In which the True Seekers take form,but the Storyteller persists anyway. Rainbow Inc and a challenge that ends an unusual discovery.
Pack sent on Rite of Passage, to find a totem spirit. Use a fetish to track it through the Umbra. Track leads to Weaver spirits binding up a tree spirit. Weaver spirits get ripped to bits. Track leads to Tullamarine, where corrupted computer spirits are stuffing the system. Follow corruption back to its source. Lachlan and Vilna break down locked door and run into cafeteria. General pandemonium ensues. Go back into the Umbra. A large bane is plugged into the computer. The pack attack. Lachlan cunningly bites the bane and gets 20 000 volts for his troubles. Regardless, the bane is scragged. Pick up trail again, which leads to open sewer in Glenroy/Broadmeadows area. Sewer has been used for dumping chemicals. In the Umbra a large Wyld spirit is absorbing toxic banes from the sludge, and growing steadily larger. Much earnest pack discussion about what to do. Everyone wades in and kills banes. Lachlan (again) cunningly hits the Wyld spirit. The Wyld spirit returns the favour, and telescopes Lachlan's spine. As Lachlan swallows sludge, Kanau (the Wedge-Tailed Eagle spirit and the pack's totem-to-be) flies down and drags him out of there. The other banes are minced in short order. The pack with their new totem return to the Caern. Much celebrating follows. As the pack sleeps later on, they all dream of scary stuff. Flying along, they descend through clouds over a landscape of vast metal towers, twisted walkways and stairs, and machines belching fumes and smoke. Banes swarm all over the structure. They then flew over a garden filled with people being tortured, and an evil forest of giant trees. The pack followed a black river to a giant fountain that spewed high in the air. They passed over a strip mine that surrounded a toxic lake. Finally, the pack flew towards a great Gothic cathedral. The doors swung open revealing darkness inside. As they flew towards it, they woke up. Spooky!
Pack gets together and compares notes on dreams. They talk to Cossack and Emma Teesdale about it. Emma says she will get back to them. The pack mentions the dumping site. Cossack tells them to raise it at the Moot.
The Moot. The Opening Howl and the summoning of the Caern totem, Chimera. Then general admin stuff. The pack chooses a pack leader in Lisa because no-one else wanted the job. The pack tells of the dream and the dumping site. Emma Teesdale says that the dream is probably of Malfeas, a realm in the Deep Umbra where the Wyrm marshals its forces. The pack takes the news well. The pack (they still haven't got a pack name yet) is told to investigate the toxic dumping. Kirsty Surfs-The-Train complains about vivisection and animal experimentation at the Uni. Cossack says that unless Wyrm corruption is discovered, then nothing will be done to prevent the practice. Aquinas Scales-In-Balance reports an increase in Wyrm-tainted drugs on campus. Nadine Holloway reports of break-ins at the zoo for reasons unknown. Emma Teesdale spots some people in the cemetery and sends the pack to investigate. The pack scares the bejesus out of some drunk uni students. They receive surprisingly little Glory for this. The Hand of Lore pack is praised for clearing a Weaver infestation from the Botanic Gardens. Many songs are sung and stories told of heroes and deeds both past and present. Lachlan tells the story of the Rite of Passage (no really, there were twenty of them and they were this big!). Then the Revel begins. The pack mutilate a Weaver spirit, find some students taking Wyrm-tainted drugs and traumatise an innocent car thief.
Having borrowed some environment suits, they try to find any names or logos on the barrels in the sewer. No luck. They also take samples back to find out what it's used for. Aquinas tests it and says that it's a concentrated form of chemical by-product resulting from the manufacture of plastics. The pack (still nameless) stake out the dump site in the Umbra on a rotating 24 hour watch schedule. The pack catches up on their reading.
Around five in the morning a suspicious tanker drives up. Whichever of the pack members were there beat the flummery out of the two hapless cogs. They work for Joe Ridgeway, of the Ridgeway Trucking company, but they're just doing the job for a little extra money. The pack leaves them and the truck with the sept, then goes and visits Mr Ridgeway. The pack decides to use subtlety and attempts to trick Joe into revealing that he dumps toxic waste. When this fails, they kick him around the office some, then drag him out to the car and drive to the dump site. Joe, who is not ideologically committed or anything, decides to change sides. He says that he receives a phone call, whereupon he takes a tanker to an empty warehouse near his business. Once there, another tanker fills his tanker and he gets a wad of cash. The pack suggests that the next time he gets such a call, he should then give the pack a call and tell them. Because Joe does not have an entirely honest face, they keep a 24 rotating watch on Joe, just in case.
Joe gets the phone call, and like a good boy he rings the pack. The pack follow him from his depot to the warehouse, where another truck turns up. Joe is given a thick envelope by a guy in a suit. The pack decides to climb all over the other truck. Much climbing of trucks ensues as the pack tries to remain hidden while in Crinos form (gee Stan, did you just see a 9 foot tall furry chainsaw?). The truck drives to an industrial plant called Rainbow Inc. Two guys clean out the truck in the loading bay while the suit goes to talk to the Managing Director, Mr David Struthers. The pack hangs around until everybody has left except Struthers, who is hard at work. The pack decides to wait until he leaves, owing to the very high Gauntlet in the plant. However, instead of leaving, Struthers wanders around the plant touching everything, and corruption spreads from his fingers to cover the machines, the air conditioner and the vending machines. The pack is fairly sure they have the guy they want. Using the computer, the pack finds that Rainbow Inc's head office is in Frankfurt, run by a Herman Gottlieb. Now to get Struthers outside. Calvin kicks Struthers' Merc until the alarm goes off. Struthers calls the cops, who look around, but don't find anything.
The pack decides "bugger this" and attacks from all sides. The cops lose their guns and their trousers, and get thrown aside. They run. Struthers gets diced on the front door step. His body begins to collapse in on itself. Everyone with danger sense starts feeling slightly insecure. Looking into the Umbra, they see a giant bloated sack of noisome fluid criss-crossed with pulsing veins. It moves about on numerous jagged and spindly insect-like legs. The pack runs like hell. After regrouping and a pep talk, they go back and beat the bane up a lot. The pack reports back: mission accomplished.
The pack runs into the Steel Hunters pack, who are amused by the packs' lack of name. Much boasting and exaggeration by both packs. The Steel Hunters challenge the pack to find a fetish in Melbourne Museum that their sept leader dreamt of. They accept, and the museum is ransacked for the golden crescent moon. The pack finds it first, but it isn't a fetish. The Steel Hunters are taking it back when a bane steals it. Much running around trying to catch it, which someone finally does. Everyone troops to the Sept of Hidden Green and meets the sept leader Felix Bertrand. Much explaining. Cossack and Christine Elliot turn up and take the pack away. They are reprimanded for frivolously getting involved in another sept's business. However, the challenge still stands and it's agreed that the two packs should race to find the fetish tomorrow night. The pack, now called the True Seekers (finally, a name) is told to keep tabs on the Rainbow Inc plant for further Wyrm stuff. Lisa is approached by Kirsty Surfs-The-Train and asked to support Kirsty's anti animal experimentation stance at the next moot. Lisa says "I must talk to my pack".
Ends-The-Quiet has identified the fetish as Phoebe's Veil (probably). The two packs meet at the museum again. The Steel Hunters run in. The True Seekers use Questing Stone. The fetish is in Hawthorn. Eventually pin point a single house. Man and woman inside, man packing stuff in crates, woman leaves. The house is searched, no sign of the fetish. What the hell, six werewolves in Glabro form interrogate the guy, Arthur Thackery. He gave the fetish to his girl-friend, Susan Rider. She's at a party in Glen Waverley. True Seekers drive to Glen Waverley and locate Susan and the fetish. Cunning plan, ring Susan and say Arty is in the hospital. Despite the GM being a bastard, she comes outside. Calvin grabs the fetish from behind and Umbralises. They head back to the Caern. On the freeway three gargoyle things attack the cars. Interesting battle commences, with minimal damage to vehicles and some great high jumping by Lachlan. The battle is over so fast that no-one else sees a thing. Serious combat rule revision seems required. Return to Sept of Hidden Green and wait for Steel Hunters for a bit of gloating. Steel Hunters found that Thackery was dealing with a museum curator, replacing artifacts with copies then selling the genuines to collectors. Go back to sept and tell of stuff. Emma and Ends-The-Quiet say the gargoyles were Demons, which suggests there are mages around. They know little of such things. The pack is told to travel to other septs to warn them and to see if anyone knows about such things.