During which the True Seekers blunder through a sept, freak geologists, meet Gaia and discover great secrets of the Garou, and have one hell of a New Years Eve.
People continue with their lives. Lachlan returns home during the day to discover that Huros is sitting in his living room. Huros is seems perfectly calm and wishes to know every detail about what the True Seekers were doing. As Lachlan wisely spills his guts, he lets the rest of the True Seekers know what is happening.
When Lachlan has finished, he asks Huros if he wouldn't care to tell him why he killed Hans. Huros says no. Huros suggests that it might be...better...for everyone if the whole incident was not mentioned again. Lachlan thinks this is a fine idea. Huros leaves.
Naomi came running through the umbra from the Cemetery as soon as Lachlan alerted them. As she is running, she sees Huros up ahead, coming in her general direction. He has not apparently seen her, and she diverts way, way around him in order to...er...get to Lachlan faster. She arrives at Lachlan's place to find him surprisingly in one piece. He tells her what Huros said.
In the evening, Glenn is having dinner with Gabrielle in St Kilda. They are sitting out in the street in front of one of the cafes when Gabrielle asks "A friend of yours?". As Glenn is turning around he is clobbered with a chair, wielded by an angry Kathryn Bess, a Black Fury from Grinding Stone. Glenn is up and running with the chair-wielding Kathryn in pursuit. As he runs, he alerts the rest of the True Seekers to his plight. Fortunately, Steve is in the Prince of Wales, so may be in time to call the ambulance. The rest are a bit far away, but head down anyway. Glenn sprints across the Fitzroy St/Esplanade/Jacka Boulevard intersection, heading for the beach. He leaps the small stone wall and ducks down, as Kathryn leaps over the top of him. As he yells at her, she swings the chair at him. Although she is obviously pissed off, she is not frenzying. Eventually, she manages to get a solid hit in and Glenn collapses in the sand. As he does, Gabrielle leaps over and lands on Kathryn. Glenn manages to pull himself together enough to get up, and he grabs Gabrielle and drags her off Kathryn. Using Staredown, he forces Kathryn to back off, and says that if she has something she wants to say, to see him at the Cemetery later. Kathryn storms off down the beach.
Vilna en route to St Kilda gets a phone call from Graeme. He has been contacted by Grinding Stone who said Kathryn Bess, one of the Black Furies, is in Melbourne. She is apparently pissed off with what happened to Jana, and they should be on the look-out. Vilna thanks him for the belated warning.
Steve has caught up with Glenn on the beach. Glenn excuses himself to Gabrielle, then they get in Steve's car and drive off. The True Seekers assemble back at the Cemetery, where everyone is brought up to date. They have been waiting for a while when Chris McNeil comes up. He says that Kathryn Bess is waiting by the gate and she wants to speak with Naomi. Naomi goes off for while. When she comes back, she says that Kathryn wanted to apologise for what happened, that she knows that the True Seekers didn't cause Jana to leave.
The True Seekers Moon Bridge out to the St Mary Peak Caern to talk with Carla. They arrive and are taken to see Carla. Carla asks if they learned why Huros killed Hans. They tell her what they learned, but that they were unable to discover for sure why Hans was killed. Carla doesn't seem to be too concerned, and says that she feels that the pack's efforts have been most useful. Under the circumstances, she has no problem with accepting the True Seekers as the mediators between the Get and the Red Talons.
Now all they have to do is approach the Red Talons and get them to agree. Carla says that Mamu's sept, the Shattered Wheel sept, is at a Caern somewhere south east of the town of Boulia in western Queensland. No moon bridges go to Red Talon Caerns, and they don't allow outsiders near their Caerns anyway. The pack will have to travel in a more mundane fashion. If they drive to Boulia, they can leg it from there, which might take a few days, particularly since Steve has to stay in homid form. Carla offers to lend them a land rover.
The True Seekers set off, driving north. They drive all day, arriving in Boulia after dark. They spend the night at a hotel.
First thing in the morning the True Seekers head out. They decide to travel through the umbra, which is a rain forest, rather than across the rather more arid real-world terrain. They are able to move relatively quickly, and as they go they let out the occasional howl, to let the Red Talons know they're coming.
They walk all day until it gets dark, then stop for the night.
The next morning they head off again through the rain forest. Around midday, they find that one of their howls is answered by a distant howl. They move towards the call, howling as they go. They also go over basic Red Talon etiquette (be succinct and to the point).
Soon they see the other pack ahead of them. The two packs approach each other. The Red Talons move forward and sniff the True Seekers over, then back off. A she-wolf steps forward and introduces herself as First-To-Bleed, pack leader of Far Waters. After the introductions have been taken care of, First-To-Bleed asks what they want. Lachlan says that they wish to see Mamu on important business. First-To-Bleed says that they are to follow.
The two packs run through the trees, with Steve trailing a bit. After a time, First-To-Bleed tells them to wait. The rest of Far Waters stays with the True Seekers as First-To-Bleed runs off. As they wait, people make a few attempts at small talk ("Nice trees you have") before giving it up. After a few hours, First-To-Bleed returns with Mamu and another Garou. Mamu introduces the other Garou as Follows-The-Rains, Master of the Rite of the Shattered Wheel sept. Mamu wants to know what the pack wants. Being VERY succinct, Lachlan explains that they seek to end the dispute over the contested Caern, that they offer to mediate between the Red Talons and the Get of Fenris on this matter, that the Get of Fenris have already accepted.
At this point, another Garou comes limping through the trees. Mamu turns and says that he did not give permission for the other Garou to follow. The other Garou says that if these are the ones that Mamu was talking about, then perhaps he should try. Mamu takes to limping Garou to one side. They begin talking, Mamu demanding and angry, the other submissive but insistent. Mamu becomes angrier as the other Garou becomes even more submissive but just as insistent. Follows-The-Rain moves over, seeming uneasy, and attempts to calm Mamu. Eventually, when it seems that Mamu is about to rip the other Garou's throat out, he snorts and angrily turns away with a dismissive gesture. He walks a short distance away and sits with his back to everyone.
The crippled Garou limps over to the True Seekers and introduces himself as Crookpaw; a metis, ragabash Red Talon. He is not a member of the Shattered Wheel sept, or indeed of any Australian sept. He wanders the world, traveling to all the septs he can, and attempts to help other tribes understand the Red Talons. The Red Talons are not ones for explanation and argument, and do not defend themselves to the other tribes. Crookpaw tries to give voice to those who won't speak up on the own behalf.
Crookpaw says that he has been in Australia only a short time, but he has heard much about the situation and about the Red Talons. He asks Lachlan if he would perhaps tell the story of the death of the Bunyip. Lachlan, never one to turn down the chance to be the centre of attention, clears his throat and begins.
As Lachlan tells the story (for details, see Rage Across Australia) he is interrupted at various points by Crookpaw, who questions the truth of the tale. He questions Wyrmbaiter's psychotic rage and desire for revenge, which is not the Red Talon way. Not even against the humans do the Red Talons want revenge, which is a human concept. They want to cleanse the humans away. He questions Wyrmbaiter's motive, the death of his sister. The Red Talons seek to be as lupus as possible, which involves the loss of the self in the pack, which makes Wyrmbaiter's personal fixation un-Red Talonesque. He questions Wyrmbaiter's identity. In the story Wyrmbaiter is armed with a klaive, which Crookpaw claims is the first time he has ever heard of a Red Talon using a klaive.
Crookpaw admits that Red Talon are not as like lupus as they would like, and that perhaps Wyrmbaiter was less than an ideal example of his tribe. But what is not often stressed is the spiritual chaos that raged across the umbra during the time of the War of Tears. The stories of the Garou are verifiable by contact with the spirits of the time, but the spiritual chaos has prevented any clear picture of what happened, except the memory of the Garou. So perhaps where Wyrmbaiter in the story possessed a klaive, he may have been confused with another Garou.
However, Crookpaw says that he is not claiming that the story is false, but that it is not the whole story, and that perhaps it is the story as told by the other tribes that lays the blame for the death of the Bunyip primarily on the shoulders of the Red Talons, who will not argue in their own defence and do not share their stories with the other tribes.
Crookpaw tells the Red Talon story: about how they entered the outback but were resisted by the Bunyip; about how they knew that the humans and the other Garou would come as they had in the Pure Lands. In the Pure Lands, the Red Talons had fought on all sides, some with the European Garou, some with the Wendigo and Uktena, even if those tribes scorned the Red Talons, and some simply for the health of the land and the health of the Caerns. In particular, they fought for the Caerns of the Croatan, recognising that they themselves were invaders, but that the Caerns of the Croatan would need to be defended and protected for the possible return of the Croatan. The Red Talons believe that the War of Tears was initiated by a Red Talon called Wyrmbaiter, and the Red Talons fought through the war. But Crookpaw claims that much of their fighting was directed to saving the Bunyip Caerns. If the other tribes had fought alone in the war, what guarantee was there that they would give the Caerns back when the war was over? The Red Talons fought the Bunyip in order to save their Caerns, so that one day, they might return the Caerns to the Bunyip. Of course, the war ended with the extinction of the Bunyip, but the Red Talons remain and protect the Caerns and the land, for the day that the Bunyip return.
Crookpaw finishes with one last point. Up until the War of Tears, the Bunyip had been elusive, almost invisible. It was almost impossible to find one, and they could always disappear again. This was why the tribes had been so frustrated in their attempts to communicate with the Bunyip. Yet, once the war began, it took no more than a year for every last Bunyip to be tracked down and destroyed. So how was it that a tribe that had been as elusive as smoke for decades could be so easily hunted down and destroyed in a single year?
Crookpaw says goodbye and limps away. Meanwhile, Mamu and Follows-The-Rains have been discussing. As Crookpaw leaves, Mamu approaches the True Seekers and says that he is prepared to consider allowing them to mediate between the Talons and the Get. Not surprisingly, he demands that they undergo a test first, to demonstrate their worthiness and sympathy to the causes of the Red Talon. He says that they are to go with Far Waters.
The True Seekers and Far Waters head off through the trees again. After travelling for a few hours, they stop. Peeking into the real world, they find that they are looking at a large tent in the middle of the desert. The tent contains tables laden with scientific equipment, as well as three men. A hundred metres or so away is a large truck. Another three men by the truck are setting up some sort of scaffolding. First-To-Bleed says that Mamu wants the men gone, and he doesn't want them or anyone like them coming back. Far Waters move away, allowing the True Seekers some privacy to do what they want.
Assessing the situation from the umbra, it seems that the men are a survey group from a mining company, looking for copper or iron ore (or anything else, for that matter). They have been moving around the area, stopping at various points and doing preliminary tests of the surface. It seems that this is the first place where they have felt that surface conditions are favourable enough to warrant attaining a core sample. The scaffolding they are setting up mounts the drill to dig down far enough to take the core sample.
The True Seekers decide that if the men find nothing of value, then they won't return (a more subtle plan than their usual effort of scaring the piss out of everyone). They decide that they can achieve this by convincing them that whatever core they recover is actually worthless, and then by replacing the core with another one which is really worthless. Replacing the core will be necessary as the team will certainly take the core sample back with them, and if it is checked out again in the future, it must be demonstrably worthless.
In order to delay matters and give the pack time to do their thing, Steve causes a small Control Simple Machine style "accident" with the drill. As the hose flies off, spraying oil over everything, the survey team run everywhere, trying to get it all back under control. It all sets them back a few hours, which certainly means that the True Seekers have until morning before the core sample is attained.
After dark, the survey team set up their tents and go to sleep. Vilna and Steve step sideways into the operations tent for a closer look. They manage to pin-point a location that the team has previously determined to be worthless. A core sample from that site should be worthless, so Naomi runs off to the site. Vilna begins summoning spirits of deception and binding them one by one into the members of the survey team. Each spirit is instructed to convince their "host" that are seeing nothing of interest in either the core sample or in any readings they take from it.
Naomi arrives at the right spot and begins the rite. Hours later, she summons a powerful earth elemental, Gortak, and requests that he help her in tricking the forces of the Wyrm. Gortak, a giant lizard-like being of earth and stone with a green gem in his forehead, agrees. He materialises in the real world and then sinks into the earth.
Back at the survey team, Vilna is doing well. He has successfully bound four spirits into four of the six men. He debates whether he should try for a fifth, decides "why the hell not", and summons a fifth spirit. However, the binding does not go quite according to plan. Low on gnosis, Vilna jigs left when he should have jagged right. The spirit is pulled into Vilna, and the world is suddenly a very different place. Vilna suddenly finds himself in the real world, at risk of breaching the Veil. So he steps sideways. The rest of the True Seekers are dismayed when Vilna steps sideways - straight into a small tent occupied by two sleeping men. As Vilna's claustrophobia begins to kick in, Lachlan steps sideways into the real world, but outside the tent, while Glenn steps straight into the rather restful Gauntlet. Lachlan rips the tent upon, grabs Vilna and pulls him out. Vilna starts running off into the desert, while various rudely awoken men scramble out of their tents. Lachlan steps back into the umbra while Vilna disappears over the dunes.
When the rest of the True Seekers catch up with Vilna, he is having a hearty meal of sand. A moment of lucidity enables Vilna to get back into the umbra, where he starts chasing his overcoat, which is trying to get away. The others leap onto Vilna and sit on him for a while, while a Rite of Cleansing is performed to get the offending spirit out of him. Fairly soon Vilna is all right again. However, it is only about an hour until dawn. Heading back to the geologist's camp and peeking into the real world, it doesn't look likely that the team is going to head back to bed for a bit of extra kip. They seem to be keen on getting an early start to the day. Still, at least the four eldest, and therefore probably the most senior, have been bound.
Far away, Naomi is rewarded for her efforts by the sight of a long stone-and-earth plug exuding from the ground. It is almost ten metres long and breaks off as it comes up. Unfortunately, since it is made from mundane matter, it is going to have to be dedicated to get it through the umbra. Others join Naomi in dedicating the bits of the core sample, and then carry it back through the umbra to the camp site.
Meanwhile, the geologists have finished the final details on the drill and begin work. This is a process that is likely to take several hours, so most of the True Seekers catch up on their sleep.
By early afternoon, the geologists have extracted a core sample. The two younger geologists are quite excited by the large band of red iron oxide running right through the sample, and can't understand why the others in their team are insisting that the sample is worthless. Just as the two young geologists are thinking that they're stuck in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the True Seekers decide that now might be a good time to distract them.
Naomi runs a short distance away and steps into the real world, hidden from the geologists by a low rise. Once there she lets out a loud and convincing scream, then steps back into the umbra. As the geologists run off in the direction of the scream, it suddenly occurs to the rest of the pack that now might be a good time to swap the core samples. Lachlan, Glenn and Vilna go the Crinos, grab up the pieces of the fake core sample and step sideways. When they arrive in the real world they grab up the pieces of the real core sample and start throwing them over a nearby rise. Once the real sample has been tossed, the fake sample is layed down. They then run over the rise and kick sand and rock over the real sample. Then they step sideways. The geologists eventually return, having found nothing. The young geologists are definitely shaken by the remarkable change in the core sample, from bright red to a dull grey-brown. The older geologists assure them that it was only dust that made them think it was red, and that perhaps they're working too hard, and the stress of the incident last night might make anyone see anything, etc, etc.
So while the others spend the rest of the afternoon disassembling the drill, the head geologist does some preliminary tests on the core sample. Not surprisingly, he records in his notes a total absence of any kind of interesting minerals.
By the time the geologists have packed up, it is evening, so they decide to camp the night, and then check the remaining sites tomorrow. If none of those sites gives any promising indications, they should be finished by the end of the day. That night, none of the geologists seem in a particular hurry to get to bed. Still, eventually they hit the sack. The True Seekers decide to bind spirits into the remaining geologists, just so that no-one sees any promising signs requiring further investigation when they check out the sites tomorrow. This time, it all goes without a hitch and the last to geologists are brought into the fold.
First thing in the morning, the geologists break camp and set out in the land rover and the truck. In the umbra, the True Seekers lope along with them (apart from Steve, who is jogging along a fair way back). As to the plan, it is a long but uneventful day. At each site, the entire team concurs that there is no need for any further tests, as it is obviously devoid of interesting minerals.
By the end of the day, the team has concluded it's survey. As it is a fair drive back to the nearest town, they plan to camp out for one more night. The True Seekers decide that since they've achieved what they need, they might as well remove the spirits from the team, as it might avoid some strange occurrences later on. In the early hours of the morning, the pack step into the real world and begin a Rite of Cleansing. They move around the camp site at a great enough distance that they won't disturb the team. However, the end of the rite does involve a loud howl. So, at the end, an eerie howl rolls across the desert, waking the geologists. After a quick conference, the team decide that they're not all that tired and that they might as well make an early start. So they rip the tents out of the ground, throw them into the back of the land rover and drive away in a great hurry.
The True Seekers make their way back through the umbra, ooking and howling out for Far Waters. Eventually they meet up, and tell them that they have succeeded. First-To-Bleed runs off to fetch Mamu. Everyone sits around for a few hours before she returns with Mamu. Lachlan claims that they achieved the task, and gives the details.
Mamu agrees that the test has been achieved and accepts the True Seekers to mediate between the Red Talons and the Get of Fenris. He says that all will meet at the contested Caern in three days time (Tuesday 10th). The True Seekers head back towards Boulia. In order to make it in time, they're not going to get much sleep in the next few days. They all walk and lope (or jog) along. When it gets dark, they keep on going.
Naomi has been leading the pack in the right direction, and just before dawn, they see the glow of Boulia's lights on the horizon. By early morning, they find the land rover that they drove a short way out of town before taking to the umbra. They drive back into Boulia, fill up the tank and drive south. They take it in turns driving, with the others asleep. It is dark again when they reach the St Mary Peak Caern. They speak with Carla and tell her all the details. Carla tells them that there have been interesting goings on in their absence. Huros has left Grinding Stone sept. Apparently, the Black Furies were on the verge of leaving en masse. Commands-The-Waters confronted Huros, and while it didn't come to blows, she insisted that he should leave. Carla doesn't know where Huros is now. The True Seekers resign themselves to looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives. They suggest that they should go to the contested Caern early. Carla gives them a token to show to the Get of Fenris guarding the Caern, to show the truth of what they say. In the meantime, the True Seekers fall unconscious for a while.
In the morning the True Seekers drive north again. In the early afternoon, they get close to the Caern, so they leave the land rover and proceed on foot in the real world (as the umbra is a swamp here). They first encounter the Red Talons, Head Harvest. Flies-Like-A-Stone says that they have been informed about what is happening, and have expected the True Seekers. However, they look a bit nonplussed and uncertain when they are told that the True Seekers are going to go to the Caern to contact the Caern totem. The True Seekers move past them, but meet up with the Get of Fenris, Raging Storm. They present Miles Korrin with the token Carla gave them. However, when they say they are going to access the Caern, Miles says that it's the first that he's heard about it, and that he has no reason to let them. Naomi says that the True Seekers have been chosen to negotiate between the Get and the Talons, and that they will do this as they see fit. Miles says that he doesn't see Carla or Mamu here, and that negotiations have not yet begun, and that they are not accessing the Caern unless he has been told that they can. He seem to be defying them to challenge him, but after some silent discussion, the True Seekers decide to wait. They move away and settle down until the next day.
Soon after dawn, Carla arrives with Alison Nedinis, the Master of the Rite from the Defiance-To-The-Wyrm sept, and a pack of Get. A short time later, Mamu, Follows-The-Rain and Crookpaw turn up, along with Far Waters.
After a few initial formalities, the True Seekers ask each side to present their case. Carla says that the Caern lies with the Flinders Protectorate, the boundaries of which were decided upon by a majority of the Jindabyne Council. That fact that prior to that it had briefly been in Red Talon claws was unfortunate, but that all the tribes had had to make sacrifices when the Protectorates were outlined. Crookpaw then speaks for the Red Talons. He says that the original Protectorate boundary had placed the Caern in Red Talon territory, and it was only later pressure applied by the Get of Fenris that had resulted in the boundary shifting. He also says that the Red Talons are the only true heirs to the legacy of the Bunyip, and are holding the Caern until such time as it can be returned to the Bunyip.
After this, negotiations get under way. The obvious first solution is some sort of co-operative effort. This is met with little enthusiasm by either side, given the risk of either group taking the Caern entirely. Also dividing the offices among the two groups would be...interesting. The suggestion that the offices could be filled by Garou from other tribes is also not a big hit.
Discussion continues throughout the day. After a few hours, since Crookpaw is speaking for the Red Talons, Mamu leaves the discussion. Soon after, Carla turns negotiation over to Alison and also moves away. This is probably not a good sign.
By the end of the day, nothing much has been accomplished. The two sides separate and settle down for the night, with the True Seekers between them. After a few hours, Carla comes over to the True Seekers. So that the Red Talons don't think that deals are being made, Naomi moves over to the Red Talons to tell them that Carla has come over for a chat. Crookpaw says to her that he will come over later for a talk.
Carla points out that the Red Talon's claim to be holding the Caern for an extinct tribe is a hollow one. She reiterates the aid she offered to the True Seekers (access to the Caern, support on the Jindabyne Council, aid in fighting the Black Spiral Dancers in Melbourne). Carla says that while she would not object to non-Get being part of any sept for the Caern, she would have to rule on who she would find acceptable to be a sept member in a Get sept within her Protectorate. After chatting for a while, she leaves. Naomi comes back, and soon after Crookpaw comes over. He asks the True Seekers if they have thought about what he has said, not just today but also the first time they met. Crookpaw says that in his estimation, Carla is acting more out of political motives than anything else. Mamu, despite what the pack might believe, is less so. Although he has his own "political" interests (primarily his standing amongst the Red Talons), he is a Red Talon and thus less of a political animal than Carla. Crookpaw thinks that Mamu has a greater spiritual motive in this matter than Carla. The upshot of all this is that, of the two leaders, Mamu might be the easier of the two to persuade to change his position. As far as Crookpaw can see, the only way that everyone can leave here with anything changed is if the True Seekers can convince Mamu to change his position, as Carla won't unless someone has some sort of hold over her. Crookpaw leaves them to discuss the problem. The True Seekers discuss the matter further, and decide to try a different tack in the morning.
Once everyone has gathered, the True Seekers say that they want to know what each party would require in order to relinquish any claim to the Caern. They take Carla aside first. Carla says that since they're speaking hypothetically, another Caern of at least equal significance (read power) would need to be given to the Get of Fenris (potentially shifting the Protectorate boundaries again). The True Seekers ask Carla why the Get haven't attempted to take the Caern by force before now. Carla says that firstly, who says that they haven't. There have been several major skirmishes at the Caern over the last hundred or so years. Secondly, that she inherited the problem with a stopgap solution. Thirdly, any attempt would be prohibitively expensive. Fourthly, neither side had any strong historical or traditional ties to the Caern, and much Garou conflict arises out of history and tradition. The True Seekers then go aside with Mamu and Crookpaw. When they pose the question, Crookpaw wonders at the fact that they think that a Caern is something that can be bartered or traded away. The Red Talons are here for the Caern, not the other way around.
While they're talking with Mamu, there is a flash of silver light out in the desert. Half the True Seekers peel off to investigate. Running through the desert, they see several figures approaching, who turn out to be the Ngalyod pack. Fujiko says that they had heard that there was some activity at the disputed Caern, and that they had come to see whether the Get and Talons had gone to war. After the situation is explained, Fujiko says that they might hang around to see how it goes, provided that Mamu and Carla agree. The True Seekers think that this is a really, really good idea. The Ngalyod pack trundles up to Mamu and ask for his permission to stay. Mamu gives a non-committal grunt, which is good enough for Fujiko. The Ngalyod pack head over towards Carla.
The True Seekers have another discussion and then come back to Mamu. They ask that if any sept that was formed at the Caern was recognised as belonging to the Bunyip and would be turned over to them if they returned, would the Red Talons relinquish their claim to the Caern? Mamu goes aside with Crookpaw and seem to replay the discussion they had when the pack first met them. Mamu is growing more and more annoyed, while Crookpaw becomes more and more submissive, but also more and more insistent. It ends abruptly, and Crookpaw comes up to the True Seekers. He says that they should speak with Mamu directly. The True Seekers approach Mamu, except for Steve, who moves a short distance away so as to not aggravate Mamu. Lachlan speaks with Mamu, saying that if the Red Talons primary concerns are for the Caern and for the Bunyip, then arrangements can be made with the Get of Fenris, and the nature of the sept can reflect these concerns.
Lachlan is speaking in a calm and soothing manner when Mamu, who has been growing more agitated, suddenly shifts to Hispo and launches towards the True Seekers. The True Seekers promptly fall flat on their backs, as Mamu flies over them, heading for Steve. At the insistent mental prompting from his pack, Steve also falls flat, as Mamu locks his teeth around Steve's throat. Several tense seconds pass, as the Get of Fenris, the Red Talons, the Ngalyod pack and the True Seekers look on, and Steve debates how much of this shit he's prepared to put up with. Then Mamu releases Steve and moves back towards the other True Seekers, as Steve steps sideways. As he approaches, he shifts into Crinos form...and then into Glabro (?). He stops in front of them and says "None of you are Garou, and you," here pointing at Naomi "are not lupus." Glenn makes a strangled choking sound just before he steps sideways. Naomi and Lachlan say that perhaps what he says is true, but that the problem is still in front of them. Mamu shifts back to lupus form and says curtly that he agrees. The Red Talons will relinquish any claim to the Caern if the sept is formed along the agreed lines. But if the compact is broken, the Red Talons will spare no sacrifice to retake the Caern. The True Seekers move over to Carla and say that the Red Talons will agree to relinquish the Caern if yaddah yaddah yaddah. Carla is incredulous, and says that it didn't look like they were coming to any agreement with Mamu from where she was standing, but she quickly agrees to the terms. The Get of Fenris move away in one direction, then Red Talons away in another, to discuss the matter.
While this is going on, the True Seekers spot an approaching dust storm in the distance. Remembering what happened last time they were in a dust storm in the outback, they peek sideways into the umbra, but find that there is no corresponding umbral storm, which suggests that at least it isn't caused by Bunyip. When the dust storm hits, the two tribes are finishing their discussions. The Get of Fenris are jubilant, while the Red Talons seem subdued and puzzled. Then everyone hunkers down until the storm has passed. After the storm has died down, everyone steps into the umbra and splashes their way to the Caern. The True Seekers discuss with the Ngalyod pack how they should do this, and Fujiko gives them a few pointers and says that she'll start it off. So when everyone reaches the Caern, the stories and speeches begin. Fujiko speaks a bit about the history of the Caern and the new agreement, the ending of a rift older than living memory. Carla says that a new sept will be formed as soon as possible, and that given the nature of the Caern, the Get of Fenris will be opening the sept to all tribes who wish to join, particularly such tribes as the Black Furies and the Children of Gaia. Crookpaw speaks for the Red Talons, keeping it brief, saying only that the Red Talons will remember the compact. Naomi summons the Caern totem to recognise and accept the agreement and the new sept. The totem, Imberombera by the way, stoically accepts the new arrangements and says that if perhaps she was indifferent to the options presented to her, it wasn't to say that she didn't care.
One of the Get of Fenris, who was in the real world watching, appears in the umbra and suggests that people come and look at what he found. The True Seekers and others step into the real world. Not far from the Caern, they find a large flat stone which seems to have been uncovered by the recent storm. The surface of the stone is covered with carved and painted runes, looking very similar to those at the Caern of the sept of Scars Atoned, and also at the Wyrm Beasts lair in the Blue Mountains. The True Seekers tell the others where they have seen such runes before, and Alison Nedinis, the Master of the Rite from Carla's sept, says that such symbols have been found at other Bunyip Caerns. Now that it is over, the Red Talons are leaving, except for Crookpaw. Naomi asks for Carla's leave to speak with Imberombera about the matter they discussed and Carla agrees. The True Seekers step back into the umbra and Naomi approaches Imberombera. She tells her the abbreviated version of the story and asks for her help. Imberombera reaches down and her finger passes through Naomi's forehead. Naomi sees a flash of light behind her eyes, and feels fairly odd. Imberombera fades back into the tree at the centre of the Caern. When Naomi recovers slightly, she can see in her mind a golden thread of light stretching into darkness.
Now that the job is done, the True Seekers want to get the fuck out of Dodge. Crookpaw comes up to them and asks whether they are aware of the magnitude of the sacrifice Mamu made for them, and whether they are aware that he only made that sacrifice because he has some small degree of faith in them. He also says that they should think about everything he said to them, then he leaves. The True Seekers say to Carla that they will drive back to St Mary Peak then moon bridge back to Melbourne. Carla says that she can't imagine what it was they said to Mamu to shift him, but that she is grateful for what they did, and that she remembers what she promised them. The True Seekers head back to the landy, hop in and drive off. When they arrive back in Melbourne, people decide to take the rest of the day off before proceeding with their quest. For many of the True Seekers, this involves getting legless and scaring the patrons of night clubs. To each his own.
When the True Seekers meet at the Cemetery, Naomi says that she had another strange dream last night, very similar to the last one she had. In the dream, she found herself back in the tunnels, cleaning up goop. As she went deeper, it became darker and darker. Eventually it was completely dark, and there was only the smell of the evil goop and sewerage. While she stood there, a large engine, as of a bus or a truck, started up close by. Several more engines started up. Headlights appeared, directed at her. As the headlights rushed towards her, they changed into the eyes of a gargoyle demon. At this point she woke up. The sense of danger was much closer than it had been in her first dream, although it wasn't upon them yet. The other True Seekers think "Great!", then moon bridge up to Carnarvon gorge. As they pass through the Crackenback Caern, Darius detains them briefly while they tell him what happened at the disputed Caern. Darius is about as amazed as everyone else has been that they managed to pull it off.
When they reach Carnarvon gorge, they meet with Monash and Indira and tell them the whole story, while spirits are sent to fetch Grek. Eventually Grek moon bridges in and is also brought up to date with the proceedings. Grek says that if they are right about what Rat said, the pack must now travel to the Deadworlds in order to find the still face of Gaia. Grek doesn't know what this means, and in fact he intends to accompany the True Seekers, as they are probably going to need his help. The first trick, however, is getting there. Grek says that the ritual needed to cross into the Deadworlds requires the sacrifice of a sentient being; one reason that the Silent Striders do not capriciously make the journey. When they do, they usually sacrifice a fomor or similarly tainted person. Grek says that the True Seekers will need to procure a fomor for him. They decide that their best option is to go back to Melbourne and search there. Since it doesn't matter where the ritual is cast, Grek will accompany them back to Melbourne and perform the ritual there. So everyone moon bridges back to Melbourne.
At the cemetery, the True Seekers speak with Cossack. Cossack says that he may be able to help. Several murders that were originally attributed to the Full Moon killer now seem to be the work of a copycat killer. Three women have been murdered around the time of the full moon, but they were killed with a knife. The Scryers are looking into the matter, so the pack should go and talk to them. The one known common connection that the three victims had was that they all worked in Hampton St, Hampton, which is where the Scryers are. The True Seekers head south toward Hampton.
When they arrive, they locate the Scryers and chat with Christine Elliot about what they need. Christine is happy to oblige them. She says that they are assuming that the killer works along the same stretch of Hampton St as the victims. So during the day the Scryers have been moving about in the umbra along the street, sensing everyone for Wyrm taint. Then at night they move outwards into the surrounding houses to sense there, on the chance that the killer also lives locally. The True Seekers decide to go along with this method, and spend the day in the umbra sensing Wyrm along Hampton St. By evening they haven't located anything, and the True Seekers decide to see whether they can't speed up the process. As the Scryers move out into the surrounding houses, the True Seekers summon a powerful Lunae to scan across a wider area. They then send it up along Hampton St.
It is around two in the morning when the Lunae alerts them that it has found something. In a supermarket on Hampton St, several people are busy doing night fill. One of them is severely Wyrm tainted. His name tag reads H. Allen. Glenn finds a public phone and checks the phone book, and finds that a Mr H. Allen lives not five minutes walk away.
The True Seekers make there way to the address and check it from the umbra. There is a car in the driveway, but the house is deserted, and appears to be set up for a single person. The True Seekers decide that they will wait until Mr Allen returns home and then grab him. Their plan is to wait under his bed until he goes to sleep, and then slam the bed against the ceiling - a cute plan, but a bit dubious in terms of what it achieves. Naomi decides to make a talen to help pacify Mr Allen, and binds a sleep spirit into a pillow. They decide that Lachlan will be the one to take him out. While the rest of the True Seekers wait at the house, Naomi heads back to keep an eye on Mr Allen. They also inform the Scryers about what they found.
Around eight in the morning, Mr Allen finishes work and leaves. He adjourns to a nearby cafe with tables on the footpath, and he sits there for an hour, having breakfast and watching all the people pass him by. Soon after nine, he leaves and walks off, arriving shortly at the house where the rest of the True Seekers are waiting. After doing a few bits and pieces around the house, Mr Allen goes out to the laundry. He reaches into the back of the laundry cupboard and pulls out a video. When he puts it on the machine, it appears to be some kind of snuff film, although not apparently a self-made film of the local murders. While he's sitting there, Lachlan decides to act. He creeps through the house to where Mr Allen is sitting, sneaks up behind him and touches him with the pillow.
Mr Allen slumps in his chair, sound asleep. Steve steps through into the real world. He puts on one of Mr Allen's jackets, locates his car keys, and goes out the front. A gate on the side of the house allows access to the back, so he drives the car around to the back door. Lachlan carries Mr Allen, bound and gagged, out the back door and dumps him into the boot of the car. Steve drives off, heading for the cemetery. Meanwhile, Glenn has find a nearby house where no-one is home. He steps into the real world, and telephones Gabrielle. When she answers, he gives his usual brief and cryptic directions, suggesting that the Hampton copycat killer is probably not going to be around any more, and he gives her an address and suggests that she check out his laundry cupboard. He then hangs up.
The True Seekers arrive back at the Cemetery. Grek says that the ritual is typically performed at night. Mr Allen is awake by now, so the True Seekers stand around discussing how they're going to dispose of his body and car. Lachlan comes up with the best suggestion (leave the body in his car with a note that reads "I don't like copycats. Signed, the Full Moon killer"). Anyway, disposing of the evidence won't be down to them as they'll be long gone by then.
That night, Glenn decides to take a few precautions against restless spirits that he might have sent over himself. The only thing he can think to do is a Rite of Contrition. Then Grek begins his own ritual. At the climax of the ritual, he cuts Mr Allens throat, then says to the True Seekers that they must all step sideways. They all step sideways, but the sensation is nothing like the usual crossing into the umbra. It is instead a languid and nauseating sense of descent. This sensation suddenly ends when the pack feel instead a violent sideways wrenching sensation and a falling away. It ends just as abruptly as they burst upwards out of the earth and fall into the grass, violently retching.
When everyone has sufficiently recovered, they look around. They appear to be in the middle of the bush somewhere, and it is night. Everything is very still and quiet. Sensing reveals an overall demonic sense, with underlying Wyld and Wyrm. They also realise that there is no sign of Grek.
The True Seekers decide to walk and see if there is anything around. They have gone barely ten metres when they hear, far away, the howling of a Bunyip. As the chilling cry dies away, it is answered by a second howl, closer than the first. Then there is a third howl, then a fourth, then a fifth. Deciding immediately to get away, and as all the howls are generally in front of them, the True Seekers turn to go the other way. Immediately behind them is a Bunyip in Crinos form, it's eyes rolling madly. With a demented shriek it leaps towards Lachlan. A brief tussle breaks out, then all the True Seekers leap onto the Bunyip. When they have it pinned, Glenn attempts to Mindspeak with it. As he does, his eyes glaze over and a strange tic appears on the left side of his face. As he slumps to the ground, more howls can be heard, still far away but getting closer. It is decided to attempt another Rite of Contrition, in the hopes that it will have some sort of positive effect. As Glenn is lying twitching on the ground for the foreseeable future, Lachlan begins the Rite of Contrition, which takes about ten minutes - and all the while the howling is getting nearer.
Lachlan is well into the Rite when a figure lurches out of the trees, heading towards the pack. It appears to be a desiccated human corpse. As it gets closer, Steve moves to intercept it. Not wishing to scrag anything, which might be seen in slight contradiction with the Rite of Contrition, Steve finally discovers a use for the gift Falling Touch, which he's never used before. Zombie gets up. Zombie goes down. Zombie gets up. Zombie goes down. Soon after, Glenn starts to come around. Meanwhile, another zombie has stumbled into sight. Steve leads the first zombie around towards the second one, then proceeds to knock them both over.
Lachlan is almost finished with the Rite when a Bunyip in Crinos form hoves into view. Naomi moves to intercept it, leaving Vilna and Glenn sitting on the first Bunyip. Once again, Naomi doesn't want to attack directly, so she fends off the Bunyip until Lachlan can finish the Rite. At one point she is seriously wounded, so Vilna leaps over, Mothers Touches her, then leaps back on the first Bunyip before it can rip Glenn's head off. Finally, Lachlan finishes the Rite, and move immediately to help Naomi subdue the second Bunyip. So, as the four of them sit on two Bunyip and Steve is tripping up zombies, they wait to see if the Rite had any effect. Meanwhile, the howls are getting closer, and the two Bunyip they're sitting on do not seem to be calming down. The conclude that the Rite was probably a dud, and start looking for other options. Someone suggests running like hell, which seems to be a bit of a stopgap solution, but better than nothing.
The others give Steve a head start (he's still in homid form), then leap up off the Bunyip and run through the trees. The Bunyip are up in a flash and flick to lupus as they run. It soon becomes apparent that they can't outrun the Bunyip, so they turn to fight them again. They soon manage to pin the two Bunyip, but are at a loss as to what to do. Eventually, Lachlan and Vilna start beating into the Bunyip that they are sitting on. After smashing it into a pulp, the Bunyip dissolves into a mist and floats away through the trees. Naomi and Glenn decide that they don't have much choice, and scrag their Bunyip. It too turns to mist and floats away. The pack up and starts running again. Lachlan is moving over a piece of deceptively smooth and unimpeded ground when he trips and goes flying. The True Seekers stop and look back. Barely visible, they notice a strange rippling under the ground. Then they realise that it isn't rippling under the ground; the ground itself and the grass is rippling, as if it were a poster, and something behind the poster was moving. The effect is localised in a small patch, which is moving around from where Lachlan tripped and arcing back towards the pack. Naomi moves towards the effect. When it reaches her, it moves beneath one of her feet. The ground then warps up in a liquid fashion, and firmly encases her lower leg. It's holding her fairly strongly, so she mouths it gently. The effect quickly ripples back down again. The ground looks completely normal as the rippling effect moves away. The True Seekers muse briefly about the strange wonders of the universe before bolting like buggery.
The pack run out into a small river valley. As they run along the tree line, heading up stream, they spot more zombies emerge from the trees on the other side of the river, and shamble in their direction. They are moving slowly, and the True Seekers ignore them. Up ahead they hear another Bunyip howl. However, it isn't the mad hunting howl that they have been hearing up until now. Instead it is a relatively sane-sounding summons, a sort of "over here" type call. With the other mad howls getting close behind them, the True Seekers head for the call. They run out of the trees at the base of a hill. The hill is crowned with a strange natural plinth of rock, roughly ten metres high. A flickering light can been seen on the summit of the rock. The True Seekers dash up the hill, switch to Crinos (those who can), and start climbing. As they climb, a Bunyip bursts from the trees at the base of the hill. Vilna and Naomi reach the top and look back. They see that the Bunyip on the hill is loping away from them, and that the sound of the howling has stopped. The top of the plinth is relatively flat, and in the middle a small fire is burning. Sitting next to the fire is an aboriginal man. The True Seekers sit down by the fire across from the man. The figure shifts into Crinos form, whereupon several of the True Seekers recognise him. It is the same Bunyip that was connected with the bone and that was causing storms all over Sydney during the Sydney debacle.
He speaks in a slow and melancholy fashion. He says that he does not remember his name (but for the purposes of this narrative we'll call him the Watcher). The Watcher says that this place is where the Bunyip are now. From here the Bunyip sometimes foray into the umbra and the real world, although he doesn't, as he only wishes to forget. He doesn't know how the True Seekers got here, as they are the first to have done so that he is aware. He also doesn't know how they can leave. The Watcher remembers virtually nothing about his life or his people before the War of Tears. Most of the Bunyip are mindless and insane, although their are others like him who are not. The Watcher claims that they have been cast out and abandoned by Gaia and by Ngalyod, which can be the only reason why they are consigned to this hell. Glenn says that they are searching for an aspect of Gaia in this place, and that if the Watcher went with them, he would see that Gaia has not abandoned them. The Watcher says that he will not leave, but he will help them to escape, because he feels that he owes them for what they did for him in Sydney.
The Watcher explains that he lived in a time when the existence of white men was only a story, and the presence of the other tribes was unknown. It was during this time that the Watcher died, and chose that his spirit would be bound into a fetish (a didgeridoo, not a bone). As he slumbered in the fetish, he felt the great tide of darkness and death and spiritual chaos that was the War of Tears. Later, after the tide had passed, he was possessed by strange Garou who awoke him from his slumber and questioned him on the ways and rites of the Bunyip. This alien tribe of Garou sought to set themselves up in the Bunyip's place, and to learn their many secrets and powers. Although they learned little from him, they were fairly well versed in Bunyip lore. The strange Garou could make little use of the fetish he was in, simply because he chose to deny them his power. He slumbered for long periods, although he was awakened occasionally to be questioned. At the last, he was possessed by a Garou who's heart was dangerously close to the Wyrm, and he was gripped by some fear and anxiety. This Garou performed a ritual which released the Watcher from the fetish. However, the ritual also flung him across the umbra and bound him into a bone fragment. He leapt from the bone and found himself in a place of angles and solid water and light. In his confusion, fear and rage he killed the one who was there, then tried to flee. However, he was still tied to the bone fragment. He would attempt to escape, then would slumber in the bone to regrow his strength.
At this time he felt the efforts of the corrupted ones. They were attempting to corrupt him and turn him to the Wyrm. He felt a strange new power flowing into him, up from the Deadworlds, which helped stave off the corruption. There was also an alien totem nearby, which channelled it's power to him which also helped. After a time the efforts to corrupt him ended, but he could still not escape; was still confused and enraged. The Gauntlet was also unbelievably strong and suffocating, and he felt that he was screaming while buried underground. Soon after, he felt that he was back in the possession of those who had possessed him since the War of Tears. However, the Gauntlet weakened and he was able to call out. Other Bunyip heard his call and came. The bone shard was broken and the Rite along with it. He was free and immediately fell, soon after finding himself here.
As the Watcher finishes speaking, the True Seekers notice the same strange rippling effect as before, this time much larger and moving through the air. It moves down towards the top of the rock. The Watcher says that they have no name for such things, that some are benign and some are malevolent. The thing moves towards Glenn and warps the air and the rock, wrapping itself around him. It then moves a short distance away, and forms a shape out of the air and the rock, resembling Glenn. It then appears able to speak. It says that the Deadworlds are its home, although it is not native to them: that they are most in accord with its nature. It is unable to leave and enter the real world, without certain rituals that give it form in the real world. The True Seekers ask it about this particular place, the realm where the Bunyip "live". It says that this realm appeared at some point in the recent past. It doesn't know how the pack got here or how to get back. It also knows nothing about a "still face of Gaia". The thing dissolves into ripples again and moves up into the sky.
The Watcher says that he will help the pack look for a way out. He has only been here for about a year, while there are others who have been here a lot longer. He says that he can take them to see the others. This rock is his own place of power, which is why the mindless Bunyip lost any sense of them when they climbed up. However, as soon as they leave, the Bunyip will be on their trail again. The walking dead however, which are effectively ephemera of this place, are not so affected. Indeed, as the pack listen, they can hear a strange bumping and slapping noise. Looking over the edge of the rock, they see that several of the zombies have climbed the hill and are scrabbling at the stone. More can be seen moving through the trees towards them. The Watcher suggests that they take this opportunity to sleep, as the pack have been up all day and running for a long time. The True Seekers settle down around the fire and fall asleep.
The True Seekers awaken hours later. The Watcher is still sitting by the fire. From down below is a strange shuffling, rusting sound. Looking out from the rock, they see that there seem to be literally thousands of the zombies all around the plinth. The mass extends down the hill almost to the tree line, approximately fifty metres away. The question now becomes one of how to get away. Several ideas are suggested, but eventually (at the GMs urging, 'cause it's such a cool idea) they decide on the idea of doing a running leap from the top of the ten metre plinth, cannonballing into the mass of zombies and then smashing their way through the rest of the way. Steve will cling to Naomi's back, and Naomi and Vilna will form the wedge at the front. The Watcher does not need to fear the walking dead, and will follow after. He points them in the right direction, and off they go.
The four of them in Crinos form fly off the rock and plummet down. They crash into the mass of bodies, crushing many, and tumble completely out of control down the hill, cutting a swathe right through the mass. By the time they come to a stop they are almost two thirds of the way to the edge of the mass of zombies, and no one is seriously wounded. They get to their feet and plunge down the hill, cutting through the mass of zombies. The zombies grab at them, but Lachlan, Steve and Glenn manage to keep pulling zombies off themselves as well as Naomi and Vilna. Zombies go cartwheeling through the air and crash into others, knocking them down. After much wading, the True Seekers break free of the crush and start running through the trees. As they do, they become aware that the mad howling has started up again, although still distant. They wait for a bit, and soon the Watcher comes calmly trotting up, moving around the zombies. They all then start running through the trees.
Soon after, they find themselves moving through a landscape of desert/grasslands, even though they can't remember leaving the bushlands behind. The Watcher asks the pack where they are going. When the True Seekers ask him what the hell he's talking about, he indicates towards Steve and says that he is leading them. Steve assures them that he isn't hearing any voices in his head, and even if he was, he certainly wouldn't be listening to them.
Up ahead in the desert, they can see a stone circle, similar to the one they found blocking the Eastern freeway. As the move towards it, various people attempt to sense on the site. They pick up a strong demonic sense, a weak Wyrm sense, a strong Wyld sense and a mild Fae sense. As they move into the stone circle, the chorus of howls which was getting closer quickly falls silent. Sitting in the middle of the stone circle are two old aboriginal women - or rather it is two of the same old aboriginal woman, as they are totally identical. Steve recognises them both as being the aboriginal woman he saw in the Arcadia Gateway the first time he visited it. Steve walks up to one of the women and says hello. The woman he addresses seems to flow like water as her shape dissolves into the ground, and a rippling effect moves away across the ground. Steve shrugs and turns to talk to the other woman. Happily, she maintains her bodily integrity.
When the woman talks, she seems distant and disjointed, and her tenses seem to wander. She said that she called/will call for Steve because she saw/will see him running and holding the night in his hands. She doesn't know why, but it was important for her. When she met/will meet him, he didn't have the night. As to the idea of "losing themselves", it may have to do with what happened/will happen in Arcadia Gateway, or it may be something else entirely. She doesn't know why she said/will say that. As Steve muses that his life is apparently directed by the demented whims of insane dead people, and Lachlan is wondering where he can get some of the shit that this woman is on, the others notice that one of the walking dead is standing just outside the stone circle, blankly staring at them. Others are moving across the desert towards them, so the True Seekers decide not to hang around too much longer.
They run across the desert and soon hear the sound of pursuing howls. Once again they mysteriously move from the desert back into bushland. After running for a time, the Watcher leads them into a copse (thicket/spinney/stand) of trees. The howling dies away again, and the pack see a body length bark bundle in a tree, in the style of burial of some aboriginal customs. The Watcher goes up to the bundle and addresses it. Although the bundle doesn't move, the body inside answers. The Watcher explains to the Sleeper about the True Seekers predicament. The Sleeper, however, doesn't seem to care. He doesn't see why he should help those responsible for the extermination of his tribe. The True Seekers explain what they are doing and what they are trying to accomplish. If they succeed, perhaps they can show that Gaia has not abandoned the Bunyip, and the Bunyip can return. The Sleeper is rather rudely sceptical, and Glenn accuses him of sulking and kicks the tree a few times. After trying to persuade the Sleeper for a time, the Watcher points out that if the Sleeper doesn't help, the True Seekers are stuck, so they might as well stick around and annoy him. The Sleeper says that they should see the Fisher. They thank him and leave.
The run through the bush is interrupted briefly while the pack deal with three Bunyip which intercept them. Later they move out of the bushland and into ti tree scrub. There is the sound of surf nearby. Eventually they make there way down onto the beach. An aboriginal man is wading in the sea, spear-fishing. On the beach is a long dug-out canoe. The Watcher calls to the Fisher who wades ashore. Once again they explain the problem, and the Fisher says that he can get the pack back into the Shadowlands, which is the immediate reflection of the real world. Although the pack seems to be a bit reticent about trusting a ferryman in this realm, they agree. They bid goodbye to the Watcher, who wishes them good luck, then they climb into the canoe as the Fisher pushes it out to sea. They are moving directly out, away from the land. As they go, the Fisher says that there may be some trouble further out, as things inhabit the borders between the realms. The True Seekers say "Now you tell us!", but they didn't have much choice anyway.
The land has disappeared behind them when the waters start to grow calmer. It also starts to get misty. The further they go the calmer and mistier it becomes, until visibility is almost zero and they are paddling across a sea of glassy stillness. As they move further, they begin to hear strange splashing sounds out in the mists. Suddenly they see a wave ahead of them, being pushed by some giant object moving below the surface. They wave strikes the bow of the canoe, spilling people to the floor of the canoe and throwing them over the side. Then a thing crashes into the canoe - It seems to be like a whale, except that it's head is a mass of tentacles, eyes and grinding teeth. The True Seekers launch themselves at the thing while the Fisher rows backwards, attempting to move away from the thing. The thing snatches up Naomi and Steve and flings them away into the mist. It grabs Vilna and attempts to stuff him into one of it's mouths. Lachlan leaps from the canoe onto the things back and attacks it from there. Glenn, who fell in the water, swims up next to the thing and attacks it from there. Naomi and Steve swim back, and between them all they manage to eventually destroy the thing. They all leap and swim clear as the vast body starts sliding down into the dark waters. Once they all climb back into the boat, they keep paddling. Not long after, the mists suddenly clear, and the canoe bumps against a grassy bank. The Fisher says that they have reached the Shadowlands. The pack thank him, as he paddles the canoe back into the mists.
The True Seekers climb the grassy bank. Near the top they find a body, apparently of a homeless person. When people attempt to examine the body, their hands pass straight through it. They leave the body and keep walking. They walk out onto a road with houses along it - a fairly typical suburban scene. What isn't typical is the bodies scattered around the landscape. The bodies are of all sorts of people of all ages. Some it is unclear why they died. Others are particularly vivid, like a young man, his broken body suspended in mid air with a spray of blood from his mouth frozen in the air. The True Seekers decide to attempt a Questing Stone on Grek. After ten minutes they get a definite response and a general direction. They move off that way. As they move further, the layout of the land begins to look familiar. The True Seekers think that where they are looks like Richmond or Burnley. The direction they are getting from the questing stone, if they are correct about their location, would be towards the Melbourne Cemetery.
As they travel, they see some fairly bizarre sights, like the infant, blue in the face and with wet clothes, suspended about two feet off the ground. They also see a young woman almost cut in half, perhaps by a car. As the near her they see a familiar vibration in the air, moving towards the woman. The vibration moves into her, and she sits up. The True Seekers decide to do a detour and head off in another direction. As they move away, the woman calls out to them. They stop and wait for her to approach them. She walks up to them, apparently unconcerned about her protruding viscera. She says that their friend is looking for them and sent her (it) and others to look for them. The True Seekers ask her what their friends name is, but she says she doesn't know. They ask her what he looks like, but she says that all of them look alike to her - he has two long bits here, two long bits here, a round bit here, stuff like that. They ask her where he is and she offers to take them to him.
As the walk, various people do sensing on her, and are not happy to detect a large dollop of Wyrm in the middle of the demonic. For a while it seems that she is leading them in the right direction, but she starts to veer away from the most direct route. They keep following her until she leads them up to a hospital. She says that he is inside, which is definitely not what the questing stone is saying. The True Seekers says that she is lying and move away, towards where they believe Grek is.
The woman stands still for several seconds watching them, then lets out a weird shriek. As she does so, her body begins warping, with her fingers running into long points. Her head flows down around her shoulders, leaving a large hole in her neck from which the cry is coming. The cry ends as her intestines flow out of the hole and wave in the air. Her whole body lifts from the ground and glides towards the pack. As she nears them, three other figures fly out of windows in the hospital. All are dressed in hospital gowns, and they are all twisting and reshaping as they come. The True Seekers realise that the things are probably faster than them, particularly since they can cut corners. They turn to fight. The woman moves to attack. Where the pack found that the bodies were insubstantial, they seem to gain substance when occupied, and the woman is cut down in fairly short order. As her form is shredded, the vibration appears in the air again, and the form of the woman freezes in the air in the same torn and warped state. The vibration that emerged from her seems different to before, almost of a lower and slower amplitude. However, it moves towards another body in the street.
Glenn charges towards the three approaching things, and the rest of the pack is right behind him (sort off). Again they make fairly short work of the three figures, who again freeze in the air as the vibrations leave them. As the vibrations move away to new hosts, more figures emerge from the hospital. Two of the figures are like the first few, but another seems to be an amalgam of bodies, all warping together into one monstrous shape. After pausing briefly to retrieve Steve's knife, which was dropped in the fight, the True Seekers turn and run. The first entity has by this stage occupied a new body, but the pack doesn't stop to worry about it. A few successful body slams later and the True Seekers are running down the road.
As they run, Steve, who is riding on Naomi's back again, keeps watching behind them. He sees that the two entities and the amalgam are pursuing. The pack keeps running until the things have narrowed the gap between them, then they turn and fight. Although the large entity is considerably tougher than the others, they manage to destroy them all. Then before they can find new hosts, the True Seekers turn and run. They make their way towards Grek. As they are moving along Lygon St, they see another entity inhabit the body of a young man who apparently died of a drug overdose. The man says that he has sent by their friend to find them. Once again, he doesn't have a name or a description of Grek, but this time there is no Wyrm sense on the figure. The pack decides to follow him for as long as he is heading towards Grek.
This time it seems to be the genuine deal, as the man takes them directly up to the cemetery. Inside the cemetery they find Grek sitting on the ground. Nearby, floating a foot or two off the ground is the body of Mr Allen, the man they sacrificed in order to enter the Deadworlds. However, Mr Allen's body is particularly vividly colourful, unlike everything else in this place, which is fairly muted. Grek seems very pleased to see them, and says that when he appeared here alone he decided to wait. He also sent off several demons (the strange vibrating entities are demons, ala the ones used by the mages) to look for them. He thought they might still be in the real world, but he didn't go back because if they were then they were safe.
The True Seekers tell him everything that happened. This is all highly significant, and Grek says that there has never been any claim that anyone had reached the abode of the Bunyip, although it seemed likely that they were here somewhere. In case they are separated again, Grek tells the pack how to get back. Mr Allen's body is their gateway back to the real world. If they touch his body and attempt to step sideways they should end up back in the real world. In case they're worried, the gate is not open, allowing anything passage back, but is only useable by those who came through it from the other side.
The True Seekers say "Okay, what now?". Grek says that there are entities on this side which he can talk to who might be able to help them in their quest. He wants to take them through a passage to one of the Deadworlds, a place they call the Museum. It seems to be a place where destroyed artefacts accumulate. It is also a relatively benign place, and would give the pack an opportunity to rest. He says that the passage is from a church that burned down on Toorak road. Grek leads the True Seekers away from the cemetery and head south. They make their way uneventfully to Toorak and go into the church. In the rooms at the back of the building, Grek passes through a door that leads into a long hallway. The hallway is far too long to be contained by the dimensions of the church. The passage winds along, twisting and turning, climbing up and down stairs, but there is only one way to go. Eventually the passage ends at a door. Everyone troops through and they find themselves in a large room. The room is entirely covered with blue Persian-style rugs. The rugs adorn the walls, cover the floor and hang from the ceiling. The only thing that isn't a rug is a classical marble statue which stands facing one wall. Vilna moves up to examine the statue, and as he does it turns and walks away. Grek says that it's just a demon. He also says that this is probably a good place to rest.
Having rested, Grek and the True Seekers head off through the Museum. They pass through a seemingly endless parade of rooms, halls and corridors. The whole place is filled with a vast array of artefacts, from the mundane to the bizarre. One hall contains nothing but different models of bar fridges, another contains a dizzying selection of roof tiles, a third contains an assortment of prosthetic limbs. You get the idea. Grek says that they are looking for the Curator, who may be able to help them find what they're looking for. Grek says that if they come across anyone who isn't a demon, then it will be the curator.
After walking for a time, they enter a hall and spy two individuals silently facing each other. One is a swarthy male, dressed in seemingly ancient Egyptian garb. The other is a Caucasian female, wearing a severe suit, glasses and her hair in a bun. Grek says that this is the Curator - both of them, apparently. They approach the Curator, and Grek offers greeting. He briefly explains what they are looking for, and wonders if the Curator could help. The Curator looks at each other/itself for a moment, then the woman says that it may be able to help, but would like the group's help in a small matter. The True Seekers ask what they can do, but the Curator suggests that it might be easier to show them.
The Curator leads them away through more halls and rooms. After a time, a buzzing sound can be heard which grows louder as they proceed. They finally pass through a door into the biggest hall the True Seekers have seen so far. The hall is maybe one hundred metres high and five hundred metres to a side. The ceiling is an arching glass canopy, beyond which the grey sky can be seen. Hanging from the frame of the ceiling are numerous small one-man prop planes. One of the planes, however, is up and running. As they watch, this plane flies erratically around the hall, climbing and diving and dodging the hanging planes. As is swings past in front of them, the True Seekers can see that sitting in the pilot seat is a portrait of Pope Innocent VII. The arms of the portrait have extended from the surface of the canvas and are piloting the plane. The Curator asks if they could perhaps get the plane down, without causing too much damage.
Lachlan switches to Crinos form and moves out into the hall, setting himself up for a leap to the undercarriage of the plane. This is fairly tricky, but after a few attempts, he is dangling from the bottom. The plane lurches with the extra weight, but keeps flying. The Naomi sets herself up to grab onto Lachlan. After a few attempts she succeeds. Unfortunately, the sudden shock looses Lachlan's grip, and they both plummet down and smack onto the marble floor. Meanwhile, Steve has had a few words with the Curator. Steve leaves with the Egyptian man. By the time Lachlan and Naomi are picking themselves up off the floor, Steve has returned with a ballistae. Bracing the ballistae on Glenn's back, Steve starts firing at the engine of the plane. This is a slow process, as he only has a single bolt, so each time he misses, someone has to run down the length of the hall to retrieve it. By the way, it has been suggested that they could just wait for the plane to run out of fuel. The Curator points out that the plane doesn't actually contain any fuel. The demon in the plane is powering the plane directly somehow. Finally, the ballistae bolt embeds itself in the engine. The engine begins sputtering and the plane starts to descend. Lachlan, Naomi and Glenn tear after the plane and manage to get under it. As it descends, they grab onto the wheels and ease it's descent, bringing it down with a minimum of fuss. The engine stalls and the plane stops completely. Inside the cockpit, they can see that immediately behind Innocent VII, a strange vortex is hanging in the air - the source of power for the plane. Reaching into the plane, they grab the Pope and take him across to the Curator. The Pope appears to be coming along quietly, with his canvas arms dangling down in front of him. When the reach the Curator, the woman reaches out and flicks the portrait. There is a flash of movement as the demon is ejected from the portrait and rockets across the hall, disappearing through the far wall. The Curator reaches out and pushes the arms back into the portrait, until it is just an ordinary portrait of Pope Innocent VII again. Leaving the hall, the Curator says that the best place to look for what they seek would be in the Necropolis. Grek seems to understand and tells the True Seekers that he will explain later. Various of the True Seekers, specifically Steve, Vilna and Lachlan, are keen to look around the Museum, and ask whether they can take some of the stuff. The Curator says that its main task here is to order, not to collect, and that they may take items if they wish.
Time to go shopping.
They rush straight to the armoury, but are a tad disappointed. As the Curator points out, each artifact only seems to appear once. So while guns are plentiful, there are only a few bullets that will work with each gun. Oh well, they still take a few guns and as much ammunition as they can find. They also take along whacking-great swords from another hall. Steve grabs himself a bicycle to help him keep up with the others. Finally they stop off in the armoured vehicle annexe and debate the likelihood of taking an M1 tank with them. When this is knocked back as an improbable option, they satisfy themselves by taking it in turns driving it around the hall. When they've had their fun, Grek suggests that it is time to leave. The Curator leads them back through the halls into a room full of 18th Century pulpits. Grek thanks the Curator and they pass through the door back into the tunnel. Eventually they find themselves back in the Shadowlands in the church on Toorak Rd.
| Intermission - Pope Innocent VII (Cosimo de' Migliorati), pope from Oct. 17, 1404 to Nov. 6, 1406, was born at Sulmona in 1336. He was made papal vice-chamberlain and archbishop of Ravenna by Urban VI and cardinal priest of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, bishop of Bologna and papal legate to England by Boniface IX. He was unanimously chosen to succeed Boniface. The election was opposed at Rome by a considerable party but peace was maintained by the aid of Ladislaus of Naples, in return for which Innocent agreed not to come to terms with the antipope Benedict XIII, except on condition that he should recognise the claims of Ladislaus to Naples. Innocent issued at the close of 1404 a summons for a general council to heal the schism, but the council never assembled, as the Romans rose in arms to secure an extension of their liberties and finally, maddened by the murder of some of their leaders by the pope's nephew Ludovico de' Migliorati, compelled Innocent to take refuge at Viterbo (Aug. 6, 1405). Later, recognising the pope's innocence of this outrage, they made their submission to him in Jan. 1406. He returned to Rome in March, and, by a bull of Sept. 1, restored the city's decayed university. He died on Nov. 6, 1406. |
Grek immediately leads them east. As they go he talks about the Necropolis, another of the Dead Worlds. Although Necropolis is a misnomer, it is the name which has stuck. It is thought that perhaps the Necropolis is connected with the interconnection between life and death: all death comes from life, but all life thrives on death, even if only in the mundane fashion of feeding on the dead. The Necropolis is full of "life", but it exists by it's own laws. When things are first born they exist in a start of almost total decay. As they age, the process of decay reverses and when they "die" they appear to be fully formed. Apart from that it is much like the real world. Abounding in "life" as it does, the Necropolis is one of the most active of the Dead Worlds. As such, it attracts more demons that other places. The demons seem to relish to variety of forms and the constant change. In some places powerful demons have set themselves up as kings and tyrants. Other demons oppose these tyrants and aid the residents of the Necropolis in the constant demon-inspired wars that go on. Grek says that he knows of a passage into the Necropolis that lies outside of Melbourne, heading towards Healesville. The passage should take them to a place near a city where they can get help.
The True Seekers and Grek are on the outskirts of Melbourne, moving along the Maroondah Highway, when they spot movement up ahead. Getting closer, they see that it is a figure moving about on the road. It is the bloodied figure of a woman, moving aimlessly about in the middle of an intersection. She appears totally oblivious to their presence. Grek says that sometimes the emanations that appear in the Shadowlands when someone dies are not inert. They seem to have some sort of motivating power, and can make their presence felt in the real world. The woman probably died in a car crash and became a ghost. The intersection in the real world would be haunted, although what that might precisely entail Grek can't say. Some ghosts are more aware than others, and a few act as they did when they were alive.
Leaving the intersection behind, they head on. Eventually, Grek leads them off the road and into some trees. He reaches a patch of thick scrub, and drops down into lupus form and starts pushing under the scrub. The others follow, with Steve in homid form trying to drag his bike through backwards.
After moving through the scrub for a time, they emerge into a forest that is definitely not where they were before. While they wait for Steve to join them, they take stock of the situation. At first glance it appears to be an ordinary forest in the middle of winter. Birds are singing and insects fly around. However, looking more closely at the trees, it becomes apparent that the large and old trees appear sick and dying, with drying leaves and peeling bark. Younger trees look worse, little more than dried, leafless wood. A nearby sapling is a crumbling husk. As they stand there, a sloughing, bloated rabbit hops merrily along, munching on the brown grass. Grek leads anyone who is interested over to a low birds nest. One of the parent birds flies away, a stinking wet mass. Inside the nest, little bundles of tiny crumbling bones in vague bird-like outlines move around and cheep loudly. They move through the forest. As they go, they come across a fallen tree. It's the liveliest thing they've seen in days, with bright green leaves and fresh sap. However, it appears to be ever so slightly transparent. Grek explains that when a thing "dies" here it fades away. It used to be theorised that perhaps there is some correspondence between something dying here and something being born in the real world, and vice versa. This theory is no longer viewed as being very likely.
Eventually they leave the forest behind and find themselves in gently rolling hills. Up ahead they can see a walled city. As they move towards the city, they pass by herds of rotting cattle and sheep. Ahead they hear the sound of pipes playing, and find a small skeleton sitting on a fence post playing a set of pipes. The boy doesn't seem to be too concerned by these bizarre-looking strangers. He just keeps playing and watching them as they pass. As they near the city they see more people. Outside the gate the find a row of long stone slabs. Lying on top of several of the slabs are people without a touch of decay. Most are old men and women, although a couple are much younger, but equally untouched by decay. All are transparent to some degree, but some are virtually invisible.
Grek leads them through the gate. Several men seem to be guarding the gate, but don't hinder the True Seekers. Standing just inside the gate is a rough stone statue. Its head turns to watch the party pass. They are now surrounded by throngs of the living dead. A few of the very young children run screaming when they see the small group, but most of the citizens seem only curious. Grek leads them up through the city to a large building at the top of the hill. Two guards at the door challenge them as they approach. Grek says that he wishes to speak with the Council. The guards seem reluctant, until Grek says that he wishes it by the terms of the Compact. The guards allow them to pass, and two other guards lead them into the building and down a hall.
Passing through a door, the True Seekers and Grek enter a large room, seats line the walls of the room, and most of them seat an old man or woman. Frankly, this is the healthiest-looking bunch of people the True Seekers have seen since they arrived. Admittedly, they are all touched with a degree of decay, but nothing that pancake make-up wouldn't conceal at fifty yards on a dark night. Amongst the chairs there are also a few rough stone statues standing.
One of the men stands and approaches the group. Grek greets the man as Mauselous, and he the man seems to know Grek as well. After a few introductions, Grek tells Mauselous what they are seeking and asks whether anyone can help them. There is much murmuring amongst the Councillors, but none of them seem to know anything. Then one of the statues steps forward and speaks. It says that the demons have their own stories and legends. One legend says that the Dead Worlds spill from the nightmares of the sleeping Leviathan. The Leviathan is generally referred to as female and is often portrayed as a source of creation. There is supposedly a passage leading to the place of the Leviathan through a chasm in the Necropolis. An ancient Silent Strider named the chasm Atropos Well. This all sounds fairly promising.
Grek asks if anything is known about the location. The demon says that it is said to lie on a mountain that lies on the other side of the domain of the Manyfold Lord. Grek says that he knows the way, and thanks the demon for his help. He asks Mauselous if perhaps they can rest here for the night and head off in the morning. Mauselous agrees and offers them quarters in the Council building. When night falls, the True Seekers find out one good thing about the Necropolis: it has a moon. They drink in the moonlight and replenish their sorely depleted rage. A few of them go out into the city and stop at a tavern to have a chat with the locals. They limit themselves to drinking water, and learn a little bit about the city and the people. Then everyone hits the sack.
Bright and early, Grek and the True Seekers thank Mauselous for the hospitality. They head out the city gate and head back towards the forest where they arrived. Grek explains that they want to cross over through the forest. There is a realm on the other side which borders the domain of the Manyfold Lord. The two realms are embroiled in a war. The Manyfold Lord is one of the demon tyrants, and a servant of one of the Nether Kings. The Nether Kings are the most powerful of demons who rule seriously ugly and demented worlds. The Silent Striders believe that Set, who cursed their tribe thousands of years ago, was a Nether King. Most of the tyrants in the Necropolis are only agents for one of the Nether Kings. The mages that the Garou are having fun with in Melbourne are probably dealing with one of the Nether Kings for their infernal power. However, all this is hopefully academic. Grek is not planning on running into the Manyfold Lord and hopes to keep his engagements with his servants to a minimum. Grek says that he had a dream last night of the prophetic variety. Although he doesn't go into details, he feels that time is running out, although for whom he doesn't know. He doesn't want any more unnecessary delays.
After several hours moving quickly through the forest, the trees begin to thin out again. Up ahead, the group can hear the faint sound of voices. Grek says that they are on the border of one of the Allied realms, still far from the lands of the enemy, so they don't need to be too cautious. Creeping closer, they see that there is a small patrol of men having a rest. Listening in on the conversation, the men seem to be discussing fighting on another border, and the general direction of the war. Eventually, Grek steps forward with the True Seekers. Immediately the patrol reach for their spears and demand to know who they are. Grek says that they are friendly Garou and are just passing through. The sergeant of the patrol says that the party had best come with them to the Citadel for approval. So off they all go.
After passing out of the woods and into rolling fields, Grek gets a bit impatient with their slow progress. He suggests to their "escorts" that they jump on the party's backs and they will run. The patrol seem a bit nervous, but agree, so everyone flips to hispo, mounts up with a couple of the soldiers, and runs, with Steve pedalling madly behind. Ahead they see a stone keep, which is where they are headed. When they reach the gate, the patrol unknots their fingers from the True Seekers fur and shakily let themselves down. The speak briefly with the bemused guards at the gate, and the group is escorted inside.
The keep is a hive of military activity, with soldiers everywhere. After passing through various guard points, the pack are eventually ushered into the presence of the warchief; a demon inhabiting a large stone statue covered with large metal plates. He asks the group what they are doing in these lands. Glenn tries to explain, but makes a bit of a hash of it, so Grek steps in and says that they are trying to reach the mountains on the far side of the realm of the Manyfold Lord. After also explaining who they are, the warchief seems satisfied and gives them a pass to show to other patrols, so they can travel unhindered. Glenn asks about the current military situation, and the warchief says that their are skirmishes up and down the border, but no major military actions. The warchief then sends them on their way.
The True Seekers and Grek leave the Citadel and move rapidly down the road. As they go through towns and villages they are periodically stopped by patrols, but their official pass enables them to keep going. As the afternoon wears on, they notice that the amount of military presence is increasing, but the villages they see are growing fewer and less inhabited. The final villages they pass are completely deserted and in some cases gutted by fire. The pack decide that rather than follow the road to the border, which might be heavily guarded, they will veer away and cross elsewhere.
It is almost dusk, and the pack are moving through some light woodland when from ahead they hear the sound of metal clashing on metal, shouts and screams. Steve immediately charges off in that direction, and the others soon follow. Cresting a low rise, they see two groups of soldiers locked in combat. One group is wearing a brown tunic that the pack have been seeing all day on the soldiers. The other group are wearing a grey tunic. Three of the soldiers in grey tunics are also warping and twisting in a way that suggests definite demon habitation. With the help of the demons, the greys seem to be gradually beating the browns. The True Seekers wade into the thick of the fight, cutting down greys. As Naomi drops one of the demons, the demon leaves the body and moves towards another grey soldier. Naomi runs up and drops the man before the demon can reach it. She then gets caught up in another fight while the demon looks for another host.
With the aid of the True Seekers, the battle quickly shifts against the greys. One of the demons finds itself without a host and moves towards the brown soldiers. The soldiers circle it warily, but don't seem to be too panicked. Eventually the demon turns and moves away, heading toward the border, followed by the other two demons. After the battle has died down, the sergeant of the soldiers thanks the True Seekers for their help. Prompted by questions from the pack, he explains that demon possession can be resisted for a time, if one has the will to fight it. If one of their men becomes possessed, they usually bind them as tightly as possible to prevent excessive mutation, then get them to the nearest friendly demon. He assumes that some of the enemy soldiers willing allow the demons to take possession, while others have been conditioned somehow so as not to resist possession. After the pack has explained what they are doing, the sergeant offers to show them to point on the border where is should be fairly safe to cross. Two of his men will accompany the pack that far, while he heads back to base with the rest of his men. Bidding the pack good luck, the soldiers turn and leave. The two soldiers lead the pack onwards. Soon after night fall, they reach the border: a swiftly flowing stream that has cut a small gorge. The True Seekers find a nearby fallen tree and drop it across the gorge. After bidding their guides good bye, they cross over, then drop the tree down into the gorge, before moving on.
After travelling for a time, Grek suggests that they should rest for the remainder of the night. He doesn't think that demons perceive light and dark, so there is no real advantage in moving at night rather than during the day. The group settles down to rest.
Just before dawn the party awakes and heads off. All through the morning they run, skirting wide around villages and hiding from the occasional patrol. Some time after midday, they spot a mounted patrol that seems to be moving almost directly toward them. Although the pack drops prone, there is little cover available and it soon becomes apparent that they have been spotted. Naomi pings the group, and realises that one of the soldiers and his horse are demon infested. As the patrol canters up, the True seekers launch themselves at them. After a brief a furious fight, the patrol has been cut down, and the demons unseated from their hosts. The demons move away, heading toward a distant keep. The True Seekers and Grek tear out of there at top speed.
Later in the afternoon, the group hear the distant sound of baying hounds behind them. Soon they catch a glimpse of the pursuing hounds. The hounds are moving quickly, sometimes seeming to run through the air. The True Seekers guess that all of the hounds are demon hosts. Further back from the hounds they can see a large group of mounted soldiers. Ahead on the horizon, the True Seekers can see a dark line; the edge of a thick forest. They all piss-bolt towards the forest. They have almost reached the edge of the forest when the hound are upon them. They turn to face them, and Vilna starts dropping hounds left and right. The rest of the True Seekers wait until Vilna has finished decimating the hounds, then they turn and keep running for the forest, ahead of the closing cavalry. They reach the dense forest just ahead of the cavalry. The forest is too dense for quick movement on horseback, and it should slow the cavalry considerably. However, when the cavalry reach the edge of the forest, the veer off and start galloping along the edge of the tree line, moving away from the True Seekers. Soon they are out of earshot. The group shrug and move deeper into the forest.
The forest is thick, but crisscrossed with animal trails. It seems fairly abundant with wildlife. As the pack move forward, a deer flashes across in front of them. From the direction it came, they can hear a rumbling and crashing sound, getting closer. Naomi pings in that direction and gets a serious awooga of demon and Wyrm sense. The True Seekers run back into the forest and dive into the undergrowth. The rumbling gets closer and closer, then the source comes into view. It seems to be a giant wheel, more than 10 feet across, made up of human bodies. The heads are at the hub of the wheel, and all the head have been amalgamated into a single orb, with eyes and mouths pointing in all directions. The bodies then radiate out, forming the spokes of the wheel. The bodies have been twisted and meld into one another. The rim of the wheel is made up of feet, which sort of kick out, helping to move the wheel along. From near the hub of the wheel, twisted arms keep elongating out and retracting back, grabbing at trees and branches and pulling the whole thing along. Of course, all the bodies in the wheel are also in varying states of decay, so the whole thing presents a really nice image. This thing rushes along at great speed, crushing small trees and bushes in its path. The arms are also tearing up and splintering trees as it goes., so it is cutting quite a swathe of destruction as it pursues the deer. It is soon out of sight, and some time after that, the last rumbling sound of its passage fades away. Everything is quiet for a time, then the birds slowly begin singing again.
When the others ask what the @$%#*&-ing hell that was, Grek says that he thinks that it might have been the Manyfold Lord in the flesh (as it were). He speculates that this forest might be its private reserve or something, which might be why the soldiers didn't enter. He also suggests that they should probably get out of here as soon as is expedient. They plunge forward again, listening for any faint rumbling sounds. Night falls, and sometime later they reach the other side of the forest. Grek suggests that they spend the rest of the night inside the edge of the forest, where they have cover.
Towards dawn, Naomi is on watch when she hears a distant rumbling. After a few palpitating moments, she realises that it is the sound of hoof beats and that it is outside the borders of the forest. Waking the others, she sneaks up to the edge of the woods, and spots a unit of mounted soldiers cantering along the border of the forest. Naomi pulls back from the edge of the woods and hides in the undergrowth. Soon, the soldiers thunder past without slowing. Naomi moves back and joins the others. Grek suggests that if the soldiers are moving in any sort of sequence, then they should perhaps move out now, giving themselves the most possible time. So, they have soon moved out from the forest and are heading onwards. They see as they emerge from the forest some low mountains on the horizon, and they estimate that they will reach them in the early afternoon.
It is mid morning when Glenn first spots the large bird flying directly overhead, far above. As they watch, the bird circles and flies away, heading back the way they came. The True Seekers decide to veer away from their present course. A few hours later, they notice that the bird is back overhead. After circling for a while, it leaves again. The pack changes direction again, moving back onto their original course. Less than an hour later, the bird is overhead yet again. This time, it shows no sign of leaving.
It is early afternoon, with the mountains close ahead when the True Seekers spot the cavalry unit closing in from behind them. Naomi pings them, and estimates that most, if not all of the riders are demon ridden. Although they have run fairly constantly for several days, they find the last bit of energy for another run. They estimate that they will reach the foothills ahead of the cavalry. Sure enough, the splash across a stream and head up into the first of the wooded foot hills. Looking back, they see that the cavalry has reached the edge of the stream. There, they hesitate for a time, milling around a bit, before splashing through the stream and charging up the hill. The True Seekers forge on, looking for a likely place to make a stand. None of it is particularly inspiring, so they turn and face their pursuers.
However, they notice that something strange seems to be happening. As the soldiers gallop up the hill, their bodies seem to be twisting and roiling in a strange fashion. As they watch, one of the soldiers bodies stretches backwards, like a sheet in a strong wind. Suddenly, the demon itself bullets out of the host and flies backwards down the hill. The host himself collapses off the horse, a twisted mass of flesh. One by one the same thing happens to all of the demons. All of the demons seem to be expelled from their hosts and flung back out of the hills, leaving their twisting and mutilated hosts behind. The True Seekers stand around for a while, blinking in surprise. Then they realise that the hosts are still alive. Naomi suggests that perhaps they should kill them, rather than just leave them suffering. While they discuss the matter, a sound behind them makes them turn. They see a small group of men coming down the hill toward them. The men say that they are outlaws who have escaped from the clutches of the Manyfold Lord and found sanctuary in these hills. Although they don't know the cause, demons seem totally incapable of entering this region. This has so far made them completely safe from attack, as demons can't enter, and they don't seem prepared to send unpossessed soldiers into the hills, for fear that they would probably defect. They also say that they can help the unfortunate erstwhile hosts. They have contacts outside the hills in other lands, including demons. A demon would be able to reverse the damage that has been done. They invite the True Seekers to come and rest at their camp.
After travelling through the hills, the group reach a camp of stone buildings. The True Seekers decide that now would be a good time to pass into unconsciousness for a while. In the evening they all gather around the fire. Grek has been talking with the outlaws. He says that they don't know of anything called Atropos Well, or anything that might be such a thing. However, they described an area which sounds promising. There is a near-by region where the outlaws hunt for food, as game is particularly plentiful. This could be a place to look. The outlaws agree to lead them there in the morning. They spend the rest of the evening telling news and giving information. The outlaws seem to be quite happy living free of demon influence, even the more benign demons who don't go around possessing people. They say that they make raids into the lands of the Manyfold Lord, encouraging people to escape with them. After a time, the True Seekers head off to bed.
In the morning, the outlaws lead the True Seekers away from the camp and further into the mountains. By mid-morning they have reached the lower slopes of a mountain that are particularly densely vegetated. Of course, all the vegetation is brown and grey, but still, it seems a particularly alive place. Animals of all kinds abound, with birds filling the trees and all sorts of ground animals bounding everywhere. Naomi pings the area and gets a strange sense. In addition to the usual ambient Deadworlds dense, there is another sense she can't quite make out, even though it seems maddeningly familiar. The True Seekers start climbing the mountain. As they go, Naomi keeps sensing. The other sense is getting stronger, and Naomi realises what it is: it is a Gaia/life sense. She had trouble identifying it because of it's strange combination with what is almost it's opposite sense.
About halfway up the mountain, the True Seekers come across a glade. In the centre is a pond, which is fed by a small waterfall. Another stream drains the pond down the mountain. Glenn has a look behind the waterfall and finds a crack that heads into the mountain. He suggests that they should investigate, so Vilna pops one of his prozac talens ("Vilna feel happy now"). They all make their way along the crack, illuminated by Glenn's lambent flame. After a hundred feet or so, the crack opens up into a large domed cavern. In the centre of the floor is the open maw of a shaft, over thirty feet across. On the far side of the cavern, they can also see a figure lying on the floor. Moving over to the figure, they find that it is the dead body of a man. He was of middle age and apparently of Middle Eastern descent. He is dressed in a simple tunic of rough cloth. There are no signs as to how he died. Naomi attempts to sense him, which reveals that he is carrying several items of spiritual power; probably fetishes. He is wearing two tokens around his neck. One is a gold medallion engraved with hieroglyphics, the other is a chunk of amber on a leather thong. At his belt he has what looks like a set of nunchakus, actually a threshing flail, and a rough hessian sack closed with a draw string. These are the four items that seem to be fetishes. Grek examines the items. He says that the gold medallion is probably a Mummy Amulet, a powerful Silent Strider fetish that may have been what killed the him. Mummy amulets augment certain of a persons abilities, perhaps making them supernaturally strong or intelligent. However, they also induce Harano if worn for two long. Since the man was wearing it when he died, he may have slipped into Harano and simply laid down and died. He also thinks that the amber broach is a Monkey Puzzle, a fetish which makes mundane people think that one looks like an ordinary person, regardless of one's actual current form. As to the bag and the flail, Grek doesn't know what they might be.
Grek says that he wants to take the dead (presumably) Silent Strider with them. So he slings the body over his shoulder as he switches to Crinos form. The only way to go on is to go down, so they all switch to Crinos form and begin climbing down the rough walls of the shaft (except Steve, who is probably clinging to someone's back). The shaft has many hand-holds and small platforms on which to rest briefly, so the descent is not too arduous. It is, however, extremely long. As they go down, people periodically drop bits of rock down the shaft, but they don't hear it hit the bottom. So they just keep climbing down. After quite a long time, the shaft veers away from it's vertical descent until it is moving almost horizontally. The True Seekers walk down this passage and enter a very large cavern. The first thing they notice is that the cavern doesn't seem to be comprised of rock, but rather of some uniform grey substance. They also notice that weird protuberance and shapes are all over the walls, floor and ceiling of the cave. As they stand their, an immediately recognisable demonic vibration rises up through the floor of the cave.
This demon is apparently huge, completely surrounding the pack and continuing to pour forth from the ground, rising up above their heads and filling all the space around them. Naomi pings the demon and gets a massive demonic sense, but no Wyrm sense. Soon the demon has filled the entire cavern, and has sunk into the walls and ceiling. The cavern seems to animate, and the walls and ceiling begin writhing and flailing. In front of the pack, a rough man-shape forms out of the floor, and the demon speaks, demanding to know who they are and what they are doing here. Lachlan gives the demon the lowdown, to which the demon replies that it is the guardian of what lies beyond, but the True Seekers are not those against which it must guard. It has no objection to letting them pass. They ask they demon about what it is guarding against, and it says other demons. It says that it's presence extends to the domain surrounding the top of the shaft, and it keeps other demons away. They ask the demon what it is guarding, to which the demon replies that if they've come all this way without even knowing that, then they are probably ill-prepared. It says that through the passage lies the Sundering, a fragment or echo of the moment when creation fell from harmony and balance into disunity and discord (in Garou terms, when the Weaver went ga-ga and the Wyrm went mwa-ha-ha-ha). The demon sends them off in the right direction.
Crossing the vast cavern, the True Seekers find a tunnel sloping down. They head down it, but as they go they become aware of a scream of pain and despair and loss. However, this scream is not a sound, but they can feel it in their souls. The further forward they travel, the greater the scream becomes, threatening to swamp them with fear and despair. Indeed, one by one the pack are crushed by the power of the sound and are sent reeling and crawling back up the tunnel, overcome with the blackness in their souls. Finally, only Lachlan is still moving forward, and he finally reaches the end of the passage.
He steps out onto a platform the projects out from a limitless cliff-face of grey. Beyond the wall is a dark void, filled with the tearing scream. The only thing that marks the void is a bright point of light ahead of him, although he has no idea of how far it is or how big it might be. As he stands there, he feels a strange disjoining sense, almost a doubling of himself. He also feels his spiritual power being drained. Lachlan calls out into the void, but the sound seems to be crushed by the darkness. He moves to the edge of the platform and throws a chunk of matter out. It arcs out and then falls away, only it seems to be falling down at an angle. Lachlan reaches out into the void. As he does, he feels a spiritual tearing at his hand as the disjoining sense increases, and even more gnosis is drained away. He pulls back from the edge, the decides to rejoin the others.
The rest of the True Seekers, as well as Grek, are collapsed in the tunnel, near the top, where the screaming doesn't reach. Lachlan joins them and tells them what he has found. After the others have regained a degree of composure, the decide to try and head down again, to see if perhaps there is a Gauntlet (since the Sundering marked the point when the Gauntlet forced arose, and spirit and matter where separated). Before they set off, Lachlan gives out a Howl of the Wyld to bolster their spirits, then they turn and run down the passage. The Howl of the Wyld helps a little, but the despair is internal. This time only Grek, Glenn, Lachlan and Naomi make it to the end of the passage, where they find that it is a lot like Lachlan said (cliff, void, light). They feel for the Gauntlet, but find nothing. Naomi senses the area, and gains the sense of the deadworlds, but also a sense of Wyld, Weaver and Wyrm. There is also a maddening hint of a strange fourth sense, which may be the Wyld, Weaver and Wyrm in balance. In the direction of the light, Naomi gets a strong sense of Gaia. Naomi is then overwhelmed by the scream and staggers back up the tunnel.
Lachlan then volunteers to hang himself out in the void on the rope (which they assured me they had). With Grek and Glenn holding on, he jumps off the edge of the platform. He falls upwards away from the platform, with the rope stretching away from the point where it extends over the platform. Out in the void, he can feel the tearing very strongly, and the sense of disjoining is increasing. The last of his gnosis is sucked away, and he shouts that he wants to be pulled back in. Unfortunately, Grek and Glenn can't hear him, but from his wild gesticulations and frenzied expressions, they figure he might want to be pulled back in. Lachlan collapses on the platform, but the ordeal has broken his resolve and he crawls back up the tunnel. Glenn feels that it may be a test of faith, and is debating whether he should throw himself out into the void without the rope. He then decides that the rope can't possible hurt, so with Grek tied to the other end, he jumps off the platform. He feels the tearing and disjoining, and soon the last of his gnosis is gone, but he decides to wait. The tearing and disjoining increase, and he feels a great spiritual tearing as his spirit begins ripping loose of his body. At this point he signals for Grek to pull him back. Glenn falls comatose to the floor, so Grek picks him up and carries him up the tunnel.
The rest of the True Seekers recover after a while, although Glenn seems like he is going to be out of it for a while. The other decide to go and talk with the demon again, to see if it can help. When they reach it, the cavern is a riot of chaotic activity, with columns and shapes forming a disappearing, seemingly at random. They call out, and soon the demon forms a body near by. The demon says that Garou are perhaps particularly susceptible to the Sundering, as they are one of the few beings in creation that readily walk in two worlds, being composed of matter and spirit. Demons, being formless and tied to a single realm, are not at great risk of being sundered. The demon asks what the true Seekers will do for it if it helps them. After they umm and ahh for a while, the demon says that it will remember, and may ask for help in the future. The grey matter floor beneath the pack's feet begins exuding a liquid, seemingly the same substance as the floor itself. The demon says that it cannot possess them as they are, but if they partake of some of the substance of this place, then it can inhabit that, and afford them some measure of protection from the sundering. The demon says that they must drink as much of the liquid as they can. The liquid is a thick, tasteless and textureless mass, but the experience is still pretty nauseating. The demon exhorts them to keep drinking, until the are all bloated and sick. The vibration then rises up through their bodies, where they can feel the mass in their stomachs moving on its own. As they stand there, the liquid starts moving through their bodies, spreading thinner and thinner as it enters their veins and skin and bones, and bringing a creeping paralysis as it goes. Finally, it has spread right through their bodies, and they all find themselves totally numb and paralysed. Their bodies turn in unison and start walking awkwardly down the tunnel toward the Sundering. As they go, they are totally surrounded by the vibration of the demon. Glenn finds a measure of peace and comfort in the cotton-wool existence of demon possession, and manages to snap out of his funk.
As they move down the tunnel, the screaming begins again, but now it is muffled and distant. The reach the platform, and they march right off the edge, still surrounded by the demon, and out into the void. Soon the platform vanishes behind them, and they lose track of time and space as they sail across the void towards the light. For a seemingly long time the light doesn't vary, but then it grows suddenly larger and surrounds them. The next thing any of them, are aware of, they are on their hands and knees on a stone floor, retching up grey liquid. This takes a while, as they can feel the liquid pulling back from their every extremity into their stomachs, from whence they can chuck it up. All in all, it's a pretty miserable five minutes of anyone's life. Finally it is over, and they all collapse onto the floor, back in control of their bodies. When they finally work up the resolve to actually give a damn, they look around and see where they are. They seem to be lying on a cobbled stone floor, forming a large platform surrounded by the familiar void. Away across the floor they can see a mahogany bar, with a row of bar stools in front of it. Behind the bar are glass shelves with rows of bottles and cans. There is a lone figure sitting on the corner stool.
Everyone gets up and moves towards the bar. As they approach, they see that they figure is a woman in her twenties, dressed in a grunge/punk style, with ripped tights, Docs and a leather jacket, along with a few piercings and tattoos. She is sitting having a drink. As the True Seekers move up, she says hi and invites them to have a drink, although they'll have to serve themselves as the service here sucks. Steve, needing little encouragement, determinedly proceeds to get blind. The others sit around and have a chat. The woman, who says her name is Gaia (Gai for short), asks them about themselves and what they do for a living, where they grew up and so on. She seems quite friendly and happy to chat. She observes that they didn't have too much trouble getting past the bouncer. Naomi debates surreptitiously pinging the woman, then decides why bother being surreptitious, and just pings her. Big Gaia sense. Nuff said.
Gai tells a little about herself, saying that she had a pretty fucked up childhood. Her parents were hippies with some sort of modern relationship. There was her mother and father and her mother's boyfriend. It seemed to work all right for a while, but then it went to shit. Her father had some sort of mid-life crisis, because all his esteem was wrapped up in his work, so he chucked in his job and went off to express himself. The mother's boyfriend turned out to be a pervert who started abusing her. As for her mother, she was an alcoholic pill-popping schizophrenic, in and out of institutions all the time, so she couldn't do anything about her boyfriend abusing her daughter. Gai says that she can't really complain, and that she turned out not bad, all things considered. Glenn asks if she thinks that her parents might work things out and get back together. Gai says that children always live in hope of everything magically working out, and the family getting back together. Stranger things have happened, but she's not holding her breath. Glenn also asks if she has any siblings. Gai says that she's not aware of any, but living with hippy parents, who can say what they got up to. Steve drunkenly blinks at Gai and mumbles something about a "Mr Gaia".
They ask Gai if she has seen a friend of theirs; a Marion Perry. Gai says that very few people stop off here, but she does know a lot of people. Gai pulls out a battered address book and flips through it, until she finds what she's looking for. She offers to give them Marion's phone number, and writes it down on the back of a coaster. She passes the coaster to Glenn, but when he looks at it, he can't see anything written down. Gai suggests giving the coaster to Naomi. When Naomi takes the coaster, it disappears, but the thread in her head suddenly grows, extending from the first point to a second point. From the second point it extends again, but fades away as it goes.
Glenn moves back over to the demon, who is still around. The demon forms a shape out of the matter the True Seekers puked up, and Glenn asks it what it can see over there. The demon says that it is fairly sure that it is not seeing what they are. Glenn moves back to the others. Suggesting that they should perhaps be going, the True Seekers ask Gai if there is another way out of here. Gai says that she can show them the back door if they don't want to leave they way they came in. Dragging the prone body of Steve off the bar, they say that that might be nice. Everyone says goodbye...
...and the True Seekers with Grek find themselves back in the Cemetery in the Shadowlands. Nearby is the radiant body of Mr Allen; their means back to the real world. However, before they go, they realise that they're still lugging around their armaments from the museum. They decide to head down and take a few shots at the Gas and Fuel building (not that it has been knocked down at this time, but hey!). Moving down to the Yarra, the True Seekers cross over in a boat they find to the far bank. Once there, Steve (still dangerously drunk and in no state to be firing a bazooka) finally manages to point the thing across the river a fire. Surprisingly he doesn't kill the rest of his pack. Even more surprisingly, he manages to hit the building a blow a big hole in it.. They cross back over the river, where Lachlan blows up the boat with a grenade, and empties his guns into the windows of the Gas and Fuel building. After a job well done, they head back to the Cemetery.
On the way up Swanston St, two demons, alerted by the explosions, have possessed two ephemeral forms and are moving toward the pack. Lachlan rolls his last grenade at them and places it perfectly. After the dust and smoke clear, the remains of two ephemera have been shredded across the landscape, leaving two dumbfounded demons shimmering in the middle of the road. The demons, realising that they are dealing with lunatics, decide to simply leave. The True Seekers make it back to the Cemetery, touch the remains of Mr Allen, and step through. They arrive back in the Cemetery in the real world, and are soon greeted by their sept mates. They discover that it is, in fact evening on...
...so it seems that time corresponds in the dead worlds with the real world. The True Seekers relate what happened in a fair amount of detail, but frankly they really want to get some sleep. Soon after, they pass out in various places around the Cemetery.
In the early hours of the morning, the True Seekers are awoken by others of the sept, and told that their presence is required. They stagger up to where almost the whole sept has assembled. Cossack asks Steve to step forward. He does so, and Cossack says that he has abided by his punishment for two cycles of the moon and more, so the punishment is lifted. Steve is now free to assume other forms. Cossack suggests that Steve might want to change forms immediately. Although he is a little rusty, he changes into Crinos, and immediately feels his rage coursing through him. He manages to control his frenzy, although all the Ahrouns of the sept were ready to jump on his head. As Steve changes to lupus form and runs 'round and 'round the Cemetery, the rest of the True Seekers stagger back to bed. After running 'round and 'round for a while, Steve also falls unconscious.
Late the next morning, the True Seekers meet with Grek and the elders of the sept for a detailed discussion of everything that happened, particularly everything to do with Gaia and with the Bunyip. This is all information of significance, and there is much discussion. The subject comes around to the fetishes they found. Grek wishes to take the Mummy Amulet, to learn certain things. Going along with the Litany, the True Seekers agree. They also attune with the other items. They find that the amber token is indeed a Monkey Puzzle. The threshing flail contains an insane spirit, and Grek offers to take that and deal with freeing the spirit. The hessian bag is a Bag of Shadows, which is useful for carrying items through the umbra as well as concealing items. When an item is placed in the bag and the bag is activated, the item "disappears" and cannot be found. The only way to retrieve the item is by reaching in and activating the bag again. If you don't know what's in the bag, then you pull out items at random until it is empty. Reaching into the bag, they pull out a wheel of cheese, a woollen jacket and a parchment scroll, covered in hieroglyphics. Grek says that he will also take the scroll and let others examine it. The elders have more talking to do, but the True Seekers decide to take the rest of the afternoon off, go down to St Kilda and lie on the beach. So that's what they do.
In the evening they return to the Cemetery, where they discover that Monash has turned up. They all sit around and discuss the journey to the Deep Umbra. The elders feel that the safest and easiest way into the Deep Umbra is through the Aetherial Realm, as there are areas in the Aetherial Realm that correspond with the areas in the Deep Umbra. In the Aetherial Realm is a sept of Stargazers, who may be able to help the pack further. Grek warns that the Deep Umbra is not like anywhere else they have been. All other places they have been have partaken of the reality of which they are a part. The Deep Umbra is where the fundamental forces that gave rise to creation are found, and they are beyond comprehension or even perception. Grek says that he will take them as far as the Anchorhead, and he will wait at the Anchorhead for them. Provided the pack keep the tokens he gives them, they can make it back across the Membrane from the Deep Umbra. The sept have also been working, and provide the True Seekers with six talens each. Each talen is a weaver talen, and may help them to keep body, mind and soul together and intact in the face of the Wyld.
After discussions, the sept hods a sacred hunt, to help replenish the True Seekers gnosis. The spirits are ritually summoned and praised and revered, then hunted down and torn to pieces. All very spiritual. Still, it does wonders for everybody's gnosis.
First thing in the morning, the True Seekers and Grek step into the umbra. Having found a moon path, they start heading upwards. After a timeless span, the umbral mists part, and they find themselves standing on a landscape of clouds, with the great vault of the Aetherial Realm soaring over them, with stars and planets and whatnot. Grek leads them towards the Spirit Orrery, the location of the Stargazer sept. While crossing the clouds, Naomi is joined by a pegasus spirit - very handy for jumping those pesky gaps in the clouds. Others, like Steve, with only cockroach to aid him, plummets through the cloud breaks and flumphs into the umbra again. This doesn't slow them for long, as people eventually find their way back into the Realm.
The Orrery is a strange Escher-esque structure on a cloud mountain. As the approach, a middle-aged man steps out of one of the walls. He appears to know Grek, and introduces himself as Altair. He also says that he has heard of the True Seekers. He says that the pack must present him with a gift of knowledge, or solve a riddle, before they can enter. The pack opt for the riddle, and manage to solve it (ie, the GM hadn't thought of anything, and they managed a few good die rolls). He ushers them into the Orrery through a wall. They move through the halls of the Orrery, following close behind Altair. He moves with confidence, stepping into a wall here and there. Steve wonders if all the walls do this, and promptly disappears. The others realise that Steve has gone, but Altair says that he'll turn up.
Altair leads them into a large room. One of the walls, actually the roof, is a glass hemisphere that presents the entire panorama of the Aetherial Realm. Soon after, another Stargazer enters through the wall with Steve in tow, saying that he wandered into one of the sparring chambers. Grek and the True Seekers explain to Altair their quest. Altair says that when he said that he had heard of the True Seekers, it means that their reputation (???) is spreading. They are obviously a pack with significance and a spiritual destiny. As such, they are going to start attracting attention soon, if they haven't already. The pack question him on this, and he says that the pack seems to be an important but unknown element, and the more they reveal the nature of their importance, the more the forces of the Wyrm will be taking an interest in them.
Altair says that he can help them reach one of the Wyld Anchorheads, but can tell them little of help about the Wyld of the Deep Umbra. He says that if one can reach the aerial level of the Aetherial Realm, which is where the bird spirits live, then one can fly. The pack will need to fly up through the aerial level, steering towards, but not directly to, the lunar realm of Phoebe. Then fly towards the most vibrant and colourful part of the sky, which is the Wyld Reaches. Once in the Reaches, search for an Anchorhead realm, which can be spotted by their atypically high level of Weaver influence. Once they pass the Anchorhead, they're on their own. The True Seekers speak with Altair for a while, telling him about some of the things they have found in the course of the quest Finally Altair leads them out of the observatory, through some more walls, and out through the floor of a wide stone platform with no walls. Looking down, they can see that they are high above the main structure of the Orrery, seemingly hanging in mid air. All around spirits of birds and insects soar and swoop, and nearby clouds are dark with roosting spirits. Altair wishes them good luck, as one by one they lift slowly from the platform and climb into the sky.
Some of the True Seekers are better at flying than others, so Steve has to ride on Naomi's back, just when he thought that he'd never have to do it again. As they rise, Naomi chats with some of the spirits surrounding them, such as a passing owl spirit. Beyond some mundane chit-chat, however, the spirits don't seem to have much to say to them. The True Seekers and Grek settle in for a long upward flight.
There is no day or night in the Aetherial Realm, and time in the umbra generally is fairly dubious, so the pack have no idea how long they are travelling. They head towards Phoebe, with the moon growing larger and larger in the sky. They see the silvery flash of moon bridges winking across the skies, and at one point are scattered when they manage to narrowly avoid a moon bridge that rockets right through them. After collecting themselves again, they keep rising.
They have passed Phoebe and are climbing in the dark space leading towards the Planetary Realms. They are going to pass fairly close to the Realm of Pluto, and Grek says that there is a passage leading from that realm into one of the Deadworlds - all very classical. Ahead they see tiny dots in the sky - objects still incredibly distant. More and more dots become visible, until they can see there is a great ribbon of objects across the skies, stretching for miles. they get closer, and can now see that the objects appear to be like tadpoles, with a "head" at the bottom and a tail trailing up behind them. Lachlan is feeling uneasy about the approaching things. When they get even closer, they realise what the objects are: ballooning pattern spiders. The "head" of the tadpole is the pattern spider itself, and the "tail" is a long trail of weaver web, hooked into the Pattern of the realm, which the spiders use to steer. A large group of the pattern spiders break off from the ribbon and head towards the pack. Soon the True Seekers are in a swarm of pattern spiders, flinging their calcifying webs at them. However, the pattern spiders don't seem to be able to rise. Cutting the web of one spider causes it to fall until it releases another web, by which time the pack is well past it. Cutting through spiders and webs left and right, and occasionally freeing one another from the calcifying webs. Eventually the last pattern spider falls away, leaving the True Seekers and Grek to watch the ribbon of spiders sail down. Grek says that they must have come out of the Weaver Reaches.
Passing through the Planetary Realms, Naomi gets a definite sense of the Deadworlds emanating from Pluto. However, they don't slow down as they pass, and they climb towards the stars and the far Reaches beyond.
Somewhere in Star Realms, the pack have a brief run in with a corrupted star spirit, but this doesn't slow them for very long.
The True Seekers have reached the Wyld Reaches; a place of swirling multi-coloured gas clouds and vortices, bizarre patterns and constant shift. They fly through the Reaches, dodging the occasional Wyld spirit. After searching for a time, they spot a strange floating object. It is a precise geometric shape, but is keeps changing from one shape into another. First it is a dodecahedron, then it's a cube, then a pyramid and so on. This looks promising, and they move towards it.
Coming in contact with the object, they find themselves suddenly inside somewhere. The room is a large cube, with other smaller cubes projecting from the surfaces. Other cubes hang suspended in space. People find themselves standing on different surfaces of the cubes, and "down" seems to be wherever one is standing. Oh yeah, and there is a bunch of small banes swarming around a strange pattern on one of the walls. More on the pattern later. The banes buzz and flop and lurch towards the pack. Combat breaks out, and the True Seekers find that excessive exuberance in combat tends to dislodge one from the surface one is one, which results in one floating in space. Various people end up hanging in weightlessness, beset with banes, while other people launch themselves off the "ground" and manage to collect their floating packmates on the way through, crashing down onto another surface.
The strange pattern is made up of smaller and smaller cubes connected together, forming something akin to a Mandelbrot set on one wall. While the battle rages, there is movement from the Mandelbrot set, as pattern spiders start flowing out from the vertices and corners and angles of the pattern. The pattern spiders begin calcifying everything near them, which is the banes. Soon, most of the banes have been killed by the True Seekers or calcified by pattern spiders. The pattern spiders then move towards the Garou. they find, however, that as soon as they leave one surface, the spiders seem to lose track of them and forget them altogether. Various people are already hanging suspended in space, and the others leap from surface to surface. Gradually, the pattern spiders move back into the angles and edges of the Mandelbrot set until they are all gone. Once everyone is back on their feet, Grek performs the Rite of Becoming. The pattern on the wall spirals and opens like an iris valve, revealing nothing but darkness. Grek gives each of the True Seekers one of the tokens, and wishes them good luck. One by one, the True Seekers pass through the Anchorhead into the Deep Umbra.
The immediate impression is of no sound but not silence, no sight but not darkness. They can feel a connection from their token back to a point, although the Anchorhead does not seem to exist on this side. They also find that their thoughts immediately start acting in a strange fashion, with random, disconnected thoughts entering their heads. Naomi, on the other hand, is "seeing" something. The existence around her is "contoured" in many dimensions, but it seems to make some intuitive sense. She feels that she knows the way to go. The True Seekers form a chain with Naomi at the front, and the move (somehow) "forward". Naomi is aware of an independent shifting in the contours in the direction they are going, and she realises that it is a Wyld spirit. She leads the others around the spirit. The others have only a brief and subliminal impression of the spirit, a sense of something which is different from the not-sense they are feeling.
They go further and further into the Wyld. The further they go, the stronger Naomi's sense of direction becomes, the more it makes sense to her. The others are losing coherence, and start to use the Weaver talens providing blissful periods of calm. The calm does not last for long, and each time it lasts less time that the previous. Glenn seems to be having a harder time of it than the others. Wyld washes over him, sweeping away the effects of a talen, and plunging him into incoherence. He manages to grab one moment of lucidity and use his next talen. Later, a ripple of Wyld turns his hair (all of it) gold, and another warps his body slightly.
The True Seekers reach the point where they have used half the talens they have, although Naomi has not been using any. They are about to pass the point of no return. They plunge onwards. Things are becoming clearer and clearer to Naomi, while the others can feel their minds ripping away from their moorings. Then Naomi stops, knowing that she has arrived. All of the True Seekers become aware of a sense- object near them. It is an object, although they cannot "see" it, and is reminiscent of a heart-beat, although they cannot "hear" it. They all get a sense of deja-vu. Naomi reaches out to the heart-beat. She does not "touch" it, but she receives a wash of images. Sights - blue waves washing on a sandy beach, gum forests, snow falls on rocky mountains, shimmering heat-haze on a vast red desert, deep green wet jungles, kangaroos, wombats, cockatoos, flies, lizards, fish. Sounds - cicadas and birds singing, wind in the trees, the crackle of bush fires, rushing water, rain and thunder, silence, unknown animals calling. Scents - salt spray and sand, dust and smoke, flowers and eucalyptus, blood, animal scents.
A tiny Wyld spirit is trundling past Naomi, and she reaches out to it. It
says hi, and Naomi finds that she can speak
with it, which is unusual (for unusual read impossible). The little Wyld
spirit seems fairly bemused about the matter
too, and tells Naomi that she is very close to the edge of anything that
can be called anything. The beginning of
creation as it can be understood. (Of course the problem is that
describing it as having an edge in any understandable
fashion suggests at least an attenuated understanding of what lies on the
other side of the edge. One cannot define the
parameters without an understanding of what constitutes not existing within
those parameters. So you can
understand the notion of approaching the edge, but the idea of the edge
itself in this place is inconceivable. Not that
Naomi really cares). The little spirit also asks whether she wants it to
finish the thing in her head - you know, the
little gold thread. Naomi says sure, so the little Wyld spirit slips
through her head and completes the thread.
Naomi thanks the spirit as the thread stretches and fills her mind, turning
independently. The thread starts pulling her
back the way they came, and the other True Seekers grab onto her hand and
each other. They are moving back
across the Wyld, faster and faster....and faster and faster....and faster.
And faster. Faster, faster, faster.
Faster!
Faster!!!!
Faster!!!!!!!!!
Anchorhead??!!?!?!??!!?!
The True Seekers explode through the Membrane and explode the Anchorhead Realm. They have only the briefest glimpse of the realm disintegrating behind them as they plunge at meteoric speed through the Wyld Reaches...straight into the heart of a Nebulae spirit.
They are floating slowly but purposefully through mists; the mists of the Near Umbra. Descending down through the mists, tress begin to appear as they enter the Penumbra. They come to a stop, no longer propelled by the thread in Naomi's mind, but Naomi can still feel a sense of direction. They wander through what appears to be a rain forest in the penumbra.
They hear a call behind them, and they turn to see Indira Songs-of-Sorrow (sept leader of the Web of Dreaming Hands) coming towards them. She seems very surprised to see them, but wishes them a Merry Christmas for yesterday...
...and asks what's going on and what they're doing here. The True Seekers say that they'll explain a bit later, but that she should come along with them. As they walk through the penumbra, Indira says that she has fairly good news. Over the past couple of weeks, Alex seems to have improved considerably. He is certainly better than he has ever been since he first got here. She is interrupts when Kanau appears suddenly. They last left him in the Anchorhead Realm, and he says that Grek is all right. Grek sent Kanau to find out if the pack were all right, as they seemed to be leaving in a hurry. Grek is making his way back through the Aetherial Realm. Naomi disappears, and the rest of the True Seekers, and Indira step into the real world. Ahead of them the can see three people talking; Alex with a man and a woman. Alex is holding a bundle in his arms, which appears to be a baby.
The True Seekers walk up with Indira, who introduces the man and woman. They are John and May Lawrence, who are kinfolk and rangers of the Carnarvon Gorge park. The baby is their daughter, Roberta, who is only a few weeks old. As Naomi walks up to them, the thread in her mind flickers and disappears. Alex apologises to the True Seekers for what he said and did when he last saw them. He couldn't see past Marion's death, it just filled his mind. Having had Roberta around has seemed to put it into a bit of perspective for him. He says that he wants to make it up to them if he can, but that he is going to stay at Carnarvon Gorge for a while to help the Stargazers with their work. Naomi takes Roberta and quietly welcomes her back to the world.
That night around a fire, the entire story of the quest is told. It is told for Alex, who was totally unaware that anything was going on, particularly on his behalf, and for May and John, whose daughter the True Seekers were looking for.
In the morning, the True Seekers say goodbye to everyone. Monash says that when the Jindabyne Council hears about some of the details (ie, the Bunyip stuff), the council will probably send for them to fill in the details. They moon bridge out to Sydney and spend a few hours with their adopted tribe, telling them what they've done. Then they bridge to the Cemetery. They have a fairly long discussion with Cossack and other elders, but the full story for the others can wait until the next moot (January 23).
Time for people to catch up with their lives, after a two month hiatus. Glenn drives out to Gippsland to visit family and friends for the day. Naomi catches up with the wolves and people at the zoo. Vilna finds that he doesn't seem to be claustrophobic any more, so he goes and takes advantage of the after Christmas sales, wading serenely through the crush of people. Steve finds a series of increasingly irate messages on his answering machine from his boss - his erstwhile boss, as it turns out. Steve goes to visit Greg at his academy in Burke St. From Greg he also finds out that Pete has made a missing persons report, so the police are looking for him. Steve comes up with a story about falling for a hippy-feral chick, and bumming around the rain forests of Queensland for the last two months.
In the evening, Steve and Greg meet Pete at Young and Jackson's. Pete is fairly pissed off at Steve, but Steve explains about falling for this girl and smoking dope for two months. When Greg goes to get a round, Pete says that he wants to talk with Steve's friend - the woman with the white stripe in her hair (Naomi). He says that he's thought about it, and that he's almost certain that it was her that he saw on the beach when the strange carcass got stolen. He doesn't want to make it official business at this point, but he does want to talk to her. Steve says that he doesn't know her that well, and that he's been out of town for two months, but that he'll try to locate her. Steve goes out clubbing and bumps into Vilna, who is moshing for the first time in his life. Much bruising and drinking later, they stagger home.
Sometime after 3.00 in the morning, Steve is on his way to the bathroom when an envelope is pushed through the mail slot in the front door. Steve wanders over and picks up the envelope, then he opens the door. A kid of about 13 is walking out the gate and down the road. Steve calls out, and the kid bolts. So Steve chases him.
Tableau - a young boy being chased down a road at 3.00 in the morning by a large man wearing nothing but his underwear. Suspicious?
Steve quickly catches the kid and takes him back to the house, Kanau-ing Lachlan as he goes. When he gets back in the house, he and Lachlan sit the boy down, then Steve looks in the envelope. It contains two pieces of paper and a tape.The first paper is a photocopy of a police report about a truck crash on the 23rd of December on the Hume Highway in Coburg North. The driver was drunk, and the truck ran off the road, knocking over a street sign and crunching a wall. No one was injured, and a small quantity of amphetamines were found in the truck. The driver was arrested and the truck was impounded. The second paper is a photocopy of a report on a truck, including license number, insurance details, a list of damage done, and registration. The truck is registered to a company called Coulton Pty. Ltd.; managing director Gerald Coulton. The name Gerald Coulton has been circled in red pen. Both reports were made out by a Sergeant John Henke.
Steve puts the tape into a tape deck and plays it. There is a few moments silence, then the rachetting sound of a roll- a-door being opened. There is a conversation between two men. Man A says to man B that he (B) was lucky that John found it, otherwise he'd be totally fucked, and that none of his fancy friends could have helped him. B says that he wants to take a look, and there is a jingling and rattling, followed by a metallic bang, then sounds of movement and shifting. Then there is another metallic bang, then jingling and rattling again. B asks what he wants, and A says that he wants fifty thousand dollars. B has some sort of combined epileptic fit/stroke, to which A says that if he had been caught, he would never have seen the light of day again. B finally agrees. The voices fade, then the ratchetting sound is repeated as the door is closed. End of tape. Steve turns to the kid, who has been fairly abusive all this time. He asks the kid why he dropped the envelope through his door. The kid says that some guy gave him ten dollars to do it. The guy was just some guy in a suit, in his car down the street and round the corner. Steve gets the kid to show him where, and then lets the kid go.
Steve Kanaus Naomi, who gets around there in no time. However, when she sniffs around the spot the kid indicated, she finds a sharp, pungent chemical smell that is fairly unpleasant and totally overpowering. Naomi sneezes for a while, but realises that the guy has covered his scent - which means of course that he knew exactly who and what he was dealing with. They decide to discuss the matter in the morning.
The True Seekers get together and everyone looks at the reports and listens to the tape. The question is: who is trying to lead them around by the nose? They decide to look into the matter for a while, at least until they find out exactly what is at stake. They decide to first head out to the police impound lot in Williamstown to check out the truck. They make there way out west and move into the umbra. Peeking into the real world, they soon locate the truck inside a large shed at the back of the lot. The truck has sustained moderate damage to the left side and back. The back doors are buckled, and are held shut by a chain with a padlock. The doors have been damaged enough to let light in, so stepping sideways into the truck won't trap anyone in the dark. Naomi steps into the truck. It is full of large wooden crates, some of which have been damaged. Sniffing around, she mainly smells treated wood, but also finds a familiar smell - gun oil and greased metal. It seems to be coming from a few of the crates, Steve steps through, and moves to the nearest crate with the incriminating smell. He pulls it away from the side of the truck, and most of it falls to the floor. This crate was particularly badly damaged, and much of it and the set of drawers inside were smashed. The back of the bureau falls out, revealing two pump-action shotguns taped to the back of the drawers. Steve puts everything back the way he found it, then he and Naomi step back into the umbra.
They go back to the car and drive back east again. They decide to check out John Henke, and use Questing Stone to locate him. They eventually track him down to a police station on Bell St. Henke is an normal-looking guy in his early to mid forties. The True Seekers find him standing around the coffee machine chatting with a few other cops. Sensing from the umbra shows that Henke is a bit Wyrm tainted. After a while, the group breaks up, and Henke goes outside with another cop. They get into a cop car and drive off. Naomi steps into the real world and sniffs around the carpark in order to catch Henke's scent. Using Sense the Prey, she can sense that Henke is moving around the area, probably patrolling or something.
Next, the True Seekers check out Gerald Coulton. They track him down in Kew, in a nice two-story house. Inside, they locate a woman in her early forties talking on the phone; a girl around ten in her bedroom watching television; and a harried-looking man in his forties, pacing in his study and talking on his mobile phone. As the True Seekers listen in, the man makes a series of phone calls. Each time he is demanding that the other person must pay back the money that they owe. After each phone call, he writes down a number on pad. After a while, he adds up the figures on the pad, and arrives at a total figure of about twenty-eight thousand. The True Seekers have a quick discussion, and decide that maybe they can help bail the poor guy out of trouble. They have frittered away most of the "baby" money, but they know a few people who might be willing to help.
First, Glenn gives Coulton a call. Glenn calls himself Mr Falcon, and says that he understands that Coulton is having a few difficulties, and is in need of some cash to recover some property. Coulton goes a fairly unpleasant colour, and doesn't really say anything. Glenn says that he is prepared to help Coulton out, and that Coulton does not need to keep bothering his associates for money. He says that he will contact Coulton later.
Ringing around, the True Seekers discover that Christine Elliot is at home in Toorak. They ring her up and wonder if they could come around for a chat. She says sure, so Glenn and Steve head around, while Vilna and Naomi keep tabs on Coulton. Glenn and Steve arrive and find Christine playing Doom. They ask her if she could possibly help them with a small financial matter. They tell her the basic deal, and assure her that she will (probably) get her money back. Christine checks her safe, but finds that she doesn't have the whole fifty thousand dollars. She says that she will call them in a few hours. She also says that the name Gerald Coulton seems familiar, and that she'll check out what she can. When Glenn and Steve get back to Kew, Coulton has made some more calls. By this time it is around 2.00.
Coulton goes and talks with his wife, Olivia. He says that he has to go out for a while. Olivia reminds them that they have the charity dinner tonight, and Coulton says that he'll be back by 6.00. He heads out into the garage, gets in his car and drives off. Naomi steps sideways into Coulton's study and picks up his scent. The True Seekers get into their car and follow him, with Naomi telling them which way to go. They follow Coulton to a house in Richmond. When they arrive, he is arguing with some guy in the house about moneys owed. Eventually, the guy grudgingly hands over a few hundred dollars, and Coulton leaves. As he walks out, Glenn rings his mobile phone. When he answers, Glenn says that they said that they would help him with the money, and that he didn't need to bother his associates any more. Coulton turns that same unpleasant colour again, and looks around quickly. He hangs up and gets into his car, and drives slowly down the road. When he reaches the end, he accelerates hard and screeches around the corner. The True Seekers give him a few minutes head start, then casually drive off.
Naomi is getting the impression that Coulton is moving in a fairly erratic fashion. This continues for a few minutes, then his movements even out, as he starts moving more or less in one direction. They tail him to another house, where the increasingly twitchy Coulton is collecting another debt. The True Seekers decide to let him do his own thing, rather than risk pushing him into a stroke. Steve decides to head off and keep tabs on Henke while Glenn, Vilna and Naomi keep watching Coulton himself. Sometime after 5.00, Glenn gets a call from Christine, so he and Vilna head around to her place. She has the fifty thousand in cash. She also says that Coulton is one of Ion's associates, and that his major illegal activity is "importing" goods for Ion. They thank her for the money, and head off again.
Steve has found Henke knocking off work, and follows him back to his house. Henke, who apparently lives alone, does a few chores and has an early dinner. Then he makes a call and arranges to meet some people at a nearby pub. Steve follows him out. Catching up with Coulton, they find that he seems to be heading home again. Coulton goes into his study and dumps all the money on the desk. He also gets some money out of a safe. Then he counts it all up, before putting it all in the safe. As he leaves the study, he locks the door behind him. Vilna steps into the study with the Bag of Shadows, and takes out the fifty thousand dollars. He puts it on the chair behind the desk, then steps sideways again.
Over the next couple of hours, Gerald and Olivia get ready to go out. The True Seekers check around until they find a couple of invitations to the charity dinner, which gives the address as a restaurant in the city. A baby-sitter arrives to mind their two daughters (one was out when the True Seekers checked), and Gerald and Olivia drive off. Glenn and Vilna move off to keep tabs on Gerald, while Naomi stays to watch his house.
Steve, meanwhile, has been watching Henke getting drunk with a group of mates. Eventually he decides that he can watch him just as easily inside the pub instead of from the umbra, maybe even easier. So he steps sideways and saunters in to have a few drinks.
Arriving at the restaurant, Glenn and Vilna move through the umbra, peeking and searching for Coulton. Eventually they find him at a table with a group of other people, none of whom look familiar. As Vilna watches Coulton and Glenn watches the umbra, Glenn spots a figure that suddenly appears in the Umbra nearby. Ion strolls up to them as Glenn taps Vilna on the shoulder. Ion asks them what they are doing here, and Glenn says that they're keeping tabs on someone. Glenn says that Coulton has smuggled guns into Melbourne and that they have reason to look into it. Ion does not seem perturbed by this, and says that he was unaware that Coulton was doing this, and that it certainly wasn't on his orders. He says that he will have a chat with Coulton later. Ion moves across the umbra and steps sideways into the men's toilets.
Soon after, Ion is working the room, chatting with a few people. He greets Gerald and Olivia, but doesn't stay to chat for long. He says that he will see them at the party at his place after the dinner. He says this fairly loudly and clearly, as though speaking to an unseen audience. Gerald looked even sicker than he already does when Ion walked up, and only looks slightly relieved when he walked away. The dinner carries on for a few hours, with several speeches on the worthy cause they're all here to support, and the handing over of the giant-sized novelty cheque. As the dinner winds up, Glenn and Vilna head off and find the nearest tuxedo rental place. They step in, dedicate a few tuxedos, then step out again.
Steve has joined the large drunken group that Henke is in, and is generally having fun. Lots of drinking and several trashy women - beats all that umbral shit!
Glenn and Vilna arrive at Ion's house in Toorak. Having dressed in the umbra, they step sideways and walk up to the door. They are met by a door man, who asks for their invitation. They search their pockets for a while, then say they must have left it in the car. They walk back to the street. Vilna decides on the direct approach, and steps sideways. He steps back into the real world in an upstairs bathroom. Glenn goes back to the front door, and talks with the doorman. While they're talking, Vilna strolls down the stairs behind the doorman and waves as he joins the party. Glenn manages to convince the doorman to get Ion. Ion comes up, apologising for the inconvenience and invites Glenn in. He walks Glenn into the large parlour, introducing him to a few people. He then takes Glenn up and introduces him to Gerald. Gerald doesn't seem to be paying much attention to what's going on around him. Glenn says that he is a journalist, and that they are doing pieces on various local industries and business. Perhaps Coulton would appreciate a careful, in-depth article on his successful business practise. Coulton seems less than enthusiastic, but says that Glenn should give him a call in the New Year sometime.
Vilna and Glenn spot a few familiar faces. Christine is present, as is Tanya Muller. A bit later on, Irena Sliviak arrives, so Glenn goes over for a chat. He says that he is surprised to see her. Tanya says that they go along to each others shindigs to see what they've done wrong. Glenn mentions the tension several months ago that was sparked by the lost cub, and Tanya says that things have more or less settled since to the previous level since then. As Glenn chats with Irena, Ion leaves the room with Gerald. They go into one of the side rooms. After a few minutes they come out again. Ion is apparently unruffled, but Gerald is looking sicker than ever. Gerald finds his wife and has a quick word with her. Then they make their excuses to Ion and leave.
Meanwhile, Steve is helping the totally smashed Henke into a taxi and taking him home. He gets Henke inside and dumps him on the bed. Henke is unconscious so Steve has a little look around. He doesn't find anything of particular note, so he leaves.
Glenn informs Naomi that Gerald is on the move again. Naomi quickly ascertains that he is moving more or less back towards his home. Glenn and Vilna take the tuxedos back to the rental shop and leave them there. They then head towards Coulton's place. The Coultons arrive home and pay the baby sitter. Gerald goes into his study and puts some stuff on his desk, but doesn't see the money. Since he looks so sick, he goes straight to bed, while Olivia drives the baby sitter home. Soon after, the last light is turned off and everything goes quiet.
Steve arrives and says that he wants to check out exactly what the contents of the truck are, so they all troop back to the depot again. Steve steps inside the truck with a torch, while Naomi waits outside the truck, keeping an eye on the two men sitting in the office overlooking the shed, watching television. Steve checks a few more of the crates Naomi spotted earlier. He finds shotguns and assault rifles, plus ammunition for the same. His major concern is the ammo. Opening a box of shotgun shells, Steve breaks one of the shells open. Shot flies everywhere, and Steve pours some into his hand. It appears a dull black colour, and certainly not the shiny silver he was afraid he might find.
Although trying to be quiet, Steve makes the occasional noise, and eventually the lights are turned on, and one of the men comes out to have a look. Naomi slides under the truck, and Steve sits still. The man moves up the aisle of vehicles, having a cursory look around. He checks the windows and doors - all locked. He goes back into the office, but he leaves the lights on. Steve is satisfied, so he and Naomi step sideways. The True Seekers decide to crash for the night in the umbra at Coulton's place and see what happens in the morning.
When everyone is awake, Naomi tells them that she had that dream again (sewers; goop; darkness; engines; headlights; eyes) but now the sense of danger was imminent. Steve heads back to John's place to keep an eye on him. Coulton's daughters are up first, watching a bit of television before heading into daddy's office to play on his computer with their Christmas presents. They find fifty grand in cash on his chair, so they have a lot of fun counting it, sorting it into colours, playing with it generally. A bit later Olivia is up and making breakfast. Later, she takes some breakfast up to Gerald. When he realises what the time is, he leaps out of bed. Olivia says that he looked so terrible last night that she let him sleep in. When the girls hear daddy coming down stairs, they dump all the cash back on the chair and run out of the study. Gerald comes in and goes to sit down. When he yanks out the chair, money spills all over the floor. Gerald is looking fairly ill again, but he checks the windows, then goes to the safe and looks inside. All his money is still their. Gerald counts the money and...why, it's exactly fifty thousand dollars! He bundles it up and puts it in his desk. Gerald passes around his office for about half an hour. Several time he picks up the phone, then puts it down again. Finally he snatches it up and dials a number. He tells whoever it is that he has the money. He listens for a bit, then hangs up. Gerald takes the fifty thousand dollars, stuffs it into an envelope, grabs his car keys and heads out. The True seekers head out to their car and follow him.
Steve is listening to John snore when the phone rings. Although still virtually asleep, he wakes up fast to whatever he is hearing on the other end. He checks his watch, says 'about twenty minutes' and hangs up. John is still dressed from the night before, so he is up and out the door, into his car and away. Steve moves back to his car and follows. Gerald drives toward the city, then heads south down Punt Rd. He turns left just before Swan St, so Lachlan jumps out while Vilna keeps driving. Gerald parks just up the street, then starts walking back. He walks into the Cricketers Arms, which is full of people ostensibly here for the Boxing Day test. Gerald finds a spot at the bar and waits. Steve has tailed John south and is now heading down Punt Rd. John parks near the Cricketers Arms and heads inside. He looks around, spots Gerald, makes sure that he has been spotted, then heads towards the toilets. After a few seconds, Gerald gets up and heads in the same direction. At this point, Glenn and Steve are watching from the umbra in the toilets. John goes into a cubicle. Shortly after, Gerald goes into the cubicle next to it. A few words are passed, then Gerald slides the envelope under the partition. He then walks out of the toilets and out of the pub. Soon after, John walks out of the toilets and over to the pay-phones. He makes a brief phone call, saying that it went fine and he's on his way. He leaves the pub. The True Seekers split up again. Steve and Naomi are now following Gerald while Glenn, Vilna and Lachlan are following the money...I mean, following John. Gerald is heading east on the South-Eastern Freeway, John is heading south on Punt Rd.
Gerald stops first when he parks around the back of the shops in High St, Armadale. He goes through the back door into a furniture shop. When Steve and Naomi arrive in the umbra, he has just put down the phone, and starts pacing around. Not long after, a car pulls up in back and Gerald goes outside. A man in his late twenties gets out of his car. Gerald calls him Steve and the man calls him Mr Coulton. they both get into Gerald's car and drive off, heading west.
John has driven down to Elsternwick and parks in a suburban street. He heads up to a house, knocks on the door, and is let inside. When the three arrive in the umbra, John is standing by while another older man is counting out the money. The other man is in his late fifties. He counts out fifty thousand dollars and hands five thousand to John. The unknown man says, in a voice the sounds like the first voice on the tape, that he'll call back in an hour and that should be the last of it. John leaves while the other man goes back to watching the cricket. A search through the house from the umbra shows that the guy's name is B. Webber and he's a police captain. The True Seekers decide to wait for this second call.
Meanwhile, Gerald has driven west across the Westgate Bridge and is heading for the police impound lot. They drive up, and he and the other guy walk into the office. Soon after, they walk out again, heading for Gerald's truck. Steve decides that he definitely wants to keep an eye on the goods, so he steps sideways into the back of the truck. the other guy climbs into the truck and starts it up. Gerald goes back to his car and pulls out ahead of his truck. They both drive off, heading back east. Steve has left Naomi stranded, since she can't drive, so she starts loping back through the umbra. In Elsternwick, after about an hour of waiting, Webber gets up and makes a phone call. He pretty much just asks 'how did it go?', listens for a while then hangs up again. He gets himself another beer and goes back to the cricket. The forty five thousand dollars, by the way, he locked in his desk drawer. The True seekers decide that Webber isn't going to do anything interesting, so they head north to join the others.
Steve has enjoyed a bumpy trip, but the truck has finally stopped again. He hears the driver say to Coulton that something was rattling around in the back (the shot that Steve spilt the night before). Someone starts unlocking the padlock on the back door, so Steve steps sideways. From the umbra Steve realises that they're back in Armadale. Steve watches as Gerald pays his driver, who then leaves. A few minutes later, another car pulls up, and four guys get out, carrying sports bags. Gerald asks 'where's Yeagar?' to which the guys reply that he sent them. He also says that Gerald is late, and asks whether there were any problems. Gerald lies convincingly, and says that there were delays up in Sydney. The five of them start moving crates from the truck inside the furniture shop.
Once the crates are inside, the relevant ones are broken open and the four men start transferring weapons and ammunition into their sports bags. One of the men hands an envelope to Gerald, saying 'thirty thousand'. The four men go back to their car and drive away. The rest of the True Seekers coming from Elsternwick are only a few minutes away, so Steve stays with Gerald, who appears about as relaxed as Steve has ever seen him. When the others arrive, they feel that it's about time they spoke with Coulton about the fifty thousand dollars they gave him. Glenn rings the shop, and Gerald recognises the voice of Mr Falcon. Mr Falcon asks when they can see the merchandise they paid fifty thousand for. Gerald, who is suddenly not looking so relaxed any more, says that they can arrange a time. Mr Falcon says that they'll be at the shop in a couple of minutes. Gerald says that's fine, hangs up the phone, bolts out the back door, leaps into his car and drives away very fast.
The True Seekers follow at a more leisurely pace. They arrive at Gerald's house, but they can't see his car. Parking nearby, they check out his house from the umbra. There is no sign of Gerald, or his wife and kids. Various people attempt to use Questing Stone, and they find that he is a fair way to the north of them. The True Seekers decide to split up again. Glenn and Vilna will go after Gerald, Lachlan and Steve are to swing by the cemetery and pick up Naomi, take her back to Armadale and try to catch a scent of the four guys. Naomi manages to gain a good scent, and the three of them head west again. They cross back over the Westgate Bridge and head out towards Werribee. Meanwhile, Vilna does a Questing Stone on Olivia and gets the impression that she is probably with Gerald. The good money is on the chance that Gerald panicked, grabbed his family and bolted. Since Gerald seems to simply be fleeing, he isn't particularly important just now, so Glenn turns the van around and they head back to join the others again.
The others have left the Princess Freeway at Werribee and make their way to a large building, which is apparently a body shop and auto detailers. Driving past, they see several cars parked around, and several people. They park nearby and mosey on back through the umbra. There are a few people out the front burning garbage in a barrel, others are inside working on cars, or stripping them down. Steve spots the guys that he saw at Armadale, but they can't see the bags or the guns. The True Seekers move through the garage, sensing as they go. Most of the people here have a general ambient Wyrm-sense about them. There is also a water cooler which has definite Wyrm contamination. As they are moseying around, a phone in the garage rings. One of the men answers it, then yells out 'Yeagar!'. The door to a small office opens and another man comes out and takes the phone. The True Seekers move quickly to try and hear the conversation, but the call is brief, and they only catch the voice on the other end say, '...rings again, then it's up to you.' Then they hang up. Yeagar hangs up the phone, and starts chatting with the guy who answered the phone.
In the umbra, Lachlan is feeling uneasy. He looks around and sees four strange spirits coming towards them. These spirits look like shifting conglomerations of eyes, with mouths appearing and disappearing in the space around the eyes. Wyrm sense shows that they're banes. Just as Lachlan is alerting Naomi, who is still peeking, the phone rings again and Yeagar starts sprinting towards the office. Then Naomi snaps back to the umbra as the banes close in. The True Seekers rush at the banes, who don't prove much of a threat, despite their paralysing fear gaze. They're like popping bubble wrap. Still, it takes the True Seekers several seconds to destroy them and check back on the real world. When they do, the can see that Yeagar's office door is swinging open, there is no sign of Yeagar, and the men have pulled the bags out from under some workbenches and are loading the weapons. Lachlan sprints into the office, where a drawer has been yanked open and papers spilled on the floor. the office window has been smashed and Lachlan can see Yeagar running across the parking lot. He has papers in one hand and is getting bigger as he runs, as a thick carapace with spikes grows out of his skin. Yeagar is running towards the barrel in the parking lot where the guys were burning stuff. Lachlan sprints towards Yeagar in crinos form and steps sideways at the last second. Luckily, the shift is instantaneous, and he slams into Yeagar just before Yeagar could throw the papers into the fire. Lachlan is impaled by several of the spines on Yeagar's body, and the two of them start wrestling.
Steve and Naomi have stepped into the real world directly behind the group of guys, and start carving into them. The guys suffer the delirium and start screaming, running and shooting wildly. Steve and Naomi drop most of the guys very quickly, a couple run, the rest are shot by their own guys in the confusion.
Lachlan manages to grab the papers as Yeagar head butts him, and they tear in half. Lachlan leaps to his feet, dodging a vicious kick, and starts running back towards the office window, just as Steve and Naomi mop up the last of the guys. Lachlan dives through the window and out the door into the garage as Steve picks up the office desk and waits by the window. After a few seconds, when Steve hears an engine revving, he drops the desk and leaps out the window. Yeagar floors it out of the yard and towards the freeway. Steve runs back to his car and sets off in pursuit.
Lachlan and Naomi decide to do a quick clean up job. There is a truck in the garage, and they start loading the dead and wounded into the back. Naomi, being a nice girl, heals the more immediately mortal-looking wounds. They also throw the guns in the back.
Glenn and Vilna are putting along in their van and have turned onto the Princess Freeway. They know what's going on (thanks to Kanau.com) so they are watching to see if Yeagar is heading back towards the city. Steve instead turns left, heading towards Geelong. Lachlan and Naomi hear the sound of approaching sirens, so they drive off, leaving their car in the vicinity, but hopefully far enough away so the police won't look at it. They drive down the road and around the corner, driving very casually. A minute or so later they see police lights coming up behind them. Lachlan is still driving casually. The two police cars come in behind the truck, and a voice over the loud hailer orders the truck to pull the fuck over. Lachlan decides to give up the drive casually bit, and instead go for the drive-like-a-maniac look. Naomi has a quick look at the papers Lachlan grabbed from Yeagar. It seems to be a list of names and addresses. She spots one that seems familiar, mainly because it's Lachlan's parents address. Other names on the list are familiar, given that they have the same surnames as various members of the Sept of Sleeping Lore.
Steve is also driving like a maniac, and is rewarded when he sees another car driving at very high speeds up ahead of him. He floors it and slowly gains on the speeding car.
One of the police cars has managed to get in front of the truck, while the other one stays behind. Lachlan suggests to Naomi that she should climb in through the wall of the truck and toss a body out the back door, which might slow the police down. Naomi switches to crinos, smashes the back window and peels back the roof enough to get out, then rips through the wall of the back bit. The back door is locked and can't be opened from the inside, but a few healthy kicks breaks it open. The truck lurches with the sudden aerodynamic shift, but Naomi holds on. She picks up a body, makes sure that its dead, then tosses it out the door. The police car behind them slides to a stop and the cops leap out as the truck speeds away. For some inexplicable reason, about ten seconds later, the cop on the passenger side of the front car rolls down his window, pulls out his gun and starts firing at Lachlan through the windshield. Lachlan screams at Naomi to pass him a fucking gun. She tosses a gun into the cabin, along with a few clips and some shotgun shells, as she is not entirely sure which goes with which. Lachlan loads the shotgun (as it is), points it out the front and fires. His shot goes wide, but the police car does a sudden hand-brake turn around the nearest corner. The truck speeds past, then the police car moves in behind again. Naomi tosses out another dead body. The police car swerves, but doesn't stop. Lachlan sees more police cars approaching from ahead. Having decided that they may have to abandon ship, he lets Naomi know that it's time to go. He slows the truck down, steers it towards the ditch on the roadside, and they both step sideways.
Steve is still driving like a maniac, and is catching up with Yeagar. They are both slalem-ing around the other cars on the freeway, shooting along the gravel edges. Steve is trying to read Yeagar's license plate, but is finding it hard to get close enough. The exercise becomes fairly moot when Yeagar flies onto the gravel siding to pass two cars, turns to hard and loses total control. The car slews sideways and becomes airborne at more than 200 kph, rolling as it goes. The middle of the car hits a large gum tree 3 metres up. The car bends right around the tree, pulverising it as it does so, and shreds into a cloud of flying wreckage. Steve skids to a stop and runs up. Other cars on the freeway are stopping. The remains of the car are strewn over a large area, but Steve finds enough amongst the debris of what appears to be organic remains to suggest that Yeagar was not "thrown clear". As more people start to congregate, Steve walks quickly back to his car, does a u-turn across the centre strip, and starts driving back north again.
All the True Seekers converge on the area around Yeagar's garage and the truck, watching from the umbra. More and more police arrive, along with other emergency vehicles, journalists and curious on-lookers. As Lachlan and Naomi watch the police check the bodies in the back of the truck, Lachlan realises that the papers he got from Yeagar are still in the truck - they didn't shift into the umbra when he stepped sideways (why would they?). The police haven't found them yet, and searching from the umbra reveals that they have slipped under the front seat of the car. Naomi shifts to lupus and steps sideways, appearing under the truck. She is hidden by the ditch the truck is in and be the truck. The doors to the cabin are still open, as the police are moving around the area. With Lachlan keeping her informed, Naomi waits until the police are all away from the cabin, then she slips out from under the truck and into the cabin. She grabs the paper under the seat and leaps out again. A few of the on-lookers start laughing, and the police turn to see what has happened. When they see Naomi leaping from the truck, they call out and a few give chase in a half-hearted fashion. Naomi disappears into the bushes and the police give up. Naomi moves away from the area and circles out wide, heading back toward the garage and Vilna. She meets with Vilna half way, and he puts the paper in the bag of shadows, and takes them through to the Umbra. Vilna heads back to the Caern with the list.The police are also searching through Yeagar's garage, where there is a great deal of blood everywhere and a few shells lying around. Glenn has joined the small crowd of journalists outside the cyclone fence. No-one seems to know much about what is going on. Over the next few hours, the police investigation continues. There is too much activity for the True Seekers to attempt anything, so they head back to the Caern.
They chat with Cossack about the list they found. The piece of the list that they have contains names and addresses of various people affiliated with the Sept of Sleeping Lore. There are kinfolk, business associates and contacts on the list. Cossack enlists the True Seekers into an immediate investigation of all associates of the sept, to try and spot any surveillance or interference. They are also going to move as many people as they can. At least one of the names on the list is of kinfolk who are wholly ignorant as to the existence of Garou, so a lot of people cannot be informed of the potential danger (Hi there, I'm a werewolf, and your name was found on a list in the hands of dangerous criminal types in the service of a cosmic entity of evil known as the Wyrm, so we're going to have to move you for your own safety). The True Seekers spend the rest of the afternoon and evening checking out a large number of people, informing those that they can, summoning spirits to keep watch and so on.
Lachlan gets a phone call from Ion during the day. Ion asks about what has been happening, and says that he would prefer it if the True Seekers were to leave Gerald alone, as Ion finds him useful and would like him in one piece - mentally as well as physically. Lachlan says that he is happy if Ion talks to Gerald instead, but they do want to know exactly what Gerald knows. If Ion could call him back when he has spoken with Gerald, it would be appreciated. Otherwise they would have to talk with Gerald themselves. Lachlan also asks Ion about Yeagar. Ion says that Yeagar was a significant but low-key figure in the underworld scene. His influence gained a boost during the small war between Ion and Irena, as he moved to fill a few openings. Ion had checked him out, and he had seemed to be no more than a normal human. Lachlan hangs up, having enjoyed the more subtle benefits of being Adren (3rd rank).
In the evening news, the police make a statement about the days events. They believe that on or about noon of the 29th, ie today, a confrontation between criminal elements took place in an establishment belonging to a person or persons whom police have suspected to have engaged in illegal activity. The aforesaid confrontation resulted in several casualties before police arrived on the scene. The first officers on the scene initiated pursuit of a suspicious vehicle, which led to an exchange of gunfire between the police and the suspected criminals. The vehicle alighted in a road-side declivity, and the suspected criminals departed the scene on foot. In a separate but connected incident, a Mr Yeagar, the proprietor and owner of the aforementioned establishment was involved in another high-speed pursuit along the Princes Freeway with a second unknown party. Mr Yeagar was killed when his vehicle left the road at high speed and impacted with a tree. The police are looking for a car of the following model and registration, and they have a vague description of several of the individuals involved. Those who were injured during the days proceedings are under police custody in hospital, and will be helping police with their enquiries as soon as they are deemed fit to do so. The police decline to speculate at this stage as to the causes of the confrontation. The important bits of this police-babble are the vague descriptions of Lachlan and Steve in glabro form, as well as a pretty good description of the car Steve was driving - a sept car. It is probably time to re-paint the car, change the registration and retire the car for a while.
Ion calls Lachlan again, having spoken with Gerald. It seems that Gerald had heard through contacts that Yeagar had been looking for a supplier. Gerald saw a chance for some quiet money (ie, that Ion wouldn't know about) and contacted him. It was a once off deal to bring in some guns for Yeagar, and it would have gone smoothly, if the truck driver hadn't indulged in some Christmas cheer. Ion guesses that Yeagar must have known that Gerald worked for him, and he either didn't know or didn't care that Ion was Garou. Ion says that Gerald will be going back home in a few days, and if the True Seekers have any more questions, they should call Ion.
The True Seekers meet at the cemetery and head out back to Werribee to check out the garage. The place is sealed off, but deserted. The police have gone over the place thoroughly, and a lot of the stuff has been impounded. Checking out Yeagar's office, they find that a lot of his files and discs have also been taken. There doesn't seem to be much here, except for the tainted water cooler. A more careful sensing of the cooler shows that it is the water itself that is tainted. They take out the bottle, and Vilna takes it back to the cemetery to be examined.
The rest of the True Seekers head over to Yeagar's house, which isn't very far away. His house is on a beach-side road. The True Seekers scan through the umbra carefully, looing for any spiritual observers or protection, but find none. They do find that the house has a faint Wyrm sense to it, which may be due to Yeagar's presence, even though Yeagar himself didn't have a Wyrm sense. They search through the house, but find nothing. The police have been through here. They check what is left of Yeagar's computer and find nothing but business files, relating to the legitimate business of the garage. While they are searching, they hear a car pull up outside, the clunk of car doors, the sound of foot-steps, then a key in the front door. Everyone steps sideways, and watch from the umbra as two policemen come in and search through the house, checking the windows and doors. They turn off the lights and go back out again. A little old lady is standing on the foot-path, and she tells the police that she was the one who called, and that she is sure that there were people moving around inside the house. The police assure the woman that there was non-one there and that everything is fine. They get back in their car and head off again.
The True Seekers decide to try and track down the two phone calls that came through to Yeagar's garage just before all hell broke loose. They trundle over to the local telephone exchange and have a chat with the awakened spirit of the exchange. The call came to the exchange via the main exchange on Lonsdale St. So they troop into the city to have a chat with the main exchange. However, the main exchange claims that no such calls were ever received or transferred. The exchange relays a garbled message in it's files that occurs at the time when the calls were made. Glenn asks the exchange to replay the instructions it has received in the last five minutes (ie, the True Seekers questions), and gets the same sort of garbled messages. Draw your own conclusions.
The True Seekers decide that since they don't have any leads at the moment, they might as well go and retrieve the money the borrowed from Christine. They head over to Webber's house, where a quick check reveals that Webber and his wife are asleep. For reasons best known to themselves, Glenn and Steve decide on the super subtle approach. Stepping sideways into Webber's downstairs study, where he locked the money in his desk drawer, Glenn tries to force the lock while in Glabro form. The desk turns out to be Garou proof, with Glenn grunting, heaving and banging the desk around.
Soon after, Steve hears footsteps on the stairs. He starts whispering loudly to Glenn that they have to leave, but Glenn wants to know why. Webber steps around the corner, carrying his service revolver. He has time to say "You guys have made a big mistake." before Steve flies across the room, rips the gun out of his hand and pummels his head into the floor. While Steve sits on Webber, Glenn goes upstairs, where he hears the sound of someone speaking in the bedroom. He runs back downstairs and tells Steve that the police are on their way. While Steve sits on Webber, Glenn finally manages to open the drawer. He grabs the whole drawer and heads out the back door with it. As soon as he is gone, Steve steps sideways. Soon afterwards, the police arrive. Webber is unconscious and pretty badly injured, so they send for an ambulance. The police talk to Webber's wife, who says that she heard someone moving around downstairs, and while Brian (Webber) went down with his gun, she called the police. The ambulance arrives and they bundle Brian in. His wife goes with him. The police check out the house, finding the back door open. Nothing obvious has been stolen except for the single desk drawer. The police speculate that the thieves were after something in particular, and knew where it was.
Meanwhile, Glenn has cut across several back yards and is picked up by the rest of the True Seekers in a car. Soon after they are joined by Steve, and they head north to collect the rest of the money from Henke. Having discussed an evil plan on the way, Lachlan and Glenn step into Henke's house, bringing Webber's drawer (sans cash) with them in the bag of shadows. Henke is asleep in bed when the two Garou in glabro form jump on him. While Lachlan holds him down, Glenn starts searching the room in a very noisy fashion. No sign of the money. Lachlan asks Henke where the five thousand dollars is. Henke plays dumb for a while, and gets smacked around for his troubles. Eventually, he says that it's behind the mirror. Glenn retrieves the money and dumps Webber's drawer in the hall. Lachlan smacks Henke around some more, knocking him out, then they both leave through the front door.
Finding a dark corner, they return to the umbra. What with all the noise, one of Henke's conscientious neighbours has called the police, who turn up a few minutes later. The police go through the open door, calling John's name, and find Henke just coming around. Henke says that two guys snuck in while he was asleep and beat him up. They all look around, and Henke says that nothing appears stolen. He notices the drawer, but the other police don't notice it as out of place in the mess. Henke declines an ambulance and says that he'll make a report in the morning. Having checked all the windows, the other police leave. Henke takes the drawer into the kitchen and has a look at all the papers. Finding Webber's name on various papers, he picks up the phone and dials. He seems taken aback, then asks for Webber. After a pause, he asks "What happened to him?". Henke listens for a while, then abruptly hangs up the phone.
Henke paces around the room for a while. Let us not forget that he is groggy, concussed, in shock and probably not thinking too clearly. Eventually he gets his phone book out, looking for a name. Let's see...C...Co...Cou...Coulton! Henke rips out the page, goes back to his bedroom, gets dressed quickly, grabs a cricket bat from the cupboard, goes out to his car and gets going. The True Seekers know where he is going and get there before him. Henke parks down the road from Coulton's place, and walks up with the cricket bat. He puts the bat down near the door and knocks. No response. He knocks a few more times. Not wanting him to get discouraged, someone steps sideways into the house and moves around, making enough surreptitious noise that Henke can hear it. Henke grabs his bat and starts moving around the house.
Glenn has made it to a phone booth nearby and quickly calls the police. He tells them that a suspicious looking man is breaking into a house, and gives them an address. Henke makes his way around the back of the house. He looks like he might try and break in, but decides not to when he sees the security stickers. Henke has been hearing noises inside the house and catching glimpses of movement through the windows. He knows that Coulton is inside. He goes back around the front of the house, where the garden is neat and well kept, with ornamental shrubs, rose bushes and border flower beds. Henke gets to work with his bat, smashing everything in sight. He has managed to trash the garden by the time the police drive up. The police ask the man to drop the bat and approach the car. Henke, who is not feeling at all well, is not in the mood to argue with them, and is taken into custody.
The True Seekers follow the police back to the station and watch the proceedings. Henke, realising that it's only a matter of time, admits to being a cop. The police ring his station, where they learn that Henke was beaten up in his home less than an hour ago. They can't get into contact with anyone at the house which Henke was vandalising, and their going to hold Henke till morning. They also give him a couple of aspirin. Henke passes out in one of the cells. The True Seekers, feeling very pleased with themselves for their nights efforts, decide to go home and get some sleep. Lots more lives to fuck in the morning.
The True Seekers decide to check up on the various men who were at Yeagar's garage. They trundle out to the nearest hospital to the garage and look around through the umbra. Finding an empty office, Vilna steps through and checks out the computer. He finds that five men were admitted around the same time yesterday, all listed as critical. They have all since been transferred to St Vincent's. Naomi, watching from the umbra memorises the names. They head back into the city to St Vincent's. Questing stone verifies that at least one of the men is here, and an umbral search through the building locates a ward with two policemen sitting out the front. Unfortunately, the five men in the ward are all heavily sedated and not in a serious state to be answering questions. Glenn can't even use Dreamspeak on them, as they are a long way below REM sleep. Oh well, at least the True Seekers know where the men are.
Having accessed Yeagar's files and obtained a list of employees, the True Seekers try to track down the two men who were at the garage yesterday, but who ran away. Five names on the list are already accounted for, so various people get to work with Questing Stone. They find that another half dozen names are all gathered in a small area that might well be the morgue. One of the names is a long way away, and the rest are scattered across the north and west suburbs. The True Seekers track them all down, which takes the rest of the day.
Naomi manage to locate the two men who ran from the garage, by the scents at the garage that were strongest on the day. By this stage it is already night, so the True Seekers decide to wait until the men are asleep, and then Glenn can Dreamspeak them. The first man is having strange nightmares about the whole event anyway, so coaxing his dreams around to the subject isn't difficult. However, nothing much is revealed except confusion. Even in the courtroom scene the guy doesn't know much. He just says that Yeagar wanted some people taken care of, but he hadn't told them who the people were.
Going around to the second man, we find that he is still awake and watching television. Going for the slightly subtle approach (more subtle than appearing and beating him, anyway), Glenn Mindspeaks with the bloke and starts talking in his head. "Who was Yeagar working for?" Having heard this over and over again for five minutes, the bloke, already on edge, having searched the house and found nothing, and checked outside, grabs his keys and heads for the car. The True Seekers follow him as he heads towards the city. They tail him to King St where he goes into one of the many quality establishments. Having parked nearby and trailed through the umbra, the True Seekers find him sitting at a corner table by himself. Watching for a while, he doesn't seem to be meeting with anyone. They decide to join him. Steve steps sideways and walks through the front door, like any civilised person. Glenn steps sideways into a cubicle in the men's toilets. Unfortunately, it takes him five minutes to get through, and when he does he is not alone. His fellow occupant is knocked forward over the toilet, so Glenn grabs his head and slams it against the back wall. The man slumps to the floor as Glenn strolls nonchalantly out.
After watching their quarry for a while, Glenn decides to goad the matter a little. Sitting at the bar, Glenn asks the barman for a pen. He writes on a beer coaster "Who was Yeagar working for?" and asks the barman to give it to the gentleman in the back corner. The barman says that its not that kind of establishment, to which Glenn replies that its just a joke. The barman takes it over to the man, who reads it, spits out his beer, leaps up and lunges at the barman. At about this point Glenn gets up and moves quickly toward the toilets again and Steve heads out the door. Glenn steps back into the cubicle over the still-prone figure on the ground, and steps sideways. Naomi, watching from the van, sees three large men drag the bloke they've been tailing out the door, belt him a few times, and toss him onto the ground. The man staggers to his feet, stumbles to his car and drives off. Soon after Glenn joins them, and they set off in pursuit.
He doesn't drive very far. The True Seekers pull up outside Flinders St police station, where the man is apparently inside. They find him talking to a small knot of interested police, telling them who he is and where he was yesterday and what he saw and how someone is stalking him and how they have to help him and how yadda yadda yadda. The man is escorted to a holding cell, if only for his own protection and peace of mind, and the officers in charge of the case are called. All well and good, but it doesn't get the True Seekers much further. Most of their leads seem to be drying up. The True Seekers decide to get a relatively early night.
The True Seekers decide to focus on the tape recording that they received. Taking a very long shot, they look to see if there is any correlation between the police impound lot and main sewer lines (don't ask me, I can't remember the train of thought that led to this). Naomi summons rat spirits for a chat, while others go to the state library to look up sewer plans. The rats are quite helpful, and show Naomi through several storm water pipes and tunnels, but nothing that seems to correlated with the impound lot. Looking at the plans at the library doesn't show anything either. Glenn calls Gabrielle and asks her whether she has heard anything about that whole gang- war thing out in Werribee. Apart from some rumours, she knows about as much as the police have released. Gabrielle says that she is having a small party at her place for New Years Eve, and that Glenn is invited.
The True Seekers have run out of leads for the moment. Most of the people they might want to talk to (Webber, Yeagar's men) are hospitalised. They decide to leave the matter for a day or two, until their subjects are healthy enough to be questioned.
The True Seekers troop back to the cemetery. Various of them have shin-digs they can go to for New Years, but Cossack wants at least one of them to remain at the Caern tonight. Eventually, Vilna volunteers to stay. Steve goes off to a police bash down Hampton way, Lachlan goes off to see his former band play at a party, Glenn goes to St Kilda to Gabrielle's do (followed by a stealthy black shadow with a white mark on her forehead). Vilna kicks back at the Cemetery.
The evening is going along as per usual. Steve tries to pick up using the Garou method. Unfortunately, the girl flies into Delirium, but since she and most of the guests are drunk, no-one really notices. Oh well, Steve will just have to get hammered. The night progresses, and soon it is nearly midnight. The last seconds are counted down, and everybody cheers. Then Steve hears the familiar sound of a gun being cocked. Looking in that direction, he sees three dirty, dishevelled and wild-eyed individuals, all looking directly at him, and all pulling uzis out from under their coats. Steve bolts for the house and leaps through the door as bullets start flying. People are screaming and running as Steve leaps into the laundry, looking for a bit of privacy to change into Superman...actually to step sideways. Unfortunately there is a couple in the laundry, who start asking annoying questions like "What the fuck was that?". Steve tells them to stay put and runs out the side door from the laundry. He finds himself in the narrow gap between the house and the fence that connects the front and the back. He is looking around to make sure he is alone when one of the strange men runs around the corner from the back. Steve grabs at his key mirror and steps sideways just as a spray of bullets occupies the space where he was.
While Steve was running around, he was letting the other know what was going on. Glenn excuses himself from the little soiree and heads for his car. Naomi is already on the move, flying through the umbra with some newly acquired wings. However, Lachlan seems to be having some problems. He tells Naomi that he has been captured. Some guy had a shotgun that he said was full of silver and he took Lachlan into the back of a van. He then blindfolded and tied him up. Naomi veers off towards Lachlan in Carlton, telling Glenn to get Steve.
Vilna is spending a quiet New Years Eve at the Caern when strange lights appear in the umbra, right around the perimeter of the cemetery. This is not a good sign. Vilna sees nothing in the umbra, so he checks the real world. He can see a gargoyle demon moving around, ripping up headstones. Vilna steps sideways, by which stage the demon has moved on. Vilna runs over, yanks out the Fae sword and hacks the demon to bits. From where Vilna is, he can hear the sound of gunfire coming from all around the outside of cemetery. Vilna runs back to the centre of the Caern, grabs two assault rifles and ammo, and runs back. Other Garou are doing the same, as Graeme directs people to different parts of the cemetery.
Glenn is speeding south on the Nepean Highway at an illegal velocity when a figure moves slowly out onto the road ahead of him. Glenn is about to veer around this poor old lady when he realises that the figure is not touching the ground. It is a strange floating figure, dressed in cowled robes. Glenn decides not to dodge it, but instead accelerates and rams it. The demon comes apart, as does the front of Glenn's car. As he loses total control of the car, Glenn thinks "Step/don't step/step/don't step" before stepping sideways. He appears in the umbra, flies, bounces and tumbles along for a surprising distance, then stops. Glenn lies still for a while, feeling his bones knit back together, when he hears a thick buzzing sound. Looking back, he sees a small cloud of banes heading towards him. Lurching to his feet, Glenn moves away as quickly as he can, which after a few more seconds is pretty fucking fast.
Steve has appeared in the umbra after five minutes, and peeks back into the real world. Several people are sitting or wandering around in shock, and few people were wounded. There is no sign of the three gunmen. Steve runs for his car and floors it, heading north.
Vilna moves quickly towards the fence along Cemetery Road East. As he nears, he sees a large hulking figure smashing down the fence. The figure is featureless, with no hair or eyes or mouth, and its fists crackle with purple lightning. On the other side of the road, Vilna can see figures, human this time, with guns. They are firing towards the cemetery, but they don't seem to be aiming at anything in particular. Vilna attacks the large figure as it pushes its way into the Cemetery. The figure is a lot slower than Vilna, but when it hits (which it does), the force of the blow and the energy discharge hurt like hell. Vilna is wounded but still fighting when he feels a tingle rush through him, and most of his wounds heal. Attacking with renews strength, Vilna carves through the scintillating purple shield that the thing created around itself, and cleaves it down the middle. Leaving the remains as they start oozing away, Vilna peeks into the umbra. He realises that there are thick clouds of banes swarming outside of the cemetery, kept at bay by the Caern wards. It does make stepping sideways and getting behind the gunmen a less attractive option, however. Vilna targets one of the people across the road and drops him. The others start shooting back towards him, and Vilna is knocked down as a shotgun blast of silver shot rips into him. Vilna hides behind a tombstone for a while, when he finds himself healed again. He moves back into the Cemetery, away from the road.
Steve and Glenn have met up and are heading back when Glenn hears Cossack's voice in his head. Cossack asks for Glenn's whereabouts, and tells Glenn to pick up Melissa on the way through. They should get to the Cemetery as soon as possible. Glenn uses Mindspeak to call all the way back to his former Silver Fang sept. He tells the Sept leader what is happening and tells them to send re-enforcement's. Naomi is catching up to Lachlan, but then the van gets onto the Eastern Freeway. Naomi realises that she is not going to have any hope of even catching up to the van until it leaves the freeway, which might be in Doncaster. Naomi swings back and heads directly towards the cemetery.
Vilna is pausing for breath when he hears Cossack's voice in his head. Cossack says that there is a large truck coming north up Swanston St and the Vilna must stop it. Vilna moves across the cemetery, dodging behind headstones, until he can see down Swanston St. A large tanker truck has just passed Elgin St and is moving at high speed. Using sense Wyrm, Vilna can feel that the whole tank is full of something incredibly Wyrm corrupted. Vilna blazes away at the cab of the truck. He shatters the windshield, and can see that there is a gargoyle behind the wheel. Vilna uses Create Element to place a large rock directly in front of the trucks front right wheel. As it hits the rock, the cab lifts into the air, crashes down and rolls onto its side. The truck starts to slide out, and the tanker tips over when it hits the roundabout. Digging up clods of earth and tarmac and with much screeching of metal, the truck stops when it hits the elevated fence of the cemetery. The cab of the truck has crumpled, squishing the gargoyle, and the tanker has held, containing its contents. Vilna moves away, looking for other targets. He hasn't gone far when there is a huge explosion. The tank of the truck has been ripped in two and shredded, and the black, viscous substance it contained has been projected high into the air in every direction. This ichor comes raining down over an area several hundred metres across, including into the cemetery. As Vilna is standing there, he hears another very loud explosion off around Cemetery Road West, and he sees a large fireball go up.
Suddenly, Vilna feels an unearthly chill around his leg. looking down, he sees a black shadow has coalesced around his leg and is rising up his body. Naomi swoops over the cemetery in the umbra. She can see lights all around the perimeter of the cemetery, except for a large patch where a black stain has doused them. Banes are swarming into the cemetery through the breach in the wards. Naomi swoops down to the centre of the cemetery, where Graeme is firing the umbral shotgun fetish at the approaching banes. She growls at him to get on, then she launches back up into the sky and ploughs into the cloud of banes, with Graeme on her back firing into the mass.
Steve and Glenn pull up outside Melissa's house on Punt Rd hill, Glenn jumping out and running for the door. The front door is standing ajar, and there is the sound of automatic weapon fire coming from upstairs. As Glenn is about to plunge inside, the top story window above the door shatters outwards as a figure comes flying out. Glenn deftly catches the falling person, and finds himself with a dishevelled and mad-eyed man in his arms. There is a howl from above as Melissa - in Crinos form, caked in blood and frenzying - plunges out the window and straight towards Glenn. Glenn tosses the man up into the air and dives out of the way. Melissa hits the man and rides him to the ground, then starts decorating the front garden with little bits of him. Glenn runs into the house, yelling at Steve to deal with Melissa.
Just inside the front door, Glenn finds the body of Melissa's father, apparently killed by bullet wounds. In the front room, he also finds Melissa's mother, also dead. Glenn goes upstairs where he finds a great deal of blood and shredded remains, as well as two Uzis. Glenn grabs the Uzis and heads downstairs again. Steve has carefully assessed the situation (frenzying Garou spreading a body everywhere), then does a spinning kick to Melissa's head. She hits the ground with an earth-shaking thud, and is apparently going to be out for a while. Unfortunately, she is still in Crinos form. Fortunately, the Lindridge's have a large Mercedes in their garage, which is just what you need for carting unconscious Crinos around. Steve and Glenn dump Melissa in the back seat and get moving toward the Cemetery. On the way, Glenn checks the Uzis. They seem to be loaded with silver-alloy bullets.
At the Cemetery, Vilna has found that the sucking shadow-thing is more substantial than your average shadow. As it crawls up his leg and onto his torso, sucking the heat out of him, he digs his claws into it and turns it into shadow strips. He shakes the last of it off his leg when the four men armed with guns enter the Cemetery through the hole in the fence. Vilna wounds one with his assault rifle, and drops behind a tombstone when the others start blazing away in his direction. Now that he no longer seems to be claustrophobic, Vilna decides to make good use of the Burrow gift. He heads down and then across, heading towards the enemies position. When he pops up again, they have moved on, heading to where they last saw him. Now behind them, Vilna shoots one of them in the back and pops down into the ground again. He spends some time digging around, coming up to shoot someone, then heading back down again. It doesn't take him very long to kill the four men who came through the fence.
Naomi is swooping through the air tearing at the banes, when below her she sees Cossack approaching. He reaches out with a claw and tears a rune in thin air. The rune seems to make a keening sound, which Naomi can hear with her spirit. Certainly it doesn't make the banes very happy, as they fall into confusion; spinning around, blundering into each other, falling helpless onto the ground. Naomi and Graeme renew their assault.
Steve and Glenn barrel down Punt Rd, then onto Alexander Parade. Roaring toward the Cemetery, they can see that several police cars are blocking the road, with the police crouched down behind them, peering in the direction of the Cemetery. Glenn lays on the horn and keeps going, aiming for the end of a police car. The police dive for cover as Glenn sweeps two cars aside. As he drives on, the police send a couple of bullets his way. Glenn pulls up outside the Cemetery fence, then he and Steve grab Melissa and run through the hole in the fence. They find Vilna having just finished off the last of the intruders in this part of the Cemetery. Elsewhere around the Cemetery comes the sound of gunfire and the howling of Garou. Cossack's voice appears in Vilna's head, and asks what the situation is. Vilna says that he has cleaned it up and that Steve and Glenn have arrived. Cossack tells them that it seems there are six points of attack: Cemetery Road East, Cemetery Road West, East Gate, West gate, Garton Street and McIlwraith Street. He has dealt with the Cemetery Road East group, and now they should head north to deal with the East Gate and McIlwraith Street groups. Cossack says to be careful about their targets, as several kinfolk from the zoo have joined in the fight to the west. Melissa is suddenly revived by the Caern defences, and the four of them run north.
The reach the East Gate, and find the scattered remains of intruders and the deliquescing corpses of demons. Further north they can hear the sounds of combat, so they keep running. Near the north end of the Cemetery, they find Carmel near death, collapsed behind a tombstone with a large gunshot wound in her side. Nearby, Chris and Marcus are fighting one of the large lumbering demons, while a gargoyle demon swoops them from the sky. Further on are three of the fomori armed with guns, taking shots when a target presents itself. Vilna quickly moves to heal Carmel, then burrow down, attempting to outflank the fomori. This turns out to be the extent of his contribution to the combat. Steve and Melissa move to deal with the fomori, while Glenn attracts the attention of the gargoyle. After the arrival of the extra Garou, the combat is furious but rather one sided. Glenn cuts the large demon in half with the fae sword. Steve and Melissa shoot the fomori and rip them into pieces. Vilna pops out of the ground, looking fairly sheepish. Chris, Marcus and Carmel thank the others, then head towards the West Gate.
Vilna, Steve, Glenn and Melissa head toward Garton Street. The sound of gunfire is diminishing as the howling of the Garou grows more exultant. Running through the Cemetery, the four of them see a cowled figure floating across the ground toward them. Steve lunges at the figure, which turns its non-existent face towards him. Steve decides that he doesn't want to attack this figure, and decides to go off somewhere else. The others throw themselves on the demon, and after a short, sharp battle they are victorious. They keep running, as Steve returns to his senses and rejoins them. By now, the last sounds of battle have died away. Everyone hears Cossack's voice, telling them all to enter the umbra and battle the bane swarm. They all step sideways.
Naomi and Graeme having been chewing their way through this great cloud of banes. The strange ghostly figures that wander the Cemetery's penumbra have congregated around the swarm, keeping them relatively contained. The rune that Cossack created has rendered them almost helpless. Now it is just a matter of elbow grease. The sept throughs itself into the bane cloud, snapping and tearing. The banes are destroyed in great numbers until the swarm wavers, breaks and begins to scatter. Most of the banes are destroyed and the rest disappear, until the umbra is calm again.
Naomi lands and rejoins her pack again. Cossack says that now the immediate danger is over, they should try to rescue Lachlan. Leaving Melissa at the Cemetery, the True Seekers run out across the Umbra. They pass over the police road block and head east into Collingwood. Finding a quiet spot, they step back into the real world. The streets are full of people, new years revellers who are wondering what the hell is going on at the Cemetery. The radio is broadcasting that everyone should stay in their homes, but no-one seems to be listening. The True Seekers find a parked car, and quickly get in and get it going. They drive onto the Eastern Freeway and head out, Naomi giving them directions as they go.
Eventually, they find themselves out in Warrandyte, driving along badly-surfaced or unsurfaced roads. They pass by a house where Naomi is sure Lachlan is, drive a bit further then stop. The house is set on a large bush block, making it fairly private. Keeping their distance, the True Seekers throw every mystical sense they have at the house. Nothing. They step into the umbra, which appears unremarkable. The house itself has no umbral presence. Naomi decides to do an umbral fly-by, with Steve on her back. Launching into the air, she swoops at where the house would be, bracing herself for potentially nasty results. Nothing happens. She flies through the house a few more times. She and Steve get brief glimpses of the interior, and it seems fairly normal. The lights are on inside, and for an instant Steve sees a woman carrying a box, moving around on the second floor. Naomi and Steve land in the house (in the umbra) and the others join them. They move around, looking over the ground floor, but don't find Lachlan or the woman that Steve saw. They do find what appears to be stairs leading down into a basement, and the light appears to be on down their. Vilna burrows down through the umbral earth and drops into an open space. The others follow him and they look around. They see Lachlan taped to a chair, with more electrician's tape around his eyes. They see a haggard-looking man sitting in a nearby chair, pointing a shotgun at Lachlan. They see a woman setting up a tape recorder and video camera on a nearby table. Vilna recognises the woman. It's Siobahn, his former housemate, who saw him in Crinos form while he was having a nightmare. People attempt to sense into the real world. Siobahn is unremarkable and Lachlan is a werewolf. The haggard man is almost certainly kinfolk.
The True Seekers move into position to save Lachlan. Naomi places herself between Lachlan and the gun. Vilna, Glenn and Steve surround the man. They are all in Crinos form. On the count of three they all step sideways and they all enter the real world simultaneously. Naomi jumps on Lachlan and throws him to the ground, covering him with her body. Steve grabs the gun out of the man's hands and Vilna grabs him. Glenn then runs to the stairs, blocking any means of escape. They plan goes flawlessly, which raises the question...where are the real True Seekers? Siobahn turns around, sees the Garou in Crinos form, and starts screaming hysterically in a fairly typical example of Delirium. Naomi frees Lachlan from the chair and removes the blindfold, taking his eyebrows with it. Glenn and Steve restrain Siobahn and blindfold her. The True Seekers have a brief and silent discussion about what to do. Steve, Vilna and Lachlan are not adverse to the idea of killing the two of them as threats to the Veil. Glenn and Naomi suggest that this would be a bit precipitous, and want to have a chat first. While the others take Siobahn upstairs, Glenn switches to Homid form. The man says that they should just kill him and get it over with. Glenn says that if they wanted him dead he would be, and that he just wants to have a chat.
The two of them have a long talk. The man is fatalistic and mistrustful, but sees no reason to bother lying to Glenn. He says that his name is Patrick Faithful and he was a police detective. He was assigned to a case where two police had been shredded, and the main suspect, Lachlan McGleish had turned up a few days later, claiming to have been kidnapped and beaten by parties unknown. Others where later arrested and the case was closed, but Patrick was unconvinced and he kept tabs on Lachlan in his own time. It didn't take long before disturbing evidence began to appear, and that whatever he was dealing with here was not entirely human. He started spending more time watching Lachlan and taking photos. He had been watching the True Seekers in the cafe when Siobahn saw Vilna, and the way she reacted made him suspect that she knew something. He wanted to talk to her, because by this time the rest of the police thought he was crazy (not that he had said anything specific), and he wanted someone who could confirm at least for his own peace of mind that he wasn't. Siobahn was just as relieved to find someone else who thought that something was going on, although her fears were more nebulous and lacking definition. This perhaps made it worse for her, as she didn't know what she was afraid of, and was suffering from nightmares. With the evidence that Patrick had accumulated, he could convince her of the general nature of what they were dealing with, but she was physically unable to deal with certain items: a blurry photo of a giant man-like figure running down a street at night made her physically ill.
The more he investigated, the bigger he new the matter was. He knew it wasn't just Lachlan, but most of the people who Lachlan associated with. He knew that the werewolves were killing people with seeming impunity. He guessed that the Full-Moon Killer was a werewolf. Whenever someone vanished without a trace or they found a house with blood everywhere but no bodies, he knew it was the werewolves. He spent a long time gathering evidence, but he didn't know what he was going to do. He knew that all the blurry photos in the world weren't going to convince anyone who didn't already suspect the truth. He decided that his only chance was to get irrefutable evidence. He had collected more information and data on Lachlan than on anyone, so he picked Lachlan. He waited for a chance when Lachlan was alone and away from the other werewolves, which turned out to be tonight. He knew that real werewolves weren't like the ones of legend - they seemed to disappear like shadows. More than once he saw Lachlan and others drive up in a car and park. No one would get out, but the car would be empty. However, his best bet was still silver, so he bought some silver and made some make-shift silver shotgun shells. It seemed to work, as Lachlan hadn't given him any trouble. That was where the rest of them came in.
For his part, Glenn tells Patrick a little bit about themselves. Nothing too specific, just that werewolves are not the indiscriminate killers that he thinks (not all of them, anyway), and that Patrick himself may well be related to one. Glenn says that they are not going to kill him or Siobahn, although as Siobahn isn't like Patrick, they may have to make her forget everything. He asks to see the evidence that Patrick has collected. Patrick takes him upstairs, stopping to check on Siobahn and make sure she is all right, and shows him a few boxes. They contain lots of envelopes of black-and-white photographs, lots of locations and faces, particularly around the cemetery and members of the sept. There are more incriminating photos, most of them in poor lighting conditions and blurry. Still, someone of them would be disconcerting to anyone who saw them. There are also notebooks containing names and addresses of most of the sept as well as a few members of Hidden Green, logs of where Patrick was and what he observed, also lots of speculative notes about what he was dealing with and what he should do. Glenn tells Patrick that he should keep the evidence for now, but that perhaps he should hide it down in the basement. He wants Patrick to keep the evidence as an indication of trust. Where it all goes from here is anyone's guess.
Glenn and Naomi ask Patrick if they can sleep at his place for the night - not that they don't trust him or anything. Lachlan, Steve and Vilna head back to the Cemetery, stopping off in Collingwood to return the car. At the Cemetery, the police and the army are crawling all over the place. A decontamination unit is already busy mopping up the gunk in the tanker. Cossack brings them up to date. There is bad news and worse news. The bad news is that two of the sept are dead. Barry Heaton died removing the bomb from the second tanker. Fortunately he got it far enough away that the tanker wasn't breached. Georgina Quittner was gunned down in the street outside a party. She was then doused in petrol and set on fire.
The worse news is that the contamination from the tanker is spreading fast. The spiritual contamination is spreading independently of the physical substance, and is feeding on the power of the Caern. Whoever concocted this stuff knew what they were doing. They estimate that they have two or three days before the Caern is corrupted. Before that happens, if they can't stop the corruption, they are going to destroy the Caern. Watching from the umbra, they can see that even as the people in the environment suits are cleaning up, the spiritual blight is seeping into them through the suits. Cossack feels that they were very lucky tonight, but he doesn't know why. The high presence of demons suggest that it was the mages. The corrupting toxins were made from the residue of the Green Dragon Incarna, which suggests it was the Black Spiral Dancers. Most likely it was both. Whoever it was, for some reason they didn't make a personal appearance. Had the Black Spirals or the mages attacked at the height of the battle, they almost certainly would have won. Yet they didn't, and the entire attack, which would have taken a tremendous amount of time and effort to organise, particularly in such secrecy, was wasted.
The first priority now is to save the Caern. If and when that is accomplished, the absolute and over-riding priority is to deal with the mages and the Black Spirals, before they attempt another attack. The sept stays up through the night, discussing possible ways to stem the creeping corruption.