Claws of Wisdom Chronology

October 2001

Monday 1 - Tuesday 2

The torture continues. The night before Ion is due back, the Steel Hunters seem to invite literally everyone they know to his mansion. Tanya's band stages an impromptu concert and the police visit at least once. Claws of Wisdom hide in a spare room until its all gone away.

However, the next morning, when the pack are trying valiantly to fix everything, the Hunters help them out to finish tidying up. Scott points out that Ion didn't say anything about his pack changing form or whatever, so they change to glabro to lift furniture and so on. Claude and Follows-the-Moon don't contribute much, but Scott, Adam, Tanya and Ben seem to be reasonably impressed that the Claws of Wisdom kept their cool over the whole week. Everything is spick and span about an hour before Ion returns. They wait around expecting to have to show him that everything is as he asked for it, but he just glances around and says "yes, thank you, you can go".

Despite some frustration at the tribal and sometimes unfair nature of Garou society, the pack go to the Moot anyway. The Moot starts as normal, Opening Howl and Inner Sky, before moving to the matters at hand. Mostly the discussion is about the floaty children and the clean up of the forensic evidence. Renown is gained and lost, and the details of what has been done are covered - basically the computers are being messed with by professionals, and the physical evidence is being slowly altered to fit. They have decided to keep it to the bare minimum of interference - removing the direct Garou related stuff and leave everything else until they have time to perhaps set up patsies.

Claws of Wisdom participate in the Revel, but are obviously not too enthused about life at the moment. They head home to sleep, but still get their usual exciting Malfeas dream.

Wednesday 3

Krieg is well and truly asleep, when he suddenly awakens. There's nothing out of place in his room, so he wanders about the flat trying to figure out what is up. A chance glance out the window reveals a rather scruffy looking fellow looking up at Krieg's window. Krieg tries to sense, and gets a vague wyrm and fae sense. Odd, he thinks and tries to get a better idea of what's happening - sense wyrm reveals a corrupted kind of wyrm, but nothing flavoured. Krieg tries to move to a window on the dojo level, but the guy is gone when he gets to the window. More investigation by snffing in lupus is inconclusive - there's just too many smells mixed in with the guys.

Thursday 4

Early the next morning, Krieg tells his pack what's up (guy, fae, etc). Abby knows a bit about faerie lore, but can't think what they'd be doing stalking Krieg. There is the usual "maybe it was the doppleganger!" conversation, but they decide to go out to Rippling Waters and ask questions of the Fianna. They go via the caern and let Nadine know what's happening, and she looks surprised and suggests that they Moonbridge to Tower Hill. This they now do.

They are greeted by Sandra Norton, pale and wan as always, who says that Bret is on the other side of the island. They go there and Bret says "that was quick". There is much confusion, and it turns out that Bret had just sent for them - the low fae were being all weird at the moot, and the only sense they could get out of them was that something important had happened about a week ago, and it involved the "big, smelly one" - Bret looks a little apologetic, and says that they thought it might be Krieg.

Krieg explains what he experienced, and Bret is a bit surprised. He says that the fae are unable to enter our world for long, but that its easiest on certain dates or on a fullmoon - it might be that the guys was being influenced by the fae, and that influence will wane with the moon. Which is not entirely reassuring, given the wyrm taint, but hey. They ask about the fae and Bret and Abby tell them what they know - the fae are sort of spirit creatures, but not like the normal spirits. They live in Arcadia, which touches both the Realm and the Umbra - you can get there by moonpaths, if you know how to find them, but there are also special places called trods which allow for movement between the worlds. The fae have two courts, the Seelie and Unseelie - not exactly good and bad, but that's a simple description. Normally Unseelie fae don't sense of wyrm like fomori, etc do, but there are gifts to detect which court they are aligned with. Low fae, like Bill (the green wookie they met a year or so ago), don't have as much trouble moving into the Realm, nor are they usually affiliated strongly with one court or the other.

Krieg asks about going to Arcadia to ask what might be happening, and Bret cautions him that its best to have a firm grasp on what you want to know, and to find a gift to take before even thinking about it. They try and think of what happened a week ago, and someone mentions thats when Siobhan went into her coma. Bret shrugs and says that if she is an artist, she might be sensitive to disturbances in the fae-force or something. They vague remember that she was a painter, or liked art anyway. Much head scratching, and then they return to Melbourne

They decide to watch from Kreig's place in case something further happens. Abby goes home to get some study notes, only to find that there is a large goanna on her bed. Not impressed with this situation, she checks with the kinfolk whose house she lives at, Aubrey, whether he knows anything about it. Apparently not. Freya shows up and chats to the sleep goanna - apparently it walked here becomes here seemed nice, and now it wants to stay. It doesn't apparently mean Abby's flat, but Melbourne. They ring the zoo, who frankly sound a bit frazzled. Abby explains about the goanna, and they don't seem surprised - apparently its the 3rd one for the night, as well as koalas, kangaroos, wombats and emus. Don't even talk to them about the seals at St Kilda. They manage to get the mostly torpid goanna back to the zoo by wrapping it in a blanket. While they are there, Freya consults with other animals found tonight (including a adhd-suffering emu) but they tell the same story. They walked here from somewhere else, because it was nice and there was food, and now they want to stay. They Garou look confused.

   The pack stay the night at Kreig's so that if he decides to show up again they'll be able to do something about it. However the night is uneventful and the only thing waking the pack up is Kreig's incessant snoring.

Friday 5

The city is still covered in native fauna, and its made the news, mostly as human interest stories. Apparently the bay is not being left out, with sightings of dolphins, seals, sharks and other wildlife in the water. There aren't any salt water crocodiles or anything - its just animals that might have been found here when Europeans showed up (no, no thylacines). One news program has an ecologist looking typically sciencenerdy going on about a species of gull they thought was extinct being found in Seaford.

The pack decide there's not a lot they can do about that at the moment; the animals seem happy and the pack know nothing about how or why they're around so they decide to continue to investigate the fae that popped up outside Kreig's instead.

Bob is wandering around near the University when he turns a corner and is confronted with a reporter asking passers-by questions. Its the same reporter that the pack had mercilessly beaten up a few weeks earlier, Michaela Thomas. Bob freaks and starts backing away, the reporter tries to ask him questions as he goes. Bob finds a place to step and does so and peeks from the Umbra to try and find out what she's talking about. From what he can gather shes interested in a recent spate of attacks on homeless people around the city. She seems to be investigating the angle that the the disappearance of all the kids is the fault of homeless people, linking it to the guy found near Merri Creek, and the possibility that random people on the street are turning to vigilante justice and suggesting that's why they're getting beaten up. Frankly its a bit of a long stretch, but hey. Basically she seems to be digging for information more than anything but attempting to phrase it in sort of a vox pop type way. No one seems to know very much (they're uni students after all) but she keeps at it for a while more, whilst Bob watches, intrigued.

Meanwhile Kreig is also wandering around the city near his house, coming back from 7/11 when he hears some sounds from down an alley that are awfully like someone being beaten up. Krieg sneaks down the lane to the first branch, which is where the noises are coming from. He sees three skanky looking guys kicking the shit out of a homeless guy. Kreig quickly does sense unnatural on the three guys and gets a high wyrm sense, then he uses sense wyrm and gets a type of corruption a bit like fomori off the three guys.

Kreig makes a decision to crashtackle one of the skanky guys. Two are standing near the entrance blocking it off whilst one of them is laying into the homeless guy. Kreig attempts to crashtackle one of the guys near the entrance to the alley, the guy stumbles about a meter, however Kreig's fabulous crashtackle doesn't really have much effect on him. Suddenly the other two guys get a bit taller. Ok, considerably taller. And with pointy ears and skanky black fur, and faintly glowing green eyes. Across the link the other pack members hear "OH FUCK, BLACK SPIRAL DANCERS!" Kreig bails and starts running for his life, calling for help over the link.

The rest of the pack pissbolt there as fast as they can - Freya is closest, then Bob, Abby and Cole. Kreig is running as fast as he possibly can out of the alley - however the Dancers's are gaining on him so he decides to step. He catches a couple of snatches of conversation including the intriguing phrase "what is he playing at?". Krieg is heading for the street, and keeping in mind the lessons the pack learnt recently about the Veil and all, he decides to go into the Umbra, massive gauntlet aside.

Freya is sprinting along the road, but can't see any disturbance ahead. She spins into the alley and can't see anything. Creeping forward, she can see the beat up guy up against the bins. Peeking doesn't show anything either. Surreptiously changing to lupus form and sniffing around reveals a scent mostly of stagnant water and sewerage, which disappears not far from the site. Freya goes into the alleyway and senses the homeless guy, but he's only slightly tainted as a result of being near the Dancers's. He's pretty beaten up and she attempts to put him in a recovery position, however this causes him some considerable pain and lots of moaning, so she just leaves him until someone with magical healy powers can get there.

When Kreig gets to the Umbra the Dancers's are nowhere to be seen, he sniffs around a bit and gets their scent, kind of stormwater/sewerage smell. So he figures they must have beaten him to the Umbra and then fucked off for whatever reason. He attempts to follow the scent, but it fades off like it does around the Full Moon Killer. He steps again and goes back and heals the guy in the alleyway of the majority of his wounds. Freya looks for the guy's wallet and finds it in his back pocket. His name is Dale Stewart, he has an old health care card (2 years gone) that says he lives in Footscray and a few dollars. Freya puts the wallet back. Its decided to bring him around while Freya hides in the skanky dumpster and uses Truth of Gaia while Bob and Abby question him.

They ask him what happened, he can't really remember, but says that the three skanky guys asked him if he knew some guy, which he didn't and then they started beating him up (true). He's not very helpful but eventually Abby gets him to describe the guy they were after. The description sounds very familiar indeed; a lot like Krieg, really. They keep asking the guy questions, but he doesn't really know anything else. He asks Abby for some money so that he can get a beer, she obliges, even though five minutes earlier she'd seen him pull a whole wad of cash from his pants to check it still existed. The rest of the pack give her shit for a second, then begin interrogating Kreig. Theres a lot of mention of the Doppelganger and certain phrases like "is there anything you'd like to tell us?". Kreig swears innocence and is slightly offended when the pack use questing stone to confirm his identity. Eventually they decide that he is indeed the Kreig they know and love (?!).

The pack head back to the caern to let them know that there is more than one Dancer in town. On the way, they decide to check the newspapers to see how long the homeless attacks have been going on for. It started about two weeks ago (17th of September) and has been increasing in frequency. They've mostly been centred around Brunswick, Footscray and the CBD. They get to the Sept and warn Graeme and Nadine, who are there. Much discussion happens over the length of the afternoon and into the evening.

The pack wonder what the connection is between the Fae and the Dancers's given they were both looking for Kreig (although the low Fae were talking about the big smelly one, but that could only be one person). They wonder if the Dancers's are using a blight or a fae trod to hide in and that maybe the Fae was coming to warn Kreig about them or get help or something. It would explain where they have been hiding so that the Garou couldn't find them. This is a bit of disturbing line of reasoning.

They also theorise that maybe Kreig has an evil twin (from the other dimension) thats running around doing dodgy shit. So the pack decide to send a wind spirit to the Get of Fenris sept where Kreig was born to ask the Sept elders that were around then about Kreig's relatives, although he points out that it will be frowned on (read: they hurt him a lot whenever he asked).

Just into the evening, Abby and Bob are going to get a pinecone for Emma from the eastern fenceline, when they spot three helicopters circling and concentrating their search lights on a spot a few kilometres east. Being the curious Garou that they are they decide to investigate. The pack wander down through the Umbra towards where the helicopters seem to be while Freya peeks, sensing as they go. When they get close they begin to see traffic banked up and at a standstill. A faint sense of wyrm, fae and wild starts to tickle Freya's senses.

They get a bit closer and just around the first turn in the Eastern Freeway, the pack can see a huge stone circle in the middle of the road, covering 6 lanes and the centre divider. They stand there gawking at it for a second, then move a bit closer to get a better look. The circle is made up of roundish red sandstone blocks, the largest of which make up a sort of centre pillar, surrounded by smaller, but still large, stacks of the same sort of rock. Freya senses unnatural into the Realm and gets a strong combination of wyrm, wyld and fae sense, which is echoed in the Umbra too, although there's no spiritual presence of the rocks. Krieg says that its the same approximate feeling he got from the guy out the window.

There are cars banked up everywhere, people getting out to have a look, cars everywhere and police trying to decide what to do; the whole area is chaos. Freya calls the sept to let them know, there's a lot of "you what?!" before they say they'll call Rippling Waters to get assistance from the Fianna. The pack poke around for a bit longer as the police start to get traffic squeezing past the outside edge of the ... incident. The rocks don't appear to have erupted out of the ground, they have grass underneath them. There's no way that they have been quickly assembled here - the central pillar alone would way into the tens of tonnes. There are no markings or workings on the stone either - just natural weathering. The pack can't really get into the Realm and do any investigation, because there are too many police and too might light from the various searchlights.

As Freya is heading towards the city to find a way to get on top of the cuttings and look down on the site, she runs into Leaps-in-the-Light (Ritemaster from Rippling Waters) and One Phone Call. The pack show them the site. Frankly, Leaps-in-the-Light looks flabbergasted. He says that stone circles that form naturally often become spiritually significant, or that a spiritually significant site might have encouraged certain ancient peoples to erect stone circles on them, which would then act to focus the people awareness of the spirituality, as well as helping all to remember it's spiritual significance. However, spontaneous creation of stone circles on a freeway is new to him.

The strong supernatural senses are beginning to fade as the Fianna poke about the rocks from the Umbra. Freya runs through the rock, a most disturbing process, but there's no hollows inside the central piller. The packs figure that the stones suddenly appeared due to the car skids in front of them.

Bob summons Merlin to go and investigate, which he does. He comes back and tells them that the stones are strongly fae and that the particular spot they've been placed on is nothing special and never was from what he can tell. He tells them that he think the stones are a side effect from something else that happened in the area at the same time. Abby considers call of the wyld in the Umbra to call the fae, however Leaps-in-the-Light cautions against it as they don't know what they'll end up with. She decides to go with Rite of Awakening instead to see if the rock knows anything. In the meantime Freya and Kreig go back to their plan to meditate from the Realm above the stones to try and connect with the land, like the pack have done previously.

Bob is moving around towards Krieg and Freya when something seems out of place. He sniffs around and can almost smell something out of place. Bob decides to sniff around with heightened senses in and he finds three of the manky water scents similar to those from the ally earlier. They seem to come up the bike path from the Yarra, move in a straight line up to the edge of the cutting above the columns and then mingle about a bit there, before returning to the Yarra again.

Whilst Bob is wandering around with his arse in the air and his nose to the ground, one of the helicopter searchlights begins to sweep over the parklands, Bob notices at the last minute and attempts to dive into the nearby bushes, however, being the eternal klutz that he is, he misjudges and rolls out the other side and gets blinded by the search lights. Bob lies on the ground for a bit unable to see anything but huge spots of white in front of him.

Meanwhile, Abby has awakened the rocks. The circle gradually appears in the Umbra and the Garou have speaks with it. Weirdly, the spirit that Abby has awakened is of the entire circle, and not of individual rocks per se, although it does partake of the nature of stone, that being its most atomic component. The spirit seems to have just been instantiated, and to not have existed prior to the significant event which created it. It doesn't know what the event was, just that it is significant and that the physical manifestion is the significator for the event. It is theorised that if Krieg's visitor created the circle, that would explain the Wyrm/Fae nature here, and if it was spontaneously created, that would explain the Wyldness of it all. Interesting, but not immediately useful, except in a "scaring the Garou by the strength of whatever did this" sort of way.

Freya's meditation doesn't seem to have any effect - previously, the trance like state has allowed the pack sense of contacting the world as a whole, not as individual bits - its probable that this sudden rockness just doesn't fit into that sort of paradigm.

Abby suggests that perhaps the fae is being used to do things much in the same way that the Bunyip was used by the Dancers in Sydney. This is as disturbing as the idea that the Dancers are hiding in a trod. The pack cant really do anything with the stones, they're way too large and need to be moved mechanically, so everyone heads back to the caern. Leaps-in-the-Light says that he'll stay around - whatever is happening is interesting and important enough to keep him here. They talk with the Elders and then everyone goes back to Kreig's house.

Saturday 6

Just on dawn Freya is dragged from a dream about Jordan and Brad and wandering through pristine wilderness by the insistent voice of Krieg in her head. She looks around, but he's not there. Krieg says that he needs to be picked up. Freya asks where he is. Krieg says that he's in the bay. Freya is a bit nonplussed, but asks if Krieg couldn't swim to shore, and Krieg says that its at least 10kms to any given shore clinging to a buoy - he's not sure exactly where he is. Freya tells him that she'll wake the rest of the pack and they'll be down there soon. Kreig tells her to hurry cuz the fish are nibbling his toes.

After having random objects hurled at her and various obscenities shouted at her Freya eventually manages to wake the rest of the pack up . She fills them in on the Kreig situation, the pack give her some odd looks but she assures them that he is indeed stuck in the middle of the bay. Bob tells the rest of the pack that he had a dream about Kreig that night involving the ocean, but he'll explain it to them in the car as they should probably go rescue Kreig asap before someone notices the funny looking guy hanging onto a buoy in the middle of the bay.

The pack are in the car heading towards Patterson Lakes and Bob tells the others about his freaky dream - he saw a night sky with some indefinable object moving through the starry void. He sees a pair of firey green eyes in darkness, apparently looking for something. He hears the sound of the ocean with waves lapping against the shore and finally a vision of Kreig, sinking into desert sand.

The rest of the pack agree that its pretty odd and probably has something to do with the doppleganger, but they don't really have time to think about it at the moment. They reach the edge of the bay and pull in near a pier which has a sign saying "boats for hire". They wander over and talk to the guy at the pier who looks rather stoned at 7ish in the morning. He agrees to let them hire one of the boats for a couple of hours, he takes Freya's licence as insurance and they jump in the boat. They use questing stone to locate Kreig and begin to motor towards him.

After 10minutes or so Bob starts to notice that the inside of the bottom of the boat is getting more than a little damp. He notifies one of the others and they hunt around a bit and eventually find a bung hole minus the bung through which water is steadily streaming everytime they bounce over a wave. They quickly find random things to stuff into the hole to try and keep the water out. Bob offers to sit on it, but it is pointed out to him that he'll get a wet arse, so he retracts the offer. Instead, Abby grabs a blanket and some tape and blocks the hole.

The leak is slowed and they continue towards Kreig, after a while the pack can see him waving frantically at them. They reach him and pull him, wet and bedraggled into the boat with them. He gets wrapped in blankets and handed a thermos of coffee. They ask him what happened and he explains.... (cue wibbly bit)...

3am
Kreig finds himself suddenly awake, much like the other night. He glances out the window and sees that the same guy that was there the other night has returned. He tries to wake his pack and finds that he can't - they don't even stir.

He grabs some pants and heads outside. The guy is still there. Kreig approaches him and more or less says "can I help you?". The guy seems a bit confused, as if he's not sure what he's doing here. He looks a lot like Kreig, except that he has different scars, and some white locks of hair (probably from scarring), except he does have 6 fingers, with quite excessive webbing. They talk a bit, and Krieg introduces himself, and asks the other guy's name. He frowns and says "Frrr. Frrr" and then stops. Frrr offers to take Krieg somewhere. "Where?" asks Krieg, fairly unstandably. "Somewhere". "Ok".

They go into an alley, and Frrr takes Krieg's hand, and they fly up into the sky. This catches Krieg a bit by surprise. From the lay of the land, it appears that Frrr is heading south, and then over the bay. Their course curves gently towards the east once they are out to see. Its about an hour afterwards when they start to descend. Much to Krieg's surprise, Frrr flows from his human appearance into a crinos-Garou - by the faint light, Frrr is not black furred, now pointy-eared, but looks more like a generic wolf. Krieg changes as well as their feet skims the tops of the waves. Frrr continues, heading for a cliff and descending into the water. Krieg takes a few deep breaths as they disappear beneath the waves.

The faint light fades and Krieg realises they are moving through a tunnel of some sort. They rise up out of the water after a bit, and onto a beach, inside a cave. Despite the fact that its pitch black, Krieg can see just fine - the cave is about 30' across, with a sandy 'beach' filling about 2/3rds of the gap. Frrr sits down and starts to play with the sand, leaving Krieg to explore. The walls are covered with what looks like aboriginal art - the same sorts of geometric patterns the Garou are used to finding at places like Scars Atoned or the cave in the Blue Mountains. However, there are pictures of humanoids and animals mixed through the various patterns.

Something in a pile of sand that Frr has thrown up catches Krieg's eye - it looks like a strip of old leather - it doesn't sense of anything, but its definately hand-worked. Krieg finds another couple of bits, and then Frrr says they should go. They fly out through the water-filled tunnel again, and out into the sky. Frrr seems to be heading across the bay rather than back into the city. Krieg can see the sunlight starting to stain the land below them when something changes. He looks to his right and sees Frrr - only his demeanor has changed, and his eyes are black and full of small, moving specks of light. Frrr is looking at Krieg in a horrified way, and shakes his hand free, leaving Krieg to plunge 150m out of the sky and slam into the bay....

The pack decide that they should go to this cave right away because Kreig still remembers where it is. They contact Cole through the link and tell him to get his black ass down there because they're going into a cave, resulting in random muttering from Cole, but he says he'll be there soonish. Following Kreig's directions they arrive at a cliff face, Kreig indicates that the cave is under the water near the bottom of the cliff, approximatly 5 meters deep. The pack decide to roughly anchor the boat by using create rock to fill a bucket and then attatching that to a rope on the boat and lowering it into the water. Cole rocks up and they all change to Crinos and dive underwater to the cave, Freya casts faerie lights so that they can find their way again.

After a short swim (for crinos), the pack comes up in a cave that has a sandy cove and lots of cave paintings on the walls. Abby uses her skills in Enigmas to try and decipher the paintings. It seems theres one big figure represented numerous times through the paintings and lots of smaller people and also animals. There is also a patch of dots stretching across the wall in a kind of ellipse-pattern, it kinda looks like stars, but other than that the pack can't really tell much else about the paintings. Bob does sense unnatural on the cave and gets a strong wyld and fae sense - sense wyld reveals a wyldness that he's not familiar with, capricious and almost having a deliberate feel to it (a bit of a contradiction). He then sniffs around but can only smell Kreig.

Someone peeks, the Umbral cave is pretty much the same as the one in the Realm, although its lacking the water and the floor is more dirt than sand and the entrance is on the opposite side, but the paintings are there! The pack decide to step and check it out futher.

In the umbra the cave smells like fresh vegetation. Bob does sense unnatural and still gets strong Fae and Wyld senses, the pack are pretty impressed, they seem to have stumbled into a Trod! How cool! They wander out through the tunnel. They're in a lush green forest, surrounded by tall trees. Bob does sense unnatural and gets the same sense as in the cave. He then sniffs around and begins to wander off - the urge to head out into the forest, to return to his lupus side suddenly manifests itself, and its only with effort that Bob returns. Claws of Wisdom decide that perhaps they should go back because they're not really prepared to go into the Fae realm at the moment. Bob wants to stay but they convince him otherwise.

They step back into the realm cave and swim out to the boat, finding that its mid-afternoon - hours have passed in the 30 minutes they were gone. They return the boat to the guy who is a bit pissed that they took it out for so long when they only hired it for 2 hours, but after Freya explains that it started leaking and that they got stuck in the middle of the bay for hours, he agrees that its probably not their fault.

They begin the drive back to Melbourne, halfway back Cole's mobile rings, its Cossack, he says that _something_ has washed up in Frankston and he needs them to deal with it. He won't explain futher (muttering from Cole), so they do a Uturn and head back down the coast.

They arrive in Frankston at the beach and see lots and lots of police and people all standing around. They can't really see anything, so they decide to step and peak so they can get a closer look. What they see is a huge tarp staked down on the sand, from under it they can see lots of dark fur. Someone does sense unnatural and gets a strong wyrm sense. Bob uses heightened senses to sniff and gets wet dog smell and some blood. The pack figure that its probably one of the Dancers judging by the dark fur and the wyrm sense. Krieg also spots his friend Peter - the cop who was going out with Marion last year - and warns everyone that they should be careful. Pete will definately recognise some of them, and that might be bad.

The pack discuss what the hell they should do to try and get rid of the body, eventually they decide to go with Abby's idea which is that they'll summon a wave spirit to come and wash the body out to sea. Abby heads out into the water and begins summoning. Meanwhile however Freya who is peeking hears the police mention "helicopter" and "in 20 minutes", she quickly lets the others know as summoning the spirit and binding it will take longer that. They realise they'll have to make some sort of distraction so that the helicopter can't get away with the body before the wave spirit does. Abby tries to convince Cole to crash his car off Oliver's Hill to distract the police, after a few minutes of harrassing him, he agrees and wanders off to do so.

Cole picks Freya's pocket before he goes and takes her keys. He drives up to the top of the cliff and comes to his senses as Clarence yells at him a lot. He sits at the lookout and watches what is happening. A couple of minutes later Freya notices her keys are missing, she yells at Cole over the mental link. He says he's scouting. Overhead they hear the sounds of a chopper approaching.

Meanwhile Bob has managed to summon an Usha (wave spirit) who arrives very spectaculary as a herd of white horses made out of the waves, they crash into Bob, playfully knocking him over. He talks to them as they frolick about and asks them very nicely to wash the body on the sand as far out to sea as they can, they agree.

At the same time, the helicopter has landed on the sand and Kreig steps surreptiously into the Realm and joins the crowd of onlookers. He tries to spot the fuel tank on the helicopter and creates fire onto it. People start to notice and there's a bit of shouting, the pilot in particular looking quite upset. Police try and move people away, and generally are not looking out to sea.

The Usha rears up and begins racing at full speed into the shore. From the Realm it looks like a huge wave approaching Frankston foreshore - Cole jumps in his car to run down there and help. The wave crashes into the shore, swamping everyone in the area, and knocking everything around. The helicopter isn't moved much, but the sand underneath it is, and so it starts to slide over. Except for the few agile people who are quick enough to jump onto the sea-wall, everyone is knocked down and soaked - a few dozen people are pulled back out into the bay by the force of the returning water. Krieg and Cole are helping people out of the bay and back to shore.

Once the water is gone, it becomes apparent that the body has also been sucked completely away as well. In the Umbra, the Usha race back out to where Bob and Abby are and start rolling them around. When they can finally breathe again Abby asks where the body ended up, the spirits are noncommital other than 'out there'. It refuses to show her where it is so she strikes a deal with it. She'll play with it for a while if it takes her out to where the body ended up and lets her breath periodically, it agrees and rolls her and Kreig out to sea, ever so often the others see them jetted up into the air before they crash back down and begin playing again.

Eventually they bring the body back and they carry it physically back to the Sept through the Umbra. It looks like it has been dead for a while and is rather stinky and slimey. Barry the vet from the Get of Pennington is called out, he examines the body and concludes that its a Metis, probably a Dancer, based on the tribal tatoos. It looks like it killed from behind as there are slash marks across the throat and around the back, the wounds are heavy but there's not many of them (ie: ambush or by surprise). The wounds also suggest that it might have been Krieg's 6-fingered friend.

Cossack is moderatly impressed with their efforts at covering up the body, even though they did make the news. The media seems to be suggesting that the strange body found at Frankston may be connected to the strange appearences of animals all over the city. The Claws of Wisdom fill the rest of the sept elders and Leaps-in-the-Light in on the Trod they found. Leaps-in-the-Light recommends that they be prepared as the faerie realm is very strange - it has strange passages of time and the fae are capricious. Its a good idea to take gifts with them - things like songs and other artistic things are probably best, although bright and shiny things are good for the low Fae too - and they shouldn't forget things need to be dedicated. The pack begin to plan what to take with them........

Sunday 7

Before our heroes, the Claws of Wisdom set off for the Fae Realm, Leaps-in-the-Light suggests that they should ask a more knowledgable Garou about the paintings in the Cave as they are probably significant. Freya asks who, and he suggests that someone at Scars Atoned might be able to help. Freya moonbridges down to Scars Atoned as they want to get to the Fae Realm as soon as possible.

When she arrives at Scars Atoned, she's met by Jane Redfeather, the Master of the Challenge who accompanied them to the Atrocity realm, and also Marches-the-High-Road, the sept's Master of the Rite. Freya tells them about the paintings. They suggest to think that the large figures represented throughout the cave might be Bunyip. Jane says that the long row of white dotts is probably meant to be the Milky Way - its pointed out that paintings of stars are a bit odd in a cave that has no view of the sky. However, it could be that the paintings were created thousands of years ago when the water level was a lot lower and the cave entrance would not have been underwater.

There is some wild speculation about the paintings being done by Bunyip who went into the cave to escape the killing and who may have even ended up in the Fae realm - naturally the Claws of Wisdom are pretty excited by this and are eager to get back so that they can get to the Fae realm. Freya thanks Jane and Marches-the-High-Road for their help and Moonbridge back to Sleeping Lore. She brain dumps out everything to the rest of the pack (the mental link not stretching that far). While she is doing so, Cossack asks to speak to her privately. Cossack reminds Freya that they were specifically told not to do anything relating to Bunyip without full consent of the Jindabyne Council and that they could be seen to be violating the spirit of that directive. Freya says that they are just chasing up the fae stuff, and Cossack agrees, but suggests that they shouldn't pursue anything Bunyipy while they are there.

Freya again communicates this to the rest of her pack. They hrmm and harr about it for a while befor eventually decide to send a wind spirit to Darius and Fingal to let them know that they are going to the Fae realm, not specifically to look at Bunyip stuff, but that Bunyip stuff might be involved. They send the wind spirit and then get all their presents, rope, torches etc. together and set off in Cole's car towards Mornington. They park Cole's car a bit away from the beach so that it won't look too dodgy if it is left there for a few days. It is after dawn by the time the Claws of Wisdom change into Crinos and begin to swim out to the cave. Once they are in the cave they have a sniff around to see if anything has changed since they were there last, but there are no extra scents, nor disturbed sand and all the paintings seem to be there and be the same. They begin their preparations, burying a waterproof torch and a digital watch in a plastic bag in the sand so that when they return they can check the date and time and also find their way out of the cave again.

Claws of Wisdom reiterate to themselves exactly why it is they are going to the Fae Realm to fix it in their minds so that they don't get lost or off track. Their first priority is to find Kreig's doppleganger who they think is hiding out there. The second is to find out about the weird fae activity in Melbourne (ie. the stones), the third is to ask about the Dancers possibly hiding out in the realm, and the last is to find out about other garou (ie. Bunyip) in the fae realm. With this in mind, they all step.

They arrive once more in the Fae cave, it too hasn't changed since they were there last. The floor is made of dirt and there is a scent of fresh vegetation in the air, no new scents are present. The paintings seem the same in this realm too. The garou wander out of the cave and notice that in the Fae Realm its dim, just before dawn. The cave they emerged from opens out from a grassy hillock, which is surrounded by tall European forest. Abby decides to search around for a path that they can follow, but all she can find is some animals tracks. Cole decides to climb a tree to get a better view. From the top of the tree he can see a green carpet of forest stretching off into the distance. The sun and the moon are on each end of the horizon and the sky has a pinkish, dawn cast to it. There are no mountain ranges and the terrain is mostly flat, except for where they are at the moment, which is on the side of a small rise.

Meanwhile on the ground, things are getting interesting. Freya keeps hearing little giggling noises and sees things moving out of the corner of her eye. Everytime Freya turns towards the movement, it disappears. Bob sniffs around and can pick up lots of scents of animals and also not animals which is a bit odd. By this time Cole has climbed back down and is loudly insisting that they should have bought a butterfly net or a hand held duster to catch the "little fucks", ie. the fairies. The rest of the pack tell him to be quiet (as per usual) and continue to search around for a more definite path. However all they can find is more animal tracks. They deicide to head right down one of the paths (muttering from Cole about setting traps), on the path Bob picks up hoof prints that are definitely not deer, possibly centaurs. Suddenly a face comes out of the forest behind Freya, it is a primate-like face with tufted ears, it quickly disappears when the rest of the pack notice it. There are lots of weird noises in the forest all around them as they trek through the bracken. The sky is progressively getting lighter and more blue in colour, in the distance they can hear the gurgling of a stream. Cole suggests that they dam the stream so that when the fairies come to investigate, the pack can "nab them", Abby rolls her eyes at him.

Freya decides to poke around in the stream for a questing stone. While she does that the rest of the pack stand or sit around on the bank of the stream, watching the forest. Cole sees something next to him and puts his hand out quickly to try and grab it. He feels fur and a rat-like tail slip quickly through his grasp and sees it bolt up a nearby tree. From the quick glance he got at it, it looked like a chimp-faced-winged-rat. He realises that is was trying to steal something out of his pocket (more muttering about hand held dusters).

The pack decide to sing to see if that will bring out the fairies, as no amount of calling out "Hello...?" or "Come out here you little fucks" (guess who) got anyone to come out. They all sing beautifully except for Cole, who sounds like a cow in a blender. Behind him, the pack hears something trying to mimic his awful singing, but it still won't show itself to them. They decide to try and sing again and Bob does his booty dance, this time the pack get pelted with small sticks and twigs (no reflection on Bob's fantastic booty dance). The pack stop making fools of themself and Abby calls out that they have presents. This seems to work and a small lizard with 6 legs appears and garbles at her and climbs all over her, causing her to shriek a lot as it tickles her. It runs up to her pocket and grabs the crystal from it and promptly swallows it. Abby quickly grabs the lizard before it can run off and squeezes it to try and get the crystal back. It chokes on the crystal. Abby grabs the end sticking out of the lizards mouth and pulls it out, while the lizards scream/whines loudly at her in a fairly unimpressed way before running off.

Meanwhile six more have run out of amongst the trees and are clambering all over Bob, who does his best "I'm scary" impression and for once it actually works and they run off. The pack then hear a thudding sound and look around, the lizard that ate the crystal is back, but is 5 times the size and is also trying its best "I'm scary" impression. However unlike scary-bob, it fails and runs off when Abby yells at it. There are little creatures everywhere, a couple a duelling with Cole's cigarettes, a few are hanging off Freya's hair and more running around all over the pack's feet. The pack decide to sing again to see what happens, again they get pelted with twigs, they decide the Fae mustn't be cool enough for their singing and give up trying to impress them.

Abby tries Call of the Wyld and faint wolf howls come from every direction, most seem to be coming from a long way a way and are lupus howls. They're not warning howls, just answering howls. Suddenly Freya sees something moving in the distance, it looks like the trees whooshing around something, Kreig's hair stands on end, suddenly Abby is in the middle of a willy willy, which whooshes around the pack, messing up their hair and pulling at their clothes, then, dozens of sticks begin dropping on Abby.

The pack are squabbling about what to do and where to go, and whether their animal track counts as a path when Freya says she sees something white moving through the trees a few meters away from them. She moves towards it and it moves away with a clacking of hooves on stone. She can't quite make out what it is, and the rest of the pack can't see anything. They discuss what to do, most people (except Kreig) vote for following whatever it is that Freya can see through the trees. Cole gets grumpy however as the pack are not following the plan, which is to stick to the path, however it is pointed out that they went off the path ages ago when they went near the stream and also that it wasn't a path, just an animal track. Abby climbs a tree to take a better look and to see if she can see a path. The sun and the moon are still on the horizon, even though its light in the sky. However, they were heading vaguely sunwards before and now they seem to have been heading perpendicular to both.

Below, Cole is muttering and Abby can pick up the words "illusion of democracy" amongst them. They decide to see if they can walk back the way they came by following their own scents, well lets face it, Kreig's scent. Bob sniffs around and says that it goes one way, Kreig sniffs around and says the other way, everyone says different ways. The pack eventually decide just to follow the sun. So they follow the sun and after about 15 meters Kreig goes up another tree to make sure they're still going in the right direction, however as they suspected, the sun has moved. Back on the ground there's more arguing about what the hell they should do. They find a new animal trail and take off. Now and again through the trees Freya sees the white thing moving. From what she can see it looks like a white stag with branching antlers. The rest of the pack start to think she's gone nuts because they can't see anything.

Freya points out that stag is the the Fianna tribal totem. It stops and looks back at her with its big brown eyes. The pack decide that they will try and follow it, even though they can't see it, how much more lost could they be?

After a few meters of following Freya's imaginary Stag they find themselves on a stony road, there are lots of cheers from the other pack members. The road looks almost roman in origin to those packmembers who have been to Europe, and runs between the sun and the moon horizons. The stag heads towards the sun and then looks back at the back before leaping away into the woods. As the Claws of Wisdom follow the road, the terrain around them changes, passing from forest to large green fields and farms with hedgerows bordering them. In the distance they can see a castle, its huge airy turrets stretching into the sky, white flags fluttering in the breeze.

They see some Fae walking in the opposite direction along the road, the men are in armour, leading ladies in flowing dresses by the arm, they don't look exactly human, they are very tall and slender and glide gracefully along, unlike the Claws of Wisdom who are stumping along noisily. Freya says good evening to them and they reply also with good evening. The pack keep walking along, and eventually get to the castle gates, when they are confronted by a pair of halberd-weilding guards. They halt the Claws of Wisdom and ask their business. Freya introduces the pack and the guards stand down when they hear she is Fianna. Cole starts asking about how they defend the castle and what from, but Abby drags him away. The guards tell them that Lord Lysander would be very happy to see them and directs them off towards the game garden. The pack look filthy and dishevelled and are covered with salt from their swim, they all have twigs in their hair and their clothes are all rumpled, so on the way they try and smooth things down as best they can.

The pack reach the garden and find a huge chessboard made out of different coloured grasses with people standing on them in costume. They talk to some of the onlookers and find out that Lord Lysander is playing against Lord Malen and is going to win. Everyone is richly dressed and there is a lot of golf clapping going on when someone, usually Lord Lysander, takes a piece. The pack see Lord Lysander on the other side of the board looking very regal with half a dozen helpers standing around waiting on him hand and foot. They watch for a bit and eventually Lord Lysander wins. Someone walks up to him and mentions the pack's presence, Lysander glides over to them as do his minders. Freya again introduces the pack and asks if they could seek council with the Lord in regard to a number of Fae matters. Lord Lysander expresses that it would be an honour to discuss fae matters with them as it has been a long time since Fianna have passed through his kingdom. The Claws of Wisdom are led to the castle to freshen up. The castle, as expected has many sumptuous rooms opening off the corridors, they are all led to a suite with a separate room each. Steaming baths awaiting for them. They all wash and find clothes laid out for them to wear instead of their grotty old ones.

Once the pack are all bathed and changed they are led by some servants down to an audience room, which is elaborately decked out with seats situated around a guilded throne, a warm breeze wafts in through the huge open windows. Lord Lysander invites them to sit down. He begins by welcoming the pack to his lands and says that it has been a long time since garaou visited them. The pack begin to tell him about the fae stones and the Dancers and about Kreig's little friend and the animals popping up all over the city. Lord Lysander listens without saying anything, when they finishing detailing all the odd things that have occurred in the recent weeks he expresses surprise at these occurrences and says that it's hard for powerful Fae to go into the Mundane realm as it causes them great discomfort, if not pain. He says he's not sure what would have caused all these things, however he doesn't have all the details about the Fae and the mundane world at his fingertips. Lysander asks one of the servants to call for Berabalus.

While they wait the pack ask Lord Lysander about the Bunyip. He smiles sadly and said that he had heard of them and that they had been into this realm previously, but not for many many years. Freya also mentions their theory about the Dancers hiding in a trod, and Lysander assures them that this is not happening within his own realm, although he cannot speak for the other fae realms. By this time a huge pile of scrolls and books with legs has crashed through the door, the scrolls and books go flying and from behind them a small and dusty sprite with glasses bends down to retrieve them. He eventually makes his way towards the throne and Lysander asks Freya to fill him in on what had happened so that he could research it, this she does and Berabalus stumbles off to find out as much as he can, scattering scrolls on his way out.

Lord Lysander tells the pack that a huge feast has been organised in their honour, he tells them to make themselves at home until his servants come to fetch them. During this time Abby racks her brains for things she has heard about Lysander, all she remembers is that he is an honourable lord. Freya and Cole go into the library to look around and Bob races outside to chase Pheasants in the gardens (and not peasants as Cole thought).

In the library, Cole corners an insectiod looking librarian and begins to interrogate him about the realm, trying to work out who is being oppressed by the man. He tells Cole of the Grim fortress towards the Moon and the gate that Lysander is guarding. Cole is particularly interested in the society and asks many questions about peasants etc. The librarian explains lots of things to Cole about how the lands are full of food and that there are no real peasants, just farmers who love to grow things and feed the rest of the population. Eventually Cole loses interest and wanders off to poke around the castle. He is wandering along a corridor when he hears a stony grinding sound, a stone door appears infront of him in the middle of the corridor, it has lots of intricate inscriptions carved into it. It senses of strong strong Fae. Cole asks the guards about the door, wondering if its the elevator, the guards are bemused and tell him that its the gateway to Arcardia. The gateway is what they are here to guard, and it has not opened since the rest of the fae went through it centuries ago. The gateway moves around the castle, but Lord Lysander is said to always know where it is.. After lots of poking and prodding Cole eventually loses interest in the door and wanders off to look for a sword.

The Claws of Wisdom are eventually summoned for the feast. They walk into a huge dining hall, it's filled with candles, lanterns, fires, musicians and mimes. The pack are sat down on the high table with Lord Lysander. On the table infront of them are huge piles of food and alcohol. Many toasts are declared to the Claws of Wisdom and the festivities begin. Freya has to keep declining drinks as they are pretty much all alcoholic. There is much drinking and merriment. Bob gets a little drunk and starts doing his booty dance on the table, eventually he finds himself relegated to the back tables with the scruffy folk, but he doesn't seem to mind a bit, or even notice. He continues telling stories and jokes and singing loudly arm in arm with some very strange characters. The pack give Lord Lysander the presents they had brought with them. Freya reads a poem of her mother's, which is heartily greeted with lots of applause. Krieg performs a formal kata or two, showing the martial prowess of the garou. Eventually Cole also finds himself relegated to the back tables and is telling Clarence's jokes, the words "small nuns and penguins" are heard above the din.

Meanwhile at the high table Abby is flanked on either side by Lord Reegus and and Lord Yanos, both of which are paying particular attention to her. There is much courtly flirting, Lord Reegus brushing her arm with his long fingers at every opportunity, bumping shoulders with her, laughing at all her jokes and plying her with wine. Abby notices his attentions but does not want to be dishonourable as she doesn't know the Fae code of conduct in matters of heart (or the hips). Eventually Abby and Lord Reegus excuse themselves to go for a turn around the grounds (Abby only), lots of people seem to be paying attention to the couple, nudging each other when they depart. Cole seemed to have lost his tie in a wager of some, as a portly cook wanders past with it.

Freya begins to grill Lord Lysander about the Fae Realms, but he makes it clear that he'd rather not talk about such serious matters on such a joyous occasion. Bob and Cole seem to have disappeared, however it is quite likely that Bob is infact under the table and that Cole has wandered off to harass the guards again.

Suddenly there is a stir, a young woman and a tall armoured man have walked in, causing a sudden hush amongst the guests. The young woman looks pale and drawn and walks up to one of the guests and asks where Lord Reegus is, the guest tells her that he retired early. Asking around, Freya discovers that this woman is indeed betrothed to Lord Reegus and sensing trouble she alerts the other pack members of the problem over the mental link, the coherent members of the pack attempt a distraction while Freya warns Abby of impending danger. Abby doesn't seem to be paying attention though and Lady Niirsa is in no mood to be distracted, even with Coles suggestion over link of "FAKE A SEIZURE, FAKE A SEIZURE", their plan fails and the armoured man walks over and takes the arm of Lady Niirsa and guides her out of the hall, explaining that she is feeling poorly. After a few minutes of gossiping, the party begins to break up as Lord Lysander retires for the evening, before he leaves he announces that there is to be a hunt in the morning and that everyone is welcome to attend. The remaining pack members decide to track Abby down and walk back to her room to find the door locked and the lights off. They quickly confirm that she's actually asleep, alone, so they decide they can't really do anything until the morning, and retire to their separate rooms (Freya only).

Arcadia, day 2

The pack awaken bright and early. Well, some of them do. Cole is extremely hungover, and Bob appears to have disappeared during the night. He's also not on the mental link, which is quite worrying. While Freya makes some enquiries about Bob's whereabouts, she also fills Abby in on certain facts, like the existence of one Niirsa, Lady and her relationship with Lord Reegus. This makes Abby a bit cross. Freya spots the castle preparing for a hunt, the sound of horses and people assembling. She asks around and it eventually becomes clear that Bob was last seen running out of the castle towards the forest. Freya sighs. Those members of the pack not desperately stuffing their heads into pillows get their stuff together and head for the hunt.

The courtyard is a mass of people trying to sort themselves out into a coherent party. Freya speaks to Lord Lysander about their missing packmate and he sends minions to get more information - it seems that Bob might be out in the forest, and Lysander promises to help find him while they are out. Meanwhile, Abby is looking for Lord Reegus, but he doesn't seem apparent. Lord Janos does, on the otherhand, and when she makes a fair snarky comments, he suggests getting alone and talking for a time during the hunt. Kreig tries to get on a horse, but they aren't having any of mr smells-like-wolf and buck him or kick him until he gives up. He goes away a bit and switches to lupus form as the hunt gallop out of the castle and into the woods.

Krieg has fun hunting boar and similar game with the fae while Freya keeps her eyes out for Bob. Abby goes aside with Lord Janos, who is being just as gallant and attentative as he was the night before. They have a discussion about the nature of the fae and their society - how they are functionally eternal, and do not enter into betrothal's for children, but almost as a game. He tries to explain their nature has changed over time, but that they have also always been this way. He doesn't make a lot of headway until Abby starts thinking in gaelic and makes the change in her mental processes - its not that the fae live for games, but for the drama inherent in a situation; basically for the emotional responses, both good and bad, scary and gallant, romantic and tragic. It all becomes a fair bit clearer, and she gets a better handle on how and why things are.

Around 'midday', Lord Lysander offers to lead Freya to nearby known wolf lairs. They wander around a bit and finally come to a small rock pile, which has enough of a space underneath to form a small den. Wolves are lounging about on the warm rocks, including Bob.

Bob finds himself in a sunny glade with a pack of other wolves, they're all lazing about in the sun. All he can remember is running through the warm forest with other wolves and playing in grassy clearings. He hears a noise coming through the forest and sees a white horse with something on its back trotting up. The thing on it's back gets down and Bob recognises it as Freya.

She walks over to him, he looks at her suspiciously. She attempts to convince him to come back with the rest of the Claws of Wisdom, Bob is some what reluctant because its so warm and sunny in the forest and there's deer and rabbits to chase and dead things to roll in and bones to be buried. At this point Freya begins to notice that the other wolves have begun slowly walking towards her, starting to circle her. She decides to change to Hispo to show she means business, as she morphs and becomes the size of a small car. The other wolves decide they have pressing engagements... er, over here. Freya keeps telling Bob how the Claws of Wisdom are his pack and that he should come back with them, Bob is still reluctant but is slowly being convinced. Eventually Freya convinces Bob to return to their pack and continue with their quest. He gloomily follows the rest of the hunt back to the castle.

When they arrive they are summoned to the chambers after lunch. They mosey on down and present themselves to Lord Lysander who is sitting in his throne. He motions for them to sit down. There is a knock on the door and Berabalus enters and sets up to begin his presentation. He then launches into a long explanation about how to repair the ornamental fountains in the minature rose garden east of the castle, and its some time before the confusion is sorted out. Eventually, the Berabalus finds the right notes. Once upon a time, a powerful Unseelie Fae was causing a great deal of chaos and confusion amongst the people and animals. Eventually, Garou of the Bunyip tribe bound the Fae into something and buried it at a trod (a place in the real world where the power of the Fae still lingers) where it was protected against interference by other Fae. Although Berabalus gives no time line, it seems apparent that this occurred well before the European invasion of Australia. As to the exact nature of the Fae in question, Berabalus can give no name but says that if it was in Europe, her name world be Titania, the Queen of the Night.

The pack ask some questions - Kreig asks if its the same person as Lady Marianna from the moon castle, Berabalus says its not, although she will be a powerful fae. Kreig then shows him the scraps of skin that the doppleganger had given him, Berabalus is interested but knows nothing about it, it doesn't really sense of anything and was probably not what she got bound in. Berabalus adds that it is against Fae nature to be bound in any way and so that if she escaped she may well be insane.

Kreig asks if the spirit could posses different things, however Berabalus says that the Fae don't possess things as they are not spirits as the Garou know them. Kreig then reminds Berabalus about how the personality and eyes changed in the doppleganger when they were carrying him. Berabalus says that Titania was of the night and Lysander adds that being in the mundane Realm would make her weak and she may therefore she need to rest - however, the change happened at dawn, which would be against the nature of such a fae.

They are nearing the end of their discussion when the Chamber door is thrown open, and an armoured knight bursts in and says "Lord Lysander, I must speak with you at once, these outsiders have sullied the good name of my sister!" Freya and Krieg recognise him as being Lord Syrek, whom the lady Niirsa was leaning on during the evening. Syrek demands that they satisfy him (no, not like that). Abby leaps up shaking with rage and responds in kind, the lessons learnt this morning coming in handy. Syrek throws his gauntlet down and demands that one of the Garou accept his challenge and defend their honour. Lysander speaks to Syrek outside for a time while the pack work out what's going on - Abby's attitude is basically "I can take him!".

After a few moments Lord Lysander comes back in and tells Freya that a challenge has been issued, Freya asks what kind of challenge and Lord Lysander explains that it will be a simple unarmed non-lethal combat, which is expected to be taken up, although they could nominate a champion from their pack to fight for Abbagail. Abby declines that offer, and accepts the challenge. Lord Lysander tells them to meet in the main court yard in an hour to commence the challenge of honour.

The pack return to their quarters and Abby ponders what she should wear, her packmates are full of helpful suggestions such as G-strings and crotchless underwear or nothing, however Abby pays them little attention (as always). Cole pops his head in after a time and asks Abby what she thinks her chances of winning are, 3 to 2? As he wants his damn tie back of the filthy cook. Whilst Abby is squeezing herself into some leather getup she found in the room Freya drags Cole off to Master Ingold, the castle's physician to ask about Siobhan. Cole seems reluctant to discuss the matter, and eventually leaves. Freya asks the physician if she could possibly be taken over by Fae and how this could be diagnosed and then cured? Master Ingold explains to her that it is more likely that she's off dreaming with the low fae, which is where the expression "away with the fairies" comes from. He can't really tell from such a cursory description though. He suggests that if she is fae-affected, that cold iron around her may help to guard her.

Freya then asks him wether she could possibly be a mix of Fae and something else. Master Ingold replies that that's not possible, you're either one or the other, although there are far blessings amongst those who have sidhe ancestors, much like kinfolk. Freya thanks the physician for his help and leaves to attend the fight.

The main court yard is a buzz of activity, there are many groups of people sitting around waiting for the fight to start, chattering loudly. On one side of the courtyard is Abby, on the other side is Syrek. Abby decides to change to Glabro for the fight as the knight is a lot bigger than she is. Lord Lysander addresses both the crowd and the fighters and says that "This is a contest of Strength and a bout of Honour". He then proceeds to explain the rules to both fighters. Abby attempts to do Call of the Wyld to heighten her own senses. The two of the combatants enter the fray.

From the makeshift stands people clap and cheer. The fight is simple fisticuffs and surges back and forth. For a time, Lord Syrek seems to have the upperhand, but eventually Abby's natural healing brings her bank from the brink and to a bloody victory. Abby leaves the court yard with her honour intact. There is a fair amount of cheering for the spectacle, including Cole running about with his tie again.

Lord Lysander asks once more for an audience with the pack. They make their way to his chambers again where he suggests that if they manage to capture this Elder Fae they should return them to his lands, and he will be able to take steps to ensure she does not run rampant again. Lysander suggests that they may want to invest in iron to help capture her. He says he will provide the pack with an escort back to the trod so that they do not get lost in the forest again. As they are leaving the audience chamber, Freya gives Lord Lysander the broach she has brought as a gift to him, thanking him for her help, and suggesting that he might know someone who would appreciate the gift. The pack say their various goodbyes to the people in the castle and thank Lord Lysander for his help and hospitalilty and set off with the escort.

They have been walking down the stony road for some time when a conspiracy of ravens starts circling overhead and being swooping down, landing all over the horses and the nearby trees. Everyone, including the horses gets a bit edgy and the leader of the escort, Elgor says that they are probably Marianna's spies sent to check out what the pack are up to - ignore them and they will eventually go away. The escorts start to ineffectually shoo the birds away and they retreat into the sky in a seething black mass. The garou and their Fae escorts continue until they reach the small hillock. The escorting knights bid the pack farewell and the pack walk down into the trod and step.

In the realm everything is as it was, the pack hunt around for their buried watch and torch and find out that its still....

Sunday 7

...approximately 4pm and that they've only been gone 12hrs even though to them it was a couple of days.

They decide to see if they can find what 'Titania' was buried in, so Kreig and Abby dig around. Meanwhile Bob and Freya examine the paintings and by peeking back into the Fae realm can see subtle differences in the two sets - perhaps as if they were painted again the fae realm to retell the story, rather than just being a reflection. After ages of pondering what they could mean, Bob cleverly decides to awaken the paintings. As Bob finishes the ritual, the paintings begin to move around. The figures of animals, people and other things dance around the wall. They talk with the spirit of the wall/paintings. When they greet it, one humanoid painting grows larger on the wall and stands facing them. The Garou ask what these paintings mean.

The figure points to a section of wall, where the paintings dance in a series of tableaux. First, a large humanoid figure leaps crazily about while much smaller animal and humanoid figures tumble and whirl around. Then other humanoid figures, large but different from the first, appear and encircle the figure, which bounces between them. The group of figures close in, as the first figure moves in smaller and smaller circles. Above the figures, a river of dots appears. A small thread from the river comes down, and the single figure moves inside the thread and stops moving. The thread lies flat as the group of figures leave. Finally the paintings revert to how they were.

They have a bit of a think about what it all might mean - surely if the Bunyip bound her in a star, it would be kind of hard to store, even in a cave. Kreig slaps his head and points out that meteors are often made of iron, and that might have kept the Fae under control. After summoning and binding water spirits to keep an eye on the cave entrance, they head back to the caern with all this in mind.

  When they arrive they speak to Cossack, Emma and Graham and fill them in on what happened in the Fae Realm. Graham tells the pack that they have a guest in the Caern who wants to speak to them. The pack wander down to the northern end of the Caern to see their guest. From a distance they see an old guy with gray hair, the pack wonder who the hell it could be. Cole however, has decided to go visit Shobian and therefore runs off towards his car.

The old guy hears them coming and turns and begins to stomp in their direction. Close up they can see that he has one eye and lots of jagged scars all over the visible parts of his body. He introduces himself as Aelfreic Hammer-claw, a Get of Fenris. Freya introduces herself and the rest of the Claws of Wisdom. Aelfreic seems disinterested in the rest of the pack and grabs Kreig's face and hand and after a few seconds says that it looks like him, but softer. The pack asks who he's talking about and he tells them Petrus (with umlaut on the u). Aelfreic says that Petrus and his pack are dead and that Black Spiral Dancers killed them in the desert. Freya asks if he's related to Kreig and Aelfreic indicates that Petrus is probably Kreig's brother. He tells them that Petrus was killed in the Great Victorian Desert, which is on the border of the Northern Territory and South Australia. He gets a little tense when Freya questions whether Petrus is actually dead. The rest of the pack are grateful that Cole isn't around as there would probably be a huge argument, resulting in one of the pack (hopefully Cole) being decked. Freya mentions to him the strange Fae things that have been happening around Melbourne and asks him if he's seen anything similar, he hadn't. He then says something in Garou tongue which translates as "die bravely fighting the wyrm" and leaves.

The pack stand around discussing this new bit of information and someone remembers that part of the desert is Get territory, but also part of it is Red Talon territory and yet another is Uktena so there is the possibility that Petrus's pack strayed. There is also talk of what happens to Garou when they die, Bob knows that what happens when Garou die is a very debated topic and that one of the theories is that an emanation of the Garou is left behind if they made a strong impression during their life. Bob Questing Stone's Petrus in both the Umbra and the Realm, but there is no response. The pack decide to get back to dealing with Fae stuff and that Kreig's alleged brother can wait.

Kreig wants to look for a black smith who will make Cold Iron, Freya wants to buy a meteorite and to visit Rippling Waters to ask more about fae. They get to Moonbridge down there, and as they are leaving, Emma comes over and says that she will come with them to Rippling Waters for the same reason. When they get to Tower Hill, the pack are greeted by Bret and Leaps-in-the-Light. Freya and Leaps-in-the-light have a brief aside (Freya only) before settling down to the main topic. Emma tells Bret that she is concerned with the level of Fae activity in the Realm around Melbourne and would like to know if there's any way to minimise the effect that they are having. There is much chatting between the Sept Elders, leading to a discussion about a ritual that will attract all the Fae to a designated spot. They need to confirm that Chimera is ok with performing the ritual because it needs to assistence of the caern totem, as well as a Wyld stone from the Aetherial Realm. Krieg points out that the Wyld stones have a bit in common with meteorites, which is what the Bunyip may have used to trap this Elder Fae. There is much hmming about the possible significance. The pack Spear of Tulu will be sent to retrieve a stone, which will take the better part of a week.

When they get back they contact Cole who says there is no change in Siobhan. The pack decides to stay at Kreig's to see if the Fae decides to show up.

Monday 8

Badgered by the rest of his pack to get them some breakfast that isn't meat, Kreig sets off to the shop to get some pancake mix. Outside a newsagent he sees "2 more Kids go missing" in bold text on the broadsheet out the front. He races in and buys a copy of the newspaper and takes it back to his house. The pack takes a look at the article, which is by none other than Michaela Thomas. Much teeth grinding. It says that late on Saturday night two kids disappeared from their bedrooms. One was ten year old Malcolm Curry from Melton and the other was Patricia O'Brien from East Burwood. Bob Questing Stone's the two children and gets no response. Freya decides to go to the Victorian Amateur Astronomy Association to get a meteor while Krieg and Bob go and check out Melton.

The Claws of Wisdom arrive in the boring cesspit that is Melton. There is a lingering oddness around in the Realm, however it is possible that it is coming off the pack as they recently spent time in the Fae Realm. They step near to Malcom's house. They attempt to peek, but are too stoopid, after about 5 minutes Bob manages to peek. They see a middle-aged woman asleep in the bedroom and what looks like her mother drinking tea in the kitchen. There are two kid's bedrooms; a male 10ish and a female a little older. In the boy's room there are the mandatory sports posters. After messing about a bit looking in the backyard ("another shed burial, great"), Krieg finds a newish scent of the young boy. Bob and Kreig follow it out of the house and the yard and into a nearby park. In the park they follow the scent into a circle of mushrooms which seemed to have appeared. The scent stops in the circle and the circle senses of Fae.

In the meantime, Freya has finished learning more than she could ever want to know about meteors ("this one is a chrondite meteor which fell to earth in the middle of Australia.") and heads off to check out the house in East Burwood. She peeks into the house from the Umbra and sees that both parents are home and there is no sign of forced entry. It seems that Patricia is an only child so its not too difficult for Freya to accertain which is her bedroom. She picks up the scent and follows it out of the house and into the backyard. In the backyard the scent heads straight to the back corner where there are three tall trees, in a sort of circle

Abby knows that sometimes faery circles can be marked by mushrooms or by some special trees that have have mystical associations. Freya performs sense unnatural on the trees and gets strong Fae sence, like that of the mushrooms. Abby says that the pack may be able to use the faire rings as well, but Freya points out that we don't know how to get back and therefore it would be unwise to try. They decide to go and find out more about them from someone in the Sept.

Kreig however is going black-smith hunting and finds an insane weapon freak who makes his own blades who agrees to make him a cold-forged iron dagger for the challenge, if nothing else. The rest of the pack go back to the Sept and tell Bret, who's still loitering around, about the faire circles. Bret says that they often occur when Fae are moving around but are usually restricted to times of full moons or other significant times according to the Fae. He says that they are kind of like trods and that you can step in and step back easily. However he does point out that they are probably connected to the middle of nowhere in the Fae realm. They are only shallow and don't have a very strong effect so therefore if the children are not back soon they could close. He also says that the Glamour is building up around Melbourne. He suggests that the children might have been led to the circles by low fae, and tells them a little about some of the low fae (can be linked to various elements, or just glowing lights, etc) The pack leave Bret to inform the other Septs of the problem and head back down to Melton.

The pack wait until dusk before they make their move. When the philodox moon is high in the sky the pack walk up to the circle and step in two groups. Freya is at the front of the first group and she arrives in a woodland. Its night time and a huge full moon hangs in the sky, and the star patterns are not familiar. They seem to be in a clearing, in the middle of which they see Malcolm, jumping up and grabbing tiny faire lights that hover all around him. Freya calls out his name, he spins round, surprised. Freya talks to him to try and sus out the situation. Malcolm thinks he's only been in the Fae Realm for 15 minutes, she points out to him that its been more like 4 days, he doesn't believe her, especially since it was dark when he left and its still dark now. Bob and Abby appear, they hear giggling in the forest around them. Freya tries to coax Malcolm back home by telling him his parents are missing him, he is very reluctant to go. Eventually she decides to try and persuade him with faire lights, so she creates lights that swirl around his head. She leads him into the circle and they step. Bob and the others left in the Fae realm start to feel uneasy, the light seems to be getting dimmer and its almost as if the clearing is closing in on them. They quickly decide to step before they are unable to. They pop back into the realm where Freya and Abbey are convincing Malcolm that he has actually been away for more than 15 minutes and that his parents would be worried about him. Eventually they convince him and he runs off home.

After having sent Malcom off home the Claws of Wisdom set off to go rescue Patricia. Bob takes Freya's iron meteors to Cole at the hospital. He puts them around her, but it doesn't seem to have any effect. The others continue driving to East Burwood. When they get there Freya decides to stay in the umbra to keep watch. Abby in homid and Krieg in lupus form step into the tree ring and disappear. The realm on the other side of the gate is much like the environment they found Malcolm in - thick European forest, night time, full moon. However, there isn't any sign of Patricia, so Abby tries to call to her while Krieg picks up her scent.

Eventually they catch a glimpse of her in the forest and Abby proceeds to trying to coax her out by reminding her of soft beds, friends, family, baths etc. Patricia is having none of this, she doesn't care that it's been 3 days and her parents are missing her - she's happy being free.

Deciding outside help might be useful Abby calls out to the low fae with an gaelic charm that is reputed to summon the Good Folk to you. It seems to work, as a raven turns up and looks at them both askance. Abby asks if it'll help find and bring Patricia to her, but the Raven wants to know what's in it for him. Abby offers it a story in return for it's help with Patricia. It agrees and Abby launches into a tale - unfortunately she was a bit distracted and the Raven didn't find her story good enough.

Exasperated with the Raven, Abby decides to go back to appealing to Patricia, after a bit more don't you miss you parents and friends and nice comfy warm bed it's obvious that Patricia is happy where she is and really doesn't want to go home. In fact, from what they can sense and Patricia says, she seems to be becoming quite wild and Fae like. However after a while she offers a deal: if Abby can catch her she'll go home with her. Abby, having seen Patricia's lithe acrobatics and superior knowledge of the surrounding forest, is sure it isn't a fair deal. "How about boys wont you miss boys, there aren't any boys here." Abby tries. Patricia claims to be uninterested in boys and how would she (Abby) a virgin know about boys anyway. A bit taken aback Abby staunchly holds on to her temper. Patricia makes some odd comments about some female figure lurking around Abby with a bow, but doesn't elucidate - neither Krieg nor Abby can sense anything, so they just shrug.

Krieg, in an effort to impress Patricia and get her out in the open, creates fire in the clearing. Quite odd a wolf summoning fire, and understandably it startles the low fae in the area, but it does draw Patricia a bit closer.

Abby tries a different tack, knowing children and Fae's love of stories she offers to tell Patricia a story, and if it's good enough Patricia will come home. Patricia is a bit dubious she knows many stories 'it'd have to be a really really good one', but in the end agrees to the deal. This time Abby is more focused and tells an eloquent fantasy tale that delights Patricia sufficiently that she agrees to go home with Abby on the condition that Abby comes back to visit and tell her some more stories at a later date. Abby agrees and the three step through the grove of trees into Patricia's back yard.

Abby and Krieg join a relived Freya in the umbra while Patricia goes inside and is greeted by her somewhat suprised but relieved parents. The police are called, and Patricia is asked what happens - she tells about being lost in a forest and not being able to find her way back. Her parents look at her a bit weirdly, but seem happy that she is back. The police check Patricia's statement a few times and look baffled - while there are woods relatively near her house, the lack of clothing and all is a bit disturbing. Arrangements are made for Patricia to see a nurse a bit later in the day. The Claws of Wisdom lurk about until dawn, and perform a Rite of Cleansing - it seems to reduce the amount of fae and wild about Patricia, so they call it a night.

Tuesday 9

Having communicated the details of how to rescue the missing children, the pack return to the topic of trying to find Krieg's friend and how to find and destroy the Dancers. They come up with a few ideas on using spirits to try and keep a watch for the Dancers, some of which are already being tried. Cossack and Emma ask them to help with the existing spirits attempts so as not to spread their efforts too thinly. So, the Claws of Wisdom try and think of other ways of finding and trapping their wily opponents.

Freya asks Merlin to look for any wyrm hot spots in the umbral city. Questing stoning Petrus hasn't worked and the Dancer pack are still out there somewhere.

Freya checks out the cave clan on line to see if they might have seen anything unusual. Some of the information seems to be relevant, but its not turning up any big hints - the cave clan seem to be fairly superstitous, so there are stories of haunted parts of the tunnels and weird voices and critters that live there. Freya tries to start checking out some of the bigger areas in Melbourne's sewers for wyrm sign, mapping as she goes.

Wednesday 10

Cole spends all of Tuesday carving a rough stone pillar onto which he has carved Pict runes (after consulting some of Abby's textbooks). Early Wednesday morning, he and Krieg drive up in a plain white van and drop it on the corner of Swanston and Latrobe streets. Cole comes back a few hours later and sits on a bench opposite it on the other side of the street, sensing everyone who pays the pillar any attention. A couple of hours go by and many people stop to take a look at this mysterious stone pillar that has suddenly appeared there this morning but none of them turn out to be particular wyrm tainted, let alone Dancers

About 11am, Cole and his pillar have gotten the attention of the boys in blue, who question Cole about it and intimate that it'd be good if it wasn't there tomorrow. Cole decides to move to a less conspicuous spot; the cafe behind him.

After this comes to nothing the pack decide to try a more direct approach; use Krieg as bait. Krieg loiters around the CBD while Bob and Freya (in lupus) are walked around by Cole and Abby sufficiently close by to offer help if necessary. As they pass McDonalds, Abby and Freya notice that a couple of youngish guys taking a bit more note of Krieg than others, and in fact they take off after him. While Bob and Cole, er, make a distraction out the front of McDonalds (Bob desperately trying to get into McDonalds while Cole hauls on the leash to keep him out), Krieg moves into Flinders St, followed by the two guys, who are followed by Abby and Freya.

As Kreig turns into an alley, the 2 guys rush after him, and try swinging punches. Sensing them reveals that they are not very wyrmy. And Krieg's scent of true form reveals they're just humans. Unsurprisingly Krieg has no trouble handling the two young men, and quickly and carefully knocks them both out. Bob and Cole check the rest of the group out, it turns out Bob knows one of them, so he finds somewhere secluded and changes to homid then checks out the word on the street.

Meanwhile Krieg looks at the street peoples ID's and finds out they're 'Michael St John' and 'Matthew Jett'. Deciding that more privacy would be good he takes them further down the alley and tries to wake Mike up. Mike understandably is angry, not only for being punched out by Krieg, but also for being the cause of a lot of trouble on the streets at the moment. It turns out that Mike's girlfriend's arm was broken by two guys (presumably Dancers) who were looking for Krieg (presumably Petrus) (despite some vagaries in how descriptions are transmitted). This is why they went him - payback for Mike's girlfriend. Thinking fast Krieg tells Mike if he sees the 2 guys again to tell them to stay out of the Flemington neighbourhood or he'll kick their asses, hoping that it'll lead the Dancers there. After making sure Matt is alright Krieg tells them to leave him alone, and walks away.

While Kreig is dealing with Mike and Matt, Bob finds out that the Dancers have been beating up people until the attackers are sure that they've not seen Petrus. However, some have seen him (Petrus not Krieg, presumably) around recently some a couple of months ago, wandering around the CBD.

Thursday 11

The Claws of Wisdom try and use the current situation to their advantage by luring the Dancers into a trap. Figuring that they can capitalise on the false lead Krieg tried to lay yesterday, they hunt around Flemington to find an abandoned building of some sort, which they can use as a ersatz 'lair' for Kreig's double. Various plans are suggested, but the most popular one is to weaken the floor in strategic points while Krieg digs the ground out from under it. However, Krieg's presence is going to be an issue, because of his strong and distinctive scent. While the others search for a location, Bob wanders off and speaks to a fox spirit, which agrees to be bound into a talen to be used to hide his scent. The pack eventually happens upon a couple of small abandoned homes at the end of a culdesac which seem appropriate.

However, Spear of Tulu has returned from the Aetherial Realm with a Wyldstone, a rather unremarkable looking piece of rock - apart from the floating, and shimmering colour, anyway. The Fianna from Rippling Waters come along with them, and the ritual to try and minimise the fae effect is performed by Leaps-in-the-Light. The Wyld Stone is put on a small cairn in the Umbra. Both Stag and Chimera materialise and circle the stone. Garou using Sense Unnatural find that there is a strong fae sense pervading everything in the caern. The Sept is still assembled and talking about their current situation when a small glowing light buzzes past the Garou towards the ritual site. And then a small furry man. More and more low Fae start to appear, running around the caern screaming and causing chaos. They seem to be fascinated by Cole, clinging to his tie and clothes. One of them attaches itself to his hair and starts tugging on it and changing the colour. The rest of the Sept is treated to the vision of Cole chasing fae around with a dustbuster.

The Sept shares what information it has over what has happened, including the timing of various events. Someone suggests that if the Elder Fae was bound into a fetish-equivilent, then its possible that the Dancers, perhaps including Frr, found it. If it works like other fetishes, then they would have tried to attune to it, only to find out the hard way that the spirit inside is much different from a normal spiritual fetish...

Cossack suggests that Claws of Wisdom and the Scryers go patrolling in the city around the caern, to make sure the effects of such concentrated fae are not spreading, and perhaps to see if Kreig's double shows up. The Scryers head west, and Claws of Wisdom east. The pack move through both the Realm and the Umbra, and find that the fae sensation drops as they move away from the caern. It seems be having some effect on the locals however - there are a large number of people on the street for what is a medium brisk Thursday night, and they are being louder and more enthusiastic than might be normally expected. This is both good and bad - while looking around, they see people being unexpectedly friendly, and greeting strangers in the street, but at the same time, a number of arguments get pretty passionate and lead to full on fights as well. Freya spots some strange flowers blooming - purple and green - in odd places well into midnight. There is generally a lot of weirdness around, but it seems that the Fianna Rite is pulling all the fae into the cemetary, except for Krieg's friend.

Friday 12

Having crashed to bed only a couple of hours before dawn, the pack sleep in some. When Krieg gets up, he finds more interesting information in the morning paper - apparently the random street people bashing have suddenly ceased, as of Wednesday night. The pack discuss how this affects their trap-plan, and decide to go ahead with it anyway, but are also a bit concerned that this means the Dancers have caught Krieg's double.

They lay their hands on some materials to set up their faux lair and make some more preparations, but no one actually goes to the site. There is some thought given to making it look magey, but its still all a bit speculative. One idea that does occur to someone is to try and get the low fae to help them find the Elder Fae - if they are of the same nature, maybe they will be able to sense one another.

That night, the pack is at the caern again. Shortly after dusk, the low fae start to arrive/materialise and run chaotically about the place, mostly in the Umbra, thank the godess. Freya tries to make an effort to attract the attention of the low fae. They apparently think that she is almost as much fun as the rapidly-becoming-rainbow-coloured Cole. They swarm around her, muddling her about, encouraging her to run with them and generally causing havoc. When Freya finally gets a moment to stop and take a breather, she is greeted by a slightly less frenetic fae, apparently made of grey stone. His name is Hyrum, and he seems to be more coherent than the others (or at least slow enough to keep up with).

Freya asks Hyrum if he can sense anything about the Elder Fae. Hyrum says that he likes that she is making it nicer for them, but that he is scared of her, she's dangerous (to everyone or just Hyrum, its unclear). Freya asks if Hyrum will help them find her, and he asks what they'll give him. They um and ah a bit before being rescued by Hyrum suggesting he will help them for daffodils. Abby is about to go to the florist when Hyrum clarifies his position by insisting that he wants the underground bits, so Cole is sent to Safeway to get some bulbs. When the grumbling Cole returns, Hyrum starts to munch on the bulbs happily ("Hy-rum like daf-o-deels. Num num num"). He says that the Elder Fae (she) is in a hole in a hard place. The pack convince Hyrum to come with them and show them where - he says that they need to get away from the Stag then, its too noisy. They bundle Hyrum up into Cole's car and move to head away from the caern. At the last minute, Krieg looks up and sees something flying above, almost a pure white colour. He says that he'll catch up, and tries to find what it was.

The pack drive for a while down Alexandra Parade and Hyrum says that he can feel her moving around, but she's still sleeping. He says that she's near, nearer than the river, so they pull over and ask him to try and get a better idea. Hyrum points and makes shushing noise and says that she's in the other place (presumably the realm). They quickly glance into the Material, and then step when its clear. Kreig has caught up by this point, having been unable to see whatever it was that caught his eye. Hyrum, covered by Cole's jacket, points towards the Smith St intersection, where there is some sort of disturbance.

The pack head that way and try to figure out what is going on. Apparently a pub gig at Irish Murphy's has spilled out into the street and become a street party of sorts. Smith St is blocked by people so that cars can't get into it, let alone move down it. The people are all having a good time, effusively greeting random people and seemingly under the same glamour effect that was so prevailant last night. Hyrum is hiding and making "shhh!" noises, so the pack assume that the Elder fae may be close by. Krieg holds Abby's arm and closes his eyes to peek about the place. Freya and Cole head into the pub, and try to mingle. Cole is being proffered drinks left right and centre, and is easily distracted. Freya moves to the bar and tries to sense, but isn't able to discern anything in particular.

Meanwhile Abby is being chatted up by two young gentlemen who are charmed to make her aquaintance. They persuade her to come back to their friends and offer her a seat and a drink. There is a small group, all from the Uni, who have come to hear the band inside play, not thinking that it will be this crowded. On cue, the band inside starts up, apparently some mix of old Irish and new electronic music. Inside, Cole has spotted an olive skinned man sitting and staring at Freya. He points the guy out and Freya confronts him, as she is want to do. He denies knowing what she's talking about, but sensing him reveals the subtle mix of taints that usually suggests someone is a garou. This is a bit confusing. The guy moves off and when he sees Freya following, moves towards the male toilets. Cole drops Hyrum on Freya and follows.

Meantime, outside, Krieg asks Abby to move him closer to the shops on the far side of the road, to which she points out that she's not with him at the moment. With a certain amount of trepidation, Krieg stops peeking and sees whose arm he does have hold of. Oh, of course, its Frrr. There is a certain amount of staring. Krieg alerts his pack that his double is here. While Frrr looks blankly at Krieg, Krieg tries a scent of true form - apparently Frrr is a Garou. This leads to even more confusion. Krieg and Frr try and talk in the crowd, but Krieg is having trouble hearing Frrr's mumbles, so he suggests going somewhere quieter. The band's amps all explode and spray sparks. Nonetheless, Krieg leads Frr off down Smith St some more, with Abby trailing behind.

Freya is still looking in the pub while Cole lurks in the male toilets waiting for the spanishish looking man to come out of a cubicle. He seems to be taking a while, and it is suggested that he might have stepped. Cole peeks and sees the umbral toilet door close as if someone had gone through it. He grabs the cubicle and does the same.

Frr is explaining that he just felt like he should come here, he doesn't know why. Abby is trailing them both when she spots someone between herself and Krieg, an aboriginal woman who seems to be intently watching Krieg. Abby hurries to keep up a bit closer, and tries to sense Unnatural - apparently the woman has a bit of wyld taint and is carrying a mix of objects with taints of their own. Oh good. Abby matches pace with the woman and asks what she's doing. The woman says that its none of her concern. Abby says that they are handling the situation. The woman makes it clear she knows exactly who Abby is, and isn't impressed. Abby gives up and heads up to join Krieg.

Ahead of Krieg and Frr, a pair of aboriginal people step out in their way, obviously waiting for them to approach. Freya is notified and she starts to run for it. Hyrum squeals and worms out of her arms, disappearing before he hits the ground. Cole follows the olive skinned man through the Umbra - he seems to be heading the same direction as this imminent meeting.

When Krieg and Frr reach the woman she addresses Frr, saying that she is here to help. Abby formally introduces herself, and the woman says that she knows who they are, and suggests that they are inviolation of the Jindabyne council's directive to not investigate bunyip material. Abby tries to argue that this is a fae matter, but the woman dismisses that as sophistry. Freya comes pelting up and makes a point to be formally polite in announcing herself as a Garou and packleader. The woman grudgingly says that she is Red-Sun-Rising, rank 3 philodox and pack leader of Two-Bones of the Uktena. Various members of Claws of Wisdom start to twitch. Freya asks them what they are doing here and Red-Sun-Rising says that they have come to discover what they can about the Elder Fae. Freya says that they have it under control. Red-Sun-Rising reiterates her claim that they are disregarding the Council. Abby points out that this area is part of their Sept's bawn and the Uktena are violating the Litany. While technically correct, it doesn't help calm people down. Kreig leads Frrr aside while the others argue. A few passersby glance over at the confrontation, but seem to regard it as someone else's problem.

The back and forthing continues - Red-Sun-Rising says that the Uktena are the spriritual heirs to the Bunyip (much choking from Claws-of-Wisdom), and that as such they are responsible for looking into matters pertaining to such. Freya says that not only is it in their demense, its also a fae matter, an area which would traditionally fall under the Fianna's purview. Eventually, they agree that Two Bones will come with them and Frrr to their caern, and they will discuss things with the Sept Elders. Frrr seems unsure, but keen to follow Krieg.

They head back up Smith St. No one is showing much trust towards anyone else, and Krieg and Frr are goign first. Frrr shows some signs of being a bit twitchy, and Abby and Krieg try to keep him talking. He doesn't know where he came from, or why, nor why he thinks Krieg is his friend, he just does. He still senses strongly of Wyrm and Fae. As they are walking through the crowd about Irish Murphies, Frr puts his right hand to his head and moans. The Garou close in, only to find themselves thrown to the ground along with the various humans around them. A huge, humanoid-shaped figure expands out of Frrr, sparkling with stars and the colour of a deep night sky. It is easily 20 feet tall and has burning white eyes. The figure seems to drift towards the west, as if pulled by some sensation, and then quickly it shrinks back into Frr. The Garou who were getting up to try and do something are all slammed back to the ground again by some foce which fells the people around it like they were trees. Frrr rises straight up into the sky. Two of the Uktena attempt to do the same, but one of them is caught by the suddenly appearing Cole, who leaps from the Umbra to stop them.

Many rude words are said, people screaming, traffic stopped. Abby quickly points out that just as Frr changed, he put his left hand into his pocket. It might be that the purported fetish was on him all along.

   The pack decide that there isn't really much they can do other than help the people up who were knocked down and then get the hell out of there. They take the remaining Uktena back to the Sept, where Cossack talks to Red-Sun-Rising. She introduces herself and repeats the whole spiel about how the Uktena are the rightful heirs to the Bunyip and therefore it is their responsibility to retrieve the fetish blah, blah, blah. This causes Abby to grind her teeth and mentally make snarky comments about the Uktena. However, before things can get too out of hand the Uktena pack member who went after Frr arrives and says that he wasn't able to keep up with Frr, who was going in a South Easterly direction. The pack use their superior sense of direction to work out that it's vaguely in the direction of the trod, although so are a number of other places.

Leaps-In-The-Light comments that the effect they saw of the figure coming out of Frr and being dragged back meant that the ritual was indeed working. It seems that the Elder Fae is being kept somewhat under control, and maybe even partially dormant. However, the control it had over her would diminish the further away she got from the Sept. Cossack continues talking to the Uktena whilst the Claws of Wisdom begin discussing the possibility of getting a metal box to put the fetish in. Someone points out that Frr might object to the pack taking away the fetish. However, at least they now know that the fetish must be pocket sized and therefore they should be able to contain it without too much stress once they get it off Frr.

Cossack suggests to the Uktena that co-operation would benefit all involved. Red-Sun-Rising is non-committal to this suggestion. Two-Bones leave saying that they have things to attend to. Graham, Cossack and Leaps-In-The-Light discuss the problem, everyone agreeing that the Uktena definitely have their own agenda. Freya suggests that the Uktena think they can control the Elder Fae and use her to find out all sorts of secrets about the Bunyip. Cossack also adds that some Garou are of the opinion that the Uktena are too close to the Wyrm. Abby points out that they trespassed and Cossack says that's the problem with being a city Sept, no one takes them as seriously as the outback septs and think that its a waste of time and effort and is too close to the Wyrm and Weaver, even though it does need to be kept in check. Abby asks if the pack are allowed to keep investigating this and Cossack says that the council may have something to say about it, but the Elder Fae has to be stopped. Cossack instructs them to do what they need to stop the Elder Fae destroying the city, but to try to concentrate on the fae side of things.

The meeting eventually breaks up with the Elders warning the Claws of Wisdom to be careful. Freya decides to go and visit Siobhan. She arrives at the hospital and from the Umbra she can see that the meteor pieces are not surrounding Siobhan. Freya contacts Cole through the link and asks him if he's moved them; he says he hasn't. So Freya decides to go and ask one of the nurses if they've seen them as they're "family good-luck charms". The nurse at the desk says that she hasn't seen them but will leave a note for the other nurses, Freya thanks her and wanders off. She senses unnatural but gets nothing, she looks around a bit from the Umbra but can't see them anywhere. By this stage it's getting pretty late so she decides to call it a night and go home.

Everyone lurks around at Kreig's house, just in case.

Saturday 13

The pack (minus Cole) decide to go back down to the cave to make sure that Frr hasn't been back through the cave. Abby summons and binds an air spirit to keep watch over the cave in addition to the water spirits who were guarding the entrance. The pack discuss how the hell they're going to find Frr, Abby suggests using Hyrum to find her, but that can be only done at night which doesn't help them at the moment. At that moment Cole contacts the pack through the link and says that the nurses have found the rocks - apparently they'd been put in a drawer when one of the nurses was changing the sheets. He was setting off to the hospital to rearrange them.

The rest of the pack decide that all they can do for the moment is go and set up the faux-lair. Abby goes and sources lots of daffodil bulbs so that Hyrum will help them when it gets dark. Krieg uses burrow to dig under the house, this takes most of the afternoon and luckily the house doesn't collapse over the top of them. During this time Krieg uses 2 out of the 3 fox fetish things to mask his scent. It begins to get dark so the pack return to the cemetery to try and find Hyrum.

When they get there the sept is swarming with low Fae, which all swarm Cole, even following him into the Realm. Eventually they find Hyrum who says he's sleepy, Abby offers him a daffodil if he'll help the pack find the Elder Fae again. Hyrum says it won't help and says he didn't like things last night, that it was scary and Hyrum hid, too scary for daffodils. Freya offers him a beer, Hyrum refuses, saying he doesn't like water. Freya asks him what he's afraid the Elder Fae will do, Hyrum explains that her presence causes animal, people and Fae to behave in passionate and chaotic ways and takes their personality away. Hyrum is scared of her and doesn't want to get close, but likes the fact that she's making things soft.

Freya tries to be more persuasive, and asks Hyrum what he would want in return for helping them. Hyrum expresses a desire to eat birdies, ("birdie num num"). Cole immediately offers their totem in sacrifice, the rest of the pack roll their eyes. Bob says he can catch Hyrum a pigeon, Hyrum looks interested, but the rest of the pack point out it's night time and that pigeons would be kinda hard to find (mumbling from Bob about how stealthy he is at catching pigeons, the best in the Sept!). Someone suggests chickens and most of the pack head off in search of chickens for Hyrum to eat. Abby decides to see if there are any more low fae that could help them without having to resort to sacrificing farm animals.

After wandering around the sept for a bit she finds a 2 foot humanoid woman dressed in fur. She looks suspiciously up at Abby, accusing her of being sent by someone named Boggan to steal her stick, she also says she wants her rock back. Abby has no idea what she's jabbering about but offers to find her rock if she'll help the Garou. The fae looks skeptical so Abby uses reverse psychology on her, saying that she's obviously not brave enough, the Fae snorts indignantly and says "see how it is when you're this size" and promptly shrinks Abby to her height. This starts a sparing match and they attempt to attack each other, however they both suck and there is a lot of missing going on. Myrra eventually aims her stick at Abby and tendrils of ivy shoot out and smother Abby, who changes to a tiny Crinos. Abby could probably break out, but she decides to trick Myrra into coming with them, by claiming that by defeating Abby, Myrra had qualified as brave enough. Myrra restores Abby to her original height and demands to help.

Meanwhile the rest of the pack are stealthily hunting chickens. Bob is the best at it (obviously, he has a natural talent for these sorts of things) and catches at least half a dozen chickens and parades them around the other pack members for at least 5 minutes, gloating. They roll their eyes at him and they return to the Sept to feed the Chickens to Hyrum who delightedly gobbles them up whole, sending the remaining chickens squawking away.

Freya goes in search of a metal box as well as a large chain and a butcher's glove so that they can contain both the fetish and Frr and the Elder Fae. At Abby's suggestion Bob summons a snake spirit and binds it to the chain so that it's easier to wrap around people. Abby asks Hyrum if he can sense the Elder Fae, he can't, she's hiding and he can't sense her. Abby introduces Myrra to Hyrum and tells them that they'll both be helping the Garou find the Elder Fae, they start squabbling about something but quickly stop when Abby glares at them menacingly.

The Claws of Wisdom decide that they need a spirit to watch over the faux-lair in case the Dancers come looking for Frr. Bob summons a possum spirit and asks it to watch over the warehouse and come and tell him if anyone comes in, the possum agrees, but only if Bob will break the locks on some bins in a nearby school so that the possums can get at the food again. Bob thinks that's reasonable so they strike a deal. Bob goes off to sleep in Royal park, so that he's a bit closer incase someone comes into the Warehouse. The rest of the pack members sleep at Krieg's again in case Frr shows up.

Sunday 14

Bob is having a nice snooze in the park under some bushes when he suddenly wakes up. He remembers he was having another strange dream. Bob decides to sense unnatural, something doesn't feel right, the sky is overcast and a light rain is falling steadily. He sense Wyld, Gaia and Magic. Uh-Oh, something is definitely not right, he wakes the others through the mental link and gets them to sense in Kreig's apartment, the same result. Bob then tells the rest of the pack of his dream. Something flying through the starry night sky and then demonic blackness. A hand coming out of the blackness offering itself in a conciliatory fashion, then six Lupus Garou running, a shadow cast over three of them. Freya quickly concludes that the six lupus represent the Uktena and that three of them are dodgy. Freya uses Questing stone to try and track down Red-Sun-Rising and finds her in the North East but can't get anything more specific than that, which is damn weird.

The pack quickly decide to call Merlin. Merlin arrives swiftly and tells the pack that they should go to the Yarra river, (which happens to be the opposite direction to the result of the Questing stone). The pack make their way quickly to the Yarra, everything looks normal, there is still the same sense however. Krieg peeks, but can't really see anything, but it looks wrong. Bob then peeks and makes a yelp of surprise. Instead of the usual brown river, there is a huge blue-green snake filling the river bed, traveling steadily upstream. He tells the rest of the pack who then all have a look. The pack decide to inform the Sept, they get Ian on the phone, who just seems fairly surprised and tells them to go and find out what's going on, he'll let people here know (muttering from various pack members about unhelpful Elders etc.). The Claws of Wisdom go into the Alexandra Gardens to step.

After some stuffing about with people getting stuck in the gauntlet for a bit, they arrive in the Umbra. Bob uses sense Wyld and discovers that the Wyld sense is a Wyld of deep water and secrets. Putting together all the clues - blue green snake, water, secrets - he remembers that Uktena is actually a snake with a cat's head. The pack start freaking out, Abby climbs a tree to see how far the snake has gotten, she reports that there is snake as far as the eye can see. Abby and Bob decide to run upstream in Lupus to see if they can find the snake's head. Meanwhile Kreig and Freya run along the snake's back to see that they can see.

Bob and Abby are pelting through Umbral Melbourne, next to them the giant snake is using it's huge cat-like legs to drag itself along the river bed. After a good 10 mintues of running they see ahead of them the end of the snake - well, sort of. Uktena flows up into the sky as smoothly as he has been running along the bank, and through the rain and umbral mists, the Garou can see that he has been moving up into the air and flowing through the skies. Bob and Abby decide to ride the snake up, holding onto bits of fur. Krieg and Freya catch up, and Krieg does the same - Freya stays off the snake. Cole goes to the Sept to act as their radio. The weather is getting worse - what was misty rain is now becoming a fully fledged storm.

Suddenly the Uktena begins to go faster and starts to shoot around in the sky, leaving floating serpent body behind (think like the game surround). It looks like he's chasing something, and in front's Uktena's head, Bob catches glimpses of a dark patch in the grey sky, shot through with bright lights. Frr, apparently. The sudden jerking of Uktena about makes it hard for the Garou to hold on - Bob is flung off and comes crashing down on the banks of the Yarra, breaking a number of limbs and laying there thinking ouch for a bit. Abby is flung off too, but lands a little more softly, crashing through trees before bumping into the ground. Krieg continues to edge his way forward to Uktena's cougar head.

Cole mentally contacts them from the Sept - apparently Cossack believes that this isn't just an avatar of Uktena, this is UKTENA, the Incarna himself. This sort of behaviour usually causes an arms race of sorts, pushing others to summon Incarna to try and balance their enemies forces. Obviously Two-Bones are behind this - find them right now and stop them. Freya and Bob step back into the realm to Questing Stone for Red-Sun-Rising, but have no luck. The rest of the Uktena were not introduced, probably for this reason, so they try Questing Stone for Two-Bones. Krieg stops crawling along the Incarna, and slides to the ground.

Questing Stone for the Uktena pack is sucessful, and suggests that Two-Bones are out of the city, not too far away. The Claws of Wisdom decide to run to find them as it would be quicker than finding a car. The storm starts to get worse, lightning in both the Umbra and the Realm. Abby and Kreig are running along in the Umbra, when something tugs at their attention - to the north east of the city, the sky turns dark and forboding. Lit by branching lightning and heralded by a rolling sea of thunder, a huge green dragon swoops out of the sky. There are a couple of very loud "OH FUCK"'s over the link as the pack realize that it's a Wyrm Incarna. Freya and Bob feel the rain turn oily and see and feel lightning strike the ground only a few kilometres away. Freya suggests that this means that the Dancers must have a Sept around somewhere, to be able to have enough power to bring an Incarna forth. In the realm lightning beings strikes repeatedly and randomly, hammering the ground below it. The Wyrm totem flies straight to Uktena, and starts slashing at his coils, and breathing a smoky red flame. Uktena stops chasing Frr and responds to the attack. Wind and rain, falling trees in the Umbra and the Realm, while Claws of Wisdom desperately search for Two-Bones...

The Claws Of Wisdom all step into the Realm. Freya performs Questing Stone on Two-Bones, the stone indicates that the pack are North East. The sky in the Realm is almost black, lit occasionally by flashes of lightning. The steady rain is causing flash flooding all across the city and the rain itself has an oily, slippery feel. The pack begin running in Lupus form in the direction that the Questing stone pointed. After they have been running for a bit Abby does Questing Stone again and finds that they have actually gone a bit too far. They start heading back in the direction they came from. They run back across a wooden bridge that joins one of the many billabong-formed islands along the edge of the Yarra, and then off the far side, when suddenly behind them there is a strange howl. The pack quickly turn around and see a dingo, standing there looking at them. As soon as they notice it it bolts in the other direction. The pack quickly decide to split up. Bob and Freya will look for Two-Bones whilst Abby and Kreig follow the dingo. The dingo veers into some bushland when Abby and Kreig hear another strange noise. The air shimmers in front of them and what were once trees become six Uktena. It's Two-Bones, standing there looking sheepish. They are all in Lupus or Homid form. Abby confronts them and demands answers, asking them what the hell they think they're playing at. They respond that they'll wait until the pack leader shows up. Abby stands there glaring at them for the few seconds until Freya and Bob show up. Freya greets them coolly and asks them (setting aside the huge breach of etiquette) can the Uktena beat the Wyrm incarna? They reply that it can, however Uktena is now out of their control. Red-Sun-Rising seems calm and in control, but the rest of her pack seem shaken. Red-Sun-Rising explains to the Claws of Wisdom that they summoned the Uktena to catch the elder Fae. They did not expect that the Wyrm incarna would show up.

Kreig and Bob notice the dingo that Krieg followed is sitting off to one side, not one of Two-Bones as they had thought. As they watch, it changes form into Malajimbarra. He walks over to the two packs and says that the battle will not destroy either Incarna, but it will only weaken them and not do great things for Melbourne and surrounds. Red-Sun-Rising says that they are unable to even communicate with Uktena, but Malajimbarra suggests summoning another of Uktena's brood to talk to the Uktena and persuade it to leave. He asks for volunteers from the packs to help with the Summoning, Bob, Abby and Freya agree to assist him.

The Garou step into the Umbra and find a clear area and begin the summoning ritual. It takes about an hour and when it is finished a pink and gold oriental dragon spirals down from the sky. Malajimbarra asks it if it will convey his words to it's master. It says it will and flies back up into the sky. As Malajimbarra talks his voice is heard not only on the ground and also reverberates through the sky. He asks Uktena to cease it's course of action before great damage is done to the world. Uktena replies that to cease now would risk destruction at the hands of the Wyrm dragon. Malajimbarra suggests that if Uktena was to intimate that it would break off and leave, the Wyrm incarna might also wish to disengage. The Uktena seemingly ignores Malajimbarra's advice and continues to fight the Wyrm incarna for a bit. Then suddenly it begins to flow down out of the sky and backwards along the river bed, disappearing from their view. The Wyrm dragon flies after it, circling overhead for a bit. It then flies off into the city and dissolves into the rain, which darkens as the dragon disappears into it. The pack scuff a directional marker so that they can remember where about it dissolved and they can go and investigate it further.

Kreig calls the Sept on his mobile and lets them know what has happened and the location that the dragon dissolved. The person who answers the phone says that they'd seen it too and it was sort of Preston-ish area, Kreig agrees and the Sept tells him that Barry, Kirsty and Chris from Get of Pennington have been sent there to investigate.

Freya thanks Malajimbarra for his help. At this point Cole shows up with The Scryers. Abby explains to them what has happened. The Scryers suggest quietly to the Claws of Wisdom that they all go back to the Sept - the Uktena are strongly invited them to join them back at the Sept. Christine (the pack leader of the Scryers) takes Freya aside and suggests that the Claws of Wisdom walk back with Two-Bones as there won't be enough car space (and it also gives the Sept time to be ready for them). Freya agrees. The assembled Garou start back along the umbral Yarra, which has returned to its normal form. Malajimbarra is talking to Red-Sun-Rising off to one side. They finish their discussion and Red-Sun-Rising looks at her pack and the Uktena quickly fly off (much to Abby's disgust). Malajimbarra explains that he will answer to the Sept, He explains that he has told Two-Bones to leave and not to return. He also adds that as he is an elder of their Tribe they must obey him. Abby begins complaining that it's not fair as she wants to beat them up (over the link of course). The rest of the pack try to calm her down and both packs and Malajimbarra head off back to Sleeping Lore.

They soon arrive at the Sept, which is full of people all wanting to know what happened. Cossack has an "oh no" expression on his face when he sees the Claws of Wisdom walking up without Red-Sun-Rising. The Claws of Wisdom tell Cossack what happened. Cossack is definitely unimpressed. Malajimbarra explains that he has forbidden Red-Sun-Rising and the rest of Two-Bones from returning to the city and adds that it is a tribal matter - however, he will stand in for any punishment that the pack has incurred. He says that while what they did was grossly stupid and ill conceived, there has not been much damage done (others are checking out the sinister black rain that fell when the Green Dragon departed) and that beyond perhaps a lack of respect for the territory of another, there was no breach of the Litany. Cossack says that if Malajimbarra is to answer for what they did, then he should remain with them to help deal with the mess they're in. Malajimbarra agrees.

Abby is unimpressed by Malajimbarra explanation and emphasizes the lack of co-operation, saying that they have to all work together to fight the Wyrm and that going off alone like Two-Bones did is unacceptable. Malajimbarra explains that many Garou do not share the Claws of Wisdom's enthusiasm to return the Bunyip and see it as a dangerous move. Many packs will therefore prefer to separate themselves from the Claws of Wisdom because of it.

Abby mentions that there is probably a Dancer hive in the city based on the presence of the Wyrm incarna. Malajimbarra agrees. In the background Cossack is looking more unimpressed as time goes on but agrees with that explanation. He then reasons that the reason the Dancers have been so hard to find is because they have a caern behind them. Freya asks how the hell they are supposed to find the hive. She asks Malajimbarra if he knows anything about the sticks the Claws of Wisdom got given in Sydney. He looks blankly at her and says he has no idea, it's not the sort of concept he deals with. Someone suggests using a spirit quest to get visions of where the Hive might be, Malajimbarra thinks that is reasonable. Freya mentions her fear the hive is related to the Trod they found. Malajimbarra agrees that it would make sense - however as he is from the Northern Territory he doesn't know anything about fetish or mythology of this area and doesn't know much about the Trod, nor the stories of the Elder Fae.

At that point Chris, Barry and Kirsty return from Preston saying that where the Dragon dissolved the rain turned into acid rain. The Umbra in that area is very ugly and full of goop and will take more than a rite of Cleansing to fix. Everyone looks distressed, but Chris adds that it could have been worse, they were lucky that there were so much other rain to dilute it. He adds that the realm is mostly okay, luckily. Cossack is busy talking to Malajimbarra who says he'll stay to help clean up. Cossack is not happy. The presence of Uktena has fucked up the Fae ritual in the caern, therefore Frr had a while to do what ever he wanted. However now that Uktena has disappeared the ritual is working again.

The Claws of Wisdom ask what they should do with Frr supposing they find him. Cossack says that he should be stopped from touching the fetish if at all possible. The pack decide that the best plan would be to drag Kreig around the city until Frr shows up. Bob rolls his eyes and reminds them that he had been telling them to do that for days, the rest of the pack just look at him and he promptly shuts up. Cossack suggests that its best if Kreig is kept out of the Sept as the defenses may keep Frrr away.

Before they do anything else Kreig decides it would be best if he went and collected the cold-forged iron knifey daggery thing. The guy who was making it has finished and is very excited by it. He insists that he takes some photos of Kreig holding the knife from every possible angle to show off his handy work. Kreig protests but the guy eagerly starts snapping pics with his digital camera. Kreig poses reluctantly and after 20 photos or so Kreig finally pays the guy and excuses himself.

In the meantime the rest of the pack have been sitting around discussing what the hell Frr could actually mean. There are lots of suggestions from Friend to Frappachino however it is Bob who finally thinks he's worked it out. Frr stands for Frog! He reminds the other pack members that Frr had webbing between his toes. The rest of the pack agrees and Bob gloats. Kreig returns and the pack start wandering around the city with him. Not a lot happens so they decide to go back to Kreig's place for a while and see if that lures Frr.

Quite late on the Sunday, Abby wanders down Lygon street to get some pizza (and some steak for Bob). She is waiting in the pizza shop, watching all the drunk guys wandering past outside from the pub when she notices a man sitting on the seat outside. He is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses and is grinning broadly at her. Abby puts it down to yet another odd admirer but then her suspicious side takes over and she performs sense unnatural on him. It comes back with a strong sense of magic, some demonic and some Wyrm. Yay, a mage. She quickly calls for help over the link. Freya says that the pack are leaving now and will be there soon, she tells Abby to stay inside. The guy is pointing at the stars and then gets up and walks to the window. He draws the words "I know where she is" on the window, and beckons Abby outside. Abby looks around and sees that there are a moderate amount of people around and decides it is probably safe to go out.

The mage says that he knows that she is looking for someone, or something, and that he knows where they can be found. Abby asks him who he is, he replies that he is a "concerned citizen". Abby asks him what he is expecting to gain. He says he is expecting nothing, he just wants some peace and quiet. Abby indicates to him her obvious concern for personal safety. He shrugs, and says that she will be at the Shrine at midnight - its just shy of 11.30pm now. He then wanders into the pizza shop that Abby just left and talks to the guy behind the counter for a second before heading out the back of the shop. The rest of the pack arrive and Abby quickly fills them in. They brought with them all the things they'd need to fight the Elder Fae (Metal butchers gloves, chain, box etc.). Figuring they are nearby, they zoom by the Sept (11.35) to inform them and ask for advice. Cossack says that it is worrying that the magi found the pack and that it could be a trap. He also adds that he won't sent anyone else at this stage (muttering from various pack members about Sept always putting them in danger etc. etc.) - because it might be a deliberate attempt to pull strength away from the caern.

They head off to the Shrine and arrive at seven minutes to midnight. Abby peeks into the Umbra but sees nothing. The flame in front of the Shrine flickers softly in the dark. Cole scouts around the surrounding park to see what he can see. Kreig senses unnatural and gets nothing. It's four minutes to midnight by that stage and Kreig, who was sitting on the steps of the shrine decides to go into the shrine to take a look around.

Freya, Abby and Bob see a humanoid figure descending from the sky near the shrine and quickly inform Kreig over the link. Everyone starts to creep up towards the shrine and stealthly as possible. Bob as per usual is not particularly stealthy and his claws tick loudly on the concrete. Kreig hears someone coming. It is Frr, he looks at Kreig and asks what he thinks he is doing and why he is here. Kreig notices that Frr's eyes are starry. The Elder Fae asks him how he knew to come here and expresses that she was supposed to meet her associates here, not Kreig. The Elder Fae suddenly looks towards the main entrance and says I see you are not alone, stay here. She motions towards Kreig, who slowly starts to sink into the stone up to his waist. Kreig quickly activates burrow and attempts to burrow out of the marble floor with one hand.

The Elder fae comes striding out of the main entrance towards Freya, who is in homid form, wearing the iron butchers gloves. The gloves begin to glow bright red as the elder fae points at Freya. The gloves start burning into Freya's skin. Freya yelps in pain. Bob sees what is going on and quickly changes to Crinos, as he does so there is a searing pain and he ripples with rage, but does not frenzy. Freya manages to change to crinos and throws off the backpack containing the box which is also glowing and beginning to burn through the fabric of the backpack. She takes off the gloves and throws them in the direction of the Elder fae. Abby lunges at the Elder fae with the chain. By this point Kreig has managed to burrow out of the marble and sneaks up behind the Elder fae and attempts to stab her with the dagger, however it glances off a shoulder blade. Abby manages to throw the chain around the Elder Fae and activate it, causing the links to grip to her. However, it also begins to turn red hot and Abby is forced to let go. Bob slashes at the Elder Fae's coat with his claws in a vague attempt to dislodge the fetish. A dead mouse flies out instead.

Suddenly the starry figure comes out of Frr. A shockwave spreads around him and jars and stuns the pack. The figure begins to bend north-wards towards the Caern before snapping back into Frr's body and shocking everyone again. Kreig again begins to sink into the stone whilst Freya attempts to attack one of the Elder Fae's arms. Then a cloud of something appears from the trees surrounding the shrine. The pack glance at it trying to work out what it is whilst Kreig manages to burrow out of the stone again. A rock comes hurtling out from the trees and hits the Elder Fae in the head. The cloud from the trees reaches the light and the pack notices that it is a group of possums and other animals - the pictographs of animals and humans dancing madly around the Elder Fae come back to the pack and they redouble their efforts.

Abby rips at the coat, there is a ripping sound and a black sphere with stars moving across it falls out and rolls along the ground. Abby goes to retrieves the box which had bounced down the stairs at the front of the Shrine. Freya attempts to grab at the Elder Fae and manages to get hold of one arm which slows her down somewhat. Suddenly another figure comes flying out of the trees in Crinos, at this point another rock hits the elder fae and Frr begins to slump. Abby quickly puts the box over the sphere whilst Kreig begins beating Frr. Bob recognizes the Crinos who is hitting Frr in the face with some strange metal arm thing. Abby shuts the box and all the metal that was previously glowing goes cold and the pack members are no longer in pain.

The rest of the pack then get a chance to look at the crinos and realise that it's Corey! Cole comes wandering up and retrieves some of the rocks that he was throwing. The possums begin fighting with each other and run off into the trees screeching, being generally animal like.

Corey says hi! The rest of the pack look at him and say hi. Freya suggests that they head back to the Sept as quickly as possible before the Dancers show up.The Claws of Wisdom with their ex pack-mate return to the Sept.

The Claws of Wisdom and Frr are in the realm. Frr is in crinos form, covered in blood and is quite mangled. Kreig checks out Frr and tells the rest of the pack that he's pretty smashed up and they should probably do something. They begin discussing what the hell to do with him as the Dancers or the Mages will be at the shrine very very soon. They discuss dedicating him but then someone remembers that they can't dedicate living things.

Abby suggests healing him but Bob (who would be the one in the firing line when he regained consciousness) reminds her that he'd probably be pretty pissed off and might attack them. Corey tells his ex-pack that he has a hired ute that they could put him in the back of. The pack decide that the best thing to do would be to chain Frr up, stick him in the ute and drive to the sept, it's 12:30amish on a Monday so there probably wouldn't be much traffic. This they do.

Kreig and Frr (still in Crinos) are squeezed into the back, just covered by the tarpaulin. Corey starts driving towards the cemetery. They've been driving for 5 or so minutes when Kreig starts to hear/feel Frr's heartbeat thudding in his chest. Kreig informs the others over the mental link and reminds them that because Frr is Metis he'll start to heal very quickly now that he's alive. Corey speeds up and Kreig punches Frr in the head a few times to keep him unconscious. They speed through the city, periodically leaving red-light cameras flashing behind them. Cole is following at a more sedate pace.

The convoy arrives at the sept, which is still filled with the fae who investigate Corey for a second before crawling all over Cole. He tries to swats at them but they start letting down his tires and fiddling with all the controls on his radio. Corey and Kreig take Frr to where Graham lives. Graham, Emma, Cossack and Malajimbarra are all there waiting for them. They order the Claws of Wisdom inside and ask them what the hell happened. Freya explains the whole story. Leaps-in-the-light comes running in and tells Freya not to open the metal box. Freya and the rest of the pack assure him that they had no intention of doing that.

Cossack tells the Claws of Wisdom that the rest of the Sept wants to see what Frr knows as he's been hanging out with the Dancers and is very Wyrm tainted. He also explains that to do it they don't want him conscious as they can use various rituals to get the information from him and that none of these methods are pleasant. Freya asks if it's possible to cleanse him first? Abby quickly adds that he was helpful to the pack and has killed Dancers in the past. Cossack doesn't want to let Frrr regain consciousness, as he may be able to endanger the Sept and Caern in some fashion. Abby says that if he was indeed working with the Dancers then he might be able to lead them to the Hive. Malajimbarra asks to speak to Cossack outside.

Graham tells Freya that based on the senses and all the other evidence they have Frr has been working with the Dancers. The pack express their wishes that Frr not be harmed. At this point Cossack returns looking less than happy. Malajimbarra but says that there is another option - they could take Frrr to a place in the Umbra called Erebus, which is sort of a Garou Hell. The reason they might want to do this is that Erebus is also a place of rebirth - it can sometimes work to cleanse Garou of their taint. The downside to this is that Frrr may loose his memory completely - including anything about the purported Hive, which is why Cossack is looking less than impressed.

Freya suggests that if the Dancers return to the shrine that Cossack could do the mind thingy to them instead of messing with Frr. Cossack points out that this could take ages but he has sent the Scryers down to the shrine to watch for the Dancers anyway. Freya suggests that the Claws of Wisdom and Corey should take the fetish to the Fae Realm whilst the Sept elders take care of Frr and keep him unconscious. Cossack agrees that this would probably be the best option for the moment - when they return, they can spend more time discussing what to do about Frrr.

The Claws of Wisdom re-group outside and discuss what they're going to do. It's 1am and Freya suggests that they get a few hours sleep and set off to the cave at dawn. The others agree, at this point the Scryers return to the sept and report that no Dancers showed up but there was a patch of 'no-scent' near the shrine. The Claws of Wisdom look at each other - obviously the mages came to investigate at one point during the evening. Greaaaat. Corey says that it's great to see some things never change. The pack decide to try and put the mages out of their minds for a few hours so that they can get some sleep.

Monday 15

In the morning the Sept Elders have a few words to Corey whilst Cole puts a new theory to the rest of the pack. Cole's magnificent theory is that the Jindabyne council allows a certain amount of Wyrm activity to create the need for their authoritarian regime. The rest of the pack just stare at him and he shuts up for the time being. Abby grabs the metal box and the chain and they set off for the trod. Bob insisting that he drives for a bit so they slowly bunnyhop their way down the Mornington peninsula.

In the cave Bob sniffs around, no-one has been there besides them. The air spirit reports the same thing and leaves. They step in two group and the box shifts through with them, luckily not dropping it's contents on the way. In the Fae Realm it's pleasantly warm. They begin wandering around for a bit then Freya decides to concentrate on the "stag" which she was so fond of last time. After a few minutes she apparently sees something white through the trees. Bob is sniffing around the bases of the trees, he can smell wolves, he looks longingly in the direction of their scent, but Abby and Freya both yell at him to follow them.

Freya leads the way through the forest and onto a ruined road, it's cobblestones are broken and overgrown with weeds. The road is a different one to the one which they had followed last time - there is no sun or moon at either end. They begin walking along, after a bit it crosses the road that they were on last time and at this point the alleged stag fucks off. The Claws of Wisdom change paths and begin heading towards Arcadia. They've been walking along for a while when suddenly Abby leaps off the path and begins belting through the woods - yelling at the top of her voice in homid form, carrying the metal box. In Abby's head all she can hear is "must get away". Freya quickly changes to lupus, and her and Bob begin chasing after Abby. Freya is faster and catches up with Abby and attempts to crashtackle her into the ground. Abby tries to dodge but Freya is too quick and hits her in the back, however not very hard so Abby merely stumbles a bit. Kreig begins giving chase as well. Abby weaves around in an attempt to dodge Freya, who is trying to trip her up. Abby stumbles again but keeps on running. Freya lunges at her and tries to bite her clothes, Abby stumbles again and this time loses contact with the box and falls over. Everyone who was giving chase crashes into her and they fall onto the ground. Kreig manages to catch the box with one arm. Abby is confused about what's going on. Bob fills her in on what she was just doing and Abby looks more confused. Meanwhile Freya realises that once again they're lost in the middle of the forest and begins searching around for tracks. She can't find any, the whole area smells like Kreig. The Claws of Wisdom start discussing what the hell could be going on. They are all sure that it's connect in some way to the fetish in the box. Abby realises that she had been carrying the box for hours, so they decide to rotate who has the box from that moment onwards. Cole is of the opinion that they should just leave the box in the forest and fuck off back to the realm. The others ignore him. Freya tries contacting the stag, which apparently works and she begins leading her pack back to the road.

A short time afterward, Abby suddenly lunges at Kreig and wraps him in the chain, which begins to tighten around him. Almost simultaneously Corey stabs at Kreig with the Fang dagger, blood starts oozing out of his stomach. Cole grabs the box and begins running, saying he's going to protect it. Abby and Corey are just attacking Kreig who is looking worse for wear and eventually falls over, not moving terribly much. Freya tries to calm Corey with the calming fetish, whilst Bob dodges Abby's blows and heals Kreig a bit so that he won't die. Freya's calming doesn't work terribly well and Corey and Abby now begin attacking Freya, cutting her throat with a bright spray of arterial blood. They kick at Bob, who darts out of the way. Kreig regains consciousness and begins to rapidly heal. He stands up and throws the chain off, attempting to throw it at Corey, however he misjudges and it flies off into the distance. Corey once again tries stabbing Kreig, who dodges and hits Corey, who promptly passes out. Kreig attacks Abby and knocks her out as well. Bob heals Kreig and Kreig heals Freya. Freya senses unnatural on Abby and Corey and gets back a slight Fae sense. They realise that Cole is no longer in sight nor on the mental link. Kreig beings to chase after him. He reaches the crossroads that they had found earlier and sees several big, black knights who are holding big, black swords. They stop him in his tracks and say that he is not welcome and how dare he trespass on the lands of Lady Marianna, emphasizing that 'none shall pass, you may not disturb our guests'. Kreig pulls out his cold-forged iron sword, at this point the knights also draw their swords, which glint silvery in the light. Kreig activates trollskin.

Bob has begun to chase after Kreig whilst Freya decides to stay and keep Abby and Corey uncurious. Kreig decides to try and jump over the knights, he wanders back and changes into lupus form. He begins to run up towards the knights, who see him coming. Two of them peel off behind the others and the knights at the front transform their swords into lances just as Kreig launches off the ground. He clears them with only millimeters to spare, feeling the tip of the lance brushing across his stomach.

Freya tries call of the wyld with a general HELP! message. After a bit she hears horses approaching from the sun direction.

In the meantime Cole has bolted quite far. The landscape has changed to pristine and wintry and everything is covered in a thick layer of clean white snow. The trees branches are bare, but still very alive. Up ahead of him a dark castle looms, it's wooden drawbridge is lowered. Cole thunders over it and it closes behind him (Cole only).

Kreig manages to avoid the knights and continues running as fast as he can down the road. He can hear them giving chase behind him.

A score of shiny knights come riding up to Freya. They greet her fondly, asking her what happened. Freya explains and one of the knights attaches a note to the bird of prey sitting on his arm and tosses it high into the air. It flies off in the direction of the Castle. Freya begins leading some of the knights towards Cole, whilst some gather up Abby and Corey and throw them over the back of the horses and head back to the castle. Lord Lysander comes riding up and Freya gives him the run down.

Bob arrives at the crossroads, he sniffs around and follows Kreig's scent into the Winterlands.

Kreig has arrived at the castle, however the drawbridge is closed, he begins to look for another way in.......

  Freya, Lord Lysander and Bob arrive at the dark castle to find Kreig yelling and attempting to get through the meter-thick, stone walls with his bare fists. He stops when he hears them approaching and informs them that he's seen people moving around on the turrets, high up on the wall. Freya asks Lord Lysander how they are going to get in and he replies that he doesn't know that they are. He calls out to the people in the turrets. Someone appears and wanders off to get Lady Marianna's seneschal. Shortly Umture arrives and Lord Lysander demands to be let in. Umture responds saying that they are not in the habit of allowing enemies of the Grim Fortress through the gates. Lord Lysander demands to speak to Lady Marianna herself, Umture replies that she is asleep and cannot be disturbed. Lord Lysander is fairly persistent and eventually Umture disappears.

After a bit he returns with a beautiful woman with dark hair and pale skin, obviously Lady Marianna. Freya looks shocked. Lord Lysander and Lady Marianna exchange formal greetings and Lord Lysander begins telling her how he believes that they have kidnapped a member of the Claws of Wisdom. Lady Marianna replies that he has not been kidnapped and that he is simply a visitor to the castle but is busy at the moment and cannot be disturbed. Lord Lysander mentions the fetish and Lady Marianna says that its a prison and that they want to free the fae trapped inside it as they are a member of the unseelie court and that its none of Lord Lysander's business. They argue about this point for a bit and finally Lord Lysander sees that Lady Marianna is not going to let them into the castle so he tells them he will give her 1 day to release Cole and the fetish before he takes them by force. Lord Lysander, Bob and Freya begin heading back to Lord Lysander's castle. Kreig decides to hide in the nearby forest to spy on the Grim Fortress.

As the Claws of Wisdom and Lord Lysander ride back towards the Seelie castle the landscape gradually changes from Winter to Summer, the trees of the forest begin showing leaves and the snow melts, soon they are in the deep summer forest that surrounds Lord Lysander's castle. When they arrive Lord Lysander suggests that they freshen up while he checks out the rest of their pack mates, one of the servants directs them to the rooms that they had on their last visit.

Abby comes to and looks around her, confused. She seems to be in a first aid room. She feels a bit odd and can remember everything, all sorts of things that she didn't remember before. She is, understandably, a bit freaked out by this. There is a knock on the door and Lord Lysander comes in and asks how she is. Abby says that she feels strange and Lord Lysander explains to her that there is an amulet around her neck protecting her from unseelie magic and that it is not to be removed. He also says that she has been glamoured, which means a Fae spell has been placed on her at some point before today. He then tells her to freshen up and meet up with the rest of the pack in the throne-room.

Lord Lysander then pays a visit to Corey who is in the room next door. Corey is a bit confused and asks who the hell he is. Lord Lysander introduces himself and explains about the amulet and also tells him to go to the throne-room to meet with the other pack members.

Lord Lysander enters the throne-room and sits on the throne. Bob and Freya are seated nearby. He tells them that their packmates will be joining them shortly. Freya says she wants to talk to Lord Lysander in private, she seems kind of edgy but Lord Lysander says that it can wait until after he has spoken to their pack-mates. There is a knock on the door and Abby and Corey are led in by a knight. Corey and Abby notice that Cole and Kreig are missing. They sit down and Freya and Bob fill them in on what has happened. Lord Lysander welcomes and explains to the pack that Corey and Abby are under unseelie enchantments - however they are not the sort of thing placed lightly, or quickly; ie: not done just now.

Abby says that she thinks she knows when it happens - when she went to Ireland earlier in the year. Abby explains what happened... going to the Bridget (??) festival where she got the bow and arrow fetish and how she ended up in a stone circle in the fae realm where she met a nice woman with whom she talked about everything. The rest of the pack go 'ahhhhhh' a lot. Then it's Corey's turn to explain himself at first he denies everything then he admits he did meet a fae and ended up in the fae realm, which was about the time he came back with the delusions of cockroaches. More 'ahhhhh's from the rest of the pack. Lord Lysander asks Abby what the fae she met looked like, the description that Abby gives sounds exactly like Lady Marianna. Freya asks Lord Lysander if she possibly has a twin, he says that it's unlikely but that enchanters can change form to anything that they want. Corey asks when he can go and kick her arse. Lord Lysander says that she is in the Grim fortress, along with Cole and the fetish.

Freya looks a little confused and asks Lord Lysander (tactfully) if he and Lady Marianna have some sort of special bond as she has seen them together. Lord Lysander starts to deny it, but then slumps and says that yes he has, he is unable to resist her, but he has never done anything dishonourable. Corey asks if maybe she has put an enchantment on him also. Lord Lysander looks thoughtful.

Lord Lysander says that he thinks Lady Marianna will try and use the fetish to attack the castle. However first she will need to know the Fae's name before she can use it. This will either take a long time to discover, but could be discerned eventually. Freya suggests that mabye Marianna would trade something for the fetish? Lord Lysander says that it is a possibility. Freya then suggests maybe a duel to see who can claim ownership of the fetish. Lord Lysander agrees that that would also be a good possibility, but that Marianna would have to have more to gain than the seelie, else she will simply refuse the challenge. The topic of fae honour is raised; Abby looks skeptical at the mention of honourable, and Lord Lysander explains to her that she misunderstands unseelie fae. They are honorable people and have a court society just like the seelie fae. At this point there is a knock at the door. The knight announces that the Seneschal from the Grim Fortress, Lord Umture, is here to see Lord Lysander. Lord Lysander beckons for him to come in.

Umture has dark hair and pale skin, like Lady Marianna. Lord Lysander asks why he is here, Umture explains that the fae in the fetish is regarded as one of their own subjects and belongs with them. However, she is willing to discuss the matter further in the interests of peace. Lord Lysander proposes that they meet tomorrow at the crossroads to discuss the fate of the fetish and Cole. When Umture has departed Lord Lysander confides in the Claws of Wisdom that he believes Lady Marianna is just stalling for time while she searches for the name of the fae. It does give them a chance to negotiate, which they should not neglect.

Lord Lysander takes Bob and Freya to see the castle's wizard to make sure that neither of them have been glamoured too. The wizard checks them out and says that they are fine and confirms that the amulets will keep the others under control.

Freya mentions across the link that she thinks Lord Lysander might be slowly falling under Lady Marianna's spell too. The other pack members are inclined to agree. They return to the throne room and are informed that a message has come from the Grim Fotress saying that Lady Marianna has agreed to meet them tomorrow at the crossroads.

The pack sit around and brainstorm how the hell they could get into the Grim Fortress, Abby suggests using the cracking stone and Corey suggests using Barnsey, the other pack members roll their eyes at him.

Monday 15 + 1?

The next day the pack ride out with Lord Lysander and 10 knights to the crossroads. Marianna has set up a pavilion, she is standing outside it surrounded also by 10 knights and also Cole. In the pavilion there are 4 chairs - one each for the fae lords and two for the Garou. Cole, Lysander, Marianna and Freya go and sit down. Kreig is lurking nearby. Lady Marianna welcomes them to an 'unfortunate discussion' on the elder fae. Lysander basically says what he said yesterday again, that he wants to safe guard the others in the realm from the elder fae as it's not safe.

Abby and Corey subtly try to rub the amulet on Cole, who resists. Even the little contact they can manage appears to have little or no effect. Corey apparently slips Barnsey into Cole's pockets, though the other pack memebers see no evidence of this. Abby asks Lord Lysander if she can take off the amulet and give it to Cole while she shares the other one with Corey. He says noooooo that would be a terrible idea. Abby tries to communicate with Cole over the link however Cole tells her that he has ascended beyond that. Abby tells him that if he's ascended then he'll go up a rank and have to do even worse missions. Cole ignores her and begins explaining to the pack that he has made a deliberate choice, and its them who are being deluded.

Freya demands that they get Cole back and that Marianna release him from her influence. Lady Marianna says that she has not placed a glamour on Cole - he is free to go at any time. Freya looks surprised as her Truth of Gaia gift says that this is true. Lady Marianna is even more attractive up close and she has a beautiful speaking voice. Freya asks her what she thinks the elder fae would want. Lady Marianna tells her it would want freedom. Freya says that she got freedom in realm and wreaked havoc. Lady Marianna doesn't think that that that is a real problem - mortals are so ephemeral, after all. Freya just looks at her, stunned. Freya asks when she knew that it was back in the fae realm. Lady Marianna says she knew the moment it came through the Trod.

Abby suddenly realises that Cole doesn't sound the same. His manner is different, she senses unnatural and gets finds that he is strongly fae tainted as well his normal strong Gaia/Wyld sense. Maybe its not Cole? It's all normal except for the fae sense. Freya suggests to Bob over the link that he does Questing stone for Cole. Bob does this as discretely as possible from outside the tent and gets Cole's general direction. However Bob realises that the general direction also includes the knights standing around in full armour, and Cole could easily be one of them instead.

Abby and Cole start having a philosophical argument. They keep going. And going. Eventually it is lunch time. The pack go and talk to Lord Lysander about what they think is going on. Lord Lysander says that the amulets are attuned to the individuals which is why it wont work on Cole. Bob then realises that Cole smells of Siobhan! Even though he has clean clothes on. He tells the other pack members, there is a lot of surprised looks and they are called back into the tent.

After lunch the discussion continues. Lord Lysander says that the only useful suggestion is based on Freya's idea of a challenge. Marianna insists it would have to be a fair and equitable challenge. Freya has put on Truth of Gaia. Lady Marianna is not totally truthful about being interested in the welfare of the elder fae but is being truthful about everything else. It is starting to get dark and Lady Marianna and Lord Lysander arrange to have a challenge for the following day and both groups pack up and head their separate directions.

Back at Lysander's castle he explains to the pack that the best the challenge will give them is a delay - Marianna will still insist on access to the fetish, and in the end she will be able to discover the True Name of the fae. On the plus side, a delay while he has the fetish would also help Lord Lysander find a more permanent solution, and frankly the other options (stealth, force) weren't going to work. There is a good chance that Marianna will chose Cole as her champion - she probably believes that his pack will feel some restraint in hurting Cole. Abby corrects anyone who is listening of that misapprehension. Lysander says that in the case that she does choose Cole, he will have to ask the Claws of Wisdom to fight him, as they are the only ones who have comparible strengths on a one-on-one basis. Freya mentions Siobhan to Lord Lysander who tells her about legends of Fae making a copy of themselves like a shell for the mortal realm. Lysander believes that it is incredibly dangerous - one mistake might lead to instant death for the fae. Bob asks if it could be Lady Marianna making the copy, Lord Lysander says probably not as he would have sensed if she was not in the Arcadia Gateway.

Lysadnder tells them to make themselves at home in the castle until tomorrow. Abby pilfers some wine from the kitchens and decides to go hunting Lord Yanos. Bob decides to sniff around the gardens for a while. Freya is in the library researching Fae magic as best she can given nothing is written in English or indeed using the Roman alphabet. She speaks to court wizards about fae magics. Bob decides to try and meditate, curious of the effect of fae energy, however it doesn't do anything so he wanders around looking for food. The rest of the pack members are just exploring, drinking or preparing themselves for the challenge. (Cole only).

Monday 15 + 2?

In the morning Lord Lysander assembles a large number of knights and spectators outside the castle. The Claws of Wisdom wander out and are arguing about who is going to challenge. The group of knights, spectators and the pack set off towards the crossroads. The Claws of Wisdom are still 'discussing' who will be the champion. Approaching the crossroads the pack can see bleachers, pavilions and tents set up on the soft grass surrounding the crossroads. There are low fae running about everywhere making nuisences of themselves. There are lots of members of both the unsealy and sealy fae courts present, all looking very elegant and refined. The Claws of Wisdom notice Cole and Marianna off to one side surrounded by knights. Cole looks very odd, he's in homid form wearing a loin cloth and is painted blue from head to toe. The pack look at him with raised eyebrows, he is busy muttering to himself. Freya asks Lysander if it might be a trick and if there could be toxins in the paint, Lord Lysander says he doesn't know but it would be underhanded.

Lord Lysander, Freya and Lady Marianna ride forward and meet in the middle of the makeshift arena for a formal greeting. Lady Marianna says that she has accepted the challenge which will be to the death or until the other side concedes. Lord Lysander says that it seems fair. Freya asks Marianna what significance the blue paint and loin cloth has, Lady Marianna seems surprised and says that she thought it must be a Garou ritual. Freya looks surprised also and says she has no idea what its from.

The three of them begin discussing who will be challenging. Corey yells out that he will if it will get him out of this realm quicker, the rest of the pack glare at him. Lord Lysander says that considering the situation he will allow Freya to choose her champion. They restate the conditions - that it is a single combat until the opposite side concedes and no one can interfere. Lord Lysander and Freya return to the rest of the pack to discuss it. Abby asks about imposing conditions such as no magic, but Lysander says that imposing too many conditions may leave Marianna to impose her own as well. Freya nominates Kreig as the champion and Lord Lysander indicates to Freya, Kreig and two knights to step forwards. Marianna does the same with Cole and a few of her knights.

Lord Lysander asks Marianna if she has chosen her champion, she touches Cole on the shoulder, she asks the same of him and Lord Lysander indicates to Kreig. The knights and Freya move back. Kreig, Marianna, Lysander and Cole stay in the center of the arena. Kreig subtly sniffs Cole, he smells Cole-like except for the blue paint which is very pungent. Marianna blows a horn and the challenge begins!

Cole instantly backs off a bit and changes to Crinos as does Kreig. There is a bit of 'ooooooh!'ing from the crowds in the bleachers. Kreig attempts to disarm Cole who dodges. Cole then tries the same thing on Kreig who also dodges. Eventually Kreig disarms Cole, surprisingly easily, and Cole's sword goes flying and lands in the soil near Marianna, point lodged in the soft soil. The crowd gasps. Cole starts running off and Kreig attacks him, punching Cole and making him stumble into Marianna. Cole is hurt and falls to the ground on two knees. He looks a bit odd and is yelling something about Normandy and Nuremberg or something. The onlookers move back to get out of the way of this rather brutal combat. The rest of the pack yell out moral support, a bit confused about who to cheer for.

From a distance, Abby and Bob notice that Cole is cradling something in one arm. Kreig, upclose, is very surprised when Cole thrusts a large spherical black object into his arms. Its the fetish. Krieg jams the iron dagger up against it as Cole strikes him hard enough to send him back towards Lysander's army. Kreig tries to look as though he got punched, but he's not a very convincing actor. Bob and Abby see that some of Marianna's knights starting to make a move towards their swords. Bob yells across the mental link, Kreig turns around and Bob and Abby see the object, it's definitely the fetish. Kreig tries a sweeping kick at Cole while facing Lysander and all, but only strikes a glancing blow. Cole, still fighting Krieg and unaware of the bruhaha behind him, attempts to kick Kreig in the arse but misses and kicks Kreig hard in the head. Kreig is flung into the air by the force of the blow, and all hear a distinct crack as vertebrae are broken by the kick. Teeth, blood and saliva fly up into the air, and so does the fetish - it bounces towards Lysander and rolls to a stop. There is a brief dramatic pause and the crowd goes strangely silent.

Freya is the first to react and quickly lunges towards the fetish. Bob follows close behind her. Corey begins sharpening his claws. Bob picks up Kreig and drags him off to the side under one of the bleachers and heals him with the healing talen. Corey howls and runs towards Cole. It suddenly dawns on some of the pack that Cole is actually behaving and sounding a lot like Clarence, the fabled grandfather that Cole mumbles about occasionally. Odd.

The grim knights rush forward to attack, meeting Cole and Corey with a loud crash of claws against steel. Abby does Call of the Wyld and pulls out her bow, looking for Marianna, who is running to horse as her knights try to regain the fetish. The two sets of knights rush towards one another, mostly on foot - the ultra-shiny sealy knights on one side and the dark graphite-like unsealy knights on the other. The crowd in the bleachers are going mad, yelling and screaming. Lots of them bail and run for the cover of the nearby woods. The low fae just run around screaming and getting in the way.

Abby begins firing the gnosis arrows at the knights, hitting a few of them. Cole gets pulverised (literally) by a knight and falls to the ground in a heap. Corey is slashing knights left right and center. An arrow aimed at Marianna explodes into flames when it gets near her. Marianna turns around and a bunch of her knights on horses begin flanking around the outside of the Garou. Corey begins frenzying and slashes whatever comes near him. A lot of the knights jump on top of him and try and pin him down, avoiding the claws as best they can. Abby begins chasing after Lady Marianna who is racing after Freya and Bob who are running towards Lord Lysander's castle with the fetish. Abby quickly changes to Glabro and jumps on a spare horse, commanding a squad of knights to follow her.

Freya and Bob are bolting down the road, behind them they can hear horses gaining on them, Bob looks around and it's 10 grim knights and Marinanna, catching up fast. Abby is in hot pursuit. Abby does a call of the wyld which bolsters her horses who runs faster than it's ever run before. Abby catches up quite a bit and some of Lady Mariannas knights slow down and engage Abby and her escort. Abby tries to dodge but they just catch her in the side with the edge of one of the lances. She's bleeding but it's nothing too serious. Abby's escort engage the knights as she bolts ahead, trying to catch Lady Marianna and the three knights left with her.

Freya and Bob can see the castle up ahead of them, they put on a burst of speed to try and reach it before Lady Marianna catches up. Abby is only a short distance from Marianna when the fae makes a hand jesture and two of the three grim knights drop back. Abby pulls out an arrow from the quiver at her hip. She takes one shot as they drop back, but its too hard to fire the bow from the horse. Abby then changes tactics and tries to stab the arrow in the butt of the closest knight's horse. The horse stumbles and veers off. Abby tries this again with the other horses, the second knight dodges but not well and Abby stabs the horse in it's hindquarters, the horse just folds beneath the knight, Abby hitting it in the spine. The knight falls off in a heap of dark armor.

By this time Freya and Bob have reached the edges of the castle and are running through the gardens. They reach the moat but the drawbridge is up. Freya calls out to the knights on the wall, however they ignore her. Freya makes a snap decision and throws the ball up to them. The wall is so high that she can't see if they caught it or not, but it doesn't come back down so she assumes they have. The momentum, however carries both Freya and Bob splashing into the moat. Lady Marianna is approaching fast, when she nears the castle wall the drawbridge rolls down towards her and it doesn't look like it was controlled by the castle.

The remaining grim knight leaps off his horse and stands rock steady in the middle of the drawbridge while Marianna continues into the keep. Abby shoots arrows at the knight which does nothing, she then decides to ride him down with her horse. The horse slams straight into the knight and the knight doesn't move even though the armor collapses around him somewhat. Abby's horse just stops dead. Abby jumps off and rolls and lands on her feet.

More grim knights come barrelling up the road and join their brethren at the gate, while Lysander's knights rush out from the castle and engage them. Abby bolts deeper into the castle, looking for Marianna, and the fetish. Freya, having got out of the moat with Bob, bodyslams the knight in the middle of the bridge. He stumbles slightly and Freya and Bob rush past him into the castle's courtyard. Freya helps the knights fight the Grim Knights in the courtyard for a moment before joining Abby in her hunt for Marianna. Bob decides to go and try and find the fetish before she does and runs off down another corridor. Abby finds a bit of wood and tries to sneak up behind Lady Marianna.

Abby finds Lady Marianna without too much trouble. She hits her in the head with the bit of wood. Lady Marianna turns and points in Abby's direction and something formless flashes out towards Abby, who ducks behind a wall, given a second's warning by the magic by the amulet. Lady Marianna seems unhurt by Abby's blow to the head and takes off down another corridor. Abby gives chase and finds her looking through a study. Freya bursts in a few seconds later. Lady Marianna is ransacking through cupboards, desperately searching for something. Freya tries to crashtackle her and they both crash to the floor. A whitish sheen goes across Lady Marianna. Abby tries to plunge an arrow into her but it has no effect. Freya hits Lady Marianna with a chair, the chair breaks as if it was made of balsa-wood. Freya holds Lady Marianna down, Marianna's eyes are glowing red. Abby stabs her with another arrow and this time it has some effect, Lady Marianna howling in pain. Their scuffling has disturbed a heavy bookcase which crashes down on top of all three of them.

Meanwhile Bob is running through the castle searching for the fetish. There are people frantically moving about everywhere. He runs past a room with low fae playing downball. He skids to a halt and runs back to the room. They're playing downball with the fetish! He asks them if he can have it, they demand something in return. He offers to sing to them, they look skeptical. He sings and they cover their ears, yelling for him to stop. He then does a dance which causes them to cover their eyes. Eventually they decide to give him the fetish as long as he promises to leave and stop torturing them with his hideous singing and dancing. Bob agrees, grabs the fetish and runs off to hide it from Lady Marianna.

Outside the castle Lord Lysander has shown up, and he convinces the grim knights stand down and let him into his castle. Freya and Abby disentangle themselves from the bookcase and pummel Lady Marianna until she turns into a raven and flies out of the open window. Outside, Kreig is brought back to life by some of the sealy fae. Lord Lysander strides into the castle and restores order. He demands that everyone go to the throne room where they can resolve it in a rational manner.

The Claws of Wisdom regroup and head to the throne room. The room is full of Lord Lysander and his knights and Lady Marianna and her knights. The Claws of Wisdom sit down, Bob clutching the fetish to his chest. Lysander begins by saying that he recognises that officially Marianna's challenger won the challenge, there was certainly something strange going on, and he does not believe the challenge was an honourable one. Marianna begins to talk over him and Abby and the garou join in, turning the throne room into a fish market. All the surrounding escorts appear quite tense by the yelling. Lysander bellows for silence and suddenly everyone stops. He is about to speak when a grinding sound begins at the far end of the room. Out of the ground rises the Arcadia Gateway.

From the stone around the heavy doors extends a hand and then another, followed by an enormous stone golem-like creature. Lysanders asks the Guardian what it is doing here, he has not summoned it. The Guardian speaks in a rumbling voice, saying that it has been called. The doors seem to waver faintly and then they start to creak open, swinging outwards. The fae seem fairly shocked by the events. Through the gap it seems that the Gateway is high up in the air, looking down over mountains and forests. Clouds rush through the sky at unbelievable speed. Also, standing in the doorway is an elderly naked aboriginal man, marked with scars and tattoos. He looks surprised to see the European Garou. He says something untelligable and points at the fetish that Abby holds. As she approaches the gate, the Guardian steps in front of her and holds out its hand. She passes the fetish across and the Guardian swings about and pushes it through the Gateway - on the parts of its arm that stick through the gate, the assembled notables can see lichen form, spread, decay and crumble apart in seconds.

The aboriginal man grabs the fetish and seems to twist it, making the globe of stars fold in on itself. Next to him a figure appears, an enormous humanoid figure made of darkness, with glowing white eyes. The man points and the figure flies off into the clouds. He turns back and speaks, and this time the pack hear English. He says that he is Gnocnoc, a theurge of the Bunyip tribe. He thanks them for bringing Nlaloonjurrie to this place - she was causing too much trouble in his time, but they knew there would come a time when the lands of dream (some oddness with the translation there) were seperated from the material realm. Frankly, Gnocnoc seems a bit surprised that non-Bunyip garou are here. The pack start to explain, but only get as far as saying that the Bunyip were defeated before Gnocnoc cuts them off, saying it would be best if he perhaps did not know.

Gnocnoc says he must leave, before the opening of the Gate is too noticable. The gates close and the Guardian merges back into the stone of the gate-frame. Marianna, looking fairly unimpressed, demands that Lysander release her knights and storms from the room. Everyone else stands around a bit shellshocked by the whole experience.

Lord Lysander invites the Claws of Wisdom to stay in his castle as long as they like. He also offers to remove all glamour permanently from Abby, Cole and Corey. The conscious pack members thank him for his hospitality and agree that it would be excellent if the glamour were removed. Cole and Corey have been brought back to the castle to be healed. Corey is mulched, there is a huge hoof print on his chest and understandably the Fae think he is dead. The pack reassures them that he will be okay. Cole is also a bit mutilated but is brought round. He is absolutely saturated in colour. Lord Lysander informs Freya that it will take a couple of days to remove all the glamour, but they will be harder to glamour in the future. Freya says it doesn't matter how long it takes. The rest of the pack heal any minor wounds they have and generally rest up.

Monday 15 + 3-5?

Over the next few days there are feasts, hunts and celebrations held in their honor. The glamour is fully removed from Abby, Corey and Cole. Corey and Cole have mostly healed, although Corey is missing an eye and his hair has a large white streak. Cole remains Clarence, at least partially, although Cole can be heard over the mental link. Kreig's jaw is crooked from the fight, which doesn't bother him as it means more glory for him. (Abby only)

On the last night that the pack stay at Tir na Noght (the name of castle?!) there is a huge feast with all the Seelie Fae in attendance. At the height of the feast, Lord Lysander calls for quiet and miraculously the huge hall is suddenly silent. He stands and thanks the Claws of Wisdom for all their help. He then presents them with a suit of faire armor made of chain mail and also a sword. He explains to them that the armour is light and unencumbering and does not have to be dedicated. He also explains that the sword does aggravated damage and will never go blunt. He then presents some of the pack members with their own gift. Corey is given a cask of faire brew, which he accepts enthusiastically. Freya receives some Celtic knot work, which is woven with protection glamours. Bob revives a bag of magic containing two temporary gnosis.

The Claws of Wisdom humbly accept the gifts and again thank Lord Lysander and the rest of the Sealy Fae for all their help and hospitality. The speeches are over and the drinking, talking and eating resumes. Cole/Clarence tries cracking on to every female in sight, causing people to remove themselves from his presence fairly quickly. The feasting continues well into the night.

Monday 15 + 6?

The next morning the pack prepare to leave the Fae Realm. Lord Lysander provides them with escorts back to the Trod. There are fond farewells and Bob hugs Lysander, who looks rather surprised but hugs back. Lord Lysander recommends that the pack bring the armor and sword back occasionally so that they don't deteriorate, the pack assure him that this would be no great chore. They wave goodbye and set off for the trod.

The Claws of Wisdom and their Fae guides reach the cave without incident. The pack thank the guides and step. They arrive in the realm cave. Bob digs up the watch and calendar and everyone makes predictions about how long they've been gone for. Everyone is wrong, they've only been gone for 16hrs. Everyone is somewhat disappointed, it would have been cool to come back 5 years later. They leave the cave and head off for the sept.

Monday 15, fit the 2

On the way back to the Sept, Cole/Clarence wants to see Siobian so the pack set off for her apartment. Clarence says she's an evil so and so for leading his boy astray. He fishes out the key and they all wander in. The apartment is bland. Clarence rifles through stuff, everything is beige. Beige clothes, beige walls, beige furniture. There is nothing of interest at all. Muttering from Clarence about 'no-good voodoo woman working her voodoo on Cole'. He also wonders (aloud) why Cole is with Siobhan when there are such fine werewolves in his own pack. Abby gives him the evil eye and he pats her on the arse. Cole comes through on the mental link for a second, pleading for help. The pack finish poking around the bland apartment and return to the sept. It is only after leaving that they realise that none of the statues are there.

Back at the sept everyone has gathered for a more formal telling of the story. Everyone admires their battle scars. The pack are awarded renown for their actions (Ed - from my book -'Damien is an idiot and he hasn't worked out renown! I vote we eat him'). People are surprised that they are back so soon, figuring they'd be gone for a few days. The Claws of Wisdom explain that in Fae time, they were gone about a week. They re-tell the story, embellishing it here and there for effect. Leaps-in-the-Light spits milk across the room when they mention the Arcadia gateway.

After the story is finished, Corey blows the pack and the Sept off and leaves. Freya asks about Petrus. Cossack tells her that he is still unconscious and ask if they've decided what they want to do. Freya says that they would like to return him and redeem him as he is a blood relative of one of their packmates. The elders say they'll see what they can do. Malajimbarra says they should take him to Erebus. The elders suggest trying to get information first and the Claws of Wisdom agree. Preparations take the rest of the night.

Tuesday 16

People assemble for the attempt to brain suck Petrus. All sorts of precautions are taken such as having high powered weaponry and calming fetishes close to hand. Eventually Petrus is brought around, not with good results however. His eyes shoot open, glowing green. He jumps up and tries to attack Kreig, before people quickly knock him out again. Someone performs sense wyrm and it's off the scale. The elders inform them that he has been a Black Spiral Dancer and therefore is not going to tell them anything willingly. Abby asks if he can be restored. Malajimbarra says if he is taken to Erebus there is a chance - otherwise they will have to destroy him to gain the information they need. He also tells them that he can't promise anything, as he only knows of two Garou who have been restored but at this stage it is their only option.

The pack ask what happened while they were away. People tell them that no-one showed up at the shrine and nothing much has happened. The holes in the shrine have been blamed on kids with fireworks. Malajimbarra says that if they are going to Erebus they should go now before the moon gets more ragabashy or they won't be able to find the moonpath - it'll be hard enough now. Abby is of the opinion that it is better to find out where the hive is than to restore Frr. People point out that he might not have known where the hive was anyway and he is Kreig's brother so everything possible should be done to restore him. Abby asks if they could use dream-speak to get the information. Cossack says that it's too dangerous and hard as Frr is a garou and therefore has the ability to realise what is happening and could mislead anyone who tries. Graham says that he doesn't care what they do but he doesn't want Frr in the Caern any longer as the Dancers might be able to track him. The Claws of Wisdom ask Malajimbarra to explain Erebus a bit better. He tells them that it is an umbral realm and is a place where people are cleansed of their sins etc. Some people don't return and others can stay for years. He also tells them that they will have to leave Frr there and it could take ages for him to be restored. No-one is very keen to talk about Erebus, it is a place of pain, plus because the Umbra is not a static environment, the very act of expecting a particular set of experiences can bring them on. Cossack does emphatically suggest that while the are in Erebus that the pack resists temptation. When someone gets there they are immersed in silver to cleanse them. Malajimbarra also explains that to get there the pack will have to find the moonpath which is a silver road in the umbra, however it is much easier to find when the moon is fuller, so they should leave when it gets dark.

The pack spring into action. They are cleansed first and spend the remainder of the day resting and meditating. The sept offers the pack the umbral shotgun, they take it but make sure to keep it away from Clarence at all times. Before they go they visit the hospital, Siobhan is still there but the iron isn't. Cole rather nervously says that he didn't actually put the iron there in the first place and instead piffed it at Petrus when they were at the shrine.

The pack ask Malajimbarra if they should take anything, he says they don't need to. The pack farewell the sept and step.

They begin wandering around in the umbra trying to find the moon path. While they walk they focus all their attention on finding the path. Freya is leading and leads them to a church, they open the doors and beyond them it is all misty. After a brief freak out about their Malfeas dream, the pack walk in and the doors close behind them. The path is hard to see and there are holes in it in places. The pack run along in lupus. After a few hours of traveling through the mist they hear a howl behind them. It's a laughing, manic howl, and is a long way away, but even so the pack pick up the pace.

They keep running and the howling continues. Bob senses unnatural, the path has an odd sense which he can't really describe but he can't pick up anything else. They continue running, Kreig is bringing up the rear. Behind him he hears a noise, he turns and sees movement through the mist behind him. The movement is closer than the howls. The mist clears a bit and he can see a shape, also running. It looks like a cross between a dog and a dinosaur, strapped to a turtle. It is lowdown to the ground, snuffling along, following their scent. Kreig senses unnatural, it's a bane. There is very strong wyrm, but also a weavery sense. Behind this one he sees a few more. Abby decides to use the bow to try long-range combat. Abby hits one of them with an arrow, but there is a flash and the arrow bounces off. They seem to be wearing armor, which would account for the weaver sense. The pack try and speed up more, Freya does call of the wyld to bolster her packmates. Abby is still firing arrows and eventually shoots one of them in its' eye, it stumbles and falls off the path and is swallowed by the swirling mist. The others have caught up. Bob tries clawing at one of them, but it's armor is too strong. Cole fires the shotgun and misses. Bob tries clawing again and again, they try to dodge and are mostly successful. Cole and Freya decide to try and knock one of them off the path. Kreig is doing one of his special moves and gets bitten, he gets mad and successfully throws it off the path in retaliation. There is one left which is quickly killed through a combination of claws, the shotgun and arrows. The pack pick Petrus up from where they dropped him and continue. Behind them the howling continues. Dark figures begin appearing behind them through the mist. It's more of the dinosaury things, 7 of them all together.

Suddenly the pack run out of the fog and onto a street corner with bright buildings and traffic lights. They've reached a crossroads, or Lunae. Another moonpath crosses the one they are on, heading off into the mist. There are weird flickering lights, Bob identifies them as moonlight spirits or Lunes. He talks to them and asks them for help. They want a secret in return. Their voices are soft and whispery and seem to come from every direction. Freya thinks of a secret and eventually tells them about Lord Lysander and Lady Marianna's affair. The Lunes seem impressed and tell them to keep going. The ground starts to shift and change. The crossroads break and the howls fade away. The pack begin thinking hard about Erebus. After a while the howling starts again, far behind them. However, ahead of them there is a glowing light. Suddenly the path is blocked by a silvery wall. The pack are unsure what to do. They lift Petrus to the wall and he sticks there. They take him back off. They try the cracking stone, nothing happens. It doesn't feeeel like a gateway. After a few minutes of staring and poking, they realise that its a path at right angles to the one they're on, with down being perpendicular to the path they were on. They maneuver themselves onto it. As soon as their feet touch the path, the howling stops......

  The pack find themselves on a silver road, they begin running along it. Ahead of them through the mist dark shapes begin rising, higher and higher, the pack get a little worried until they realise they're just mountains. Bob performs sense unnatural and finds that there is no wyrm sense. The mountains begin to appear in more detail through the mist, they're rocky and bare. The silver path winds between them. Bob sniffs around, everything just smells misty. Freya Coo-ee's, it bounces back at her, echoing off the dark basalt rocks. The pack keeps running, the road begins to feel like it's descending.

Soon the pack come to the end of the road, two large black metal doors seal the mountain in front of them. In front of the doors is a 20ft Cerberus. The left head is black with green eyes, the right is metallic and the middle has long spiralled horns. It looks left and right and doesn't really seem to be paying any attention to them. Freya shouts hello, the beast doesn't seem to hear. Freya does a hello call of the Wyld, which echoes off the surrounding mountains. The Wyld head looks down but then continues sweeping back and forth. Bob has a look at the spirit and seems to think that it's defiantly on guard but obviously not against them. The pack eventually gets brave enough to walk up to the doors, which swing open in front of them. As they open, from inside the mountain the pack can hear faint screaming. They walk inside and the doors slam shut behind them.

The tunnel is dark so Freya casts fairy lights, ahead of them the tunnel winds down into the mountain. The pack begins walking. Soon the tunnel opens up into several caverns. Bob senses with his weird spidy senses, and finds lots of Gaia, Wyld and weaver and something else, probably the realm sense, which is definatly not a comforting sense.

Freya asks the rest of the pack if they should keep walking down the tunnel, everyone says yeah as they are probably not far enough in yet as there is no fabled lake of silver or whatever. They begin walking. After 20 minutes or so they notice a thin trickle of silver liquid coming out of a crack in the wall and running down onto the ground. Bob sense the silvers and gets Gaia but no wyrm. Clarence shoves his claws into the wall and begins to scrabble around causing splashes of silver fly off at the rest of the pack. Unsurprisingly they yell at him to stop as they try and dodge the flecks of silver. Where the silver splashes hit Clarence, it burns the flesh off. As this happens he begins wildly flailing his arms about, spraying silver everywhere. The pack yells at him to stop being an idiot, which kind of seems to work. He stops flailing and the flesh begins to grow back. The pack shake their heads at him and stalk off, following the little rivulet of silver as it winds it's way down the tunnel.

The silver glows faintly and soon the trickle increases in size and eventually becomes enough to see by. Shadows jump on the walls and the screaming and moaning gets louder and louder. The Claws of Wisdom shudder. Bob keeps remembering more stuff about this realm; it is a place where people are dropped in the river and there are creatures that guard them as they are cleansed. Bob also remembers something about 'the way out is through', the pack discuss this and figure that the Cerberus on the doors were probably guarding against people coming back through the doors, so they'd better keep going.

The flow of the silver gets bigger and the path gets wider. The screaming is louder and the vague moaning sounds they heard before turn into people pleading. The path opens up and they come to a pool in the silver stream, silver. A creature, 12 ft tall,hairless and kinda Greek looking is holding a long spear with a cage on the end of it. In the cage there is a Red Talon in lupus form; the creature lowers the spear and the cage drops into the silver, the lupus screams. The pack shudders again. Clarence asks the creature if there is much of a waiting list, it points further along the path. The pack gingerly walk around the pond and continue down the path. The tunnel branches off and continues heading downwards. Soon they come to a bridge across a silver river, below them someone is clawing in the river and is being poked back into the middle by another huge creature. Krieg and Bob look down, the person is kicking up sheets of silver water in his desperate attempt to be free of the pain, Bob and Krieg can almost see themselves in the reflections of the silver (Krieg only)). They decide to stop looking.

The pack continues along and sees more movement in the river. Two of the tall figures in Crinos with large silvery spears and black eyes block their path. They ask the pack why they are here. Freya explains about needing to redeem Petrus. The creatures ask for her to hand over Petrus, they take him by the back of the neck and drop him in the river (Freya only). He wakes up quickly, screaming and starts clawing towards the bank. One of the creatures spears him back into the middle. Freya asks how long it will take, the creature says it's up to Petrus - he will stay until he is cleansed. The creature then says if they challenge him he will grant them anything they desire. The pack starts to discuss what they could get... information on Polly, information on Mages, information on the Bunyip...etc. etc... Clarence wants to accept the challenge but Cole and Bob have a niggling feeling in the back of their minds that someone said something important.....

Finally they work it out, 'resist temptation'!!!. Clarence is all ready to accept the challenge before Freya steps in and politely refuses the challenge. The creature nods and tells them that the Lady Charyss wants to speak to them and that if they keep going down the path they will get to her citadel. Before they depart, the creature tells the Claws of Wisdom that they have learnt a very important lesson today. That no price is worth certain death, and they must overcome their pride, or it will be their downfall. The creature also says that many other Garou (it looks at Petrus) have not yet learnt that lesson. The pack thanks him and begins walking along the path in search of Lady Charyss's citadel.

Soon the pool grows wider and they see people in it from time to time screaming and rocking as flesh burns off and then reforms. Each person has an attendant and all seem to have a single purpose or a particular point being made to them (such as the red talon in the cage). They are surrounded by flickering images of all the things they've done wrong. After a time the cavern opens up into an enormous cave, there is a mist rising from the lake of silver which washes against a beach of black sand. The pack can see no way around it.

They start discussing what to do. Clarence commands a boat to appear and much to the pack's surprise a boat comes out of the mist. The boat glides up to the beach and stops, the pack get in. The boat has no boatman. When all the pack is in, it begins to move back into the mist. Soon the mist begins to clear and the Claws of Wisdom can see a castle up ahead, the boat grounds itself on a beach where a creature is waiting. It turns and walks off, the pack follow. It leads them up a path to a black stone castle. The castle's enormous metal doors are open, inside it looks deserted.

The creature leads them into a huge throne room, there are pillars of black stone running down the middle of the room. Ahead of them they can see someone on the throne, the pack can see she's 30ft tall, even from here! It's a god! She is a metal creature and looks like the others with spears. There are decorations on the pillars, silver outlines which you can only see side on and out of the corner of your eye. They're murals. The attendant speaks, 'Garou - you are in the presence of Lady Charyss".

Charyss greets the pack, obviously knowing who each of them are. She then says that she will answer questions about her realm that they ask. A bit confused ("didn't /she/ want to see us?"), the pack ask how long Petrus will stay for - She says that there is no way of knowing how long it will be before Petrus is cleansed, because while the rivers can burn away much of the taint, the one undergoing the cleansing must choose to give up the taint within them. If they don't, then ultimately the river will destroy them. So it depends on how much of the person remains untainted, or how strong of character they are. They ask about dreams that they had that have involved caves and rebirth, and Charyss says that as they are from a sept patronised by her sister Chimera, it is unsurprising that they dream often of important matters, but that she does not know of any relevance for her realm. A couple more questions are asked about the realm (the creatures are called the Brood) - Freya says that one of the brood if Charyss wished to see them. Charyss says yes, but is not drawn further on the topic. The pack says that they should be getting back. Charyss indicates a small door that appears to her right, and says that they can return to their world through there.

The door leads to a dark tunnel about 1 garou wide. The pack begins walking, Freya kicks something which rolls away, she goes and picks it up. It's a lighter! Bob sniffs it and finds that it has been touched by a human that eats too much garlic, how weird. The pack try to peek, but they can't. They keep walking and find a sock that has been worn by a female 6year old, it smells soapy. They soon find pen lids, keys and all manner of stuff that usually goes missing. After a little bit longer they see a light down one of the side tunnels, they go to investigate. On the wall they see a scene that looks like a rainforest - it's hilly and doesn't look Autralian. They decide to keep walking. They pass several more of these things and see what looked like a shanty town in Europe and also an Antarctic wasteland. Soon Kreig gets hit in the face by something, there is lots of swearing! A bird is flying around confused. They ask it where it came from, it has no idea. They tell it to fly through one of the windows, it doesn't seem to be able to see them like the garou can. Then the pack hears a faint whistling and a light, 'HELLO!' A figure heads in their direction, he is holing a gas lantern. He introduces himself as Why-the-Hell-Not, Theurge of Stargazers. He informs them that they are backstage in the theatre of the umbra, otherwise known as the Null zone. He grabs the bird and chucks it through one of the windows.

They chat for a bit - he's American, and has sort of decided that his job is here, helping lost spirits make their way back into the Umbra. This place co-exists with all of the Umbra and Realm - if you know how to navigate it, you can get anywhere. Of course, getting in is fairly tricky, akin to jumping on the ground and missing. He offers to help Claws of Wisdom make it home, and asks them where they're from. They tell him Melbourne, Australia. He looks around and thinks for a bit, and then leads them through the corridors for a while, slowing getting more and more Australian scenes through the windows. Eventually he stops and says "how about here?" and points in the direction of some window. The pack looks through and sees that it's the cemetery! They thank him and wander through. They appear in the cemetery, it's daytime. They begin walking in the direction of the Sept, suddenly they round a corner and bump into Graham, who screams! Graham asks them where they hell they came from, they explain to him. He asks them to go and make him a drink, and mentions that it is...

Thursday 18

The pack meets up with the sept elders, Freya tells them what happened. After they finish Cossack catches them up with news of the last couple of days. He says that Chris from Get of Pennington has come up with an idea for sponge fetishes to soak up all the goo in Preston, so that's what the pack will be up to for the meantime. There will be a moot in two weeks, on Halloween (yes, it will be signifiant) and the pack will probably be called up in front of the Jindabyne council on the 23rd.

Friday 19

   The Claws of Wisdom are conscripted into cleaning up the "Wyrm rain" with sponge talons, with the help of Hidden Green and Melissa Lindridge, the Lost Cub they found recently. Strangely some of the areas seem to have already been cleaned of black goo, possibly eaten by spirits of some sort.

The pack wander around Prahran in their designated area for a bit, cleaning as they go. Melissa is less than impressed at being dragged around stange alternate dimensions getting crap all over herself when she could be studying English for her exams. In a short time, they find one of the strangely cleaned areas. Krieg senses wyrm and discovers that the ground underneath has a high wyrm taint. He starts burrowing and finds goo further down it seems to be soaking deeper and deeper, he keeps digging and eventually hits stone. Further excavation reveals an Earth Spirit. The goo is soaking into the Earth elemental which is really bad news - eventually it will taint the elemental to a corrupted level.

The pack decide to excavate it and Bob cleanses him, which works well black goo spurting out and disintegrating everywhere. Abby awakens the elemental as it was sinking back into the earth and therefore subject to being tainted again. The Elemental is grateful but asks the Garou to help its friend. Willingly they oblige and excavate its friend, who is also cleansed by Freya, and then awoken by Abby.

The elementals are grateful and offer to help the Claws of Wisdom. The pack think for a while, ask whether the 2 elementals know about the Wyrm Hive. Unfortunately the Elementals don't know because they have been asleep for ages. The spirits suggest they could bring all the sunken goo to the surface to make cleaning up easier for the Garou (and cleaning the earth, which for obvious reasons they like). The pack accept gratefully. The elementals hang about with the pack for the rest of the day, carefully pushing goo-sodden earth to the surface for the pack to clean.

At the end of the day, they go back to the caern before seperating to go home. On the way back to her car Freya spots the Mage who told Abby where the 'Queen' was. Walking towards him curious Freya slows down when she nears him and he pushes himself off the pole he's leaning against and falls into step with her as she passes. As they keep walking he asks about the fetish, Freya lets him know that it's safe and in Arcadia. Efforts on Freyas' part to get more information are fruitless - he just seems happy to try and walk with her. Krieg and Bob catch up and Krieg tries a scent of the true form - which suggests that the Mage isn't even there. There is some mental speculation about hiding scents and how that might mess with the gift. The mage seems to notice Krieg and Bob and gets them to come along with him. They walk behind an apartment building, into an alley and as they are approaching a big dumpster he says "Well that's all, I guess" and with that he opens the dumpster lid and jumps in. Perplexed Freya opens the dumpster but only finds a straw-man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, hat and sunglasses. Bob and Krieg have a good sniff and sense around the area but find nothing much.

Freya takes the straw-man to her car and gets Emma to have a look at it. Unfortunately she doesn't know much about it, so she carefully pulls it apart to find out if there is anything inside. Inside the pack find a nail, string and some dried herbs (common weeds). Thinking back Freya realizes that the 'man' was talking in a non-Australian accent, perhaps as if English wasn't his first language. She thinks there was a hint of a romance language in it.

Krieg gets home and is hailed by Greg, he goes to say hello and finds he's with Peter (Marion's ex). Greg invites Krieg to join them for drinks, which he accepts. During drinks Peter mentions he saw Krieg and Cole at the beach (Dancer incident). Krieg casually asks about the Dancer and finds out that Peter thinks it might have been a dead bear off a container ship or something. That or a practical joke, given that it happened around the same time as the rocks and animal incidents.

Meanwhile Bob stakes out the dumpster but unfortunately he falls asleep, after ransacking its goodness.

Saturday 20

While cleaning up Freya comes across a material BMX bike in the umbra. Bob smells it and finds the scent of a 10yo boy. It's very odd given that there is no way its material self should be here without it being dedicated?!

Krieg peeks, there is an alleyway in the realm, he can follow the boy's scent in the realm to his house. Krieg does this and finds himself in the boy's backyard, where he and his sister are playing. Sensing them reveals that they are humans, not Kinfolk or anything whacky. Their parents are likewise normal. Freya decides to stay and watch the kid so she can dream speak with him later tonight.

After watching the kid for a couple of hours the trio decide to go back and have a closer look at the alley. As Bob and Freya step from the umbra into the alley, the bike 'pops' back into the realm with them. When Freya asks Krieg if it's still in the umbra as well, he says he was watching as the bike disappeared right in front of him. Bob and Freya step to see if it'll come back with them - it doesn't. They decide to leave it where it is and get back to cleaning. Nothing else weird happens for the rest of the day.

Freya tries to dream speak with the boy, but falls asleep. (Damn dice!)

Sunday 21

Bob, despite objections from Freya, goes back to the bike, intending to return it. Amazingly its still there, so Bob takes it back to the boy's house. Bob waits outside in the back alley, hoping the boy will come out into the backyard so he can give the bike back to him and ask him how he lost it. However this is not exactly how it happens. Bob, bedecked in overalls and little else is caught by the entire family as they drive in the alley to their house. The boy's father is not impressed with his underage children being perved on by a grungy 17yo kid, so, hopping out of his car, he goes up to Bob and is about to ask him to leave when he notices what Bob is holding. "Hey that's my kids bike, give it back!". Bob is annoyed he really wants to ask the kid about how he lost it so he contemplates holding out, but has second thoughts when he sees how angry the father is. Resignedly he hands over the bike, the father warns him if he catches him here again he'll call the police. Bob goes and finds somewhere to step then comes back to watch the interaction between the boy and his father. It's nothing useful or unusual so he leaves.

That afternoon while cleaning up more goo Krieg comes across some tainted weaver web. He starts destroying it "As it is of the Wyrm!" then along comes a spider (who sat down beside her). It's on the large side so Krieg calls for back up. Freya comes over to help while Bob stares. Krieg is partly calcified, Freya crunches it majorly, wyrm goo everywhere ick! Freya then beats the calcification out of Krieg. This over the pack go back to cleaning.

10 mins later 5 more spiders ambush the pack. The spiders are twisted and corrupted, as if they have been affected by the goo itself. After being hacked at one disappears, to reform somewhere else. The others are splattered, Krieg and Freya have more severe calcification beaten out of them.

Once its dark, everyone heads off home (the Theurge moon is dimmer than the umbral sun). Freya gets home and heads straight for the shower. Half way through the water starts to feel wrong. Sensing it, Freya finds it's wyrm tainted. Inspection of the piping under the house in the umbra reveals the taint seems to be coming into the house. So rather than hacking her house's plumbing apart she decides to cleanse the whole house. The taint disappears but there is still a pin-point of wyrm in a pipe under her sink. Figuring it's a bane she calls on Krieg for help, who drives on over. They both crawl under the house again and start messing around with the pipes to get at the bane. Krieg blow pipes it out of the pipe segment and it falls to the ground - the bane is some sort of hairball/frog mutant, all slimy and gross. It wasn't hard to kill as the cleansing had sent it into a kind of hibernation. Now for the hard part...putting the pipes back together. Surprisingly it's easier than taking them apart was, and Krieg seemed to be scarily adept at it.

Later that night Freya dreamspeaks with the boy. The boy was out with friends when the 'storm' (Uktenna vs Wyrm dragon) started and left his bike against the wall. When it started to get bad, his mum picked him up in her car and his bike got left behind in the alley. So it's likely that the weird spiritual stuff happening during the storm caused the bike to slip into the umbra. How odd.

Monday 22

The morning is spent clearing out the last of the surface goo. ("It puts the gloop on the bucket"). Melissa is still with the pack, and has resigned herself to a life of being coated in yucky dragon gunk.

The pack start on part two of the big clean up - the Umbral storm water drains. At least in Melbourne the storm water and sewerage are seperate systems. The Umbral tunnels are remnants of the older systems and dont' always a) make sense or b) have material counterparts. The elementals lurk around with the pack some more, forcing soaked-in goo into the tunnels so that the Garou can soak it up. Folks split into pairs (Bob and Cole, Krieg and Freya, Abby and Melissa), and stay relatively close by one another.

The wyrm-slime has a faint glow to it once it is under the ground, despite being black. It provides enough light to vaguely see by, although as the pack clean, the area behind them becomes darker and darker. While Clarence is trundling along, he looks a bit forward and sees a largish puddle. As he reaches towards it, the puddle seems to shift and congeal forward - forming up a small dragon-like bane which hisses and leaps at Clarence. Clarence belts it one and it is slammed into the wall, disintergrating back into liquid which is easily mopped up. He lets people know to watch out for this happening.

The pack find a few more irregular cleared spaces as they mop along - they let the caern know, given the possibility of dragonets wandering about the place, but nothing is found. Given the all-pervading sense of wyrm, not many other senses are useful in tracking any possible disturbances.

Tuesday 23

Will no one rid us of this turbulent goop? Krieg is walking along with Freya when he becomes aware of a faint trickling sound. Despite accusations at Clarence, the sound appears to be coming through the wall. A bit more hunting around reveals a small hole in the wall, where the cobble surface has been broken. Wyrm gloop seems to be flowing down this hole some distance, and then splashing down into a pool of some sort. There is also another faint noise down there, although its hard to make out.

Freya asks the elementals to come and check it out. The others rock up while they are waiting for this relatively slow process to happen and sort of speculate what might be down there. Freya lays down and sends a couple of faerie lights down the hole. It appears to broaden up once its through the wall, and travel downwards some distance before opening up into a larger space, but the lights keep winking out at that point. Its certainly more than a foot or two open.

The elementals return and say that the space is about 15' around and high, and it is full of the tainted material, so they could not get close to it (it burrrrns them). The pack wonder whether they could get down to it easily - the tunnel that exists would be ok for homid, and unpleasant for glabro, but it could be done. However, if there's something big down there, whoever would be leaning far forward would be at some disadvantage. In the end, Krieg decides to dig down and then along, parallel to the tunnel and towards the pool. Although the existing tunnel falls in on him at the end, he manages to get to the pool with only a minimal amount of unpleasantness. In the faint glow from the pool below, Krieg can see many dozens of small dragonets, surging about in a large slime-filled depression. As he watches, a smaller bane is swallowed by one of the larger ones, which disappears beneath the surface.

Kreig relays this back to his pack, who are suitably impressed. ("Great"). They speculate for a while about how to approach the problem - leap in? No! Er, could they could dig a balcony and lean over and slice them to pieces. I guess so. Much thinking before someone thinks "hey, we have an umbral gun back at the caern". Abby runs back to the caern while the others keep an eye out. After that, its pretty much a duckshoot - the pack take the oppurtunity to teach the non-firearmy members of their pack at least the basics of how to fire a shotty. Eventually, the din fades and they see no movement in the pool, so a couple of packmember lean in and clean up while the umbral shotgun is sent back to the caern.

In the early afternoon, Kreig and Freya find another irregular cleared spot. They start a quick scout to make sure there's not another den of dragons. As they step around a corner, in the faint putrescent light, they can see a man laying face down in the ooze, 20 or so feet down the corridor (yes, in the Umbra). He looks up at them and howls in an eerie and disturbing way and then disappears. Shit, think the pack, Dancers. Another howl, and then a third, echo through the tunnels not far away. Abby immediately starts heading for an exit to get Melissa out and away, and back to the caern for help. Cole and Bob catch up with Freya and Krieg and they all step sideways. Fortunately there seems to be a material correspondance with this bit of tunnel. Clarence/Cole arrives first, closely followed by Kreig and Freya. Clarence, in lupus, takes off after the scent of the fleeing Dancer at high speed. The material drainage system is punctured at times with grills and drains, so it is possible to see the occasional flicker ahead as the Dancer runs.

Clarence runs past another tunnel only to be distracted by a flicker in the light - he skids to a halt and heads that way, finding a ladder. He changes to glabro and barrels up the ladder, half expecting to be killed as he goes through the hole (Cole is screaming for Freya to stop him!). He manages to get clear of the hole and glance around (alley way, between shops, leads to car park, cars on road) before he is attacked - by what seems to be a gargoyle. Not having time to investigate the possibility of exactly how it got her, Clarence, along with the fae sword, leaps to the attack. The gargoyle is almost as fast as he, and the two of them battle loudly. The sword does bite into the stoney skin of the gargoyle, but not as well as Clarence hopes. Krieg says that he's coming up as well and so Clarence leaps on the gargoyle, and manages to pin it off the ground. Krieg leaps out of the manhole and helps smash the gargoyle to pieces.

Someone sticks their head around the corner and asks what the hell is going on, and why are they covered in oil like that. Freya quickly says that there has been an explosion, call the firebrigade, and the guy leaps back around the corner and into a shop. Bob catches up and they all take off, following the spattered 'oil' that leads out into the street. The 4 garou head out onto the street and look left and right. Feeling that the yelling and the squealing tires is probably where they need to go, Clarence in homid and the rest in lupus tear off at speed. They run past an old woman who has been knocked down in front of the milk bar and off the end of the shops, where there is a petrol station. Apparently their friend stole a car from here, judging by the man on the ground holind his bloody face and the spectators. Not to be outdone by the creatures of the wyrm, Cole and Bob leap into an idling car and scream off too, as Krieg and Freya sprint along the roadside.

Freya and Krieg get a headstart as they sprint along the road. They hear the sound of screeching brakes and a metallic impact sound ahead at the next set of lights, and try to increase their speed. From what they can see, a car heading along the same direction as them has swerved, lost some control and plowed into crosstraffic. ([cutscene] Abby, having sent Melissa back the caern for help, sees the Dancer car screaming along the road towards her. She takes a running leap over the parked cars and onto the bonnet of the Dancer's car. She is struck hard and thrown off, but the Dancer loses some control and t-bones the car ahead of it.).

Bob spots a running figure on the other side of the intersection, just as yet another car does a handbreak turn into the intersection from the right. The car hoons away from them, screams to a halt and the running figure leaps in, before it takes off again. Clarence floors it through the stopped intersection, narrowly missing pedestrians. Krieg skids to a halt when he spots Abby between two parked cars, surrounded by other people. He can tell that he leg is broken and she is trying not to frenzy. He tries to move people aside, but they are protecting her from this over curious dog. Krieg snaps and snarls at people and they fallback, before Abby says something to the tune of its ok, its my dog. She and Krieg start hobbling that direction.

Meanwhile, Clarence/Cole breaks while Bob opens the back door for Freya. They take off after the new car, heading west amidst much horn blowing and abuse from other drivers. As they approach a major intersection, the lights head change. The purported Dancers floor it through the intersection, and clip the front of a truck, spinning their car around 360 before disappearing behind the truck, which slams on its brakes. Cole warns the others to brace themselves and they drive through the intersection, clipping one car and shaking the Garou. Once they are on the other side of the intersection, they can see the Dancer's car has stopped and they are getting out. The Dancer closest to them throws something with each hand at the car, and there is a golden flash of light, followed by the beginning of two gargoyles materialising. Clarence sees this about to happen and floors the car, slamming it hard into the passenger side of the Dancer's car...

Abby is hobbling along with Kreig beside her, trying to look like a normal citizen walking her dog (despite just being hit by a car and having a broken leg). They pass a laneway and Abby says that she will go and find somewhere quiet to lay low until she has healed. Kreig agrees that this is a good idea and goes on ahead towards the rest of the pack.

Up the other end of the street, Cole, Bob and Freya have just slammed into a Gargoyle which the Dancers threw at them. The collision launched the car into the air and slammed it into the Dancer's car, knocking it a few meters up the road. Bob is unconcious as he was thrown into the seatwell and was crushed by the impact. When they grind to a halt, Freya looks around at the damage done to the car and her pack memebers. The whole front left hand-side of the car is crushed, which is what is pinning Bob in the seatwell. It's 1pm in Northcote and the Veil is starting to look a little shakey. There are people everywhere, not to mention the huge Gargoyles in the middle of the road. Most of the people are staring, but some are screaming.

Freya looks out of the car window in search of the Dancers. She can see other car rebounded a few meters away. There is blood on the passanger door. On the far side a guy is hauling another guy over the side of the car. There is the sound of approaching sirens. Cole climbs out of the car and jumps onto the roof to get a better look. Freya looks in the front and can see that Bob is bleeding profusely. She leans into the front and attunes to Bob's healing talen which is convienently hanging around his nick and heals him enough so that he regains consciousness and can get out of the car.

Meanwhile Cole is runing towards the other car when he sees that the man on the other side of the car is pointing something at him. Cole's immediate reaction is to duck. Luckily he did as the guy shoots off a round at him. Cole crawls around to the opposite side of the car out of view of the Dancers. He looks out from under the car and can see one guy dragging the other away, using him as a shield and pointing the gun in the direction of Freya and Bob as he backs away.

Back at the other car, Freya also hears the gunshots and then the smashing of glass as the windscrean implodes all over her and Bob. Freya brushes all the glass off herself and manages to haul herself out of the window. She is about to run over to the Dancer's car when she feels sharp claws in her back. She turns and attempts to bite the gargoyle that has her in it's grip, however because she's on a strange angle her teeth can't penetrate and it grips on even tighter.

Outside the car, Freya tries again to bite the gargoyle and manages to make contact, sending bits of stone flying. A second gargoyle comes flying up and thumps down on the roof, causing it to cave in to an inch above Bob's head. Bob manages to squeeze out of the smashed window and pissbolts after the Dancers around the left hand side of the car.

Meanwhile in front of Cole, in broad daylight, one of the Dancers changes to Crinos and drops the other guy he's carrying. Figuring the Veil is already fucked, Cole changes to Crinos also. All the nearby pedestrians, who had until this point just been standing by stunned start running and screaming in the other direction, or diving into houses and hiding. At this point Bob comes charging up and bodyslams the guy who was being dragged along, who is in Glabro and was starting to get up. Bob successfully knocks him to the ground again. Cole attacks the Crinos, but as he goes to do so, the guy's skin changes and becomes all warty - damn troll skin! Cole ends up only knocking him off balance.

Back at the other car, Freya manages to change to Hispo and slip away from her attacker as the second gargole lands. She heads after Cole towards the two Dancers. Back up the road a little, Cole aims for the guy again and tries to hit him, but as he does, the Dancer shimmers and becomes 3 identical Dancers. Freya reaches them at this point and attempts to roundhouse the guy who shimmered, she connects and does some damage. Its still hard to see which of the images she actually connected with.

Meanwhile, Bob tries to hit the guy in glabro, but he dodges. The Dancer meets Bob's gaze and Bob suddenly turns and runs for his life, the guy is the scariest thing he's ever seen! Cole attacks one of the guys, unsure which one is the real one. Futher down the road, Bob skids to a halt and turns back, wondering what the hell he's doing. The Dancer in Glabro picks up the gun, and shoots at Cole and Freya, but misses. Bob slams into him and the guy falls to the ground again with a fairly solid thump. Just before Bob is about to dispatch the Dancer, he feels sharp claws in his back and he is lifted effortlessly off the ground.

Kreig is almost at the battle when he feels something brush past him and his feet slide out from underneath him. Krieg skids to a halt on his chin, and before he can react, sharp, pointy teeth tear out his hamstring. Krieg comes very close to Frenzying as he watches another lupus run past him coated in his own blood. Cunningly, Krieg has previously used his resist pain gift and despite the flapping muscle and gushing blood heads towards his pack, freaking out all the homids standing around and trying to figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, Bob changes to Crinos to make himself a bit heavier so that the Gargoyles might drop him. They stat labouring through the air and sinking gradually towards the ground. The demons obviously decide that this isn't for them, and drop Bob onto a car from 20 metres up.

Cole goes back to the car and tries to pick it up and toss it at the Dancers, but it doesn't go very far. He gives it another go and the car skuds along the ground towards Freya, over the top of one of the Dancers. Both Freya and the Dancer dodge the sliding vehicle, and the Dancer makes a run for it while Freya leaps sideways. There's no sign of the mushed Dancer - they may have stepped sideways? Cole grabs the gun off the ground. Freya starts heading back to her pack, figuring that their lives are in danger from the gargoyles, and they can track the fleeing Dancers once everyone is safe.

The lupus that crippled Krieg bodyslams into Cole, who staggers, but keeps his balance. The lupus starts heading onward, and Cole steps in behind him as Freya blocks his way. Kreig makes it to Bob, who is sitting on the roof still and gets healed so that he can actually walk. The lupus-form Dancer bunches up as if to leap over Freya, but Cole pounces and rakes his claws through ribs and entrails, pulling spine and hips away, and covering Freya (and the surrounds) in gooey bits of lupus.

The Gargoyle attacks Bob, who dodges by rolling off the car roof. Krieg leaps off the car, and onto a Gargoyle, managing to reduce it to dust. Cole grabs the Fae sword from the car and stands ready, Casey at the bat style as it swoops down on him. There is an explosion of dust and fragments of stone, hiding Cole from site. When it clears, homid-Cole is flat on the ground with all the inside bits sticking out and not looking well, but the Gargoyle is destroyed. The pack decide that discretion is the better part of valour (given that they can see flashing lights now), and so grab Cole, heal him enough that he won't die, and take off.

The Claws of Wisdom limp back to the sept through back alleys and the Umbra, eventually making it back to the Sept where their wounds are treated. They then get to hear what the upshot of all their battling was - apparently the Get of Pennington managed to distract some of the police by ramming them with stolen cars. Someone broke open a water hydrant, washing a lot of the battle down with megalitres of water, which will hopefully confuse the issue.

Everyone at the Sept is impressed that they killed a Dancer but would have obviously prefered less of a public exhibition. The Scryers are sent to follow the Dancer's scent. They follow it to Merri creek and then it fades off. There is one scent in the realm and one in the umbra, both headed for water as quickly as they could. They Scryers use some gift to follow it for a bit before they lose it. They relate that none of the scents are the same as that of the Full Moon Killer, but they may have been similar to the Dancers who attacked Krieg near his house a month ago.

Luckily the newspapers and the police have been reporting that the ruckus was a gang fight between two gangs, one of which had been training killer attack dogs. The media proclaim that police have no evidence it was about drugs. Several times. In a disappointed fashion.

Shortly before dark when the meeting with the Sept Elders is over, Ends-the-Quiet and a young Japanese woman enter Graham's house. One of the Claws of Wisdom remember that the woman is Fujiku, the leader of the Ngalyod pack. Fujiku says she wants to talk to the Claws of Wisdom. The pack groan over the link.. Goddamn Jindabyne council. Freya says 'hi!'. Fujitu says she was sent to bring the Claws of Wisdom to the council as they wish to discuss matters with them. Freya asks when they have to go as they are not very..tidy. The pack are covered in goo however they had a bit of a chance to rinse some of it off and do a rite of cleansing before the meeting. Fujiku says that the Silver fang hospitality will allow the pack to wash up somewhere before they face the council. And she doesn't smile once.

The pack say farewell to the Sept Elders and follow Ends-the-Quiet and Fujiku outside. Ends-the-Quiet opens a moonbridge, the pack follow him down the path. They arrive on the mountain, the air is thin and it's very cold. They are met by a woman dressed impeccably in a loverly gown and fur coat, obviously a Silver Fang, who looks rather taken aback by their scruffy appearance. Freya quickly apologises for their state and introduces the pack. The woman introduces herself as Lady Catherine Hope, the Steward of the Lodge of the Sun. She doesn't seem all together impressed by the Claws of Wisdom, especially with Cole or Bob, or for that matter Kreig. Freya asks if there is any possibility of showers. Lady Catherine leads the pack to some cabins on the hillside. There is cold water and no soap. She informs them that there is a fire and fresh water and food will be brought to them. She also says that someone will come and get the pack when the council is ready. The Claws of Wisdom grumble about the lack of hot water but clean up all the same. Their clothes are still a bit of a disaster area however.

Soon people bring meat, they seem polite if distant. In the distance the council is meeting. The pack wait and wait and wait. The moon gets higher in the sky. Finally at 11pm, after they have been there for 6 goddamn hours there is a knocking at the door. Alex-Sees-For-Miles steps in and informs the pack that the council is ready, they had a lot of matters to attend to. He leads them up to the council who are sitting at a horseshoe shaped table. There are 13 places with 12 chairs, but only 11 of these are filled. There is one empty one for the Bunyip representative. The Red Talon is sitting without a chair in Lupus. Darius stands up when the Claws of Wisdom approach. He says that it has come to their attention that the Claws of Wisdom have been involved - (someone mutters 'meddled') - in matters which involved an ancient Elder Fae and despite being warned otherwise were also involved in bunyip matters.

The pack and the council back and forth a bit, getting a bit angry and heated. The fact that they had to act quickly is brought up, and its countered by the suggestion that there were other packs. Freya explains the basics of their very intense link to the events ("Petrus"), but the council members start arguing with her over one another.

Eventually Wungala Rose gets the speaking stick. She says that while the pack may have acted in good faith, to an outsider, their behaviour is at the very least clouded. The messages they sent to the Council were sent to Darius, known to support their cause, and to Fingal, who is likely to support Fianna. More shouting, including a comment that they sent no message to Mother Pasta, their tribe elder. Abby starts an argument with a rank 4 Council member, oblivious to the fact that Vlad might chop her head off. Some of the comments start to get a bit personal, and Grek suggests that they take a short break.

As the meeting breaks up Grek asks the pack to go with him. He leads them a bit away from the council table and sits down. He says that he understands their point of view and sympathises. He also says that the majority of the council are on their side although there are some doubts that the pack stuck to the spirit of the law. There is also some concern that the pack, regarded as a Fianna pack, is ignoring the council due to the frailty of their own representative. He tells the pack that the council are concerned that the pack are presenting a bad example to the rest of the Garou nations in Australia - many people know of them and their escapades. While he knows they usually see the bad side of the council, Grek believes the council does more good than harm in minimising the normal frictions between Garou septs and protectorates. The Claws of Wisdom only see the council when it is fractious because they always seem to be at the centre of contentious issues.

The pack (or Freya anyway) concede there might be something in what he says and then ask what they can do now then? Grek says a way out would be to challenge the council for the right to investigate bunyip matters. The pack ask him various questions about this such as what the challenge might be and what will happen if the pack loses etc. He says he isn't sure what the challenge might be and that at worst the pack will simply be barred from investigating bunyip stuff without the express permission of the council (more fuming from Abby). The pack discuss things quietly amongst themselves, but the general feeling is that they don't end up worse off if they lose. They tell Grek ok, and he suggests that they issue the challenge as soon as the council is reconvened.

Grek wanders away and as the garou watch he speaks to Wungala Rose and a few other council members.. Obviously informing them of the pack's decision to challenge. After a while the council is called back to order. Darius begins to say something and Freya interrupts, informing him that the Claws of Wisdom challenge the council for the right to investigate Bunyip stuff. Hardly anyone on the council looks surprised. Darius asks the council if they accept the challenge? Most people say yes except Mother Pasta who looks unhappy but just abstains. Darius then says that the council will consider an appropriate challenge. Freya says that the pack is tired as they had only just finished fighting the Black Spiral Dancers when they were summonsed so they would like to sleep. Darius says that it seems fair and says the challenge would be tomorrow. He says that they may enjoy the full hospitality of the Silver Fang sept. Freya thanks him and the pack is led back to the cabins by some of the Silver Fangs. They ask if there is anything the Claws of Wisdom desire.. Freya asks for some clothes and more food, the attendants tell them they will bring them over.

The pack eat and fall into bed (not together, obviously.. That's against the litany, despite Clarence's claims of "body warmth"!)

Wednesday 24

In the morning the pack are wandering around and find a cave where the last Bunyip was killed in the War of Tears. They decide to perform a Rite of Contrition to say sorry to the bunyip. Claws of Wisdom think to get permission from the local Master of the Rite, Tames-Spirits-with-her-Snarl. Freya performs the ritual, and Tames-Spirits-with-her-Snarl is snootily uncritical about their ability. They then decide to meditate in the group, it goes well and they can still feel that other presence there. Some of the pack meditates to gain gnosis.

In the late morning the council reassembles and the Claws of wisdom are called back. The pack are informed that the council have accepted the challenge. It will be a four part challenge to see how the Claws of wisdom hunt, fight, live and die as a pack. The Ngalyod pack will also undergo the same challenge. The Claws of Wisdom are a bit sceptical about the whole die as a pack thing.. but don't let on. Wungala Rose, Fingal and Mamu lead them down the hill where a couple of theurges are finishing a Rite of Summoning. A large white stage appears. Fingal moves to the stag and asks if it will be the quarry for the hunt. The stag nods it's head and springs away through the forest. The pack changes to Lupus and begin to chase. The stag is barrelling along through the trees next to a small creek. The pack try to surround it with the fastest members (Cole and Kreig) at the front with Bob tracking it in the middle, Abby and Freya form the rest of the semicircle around it. They keep chasing, the ground begins to rise up and away from the creek. The stage veers to the left and into a canyon. Kreig who had been following uphill skids to a halt, stopping before he can plummet over the edge of the cliff. The stag starts to slow down.. The pack have almost surrounded him. The spirit then backs up and leaps straight over the pack. Kreig who is up on the top of the cliff tries to jump down onto it's back, but misses and lands just in front of it. Freya and Abby try the same thing but from the ground, they both miss as well. The stag charges at Krieg, antlers down. Krieg manages to dodge. Eventually using a combination of grappling and biting the pack manage to bring the stag down. Fingal limps over and talks to the stag, who leaps up into the sky. Fingal informs the pack that the next test is atop of the other mountain.

The Claws of Wisdom arrive at the top of the other mountain to find Carla, Darius and Vlad waiting for them. There are some theurges here as well who are summoning something. There is a golden shimmer which forms into a lion. The spirit has a golden glow about it. The pack are a bit hesitant but change to Crinos. No one says that it would not be cool. So they stay that way. The lion comes bounding towards Krieg, who leaps to attack. Freya and Abby who both try to claw at it from the rear-side. As they make contact, golden sparks fly off and seem to absorb most of the damage. The pack spend a few moments reigning blows down on the lion, then someone remembers the whole teamwork thing and they decide to try the whole grapple/blow thing they did with the stag.

This seems to work a bit better, but as one of the pack members gets a hold of the lion, it suddenly disappears. Someone peeks and see that it's gone into the realm. The pack discuss stepping in two groups but then remember the team work thing and step as one. Once more people grapple the lion and it goes back into the Umbra, the pack step once more. The Lion roars at Freya and Bob who are frozen to the spot. People continue the grappling/clawing/biting thing - most of the pack pinning the enemy and one or two striking - until the spirit starts to look a bit worse for wear and eventually breaks into thousands of sparks. The people in charge come over and the pack is healed. They are told to return to the hut for the final two challenges.

Shortly after they arrive, Don Mephisto, Innana and Mother Pasta (groaning from the Claws of Wisdom) come to the door. Innana begins by asking the pack to explain how they live as a pack. Everyone thinks for a moment, slightly confused by the question. Then Abby explains that although none of the pack members actually live together, they see each other every day. Innana nods but doesn't seem all together satisfied with the response, she rephrases the question and Freya explains how they help each other out when one of them is having trouble, she and the rest of the pack give examples such as Abby and the duck pond, babysitting Jordan, taking notes in Abbys's class, teaching Bob to read, helping Krieg when Marion splattered people, etc. Someone also mentions the meditation thing - at this Mother Pasts scowls, so they backtrack and explain how it helps them to connect as a pack. The pack wax enthusiastic about how they are not just a pack, but that they are also friends, and they live both their Garou lives and their mortal lives as friends - there when the others need them.

The Council members seem fairly satisfied, and leave the hut after dark, telling the pack to wait as the final challenge will be in the hut also. It gets colder and colder. The fire goes out and no one can relight it. At midnight there is a knock at the door. Grek comes in with Tjinderi and Monash End-to-the-Darkness. Grek is painted in Garou death pictograms and speaks to them in garou tongue. He asks the pack 'In order to achieve a greater good, someone in the pack must die. Who, and why?'. Grek expresses the question in a pure form, in a way that you would use to talk about spirits, indicating that he's not interested in a particular example, but in the way that they would decide the fate of the pack. Grek says that they have till dawn and the Elders leave.

The pack sit for a second before trying to work out what the question means. They start discussing it. Abby mentions breeding, saying that maybe Krieg as he is a metis and therefore cannot pass on the Garou genetics. Kreig agrees. It gets colder, the pack change to lupus and huddle together to keep warm. Bob suggests Cole and the pack laugh, although on second thoughts, there have been times when Cole has put himself in danger (bitching the entire time) for a pack member. Someone asks who would sacrifice themselves for the greater good, everyone answers yes. So then they decide criteria..Abby is of the opinion that Freya should be allowed to live because she has a child, Bob disagrees because the child doesn't really need her anymore and Freya has already bred, so the others should get a chance. There is lots of argument about this, mostly between Freya, Bob and Abby. They agree to disagree. The pack eventually decides that every member has something unique to offer the pack as a whole and every member regards the pack as worth dying for, and therefore any choice would have to be random (or any of the pack) as they would all sacrifice themselves.

At dawn the elders return, Monash is painted in dawn and re-birth glyphs he asks them about the decision. Freya explains that any choice would have to be random and explains why. The elders leave the pack and inform them that they will be called before the council at some point. The pack snooze for a bit and eat.

At moonrise the council and spectators reassemble. The Claws of Wisdom and the Ngalyod pack are called back before the council. Grek stands up and says that both packs answered acceptably - no special insights, but good answers. However, in the fighting and the hunting the Ngalyod pack were better examples of the perfect pack.. The Claws of wisdom exclaim over the mental link how unfair it is because they are higher rank so obviously they'll do better.

Grek then goes on to say that the council have met and discussed the challenge and have agreed that while the Ngalyod pack were the better pack, the Claws of Wisdom were not lacking in admirable attributes. In addition, it seems that the Claws of Wisdom seem to be unable to avoid confrontation with the Bunyip and therefore they have decided to appoint someone to keep an eye on them and to let the council know of any bunyip involvement. Grek motions one of the spectating Garou forward -

A small, dark brown lupus glides up. Grek introduces him as Jumps-in-Puddles, a rank 2 ragabash shadowlord. Grek tells the Claws of Wisdom that while Jumps-in-Puddles will be running with them, he leaves it to their discretion whether they let him join the pack. He then turns to Jumps-in-Puddles and tells him that he will be the Jindabyne Council's eyes and ears and that his first loyalty is to the council. The Claws of Wisdom check out their possible future packmate/spy. He looks about 4yrs old in lupus, he is kinda wolfie looking but not overwhelmingly so. He has a small tear on one ear.

The Council then asks Freya to tell them about the Fae stuff. Freya stands up and does a reasonable job of telling the looong story. She is even reasonably polite about the major fuckup of the Uktena, only mentioning the words 'ill-advised' half a dozen times. The council thanks Freya for telling the story and they adjourn, leaving the Claws of Wisdom alone with their new 'friend'. Jumps-in-Puddles says hello to the pack and tells them that they can call him Jay. Freya introduces the pack. To Jay the Claws of Wisdom seem a bit odd, there are periods of silence with lots of gesticulating and eye movements going on.. Weirdos! Anyway they have a bit of a chat and ask him if he has anywhere to live. Bob kindly offers space in his dumpster, but Jay seems unimpressed, Bob sulks. The pack decide to go back to Melbourne and inform the Sept elders of what has happened, given that they've been gone for a couple of days. Bob goes and finds the Gatekeeper and asks him to open a Moonbridge for the pack. He does so and the pack say farewell to the council and thanks the Silver Fangs for their hospitality. They step onto the moonbridge and soon arrive in the Sept of Sleeping Lore at Melbourne Cemetery.

Ends-the-Quiet is waiting for them. He looks a bit intrigued at Jay and Freya explains what has happened. He raises his eyebrows and tells the pack to go and speak to Cossack right away. The pack wander up to Graham's house, Cossack and Graham are there. Cossack welcomes us back and asks what happened. Freya explains. Cossack nods and looks surprised when Freya mentions that they challenged the council. Cossack introduces himself to Jay and says that he hopes he will behave in an honourable fashion whilst in their sept. Freya continues explaining what happened in full glorious detail again. When she is done Cossack tells them they should get some sleep. Clarence wants to share sleeping bags with people, no one looks enthusiastic except Bob, much to Clarence's disgust.

Thursday 25

In the morning the pack are woken at dawn, after just 4hrs sleep. To the pack's surprise the entire rest of the sept has turned out. Cossack welcomes the pack and tells them that in light of their achievements the sept would like to publicly recognise renown. He starts off by saying that the sept will now recognise Krieg as a rank 3 and expects that the rest of the pack will follow shortly. He then says that the Sept recognises Cole as a rank 2, the pack cheers loudly and Clarence hits himself in the head several times.

People celebrate by drinking beer at an ungodly hour of the morning, even Freya participates, much to Jay's surprise as she suddenly changes to Crinos. After everyone has finished celebrating or whatever, Cossack says he wants to speak to the pack. Jay stays with the revellers whilst the pack wander back to Graham's house. Cossack says that he knows it was unexpected, but he was unhappy with the council messing around with packs that they don't have any 'ownership' of. He tells the pack that they should make a decision about whether Jay will be part of the pack or not by the Moot (31st). He then tells them to take a day off to rest and get to know Jay, suggesting that they wander past Hidden Green too. The pack thank him for his support and wander off.

The pack plus Jay wander around the Caern and Bawn, eventually sitting down in a park and talking. Abby asks Jay if he is supposed to report only Bunyip stuff or if he will report other stuff as well. He says that it's only the bunyip stuff that they have told him to report back. Cole starts talking about fellating himself and then the council fellating themselves and everyone sits on him and apologises profusely to Jay for the behaviour of their renegade packmate. Clarence then settles down and asks Jay if he is for or against the Bunyip returning. Jay is hesitant but then says that many people don't believe in the Bunyip as an existing spiritual concern, even if they do want to square things with the Australian spiritworlds. Abby gets defensive and says that they do exist and that they've seen it heaps of times. Jay looks taken aback but nods. Freya then asks him if he got a choice in the matter, he says he didn't. Bob then asks him if he's getting anything out of doing it, he says just the gratitude of the council etc. and that when the council asks you to do something you can't really refuse.

Freya then asks Jay to tell us a little about his background. He says that he was originally from a small town in NSW and was part of a Child of Gaia sept. His father disappeared a few years ago and the sept haven't let Jay know where he went. His mother also disappeared when he was very young. The pack offer murmurings of 'I'm sorry to hear that' etc. The pack grill him for a bit longer and then they decide to take him over to Hidden Green and introduce him to the local Glasswalkers and Shadowlords The day goes past and the pack learn more about their evil spy friend Jay.

Friday 26

The next day the pack and Jay are returned to cleaning duties across Preston in the Umbra much to their annoyance. They explain to Jay what happened with the Uktena and the Wyrm goop and lead him along to where they have to clean. Jay still gets the feeling there's something weird going on with the Claws of Wisdom, often they seem to just do things without needing to say it.

The whole day is spent goo-cleaning. Woo.

Saturday 27

Freya and Abby are together and are wandering down one of the big tunnels. Up ahead Abby can see something moving, Abby warns Freya and they both shuffle forwards for a better look. Ahead of them it goes dimmer, as if some of the glowing goo is gone. They can see something low to the ground, crawling away. They don't like the look of it and call out to the rest of the pack, who hurry over. They all go to the cleared area which is a couple of hundred metres wide. They're walking along in twos and Bob and Abby who are in the middle suddenly see a wall with lots of round holes in it. Bob sniffs at it, it smells like goo (duh). They investigate the wall further and see that there are 15-20 holes all along it. The pack discuss what the hell they could be and someone decides to call the earth elementals over to go into the wall and see what they can see. 15 minutes later one of them comes out looking rather unimpressed. He tells them that the holes go into a huge cavern which is two lengths of them away and full of goo, waist high. He suggests that they go up otherwise they'll end up in it. The pack thank him.

Kreig uses his Burrow Gift and starts digging up at 45degrees, but towards the goo, and soon finds the empty space, almost falling over the edge into it. He can see 30-40 metres which is just a sea of sludge and it's moving in a disturbing fashion. In the middle of the sea he can see a twisting column of goo going up into the roof. It looks like a large numbers of worms, all twisted together, pumping goo into the ceiling. He tells the rest of the pack and Abby, Jay and Cole decide to go up to the surface to see what is above the cavern.

They make their way up. In the umbra there are houses on the spot where the wyrm goo looks like it's pumping up to, apparently from the 1920's. They Peek, in the Realm they're standing outside the Hilltop Nursing home. Ooooh fuck. Abby is peeking, with the others leading her around, she leads them into the nursing home. It looks fairly new, there are lots of drooling old people watching tv or reading. She can't see anything particularly sinister. She keeps looking. She's wandering around in the kitchen when she sees some stairs going down. She walks down them, they lead into a large storage area under the hospital. There is a grate in the middle of the room that leads down.

Meanwhile, in the Umbra there are bits of house and hospital meshed haphazardly together, suddenly Jay and Cole yank Abby to a halt. In front of them there are huge worm-like tubes coming up out of the ground and pumping stuff into the wall. They tell Abby what they can see. In the Realm it all looks normal but there is definatly a strong wyrm sense. Abby decides to go back up and sense some of the people.

Back down underground the rest of the pack decides to go and tell other packs because the pipes are getting thick and thicker. Bob and Freya wander off to find people and find Chris from the Get of Pennington who says he'll get the rest of his pack and come over as soon as they can.

Up in the nursing house of doom, Abby is wandering around sensing all the people, old, old, nurse, old, nurse, FOMOR! She's carrying some medication trays, Abby senses them, they sense very very strongly of Wyrm. Her name tag says 'Susan Barker', Abby follows her, she goes to the medication cupboard (its a large compactus). In the umbra the wall is riddled with holes, and wyrm goo flows gently out of them, and seems to evaporate... or maybe move its dispersing into the Realm? The nurse touches the back of the wall and the flow of goo increases dramatically, pouring onto the floor and seeming to evaporate into the air. Abby watches as the nurse vomits black goo into the tray that she is carrying...

   It is after lunchtime in the nursing home and the nurse is carrying around the tray of wyrm infected medicine. She seems to be starting the medication rounds, Abby follows her, guided by Jay and Cole. She isn't doing anything particularly weird, but she is defiantly avoiding patients that have visitors or other nurses around. Abby tries to sense unnatural before and after the patients are given the medication to see just how much of an effect it's having on them. They seem to go from having absolutely no wyrm sense to very very tainted.. Abby suspects she may have stuffed it up somewhat.. But there is definately a problem.

Underneath the hospital Kreig is trying to kill the worms before they get into the hospital. He slashes at some but just ends up coating himself in goo as more and more worms writhe up into the ceiling. He gives up and tries to work out another way of dealing with it. At this point the Get of Pennington show up with the Umbral shotgun. They exchange pleasantries and Kreig explains the situation. Chris takes the shotgun and shoots up into the worm pipe with it, goo explodes everywhere. He keeps shooting, occasionally changing places with others from the Get of Pennington.

Upstairs Abby and her guides are still following the nurse around, watching her poison the patients. Suddenly Sue Barker stops, closes her eyes and then turns around and faces directly at where Abby would be if she was in the Realm. Holy shit! Sue then puts the tray down, looks in Abby's direction again, picks the tray back up and stalks off. She resumes giving the patients their medication, this time with more force, interrupting patients with visitors to do so. She keeps looking back at Abby far too often to be a coincidence. Bob is of the opinion that they should just run past and knock the medicine out of her hands but everyone else wants to watch her for a bit.

Cole tells Kreig what's going on and he says he'll come up and do a scent of true form. After a few minutes he arrives and does just that.. He finds out she's human plus something else, but can't quite work out what that could be. They hypothesise about mages etc. Bob hears all this and tells them it could be a Ferectoi which is what happens when Fomors mate. He hopes it isn't given that they are pretty much unstoppable.

The Get of Pennington are wondering what all the fuss is about for one fomor. However Bob informs them that it's probably a Ferectoi and they seem to agree that it's important. They start discussing plans.

They decide to circle the hospital and block off all the exits and then ring the fire alarm so that they can corner her. The Get of Pennington set up a questing stone so that they can track her movements without too much hassle.

Freya and Kreig decide to step into an empty room and set off the fire alarms by lighting something and holding it under the sensors. They pick an empty room with a closed door and step. When they arrive they are facing an open door, they spin around and see a nurse there making the bed. Goddamn it! They stealthily bolt through the door and begin searching for another empty room.

Meanwhile Abby is still following the nurse around. She stops, picks up some pills from one patient's container, looks in Abby's direction and then tips them into another patient's container.

Freya and Kreig have found an empty room further along the corridor, Kreig sets fire to some toilet paper and leaves it under one of the sensors, they then both step. Before they go they hear the smoke alarm going off. Abby can see nurses spring into action and begin moving people outside. Sue Barker however seems to be giving patients the wrong directions. There are people everywhere, congregated around the doors and nurses attempting to get them to go through and wait outside. The PA keeps crackling with garbled messages about fire alarms and safety points. Abby sees the nurse slip away, heading for the kitchen. She starts going down the stairs to the basement. The Get of Penningtom are waiting underneath in the Umbra, Umbral-shotgun ready.

The nurse heads to the centre of the basement and looks down the grate. Freya and Kreig step behind her in Crinos, she turns and stares at them. Kreig senses wyrm and gets very high levels of corruption. Sue Barker smiles at them and says 'Hello Freya...and Kreig - how sweet". She then turns to where Abby and Jay have just stepped and says 'and Abby..but I don't recognise you' (staring at Jay). The pack are all wondering who the hell this could be, Kreig reckons it's Mr Baggie.. People seem to agree with him. Freya senses unnatural and gets WYYYRM. Freya then strikes at Sue, who ducks. Abby asks her who she is, she replies 'Sue Barker'. Freya attacks again and again Sue ducks. Sue says something about "Do it properly" and shakes her head, smiles and jams a thumb into her own eye.. causing goopy bits of eye and blood to pour down over her hands. The pack jump back and just stare at her.. ewwww. As she does this, in the tunnels down below, the whole lake of wyrm goo suddenly forms into one massive worm and starts flowing up into the roof, lowering the level in the underground reserve considerably. Everyone jumps back and starts shooting at it, it doesn't even make a dent.

Kreig punches Sue, she falls back then stands up and smiles at them. Freya hits her and her neck snaps, her body slams to the ground. Bob tells them about the wyrm goop in the Umbra. They throw the body down the grate, turn the water taps on to wash away some of the blood and bits of eye goop and step. Kreig arrives in the Umbral basement and is floating in water.. or worse.. it burns his skin. He swims over to the door and discovers it opens inwards. He is busily yanking at the door when he feels a sharp pointing sensation going into him. He manages to yank the door open and the goop and him flood into the kitchen.

Bob and Cole are coming up from the tunnels below, it takes a while. Freya, Jay and Abby arrive and see the Umbral kitchen covered in goop knee high and Kreig upside-down against one wall, bleeding. They can't see Mr Baggy anywhere so they wade over to the basement door as they approach, two large claws suddenly come through the doorway - hello Mr Baggie! Jay has never seen this thing before - its a huge pustulent sack of yellow gloop, like a giant tick. Numerous sharp and pointy claws are attached to a chitinous underbelly, but there is no apparent head. Veins and knotted tissue writhe across the surface.

Abby does call of the wyld to bolster her packmates, it works rather well! Jay rips at Mr Baggie and goo sprays out all over him, it burrrns mother it burrrns. Freya then attacks it as well, spraying more goo everywhere, luckily though she has resist toxin. Everyone keeps attacking it, spraying goo around. Kreig is very badly hurt. Jay looks around for the sword that Kreig had but can't find it amongst the goo. Freya stikes Mr Baggie again who retreats back into the basement causing the door to unblock more at which point lots of goooooo floods in, waist high. Abby and Freya wade around breaking some of the other doors so the goo level goes down a bit. They go back to the room where Mr Baggie went, it's very dark. Freya casts fairie lights, they can't see Mr Baggie anywhere.. They conclude it must have gone down the grate. They yell out to Bob and Cole who swear a lot because they were just at the top of the stairs coming up. They slide back down, crashing into one another on the way.

Freya looks down the grate and all she can see is goo. Everyone goes down into the tunnels again. Bob heals everyone who is hurt. Someone finds the earth elementals and gets them to dig out a tunnel so that the goo will flow down it. They are willing to go most of the way to the goo, but it is much more poisonous to them than the garou, so they dig almost all the way very quickly and stomp off. The garou break the last barrier, and goop starts to flow down the tunnell. As it flows out, they still can't see Mr Baggie. Kreig senses wyrm to see if he can pinpoint a spike anywhere, but there's so much goo that he can't. It's very nerve racking clawing at the goo which moves of it's own accord anyway. Everyone is getting more and more apprehensive, jumping at the slightest movement.

Suddenly out of the goo jumps Mr Baggie and hits Freya who manages to deflect it somehow. He then stabs Kreig with a claw. Everyone is everywhere stabbing and clawing wildly. Freya calls out for the pack to use the tactics they used in the challenge. Krieg wades out into the goo so as to open a wider front against the bane. Freya starts clawing, and Jay wades in with the fae blade (which he "happened to pick up upstairs" :) ) Abby begins a Rite of Binding, attempting to trap the spirit, but it breaks free. In a much shorter time than they have any right to expect, the spirit seems to deflate and fade. Kreig tries to suck it into himself so that it can't reform anywhere but fails. Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief. People are healed.

The rest of the day is spent cleaning goo out of this reserve. The Get of Pennington help out. Over the next day or so, the cavern is emptied.

Wednesday 31

Moot day!!!

Everyone is sent to do various tasks to prepare for the moot. It soon becomes clear that members of the Claws of Wisdom are being asked to assist in the Moot. Freya has been apparoached to open the Moot while Bob has been approached by Emma to help with the summoning rite that summons Chimera. Abby has been asked to be the Warsinger, the Garou who leads the Garou in the Revel.

When dusk arrives, everyone goes into the Umbra for the Moot. Freya is pushed forward and she starts the Opening Howl, other Garou join in. The rest of the pack explain to Jay what's going on. Then it's Bob's turn to go forward and help with the summoning ritual. Luckily it goes well and Chimera shows up! All the other totems arrive, including the Claws of Wisdom's totem, Merlin.

The talking bit of the Moot starts and Cossack thanks people for all the work they've been doing to help clear up the Wyrm goo that was covereing preston.