Claws of Wisdom Chronology

February 2000

Tuesday 1 - Friday 4

Having mostly cleared up the dumping problem, the pack spend the week learning rituals, practicing new skills and learning how not to get spitted by banes.

Friday night, they get together at Carmels, a cafe on Lygon St owned by the other Fianna garou at the Sept, Carmel Ironmonger. They have a street table and are comparing notes over the last week or so, when one of the street lights is blotted out by the enormous form of Scott Rosen, pack leader of The Steel Hunters another young pack, but from Hidden Green, the other urban sept. The rest of Steel Hunters are with Scott and they basically start to tease the pack for their lack of name and pack leader. Despite Cole's objections, when the chance to prove themselves against the Steel Hunters comes up, the rest of the pack leap at the idea. Steel Hunters are currently seeking a fetish dreamt about by their Sept Leader, and after consulting with various spirits, they believe it is in the Museum somewhere. If the... oh thats right, no name. If the NoName Brand pack are feeling up to challenging real Garou, they will be at the Museum steps at 10pm. Steel Hunters head off after making a few more disparaging comments. The pack grumble a lot and then dash to the Museum to hold up their honour.

Scott and Claude make little gasping noises and hold their hands to their face when the pack show up. Scott explains that the fetish they are looking for is a golden gibbous moon. They will move in from the Umbra, and then it is a race to see who can get the fetish first. The two packs find a convenient dark space and shift into the umbra. Scott yells go and off runs Steel Hunters. The pack head off a bit slower. They split up. Corey and Cole head for the office and the computer system. Freya heads to the realm with Abby to look for cultural sections and to get an idea of where things are. Bob and Kreige shrug and move through the rather strange Umbra of the Melbourne Museum, peeking and seeing what they can see. Steel Hunters seem to be running around a lot.

Corey and Cole hit the offices and start up the computers. Corey doesn't recognise the system, but sees "Cobol" flash past on the startup screen and shudders. He tells Cole this could take a while, so Cole sticks his head out the door and keeps an eye out for guards. Meanwhile, Bob and Kreige are not having much luck, despite having found a sort of jewelry area. Nothing matching the description on the fetish is here, although there are a few close matches. They proceed to get lost in an open corridor, as some weird wyld gift scrambles their senses. Freya has become separated from Abby and is idly wandering about when she sees two wolves go thundering past at a crossways ahead of her. She can vaguely hear a guard chasing them, and ducks to one side. The two wolves turn and head past her location, and the guard races after them, torch and baton waving wildly. Freya presses close to the cabinet she is crouched down next to, but he catches a glimpse of her on the way past and shines his torch on her face. Freya swings a punch and runs for it. Cole has seen some of this and is shutting and bolting doors to slow the other lupus form pack down some, and he surreptiously follows the sprinting Freya and chasing guard. Freya ducks into the women's toilet and stares deep into the mirror. It doesn't work, and the guard bursts in. Freya ducks into a cubicle and locks it, and the guard walks up and starts banging on the door, saying "Miss... miss...." He gives up and looks under the door, but no Freya. Curse, says the guard, and starts looking around. Cole conveniently slaps the door and makes it sound as if someone has run out and then hides. The guard sprints out and after the non-existent person.

Corey sprints out of the computer room and tells people he knows where it is - its in a basement, awaiting transport to the new site. They run down stairs, leaving Abby to deal with the Steel Hunters. In the basement, the shelves go all the way to the roof, about 15 feet high. They are all labeled in incomprehensible lettering. The Realm presents a somewhat more balanced view, with high shelves and tightly cramped writing on the labels. The pack all step into the Realm and try to find the item. It is found and Freya tries to attune to it. No luck. It doesn't seem to be active. Sense unnatural reveals nothing about it at all. Bob steps sideways with it, and it falls to the ground. Freya shrugs and starts to dedicate it. A couple of minutes into the ritual, Corey remembers that he left the computer screen on, and runs upstairs to turn it off. Bob steps back into the Realm. Shortly afterwards, Kreige hears a smash sound, as if of glass breaking. He wanders one direction as Cole goes the other. Kreige finds a spot where the window has been broken in (definately in), about a 6 inch across hole. At this point Freya is assaulted by a small flying humanoid, grey coloured and with sharp claws and feet. Another one slips in through the hole and Kreige proceeds to punch, grab and make a wish with it, before neatly drop punting it into a wall, where it smashes. The slightly more competent imp-thing steals the amulet from Freya and starts flying away. Cole grabs a hold of the amulet and tries to spin the creature around and into a shelf. Freya and Bob rush to help, and Bob bites Freya on the arm for no clear reasons, and then slinks off under a desk. Much scrabbling with the imp for the custody of the amulet when Kreige flies in from the side and pins it to the wall with one foot before speed kicking it to pieces.

Corey runs in, and yells "Guard!" before stepping. Cole, still in crinos, runs up the stairs that Corey just came down and confronts the guard, whose brain decides now would be a good time to cease receiving any signal from the eyes. Cole steals his gun, and runs up the stairs, flinging the gun under a bench. A couple of police are now in attendance and they give chase to the strange shape heading up the stairs. At the roof, Cole steps sideways, well ahead of the monkeyboys. In the meantime, everyone else has dedicated the gold moon and stepped. They wait around for Steel Hunters, who turn up shortly afterwards a little less cocky than they were. Adam Shergol asks politely if he might check the amulet and he agrees that its not a fetish at the very moment. He suggests heading back to Hidden Green to ask for advice, and hands back the amulet. All trudge to Hidden Green and meet Felix Bertrand, the Sept Leader and Robert Red-Dust-Plain, the Keeper of the Land. Robert asks to check out the amulet and goes away to do Theurgy things. Felix hears the story of their adventures in the Museum with barely a raised eyebrow. During the pack's recitation, the lift opens again and Christine Elliot enters the caern. She politely greets Felix and then gives the pack a hard-to-interpret stare. Robert returns and says this has never been a fetish. Felix seems fairly bemused and indicates that the dream he had was about this particular object, even down to some of the scratches. Steel Hunters offer to continue the chase, and Felix agrees. Christine starts to herd the pack home, but Scott, Claude and Follows-the-Moon accompany them into the lift. Scott points out that while the Homebrand pack found this item, it wasn't the real one, so the challenge still stands. Some of the pack object, and he raises his hands and says that if they're not there the following night, he'll quite understand that it was too much for such a new pack. Christine rolls her eyes and heads out into the foyer, waiting impatiently. All travel back to the Sept, and meet with Cossack. Cossack says that he wishes to maintain the current cordial relations between the two Septs, so he would appreciate it greatly if the pack did not engage in any activity that might be ...provacative to Hidden Green or the Sept that protects it. When they ask if they should finish the challenge, he says that the challenge itself is fine, but that he would like them to keep their heads and not get swept away in the enthusiasm of it all.

Saturday 5

Bright and early, people stay in bed, except Cole, who goes and buys an old icecream truck as a surveillance vehicle. Later in the day, the pack compare notes and whatnot. They decide to ask others if they know of this fetish. Ends-the-Quiet says that it sounds a little like Phoebe's Veil, a fetish commonly created to help hide the owner - the moon shape reflects back the light of the moon, making it hard to see the wielder. Freya consults/visits her friend Gwen, another Fianna, who, when it is suggested that it could be Phoebe's Veil, agrees. She has never seen one, but explains that although each fetish is technically unique, there is a familiar toolbox that Garou work with as well - spirits who have previously been happy to become part of a fetish, or shapes that are pleasing to certain types of spirits.

The question is raised as to whether Bob can questing stone a fetish, because it has a name. Then the pack take a while to decide to try it later tonight, during the challenge period rather than potentially cheat or perform activities which could be construed as cheating, and thus perhaps being the sort of activities that Cossack asked them not to engage in, vis a vis the provocation of Hidden Green.

So, at 10pm, the pack is waiting for Steel Hunters. They eventually show up and Abbagail proclaims that the Claws of Wisdom are ready to challenge them again. All move back to that dark place. They all step into the Umbra, and Steel Hunters run into the building. The pack from Sleeping Lore step straight back out again and Bob performs an excellent questing stone, and seems to get a response from the fetish's name. It is off to the south east about 20kms, and is moving. Voosh. Over the next hour, the pack do a few more questing stones and reach a private house in Mt Waverley/Pinewood area. There is a large party going on, and the ritual indicates that the fetish is inside somewhere. Park a distance away, and head back through the Umbra, and someone peeks, revealing a 30th birthday party for Jenny. All the people inside are about 30, some older, some younger, and they are all drinking heavily. Sensing Unnatural reveals the fetish to be around the neck of a young blond woman, maybe late 20's, whose name is Susan. Susan got here late, but is catching fast. The pack discuss what to do, from using rage to inspire lust in the woman - the only two males are Bob, who swears off because he has no idea how humans do that, and Kreige, who has a slight odour problem at the best of times, and they aren't willing to try it with a fem garou - to Freya stealing clothes from somewhere nearby to sneak in to storming the place and slaughtering everyone (no, not really). Eventually, Abby is picked as the secret infiltrator, despite her being 17 years old.

With judicious use of Persuasion and Resist Toxin and a supply of alcohol and being familiar with the names of some of the people there, Abby slips in and starts to get really familiar with Susan (no, not that familiar). Susan (not Sue) and Art are currently moving house into their new home - Art is at home packing. Yeah, he gave me the pendant. Yes, its pretty. Another drink, sure. Abby is probably the youngest person there, but seeing as she knows Susan, no one seems to mind. Eventually Abby convinces Susan to come outside for some cool air, and then to remove the pendant to give Abby a good look at it. Abby heads towards the light as if to see if better and then runs into the house. It takes a moment or two for Susan to realise and then she is too drunk to give chase. Abby slips through the party, thanks Jenny for a loverly night and then flees, stepping sideways at her first opportunity before smugly returning to her pack and crowing.

Back to the Sept in Kreige's car. They are driving along the freeway towards the city when, as they pass under Stephenson's Rd bridge, something drops off the bridge and is flying along under the car. Kreige tries to speed up to loose them, but they are keeping up. All that Freya can see is an impression of wings when they fold and plunge towards the car. Something crashes into the roof, but Kreige keeps control. Abby leans out the window and smacks it with the club lock, but the thing just looks at her and hisses. It is stone coloured, a bit like the imps from the museum, but much, much bigger. Kreige sees another one come out of the bushes ahead as he is planning to ditch the car, and accelerates towards it, slamming it into the middle of his bonnet. It doesn't have quite the same effect as Kreige was hoping, and he can only hold onto the steering as the car speeds off the side of the road, crumpled around the now wrecked motor, hitting a number of trees and finally crashing through a chainlink fence. Kreige is simultaneously knocked unconscious and ejected from the car as he changes to crinos, taking most of the cash and the windscreen with him. Freya is also knocked out, and the other two are knocked around.

There is a brief moment of silence, and Abby and Bob haul their unconscious packmates from the car, and try and run for it. A screech rings out behind them, and one of the creatures leaps on Bob. Kreige and Freya are dropped and battle is enjoined. Abby howls out a challenge to her enemies, charging the howl with Call of the Wyld, which seems to a) put the wind up the winged things and b) make the humans who have pulled over to help a little less keen to come down into the dark to see what is happening. Probably good on both counts. Once the first winged thing is dispatched by Abby and Bob, Bob uses his fetish to bring Freya around, but Kreige is well out of it. Abby howls out a Howl of Succour, again charging it with Call of the Wyld, and all the people at the top of the rise are suddenly even less keen to go down and see what is happening. Two more of the winged things land, and attack with their nasty sharp claws and nasty sharp pointy teeth. The pack respond in kind, tearing chunks of the very dense things off and scattering them around the field they are in. Eventually the pack is victorious, leaving the shells of these stony, black-blooded and very weird things in the park. Kreige is jolted awake and they try and decide how to clean up the mess of the car.

Cole is driving down Princes Hwy when he feels/hears/senses some sort of compelling call. He heads for it, turning onto the freeway, and back towards the party where they got the fetish. As he comes down the hill towards Stephenson's Road, a fireball erupts out of the valley to their right. They pull off the freeway and run back along the bike track and peer out of the tunnel that goes under the freeway. They can see the burned wreck of a car, with firemen standing around it. Corey changes to lupus and runs around. He sniffs about and returns to Cole, letting him know that he can smell the others. Cole peeks and sees figures a distance away. They opt to move into the Umbra.

In the Umbra, they find the rest of their somewhat bedraggled pack. Bob is performing a Rite of Cleansing around the spot where the monsters were killed. Kreige explains that because of the damage to his car, he felt it would be better if it was stolen and written off. They wait for Bob to finish, and then peek. The remains of the gargoyly things start to disintegrate and fall into dust. Odd, think all, and are a bit surprised when Adam Shergol sticks his head up and asks what the hell is going on. They head back to Cole's car while explaining and all cram in to Cole's car or catch a lift with the rest of Steel Hunters back to Hidden Green. Scott is a bit more camaraderic now, seeing as how they have proven that they are real Garou. They go to the Sept, and meet Felix. They explain what they did and saw, and Steel Hunters explain that they followed a lead to an Arthur Thackery and then he told them that his girlfriend had the item. They were heading there when they heard the Call for Succour from Abbagail. Apparently Thackery was fencing items from the museum, replacing the real one - the danger to the fetish might have been the reason Felix had the dream in the first place. The fetish is handed over, and some discussion is had about the things that attacked them. Neither Felix nor Robert are quite sure what they might have been - particularly weaver-like banes is the best guess. They recommend asking Emma.

The pack return, now having won a challenge and decided on a name, and only having been attacked by many unknown things. Emma is actually at the caern with Graeme, up late with a cup of tea. They give the whole story, a little bouncily, and Emma asks some questions about the things that attacked them. Her questions are all answered by 'yes' and she says that they were almost certainly demons. The mood drops a little. Emma says that she has had little experience with them, but they seem to be very dangerous. She would like the pack to visit the Sept of Reconciliation and the Sept of Grinding Stone and ask their theurges for information. The pack agree and head off to get some sleep for the night. But first, Cole asks Kreige to come and check out ... well, let's be honest. Gina, to make sure she wasn't like the things that attacked them. No, Gina seems to have a spirit nature, but it is of the wyld and weaver, and Gaia.

Sunday 6

Having got some directions from Emma, Claws of Wisdom first head out to Reconciliation. They have been told to ask for Antoinette. They arrive and mill around a bit before they are approached by a seeming ranger. He asks them if they need a hand, and they say they are looking for Antoinette. He nods and says that they should come with him. He leads them back towards the main entrance, introducing himself as Liam Boylan after an uncomfortable pause where the others don't introduce themselves. They kind of respond in kind and he just shrugs and suggests that they step through here, having led them somewhere out of site. Through the Umbra, they are led to a gazebo (#include anecdotes) where a stately woman of maybe 60, long grey hair, robes, is sitting. She focuses on Liam and greets him, and then looks behind. He vaguely introduces them to Antoinette and then lurks around. Antoinette scans the pack, looking for a pack leader, but no one really steps forward. Freya takes the initiative and introduces herself in a mortal fashion. Cole looks around for an ashtray and asks if he can drop ask in the garden. Antoinette introduces herself as Antoinette Cloak-of-Mourning, Rank 5 Homid Philodox of the Children of Gaia. After the pack have managed to unswallow their tongue, Freya relates the tail of their encounters with the imps and gargoyles, and Emma's supposition that they are demons. As she is speaking, another man has come to join them. His skin hangs from his bones, his eyes look two different directions and his hair is patchy at best. He stands and listens to the end of their story and looks at Antoinette, nodding. Antoinette introduces him as Phillip Bates, their Master of the Rite. Cole slaps at a mosquito and curses all these bugs, lurking around the place. Phillip glares at him, and the rest of his pack surreptiously punch him. Phillip says that he encountered the mages in his youth, but it was a brief encounter. They could summon up monsters at a gesture and many of them had other powers as well. Cole advocates evacuating the city or some such, and Phillip turns to leave. Freya asks Phillip as he leaves if the wounds he has were caused by this encounter, and he stops and says no, they were the result of a strong wyrm toxin. Phillip continues without turning around, and suggests that they should visit Malajimbarra at Grinding Stone - as an Uktena, he probably knows more, and then he leaves. Cole asks what's up with the brother, and Antoinette suggests that despite the freedom given to members of their own sept, many septs are still bound up in ancient traditions, especially including those of respect to elders. Cole becomes profusely apologetic, except he continues to spout off at the mouth. Liam leads them away and kicks them out.

During the three hour car trip to Grinding Stone, Claws of Wisdom discuss throwing Cole from the car, or perhaps more practically, picking someone to speak for the pack. Freya chooses herself, or is chosen and she agrees to speak for the pack.

Arriving in the Brisbane Ranges national park, they stop where they were told to, and head into Anakie Gorge. There are a few picnickers around - its nice weather and a Sunday. After walking for about 20 minutes, the pack's attention is caught by two people walking towards them. One is a woman, maybe 40, dressed simply, with short hair. The other is a moderately well build blond guy, wearing only jeans and boots, and with scars and glyphs carved into his body. Kreige, who has been here before, vaguely recognises him as another Get. The woman stops in front of them and waits. Freya says (after checking no one else is around) that they are Claws of Wisdom, she is Freya McCrae, rank 1 Galliard of the Fianna, and they have been sent to speak to the Master of the Rite, Malajimbarra. The woman says that she is Sveta Dotashkoi, rank 3 ahroun of the Shadow Lords. She will take them to their caern elders. She turns and heads off. The man gestures for the others to proceed him, and bumps heavily into Cole, tripping him and saying "Watch where you're going". The trip along the trail and then off, up a hill through bushland is punctuated by Cole trying to figure out why the guy doesn't like him.

After a time, they find themselves climbing a steep hill, spotted with large granite rocks, making it awkward to climb. Sveta leads them up the hill and eventually to a large pile of rocks, which seems to be a cave entrance. Guards there alert someone inside, and out of the cave emerges a great muscular man in his late thirties with short blond hair, blue eyes and many scars and in fatigues and flannel. He shortly demands an explanation from Sveta, who responds in kind. He looks at Freya, and says "well?". She introduces herself and her pack, and says that she is here to speak to Commands-the-Waters and Malajimbarra. The huge Garou says that Commands-the-Waters is not here, and he is Huros Bathes-in-Blood, caern warder, and as such, they can explain themselves to him. Freya starts to explain when Huros barks a dismissal at Sveta and the other man. Freya continues, much of her conversation spattered with 'sir's. Kreige interrupts at one point and Huros wheels and snarls "Was I talking to you?". Kreige sensibly drops his head. Freya finishes her story, and Huros looks at her for a bit. He finally says that she and her pack should step into the Umbra, where Malajimbarra will meet them.

The pack does so, and immediate is surprised by the unusualness of their surroundings. In the Umbra, the mountain is steeper and higher. From the cave mouth emerges groans and grinding sounds, and there is a constant trickle of rocks down the slope - similar to the ones in the Realm, but slowly rolling or sliding their way down the slope, and renewed by more from the mouth of the cave. Sitting next to this opening is an older aboriginal man, presumably Malajimbarra. He is only wearing a loincloth, and has some odd, somewhat disquietening things tattooed on his skin. Introductions are exchanged and he listens to their story. At the end of it, he asks them whether they will put themselves in his debt if he gives them some information. They huddle for a bit, then agree. Malajimbarra changes to lupus form and leads them north, running for hours. Cole keeps the world sufficiently surreal by speculating on the possibilities with homid/lupus cross breeding.

Monday 7 - Wednesday 16

The pack sit and learn various ritually things and rites. Kirsty Surfs-the-Train approaches Abby and asks for support against the animal vivisection stuff, and Abby backs off until she can find out more. She asks a physiology lecturer, the RSPCA and a vet what their opinions are, and gets the majority view that its not done any more than it has to be, and that the animals are well and truly under sedation. The vet also says that students of vetenary practises need to practice working on real animals, else they get that training with someone's Fluffy the cat. Abby takes these arguments back to Kirsty who counters with arguments about how the base practice is wrong, and how do they know that the rabbits are really unconscious and not just paralysed and so on. Abby basically tells her 'no' and leaves Kirsty to fume.

Bob, Abby and Kreige are lounging about at Carmel's when a man comes in and says they should fight a red dragon. No, not really. Actually, both of them see their most perfect mate, which is a bit confusing to Kreige as Abby is muttering on about the gorgeous guy, and Bob is totally absorbed in this feral femme. There is some discussion between Bob and the woman and Abby and her one true love, but Kreige hears nothing. In the end, Bob and the skanky woman make a run for it, followed by Kreige and Abby. They dash to a house, and lock the door. When Kreige and Ab get there, they are going for it in this hallway. The next few minutes all get a bit confused as Kreige, Abby and Bob discuss their differences in opinions. The perfect woman/man is decapitated and thrown at a frenzying Abbagail, who basically dices the thing all the way across the hallway. Someone or something is trying to come through the door, but Kreige is in Crinos form and blocking the doorway. He keeps being stabbed in the back with something. He gets a bit jack of this, rips the door open, pulls a guy in a suit and with a gun into the house, and splits him into three with one blow. Bob sensibly decides its time to go and heads out the back way. Two guys in suits chase him down the alley, shooting. Bob runs out into the street and heads back around to the front door once he's healed up a little (as he does in homid).

Abby finally recovers and runs out the back away from the carnage. On the way out she scares the piss out of the two goons and knocks one to the ground - crinos is like that. She escapes off into the neighbourhood. Kreige, hearing the sound of approaching sirens, tears the gas stove out of the wall and waits for the gas to build up. Bob comes in the front door and marvels at the arterial red colour scheme. Kreige and Bob run upstairs (god knows why) and Bob steps out into the Umbra... or at least into the gauntlet. Kreige gets more and more nervous about the sounds of police and fire engines out the front and ignites the gas, stepping out at the same time. When he meets up with Abby in the Umbra, the area that corresponds to the house is swarming with pattern spiders. Peeking reveals that the house isn't demolished, but the gas is seriously burning in the kitchen. Of course, the fire department will probably turn it off now, and its probably not enough to hide the forensic evidence. Plus, where the hell is Bob.

Bob, stuck in the Gauntlet, becomes aware of passage of time in some weird way. Experienced theurge that he is, he realises there must be a lot of weaver spiders around. He makes one attempt to wrench himself through the gauntlet and into the Umbra and succeeds. Negotiating the spiders, he meets up with the others, who theorise that the weaver spiders swarming everything is probably in response to the fire. They dick about for a bit, watching the fire engines extinguish the blaze. Kreige steps into the realm and tries to speed things along with more create elements and finds that creating air makes things burn hotter in the house, but he just doesn't give enough of a shit. They return to the caern, where Graeme beats them up a lot.

Thursday 17

After yesterday's farce, the pack decide they need a pack leader, and having one before the moot would be good. They finally decide on a combat and self-restraint challenge - namely, fighting on a log above a big pool of custard. If you get knocked in, you lose. If you frenzy, you lose. To make things exciting, Bob and Cole find things to throw at them, like squid, pineapples, kelp and duck spirits. Abby fights Kreige and wins, much to her surprise, and then Corey fights Freya, who is wiped out by a well-aimed chunk of kelp. Finally Corey fights Abby, and he narrowly defeats her. He is declared pack leader, and will be confirmed that evening at the Moot.

The Moot begins in the normal way, with Opening Howl and Inner Sky. Corey is recognised as leader, and Cossack performs the Rites of Renown on those who have exemplified themselves. The pack are asked to explain what they learnt from the other Septs about Mages, which really isn't too much. However, its more than they used to know. The Scryers report that the Wyrm-tainted drugs have been dealt with, dealers were possessed by banes. Nadine says that the zoo break-ins have ceased, although they didn't find culprits or reasons. General bane activity is higher, and a few members of the Sept are willing to blame Mages for it. There is a semi-groan from some of the Get of Pennington when Kirsty stands up and brings up the issue of animal vivisection again. She argues loudly which the same reasoning as last time, but adds that if they took a stand against this, they would be making a real difference to real people, not simply fighting squidgy, easily defeated monsters. A few of the sept get drawn into the argument, but Cossack cuts in and says that the matter is closed. Kirsty starts to argue again, and Cossack slaps her down hard. Kirsty is right on the verge of frenzying, starts to speak again and Cossack just looks at her. She storms out, shouting abuse and changing fully to Crinos, and frenzying across the landscape and off towards the west. The rest of her pack try to look small. Cossack gestures to continue the Moot, and it slowly gets back on track.

The whole pack participate in the Revel, rambling along to the east of the Sept. They find a small pollution bane and deal with it, then decide to report the storm-water/sewerage leak to the authorities tomorrow, cos none of them can step sideways. Wyrm is fought and squidged. How satisfying. Freya is walking back to where she left her car after the Revel as everyone else is settling in for a nap, and notices the word "Ridgeway" on the front of a paper left in the bin. She looks more closely and finds that Joe Ridgeway, a prominent businessman, has gone missing under suspicious circumstances. Apparently police found small traces of blood and that was all when neighbours called to report that he was missing and the front door was open. Freya runs back and lets her pack know. They get Bob to Questing Stone, but whatever happened to Ridgeway obviously scared the spirit in the stone.

Finding Chris McNeil (one of the Get of Pennington), they chat to him and ask him to do the Rite. He agrees, but there is no response to Questing Stone, either in the Realm or in the Umbra. Chris says it doesn't always work, especially if the person is high in the air, or in a strange, distant realm. They chat with him about Kirsty and mention that they were expecting her to ransack the Uni. He goes pale and runs off.

Claws of Wisdom opt to get their head down before going off to investigate, and have a repeat of the dream from the Totem Rite - They are flying along through thick, dark clouds. They descend through the murk and find themselves flying over a landscape of vast metal towers, twisted walkways and machines belching fumes and smoke. Banes swarm everywhere as they continue to move on, now flying over a garden filled with people being tortured and a forest of evil trees. The view follows a black river to a giant fountain that spews black muck high into the air. Over a strip mine surrounding a toxic lake, the pack fly on. They are still descending when ahead appears a Gothic looking cathedral. The view flies onwards as the doors open and reveal infinite darkness inside. The pack flies into the darkness and all wake, screaming....

Friday 18

Graeme is drawn to the noise and asks what's wrong. They tell him and he suggests letting Emma know. He also asks them where they were last night, and seems intent on the answer. When they say they were in Carlton, he tells them that a kinfolk in the police has reported to the Sept that someone was killed near the North Melbourne Community Centre by what police are speculating are some sort of weird knife, but which the kinfolk said looked like claw marks. There is some speculation about which direction Kirsty fled the moot from and no one will make eye contact. The pack head down to the site of the murder, following a certain Garou's scent trail, although it swerves off before getting too close to the site. Peeking reveals a torn up bit of lawn near some BBQs, surrounded by police tape. There is a considerable blood stain, and a Garou scent around, although heavily covered by the blood. It moves around and then disappears somehow (but not into the Umbra). The pack investigate some more - there is a trace of Wyrm in the area, but not strongly. They suspect the scent is a male one, not female. Not that that is relevant. No, sir.

They decide to head to the morgue, where Tony Staley (for that is the victim's name) has presumably been taken in a bucket. They arrive and find that the Coroner's court and surrounds is very gothic Umbra - gargoyles and black stone castle-like buildings and such. The sliding doors are a bit off-putting in this setting. The pack look around inside, finding that the body is in the fridge, and appears to have had a preliminary examination. They find the computing sections, the labs and guard house. Looking about from the Umbra doesn't really reveal much, except that Staley is there and is seriously dead. They opt to awakened a computer upstairs in the path labs, and accomplish it without too much stress. Corey and Bob quiz the computer, with Corey phrasing questions and Bob speaking to the computer. They find out that Staley was travelling alone and seems to have been set upon sometime between 4.30 and 5am. He is blood type B+. He died from blood loss due to several deep gashes across arteries. He had a wallet with normal stuff in it, and they get his address and such.

Freya and Kreige go to his house to see if they can see anything. He plays tennis. He works at Coles, doing night-stacking, ending suppositions that he might have worked in the University, leading to his splashy death. Nothing scents of wyrm particularly. In all, he seems a normal sort of guy. They shrug and head back to the morgue. In the meantime, the rest of the pack have looked for the case numbers and evidence lockers. There is some unusual material recorded as being with the body - thick black hairs, some blood that isn't his. Abby peeks back to the Realm to look around some more and finds that the computer is surrounded by two lab-coated interns and a guy in t-shirt and jeans, scratching their heads. The computer has exactly the screen up that Corey is looking at, and when he does more requests, the screen in the Realm changes. Corey rapidly does some random things and then makes the computer reboot. The humans shrug and move on with their lives. Or so the pack might think...

They all meet up again and head back to the caern, where they braindump at Graeme. He says that they have helped, thanks. They are leaving when Merlin appears in front of them, and demands that they follow him right now, quickly, run, run!. He disappears into the Umbra and the pack follow him. As they run across the bawn, mists seem to build up, like that which marked their Rite of Passage. They become too thick to see far and only Merlin shows them the way to run. The mists clear, and the pack find themselves running through dry grass, much life that around Rainbow Inc. The mists close again and the pack shifts once more. This continues, but each time, Merlin appears less substantial, as if he was being weakened. Finally, the mist clears once more, and the pack find themselves at the bottom of a valley, with high hills all around. There is no sign of any weaver presence at all, although the gauntlet is quite high.

Abby drops to lupus and sniffs about through the clearing mists. She suddenly scents a very odd scent and looks up as the rest of her pack gasp. In front of her is an almost naked aboriginal man, painted and bedecked, next to a crinos-form thylacine and a female lupus thylacine. They appear to be looking at the pack, and then one last patch of mist moves past and they are gone. Abby tries to get a good mental lock on the scent while someone peeks, finding that the gauntlet is still quite high. They see a wilderness fairly much matching what appears in the Umbra, but there is an odd distortion when peeking. Some experimentation later, it is determined that there seems to be a pack caught in the gauntlet here. Freya sails through and grabs them on the way and finds herself face to face with five surprised and angry Get of Fenris. There is a tense few moments as the Get work out that they have been caught in the gauntlet and Claws of Wisdom are informed that they have entered the bawn of Grinding Stone. The pack they rescued is introduced as Blood Claw, with the pack leader Mark Sutherland. Mark insists on taking the pack to the Sept elders, a little suspicious of Claws of Wisdom's intentions.

As they travel around, Mark tells them that for the last ten days, the Sept has been 'attacked' by the land itself - floods, fires, attacks of animal spirits and general weirdness. Blood Claw were on their way out to find out what was happening when they stepped and were caught. Freya explains about the Bunyip they saw, and the Get seem to take the news poorly. They climb up the hill, dodging rocks and start to notice the building up of quite dark clouds to the West - the dimming sun is quickly swallowed and the wind picks up. By the time they reach the cave mouth that is the centre of the caern, there is quite a respectable storm in the making, both in the Umbra and in the Realm. Malajimbarra and Huros are both there and Mark explains what happened and what Claws of Wisdom are doing here fairly succinctly. Huros immediately demands that the Garou attack the bunyip spirits as the source of the danger to the caern, but Malajimbarra says that he wishes to talk to the pack of Theurge things, and takes them aside, asking for more details. Huros continues his rants to an appreciative audience of Blood Claw, who advocate a show of strength to the spirits nearby to asset their dominance over the area. Claws of Wisdom move with Malajimbarra out of their immediate site.

Malajimbarra asks some pertinent questions, like how it felt when Merlin shifted them, how far they think they came each time, what the purported bunyip spirits did. As they speak, peals of thunder and flashes of lightning start to decorate the nearby countryside. The pack ask Malajimbarra how there can be bunyip here when they are all dead, and he says that there have been many sightings of what might be the spirits of the fallen Bunyip in the last 50 years, but that they all ended with the death or insanity of the Garou involved - he is intrigued at the 'watching' spirits the pack claim to have seen. The storm is getting worse as they return to the caern centre. A Moonbridge opens and Ivanova Howls-the-Storm appears. She has been at Rippling Waters with Commands-the-Waters, the sept leader, and they are undergoing the same attacks, and this strange storm. Huros renews his call for total war against those that would threaten the caern, and many of the surrounding garou seem to approve. Anastasia and Malajimbarra persuade Huros to wait for a genuine target, or at least until Commands-the-Waters returns. Malajimbarra returns to Claws of Wisdom and suggests that they should summon their pack totem. He is quite surprised to find that none of them know the ritual of summoning, and suggests that he would like to ensure they do, by teaching it in the near future. Someone points out that Merlin was quite drained by the weird shifting he pushed the pack through earlier, and Malajimbarra says that he will show the pack how to give their totem strength. He performs the ritual, and the pack sacrifice some of their gnosis to Merlin, strengthening their totem.

Merlin however, is a bit unsure of what is happening. He says that he is not sufficiently part of the land to be able to hear what is wrong, but that he knows the spirits of the land are angry and something is extremely wrong, an impending doom. Malajimbarra politely asks Merlin how he brought the pack to Grinding Stone, and Merlin said that he knew there was a wrong, and that he reacted "like water running down a hill" - he cannot explain how he knows, it is part of what he is. Merlin is asked if he can use his kinship with other spirits to try and discover what is wrong, and he reluctantly agrees. As the pack watch the storm hammer the surrounding countryside, the sense of Merlin's presence fades, although his 'body' remains. Suddenly his presence returns and Merlin says that he has convinced another hunting bird to help him - it has seen the place of wrong and marks it by spiraling. The pack must go now and seek out the wrong - it is to the direct west, and they should look to the skies to see the circling spirit.

Saturday 19thish

The pack decide to take off immediately - finding others and asking them will probably lead to arguments, and so bolt off westward, through the Brisbane Ranges, out across fields and highways. They run for many hours, and try and keep an eye on the stormy sky. Eventually someone spots a dark spot circling high in the sky in a lightning flash, and it also seems to notice them, for it starts to descend. Eventually the spot resolves itself into a huge eagle. Bob speaks to it, and it is Kanau, the Wedge-tailed eagle. It says it can sense a great wrong below where it was hovering, and they must right it. The wind suddenly drops and everyone's ears pop. Kanau says that it will mark the point, and he leaps into the sky, flying up high, and circling. The clouds near him start to roll back, and there is a surprising amount of light coming down from the near-full moon. The storm is still visible off to all sides, but the pack run towards the calm eye, readying themselves to fight some great wyrm-beast.

However, as they run along, with Bob peeking, nothing seems to leap out at them. Moonlight filters down to the ground, making the shadows seem deeper than usual. Bob suddenly signals to people to stop, and reports that he can see a gravel road, leading up to a building of some sort, with a wire fence either side of it, leading off into the bushland. The road heads up hill, there is an odd glow coming from the building. The pack approach in the Umbra, and the building resolves itself into a guardhouse, the glow is a tv from inside, and a sign nearby says "Edridge Technologies". The pack slink past in the umbra, and continue to follow the gravel road that is in the Realm. In both realms, the bushland is low and scrubby, but looks fairly healthy - the road seems to have had no impact in the Umbra. It curves up to the right, and towards the top of a low hill.

At the top of the hill in the Umbra is a large clearing of sorts - not many trees exist there, and the ones that do seem draped in weaver webbing. Bob says that in the Realm, the top of the hill is a huge gravel/asphalt clearing with large gum trees speckled across it - it looks like a car park. There are buildings to all sides but the east, some of them two stories high. The pack begin to wander around, scouting the place out. They find that the north and west sides of the clearing are the main labs and offices for some sort of research company - presumably Edridge Technologies. They seem to be involved in a wide variety of research projects, all based around engineering plants to give more food, or to clean up pollution or variations on those themes. They have a huge support area, extensive laboratories and offices for a large staff of academics and research assistants. There are apparently four senior staff, all of whom have a large number of academic texts on their shelves - again, all centered around botany and genetics.

Kreige starts to hear a low moaning sound in the Umbra as they wander near the senior officers. He eventually finds its source - a gash in the ground, maybe half a meter across and several long. Surrounding it are near-dead plants and reddish/gray soil. A red liquid dribbles down into the darkness, almost like blood. Its hard to tell how deep the hole is, and it would be hard to climb down it. The moaning sound seems to be coming out of the hole itself - or maybe its just the light breeze wafting over the gap. The pack start wandering around to see if there is a basement in the Realm. After a lot of hunting they do find what seems to be an underground area with generators. However, it doesn't appear in the Umbra, and in the Realm is a camera, looking down the stairs. Claws of Wisdom hunt for a security area, and find a guy sitting in front of a bank of small screens, each of which shows a view from various places around the establishment. He's not really paying a lot of attention to them. After some considering of options, the pack awaken and bind the spirit of the camera/screen, and order it to pause and show the current view of the stairs.

Once this has been done, they step into the Realm on the stairs, and jog down into the basement to see what they could see. The room has a number of what seem to be generators - some of them are diesel driven, but some of them are marked "Experimental fuel", etc etc. They are all running. There are some bottled gases stored here, in a protected cupboard. There is also a "Danger, 50,000 volts, do not open" door at the far end, which seems to be alarmed. The pack are suspicious, but Corey says it looks normal enough. They hunt around some more and don't find anything, so decide to force the danger door. Corey finds a screwdriver and plays with the lock, damaging it a bit in the process, but forcing it open. Inside is not immediately revealed the huge transformer that should be inside. Instead, that is off to one side and a thin corridor extends to another door. This one is not locked.

This hidden room is fairly small, maybe the size of an average lounge. At one end is a rather complicated machine that seems to be taking small bottles or jars, filling them with liquid and then sealing them, before stacking them on trays like breadtrays and then stacking them at the end of the whole process. At the other end of the room are angled tornado doors - opening them reveals some stairs leading down into the ground. Bob checks out the jars - the liquid in them is veritably glowing with gnosis. There is a strong sense of wyrm taint here, but not from the jars themselves. The pack poke at the machine a bit longer, and then opt to head down the stairs. The corridor on the other side leads downwards, doubling back on itself periodically. Light is provided by fluorescent globes every 10 feet or so, but many of them are shorted out. The corridor smells damp, and somewhat musty, although there is a faint burnt smell as well.

As the corridor descends, more lights are shorted out, and finally the last 20 metres of corridor have no lights at all, as the corridor emerges into a large natural cavern. The ground is covered in white sand - an oddity in a cavern apparently made of black volcanic rock. The sound of water leads to what seems to be a wide, deep pool, the water appearing black and inky in the near darkness. As their eyes adjust, it becomes clear that the water is in fact glowing faintly green. Someone peeks and finds that the gauntlet here is very, very thin, about as easy to pierce as in the caern at Sleeping Lore. Unfortunately the Umbra is pitch black, although other senses do reveal that there is a similar cavern in the Umbra, also with water pooling. Kreige spots something out in the water and he and Freya swim out through the bitterly cold lake. It quickly gets too deep for them, even in crinos. As they approach, the object resolves itself a clear plastic tube, maybe a handspan and a half across, apparently sucking water up, presumably to the machine above.

They swim along parallel to the beach and finally reach the wall. Its still cold and almost totally black here. Kreige notices some discolouration on the walls and looks closer - it is aboriginal paintings of some sort. They follow around the edge of the cave (it is about 100m by 200m, with a varying height to the ceiling) and find that the paintings move all the way around the edge of the cave, except where the new corridor has been cut - they look like they've been worn or rubbed off. The paintings are a mix of abstract patterns and glyphs of humanoids and animals. They try and work out how much water is being sucked up by the machine upstairs, but it seems to be a small amount compared to the volume in the cave. The pack follow the paintings around along the beach and find a cave leaving the cavern. Bob wants to follow it, and eventually convinces the others that they don't need light to find their way along. So, in lupus form and in total blackness, the pack creep along, occasionally illuminating hard bits with Freya's faerie lights. From the brief flashes they see, there are paintings along the majority of the cavern, and also into some small off-shoot caves.

After 2 hours of stumbling around, the pack come out into the night. Clouds are still massing around the calm eye around this hill, but the moon is about to disappear into the western edge of the cloud banks. Faintly they can hear wind raging across the countryside. Kreige gets some branches and bits of dry bark and starts rigging torches that could be carried back through the caverns so they can see where they are going and what is on the walls. In the process of doing so, he finds some more of the chain link fence that surrounds Edridge - apparently they are still within the compound. Freya hunts about and thinks they are north west of the compound and down hill. Kreige dedicates one of the torches for the Umbra. Cole manages to talk everyone into going up to the document safe first. Freya steps into the safe, in lupus form. She doesn't have much luck reading the info in there, but she does notice it has an emergency release level on the inside - general feeling is that its probably alarmed. She steps out, using faerie lights to light up the inside of the safe.

Plan B - Awakening the safe. Unfortunately, this doesn't really achieve anything (its a safe), so (Plan C) Cole steps in and dedicates random piles of papers. 20 minutes later, he goes to step out again and realises he can't see. He does have a cigarette lighter in his pocket, but he's in lupus form (being the only one that really fits) and going to homid would be painful, if not straight out deadly. He considers using the safety latch, but tries first to change in a piecemeal fashion. After slowly changing bits of himself to hispo and then crinos and homid (a sight that would have been worth seeing, if he could see) he manages to get his lighter out, and flicks it. With a slight yelp and the scent of burning eyebrows he leaps into the Umbra, taking the documents with him. They spill out onto the ground, and Corey offers to look through them while the others go down to the tunnel mouth.

Moving through the tunnels is much easier with light, and the pack can examine the pictures at the same time. About all any of them can say is that they are all one ongoing story, although Abby notices that the small side tunnels are almost little separate stories. They move through to the main chamber, struck again by the stillness and the low gauntlet. Cole suggests that maybe this is an old Bunyip caern, being drained of its gnosis. Kreige and Freya step into the Umbra to look about there. They find no cut tunnel and similar, if not the same paintings on the wall. In the Umbra, the flames cause shadows to leap about - the only thing moving in an otherwise perfectly still cavern. Even the water is silent.

Meanwhile in the Realm, Cole hears footsteps and voices coming down the corridor to the main buildings. He hisses a warning to Bob and Abby and they scuff some of their footsteps up, put their torches out and then look about to find somewhere to hide. Cole all but melds into the wall, Abby is not noticeable and Bob stands there trying to work out what to do when two guys in uniforms with rifles come out into the chamber. They see him and one goes to take a potshot at the dog. Bob runs for it, and they chase a bit before giving up. They are heading back (apparently Steve wants to chase some more) to the corridor, apparently to report the presence of the dog and the "broken lock" (their radios/walkytalkies don't work down here), when notSteve sees crinos-sized footprints coming out of the water. The two of them stop making jokes and start falling back to the corridor after cocking their rifles.

It is at this rather unfortunate juncture that Kreige and Freya step back into the Realm, continuing a conversation, between the guards and the corridor. Both of them are in crinos. Steve raises his gun and fires twice into Kreige, who tries to claw his head off, but only knocks him over. notSteve runs for it, but is crash-tackled by Freya, loosing his gun. Cole leaps forward and knocks the gun out of Steve's hand and Cole and Kreige pin him.

notSteve is apparently called Greg, and he's more than willing to be cooperative to the hulking people around him. Abby changes to homid form and speaks with him, while Cole and Bob take Steve (still being the tough guy) aside and try and interrogate him. Apparently Greg is a local, being employed to be security. He took the job because it paid well - so did a whole lot of other locals from Skipton and Carramballac. He doesn't have a whole lot of education, so as far as he knows, they're just doing plant stuff, with greenhouses and all. He points out that they'll be missed and that there are other security guards. The chief of security is apparently Ms Dellaharpe. The radios don't work down here, and they're not supposed to come in - just look from the doorway. Ms Dellaharpe has a special security alarm on the console that they're supposed to use if something strange happens. Greg doesn't know what its for. He doesn't know why they have guns like these ones - he knows they probably aren't legal. The place has been here for ages - he's been employed for at least 8 months.

Steve is being much less cooperative. He offers to take on Cole or Bob, one or the other, and see if they're tough enough to take him. Cole tries to talk to him, but its not really getting anywhere, so he gives up. Steve is brought back and Greg and he have a few words, mostly "Shut the fuck up Steve!". The pack discuss what to do with them. Abby seems in favour of killing Steve here and now in front of Greg, but after the rest of the pack stare at the 17 year old dorky sociopath she concedes that argument. Steve is tied up and dumped somewhere in the caves, to be retrieved later. Greg is taken out to the edge of the cave, and the pack say as long as he never comes back, they won't ever follow him. Cole tries to offer him some money to get home with, but Greg seems to think they are going to shoot him in the back or something as he runs off, so he sort of scampers away to the fence, and is never seen again.

Corey catches up with the pack, having spent a rather dull time going through patent applications, business deals, grant details and other boring, but confidential information taken from the safe. They return into the caves, and piss about some more, looking at stuff. Back out of the caves again, past the still muffled yelling of Steve, and through the Umbra to the top of the hill. Bob peeks and finds that the situation appears to have changed. In the carpark is a large helicopter - apparently heavily armed. Two guys in camo gear are guarding it. They also have nasty guns and somethings that look like grenades. They are wearing blue berets, but have no insignia. This is looking bad. There are two guys in camo guarding the outside door of the security area too. Peeking into the security HQ reveals two normal security dudes (dressed like Greg and Steve), one woman dressed similarly (presumably Ms Dellaharpe) and three guys in camo gear and blue berets, one of which has captain's insignia. They are talking about a scout group which have gone to the chamber. Dellaharpe says that it might be nothing, but her orders are too hit the alarm if anything involving the chamber goes amiss, and the captain nods. The pack start humming and harring about what to do. The man's radio crackles into life and a voice says that there is definite evidence of an intrusion, but the two guards are nowhere to be seen.

The blue beret man orders the other two blue berets out to "get the scanner". Cole runs off with Kreige and Freya to see if he can see a "scanner". In the helicopter is more ammunition, and what seems to be a rocket launcher. Cole can also see something like a CRT for a radar scanner, and assumes that's it. He steps out of the Umbra, and into the helicopter. The doors are open, but he somehow manages to be quiet enough so that the guards don't immediately hear him. He smashes his fist into the scanner, shattering it, and this provokes a response. The guard on the right swings around and lets loose with a 3round burst from his gun at Cole, who miraculously dives to the ground on his back. Freya steps through instantly and pulls the guy's head clean off as Cole grabs his gun and swings the butt 180 degrees and knocks the guard on the left out. He leaps out on the left and looks at the situation. The two guards that were coming for the scanner start shooting their way.

Alerted by the sound of automatic fire in the security room, panic breaks out. The captain and Dellaharpe head for the door, and the two normal guards fall in behind. However, Abby and Corey take this moment to step out of the Umbra and start causing a ruckus in here as well. One of the normal guards runs for it, and the other tries to shoot Corey, deafening everyone inside the room. One of the guards on the door comes in, and the other runs towards the helicopter. Dellaharpe changes, growing warty and claws and starts attacking Abby. Corey and Abby bounce around the room, pasting Dellaharpe and the captain, and then moving towards the blue berets. None of them seem normal, as they are not reacting to the Delirium, and seem to have a few minor abilities. One vomits caustic goop at Corey, but misses and melts his comrade. Bob appears to still be coming through the Gauntlet.

Meanwhile, the helicopter has become a place of multinous bad. Cole is returning fire with the three blue berets while Freya runs around to their left and attacks from the side. Kreige also appears to be taking his own sweet time coming through the Gauntlet, but its only been less than 10 seconds since Cole broke the scanner. Freya stomps one of the blue berets, Cole dodges incoming fire. Another of the berets throws something small and metallic at the helicopter. Cole drops the gun and runs for it, catching it. It is indeed a grenade. He flings it off a way and it explodes in the bushland. Freya stomps another opponent, but the third has more luck with his weapon and nearly cuts her in two. Pity that Cole is there now.

The security room goes still except for the dripping and running of bodily fluids. Corey and Abby head outside, covered in gore, and meet with the other four. Total combat time: about 15 seconds. Kreige appears and joins them. Bob appears in the security room and looks about at all the carnage. One of the mangled bodies is attempting to reach the console, so Bob dispatches it and wanders outside too.

The pack take advantage of this break in the proceedings and try to take stock. They are checking that everyone is ok (once Freya's lungs are put back inside) when there is a slight breeze. The helicopter's blades are started to spin up. The pack rush over there to stop it taking off. Abby jumps inside while the others weight it down with the crinos forms. She stares blankly at the control panel and then tries to hit it repeatedly. Kreige politely moves her out of the way, and hits a few things, cracking some of the casing. Cole notices that the rear rotor is not spinning, and points that out, and that if the rotors spin up enough, it will just take off, spin around and then crash. He suggests looking for a fuel jettison lever. There is a mechanical clunk and green, watery liquid starts to pour from the back of the 'copter. Cole says "well done." The others says they didn't touch anything. Four garou runs screaming away from the helicopter - Cole, Bob and Corey step into the Umbra, Abby and Freya head for the security headquarters and Kreige grabs a double armful of ammunition and heads for the nearest door, which he is punched through when the helicopter explodes.

Debris is raining down all over the place when Kreige looks outside again. The spot the helicopter landed is a seething pit of fire, puking black oily smoke into the air. However, the support part of the main building is also on fire, especially where Abby and Freya were running towards. Kreige drops his ammunition and runs over to see if he can see them, and finds both of them unconscious about 20 metres from where the edge of the building used to be - there are no visible wounds, but they are sprawled in an awkward way. He hoiks them both up, one under each arm, and runs away. He makes it inside the building as there is another explosion, one which pushes air inside the building around quite strongly. A quick glance reveals that the main support building has exploded and is burning even worse than the helicopter - presumably the generators and other equipment that was near there has exploded.

The sprinkler systems come on, but then die. Screams and smashing glass can be heard coming from the flats part of the complex, but they are a fair distance away, so Kreige takes his chances and picks up his two packmates and runs for it. They run into the bushlands and downhill. Kreige finds that bits of debris have started some spot fires despite the recent rains, and he has to take less than a direct path to get to cover. He revives the somewhat groggy Abby and Freya with some water from a smashed glasshouse, and they spend time putting out as many of the fires as they can, by knocking over trees, stamping them out and in the couple of extreme cases, using create element to make a big splash.

In the meantime, Cole has wandered through the Umbra and peeked into the flats. He finds a whole load of people panicing around the place, some of them unable to get out of the buildings due to electronic locks which have locked and refuse to unlock. He finds an empty apartment, steps through to the Realm in glabro form and helps turn the flood of panic stricken people fleeing into a more ordered retreat via cars rather than just running away. He hopes that the confusion will blur memories of the 7' tall black basketballer with a hair problem.

Eventually the pack reassemble near the cave entrance. From the road and near the compound they can hear fire engine sirens, and flashing light is visible from a distance. Reassured that the whole area will not be burning down, they decide to slip along into the caves and see what damage has occurred to the main chamber. The trip only takes 45 minutes as they get more familiar with the route. They check Steve on the way through and find that he has whacked his head and knocked himself out. The main chamber is just as calm as when they first arrived here, with the firelight from the torches casting weird shadows everywhere. Checking the man-made tunnel, it appears to have collapsed during the explosion. Kreige and Abby swim out to the tube coming out of the roof, but it seems to have stopped sucking water up - they tear it out of the roof anyway, and bring it back to the beach. There is a slight wyrm taint drifting out from between the rocks, so Freya does a Rite of Cleansing. While she is performing, Corey and Kreige check out some weird cough/bark-like howling they heard coming from the tunnels. Cole and Abby also try and make their peace with the spirits of the cave - Cole produces a sort of sand painting and Abby tries to howl out a kind of lupus apology and statement of their desire to fix what is wrong.

Kreige and Corey reach the outside world again without spotting anything that might have caused the noises. They peek and see some figures in the Umbra on top of the hill, so they step. Kreige howls out a greeting and about 1/3rd of the way through it is greeted with a chorus of howls, some of which he recognises. He sticks his head back into the cave and tries to yell "hey!" down to the main chamber - Cole, Bob, Freya and Abby hear the wolf equivalent of "Argy bargy noodle hey", but decide they might be wanted - and then heads up to meet the people coming down the hill. Its very crowded in the Umbra - Cossack and Emma are here, as are Commands-the-Waters and Malajimbarra and an all-female pack from their sept called Gaia's Rage led by Athena Tirebass. Completing the set are a group of Garou that are introduced as being Bret Hutchinson and Leaps-in-the-Light, the Sept Elder and Ritemaster of Rippling Waters, a nearby Fianna sept and One Phone Call, a pack from the same sept led by Abina Yildirim. Once all the greetings are exchanged, people demand to know what the hell is going on. Kreige suggests that they follow him and Corey while they explain.

Back into the caves - about half way towards the main chamber, the rest of Claws of Wisdom is encountered, and the whole rather confused story comes out. The pack is a little nervous that they are in trouble, but the actual vibe coming back from the other garou is mostly "This is /coool/". There are exceptions - Emma is concerned about the pack's growing habit of just setting fire to stuff to solve their problems, but they deny all responsibility for the inferno above them. When Claws of Wisdom speculate that they have found an old Bunyip caern, the whole group goes quiet except for a quiet "holy shit." from one of One Phone Call.

Upon arriving at the main cavern, all the Garou are struck by the unnerving quiet and stillness. Voices go quiet (except for Cole, who keeps apologising for the cigarette ash he dropped earlier), and everyone's manner is muted. The three senior theurges go to the shore edge and wave the others away, and begin some sort of ritual. Gaia's Rage stand and talk only amongst themselves, but One Phone Call pester people for more of the story of what has happened in the last 12 hours. Commands-the-Waters and Cossack walk with Bret along the wall of the cave, ostensibly studying the pictures, but when Kreige goes over to give some more details, he overhears them discussing what to do - Bret seems assured that the Fianna can deal with the problem, while the other two sept leaders seem to want to take the matter to the Jindabyne Council to decide. Eventually the theurges finish their ritual and come back to the group to give their findings - this is indeed a caern, but it is critically drained. It will be dead in a week unless it is rejuvenated in some fashion. That decides it, the matter must go to the Council, and Bret concedes the fact, although unwillingly.

Gaia's Rage and One Phone Call are left to guard the site and to help remove some of the more obvious gross evidence (spent cartridges, bodies clawed to death, etc) before mortal authorities get it into their heads to look too closely. The sept elders and Claws of Wisdom, because its all their fault, are going to go to Rippling Waters and from there to the Crackenback Sept, where the Jindabyne Council meets.

Everyone runs off a way and then piles into cars. Cossack and Emma explain what has happened in the last 24 hours while the pack were off gallivanting. Basically the storms started drifting over to Melbourne. Malajimbarra contacted Sleeping Lore and asked whether Claws of Wisdom had returned. They eventually sorted themselves out and Cossack and Emma came to Grinding Stone. They did a few Questing Stone rituals to try and find the pack, and eventually correlated that with reports of weird weather and then the kilometre high smoke plume, deciding that that was probably the pack. They headed that way with people from the other two septs, and were looking about for a while before they heard Kreige.

Rippling Waters is in a bit of chaos as the Sept elders return, so the pack get a chance to sit and rest. Eventually Leaps-in-the-Light opens a Moonbridge to Crackenback, which is where the Jindabyne Council meet. As everyone walks through the silvery portal, they emerge into a rather tense situation, not helped by the raging storm. A ring of Garou are confronting the newcomers and some people are in crinos, or have their hands on weapons. Bret is speaking with the leader, who turns out to be Darius Winchester, the Silverfang King of Australia. After explaining the situation, Darius spits out "come", turns and walks down the hill. He waves at another woman there and says "take care of the others". The Sept elders follow Darius, and the woman approaches. She introduces herself as Michelle Leaps-Beyond-the-Reach-of-the-Wyrm, seneschal of the Crackenback sept. After a long wait, she prompts Corey, who introduces his pack. Michelle leads them down the hill and into the Realm, towards some log cabins. She politely, if distantly, settles them in, and asks if they would like some food. The pack agree quickly and Michelle leaves. Some of Claws of Wisdom settle down to meditate for a while, and the others look around. They are in cabins similar to the sort you'd expect to find in a national park - not flash, but well constructed. Michelle returns with food and points out that they are welcome to light the fire - the Council will not be meeting today, and it will be a cold night, what with the storm and being 2km above sea level in the middle of the alpine area. The pack amuse themselves, meditate and generally recover from their busy day.

Sunday 20

At about 5.30, Abby wakes the pack up from their deep sleep, and says that she just had a visitor. Bret Hutchinson explained that he suspects that the Council will squabble over the issue of the dying caern for days, ending up with the Ngalyod pack (the pack who serve the council) being sent to rescue the caern. This will give Darius an opening to start insisting that the Fianna are not given control over this caern, despite the fact it is in their territory. Bret would obviously like the Fianna to control this caern, and he would like the pack's help in organising this. Abby asked some questions and Bret explained that when the issue comes up to send the Ngalyod pack, he would like them to challenge for the right to save the caern, on behalf of the Fianna, and by right of discovery. Bret said that they wouldn't have to fight Darius or anything - it would probably come to a vote unless things turned nasty, and that he will make them members of the Rippling Water. Abby is keen to do it, and so is Freya. Corey thinks about it for a while and says yes, but Bob is a against joining the Fianna sept - he doesn't see why they should get involved. The other two are eerily silent. Corey decides as pack leader that they will do it, once they've chatted to Cossack to make sure he's ok with it, and ignores Bob's grumbling. Back to sleep.

Early wake up call by the birds onto a fresh new day. Last night's storm has blown all away, leaving a clean new world. The pack run off and find Cossack, speaking to him about Bret's offer. He is a bit surprised, and points out that it is a generous offer, as the Council could very well put the caern into his jurisdiction anyway. Cossack doesn't object to their saying yes, but he'd like them to keep in mind their primary obligation to Sleeping Lore. They agree and find Bret, giving him the nod.

The Council assembles about midday. They sit on a huge horseshoe table, with 13 chairs behind it. The chairs have the tribe glyphs carved into them - one for each tribe represented, and one for the bunyip, which is left empty. The Red Talon chair has been thrown away, and lies in the grass half way up the hill. Behind the pack stand the Ngalyod pack. The Council is chaired by Darius. Commands-the-Waters is interviewed first, and she speaks about the storms at her Sept and at Rippling Waters, their weird nature, tracks of Thylacines, gauntlet becoming strong and weak in waves. Malajimbarra is called up next, and he says that Blood Claw were sent out to find out what was happening, and we apparently caught in the high Gauntlet. They were rescued by Claws of Wisdom.

Corey is interviewed, and he explains their story from the point where Merlin appeared, rescuing Blood Claw, talking to Malajimbarra and Merlin, running to Edridge, examining the area, the fomor that showed up, the battle and most importantly, the cave. The Council then ask specific questions:

Darius

Were you able to get a sense of the caern spirit?

No, say pack. Darius looks disappointed

Don Mephisto

Was there any indication how much Edridge knew?

No, say the pack - although there was some evidence that not everyone knew everything. That will still have to be sorted out

Vlad

Any sign of a struggle?

No, say the pack, a bit confused.

Vlad then goes on to say "So there is no sign they made any effort to defend their caern, they left it for the wyrm!

Much "Oh please." from the council, yelling and arguing. Eventually the council is quietened down again.

Cernonous

Other than the pictograms, were there any other signs or remnants of the Bunyip?

No, say the pack. Cernonous looks disappointed too.

Tjinderi

Who suggested that the matter should come to the Jindabyne Council.

After some consultation, the pack say that Cossack and Commands-the-Waters were the first to suggest it.

Tjinderi looks smug.

Wungala Rose

Did you totem explain how they knew something was happening?

Corey relates what Merlin said about the land being in pain, and he being too from the land to hear it exactly, but that Merlin could talk to other spirits who did know.

Wungala Rose

Could we perhaps talk to your totem?

Darius says "I propose that the Ngalyod pack be sent to save the caern, and claim such an important Bunyip site for the Jindabyne Council". Corey jumps forwards and blurts out "We have been asked by the Fianna to claim that right for the Fianna, because we found the caern." Bret looks panicked and everyone blinks a little bit. Vlad calls out "vote" before Darius can start to object. Darius and Tjinderi vote for the Ngalyod pack to be sent. Cernonous abstains, Mamu says "homid posturing. all know the caern should be Talon" and abstains. The rest all vote to send Claws of Wisdom. Bret looks relieved, Darius stalks off. Cernonous comes down to meet the pack, along with the Ngalyod pack. "You will need to go to the Scar - it is a realm in the near umbra. We have recently heard that the forces of the wyrm there are collecting gnosis and storing it in batteries. One or more of these batteries needs to be brought back to the caern and the gnosis released there." Fujiko, pack leader of the Ngalyod speaks, saying "The Scar is an industrial nightmare, a place where the Weaver has gone mad. Shifting form there is hard, and passions do not easily flow." They head off, after Darius.

The Council breaks up and people exodus back to their home caerns. Sleeping lore is quiet and peaceful by comparison, and the pack consider how they will be dealing with this quest. Emma, Graeme and Cossack chat to them for a while - Emma explains that Realms like the scar are a fair old travel away from the Penumbra, with which they are familiar. The pack will need to find a Moonpath (not moonbridge), and head towards the Scar. Basically they need to keep their destination in mind when travelling, and they will probably head that way. Bob, as the theurge, will probably be their best guide. Graeme offers them the use of a sept fetish - a shotgun that requires no shells, and can be activated for aggravated blasts. Corey gives it to Cole, who attunes to it. It is suggested that the pack gets a good night's rest and heads off the next evening, as they have had a busy time of it.

Cole heads off to his apartment to find that Gina has painted Quiney in rainbow colours and stolen the television remote, hiding it on top of a set of shelves. Harold has apparently been trying to cut the shelves down with a bread knife to get it back. He cleans up the mess and gives Winston instructions for the next few days. Freya goes home to Jordan and and Brad, and calls in sick to work for a few days. The others make similar preparations for a bit of an absence.

Monday 21

Given that Moonpaths are easier to find and travel at night, the pack spend one more normal day before gathering together at moon rise in the caern. Emma gives them directions of sorts, instructing them to keep firmly in mind where they are heading to. Claws of Wisdom head into the Umbra, and wander around aimlessly for hours, not actually sure of what they are looking for. Eventually Kreige points out an elevator in an old building in South Melbourne and says that he thinks that's the way. The pack go inside and pull the sliding door shut. Freya ums and ahs over the buttons for a bit, and then pushes the top one. There is a winding sound and the elevator starts to go up. And up. And up. The walls fade out, and sound is muffled.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the elevator shudders to a halt, and the door fades away. The pack is surrounded on all sides by silvery fog. Ahead lies a faintly silver path, but with a metallic sheen to it. The air smells of metal, faintly unnatural. Onward they travel for apparent hours and hours. Occasionally figures or movement is glimpsed through the mist, but nothing seems incline to bother six Garou going about their business.

The scents of industry, oil and metal have been growing stronger for a while, and the path they run along is distinctly metallic when the mists ahead suddenly clear, and the pack finds itself facing an infinite wall of weaver stuff - up, down, left and right, it seems to extend on forever. In the distance, the pack can see immense weaver spiders moving slowly about. Bob suggests that this might be a Gauntlet, like the one between the Umbra and the realm. Some experimentation says yes, and Kriege says that he thinks that they are near the edge of a cliff, so be a bit cautious. Freya steps with Bob and Corey, her in glabro, the other two in lupus and homid forms respectively. Kriege sees them appear and Cole grabs Kriege and Abby, all stepping through in Crinos form.

Freya and company appear on what immediately appears to be a balcony for a series of flats - the edge of the balcony was the cliff that Kriege saw. Freya gives a shriek and rips the door to the room open, dragging the other two into the room, just as three huge crinos forms appear on the balcony, bending the brittle railing, and causing dust to fall slow downwards. The pack can all smell just one single scent - a thick, oily, industrial, burnt metal smell that makes it impossible to smell anything else. The air is thick with smog, and the ground can only just be seen from this high up. In the room into which Freya had burst, they can see a camp bed, some fairly simplistic furniture, and... well, that's it really. The walls are grey, they curtains are sort of grey, the thin blankets are grey. Its a fairly grey old sort of place really. The pack stick their head out into a hall and its sort of grey too, with stairs winding downwards, and a grotty, barely 10W bulb lighting the stairwell. On their level are a number of nearly identical doors, presumably leading to similar rooms.

A weird siren echos in from outside, and looking cautiously over the balcony, the pack can see streams of grey-clad, sallow-looking humanoid shapes shambling out of the building they are in, and being herded along by black-skinned humanoids with blades for arms. They stumble and jerk, but no one actually falls. The pack opt to try and follow them and fly down the stairs. Just as they reach the lobby, another stream of people come towards the building. These figures are dressed the same, but look even dirty and more drab, if possible. They stumble and shuffle along, and some even fall down. They come into the building, past the barely hidden pack (some still in crinos) and into the various doors around the place. Its suggested that the pack might have just seen a shift change. After 5 minutes, its all quiet. Just as the pack are about to take off after the first lot, a high-pitched, warbling shriek echos out fading away into a gurgle. It doesn't seem to have been close by, and there is no movement through the smog to reveal what it might have been. They sneak out after a time and after the new workers.

The path follows away from a group of similar high-rise flats (all grey, concrete and neglect) and towards a nearby factory type of building. As they approach, a low, thudding sound starts to make itself felt, like a heartbeat, but much much louder. The garou can mostly feel it, not hear it. The factory has many stacks, from which pours the black, white and grey smog that predominates the area. It is surrounded by a chain-link fence, but that does not slow the pack at all. Not them. No no. They basically leap it. A whole 10 seconds. They sneak towards the factory after rolling around in the grey, dry dusty soil to make it harder to see them, led by the invisible Freya. The building emits many mechanical sounds as they approach - glimpses through the doors of the long building reveal workers clustered around incomprehensible machinary. They sneak up and down the building, relying on Freya's sense of where to hide to keep them hidden. None of workers pay the pack any attention at all - they are all chained to their stations, and concentrating on the conveyor belt in front of them. Most of them are maimed in some fasion, and none of the equipment they are using has anything even faintly resembling safety guards. The factory seems to disassemble the same product they make at the other end of the whole complex.

There don't, however, seem to be any batteries handy. So, poking around again, the pack discover pipes that glow with a faintly gnosisy sort of glow, although they also have a heavy weaver and wyrm taint too. They lead down into the ground, near some manholes. Following back to their source, they seem to branch and branch and eventually just deadend as very small tubes, leading from near where the chains for each station end. The pack play with the chains and locks for a bit - they don't have a latch, but they close and seal when put together. They might be what's draining gnosis from the various worker-spirits. So, down the man hole go the pack. Only problem is that its a tight fit. Freya goes down without any problem, being in glabro, but the crinos lose some skin as they start down the hole. Cole and Freya are both at the bottom of the ladder tube and standing in a smallish maintenance corridor of some sort when something rat like leaps out of the darkness and attacks Cole. He wheels and puts it down with the shotgun, but notices in the process that it is much more spirit like than the area feels like.

The pack work out which way the gnosis is flowing in their pipes, and head that direction. Trudge, trudge. The corridor seems only just big enough for a crinos, so there's not much room to move around in. More pipes join at random points, and they pass under a few more ladder shafts, giving them a chance to stretch. They sometimes pass open pipe mouths, as if the pipes empty out into this maintenance shaft. A dark liquid dribbles out of the holes, but it beads in a weird way - its almost like the liquid has no real contact with the surface of the tunnel. After a few hours, the tunnel ends in a glory hole, where their tunnel and two others join, and a larger tunnel leaves from lower down. The pack are about to head down a ladder to the floor when the weird high-pitched warbling sound rings out again, and huge flow of black goop spews out of one of the other tunnels, filling the glory hole. The pack backpeddle rapidly up their tunnel, but the glory hole only fills half way, and then it all flows out the bottom tunnel. After working out they can hold their breaths for a long time, and that if the surges in black goop are timed with the warbling sound it will be a few hours before the next one, the pack pick up the pace and start running along the larger bottom tunnel.

More pipes open out into this tunnel, some of them leaking, some not, some of them a good 18 inches across. There is functionally no residue from the previous flow - it all seems to bead and flow away. The pack are jogging onwards when there is sudden movement from the left and right. The whole pack leap into combat readiness only to find that they are being assaulted by a strange collection of naturae spirits - birds and lizards, elementals and such. Once both sides take stock of the situation, Bob chats with a parrot and gives them the short version of why they are there. The parrot says that it will take them to see the King. The pack are led along tunnels to a sort of crack in the roof, where all the spirits go up. The pack are forced to change to homid form (except Bob) to get up the gap. They find themselves in a natural tunnel, and are led further on, although they now have to light their way with natural phosphoresence and Freya's faerie lights.

More travelling along leads to a large, well-lit cavern, crowded with many, many varied spirits. The presence of the pack causes a bit a stir, and Bob winces a lot from the spiritual noise sent their direction. The pack eventually gets to see the King - a falcon spirit. It speaks to them about their task and offers to lead them to the CPS (Central Processing Station) where the batteries are, if they will help rescue a load of spirits with a battery and helping them leave the realm. The pack agree fairly readily, and they are led off again, coming out in what seems to be a storm water drain, and then out a grate next to a road. From where they are, they can see a small semi-pyramidal building, surrounded with razor wire fences and guards. That, according to the parrot that has led them here is the Central Processing Station. A couple of transports seem to be getting ready to leave, and Abby comes up with the bright idea of attacking one as it returns. One indeed rolls out, with 6 of the black guard aboard, with guns and all.

The pack lays in wait and plans its attack on the transport. They move far enough away from the CPS that they are hard to see, and chose a point where the transport will have to slow to turn 90 degrees. The basics of the plan are that Kreige and Cole will run up and haul the driver and shotgun out of the cabin and the others will attack the guards in the rear.

After many hours everyone is in their favoured form and in position. Some of the naturae spirits are acting as scouts and messengers and relay back to the pack that the transport is coming. As it reaches the corner, up everyone leaps. The results are fairly predictable given 6 garou and an ambush, and within about 30 seconds, there isn't a living guard to be seen and the transport is heading back the way it came as Cole drives it along. The other wipe bits of guard off the walls and Corey heals up from the single shot the guards got off. They are now the proud owner of 3 slightly wyrm tainted gnosis batteries, which look like giant truck batteries. Someone performs a cleansing in the back of the truck.

Zoom goes the pack. Boing says Zebedee. They zoom along the roads and reach the factory zone in an hour or two, subjective time. The transport is pulled over to the side and Cole and Bob grab a battery each and scarper for the "edge" of the Realm. The rest of the pack set the transport to ram the gate and cause a distraction while they sneak inside. They hoon along, releasing spirits from their collars (to little effect, they just stand there, but its the thought that counts). Finally, in the middle of their factory, they decide its time to release the power in the battery. "Er, how?" comes the question. Abby grabs the battery and lobs it onto a handy conveyor belt. The pack sit and watch as the battery slowly rolls along to a crusher (its just like Roboralley!). Kaboom! The heavy machinery comes crashing down on the battery, releasing a huge wash of gnosis across the factory. No actual damage is done, but where the wave goes past, colour is restored to the grey grey scenary. Spirits hit by the wave morph into a thousand different shapes, and the members of the pack feel their own gnosis get renewed as well. The 10 or so guards are quickly swarmed by the huge spirit swarm, and it takes a while before sanity prevails. Eventually Claws of Wisdom step sideways with all the spirits, leading to total confusion in the Umbra when they all revert to type and shoot off in all directions.

Meanwhile, Bob and Cole feel a cool wash of gnosis from behind and decide that they can probably step from this location. They make their slow way through the gauntlet around the Scar and meet the rest of the pack. All decide they should get back, so find a moonpath and head home. After a time they start to get a slightly claustrophobic sense, and a feeling like they are running down a storm water pipe or something. Dampness builds under their feet and it soon becomes apparent that they are running along a storm water drain. When they reach a grill, Kriege sticks his head out and looks around. It looks like Richmond, or somewhere similar, in the Umbra. The pack shrug and head to the caern, where they find it is...

Thursday 24

...and they are greeted with much cheer, and sprayed beer. Cole and Bob opt to not go by Moonbridge to Rippling Waters, but to go to the new caern directly. Well, sort of directly, actually via Cole's apartment, where everything has a strange, strange feeling of calm after a storm. There are some missing objects, and everything is neat and tidy... too neat and tidy. None of the statues are in evidence. Enquiries with his manager reveal that the art show went off without a scratch, and that he didn't accidentally sell Gina to anyone. Cole shrugs and decides to worry about it when he gets back.

The rest of the pack get a similar, but less beery, reception from the Fianna at Rippling Waters. They get a chance to wash up and rest as everyone who wants to come along assembles, and then everyone piles into cars and drives to the Edridge site. Meeting with Bob and Cole, all go down the caves in the Umbra and spill out into the giant cave at the end. All are shushed (Cole is gagged) and the theurges do some weird theugry things, with Rituals that people think are related to the Moot-rites. At the appropriate moment, Claws of Wisdom are directed to destroy the batteries, and not having some handy heavy machinery they tear them to pieces over a few minutes with claws, thus fulfilling their name and ending the story. No, not really. The gnosis does not explode out, but instead slowly vents as more of the batteries are destroyed. It makes no noise, but all get goosebumps as the wash of spiritual energy bounces off the walls. It goes still. There is a deep grinding sound, and movement from the far wall. A huge figure detaches itself from the wall and walks across the pool towards the assembled Garou. The pool does not even ripple from its huge footsteps. The figure is humanoid, but easily 15 foot tall. It is covered with aboriginal paintings, and they ripple and spin around it, never staying long enough in one spot to get a real good look at them (but the walls still have paintings on them too). The figure stops in front of the theurges there, and all hear a voice in their head say "I am Jirrawan. The time for mourning is past. Now is the time for restitution." Leaps-in-the-Light speaks with Jirrawan, and asks his blessing/permission to form a sept here to protect the caern. Jirrawan accepts this offer - basically he is still pissed about the slaughter of the Bunyip, but seems to feel it might be time to put that aside and get on with life. It is agreed that there will be a Foundation Moot at the next full moon (about three weeks) and Jirrawan will sleep until then. He returns to his rocky home, and the Garou go wild. Bret publically states that in recognition of Claws of Wisdom's efforts, he recognises them as members of not only the Sept at Rippling Waters, but also of the new Sept to be formed here. More cheering.

Claws of Wisdom are told that they are expected to attend a party at Rippling Waters in celebration of...well, themselves. No one really objects, so back to Tower Hill they all go. There is a massive party, with kinfolk and beer and people and general mayhem, and the main topic of conversation is the new Sept. It seems Bret is going to open the Sept to membership from any tribe, and the word should go forth now for Garou to come and speak to him. He again publically states his gift to the new pack - they are members of this Sept and the new Sept. There is much attention and proferring of drinks to the new pack. Corey and Cole disappear with some young women newly made of their aquaintence. Abby is the centre of a lot of attention too, but doesn't seem to notice. Bob hangs with the other lupus, and Kriege and Freya have a more sober night, hanging with senior Garou from this and other Septs. The whole night gets very, very blurry for most of the pack, but they vaguely remember agreeing to a week of guard duty at the new Sept.

Friday 25 - Tuesday 29

After waking up scattered all over the caern and surrounds, the pack slowly assemble in the Rippling Waters caern. Corey confirms that he volunteered them with a week's guard duty at the new caern. Bob remembers to tell the pack that the night before, he had a dream about a large red wolf coming to speak with him. The wolf said that Claws of Wisdom were being watched, and that they should act accordingly. Bob asked about who the people watching were and why, and the wolf said that those watching were not their friends, but neither were they enemies. Bob indicates that the spirit was less the forthcoming ("You know how spirits are.").

Cole goes to get his car and it isn't there. He eventually finds Louis Ash-on-Snow who said that some of the guys took it to Koroit to get some more beer. But then they realised they were too drunk to drive it back, so they left it there. Cole objects to having to run to get it, but Louis convinces him, and they run all the way to the town. The car is unharmed but seems suspiciously clean all down the left side.

The pack heads out to the new caern later that day and assume their mantle of responsibility. Having some time to kill, some of them opt to learn new gifts and rites - Abby sits down to learn Rite of Summoning from Voice-That-Speaks-Last, hoping to finally giving the pack the chance to summon their own totem. They organise a rota so people can head back to Melbourne at times and make sure nothing has gone wrong. Freya goes back into the city with Bradley and Jordan on the Friday and rings her school, explaining that she will not be available the next week either due to personal reasons. Freya starts thinking of some way to reorganise her life now that pack things are coming into play.

Cole heads back on the Saturday with Bob, intending to get to the bottom of the whole missing-statues mystery. There is the noise of a television from the lounge and weird screaming explosion noises from another room. Calling for Winston reveals that he was watching television while eating some toast. Winston reluctantly (and fairly vaguely) gives the details of the incident. It seems that Quiney and Gina had a fight over the contents of some of Cole's mail, specifically the shaving cream that Quiney seemed to find delicious. This fight grew more severe and the front door suffered somewhat of a hole. It also seemed to draw the attention of Cole's next-door neighbour, who may have seen Gina in midflight through the said hole. Miss O'Brien called the police, who were, to say the least, a bit mystefied, and a Sergeant Smith has left a number of calls for Mr Coleman. Cole rings the police and explains the situation to their satisfaction. He opts to not contact his neighbour, as it appears that Winston has had a number of conversations with her and may have settled the matter. Cole does ask about the weird screaming and crashing noises, and Winston explains that he purchased a Playstation for Gina, who seems to appreciate the gorey and rather violent games available, although she also has an unhealthy fascination with a game called "Need for Speed". Cole approves these purchases and reassures Winston that keeping Gina happy is a fine way to spend money. Cole gets some stuff together and then swing by the caern. They head back out of the city.

On Sunday the Ngalyod pack drops by, with Christine Elliot. Alex Sees-for-Miles speaks for the pack and tells the Claws of Wisdom that while they were off in the Scar, the Ngalyod pack was investigating Edrige. Apparently Edridge was being infiltrated rather than being directly evil, and that seems to have stopped rather suddenly. Christine has new reports about "improper safety precautions" and "explosive fuel" - basically the fire is being reported as being a result of the special fuel generators exploding. There is no mention of a helicopter, 9 foot tall killing machines, locked apartments or gunfire, although some of the people who were there have declined to make statements. All the senior staff are missing, presumed vapourised. The investigation has dropped the share price and Christine is trying to buy up some control. The Fianna are hoping to buy the site once the bruhahahaha has died down.

Alex also tells them that the Council eventually summoned Merlin and spoke to him, although he wasn't very helpful ("See." says Bob quietly). He told them that he sensed evil, and reacted accordingly. The Claws of Wisdom may be called on by the Council in the future, having had one of the few encounters with the Bunyip that didn't end in "splut."

On Monday Krieg heads back into town as well, and spends the day taking up his teaching commitments again. Towards the end of the day, Greg introduces him to a friend of his called Peter. Peter is a policeman who is stationed at the Frankston CIB, but he and Greg used to hang together in high school and have been friends since. Peter expressed some interest in learning a bit more in the way of martial arts, and Greg thought that Krieg would be the guy to learn from. Peter and Krieg chat for a while, and then spend a short bit of time sparring. Peter has some natural ability, but no formal training, and Krieg agrees to take him on as a student. Peter signs up, they chat for a while and then he and Greg head off. Krieg messes about at home a bit more and then heads off.