Holistic Approach Chronology

July 2000

The pack is lounging around the caern when John's phone rings. It is Felix, the Sept leader. He asks whether Mathias is there, and if he could be passed across. Mathias looks a little unsure, but takes the phone call. Felix asks if Mathias and the rest of his pack could meet him at Christopher Rourke's house. He sounds fairly serious, and doesn't want to go into much detail on the phone. Mathias says "ok" and they all head off.

When they arrive, it is to find Ion Apostolvna there as well. This does not bode well. Ion escorts them in and upstairs through a nicely decorated plush house and into Christopher's bedroom. There are some signs of a struggle - things knocked over and so on. Felix is there and he points at a nightstand in the middle of the room. On it is a hand, gently oozing blood. Mathias realises that its Christopher's left hand, recognising it by the wedding rings. Felix soundlessly passes him a note:

Mathias
You were having so many troubles with your life that I thought I'd give you a hand.
But don't look so ashen faced, I'm sure that you can palm it off onto someone else.
After all, we Rourkes can always burn all the evidence that we even tried.

The handwriting is a bit jagged ("psychotic more like") and the note has blood on it. Mathias looks totally baffled and Felix asks him if Christopher ever mentioned Jordan. The rest of Holistic Approach roll their eyes in preparation. Felix explains that Mathias originally had a half brother, much older. Jordan was born on a lunar eclipse, and it was initially held that he was a very special child. However, as he got older, he became more and more strange. He went through First Change and quickly showed an aptitude not just for the Ahroun gifts, but also for the ragabash spirits. He also was hard to find and notice at the best of times - the theurges of the time thought that it was something to do with the eclipse hiding luna's face from him, and the garou being creatures of luna.

In the end, Jordan turned to the Wyrm, and Christopher and his pack hunted him down and killed him. Or so Christopher assured everyone. Jordan was killed by fire in the middle of the Ash Wednesday blazes. Felix is still a bit bitter about it, having lost a pack member to Jordan at the time. The rest of the pack are a bit confused as to why a Rank 3 Garou would be able to be bested by a younger garou, and Felix points out that it was 15 years ago or more and Jordan has presumably also grown stronger - presumably he has been the one behind the disappearances of the rest of Conviction Made Flesh too. Brett asks why no one thought about this before, and Felix points out that it happened a long time ago, and Jordan was presumed dead.

However, between the "we Rourke's" comment, and the references to ashen (Ash Wednesday), palm (either another hand pun or a Palm Sunday thing) and fire, its a reasonable bet that it is Jordan. Of course, the fact that the upcoming full moon will be an eclipse too also brings him to mind. So... now what to do. Many rites and gifts seem to slip off Jordan, and there's a possibility that he may be able to sense them being used on him. However, he currently has Christopher, and they should be able to get a sense from him. Brett suggests spreading out and doing three rites at the same time to make it easier to get a sense where Jordan is. Felix says that he has a sneaking suspicion he knows where, but he would like some confirmation first. Mathias, John head off and the two of them and Ion perform the ritual. The general feeling they are getting is maybe 40kms towards the east. John pulls out a map and indicates somewhere around the Belgrave, Gembrook sort of area and asks Felix whether that matches what he thinks - Felix says "yes" and that he was expecting Cockatoo to be the site in question, which lies in the area John indicated. That was near where Jordan was supposed to have been killed.

Felix suggests that they should handle the situation, given that Mathias is kin to Christopher (unspoken: and Jordan). He points out that Jordan has the same abilities that they do and is also, in his opinion, crazy. They might want to perhaps approach from the Realm as garou are very obvious in the Umbra. The pack head off while Felix and Ion head back to Hidden Green.

They drive to within about 20 minutes run of Cockatoo and perform the Questing Stone rite again, but don't get much more of a better sense than towards the town. They decide to wander through on foot, so jog there up windy mountain roads. Cockatoo is a small town, mostly rebuilt in the 80s after the fire. There are a fair number of people about as its about lunchtime. The pack split up and check things out, sensing for various supernatural possibilities. Melissa finds a fairly unnatural looking snot block which she eats with gusto. There is a greater sense of Weaver than anything else. Hunting around is fairly nonproductive, so John and Mathias head out of a town a little in opposite directions to see if they can Questing Stone again. They have a lot more luck this time, and the trail leads them to a sort of Ash Wednesday memorial.

The building looks more like a ranger's station than a shrine, and it also looks fairly closed. Opening times are on a billboard outside and it is closed Monday to Friday during winter. They prowl around the place from a distance. On one side (leading towards Main St) is a park, on the opposite side is a hedge and then a car park for the shops. On the north side are suburban fences, and on the south shops. There's a certain amount of leeway between all of these sides except on the west where the hedge is. Brett, with his experience in this sort of sneaky approach, looks for the power cable and the fuse box. Kimu goes and talks to a passerby about the building, claiming to be a tourist - apparently its only open on the weekends except in summer where they employ some of the local kids. He thinks the people who run it are rangers, and Kimu could probably find them at Emerald or maybe Belgrave. Sensing around the place reveals a faint sense of wyrm, both in the Realm and the Umbra. In the Umbra, the memorial is merely a basic weaver-shell.

They decide that they can have a peek inside and see what's going on. Mathias opens one door with the Silent Stone and John the other with Open Seal. Inside they can see the building is split into 5 sections from a central point, 4 the same side and the 5th double. There is a platform above, with posters up against the railing. Christopher is seemingly suspended from the roof by a heavy chain - a table is under his feet, barely giving him enough support to stop from choking. John spots the collar that was used to keep Peter in homid form around Christopher's neck, Mathias notices that there is an electrical cable threaded through the chain down to behind Christopher's head. As they move in, a voice from above cautions them to hold still. Mathias says "or?" and the voice says "I'll make him dance", and sparks fly from the chain and Christopher convulses a lot. Mathias cues Brett, who kills the power to the building. "Oh, well, that's no fun" says the voice "I'll just have to do it by hand" and the chain goes up and down a bit, making Christopher swing around and bounce.

As the rest of the pack come inside and creep about, Mathias and the voice chat. Presumably its Jordan, as he seems to know Mathias, and he seems to be a bit disappointed in how Mathias' life has turned out after all the effort he put in to make Mathias turn against Christopher. Jordan is also a bit bitter about being the special child who became the freak. The general feeling amongst the other garou is that he is barking. Holistic Approach try and set up some way of resolving the situation. Mathias moves forward and a little red dot appears on his front and moves down to his heart, but he can't see where on the platform it is coming from. Jordan mentions that he knows that Melissa is trying to sneak up behind him, and there is a mental 'oops' from her. Jordan makes a few references to Dominique, causing a certain 'eek' from the pack. Brett is cunning and while Jordan is talking, flips his awareness from pack member to pack member to try and sort out a location for the voice above - where exactly is Jordan on the platform - despite the outraged mental shriek from Melissa ("I've told you not to do that!"). He thinks that Jordan is on the otherside from Mathias, meaning that the light is coming from a second person.

The somewhat broken conversation between Mathias and Jordan sort of trails off after Mathias says something about having lots more to if Jordan wants to catch up with all the things that Mathias still hasn't done. The pack suddenly spring into action, taking advantage of the quiet. Thomas chops the fae sword through the chain and drops Christopher into Kimu's waiting tentacles. Mathias and John leap up onto the edge of the platform, but can't see anyone up there. The pack check Christopher and heal him and then peek to try and find Jordan. Kimu can sort of see him when he moves from shadow to light, but not in the bits in between. Keiteki, on the other hand, can see the distortions that Jordan causes in the Wyld energy. Unfortunately, Keiteki glows, so Jordan seems to see him, and do something else that makes him disappear completely, like he's drawn the world over him.

The Umbra is searched for a scent, and while they can find a good, easily recalled sense of Jordan, the trails go nowhere after a short time. They hunt about for him for a bit, and get the occasional sense that he's been there, but there's nothing definate. Someone rings back to Rippling Waters and cautions Dominique about the basics of the situation and that she should maybe think about making sure she's with someone all the time.

   The pack hunt around for a while, hoping to get a feel for Jordan. They definately know what he smells like. Kimu thinks that he had burn scars up the side of his head, so it might be easy to find him by appearance alone. They decide to get Christopher back to Hidden Green so he can be treated.

Arriving there, Christopher is whipped off by Robert Red-Dust-Plain, the Keeper of the Land, and Holistic Approach are met by Felix and Ion and Steel Hunters. They brain dump out what happened ("He's barking") and Felix asks if they are interested in being involved with trying to figure out what is happening, as he can ask Steel Hunters to be involved, but he has no immediate authority over Holistic Approach. They agree that they want to stop Jordan, and so Felix suggests that they work together. Someone asks how they found him last time, and Felix says he has no idea, but they can ring George in Sydney, which Adam Shergol goes off to do. Ideas for how to make Jordan stop being invisible bounce backwards and forwards, and Thomas suggests maybe solar spirits of some sort. They chat for a bit and Adam comes back and says that they used sun spirits. John hi-fives Thomas. Adam leads those people with spirit summoning and binding knowledge out onto the roof of 101 Collins St and they spend the next two hours calling to sunlight spirits before binding them into torches.

In the meantime, the remaining garou discuss options. Questing Stone is proving to be less than useful. Mathias says he can try and Dreamspeak Jordan, as long as people are willing to mentally link with him at the time. Someone suggests tag-and-release radio darts, or tranquilisers for elephants, and Thomas says he will chat to Nadine. Felix mentions that they cannot be sure exactly what Jordan has been doing since he was not killed, but it seems that he has been learning new gifts and might be able to interact with some spirits in some ways, so he might also be able to defend against some stuff. Jordan might have questing stone - felix doesn't remember. Brett asks who else he might have a grudge against, but no one's name really comes up. The Sept Leader of the time, Bryn ap Geraint, has since died, and he might have been a target because he would have authorised hunting Jordan down. Felix does point out that Jordan probably can't enter most caerns, because the caern spirit will be stronger than the gifts he uses to hide.

Adam agrees to learn the Rite of Greet the Sun in return for the sun spirit's assistence and the spirits seem happy with this. They binding Garou tromp back downstairs and wave their new toys around. Asimov, who is lurking about offering ideas, suggests summoning and bargaining with Pigeon avatars and using the city pigeons to spot Jordan. Scott proposes that a lot of what they want to do really only works during the day, so they should meet again tomorrow morning. They'll come and find Holistic Approach. Given that people have some stuff they want to do individually, this seems like an idea. The pack head off, and Ben says "Seeya Molly" to Melissa. Once they are in the lift, both John and Thomas say "Molly?" simultaneously. She sort of flushes a bit and says "He's allowed, you're not" and refuses to talk about it. The rest of the pack decide to trust their packmate and not spy on her every move around Ben. Really. (I think this was when the "lets wait until we've got rid of the invisible man" "how do you know?" conversation was had).

Once back at the caern, they find Nadine and chat to her for a while. She's reluctant to release any of the elephant sized trank guns to Thomas, but agrees with the warning that if anyone realises outside the Garou she will personally shoot him with one from point blank. Thomas, Melissa and John sneak out to the animal research labs of CSIRO and use their eerie garou abilities to steal 6 radio darts, a pistol and a tracker for it. They bring it back and dedicate it. John plans to summon more sun spirits tomorrow and bind them to the tags, in the hope that that might screw up Jordan's chances of hiding. Late in the evening, Mathias tries to use Dreamspeak to plumb the universal unconscious, but no luck. Kimu meditates on the scent of Jordan to try and gain insight. He believes that Jordan is confidant (no sign of nervous sweat or anything in the scents they have found), but that there is a slight wrongness to the scent, as if he was ill.

Tuesday 11

Steel Hunters turn up bright and early, except Adam, who looks awful and grumbles something about dawn rituals. They kick Holistic Approach awake and chat some more about things. It is suggested that they start with Christopher's house, as that might be a target for Jordan. To Toorak! And indeed, when they show up, the front door has been forced. Ye gods, and there are balloons full of petrol hanging from the roof, and the smell of hydrocarbons everywhere. Jordan's scent is heavily on the door that has been forced, and people spread out to find where it comes from, after using one of the sunlight torches and waving it around to make sure he's not in the immediate area.

Brett and the most minimal number of people that have to move into the house. The first thing they find is writing on the wall, scratched into the plaster - "Just One Bad Day". Brett follows the scent around and tries to see where Jordan has been. He seems to have just wandered around, jumped on Mathias' old bed, smashed a whole load of photos and poked about in stuff. Asimov, who has come along out of curiosity (being part of The Alternative, not Steel Hunters, despite the sleepy GM forgetting), suddenly starts making "eeep!" noises in the kitchen. He comes outside with what seems to be a radio controlled detonator, and smashes it, pocketing the plastique.

Meanwhile, Kimu is hunting about in the realm while Keiteki looks in the Umbra. The Garou feel that Jordan may be about somewhere - why else leave the unburnt house ready to go - and so the two of them try and spot him. There's no visual contact, but Kimu finds that Jordan has been out in the yard, apparently breaking the swings. He's also made a golem/sarcophagus-like humanoid figre in the sandpit. Thomas looks at that and finds that someone (well, Jordan, presumably), scratched "Christopher Rourke, 1950-2000" in the sand beneath the figure's feet. Mathias finds a scent leading from the Umbra away from the house, down to the Yarra, and works out that this is where he came up from, not where he went to. Backtracking this scent leads back to the sandpit where the hose has been used to wash the Yarra off and then wet the sand to make the image. Kimu tries to find some local animals and see if they have seen anything, but for some reason nothing with stop and play with him. Scott sends Claude doorknocking to ask if anyone heard anything.

Brett is in the lounge again when the tv comes on, and then the video. A face appears on the television, presumably Jordan - he looks a bit like Mathias, but more like Christopher. Shiny burn scars mar his skin, and he's fairly thin and gaunt. He is wearing a Catholic bishops hat, or something close to it. "Ashes to ashes, fire to fire..." Jordan continues with the traditional Christian funeral rite. Brett tries to figure out what made the video come on - he can find the remote, and that doesn't seem to be it. Brett tries to eject the video and when that doesn't work he shrugs and takes the usual Brett attitude to technology, tearing it out of the cabinent and pulling all the cords out. The whole unit is given to John to check into. He finds that Jordan has played with the security system and run a switch that triggers when someone comes in, starts a timer for 20 minutes which turns on the video. Inside the video player is a radio transmitter (as opposed to the receiver that Asimov found) which presumably was supposed to go off when the video finished or started. However, it wasn't set up properly (or Brett broke it) and it wouldn't have worked even if the receiver hadn't been destroyed.

The Garou take down all the bags of (*POP* *SPLASH* Dammit!) petrol from the roof. They've been nailed there. It must have taken ages, and judging from the bits of rubber and the petrol spilled about, some of them probably popped on Jordan too. They try and find where he might have gone after traipsing around the house, but the scent just disappears while within the house. Follows-the-Moon suggests that maybe the petrol scent would have been too much of a giveaway, and Jordan deliberately hid his scent for that reason.

They do, however, now have an image of Jordan. John, being the geekiest glasswalker even compared to Steel Hunters, goes and plays with some video editting equipment and gets a good printout (colour and b&w) of Jordan's face. The two packs split up for a while - Steel Hunters go and chat to kinfolkish people they know around the CBD and Holistic Approach find some of the ferals that hang about. Both groups are keyed into "look for this guy, but don't touch. Call us immediately". Questing Stone is tried again, but still no luck. Back to Sleeping Lore. After summoning another sun spirit and briefly considering bargaining with it to convince the spirit that it really wanted to join with the radio darts, John uses binding to stuff it into the realm onto the darts. He then pesters Emma into summoning a spirit to teach him Cybersenses. She takes him to the IT department of Melbourne Uni in the Umbra, and summons up some sort of computer spirit. John and it chat happily for a while, and it suggests that it would be happy if either he had an IC circuit board tattooed on him somewhere, or he built a technoshrine.

Thomas suggests contacting the mages and seeing if they could help find Jordan, but no one's too keen to put them onto the invisible garou who might help them spy on the Garou. Other locations are briefly mentioned, Mathias' apartment, Coode Island, but its all speculation. They braindump at the Elders, and shortly afterwards, Mathias gets a phone call (Mathias only). He mentally calls the others and says that Dom has received a threatening call from Jordan, from a local phone in Warnabool. Oh good, thinkest they. It is decided that Thomas and Mathias (with a suntorch) will head down to Rippling Waters by car (in case Jordan tries something), while everyone else goes by Moonbridge.

Once at Rippling Waters, everyone gets to meet Sandra Norton, Russell Cole and Dominique, who looks like she's ready to pop. They chat for a bit - Dom says they phone call was this morning, about 10.30, and it made some threatening comments. They press her for details and she's a bit evasive but expands that he said some stuff about fatherhood but didn't go into any detail. They fill the Sept elders in on everything they know. Russell says he vaguely remembers hearing the story a number of years ago, and is much relieved at the "can't enter the caern" part of the theory. They can pass the word to their infinite kinfolk in the area to keep an eye out for "a burn-scar guy". Suggestions for some way to lay a trap for Jordan are brought up. They wonder whether there is some way to fool questing stone into thinking one person is someone else. Given that the rite seems to involve asking rock spirits for information, it is suggested that perhaps if Dom was in the caern (and shielded from such rites) while someone else was at Dom's house for the night, and that the spirits of the ground underneath the house were convinced that that was Dominique Lalor, it might fool the Rite.

They discuss this with Mathias and Thomas while they approach by car, and it is agreed that it is a good idea. Thomas is nominated to be Dom, and Mathias will stay at the house too. Brett awakens the ground, John convinces it that the person in the lounge is Dominque, Kimu chats to some nearby possums and gets them to keep an eye out in the Realm for sneaky humans. Kanau circles high up in the Umbra. What a team effort. Testing with Questing Stone seems to work as predicted. They wait the night away.

Wednesday 12

By dawn, its becoming clear that nothing is happening, at least overnight. There was no-one near the house according to the possums or the kookaburra spirits. Thomas has spent the night writing down ideas, of which there have only been a few. He suspects that Jordan isn't after their pack, he's after Christopher - maybe he would be happier if Christopher was forced to make a public acknowledgement or something. Mathias points out that that is not going to happen. More discussion over the mental link. John comes out to the house and reinforces the "this is Dominique" thing to the earth spirits and speculates about maybe being able to tell when Questing Stone has been performed on a specific name. Nothing seems likely to help there.

Thomas is a bit frustrated at only being able to react to Jordan. Mathias performs a Questing Stone ritual and gets a faint response! Yay! In Melbourne.... He speculates that Jordan might have just been yanking their chains to get them out here, or at least away from Melbourne. They ask Dom exactly what the phone message said and she's a bit evasive and just says that Jordan was making noises like he would be the father to her child. In the raising sense, not in the going back in time and bonking Dom sense. A number of tasteless remarks are made about inducing births specifically on or not on the eclipse. Somehow the topic moves easily from this to the Atrocity Realm and the pack consider going there to get some information on Jordan. Dom and Mathias fill them in on how icky it is, but how it might also be useful, and they fairly much decide to go there this evening. The day is spent meditating, planting trees and sleeping.

Holistic Approach arrive in Melbourne after dark, and chat with Cossack ("Hey C-man" says John... "er... nevermind") about the Atrocity Realm. Cossack is a bit doubtful, mostly because he wants them around at the Moot on Sunday, because the Scryers are going to be busy already. Brett suggests that Steel Hunters could go, but given that they are one of two packs rather than one of four, it makes more sense for Holistic Approach to go. Brett starts to think about full moons, ahrouns and eclipses, like the one that is coming up, and what Jordan will be like - more barking? less? He wonders out loud if Jordan might be the Full Moon Killer, or at least the new Full Moon Killer. There is no evidence one way or the other, but it might be the case. Maybe the eclipse gives Jordan more powers? Maybe enough to get into a caern unseen?

They decide to go and chat to Christopher, and see if he can answer some of their questions. Woosh, to Hidden Green and into a boardroom, where Christopher is waiting for them. He's suited, but with his arm in a sling still. They ask after his health and he says that he is recovering. They ask about Jordan (that slight hum is just Truth of Gaia starting up, don't worry about it, we trust you implicitly) and Christopher fills them in on some details. Brett does most of the talking for the pack, and Christopher doesn't really look at Mathias.

Jordan was born in 1968, in October. He was raised as a Shadowlord, and went through first change at age 12. He never joined a pack, because by the time he was recognised as rank 1, no one trusted him. Brett asks if that was because of thing he'd done or because of perceptions by the rest of the pack. Christopher is slow to answer but in the end says it was both. There is some comment about how things are different for Garou who are brought up in the fold, and how most of Holistic Approach wouldn't understand that (its said as an opinion, not as an accusation. Er, can't remember context). However, when Jordan was 15, he killed another member of the Sept, a young woman called Nadia, who was part of Felix's pack. He fled justice and they were forced to hunt him down. Brett asks how they did it, and Christopher points out that he wasn't quite as strong then as he was now. Brett mentions the sun torches and Christopher flinches a little and says they didn't exactly work - they were what started the fire. Conviction Made Flesh (Christopher's pack) was also able to get the help of spirits like an eagle and some technological spirits to help track Jordan. The pack basically chased Jordan up into the hills and there were bushfires and eventually he hid in a building and it fell on him. They hung around as long as they could, and afterwards found bones inside afterwards, and assumed that it was Jordan. Brett comments that Jordan was scarred as if from a fire.

They ask some more questions, about Jordan's ability. Kimu mentions that Keiteki was able to sense him for a while and then he did something that made him disappear. Apparently Jordan was normally just hard to notice, but not invisible. However, he could make some effort to be particularly hard to see. And before he was outcast he had convinced certain ragabash-affiliate spirits to teach him some of the ragabash gifts making it possible to not be seen. It sounds as if he has continued this practice. Some more conversation about Jordan, in which Christopher mentions that one of the reasons that he would not countenance Mathias joining Hidden Green was to protect him from being tarred with the same brush as Jordan. Mathias mumbles something about stopping him learning anything as well, but Christopher ignores him. They eventually thank Christopher and leave.

    To the bat-caern! The pack get their stuff together. John drops in on Marnie and says that he'll be away for a bit. Into the Umbra, and a-hunting they go for a Moon Path. John leads them on a merry ride for a while towards the north before finally declaring that the path lies within a cemetary near Eltham somewhere. Precisely, it is within that mausoleum. There's a snag though, its covered in weaver spiders, who have been weaving over the end of the path, and have caught a number of lunes and other spirits within their netting. The spiders seem a bit wyrmtainted though, the web is oily and some of the spiders are a bit warped. The pack decide its scragging time, and start thumping the spiders and their web with gusto. An early onset of victoritis is slowed somewhat when the spiders finally react and start to calicify the pack. However, between the Garou strength and the help of some of the spirits they are freeing from the web the Garou are victorious (well, there are 6 of them). Brett makes loud "get this shit off me" noises so Melissa volunteers and starts putting the boot in. John decides that its payback time and starts biffing Thomas. Once Thomas is free, he and Kimu and Mathias start tearing up the web.

Thomas is suddenly hit in the chest by a claw almost as large as he is, crashing its way out of the tomb. Some rapid (some might say panicked) speculation is done vis perhaps the weaver spiders had the right idea as the claw shoots back into its hole. The webbing is eroded away from the inside and fairly sharply a large bane comes crashing out. It looks like a mutated antlion, with claws and armor and pincers and teeth oh my. The pack leap in with gay abandon. Kimu slides under the monster hoping it won't be as armoured under there and sticks it with his pointy thing. The others are trying to beat their way through the armor. Melissa leaps up on top, causing Kimu a moment's scare as the bane sinks some. Mathias leaps up and past the wyrmthing and slides off behind it while it concentrates on trying to eat Thomas. He and Kimu flip the thing and the others start going its underside. It manages to right itself, but the pack have their proverbial together now and they eventually vanquish it.

The lunes return and mob the pack a bit. Brett asks if they can restore the packs rage, given that the Garou helped them. The lunes think this is a good idea and bounce around and through Holistic Approach. The lunes offer general help and suggest that if the pack were heading down the Moon Path, they could act as guides. The Garou agree fairly readily, given John's sterling navigation so far this evening. The lunes head onwards into the tomb. At the back of it is a door, which leads down a staircase and finally onto the Moon Path. The lunes zoom back and forth urging the pack ever onwards.

?

After an eternity of jogging through silvery mist, the path changes. The ground starts to give and the air takes on an acrid taste. Faintly, a highpitched wind begins, even though the air is horribly still. The lunes say they don't want to come further, and that the Realm is just here. The pack thank them, and off they zoom. Its not too much more travelling before the pack are well and truly into the Atrocity Realm. The ground is slippery grey mud which stinks of decay, the wind is made of a thousand screams and the light is a dull grey, as at a cloudy dusk. Feeling less than happy about their holiday deal, the garou set off to find their scenes.

A sudden flash and a wave of heat hits the pack as they drop into yet another slime and foul-water-filled gulley, and they stumble into Australian bushland. There's a faint smell of smoke about, just at the edge of perception. The sun is beating hot and the wind is blowing. Feeling that this is probably Ash Wednesday, the pack do a questing stone for Christopher Rourke, and find that he is just over the hill. They creep up over the ridge line and down again, close enough to hear what is happening. There are four voices arguing, and Mathias identifies them as members of Conviction Made Flesh - Christopher, Balthazar, Jana and Ximena. Balthazar is arguing with the other three, he seems to feel that setting fire to the bushland to try and find Jordan is a bit excessive, given the weather. However, the others are very agitated and arguing loudly. As Holistic Approach listen, Balthazar is talked around to starting the fire - if Jordan gets away, he will be too dangerous, the fire will keep him moving, the torches are not working sufficiently well, there are already fires across the state and so on. Brett and John decide that they know what's going to happen next and take off to try and warn some of the residents of Cockatoo. They reach a road and make a best guess for where they are. They find a more major road and it has a sign saying "Upper Beaconsfield" and "Cockatoo" so they take off towards Cockatoo.

Meanwhile Balthazar finally caves in to pressure and Christopher says something like "may as well get some use out of the blasted things", apparently referring to the sunlight torches. He fiddles with it for a while and fairly sharply the smell of smoke starts to intensify. The pack decide to leg it up the hill at an angle away from the fire. As they watch, the fire intensifies and roars out of control, heading northwards towards Cockatoo. Holistic Approach make an effort to keep out of the notice of Conviction Made Flesh, figuring that it would be hard to explain their presence. As the hours pass and the fire intensifies, there's no sign of Jordan. Brett and John make it to Cockatoo and manage to warn the residents that a fire has broken out windward, and the CFA start to react accordingly. About two hours on, the wind changes suddenly and the fire swings around and heads away from Cockatoo and straight towards Upper Beaconsfield. The rest of the pack manage to scatter and get away from the front, but spend an uncomfortable couple of hours before the scene ends, and they find themselves returned to the grey awfulness of the Atrocity Realm.

Feeling that that was a bit odd, they try and concentrate more specifically on Jordan rather than events around him. Kimu starts a low chant, litanising who Jordan is, and what he has done and why they seek him, drawing on his eerie super galliard powers to try and focus the entire pack. After a time, the Atrocity Realm changes again, only this time it is cold, dark and still. They are back in Australian bushland, somewhere southish and in the Umbra. Kimu sniffs about and quickly picks up a fresh scent of Jordan. He is upwind of them, and the sneaky members of the pack (ie: not Melissa) head on after him. Jordan is creeping silently, and slowly. Kimu loses the scent briefly and the whole pack stops. Ahead in the faint moonlight is a small clearing where a tree has fallen and nothing has replaced it yet. A small marsupial mouse appears and is hopping along the log when Jordan leaps out of a nearby tree and grabs the mouse. Feeling that something bad is going to happen, the pack rush him. Jordan is definitively not expecting a rush from five garou and is quickly dispatched, despite some fears that he might drop into a death frenzy. The mouse is recovered and calmed down ("Hello" "eep" "Are you ok" "eep!") by Brett (no really). The pack speak to the spirit, who is a fairly significant spirit and ask what secrets Jordan might have been trying to steal from it. Its a bit doubtful on telling its secrets, because then this pack of Garou might hunt it or its children, but the pack swear not to use the secrets to hunt marsupial mice and point out they rescued the spirit from an unknown fate. Marsupial Mouse agrees and explains it knows secrets of hiding in plain sight (basically the Blissful Ignorance gift) but that it has to hold still. The pack note that down in their "stuff we know about Jordan" folder as the scene breaks up again.

More unpleasant slogging through the grey, stinky, mud of the Atrocity Realm. People are starting to get tired now, but still feel there is information to be gathered so try to find Jordan once more. Another brief shimmer forms up around the pack and they find themselves once more in Australian bushland, in the day time, and probably in spring or later. Voices can be heard nearby, in the Garou tongue. Holistic Approach creep closer and spy down on the scene from the top of some boulders. Below them is what seems to be the beginnings of a small logging operation, but one that has come head to head with Garou. There is a faint smell of Wyrm in the air. A number of silvery white Garou move around the wreckage of a number of bulldozers and cars. Bodies, presumably the logging crew, lie about the place, obviously victims of the Garou's claws.Mathias recognises one of the Silver Fangs with a shock - it's Dom's mother Charlotte. The Silver Fangs seem a bit confused. Two of them rip the fuel tank out of a bulldozer and tear it apart. One of them yells something to the others like "Its not the bodies, its the machines", and the other Garou are poking about.

The Silver Fangs are obviously confused and are trying to work out what's happening. Therefore they are not paying any attention to the black gloop that starts to work its way out of the fuel tank and towards the dead loggers. It moves fairly fast, and flows in through the loggers wounds, who sort of stumble to their feet, shambling along with umbilical cords of black, familiar looking slime animating them. The Fangs notice this now and leap to the attack. Something is happening to the trees around the site too and they bend and shatter, spraying shards everywhere. Holistic Approach leap forward to help attack when the scene breaks up. However, they are left facing the trees, which warp into somewhat humanoid banes.

  The humanoid banes surround our brave heros, who are still on the way to help out in the scene. Thomas destroys three of them quickly, and Mathias isn't far behind. Kimu gets into a bitchslapping fight with one while John and one of the ghoullike creatures dance with each other. Melissa leaps to the rear, but finds herself in a bit of strife. Brett is also having some hassles. The creatures claw at the garou, and if they manage to draw blood, they seem to also draw spiritual essence, leaving dead, foulsmelling flesh where they touch. John kills the creature facing him and draws gnosis back from it. Eventually the pack start to overcome their foes, but just at the last Thomas is hit in the stomach, tearing the armour. He goes deathly grey and falls to the ground. Someone leaps on him with a healing fetish and undoes the damage.

The pack have been reasonably badly chewed and there is a bit of debate as to whether they should stay or go. Eventually it is decided to face one more scene and then leave. They concentrate on Jordan in the now, rather than Jordan of the past. Again, the landscape shifts and changes. The pack stand in what is probably the Umbra, but with a distinct lack of spirits. The light in the area is diffuse, and weirdly edged with a redish tinge, making it hard to see. The pack are at the bottom of a low hill or ridge. A quick Questing Stone is performed for Jordan, and a response comes back from over the top of the ridge. The pack sneaks along up the hill towards the sense of Jordan they have obtained. They crest a ridge and can see sort of weaver infestations a distance away (maybe a couple of kms) as well as a house apparently in the Umbra. Brett and Kimu decide that they are not really up to facing Jordan, and that they can gain more information if they know where they are - they take off towards the weaver-infestations, assuming that they will be able to find streets and such. Kimu tries to peek, but there seems to be no Realm, indicating that whatever happens, happens in the Umbra.

As the pack approach the house, they can see that the house is set into the ridge such that the second story would be level with the ridge line, leaving a bottom level partially sunk into the hill. A flickery light comes from windows in this bottom level, on the sloping side of the house closest to them. Melissa and John go around the far side of the house, hunting for Jordan's scent. Thomas and Mathias peek in the windows. They find themselves looking down into a sort of games room - fireplace and pool table, but with that carpet-thrown-down rather than laid and cruddy furniture. Most importantly they can see a woman, about 40 maybe, tied into a wheel-like frame. She is naked, and has a number of scars across her body. Mathias thinks its Ximena, who apparently was the last member of Conviction Made Flesh to disappear, and the one who might have hurt Jordan. She seems unconscious. She is also wearing the fetish collar - the one that seems to stop people changing form, and the one that both the Dancers and Jordan have posessed at various times recently. It seems that Jordan initially owned it - whether that means he had some interaction with the Dancers or not is unclear.

While they watch, Jordan comes downstairs and moves about the place. He puts a poker in the fire and drops a few other items that are presumably to be used to hurt Ximena. She seems to come around while he is moving about. Ximena sees him.
"Hello Jordan. Its been a while."
"I've been busy."
"So I imagine. Now what, you kill me, like Balthazar and Jana?"
Jordan is still turned away, messing with the fire. "Eventually."
"What do you want Jordan? Revenge? To come back to the Sept?"
"Perhaps."
"Well, you could let me go as an act of faith...."
"No, I don't think so. I can't see myself returning to the comforting embrace of the Sept and Caern. 'I am in blood so steeped' and all that." Mathias seems to recognise the quote, but the others don't. "And that's really the crux of the matter. Who thought it was a brilliant idea to instruct a 7 year old in Macbeth? And Macciavelli. And Kant?"
"That was Christopher - "
"None of you stopped him, or even thought you should. And you... you turned Nadia against me." Jordan's voice goes extremely cold, and he stands up from the fire and faces towards Ximena. She is laying mostly forwards and can only see him at an awkward angle. "Why, Ximena?"
"I didn't turn her against you, I told her what you had been doing."
"You told her I was spying on her, made her believe that ..." Jordan's face is twisted with anger. "You fucked me life! You!"
Ximena says nothing.
"So basically, I think I'm going to fuck you." Jordan drops his pants, naked except for a shirt. He picks up a glowing poker from the fire and heads towards Ximena, changing to glabro.

Meanwhile, John and Melissa, being told what is happening from a distance, hears something behind him, and turns. John finds that he is facing a Dancer, one of the ones they killed in the Hive, with a knife out and grinning like a maniac. John and Melissa wheel into action, John crashtackles the Dancer, only to find that he is much stronger than John who he can't get a good grip to pin him down. The Dancer howls, a weird eerie sound, and it is answered not once, but three or more times from near the house. Melissa leaps up and punches the Dancer twice in the throat, tearing out his trachea while John encumbers him.

Mathias and Thomas have decided that rape is beyond what they will put up with, even in the Atrocity Realm. As they start to move, Jordan reaches Ximena, and drives the red hot poker through her shoulder, and into the frame. Ximena screams, thrashing against the bonds that hold her. Thomas flips to Crinos and smashes the window so that Mathias can leap in in lupus form. There is a smashing sound from somewhere else in the house, and John reports that the Dancers are running in as well. Jordan rips the poker out and has it pointed at this strange lupus. He says "Mathias?" and looks fairly surprised. Mathias changes to crinos as does Jordan, and he tries to thump Jordan, who dodges. "You're supposed to be with the Killer of Children!" says Jordan. Mathias just pushes the attack, and Jordan appears to make a decision, spinning and smashing the poker into the back of Ximena's head, removing a goodly portion of skull and brain. Ximena slumps, and blood gushes everywhere. More smashing sounds from inside, and Thomas dives through the window to back Mathias up. John and Melissa head in through a door and try to hassle the Dancers, but they don't want anything to do with these Garou, looking instead for Jordan, apparently. Mathias closes with Jordan and tears his abdomen open. Thomas looks at the stairs as a Dancer crashes through the door to the upper area. Mathias checks Ximena, but she is definately dead... looking closer, Mathias can see the beginning of a red glow from her various wounds, and she starts to thrash. Figuring that they have a rough idea what happened now, and not really wanting to be near someone in a death frenzy in a small room, Holistic Approach beat a hasty retreat, leaving Ximena for the Dancers.

Meanwhile Kimu and Brett reach some of the weaverness. They cannot see street signs, but between them they attempt to grasp the best understanding of where they are. Kimu uses his Axis Mundi gift to assist this process, and they suspect that if they can find the place again in the Realm, they will know if they are in the right area. The scene fades away, and the pack find themselves together again. Melissa says "I think I'm going to be sick" and looks fairly unhappy. The pack look around and see that something has fairly significantly changed. They are standing near an immense wall, maybe 30 foot high, made of some sort of featureless black stone. It stretches from one horizon to the other, with no break as far as they can see. When they get close to it, the garou can see it is covered in names, some of which are familiar - Patrick Faithful, names of people that Thomas knew at the parties and so on. The names all seem to be people who have been killed or crippled through the enactment of any given atrocity. The names seem to change too, depending on who the pack is thinking of at the time. Melissa silently points out her parents and looks even more upset. The names goes up about 10 feet on the wall, and as the pack watch, another row fades into existence at the top of the names. John and Mathias seem particularly affected by the horror of the unending sea of names and John wanders away and sits in the mud.

After examining the wall for a few moments more, everyone is pretty much feeling like going home. They start trudging around, hoping that the Realm will be merciful and let them leave soon. After an unending time of trying to move through the mud, the screams on the air seeming louder and louder, the environment shifts once more. The pack are standing in nightgowns, and all of them appear to be female. Hoping that this fundamental change means that they will be able to leave through this scene, they look aroud and find themselves somewhere near the sea, possibly on a cliff. There are other women, maybe 20 of them, surrounding the pack, some of them defiant, others sobbing. The women all have a somewhat mediterranean cast to their features. The women are surrounding by a mix of Crinos and homid garou, all armed and some with torches, but they don't appear to be reacting to the presence of the crinos garou. The night is pitch black except for this light and a light drizzle falls from the sky. Someone looks about and gets a sense that maybe this is about the turn of the century. One of the homid garou steps forward. He speaks with a distinct east European accent and says "You women have a choice. You may join us now, in the position that we choose for you, or -" and shrugs towards the cliff. The eldest woman spits in his face and he snarls "She chooses for all of you!" The male garou surrounding the women start pushing and shoving them towards the dark edge ahead. The women scream and punch and kick, but to no avail. They start to fall over the edge, screams echoing from the cliffs. Holistic Approach move with the women, making no more attempts to leave than the women around them, and one by one are shoved off the cliff. The long, dark fall leaves their hearts in their throats, followed by smashing onto sharp volcanic rock, and cold ocean. The fall is insufficient to kill instantly, and the sea is full of drowning, thrashing people, slowing sinking into the inky water.....

The pack shudder to consciousness, floating in the Umbral mists. They are all freezing, and wet with salt water. Without much adieu, and with little conversation they head for home, sore and unhappy. They trek back to the Penumbra and home, all but carrying John, who is shaking and twitching and generally not coping. They end up following Kimu around until the pack emerges from the Umbral mists and into Melbourne's penumbra. Stepping out reveals that it is...

Sunday 16th

...and nearly time for the moot. They scoot to the caern through the light rain, and make it to the caern just as the Moot begins. The rest of the Sept is sitting in their usual places in a circle around Cossack on his soapbox. It is lightly drizzling in the Umbra too, and the clouds are mostly hiding the moon except for a dull glow. The Moot begins with Opening Howl and Inner Sky - more attention than usual is given to Chimera ("Chimera. Dude. Really.") this evening, although all the spirits associated with the Sept are honoured. Cossack is given everyone's attention as the Moot moves to Cracking the Bone. Cossack draws his coat up and gives a dirty look at the sky, and says that given the current situation, its probably best if Thomas tells them what they saw in the Atrocity Realm of Jordan. Thomas takes the main stage and runs through the Ash Wednesday scene and the Marsupial Mouse scene (after mentioning that the spirit was worried about Garou using its secrets against it). He gives a fairly clinical description of the scene in which they found Ximena, but there is a strong reaction amongst the assembled Garou anyway.

Cossack gives them a rundown on the things that have been happening in Melbourne while they were gone. The Steel Hunters checked Mathias' apartment for possible evidence and found that Jordan had been living there for a while, having killed the previous tenants. He had redecorated too, with a certain 'I hate christopher' motif, and left some other bits and pieces - they'll have to get the exact details from Steel Hunters, but basically it was fairly incriminating. The Hunters cleaned it up as much as they could. The other encounter they had during the last few days was a bit more exciting. Adam Shergol was on a tram when he realised Jordan was there too. When Jordan got off, Adam gave chase, but was ambushed. Jordan broke all his limbs and then gave him a message - give Jordan Christopher and he'll vanish softly and silently away. Although Christopher was sort of up for it, the rest of the sept figure that Jordan was messing with them, as he could have vanished Christopher before and he left no way of contacting him.

There are a few other items covered. The Stargazers of the Sept (Aquinas, Sings-for-the-Spirit and Ends-the-Quiet) and a guest, Anjou (an female african homid ahroun stargazer {no, its definately not Jordan}) will be performing a complex divination rite when the eclipse begins, and will not be participating in the Revel. Thomas suggests that people don't stray too far, just in case Jordan pulls something weird during the eclipse. The Moot starts to go informal, and both Kimu and Mathias go to chat to Emma about getting gifts. Emma directs Chris to handle Mathias while she handles Kimu. Chris asks which gift Mathias wants to learn - Tongues. Chris thinks for a bit and then grins, beginning his summoning. All Mathias can tell is that he is calling to a bird spirit of some sort. Emma asks Kimu which gift he wishes to learn - Scent of Distinction. Emma decides to call on Chimera, who manifests faily quickly (being part of the Moot and all). Kimu explains what he wishes to learn and Chimera asks what he will give in return. Kimu asks what Chimera desires, and she seems to consider things for a moment. Chimera asks for the gift of a dream from Kimu, in return for teaching him how to listen to the dreams of the land. Chasing-the-Night panics for a few moments, but Chimera explains that she wishes him to craft her a dream and show it to her, not have one sucked out of his head. Chasing-the-Night agrees and Chimera grants him the gift.

While the rest of the Sept is socialising and telling stories and singing, Mathias waits patiently for Chris to finish. The Moot seems fairly upbeat, despite the problem with Jordan being a major talking point. Chris finishes his summoning and from the east sweep in a flock of white cockatoos, screeching and yelling and chattering at each other and settling into trees and wherever else they can land. One flies down and lands on Chris' arm, who explains the situation. It takes off and lands on Mathias, talons digging in a bit and wants to know what Mathias will give it in return for teaching the gift. Mathias is a bit thrown, having expected a less exhibitive spirit and thinks about it for a while. The rest of the pack make some suggestions ("a house to chew to pieces", "a tree to chew to pieces", "a noun to chew to pieces") which Mathias doesn't pass on. He is not making any headway when there is a shadow of sorts which passes over the cockatoo spirits. The flock quietens and regards all with a beady eye. The spirit clinging to Mathias' arm says in a different voice that they will teach the gift in exchange to a story about a death. The feeling the spirits is a more complex sense that was previously exhibited. Mathias agrees and joins the rest of the Moot. He waits until someone finishes a story and takes the centre of attention. The Sept quientens down to hear his story.

"Tell us a story about death."

Silence seemed to ripple through the flock of birds, one mind separated through a myriad of points, each part of the whole agreeing with the terms. Twelve pairs of eyes were soon joined by several more as a low murmur replaced the silence. Mathias returned the stare of the 'lead' bird and nodding slowly. "A tale of death. As you wish." His voice quiet and subdued but accepting in tone as well as word. Slowly he turned to regard the gathering of garou whose attention had also shifted to him. Much of the merriment momentarily muted, still a few whispers skittering about the edges of the moot.

Mathias closed his eyes, as if to see the words he would speak, letting them burn against his consciousness with a silvery fire. Images both taunted and encouraged him in the self imposed darkness, all the while the story grew, nurtured into being before it could be released through word. His eyes opened, looking past the now silent audience, and the first words began.

"We are garou. We are family. There are those of us who would fight as children do and yet others that seek to nurture those who may not yet defend themselves. In all families there are those of whom we do not speak and those who are revered above all others. In family we find strength to rise to the tasks that we must accomplish. In family we find the safety and support that allows us to heal. As garou some would say our trials are beyond the understanding of others. If they cannot perceive our nature than they cannot perceive the challenges we must face. Perhaps this is true, or perhaps it is equally true that we are unable to see the trials of those who are not yet kin."

"A child was born, a girl, to both mother an father as is the natural way. Parents who loved her, provided for her and raised her. More children followed, a brother, and then another. They were her family and as a family they had a strength that allowed them to face the daily trials of life. A mother who cared and a father that provided, for some time they were happy."

"The strength of their family came from the fact that each part complemented another. Sadly when one part is removed it will have repercussions upon all. The father was taken from them. The means and the reasoning are less important than the fact in this instance. In this way the girl was exposed to death for the first time in her young life. She witnessed firsthand how that single event caused waves to ripple through the family that had sheltered her. Perhaps too she could see the way that death had too affected her, but more likely she was as blind to her own reactions as we all are."

"Life as it was continued, but far from unchanged. Still young she was called upon to provide support and care. A child she may still have been, but the responsibilities of an adult were no thrust upon her by necessity. Her mother provided as best she could. They ate, they were clothed, even loved, but a darkness now lived in the emptiness that death had left. The girl watched as her mother sought solace in places that could provide no more than numbness, a dulling of the pain. The girl watched as her brothers were left to fend for themselves more often. Do not think that there was no love amongst them. Still they were family, still they sought to provide strength and support, but death had weakened them in a way none were prepared for."

"The girl began to dream. What would a child in such a position be expected to dream of? Happier days, when her father still lived? A life of contentment provided but wealth? Perhaps even the chance of building a life of her own, a love of her own? These would be the normal dreams and desires of such a child, but even these were denied her."

"Her dreams were of violence. Of darkness and pain. Of creatures that prowled the night in search of death. Even the oblivion of sleep was denied her as the dreams intensified. Images that lingered long after she had woken, so vivid to her mind that she could swear they had happened. At that same time she prayed that they had not for they were a confusion of memories, of scents and tastes that no mortal mind could comprehend. With no one to speak to, none to guide her, she fell into the frightening arms of slumber each night, only to awake to new nightmares that plagued her life."

"A child will seek guidance from those nearest to them, be it by conscious thought or not. The girl had seen death take one of those nearest, and alcohol comfort another. She could not live with these images. None could offer her comfort in this time of need. None could understand her feelings. Perhaps they would lock her away, yet another trial for the cracked remains of her family to deal with. Perhaps the nightmares would become real and she would harm those whom she loved. Perhaps she simply sought the one escape that presented itself to her."

"The dreams did not come that last night. The nightmare was left for another to discover the following morning. Two empty bottles, one once the vessel of alcohol, the other once holding the pills that had long since dissolved into her system. Blood and death were all that remained. One family again dealt a blow to shatter their lives, another family who would never know her, and whom she would never know."

"Remember her in death. Though none of this family knew her in life, accept her death as the death of our own. She was our sister, and she was loved."

In the silence that followed, Mathias moved away from his quiet audience. He would not speak of the child, or anymore of the events he had described. The story was told, the memory would live or die in others now. He held his small part of events close and sat watching as his family continued with the moot.

Stories and songs continue, mostly related to winter and cold, and the sept becomes more and more worked up, except Scryers, and John, who heads off into the cemetary on his own. The rain stops and clouds clear, revealing a bright full moon. Eventually Nadine gives the word and the Garou Revel across the Umbral city. As Holistic Approach move around the city, the Umbral moon starts to dim and fade with the beginning of the eclipse. They are in Richmond somewhere when the light fades completely dark and then suddenly goes red. The moon glows a dull, earthy red, and bloodred lunes appear, flying around everywhere and looping around everything. A dark liquid starts to bead on surfaces and then run together. Close examination reveals that it is blood. The blood begins to drip upwards into the sky. Everything is edged in the same weird light that the pack observed in the Atrocity Realm. They decide it time to get home, and start heading that way. As they run along, Thomas hears Cossack's voice in his head. Apparently the Police believe they have cornered the Full Moon Killer in a house in St Kilda. Normally he'd send The Scryers, as they have been handling any investigation, but they are involved in the Stargazer ritual.

Holistic Approach take off down Punt Rd, running through the Umbra. The lunes get more and more think in the sky. They are not attacking the pack, but they are moving about the place in an aggressive manner. The pack get near the Astor and Kimu peeks. Chapel St has been blocked off by Police, surrounding the entrace to Cintra St (a one way road). Kimu is picked up by Thomas and they start heading down towards the street. He starts to be able to hear roaring and howling. In the Umbra, the rest of the pack can also hear screaming. However, is coming from a different location. Way above them, but falling fast is a huge, blood covered woman, descending from the sky and accompanied by hundred of the blood lunes. She is screaming and yelling. The pack put on a burst of speed, but the woman touches down before they do, crashing through the house in the Umbra and disappearing. Thomas activates Speed of Thought and he and Kimu reach the house before the rest of the pack. The Umbra is a mess of fallen weaver ephemera, difficult to move throough and with no sign of the screaming woman. Brett thinks that the woman might be the Blood Warrior, a Black Fury spirit associated with eclipses. Kimu, after being shown the inside of a door by Thomas can see into the material house, where he can see a lot of blood, smashed furniture and Jordan. Jordan is holding his head and screaming a lot. The rest of the pack rush up as Thomas pokes through the rubble, looking to see the spirit. Kimu reports that Jordan seems to be changing form, back to homid. He then amends that report to say that he is actually getting bigger, not smaller. As well as changing to homid. Er, a female homid. Sort of.

Feeling that perhaps their time has come, the pack scramble over the rubble and then step sideways. While they were doing this, it seems that the Jordan/woman has decided that she wants a spot of night air, and has thrown a sofa through the front wall of the house and out into the street. S/He is just stepping through as the pack appear. Thomas leaps forward and hamstrings the woman. Or attempts to. Her skin is like steel, and he barely scratches the surface. Brett tries the same with the fae sword with very little effect either. Mathias tries to use Mindspeak to grab Jordan's attention, but finds that there are two entities battling for control, but neither of them is in control, with a strong feeling of 'wrongness' from both. Melissa sprints out into the street to see if the police are going to be observing this little shindig, and finds that there are indeed a half dozen or so police in the street, crouching behind cars and such, as well as a loungechair embedded in a car. The police scatter as she approaches in Crinos form, but the pack have the "She broke it first" attitude at the moment.

Thomas uses his Falling Touch gift and sends the Jordan/woman sprawling to the ground, laying out all 3 metres. Mathias leaps on top of the creature while Kimu tries to sever or at least maim his/her arms. The pack start hammering holes in the woman, but there is a surge of sorts and the wounds heal up. She tears the brick letterbox out of the ground and rolls over, causing Mathias to have to leap to not be knocked over. Brett and Thomas try to pull her in two different directions, but the womanthing is just too strong. They all start laying into her and she brings the letterbox up and around, hitting Mathias, who is also shot by some of the very jittery police who are running back to the scene of all the confusion. Blood and flesh is being sprayed all around the area, almost all of it the Jordan/woman's. She gets a bit tired of Mathias, and grabs him and flings him 15m or so into a car. This surprises the two police who are behind it somewhat, not to mention Mathias, who lays there for a few seconds, and then rolls fowards off the car to fall with a wet splat to the ground.

The pack are gradually hurting the woman, keeping her from getting up and harassing her from all directions (wow, just like a pack :). The killing blow is landed, and Brett, worried about a deathfrenzy, starts stomping the body. Thomas runs over to get Mathias and gets shot for his trouble. He seems the police seem to be preparing to assault the place, scares away the two police that were trying to shoot Mathias, grabs him and runs back to the house. Brett drags the two bits of body into the house, trailing blood, flesh and entrails behind him. The pack try and figure out what to do now. The police will be coming in moments, the Umbra is full of swarming bloodred lunes and they have a tonne of rather damning evidence to deal with. A quick mental conference comes up with a plan - they'll pretend to negotiate with the police, hoping that will hold them back, while dedicating the 3 metres of body, and hoping they can make it out through the Umbra. For the rest of the evidence, its plan b.

Melissa starts looking for flammable material. Mathias reverts to homid, and yells out to the police that he has hostages, and he'll kill them if they don't negotiate with him. While Mathias delays and delays, Kimu and Brett dedicate the body as fast as they can. Melissa sprays meths and alcohol everywhere, and turns the gas on the stove. The others have finished and are about to move into the Umbra. Melissa peeks out the back, and is apparently seen by someone out there with a gun, because they squeeze off a shot. The police out the front take this as a signal to try and take the house. Everyone but Mathias steps sideways. Mathias sprints up the hallway of the house, hearing the police crash through the front door. He grabs a bit of rubble, and holds it above the sparker on the stove, and then steps. He is gone before it hits the sparker and the whole house bursts into flame.

The Umbral house is a ruin, the blood lunes have finished what Jordan and the Blood Warrior began. The pack make a run for it, getting away from the crazed moon spirits as fast as possible. Once they are far enough away, they call the Sept and ask where they should take the body. Christopher's house is chosen as the location, but in the Umbra. Graeme says that people willl meet the pack there. Holistic Approach arrive first, but are joined by Cossack and Emma, as well as Steel Hunters and Christopher. They explain what happened, and how they absolutely had to burn the house down. It is decided to cremate Jordan's body here in the Umbra. Brett grabs one of the sun torches they still have and (resisting the urge to mock Christopher while doing so) starts a fire. As the corpse rather smokily burns, there is some more discussion about why the Blood Warrior appeared - Emma says that Jordan may have unintentionally summoned it with his repeated killings on the full moon. Presuming that he was the Full Moon Killer all along, which fits the available evidence. Talk is winding down when Emma exclaims and says that someone rang from Rippling Waters and said that Dom had gone into labour about 8pm. Given its now about 2am, she has probably given birth.

Monday 17 - Thursday 20

The next few days are spent in relative calm. John is seriously messed up for several days (John only), but comes back to himself mostly on Wednesday. The rest of the pack go out and dote on Dominique for a bit - she has actually given birth to twins, both female, identical. She has named neither of them Rory, regardless of Brett's prompting, instead calling them Belinda and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was born about 10.45am and Belinda about midnight (ie: deep within the eclipse). Warnings are given about the whole Jordan thing and eclipses, but the Fianna just shrug and say they normally don't place much stock in the effect of eclipses, sort of hinting that its all a shadowlord neurosis. Scent of the True Form reveals that they are both kinfolk, with a lingering sense of fae about them too (well, duh). The Rite of Baptism by Fire will be done at the next Moot.

Thomas hosts a barbeque, and Kimu brings up the subject of the pack living together. Brett and Mathias respond "fuck off", John is a bit unsure, and Thomas and Melissa shrug and say they wouldn't mind, so the issue is shelved. Mathias chats to Christine about his cash flow, and she says she would imagine that he will be able to get some money diverted his way, but the majority of it is going to be locked up, or watched by the authorities (who have been keeping an eye on things).

Late Thursday afternoon, Melissa sort of tentatively asks "Guys? You're not busy tonight, are you?" 5 mental voices resignedly say "Why?" "Well, I was at Hidden Green, and I was chatting with Ben, and we got onto the topic of galliards, cos its a galliard moon, right? So we were chatting about stuff, and Scott came up and joined the conversation, and he said some stuff and I said some stuff and then he basically said that the Galliards in Steel Hunters were better than our Galliards and I said they weren't and he sort of challenged us and I accepted." The rest of the pack groans and Mathias and Brett try to say that she's on her own, but Melissa points out that she accepted for the pack. Thomas asks what exactly they have been challenged to do, and Melissa says "Well, first of all Scott suggested that it should be the first pack to get a recording contract, but I pointed out that Tanya already has one and then -" "Get to the point!" "Its a kareoke and drinking competition." Thomas thinks this is pretty funny, but the others are less enthused. In the end they agree, although Mathias says that she should have asked before accepting. Melissa points out a bit sulkily that they commit her to stuff without asking - isn't that what being a pack is about? She says that the challenge is for 7.30 at a bar off Flinders Lane.

When the pack rock up (after Thomas insists they eat something beforehand), Steel Hunters are already there. Holistic Approach ask about bar tabs and all, and Tanya says that Nick (the barman) owes Scott a favour, and its all under control. Scott lays down the terms of the challenge - each pack member sings and each pack sings three times, alternating between the packs. After each song, everyone shots a saki (Thomas counts on his fingers and looks a bit surprised - 36 shots of saki?). The winner of the challenge is by popular acclaim and whoever is standing at the end. Scott flips a coin and Holistic Approach get to go first.

Mathias goes first with "Khe San". Scull. Tanya sings "Do you really want to hurt me?". Scull. Back to Holistic Approach, who send Chasing-the-Night to the forefront. He chooses "Werewolves of London". Scott goes next with "Born to be Wild". Thomas sings Thriller. Adam Shergol sings "Missionary Man" appallingly badly and falls down unconscious after his shot of saki. Brett manages to find "Kill in the name of" and goes into a 10 minute solo of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me". Ben sings "Closer", although 'sings' may be a bit generous. Melissa is pushed onto stage because she is starting to get a bit wobbly, and she sings "Always something there to remind me". Claude performs an adequate rendition of "House of the Rising Sun" while Ben falls asleep on the bar and can't be woken up. John goes the politically correct version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by singing "Azaria" to the music. Follows-the-Moon randomly chooses "We belong to the Night". Scott tosses back a saki and slowly, but inevitably falls over backwards unconscious.

So at the end of round one, the Steel Hunters are down to three conscious members and Holistic Approach still have everyone. Tanya suggests they keep going and just drink where the unconscious people would sing. "Fine" say Holistic Approach. Kimu performs "Hungry like the Wolf". Tanya does "Sunglasses at Night", including a dance number. Melissa falls off her chair and curls up next to the bar, refusing to get up. After a brief pack consultation, Holistic Approach start to rub in their ability to ignore alcohol by taking two shots to Steel Hunters one. Mathias ("Lola"), Claude ("Friend of the Devil"), John ("Holy Grail") and Follows-the-Moon ("Monster Mash") have their turns, by which point even the three remaining members of Steel Hunters are really starting to slur their words, while only the slightly wobbly John (and the unconscious Melissa) are letting their side down.

Thomas sings "Land Down Under". Steel Hunters pass. Tanya passes out. Brett murders "Beds are Burning". John and Claude pass out. Steel Hunters pass. Follows-the-Moon sits down suddenly and looks like he's going to be sick. Holistic Approach pass for Melissa and Follows-the-Moon falls flat on his face. Thomas, Mathias, Kimu and Brett look at each other and shrug, still doing two shots per turn and then decide to sing another round anyway. Kimu prefaces his next song with "this was a favourite of some of my friends in America" and launches into "Jack and Diane". Mathias, who seems to be dead sober, sings "Bohemian Rhapsody". Brett ("Smells like teen spirit") and Thomas ("Treaty") take their turns and return to the bar to find Kimu asleep and muttering to himself in his native tongue.

Brett asks the bemused bartender for a camera, and is handed a polaroid. He and Thomas pile the unconscious Steel Hunters up together and pose with Mathias ala "great white hunter". Nick takes a few shots for them. Everyone is piled into taxis or whatever and they return home.

Friday 21

Brett is up early and away to a printing place with the photos from last night. He comes back with 6 t-shirts with the blown up photo on them and "3 - nil" as a caption. Nothing like continuing a tradition.

By lunchtime, most of the pack is awake and trying to recover. Mathias is lurking in the Umbra when there is a flash of silvery light and a Moonbridge opens and Monash End-to-the-Darkness steps through. He and Ends-the-Quiet chat for a bit and then wander away towards Cossack. About half an hour later Cossack finds Thomas and asks him to get his pack together.

When Holistic Approach get themselves together, they find Monash and Cossack sitting near the centre of the caern in the Umbra. Monash explains that he is here to ask for their help. About 18 months ago, Alexander Urosevic turned up at the Web of Dreaming Hands caern in the grip of Harano. The Stargazer Sept was itself in a state of spiritual ennui which they managed to throw off, and they have since dedicated themselves to helping Garou in a similar state. Alex has not really shown any sign of improvement in the time that he has been at the caern, but Monash recently had a dream in which Holistic Approach were involved in helping Alex.

The pack ask what the exact problem is. Monash replies that basically Alex is obsessing over Marion's death in Sydney. Mathias explains that Alex frenzied and charged some of the Dancers and Marion fell protecting him. Kimu nods and says that he spoke to Georgina about this topic about 6 months ago, but she didn't know that he was in Queensland. Monash continues saying that part of the time, Alex blames himself, but a lot of the time he blames Infinite Paths, which comes down to blaming Mathias and Dominique. If Holistic Approach are willing to come along, he'd like them to come with him to the Dreaming Hands sept. Cossack asks Monash if he could have a moment to speak to the pack. Monash walks off a short distance and Cossack says that he would like them to give this a try, not just for Alex, but also in the hope that it might help Christine as well. A quick mental flick around and Thomas says that they will be happy to go. Monash is waved back over and the pack make arrangements to head to Queensland.

They arrive in the somewhat more humid environment of Carnarvon Gorge. Monash looks around, and makes a decision "this way, I think." The pack query why he's not sure, and Monash says that the Moonbridges can open up nearly anywhere in the Gorge. John asks why that is, and Monash replies that they think it has something to do with the caern totem. John pauses for a moment and asks what the caern totem is and Monash grins at him as they walk through the foggy umbra, and says that they don't know - its a spirit with links to fog and dreams and spiders. After about 20 minutes walking, the pack finds the rest of the Sept - Monash introduces them to the Sept Leader, Indira Songs-Of-Sorrow; the Caern Warder, Dale Earth-Sky-Twinning (an Uktena); and the Master of the Rite, Cherri Backward-Glance. They politely say hello and ask where they might find Alex. Cherri says that she thinks he was somewhere in the north western arm of gorge earlier today. They thank her and head off.

In a fairly short time they find Alex, sitting with his back against a rock and throwing stones into a creek. He glances their way, sees Thomas and starts to say "Hey Thom-" before also seeing Mathias. Alex goes red, then white and then runs off upstream through foliage. That went well, think the pack to themselves. They think about what to do, and Thomas decides to go and talk to Alex himself. He heads off along Alex's trail and eventually finds him walking back and forth and muttering to himself. Thomas tries to talk to Alex but Alex is worked up and not making a lot of sense - like a lot of the Sydney Garou, he blames Mathias for events in Sydney, but Alex seems to be arguing that if Infinite Paths hadn't been there, they wouldn't have found the Hive and then Marion wouldn't be dead. Thomas tries to argue with Alex, but he just seems to be provoking him, and Alex suddenly frenzies. Thomas is easily more than a match for Alex, and when Melissa and John sprint into the clearing a half minute later to help, Thomas has got Alex wedged between two rocks where he is frenzying but unable to move. Eventually Alex runs out of energy and just sits and stares ahead without reacting to the outside world.

Thomas sits with Alex while the pack mentally discuss what they might be able to do. Brett is all for slapping him about and getting it across that dying fighting the wyrm is the only way to go. John is a bit unsure this will work, citing his recent shallow dip into depression. They discuss some more, trying to think of some way that they might be able to help free Alex from his Harano.

  After a time Indira and Monash approach them and see how things are going. Monash says that Alex has frenzied before with little or no change. Alex cycles between blaming himself, which is also when he is the most self-destructive, and blaming Infinite Paths, which is when he is most active and able to cope. Brett suggests that Alex needs to understand that death is part of the cycle, but Monash says that that is really the problem - Alex either can't or won't accept Marion's death, that's why he's in this situation. More chatting and Mathias asks about what happens when a garou dies. Comparing and contrasting beliefs reveals a number of different options between the tribes. Thomas says that the Silent Striders believe that their tribal spirits move on. John says that the glasswalkers have said that the majority believe in the here and now and that while they know about past lives, its not too important to them. In contrast Brett has been told that garou spirits return to Gaia before being reborn. Kimu has been told that ancestor spirits remain for a time and should be honoured before they return to the world as newborns. Mathias says that the shadowlords encourage those ancestor spirits which have useful information to impart to remain, but the others to move on. Monash and Indira tell them that the Stargazers believe in a karmic system where a spirit may be reborn into a different form depending on its behaviour during life. These varied beliefs are indicitive not only of the cultures that the garou associate with, but also that the fate of a spirit might be different for different people. Someone asks who might know more about this, and Monash suggests Grek is a good person. He heads off to send a message.

Indira offers the pack (while looking mostly at Mathias) the option of using the power of the caern to help them in this situation. She obliquely mentions that Monash did not want to immediately present them with this option. The pack mention that they do have a rather destructive dream each moot that seems to involve Malfeas and this might be what Monash is worried about, but Indira does not seem concerned. They agree and she suggests that Mathias should be the one to try the power of the caern as he is the most closely related to the situation. Monash returns and says that he has asked for Grek to come as soon as possible, although it may be a few days. Indira tells him that she has offered the pack access to the power of the caern this evening; Monash looks faintly annoyed but just says "Your right, Septleader".

The day passes. Alex regains consciousness and wanders aimlessly through the gorge. Kimu persuades John and Melissa to come hunting, although Melissa says that if she ends up with leeches, she's making Kimu pay. They speak to Indira who suggests that there are wild pigs encroaching on the bawn of the Sept, and help removing them would be appreciated. They run off into the bushland enthusiastically. Brett finds a tree, climbs it and sleeps, dreaming of chasing something. Thomas keeps track of Alex, Mathias relaxes a little. Much pork eating later and Indira leads the pack in a cleansing ritual before leading them to the centre of the caern. They walk along the moonlit gorge before taking a side valley. The fog rises further and further and then clears. They are in a thin, steep edged valley with a faint trickle of water along the bottom. The valley ends in a circular space with a large tree at the end - the tree looks like arms pressed together, branching at the wrists to form a sort of bower. Whispy spiderwebs cover much of the rock surface near the tree as well as hanging from the branches. Indira says that whoever sleeps in the tree is often given a prophetic, or helpful dream. Mathias is given a boost into the tree and composes himself. The others head off and try not to mentally disturb him.

Mathias is walking down a street in Melbourne, talking about Sydney with someone. As he describes it, the streets move to Sydney streets and they wander in and out of houses and yards, explaining the story to this person. The people in the houses don't seem to react at all. Mathias explains the leadup, with Cernonous and all, and the flow of the battle as he was told it. At the end of the story, they ask what happened then? Mathias gives a bit more information, and the person says that that isn't the full story - all the people went on further, right? So Mathias goes into details about the Garou he knows of, and the surrounds shift and change to match his stories. At the end they are walking in the cemetary and reach Marion's statue "And Marion is here." The person says that Mathias can't be sure, and hands him a shovel. They dig down and find a coffin. Prying the lid off reveals an empty grave.

Saturday 22

Holistic Approach walk down the same valley with Indira. They find that the whole tree, Mathias included, is draped in spiderweb, which is apparently a good sign. They get Mathias down and then discuss his dream over breakfast with Indira, Dale and Monash. There is some back and forth about ghosts and lingering spirits - perhaps Marion is lurking about and depressing Alex, or perhaps Alex is keeping Marion tied to the earth. Kimu points out that his culture believes that ancestors will disappear when forgotten, and that this might be similiar to Alex/Marion. The general thought is that the pack are on the right track - they need to find Marion's spirit, or evidence of what happened to it and actively demonstrate to Alex the cycle of life and death in a way more forceful than just words - this will either break his hold on Marion or Marion's hold on him. Of course, this assumes that Marion is still around. No one suggests just capping him in the head. Unhunh. Not them.

Late in the afternoon Grek moonbridges into the caern and the whole disgusting incident... er, situation is explained to him. He sort of agrees with everyone else about the path they are considering. He tells them stories and examples of similar quests, both from Garou history and human mythology (Orpheus and Euridice, Hercules and Cerebus). He knows of ghosts and says that often they have a task left uncompleted before they can pass on. Grek tells them what he knows of Garou burial rites and Hallowed Heros. Brett asks about the Bonegnawers and Grek says that he believes that the Gnawers are, as a rule, practical by nature - they mourn their dead, celebrate their life and move on. Grek has not actually been to the Sleeping Lore caern, and can't comment on the ghost-like figures that inhabit the area.

So how do they find Marion? Well, there is no step-by-step method, the legends that he know just describe the Garou looking wherever they could think to look, and working from there. He suggests first trying the Bone Gnawer homeland in the Umbra, and working from there, and that Cossack would be more use in letting them know stuff about that. More stories through the night. Wow, that's two Jindabyne council members that haven't tried to kill the pack while they sleep.

Sunday 23

Bright and early the pack moonbridge back home. They ask after Cossack and find him on the west side of Royal Park, kicking back on a bench. Kimu offers some mostly-cooked wild pig. They explain the situation and the possible solution they have in mind. Cossack says that although they are part of a Bonegnawer sept, they are not of the tribe and therefore won't get far in the homeland. He hums and hars a bit and then says that there are Rites of Recognition that give one a certain standing in the tribe that performs them, but that if he was to perform them there would perhaps be a perceived conflict of interest. However, he could ask Scratches-at-Fleas, the new Jindabyne Council member for the Bonegnawers to perform the Rite. Cool say the pack. He's currently the Sept Leader of the Rocks caern. Errrr, say the pack - isn't that the Sydney caern. Yes. Who all want to kill us.. well, Mathias. Cossack suggests that it might be time to mend a few bridges - the nature of their quest (involving helping bonegnawers) seems to be an ideal time to make the jesture. He'll come with them and pave the way.

They make some preparations and then Moonbridge to Sydney. Florence, the Caern Warder is waiting for them, and she looks not entirely impressed. She leads them up to the main bar of the hotel. While the pack wait, Cossack explains the current situation to her and Herman Clark (Alex, homeland, recognition). Herman says that they'll have to talk to Scratches-at-Fleas, who isn't here at the moment. Herman suggests the pack go out for the day and come back later - perhaps they might want to visit the site of the ex-Hive. The pack have the distinct impression he wants to get rid of them for a while and given the look on some of the patrons' faces, they're not entirely unhappy with being absent for some of the day.

They wander around to King's Cross. Mathias is a bit surprised at the change - where there previously was a row of tenements and a sort of overgrown dump there is a nicely sculpted park, with a community centre, trees, playgrounds and some open gardens. Its a Sunday, and despite the inclement weather there are a fair number of kids about. The pack turn their various mystic powers on the area, and get a sense of weaver and wyld, with less wyrm than they would expect in an inner city area. The weaver appears to have been beaten back a bit, and while the wyld isn't exactly flourishing, it is well-established in the Umbra and as gardens in the Realm. They try and get a feeling for Marion - Mathias wracks his brains and remembers that Marion and Alex were with the rest of the Hand of Lore on the top floor of the Hive when things went wrong. There's no way to get there now, but the pack sit in the Umbra in the spot and try and absorb a sense of her. They don't have much luck.

Returning to the Rocks Sept a bit later, they find a quite crowded pub. The jukebox pauses briefly as they enter and everyone turns, pausing mid poker game. Not really, but the moment calls for that sort of dramatic entrance. The pack are being heavily regarded by a number of the patrons. They find Herman and Cossack, who say that Scratches-at-Fleas (or Sam Flynn) has arrived and agreed to perform the ritual. The pack are taken around the back and get to meet Scratches - he is very, very blokey, boots, faded and torn blue jeans, t-shirt and flanney. They chat for a bit and then see Cossack off. Kimu tries to implicate subtlely that he would like to know if the Rite of Recognition is permanent, and Cossack gives him a hard look. The ritual doesn't make them bonegnawers, it just gives them a sort of honourable degree in bonegnawership. When they ask what exactly it involves, Cossack says he doesn't want to spoil the surprise, but that they should keep their sense of humour. He moonbridges away and the pack return upstairs. They have a nice counter tea and try to ignore the staring from the people in the pub. Eventually last call is announced, and all the human patrons are shooed out. The door is locked and the blinds pulled.

  Herman takes charge while Scratches-at-Fleas puts his feet up nearby. He introduces the pack to those members of the Sept who don't know them and gives a brief rundown of why they are here. The ritual, he explains, involves taking on bonegnawer identities for a time, until the spirits are satisfied. Part of that new identity is new names. Thomas is called up and the floor is queried for a bonegnawer name for him. There is a fair amount of goodnatured shouting from the assembled Garou ("Batman!", "Horsefucker!") before Herman settles on Bandit (sprayed beer, pretzals). Each of the pack is got up and named: Kimu ("Spooky!", "Made in Japan!") becomes Mulder (beer, beer); Brett ("Chases-Bulldozers!") becomes Bites-at-Treads (pretzals, nuts); John ("Hogs-the-Phone!", "Inigo Montoya!") becomes L.E.D or Light Emitting Dude (yes... dude); Melissa ("Trolldoll!") ends up being Smurfette (presumably because her hair is blue). Mathias is last, and the catcalling, which has been rough humour turns a bit dark. Someone yells out "Mr Reconoitre", someone else bellows "Stupid Fuck" and similar epithets. This continues for a bit even in the view of Herman's obvious impatience with it. Scratches-at-Fleas bounces to his feet and waits for quiet. He says "I propose Moon River " singing the name. There is a bit of "nah, stupid prick!" but the Sept seems willing to accept this. Scratches-at-Fleas asks for names for the pack and a female voice up the back yells "This time for sure" to much laughing. Scratches-at-Fleas agrees and the pack is given their new name and baptised with shookup beer.

Herman says that they must now act as bonegnawers until the spirits are satisfied. Their first duty is serve drinks and mop vomit as the sept celebrates. This Time for Sure spike most of the beer with spirits, but the Ear-to-the-Ground sept doesn't seem to care.

Wednesday 26

That night, This Time for Sure are prowling about near the Rocks caern on patrol, specifically quite near the Harbour bridge. Bites-at-Treads overhears the sounds of someone being biffed, and creeps around one of the pylons to have a look. He can see a car parked with its lights on, and a few guys putting the boot in, presumably to another guy, judging by the sounds. Bites-at-Treads decides to do the sutool approach and pretends to be a jogger. The three guys standing up don't seem to notice him until he speaks from about 5 feet away, and they jump a mile. All three of them are young, and the guy on the ground looks like a homeless guy. The apparent leader of the 'youths' comes up to Bites-at-Treads (or Bites as he is also known) and starts pushing him about a bit. The rest of the pack decide that this is their cue and start running towards the action.

Bandit draws his awesome Ahroun powers together and gets into a slap fight with the leader while Bites grapples at his brave mate. The third guy makes a run for the car, but is firmly intercepted by Smurfette, who bodyslams him resulting in a fairly sickening crack as his skull hits the ground. Moon River and L.E.D. check out the homeless guy and surreptiously heal him. Moon River leads him away from the soon-to-be unpleasantness while L.E.D. repairs the head of the third assailant. Although the second alleged attacker nearly makes a run for it, brilliantly escaping from Bites and Bandit, he is intercepted by Smurfette and L.E.D. The leader is laid out with a careful use of Falling Touch.

This Time for Sure have a brief mental consultation about what to do with ... a brief search for ID... Alan and Peter, and decide to make use of the nearby resources - ie, throw them in the harbour. After cutting their clothes off them. Kersplash. In go the car keys. Kersplash. The unconscious dude is left there to be ripped off or suffer exposure or whatever. Moon River has speaks with the homeless guy, whose name is apparently Jack Oakley. Jack was just hanging about and the kids came up and started hassling him for smokes and when he wouldn't give them any (he does't smoke), they laid into him. The rest of the pack turn up and hand him Alan and Peter's money (maybe $50) and he rather squiffedly thanks them saying they were nice kids.

Friday 28

Florence finds Bandit having a beer in the caern and says that they have a problem with someone selling bad smack somewhere within their bawn. 2 people have died and 6 are in hospital. She'd like to make it go away. The pack try to subtly ask just how they should approach the problem and Florence reiterates that she wants the problem gone. She glances at Moon River and adds that they should try not to be too ostentatious about it though.

They get some names and check out the hospital. One of the young women (Angie) who has recovered has given the police a name - Molly Hitchens. The pack flip away and use Questing Stone to home in on this so called Molly. She lives in an apartment block with two other people - Monique and Derreck - although it only is a one bedroom flat. Scenting from the Umbra (hanging off the steel/Weaver frame that is all that appears of the block in the spirit realm) reveals a couple of other scents which the pack sort of identify as police. They sit and observe for a time. Apparently Derreck sleeps in the biv on the lounge floor, while Monique and Molly sleep in seperate single beds in the only bedroom. Derreck is not currently mister popular, and neither is Angie, who apparently put the police on Molly cos Molly slept with her boyfriend, and Molly knows she bought it off Roald. Examining all three reveals that only Monique shows any signs of trackmarks at all, and they don't look fresh.

The two girls get dressed up and seem to be planning to go out for the night (goth/punk/industrial). They go out for dinner (scrounging cash) and then to someone else's house with cheap drinks. More bitching about Roald and someone asks whether she's going to go to the normal club and Molly says no say - she's staying away from Sinner-G until she's sure the police aren't following her. Molly and Monique head off to a smaller club, followed by Mulder, Smurfette and Bandit while Bites, LED and Moon River go to Sinner-G to look for Roald.

  Molly and Monique rock up to what seems to be a goth pub bar. There's no door charge, but there is a dress code. Its a small place and they flit from group to group without drinking much. No one looks like police or anything, nor is there anyone stalking the place from the outside. Eventually the three of them get bored and leave.

Meanwhile back at Sinner-G, no one is having much luck closing in on a potential 'Skankster'. Several dealers have been pegged, but no one has been identified as Roald. None of Bites, LED and Moon River are really dressed for the club (industrial with goth/punk overtones) so they hang about in the Umbra and peek. When Bandit and the others arrive, they decide to see if they can accomplish more in the Realm. Mulder changes to homid and lurks in the back laneways around the place, Bandit hands someone his shirt, finds somewhere to step and walks to the front of the club. The bouncers are giving him some odd looks, so he gives Persuasion a go. After he's sold them some water front blocks in Florida and the Harbour bridge, they are keen to let him in, scars, tattoos, shirt or no. Smurfette, figuring that without ID she won't get in, steps sideways in the loo. However, while she is traversing the gauntlet, someone goes into her cubicle. LED leaps after her, but he is too slow. Smurfette appears in front of a rather startled woman with her pants around her knees and goes the subtle knee-to-the-head option, knocking the woman out, and almost breaking her nose. LED appears and Smurfette gets him to heal her while she heads out into the club before he disappears back into the Umbra.

Smurfette and Bandit circulate through the club, making new friends, and keeping ears open for the name Roald, especially checking out their known dealers. Bandit is dancing when he realises that there are two pretty young things sort of trying to get his attention and chop the other out of the loop. This keeps him well distracted for a while. Smurfette finds herself chatting to a number of black and leather clad gentlemen although they are a bit bemused by her habit of looking around intently at people passing by.

Meanwhile, Spooky Mulder is lurching around when he overhears the name "Roald" from two gentlemen who are talking rather conspiratorially in the mouth of a nearby alley. He overhears enough to think that they are going to go and look for Roald directly and score, so he mentally alerts the rest of This Time For Sure and follows them in a surreptious way. Bites-at-Treads is peeking and sees them coming up the street while Mulder points at them a lot. They are followed into the club by the Umbral adventurers until they meet a young darkhaired gentleman who appears to be Roald. They arrange the purchase while the pack argues over whether they should let it happen, or jump in in the middle or let them go home and maybe take bad smack, and so on. Eventually they decide to let the guys purchase, and then a couple of members of the pack will stop them from going far with it.

The guys make their purchase and cruise the club a bit before leaving. Bites and Moon River watch them from the Umbra while Bandit and Smurfette co-ordinate with LED to watch the Skankster schmooze in the club. Bandit is still being chased by Cathy and Meredith, and is having trouble concentrating. Roald is not having much luck, presumably because word is spreading about the people in hospital. Meanwhile, Mulder trots along in the Realm after Roald's customers who are now on the street while Bites and Moon River find somewhere to step. The two guys hail a taxi and show every sign of being about to leave. Mulder makes a run for it, and leaps into the back seat before the second guy gets a chance. The guy still outside asks him to leave and there is a brief discussion in which Mulder eventually convinces the guy to let him ride in the taxi with them in return for paying. This delay has allowed Moon River and Bites to step into the Realm. They approach the taxi with the intent to pretend to be police while Moon River uses Persuasion to make it easier to convince them.

Frankly, they'd be prepared to believe he was the pope. He and Bites get the two guys out of the taxi and the taxi driver zooms off, not wanting to be part of the fun. Mulder fades into the background while Bites and Moon River chat to the two guys. They seem to be keen to maintain plausible denial, but Bites runs over the details of what they bought and from who and from where and there are two dead people from taking Roald's product and that if the two gentlemen were to cooperate then the two ersatz policemen might forget they ever saw them. Three small baggies are dropped on the ground and the two guys leave quickly. Bites scoops them up and once he isn't being watched, emties them down a drain. Back to the club

Roald eventually gets jack of being snubbed and leaves in a bad mood. The pack follow in the Umbra and Realm. Roald goes to a car parked nearby and drives off while the pack sort of uncoordinatedly try and catch up with him or sabotague his car. Eventually its left to Bandit to use his magic and gallop along 100metres of street in about 5 seconds, leap onto Roald's roof and skid down onto the bonnet, causing Roald to lose control of certain sphincters. Bandit, who is in lupus form, leans in close and breathes heavily on the windscreen. Roald tries to knock him off by stop-starting and then get rid of him by banging on the window by a club lock (give him a break, he's not thinking clearly). In the meantime, Mulder, who is in lupus form, rolls out from between two cars and stabs the back rear tire, causing it to lose pressure pretty quickly. Bandit runs away, much to Roald's relief. Roald then starts to drive off, but finds that he has a flat, and pulls over. Bites starts walking down the road to wear he will be stopping. Roald gets out, checks for the psycho dog, looks at his back tire and screams "fuck!". He opens the boot and takes out a jack, starting to jack the car up. Bites walks past and says "Need a hand mate?". Roald nearly snaps at him, but gets control at the last second, and says "No, thanks." and turns back to the jack. Bites takes a page out of the book of Smurfette and smacks his knee into Roald's head. Roald headbutts the panel of his car and passes out. The pack lob him into the boot and drive it away.

Saturday 29

   The pack drive Roald's car out of the city for about an hour or so, into prime backpacker country. Finding an out of the way truckstop, they pull over and check Roald, who is still out cold. He is dragged out of the car, hooded with the upholstery from the backseat and tied to the tree with seat belts. Despite cries from Bites to put his hand in a bowl of warm urine, the pack just throw cold water on him until he wakes up. Roald too. Roald comes around and just says "mrgph mumm. Oh fuck". Moon River asks some pertainent questions, and despite some initial reluctance from Roald, they find out that he gets his drugs from a guy called Hilary Purcell, and that Hilary has been a primo source for ages, and that Roald can't figure out why they are suddenly putting people in hospital and please don't kill him. He doesn't know where Hilary lives - Hilary normally calls him. Despite some chants of "drop him in the harbour" from Bites, they leave him tied up in the back seat of his car, with the headlights on highbeam. Does the Garou's evil know no bounds.

Running away a distance and then Questing Stoning for Hilary eventually leads them to a poshy looking house in a nice neighbourhood. They scope the place from the Umbra, finding one guy asleep upstairs (presumably Hilary) and no one else in the house, although there is some evidence of a woman having been here a while ago. Nice BMW in the garage, good alarm system, plush carpets, generally a flash looking place. Moon River uses his eerie powers to get a sense of what Hilary could be dreaming about. Hilary's dreams seem to be centred around a long fight with a woman. None of the conversation is intelligable, but the argument is fairly heated and they move around the house while its happening. Moon River exerts himself and makes an image of Roald appear in the lounge room, watching tv, and the new element is incorporated into the dream in a way that says Hilary knows Roald, but that he isn't relevant to the current situation. Moon River comes out of his trance and people chat. Bandit is all for stepping out now and asking questions, but the others want to sit and watch. Eventually they convince him.

Hilary gets up around 8.30am, makes some coffee and bagels, gets the paper, sits and eats while reading, has a shower, etc. About 10am he goes to the laundry and gets a set of very sensitive scales. He goes to another room and opens a safe up (the Garou watch the combination carefully), getting out a sandwich size package of what does indeed seem to be heroin (leaving a number of large stacks of used notes). Both items are placed on the table in the kitchen, and then Hilary gets some Omo and Draino from the laundry. Feeling that they have maybe found the source of the problem, the pack leap into the Realm. Bandit grabs one arm and Bites-at-Treads the other, and they cram Hilary's face into the table, incidentally kicking the smack everywhere. The others make it through the Gauntlet and Hilary is questioned. He seems to believe that they are just thug-friends of that bitch Amanda, and that they are only here to terrorise him, not really do anything. This Time For Sure are giving some thought to torturing him, but he breaks one arm free for a second or two. Bandit, who still has a good grip flips the guy up and onto the ground quite solidly, and Bites stamps on his arm. Hilary can now see the 7'6'' faintly furry glabro that is Bites-at-Treads and looses his nerve in a big way, babbling about Amanda leaving him and stealing a lot of cash and how he was trying to kill her by spiking the drugs from people she would buy off and much other gibbering. Feeling that Hilary is a bit of a prick, and the source of the problem, This Time for Sure make a quick call back to the Sept and check that they don't want Hilary. LED gets Nancy (one of the pack leaders) on the phone and she doesn't want him, so Bites-at-Treads pulls out the fae sword and stabs Hilary in the heart once.

This Time for Sure grab the cash and unlock the back door, making it look like some sort of robbery and then make themselves scarce. They report back to Florence that everything has been wrapped up and she seems fairly happy with their work.

The day passes fairly normally. Towards evening, Herman comes and finds Bandit, and tells him that he'd like the pack to meet some kinfolk at this address. Bandit gets everyone together, but Moon River pikes and says he has things to do. Herman says he wants to speak to Moon River anyway, and waves goodbye to the rest of the pack. After a bit of a trip north, they come to a sort of Surf/Boat club which seems to be the address in question. Lots of cars parked out the front, but not much noise from inside. The pack head up the stairs and go inside. Somehow Brett ends up being the first one inside and as he goes in a whole load of people yell "Happy Birthday!". The room is full of people, including both parents, some family, old friends from school and so on. Brett twitches a lot but doesn't Frenzy (thank goodness for Theurge moons).

Flashback, Wednesday 26
LED, Smurfette and Bites are in an inner city part of Sydney, doing their thing. Bites heads off to do something, and a short, middleaged woman comes up to the other two and introduces herself as Marjorie Mitcham, Brett's mother. John goes into full suspicious mode and uses Truth of Gaia but the woman checks out. She says that they haven't seen Brett for ages, and they'd like to throw him a party for all his old friends and family. She offers them some lunch while they talk about it, and they all go back to the Mitcham's shop, which is a sort of retail hippy store for rich hippies. They meet Brett's dad too, Daniel, who seems a nice guy. After a brief mental conversation with Bandit, they agree to have Brett at a certain address on the Saturday night.

Marjorie and Daniel make a big fuss over Brett and there are very attentative. This Time for Sure are fairly smirk intensive. Smurfette is chatting with Marjorie and says something about his mum being nice, and not understanding his problem. Bites says fine, he'll swap with her happily. Smurfette puts her food down and excuses herself from the conversation, and heads outside, followed by Bandit. She heads down to the beach as Bites mentally realises that he might have gone a bit far. Bandit and her speak for a bit and then Bandit back inside, where Brett is being asked for the 10th time what he's been up to recently. LED goes outside to ring Marnie.

Much partying of the family sort - food, alcohol, inane questions, ex-girlfriends - later, Daniel rings his glass and gets everyone's attention. He makes a short speech, thanking everyone for coming and for Brett's friend's help - pointing at the pack - in organising the night (Brett mentally grinds out "you all have to sleep sometime"). Marjorie does the same and then asks for a few words from Brett who basically manages "Well, it was certainly a surprise. Its been so long since I've seen you all. Thanks for coming". Marjorie and Daniel have presents for Brett, some of them from Christmas, mostly socks, and useless bits and pieces. Marjorie also says that she has something in the car for him from his Great Uncle who passed away earlier this year. Bites suggests getting it now and gets the keys from Bandit. on the way out to the car, Marjorie says that Uncle George had been asking about Brett last Christmas and was keen to meet him, but he unfortunately passed away last February. They get to the car and there are a couple of boxes of what seem like diaries. Bites is suspicious and uses Sense Unnatural to try and get an idea for what is up, and there is a lingering, hard to quantify sense there - neither wyrm nor gaia nor garou nor mage nor thing of the earth, nor velvet underwear nor a bus to Highgate. He drops them in the car and they head back inside.

Smurfette says she'll see them back at the caern and heads off on foot while the party continues. Things wind down at about 11.30 without any deaths, and the pack head back to sit with their backs against the wall while Brett repeatedly runs a sharpening stone along Mr Pointy... or just sleep.