shotgun guy.

MISSING SESSION

Sinead and Emma manage to enslave enough banes to fight banes that when the caern spirits start to manifest and herd them, they are able to keep the much diminished cloud more or less under control.

To the sound of the material realm becoming very police-y, the garou slowly assemble at the centre of the caern in the umbra. Various garou limp in. Carmel comes from the east, slightly baffled that she's still alive. There's some immediate bafflement at Graeme's fate - no one's really sure if he's dead, or if he did it on purpose or was he attacked? There's no sense of magic or wyrm here.

Tillie asks if he just kept committing gnosis into his ritual until he ... no longer existed? There's some side glances between Emma and Cossack. Not usually, though it has been known for garou to overcommit themselves spiritually and do themselves a damage. Emma says that caern creation rituals are different though, and they use a lot of gnosis when they are formed. Sometimes they're not quite closed, as long as the caern exists - the rituals are still active and open. Maybe he gave too much to that? Cossack says today he's not going to panic about it right away - there are more pressing issues, such as bombs and butchered bodies adn supernatural stuff.

Nadine and Ends-the-Quiet are distracting police and giving the kinfolk that helped support the fight back a chance to run away. Chris shows up dragging a goo-soaked unconscious Kirsty. Carmel says Barry ran toward the truck, and given the large crater that the Lost Prophets found, there's a high chance Barry grabbed the bomb and ran for it. Aquinas and Chases-the-Car had been coming in from the colleges and fought alongside Ian for a while before he took the low road. Sings-for-the-Spirit had been in the north west and is acting as a spotter for the Elders up there. Christine show up late, and has clearly been at the wrong end of gunfire - she says there were hobos where she was, and then gargoyles and then a police blockade and then there were some snipers, so sorry she's late but fuck.

Comparing notes, most of the garou who were at events had gunmen show up - three guys, looking like they were living rough, and not phased by crinos form, but not sensing like fomori either. The Lost Prophets said the sensed of magic, which is interesting. Marcus wasn't attacked at all. Chris and Kirsty were at a rave and the guys with guns just cut loose into the crowd. Cossack can't get a hold of Georgina or Melissa using his gifts. He can contact Gerraint, who the Lost Prophets have heard of but not met. Melissa was meant to be at her parents' house.

Hidden Green were lightly attacked - possibly just enough to keep them from helping. Just banes came through the Umbra and were dealt with by the caern's defenses.

Cossack says they need to find where anyone else is, and they need to work out who attacked them... or rather, didn't. The gargoyles suggest mage stuff, but the goo and the banes suggest Dancers. If whoever planned this had attacked at the peak, its possible the sept would have been overwhelmed. Were Dancers working with Mages? It was a lot of resources sunk into an attack that wasn't clinched. And how was it connected to the plans to kill Kinfolk? Maybe they should check in - oh wait, Graeme had most of the contact with the kinfolk, though Nadine can back him up.

Aaaand the black stain is still there, and appears to be slowly spreading across the landscape.

They talk about trying to track the tankers and Chris swears - they'd just started to look for stolen vehicles as a way of tracing the dream that Sinead was having.

Will points out that whoever tipped them off to the kinfolk list obviously opposes whoever they just fought. Maybe spoiling the kinfolk attack was why the various garou got attacked with guns tonight? Will says that he sent word to Grinding Stone, so if some Get show up looking for a fight, that's why. Cossack says he'll speak to the other septs and get info from them.

Ok, step one, lets find Melissa. Figuring the realm is a bad place for people covered in blood and viscera and burns, they head out through the Umbra. The peek at the goo on the way out - the shadow is slowly oozing across the landscape.

They check their house and confirm that it hasn't been shot up, and Melissa isn't there. That confirms they were spotting bodies, not sites. Kasumi says "oh yeah, there's three dead guys out the front of our house". They should probably sort that out at some point. Though given that Kasumi has been interviewed by police a couple of times... Finn says "oh yeah, Tom was at that party." And Sinead was party Queen. Lets hope no one saw them get their fight on immediately afterward.

The pack slog through the Umbra. There's a lot of spiritual activity, probably caused by the party night. Takes about 20 or 30 minutes in lupus. When they arrive, Kasumi can't peek but Finn can. He asks if there were 2 policemen here last time? ... No. There's two uniformed police out the front, with their car on the road. Just inside the door is the body of Melissa's dad. A few steps further in is a shredded homeless guy. At the bottom of the stairs they find a corpse that's probably her mum but there's another corpse that is torn in half and shredded kind of merged with it. At the top of the stairs is another gunman, clawed heavily, with a petrol can with the lid off. The whole site has that "There were *bite marks* in the *ceiling*" look that suggests a garou hard core frenzied here. There is, however, no sign of Melissa here.

The pack head to Fawkner Park and step out in a shadowy corner (partly cos they are covered in gore still). Sinead does a Questing Stone ritual to try and find Melissa - it is oddly hard, but she pushes through and gets a sense that Melissa is about 40km to the north east. What. Maybe the sense of resistence was cos she's flying? Maybe flying with a mage? Or a vehicle maybe. Has she freaked out and fled or been kidnapped?

Ok, that's far enough that they'll need to clean up a bit first. Kasumi rings Melissa's phone but gets voicemail. I'm sure that the cops won't find that suspicious at all. Should they go to Kasumi and Sinead's? There was a party in another townhouse in the same block, so its probable that all the bruhaha has been reported.

The pack hoof it back to Tillie's house so they can get more appropriately dressed (eg: not spattered in organs) and take the murdervan. They do remember that there's police blockades, and they'll have to drive through them. Will will drive, the rest of them will be in lupus. He comes up with a sort of viable story ("hi vis shirt. going to work"). ("one man and four dogs, went to mow the meadow" "I was thinking more 'Josie works with four dogs, four dogs, four dogs'").

However, as he turns a corner and is surprised by the blockade, this whole fragile house of cards story comes tumbling down and is replaced by the more complicated ("I think that the 3 successes were my clever disguise and the 4 ones were the dogs") story about his dogs and his girlfriend and leaving them at someone else's place. Will is breathalised, and his details taken, and the cop is about to send him on his way when the urge to embellish the story erupts and Will says he needs to take them somewhere else because of fireworks. Wasn't he taking them from near the city tho? Where there would have been fireworks? Yes, but that was. um. girlfriend. Now somewhere else. His dogs? yes, but not at his house. Her house. Who? She lives at 17 Station Street, Pascoe Vale.

The cop flags another constable who moves around the car carefully with a bright flashlight, checking inside and underneath. The cop asks Will to go through his story a bit more in order and its still barely comprehensible - now he's had some friends at his girlfriends while the dogs were locked up. in a soundproof room. And now.. he's taking them. Away. Kasumi syuggests maybe using some of his GIFTS perhaps, but the cops seem immune. "Do you like dags". But apparently he looks harmless enough, so they just check him out, take all his details, note that they'll be giving him a call in a couple of days, and wave him on. ("Don't say anything else" "We had to lock the dogs up at a different property because we had people over, and now the fireworks are over, I'm going to drop the dogs off and go to work" "Are you... preparing for the next blockade?" "Yeah, gunna get my story straight")

They head out to Templestoweish. Sinead does the ritual again, but she can't seem to pick Melissa up. They opt to drive on again. Kasumi calls her mobile again, but there's no response. She tries again after a while but even with her best concentration, there's no sense of where Melissa might be. Its about 315am by this point. Will pulls over and has a go at the ritual. He does get a sense that she's off to one side of the direction they've been travelling. She's not... a long way? They're out around Kangaroo Ground at this point. Sinead has another go after a while and still has to fight to get a sense, but does feel like she's maybe only a kilometer away, that way, and not far. Its through bushland, off at an angle from the road cross country (though the road does wind its way across the landscape, which is rolling hills and deep gullies).

The pack get out and sense, just in case - nothing of wyrm nor unnatural influences show up here near the road. They can smell rabbit and fox and cat and kangaroo but not PURE EVIL. Other than rabbits. Will checks the sky, just in case its gargoyles or whatever, keeping her off the ground. He sees fruitbats and satellites, planes... nothing else is up there where he can see it.

The pack can see a house 400m or so away, so they go check it out. It looks pretty mundane - no lights, no smell of Melissa, two adults, two children. Hmm. They look further away - a house about 400m further away has lights on, though neither this house nor any others they can kind of make out in the philodox moonlight do. Tillie checks the Umbra - its hillier in the spirit world than it is in the material. The Umbra is more treeferns than scrubby bushland than the pack are moving through. She can see spirits, but none of them seem disturbed by anything.

The pack decide to use the Umbra to their advantage. They step and while Kasumi peeks and is carried around by the rest of her pack, they trot through the underbrush. She gets to experience the disorienting situation where the Umbra she's being physically carried through doesn't quite match what her senses are telling her in the physical realm. Her packmates climb hills while her senses travel over a rise.

She's able to direct them to the house that has lights on. It doesn't appear in the Umbra, although there is a clearing in the bushland of ferns and such. The house is set into the hill a bit - there's a carport and maybe some storage on the ground floor, and some stairs up to the house proper on the next level, but that's at ground level at the back.

Kasumi senses and finds there's a faint.. fae?? sense. ("If she's gone and made any deals." "Like 'what would it take to make Will love me?' "). There's no such sense in the Umbra. They take Kasumi around - she can't see into the storage because its in the Umbral hill, but she can look around. The house is unoccupied, and it feels like a rental. There's hardly any stuff - there's a couple of suitcases and boxes ("ARGH BOXES") in the main bedroom and lounge. The kitchen isn't stocked. She sniffs about and finds a male scent... wait, that's familiar. They take her out to the car to be an alleged chair sniffer. Oh wait, its Marion's ex, Peter. She sniffs again - Melissa is not in the boot, but she has been ("We have to murder Peter"). They follow the scent trails as best they can, but they think it goes from the car to the storage rooms at the back of the garage, which they can't sniff to because of the Umbral ground level.

("We just strong arm in" "You've got a problem" "Is it door handles?" "Well, yes"). The pack are a bit cross and want to get Melissa, but they can't surround him in the Umbra and step through. So, in the Realm and burst in. However, if, as seems potentially an issue, he's aware of werewolves and might be some sort of hunter, and has silver, maybe they should be in homid. And the followup issue there is that all their undedicated spare clothing is back at the car. ("We should capture him and interrogate him ironically - ''don't you know kidnapping is wrong?''"). Initially the pack think that its murder time, but Will says that given there are cops crawling all over their caern at this moment, it might be worth figuring out what the cops know about werewolves, so the action is downgraded to capture and interrogate. ("There's been werewolves forever" "Since man first mated with wolf")

("Did we want to try knocking?" "Little pig, little pig, let me in?") ("I'm gunna breadknife my way in through the concrete wall with the fae sword"). They sneak in and creep up to the door. Kasumi is first so she can ragabash the door open. It opens to the right, on an automatic closer. ("Anyone order a stripper?" "I'm an antistripper, I turn up naked and get dressed in a sexy fashion"). She takes in quickly that the room is lit, medium sized and with concrete walls and floor. Peter reacts to her by picking up a shotgun and yelling "STOP"! Tillie, who is behind Kasumi, sees Melissa tied to a chair, in homid, at the focus of some video cameras on tripods. Will uses his jam technology gift.

Tillie sprints in and slams into Peter, slamming him into the wall. ("There's no way its live to the internet - its 2011, and we are _beyond_ Warandyte") Finn opts for glabro, figuring that being recognised would be worse than breaching the Veil or something, then runs in to help Tillie, grappling him against the wall. Sinead slips past Kasumi and knocks over the closer camera and stomps it. Tillie grabs Peter by the neck and mostly pins him against the wall.

Kasumi takes a look at the camera to make sure its not remotely displaying. They appear to be recording locally onto $whatever. Peter struggles fruitlessly. Finn stomps on the other camera.

Sinead checks Melissa - she's unconscious. She has several gunshot wounds that have not healed - its not 100% clear if its because of silver or if they're just taking a while. She's dressed in a poorly fitting dressing gown that's probably not hers, and that's all. She's been bound by handcuffs to the arms and legs and there's wire twisted through the cuffs and the chains. There's a brief moment of not being sure if they're not attached to car batteries or something, but Sinead touches them - ugh - and its clear that its silver wire rather than live.

To the people upclose and personal, Peter looks and smells terrible. He's unshaven and smells unwashed. Will uses his persuasion gift (2), and everyone else senses but there's more wyrm stuck to them than in the room. The shotgun is loaded with silver, but Melissa's wounds are more like the ones from the rifles they saw earlier. (He might still have shot her with one of them, but still.) Will says there's still a fae sense here, on him.

("Just to recap - he abducted a teenager who had been shot multiple times; put her in his boot; drove her to his house in the middle of nowhere with no medical attention; tied her up naked in front of video cameras. yeah, he's not a good guy")

The pack get Melissa free of the chair, and handcuff Peter back. Will uses Scent of the True Form just to confirm that he's not supernatural - nope, doesn't seem to be. Melissa is taken out onto a lawn, just in case she frenzies when she wakes and smashes stuff. Tillie goes back to the murdervan to get their clothes and vehicle.

So, Will is waiting around because they just need to... um.. wait, why is he here? Oh yeah Melissa, she's out on the lawn. Tillie is driving back to Melbourne, and only vaguely keeping an ear out on her pack mates. Will struggles to remember what was going on - they followed Melissa here. In some fashion. Kasumi senses - there's a weird fae sense. Will asks Tillie what she's doing - she says that she's heading back home, cos the caern has been attacked, its kind of important. Will can't see Sinead or Finn - he tries to mentally contact them and gets a real primal hunting emotion, but nothing more coherent. There's some chatting with Tillie and she remembers that she was here for Melissa with the others. She pulls over, turns around and comes back.

Sinead is chasing something with great vivacity through the woods.

Finn is following Stag as he is led soemwhere important.

Kasumi wants to know whose house it was? Whose robe is Melissa wearing? Its probably Melissa's mums.. weird. Ok, so there's boxes and suitcases and it looks like a rental. Whoever it is is just moving in. Oh yeah! No one was upstairs at all. Will looks for a cast iron skillet, figuring it'll make fae annoyed and there appears to be some sort of fae nonsense going on.

They go and sniff about - Will can pick up a male scent that is sort of familiar. He sees there's a car here that they don't recognise. ("I'm confused"). The scent is in and around the car. Oh wait, there's a smell of Melissa here too. So the guy that brought Melissa here must have driven this car. Will runs upstairs and sniffs and confirms that he's been inside, but when he comes back, Kasumi is gone and mentally is making no sense. He sighs and heads upstairs, looking for any sort of paperwork. He finds a pen ("I _am_ going all Memento") in a box of notebooks and pens. He glances in the notebook and finds that there's some notes about "Ken Xavier". Wait, that's Ken from the sept. ("Who follows _Ken_?") He grabs the notebooks out. In one of the suitcases he finds a jacket and he puts it on and stuffs notebooks into it. Will writes on his arms "Faeries. Confused. Melissa. Packmates missing". ("'fuck faeries' well, that guy probably knew what was what, so off I go")

Kasumi is talking with Graeme about the attack on the caern and wandering through the woods. "Come this way, its important"

Tillie shows up as Will says "Er, we've lost Kasumi too". She can see Will upstairs wearing someone else's clothes. They look through the notebooks - there's observations there on a number of sept people, and kinfolk. Its not always clear who is being stalked, and sometimes there's just addresses . That's worrying, given the attack on the caern. Will suddenly remembers Peter is downstairs in the cellar, and as soon as he says the name, Tillie swears and says she remembers too. ("I'm in daaaanger" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdKqAVpUOwI).

They burst into the cellar and Peter is more or less where they've left him. Will says "Peter. What's going on?" "What?" "You've been watching us" Tillie interrupts and says "You locked a naked teenage bleeding girl into your car, drove her out here and handcuffed her to a car and put her in front of vide camera, what the fuck " Peter says that she's not a girl, she's a monster and they're just going to kill him anyway. Tillie ventures that that might be the case, but he might have friends and family that could be also involved if he doesn't answer her fucking questions. Peter says fine, they're monsters, Marion was a monster, it was all a sham. They kill people, they steal stuff, they start fires. Tillie says they don't habitually - and out in the forest they hear a massive howl as Finn makes a huge noise.

Will asks if Peter has made a deal with anyone about anything. Then he thinks to use his Truth of Gaia gift. Did he make a deal? Confused about what happened with Marion and someone approached him? Peter seems confused, and Will is struggling to phrase his question without giving away anything. Peter says no - Marion disappeared and they disappeared and he tried to find her for a time, then gave up after months. And then that.. thing washed up on the bay, and everything went haywire, he saw them there in a car, and he kept thinking about it, and having weird dreams about it and Marion and he figured that was because he'd seen them there but then one night he had a nightmare about Marion becoming a monster and killing people in an alley. Oh yeah, that night Marion showed up on their doorstep and they bound a party spirit to Peter.

Will asks if he's told anyone. Oh yes, he's told people there's monsters running around Melbourne without any proof. ("is my gift confused by sarcasm?").

Tillie asks where the other three are gone, and Peter is very confused. Will says what's with the silver wire - "I know what you are". Did you get it from a book? "Its a pretty common story element, yeah, so I thought it was worth trying". ("Where is the faerie stuff coming from! Will, this is your fault. You fucked a faerie"). Tillie looks into the Umbra, but there's nothing of note there, once she'd worked out that they're underground in the spirit world in the basement. The fae sense is definitely coming from Peter himself. ("Can we summon a spirit?" "No, because your summoner is off in the wilderness, biting her own feet"). Will checks what Peter has on him - tattoos, amulets, anything like that? ("If I have to take his teeth out I will").

Has he had any weird dreams where anyone promised anything? No.. ? Anyone new at work? Peter seems genuinely confused. Did he tell anyone at work? He said that he was looking into things that were weird when he was queried about things he was looking up, but no one is helping him. ("We're monster monster fighters") Will tries to convince Peter that they're bad guys who fight badder guys, but he doesn't seem convinced. Will says that they - them and their friends - all got attacked tonight, lots of guns and bad bad people. And he, Peter, has notebooks full of tracking information. And something has interacted with him - something supernatural. So, strain your memory - did anyone just give you anything even? Food or something for no reason? He seems to genuinely not remember such an event.

Tillie goes out to find the others, given Finn was clearly close by. Will opts to stay in the room with Peter so he doesn't forget that Peter exists. Tillie has no problems tracking Sinead and finds her in the next property along after having spent 30minutes going around in circles. Sinead appears to have the zoomies, chasing something Tillie can't see. Sinead has a fae sense sputtering off her, but its running out, diminishing over time. Tillie tries to get her attention but the amount of joy in Sinead's chase is infectious, instead of being something easily distractable from. Will has to keep saying "Peter" or she legitimately forgets about him.

Will brings Peter out into the lawn, keeping a look out for some convenient iron rods. Could try a rite of cleansing, but Will's not too keen to go into the Umbra and forget Peter exists. He opts to cover Peter's head, fill his ears with chewed up paper, and try to do the ritual around his chair, but its too distracting and he flubs it. ("It might be cool to have someone on the inside" "See this? This is the ship that has sailed away") ("Did someone 'Taking the Forgotten' Peter?")

Will pulls the guff off Peter's head and fails to use his gifts on Peter ("Four 7s, argh"), and asks him if people at work keep forgetting about him. Like, in a weird and obvious way? He stares at Will. "No".

Finn is running and chasing Stag and doing something of consequence when suddenly the fog lifts and he's in lupus on his own in a forest and Will says "Peter" in his head. He is very confused, and even more so as Sinead is clearly wolfie after someone and Kasui is babbling in Japanese. Why is Will saying "Peter"? Tillie gives him a run down - fae stolen memory, you're in the forest, you're not far away. Peter stole Melissa. OH. PETER. Yes. From Finn's point of view, he's been chasing a stag through endless montage of environments, but its been about 30 minutes

Will wonders whether Peter's actually been cursed. It still begs the question when he would have banged into a fae, but it might explain why its strong? Maybe he should try and get in contact with a fae he does know? ("Consult your ancestors") It seems fraught.

The pack chat about Peter's fate. Tillie really just wants to crush his head, but Will has a bit of sympathy. Will probes Peter, and when he catches him with a sideways question that isn't immediately relevant, Peter seems to almost compulsively tell him about it. Will has the insight that its possible Peter's been unable to talk to anyone else about this for months and that's what's causing it.

Peter says that he sort of always knew something was off - Marion's friends were often missing critical personal information, but at the same time, there was an obvious close physical familiarity. He'd kind of ignored it at the time in the fire of new love. He'd really let it go after a few fruitless months, but it was that body washing up that triggered everything again. ("I really want to tell him stuff but we're not allowed to" "See?"). Back of envolope calculating, he started looking into it in person about the point where Lost Prophets went off looking for Marion's soul, after Monash came and visited them.

Kasumi comes out of her dream and suddenly remembers Graeme is gone, if not dead. She is very confused why she's in a scrubby bit of forest and no one else is around. The pack catch her up on what's happening ("PETER" "DEREK") and she remembers. It turns out she's only 200m away, so she walks back

Will asks Peter about the Full Moon Killer - yes, he assumed that it was them as well. Will says its not them but given the full moon and the murdering, Peter is skeptical. Kasumi comes back out of the dark and asks if Peter found any old, weird manuscripts and maybe read out a spell. That.. would be crazy. He's read a bunch of different stuff after working out what they were, but it was mostly Holywood esque Will says that Marion is dead, and Peter asked if they did it. "No!".

Will asks Peter about the time when weird emus and lizards and stuff were showing up. Did he see anything weird then? Flowers blooming whre they shouldn't? yeah, there were - red ones. Anything else? Yeah, everyone was being crazy, big fights, and people screwing in public (like in cafes). But nothing supernatural. He didn't get any tattoos, or touch any weird rocks. The pack is hampered by trying not to give anything away and also asking questions like "did anyone give you food" where the answer is "i dunno, probably?" . ("Did you have sex with a girl with rabbit ears?"). Did you ever meet a girl with rabbit ears? Like really realistic ones. No, but he's seen girls with rabbit ears. There's often people dressed up in the city. He's seen a couple of girls a couple of times around Carlton, when he was looking for people connected to Marion. There was always two of them, walking together. ("CAn we kill her _this_ time?")

Sinead does a cleansing ritual from the Umbra while her pack remind her "Peter. Peter. Peter" constantly. She does much better than Will, and the ritual suceeds. It seems to disperse the sense of fae around Peter, and with some careful experimentation, they dont think he's vanishing from their consciousness any more. ("And that's how Kasumi started killing cosplayers") ("https://www.lochlomondfaerietrail.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/30713963_1677495195629481_7865108768879375638_n.jpg")

The pack have a good hard think. When might Peter somehow have ended up enchanted by fae? Powerfully, too. Is it possible that something happened when the Dancer body washed up on shore ? He was one of the first responders, and definitely saw it before Will's glamour was applied to the corpse making it look more like a dead bear. Maaaybe? Its a bit too specific, really, and that was the end of September, and this was an active effect still at the end of December?

They look through his notes - there's notebooks on a number of Garou and associates including kinfolk. Some of them are sketchy - a description or just a name - but others have detail like addresses and employment. There's notes about what Peter remembered about their weird interaction with the steroid fomori who ended up dead, and some stuff about Kasumi and Owen, and Finn and a journalist out the front of a house that another kid vanished from, and then Finn again from a fight in the CBD that have appear to have been cribbed from police notes.

Annoyingly there are cameras and photos too - close up shots of sept mates, or kinfolk. Some of them are just paparazzi shots, but others are blurry night time photos that with the eye of faith might be people in crinos or other damning forms. They'd probably stir some level of delerium if they were shown to people. In more than one case, the pack are surprised that Peter hadn't been spotted - his camera gear isn't superflash, and to get close enough for those photos, he should have been spotted by someone at some point. Which leads them back to the glamour that is making it hard to find him.

Tillie says that the glamour that was on Peter seemed to be pretty strong, and sort of like stories where hunters are thrown off a fairly easy to catch prey. Finn groans and says like Cherie's story at Halloween, specifically - some of the pack distracted by hunting other prey, some of them led away by ghosts.

Alright, that suggests more strongly its Cherie - who, you know, is the most likely culprit around anyway. But how to find out how it happened? ("Its wabbit season") Does it matter? They're sort of just at the murder her stage honestly. What did Will call in his favour for? Oh yeah, he told her to maintain human ignorance of real fae.

Could they get Peter onside? It'd take a lot, and they'd have to tell him about stuff to get him to trust them that would just be more veil breaches really. ("We have enough trouble just feeding Gus") ("its just Veil breach after veil breach with you, isn't it"). Making him forget would involve some spirit interaction, and they are pretty short gnosis and time.

Will asks Peter if he has a dead man switch of some sort. Peter stares at him and asks how they would believe him in either way? Will says just answer the question - Peter says "no" and it doesn't seem to be a lie.

So... they probably do actually have to kill him. Burn the place down? Dig a whole and put him in it? ("_dead_. I'm not a monster"). ("Aren't we in the middle of Warrandyte? In January? Maybe not fire") More ideas around fire, but they might need to contain the fire given the location. Hmm. Actually, they are not too far from Reconciliation and all the Children of Gaia there. Hmm. It is a pretty clear Veil/Litany kind of problem. ("Maybe we could kill him first and then ask for help. Remove the moral ambiguity"). Wait for Melissa to wake up and hope she has enough gnosis to dedicate a corpse? ("This is how you become rank one"). Waking Melissa might be problematic, she might freak out - she certainly does frenzy easily, as one might expect in a newish Ahroun.

They check Peter's phone and find that he has several missed calls and voice messages from work calling him in to work. Yes well. Could they fake him being shot by hobos in some fashion? They have one of the guns in the bag of shadows, so maybe? Break his neck, throw him down a gully, make it look like an accident? He's already got bruises from the initial fight, so probably no. Suicide? He's a bit not right, and the photos probably haven't helped, and so he's probably been a bit weird at work... but that's a lot of probablies and maybes. Maybe just disappear him, but leave one of the uzis behind to throw the scent? It might bring too much attention to here when they've left some bits of pieces of forensic info all over the place anyway.

Will tries to ask Peter what he'd do if they just let him go - they take all the evidence and say "go away, just live your life as best you can". Peter is baffled at the question, and seems to think they are just psychologically traumatising him for fun. He can't let them go, they are out there murdering people. Why are they fucking with him? ("I mean, he's not wrong that we're killers - we have code words for threatening people and when a murdering gets out of hand" "Funny code words" "Not better" ) ("What would Gaia do?")

Could they Taking the Forgotten him? It... normally works by taking something off someone. Kasumi isn't really sure that she can use it without a focus, and if its a whole police department... there's also likely to be paperwork that connects him to this place, rental agreements etc.

Sigh. Ok, keep it simple. They collect all the evidence into the murder van, disable his phone, and Tillie waits til they are ready to deal with him, changes to crinos and breaks Peter's neck. Two of the pack head into the scrub in crinos for a couple of kilometers and dig a hole with their giant paws. ("What if we did some decoy holes") The others look around a bit late and look for security cameras - Kasumi can't find any, leading to a more certainty that they should burn the house down.

The pack set the gas stove to running without lighting it, and then when they are sure its full of gas, Tillie ignites it with her gifts. She runs off through the bush and meets the others in the murder van. Will takes back roads and avoids any CFA contact.

Melissa starts to come to, and the pack decide to take her into the Umbra just in case. When she doesn't immediately frenzy, the pack gently probe as to what happened. Melissa says she was upstairs listening to music. She heard gunfire and her mum screaming and burst out of her room in time to see her mum shot down, and then she frenzied. She doesn't remember clearly what happened then - she knows she killed a few people, but she thinks they shot her up too.

She is confused tho about why they are in the car. Will gives her a rundown about the night so far - so many attacks. Clearly they were all tracked, and then the sept was attacked. So, it wasn't just her. And once the Sept wasn't under attack they went looking for anyone who wasn't there, including her. She wasn't there, she'd been kidnapped by a cop who was a werewolf hunter and so they kidnapped her back.

There's a brief "what do we do about our stories"? but they need to get back to the Sept. The Lost Prophets decides that they should drive in a bit closer and park the van at a train startion, and then run back from there and avoid the barricades in case Will needs a new story about dogs going shopping or something.

Sept of Sleeping Lore

Chronology - December 2011

December 1 - Philodox waxing