Sept of Sleeping Lore

Chronology - January 2012

January 1 - Philodox waxing

The Lost Prophets arrive at back at the sept about dawn. They catch up on news - Georgina is dead. She was at a party, and was gunned down and then set on fire. People applaud the pack for finding Melissa and then are a bit appalled that they killed a cop. The pack are introduced to Geraint, who is in his early 20s, and another cub. ("Geraint Geraint" "Hungry like the wolf")

The Sept have been trying to think of a way to deal with the creeping shadow and the black goo. Rites of Cleansing are no good - the shadow gives chase when the ritual is begun and consumes all the gnosis raised. It also appears to be draining energy straight from the caern and strengthening itself. The fact that it is a mix of wyrm and magic is scary because it seems purpose designed. Two or three days before the whole caern was drained.

Also complicating things is that the humans who are wandering around evaluating things (mostly cops) are wading through the space the shadow occupies, and it is leaving a very strong taint on them.

Could they pull the gnosis out of the shadow? Maybe - spirits could do it, but maybe that would turn about and feed the shadow. Making a talen with a spirit bound, to make it easy to remove the spirit if it goes wrong?

Could they hibernate the caern? There are rituals to seal caerns. Will asks if its like what the bunyip did to Scars Atoning. Emma says they exist, but they take a while, and the caern spirit has to agree - and no one here knows them. People have discussed summoning powerful wyld spirits to turn the shadow into, I dunno, tungsten and hope. But that sort of effect tends to be very broad in application, and would probably destroy the caern too. Last choice.

Could they feed to goo something poisonous to itself? ("This sounds like star trek"). Could they poison the gnosis? What poisons wyrm? Could they pour weaver spiders on it until it dies? That also might destroy the caern... but that is a possibility. Even just to buy extra time. But it'd need some way of bribing or controlling the spirit ("You're welcome to my gnosis. Singular")

The magic has a strong shadow feeling, but not much demon. Friendly mages? Strawmen? How would they contact them? Emma basically points out that Lost Prophets are the mage experts.

There are stories of caerns being corrupted, but not like this - usually the idea of the caern is twisted, like a caern of calm turning into a place with fights.

Could they get the machine that was draining Scars Atoning? Well, no, the blasphemous wyrm thing was pretty wrecked by the garou. Even if they could close or drain the caern down so the shadow couldn't feed, there's no guarantee they'd be able to refill it.

Could they get some bodies on the ground to help from other Septs? ("I mean bags not me asking Scott for help"). They have heard from the other septs - Hidden Green had some wyrm spirits beat themselves senseless against caern defenses, but nothing more. Grinding Stone saw some wyrm activity in the area, but nothing directly. Reconcilliation also saw some wyrm activity but not directly near the caern. Cossack has spoken to Antoinette and she'll help if she can. Commands-the-Waters is more cautious - she is worried the lack of follow through in the attack is a decoy, and might imply that there's a second wave coming once any other garou come to help, to get them too.

If the shadow was going into people that were moving through it, maybe.. hear me out.. maybe they could get more people to come through and weaken it, cos then the garou could cleanse the humans? Kristy says she's pro, which makes Kasumi rethink this plan (straw berry icecream)

The goo senses strongly of the green dragon goo over Preston - and the pack recall that there were weirdly clean areas that they weren't expecting. Dancers were eating some of it, they discovered. So it was Dancers who attacked? Except the magic sense. Is it just mages? Why didn't anyone follow up the attack. 5 people that can start fires at a distance and fly would have really screwed the Sept, let alone a large attack. Have mages done much with Banes? Only that once, when they led the pack to the first mage house, the weird bat banes.

The assembled garou hear a "can I come in" howl from outside the caern. The pack recognise the voice as Malajimbarra and despite some paranoid from the Lost Prophets, it does appear to be Malajimbarra.

He explains that he has spoken to Commands the Waters about their current issue. ("I imagine that's what it feels like to get stabbed by a spear, because I stepped on a bee this week and haven't stopped bitching for 24 hours") He knows of a ritual that was specifically to address the problem of wyrm corruption attacking caerns. It can only be performed at a caern, and it will cleanse the entire bounds. The catch is he doesn't know it. He does know who does know it - a garou called Franklin Ash-Hand, who is the Master of the Rite at the major Uktena sept. The pack all wince - more Uktena, eh. It is the Sept at which Tjinderi is the sept leader. Ah. Its not like it was the Uktena who summoned Uktena. Which made the Dancers summon Green Dragon. Whose remnant is what has been turned into a weapon against the caern. Hmm. Also the Watcher.

Cossack is cautiously pro. Malajimbarra says that he would suggest that the Lost Prophets come with him to ask for help ("I say it along with him at the same time"). The pack agree to help, but don't wanna take Melissa with them. ("Emma, take this, its sad"). They talk to Cossack seperately for a bit though and mention everything they learned (and the players promptly forgot) about Sydney from the Watcher. Cossack says that the Sept is not in a good bargaining position - that information is valuable. If that information is what it takes, use it, but its going to be contentious. ("you have no knowledge of how diplomacy works" "or rituals")

The pack rejoin Malajimbarra and organise for a moon bridge to Crackenback. Its more brightly lit there, and oddly cold. The pack are met by the gatekeeper, She Whose Voice of Anger Commands Proper Respect From the Brethren of the Umbra. She is not greatly thrilled by their presence, and is baffled why they are not defending their caern, but it is explained that they seek help from the Uktena in defeating the wyrm, and her assistence would obviously feature in stories told. Will asks Malajimbarra if he knows what Tjinderi might ask for in return, and he says that to speak for his tribal leader would be presumptuous. Yes. He's asking Malajimbarra to presume. He says that Tjinderi's motives might be as legitimate as theirs might be.

Malajimbarra suggest that Tillie comes on her own with him first. Why? Five rank 3 garou present a different impression than one pack leader coming to speak for her pack and sept. He won't insist, but it is what he recommends. Finn suggests maybe Will instead of Tillie? Whoever goes wont have access to their totem link. Ok, Tillie should go. ("who has a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg") There's a brief discussion about whether they'd give up a fetish if that's what the Uktena ask for.

Tillie is gone for about 20, 25 mins while the Lost Prophets are sniffed at by the Silver Fangs. A moonbridge opens again with Tillie, Malajimbarra and another garou, who is introduced as Franklin Ash Hand, Master of the Rite at Three-Stars-Over-Salted-Earth Sept. The Silver Fangs are happy for them to go - She Whose Voice of Anger Induces Proper Respect in the Brethren of the Umbra opens a Moonbridge for them back to Melbourne ("does she have a nickname?" "Tames-Spirits-with-her-Snarl" "I'm going to call her 'Snarly'")

("We disband, and then reform as a the 'Lost Prufits'" "Lost PROVE IT!") The pack arrive back in Melbourne, and despite their best hopes, no one has solved the problem while they were gone. Franklin is introduced to people, Malajimbarra asks if he may remain to observe and assist, which Cossack is happy to assent to. There is some discussion about what the ritual entails. Franklin says that he will have ritual tasks for all members of the sept, and as much gnosis as they can give.

The sept prepares during the day. Sinead, knowing some caern rituals, is able to see the shape of what Franklin is doing, but can also see its very involved and would take some time to learn. It takes almost all the day to prepare before they begin. Gnosis flows up and away from the Sept and the caern into the sky, and in short order, clouds begin to billow up over the bay - one of those out of nowhere summer thunderstorms. The clouds get taller and thicker as the ritual continues, and at its climax, it begins to rain - big splatter rain drops start to fall and then come crashing down. Where the rain hits, the black shadow is destroyed - its not simply washed away, but erased. In minutes, the cascade has turned the shadowy creeping force into a spiderweb of black. In the realm, humans investigating the oily goo run for shelter as rain pelts down, soaking everything. Lightning and thunder roil around as the storm sweeps across the city. The cleansing only happens within the bounds of the caern - all the black shadow is being cleansed, but the black oil outside the bounds seems less affected. But that can be cleansed and shovelled.

It is an hour before the storm relents, and by that time, all of the creeping black has been destroyed, and remaining banes have fled or reformed. Cossack and the other Elders thank Franklin for his help, but he refuses hospitality and heads back to his home sept. Malajimbarra also opts to leave for Grinding Stone, and says he will inform Commands-the-Waters of events here in detail.

Once the visitors have left, Cossack gets the Sept to come together again. Now that the caern is no longer in immediate danger, there is a lot to do. Georgina and Barry are dead - the Sept will do rites for them come the Moot in a couple of weeks. They will also acknowledge all the humans and kinfolk killed as well - the Lost Prophets notice his eyes pass across Melissa. In the meantime, the mundane world thinks there was some sort of underworld event, which the sept will try and encourage. (Is it a new underworld war??). The state government has already promised some sort of task force to investigate it - the attacks were so widespread, there's no real pattern yet (to mortals). On a side note, there were some attacks were garou weren't and they don't really know why. Also there were a couple that happened where garou from the Sept had been, but they'd already moved on. In any case, the mortal world is hurt, and worried, and angry.

The Sept haven't been able to get on tracing any of the gunmen - most of them died in the attacks. They seemed to know who they were looking for, though the initial attack was very broad. The Elders are considering finding a stash of drugs and planting them nearby but not in the caern.

The Lost Prophets look around - they can see the Get of Pennington are clustered together. The Scryers are together, but not closely. Christine looks like shit.

Everyone is going to be busy. For the next few weeks, Scryers and Get of Pennington will be changing evidence, chasing leads and cleansing people and generally following up on the attack. The Lost Prophets will remain at the Sept for the most part - the caern's defenses are exhausted, and so they will need the pack to be on guard until that's back.

Individual garou issues, like Kasumi and Sinead's house. Oh and Melissa. Some other Sept members are similarly potentially exposed, having been at fairly public events. They run through individual nights - oh dear, Sinead was queen of the party, and Finn was recognised by at least Tom. Kasumi and Melissa were both attacked at home, which is bad. Its not just that they got attacked, but people that can be linked to other people who were attacked. ("I know it sounds bad, but I could put all the heat on Sinead"). On that topic, the Lost Prophets explain that there was a policeman who had notes and photos of a lot of the Sept. They need to make a better decision. The pack also mention that there's a very high chance that Cherie helped hide him, and everyone gives Will a greasy look.

Cossack checks in with Tillie and asks if they have space for Melissa. At this point it might be best if the mortal world thinks she's dead. It'd be a lot easier than any other cover stories. He checks if anyone else saw them there at Melissa's house - nope, they were in the Umbra. All good. Anyone see Peter? Well, even if they did, they mightn't remember half an hour later. Similarly, they need to work out how the Scryers and Get should leave the evidence for the Lost Prophets. Cossack suggests maybe they should ("pin it on sScott?") think about whether it might be simpler if ("it was all Scott's fault") Sinead maybe fell on the grenade in terms of her mortal life?.

So. Graeme. No, the Elders don't know what happened, but now that the caern isn't in danger they might be able to speak to Chimera, but honestly they need to contemplate the possibility that he's gone, whether something went wrong, or he poured all his self into the rituals and evaporated.

The Sept talks about what might happen, and starts to go around and around. Everyone is wrecked. The Get of Penington eventually declare that they are done, and are going over [there] and crashing. The other packs take a similar plan, and pick their own section to crash in. They get Melissa to come with them. She's a bit overwhelmed - she's not really met all the rest of the Sept before today, so that's been the cap on a weird day.

A few hours later, Tillie wakes up to a weird noise. She lifts her head and looks around and realises that its Melissa, balling her eyes out hard. ("oh no, I'm not cut out for this"). She kicks Sinead in the kidneys, who calls her a cunt before really waking up. (Will pretends to be asleep) ("Help, there's emotions and its making me afraid" "Roll frenzy")

January 2 - Philodox waxing

The next morning, Kasumi emerges from the Umbra and her phone goes a bit crazy with missed calls. Two of them appear to have been from a "Mary-Ann" from the local police station "we're concerned about your safety, please call us as soon as possible". She starts to seriously contemplate her options.

Finn appears in the realm about lunch time and finds his phone is full of phone calls from his mum, growing more and more frantic. They start from 7am new years date, through to last night and then 2.5hrs ago was "I'm coming to get you". He goes to call her back and then realises he needs a plan. Soemthing like "I'm taking the dogs for a walk away from the fireworks". Finn thinks he was at a party away from home, and got very drunk and his phone ran out of power and he only just got home? Yeah, that works. Oh yeah, I tried to call but the networks were down.

He calls, and when its clear its him, there's the sound of a car pulling over, sliding on gravel, and a thump and his mum saying "damn". "What did you hit?" "That's not relevant, where have you been". "My phone was dead. I tried to call but couldn't get through." "I got through to your message bank fine" "Uh. That happens anyway" "Why didn't you leave a message then!". Finn tries to keep his tone calm, and relaxed, but his mum says she's near Avalon now, and she's coming to get him, then they are going home. Finn protests that its not a good- "No, I will be there in 45 minutes, you will be there and we are going" "But - " [beep beep]. ("Wanna fake your own death too?") ("Parents can't get you if the house is on fire" "And you're living in the Umbra now")

His mum shows up and opens with "Pack your stuff, we're going". The conversation does not wind down from there. Finn's gifts are not his friend, but on the other hand at least he doesn't actually frenzy. His mum isn't interested in negotiation, and neither is he, so its just an hour long fight with yelling and stopping her trying to pack his clothes. In the end, she leaves, slamming the door and wheel squeals off. Finn waits til he's a bit calmer then messages his sister with "sorry for ruining your chances" while drinking whiskey. Ciara replies with "already fucked".

Kasumi tries to figure out who can help her with her alibi. (Been away, lost my phone) The whole sept is pretty busy and committed - her, maybe someone from Hidden Green? She calls Elaine and outlines her needs. Elaine is trying to not be connected to Kasumi, but they manage to work out the minimum things she needs for her alibi, and Elaine says she'll make some calls. An hour later, Elaine calls, and confirms that Kasumi just needs to have been away, no other evidence right? Ok, then Kasumi needs to transfer the last minute booking fee for an BnB down the peninsula now - it'll be $600. She can send some pictures of it for Kasumi. It will be very blurry as to when she made the booking. Obviously she didn't drive down on the freeway - she'd better work out how she got there. The apartment has room for a .. friend.... but not just a friend.

Kasumi obtains a bag full of clothes. She cruises past their house in the Umbra and sees what's what. The door is taped, the window is taped. There's no cops there right now. There's no sign of Gus. There are some signs forensic teams have been here. ("She was a woman who was available to rent...... a house with")

Kasumi comes back into the realm at the caern and then makes her entrance, stage east. She walks down the driveway and performs her surprise. She looks at her door, which is shut. She opens the door but doesn't break the tape and calls hello. Then she heads to one of the other sets of units and finds her somewhat freaked out neighbours who don't seem keen to let her in.

Kasumi plays the innocent and the neighbour says people came with guns and shot her house up, but someone else came and killed them with an axe. She asks if she can borrow a phone, because she's lost hers. They seem unkeen to let her in, but come out and lend her a mobile. Kasumi rings the police and tells them who she is and they seem very keen for her to come into the police station. There's a lot of background noise. She gets transferred to someone else who is very keen that she comes and talks to him.

Kasumi arrives in the waiting room and finds it like madness. Last time she was here, it was library-esque in its quiet, but now its packed. There's people who have clearly been living rough. There's a constable at the front door stopping some people from leaving - Kasumi introduces herself and he asks her to go to the desk. There's people already in the line, including a woman with 4 kids trying to queue. A fight breaks out over the chairs. She gets to the front and even then the desk sergeant is interrupted repeatedly while trying to talk to her. He says he'll get someone to talk to here as soon as possible.

Another 30m goes past before a tall and fairly haggard man in a suit calls her name. He asks her to come with him and tells someone else that he doesn't want to hear it as he takes a breath. They look around through a corridor, and he offers her drinks or something to eat from the vending machine. ("Was it a sex party?" "No it was not" "Dodged a bullet then" "So did he") She accepts a coffee and they hunt around for an interview room. its old, and shows some signs of being a chair store room til recently.

He asks her about her night on December 31st but then stops and says he'll be right back when he finds a power cable for this recorder, leaving her alone with it. He comes back and plugs things in and says that he has to record it because its just them. He sits down and says he hopes her weekend was better than his. Right, what did you do on December 31st?

Kasumi says she went to a business dinner (The one in Russell St) and gives the times. Oh sorry, I forgot something, can we go back a step? He just needs to confirm some details with her. He runs through her name, date of birth, when she moved to Australia. She worked at Toyota? He nearly drinks her coffee, and apologies. How was Toyota? Good place to work? Why'd she move to Australia? Ok, back to the dinner, then what.

Left at 8.30, trammed home. She grabbed her stuff, and she'd booked a B&B. Where? Ok, then she trammed to the train, then got off and taxied the rest of the way. There for two nights. Came back this morning, on the train and came to her house. The detective asks if she has seen the news? No, not really. Well, there's been quite a few violent incidents, including at her house, so... She didn't come back early? Did she stay with anyone or speak to anyone? No, ok

The police tried to call her. A lot. Kasumi says that she thinks she left her phone at home. Right. So you don't live alone? Kasumi asks where her room mate is? The detective asks some questions first - friends? No. How long have you known her? Since we moved in. Oh you didn't know her before? No, its just a rental thing. From internet boards. Did she bring anyone home? No. Not friends? Do you know what she did? Oh worked at a cafe, Kasumi thinks, but doesn't know what its called - somewhere in the CBD. Does Kasumi know what her plans were for New years? A party somewhere. Spoken to her since? No, no phone, that's right. Do you have her phone number though? Ah, yes, but its on her phone. The detective says that they haven't been able to contact her at all either.

What were the arrangements for the dog? I mean, she was planning to be gone for 2 days? Whose dog is it, hers or Sineads? Kasumi says hers, but she was expecting Sinead to be home and be able to feed him. Where is he? At a pound, that could be sorted out after this. So, Sinead never brought anyone home that you remember? ("She brought home all these dude with big penises! And these girls with big penises! She was just really into big penises!"). She didn't have a computer at the house? Because they have Kasumi's and figured it was hers. They'll have to organise to give her back her stuff later too.

So. Does she know why three guys might have shown up and fired automatic weapons into her house? The cop suddenly pins her with an intense glare. Any reason. At all. No, she categorically does not. [shifty eyes]. So, these clients - she left Toyota to run her own consultancy? Does she have ongoing relationships with the clients? Some yes, that's why the business dinner. How about this person, and he reads out a name. Oh wait, that's someone she did some "work" (money laundering) for because Ion told her to. Oh. No. I. Uh. Once off. Me think. Good. Does she remember much about it? There weren't many meetings, and there were lots of consultants. Just seemed... standard?

Does she have any reason to suspect her housemate...... might know why? Kasumi reiterates that she's just a housemate. How do they pay rent? Cash? Does Sinead pay her cash? Oh yes, that's often how it works - she works in a cafe, so she gets, um, tips? Did she often have assorted cash, or was it more sets of bank note $50s?

Another direction change - do you have anyone to stay with? Because she can't go home. There's some talk about informing the landlord. Do you have access to accounts? No, she can't get clothes from her house. Kasumi asks for some details, and he says that the investigation is ongoing. Does she keep any weapons in her house? No. Not even organamntal? Kasumi arcs up at the implication she would have a katana because she's japanese. How about garden equipment? No, not really. They dont have any need for power equipment? ("I got these [claws] ").

So her phone. Its not in the list of things they took from the house. Maybe the cab? or train? Ok well, that's.. oh hangon, they need a blood sample. There were some stains, and they just want to eliminate Kasumi from their enquiries. So, when they're done, he'll get a nurse to come through. Kasumi mentally goes "they wanna blood sample!" They need to eliminate her and Sinead. Kasumi asks if they know where Sinead was? They haven't been able to get in contact with her yet - much like they had no contact with Kasumi. So they're not panicking yet, but they would like to make some level of contact soon, yes.

He asks if she wants another coffee or whatever? No, ok, well, he'll go organise for a nurse to take blood and he'll be back soon. Off he goes and Kasumi turns to the mental link. Could she taking the forgotten the blood? Or just walk out now? Power surge the cop shop? Detective comes back after 5 minutes with her water and says that he's trying to organise a nurse - he'll be back in 15 minutes. Kasumi catches him as he leaves and says she needs to tell family she's ok and organise somewhere to stay. Could she go now, and then go to a clinic to get bloods taken? He hums and hars and then says if he can organise a phone for her to call a hotel, would that be workable? Ok, cool. He comes back in 10 minutees with a rotary dial phone with a weird plug and puts it into the weird jack on the wall, picks it up and says that it still works, cool.

Kasumi contemplates phone diving but there are cameras. Power surge.. ugh she's out of gnosis. Her pack suggest just getting up and leaving. That seems like a good course of action, so she does. Kasumi manages to avoid the suspicious casual whistle and looking left or right sketchily, and just walks out into the madness of the waiting room, and then just heads out.

January 3 - January 8

Scryers and Get of Pennington are on the case, working out what evidence they need to fiddle. They'll keep a look out for anything that leaps up about individual sept members but they're pretty much flat to the boards.

The caern elders manage to get in contact with the caern totem Chimera, who confirms that Graeme is .. gone. Cossack says that the conversation was puzzling on both sides, but it seems that Graeme is definitely not a going concern. Will speculates who might be up for replacement caern warder? It has to be someone at the caern most of the time. Graeme spoke with kinfolk a lot, so it probably needs to be a Bone Gnawer. A higher rank bonegnawer. The pack look at Sinead. Oh no. Hmm, she thinks that maybe people did mention her name - she's walked in on a couple of conversations where the subject got changed. It doesn't really work for her though - she'd have to leave the pack.

On the Thursday, Tillie receives a spiritual messenger from the Jindabyne Council. Its a little stroppy in tone - basically they had been expected to show up, after the encounters they had with the bunyip in the Shadowlands. The pack had not really stopped before the info about the attack on the kin came up, and the message notes this, but that they are expected on the 16th of January.

Sinead has a dream Friday night. There is a pack of wolves running along a woodland path. One of the wolves is more dimunitive than the others - they are keeping up, but with more obvious effort than the others expend. The path forks and one path leads up a ridge through lighter stands of trees, and thence and onto a plain. The other turns into the thicker, more forboding forest. The pack turn down and their path is blocked by deadfalls, and marshy dips. The smaller wolf falls further and further behind, until they are left on their own, in the dark. Sinead wakes up with a light blood nose.

Toward the end of the week, the Get of Pennington inform the elders that they are unavailable for 36 hours. They do a monumental pissup as a wake for Barry on the Saturday, and are all very unwell on the Sunday.

The Moot is on the 9th - not only will the Sept be doing formal rituals, but its a lunar eclipse. It won't be until the Moot proper is over. Lunes will probably go a bit weird, but otherwise it should be ok. Its a good time to learn Ragabash gifts, if you can be quick about it.

The pack consult with Ends-the-Quiet about their ongoing issues with gnosis being drawn from people not spending it. They had assumed that it was lingeriing weirdness from the Wyld Reaches, like Will's inverted left-rightness ("Its a whole new relationship energy thing, I can lean on the other arm") but its a bit different. Ends-the-Quiet says its clearly something about their whole pack - have they spoken to their pack totem? ("oh yeah, that guy")

Sinead does the summoning ritual for Boobook and he swoops through after the requisite time. Their totem is greeted formally, and Will explains their problem. Has something changed since they got back from the deep umbra? yes. Does he know what is it? yes. ("Bloody riddling spirits!" "He literally said 'yes'") Will straight up asks what's going on. Many things have changed. There is a change to all of them, that has created a potential. It is not fully realised. Could they push it a bit further and be able to control it? Yes. Potentially. When they were in the Deep Umbra, the distinctions between them were muddled slightly. If they wish, he is able to .. push.. them, and make the change real and complete. It will not remove their ability to think together. It will require effort from them, and a muddling of their spiritual selves further.

Will practices his scrimshawing. The pack contemplate their options for finding a house all together but near the caern. Mostly they contemplate stealing the house or mind controlling someone. Kasumi contemplates how she's going to sort out the cops - fake blood? Spirit switching her blood with someone elses? Some sort of plastic fake skin and bloodsack and a spirit to hide it. Sending someone else pretending to be Kasumi? They presumably can't find Sinead .

After the events of NYE, the police are being encouraged to persue the existing vagrancy laws more strongly. They've been moving people along, or breaking up camps, but over the weekend, some other people decide to give them a hand - random people living rough found themselves being bashed and their stuff wrecked by people in masks, late at night.

Monday 9th January - Moot night - Ahroun

The moot begins at moonrise with Opening Howl and Greeting the Sky. All the pack spirits are thanked, as is Father Possum and the spirits that assisted the sept against banes and golems

The Sept launches straight into Gathering for the Departed rituals for Georgina, Barry, Graham and for the kinfolk and even humans killed during the attack. ("Its just Cossack with a badly drawn bar graphs - 'Look, all i'm saying is since we started doing this ritual, we've seen a vast increase in ancestor spirits, and a downward trend in cursing' " "thats your glasswalker sept right there")

People are reminded that there will be an eclipse tonight. Renown is recognised! (DM needs to work out pack renown). Melissa is recognised as rank 1, with surviving the attack on her house as a sort of baptism by fire. She is now an adult in their society and able to fully participate - if there is a pack that she wishes to join and they are amenable, she may. Melissa starts to turn toward Lost Prophets and the pack have the fastest mental discussion ever.

She might do well! The dream might have been about her! The dream might have been about them rejecting her! They don't want to reject her! Maybe should could be their unpaid intern for the exposure! They've got all this existing grief she doesn't want to inherit! Its fun to make your own pack! Everyone in her life is dead except them! Maybe the packs missing people would be better! What about Geraint? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_0pL83hPYU)

Melissa finally turns all the way toward them and says that she would like to speak to Lost Prophets. Tillie steps up and they will talk to her after the Moot. Melissa looks a bit disappointed, but they didn't say no.

The sept has managed to make a bit of headway on the trucks as their first lead. It looks like they were stolen from interstate trucking companies using some shenannigans - transferred from one depo to another but the receivers not knowing about it, or written off as having been wrecked in a crash. They came from Sydney and Adelaide - the septs there have been given a heads up if they could look into it.

The sept is planting evidence - they managed to get a load of drugs and plant that and the mortal world has latched on it. The investigators are around the caern a lot, which is pretty irritating ("we should just get them gastro").

The sept breaks up into smaller groups and sort out individual pack stuff. Kasumi gets a long bit of extension cord and dedicates it with some of her newly restored gnosis. Sinead summons an electrical spirit into the loop. After about an hour there's a distinct smell and the cable moves around a bit .Kasumi negotiates with the spirit for the Lightning gift - after some back and forth she agrees to generate 40 hours of electricity herself a week. (https://www.bikenblend.com.au/) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hT5cGnk2DY) ("She could just electrocute the police, which would get her out of her problem... and into another problem") The spirit has to touch her, which is does, electrocuting her pretty painfully.

Will summons his elemental friends and asks them to teach him the gift of Trollskin. After some back and forth, they agree if he will commit to eating some rock at each moot (ritually sharing a meal with them) for a year. ("When your dog gives you lemons, find a new dog") To seal the deal, the elemental breaks off a piece of itself, which Will consumes.

The pack speak to their totem about realising their gnosis connection. Boobook says that they need to attune to one another to begin with, much as they would attune to the caern to draw gnosis for it. Kasumi and Finn don't really have the wherewithal to manage this, but the rest of the pack manage to lean through and psychically smack them.

Kasumi's battle scar has now settled into her skin - she has a strange patterning across her back starting where her heart is, and moving down in a comet-like shape on her back. Its reminisicant of African scarification, but its also slightly coloured. Finn has also found that his gunshot wound under the arm is never going to heal properly - there's a piece of rib missing as well, he can feel it when he pushes. ("He shot me right in the boobs")

The Sept starts to drift back together and start to talk about now what - previously while the mages and dancers were top of the agenda, they are now the only thing on the agenda. Find them, root them out, and salt the earth. The Elders will coordinate with the other septs around too as they have a vested interest in sorting this out.

Stories and songs, including Finn's pieces of the story of Marion's spirit, inspire the Sept to a fuming frenzy. Some of the Lost Prophets opt to skip out of the Revel, but Melissa accompanies the rest of the pack as they rage out of the Sept bounds.

Tillie, Will, Sinead and Melissa head east and find themselves punching on a bane in Richmond area. Sinead and Will become aware they are being watched. Oh its a possum up a tree. Oh two possums. Hey, six possums. Er. When they are clearly looking at the spirits, the possums move around a bit - the brushie comes forward and two ringtails stand behind and above it. The brushtail possum communicates to them - "something is happening. The one that drags souls around in chains. " The pack are a bit taken aback - they had Father Possum trying to help them find the Full Moon Killer. Will says "where" and weirdly all three spirits move as if they were one head, turning to face a direction (south). Further down the street, several other possums are looking at them.

The pack take off. The possum spirits do not follow them, but as the pack run, there is sort of a standing wave of spirits appearing in front of them in the direction they should go. Tillie mentally tells Finn and Kasumi, and Finn says craaap and sprints off to find Cossack who is talking with Emma and Nadine. Finn conveys the souls, chains things and he is going to go - Cossack is definitely pro. Finn sprints off, leaving Kasumi to be the base station for the Elders.

As the rest of the pack heads south, the moon starts to dim as the eclipse begins. ("purple dragon breath weapon") Will is suspicious of the timing - maybe the eclipse is damaging some sort of magical protection the Full Moon Killer has?

They cross the river and head up Punt Hill. Finn flies down through the CBD, gaining on them rapidly. As the garou run, the moon dims right down... and then starts to get brighter, but its a definite red glow. ("I see a red lune rising"). Will and friends reach down around Princes Hwy when the surfaces which are reflecting red start to get a bit shiny and glisteny. Finn confirms its happening a bit near him also. The pack sense - Will can detect a large amount of Wyld and Wyrm, and its pulsing. Wait, not pulsing, its ebbing and froing, surging high and low. As it surges away, the liquid that has been pooling on the surfaces of things starts to drip into the sky - its very clearly blood. The blood flows up with the ebb, but does not back with the flow.

Tillie senses for Wyrm - its a definite rage/anger/destruction sense of wyrm. Great. Sinead peeks - oh wow, there's a lot of cops and flashing lights around here. It looks like the police have blocked Dandenong Road and Chapel st all around the Astor. In the Umbra, the possums are clearly moving back from centre of police attention. Sinead looks that way in the realm and thinks that the cops have actually blocked off a street behind the Astor, so the pack head down that way. They can see heavily armed police vans blocking the street, and cops in armor going along and getting people out of houses and escorting them past the blockade.

In the Umbra, the pack head down the dead end street cautiously - Sinead says she can hear roaring and howling. Smash. Yeah, from that house, the one the lounge chairs just came through the window of. The houses appear in the Umbra, they look like they've been there for a while. The garou still able to perceive the Umbra hear a terrible scream from above - silhouetted against the red moon is a figure, descending from the sky. Oh, that's not good. The light from the moon is crimson.

The pack members at ground zero sneak closer in the Umbra, ignoring the blood and the falling figures to get a sense of what's going on inside the house. There's a crinos figure smashing it to pieces, but its pitch dark inside and hard to get an id on who they might be. Finn says that the figure falling from the sky is female, and also surrounded by a lot of the blood red lunes that are going crazy aroun the place. Sinead says this crinos is many awoogas, its definitely a black spiral dance. Will starts activating all his combat gifts.

The figure from the sky is large, and covered in blood. Finn, a bit further away, says its descending where they are. Figuring they need to deal with threat A before threat B arrives, Tillie leads the way through the gauntlet, within the house

Finn is running and running and running and counting and he becomes aware that the pack has not appeared quickly from the gauntlet. Oh no. He can see the bloody woman descend ahead of him, right where he was headed - her and her swarm of bloody attendant lunes go behind some of the weaver structures he knows are buildings in the Realm as he sprints hard and fast. ("We need to spend rage early so this spirit can't fill us with rage and make us explode")

When Tillie and the others appear in the house, its been super wrecked. The front wall has been torn out, there's a hole in the ceiling and various things are sparking. There's no sign of their crinos opponent, but by the trail of destruction ahead of them, its gone out into the street. They cautiously sneak out into the street and find that out in the street and a bit toward the cops is a 15' hermaphrodite homid figure. It is pulling branches off an oak tree and smashing stuff with them.

They have got to get this thing back out of sight. Will howls a "come on if you think you're hard enough" kind of noise while Sinead and Tillie hide to ambush it. Tillie orders Melissa into the house. The figure's head spins around and it comes charging very fast at Will as he falls back into the yard and house. Will can see that some of the features of the monster approaching - the male ones - are of the Dancer they know as the Full Moon Killer. But it also has features of a more feminine sort, sort of badly merged together.

The figure chases Will back to the edge of the house, and Tillie and Sinead fall in behind and attack. Sinead's claws dig in and start pulling flesh away - rather than just blood, red light wells up and starts to flow. Tillie finds the sword hits the skin and slides off - it leaves a sort of brassy mark behind but doesn't dig in. Sinead is backhanded for her trouble so hard that she is clouted out into the street and lands awkwardly. She attempts to channel her rage before slumping unconscious, but it doesn't come as easily as she wanted.

Will fangs it, and chunks of flesh come away, and blood starts to gush. Tillie sharpens her claws, and Melissa tries to not to frenzy from seeing Sinead badly hurt. Will bites again but gets punched hard in the head for his trouble. Tillie claws at the monster ineffectually. It screams and its wounds start to close up but Will takes steps to undo at least some of that. Melissa comes leaping out as Tillie strikes some more.

The monster grabs Will and attemps to drag him out of the house. Its obviously moving very fast.

More quick discussion before they have to deal with the body and make their escape - Is this the ritual the Full Moon Killer or the mages were trying to accomplish? Just making him a giant hermaphrodite? And then Hulk Smash? Who knows what might have happened if Father Possum hadn't tipped them off. Kasumi says they should give more thanks to that spirit. And what was possum going on about "he who steals the souls"? They might have to ask him at the same time as saying thanks.

Maybe the point of the ritual was to take on the blood warrior aspect and then go and fight.. something? Could it have been accidental? The wrong spirit got called? It could have just been spirit chiminage to kill people. Was it all a decoy? How to confirm or deny? well.. in a month, if the murders and fires stop...

Kasumi wonders if they could take his face - what's left of it - and try a missing person's search. What if they summoned a hearth or home and hearth spirit, could they find where this body lived? ("I don't want this to get all serial killery, but could we... keep a finger".) Will does a scent of the true form and gets some mixed messages - its a garou, but also its a spirit.

Sinead summons a hearth spirit, and it comes quickly. The spirit takes the form of a little well dressed foxy gnome gnome, vaguely russian-looking. "You've called me... to *this* place. This is not a home" Sinead says "we'd like to know where this guy lived?" The spirit makes a face and a noise of displeasure. "No. They did not have a home. There was nothing like that." Will asks for clarification and the spirit touches the body more and make more unhappy noises. " He slept lots of different places, but they were just places". ("I'm like an interior design guy and you've brought me here to touch up this mutilated corpse" "I gave up queer eye for this?" "This is the worst spinoff ever" "Queer Eye for the Dead Guy"). The spirit says Sinead was very respectful, and he will try and help. "Nothing like a home. Nothing safe and secure. Nowhere with a fire. Slept where he fell" The pack ask some followup questions and the spirit says he was a traveller. Once, he travelled far from home.

If this guy never slept in one place, maybe he wasn't part of the Hive. Maybe he was just crazy - but that does match the description of Dancers as far as they know. On the other hand, someone has to be doing this planning.

They need someone to talk to the dead. Maybe Angela, the 15yo kinfolk? nnno. ("Dont have good ideas. Good ideas suck. Now I have to explode all the corpses") ("That's just a mattress with underwear glued to it. With _glue_" "Tillie's like 'I thought that's how bedsheets worked. You just glue another sheet down when this one is messy' ")

Ok, they should probably wrap this up. Aquinas is going to destroy the body while Emma suggests they should come back and talk to the rest of the Elders. This they now do, after removing some teeth from the former Full Moon Killer.

They regroup in the centre of the caern with some of the Elders and brain dump again. Will wonders whether the transformation was still going - the Blood Warrior is wyld, but its not that sort of wyld to a huge degree, its more " NO GODS NO KINGS NO RECEIPES!"

How does what they've found out mesh with Will's theory that the Full Moon Killer is a creature of the mages, not a creature of the Dancers? The domevoi said that it had no home, unlike a potential Hive? So.. ok? But on the other hand, he at one point had the same swampy "hide your scent" kind of thing going on as the others have had. So there was some contact there? Maybe he was kicked out? Or left? Or was on secondment?

The attack on the caern had a lot of both mage and Dancer stuff, but no actual prescence of either to confirm which group was doing it. Both? Neither? Well, the strawman guy gave instructions on where to find Brenna, and the implication was that he knew where she'd be because the Dancers were going to be there too. "Your associates".

hmm, the timeline with the mages. There was stuff with the Phoebe's Veil, and the Full Moon Killer started about the same time. Then a bit later the Scryers and The Alternative from Hidden Green hit a bunch of mages mind controlling politicians. Then there was the Mage house in Westmeadows with the Cracking Stone and half the people in magical suspended animation and the rest murdered. And then the guys that turned up and attacked them right after the Garou took stuff from that house.

Are the mages just keeping track of werewolves for some reason? (Dangerous psychos). Could the mages have spoken to bunyip spirits? Imagine their impression of the garou if that was the case. The bunyip are in the deadlands, afterall.

Cossack says its clear something changed - maybe it was a confluence of events (possum, eclipse, etc). But why weren't there mages there tonight burning shit down? He's a bit concerned that they are missing something - this seems like a bit of an anti-climax. Ian says its a hell of an anticlimax where someone kills the moon. Tillie twitches slightly - she's heard that before but can't remember where. Were the mages in the attack, and exhausted themselves and that's why they're not following the Full Moon Killer?

Kasumi says "Wait - we're in a graveyard and they are death mages. Maybe they want the caern" Oh.. yeah... That's something no one else had really linked up, because to them the caern is not about death. Emma asks if they kill the caern, that makes a connecton to the deadworlds? Melissa is sitting through the conversation with her eyes pretty wide.

Will has a sudden thought - maybe killing the moon was the point? Did the Dancers want to trick the garou into killing the moon and pissing off Luna? The Elders seem a bit taken aback by this, and Cossack says that they should definitely propriate that - just to make sure no offence has been given. Tillie suddenly realises it was the crazy woman with the pillar and the weird eyes and the difficulties with time. She said that she had seen Tillie going to kill the moon. And other stuff. Lets close that potential weak spot tonight - Will should do a rite of contrition, and close off the potential for that to have been the end of a very, very long game.

Will does do the ritual, but its late and he's tired and he's still covered in the blood of the creature he killed, so its not the best presentation. He could spend some time working something up tomorrow, because its still an ahroun moon tomorrow.

Tuesday 10th January - Ahroun waning

The pack awaken their usual post moot way - screaming ("How many orifices am I bleeding from?") and jumping up ready to flee and or attack. Melissa is a little taken aback. ("Its been two years and we're still not wearing diapers on a ful moon, when will we learn") They explain - not in a way to scare her, no no no - that they have horrible dreams about a wyrm infested realm. Its a pack thing, ever since they formed. ("Is this your blood?" "It is now. Finders keepers") ("ITs a caern of wisdom, not a caern of bacon")

The pack contemplate their tasks for today - rite of contrition, talking to possum. Both of those things probably done best at night. They do some caern tasks and Tillie becomes aware that Melissa is very present and fairly expectnant, while explicitly not asking about things like pack membership. Kasumi points out that the dream they had might suggest they shouldn't leave her behind, but it might also indicate that they shouldn't leave her out. ("You can keep the satisfaction"). Conundrum. ("Realistically, her stats are probably terrible"). Will says they could set her a challenge - that is the garou way. Finn thinks yes. Kasumi thinks no. Will thinks no. Kasumi changes her mind to yes.

The conversation is going on mentally while the pack get on with their day. Tillie and Will are helping Ends-the-Quiet with a thing when a Moonbridge forms and two garou emerge from it. One of them is Carla Grimmson, the other is a young woman they do not know. Carla says that she is here to speak to Cossack and to the Lost Prophets, and she turns and looks at Will. Ends-the-Quiet asks them to take Carla to the north border, where they will find Cossack. ("Yay a playdate!")

Formal greetings are done - Carla they know, but the young woman is introduced as Amy Dickson, a rank 1 homid philodox of the Get of Fenris. Carla says that as per her agreement with the Lost Prophets last year where she agreed to supply some help to Sleeping Lore to find and fight the Dancers, Amy and her pack the Hellhounds are willing to temporarily join the sept until the Dancers are rooted out. Mentally, the Lost Prophets think that this might solve their Melissa problem.

Cossack is very pro - he thinks they will need all the help they can get. However, he can't guarantee how long it will take. Carla acknowledges that and says that Amy is aware of that and happy to wait. Will checks that Amy and her pack would be under the authority of the Sept and Carla says she imagines so, the Sept Elders are Elders until they are challenged and defeated. She would expect Amy to behave accordingly, but that would also come with the attendant privileges of a Sept member. Will is staring at Amy and realises there is more than a subtle family resemblence between the two of them and mentions this.

The compact is sealed! Amy will return with Carla and come back with the rest of her pack. Carla says that she will see the Lost Prophets next week - at the Jindabyne Council, presumably. In the brief lull before Amy returns, he says that he'd like the Lost Prophets to show the new pack around - the Sept can put this new pack up for a time in a house on Lygon St. It was empty before hand, but it was two or three doors up from where gunmen were shooting into the caern, so its property value and desirability has dropped sharply. Then show them the bawn edge, and word up Hidden Green - maybe introduce the Get to the Glasswalkers too.

The Moonbridge reopens and Amy and pack come through. They all appear to be 18 or younger, dressed in ripped jeans and flannels. The Hellhounds are Winston (R1 Get Theurge), Sean and Shu Leung (both R1 Get Ahroun) and Bandit (R1 Bonegnawer Metis). ("In my head he's the dad from Bluey") The Lost Prophets head over to Lygon St. While they are walking, Bandit goes in front of Sean who trips him up saing "metis to the back!" Tillie just stares. Will starts to lay on the Litany a bit thick - the Veil is important. And breaching it puts the caern in danger. Sean says they can't assume there's been a big fight and all the rules are off? No. No they cannot. Frankly Sean seems to run his mouth off a bit.

They hit the house - its a rundown terrace place, in not great nick. Sean and Winston run in yelling bags the master bedroom. The others walk through enthusiastically. Amy goes in the master bedroom, but the Lost Prophets don't hear what is said, and then Sean comes back out. There's a certain amount of negotiation amongst the young Get about who is going to sleep where. Kasumi gives them a heads up about shopping centres and bars and nightclubs - it sounds like they're not all above 18 tho. ("I like the idea that they're a bunch of rough and tumble Get of Fenris, but - they are stil from South Australia, so they're a bunch of wine snobs") Will idly encourages Melissa to challenge them if they give her shit.

Will takes Amy aside and suggests that this might be a good opportunity to show off her good leadership skills. They're in a completely different environment from usual, in the city, so keeping the pack under control would be a good demonstration of her skills. Because the city is not the same environment as a country sept - its complicated and a strategic cat and mouse game. The wyrm can hide amongst the people, and the garou can't because they need to defend the caern, so its important to keep the Veil extra hard. Amy says that they just had a whole load of people run through the caerns with guns. As to the other thing - when was Will pack leader again ? Will says he's never been pack leader, but he is an Adren. And he's sure Carla has given her this opportunity to prove herself. "Oh. Are you?". Will says it would be an easy thing to mess up, and look bad - but if you don't, it'll look good. He pauses and says "Are you related to Carla?" "Yeah, vaguely. Its not very relevant though. "

The Lost Prophets should check in with Hidden Green and make sure there's no issues there. But first they wanna get these guys a task to do so they don't wreck the joint. But first, they decide to give the Get a quick description of their caern layout and defenses in the guise of a rundown over the whole bettle. And this leads to some reciting of history, in terms of where enemies and materials came from.

Winston pipes up at one point and says "I did not hear anything abuot gargoyles or mages. I thought we were here to fight Dancers". The Lost Prophets give a bit more info, and Winston wants to know more about it. Lost Prophets are the SME on this whole topic, so they agree to fill the Hell Hounds in more later. Kasumi describes one of the fights and how the mage melted at the end. Sean asks if it was really a snowman but Kasumi gives him the blank look of someone pretending to not understand. Sean asks it slower and louder. The topic of the fae comes up, but whenever Finn says "fairies" Sean snorts.

So several hours is spent doing this. That ends with "and here's Ian" and "What the fuck do you want?". Tillie says they're going to Hidden Green and they're not taking the Hell Hounds, so give them a job to do. Ian moans "whyyy". "Life's hard. Bye". Such disrespect. ("What's wrong with your face?" "I got up one morning and this happened . Any followup questions?")

They ring ahead and Tanya is waiting downstairs when they arrive. They compare notes on Moot night and New Years. It turns out that Tanya and Tony also got attacked by homeless people on that night, but no one else from the Sept. They catch Tanya up on the Hell Hounds being in the city and how they'll fuck up eventually, but in theory they are here to attack Dancers. Tanya mentions that Cossack has been here trying to coordinate things. They give a run down of last night's hassles. There's some chat, and then Tanya gives up waiting for them to say something and asks about Melissa, who's been sitting patiently at the back. Tanya and Melissa are introduced. Tillie suggests maybe Melissa could spend a bit of time around the Hidden Green folks to get a breadth of education, especially amongst the Glass Walkers.

Night time comes around and Will prepares for another Rite of Contrition. By the time he has his stuff in order, a few more Sept people are there as well - Cossack and Emma, Aquinas and Sings-for-the-Spirit. It.. uh.. does not go well ("Sorry we killed you like a bitch"). There's something about Will's performing the ritual that is clearly not working even half way through, but he doesn't really think he can stop - that might cause more offence. ("I've had all day to work on this, I've clearly overthought it") Everyone else is just sort of staring. ("Once again, sorry for how bad this apology is"). When he finishes, there is an awkward silence. Its broken by Emma who starts her sentance 3 times and then gives up and says "just come over here". She drags him away for some remedial ritual education.

The others opt to not deal with Father Possum without Will, and instead mentally turn their attention to Melissa again. If they set her challenges and she can manage it - 3 tests maybe, getting 2/3 ? - then hurrah. Gamecraft? Sneakery? Staredown? Finding out how Amy is related to Carla? Not raging out? Fighting and not being embarassing? Fighting without breaking an egg? Tillie wants to wait til after they've seen the Jindabyne Council, which is not exactly a vote of confidence.

Tillie takes Melissa aside and say that she knows Melissa is waiting for an answer, and they are talking about, but there's a Council meeting on Monday and they might send the pack off somewhere - so, Tillie wants to wait so she can pay some attention. Here' some of the things holding them back - the gap in skills and experience, and how she might get hurt, and they don't want that. Two, they get drawn into this crazy bunyip/ council/ tranvestite things, and none of them have a long shelf life. Thirdly, this prophetic dream - Sinead has these dreams that come true, and one of them was about Melissa and they're not sure how to interpret it. They're worse than fairies.

Melissa says her questions have questions - starting with "Fairies?" Finn starts to explain about fae and how to deal with them, supported or damaged by interjections from the pack around interpretations of 'gifts'. "Prophetic?" They talk about the dreams Sinead has with the blood, and the dreams at Moots and so on. Melissa says there's a lot more backstory than she really knew - is it always as crazy as it is now? Well... let Finn tell you a tale. ( Green Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS6ksY8xWCY - Green Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM - fuck me ray bradbury))

While Finn tells stories, Tillie goes and checks on Hell Hounds. They appear to be doing stuff to their new house to make it a bit livable. She heads back to talk to Ian "how were they?" "What do you care, you dumped them and ran" "yep. So? " "They're annoying, like all rank 1s. Amy thinks she's smarter than she is. But she is a bit smart. I think there's multiple layers of things going on - the pack members have been picked on purpose. "

Maybe Melissa could rescue Gus? ("5 dots in 'goodest boy'") ("Enjoy your time at work" "Say 'hi' to your wife")

Wednesday 11th January - Ahroun waning

Emma finds Finn early in the morning and says "Three things. One, I need you and your pack to go to this address, and get a newspaper clipping. Two, you were specifically named. And three, I will not answer any further questions. Shoo. Leave Melissa. You, come here"

The pack spring into action. They address isn't far away, just in Collingwood off Johnston St, so off they shoot in the Umbra. Its only an itty bitty street, and the address that they have is one of a strip of shops. The one on Johnston St is occupied, but the other 4 are for lease or otherwise shut up. Kasumi peeks and tries to see what might be what. Number 4 does have newspaper stuck up all over the window, but the door also appears to be ajar. The shops appear in the Umbra, but they are a bit sketchy.

Kasumi can't smell much, but sense unnatural hints that there's something weird inside. Other pack members do the same in the Umbra - Tillie says there's nothing really wyrmy, but Will says there is something a bit Wyldy inside. Sort of. They head in.

The shop does look abandoned. There's no fittings and there is dust. They travel through the fairly shallow building to the rear, there's an increasing green smell - soil and water and plants. The same smell permeates the Umbra. When the garou exit the rear, they can see that there's a sort of covered space that fills what was probably used to be an access lane behind the shop, and someone's built a sort of ramshackle garden there. In the Umbra, the garden also exists - it is lush and verdant, with plant spirits filling much of the space. This is inexplicable amongst all the weavery stuff. Closer inspection suggests that they are looking a bit wilted.

Kasumi looks more closely through the gauntlet - the garden wasn't as ramshackle as she first thought, someone's trashed it - there's stuff on its side and plants pulled out, and hosing pulled down.

There's no one here, so the pack head back inside and step. They appear in the front room of the shop. Tillie senses wyrm and finds a faint trace, like the smell of smoke lingering in the air. Kasumi sniffs - she can smell people smells here, all muddled together. Finn looks at the newspapers in the window - they're all about two years old. He sticks his head out, and all the ones outside are yellowy and faded. There's a bag lady slowly struggling her trolley up the hill toward him, and given the last few weeks its understandable that Finn pulls his head in quick. As he does, he spots that the door has been forced, and recently.

Tillie looks behind a door in the short corridor leading from the front room to the back and is surprised to find a set of stairs heading up. They lead to a couple of rooms - the front one is packed full of shop furniture and dust, but the back ohe seems to have been used as a squat. Its been lightly trashed. She smells it and finds that there's been people here until recently - three people. And not washing enough. And not familiar.

Will heads out to the back to see if Audrey has eaten anyone, and is followed by Sinead.

At the front, the sound of the decrepit trolley stops outside the door and there's a push then a knock then some kicking on the door, but Finn is holding it shut. The others wonder if she has the clipping? or this is her house? Maybe... he should let her in. ("Password?!") Finn says "hello?" A voice outside says "hello?". Finn turns on his persuasion a bit. The little flap at the bottom of the door opens and the voice says 'hello?' Finn says "Sorry, the door jammed, give me a moment." and then just lets go. A slightly crinkled face peeks around the door and says "you're not Kev". "No, I just had to pick up a newspaper from him, but he's not here" "well, no, he won't be" "Why not?" "Cos the cops came. I was watching and the cops came. I think Kev put a boot in, cos they hauled him out hard."

Finn says some of his friends are here - she interrupts and says can he help her with her cart. He helps he lift the rusty shopping trolley full of backpacks and plastic bags into the shop. Its wheels are buggered, but despite its insane steering, its not supernatural, and neither is she. She starts trying to push it toward the corridor to the back garden.

Meanwhile, Will and Sinead find that it does seem to have been trashed. Jury rigged piping has been pulled down, tubs of earth have been tipped up and some plants pulled out. The immediate suspicion is marajuana, but Sinead says its not that sort of farm setup. You wouldn't be able to grow enough to make it worth while. There's one largish tub of carrots growing, but everything else seems ornamental maybe? There's lots of seedlings growing in random containers - glass jars, polystyrene boxes, piping held together with tape. Its nice and cool in here, despite the hot weather outside. There's still that Wyld+ sense. Its more straight forward in the Umbra than the realm.

Finn chats along with the old dear who says Kev never had much stuff, what was he going to give him? Oh a newspaper, did he want one, she's got one and could swap him. Finn says sure and asks her name - Mabel, apparently. And he's David. She hands him the Age from last week, complete with green guide. She asks him to help her out the back, in case there's stuff there she could grab. Finn warns her there's people out there and she says that's ok. Crash. Crash. Crash down the corridor. Oh its stuck on the door.

Upstairs, there's two male scents and one female. Two of the beds are kinda near ech other, and the other is across the room, though that might have been from being turned over. Tillie says they need to find this clipping - do they start searching drawers?

Mabel crashes the trolley down the corridor, warning Sinead and Will she was on her way. She drives it over the edge of the step and it makes an enormous crash. Tillie slips down the stairs and out to the front. Mabel notices Will and asks him if he's a friend of Kevs? Finn says no, this is is Will, I mean Bill. ("Smoooth"). She checks to make sure they're not here to give Kev trouble - no, they're here to get a newspaper. Oh, she's got a news paper. Er no thanks love. Will does a Scent of the True Form on Mabel and is baffled by how suspicously "noooo? who me?" the lack of anything unusual feels. Tillie asks if maybe she's been eating the food? Maybe. Finn asks Mabel if she lives here - no, not with Jackie and Kev. She starts poking about and muttering to herself, poking at stuff.

The houses next door don't seem to have the same over enthused gardens. Tillie and Kasumi start scanning the window newspapers. They all seem to be sheets from te same newspaper about two years old. The others find another newsppaer out the back, but its water damaged and all rolled up.

Mabel takes some random hosing and pulls some carrots. Finn says that maybe she should leave them for Kev and Jackie, but Mabel thinks the cops fucked it up so bad, she doesn't think they'll be back. Its all wrecked up - door's broken. Stuff broken.

Kasumi and Tillie try and get to the Umbra and make it eventually. They go to talk to the plant spirits, and find that they are sort of generically 'plants' rather than specific spirits of specific plants. They're not very big spirits either. Sinead comes into the Umbra to do the spirit awakening ritual so she can chat to them. Sinead finds that they were only barely asleep anyway, and she energises them pretty well. The bush spirit waves its branches in a general "I am pleased with you sense".

"What is this place?" "Good!" "Why is it good?" "Good Thing! [sad]Gone." "Where's it gone?" "[sad]Gone." "Water, sunlight?" "Good things. But Good Thing! [sad] gone." "Newspaper clipping?" [bafflement] ("DEAD PLANT! YOU MURDER US TO WRITE ON OUR FLESH! KILL THE WRITERS! DESTROY THE PRINTING PRESS!"). "When did it go?" "Now?" The pack sort of squint and think that maybe 'now' to a spirit isn't in the last hour or so, its in the most recent time. "[fading]". "How did the good thing go?" "Gone. Away". "What did it look like?" "Good... us?" "Another plant?" [confusion] [welter of impressions, sun, water, good earth, all mixed together as a thing]. ("Fix it you stupid oaf!") ("Does anyone of us know how to read entrails? Otherwise its just making a mess")

Alright, time to consult with their totem, this is going nowhere. They summon Boobook and spin their troubles in a way to align them with their totem's secret nature. "We've lost a guy and a thing". Could you shed any light on these things? Or alternatively just peck Emma in the face? Boobook says "You hunt. You are hunters. If a thing was here and it is gone, where has it gone?" He seems confused as to what they are asking. Or why. Will says that this is a weird Wyld thing, could he look at the nature of the thing that was here? Boobook agrees and they take him to the garden. "This place is dying. There was a spirit here" "What sort?" "I do not know what it was. Something new. It only recently has gone. .. hunt it. " The last was a directive. Finn starts casting around for a scent.

Will talks to Mabel, who's trying to get out. He wants to know if Kev and Jackie have anywhere else to go and stay. She doesn't really know, but the cops just came through yesterday, and they're putting everyone in cells, so they're probably still there. Who's gunna bail the out? And even when they do, there's people punching on just cos. Hmm. Maybe they should talk to Cossack, because it would be hard for the pack to walk into a cop shop now... I mean, except maybe Will? Hmm.

Anyway, they won't be able to bail out "kev" - they need more info about who these people are. Will checks out the top room to see if there's any ID or possessions to help them out. Not really. Hmm

Tillie talks to the awake plant spirit. THe good thing that was here, where did it go? Gone. Away [impossible]. She asks again to try and make sense of that last bit. Away[impossible]. ("its some sort of plant jesus spirit". "Plant jesus died on the trellis for your sins")

Hmm. Ok, can they track the gone. Sniffing around the garden, it smells really good, but is that the smell? Does the spirit even have a smell? Will finds a particularly verdant scent tone and casts around and finds that it also exists in a line away from the garden. Off the pack run in the Umbra (the realm folks leave too, giving Mabel a $20 as the go) The scent in the Umbra matches up with a faint trail of the wyld sense as well. The trail goes from greenery to greenery rather than in a straight line. Its sort of vaguely heading for the Yarra? Or at least going east.

Ahead they can see something pathetically pulling itself along in the Umbra. Its like a tree (sapling?), roots dragging along behind it like entrails. The leaves are going yellow. ("We'll stop there" "Nooo." "Well, you taked about ADHD for 30 minutes" "Yeah, who would have thought that I'd get distracted")

They stand in front of the creature, and it regards them - there's a weird flicker around it, like an aura of a human shape. Then it slowly starts to avoid them. Will uses his scent of true form gift and finds that its a spirit. There's nothing tricksy about its nature - its just a spirit, one of the Naturae. Will shrugs and picks it up and says "point where you want to go?". Kasumi contemplates that its trying to get to where its physical form is. Unless it just wants big water, to get a drink. If its made from the garden, could they take it back to just any garden?

That tickles a thought from Will, thinking of it as a spirit of a place not a plant. There are spirits like that, and they are tightly bound to their Place, which is unique. But this is from a garden.. a created place. Is there something special about the place ? Or the people?

Kasumi picks the spirit up and heads for the Yarra, but when they get there the pack looks at the river surface un the Umbra and just says "Ew no". They go across the weavery bridge and into the parkland. Rather than cleanse some Yarra water, Tillie makes water (hurr hurr) for the spirit. They watch - it stops dragging itself along. The water brightens it up a bit, but the leaves are still ywellowing - its mroe triage than a cure.

Will tries formal introductions again. He sees the flicker of a white foggy figure around the tree again. Staring at the spirit, the pack start to think about Glade Children - they're spirits of locations, but deepest, hearts of a forest. Places that you might find a unicorn, perhaps. What's it doing in Collingwood??

"What are you the spirit of?" *Nothing* "Is there a name we could talk to you with?" *Gone* "uh" *Nothing* *ruin*. "Is the place you were in today your birth place?" *Home* *Gone*. Its a more layered emotive response than they got from the plant spirits earlier. *Desolation* *Despair* "How could we rebuild the garden?" *impossible* *gone* *destroyed* "Could we find you a new garden?" *hunh?* The response is a baffled lack of understanding. The spirit can't understand the concept. It kind of casts some light on the different understanding of the world the spirit has.

Why is this spirit? What would it take to make this sort of spirit in a city garden? Ritual sacrifices? Constantly saying "secret garden"? Any of those would show up in some ways. "Were you worshipped?" *qualified assent* Just the building of the garden and its maintenance? If that's all it took though, there'd be glade children all over - lots of people love their gardens and spend time on them. Were the maintainees spiritual in some fashion? Maybe they need to switch to finding the squatters.

How would they deal with the jail? Slip in as 'homeless guy'? Get a kinfolk to bail out ... Kev. ? Hmm. Ok, maybe speak to Cossack first. And they're not keen to leave the plant here, so they excavate it from its little grave, or hole, and head. When the arrive at the caern, they can find Emma easily. Emma has a "oh yes?" expression on her face, but they give her a run down (this looks to be a glade child at the same address, kids in jail) and ask if they can leave the spirit here. Emma seems to consult an internal list and says that they can. In fact, she shows them a good place to leave the spirit, out of the way slightly. The pack give her the eye - is this some sort of chiminage or weird fae stuff?

They dig another small hole and plant the spirit and give it a thumbs up. They then ask around and do a quick questing stone and find Cossack napping under a tree in the heat in Royal Park. He notices them approaching and doesn't run off. They given him a rundown and he says that he could consult the hobo white pages, but that doesn't exist, so yeah, their plan to go and peek from the Umbra seems good. On the topic of homeless folks and jails though, more generically, he can help. If they were only arrested for trespass or being poor, they're probably being fined, or they have a small bail and a bail condition that is "don't go back there". Maybe. Usually to get them out of jail the cops want someone to act as a contact point with a fixed address. But right now its all a bit messy. It might only be $50 or $100 fine to be honest.

Ok. Getting to Collingwood Police station - the pack have Kasumi peek in the caern and then walk through across to Collingwood so they're not trying to peek through the thick gauntlet at the cop shop. In the Umbra its a mix of old brick buildings and shiny glassy metal shells. The rank 3 garou bluff their way through the authority spirits lurking around the site.

Kasumi attempts to pick up the three scents they know in a badly airconditioned room full of people who have been drinking heavily and possibly have worse sphincter control than she'd prefer, and just generally have limited access to hygeine. Its a rich cavalcade of smells. But eventually she finds three people, in a group, that match the smells from the squat - a guy about 20, a girl maybe 18 and another guy about 18 too. Hmm. Will tries to peek and struggles, but sniffs them - all three seem human, and nothing else, but he can barely see them. There's some concern they ight be kinfolk.

The girl is probably Jackie, so that's one name pinned down. They seem a bit resigned to their situation - there's no sense that they are waiting for someone to come and rescue them or even visit. Kasumi creepily sniffs their hands - they do smell of the garden, not just on the hands, but in their clothes as well. She tries to spot any tattoos or markings that seem strange. Kev has a crappy, blurry tattoo of a skull and crossbones, but that's all she can spot.

Kasumi hunts about and finds some paper with names scrawled on it - it looks like the cops are keeping some track of who is where on paper. She finds two Kevins but only one of them is in a cell with a Jaqueline. Ok, that gets them full names (Robinson and King). They don't know which of the other 5 male names are their friend tho. The pack decide to stop and wait and hope that one of them will say it - eventually Jackie says 'Tristan'. Unfortunately there's no Tristan's on the list and none of the names are obviously fake ("Squatty McArrestedface"). Maybe the cops wrote it down as "Chris"? There is a computer here, they could awaken it from here. Or bail out Kevin and Jackie, and ask them who to get next. Could they send in one of Hell Hounds? Is Marc back in town, they could get him to do a mission.

The pack decide to get Marc Kinfolkman on board to help out. ("He'll have tshirts tomorrow"). Maybe Kasumi could do it, he'd probably be keen on her ("Notice him, sempai!"). She begs off so Will steps up. ("its a beautiful night for a walk on the beach. Mind if I scrimshaw"). Will heads over to Marc's and knocks, triggering his persuasion gift when Marc opens the door. "HI WILL!". Marc is pretty keen to see him. Marc is glad to hear that they're all ok after the shenanigans on New Years. He's pretty keen to help. Will thinks to ask if Marc has a criminal record and Marc disembles a bit ("Jess, are you making noise for detroit") but when Will makes it clear that is good if he doesn't. Marc says that he got arrested a couple of times but he just got fined. Something about not a recordable offence? Will genuinely has no idea. Marc asks if he should make up an identity - he knows some guys that could get some fake ID? Will nods and says that'll be useful, lets not burn it on this. Will butters Marc up a bit on the gear he has, like the spy gear and the katana. Truth of Gaia suggests there is a core of truth to these stories, but Marc enhances the stories pretty quickly, selling how diverse his skillset is.

Marc remembers he has all these notes. He took a few notepads worth. Should he just cover the suspicious things, or - no, wait, he should report to Tillie, she set up the whole thing right? Will says to tell him - Marc runs off and comes back with a couple of spiral notebooks, rife with post it notes. None of the events are suspicious... I mean.. if you were following someone and they did this, maybe? There was a car that went back and forth on Saturday night past the house with different people in it each time and it was wobbly past and slow as if they were trying to look into the house. And it wasn't an uber can it was a messy ute.

Will runs Marc through the plan while Marc makes notes on yet another notebook. Will will drop him off nearby so that he's not on camera. Marc needs to go in and say he's here to bail out Kevin Robinson and Jaqueline King, and a third person who was arrested with them. Marc wants to know what they did - they were just sleeping rough. Actually.. just on that... Barry got killed? Will says that Barry died a hero, stopping one the bombs from doing lots of damage. Marc seems a bit thrown - all his puppyish excitment slumps out for a few minutes, but he's keen to hear Will is planning to personally sort it out.

Marc seems keen to get the story down pat. He's a friend of Mabel's, he's here to help. Mates of a mate. Will says he can't take the notes in, but maybe they can go over it in the car on the way there. Marc tentatively asks how much it'll be, but Will says that they'll pay for it - that makes him a bit less tentative. The drive from Essendon to Collingwood is spent getting Marc up to speed and ignoring the greek chorus in his head. The plan is originally for Marc to take them to maccas but in the end, give them $20 and say "kthxbye" is the plan. Will roleplays being a grumpy cop and gives Marc some practice.

So. Will stops near the copshop, but not so close as to be on camera. Kasumi has arrived, peeking, and is able to keep an eye on the whole potential diaaster. Marc goes in and its madness, people everywhere and a long queue. Its hot, people are short tempered. Marc is squinting into mirrors - the pack can't tell if he's checking his hair or trying to peek.

Despite all the delays, it goes mostly smoothly. Two of them haven't been arreted, just fined. One of them needs bail and a fine. Marc manages to cope with the change in plan ok and heads to the next line. Kasumi reads the paper he has - 3 counts of trespass, one count of kicking a policeman. The other person was Joshua Holland. The money is more than Will gave Marc, but Marc covers it. There's a condition tho - they agree they are not going to return to the site. Kev has a magistrate court date too.

After an hour, three sullen teenagers are brought out of the cells to Marc. They look confused. Marc says he's a friend of Mabel's. They stare at him. He stares at them. They ask to go, and Marc goes with them outside, where the staring and awkward conversation continue. Kev says that they don't have the money, do they need to pay Marc back? Or.. Mabel? Oh no, its cool. Ok. Thanks. Um. Someone else gave me the money. Oh. Who? Just some people who like helping people out. So you can't go back, right? All our stuff is there. But you can't, cos the bail money will go and it'll go bad at the magistrate's court. Yeah. It looks like Marc takes the whole thing more seriously than Ken, Jackie or Tristan/Josh.

Kasumi tells Will to ring Marc and get him out of the conversation. Will does and while Marc answers the phone as suspiciously as possible, Will tells Marc its time to go, his job is done. The kids wait til Marc is gone, shrug and walk off. Kasumi spies on them in the Umbra while Will keeps a street or two back in the Realm. She finally uses sense unnatural on them - they have a sense of the garden, but its a taint, not that they are a source of it.

The kids seem to be surreptiously making their way toward their squat while talking about how inexplicably weird that whole event was. Who was that guy? Who the hell is Mabel? Is it a euphamism, like friend of Dorothy? The pack is now really confused why they don't know Mabel. Is Mabel that woman in the pub who has the pug? Was Mabel a fairy? Did the weird sense Will get hide something more dangerous? Was she Cherie, is that why she kept eating carrots?

The kids are obviously worried someone is following them, looking around and taking a footpath that cars can't follow down. They take a while to get back to the shop, watching it from a distance before slipping in surreptiously.

All three of them look about pretty dejectedly, picking stuff up and seeing its busted and dropping it. Will checks that the kids know what they are talking about - Kasumi thinks so, they seem to know the science name for plants, and sometimes they use technical words for the equipment, but sometimes its "that t-piece bit". Its like they've picked it up, not gone and done a cert 4. They don't call "Joshua" that, he's always Tristan or Tris. Compared to before interacting with Marc, where Kev seemed to be in charge, Tristan seems to be the lead actor in this situation. Kev stops looking at the garden and starts heading up to collect their stuff. All three of them are pretty dejected at the whole prospect

The pack contemplate what is going with Mabel. She said she knew them, but the kids are baffled. Could they track her? Is it just Cherie in a Mabel suit? Or is it like Mandras, the Child of Gaia Elder again? ("we could play at a gazebo" "Maccas!" "I haven't eaten at Maccas bar the odd stray fry for 25 years" "Man, you can really tell you haven't been a preganant woman in the last five years")

As the pack watch, the kids spend their time looking dejected and sad or dejected and angry. They seem to have no plan or sense that they could fix this. It doesn't look too bad to the pack, but everything's fucked according to Tristan and Jackie. Eventually Kev finishes angrily shoving things into a bag or two and stomps down the stair.

The pack decide to talk to them before they leave. Finn and Sinead find a toilet and leap through the gauntlet. They trot back and Finn knocks at the door. The peeking pack members see Kev say "fuck" quietly to himself. Sinead calls "we're not cops!" . Jackie goes out from the garden to see who it is. Finn opens with "we're looking for Kev" "Who are you?" "Finn." ("argh dont use your real name") Finn says that he was given this address to pick up a newspaper or a newspaper clipping? Jackie glances up the stairs to Kev who looks baffled. Finn says "do youi know a mabel?" "Who the hell is Mabel??" Finn says that Mabel was who sent him, and he describes the bag lady from scene 1. Jackie replies that he's not the first person to tell them something about a Mabel today, but she really doesn't know anyone called that. She asks if he busted them out of jail. "Maybe" "Why??" "The newspaper thing, which is baffling me too" The peeking garou can say that Kev has picked up a chair leg and given it a swing, but he's still waiting up the stairs.

Finn tries to explain and starts talking about the garden. Jackie is down until she suddenly says "wait, you were poking through our stuff?" and its clear that she means the garden. "Mabel was here - " "WHO IS MABEL!" "- and she pulled up some carrots" ".. ok" Finn and Sinead can see Tristan looking at the from the garden end of things. Jackie says she doesn't know either of them, and she doesn't know Mabel. Why are they here? Newspaper clipping. What, why? Mabel. Sinead asks about the garden, just a vege garden? Jackie says its more than that.. well its was, but its fucked now. Was it a community garden? No! It was ours. Tristan pulls his head out again, but the peeking people can see him slump down in the backyard, obviously upset.

Jackie says they moved in here and they made a garden and it was coo, and the fucking cops, especially Carmichael, fucked it up, because they think Kev (and she points before realising Kev's hiding) has drugs. Kev comes down the stairs (with a chair leg hidden behind his back) and looks at them then looks at Jackie and shrugs. Jackie keeps saying they've been here for two months and everything was going well and now its wrecked. And they don't have the money to pay him back or anything weird he wants in return. Finn and Sinead broadcast 'totally not people trafficers' in their open and trustworthy stance. Finn says that they'll stop bothering them - I mean, if they were sticking around, he could help out with gettnig stuff. Did they all set it up on their own, or did they get someone in? The irrigation system was good. Jackie says that they read some stuff at the library, but Tristan did it. .. but she's not sure if they'll stay. Kev says they can't stay here, the cops put it on his bond as a condition that he wouldn't come back and they'll come check it in a couple of days. He says "we should _go_" to Jackie.

Sinead asks if this place was already a cool spot? No, it was just where they were crashing - all the shops were empty and no one hassled them. And then Tristan had the idea of making it into a garden out the back. It was just a whole bunch of crap, but they cleaned it up and traded some stuff for other stuff. Oh, it was just something to do? Yeah, at first.

Did Emma put the glade child here to fuck with them? A bonegnawer theurge might have made this in some fashion, but.. why would Emma just not straight up ask them. Actually, why would, in the current situation, the Sept's Ritual Master, send anyone off on a time wasting activity here. There's clearly something up here, but its not going to be trivial.

The spirit had the same dejected doomed despair that the kids have, which is a bit weird.

Did the kids pick something up when they were trading stuff that made the place magical? Tillie is in favour of burning the place to the ground and moving on. Finn asks them about food - not really, they had a bit growing (someone gave them carrot seeds) and some herbs that smelled good (not 'herbs').

... WAIT. Did you say two months?? Yeah they started in last October or something. There's no way these plants were all grown from seeds in that time - the whole place is way, way more lush and smelling of rich soil that takes time to build to. Jackie and Kev seem genuinely confused why that would be so - they take care of it. Watered, fertilised it and make sure it was doing well. They genuinely seem to think that's what happens. The garou ask where they got stuff. Er, cuttings, and people gave them some stuff and sometimes maybe shops have plants out the front and no one watching, and sometimes when people redo their garden there's old plants they don't want any more (andalsopilesofeasilyliberatedsoilandsuch). Ok, that explains some of the plants that are bigger than seedlings, but that still doesn't explain the massive change to the umbral environment.

Finn senses unnatural at them, staring intently. There's just the same sense as the garden in a fainter echo. The aura is diminishing but its still there. Its rubbing off on the kids.. actually, its rubbing off on them really quickly given they've only been here for an hour or so. (Amcor, symbol).

Kasumi thinks and says they can't ask Emma anything, but that doesn't stop them going to other garou and asking about glade children, right? No one in sleeping lore is obviously going to know lots about forest spirits, but maybe the Fianna or the Children of Gaia?

Anyway, we're gone. The garou turn and run, leaving the umbral ones to watch the kids baffledly talk about their day. ("its pronounced gyfe"). The pack opt to go drop in on Reconciliation and see if they can trawl for mystic knowledge. They drive to Healesville, park and pay the attendance fee and then mill about in the courtyard just inside. ("I only have two, there isn't a magical third boob!") After about 20 minutes, a woman approaches them and says "Hi... Tillie?" "yep" "lets go speak over here". They retreat to a private bit of the garden, and she introduces herself as Melissa Freedom, a rank 3 galliard of the Children of Gaia. She's in her 50s, with partly white hair and a definite hippy aesthetic. ("punched the trauma right out of my hair!")

Tillie reciprocates and Melissa asks what she can do for them. Tillie gives her a rundown - glade child (cool) in the city (what) in an abandoned shop (really?), and then some more detail. Melissa is super impressed about the whole thing and asks how they're planning to fix it all up? Lost Prophets give her the eye and she says oh, isn't that what they want to work out what to do? Well, they want to know more about Glade Children first. Ok, well, Melissa says she knows a bit - Rain-Falls-Up might know more, but he's a bit hard to find, so hopefully she can answer their questions. Lets go for a walk around the bird way.

So, Glade Children either form in the hearts of mystic forests, or the presence of a Glade Children causes a forest to take on a mythic quality. She thinks they start as tree spirits, but it absorbs stories and beliefs about the forest than humans have, and it becomes more peopley. They are often very helpful to Garou (or humans). They can be a bit delicate though - if you wreck up its mundane home, its spirit will suffer accordingly. But they seem to respond to the whole forest - they become a spirit of a place (the wood), and respond to damage badly. Melissa tells them a couple of stories - one around glade children and one that has a chapter about glade children. They're not complicated spirits.

So - tell her about their story, what's happening there. They try and give Melissa a run down, and she thinks that it all sounds cool, man. She agrees that when they describe the humanoid figure around the tree, that sounds like a Glade Child. Maybe its a baby one? Maybe its confused? Maybe its all mucked up because the garden got mucked up - see 'sensitive'.

She says the whole garden is the spirit. Should they take it back? Melissa thinks the spirit won't survive anywhere else, so that idea has merit just on that basis. Its an awesome spiritual site, they should be trying to preserve it. Tillie thinks that maybe they can rent it? And live there? Could be squishy, but maybe? Its probably really confused because you can't really 'fix' a forest when its wrecked, but they could fix a garden? ("We can just put dirt in boxes and it'll work?" "you're doomed")

So... why did it happen? Melissa says that if it was out in the country and they were kin with a family history of being good at growing things... it'd still be weird. The city and the speed make it beyond strange. Can there be glade children seeds? Melissa can't quite get her head around the idea of one forest making a single seed that is the glade child? Maybe a bunch of seeds and dirt from an old glade child? What's with the kids, are they particularly triumvaraite like? One wyrm, one wyld, one weaver? Maybe... ? Fixing the garden.. maybe it needs the kids for some reason, even if the garou can't work out what the connection is, and why the umbra responded to them. She thinks its that way around, not the Umbra changed them. ("Maybe something has given Travis the idea?" "His name is super not Travis." "Welcome back, Will") ("especially if you live a transient lifestyle" "Why would you put down... roots").

Melissa wants to come and see it, it sounds awesome. The Lost Prophets are cool with that. She thinks its cool. Like, worth their time, and really awesome. Tillie gives her Kasumi's phone number and says call any time.

On the way back from Healesville, Marc calls Will for the 4th time since the drop off. Marc is happy with how the whole thing went - he had to extemporise, but he has a good agile mind. So what's next? He could follow the other three around? No, don't do that. They're good for the moment, that was nice and thorough. ("I reread all the stuff with Marc, and it really reads like a hunter's backstory") Did you show Tillie the notebooks, what did she think? Oh, they're still on the job, but soon. Marc says he's free to help whenever they need. Will says he should lay low - this operation is basically done. But they know he's the go-to guy to help, and when they need anything, they'll let him know. Marc enthuses about how it went, but mentions the money a couple times and Will thinks that maybe its an issue - he says they'll reimburse him when they can. Marc says that that's cool - cos it was bond deposit, so when Kev goes to court, he'll get it back. Will says there's a chance that mightn't happen, and Marc is concerned that will reflect on him in some fashion. Will tries to reassure him.

The pack stop by Hammerbarn on the way home and buy a bunch of random garden things. There was a discussion on the way home about whether the garden was like it is because of the found-treasure nature of how the kids put it together, vs a weaver hole like Bunnings, but this needs to be balanced against "its bloody hot and the place needs help now". To be honest, a lot of the raw materials are still there (dirt, some plants), so In the end they get as much random carpentry stuff to help rebuild as gardening stuff. This ends up being a couple of hundred dollars, which is pushing the pack's ready cash down into the red. ("We'll just tell them we're in cult 'there's a lot of positive energy here'" "Can't I just say 'shut up and garden' ?") ("Are you suggesting you rob the cops?" "Its a victimless crime") ("Its not recommended that you leave your dna in a bank heist, or a police station or in a - " "bunny").

The pack chatter about how to get the kids to do what they want - they need to persuade them because the pack has no leverage on them. Kasumi wants to use spiritual influence - maybe some sort of spirit of enthusiasm? Can they pretend to be social workers and have some sort of funding for green spaces? How did they hear about the garden then? The conversation goes around a bit. Musical theatre? "Where are gunna find 3 kids good at gardening this time of night?" Could they make a brochure about funding that's a talen that makes them notice it? ("The Japanese chick has to a be a -fox-" "I mean you're all mongrels")

When the pack get back to the squat, there's squat to see. Dammit. A couple of questing stones later and they've located the kids in a soup kitchen in Northcote. After a bit more discussion and the basics of a plan, Will goes in. He brushes past one of the people running the place and goes and sits down next to the three kids. There is a weird tense vibe between them, but they all look at Will like he's a space alien while Will uses his powers against them (1 out of 3!).

"Hello, Kev. Tristan ... ... " Mentally the pack say ^JACKIE^ "Jackie" ^Why are you like this?^. Will ignores his pack and continues. He has a business proposition - he'd like to pay them to continue to maintain the garden at #4 Short street that they have been working on. The kids are confused. "Who _are_ you?" "Doesn't matter, I want you to fix it up" "I'm going to go with 'no'" "Why not?" "Because I don't know who you are, and I don't know why you'd want us to do that. So.. no?" ("did we bring money?" "No, you spent it all at Bunnings"). Will, having had the basics of a plan, ditches it in a fury of making stuff up on the fly. He says that he's the son of the guy that owns the building - his dad wants them kicked out, but he thinks it was really cool, and he only saw it after the cops had wrecked it. He doesn't think they should be kicked out, he'll smooth it over, chip some money in as a tax write off or something. The three kids are just staring at him. This doesn't happen in their world, obviously.

"So.. someone who owned it got us kicked out? We thought the cops had just cracked it with us, did the guy who owned it complain?" So, Will wants them to come back and rebuild it. Why? Because Will thought it was cool and his dad was being a dick kicking them out, and the cops were dicks for wrecking it up for no reason. What's to stop it all going wrong again - Kev speaks for all of them when he says they won't go near the place again if in 5 days its all going to go pear shaped again, either because the cops raided or Will's purported Dad says "I said no". Will says they'll be his guests, the cops can't kick them out. But if the owner says no, it doesn't matter cos its not Will's place. Tillie mentally says "lease agreements". Will continues to make shit up on the fly - he says that he can get them a lease for some pittance so that the cops can't kick them out. They've been unlet for ages, its not like they're getting anything for them now. Kev says they have zero cash - Will will pay them then. Won't it make it his garden though? Jackie loudly says "we won't grow drugs" and half the people in the place turn and look at them. Will reassures them that that's not what he's all about.

Tristan speaks for the first time - "its all fucked up though". Will says he was there earlier, its not as bad as all that - its roughed up, sure, but its recoverable. Tristan says they pulled plants up and threw them around, and smashed the tubing and let all the water out the sump.. thing... they'd made. Couldn't they start again? Not if its all going to shit again in a month. Will says they can rent the room at the top real cheap - they might be able to get a government grant or something cos of green spaces in the urban environment or something. Does that mean they have to let people in, like those gardens that are in the garden shows? ("none of this is true, so we're going to have to find some way to make it happen")

Kev's still confused - he doesn't understand how it would work. How would they stop the cops wrecking it up? Will says if they're not squatting, they can't just turf them out. How will that work with Kev's bail conditions? He's not allowed to go back there. Well, no one will complain this time, so there's no reason for the cops to come. Will says that his dad thought they were spray painting drugs or something, and just told the cops to get rid of them. Kev asks what the catch is? All this will cost money... Will says that it can be used as a tax thing probably. Doesn't that mean that as soon as its not useful as a tax thing, the whole lot will go up in smoke? Well... not if they have a multi year lease.

Kev says they need to talk about it for a bit. Sure.... Without you. Oh sure, right. Sorry, what's your name? .. Bill. 'Bill' writes down a phone number for them to call when they've talked about it. Will drops $10 down and says "for making calls". But if its all good for them, they should come meet him at the property tomorrow morning.

The pack consult. Now would be a time to whack them with spiritual mojo. Or Finn could raid the kids dreams. Kasumi runs back into the Umbra and peeks - the kids are deeply in discussion, and wiodnering if they are going to be sold into the sex trade or turned into drug mules. Or maybe they're being set up by the cops? Kev thinks its a good deal. Tristan thinks the garden is fucked. Jackie thinks its weird and it'll go wrong, but maybe they should do it. They talk around and around but after a time it seems as if Kev and Jackie are trying to talk Tristan into it. They are the last ones in the kitchen and are told to get out.

More talk about how to get Kasumi back un-wanted with the cops.

Right, the pack better get on faking everything being like Will just said. ("we have to find out who owns this property and have to ridgeway the shit out of them. " "That's funny to me, and eventually you'll find out why") . They... need to find out who owns it really. They know the real estate agent, so that's one place to start, but they also look online to try and figure it out that way. There's a title website that will tell them for the price of "one functioning credit card".

Maybe they could get a spirit to hide the place? I mean there was a glamour on Peter... maybe Finn could get a fae to do it. Spirits would be hard realy - they could make a talen and zap particular cops as they come in, but not as easy to make a general on-the-room sort of thing happen because it'd be hard to be targetted on cops rather than just everyone that comes in.

(I'm dying to hear your guys plans on how to implement these promises I've made). The pack find the address of the real estate agent (Anderson and Shu, not a franchise) and check them out from the Umbra. Kasumi is not going to be peeking and Finn has only a murky idea what's going on. He says that its an office and there's no one there - he thinks its a big open office, oh no wait, its glass panelling everywhere. Will pushes him aside and stares through the very simple to overcome gauntlet. Will reports that the office is really visible to anyone on the street, its very glassed all the way from front to back and there's a bit of foot traffic on the hot summer night. Will also identifies there's a security system and cameras on at least the front and back doors (from the inside).

Will says that there's a control panel right where the camera points, so while Kasumi can get there and use gifts to shut it all off, she'll be visible. Hmm. She can take control of the camera and then the control panel, but she is using a shitty burner phone instead of her lovely smart phone so there's a chance she'll not be able to use the buttons fast enough. She steps out quickly, and takes control of all 4 cameras... wait, Will you said there were two. Hmm. Off. And now the control panel, ("Is there a slenderman in our office").

Right, looking through. Kasumi goes into the office furthest from the big front windows. She starts ransacking through the well-organised computer system. There's folders for each property and she find a bunch of correspondance between the real estate agent and a solicitor (Atkins). (No, there's not been another Atkins). The agent is handling all five shops - looking through it looks like they only do commercial properties. About 6 months of back and forth. She looks for the owner's name and address through some of the documents - a number of people own it, ok, looking back through time, oh this says one person. J. R. McKay. Ohhhhh, he's dead. Ah, yeah, it looks like the kids own it now - there's 4 people listed, three of them have the same surname (McKay). There doesn't seem to be a high sense of urgency from the solicitor in getting the properties rented, though there's some dickering over agents fees when they can't shift the other four. ("Classic real estate agent correspondence - 'why are we paying you?'")

Well... maybe the pack can 'discover' some agreements between the owner and these 3 kids? They really need to find a lease at that point, so the kids can't get kicked out. So.. forging documents and hacking in emails. ("At this point, wouldn't it just be easier to lease the place?") Dream controls? ("The easiest thing to do would be to steal a couple years rent and get a kinfolk to rent it" "Our skill set is way more oriented around theft than convincing people") Previously when they've needed large amounts of cash, they've gone and asked a favour of Christine Elliot, but there are other options. ("We could cheat at gambling")

Ok... check out the solicitor first. Off they head, not too far away to a set of offices that have been built into an old small factory. In the Umbra its still one big open space, but the Realm its all been subdivided and made fancy. The solicitor is on the second floor. ("hey we could just get Marc to rent it" "It would look suss" "Why would the cops be checking that out, there's all these people robbing pokies") Will checks it out from the Umbra again - he can see there's cameras in the foyer and some of the corridors. To get Will up high enough to see on the top floor, two of the pack go to crinos and hold him up. ("This isn't our first human pyramid"). The solictor's office has an alarm system, but he can't see a camera - the alarm system has a key as part of turning it on or off though.

The others get ready to toss Kasumi... 1...2....3, heave! She steps sideways at the peak of her arc to step sideways, tucking and being ready to land. She lands on her feet and heads to the alarm system and gets out her phone to override it... wait, its off. Hunh. Ok, cool. Ok, right... snoopin'!

She sits down at the pc and finds that the computer is on - she just has to turn on the screen. After a brief complaint about information security, she looks through all the info she can find. It seems that James McKay did die about 6 months ago, leaving the property of 5 connected shops equally to his 4 children. There's correspondence between the kids and the solicitor and minutes of meetings with all of it. There seems to be a problem around agreeing what they want to do with the properties - sell it, lease it out or redevelop. So there's a holding pattern of trying to lease them - but it might be that no one wants to rent it because the owners can't offer certainty about a long term lease. It doesn't look like the ones that want to keep it could afford to buy the others out, which is weird if one of them wants to redevelop it. It doesn't seem particularly acrimonious - civil but they can't compromise, and its not costing money to keep it this way. ("What if we just kill everyone who doesn't want to rent it out?" "Taking the forgotten?" "On the property or the siblings?") ("Maybe we can summon judge judy")

("I like the idea that judge judy has become the canonical judge in human consciousness, to the point where judge spirits have taken on aspects of her. Like, you're confronted by judge judy who weighs your heart on a scale")

Kasumi suggests that the forge a lease document for the kids, and get a spirit of dispute bound to the 4 kids, so they will never, ever agree how to deal with the property. It might be a bit fragile without the legitimacy.

Maybe they could rent a few of the shops and Kasumi could crash there? If she wants to make it a real residence, it'd need to go to the council and mess about. There's a bit of upstairs space that she could just use, and there's a toilet, etc. Hmm.

While Kasumi is sitting in the comfortable solicitor's chair, her eye falls on a piece of paper on his desk with 'Victoria Police' on the top of it. Oh. She takes a look - its a police report about the property in question and how the police arrested 3 trespassers with some minor damage to the property in the process, and also they should secure their property properly. Kasumi decides to Taking the Forgotten and omnomnomn the piece of paper just in case.

Tillie suggests that they draft a reply to the police on the solicitors letterhead, informing that the site is now being rented to these three young people and they are no longer trespassers. Please don't bother them. Kasumi gets on that, and types it into the computer in as formal a language as she can manage, ending with "this matter is considered resolved", prints a couple of copies, and deletes the original. Then, at Tillie's suggestion she puts it in an envelope and puts it in the out-tray for his receptionist.

Tillie is pro questing stoning the owners of the property and trying to strong-arm them into handing it over. Will is contemplating stealing a lot of money and just renting it (Sept isn't against stealing, but is against obvious supernatural theft. The pack contemplate just moving around and winning pokie money at different venues using gifts). There's nothing stopping them looking for help in this - this plan involved is starting to stray outside their skuill set.

Ultimately they want the kids to be able to self support though - once they've got a firm address they can try for government support etc, assuming that there's nothing else about the that might impact that, like being underage or on the lamb.

Anyway. Tomorrow.

Thursday 12th January - Galliard waning

The next morning the pack head out to the site. Some of the pack start in the Umbra to avoid scaring the crap out of the kids, and to keep an eye out on the surrounding area. Kasumi puts on her scabbiest looking suit, and Will dresses normally and they wait out the front for the kids to show. They look through and make sure nothing else has happened since they were here last night.

The kids show up as its starting to get warm. Peekers from the Umbra spot them first, standing nearby and clearly a bit unsure about whether they should go in. Worded up, Will and Kasumi come out, spot them and wave. "'sup". Some awkward staring. "Bill" introduces "Kaz". ("I said 'Karen' not 'Kaz'! 'Kaz' sounds too much like my real name!"). 'Bill' shows them the letter from the lawyer. Kev is a bit confused, but seems a little impressed that its happened quickly. Will enhances this impression by leaning into his gifts - he entrances Kevin thoroughly, Tristan a little and Jackie a touch. Kevin is very enthused about Bill's plan and runs into the place, leaving Tristan and Jackie a bit confused. Bill explains that the letter has been sent to the cops and they will also be leaving the kids alone. He babbles a bit about lawyers on retainer and Kasumi gives him a side eye.

Kev says maybe it could be worth taking a look, and Tristan says may as well. They poke around and make semiencouraging noises about how maybe they could fix it. Jackie asks about Marc - does he work for them as well? Oh no, he's just a mate. Why did they send him? I was busy. He was vague and said something about.. Mary? He didn't really seem to know what's going on. Kaz says its hot. Bill says that he's a smoking buddy. Riiight.

With the wheelbarrow of Hammerbarn stuff, and the gift powers, the three kids start pushing things together a bit. ("Just use moon bridges for people smuggling"). ("That's so weird, watching Richard wander off into the swamp 'fuck you I'm out'"). Plants are moved back into soil, and Kev comes up and asks if they can organise water. Bill says "taps?". Kev looks at him and asks if they can now - previously they didn't want to use it in case someone saw the bills and came to look. They're both keen on that, its much easier than trapping rain water. Will frowns and mentally says their magic garden might have been partly the rain water and the effort they went to collect it. Tillie does not care. ("DISHONOR ON YOU" "I met Gaia in a bar, she'd be chill" "You met death-Gaia. The one that's come to terms with the fact that she's going to die" "We're all going to die one day" "Yeah... but she's the universe"). Kaz and Bill help carrying things around, without sticking their oar in to tell them how to do it, but Bill does suggest that they could go back to collecting rainwater to avoid "all that fluooride, chemicals and shit in the tap water".

Over the next few hours, working in the increasingly hot environment, the pack have a chance to observe the three teens. Kev is checking out Kaz a little, and bursts out at one point that Kaz is fucking ripped what the actual fuck but there's clearly a thing between him and Jackie as much as they're being surrepticious in front of these weirdos. What the actual fuck. Will also notices that Tristan is checking him out a little when doing some heavy lifting ("I just need you to hold this cold iron for a few moments") but isn't really watching Kasumi. ("I need to just cross more supernaturals off my bucket list" "here's an idea - try hmans" "Humans, the other white meat").

Meanwhile in the Umbra, people want to head back to the caern to grab the glade child spirit. Maybe they should do some prep - Tillie investigates around trying to find where the spirit was centred previously. ("I'll put it in the ground and wee on it"). She doesn't get a physical sense, but something more primal, where she thinks that there's a spiritual centre toward the back of the space. There's no hole there and no matching particular plant in the realm (though its a big garden bed), but there's no plant spirits here either. Tillie digs a hole with her hands, and can make water (no not like that) once its here, but she asks if anyone else has anything magical they could do. They could donate gnosis to the spirit like they would through normal chiminage. Maybe they could collect garden stuff like the kids did. Awakeneing and taking cuttings ? Cleansing? Could they modify prayer for the prey rite? ("You killed John Wick's frog!")

Kasumi and Sinead know that there are gifts and rituals to help plants grow, but they are rare. But it suggests that it would be possible to get other spirits to lend a hand here. Or maybe someone from Hidden Green, given their huge garden on the penthouse. Or Melissa Freedom, who was looking at coming down here? Althought Emma chased them away, there's no reason they can't ask anyone else for help - they've already talked to Cossack for instance. Why not all of them.

The Umbral folks consider their options ("16 successes. Woo, team Umbra") Through the day they hammer up a plan - they'll awaken some spirits around the place, take cuttings, modified Prayer for the Prey, cleanse the site, summon water using Tillie's gifts. ("I don't suppose there's a newspaper clipping there in the hole I dig?" "No but there is a printing press" "I print 'fuck you emma' on it")

Meanwhile in the realm the garou bring the enthusiasm The kids have been a bit non-committal during the morning, but the garou's enthusiasm through Kev's mind control has given them at least a start. They notice Tristan obviously make a choice to actually fix something more involved than brooming up rubble.

Jackie is the first one to raise practical considerations... "So, what's the next step. Isn't there a lot of paper work in renting? And a bond?" Kaz says if its a private rental, they can do what they want - they can make a contract yeah, but a bond is a place to protect against people wrecking the place. Hmmm. Plus once they have the rental agreement and all, they can see about talking to Centrelink for getting support and all. Give them a few days to sort it all out.

The garou decide to stay until it gets hot, er, until they think the kids are going ok, about lunchtime, and then say "we'll leave you guys to _your_ garden". They could go off and strew strife and discord amongst the actual owners so they never get around to decide what to do with it? Dream control? ("I'm inclined to threaten them into it" "That is your skill set")

The pack go back to the Sept and carefully pick up the spirit and carry it back to the spot Tillie identified as significant. They donate gnosis to the spirit, and Tillie symbolically waters it .. with her gift, not urine. The spirit doesn't immediately start crawling away. Being a plant spirit, or plant adjacent, its unlikely to react to anything quickly, so in the meantime, they go scope out the McKay family to try and get a sense of how to manipulate them.

Campbell McKay appears to be a hipster-esque fellow living in a joiny-up-house in Fitzroy. He has a fixie tied up on the front porch. He appears to live with a house mate, but just as a house mate. Doesn't appear to have any obvious wyrm taint. Consulting Kasumi and her memory of documents, Campbell just wanted to sell the shops.

Janice wants to develop the whole block. She lives in a Richmond appartment on her own, looks like she was a divorcee. She's not particular endearing compared to Campbell ("She's top of the murder list so far").

They drop back to the house from the Umbra - spirit still there, good. Kids still there, good, eating maccas. Still so hot.

Onward. Jean Mattson, married ,lives in Essendon, one kid. Wants to rent it out. Boring. Hugh, also wants to rent it, also married with kids, lives a bit further out to the north west. Still no wyrm or other taint.

Presumably no one has enough money to buy Campbell out. Janice doesn't appear to have the money to redevelop - she'd have to get extra investors. ("its good some of them have kids, for leverage" "Err" "Because they'll have more empathy - 'would you want your kids on the street'?" "Oh I just thought you mean kidnapping them"). So.. how do they arrange a long term lease for the kids. They need some resources ... money, I guess, is the easiest.

Could they get Hidden Green involved? Could Will's crafting space idea work here? Maybe they should speak to Christine first in either case, because she often talks to Hidden Green on behalf of Sleeping Lore. ("Surely tindr was invented by glass walkers wanting to hook up with kinfolk. " "That would be kindr." "Oh. Oh no." "Dammit, why do the germans ruin everything?")

Friday 13th January - Galliard waning

The next morning the pack pop off to visit Christine without calling ahead. They knock, but its a while before she opens the door, wearing a gown and looking like she just woke up. She doesn't smell good either. She looks at them and says "how much?" Tillie waffles a little, then says "are you ok?" "Not really." "Do... you want... to... talk?" "Not on my door step." Tillie offers to make coffee and Christine declines but says there's wine there. She disappears for a bit. Normally her house is open, aiiry, clean and tidy. It smells terrible and shows signs of having been shut up for weeks. Her fridge doesn't have much in it that isn't mushy.

Tillie puts the pack to work tidying up while she makes breakfast. Mentally they consult and figure that Christine is all fucked up over Georgina. She comes back after ten minutes and asks what they are doing. "Making breakfast" "Can't you just tell me what you want and then go?" "I could, but I'm not going to. I can be very annoying" "Fine, having a shower then"

She comes back and grabs the food offered and eats it hurriedly with fingers. When she finishes, she puts the plate down and says "What do you want?" (http://wondermark.com/601/). Tillie asks if she wants to talk. "There's not much to say. So no". "We didn't exactly come to ask you for money. It could have been for a ritual?" "You've got Sinead." "Yeah ok, it was just for money"

Tillie gives Christine a run down on the situation - glade child, shop, Fitzroy, kids, Mabel. Christine is basically as confused as they are. Emma sent them on this quest for a newspaper clipping, but is being otherwise unhelpful. Kids, cops, bail, spirit, back in the place. So, want to rent the space for the kids and the spirit, but maybe they could go bigger and rent all the shops for Will's maker space idea. Christine says she was worried they were talking about buying it, there's no chance she could do that. But renting might be viable. Christine, through her hangover, asks how much? They know how much the cafe is rented for, which is not much for the area - so they can give a range. She looks up the address and says no, she can't casually buy it.

Tillie says that they might not need a lot of money for a while - presumably the owners will rent the places out for a pittance at least for a bit, and so if they can get the kids settled and with some income, they might be self-sufficient. They're after financial advice as much as anything - because Tillie's grasp of finance isn't the best ("Did you know some coins have chocolate in them? No I have to bite all my coins"). Christine is doubtful its even going to take - the kids might flake out, the spirit might die.. its nuts that its there to begin with. She's seems very flat, which goes with the whole heavy drinking. So maybe start with a year?

The pack try and make helpful noises about wanting to help, but its a little awkward. Christine stares at them until they go.

When they leave Christine's its only 10am, but its already 32, tho its going to thunderstorm later - maybe its a good idea to push the kids on the water capture thing. They go and check on the Glade Child. ("Hey I can cook a variety of potato based dishes")

Its hard to be sure if the spirit or the kids are having an effect, but it is much nicer in the garden - its cooler and more earthy smelling, and a relief from hot concrete. The spirit hasn't wandered away, but its hard to be sure if its improving - tree spirits work to their own timelines. Sinead speaks to the spirit and it responds empathically. Its confused - its not certain of where it is, but its a good place. It can't be where it was, because that was destroyed. Apparently it still can't comprehend the nature of its home.

Kasumi peeks. Tristan is working away in the garden area, and getting things into order. Kev and Jackie are in the front room, and Kev says something about getting Bill to get the front door fixed. Jackie takes this chance to ask what the hell - Kev is normally the one who is all don't trust anyone, everyone wants something, and now he's dived in and just believing everything this guys says? Its a hissed conversation so that Tristan doesn't hear, based on the glances to the corridor leading that way. So far all that Bill has done is organise a single piece of paper. Kev points out that he got them out of jail. And then he turned up at the meal place... wait.. he does seem a bit oddball. Maybe he's a rich eccentric? Jackie says that what if it turns out in 2 weeks he wants them to grow pot, or he gets bored and wanders away. This stuff doesn't happen to people like us. ("I was expecting human traffic and drug runners, not philanthropy" "Maybe we should be meaner, just to match their expectations" "How many teacup pigs would it take to eat a whole body? Roughly Scott sized"). Maybe they could pretend to be religious weirdos - I mean, they _are_ in some ways. ("Naturalism" "Isn't that a catchall for nudists?" "That's naturalists" "I mean, that might work, we could be all 'how do you feel about not bothering with clothes'?") ("Just to derail it a bit more - " )

If they want to get the kids to collect water, they probably need some raw physical strength to get the water tanks etc into place. ("I reckon Emma had a dream aout a newspaper clipping, and we'll end up in the newspaper because of our work here". "Lets check urban dictionary"). Bill appears at the front door, oozing weird hippy, and using his gifts to entrance these pesky human children. He offers to fix the door before Kev or Jackie can ask. And they do put him to work while the rest of the pack lingers in the Umbra.

Half way through the afternoon there's a coo-ee from outside - its Melissa Freedom, who just wants to check out this sweet garden. They do check her out to make sure its her and not someone pretending to be someone from her Sept FOR INSTANCE. She's pretty chuffed by the place and absorbs the vibe. She asks if its safe to go in the Umbra, but doesn't want to disturb the kids. Melissa is a bit weirded out because its really a glade - she can feel it, like tension released, the moment she steps in. Tillie asks if its cool enough to fund it? Melissa laughs and says she doesn't have any money.

They run some of the details past her about what's going on - they can't really describe how sense unnatural is to her, but they give it their best metaphor try about their sense they got off Mabel. She agrees its weird that something could mess with their gift - you fight gifts with gifts, so maybe it was a spirit doing something? It was in the realm. Even when they try and describe what she smelled like, its hard to recall the detail exactly. They remember what she smelled like, or remember that she smelled as expected, but when it comes to detail, they're struggling a bit. Argh! Is this more fae nonsense?? It doesn't feel like it exactly.

Kasumi asks Melissa - on the basis she knows a bit mroe about Glade Children than them - are their other roles ? Like a Glade Mother? or protectors? Melissa says she's not aware of any, but if someone came and told her there were, it would make sense. Unicorn kind of fulfils that, she defends this sort of place, or gets Children of Gaia do. Maybe Mabel is part of that? Oh Melissa thought she meant the kids. Melissa says she could go and ask people - there's folks that might know more than she does. Could they try and call a spirit that fits that mold, of a protector?

The thing is that the spirit is a child of the Glade, like a loci spirit, as if the place comes first? Did the kids make the place, and if so how? Kasumi thinks they got inspired somehow. And the garden was ridiculously fecund, it grew really quickly and thoroughly. Did something trigger it? Something already here? What was three months ago? When did they put Brenna away? About three months ago. Was there a big stormy weather thing with a lot of fae energy around? Such as... Uktena being summoned into the Yarra in a storm? That would fit their reuqirements... but that was mostly off east. Maybe it was something about Brenna's presence because weird things happened all over the shop. Is Uktena made a news paper?

Will's phone goes bloop and its a message from Christine - she tersely - and possibly drunkenly, based on the bad spelling - says someone spoke to the agent, and it looks promising.

Bill helps with all the lifting in the heat. Their water system is mostly a cascade of giant tubs ("its a series of tubs"). It looks chaotic, but theoretically it should capture a fair amount of rain water off the roof - and if it leaks, it leaks intot he garden, so, you know. Bill contemplates doing more Uktenna-like things, on the theory that this was all caused by the totem's blood, but honestly the spirit is about waters and the mysteries within, so this isn't quite as related as you might think. They should get the Get of Pennington to come in anyway, given they were investigating the random splodges of blood that scattered all over the landscape - the counter point is that its a long way from where they were investigating. ( https://www.jstor.org/stable/27793600?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents https://junkee.com/longform/mace-melbourne-mystery)

Maybe the kids brought something Uktenna there with the clippings? Normally the energy would be hoovered up by other spirits, maybe it was in potentiality somewhere until triggered. Maybe it was a secret bashed out of Uktenna and told to Tristan somehow?

The pack try questing stone for Mabel, but to no avail. Maybe Uktenna was hiding in her shopping cart. Maybe Mabel's a mage encouraging the plants to tap Uktenna energy in the Umbra and then harvest them for doing ritual stuff?

Melissa Freedom asks what their long term plan is - set them up and leave them to it? They say that Christine is looking to help them with renting the place. She says that Reconciliation is good at this stuff, but its a bit of a trip for them - but happy to visit and maybe help. Maybe Robert Red-Dust-Plain at Hidden Green would be cool with offering assistent. Melissa says that maybe building a contact with them - this growing stuff skill might be something these kids could pass along. And maybe making it safe in the Umbra? She wasn't sure how much they want to keep it, uh, private? Or keep it low traffic. Frankly, she seems to be just checking that they're not going to go mine mine mine. Tillie asks if there's anything else they could do, and Melissa says they seem to have it in hand. This place seems cool, and they should keep it up. She thinks its going to storm like crazy, so she's going home before she gets soaked. See ya dudes.

The pack head back to the Sept to chat to some of Get of Pennington. They find Chris and Carmel - Chris asks if they're done. Not yet. Dammit. Kasumi asks if they can come sniff some dirt - is this a smell my finger thing? Kasumi explains that they are wondering if they've got a blood of Uktenna thing going on, and gives them a rundown. Tillie asks if they have a newspaper clipping - Carmel says she's got newspapers at her place and looks confused. Finn asks if she's got some shifts? Carmel says that the cops ahve been in repeatedly asking about sinead - how about they give it some time, rather than having other people of interest there.

The Lost Prophets give a more coherent run down of their thing. Chris says it sounds a bit unlikely - almost all the blood landed sort of near Balwyn, like over the river for the most part and it wasn't a huge radius. He's happy to come look while other members of his pack come and hang out at the caern. And it really only lasted a couple months and was all gone . They ask about other plant stuff - yeah, there were all these odd flowers, but that was more fae than Uktena, but they lingered. There was a tree with moving bark - it didn't writhe rapidly, but over days the patterns rolled around the tree. There was a spot where the gauntlet was 4. A couple places where people thought it was haunted because you could hear the Umbra.

So Chris comes and has a poke and a sniff and a peek, and shrugs. He says .. yeah, maybe? Aren't they the ones with the weird sense gifts tho? So.. the location's wrong. Everything else, sure, big tick, but here? Maybe the kids brought it here.

The pack poke 'Bill' to ask the kids - hey, there's a big storm coming, where were you when that megastorm hit a few months back? He uses his gifts to make them more chatty and asks them how they ended up here. He tries to butter them up a bit by saying that they'd made clever choices when they tell him things. He also uses his Truth of Gaia gift after being prompted. Tristan and Jackie are cagey to begin with, but Kev's pretty up front. Will thinks Kev has been out and about the longest, and he walks back from now to events - basically he took some of his step mum's ambien and sold it and got caught. And things had been a bit crap anyway, cos there wasn't ay room for him at home, because his dad had remarried and his new wife had kids too. Its been a year and a half. Jackie says didn't have a home. ehhh not entirely true. She might have stuttered in and out of fixed addresses. Tristan basically says he didn't get on with his parents. So fights? uh yeah. Not entirely true. He mentions that he was living over near Bal- er, a fancy suburb, and his parents are pretty conservative. Will's metaphoric ears go up. Bal-er, eh? He has maybe only been out of home for a few months. Hmm. HMMM. Will asks about Tristan's green thumb - is it a family thing? ("Did your suspiciously wolf like grandfather teach you?") What about any other weird moments?

The topic of why they started the garden comes up. Tristan says that he read about some people that took over a factory in New York and turned it into a big garden. He didn't know why, it just stuck with him really hard, a couple weeks after he moved out. The other two thought it was a bit silly, but stuff started to grow really fast, and so they got on board. He read about it on buzzfeed or something? No, it was in a newspaper. Oh. RIGHT. Oh which paper ("oh that's a weird question")? He's not 100% sure.. he kind of kept it because it was cool. Tristan pulls ut his wallet and takes out a clipping to show him. While the rest of the pack yell "punch him in the face and take it!" Will carefully asks if he can read it and Tristan hands it over a bit reluctantly. Will can see the date and the paper, as if its come off the top right corner of the page, so he relays it to the others. He senses but its not any more eerie than the place and the kids. ("Taking the forgotten it!"). Its not an indepth piece, its just a couple paragraphs about how they took over a factory and made it into a market garden kind of thing. He hands it back and suggests mentally Kasumi should go to the State Library now and get a copy of the clipping- maybe that'll be enough for Emma?

(Kasumi only) Kasumi finds the newspaper page easily enough and can get a copy of the page in question. Will encourages her to scan it and check for any mention of their pack or other werewolves. Nothing really unusual there - there's some mention of the oily rain in Preston. (Jacinta Ardern, sex in hospitals)

Kasumi rejoins the others, and they stuff their printout in the Bag of Shadows, and head to the caern in the Umbra. Emma isn't there, but they let her know they're waiting for her and she shows up quick. She listens to their story and says wait her a moment. ("I feel like she is going to hit me with a stick"). Emma starts doing a ritual, which does not go for very long. Kasumi thinks that she's picking it up part way through, and that its a Sacred Hunt ritual, which is weird. ("She's so mad she's summoning something to get us")

A formless spirit wands its way toward them and stops near Emma before assuming a form. Its Mabel, from Scene 2 (sans trolley). Emma thanks the spirit for coming and says as agreed, this pack has performed a hunt, and returned with the prey. They have discovered what they were sent to find - this token represents their goal. The spirit, which speaks spirit speech, not bag lady, agrees and says it will fulfil its part of the bargain. The spirit loses its Mabel form and gets brighter and brighter before exploding out - the pack find their gnosis pools refilled, and the caern itself clearly reacts to the burst of spiritual energy.

Kasumi is now 100% sure that the spirit was an Engling - a sacrificial spirit that is summoned to be hunted down and consumed to refill garou's gnosis, like has happened before they went to the Wyld Reachs, and as part of their challenge at the Jindabyne caern. However, they clearly did not eat Mabel, and so there's some information to be shared still. Emma thanks the spirit, even though it has dispersed and returns to Lost Prophets - she says they look as if they have a bunch of questions.

Will blurts out that they weren't even sure they had the right clipping while everyone else elbows him in the stomach. Emma says she wasn't 100% sure either - she wasn't really sure what the spirit was sending them to do. They compare notes. Emma says that the caern needed gnosis and the spirit was an urban engling, which are a little bit more complicated than the traditional ones. The spirit required them specifically, and insisted she told them nothing. Emma says that given the story about the Glade Children, and what she knows about these spirits, she thinks that the spirit wanted them to hunt hope. Hope for the glade child, hope for the kids, and maybe for Christine as well - she's aware of Christine's mental state. And even there, the kids could stand in for a lot of people in the city at the moment. The engling also spoke to their totem and got it involved. (which explains why Boobook maybe answered the way he did).

The pack is graciously given the rest of this night off before they have to come back to guard duty. (o/~ who wants to help me, fake my own blood o/~) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemocyanin) The pack spend the night running ideas for getting Kasumi back her life from the cops. Stealing her stuff? Changing her blood? To some random guy's blood? To raspberry cordial? To her mum's blood? Wait.. that has some legs. Symbolically her mum and her are very similar. They don't need to worry about her mum being in Australia or on file. HMM. ("This whole time, have the kinfolk been disposing of bodies by 'Mr Casettis ham'??")

So.. there's two tribes that really care about family, Children of Gaia and Fianna. And there are a couple of spirits that leap to mind if they don't want to touch ancestor spirits - but Duck is the most obvious. Ducks are heavily associated with families and bonds between them. ("yes, family's are important [to spiders] but not for the same reason, its because they are *delicious*"). In terms of chiminage, one of the pack members was talking about needing to call her mum a lot. ("I have to restore the bonds between Finn and his mum"). Maybe something like writing letters - there's a lot of symbolic strength in hand writing and also caligraphy in Japan. A sincere letter is a good thing ("how sincere?" "I am writing to you because a duck made me"), but maybe care packages? ( "Is my landlord expecting rent? Really???" "My experience with landlords is 'yes'." "Its a crime scene! I haven't been living in it for two weeks!" "Yep, 'Look at all the damage you caused!'" "I go to rahu." "crinos form?" "no, rahu." "Wrong game" "No, the Renters And Housing Union" *bwahahaha* )

Kasumi asks Sinead to summon Duck for her ("... k"), while she goes and finds a temporary duck tattoo. They summon the spirit for a few hours next to a body of water, and after a time a duck flies down and splashes along through the water before swimming over and waddling out, talking the whole time. "Oh hi you called me so I thought I would come and see because you were being very polite and this place seems nice that pond is very pleasant, obviously you take care of it, and I can see some other ponds nearby I like ponds more than rivers really but you didn't call me near a river so that doesnt matter why did you call me oo there's some interesting things over here this caern of yours seems nice but I think there's been a big fight here I don't like fighting very much you all seem a bit tall to fit in here but i'm going to look oh there's not as much space as i thought oops oh well i can fix those feathers up later you should probably not try and fit in too i'll come back out have you seen any other duck spirits here before maybe i've been here before it looks good from above i think i might go back in the pond a little bit do you want to come for a swim as well can you swim i am not sure that you could because you dont have feathers or proper feet unless theyre hidden under those things there blurblbutbblblurble its very clear down there you know." Eventually, after about 15 minutes or so of burbling, the spirit asks why they summoned it.

Kasumi asks if the duck could help her - someone is going to take some blood from this arm where there is a tiny visage of a duck. She would like duck to only allow the blood that leaves to be like her mother's blood. The spirit drops its beak and ruffles its feathers and ums and ahs and says that they can only take the bits of her that are like her mum, yes, um, yes, ok, yes it can do that. Kasumi is a bit unsure that's exactly what she wants, but its close enough. Duck asks what she will do, and Kasumi suggests she will make three care packages for her mother, and include hand written letters, letting her know what she's been doing, within the bounds of the Litany. Yes, that's good. You should see her. Kasumi says she can video call her and see her, but Duck thinks she should touch her, give her a hug. ("Just fly over, I do all the time"). Ok, in the next year and a day, Kasumi will go and visit her mother as well. Duck says she's a long way away, yes, do that, and send her things. Yes, yes, yes, and you should talk to her too. Fiiine. Yes. Sinead elbows Kasumi and mentally says "just stop". They bind the spirit to the picture on Kasumi's arm. She totally doesn't find her arm reaching for the phone and dialing her mum.

Saturday 14th January - Galliard waning

Kasumi heads to the police station and joins the queue in the busy public foyer. She eventually sees the desk sergeant and there's a bit of a hullabaloo as she proves who she is and why she's there. Eventually someone with the competancy to draw blood and Kasumi are put in the same room, and Kasumi activates the talen as the blood is drawn. ("cough cough excuse me I have duck flu" "Some kind of mallardy" "... get out")

Once that's done, Kasumi is shown out the door and the detective she spoke to last time is waiting outside the door (Troy Gallo, for what its worth). He asks her firmly to come with him and leads her to an interview room.

GALLO: Could you take all your cards out of your wallet please and just put them on the table?
KASUMI: Er, sure. [spills them out]
GALLO: [touches myki card and pulls it to one side]. This is your myki, registered to you?
K: Yes?
GALLO: You don't have any others?
K: Not currently
G: When we spoke last time, she said she took a tram from the resteraunt, and then another to the train station, and the train down to Frankston?
K: Yes.
G: Well, that first tram trip was on this card, but oddly the next two were not. Nor a trip back. And they've queried with all the taxi companies that serve the peninsula - none of them have any record of a fare from Frankston station to the street in Blairgowrie she stayed on. ("Just tell him you sex work'd your way on the tram ride" "do... do you mean taxi? Because there's a lot of open glass on the tram")
G: Do you have an explanation for that?
K: No... I used the myki, it musn't have worked.
G: So, it worked on the way back to her house, but not later on?
K: I don't know what to tell you, maybe the myki didn't tap on.
G: And there's mysteriously no record of either fare?
K: Maybe the drivers took the cash fare without recording it?
G: Sure, that could have happened. So, moving on to other topics - when does she remember last having her phone?
K: I'm not really sure.
G: Judging by your phone records, you're a pretty heavy user of your phone, I'm surprised you didn't notice it gone fairly sharply.
K: New years eve, its mostly a business thing. I was done with people.
G: Your phone had a busy night that night without you.
K: did it?
G: It was registering on a tower near your house right up til midnight, when it vanished off the network for a while. Then it reappeared on the network around South Yarra. Do you have an explanation for that?
K: No, I don't
G: Then it made a call to another number of interest.. and then was off the network again. Then it reappeared at Kangaroo Ground.
K: What's at Kangaroo Ground?
G: Why don't you tell us?
K: I don't know what it is
G: Its a suburb out past Lilydale. Can you explain why your phone called this number in South Yarra?
K: No?
G: Because that number was also associated with events on that night.
K: [artfully confused expression] I wasn't at South Yarra.
G: So you didn't have the phone and you dind't make calls with it.
K: No I would have been at the beachhouse with a book by then.
G: Interesting. [flicks through some paper]. Its interesting that it was back on and off the network over the next few days, then registered near your house, and then has vanished for good slightly before you came and talked to us the first time. So your phone was on, at your house, right up til midnight on New Years Eve. Then there were some events. Then it drops off the network, and has a jolly adventure on its own. Any thoughts?
K: No?
G: How did you get a taxi back from your bed and breakfast ?
K: There was a landline?
G: No, there's not.
K: Can I have a minute? Its hot, and I've been couchsurfing, and...
G: So, we've been investigating your housemate as well, and it turns out that the penultimate event she attended on new years eve also had gun men attack at midnight. So thats 2 locations, and possibly a 3rd that we can associate you with. If I keep digging, I'm fairly sure that I will eventually uncover something to incriminate you, and destroys your ability to maintain permanent residency in Australia.
K: Incriminate for what?
G: I don't know Ms Umina, have you called that number in South Yarra before, or has it called you?
K: I don't know, I call lots of numbers.
G: You call the number of a 17 year old girl very often, or is that not the sort of thing you'd remember?
K: What? What are you talking about? [while remembering that Melissa called her on New Years Eve]
G: So you'd like to maintain this facade of innocence?
K: What am I being accused of?
G: I think you are at least peripherally involved in these events, and that picking at your thread will lead me to find more and more information. And I can start to build a case from this admittedly circumstantial evidence - you'd be surprised what level of warrants we'd be able to get as part of this investigation, and what the simplest of queries can turn up. Everyone wants to know what happened so it doesn't happen again. We'll build up data on you and anyone you're associated with, and I am convinced that we will be eventually be able to charge you in connection with it.
K: Are you accusing me of organising -
G: Ms Umina, I'm not interested in games. What I have so far says your alibi is nonsense. Its not believable - it suggests you were not in Blairgowrie, but you were at your residence right up until the point where assailants shot up your house and then were mysteriously killed. So, would you like to make a different statement? Would you like to tell me more about the last time you saw your housemate? Or discuss anything else about your housemate?
K: New Years Eve?
G: Yes?
K: I don't know what to tel you. We weren't friends. We just lived together.
[long pause]
G: Have you seen her since?
K: No.
G: Or spoken to her?
K: No, I haven't G: You've had no contact with her since?
K: No.
("He's going to pull out a photo" "If he does, I'm going to power surge and then I'm going to eat him. No cameras. Just eating")
G: Have you replaced your mobile phone since you lost one?
K: Why does it matter?
G: Because if you've had no contact with your house mate, then I'd like to verify that by checking your phone log - given I've checked other things you've said and they don't ring true. So, give me the number?
K: [long pause] Why does it matter? I just came here to get my laptop so I can keep working.
G: I'm afraid that's impossible, material from your house is still subject of an investigation. You're a person of interest in this inquiry. ("But she wasn't involved in this shoot out" "Yes she was, she got shot and then she disembowled 3 guys in her driveway" "oh yeah, I forgot about that bit. But she didn't do any shooting?"). Kasumi contemplates some get out of jail options ("sex with Ion?") but nothing looks great.
G: Lets go over your statement from last time, shall we. [step by step confirmation of the things she said she did and pointing out discrepancies].
G: So this bed and breakfast, it looks like you paid for it after January 1?
K: It took a day or two to go through I guess.
G: But if we looked harder at it, asked your bank for details, it wouldn't be that you initiated the transaction on the 2nd, would it?
G: [further over statement, reiterating the discrepancies]
K: So, just to be clear - you're accusing me of doing something with my phone...
G: I think that you are more associated with the events than you are being honest about. I'm not charging you with a specific crime just now - I'm giving you the chance to set your statement right.
K: You think someone came to my house to shoot me up?
G: Was it to shoot *you* up, was it?
K: Is that what you're saying?
G: You said it. I mean, someone shot up your house, and you live there. That's the sort of event that usually has a reason, not a case of mistaken identity. So, someone that lives there was probably very tightly associated and the other is only periphereally associated with these events. Which one are you?
K: Associated with phone calls to south yarra and a 17 year old girl? I don't think I know anyone 17.
G: So who had your phone?
K: I don't know, I didn't have it.
G: Was your phone locked, with a passcode?
K: Probably?
G: Lucky that whoever found it figured it out quicky.
K: There's ways you can get around things?
G: Are there? Tell me about them.
K: You want me to google it? Go down to the iphone store, they'll crack it open, do shit with the battery and get around it.
G: On new years eve?
K: err. ("Maybe it was stolen by an apple technician"). We're going around in circles. You say I'm a person of interest and I can't collect my items?
G: No.
K: Which is why I came here today. I'm just going to go.
G: What an extreme protestation of innocence that is, refusing to help us with our enquiries.
K: I don't know what to say! You're asking me what I did with my phone when I didn't have it!
G: You are picking at inconsequentialities, you have an alibi full of holes and no confirming evidence other than a payment. You claim you no longer have your phone, when it was continually used and the last it was seen on the network, it was near you house. You have said you have no contact with your housemate since, you have a mobile phone that you wont give us the number to confirm that, and none of the telcos have records of you or your company being registered with any other phone. All of this points to you being deeply involved in events. Now, I could see a situation where perhaps your involvement was coincidental. Maybe your housemate was the one who was the target? After all, the party she was at was also attacked. Maybe she took your phone? because hers was compromised. She has no real identity, and what information we can find about her suggests a connection to narcotics dealing. She has associates that have been arrested for selling narcotics. There are many many reasons that the finger might be more easily and clearly pointed at your housemate. Could you help me with that?
K: Maybe you should be looking into her then?
G: Oh we are. Do you have any information that would help shift the focus of my investigation away from you and to this person that you said you met on the internet and aren't really friends with?
K: uh, she works on at a cafe? We didn't talk much. She paid rent, that's all i needed.
G: Have you had any further contact, especially around the topic of rent? something mundane?
K: No, I haven't even spoken to my landlord about rent. I assume I'm not paying until I can get in.
G: I believe your landlord will probably want to be paid. Of course, you can claim for recompense, because its been a crime scene. You'll have to apply for that through the desk sergeant.
K: Now?
G: I believe you'd need a receipt. I really don't know. Feel free to speak to the desk sergeant. Can I get an address for you at the moment?
K: No, you may not
G: We have no way to contact you, and no address?
K: I'm couch surfing, I don't know where I'll be tomorrow. I need my stuff to get my life back.
G: Well, then we're at an impasse. If you have any jogs of memory, please let me know. Anything you recollect. Otherwise I'll just have to continue my investigation without your assistence, with the leads I have.
K: Fine. I don't know what you think you'll find, but have fun with the pinboard with the lines.
G: [stands up and opens door]
K: [leaves]

("I don't have any memory affecting gifts" "yep, not a lot of mind control" "We've done it before with spirits, and we'll do it again" "Anyone remember how that panned out when we used it on the last policeman?" "yeah, it came undone and then he kidnapped Melissa and went crazy"). Kasumi contemplates using her gifts to cause some trouble ("I feel we spend too much time wondering if we can, and not enough time wondering if we should") but just leaves.

The pack mentally check over some options to get out of this. Bring him into the circle? ("We're a doomsday cult") Distract him with other information? Something to do with the Full Moon Killer? I mean, its not like the Lost Prophets showed up almost every single time a day later at the sites where the FMK was. Kasumi isn't that great a candidate, maybe they can mess up all the records about her phone and anything else using weaver spiders so the holes in her alibi go away? Honestly its looking more like putting him into the blender. A spirit of innocence to make him change his mind? All this evidence is circumstantial, etc. The Sept is messing with evidence, they'd need to be careful to not work at cross purposes, but maybe they could throw dead bodies or massive drug stashes at the cops?

In terms of evidence, the hobo guys that turned up to the parties had been sketchy individuals that had disasppeared over the last 5 months or so. They'd been natives of Melbourne for the most part that had been roped into the event. The guys in SUVs with radios and real guns and tactics, they have been harder to trace. Most of the bodies have been vanished, because they were often fomori and a bit messed up. The few they've been able to trace disappeared years ago, and there's a strong feeling that maybe they weren't locals.

Maybe they could link it to Jaeger? The media has certainly made that connection, but there's been no official word come out about direct links. Was it a preliminary hit? Did someone freak out and jump the gun? SPECULATION ABOUNDS. Could they point the cops at the guy shipping guns down to Melbourne? The copss that blackmailed him?

Could they just ridgeway the cop and threaten him? Could they wipe all the cop dbs for 7 years? Hope that in the WoD Gus will get given to a new friendly home and not just put down in short order?

They head to the Sept and find Chris and Cossack and explain what's going on and ask for advice on what to do. Carmel comes in half way through the conversation and listens in too. In terms of a solution... well, the major problem the sept is having is that in the last 5 years computer records have become a real thing, and its easy to cross reference them. Honestly, they've been a bit lax about addressing the problem, and the Sept probably needs to have some sort of.. policy I guess, about how garou should use mobile phones for a start. ("Stop taking photos of your junk! And that fomori corpse!") This whole big thing has really highlighted the difficulties and how its easy for mortal lives to obviously rub up against garou stuff.

In terms of practical solutions - they should probably throw either Sinead or Kasumi under the bus. Sinead protests, and Cossack says that she's the dodgiest - she has no real identity, she sells drugs for a living, and probably the only reason she hasn't been arrested or shot is that its hard to get a hold of her in a bureaucratic sense. I mean, in some ways, she's living the ideal that the Sept might need to embrace. The pack relies a bit on Kasumi and her mortal assets to make fighting the wyrm easier.

Previously Sept members that have ended up in trouble have just disappeared for a bit, or moved cities - up til 20 years ago being wanted in Victoria wasn't necessarily a problem in, say, Brisbane. Chris says that maybe they need to start making bland identities for people - functionally secret identities for their superhero life - that can't be connected to their werewolf things. As a Glasswalker, perhaps Kasumi could help?

In short - this is a hard problem and it might get worse.

So, they can put a fair bit of effort in covering up their mortal lives now, and hoping nothing else comes up that rips the cover back again. Or they could burn Kasumi's identity (a little problematic in terms of spirit chiminage as well as pack resources). Or burn Sinead's identity and throw all the shade on Sinead.

The Sept has been a bit lax, and some of the info from Peter's spying on them has highlighted some weaknesses in their behaviour that would link Sept members to each other. Casual social connections have always been a problem, but turning up with high quality photos or being able to cross reference credit card stuff with phone records and internet surfing.... is a problem. They might need to start relying on ragabash gift and powers to help obfuscate themselves.

So... what if the policeman had a terrible accident when Kasumi had a clear public alibi? Something that clearly couldn't be her fault? Kasumi suggests maybe they bring in him into the real world and explain what they are doing? with some protections obviously? Carmel looks at her with a horrified expression - no offence, but you are trying to make this better right? Because it sounds like some sketchily close to Litany breaches information passed to a cop and then linking crimes they don't think are related. Cossack says he wasn't going to be quite that direct, but he does have some doubts about their ability to maintain that kind of relationship that would make it safe for everyone.

Could some confidential informant tip Gallo off on other clues? Chris says they weren't providing cover for individual people or their packs even - it was about the caern and the Sept. They can't control the investigation inot 30 different people without having the possibility that they'd link all those people up. They've been casting evidence of multimillion dollar drug deals going wrong. Maybe they could deal with Ion ("who are your underperforming staff") and get him to help? Oh, they kind of are at this point.

Melissa wanders up during the conversation and listens in too. Kasumi makes enquiries about her current state of play and Melissa says she's been sleeping at Emma's house a few nights,

Cossack sums up - they could handle this themselves. They could try and erase the records, but doing so in a litany-friendly way is going to be hard. The cop could die, but someone else will probably pick it up and come at it - they might come to different conclusions, but there's no certainty. Cossack points out they are still needed at the caern too, and they're already being pulled away til Monday

In terms of effort required to make a new identity, it depends how solid the identity has to be. A couple of documents to fake someone out who can't check or cross reference is easy enough. But for a real identity that could get a job, its sometimes better to start with a birth certificate that's fraudulent but convincing and bootstrap from there. A birth certificate from another juristiction, and parents that moved around a lot or worked jobs that don't leave lots of records is good.

How would Kasumi 'die'? Opossum spirit playing dead? They could work that out, but there's a danger she'd be cremated or sent back to Japan. Plus that whole spirit chiminage she just took on. Can they use any death to then point the cops at evil wyrm corps? Or Ion, for laughs?

("does the risk/value matrix - am I really going to survive past 30?" "I mean, I wouldn't bother with superannuation if that's what you're asking" "yes, every 100 dollars I steal, I put 10 into superannuation") ("How unsafe is it to sleep in the Umbra?" "Fine" "By yourself" "Oh, less fine")

Melissa chimes in after a bit - "I guess I also need to sort me out?" Without any real mortal connections other than friends, and no pack to help her out (hint hint), she's probably best off disappearing. That's of course an objective thought, and not because Kasumi's phone is linked to her.

The pack contemplating doing a heist on a casino.

Could they solve their cop problem by making him look dodgy? Fill his cupboard with heroin or whatever. It would give them some time. Maybe Melissa could be found at Gallo's house in his shed or something. It would get her back to her life? But it does mean she'd have to lie to the cops about being mistreated for 2 weeks. Why not do it to Kasumi? I mean... she's been on camera in a police shop today, but still. They'll need a better idea of who Gallo is if they want to set him up, so Will does a questing stone ritual, and then they all head off to Deer Park.

The Lost Prophets cruise past first - Gallo has a commodore in the front drive, and there's a tricycle out the front, and Christmas decorations lingering at the front of the house. They find somewhere a few kilometers away to step and head back through the Umbra. Kasumi peeks and they find that while Gallow does have the requisite shed, he also appears to have a wife (Amanda) and a daughter (Chloe) around 4 years old. He's playing with the 4 year old out the back while his wife does hobby things inside. Oh. Maybe they can pin it on the wife? Just to be sure Kasumi senses unnatural - Gallo has a bit of wyrm, but not awoogas.

Kasumi keeps looking around ("There's a picture from his daughter 'stay safe catching bad guys, hero dad!'") and finds the folder that Gallo had at the interview this morning. Well, that might be intriging, but Amanda is there in the room. ("I would have trouble picking someone who would have a higher int + streetwise than a senior detective") Maybe she should come back once they are asleep and have a look-see.

There are other cops they could pin this on - Henke and Webber for instance? of the two, Henke's house was probably the most practical. Also less banes lingering. They'd have to get some spirit help to make Melissa look scruffy and maybe tortured? She's not actually sold on this plan, to be honest. Melissa wants to not hide from everyone, but afterward, everyone is going to expect her to be pretty shattered and it'll be weird. It won't be getting her life back, really. Kasumi apologises and says that she was one of the people advocating to stay connected to her life, and its gone badly. Melissa doesn't blame her for that - the Lost Prophets showed up and dealt with the guy who kidnapped her with extreme prejeudice, and generally have been supportive. She isn't sure what would have happened if they hadn't come - would it have gone the same ways it did for Georgina? Would the cops have turned up, found her fine, and everyone else murdered? And.. then? She was kind of adjusting to the idea of not being able to go back and thinking it might be ok.. if.. you know. On the other hand, she's spent some time with Amy and her pack and they're... well Melissa doesn't like them very much. Are other garou difficult like that? No. But yes. But no. No. Yes. Melissa says she was just pissy and narky.

In essence, she could be convinced, but doesn't see how its going to help Kasumi if its not this guy here. And it wouldn't give her her old life back, it'd be damaged.

Kasumi has a thought - maybe they could make it so they people that came and attacked the house were looking for the previous renters (or an imaginary renter before Kasumi and Sinead). They've only been there for a year, it could happen. Make Kasumi look more innocent too? Choose someone who could be mistaken for Sinead or Kasumi? They'd also need to explain why the hobos shot up the party that Sinead was at too. They'd have to weave it into the police evidence so far, and explain why Kasumi was shifty (or cover for it) ("These are the conversations we should be having via the chat between sessions"). So it would present someone to blame for it, that might cover why it was their house, and someone who looked like Sinead? It might become a bit complicated, but perhaps?

While hanging at the caern later that same bees, Kasumi spots flashing police lights (no sirens) at a house on Lygon street across from the caern. Oh. That'd be the house the Hell Hounds are at. She sighs and mentally tells the rest of the pack, who sigh and head over. They peek through the gauntlet and see that there are 3 police vehicles, two divvy vans and patrol car. It appears that members of Hell Hounds and some other randoms are being arrested while drunk as lords - the whole pack except Bandit, who is unconscious in a pile of rubbish at the rear of the property, are being loaded in. No one is being punched in the head or anything, they're just stumblingly drunk.

Tillie is pretty pissed, possibly sensitised to the whole police-are-trouble thing due to Kasumi's experience. She heads off to find Cossack and ask to send them home. Kasumi follows from the Umbra with Finn watching out. The Get and their erstwhile friends are taken to the North Melbourne cops - they're not booked, because they're just too drunk to be processed. The cops bringing them in are basically bringing them in for being too loud, being too loud again, and then refusing to follow instruction to shut the fuck up. They're dropped into the drunk tank. Some guy comes over to hassle these young kids, but Shu looks up and growls and the gentleman in question decides not to do that any more.

Tillie finds Cossack at Flagstaff gardens, sitting on top of the hill. She dobs on the Hell Hounds. Cossack doesn't panic - unless they're causing problems, he'd leave them there. He also suggests that Tillie watches she's not being played. Carla's not stupid, and he doesn't think Amy is stupid - Ian thinks she's smart, just not as smart as she thinks she is. He thinks that Amy isn't going to make Carla look stupid, but Tillie says she told them to keep their heads down. Cossack frowns and says he doesn't think that she's going to get that level of compliance without forcing the issue. He suggests that punching down won't work, but a social telling off from a higher rank Garou is probably going to annoy them. She could get Will to do it - a rank 3 philodox Get telling them off might have more impact. Tillie wants to do it - then keep it short and sweet? Cossack thinks and then says no that won't work - he was contemplating if they rescued the Hell Hounds that would embarassing. Call Carla? No, not over this, unless it turns bad.

Cossack says that she should treat them as adults - Tillie thinks they don't deserve it, but he points out that they have been recognised as rank 1, making them adult members of society. Make it an adult failing, because if the Lost Prophets make it about "oh you're just kids", then that will play into what Hell Hounds have been testing the boundaries a bit with - "oh look at us, stupid Get bumpkins".

Late in the evening, Kasumi goes into Graeme's old house to make some coffee, and gets a hearty shock from the light switch. Once she's finished jumping up and down and swearing, she quickly checks the switch, which looks fine. Oh. Wait. Chiminage. She owed an electrical elemental for her electroshock gift. Wait... wait... oh no. She promised to generate 40 hours of electricity herself. In a week. Which is nearly up. Oh noooo

Sunday 15th January - Philodox waning

In the morning, she goes to wake Sinead and Will up and explains. Sinead rolls her eyes and starts to summon Mr Sparky back while the others set up the power cable they used last time. In the meantime, Kasumi tries to think of something to renegotiate with.

When the spirit arrives, it comes with a crackling sound, a smell of ozone, and little sparks earthing out of the copper. It doesn't bode well. Kasumi apologises casually and says she is unable to meet the terms of the chiminage. She steps aside to allow Will to make a more formal apology. Will is extremely formally contrite, accepting all the burden of fault on behalf of Kasumi. The spirit calms and stops making the wires jump and the smell of lightning.

Kasumi says she would like to renegotiate. Instead of her original offering, ("what if you posed as someone who swaps out better globes, but you swapped in less efficient ones?") ("can I give the gift back?" "As long as you never need to use electricity again?") that before the Moot (3 weeks) she will generate 20 hours of electricity in large sessions, and make 3 devices that make electricity. The spirit wants the devices to continue to generate to work after the Moot for some time. Kasumi winces but on discussion it doesn't seem to mean that the spirit wants them working constantly (solar power, etc), just that she will maintain them so they can work. Also, it wants the power generated dedicated to itself, and no other spirit. After some checking, that means inscribing the spirit's name in glyphs on the devices in some fashion, and spirit awakening the device a bit. ("So next time you see it, the spirit will be bigger" "More of an asshole" "IATA - I did a deal with a spirit where i pledged 40 hours f my my time and I reneged" "Yes"). Eventually they reach an agreement, and the GM suuggests actually writing it on the character sheet.

Later that same bee, Will spots the Hell Hounds coming home, presumably having been released forom the drunk tank. He gives Tillie a heads up and the two of them stroll over there. They knock and someone swears in a pained fashion. Winston opens the door and Tillie says she's here to talk to Amy and comes in. Winston yells 'Amy, door!' and then grabs his head. In the 'lounge', Bandit is sitting and eating mcdonalds on the couch, looking like he's in less pain than Winston. Amy comes out of the bedroom and sees them - her reaction is very quick before she shuts down her body lanuage. There's a little annoyance and fear that flash before that.

Tillie takes a "We all know what you did" tack. She asked them to fly under the radar. The cops are a problem for Lost Prophets at the moment. They can't have them around the Sept. From the kitchen they hear Sean start to say "That sounds to me like - " and Amy jestures, cutting him off. Tillie says they need to know what names and addresses they gave. Amy says they have a mechanism for getting identity confirmed, a number they can give to call.

Tillie says she needs to know they are here to do the job. There's a bit of argy bargy about what the job is - Amy says its to attack the Hive when they find it, and Tillie says that they need them more on board than that. The Hell Hounds can't be making things worse. They need to be willing and able to see that the caern has rules for a reason, and they don't fuck one another. Sean's voice starts, and then there's an "OW". In short, when Tillie says not to do something because its dangerous for the caern, she wants them to listen. Amy agrees.

There's a brief discussion about whether they need anything here, but it seems like they do not. Will, who has been watching while ther others react, thinks Bandit is amused (not at them, but at the situation), and Winston is following Amy's lead. The other two aren't really visible.

Monday 16th January - Philodox waning

Finn and the pack work on which bits of story they are going to tell the Jindabyne council. They could just do the bunyip bits, or they could tell the whole thing - should be like a 12 hour 3 part extended mix which should be fun for everyone sitting on stone chairs.

Will wants to try and make a note of the things he found out about Charlotte, especially around the crocodile-related bunyip, the Lightning Man and other hallucinations, er, visions he saw when he was fighting Charlotte for his body. Oh and the brief vision he had when Charlotte took him over during the negotiations at the Lake Eyre caern. ("Finn 'Peter Jackson' McKenzie" "You should tell it in real time") ("Open your mouth.. ha ha ha") ("and when they least expect it... give it to them both barrells") Will considers everything her wants to say about Charlotte and her web ("irgendein Schwein") and thinks he has it straight in his head.

Early evening a moon bridge opens and the Ngalyod pack emerges. Formal greetings are gret and then the Lost Prophets travel back to Jindabyne with the Council's pack. The fun has not yet begun and so the pack are given (basic) hospitality while the Council gets it together.

After about an hour and a half the Council opens. All the Council members are here. Darius has the speaking stick and he asks immediately for the Lost Prophets to recount their stories of the lore of the bunyip that they have discovered in the last three months.

Finn takes point and recounts most thoroughly from the start of when Monash approached them about Alex and then a reminder of who Alex was and how SYDNEY might come up in this story a lot. ("and let me tell you about Abu Nawas"). He skims some bits that might edge into tribal lore, and details about their tasks for Mamu and Carla (mostly to avoid talking about Jana), but otheewise continues into the story of them entering the deadlands.

As he talks, it becomes clear that some members of the Council knew a lot, some knew some, and some knew none. Darius and Inanna look less and less impressed as they relate what the Watcher told them about his point of view around Sydney, and they are giving Tjinderi some fairly evil side eye. Tjinderi herself is keeping a neutral mask. Dom Mephisto is working to quietly calm Inanna, but there's a distinct smell of lightning around Darius. Even Fingal seems coherent enough to be following what is happening.

(The Watcher's Story)

The New Face of Gaia is presented in short - they briefly touch on Altair and their long flight through the wyld reaches, and then their travels in the Deep Umbra and the New Face of Gaia, before rounding the story out with "And it was the baby all along".

When they finish, there is a moment or two of quiet murmuring before Darius asks Tjinderi to reveal exactly what the Uktenna have been hiding about their involvement in the whole series of events. Tjinderi looks impassive but does take a few moments to reply before saying that it is tribal business and she will not be discussing it in public.

Darius does not take this well, before declaring he will challenge her over this if necessary. Tjinderi points out that she is a ragabash and he is an ahroun - what challenge would satisfy them both? Darius is clearly working up toward Frenzy, its clearly a struggle to not snap while he stands up and shouts. The other council members mostly seem concerned or at least not amused by how this is panning out.

Darius yells that unless she tells the Council what she knows, he will move that the Uktenna be expelled from the Council for working against it. This is obviously a bit of a red flag to the other Council members. Grek interrupts and suggests that a break is in order to let everyone consider what the Lost Prophets have told them. This is practically agreed to as Darius storms off with Inanna and followed by other a couple other members. Mother Pasta wanders off on her own looking unhappy. Some of the other tribal leaders mingle and talk in low tones. Wungala is talking to Monash, most of the others are in pairs or threes. Carla is sitting on her own and raises her eyebrows when she sees Will looking at her

After a time, Grek wanders to the pack. He says that as they probably have guessed, in the end the bone from Sydney was given to the Uktenna ; they failed to mention that the bound Bunyip within had been freed though. It follows from the Watchers' story backward that members of the tribe had had a hidden hand in at least some of the events in Sydney, which has aslo never been mentioned. Its certainly an interesting position that Tjinderi has put the Council in. ("or you threw it real hard and it was redshifted")

Grek says its unlikely that the Council will back Darius to remove the Uktenna over this, though some of the elders deeply support "tribal business" as a way of avoiding having the Council interfere in things they feel are not appropriate. So even the motion to do so will be contentious and perhaps damaging to what unity the Jindabyne Council provide. Grek says the other Council members would definitely like to know what has happened, but won't support setting precedent. Darius is not thinking clearly - not only is he keen to work to restore the bunyip tribe, but Cernonous was his close friend. Grek doesn't think it is going to end well, or at least not today. Kasumi asks if they should leave and Grek says that he believes the other council members will have questions for them - not just on the bunyip but on their whole quest and what sacred knowledge they discovered. ("Our sept may be attacked by a hive of black spiral dancers at any moment but by all means keep us as long as you like. I don't actually say that out loud")

Tillie points out they have more to say. Grek raises his eyebrows and they say there's still some stuff Will needs to say around the Bunyip. Grek goes to talk and then says to wait for a moment, he's just had a thought. The pack watch as he wanders over to Vlad and then Wungala Rose - it loooks like he's suggesting something to them and gauging their reaction. Whatever it is, they seem nominally positive. He comes back after a bit and says that he has a suggestion that might resolve this mess. Tillie mentally says "I don't care about the mess" but asks him to continue.

Grek says that the mention of Will and Bunyip gave him a thought. It could be argued that the Council has given them some level of charge to investigate the bunyip. And the bunyip themselves have shown some interest in interacting with them. And they, as a pack, were intimately involved in Cernonous' attempts to clone a bunyip, and the resulting disaster. Given that, they could potentially challenge Tjinderi themselves to reveal what she knows. A private challenge between themselves and Tjinderi would avoid the Council needing to push into the realm of 'tribal business' and any attempt to remove the Uktenna.

Tillie says that if she understands, the Council may implode over this, and instead of that, he wants her to challenge a sept elder and a council member directly. What would she gain from this? Grek looks a bit taken aback and says that he thought she would want to know what Tjinderi knows. Tillie replies that she is, but if she needs to know it, generally the Bunyip will tell them. Grek points out that this is more garou business than bunyip, but he also thought they would be in favour of stopping any major discord in the council. Tillie shrugs and says she's not that invested in the Council not imploding. Kasumi mentally says "We dont want a war". Grek blinks a few times. Tillie says she would expect the Council not to go to war over one argument. Grek thinks for a moment and says that he suspects that the outcome will be hours of arguing, and no real resolution - that Tjinderi will not budge and there will not be any way of forcing her to, at least this evening. It would set back some cooperative efforts that are in progress. Will mentally says he's down with a challenge. Tillie sighs and says yes she's interested in finding out what Tjinderi is hiding - she just is wary about putting her pack in harm's way in order to defend the Council, who are already using her and her pack for their own gain around the Bunyip.

Grek says that this is not a council suggestion - he's made a couple of inquiries to one or two of the others about whether they would support it, but this is an option he's suggesting. He does point out that if they challenge, and Tjinderi sets a challenge that they think is not appropriate, they can withdraw honourably. Grek says he'll leave them to think it over, but the Council will reconvene soon.

The Lost Prophets have a mental argument - Kasumi and Will want to go with it, Sinead and Tillie think the Council can fuck themselves sideways. Finn doesn't care about helping the Council, but he _Really_ wants to know what Tjinderi knows. Maybe they could leverage doing this into influnece with the Council? Finn thinks that the condition on them reporting in could be removed? Or maybe they could be given a bit more leeway? Though to be fair, tho they didn't win the challenge against the Ngalyod pack, something happened around there that meant that the original Council plan to put an observer in their pack was changed to just reporting in.

The Lost Prophets contemplate their options. Could they get Tjinderi to tell them and then fuck off, leaving the Council to sort their own shit out? Maybe. Can they actually manage to phrase the challenge so that its ok to pass the potentially tribal info onto the Council? Can they get the info from Tjinderi and then try to leverage it into something from the Council itself? Maybe, but it'd have to be *now*, they couldn't keep it for a rainy day, and they can't push too hard because there's nothing stopping Darius then challenging *them* for the info, because its not their tribal business. ("You can take the girl out of the Shadow Lords...") Maybe they could avoid the having to report in. Or maybe they could say the Council owes them a favour?

Will points out that they'd only have to tell the council things that are directly Sydney and bunyip related. If there's other tribal stuff that comes out, they dont have to pass it in. Tillie reiterates she doesn't really care if the council burns down, but its pointed out that Cossack is pretty pro, and has explained how it helps more than it hurts. Some discussion about things that could happen without the Council - maybe the Get would take over Sleeping Lore because they're pretty vunerable now, but then the Silver Fangs would probably take steps because they claim Melbourne as their territory and Hidden Green might have words. Its not hard to see how that might come about.

While discussing things they might get in return, Will floats the idea of getting some kind of Council-based legitimacy and authority to investigate bunyip stuff - basically a badge to show other garou when they are chasing bunyip stuff and someone gets all "mah territory!" Partly this is because he's been thinking about Charlotte's claims and beliefs and thinks that she's probably right - the Bunyip may well have been doing some sort of other ritual, maybe to shut up wyrm stuff, and the other garou wouldn't have recognised that while genociding them because bigots. All plausible.

How would they manage this? Refuse to let them know before the council agrees that they get badges, or should they post-reveal request this additional bit of responsibility? ("And its going be a badge, and be a paw print, but it'll have 9 toes cos its really fucking weird, and you're going to press it, and it'll.. it'll bark"). Will thinks if they ask for some authority to cross state lines to investigate bunyip things, the Council's response is going to be to set a challenge to see if they should be allowed, and it'll likely be hard. And the last challenge they did, they did not win. It might even be a long term thing that they don't have time for now ("Tjinderi could just say 'you owe me a favour, no challenge'" "I am not wasting this much time in the first session we've managed for 6 weeks on that scenario")

Tillie wants to make sure that when they challenge, its so Tjinderi will tell *them* the information, not a general public announcement. ("I want a badge, but not one that says 'i'm the council's bitch'" "Ah, problematic" "I've been a corporate slave before, I don't care, gimme") ("I guess i won't keep putting money into my super any more") (wrt phone diving: https://arsimagica.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/eccles/sg.pl?state=3&name=Phone_Diving vs https://arsimagica.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/eccles/sg.pl?state=3&name=Phone_Travel vs https://arsimagica.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/eccles/sg.pl?state=3&name=Signal_Rider )

The pack finally decide that yes challenge, and work out some phrasing to make sure that they're neither overreaching or missing out on some data.

It takes a while for the Council to get back together. Random members are mingling, but even they after a while are looking for Darius and Inanna. People take their seats and start to head toward a start. Before Darius can get going, Tillie and Will stes forward and says that the Lost Prophets challenge Tjinderi to tell them what she knows about the Watcher and everything that happened around Sydney (while Will talks in her head (but doesn't say anything about the size of her ass)).

Darius stares a bit of daggerness at Tillie. Carla gives Will a bit of an approving nod. Grek seizes the moment ("You can't handle the drink!" "Did .. you mean to say 'truth'" "Maybe") and says that that is an interesting proposal. On what basis would they challenge the Council member? ("LINE?") Will says that they played a central role in events in Sydney. They have met and spoken to the Watcher. Watcher has told them of the actions of an Uktenna individual who may have contributed to the events in Sydney, including the death of a member of the Council. A member of our sept was killed while assaulting the hive. Grek agrees that it is worth considering. Does any of the Council object? The pack give Darius the eye to see if he's going to lightning bolt them. He seems annoyed, but not about to say anything - in a moment of insight, the pack realise that Darius has pushed them as the connection to the Bunyip for his goals, leaving him painted into a corner a bit.

When none of the other members object, Grek turns to Tjinderi and asks if she accepts the challenge. She looks at Tillie without speaking for a few seconds, and then says she accepts. Grek says that in that case perhaps they should recess while Tjinderi and the master of the challenge at this sept determine an appropriate challenge. ("A broadway dance battle!"). The Ngalyod pack are asked to show the Lost Prophets back to the huts. On the way Alex gives them a look and says "was that your idea?" Tillie admits it was not, but its seemed to be the only path to get what she wants. Alex suggests it will be interesting. (what sort of music does everyone listen to).

After an hour, Grek knocks on the door along with a Garou introduced as Duke Anthony, a rank 4 silverfang philodox who is the master of the challenge at Jindayne. ("Go on, call him Your Grace, I dare you"). He says that Elder Tjinderi and he have consulted and they have decided the most appropriate challenge is a spirit challenge. They have 12 hours to summon and bind up to 6 spirits to aid them in the challenge. At dusk tomorrow night, in the Umbra, Tjinderi and a member of their pack will ascend a prepare pole. The challenge is to use their spirits to force their opponent off the pole without directly physically harming them. ("Would this count as the sort of situation where I can use my surfing speciality?" "Only if the pole is going back and forth, in which case you're already in trouble" "Only if you 'hang 10'")

Do they accept the terms of the challenge? Tillie indicates they do, but asks for a few more details - she confirms it will be a wooden pole and that their twelve hours does not start until tomorrow. Duke Anthony asks if they require anything else? Will says that they might need some chiminage things.

The pack start wracking their brains. Termites? Spirits to change the pole into something else? Kasumi suggests 4 big spirits rather than 6 littler ones. 12 hours summoning one Incarna? ("We summon Uktenna." "HA! THATS HOW IT FEELS") Abu Nawas? Earth spirits to suck the pole down? They need some protection against mind control. A spirit of gravity and blackhole her. ("Somebody go find out what Tjinderi is afraid of. Is it clowns ? because i'm not beyond summoning a clown spirit")

Ok, they need to stop the pole breaking. Stop Tillie being knocked off the pole. Stop Tillie from being mind controlled to jump off the pole. Something to attack Tjinderi's pole. Soemthing to knock Tjinderi off the pole. Something to defend their spirits.

Weaver spiders to help the pole? Deception spirits? Fear spirits? Some sort of spirit that other spirits would be scared of? Some sort of predator spirit of spirits. ("Its just humans") Monkeys or something sticky to keep them on their pole?

Kasumi thinks that Tjinderi thinks they are basic bitches, and will go for fire or termites and might change the nature of her pole. She'll almost certainly go for illusion or mind control the person. Will speculates about whether they can use their gifts to convince her to get off the pole - persuade her that its in her best interests to let Lost Prophets win, etc. Some more consideration suggests that the terms of the challenge don't prevent gifts, but do only allow for spirits to act directly against the other person. Maybe a spirit could do that for them though, persuade Tjinderi. ("You know who has a good resistence to mind control?" "Absolutely not.")

Maybe some sort of clarity of vision spirit? Falcons and things like that are known for good vision - they are Silver Fang spirits and the pack is at a SilverFang sept, it might be easier to summon them. Could they get some sort of Stone Giant to just smash the pole? yeah, that's fine, even if she gets injured. ("Uktena ragabash elder, probably not that easy to trick") Some kind of spirit to make her light and floaty, and then a storm or wind spirit to woosh her away. Maybe they could make her into a puddle? Just took a nexus crawler last time, what's the problem. ("who's the uktena in this relationship again?").

If they want to make fundamental changes to things, then maybe they should dabble with wyld spirits. ("Just turn the pole into a giant penis, what could go wrong" "if you want to stay on it, you're going to have to keep it erect" "how hard could it be? " "very"). Faerie? Could they summon faeries? No, but they can summon faerie-adjacent spirits who might be able to open the way to actual fae. Probably a bit dangerous to everyone. ("They just sent a batch of tiny donkeys at me". "Make it super tall so the air gets thin") ("Some kind of terrible inner ear spirit"). Maybe something that induces rage and she loses her shit? Oh wait, she might do that to whoever they pick. ("Maybe Will shouldn't be the one on top of the pole")

What about a bushfire spirit to explode her tree? That.. is probably a bit too much of an area effect. The Silver Fangs will probably be really mad if the pack set fire to the caern. A spirit of guilt, crippling guilt? Maybe they should go all out on one strategy? King Kong? His only weakness would be tiny aeroplanes. A rock? A roc? The Rock? Spirit of a mother bird to kick her out of the nest?

What could they summon to attack Tjinderi's spirits? Generic warrior?

They could just summon 6 wyld spirits and let them loose and hope for the best - its certainly unpredictable. ("Kill em all and let Gaia sort it out") ("we should turn the pole into a spiral slide")

The pack think about their options well into the night. They really need some passive defense, some counter-measures and some attack spirits. Ideally some spirits could act in multiple roles. After some time, they come up with a rough menu - a weaver spirit to reinforce their pole, and possibly repair it if its starts to get damaged. A falcon or related raptor to give them clear sight to avoid getting fooled by anything tricksy Tjinderi summons. An earth elemental to help give them some sort of "Hero's stand" gift-like effect, and then to try and unroot Tjinderi's pole. Maybe a fire spirit or storm spirit to attack other spirits that Tjinderi summons or a Wind spirit to blow her off the pole. And a spirit of alcohol to help make her sleepy and inebriated. Or maybe resummon the Sandman to put Tjinderi to sleep - it was super effective against Melissa when they found her.

Technically that's only 5 spirits to help them but the pack consider that they might be better off concentrating on 5 powerful spirits rather than 6 slightly too weak spirits. Some consideration is given to chiminage - they could hunt small creatures for falcon. Just summon and bind the weaver spirit. Offer a shared meal to the earth elemental where they leave it some food and eat some rocks. Doing a big booze up, or everyone in the Moot to have a drink for the party hound? Last time the Sandman wanted Finn to learn a dream gift from another spirit, which he did, but it was perhaps very specific that that spirit wanted that.

They've got a bit of a lead on Tjinderi hopefully in being able to have multiple people summon and then none of them have to be the person on the platform. Given the Uktena stereotype of powerful spirit shamans, they might need it.

Tuesday 17th January - Philodox waning

Figuring they really need to make sure the elemental is on their side, they start by sinking 4 hours into summoning that first. Chiminage? Should they bury Will alive? Eat a bunch of rocks? Clay relief of the earth elementals battles? Bathe in clay? Whenever they play rock paper scissors they'll always choose rock? Finn recalls some stories - near cities not good, crushed up rocks and concrete. They fight fire elementals. They make gems and make good earth for plants. Could they smother a fire at a Moot? Put out big fires? Climbing something? A big mountain trek? Freeclimbing? ("if we have to go outside i guess we will")

Sinead launches into summoning with Will assisting. She spends four hours and does a near perfect job. Not very far away there is exposed rock - the rocks starts to shift, raising up and turning a face toward them. The granite itself cracks, fragments and dust fall, and the shattered pieces become limbs. It speaks with a gravelly (ha ha) voice. Yes. We ask for your help. Yes. Sinead explains what they need. "You fight? Why?" Its eyes glow red when it says fight. Yes as a challenge. "Why?". Knowledge makes us strong. "Yes". We need your help to topple the pole. "Yes". Will you assist? "Yes". The pack asks if the spirit can help root Kasumi to the pole, channelling earth to her. (Hero's Stand gift). The spirit asks what they offer for this? Sinead says they will climb a high mountain and walk the peaks where the stone meets the sky, and speak its name. It says that as they walk, they cleanse, rid it of infections and imperfections. Despite a brief concern from the pack, it means to get rid of the wyrm, and human trash, not the trees and dirt off the rock. The garou and the spirit agree. Sinead does a short binding, locking the spirit to Kasumi.

Ok, next step. The weaver spider. They want to call upon a spirit a bit more significant than a pattern spider - something that can fight a bit, but mostly something they can give a couple of directions to ("I summon a sysadmin"). Sinead and Will do another excellent summoning. They can sense something coming, but right up til the point where it erupts out of the gauntlet they cannot see the spirit. The spider than manifest is large, both at the shoulder and in terms of the area it takes up. It is shiny and sharp-edged - it appears a bit more martial than the usual pattern spider.

Figuring that it will be better to just bind the spirit rather than try and negotiate, the pack launch into the ritual. The spider seems displeased by this sudden change in tone and fights the ritual. Despite Sinead, Kasumi and Will's best efforts, the spirit frays the spiritual bonds that have been cast and starts to pull away. Sinead stops the rite for a second and uses her spirit snare gift to help slow the spirit down while the other pack members continue to cast the ritual.

The spirit continues to fight the bonds of the binding ritual. Tillie rushes the spirit all teeth and claws as if she was going to attack, to try and draw aggro from the theurges. The spirit scuttles backwards, but keeps trying to pull off the mystic chains cast by the ritualists. Will keeps at the ritual. Finn joins in Tillie's fun, running past and snapping and howling at the spirit to distract it. Kasumi keeps the ritual up, and Sinead joins back in. Tillie changes to Finn's tactic, and the two of them run in close and then away, as the spirit spins about and tries to track them. ("She's bad-witch'd herself... house fell on her") The spirit stops fighting the ritual and lashes out at Tillie. Kasumi reseeds her random number generator. Will finally spiritually wrestles the spirit to the ground, and the pack can stop panicking. They take a breath and look around and see the Silver Fang onlookers giving them serious side-eye. Sinead completes the binding ritual itself and locks the spirit to Kasumi.

Its been 8 hours, so they have 4 left to summon some spirits. Will starts summoning Eagle to give them clear sight, while Sinead the party girl summons the drinking spirit. ("I think dog nipples are alright"). ("I wanna hear lots of swearing. And see lots of violence. And some tits") ("You will yell racist obscenities" "You'll invade France for no reason" "Paris will be the jewel of your empire") ("You're summong a wedge tailed eagle. A dreamtime spirit? Bold move")

Will spends two hours summoning an eagle jaggling. The spirit sweeps down from the sky. Will greets the spirit ("my pack, sleeping lore" "That's not our name" ) and explains why he has summoned the spirit and what they would ask the spirit to do. He offers to hunt three times in the next three months in the name of eagle. Eagle asks him to hunt once per moon to the middle of spring, leaving the prey caught out for his children. Any member of the pack? Yes. The spirit says they must hunt where his children are, and leave them for the children to eat. ("Collins St peregrines, check"). They reach an agreement.

Sinead decides to concentrate on a spirit with an aspect of solid, fast drinking, and really focussed on whiskey as the drink of a person wanting to get very drunk quickly. (Maybe its because she was looking at Finn) When she completes the ritual its getting toward the end of the day, and there is a rising mist and a strong smell of peat. The spirit takes a human form.. mostly. Its just that when it moves, its a little liquidy - it doesn't move quite right. When it gets close enough she can see that its eyes are whiskey coloured, and they move liquidly behind. "What do you want?" She wants its assistance in a challenge. She would like the spirit to inebriate someone - she explains the challenge to the spirit. The mist smells strongly of peat.. and sea water. The spirit seems to be closer and then be further away without actually moving. She offers that during each full moon for a season she will drink in your honour, and share a drink with the earth in honor of departed friends. The spirit counters with come the winter, once a month, find two people that she does not know who are getting married, and publically toast them with whiskey (which they must also drink) (at the reception). Sinead counters with once in winter, but three times in a year - the spirit agrees but only if she does not use her healing gift for a week either side of midwinter. Sinead delays by asking how they should refer to the spirit - it considers and then says they can call it a name that sounds like "Wise Geek". She considers and then agrees. The spirit submits to be bound to Kasumi.

There's an hour or two left, and they've only got 4 spirits. The pack contemplate quickly summoning a couple more. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Dung_Beetle_Project)

Will decides to spend his last two hours summoning a swarm of flies to distract her. ("You go on your morning jog and just drop a squat"). The spirit shows, but the buzzing is aggressive and a smell of carrion prevails without. Will says that he needs their help distracting a rival in a competition. "And what will you feed us?" Will offers that once a month until the spring he will hunt a small animal, and leave a portion for flies, trying to double dip his chiminage. "We care not for moons. Feed uz now! Each day! Feed my children! They hunger now!" Will has a bit of insight that the spirit does not comprehend winter, its too far away. Will adjusts his offer to the end of the week? "Every day until the heat goes, provide my children food!" Will counters that every meal until the heat goes, he will set apart some of his food to share with the flies. The spirit agrees with some disatisfied buzzing. Will performs the binding and does a superb job

Sinead spends her last hours summoning a spirit to just straight up attack other spirits. ("You want a third thing to leave meat out for?" "A koala??" "no! The goanna!") ("We could do something as a pack to offer as chiminage" "hahahhahahhahaahahhaa" "Oh no, GM laughing") ("I have other ancestor spirits. You could end up with that guy from the atrocity realm who was basically Will with a handle bar moustache and a rifle") ("If you summon a bonegnawer ancestor spirit, you might get some bare knuckle carnival fighter" "you will now") She decides to summon wolf and does ok on the roll. A wolf spirit arrives, not quite stalking out of the underbrush. Its a large, black wolf, prominent teeth. It stares at her.

("I was impwisoned for cwimes") ("This is how Tyr lost his hand"") Sinead greets the spirit and asks for its assistence. It asks for details, and she explains. It asks what they will do for it? She says that her pack will form a den together for the first time. It says acceptable but she specifically ignores her wolf nature. She must spend the next week as a wolf. She squints and suggests that she fights the next three battles in lupus form. The spirit counters with you and one of your packmates. Sinead suggests yes but before the end of autumn. The spirit says five fights, one for each packmember. Sinead tries for four, but it won't budge, s she agrees. ("What are you going to do with all this pizza" "She lays eggs in it"). The binding is conducted.

Lost Prophets finish up as the silver fangs declare time. The pack is sent to wait for a bit, but within 30 minutes their escorts come to take them to the challenge location. Kasumi feels weird, she has 6 largish spirit bound to her and its a little tingly. ("This is the most I've ever had ever" "Title of your sex tape") Duke Anthony runs through the challenge rules and the pack are a bit surprised by "only the spirits and the challengers can interact" - it hadn't been mentioned.

The two challengers ascend their respective poles. Kasumi tries to get a sense of what spirits Tjinderi has summoned - there's a cold sense and snow(?). Something a bit electric and unsettled. Tjinderi sits on the little platform at the top of the pole while Kasumi wonders whether she should belly flop on it. There's a little valley in the 20 metres between the two poles, and all the observers are 40+ metres back. Duke Anthony flags that they should begin.

Kasumi commands the pattern spider to strengthen the pole and it appears and moves up the pole, weaving more weaver energy into the pole itself. The spectators tut a bit at the blatant glasswalkerism. Tjinderi has an ice elemental appear and freezes the ground around the her pole, and up it. Kasumi commands "wise geek" to affect Tjinderi. Mists rise around the pole and Tjinderi wobbles slightly. Above Kasumi, winds start to swirl around. Kasumi commands the earth elemental to root her to the pole and a sense of earth races up her pole and infuses her. The wind builds above Kasumi. Small spiders erupt out of Tjinderi's clothes and swarm all over her, webbing her to the platform. Kasumi commands the earth elemental moves over to the ground beneath Tjinderi and starts trying to move the earth away, but struggles with the frozen soil.

Something out of the corner of Kasumi's eye starts to flicker and writhe. She starts to hallucinate stuff right out of her worst nightmares - her parents at Fukiyama, mutating and becoming fomori, floating zombie children and the worst things. While she struggles to throw that off, she commands Eagle to clear her sight, which does help lesson the intensity of some of the images.

The ice elemental starts filling the hole that the earth elemental is making with hard ice. The winds above Kasumi are clearly a small tornado - leaves flying around, dust and all being pulled into swirling clouds. The elemental's gift to hold her to the pole has certainly come in handy. Kasumi summons the wolf and sends it to savage the ice elemental. Its hard to tell if the whiskey spirit is having a strong effect on Tjinderi because its hard to see her under the web. ("This says aggravated wands")

A familiar looking spirit, a serpent with a cat head erupts down the pole and attacks Kasumi's wolf. Once again, Uktenna ruins everything. Kasumi summons the fly swarm to bother Tjinderi or distract the spider spirits. The earth elemental continues to try and make a hole while the ice elemental is distracted. Kasumi sends the guardian spirit to attack the ice elemental as well.

Kasumi commands the pattern spider to attack the ice elemental too, in the theory she could wear it down and Tjinderi's pole will be undefended.

A whirly-wirly descends from the storm and hits Kasumi - she's got dust in her eyes, and crap flying about and really the only thing keeping her on the platform is the hero's stand the earth elemental provided. ("A spicy pink packing peanut"). Kasumi tries to regrasp the platform and does well ("That poles going right up the rectum"). The wolf spirit savages at the ice elemental and tears away much of its essence and it shatters into a thousand fragments of ice.

Wise Geek continues its assault on Tjinderi's sobriety. The elemental continues to move soil away from Tjinderi's pole, but its hampered a bit by the amount of ice plugging the area around it. The pattern spider awaits further instruction.

Uktena runs across to Kasumi's pole and climbs the pole, hypnotically staring into Kasumi's eyes. She cannot fight both the storm and Uktena's efforts, and so she starts to get knocked about by the storm. Kasumi commands the pattern spider to defend her from the storm. It scuttles over and climbs the pole. Wise Geek steals some essence from the storm. Earth elemental continues to shift dirt from around the pole.

Uktenna continues to try and command Kasumi to get up and jump down, chewing through the effect that Eagle has provided. The nightmare spirit is also making life hard for Kasumi, flashing horrible images and giving her emotional damage. The storm spirit is starting to shift Kasumi to the edge of the platform.

Kasumi commands the earth elemental to go around the other side of the pole and start pushing it over. The spirit does and starts shoving hard against the pole from the other side. It starts to tilt about half way over, though it is half supported by the ice plug around the pole. Tjinderi is thrown hard against the spider web but it doesn't give way. Wise Geek continues to keep her 'disoriented'. Pattern spider continues to attack the storm, draining essence from it. The storm looks less cohesive, but it keeps hammering at Kasumi.

Kasumi holds on with all her might, hoping that the earth elemental will finish knocking Tjinderi over before she runs out of mental strength. The elemental wrenches the pole out of the ground and the only thing stopping Tjinderi from hitting the ground is the pivot from the ice elemental.

The spider continues to fray away at the storm spirit. Uktena gives up on trying to shake Kasumi's resolve, and flows backwaard away from Kasumi and attacks the earth elemental. The storm tries to move Kasumi but she stays where she is.

Kasumi commands the wolf spirit to savage Uktena which it does with great gusto. Wise Geek takes advantage of Tjinderi's distraction to really sway her. ("She's like a tiny drunk. What are you doing - 'i'm crawling around on the floor, looking at photos and crying'") The earth elemental tips the pole up and Tjinderi ... technically is still on the pole, but is touching the ground.

Duke Anthony calls the challenge at that point, calling out to stop and glances briefly at .. a group of garou that include Darius. He walks to Tjinderi and talks to her briefly and quietly, then stands, formally acknowledges that Tjinderi has lost the challenge and the Lost Prophets have won. They are told to curb their spirits - the command is the last thing the pattern spider will put up with and it leaves into the gauntlet quickly. The storms starts to break up and the other spirits ease off their effects.

Tjinderi is freed from the webs. She does not dispute the challenge results. The Lost Prophets are told to head back to their cabin to catch their breath and give Tjinderi a chance to do the same. Some of the Council look pleased, others are indifferent. Darius seems relatively pleased. The pack are led back, and any immediate needs are met.

Twenty minutes later there is a knock on the door - although the pack were expecting the Ngalyod pack to summon them back, it is actually Tjinderi.

("Cop a squat, have a cup of tea" "Is that not 'take a shit'?" "No, its just sit!" "Surrre" " 'sit down at the campfire' " "And take a shit?") ("Its not jam, its a sauce" "Its a conserve" "That's lumpy, see a doctor") ("gg") Without too much preamble other than some brief pleasantries, Tjinderi launches into her side of things. The Uktena knew about Lost Prophets, and regarded them with some concern. They also knew about Cernonous' work, but had disregarded it. When they found out that the Last Prophets were working with Cernonous, that changed the situation. It was still under consideration by the Elders as to what to do when a single Elder acted. They took a bunyip fetish and freed the spirit within, and then bound it to the bone fragment that Cernonous had in his lab. The Uktena do not know what his exact motivation was, but its unlikely he was trying to be helpful.

Regardless, the bunyip spirit manifested, and killed Cernonous and destroyed his lab. By the time the Uktena tribe realised what had occurred, it was too late - Cernonous was dead, the Bunyip spirit vanished, and the Elder who committed the acts had disappeared. The matter seemed complete, but then the storms began.

Will asks what brought them to the attention of the Uktena - Tjinderi says it was the events around Scars Atoning. Will asks why "concern"? Tjinderi says that the Uktena have taken up the mantle of the bunyip after the other tribes genocided them, and made it their business to ensure that their spiritual heritage was not lost. Anything that endangers that effort is of concern.

Back to Sydney - once it became clear that things were not over, and that things were escalating, they had to take other steps. Tillie butts in and asks if they left the sticks - Tjinderi says yes, they used pieces of the fetish that originally held the raging Bunyip spirit to create talens that would home in on the spirit.

After the Hive was attacked the bone fragment was returned to the Uktena. Not long after, they were attacked by Bunyip spirits, and in the fight the fragment and the bindings on it were broken. That checks out in comparison with the Watcher's story.

The Lost Prophets ask who the Elder in question was - Tjinderi says that his name was Wuroome, and he is a homid theurge elder (ie: rank 5). He acted without the tribe's approval and consensus, and that was the matter she regarded as being tribal business. Will carefully picks his words and says that when they spoke to the Watcher, he said that the fetish that he had been bound to was held by a garou who was growing dangerously close to the wyrm. The Watcher made a clear distinction between that garou and the Dancers who interrogated him. Tjinderi says that's an opinion... but she will definitely concede that he was acting erratically before acting. The Uktena have made attempts to try and find Wuroome without any success over the last 18 months. She notes that given the things he was saying about the Lost Prophets before he left, they should assume he is not friendly. Tillie asks if she should be concerned and Tjinderi shrugs and says he is a rank 5 Theurge, and a competant member of the tribe.

Kasumi asks if he might know any mages - Tjinder does not know, but does not think so, as he was very conservative in his thinking around who should be allowed to have any kind of mystic power. Kasumi asks if Wuroome was getting more zealous, and Tjinderi agrees that that is a reasonable description. He had opinions on who was worthy to know about secrets, and a random group of white garou did not fall under the categories he approved of.

Will asks what she thinks happened when Wuroome bound the spirit to the bone? Tjinderi thinks for a moment and then says as far as she is aware, the spirit manifested and attacked Cernonous. And then the Dancers...? She doesn't know how they got it. Tillie asks if Wuroome would have had to be at the bone in person to bind the spirit to it and Tjinderi says no.

Tillie asks why she didn't want to tell the Council. Its tribal business. Surely stuff that happens to packs all the time, and they walk about it? Tjinderi gives a small shrug and says the Uktena do not. Will says that it could be argued that Wuroome was responsible for killing another Jindabyne council member and a Sept Elder, and indirectly responsible for endangering a caern. Tjinderi agrees and says that when the Uktena find him, he will be tried accordingly. Will says that seems Council business? Tjinderi says that when the matter is resolved, the tribes directly impacted will be consulted and informed. Kasumi says that if he's avoided their efforts to this point, maybe they should call in others? No. The Uktena will deal with Uktena business.

Will asks if she believes the story they've told about the Watcher. Yes, certainly. Then if the Uktena think that the bunyip are sort of honoured elders to themselves, then why did she say that the Watcher's words about Wuroome and the wyrm were just an opinion? It doesn't inspire confidence that they will take steps about him properly. Tjinderi says that Wuroome has committed crimes and when the Uktena find him they will take the Watcher's words into account.

Kasumi asks where Wuroome used to be, er, based. She says that he is still an honoured member of the tribe, and was welcome at a number of Septs. Have they looked in the Umbra for him? Yes. Investigations are ongoing.

Someone asks how the Uktena found out about them working for Cernonous because they had been on the downlow about it. Tjinderi pauses for a moment and says when they were in Menindee and the bunyip attacked the town, an Uktena named Jimmy Gecko was flying past and forced to crash. He was rescued and brought to the hotel where he saw Cernonous and the pack together. The pack squint at her and ask if the Uktena have impersonated other garou before to watch them - thinking specifically about Mandras - but Tjinderi says not as far as she knows.

The Watcher said that they were asking questions of him - does she know what the questioners wanted to know? Specific knowledge of caerns, rites and spirits, she would imagine. Tillie asks if they are being surveilled and Tjinderi says she isn't aware of any current active surveillence - after all, they are informing the council of anything bunyip related that they find, right?

Kasumi checks that Tjinderi thinks Wuroome is still alive? Yes. Does she know where he was when Cernonous was killed? He was in contact with the Uktena until shortly after those events, so yes. Is that why he fled? The assumption is he acted against the tribe's wishes, and knowing that, he left to avoid repercussions. The pack ask Tjinderi for a description (including smell) of Wuroome, which she does. He's an older aboriginal man, sparse in frame and not very tall. Any tendencies in terms of spirits he works with? No, not especially - he is a rank 5 theurge, and would need to be able to handle any type of spirit to be recognised so.

Will says that Wuroome had vanished and cannot be found. The Dancer sept in Sydney was also impossible to find. And there is a Dancer Hive in Melbourne we can't find. Brolga was hiding the caern in Sydney, a fallen dreamtime spirit? So.. it seems well within the purvue of an Uktena theurge who is getting a little close to the wyrm to maybe truck with a spirit like Brolga? Tjinderi concedes the Uktena deal with many spirits, some less savoury than other, but doesn't comment further. Finn mentally says that they know the Bunyip imprisoned wyrm spirits, and there's lots of stories of people going out for forbidden knowledge and falling to the wyrm.

Kasumi asks how Wuroome left - Tjinderi says there were some uncomplimentary remarks about the pack and he left to the Umbra. She was not there, this is what other people told her. Is it just because they are white, or for specific actions? Tjinderi has nothing really to say one way or the other.

The pack ask to confer privately in the next room and Tjinderi agrees, though she says she is planning to leave soon. The pack have a brief chat about how much of this they'll be passing along to the Council. ("I could imagine that as a bone gnawer fetish to protect against mind control" "A tin foil hat?"). (Antlers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5eyOfL8qM)

Will thinks that its absolutely council business and the others agree. Kasumi agrees, and thinks the council should join the search for him - while he's hiding from the Uktena maybe a different approach from another tribe might have some success. Tillie only wants to tell the Council the barest mininum info that they can get away with ("If we were honorary uktena, we'd be bound to her decision, just saying") but "its not council business" seems ... not right.

They (inexplicably) want to give Tjinderi a heads up what they're going to say, and ask her if she wants them to leave something out. Kasumi suddenly remembers a tonne of Cernonous' stuff was taken as well - they should remember to ask about that too. The pack heads back into the other room and Kasumi asks about the notes. Tjinderi says that the Uktena took them, yes. Have they been destroyed? She's not sure. Was it a tribal action? Tjinderi says that the tribe's opinion is that Cernonous' work was ill-advised and should not be replicated. Will says that he would think that the notes belong to the Children of Gaia. Tjinderi shrugs. Tillie says there might be things in those notes that help the Bunyip. Tjinderi says that she doesn't think so.

Lost Prophets ask if there's anything she doesn't want them to say, and Tjinderi says that she regards it still as tribal business, but as they have won the challenge they may do what they will with the information. Tillie says that because it involved the death of a council member, she thinks that makes it Council business. Tjinderi asks if it had been another garou, would that make it not Council business? Uh, yes? So, if Cernonous was engaged in activities not relevant to his membership, does that invalidate their belief that it is Council business? Tillie gives her the eye and mentally wonders if this is some Shadowlord level shit where she wants them to tell the Council and this way lets Tjinderi save face. Out loud, she brings it back to is there anything she doesn't want them to say - they challenged her as themselves, which doesn't mean they have to tell the Council everything. Tjinderi takes a while and then says that as she's said - they won the challenge.

Tjinderi stands and says that seems to have covered everything. Will goes full Colombo and casually says "oh one last thing, have the Uktena learned what the Bunyip were doing instead of fighting the European Garou?" Tjinderi blinks while looking at him a couple of times and says "As I think you're beginning to understand, suggesting that 'the bunyip' were doing anything is not a knowledgeable grasp of the true situation". Tillie says "then who ?". Tjinderi suggests that if they have a special connection with the Bunyip then maybe that knowledge will come to do them when they need it? Will rephrases "The Australian Garou" were doing? Tjinderi says she's not interested in discussing that with them. ("There's no such thing as koalas") (https://youtu.be/dmP3gGj9yjM?t=1458 "stoic faced amerindian")

The Lost Prophets are left on their own for a time. After 20 minutes or so, one of the Silver Fangs comes and asks if they have seen Councillor Tjinderi? The pack say she was here before, but said she was returning to her Sept. The Silver Fang blinks and says "I see" then leaves, while grinding their teeth. ("Rewiggling") Its only a short time until they are fetched, and brought to the Council. Tjinderi is indeed not there, and some of the Council seem a little bit miffed about it.

Darius appears to have the speaking stick. After a confirmation that Tjinderi has indeed gone, Darius asks if when Tjinderi spoke to them after the challenge she conveyed the information she was honour bound to give? Tillie is terse with the information she conveys from Tjinderi's story - there was an Uktena elder named Wuroome. He unbound a bunyip spirit from a fetish and bound it to the bone that Cernonous had. It killed Cernonous. It wasn't a sanctioned Uktena activity and they are trying to find him still. Tillie is watching the Council and trying to get an impression of impressions - Mother Pasta, Darius and Inanna looks very unhappy. Don Mephisto, Grek and Monash are displeased. The others are holding their faces impassively or don't care.

Grek leads questions from the Council. Do they know if the Uktena offset anything that happened? When did they know Cernonous was killed and what did they do? Tillie says that she thinks they knew a couple of days later. How quickly did they start looking for Wuroome? She can't really say. There's definitely a frustration but its with Tjinderi, not them - especially that she left without publically conveying her information. Vlad asks if Tjinderi said anything particular as tribal business and the Lost Prophets says that the tribe had not sanctioned his action - and in fact had explicitly said not to do anything - and that primarily was the issue. Grek asks if the Lost Prophets can see any discrepancy between what the Watcher told them and Tjinderi told them?

The Council seem to hold that whether or not it was tribe business, the Uktena should have taken it on the chin and told people that it had happened once the storms in Sydney occurred more than once. If only to support the Councils's aims, which they allegedly subscribe to. Rather than having it dragged out of them. Darius is no longer immediately demanding the Uktena leave, but there are words spoken of consequences - if they had told anyone about Wuroome earlier, other tribes may have been able to find him by now. The Lost Prophets get the idea that hte next few meetings may be uncomfortable for Tjinderi.

("If we did tell them about the sticks, it would be a tacit agreement that they were just as good as us at dealing with the bunyip 'those guys will handle it, they've got it covered'. Because they couldn't admit to a breach of the Litany by letting a caern be endangered by doing less than they could to stop that. " "Maybe it was a bit 'it would be a shame if that annoying pack died while trying to interact with the bunyip'" "Yes, like all white people who come out into the wilderness looking into the Bunyip seem to" "So letting us handle it is just as good as they would be." ) ("Oh no the bunyip would definitely have a 4 prong penis")

The Lost Prophets are Moonbridge'd home. They are met by Ends-the-Quiet, who is happy to find Cossack so they can brain dump to the Elders. They get together in Graeme's old house with Cossack, Emma and Ian, and the garou brain dump. Cossack makes a face when they say they sort of agree with Tjinderi that it wasn't tribal business. He thinks that its the Council's reason to exist - to try and smooth things between the tribes. He thinks she was out of line, and also hedging now seems petty. He's less impressed that someone is out to get them. Is there anything that's happened that might be explained by "elder theurge is trying t kill them?" Two Bones were motivated by 'dreams' - maybe he's working at a remove? They didn't come to kill the Lost Prophets though. Ian pipes up and says that he bets that's why Jane Redfeather joined Scars Atoning. There's a bit of hmm and haring - Jane's been helpful and mostly friendly tho? But perhaps as part of the Uktena surveillence? Cossack suggests being cautious about throwing around accusations. Maybe someone being Mandras? Could have been, that was right after Scars Atoning.

What could they do to hide from any surveillence? Emma says the short answer is there's gifts to hide, and then there's gifts from powerful spirits to thwart other spirits. There are rituals that can hide a given space. Some fetishes. Cossack says it'll haev to be a priority after all the other priorities - like Black Spiral Dancers.

The pack head home and find that Melissa is sitting in their lounge watching tv. She's totally not laying in wait. She looks surprised but the pack are split between "sleep now" and "vegemite toast, then sleep now". Finn is making toast, and Melissa is hanging about. She is behaving a little oddly, and he tries to check in. She shrugs and say "fine.... its just been a bit of a shitty day" Finn offers an ear and then leaps to a possibility "Its not been that other pack has it?" "yes." "What did they do?" "Uh. . I was just doing some training with Ian and Amy came along and was talking with Ian.. and said she'd be happy to do some sparring instead. Only she said not in crinos. And then .. I just got the vibe she was trying to prove how good she was, because she then said 'knife fighting' and then she basically stabbed me in face, and I frenzied... so.. its been a shitty day. and I got stabbed in the face". Finn sympathises about knives and other weapons to the face. "Why knives?" "I dunno, she said something about needing to be prepared for lots of situations" "Man, Get of Fenris." "But not Will?" "ahhummm. Will's not normal, no". The members of Lost Prophets that are awake roll their eyes and figure that Amy is trying to prove herself as a little fish in a big pond. "Anyway, I don't want to hang out at the caern cos they are there." Finn says that he thinks that they just want to prove themselves - new place, and just trying to establish that they're not to be shoved around. Melissa says that the theurge Winston is ok, she spoke to him for a bit. Finn says that he learned to fight in bars, if she wants to learn some ... improvised badness. ("I'm going to solve this problem with a combination of psychology and extreme violence") ("Will and Melissa, sparring under a tree, making a metis, O.M.G")

Wednesday 18th January - Philodox waning

The pack contemplate their chiminages and sigh. They had better plan them or they'll forget. Kasumi thinks she needs to use real internet and do some research for a previous renter that she can pin things on, so she heads down to the State Library. She finds that she's got limited options there because the units are only 10 years old, but maybe she can work with one of the people there or in the nearby units.

Finn heads to the Glade, and checks out the Glade child and the kids there. The Glade child has not died, but it doesn't seem to be rebounding heavily. There's a sense of dormancy in the Umbra. The house looks lived in, but the kids aren't here. ("Mostly I'm just trying to make sure we don't forget them")

Will contemplates given the Get pack a task to go and learn about battles that the Sept has done in the past. It might be to their interest to learn so, and it might give them a bit of respect for the Sept. He has that authority, really, but he's not 100% sure who they should ask because he doesn't know a huge amount about sept history. Maybe some newer stuff. And an essay at the end. ("Send them to Ian, and he'll spend 4 hours telling them how his Call to Duty game is going")

On her walk back Kasumi becomes aware that there's someone matching her pace on the other side of Swanston St. At an intersection she casually looks around and sees that there's a man in a hat with sunglasses and a hawaiian shirt staring at her and smiling insanely. Oh good, its the straw man, yet another of the people clearly stalking them.

Kasumi changes direction and heads over Swanston St - the smiling man does the same and they meet at the tram stop. There are some brief pleasantries. Kasumi says that they had a busy New Years Eve, and he agrees - they had some party crashers? Yes, very noisy and unwelcome. He asks if she'd like to know the home address of said annoying individuals and Kasumi says that they would. The strawman says they are at Coode Island. She looks blank and the strawman says that they might be on the western side. Mentally she asks her pack and Will says oh its down the other side of Docklands. Kasumi says that they had two groups of troubling individuals - which ones live there? The strawman says its the ones they have a lot in common with, and she grins her most feral grin. She says thank you for that information... anything he'd like from them? Oh no, they just want to be good neighbours - we don't like the noise, prefer things quiet. Best of luck. The strawman walks across Swanston st, and then down the block a bit before ducking into a side alley.

Mentally "MEET ME AT THE SEPT", Kasumi books it up the street. ("There's going to be such a big ball of lasagne. Ball? No, a bay marie of lasagne. It'll be so much food. Have you had squid ink pasta, its the best. Get your grandma ready" "I really feel like you've lost control of this metafor") ("All avengers assemble. Also I need an adult") Kasumi spots Emma around the outside of the cemetary, and flags her down - they got a really hot tip. They head into the caern while Kasumi tells her what she got told. Emma gives her the eye. Emma says it sounds like a trap - not just because its random, but because of where it is - but agrees to call the other Elders. Emma uses a talen out of a pocket, and before long Emma, Nadine and Cossack have met the pack in the Umbra. Kasumi gives them a rundown and Cossack makes the same face Emma did.

Cossack says there was a really big chemical fire there about 20 years ago, big clouds of smoke. And ever since then they've kept kind of an eye on it? Like annual inspections. So it seems a bit suss. But at the same time, it is near the river, which they know the Dancers use. Finn says something about pipes, but Cossack says its mostly silt - there's some storm water outlets, but not so much on the Coode island side.

His first thought is that this is a distraction, but someone needs to check it out. Yes, Lost Prophets. He says that they're just looking - go there, check it out, but at the first confirmation, just bug right out back to the sept. Don't get involved in a fight or anything. ("And now I don't need to make a decision about Melissa, cos we're all going to die")

Snakes? CAn they use snake spirits to detect life forms? Lots of spirits offer stealth gifts, mostly prey animals that are good at camoflague, thay could be useful. Bloodhound spirits for super smell.

Will asks why the spirit of the Yarra is dead - is it because of the dredging? Cossack looks suspicious - he doesn't actually know, because it was so long ago. His Elders told him that it was to do with all the industrial goop tipped into the Yarra around Richmond and Collingwood. He asks if Will thinks the Dancers have tapped into that? Will says caused? That's a long game, if they managed that 100 years ago but didn't play their hand before now.

Tillie asks about the yearly checks - calls are made and it turns out no one has been there for a while. Graeme was responsible for it, and he made sure someone had checked it out. It had apparently become more a token check around the place than a solid check and cleansing. This is news to Cossack - it had become Graeme's responsibility ("3 envelopes").

The pack get a run down of what its like. There's a lot of containers, and spaces to keep containers. Trucks go through a lot and there's a train line along to the end of some of the piers. There's admin buildings in one part and some other office buildings in another. There's a lot of traffic and a lot of coming and going and a lot of people working there. Not all of the area is open to public access - you'd need an obvious id card for the more sensitive areas. In the Umbra its almost all weaver, with some wyrm, hardly any life and thus hardly any spirits. High gauntlet, but not as high as the CBD. The weaver isn't just because of the tech and buildings - its a high process area. There's chain link fence and guard booths with boomgates stopping access to the non-public areas, its not three layers of chain link with mines or anything.

There's presumably some sort of build up if the Hive is there - it can't just be in a shipping container, can it? ("Its a new Tiny Hive"). Will asks if the Shadow Lords at Hidden Green have any (cough mob cough) connections to people at the docks? ("I do one job for them and now I'm in the mob?"). The Elders hmm and har and were going to hold off talking to Hidden Green about something being up until after the initial scout had happened. It does make sense to ask though, so Cossack wanders off to make a phone call - what do they want out of it? ID for support staff might be a plan. There's just as much suits as high vis there. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEQP4VVuyrY) The closer they get to the boats themselves, the more strict people's checking will be. ("What if the Dancers are on a boat? What if they're on a party boat!?") The more folks consider whether this is a trap or likely to be the hive location, the more possible it seems.

Tillie could use her spirit raven gift to fly across the site, either from the Umbra or the Realm. She can use most of her sensing gifts this way. Maybe they could get Eagle to grant clear sight to Tillie while she does that. After that, they want to hide visuals, and smells and maybe just project "we belong here". They consider making the scent hiding thing with river water, which might make a similar smell to the Dancer one they keep finding. That'd be good for stopping them from being tracked but if they run into a Dancer face to face it'll be a dead give away. Will remembers Boobook helped Kasumi hide from spirits once, when they were creeping into the Coldstream Blue Beret site - maybe he can help now? How about Cuckoo? Will also wonders about scrying protection? The mages might well be watching to see them run off and attack so they can lunge at the caern.

Cossack returns and says that Hidden Green do do business with people on the docks, and can organise a set of ID cards on lanyards for tomorrow morning.

The pack are left to make a deal with Cucko while the Sept members deal with the other spirits. ("We'll go to someone else's house and throw *their* kid out the window, and take their place for a week")

The pack figure they need some sort of costume to fit in, even with the spirits helping out. Could they make up Tillie to remove the scars? Yeah, probably. They work out that there's a bonegnawer kinfolk who can come and help

In the meantime Tillie is going to raven it up and do a few flights around the island before they make any other plans. ("It just tastes like chocolate covered grandma") She makes threats about not drawing on her body, lays down and releases her spirit into the raven form. Tillie flies south and starts circling the island, sensing for wyrm. Unsurpringly, there's some - but its all sort of mundane fuel and chemicals, concreted environment, background city wyrm. There's no obvious hotspot, though she does sense a stronger response on the side with all the chemical storages.

She tries sense unnatural and gets a much better sense of what is happening. There's lots of weaver - understandable given the incredibly artificial nature of the island, the structures on it, the artifical channel etc, as well as all the process and procedure that goes into running a port. There's also some wyrm, though the gift doesn't give the details sense wyrm might, it does seem to cluster at the west side. There's no giant throbbing sense of evil, and the weaver is much stronger. Concerningly, there is the occasional glitter of magic. Tillie tries to get a better sense of that, and she works out that there's arcs of single points of magic moving through the area. Each arc is smooth, but there's no predictable pattern to where it starts and goes each time. The flickers are faint, and difficult to pin down. Its very weak, and is sometimes hard to tell if its a glittery magic or just a bright physical sense of light. There's no fae. There's not much of a sense of death.

Tillie drops down and gets a better sense of the chemical tanks. It feels like the same sense they get off petrol - a polutiony oily feel. Its the same all over down there. It is basically the same sort of sense they'd expect. She looks for tunnels, but there's nothing obvious - some storm water drains visible but no major pipes.

Tillie zots back to her body, whacks the packmate drawing a ceremonial dick on her forehead, and they move to the Umbra so she can do the same thing there. In the Umbra, she gets more or less the same response, except no magic. Maybe the magic is like there's some sort of effect there and humans are banging into it, and that's why it shows up? The long arcs look more like patrolling though. Most of the spirits she can see are weaver spirits as well as some banes. There might be rat and insect spirits lower down, but she's doing a high level scope.

Ok, they'll need to check it out in detail. Its getting on a bit, so they want to get cuckoo onside tonight. So what to offer - maybe they could suggest that they'll walk into somewhere and pretend to be people they are not. And then maybe they could take something that doesn't belong to them, and take it away ("like stealing their lunches out of the fridge"). Sinead gets on the summon - she spends a couple of hours calling Cuckoo. After she finishes the summon, a quite large red and black bird lands in a nearby tree. Sinead says they need the spirit's assistence to disguise them as people who fit in, and the spirit agrees, but asks what they'll do for it. Sinead says that once a month for three months, they will go to places they don't belong and take something while convincing the people they do belong. Cuckoo counters that each of the people to be hidden must do this. ("I'll go to a tattoo parlour, and pretend I'm a tattooist" "What did you take?" "Their dignity") ("Does taking someone's virginity count?" "Only if you don't belong there.. and I am stopping this line of thought *right now*") Each must do it once before spring returns (8 months?) and they must stay there for a week. The pack are not keen. Sinead counters with 2 days. The spirit says 3. ("Look I got it down to 3 days, you'll go to officeworks for 3 days and like it") ("i could go down and be a life guard at soem rubbish beach" "and if you get someone's kid drowned, you've taken something from someone" "I gues that's on brand for cuckoo... if you go home with another family having pushed their child under the water, I think that will fulfil the chiminage quite well, and probably get you more renown" "The one time when killing a child will get you *more* renown") ("How long have we got to do this?" "Til spring" "Dammit, i wanted to be santa") In return, Cuckoo will hide the 5 of them for 3 days.

Thursday 19th January - Theurge waning

Bright and early people show up with the lanyards that have their Melbourne Ports IDs and the various talens. The pack dress up in business shirts and slacks or workpants and high vis. They have talens for eagle, and talens for the stinky river water. Susan, a kinfolk with a very 80s perm, shows up and is told to make Tillie look like she does not have scars - she trowels on enough foundation to bury a small child.

The Lost Prophets wander in. Kasumi and Finn and pretend to be asset counters, coming through to do a hand count of assets. It seems like cuckoos powers are working because they can just approximate some sensible business noises and people nod. Meanwhile, Sinead, Tillie and Will are fire control audit inspectors, which allows them to move around freely and poke at things, apparently. They get the odd look because they're walking - they watch some other folks drive maybe 300m. Maybe because its not really pedestrian friendly? Or because it is a bit too bland to want to walk past. There's no casual traffic - there's no cafes or site seeing places. It almost feels like 1 big workplace, even though there's lots of distinct workplaces.

Everyone is creeping around fairly undetectably, checking the island out in detail. There's constant movement as vehicles come in and out and people turn up for different shifts. They start to get a sense of how the place flows in terms of people behaviour. There's seagulls and pigeons and probably rodents, based on the smell of urine.

Nothing unusual leaps out for hours - nothing sensed by gifts or seems out of place or is a pigeon walking around in a spiral. About lunchtime though, Sinead grabs Will and Tillie's attention and points out an old phone box, knocked over and wrecked. It seems out of place because everything else is functional, and this is busted. They wander over and check it - it hasn't been hit by a vehicle, because there'd be tire tracks. It looks like the glass has been smashed in small impact points, like someone's been punching it.. unsure if that was before or after its been torn off the concrete on the ground, and then the phone pulled off. They use sense unnatural and find an extremely faint magic sense. One of the eagle talens is triggered to try and make sure they're seeing what they expect. There's no sudden reveal that this is a maxwell smart elevator or anything. It doesn't look like this is a point on a rampage - there's no obvious damage to the left and right.

Tillie tries to sniff in homid form, but doesn't have much luck. There's not really anywhere to change form - they normally use bushy areas in parks or whatever - and even if they could, they've not dedicated the stuff they're wearing. MAybe she could lick it? It doesn't look like gunshot damage.. did.. a .. garou smash it? ("Does it smell like giant transvestite?"). They can't really see into the Umbra enough to see if there's much there. Maybe they could ask animals around? They're left with basically rats and seagulls. But that might be best at night.

Ok, maybe its time to take on the chemical tanks and see what they can see there. They continue the sensing as they travel along. They find bits and pieces of wyrm sense that is concerning, both on spots and people, but nothing that crosses the line from taint into corruption. The chemicals being held are things like benzene and similarly toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.

Finn gets a brief glitter of magic going past him. Its really really light, and its gone in a second or so. There's no sense of it after a few seconds.

Will contemplates whether its underground? Maybe if its accessible through one of the tanks? Maybe its in the tank? Tillie says there's very limited sewerage/storm water, so if they find some then that's suspicious. They do find access panels in the ground, and check them out when no one is looking - telecommunications stuff, electrical stuff, no massive sense of wyrm flowing up. A little storm water, but they're all maybe 15cm across.

Will speculates if its under the Yarra. Its not impossible, and if the totem cared not for being underwater, almost viable. Hard to do rituals though. The major reason it probably can't be is that the Uktenna turned the Yarra into Uktenna and presumably the spirit would have said "oh by the way, my butt is a Hive". They can't talk to the Yarra itself, but maybe spirits in it. Will speculates some more about a project to restore that spirit, and how practical it would be. (https://secretmelbourne.com/seal-yarra-river/)

The magic suggests something is up, but they're really struggling to get a handle on what. ("we're going to get wet, aren't we?" "I think 'wet' is probably the best thing you're going to get ").

Should there be fomori here? Its a bit tainted, especially around the tanks, but they haven't noticed anyone corrupted. On the otherhand all of the fomori they've met have been weird loners, or acting erratically, and this is an area where procedure and coordination appears to be king. They'd probably show up really quickly and get fired unless there was some sort of overarching conspiracy, and that doesn't seem to be a thing here.

The rest of the day is spent checking as thoroughly and widely as possible, balancing those two things out as much as they can. They're pretty sure that they've eliminated anything obvious on the surface of the island. They're now starting to look for their glasses in the fridge. Tillie ponders whether there's places that no one goes to? Will points out there's 3 choke points for people leaving, they could hang out there and sense people as they come and go (especially at shift o'clock) and see if they could spot any secondary wyrm stuff.

They split up and perch at the choke points - there's certainly a variation in wyrm taint in people that come through (in and out), but apart from taking a couple of number plates for further investigation (one or two truck cargos), there's no one that makes them leap up to investigate further. There's no sense that all these people register as a '2' or something - there's a natural variation that makes them sure the gifts are working and not being faked out.

Lost Prophets try and get their peek on. Only Sinead manages to get anything approaching a good look at the spirit world. Much like Tillie spied (spood?) from the Umbra, there's not a lot of natural spirits. There is a lot of weaver stuff - the big cranes and some of the big buildings and the railway line have a strong presence. There are also weaver spirits moving around - spiders and geometric shapes. There's a fair amount of activity, but its all in proscribed ways, straight lines etc.

Tillie wants them to find places that all the humans avoid, consciously or otherwise. Its hard to be sure, because there's big archival sections and no one really walks around. ("The paddle steamer is where the hive is, isn't it" "Paddle steamers have come up 3 times today" "I'm just saying I have the highest points in drive. 'Fang it!'") (street view of paddle steamer)

There's nowhere illogically empty - the chemical areas are not fun places to hangout and the stacks of containers aren't needed daily. They opt to use one of the eagle talens on the chemical tanks and see if it reveals a place of extreme evil. There's no visual change, and none of their gifts seem to suddenly come good .

Maybe they need to move into some of the buildings? Perhaps its a basement or something. Tillie wonders if they can find some way into the storm water or whatever from inside buildings. They split up and hit those buildings with a "we're here to inspect your safetys" sort of story backed up by Cuckoos help.

Tillie gets sent from busy person to busy person before she hits one worker who is at least helpful - she says they'll have to come back tomorrow when some of the admin people are here. Tillie says that they need to confirm their documents are correct - oh definitely tomorrow then. They start at 8 - your best person is John, he's likely to point them at the right info. And her name is Phillipa.

Will meets Tien. Tien asks what he's interested in - OHS inspeciton on any access points to underground confined spaces. Tien doesn't know, but for some reason he's super keen to help Will out. Tien has worked here for 15 years and knows lots of the history of things that have changed here. He also seems keen to avoid something else and would rather walk around with Will and try to point things out to him. Unfortunately, there's not any massive easily accessed underground areas any more than anywhere else they've seen. Tien does provide an insight into why the map and the reality don't match up tho, with lots of random extra bits added or modified as time has gone on. There's no signs that someone's been, say, prying the covers off things with crinos claws. When Sinead subtly checks out the easy to get to ones, none of them have any spiritual significance suggesting that they're a gateway to a hive.

Finn and Kasumi go one of the big buildings. They get there and find people are a bit helpful and they eventually direct them to a guy called Dennis, who is a sysadmin and says "yeah, all the maps are on the intranet". They get his interest in what they're doing and he is willing to use his ridiculous access to all of the building to get into all sorts of places they shouldn't be allowed to go. They get into building services from a meeting room instead of the main door and he shows them where some of the plan stuff is stored in the big drawers here. And he can print them some stuff off the intranet - you get your stuff done while he goes off to do that. There's no way that randoms should be left alone here - if nothing else there's a big wrack of keys over there that probably gets into all the bits of the building.

Kasumi casually pulls out her phone and connects it to one of the pcs with her gifts and tries to pull any useful info. She finds some maps and org charts and finds that there's actually a security area, but it seems to be around where the containers come in and get unpacked. They do seem to have a mundane looking lower ground area. Oh this is the telecoms map. Kasumi takes copies of anything good if only to be helpful for setting up an alternate income stream (ie: stealing stuff). They look through stuff for a good hour or more and ... unfortunately.. nothing looks suss. There's nothing that makes them go "oh this is weird". ("No body wants their dick falling off in the toilet" "A dick i found in the sewerage is so much worse")

They find Denny again (oh yeah you guys) and ask about older maps. Apparently the place is only 15 years old, so there wans't any great big hole that they covered up with a new building. At least not on any maps. He's happy to take them down to the bottom floor and look around - its all very raw, but there doesn't seem to be any doors to any restricted tunnels. Finn senses for unnatural - nothing leaps out again. ("We found Harold Holt" "More fish now than man")

The Lost Prophets get together and compare notes. Not being able to peek from their magic spy realm makes this really hard, but nothing they've found so far suggests any obvious gates into the underdark. The tubes they've uncovered would probably be usable with magic, but then again, once you had magic anything is doable and they won't really be able to uncover that except through sheer luck.

Anyone could have installed anything in some of the electrical and comms pits. Could they maybe get a weaver spirit to map out all the electrical wiring? Would that be a give away if they found a spot where there's no reason to have electricity ? Some sort of weaver spirit seems in order - an electricity spirit wouldn't be able to relate it back to the real world.

Does the phone box have cameras covering it? Wait... oh they haven't looked at cameras at all. Oh dear. Ok, time for a quick scan - the cameras seem to be per site, there's not like a unified cctv system across the area. When they look at the phone box... no, it doesn't seem to be covered. Maybe just on the edge of that one up there. Maybe its a Max Smart / Superman deal and this phone box is the way into the Hive. Do they need to go down the phone line? Could they find out who called out/into this phone box? Yeah, probably. Maybe they can ask Hidden Green to do it rather than doing it themselves?

Its about midnight at this point, so the pack decides to catch some sleep, figuring that being exhausted won't help matters. They head back, brain dump, and ask if someone [waves vaguely] could help them with their ideas.

Friday 20th January - Theurge waning

After about 6 hours sleep, they start to get their shit together to go back for another day of crawling across the site. Before they leave Adam Shergol from Steel Hunters comes and finds them about the phone box. He says that the last time it called a number was the 6th of January. The call was made to a mobile phone number, which is interesting because it rang that mobile number a non-zero number of times over the last six months, especially in the last 3. But that mobile is registered to a J. Smith and has been off the network since the last phone call. Finn asks if they could get an idea of which towers that phone was near, and Adam hums and hars, but isn't sure. Tillie asks if anyone called the phone box - nope. Could they cross reference that number against the ones that Jaeger called? The pack try and think about what they were doing then - it was all still emergency cleanup from New Years. Adam points out that he wouldn't treat the data as absolutely true either - there's ways and means to mess with it. Will asks if it was the last call made from the box, or the last one that connected? Adam ums and says probably only the last connected. He hadn't thought of it. Kasumi thinks they would have come and fixed it if it had been two weeks but that's probably just because she finds the idea of not fixing it abhorrent.

The other question, about the electricity - he said that Stephanie Cusack is trying to sort that out for them, but its still a work in progress. ("Check the wang first" "Well I know I always do. When things are wrong. I'm not feeling 100%"). Someone will let them know how its going.

On their way back to Coode Island, the pack try the mobile number - they get the standard "this number is not connected or not in range, please try again later" message. No voicemail.

They arrive back at Coode Island and make OHS noises at the person that Tillie was directed to. John doesn't seem too surprised that someone has left some documentation to decay. The garou do their best to indicate that they don't want to cause trouble, they just want to work with them to sort it out as soon as possible to everyone's satisfaction, and certainly to no one's boss's annoyance. John comes along with Tillie and helps out as much as possible - he brings a crowbar and they have a look inside the pits he can find. Water, power, comms, sewerage. The only ones that have any sign that anyone has been in them are the comms ones - but they have very small plastic pipes heading off, nothing that a person could fit down. Will tries to sense down the holes but there's nothing in them - at one point he gets a little tickle of magic but it disasppears almost straight away. Peeking in the Umbra shows none of the pits have a spiritual reflection.

Some of the garou go to the other side of the Maribynong in the Umbra while sneaking and see if they can spy anything. Nothing obvious like a kaiju you can't see from close by.

The pack decide they need to sort out the buildings generically, the cameras and the toilets. It takes most of the day for them to go from building to building in two groups. They find one guy who can get a good slap, but there's nothing that says "hive" to anyone. The pack detect all the way through and there are no massive amounts of wyrm. Some of the buildings are just offices, and others have a working floor as well - the office buildings are the easiest for them to pass through, no one really raises an eyebrow even. But the logistics places have more folks on the ground who are OHS reps and the pack find themselves being escorted rather than let to wander about. Cuckoo's powers seem to be holding, though at one site, Helen the OHS manager seems to be trying to throw it off, asking them repeatedly where they are from or what they are doing, even though she accepts the response each time. Frankly she's getting more distressed by her clear mental breakdown than the pack's presence.

While they are going from building to building, they try and get a sense of their security setup, especially around external cameras. Some of the sites have a security employee and a proper booth with someone monitoring things, but others outsource it and just have a cupboard with a couple monitors in it. They try and think whether they could access the cameras around the day when the phone box was ruined, and see whether anyone could be spotted, if not necessarily at the phone box, but smashing their way across anywhere else.

End of the day, Kasumi gets a call suggesting the scanning equipment that she ordered is on its way, but that the use thereof might cause some problems due to its high profile. So they should be alert for any issues that arise. Tillie suggests placing themselves up somewhere in case there is a flurrie of activity. There's no real touristy place to observe or anything like that, but they work out they can wangle themselves onto the roofs of buildings and peek from there. They split up, and Kasumi manages to peek on one building, and Tillie on the other.

In the Umbra, a large weaver (15'? Its hard to tell from a distance) spider approaches the site. Its significantly different from the existing spirits - its body appears to be facetted and have a sullen red glow inside it, or maybe reflected from somewhere. Its clear why they maybe needed a warning. The spider seems to orient itself at the east end of the island, and then moves south in more or less straight line. When it can step over existing structures it does, but if another spirit is busy, or there's a large structure, it moves around it before returning to its original path. It has a very active look - its not just going through the motions, it seems very focussed.

Tillie keeps her eye on the rest of the island while Kasumi focusses on the spider. She can't see any eruption of interest from purported Hive, or reactions from other spirits. Kasumi's best estimate is that it will probably take 24 hours for this spirit to map the whole island.

Seeing as how they can actually see the Umbra, they opt to do a scan around by driving them in cars. ("Open! Shut them! Open! Shut them!") They try and get a sense of anything from the dock area, but its legitimately too far away to sense much of it. They cruise some more. The weaver stuff along the water line looks a little rusted, but it seems like mundane entropy rather than strong deliberate wyrm.

Tillie suddenly tells Will to pull over then go back. She can sense something weird - its wyrm but it stands out. Its really emphemeral but when they go backward and forward a bit she can pick it out from a couple spots. On both sides of the road here, right near Dynon Road. This chunk of road is used more by cars and chemical trucks than the container trucks. They eventually get out so she can pin it down.

Its an alien sense of wyrm, it doesn't belong. Its only in the Umbra, not in the realm. The sense comes from the east side of the road mostly, in an area used a bit as car parking, but which is marked out for containers. Oh and a bit on the west side as well? Its not very strong. Will asks where the explosion was 20 years ago ... oh it was right here. Oh. The sense is coming from under the ground. Tillie triggers one of the eagle talens to help her see better. It brings the landscape very tightly into focus which is weird - her ability to focus on detail increases considerably.

The pack attempt to be continuing their inspection thing, rather than running around screaming in crinos form, in an effort to be surreptious. There's no drop in the gauntlet here, it still feels smotheringly awful. The Umbral landscape is probably the crappiest here that they've seen over the whole island, but its dead and wet rather than festering. Tillie tries to sense the wyrm more closely given she has the eagle talen - its in thin channels under the ground, maybe vaguely radiating out (or in). The ground doesn't look disturbed. Kasumi asks if its a spiral? Tillie can't really tell, tho it is stronger on the outside. Will tries to see if anyone is spying on them now that they are on this spot? Not that he can see, and he's pretty confidant on that.

The pack makes a call to the Sept and asks who did the last inspection. There's a bit of back and forth with calls, but eventually Chris McNeil gets on the phone with Kasumi. She tells him about the spot of wyrm they've found and says that it was more or less under the explosion - but there's no trace of anything from the explosion. He says yep, that's why they stopped stressing - it'd been clean for 4 years. Kasumi says that yeah but the Dancers are good at hiding in plain sight. Chris says he came through 2010, they buzzed the site, nothing really there - but where the explosion was a new road was being pushed through it? So they couldn't look much in the realm, and just looked from the Umbra. She covers what they've found. Chris asks if something might have happened since they last went there, because there wasn't much. Maybe like a ritual? People standing in a circle, generating energy into the middle? They check in the sky and make sure there's not a mandala of glowing wyrm that only appears where they are?

Tillie grabs a chance while peeking well to check the phonebox - there's nothing there except smashed up weavery stuff. There's some speculation about the straw man (men?), their forms (are they demons or mages doing magic?) and motivations, but it doesn't really go very far. Honestly the pack is regretting not learning more about demons while they were in the dead lands.

The pack decide to call it a night and come back tomorrow and engage the umbra. They stop at the Sept and brain dump and get any ideas - someone suggests that its the bits that are hard to get to that is the best place for a Hive, because it becomes a level of obfuscation. Maybe they could Open Seal all over the site? Once the big spider comes their way, maybe they can use it as a distraction when investigating the Umbra? ("Does the makeup count as an undedicated object? Does it not change with you when you revert to crinos? In which case when you come back to homid, is it all distorted?")

Saturday 21st January - Theurge waning

The pack start in the caern in the Umbra, in lupus and approach slowly. In the landscape there are more natural spirits at the east end - nothing healthy looking but the odd seagul, rat, plant (grass) and similar spirits. Everything else is weaver, including Stephanie's large mapping spider. They creep into the area, hoping Cuckoo will make them look like foxes or feral dogs or whatever.

The Lost Prophets head for the dockside that they haven't been able to get close to. It involves treading carefully around an awful lot of Weaver spirits, but they do manage to get a sense of the realm while they travel. Sinead senses for Wyrm as she wanders about peeking, while Kasumi senses for unnatural ("Jesus, that's a *lot* of weaver") There's nothing major of either outside of what they'd expect. They can see some ... stormwater? outlets along Swanston docks that might be accessible from the water, and fit a homid into them. Around the outside they can see a lot of stratigraphy along the river side - old bricks and bluestone below the concrete, and some of it has large holes. There's nothing that says gaping pit to hell though. Where the ships are docked, they can't really get good eyes along that wall. The equivilent Umbral area is just concrete and packed silt - in the Umbra, the Swanston dock is a cutting with hard packed weaver stuff but its sort of infilled a bit with lose silt.

With a bit of messing about, they are able to hang Sinead off the edge of the Umbral platforms while she peeks into some of the stormwater outlets. She can't sense anything of note. There's smaller, but potential egressable pipes on the Maribynong side.

The pack make a note of the potential options and head back to their magic circle of badness. The soil is very fine, damp, black silt, and it does not smell good. There's nothing really alive about it when they run their hands and paws over it. Tillie senses and can pick up the alien wyrm sense still. There's patches on the ground which have the sense after them and almost comet-like tails leading to a rough centre point. They don't have the same strength, it varies a bit, and they don't seem to be laid out in any particular way - its not a spiral. There's not enough detail to see if it was one of the symbols from the mage house. From the Umbra she can tell that this isn't just taint, its like something actually of the wyrm. Not intense, but pure? Is it a gateway to somewhere of the wyrm? It feels like something outer-realm-like even though they are as close to the Realm as they can.

The pack dig at one of the spots. They make maybe an arm-deep hole ("Diggy diggy hole") before Will crunches through some sort of mineral in the middle of the silt. ("Its not a box") He's smashed it up pretty well, but Tillie confirms that that's what is sensing wyrm. Its little yellow, green and clear crystals that seemed to be together before he clawed them ("its snot"). He tries digging down a bit more gently and finds that there's a structure under the ground through the silt. Its not very robust - its like lots of salt crystals together making a kind of tube shape. The individual crystals are robust, but as a structure it crumbles easily. Sense unnatural says strong wyrm, some weaver, a little wyld. It doesn't feel very... active? ("What's it smell like? What's it taste like?")

Is it... a magic lock? If you're in the middle, can you open a door? Maybe, but these aren't robust structures, they could be wrecked up with the lightest pressure.

They try another spot - a faint one, and there's nothing at arm's length - its lower down. A strong one again? yep, there's another thing here as well. The original hole is starting to ooze back together. Tillie does the digging, because she can sense the stuff and that helps her know when to dig hard and when to dig light. She has to make a wide hole to stop it from oozing back too quick. She gets Kasumi to finesse it when it comes to clearing off the goop.

They reveal 3 seperate segments of tube abutting one another, partly closed off where each end stops to make like a pinched off tube. Will wonders if is bone fossilised in some way, but if it is, its of something like a crab. It doesn't go straight down but leads down away from the stronger sense near the surface at an angle around 45 degrees, maybe a bit shallower. To Kasumi's eye its a little bit like crystals that have formed in a seam - something forced into gaps and then crystalised? It does suggest that there's a source somewhere deeper under the ground. There's stories about crystals being used as a focus, or a source of power, and there's certainly corrupted earth elementals, so corrupted wyrm crystals could well be a thing.

The pack decides they need to consult. Tillie takes some of the fragments and heads back to the caern, but leaves them well outside, just in case its waiting for that to activate. ("Just leave it outside where it can spread like nanotech"). The others look at the crystals in more detail - its like a structure made of salt crystals, but some of them are fused together rather than grown. Bits of it is almost furry on the inside. Maybe something injected here and then fused? Given its a bit like a tube, its like its been used to convey something, but maybe that sort of destroyed itself? They don't think the crystals grew on something that was then removed though

So, consulting with the people at the Sept, they sort of agree about the ritual possibility - which suggests that they were ritualising to a downward spot? A few of the sept come and look to see the crystal. Aquinas says that it reminds him of a fulgarite - a mineral that's made when lightning hits sand or other silicate material. ("You didn't hold that did you?" "Or lick it") But in the Umbra though? And this is wyrmy. Tillie says that this is huge though, and Aquinas says that they can be spread out as the lightning bolt arcs around in wet sand. But it doesn add another tick to the 'energy release by wyrm ritual'. Maybe this is where they summoned the Green Dragon? Again with very close to the yarra that was full of Uktena at the time.

In terms of whether this is a hive, Cossack says he's gone from no to yes and back to no again - something's happened here but not a Hive? Was it a wild goose chase? Was the strawmen wrong? Emma asks if the Mages just want to get the Lost Prophets specifically to stay in one spot for a few days - away from something else, not at Coode Island specifically. Cossack's concerned this thing they've found is related to the explosion there - they investigated and cleansed at the time, so probably it wasn't then there.

Will has a concern that they've been seen, but this thing is a sign of a powerful ritual to hide the Hive, and the Dancers are watching them and can tell they've detected nothing.

Kasumi tries to work out if the garou could do a cleansing in one spot and have it affect another? A sort of "As over here, so over there near that thing" hermetic sympathetic ritual power. She gets a bit obsessed about the possibility and spends a bit of time thinking about it. ("That seems logical and reasonable. As opposed to complex and intuitive, which is how the spirit world works").

Cossack says they can probably stop being so passive now, dig a hole and see what happens. Tillie points out the opposite of passive is aggressive and so Cossack tells her to aggressively dig a hole then. Tillie salutes and takes her crystal back to Coode Island, letting the others know ahead of time.

So they need to go down. Can they awaken an excavator? ("What could go wrong with a corrupted digger?" "cAn WE fiX it?"). Maybe Will's elemental friend? What if it gets tainted? Well, they could cleanse the spirit, if its not sudden and overwhelming. Will puts out the call, and not long after there is almost a wake in the packed silt, and then the earth elemental starts to stride out of the ground ("You. Can. Tell. By. The Way. I Use. My. Walk"). The spirit stops in front of Will, and he thanks it for coming. Will explains the situation and says they need to be sure about what is here. Do they need to know or see? Know. The elemental communes with the earth for a time.

When its attention returns to the pack, it says that each place they haev indicated has a badly structured tube of tainted crystals leading inward, but down. Will asks how far down and it sinks into the ground to find out while Will yells out to watch out for potential agents of the wyrm down there. ("What's in here? What's our guess?" "Heart of the old River spirit" "Its a hive, but its in a pocket realm" "An elevator to hell" "Its a hive, but its been shrink-rayed" "Two mirrors to look at the reflection of your reflection, and it lets you get into the super umbra").

When the elemental returns it confirms the tubes descend but they go into the other before they converge. The pack stare for a moment and enquire what other is? The elemental points at the river and Will says "water?" "Yes. It infuses" After some back and forth, the pack work out that after twice Will's height, the water gets too wet for the earth elemental to path - the tubes descend into it. That seem reasonable, given that would be below the water level here.

Tillie thinks that more and more it suggests there's something down there that sent energy up. Can the elemental start digging it all up? Yes, it can start to move the earth around. ("Not Will, but Andrew is suddenly the most qualified person to solve this"). The elemental is able to move the ground around the tubes more delicately than the garou could manage, so they help with bulk movement in the center while it shoves things around to reveal the crystals.

As the crystals are uncovered, it becomes clear that there's no change in their nature - colour, compositon, thickness, etc, varies, but it doesn't get thicker. It looks more like lightning as it goes down - it wiggles randomly around. As they uncover the bits nearer the surface, it suggests a simple single circle of ritualists is not how it worked - there would have been at least two rings.

After about 2 Will heights, the soil gets wetter and wetter. It starts to ooze instead of move around, and the elemental starts to struggle moving it around. The circle has contracted to about large room size. ("You gotta get the mud guy")

They contemplate what might have happened - maybe the mages did this? There's no sense of magic but maybe it faded. They know the mages were messing with wyrm stuff 2 years ago. This is an alien wyrm, maybe they somethinged it? The alien sense doesn't get any stronger, but there's other wyrm senses starting to emerge from the slop - its probably a reflection of what got dumped in the Realm in the channel when it was no longer needed.

Maaaybe there's a basement here in the Realm, and this is an effect in the Umbra? They lay their head on the slop at the bottom of their hole and try to see, but there's no space in the Realm here. Maybe lower down? They try and eyeball the angle of the tubes and how much space they have to go - maybe another 2m? or a bit more?

Is it possible that some of the storm water drains they saw would go down this deep? Not legitimately, because they've gotta be below the water level of the Yarra now, and presumably that would just fill them up with water. But maybe if there's some secret network? Then you could go from those tunnels to.. something? Could they get some real rats to go down the tunnels and investigate? Sure, but then what, they're rats, not rat spirits, they might forget what they were doing. ("I'm a bit worried if we summon a spirit to dig deeper, we'll hit some chamber of banes, they'll get killed and suddenly the ground will slop back and bury us all") (https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/v9ni8a/melbourne_supernatural_life/) Stronger spirits might be able to excavate deeper. Or some sort of mud spirit instead of earth?

The pack contemplate digging. Its probably too liquid to get it done themselves and not sure where they'd pump everything anyway. Crab spirit? Maybe - there's not really too many animal spirits that are that big into digging a hole. Maybe a stronger rock elemental or a water elemental? Or a mud spirit of some sort. Wombat? ("Do you really want to deal with chiminage for a wombat?" " 'fuck up some cars, cunt. Just run at them and headbutt the fuck out of them. If you can flip a ute?' " "Play chicken with bigger and bigger vehicles")

Ok, significant elemental it is. Earth elementals don't like fire, they are kind of the bones of Gaia. They are pro getting rid of wyrm taint. The more specific kinds of rock and earth have specific goals - basalt stops fire elementals, quartz promotes healing and well being, jade is all about mystacism, etc. Ok, so maybe just offering to cleanse this area as hard as they can, and just raw power? Lets not do this at the site tho, they head off to a big clear area away from Coode Island.

Sinead gets her summon on with Will's help. Or rather, they both don't. They've generally not done it together and they keep zigging when they should zag. The rite doesn't go awry, it just doesn't raise any power at all. Sinead blames Will and tells him to nick off.

While the others go to warn the Sept what they're doing (this may pop the zit) and warn them shit may hit the fan, Sinead settles down and tries again. This time she takes an extra hour or so to try and lock it in. Meanwhile at the caern, people are now thinking that this is a wash - generally they expect that the Dancers would have acted in some way by this point, even as sneaky at the pack are being. Kasumi only

Three hours later, the ground starts to shake. A short distance away from Sinead a bull's head emerges from the ground and shakes, followed by the rest of the body. Its a stone bull, maybe 20' long. Its head swings around and it focuses on Sinead. "YOU. CALLED." extremely loudly. "WHY". Sinead explains they need to uncover something of the wyrm under the ground. The elemental bellows nothing is here. "Oh, sorry, not here, come see." "WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR ME" "We'll kill any bane-" "THAT IS JUST HOW YOU LIVE". "Let us show you"

The spirit follows, with every hoof fall shaking the earth and booming out. When they arrive, the pack say that they think there might be agents of the wyrm under here. "WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?" "Dig til we get to the wyrm" ("I don't care, go all the way down, fuck it [volcano]"). "AND WHAT WILL YOU DO" The pack say they'll destroy the agents of the wyrm here, and they'll cleanse another area, within one running day. ("Maybe we could replace all the chemicals with something nice." "Pudding" "My brain actually went 'bong water', I don't know why") ("Giant bull, we'll wank him off" "hey, don't say 'we'!") ("we'll write to the local member" "And wank it off?") "YOU WILL TAKE AN AREA THAT IS DEAD, CLEANSE IT AND BRING IT BACK TO LIFE. AN AREA WHICH IS CORRUPT SOIL, CORRUPT, DESECRATED. CLEANSE IT OF FILTH AND BRING LIFE BACK TO IT". The pack agree that they will do this. ("We'll go and spread seed everywhere - " "And now we're back to wanking off").

They tell the spirit where to dig (where this hole is). It starts to walk in circles around the edge of their excavation, with hoof print slamming down. On the 3rd orbit, the earth starts to flow away from the stomping, up and out away from the hole. As the earth flows, the pack can see lumps of the fulgarite crystal occasionally getting swept up and out of the hole - they show up as a distortion in the flow and then more obviously if they start to spin.

After a lot further down than they were expecting, something starts to be obvious in the sludge. Its a lump, and the lump keeps increasing in size. Will triggers a truesight talen, and there is no sign of illusion being dispelled, tho he can now see in extreme detail. The lump starts to move up with the soil, slowly at first and then faster, rotating as it rolls along. The pack focus their gifts - there's a wyrm sense, alien like the feeling on the fulgarites, and a weaver sense weaker. Nothing particularly active.

Once its at the surface, they pull it aside and check it out. Its a lump of rock, sort of chalky - as they swipe mud off it, the surface crumbles away. The interior is purple and green in bands. Its not egg shaped, despite a brief fear from some of the pack. The sense of 'alienness' continues - its not something natural to the immediate penumbra.

Will considers the rock and points out one side is pretty smooth, like its been cut away from something else. Kasumi has some sort of theory about this being like a potato that's been deliberately planted. The material, when it crumbles, is very dry and powdery.

The elemental bull continues downward, but there are no additional lumps or crystals as it goes another 2 metres down. They can't sense anything particularly extra wyrm down there either. The pack ask the spirit to pause and come and look at their rock. The spirit asks them if they want it to stop here, as only by the force of its will does the soil not collapse down. Tillie says that they do need it up here and the spirit walks straight up the side of the hole. The spirit considers the rock. It proclaims that the rock is not of here, of the shadow. It is from a spirit realm further from Gaia. Definitely not from the sunshine and candy realm. ("Sunshine, candy and oral sex, right. I know what we're doing for your birthday. 'My eyes!'" "Not all at once, that's how you get a yeast infection. And sunburn"). The spirit manages to convey to the pack that the rock is missing its "ness"ness. It might be that its essence was used up by something? Its a dead battery? Will suggests that this might be one of many things protecting the hive? Or maybe its a distractions, its just a thing in a hole to keep them from paying attention to the right thing.

The pack spend a bit of time working out how to get down to the level the rock came out of and see if there's a pipe or tunnel there that someone did a ritual in, but they're pretty sure there's nothing to peek into in the Realm.

Did they get fooled in the first place, and it was never a strawman mage who sent them here in the first place? Maybe the sparkling magic thing was the mages looking for them to trigger a trap, and the cuckoo magic hid them? Why is all the essence drained? Was it used in a ritual, discharging its energy? Its not unprecedented, they got a Fianna pack to go out and get a wyld stone to help centre the ritual to attract low fae. But that's not a casual thing to go do - it could take Some Time Did someone bring it back, bury it and then.... ritual it? This is mental. Could there have been a supporting ritual done here on the night of the attack on the caern? Can they ask a spirit when the ritual happened? Maybe a weaver spider, cos there's not much else here. Which means asking precise questions. Maybe there's multiple stones, and this ritual has been done in multiple places around the island? They spend a bit of time sensing for that particular wyrm signature but there's nowhere it comes up again, even specifically checking the ground.

The pack contemplate contacting someone with more knowledge - perhaps Bartholomew Wise-in-the-Ways-of-the-Wyrm, or Malajimbarra might have some ideas. Definitely something to consider. ("Zen cranes")

Kasumi heads back to the caern, and chats to everyone there, while speaking to her pack mentally. Emma and Cossack agree with the broad strokes, ritual, powered by umbral rock. If its a ritual, why does the lightning bits stop a couple feet from the top, rather than going all the way up? And what ritual? Discovering the kind of ritual from just this sort of evidence would be possible, but it could take forever, and it might be a wyrm one - the only way to find it out would be interacting with wyrm spirits.

Bane summoning and controlling could be it? Asking rats or seagulls might be a go, but they'll have to summon a large animal father spirit to coordinate lots of smaller spirits - like the Sept was doing with Father Possum.

Conversation about timing - it seems weird that Chris etc didn't spot this, to the point of being impossible. So, maybe the ritual that was done was between the last visit and now - that gives them a bracket of about 2 years that something might have happened.

But what is is? A spirit gate? Would that explain where the rock was? Did it just get shifted from one similar place in the Umbra to the spot in the Penumbra. Its in an old river bed, in landfill. Will asks if maybe it had been there an awfully long time, like before Europeans came here and then diverted the river. The Elders can't think of any reason why that isn't true - it would also explain how it got there. That might have been deep enough to avoid the cleansing rituals done at the top of the ground after the explosion.

Amy asks to be heard and asks if all this sneaking is what the Dancers have set their defenses against - that they were predicting a stealthy approach to their Hive and set things up to protect agsint that specifically. Maybe a full assault would have more luck. Someone asks what they'd be assaulting, given the lack of anything to see? She says that a Sept of garou could really go through and wreck up the joint, start fires and so on - that sort of trouble mightn't be expected. Cossack blinks a little and says that it would definitely be unexpected, but they'll save it for a case where they're more sure that the Dancers are there.

Cossack is starting to think that there's no Dancers here, though there's certainly something weird. Ian suggests that they are there, and the Lost Prophets are just being a bit useless. Kasumi death stares him. Did the mages just see the Dancers do a ritual there, and thought that must have been their home? So the advice was legit, just wrong. Cossack says there's clearly something weird, but ... not a hive? Maybe they should just file it under inexplicable. ("BAM! And the wyrm is gone").

Kasumi heads back and they try and find a weaver spirit to talk to. The best option is there is a security camera that sort of looks over the area they've dug up. There's no cranes nearby, which would be the biggest spirits. Finn does the spirit awakening rite and attempts to get the spirit to be responsive. As it appears in the Umbra, it is less the spherical plastic shell on a pole as gargoyle-esque weaver spirit staring intently around. Will tries to bind the spirit but instead gets his fingers tangled and has to let Sinead do it. The spirit stares intently at her the whole time she is doing the ritual, but she tangles it in her will.

The Lost Prophets work out their questions, because they'll only have a couple. Did it ever see a cloud of banes around the spot where the big hole is? No. Hmm. Since the last full moon, did they see anyone here performing a ritual? No. Hmmmm. Has.. has it seen any essence exploding out of the ground here? No, it has not seen aything like that in recorded history. Wait, what? What is the maximum recorded history? Three months ago. Oh. OH. Ok, yeah, the camera records stuff but it gets erased after a period of time. ("Oh no, we woke it up and now it has ennui") (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73PsFKtIck)

Will wants to contact that mages and ask why they thought the Dancers were there - maybe it was just a mistake. They don't currently have a way to contact them though. Maybe they could leave something visible near themselves whenever the mages scry them (as they presumably are all the time).

There's a lot more what if for the rest of the night, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Generally the sept is going to step down from its high alert ("One of these days Ian, pow, straight to the Moon goddess")

Melissa follows the pack home and crashes in their crowded lounge.

Sunday 22nd January - Ragabash

Tillie gets up in the middle of the night to pee. She's washing her hands in the bathroom under the crappy fluroglobe when she sees something move out in the corridor in the mirror. She runs out and just punches wildly into the corridor ("I punch the darkness") but hits nothing. She tries to mentally contact the others, but they don't reply. Water continues to run in the sink. Tillie closes her eyes and tries to sense if anyone is there by other senses. She can kind of feel someone there, but sense wyrm doesn't say any corruption is there. She tries sense unnatural, and no, there's nothing there, but it gives her a weird sense of proportion on the initial sense - she can sense someone but they are a long way away while still being close to here. Its a weird sensation.

Tillie tries to get into Finn's room, but the door won't open. She tries to get down the corridor to the others. She tries peeking, but it feels like that she can't. Tillie becomes aware that she's dreaming and tries to break the dream, which causes her to wake up. She's still in her bed, although there is a surprise new hole right next to her bed. She still needs to pee.

The next morning, Tillie tells people her dream. No one really has any insights. Sinead claims a demarkation dispute, she is the one that gets the whacky dreams. ("Am i bleeding from all my orifices?" "How you spent your night is up to you, really")

Kasumi spends the day making electricity for chiminage - she heads to JB and JCar and Taking the Forgottens some solar panels and little machines to use their power. Will finds out how to make a straw dolly, and a tiny letter and he applies b to a. He leaves it tied to a fence at Coode Island where they found the weird rock. Then he heads out to the flats near Sunbury and hunts small animals and leaves them for raptors, as part of his chiminage. Tillie goes and visits (from the Umbra) the Glade Child and the kids that are rebuilding the garden.

During the day Kasumi floats the idea of getting Melissa to come back to the cops and saying "I don't know what happened", and getting some of her life (specifically her house) back. She drives to South Yarra and looks at it - unlike her flat, the front windows have been repaired. Its just locked up. The pack chat mentally about it - if Melissa says she freaked out and has been living on the streets and was on a drug bender, that might be vaguely plausible? They'd have to float it past Melissa though.

Word comes back about the phone that called the phonebox - the mobile only seemed to hit towers in Richmond and the CBD, and it only got recharged with vouchers bought with cash (kind of around the same area).

Tuesday 24th January - Ragabash

Sinead is in the bush, half way up a hill. Down the bottom of the hill is a really big river, by Australian standards. There's a faint, but weird smell. There's little fluffy bits floating down - its ash, and it has a weird feel. It smells weird, sulpherous - there's some very strange clouds way off the way the river is flowing, and she's getting a very 'volcano'ey feel.

Thre's a figure on top of the hill - human sized, but hard to make out from here. They're about 60m away, but she can't see them properly for some reason. The dropping ash is not helping matters. She starts to slowly head up the hill - the ground is a bit loose, but the growth isn't too hard to move through. She gets to the top and can see that its Bartholomew Wise-in-the-Ways-of-the-Wyrm waiting for her. "You right?" "I think so - why is there a volcano?" ".. because there is? I know, its hard to believe this is Hopping Mouse Hill, isn't it?" "What are you doing here?" "I said I'd show you this?" He heads off parellel to the river, away from the volcano. Sinead tries to establish if this is really Bartholomew, and he knows the answer to her question.

He leads her down a slope and around in a way that is hard to define. They enter a cavern - its about 30 metres across, with stone walls. The floor is broken, great jagged chunks of rock at varying angles all the way across it except a thin ledge around the outside. The walls are painted, with aboriginal designs. Sinead recognises it as the cave in the Blue Mountains that Bartholomew took them to - the one where he thought a great wyrm beast had been chained by the Bunyip, but later escaped.

Sinead turns around to speak to Bartholomew, but he's not there. She calls out, and gets no response. She heads out of the cave and onto Bourke St. Its summer, there's still ashy, dusty stuff drifting through the air. People move past her, but they are leaving dusty trails, and where they step there are bloody footprints left behind. She looks up, and the buildings themselves are decaying - the concrete is fraying, and dust drifts down in clouds from the sky. No one around her has noticed. Tram cables snap and drop. A pigeon lands on the ground, its legs stick, and it flicks its wings out, stumbling, hits the ground and dissolves to dust.

Sinead wakes on her back. Her eyes are small puddles of blood and its been running down her throat. She can't hear properly because her ears are blocked. She's understandably a bit upset, and the rest of the pack aren't too well thrilled either as she splutters blood onto them. "Waaash myyy faaace" Kasumi grabs reams of toilet paper and just piles it on her. Melissa is taken aback. ("Rectal bleeding is not stigmata")

She cleans up and manages to explain to her pack what happened. Will finds a Hopping Mouse Hill in the middle of Wyperfeld National park up the north west of Victoria. That's the Big Desert - doesn't have a big river next to it, nor volcanos, so maybe its another place they need. There's not really anywhere else on the map, but maybe its somewhere locally known as that. They'll ring Bartholomew when its a bit more civilised in terms of time. Should they tell the Jindabyne Council? They're still meant to when there's Bunyip things - does this count? ("Had a dream about Bunyip" "Went to Bunyip on the train" "Ate a bunyip icecream" "Heard the word 'bunyip' at the library" "Ate a yowie, which is sometimes confused with Bunyip" "Thought i saw a bunyip in the river" "Bought a dog, called it Bunyip" "Saw Bunyip today. Saw bunyip today. Saw Bunyip today. Gave Bunyip a pat" "Bunyip is goodest boy" "Bought Bunyip a friend, now there's two Bunyips" "Bunyip got into the sausages" "Bunyip pooed inside" "Went to the bakery at Yip, bought some buns." "Going on a fun trip - rhymes with bunyip, thought you should know". )

Kasumi gets a hold of Bartholomew on the phone. "Oh, its you" Kasumi gives him a rundown of Sinead's dream. He doesn't know anything about a Hopping Mouse Hill offhand, but the Wyrm beast cavern stuff sounds a bit worrying. He'll see what he can see about such a place and volcanos and the apocalypse. He suggests keeping a close eye on the Cracking Stone

They ask him about the wyrm rock too, while he's there. He agrees that quests into the Umbra looking for charged items to power rituals are not uncommon stories... but it sounds like it might be a Dancer story? He's not sure from their description that any energy went out rather than in though - perhaps someone charged it up? He says he'll look into it all.

The pack wander off and find Emma and explain Sinead's dream. She makes a face. They chat about what it might mean - Tillie says that maybe it was all a long long time ago? Emma makes a face and says that while her colleagues in the Earth Sciences department might suggest a day thousands of years ago, as someone who subscribes to an animist world view with the mother goddess at its core... they might want to take the actuality of anything that was meant to happen more than two to four thousand years ago with quite a big serve of umbral salt. On the other hand, Tower Hill was a Bunyip caern, presuming whenever and however they happened, there may well have been Bunyip around when there were volcanos here. And so, maybe the dream was an old dream? A warning? The other elements might have been her subconscious weaving wise people and home into it? ( https://78.media.tumblr.com/3f802850f2caa5c835ba359d7cc12ef3/tumblr_on8793rNjG1vnjnxno1_540.jpg )

Emma's pretty ok with them travelling out to the one at Wyperfeld, just to be sure - its only a day or so worth of travel, and better to not ignore a potential prophetic warning.

In the late morning, after a bit of a mental recap of their outstanding things, the pack decide they should drive up to the desert today. ("We go to Hidden Green and steal Scott's lunch") ("No, the falcons are not near Hidden Green") Will thinks to ask whose territory it is - oh, its probably Fianna, but they're not sure what sept. They decide to pass a message to Rippling Waters (where they are technically sept members) and ask them to echo it onto whoever its relevant for. It doesn't have much detail, basically "Sinead's had a prophetic dream and we're going to go follow it up". They also pass a message onto the Council via a mouse spirit.

Will bothers to look it up to see if there's any campsites - yeah, there's a couple, but its going to be pretty ferociously hot up there. Should they take special weapons? They decide not to. Melissa asks if she can come, and there's a bit of um and ah and then yeah sure. Kasumi takes her electrical hand crank so she can get her hours up.

Will wants to check out any information on native stories of the area. He ducks off to the local library, but finds that the only stuff they have is 1950s reference books. Apparently the people indigenous to the area were well known for their tracking skills though - white folks got lost in the mallee country, and they got aboriginal trackers to help find them. There were reward paid and a lot of newspaper interest.

Kasumi gets a call from Bartholomew while they're waiting for Will to come back. There's definitely a lot of stories about people going to the umbra and getting stones or crystals from there, charged with spirit energy and bringing them back. So the theory holds up that that is what the Dancer's did - but because there's so many, what they actually _did_ could be anything. On that topic though, he wrote down everything she said, and had a think about it, and wonders why if something like that had been done, why is there no obvious outcome? Maybe it wasn't 'aimed' at them - if they've got the mages wandering around, and causing trouble, maybe the ritual was something to do something with them? It might explain why there's no obvious outcome

On the topic of Hopping Mouse Hill though - they should probably be aware that that area is one of the places that Garou are renowned for disappearing in, which is usually blamed on the Bunyip. So, don't maybe seperate? It was a pretty heavily fought area in the War of Tears. She thanks him for that.

Its midafternoon before they take off. Its entertaining enough until they get out the back of Bendigo, at which point it becomes dull and flat and they've still got hours to go. About 7 o'clock, people compare notes, and the maps they have in the car, and realise they didn't bring any really precise maps. They pull in at Sea Lake to buy some. The fellow behind the register is curious where they're headed and when it becomes clear that he thinks they are dangerously unprepared lunatics, Will asks for advice. He suggests taking a few big water containers in there, because it gets really hot during the day. And some spare petrol. Do they have tents? Sleeping bags? DO they have a 4wd? Any way to cook? Satellite phones? Cos mobile phones don't work in the middle of the desert. Does anyone know where they are going? They should probably leave a message at Patchwellock police station. Hats? Any kind of clothing suitable for walking where there are snakes? Will manages to bluff his way through "oh we just forgot a few things like water" though the guy gives him the eye pretty hard.

They're driving due west now, and into the sun, which is a bit crap. Will is navigating once they have gone through Patchwollack (without leaving their details with the cops) and Tillie is driving. The sun is setting, so navigating is getting harder - there's signs, but they're hard to read until you're up close. The tracks go from sealed without edges to dirt to a mix of sand and sand dunes. Tillie is struggling to keep the car on the track - at least once they have to stop, change to crinos and move the murdervan back onto the track. ("Well, we tried. pub?")

In the Umbra, its significantly different terrain - the realm is dry an dusty, with small mallee gums and sandy/dusty soil. The Umbra is much more temperate forest - taller trees, a smell of water, and richer soils. The hills seem higher in the Umbra too. There's the thinnest sliver of moon, just heading down after the sun. The gauntlet is low. There's no unusual sense of wyrm or anything else in the Umbra.

The pack slip into the Umbra briefly and give a brief howl. There's a reaction from animal spirits - birds squawk and something runs off through the brushland - but there's no reply howl or attack from banes. It doesn't look like the landscape in Sinead's dream - there's definitely no river here for a start - but they're not at Hopping Mouse Hill yet.

They head back to the realm, and drive on. Will spots a hand made sign attached to a pole that's been hammering into the ground. Its hand written and says "no headlights from this point on - parkers only". They're slightly mystified but comply. It slows the trip down a fair bit, between the tracks and very very low light.

Another 15 minutes of driving, and they're getting really close when Will spots some other cars parked off the side of the road. They're 4wd, but there's no campsite (or at least no fire) here, and no signs of people. Hunters? They cruise past slowly, and sense for wyrm and other supernatural things - no dice. There's no one there at all either. The pack drive on another 50m and pull over themselves. They sit for a few minutes and keep an eye out in case anyone is watching them.

People peek and check that the Umbra is clear, then Kasumi and Melissa head into the Umbra. The Umbra is a bit of a shock, just from desert into temperate landscape. There's nothing unexpected here, like people doing rituals. Meanwhile in the Realm, the pack spot a very dim light moving from the east side of the path. The light isn't coming to them, but to the cars. Will and Sinead slip into lupus form and try to circle around behind them. Kasumi peeks while Melissa guides her toward the light source.

The terrain is perfect for sneaking - the soft soil absorbs almost every step they take. As Will and Sinead sneak up behind the light source, they hear some voices and see some very, very dim glimmers of light the way that it came from. Its an electronic kind of light, not firelight. They follow along behind and get a scent - its a human scent, someone who ate bbq earlier. Not a lot more detail though.

Kasumi spots a figure moving along with a light in their hand. They come out of the bushland, come out onto the road and spin around a few times, then move to the cars and move around the cars. Kasumi follows along and tries to check them out - she doesn't think that its a ranger, she does't think they have a Parks Victoria uniform tho. The person opens the boot on one of the cars and takes out a backpack, slinging it over one shoulder.

The figure then heads back the way they came - Will and Sinead are basically invisible crouched in shadow next to the track, and Will uses his scent of the true form gift. Its definitely a human being. Kasumi and Melissa follow from the Umbra, as do Sinead and Will once the person has passed. As they walk, the brush breaks, and the ground drops away about a half metre and then keeps sloping, out onto some open grassland. There's some sense of movement, and dim light out on the grass, the same sort of very dim bluish light mostly pointed at the ground. Sinead and Will have to slow down and drop back because the open area will mean they cast a bit of a silhouette, but Kasumi is still peeking and can follow. Melissa says out loud that there's nothing of note in that direction in the Umbra.

The fellow they are following joins the other people. There's about 10 people here, and when Kasumi squints she thinks she can see telescopes. Some sort of astronomy gathering? There's a few here, spread out - she can't make out much else. ("They're not evil, they're just nerds"). There might be camera's attached to some? There's a variety of sizes from arm to leg thickness. The pack figure this is probably no drama and what they want is probably in the Umbra.

The Lost Prophets decide to get there in the Realm and then move into the Umbra. The car is left there. Not much more than 100 metres further on a rise starts to show itself as they cautiously trot along. Calling it a hill is a bit of a misnomer - in the Realm, its only about 25m higher than the surrounding land at the very top of the hill, but as the land is so flat, it probably allows a long view. Sinead says that the hill itself feels like the hill from her dream - there's no ash, no river, but the hill itself seems right. She heads part way up the hill and thinks that she was standing here somewhere. The garou orient themselves - they're ascending the east side, which is the side that Sinead started on. The purported volcano would have been off to the horizon to the south. The river would have been at least partly over where the open grassland and the astronomers is now.

Tillie senses wyrm... no... wait...no... no, definitely not. There was a weird sense for a second, but it might have been her imagination.

They head up to the top of the hill - its not an easy slog, the soil is very loose and it shifts whenever they push down on it. They can see the astronomers on quite a large plain that heads north east. The moon is down and the sky seems to go on forever.

The garou start to look around and see if they can see anything resembling a cave full of wyrm beasts. Sinead says she went north in her dream, and *around* in some fashion, and then she was inside. ("To see what he could see, to see what he could see...") They give it a shot anyhow, wandering around looking out into the darkness.

In the Umbra, its still temperate forest. The Umbra is not as open as the Realm - although the hill feels higher (disorientingly), the umbral mists block view very far, and the bits they can see are pretty hilly (though smaller than their current perch) Will peeks into the Umbra and tries to sense unnatural. There's a sort of sense that there's just been a sound but its gone just before they listened.

Will theorises that the way into the cave is like a moonpath, rather than an actual cave, given the landscape. Maybe not exactly, like the doors they find, but something similar.

The landscape in the Umbra does and doesn't match up to Sinead's dream. The hill is close, but right to the east where there should be a river there's hills - in the realm is the creek and lakebeds. Its more like she was standing in the Realm than the Umbra.

Sinead tries to feel her way to the cave entrance, but its not immediately obvious. After a bit of back and forth she finds the least wrong spot. There's a bit of a drop, and a bit of rock face exposed, then a flat bit, and back to the hill. There's an arc of rock face exposed with sandy dirt on top. But there's no exposed cave hole.

If its a moonpath, could they summon a spirit to show it to them? It'd need to be a Lune, and they'd need to wait until the moon rose again tomorrow. Other spirits not so much. There are other hidden paths in the umbra - airts that spirits use, for instance. Trods to Arcadia.

Maybe they could use the Cracking Stone if they can find a likely door... but what if that lets something caged out? Hmm, Sinead's dreams have always come true, and the Wyrm beast seemed to have escaped in it. Kasumi suggests they should maybe be researching how to lock up Wyrm beasts before they probe about maybe unlocking a prison. Using the Cracking Stone is probably not a free for all on the containing ritual either - certainly when Bartholomew used the Waiting Stone in the Blue Mountains, it opened a passage, it didn't burst the containing chamber like a bubble.

Sienad tries to sense wyrm here. Y-no. There's *something* but its a little akin to hearing a noise while you're asleep - you wake up and there's no noise, but there's a very strong belief that there was something. Sense unnatural on the other hand shows .. nothing unusual. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8vk8Zrwak) Does that make sense? Maybe the rites and rituals that the Bunyip allegedly did are suppressing a sense of wyrm from the creature?

Will speculates - the dream was clearly ages ago. Maybe its saying that the beast escaped a long time ago, but now cut to Melbourne in the modern time, and its a danger to the city now? Is the volcano ash like the dust that was falling off Melbourne? Did the wyrm beast cause the volcano? Did the dream call them here to learn something about it? ("cheesels have the maximum surface area to have the maximum cheese flavouring stuck to it").

Maybe they can ask Cracking Stone? Perhaps the spirit inside it is able to vaguely communicate, it might be able to give them some hints on where the gate might be. Its unlikely to be the key for this particular lock, but they might be generic enough to help. Will likes the idea of finding this passage and the chamber, but not the idea of having to report back to the Jindabyne Council that they accidentally released an ancient evil. (the tiger is out)

Sinead says she'll give it a go to talk to the fetish and see if it has anything to communicate. She spends a couple of hours communing with the spirit, and it has something to say, but she can't understand it ("Like communicating with someone else's toddler") Maybe they should try some local spirits - there might be some that can help them? Or Boobook? Rock spirits? They look up - something from the stars? No, that's likely to be an endless eldritch horror. ("we're going to speak to the void, and hope for an answer?") Do they need some sort of sandbridge?

Will summons his elemental friend. The spirit arises up out of the ground in short order. He asks if there's a name the spirit would like to be known by ("Its Dennis." "Slate" "Rock" "Cliff") but it declines to give him an identifier. Will asks if there is a cavern beheath the ground here - they suspect that there might be an ancient wyrm beast chained in a space in the rock beneath here. As he says it, Will realises that he's asking the spirit to stick its head into a veritable lion's mouth. For the second time in like a week. The spirit indicates it does not like all the sand that it is here (its more a basalt kind of looking elemental). It sinks beneath all the sandy soil in an erratic fashion.

After some time, the spirit returns, with a kind of hissing sound as it emerges from the sand. It says that there is no cave within the hill. Will asks if it sensed any corruption? No. Kasumi tries to ask if there's airts within the hill, but struggles to explain what she means.

Kasumi tries to look at the spot that Sinead has identified to see if there's anything they can see. Finn makes some faerie lights for her, because its pretty dark. The soil atop the rocks cascades down whenever she moves her hands along the rocks. She tries to move some of the collapsed sandy soil out the way, and realises its very loose, and the rock keeps going down. She scoops a lot of stuff out the way and finds that it really does keep going down. She points this out to Sinead, who says that maybe yeah, they are up too high? The 5 garou change to crinos and start scooping tonnes of sandy soil out from in front of the rock face. It all seems to be a drift of sand, blown up againt the wall.

They manage to uncover most of a wall sized amount of rock by digging out a huge drift of sand. There's no pictograms or anything that might suggest that this is the place - sense wyrm once or twice gices that echo-not-heard sense of wyrm from somewhere, but nothing else shows up.

Its about 3am now. Could they check the realm? Will sneaks out and checks on the astronomy club, and there's still 4 of them there, but its a lot more muted than it was before - just waiting for the cameras to take long exposures. They could probably make noise as long as they don't make any light. ("There's lots of animal noises" "Scraw!" "wurrp" "Wombat wombat" "I'll fucking cut ya"). Figuring this is a go, they head to the same spot as the realm and start to dig.

Oddly Hopping Mouse Hill is the same in the realm and the umbra. Its a bit subtle, but if you're looking for it, it stands out. There's a rock face in both the Umbra and the Realm, but there's no pictograms on both. The Realm feels more right to Sinead, in the sense that it was closer to the dream. In the Realm, there's a 'creek' about where the river was, except the river was enormous, especially for an australian river.

Given how loose the sand is, in big drifts, its possible that there used to be some markings here and the wind and the sand just took them totally off.

Maybe they could awaken the spirit of the hill - that sort of loci spirit tends to be awake and only at somewhere significant... though maybe a prison would count. Should they just wave the Cracking Stone around? Open Seal? What if it just released the ancient evil? From what Bartholomew suggested to them, the Cracking Stone is a key, not a pin for a balloon. Sinead says that the rituals to bind spirits include the commands you want them to do - they sort of have instructions encoded in them so maybe whatever ritual was used here has the Cracking Stone embedded in it as a key.

Maybe they should ask someone who knows for sure. Why not the Uktena? Nooo. Maybe Malajimbarra. Maybe Bartholomew? Actually, Bartholomew is already involved, that makes some sense. They could call him, except there's sweet fanny adams about of reception here. Maybe the Fianna? They're in the Fiana protectorate, but they're not sure if there's a closer caern that this might be the bawn of?

Kasumi suggests they should go for a bit of a mundane sniff around the area - just in case there's some other activity that's happened here that left a scent. This they now do. Kasumi can find an old hiker's smell on the hill, but its months old and its broken down to barely noticable. She can smell more people on the road, walking and cars going past. There's animals, and animal spirits in the Umbra. The only sign of disturbed earth is their own efforts today.

Figuring they should really call in first, the pack decides to get a couple hours sleep in the car on top of a big furry Tillie pillow. They see one of the astronomy cars go crawling past at about 5 in the morning.

Wednesday 25th January - Ragabash waxing

When they wake up in the morning and start getting ready to go, Sinead feels a weird twitch like something moved in her pocket. ("I dunno that you want your tribe totem to be 'ya mum'") ("la coocaracha la coocharacha") Its the Cracking Stone in her pocket - she pulls it out and it doesn't feel any different to normal. Wait, something moved at the top of the hill out the corner of her eye. Something was moving around where they were digging. She alerts everyone mentally but otherwise projects non-chalantness. Sinead goes to put the Cracking Stone in her pocket, and misses, and it falls on the ground and shatters -

- and thats when Sinead wakes up properly, screaming and thrashing around in the car. The sun is only just coming up as everyone complains about the noise and being elbowed in the ear. She scrambles over to get the fetish and makes sure that its hale and hearty. There's no signs of anything outside, and there's no blood coming out of her everywhere. Once she explains, they go and look at the site, just to check nothing but birds have come in and been messing about.

Right. Everyone is coming to Patchwolleck, partly because if anything happens at the site, they don't want just one or two people left there. The trip is a bit easier without the sun in their eyes (or whatever Tillie's excuse was). They get to town about 7, and Kasumi gets signal not far out of town. She calls Bartholomew and catches him up - nothing much happens except Sinead's dream.

Bartholomew says that the lack of precise wyrm sense might be good - it might indicate that any wards are still working. Obviously you don't want banes - or worse - to be able to come along and find where you have stashed one of these things. As to whether its safe to use the Cracking Stone... well, his understanding is that the stone fetishes are there to allow access to the prison, and to renew any decaying rituals. He doesn't think that they would be like a pin popping a balloon. If the prison is about to give way except for the door, they'd be able to sense the beast - 'wyrm beast' doesn't really explain what these things are. They're not just a big bane, they are primordial wyrm creatures. Either its there and the binding is fine and the stone won't free it, or its gone as per the dream. So he thinks that - if that's the door - they should be able to enter. And if he's wrong, then they'll cease to exist and no one will know he said that to them.

He's been looking into things for them around these beasts. There was no 'cultural exchange' where the Bunyip caught the European garou up on knowledge, so what he has is slim pickings. He had found information suggesting there were some contained beasts in the deep desert... and the nuclear tests in the 50s might have been right on top of them. That won't have killed the beasts, but it might have freed them. Good news there. Allegedly there were a couple in Tasmania, but the rest of them were "I've heard..." He understands the Uktenna do like to keep the beasts under the ground, so maybe the Bunyip were the same. When he was looking for the Waiting Stone, there were some mentions of European Garou who had similar fetishes, but the Waiting Stone was the only one he got a bead on.

So that's about it. He'll keep looking on the off chance that they don't get consumed and destroyed. They say bye and go looking for a bakery, but find the general store. There's some basics, and given the pack brought no food, they'll take it and like it. Back they head.

When they arrive, the last of the astronomy club has gone to wherever it is astronomers hide during the day. The pack head to the Umbra and then to the stone wall. Sinead runs the Cracking Stone along the rock and finds a spot that needs to be activated. She triggers the fetish and something changes. Her hands sink slightly into the wall, along with the fetish. Its like a liquid gel, cold but otherwise retaining its shape. Will senses - there's now a not insignificant amount of wyld and weaver coming from the rock face that wasn't there before. They try and move through it, but the second that they put their face into it, its dark and they can't breathe. ("hold your breath and push your face in as far as you can?" "that's what she said").

Finn volunteers as tribute. They get some rope out of the murdervan and dedicate it. Finn starts to push himself into the wall, and balks. Something about it is really, really, offputting. He takes a minute or two and resettles himself and then tries to push in again... only this time his rage comes surging forth and its only the fact that its a ragabash moon stops him from fox frenzying off into the distance.

Kasumi gives him the eye, and ties the rope around herself. ("you come from japan, this is like level 1 of a japanese game show") She submerses herself in the wall while holding her breath. Its hard going - she can't see, and she can't hear and she can't breath, all she has is touch to lead her on. It feels like it takes a while, but before she can panic about how to get back without running out of air, she emerges out of the wall. Kasumi opens her eyes, but it changes nothing - its totally black. (Its at this point the others lose mental contact with her).

Kasumi pulls out her phone, and then opts to try her gifts before turning it on. ("I'm gunna turn on the light and its just going to be teeth"). Sense Unnatural says that wyrm is everywhere all around her - there's no point source but she can tell its an overwhelmingly high amount. Then weaver. Then wyld from the portal. With one hand ready on the rope, she unlocks her phone. The phone only illuminates a short distance, but she can tell she is in a huge space. She's standing on sandy soil, but only a couple feet ahead the ground appears to have been shattered - huge slabs of rock are stacked higgle de pigglty as if they were broken, then swept up and just dumped in the space. Its hard to tell if its recent or ages old.

The others, who are mentally disconnected, are starting to get a bit concerned. The rope tugs repeatedly and they realise they have no plans for what the signals mean, so they just pull Kasumi back. ("I forgot to peek" "Oh i thougth you said 'pee'" "Oh no that doesn't matter any more") Just before she appears the mental link comes back. Kasumi gives a quick rundown of what she saw.

Tillie opts to come back inside with Kasumi. She also finds the sensation of the liquid, but grainy, rock hard to deal with. She takes a deep breath and has another go. Its a long corridor to get through, with a fair amount of sensory deprivation mixed with feeling the rock get everywhere. Just as she's starting to feel like it might be time to turn back, they emerge into the cavern.

Outside, Kasumi and Tillie disappear from the mental link. Inside, there's no mental link between them either. Kasumi tries to peek, but there's no gauntlet to peek through. Tillie uses her fire gift to light their torches and a chunk of fur.

The space is big. The light from their torches does not illuminate the far side, though there is a glint or two that gives some sense of distance. Kasumi marks the floor to indicate where the door is.

There's a sandy edge/path around the edge, but the centre is like someone's torn up the ground in big chunks and then dropped them into the hole just how they fell. There's just big rocks and smaller sandy rocks around the edge. The big rocks have some fragments of lines and patterns on them, but they look like they've been abraded away and are incomplete. Where Kasumi can even find more of a sequence it stops at the edge, and does not pick up at a nearby place at any of the other nearby chunks. As she's scrambling around, there's the sound of dust and pebbles trickling down through between the big chunks down far into the ground (~ how deep is your hole ~ "that would be an extraordinarily different song").

The walls are covered in bunyip paintings that aren't abraded. They are immediately reminiscent of the fae cave in Mornington, and even some of the Scars Atoning caves. The two of them split up and start looking in opposite directions, trying to see if they can spot anything particularly memorable about the paintings, or anything that looks familiar.

The first sense they have is that this cave is maybe 50 metres across and almost as high. There's no way this fits inside Hopping Mouse Hill, not once you take into account the entrance too. Its a bit bigger than the cave Bartholomew showed them. Ok, they're in some sort of weird space in the Umbra, that fits. Kasumi speculated on whether the Uktena or Green Dragon summoned would fit in here - not because she thinks they came from here, but just getting an idea of size/significance

Kasumi finds a little niche carved into the wall, coming down from above her head to make a sort of waist high flat surface. On it is a little rough-carved figure - its a blob at the top, and blob body with delineated arms. Kasumi changes to lupus to get a smell - and there's nothing except dust. She can smell smoke from their torch and almost Tillie's smell even though she's walking away. But nothing else organic, at all - no bugs, no rotting vegetation, nothing. The statue is a differnt kind of rock to the rock that the walls are made out of. The paintings come down the niche sides but aren't on the flat part. ("it could be a load bearing statue") ("Do i get a niche? " "yes, you're an apex predator. " "you're an idiot").

Tillie also finds a niche - like a scoop out of the wall, just like Kasumi's. Similar the paintings come down to the flat platform, but on this surface lies a river stone that looks very much similar in nature to the Cracking Stone, and the Waiting Stone. The pattern is not the same, but its the same sort of stone and the same size.

The two niches are not quiet 180 degrees apart, but near enough for government work. The pictures on the walls are a mix of figures and geometric shapes of various sorts. They go quite high up the walls, beyond easy reach of crinos even. ("Maybe their totem gave them wings") There is a fair variety, but there are a few that happen a lot. The first is a circle with dots on the inside. The second is like a 5 armed swastika. The third is something that Tillie insists is a penis with hula hoops. It looks familiar, but as long as she insists on using that mnemonic, nothing else will come up.

Kasumi and Tillie discuss and Kasumi heads out across the broken rocks, hoping there's no sudden hole that swallows her up. She finds that around the outside of the broken area, the rocks kind of go up, but in the middle they drop down, possibly below the level of the path bit around the outside. As she moves, the rocks move - they're huge, but there's definitely some sense that there's scope for rocking or settling. Dust and pebbles disturbed by Kasumi cascade down into the depths - there's no sense of it stopping. Kasumi tries to get a sense of weather the rocks are fossilised bone or something - they're a bit too homogenous on the broken edges to suggest any kind of structure, but she can't be sure.

Kasumi checks out the statue with sense unnatural, having found she can't pass it back to Tillie (probably with the mental link). She finds that its oddly weavery, with some wyld. But its 'dim'. She picks it up and has a sense that its almost certainly a fetish or talen. Similarly they check out the stone - it doesn't have the strangley weavery sense, but has some active wyld. Its a dynamic feel, which is odd on an actual stone. Picking it up - yeah, this is a fetish. (There's no indiana jones esque collapse when the fetishes are moved)

The two pack members head back out through the gate. Coming back out is either easier, or they are becoming accustomed to it. Just before they emerge, the mental link comes back.

Meanwhile, Finn has been chatting to Melissa. This isn't her first trip out into the umbral countryside, she's done a few trips. Its nicer. They talk about the other caves - the faerie cave especially is intriguing to Melissa, so she has lots of questions.

Kasumi and Tillie show their booty and do a bit of a sketch in the loose sand. Even with the crappy kind of penis-ness of the figure, the hula hooping individual is clearly Jirrawan to Finn - the totem of the cave caern at Scars Atoning. That's... some distance away. Maybe the idol is meant to be him? It'd be pretty symbolic though, it doesn't have the moving pictures on it that he does.

The river stone is definitely similar to the Cracking Stone, but the pattern and the carvings are different.

("I lick it to see if its bone" "you just licked a fetish") (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMaRuk6pGOc - Lang Hancock's fucking evil) ("The babies that don't start smiling at that age go in the bin" "Evolution in action" "That's ... natural selection") ("Your knowledge of soil has been weirdly useful") (Playing spot the volcano in victoria with google maps: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.2893479,142.6494691,11.75z/data=!5m1!1e4 ) [Yes, we had trouble getting started]

The pack poke at the fetishes a bit. They do seem drained, but not destroyed. The cracking stone - esque one is very familiar in style, but that's a common thing amongst the garou, they tend to eventually find the best way to make a particular kind of fetish and that knowledge spreads.

So... now. Probably time to call in. Should they go back to Melbourne? Do... they bring the fetishes? Will points out the dream went "go to cave, come back to Melbourne, then come back and Melbourne turns to dust". So... ? Ok, how about phone calls instead of travelling - its a long ass way away anyway, and they sort of need to check in with people that are a long way apart from each other.

Back to the realm, and then to the car, then back to Patchewollock to make calls from. Cossack is the first call, and he's unusually on site when they ring. Kasumi gives him a rundown, and half way through he switches to speaker. Big hole, no wyrm beast, two fetishes, some paintings. Should they come home and take the fetishes? He's not keen about them being left there. Cossack suggests they call Bret, and says that when they explain the situation, everyone's going to want to see it anyway - stay there, and wait for the Fianna.

Some discussion about whether the figurine is Jirrawan. If the pack had made a representation of Jirrawan, they'd have painted at least a suggestion of pictograms on him. It could be, but its not obvious.

Ringing Bret - ("ring ring ring banana phone") - it takes a while to get him on the phone. He's clearly driving while he talks - they suggest he should pull over. "You haven't found another caern have you?" They give him the deets. He says they'll need to get up and have a look - he'll call David from Scars Atoning and talk to them about coming along too. Lost Prophets should hold still for a bit to make it easier for someone to find them. They try calling Bartholomew, but apparently his phone is out of range. Could be anything really, including being in the Umbra.

A few hours pass, and the pack amuse themselves and get some food. Eventually some of the Fianna show up. ("I love you" "I love you too" "AAAAAaAAAAAA" "You monster"). Leaps in the Light shows up with the Spear of Tulu pack (Mae Fischer packleader), and only a short while later Marches-the-High-Road shows up with the Green-Choking-Grey pack. Leaps-in-the-Light asks if they are causing trouble again?

They show the fetishes while driving out to the cave. Leaps-in-the-Light has to be persuaded to not attune to them just yet. The two rite masters ask to compare the Cracking Stone to the new fetish, and confirm that they appear to be made to the same tradition.

Its twilight when they arrive. The astronomy club has taken their signs and appears to be gone. Leaps-in-the-Light says they should wait for a bit - there's still some people coming to meet them here. Probably the local sept leader. Will asks where the local sept is and Leaps-in-the-Light gives him the eye. Less than an hour later, two wolves come running through the Umbra, see the collected group and veer toward them. They change to homid and formal greetings are done - the two garou are Sithney (rank 3 homid theurge Fianna, 50 year old well sun-leathered, boots, jeans, hat), Rite master of the Ngarkat Sept and Stillness-Before-Dawn (rank 3 homid Fianna ahroun rank 3, 30 year old and dressed the same) of the same Sept. ("This is Melissa, our unpaid intern")

Leaps-in-the-Light is clearly the talkative one of the three Ritemasters gathered here and leads the conversation. They're keen to go inside and do a Howl of the Wyld to bolster people against the weird offputting watery rock ("hey, I could have done that"). The garou move into the wall and the weird space behind and look around inside. "ooo" The considered opinion is that whatever was here went downwards to get out. The fact that the rocks are still shifting downward, and pebbles bounce down randomly when they knock stuff about. There's no sign something helped it escape? Marches-the-High-Road says it is known that this sort of binding rite needs to be renewed - maybe it just wore out.

Some talk about how the Scars Atoning caern had been hidden and where had Jirrawan been? It appears that the Bunyip had deliberately put the caern into a winter mode, but Jirrawan was still there. While he was asleep did the creature escape? Marches-the-High-Road wonders that it wasn't the other way around - when the caern reawoke, did it draw power from here and the beast was released? He clearly thinks the Wyrm Beast only escaped recently, given the environment.

Will is looking around at all the pictographs and can't stop thinking about how Charlotte might interpret some of this. ("Charlotte, is that her name?") He's feeling pretty much ok with himself, and his packmates can't hear his thoughts and act to smack him in the head, so he leans into that link to his ancestors, specifically trying to channel Charlotte or the concept that the Scars Atoning caern was quietened in order to power this wyrm cage to Charlotte. ("I think Will more and more believes that she was correct" "Which is the most irritating thing she could be" "Yeah")

Will finds that his link to his ancestors works as its meant to, and doesn't cause Charlotte to empty his brain and take over. He has a sense that she is surprised and annoyed, but he is actually able to tap her knowledge and experience. He realises that Jirrawan is a liminal spirit - as a cave spirit, he stands between the upper world and the hidden world below, but as per the drawings he also stands between the world above and below the surface of the water. As such, this space - weirdly here but not here - may have been created using Jirrawn's power. So rather than being bound here, the spirit might have used its strength to help capture the Wyrm Beast. In the context of the other pictures, the circle with the dots is a ritual circle, and the 5 armed thing is the Wyrm Beast. Will gets the feeling that Jirrawan is important, but not central, to Charlotte's plans.

Will shares his insights and the Garou chatter about it - Marches-the-High-Road gives him the eye but doesn't say anything. Charlotte's insight flashes and Will thinks that normally the dots go out the /outside/ of the circle... does that imply that the ritualists all locked themselves in here with the beast? He shares this thought and Leaps-in-the-Light suggests that maybe that's why the fetishes are locked in here? Will gets another flash - not words, but a sense that not all things happen for spiritual reasons, sometimes people do things for more human reasons. The theurges agree that ritualists sometimes need to offer a sacrifice, but 8 garou is a considerable commitment. But the Wyrm Beasts are also powerful - they are essential bits of creation. Ursula says that maybe before they jump to conclusions, its is possible that someone just liked drawing the dots on the inside. Uh.. maybe? But this wasn't a casual sketch. Will does a quick comparison on the circles of dots - all but one of the times it appears it has 8 dots, but once it has 7 (there's just one missing, with a distinct gap).

Some of the glyphs seem to indicate a time - but unsure if its the time they could bind the spirit, the time they did bind the spirit, or the next time you need to recharge it?

Will brings up Bartholomew Wise-in-the-Ways-of-the-Wyrm - Leaps-in-the-Light knows who he is, and the Scars Atoning caern people know his name from stories. He explains Bartholomew showed them one of these caves previously, and that he featured in Sinead's dream. Ursula wonders if they're going to go home, given the dream.

Marches-the-High-Road asks if its not more important as to where the Wyrm Beast has gone? Did it get... out? Is it just under all this rock (they'd be able to sense it)? How can they look down the hole? Snake spirit with a tv attached to it? Elemental? Some sort of weasel? Can they even summon spirits here, given its disconnected from the Umbra, based off the pack disconnect from Boobook? Will wonders why he can think about his ancestors, but there's spirit wards? He gets a flash from Charlotte of "Can't call for help". Ohhh. The Wyrm Beast can't.

Leaps-in-the-Light thinks it has escaped - either the wards weakened, or it found a way out down, or something came and got it. But its not here. So where is it? Tillie says its best if something came and got it, kind of - if its just the wards are weakening, then they're all going to get loose in the next while. Will points out that the Night Queen escaped? While she's not a Wyrm Beast, the same idea applies - powerful being, locked away. The pack think that Dancers helped her escape tho - are they helping wyrm beasts? Is someone going around unlocking these things? That's worrying Sithney speaks and everyone jumps. He says he heard a rumour that this has been happening out there. Wyrm Beasts been escaping out in the wilderness. How old are the rumours? Bit.

Will says that one of his ancestors believed that the Bunyip were dedicating most of their efforts to something else, not resisting the European invasion, and she died trying to prove this. The assembled Fianna clearly have not heard this, because there's a general vibe of the "what the fuck". What task? Will doesn't know - just that it was more important to them that the genocide. Leaps-in-the-Light suddenly has an "oh! right" expresion on his face about this story. Tillie pushes him as to what he's suddenly realised and Leaps-in-the-Light says that they've heard stories about Arcadia Gateway and all.

Will says something about how Charlotte is a Get of Fenris warrior and so she's not being deceptive. Sithney's eyes roll into his head and Tillie says that you have to ignore their posturing. Sithney shortly says that is hard to ignore them when they keep invading your territory. Will points out that they found Scars Atoning and worked to give it over to the Fianna. With regard to Charlotte, many of the Garou at the time were too bigotted to take her seriously. Marches-the-High-Road breaks the slight tension by saying "Ok, what do we do with that information. Was what they were doing something to do with the Wyrm Beasts?" Well, maybe, yeah? Tillie brings up that they've been told this was one of the areas where the fiercest fighting happened, maybe they were defending this? Does that mean that they should research where fighting was the fiercest because that's where the other Wyrm Beasts are? Someone says the fiercest fights were at caerns, dunno that it's as clear cut as that. What would they do anyway, if they find a loaded trap?

In any case, where did it go? How do they track it? Spirits down hole? get a spirit to lend them the Rat Head gift? Can Tillie fly down the hole? Probably not. A ferret? ("Whats the Australian version of a ferret" "Brad. What the fuck do you want. Where's me fucking ciggies"). Something like Jirrawan? A liminal spirit. Perhaps one that has a kind of psychopomp aspect? Someting they're allied with perhaps? ("I feel like you're hinting someting but I'm not getting it" "[whispers] Your pack totem") ("Talking to the spirit that finds lost things seems like an idea. Its huge, should be easy")

Will has a quiet word with his pack, asking if its possible for the Dancers to be hiding in a place like this? They had a similar thought about the fae cave. They stole this key from Mages, who were building similar places - their warded houses. Did they trade for it?? ("They might not be killable, they come from before death")

The pack summon Boobook, who glides in out of the darkness. They explain the situation about the wall and the cave and the smashed floor and the wyrm beast. Boobook is a bit confused as to what they mean - caves aren't exactly in his repertoire. And Wyrm Beasts are definitely outside his job description - because they are from Before. They're Before Death and how the world is now. Tillie points out that its lost though, which doesn't seem to go down well. However, he suggests that if it has gone into the ground, then they should speak to spirits of the ground (he is a spirit of air and darkness).

Will clarifies that its in a place that isn't a real place (this takes a while to explain, because "pocket dimension" isn't a phrase in garou tongue), and its gone into the ground there, and they're not sure if and where that would come out? Boobook says to take him through the gate, and he will try to see what he can sense. (Quinkin and Imjin)

The Fianna are a bit bemused by the arrival of an owl that flies around the cave. Boobook lands back on Tillie. He then conveys that this space is a real space - its not a spirit realm in and off itself. It might have been originally a space made in the spirit world, but its now contiguous with the Umbra even though it has no realm match. It has been damanged - its been punctured beneath, but the walls are still actively functioning as a ward against the rest of the Umbra. The pack realises that they have their mental link again while he is here. (Its a bit like a wrinkle in fabric)

Tillie and some of the beefier garou start moving some of the multiton chunks of rocks out the way of the hole, but it becomes clear that there's just more rock all the way down. There's only so many places to put the rock they are moving aside as well, so after a short while they give that away. Maybe it goes forever? Will cynically thinks it'll come out near Melbourne, just based off Sinead's dream. Ok, maybe Earth Elementals can help them out? ("Green plastic??" "Melbourne Florida") They probably can't summon from in here, so the Garou all go outside. ("Mummy, how did the first person come out of the explosion")

The garou summon 3 earth elementals and ask them to come into the cave and then do three different tasks. One of them is to follow the path until it comes back to the surface. The other is to go down and see if there are other spaces down there. And the third should go down for a while, but then try and loop up and come to the surface and see if they can work out where they are in comparison to the cave.

While the earth elementals do their thing, the assembled garou discuss what to do with the fetishes. The conversation is unusually delicate, compared to the usual "THATS MINE" the garou have. Leaps-in-the-Light and Marches-the-High-Road defer a little to Sithney to begin with, and see what the feeling about territory might extend to. No one is super keen to take them to a caern straight away. It goes around and around a little bit. Leaps-in-the-Light makes a suggestion that seeing as how Lost Prophets found the fetishes, maybe they could attune to them, here away from the caerns. They're not really worried about the fetishes being wyrm tainted, but they're also not a known quantity. They found them, the honour of working out what they are could be theirs. ("That's a kind of tacit admission we might have some claim to them")

Finn attunes to the stone. It does have a similar vibe to the Cracking Stone, but it is called the Silent Stone. He can't pick up much more than that, the spirit is extremely depleted. Tillie attunes to the other fetish, and finds that it is called the Bane Lock. She empathically knows that this fetish is for catching or binding wyrm creatures in some fashion. This spirit is also extremely depleted. No one appears to be mind-controlled.

Tillie suggests that they should make lots of these and recapture the spirits. Marches-the-High-Road says that the limited amount he knows about capturing these creatures - and indeed, unique, powerful spirits - is that a specific ritual is needed, its not just a matter of mass-producing fetishes and herding it to a location.

The Silent Stone being left inside suggests either there was another way in, or there was communication between groups that could use a different key. If they presume that the 8 theurges that locked the thing down and left the key inside were then killed, then someone else will haev had to come eventually and renew the bindings.

Will suggests that they leave any formal decision about who has possession of the fetishes until they've resolved what is going on with the wyrm beast. No one really disagrees. Leaps-in-the-Light suggests that as the strongest caern, Rippling Waters could be responsible for recharging the fetishes in the short term. Will points out they'll have to inform the Jindabyne Council about this, they could take the issue there. All the Fianna suddenly unite in their belief that it can be sorted out by the Fianna. Leaps-in-the-Light suggests they have a tribe meeting on the 2nd of February, that might be a good place to discuss it. Will gently points out that implies that the Fianna have the real claim over the items but Leaps-in-the-Light says he was about to see if their pack wanted to come and attend? Tillie is keen, just because it sounds like fun to challenge the entirity of the Fianna.

After a few hours, one of the elementals returns - it is the one told to look for spaces or other significant things down below the ground. It manages to explain the rock isn't homogenous, but the only space it could find in as far as it was going to go was the trail of broken rock. Not too many hours later than that the elemental tasked with finding where they were on the surface returns. It was able to reach the surface - its covered with filthy dirt and living things. It struggles to explain where it was compared to where they summoned it. It can give a direction (it was south of Hopping Mouse Hill), and that the rock that it travelled through used to be firey, not crumbly like it is here. Hmm - Sinead's dream included a volcano to the south of Hopping Mouse Hill. Uh.. maybe they could check at the university for a geological map?

There's more discussion with the earth elementals about how they move in the Umbra and why they can't just tell the garou where the place is versus Hopping Mouse Hill. It becomes clear there are airts under the ground and the spirits move in a way that the garou do not. Kasumi contemplates just getting the elemental to get into a talen and they'll travel and when they get there, the elemental could tell them. Worth thinking about.

It becomes clear that Tillie has a different idea of where the wyrm beast went compared to everyone else - the other garou assumed that the smashed rock was the trail, but she thinks it was huge, and therefore wouldn't have just left that behind without making a big hole. ("Maybe it was gelatinous?" "ew" "it is now") Kasumi points out that the only thing approaching this thing in size is the nexus crawler they fought around Ettadunna. Even Struthers wasn't as big as that. What do they do about it when they find it? Could they take it to Erebus? Null Zone? How about the Abyss? ("The Abyss? " "yeah" "The mouth of the wyrm" "... 'stop eating yourself!'") The vote is in - NO.

Ok, so if someone helped this thing escape, they need to find them and end it. Otherwise... seems an odd time to ecape? On the other hand, all the stories that people know talk about having to rebind these creatures repeatedly. Say, every hundred years? That's a nice number that western folks might use. So, why might the original binders not have come back after 100 years like they were meant to? Oh yeah. The fetishes are very very weak, it might have just escape? Or someone took advantage of the weak wards. So, where might the wyrm beast go after 100 years of being in prison. Its inexplicable in what it might want, or what it might do, to be honest. Spirits might seem out somewhere quiet to soak up more gnosis, especially if the beast is as worn down as the fetishes are.

Once she's back in Melbourne, Kasumi wants to check earth quake websites and see if there's anything unusual in the last while that might allow them to get an idea of where it went.

Tillie points out that they need to get rid of it - but how? Will suggests Jirriwan might help ... for a price. Tillie says there's at least three, and they don't even know which one was the Cracking Stone was for. Oh wait, they dont know for sure that the one the Cracking Stone locks up is free. Will says there's some similarity between the warded mage houses and this weird space that isn't a space.

Night comes and the astronomers are back. Will gets some people to help him spy on them as he has a sudden fear that the are looking at something like a comet which might mark the time that the bindings need to be redone. ("Are the stars right?"). It doesn't seem so - they're a university club taking advantage of the dark sky in a time between university semesters. The dark moon a few days ago mmade it extra good. But they're looking at different targets, there's no one saying Ia Ia.

The Lost Prophets think this is a good reason for the various Septs to get their shit together and cooperate. There's an argument for this being a good time to mend some bridges and do some diplomacy. Or you know, get the Jindabyne Council to authorise them to bully people into doing what they want them to do.

About midnight, the third elemental comes back. Its instructions had been to follow the trail as far as it was able. The hole goes down and down and down. It goes down a long way. The creature smashed its way through the rock, and through airts that were there. It smashed its was through some elementals. However, it was somewhat affected by ... the closest word is 'tides' or something, causing it to go in not a straight line. It also appears to have avoided very large spirits at the bottom of the world. This elemental stopped at what it calls "the edges of the domains of the Lords of The Earth" - it sounds like the most earthy areas. Their job is to stop the fire elementals getting out and wrecking up the place. It could have gone further, but if it had done so, there was some chance that the Lords might have subverted the binding.

Anyway, the Wyrm beast went more or less down, with a bit of a wiggle from... tides... and from dodging some large spirits. But also it has changed the angle it was falling at from straight down to heading in a particular direction (still more falling than travelling, but..) Tillie points out that if she'd fucked stuff up like that in the Umbra, weaver spirits would come for her. So why not here and now? The theurges posit that there's much less manifested weaver stuff here. The weaver's influence is devolved a bit more, less weaver spiders, more weaver-esque spirits, like rock elementals. Something something low gauntlet. Did the weaver spirits try and respond to the wyrm beast?

The Ritemasters want to summon some larger elementals and send them down to the Lords of the Earth to trace the wyrm beast just to be sure. However this process will probably take a while, and so maybe the Melbourne garou could move on. Will is keen to talk to the Council, but Leaps in the Light suggests that they wait a couple of days and get more information. The Council and the Fianna will be meeting on the same day as well - maybe they could send a message rather than go?

("Gefahr Gefahr Hochspannung") (" 'Who used to be the epitome of evil before Hitler?' and the answer seems to [include] Brutus and the people that murdered Caesar" "That's holding a grudge") ("we've literally hated women from day 1, its never stopped" "Well you are very annoying") The pack try to work out whether they need to go to the Jindabyne Council or the giant Fianna party. The opt to just send some messages to the Council. Tillie points out that there's no use finding the Wyrm Beast if they don't know how to put it back in the hole. So they need to speak to the Uktena - maybe Malajimbarra can help? Or Jane Redfeather. Maybe they can go to Scars Atoning and ask Jirrawan for some advice first? Jane is there too, so that might be good.

During the conversations about what to do now, the Lost Prophets notice that Sithney's interest has changed since they got some info back about where the beast has gone. He's no longer interested in the fetishes, even though he's planning to be involved in the summoning of further elementals. It doesn't seem to be "no longer my problem", but specifically he's not participating in the discussions on the fetishes (unusual because they're well-regarded items). Will says that they're almost behaving lupus-esque, Kasumi is wildly racist and age-ist about older rural Australians. Is it a rank thing? Well, Leaps-in-the-Light is the same rank.. oh wait, he's also a Child of Gaia too (its easy to forget). Are they snubbing him specifically? No, its more lupus like than rude, even when they talk its sort of short and too the point.

The senior theurges get on summoning earth elementals while the Lost Prophets sort out heading back. Marches-the-High-Road says that he'll come with them instead - it makes the murder van a bit crowded, but he's happy to stay in lupus. They opt to wait til tomorow morning and go. ("Look at me, I'm too good for the pee bucket")

Thursday 26th January - Ragabash waxing

During the trip, there's a section where Marches-the-High-Road claims shotgun. 30 minutes in, he asks Will exactly what they are hoping to learn from Jirrawan. Will says that they need a way to re-bind this wyrm beast. Marches-the-High-Road says that the caern totem is not forthcoming about things that happened prior to the new Sept forming. Tillie chimes in and says they don't need to know what happened, they just need to know what to do now. She says that if Will's right, the Wyrm Beasts were important enough to lose the whole War of Tears over. Marches-the-High-Road is not convinced by that argument. He says that he has seen many homids get frustrated when interacting with Jirrawan. But Jirrawan moves like stone - he's got more in common with the earth elementals than naturae spirit. People have asked him a question, and he has not answered for several months. He agrees that the wyrm beast is important, but they need to consider the nature of the spirit when phrasing what they are asking about. Ask for the information they need - not, say "how did the Bunyip bind the creature under the hill", he will probably not answer. But "how can we bind it now" is more pertinet. Marches-the-High-Road says that Jirrawan is an extremely patient and considered spirit, and rushing him is unlikely to get them the answers they want.

Tillie points out that they mightn't have time to consider their options - the wyrm beast could surface any time. Marches-the-High-Road is a bit blase about that, if the wyrm beast shows up soon they're doomed. He advises that getting annoyed with Jirrawan doesn't really help garou posing questions either. The spirit doesn't react, but Marches-the-High-Road feels that he does regard that as disrespectful. So to sum up - go in with a firm idea of what they actually need to ask, don't expect an answer straight off. The topic of chiminage comes up, but its probably not relevant, or if it is, Jirrawan will make it clear. (Normally not how the interactons with caern spirits work).

Kasumi asks if bringing things to Jirrawan as a story and explaining context is better, or just keeping it terse is better? Marches-the-High-Road considers her question and eventually says that he thinks that the former option is the better one - he might be a silent spirit, but that doesn't mean he doesn't appreiciate a well-related story (the walls of Scars Atoning are covered in stories, after all) . Finn is told he's got 2 hours to come up with a master piece. ("I just won't pee on anything"). Will asks if his slowness has anything to do with being a liminal spirit - he has to move back and forth between seasons or above and below? Marches-the-High-Road says there are spirits bound to cycles, but he doesn't believe that applies to Jirrarwan. Jirrawan is the cave spirit, and things change slowly in caves. But Marches-the-High-Road thinks that Jirrawan also likes to consider not just the request, but what people might do with that information - he seems to be the repository of a lot of knowledge over a lot of time, and have a strong concern that providing information does not have unforeseen consequences. Small drips make small changes over time. Maybe that's tied up in the murder of the Bunyip, and whether the spirit was less cautious before. Perhaps this is reflected in how the water behaves in the cave - where the ripples stop.

So, coming up with a question. Telling the story in a chiminage-y kind of way. Going from the "and it had you on the wall" to the question. And wanting to return the wyrm beasts to their prisons. Will contemplates swearing an oath to Jirrawan that any information they learn will only be used to bind this wyrm beast - Marches-the-High-Road says that given some of the same imagery that appears in the wyrm beast cave also appears at the caern suggests that there are indeed other uses. ("Step one, put a hole in a box"). Will points out that the mages seem to be hidden in little pocket dimensions like this, which then leads someone to ask whether swearing oaths about not using the information for anything else is a good idea.

Melissa asks if she can drive on some of the long flat bits. The pack ask if she has a license - she has Ls? Will diplomatically says that they don't have plates. Some brief argument about whether she could get a fake identity with a fake probationary license. Tillie says sure but she can't drive until she has her fake drivers license.

After another hour or so they pull into a spot to park and walk into the caern. Marches-the-High-Roads guides them through the tunnels. Finn mentally points out Melissa hasn't been there before and isn't a pack member - the pack contemplate just not saying anything but decide to do the right thing. Will pauses and speaks formally to Marches-the-High Road, saying that this is Melissa, who is a recognised member of their Sept, but not a pack member. Does she have permission to enter? He blinks and implies that he thought Melissa was a packmember, but says that she is a welcome guest. Once they reach the centre of the bawn, they find most of the rest of the caern elders - Marches-the-High-Road has a brief word to David about Melissa before they start.

The newly arrived Garou give an unofficial report about what happened. The Lost Prophets ask to give a longer description of what happened to Jirrawan and the Elders agree. Jirrawan is brought forth - he wades across the lake stand before the garou, while still in the water.

Finn asks to tell him of things that they have discovered and the spirit gives assent. His story is not intricately woven (he was composing it in the car) but it is a well told straight forward tale. The spirit listens impassively, but the other Fianna are listening into his recantion. At the end, Marches-the-High-Road says that this pack would like to ask some questions, and Jirrawin gives the same response. Will says they need to recapture the wyrm beast - how could they invoke his power to bind the wyrm beast? ("he's like an ent" "Oh he's lost his wife?")

After a long minute Jirrawin says "Do you have the fetishes?" They explain that they are not here, but they are at Rippling Waters. Another long moment passes, and the spirit turns and returns to merge into the wall. Tillie looks at the Elders and says "now what? Should we get the things?" Marches-the-High-Road shrugs and says that if he wanted that, he'd have said. But it does suggest the fetishes are important to the process. The Fianna suggest it might be a few days before Jirrawan has things to say, and its probably not worth waiting. They'll definitely let them know if that happens.

("CHEEEEEESE") There's some chatter amongst the Fianna and the Lost Prophets about the situation and the pack notice a couple of the Fianna giving Jane Redfeather the eye when the topic of traditional binding of wyrm beasts comes up, but she doesn't say anything. The topic of where it went is touched on, and Marches-the-High-Road says that often spirits that are depleted find somewhere safe and aspected toward themselves to rest to regain strength - it might just have gone into the centre of the world to sleep for 50 years. Tillie says she doesn't want to take the optimistic stance. Finn asks if it might have gone to a hive to regenerate corrupted gnosis? Maybe? it mightn't need that, but that might be aspected. Maybe it would be looking for something primordial?

The Lost Prophets suggest that passing the story around fast, and descriptions of what the cave was like might be a good way to get some useful thoughts together. They'd like to suggest Bartholomew Wise-in-the-Ways-of-the-Wyrm comes and sees the cave? David says that yeah, extending an invitation to him after next Wednesday when there's been decisions made about what the Fianna point of view will be. Its not that the Fianna want to be solely responsible, its just that its in Fianna territory and they will probably want to make sure all the Fianna on on the same page about how they want to handle it. Will says that while that's true, it might not be in the Fianna protectorate any more, and so they need to let everyone know. There's a vibe that the Fianna want to have their cabinet meeting and come to an accepted stance before taking it to parliament. ("What's the mining rights for a protectorate?" "Is it like international waters but downwards?")

Tillie starts to get a bit narky, feeling like they want to talk it to death and not just get on with solving the issue. What do they do about the wyrm beast right now? What if it comes up tomrrow? She thinks that if the Fianna want to own the problem on their own they can, but that's on them. At one point Marches-the-High-Road does tell David and Jane that Lost Prophets have been invited to the festivel next Wednesday, partly to discuss this, and there's a little bit of blinking. Oh, well, then I guess they'll be involved in the conversations too.

Jane speaks up and says though she does not know much about these creatures, the few stories she does know suggest that binding them is commeasurate with the sort of efforts required to build a caern. The picture that might suggest that the ritualists are inside the circle is brought up, and David makes a face. The pack just straight up ask Jane about binding them and the Uktena and she says that as a galliard, she hasn't any experience in the matter. There is certainly some Uktena knowledge, but she will not be disclosing tribal secrets at this point. They give her a slightly disbelieving look and Jane says as her Sept mates said, they want to discuss things themselves first.

After some more talk, David asks if they need to Moonbridge home (do you want me to call you a taxi?) and the pack miss the hint but say they have to take their car home. Conversation goes a little bit more before the pack really get the message the Fianna would like them to go home. The pack are semiescorted to the outside world, and head back to their car.

On the drive back, they ring Bartholomew and he's actually there. Bartholomew knows they've been causing trouble because he's had two phone calls today already. They fill him in as best they can, especially mentioning that they're wondering if there was the most fighting with the Bunyip in the places where there are or were wyrm beasts hidden. He hums and hars, but says that there's lots of caves and hidden valleys here, and it was definitely a bit of a guerilla fight because of that. That's different to the mallee, which was just hard to navigate through. Other fierce fighting was mostly at caerns but he knows that there were a couple of almost set battles just because of bad timing.

Bartholomew says that the rumours of the wyrm beasts had started early on, without much in the way of confirmation. But "colluding with major wyrm spirits" was one of the things used to justify the War of Tears. When he started looking for stories about the cave here, he actually thought that the stories had been transferred - that there were these stories about natives with ancient evils hidden away from the Americas, and people just assumed the same thing about Australia. Obviously he was wrong, and that became clear as he looked into it more. Tillie asks how he actually found the Waiting Stone and the cave and Bartholomew says "that's not really relevant just now". When he found the cave, the Waiting Stone wasn't there, and he'd never found anything like the other fetish - but in both cases, someone might have raided the cave and taken them. He doesn't know how reassuring it is, but the beast that was in the local cave hasn't shown its face again - so when they escape they don't necessarily come barrelling into attack. He found the cave about 30 years before, and stories about its existence he's dated back to before the War of Tears - he's no idea when the creature escaped. Obviously the dream Sinead had is worrying though.

They talk about the wyrm beast going into the mantle, and Bartholomew says the spirit that bound the beast near him was more a sky/storm spirit, rather than an underground area. Will points out the dream has active volcanos and ash from the sky, so the whole thing about the underground or volcanic nature of the spirit seems related. Bartholomew says that he will be heading down, and trying to get first impressions off a bunch of people.

The pack make it home and catch up with Cossack and Emma. ("And yet if you call him daddy, he gets mad") The pack brain dump everything out that happened including their frustration with the Fianna wanting to talk about everything. Maybe the Hive is using the same sort of pre-used wyrm beast hole to hide? Depends whether the rites that are involved with the images are an anaethema to the wyrm? You'd think that there'd be some effect on a Hive - especially on rituals? But maybe that's why there was that weird ritual done on Coode Island? It'd be a hell of a place to hide, where you were crippled. Cossack says that a lot of the stories about Dancers, they're not really that cunning and sly - they almost always go a bit psychotic. But the group here - with the exception of the Full Moon Killer, and big things like Nlaloonjurrie - have been well kidden. Are they a small number? Have they some way to stop the giveaway psychotics?

Will proposes a horrifying option, which is that one of these things escaped and made a hole to Malfeas, and now there's a Dancer hive hidden from the garou with a gate to somewhere Wyrm terrible in the Umbra. Or maybe some link to the Deadlands, and that's why there's so many demons?

Friday 27th January - Theurge waxing

Kasumi finally manages to check the earthquake tracking websites, and finds that her estimated area is actually tectonically active all the time. There's been little tremors constantly, but she can't see anything large that suggests "hey a wyrm beast" ("I do type Jirrawang a lot")

The information they've brought back filters out to the rest of the Sept, and basically there's a vibe of "yeah, we're gunna leave that with you and concentrate on the Dancers". Will asks if there's any leads on that and Chris mocks him by saying "yes but you stuffed it up." No, there's no further info yet, but using the giant electric spider to map out Coode Island was effective - they should remember that for other times. The Get of Pennington have been following up on the little leads they noted while crawling the site (trucks sensing of wyrm, man who kept dipping cheetos into yogart, other unnatural things).

Saturday 28th January - Theurge waxing

Will is off doing some errands when he spots a familiar figure in front of him, wearing a hawaiin shirt, a bad hat, and sunglasses. He senses unnatural and gets the expected magic and demonic mix. As he approaches he sniffs and uses his scent of the true form gift - this is a pile of straw. He looks about and checks no one is hovering or lurking on high rises visible in the neighbourhood... nope. He does notice that the strawman is not casting a shadow at all. ("Did someone else not cast a shadow?" "uh.. maybe... but given I can't recall, you can assume its not relevant") Will launches straight into "We combed Coode island and found nothing", and the mage is a bit taken aback. "uh, I was going to ask why you can't done anything about it". It seems to be the same guy - he has the same slightly european accent on top of his English.

Will says they spent days crawling it, and the mage seems genuinely confused. "There was nothing?" Will says they found some evidence of a large ritual but they don't know what it was for. "Did you?" The strawman asks if they could go somewhere a bit out of the main way for a longer conversation? They find a small green bit with a chair and grab a seat.

So.. the mage says that he conveyed some information about their associates to them being on Coode Island, but they investigated and there was nothing there? Will confirms that they were being sent there because there were other werewolves there? yeah, there definitely weren't any. The strawman asks how certain? Will says they made deals with powerful spirits to see through illusions and deceptions, and they didn't see anything. They found evidence of a ritual performed maybe months prior? But not much else. The strawman says please wait for a moment, and he reverts to a straw figure wearing a hawaiin shirt and hat. Will looks around to make sure he's not being ambushed, but apart from a couple looks from people wondering why a man was sitting there with a scarecrow.

A couple minutes go past and then the semblence reappers. It seems to erupt out of the straw dolly. He says "I'm concerned. This maybe presents an opportunity tho. Perhaps we could use this as a basis to establish a working arrangement?" Will is keen. "You find things about these other werewolves, you let us know, and if we find things we let you know? And despite your concerns about psychic contagion, maybe they could work that into something calm and equitably useful" Will asks how they will contact them? The mage suggests putting a personal ad into the Herald Sun, with a reference to strawmen, and the mages will contact them.

Will suggests that they could swap some information now, given the opportunity? The strawman agrees. Will wants to know how they knew the Dancers would be there? Prior interactions led the mages to think that was their base of operations - that they had a vested interest in that place, and they'd fortified themselves there. He's concerned that that wasn't the case. "Do you know their numbers?" He says he's interacted only with a small number but there's clearly more. "Mages seem to have been invovled in the assault on our sacred place" That seems to be the case. "That wasn't you or your associates?" The world is a more complicated place than us vs them. Mentally, Will makes a skeptical face and Tillie says that sounds like "it was". The strawman says maybe they should concentrate on the Dancers - they're a problem for everyone. He says he imagines that Will's friends thought that he'd sent them on a wild goose chase - he'd like to reassure them that it wasn't the case.

The ritual that Will described, do they know what it was for? Where it was centred? Will hmms and then figures the information isn't valuable and says it was at the west end. "Oh that would follow - in terms of strongest evidence of commitment, that was the location. There wasn't anything else there? No other evidence of.... no, I've know idea what else there might have been." Will tries to get more information about that. The mage says the strongest evidence of a non-mundane investment was there. Does he know anything about their spirit totems? No, that hadn't come up. The mage says that he needs to try and work out what was going on, so unless there's anything else? Will asks about the weird magic flashes - the sense of magic that was going back and forth over the site. Does he know what that was? The mage says know and Will's gift tells him that is a lie. Will says that they assumed it was the mages watching? Well.. they did keep some level of observation, which is why they had thought the werewolves had done nothing. Will explains that it could have been an ambush, and then they wanted to try and sneak in and spy. Will finishes by asking if he knows vague what their goals and plans are now? No, not really. Interactions were transactional at most. What did they want then? "Lets talk about this another day" He walks around the back of the seat and turns into a scarecrow ("Pee on it" "And that's how Will got arrested for public indecency" "Pfft, its Carlton, people pee on things all the time" "I'm not giving a mage any bodily fluids" "Have an experience point" "He learnt that the hard way " "hurr hurr")

They head back to the Sept and brain dump that to the Elders. Will says he'd been assuming this informant was not part of the group that attacked them, but now he's not so sure.

Later that very same bee, Bartholomew shows up, having driven for two days to get there. He wants to interview them all to make notes about everything to do with Hopping Mouse Hill, drawings and their words too. He spends a few hours with them and then says he's heading to Rippling Waters to talk to some of the other garou that were there and to see about being able to visit the caern.

Tillie checks in on the glade child children - no real change beyond some band posters on the wall. Kasumi asks about the Hell Hounds. Nadine says she hasn't seen them doing anything other than guard duty and being around the caern. Will decides to actually find them and give them a task - he wants them to find out about previous sept battles. While trying to find them he decides to allocate the battle that some of the other sept members had with mages and demons early on, the attack on the animal aid refuge in Coldstream, the attack on Sydney Dancers and the attack on the Sept at new years. ("what about all the times we beat Scott?")

He finds them being disruptive youths near the western edge of the caern, causing people to detour to avoid them with prams and such. As he approaches one of the pack members sees him and alerts the others, so Will is greeted by teenage stares. Amy is sitting on a bench while the others are standing around. Will greets her a bit formally, ("The werewolf equivilent of using their full name" " ''oh you're in trouble''") acknowledging her cliath rank and her packleadership. He says that it was his understanding that they were here not just to fight but to learn. He says he wants her to learn of several battles involving the caern - about their enemies strengths and weaknesses. Amy asks on what basis should she do this. Will says not only is he her Elder, but it will strengthen her pack to know these things. Amy asks if anyone actually keeps the battle lore? Amy says she was getting the feeling that martial training wasn't high on their list here. Will says that a hunt is still a fight. Amy asks if that isn't more a scout's role. Amy says having interacted with some of their rank 1s, but given what she's seen of their fighting ability, she isn't sure anyone is actually telling anyone of fights. Will says wouldn't she remember fighting creatures made of stone that can fly, or mages with face melting powers? Amy looks at him and then suddenly says "ok". Sean, behind her, was clearly not expecting that. Will suggests starting with the new years fight. Amy says she would be happy to talk to the survivors. Will says its up to them to find it all out.

In the meantime, she does have a question for him - are they planning to adopt their pet into the pack? Will says that's the pack's business. Amy says that if they're fighting next to each other, a point of weakness is her business. Will asks if they are looking to recruit and Amy replies disdainfully no. Will says that they'll take it underadvisement. Amy says that they are then? Will just looks at her. ("Assert dominance!")

Tillie is home after a long day around the caern, and cooking some food. She's half way through when she hears something up the corridor. She peeks - nothing looks out of place... but its real, real dark up the corridor to the front door. There's no wyrm there tho. She checks the realm as well, and nothing there. But it seems darker than it should be. Tillie does a mental "HEY" and Sinead sits up from the couch. Tillie points out what's going on and blurs into invisibility. Sinead creeps up the corridor a bit and senses unnatural - there is a faint amount of fae scent ahead, which she warns everyone about by blaming Will. Tillie creeps forward, and the corridor seems to get longer as she moves forward. The door opens to the street, and someone is standing there. They are moonlit from behind and so she can only see their silhouette, with moonlight streaming down the corridor. The figure moves down the hall, and the door slams, and then she wakes up. In the lounge Sinead also wakes up.

Sunday 29th January - Theurge waxing

Tillie mentally shouts at everyone till they wake up. They have a think about her dream, kind of ignoring the fact that Sinead was there too. A silhouette often means someone from your past. The moonlight stuff maybe suggests werewolves. The fae sense suggests says... maybe Brenna? Maybe the moonlight represents the silver lake? But it was suggested that she could be there for some time. Its interesting that they're coming from light into dark in the dream - it was a threatening feel last time, but this wasn't quite so much even though the hall was stretched on forever. What are the other options? Some sort of shadowlord? If it was Brenna, often dreams have put Tillie in as Brenna. The night queen? No, she's pretty gone. Mages? Tillie's shadow self? Doorways indicate change? Another enemy hidden by fae glamours ala Peter? Maybe they could talk to a spirit like chimera to get a clearer sense of dream? Maybe that spirit could tell them why Sinead got sucked in. ("I thought you said Narwhal channels" "Yes, every garou spends part of their time after death as a narwhal")

Tillie brings up their need to move. They don't have any money and some of them are wanted by the cops and too many people know where they live. There are lots of almost-abandoned industrial sites through Melbourne. So, maybe they could use their powers to find one that would suit their needs, and then make everyone forget that its there or that they own it? That would give them the space for the whole pack to live in. ("we're going to Black Spiral it" "uhhh") There's no unsurmountable barriers to this plan, its just going to take time and effort. Will suggests just using the Mage house out at Lysterfield? Its a bit spooky and its a bit far away. Richmond? North Melbourne? ("GEt the young get to do it - 'were looking for a property, four bedrooms...'") ("Oubliette" "A drop toilet" "That's the same thing" "No it isn't" "It is if you really don't like the person you put in the oubliette") ("The secret ingredient is 'crime'")

That afternoon folks get a call saying please come to the caern, you've got visitors. When they get there, Cossack is sitting with the Ngalyod pack. After a formal hello, Fujiko explains that after their message regarding Hopping Mouse Hill, the Ngalyod pack has been sent to find more information. They want to learn what the Lost Prophets found, and what they believe the cave signifies. Finn uses his basic story that he has crafted already and explains on behalf of the pack. The pack can see both Alex Sees-for-Miles and Lisa Everborn mentally commiting the story to memory using some of the usual garou tricks to improve mnemonics. When he's finished, the Ngalyod pack ask some questions - Lost Prophets stick to facts (which are pretty limited) and don't share some of the wilder speculation or political discussion the Fianna had. Will mentions that everyone agreed at the time that ownership of the fetishes would be decided after more discussion about what to do with the site. The Lost Prophets ask if they're expected on Wednesday night, and there's a bit of a vibe of "you're not invited".

Will also mentions his theory that Charlotte's "more important thing" was probably keeping the wyrm beasts locked up. Alex Sees-for-Miles says "not no" and explains that there were certainly rumours that they were summoning great beasts and letting them loose rather than pack them up and hide them. But that might have been propaganda. Will asks for more information on that story, because he hasn't heard it before. Alex says that it was northern New South Wales, top of the Hunter Valley. Will says that if the Bunyip were trying to seal away the beasts, and the war interrupted, that might have loosed it. Alex asks for clarification - what do you actually think they were doing in the context of wyrm beasts? Will says that the Bunyip weren't fighting as hard as they might have been. They know that they hid some caerns. But maybe once it became clear that the European garou were overwhelming the Bunyip, either their tribe totem or their elders believed they had to do something to lock up or hide these Wyrm beast sites? If you have a fatalistic attitude you're going to die anyway, you can do some powerful rituals. Alex says it does suggest that its a bit like dying for the greater good.

So the story from the north of the Hunter Valley was that the Bunyip were losing and let a "monster" loose. A bane or some sort of big wyrm totem, that rampaged across the Valley. It was a mist, that couldn't be affected directly, and it took a bunch of strong theurges to deal with it. The blame had always been placed on the Bunyip, who then ran away. He'd always assumed it was sort of a self-serving story, or a justification. Kasumi says that given they know there were different groups of Bunyip, some of them could have been willing to fight, and others being more interested in protecting these sites. Alex looks at her askance - he has heard that part of their story before, but no one else has really ever commented on it. They only really have the Garou Nation stories, so its possible that people missed subtle differences, but you'd think someone would have noticed and recorded it? But maybe it highlights the lack of proper communication, or information that's been actively lost since.

Kasumi says that they know the Uktena have similar rituals - has anything ever come up around capturing spirits and draining them of energy? Well, that's a thing that happens - spirits power fetishes and caerns. She says maybe the Bunyip were planning to do something like that and use the spirit energy to .. something? I mean, there's a lot of Bunyip in the deadlands. That's weird and not part of the garou cycle... would that happen to any tribe that's been wiped out? Alex says he doesn't know enough - he's suggest Grek might be the better option.

Monday 30th January - Theurge waxing

On Monday while people are guarding at the Sept, Chris McNeil comes to find them. He says that they've spent the last month trying to direct and redirect the mortal investigation into the sept fight. Tillie says it sounds boring and annoying and she thanks him. Chris says don't thank them yet. Its all coming out today in a big press release between the state government and the cops. They've done what they can, but she should probably be aware that they weren't able to take Sinead out of it. The cops have pictures and photos and shit will be on the news. ("You'll have to shave your head" "Nah man" "Shave your head and sing 'nothing compares to you'"). Chris says that there's a cop that has a bee up his arse about Sinead and Kasumi being heavily involved in the whole thing, and he's been pushing it hard. Kasumi's name isn't going to get the same publicity - she just doesn't look as shifty. Its more a PR thing than a lack of suspicion. He's called Gallo - Tillie sighs and says they know him. There's also a connection between them and a missing cop and a mysterious fire at Warrandyte too. Tillie asks how - apparently there's only like 3 mobile phone towers out there, and Kasumi's phone hit them for an hour or two. They're not on the verge of acting on it, but he is looking for more evidence. So... giving them a heads up that Sinead should probably stay off the streets. Maybe blonde and a suit. ha ha ha.

At press conference o'clock, a bunch of the Sept is hanging out at what everyone keeps calling 'Graeme's house'. Not everyone fits in the tv room, so there's a couple of other devices around streaming it too. Its presented by senior police and senior government officials. The story that they are weaving is of a heist gone wrong - in the lead up to New Years, many drug deals were done, and to hide the money it was being moved around in cash by lots of different bag men, of varying levels of voluntary involvement. They don't spell everything out, but its pretty clear to see the missing bits. The heist involved the trucks blocking traffic and intercepting the money.

Many people killed on the day and more arrested since, but the police are still hoping to speak to a long list of people to help them with their enquiries. This is where Sinead shows up - they have a CCTV camera photo from a couple of doors down from Carmel's, a name, and some previous history. There's a mention of Peter, and a photo in his police uniform and strong concern for his safety. Melissa does not get a mention directly, but they mention her parent's house.

The government announcement is that they will be legislating new antivagrancy laws, including a warrantless search of buildings where the owner cannot be found or contacted in a short time, but homeless people are gathering. There is a pretty clear narrative of bad people have effectively radicalised people on the fringe - rather than helping them, the plan is to continue to push them to the fringe.

The garou are starting to wonder about reinstating the Impergium. There's a bit of "This is the best you can do?" to the Get of Pennington who get a bit defensive. There was a bunch of video and direct evidence of garou existence, so they concentrated on that first. The Lost Prophets think they need to move now - its no longer just Kasumi's problem, new IDs all around. Is it time to pull out Sinead's teeth? Ask faeries for help making a pretend corpse? Pushing up the 'new home' plan to a higher priority?

More planning on the new domicile. ("We have an advantage over humans, we dont care how skanky it is. It could just be all tetnus all the time" [making a sock puppet in place of Becc] " 'I object!' ") Maybe they should look for apartments above abandoned shops? Should the accelerate the pokies plan and burn it as a long term income? Sell the murder van? It didn't come up too often in connection with other events. What parts of Sinead's body do they need to leave behind as a evidence for the coroner? Can they convince the cops that Sinead-the-individual is just a standin for Sinead-the-imaginary-crime-figure?

The pack decide they probably need some fake identities, which means starting with some fake ID. Will makes a call or two, and hits Dev, who he met a couple months back and got on well with. Dev knows a guy, and sets up a thing where 'Paul' will be able to help them out with three decent fake IDs. Kasumi, Sinead and ? Will, probably. ("This is sounding like porn every minute more"). They'll need to come along and have their photos taken. They check the address given and its one of a small strip of shops not far off.

They can pull $500 together, but it does punch a hole in their rent money that's coming up soon. Kasumi reckons she needs some different clothes, but decides that Taking the Forgotten is the way to go rather than trying to find more cash. She gets some very un-Kasumi-like active wear and a hoodie.

Tuesday 31st January - Philodox waxing

Early in the morning they turn up to the address. It looks like an actual professional photographer studio, but is part of a strip with an artisianal pizza shop and a chinese massage place. The pack are suspicious and sense for wyrm and unnatural but don't find anything particularly out of the ordinary. Massage place is a little bodgy maybe.

The sign says closed, but the door is open and it rings a little bell. A head sticks out from an office along the corridor - "can I help you?" Will uses the name he gave for the fake ID "Jack Williamson", and the guy says "ahh. " The voice sounds like the guy from the phone, but the first impression doesn't match up (suave voice vs dishevled appearence). "For you 3? Cool. Lets get it on, I've only got this place for a bit".

He takes them to one of the studios, clearly used for portraits. "I'll do this, you pay, then I give you a call when they're ready". Will gets his photos taken first. "Look like you've been waiting in line". He takes a few shots of Will, and gets Sinead to sit down. Paul is lining up the photo of Sinead, and looks at her clearly, and pulls his eye away from the camera. "See something you like?" He looks at Will and says can we talk?

In the corridor, Will turns on the persuasion pretty hard as well as truth of gaia. Paul says that yesterday he quoted them $500, but the young lady thats in there, she is not $500 worth of trouble, she's a lot more trouble than that. Will plays dumb but Paul says that there was a lot of televised interest in that young lady. Will says that he doesn't see how that's relevant. Paul says that once he's passed on the goods, he needs to be sure nothing is coming back to him because of it. For instance if someone is arrested with the fake ID, and someone wants to chase that back to where it came from?

Will explains that it won't. They're not staying in Melbourne. Also, despite all the interest, it wasn't really their issues. Even if they were the sort of people that were caught up in that, in that kind of violence, where a lot of people died, and a lot of them were just bystanders who got hurt... [long meaningful pause] but they're not that kind of psycho. "Paul? Paul? Do I look like that kind of lunatic? " Will, clearly forgetting just how much like a scarred mob enforcer he looks like, with his blondish mane of weird hair colour and bubbling rage, waits for Paul to answer. Will says that they were just at the wrong party on new years. Paul seems unkeen, but the persuasion gift is eating away at his resolve. Will says that the faster they get this sorted - not having to get more $, for instance - the faster they'll be gone. Paul says that if he hadn't quoted them $500, he'd be asking for $2k plus. Will looks him in the eye and says he appreciates Paul being a man of his word - after all, this is an industry where people live and die on their word. Frankly, Will's uncontrolled switching between being persuasive and implying extreme violence is unsettling Paul as much as the gifts are. He says "fine, but I never want to see you again".

They go back in and Paul looks at Sinead again and then takes Will outside. He tries to convince Will that if she doesn't need photo id, then he never actually saw her, and he could provide some non-photo ID instead? Will says no. They go back in and Paul reluctantly takes them. He mutters to himself to delete the photos as soon as possible. So $500 gets every one a license and two extra bits of id just for Will. Paul will message them a location to pick it up from later. Sinead is apparently "Amy Jones" and Kasumi is going to be "Hannah Chang"

Meanwhile Tillie, Finn and Melissa are cruising past potential warehouses (werehouses ha ha) to steal and use as their base of operations. There's certainly a bunch of places that have potential - North Melbourne, Richmond, Brunswick, Thornbury are all close by and have chunks of contiguous industrial places they could check out. Tillie wants no foot traffic if they can avoid it, and not too far from the caern. ("And apparently it has to have a toilet" "Everywhere has a toilet if you poop as a dog") Finn leads them to a few places he's aware of ("this is not the first time i've been househunting"), and they make some notes. There's no small number of places that might be abandoned, or at least have no real activity around them even though its a weekday. ("Haven't ridgeway'd anyone in ages, i'm getting the itch" "There's a powder for that").

They're probably going to need some spirity powers around making people forget that they own the property, or ignore the activity around it. The pack should start to sort that out - what spirits will be helpful, and what chiminage that might require.

• Interlude 2010-2011
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• January
• February