The True Seekers are transformed into Porcelain Truck, and have many adventures.
The True Seekers are at the Cemetery when the Moon Bridge opens up and a familiar figure comes through - Monash Ends-To-The-Darkness, the Stargazer on the Jindabyne Council. He speaks with Cossack for a while, who then calls the pack over. Monash says that about three months ago, Alex Urosevic turned up at the Stargazer Caern at Carnarvon Gorge. The Stargazer's Web of Dreaming Hands Sept was for a long time suffering from a spiritual crisis, and since it recovered, sees one of it's principle tasks as the aiding of those Garou who suffer from Harano, or are close to it. Alex is one such sufferer, blaming himself for Marion's death. However, when he's not blaming himself, he's blaming the True Seekers for bringing about the circumstances of her death. Monash has been trying to help Alex, and he asks that the pack go with him to see Alex. When asked why them, Monash says that he dreamt of them in connection with Alex. The True Seekers and Cossack gives his leave, so they Moon Bridge away, going to Carnarvon Gorge via Jindabyne, as there is no direct link.
They arrive at the Gorge, a river valley filled with rain forest. Monash explains that the Moon Bridge tends to appear all over the place, so they start walking. Eventually they find the rest of the sept, and Monash introduces the True Seekers to the Sept Leader, Indira Songs-Of-Sorrow; the Caern Warder, Dale Earth-Sky-Twinning; and the Master of the Rite, Cherri Backward-Glance. The pack head off in search of Alex. They find him sitting beside the river. He looks up and sees them approaching. He seems shocked, but then gets up and quickly walks away. They decide not to push him at this stage, but to wait awhile. The rest of the True Seekers kick back for a Queensland holiday, while Naomi goes for a lope around the gorge.
Naomi is trotting down a small side valley of the gorge when a fog starts rising at an amazing rate. The further she goes the thicker the fog gets. It reaches a point where she can barely see at all, then starts to thin just as quickly. As it does, however, Naomi realises that she is moving out of the valley instead of in. She turned 180 degrees in the fog. She heads back to join the others.
The rest of her pack are hard at work, floating in rock pools, or sleeping under trees. Monash joins them, and Naomi asks about the valley. Monash says that it is the centre of the Caern. Naomi asks which spirit is the totem of the Caern, to which he replies that they are not exactly sure. It has something to do with fog and spiders and dreams. Naomi heads back for the small valley, and heads down until the fog just begins to appear. She stops there and starts howling greetings for the spirit of the Caern. A slight draft seems to be blowing up the valley, for as she sits there, long strands of spider silk come floating up the valley and drape themselves over her. She decides to have a nap at the mouth of the valley, to see what happens.
Meanwhile, Lachlan is keeping occasional track of Alex via Questing Stone. He seems to be moving aimlessly around the gorge. Presently they are joined by Naomi, who didn't dream anything useful. The True Seekers decide to wait until morning before going after Alex.
Come the morning the True Seekers head off after Alex. They find him and Naomi confronts him. He runs again, but this time they pursue him, staying with him, letting him run himself down. Finally he stops, and Naomi starts talking with him again. She speaks calmly and reasonably about Marion's death, but his responses are largely incoherent rambling. As Naomi presses him, Alex frenzies, changing to Crinos and throwing himself at her. She fends him off with no real difficulty, and manages to pin him down. His frenzy continues, then dies away, then flares up again several times while the True Seekers sit on him. Finally he stops, but now he seems virtually catatonic, staring into space. The True Seekers lug him back to the sept.
Naomi had been hoping for perhaps a cathartic outpouring of rage, but Monash says that Alex has frenzied before now. The True Seekers ask Monash again why precisely did he think that they could help Alex. He says that he had a dream where he saw that they were somehow a part of helping Alex. Perhaps they might use the power of the Caern to learn more.
That night, Monash leads the True Seekers down into the valley that is the Caern centre. this time the fog does not arise. As they descend, they see spider web hanging in the trees, and as they go deeper, the webs become thicker and thicker. At the bottom of the valley stands a large tree, the branches of which look like two hands touching at the wrist and cupping outwards. Monash explains that if one sleeps in the cup of the tree, sometimes there is a prophetic dream. He suggests that one of the pack should sleep here tonight and see what happens. Naomi volunteers, so the others trek back as she makes herself comfortable
First thing, Monash leads the rest of the true Seekers back down into the valley. Naomi is lying in the tree, virtually cocooned in spider silk - apparently a sign that it worked. She tells them of the dream she had. She found herself walking down a street near where she lives, talking with somebody. She was telling this person about the whole Sydney thing. As they went along the street, they would walk into each house that they passed and have a look around the house, which didn't seem to perturb the residents any. She reached the end of the story and the other person asked what happened then. They felt that it wasn't the whole story, that she hadn't said what happened afterwards, or where everybody was. So Naomi started explaining about what happened and where everybody ended up. She was now walking through the Cemetery, and as she reached Marion's grave site she said "...and Marion's here". The other person said that they didn't know that. How could they know that Marion was here when they weren't there when she died. So Naomi pulled out a couple of shovels and started digging. They uncovered a coffin and opened it up, but it was empty. That's all she remembers.
Everybody heads back to join the rest of the sept to discuss the significance of the dream. After much discussion, Indira says that in order to help Alex, it must be shown to him that all are part of the cycle of Gaia. He has forgotten this, and must be reminded. The dream suggests that this can be achieved by finding Marion and showing her to Alex, so that he may remember. So now all they have to do is find a dead person. Indira suggests that they should talk to someone who knows about such things, like Grek Twice-Tongue. Not being a member of a sept, it's harder to track him down, so spirits are sent across the umbra to find him.
Towards evening Grek Moon Bridges into the Caern. Indira explains the situation to him, and what it seems the True Seekers must do. Grek spends the night telling tales from Garou legend as well as human mythology, concerning past lives, ancestor spirits, ghosts, resurrection, re-incarnation and others. He says that tales of the Garou include previous examples of Garou on similar quests. There is no step by step method to the process, you simply start looking and inquiring where-ever you can think of. Grek suggests that the first place they should go would be the Bone Gnawer homeland (Marion being Bone Gnawer). They should talk to Cossack about that, and Grek will speak with them again when they return from the homeland.
The True Seekers Moon Bridge back to the Cemetery (via Jindabyne) and bring Cossack up to date with the situation (they do that a lot). Cossack says that since most of the pack are not Bone Gnawer, they will be able to achieve little in the homeland, unless they undergo the Bone Gnawer Rite of Recognition. The Theurgey types know that the Rites of Recognition are tribal rites, affording tribal outsiders with a degree of acceptance within the tribe. Cossack says that he could perform the Rite, the pack being part of an effectively Bone Gnawer sept, but is reluctant to do so as there is an apparent conflict of interests. He says that the Ear-To-The-Ground sept in Sydney could enact the Rite. When it is pointed out that the Ear-To-The-Ground sept hates the True Seekers guts for almost destroying their Caern and for killing off half the sept, Cossack says that this is an opportunity to mend some bridges, particularly since Mother Pasta is on the Jindabyne Council and it would be nice if she didn't want to kill them all. Cossack says that he will go to Sydney with them to talk with Mother Pasta. The True Seekers ask him what the Rite of Recognition involves, but he says that he wouldn't want to spoil the fun. So they all get ready and Moon Bridge over to Sydney.
They arrive in the basement of the King's Arms Hotel and are met by members of the sept, who seem to recognise the True Seekers. Cossack speaks with Herman Cartwright, the Master of the Rite, as Mother Pasta is currently out. While Cossack chats with Herman, the True Seekers just try to look as innocuous as possible. Soon Mother Pasta comes in, looking seriously pissed off. Cossack moves to talk with her. As he talks, an evil smile spreads across Mother Pasta's face. She says something to Cossack, then leaves. Cossack and Herman come over to the True Seekers, and Cossack says that she has agreed to have the Rite of Recognition performed. Cossack prepares to leave, and tells the pack to maintain their sense of humour. He Moon Bridges away. Herman, who doesn't seem too cheesed off with the pack, says that the Rite will be performed tonight, so they can have a look around Sydney if they want. They might want to see what's happened at the site of the Black Spiral Hive. They chuff around to the site in back of King's Cross, to find that the entire block and several surrounding it have been demolished and a park has been set up in it's place.
The True Seekers kick around until evening, then head back to the Hotel. After the last patron has been bundled out, the place is locked and the shutters drawn. The whole sept seems to be present. The True Seekers are led into the centre of the room as Herman steps forward to begin the Rite. He says that the first step in the process is the shedding of old identities. He asks for suggestions as each member steps forward. Much shouting from the assembled Bone Gnawers. One by one they receive their new names.
Lachlan becomes Mrs-Potato-Head, Steve becomes Pig-In-A-Poke, Vilna becomes Squeaky, Naomi becomes Barefoot-And-Pregnant (the irony of which is lost on the lupus) and Glenn becomes Silver-Stick-Up-Butt. With each new naming, the recipient is showered with rubbish and sprayed with beer. Calvin also wants a new name, in a gesture of pack solidarity, so he is called Fly-Paper (Yaaayy, woo-hoo, [spray spray]). The entire pack is rechristened Porcelain Truck.
Herman announces that Porcelain Truck must now live as Bone Gnawers until the spirits are satisfied. To begin with, the entire sept has an enormous piss-up, and Porcelain Truck gets to serve and clean up the spilt beer and vomit.
Porcelain Truck begins it's new Bone Gnawer life, at the beck and call of the rest of the sept. They get all the fun menial jobs, like cleaning out the toilets. The elders of the Caern also have them doing sept work, distributing food and clothes to the homeless and patrolling the Bawn.
Porcelain truck is on patrol at night, moving along the harbour in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge. Ahead they hear some sort of ruckus. A car has pulled up at the end of a dead end street, facing the harbour. In the glow of the head lights, three people appear to be kicking a fourth person. Pig-In-A-Poke pulls a gun and screams "Hold it!! Police!!" as Squeaky and Barefoot-and Pregnant start running. Two of the attackers freeze in confusion. The third turns and runs for the car. He leaps in as Barefoot, in lupus form, leaps onto the bonnet. He tries to start the car, but stalls it in his panic, as Squeaky in glabro form opens the passenger door and leans in. The guy leaps out and tries to run, but Barefoot bears him to the ground. Pig-In-A-Poke (Porky to his friends), Mrs-Potato-Head, Silver-Stick-Up-Butt (also know as silverstick) and Fly-Paper run up to the other two assailants and get them down on the ground. The victim seems to be a middle-aged homeless guy. The pack realises that the attackers are no more than eighteen years old. The two who froze insist that it was all the other guys idea. While the three huddle on the ground, Porcelain Truck stand around mentally discussing what they should do with them. Meanwhile, Barefoot leads the old guy away, Mother's Touching him as they go. He appears to be so drunk he won't remember anything anyway.
After five minutes of total silence, Porcelain Truck decide what to do. The apparent ring leader is bundled into the car and driven away while the other two are led to a nearby park, stripped naked and loosely tied to the roundabout. With the pack watching from the umbra, they manage to get free, then run across the park, dodging from bush to bush, until the reach a phone beside the road. One of the makes a reverse charges call, imploring his mother to come and pick them up, because someone stole the car. They hide in the dark until a car drives up, when they dive inside and drive away.
Meanwhile the ringleader has been driven to a nearby residential area, stripped naked, and tied securely into the drivers seat. Squeaky pops the bonnet and sets the horn blaring constantly, before disappearing down an alley. Soon lights go on up and down the street, and people wander out into the street. They take in the situation (Horn blaring, naked guy tied in the car pleading to be untied), then one guy reaches under the bonnet and turns off the horn, and everyone goes back inside to bed. Some time later, a bunch of kids come wandering down the road. They also appraise the situation before stealing the hubcaps and anything else that isn't nailed down. Much later, a police car comes down the road, drives past the parked car, then comes to abrupt stop. The police climb out and appraise the situation on their own. They untie the kid, give him a blanket, stick him in the back of the police car and drive off.
Florence, the Caern Warder, says that someone is selling bad smack in the area. Several people have been hospitalised and two are dead. She wants Porcelain truck to find where the stuff is coming from and stop it. The plan is to buy as much smack as they can buy from as many people as possible and see if any is contaminated. Having wandered the back streets and gone into a few pubs and clubs, they've managed to score five times. Barefoot in lupus form, gives them all a damn goods sniffing, to see if any are significantly different from the others. One of them stands out as definitely unusual, some smack they bought from an ambulatory pharmaceutical called Roald, or the "Skankster", in a club. They decide to have a little chat with Roald.
They keep an eye on him from the umbra until he leaves the club. Mrs-Potato-Head and Porky get ahead of him and find a nice recessed doorway in which to lurk. As Roald walks past, they grab him and slam him against the metal door. Mrs-Potato-Head starts screaming at him that his girlfriend is dead because of the smack Roald sold him. Roald, in danger of losing his professional reputation, insists that he only cuts the stuff with benign substances. Mrs-Potato-Head asks him for the name of his supplier. Roald says that he calls a guy named Hilary Purcell. Mrs-Potato-Head suggests that Roald should give Hilary a call and arrange a meet. He does so, and Hilary arranges to meet him in a park in the morning. Porcelain truck figure that Roald has told them all he knows, but don't want him calling Hilary and warning him. So Mrs-Potato-Head and Porky take Roald to a hotel - the sort where you pay by the hour - rent a room for eight hours, take him upstairs, tie and gag him, then leave.
They then get together and use Questing Stone to locate Hilary Purcell. They eventually trace him to a nice Sydney neighbourhood. An umbral run through his house reveals that he is alone, although there appear to be women's clothing and toiletries around the place. They can find no trace of drugs. They decide to wait.
Hilary gets up in the morning, showers, shaves, gets dressed, has breakfast, yadda yadda. He then goes to a hidden wall safe in his study and takes out a set of electronic scales, pill bottles and bags of suspicious white powder. He then heads downstairs to the laundry and comes back with a box of detergent powder. He begins measuring out careful doses of the drugs and mixing them with detergent. Porcelain Truck feel that they've found the problem, and decide not to fuck around with the guy. Squeaky steps sideways behind Hilary with a gun and blows him away fairly effectively. He quickly searches in the safe and finds about seven thousand dollars in cash. Barefoot joins him in the real world in lupus form, takes the cash in her mouth and trots downstairs. Squeaky opens the front door then steps sideways, leaving it ajar. Barefoot trots through the garden, out the front gate and away.
In a distant secluded place, the rest of Porcelain truck step into the real world and head back to the Caern, with the full intent of donating all the money the found (minus expenses).
Porcelain Truck is working in the park at the old site of the Hive, cleaning and weeding and stuff, when they hear a commotion. Two little kids are having a ruckus. One manages to get on top of the other and starts beating his head into the concrete in a fairly vicious manner. Barefoot-And-Pregnant reaches them first and separates them. Various people Sense Wyrm and discover levels of Wyrm taint on both of them. Barefoot manages to get addresses out of both of them and takes them home.
Sensing on the women who answers the first door shows nothing. Sensing on the older brother who answers the door at the second house shows more Wyrm taint. Entering the Umbra and moving along the street reveals many cases of low grade Wyrm taint amongst children, and a few cases of lesser taint amongst adults. Barefoot and Squeaky go to check out the nearby school, but a cursory examination reveals nothing. Nor do they learn anything after visiting the local milk bar. Back at the park, the rest of Porcelain Truck hears the tinkling bells of an ice cream van. All the little kiddies come tumbling out of the houses to have an icy treat. The back window of the van opens and a maniacally smiling clown is revealed. Feeling that the plot has just been revealed, various people make their way closer and Sense Wyrm. Much Wyrm taint inside the van and on the clown. Barefoot and Squeaky are alerted and make their way back. Rather than try anything here, Porcelain Truck decide to wait and follow the van.
The van moves from area to area, doing an unusually brisk business. After an hour or so, it stops making regular stops and keeps going. They follow it back to a depot where it parks alongside a few other ice cream vans. The clown, still grinning maniacally, gets out of the van and heads inside. The clown makes his way to the office and orders another load of stuff (not that he's saying anything at all. He just hands over an order form). Meanwhile, Porcelain Truck have been checking out the depot from the umbra but have found no other Wyrm taint, either on the supplies in the freezer, or on the staff. Squeaky decides to step into Mr Clowny's truck and knobble it before he gets back. Unfortunately, he doesn't get through the Gauntlet as fast as he might like, and it looks like he might pop out while people are loading the van.
Thinking fast, silverstick, who is in the real world, grabs a clipboard from the dashboard of one of the parked vans and barges into the depot. He claims to be from the Department of Health and demands to see the manager. When the manager arrives, silverstick starts going off about complaints from parents whose kids have become ill from soft-serve cones, in areas corresponding to Mr Clowny's route. Turns out that Mr Clowny's real name is Reginald Howard. Reginald is still capering and smiling like a lunatic. The manager says that Reginald gets a bit funny when he puts on the clown suit, like he's autistic or something (note the precise clinical application of the term), to which silverstick explodes that he shouldn't be driving a bloody van then. Muttering dire threats about shutting him down, silverstick says that no more vans are to be sent out until they can locate the source of the contaminate. He storms off.
Meanwhile, Squeaky has appeared and decides to knobble the freezer, so at least the treats that he serves will be soggy. Having done so, he steps back into the umbra. Porcelain Truck get together and discuss. Porky, Mrs-Potato-Head, and silverstick decide to head over to Reginald's house and wait for him there, and they drive off. Squeaky, Barefoot and Fly-Paper stay at the depot to keep tabs on him. Reginald is standing in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror, still smiling. After about five minutes, he walks out and goes into the stores, takes a box of ice creams and walks out. Two other clowns are sitting in the employee lounge having a cigarette when he walks through. They point out that he probably shouldn't, but don't move to stop him.
They do go in to chat with the manager. Reginald takes the box out to his van and dumps it in the freezer, which is rapidly warming. He opens his mouth wide and vomits a stream of black goo into the freezer. The icy poles rapidly draw the goo in until there is none left. No one bothers to test for Wyrm taint. Reg is in the drivers seat when the manager comes running out, but Reginald starts up and heads out. The manager runs back inside to call the police, obviously wishing to maintain plausible deniability. Squeaky, Barefoot and Fly-Paper head after Reg.
Eventually, Reg slows down and starts playing his chimes. He pulls up beside the road as the kids come running outside. The three Garou place themselves not too far away. After a short time a police car pulls up behind the van and two cops get out. They wander over to have a word with Reg, who still isn't saying anything. Not having much luck in persuading him to come along quietly, one of the cops climbs through the driver's door and walks into the back of the van. As he grabs Reg's arm, Reg turns and vomits a stream of black goo into his face.
Reg disappears below the window as the cop falls screaming to the floor, clutching at his face. The other cop stands stunned on the footpath as Reg pops back up again, holding an assault rifle. He blows away the cop on the footpath with a burst of fire as Squeaky and Barefoot start running toward the van. Everyone else is running in the opposite direction.
Barefoot reaches the outside back corner of the van and moves towards the open driver's door. As she reaches the door, there is another burst of fire, which ends the screaming in the van. She can see the cop on the floor of the van, his waist and legs through the little door in the back of the cab. Barefoot lunges in, gets a brief glimpse of Reg moving up to the cab of the van, grabs the cops body and pulls back hard. She tumbles back onto the road, pulling the body back on top of her. She is trying to get the cop's gun as Reg steps into the cab. He fires at her, as Barefoot dives for the front of the cab. Bullets whine off the bitumen behind her.
Meanwhile, Squeaky has reached the cop on the footpath. He grabs the gun from the holster and moves towards the front of the van. Reaching the passenger door, Squeaky sees Reg's back through the window and hears another burst of fire. Squeaky unloads the cops gun through the window into Reg's back. Reg collapses out of the door and smacks onto the road. Barefoot rolls out to check on Reg and the cop with a strangely molten face. Both are dead. Squeaky checks the cop on the footpath: he's dead as well. They decide that it's time to go. They sprint down the road towards an alley where Fly-Paper is waiting, and step sideways.
Several miles away, in the house of one Reginald Howard, silverstick is lurking beside the front door, giggling and muttering to himself and clutching an axe...
Porcelain Truck have made the papers for the first time. Police are looking for a bald man and a woman with black hair containing a streak of white who apparently saved the situation when a psychotic ice-cream vendor dressed as a clown opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing two police men. The two civilians, showing great presence of mind, managed to arm themselves with the fallen policemen's weapons and "disable" the clown. More as it comes to hand...
It has been two weeks, and the Ear-To-The-Ground sept calls Porcelain Truck to the Caern that night. The whole sept is gathered. Herman congratulates them on their patience and perseverance, and tells them that they've successfully concluded the Rite. They are now recognised as Bone Gnawers, and can use their new names when they meet any Bone Gnawers anywhere in the world. Rat is summoned to sniff over the pack and accept them. Then they have a massive piss-up. During the evening, Mother Pasta comes up and briefly congratulates the pack.
No-one feels like doing much first thing in the morning (particularly not Naomi), except for Lachlan, who is bright and chipper, telling everybody that it's time to go. He receives a hail of empty beer cans for an answer.
Later that afternoon, Porcelain Truck bid goodbye to Sydney and Moon bridge back to the Cemetery. Having told a snickering Cossack what happened, they plan to spend the day getting ready and then head off first thing in the morning. Cossack says that to locate the Bone Gnawer homeland, they should look for holes, openings, or even grates and manhole covers along the Moon Path that they're following. They'll miss the moot the next day, but Cossack says what the hell.
Bright and early, Porcelain truck enter the umbra and look for a Moon Path. They find one and ascend into the Near Umbra. They travel for a few hours, hopping from one Moon Path to the next at random, until they find a floating hole directly overhead. Leaping in causes the relative gravity to shift. Having beaten Vilna in unconsciousness, everyone climbs in, dragging Vilna behind them.
The tunnel turns and twists, with other tunnels entering. As they travel, the tunnel becomes more well defined, gaining an unpleasant odour. Soon they find themselves in a broad section of tunnel with sewerage flowing along the floor. As they move along, there is a loud chittering noise ahead, as of many many rats. They see a great swarm of the little rodents swimming through the sludge, climbing over each other, running along the walls - all headed straight for them. Porcelain Truck moves up against the wall and waits. Soon they are covered with rats which clamber all over them, but don't appear to be hostile. One of the rats on Porky gets excited, shoots down the front of his shirt, then re-emerges crunching on a cockroach. Porky knocks the rat, still chewing, into the sewerage. After a while, the rats scamper off the pack and rapidly disappear.
Porcelain Truck keep moving. A short distance further on, they find an opening in the ceiling through which light is pouring. The clamber up, and find themselves standing at the head of an alley looking out onto a busy street. Cars with license plates from all over the world fill the street. The pack decides to go for a wander.
Having wandered for a while without much result, they decide to chat with one of the many rats which seem to be everywhere. The rat doesn't know much about dead people, but offers to take them to some live people, if they tell it a secret. They tell it about a wondrous tree in Carnarvon Gorge that is full of spiders, and that if you sleep in the tree you will have wonderful dreams and wake up covered with spider silk. The rat seems happy and tells them to follow. They are moving through the streets when a police car pulls up alongside them, and two cops get out. They start asking everybody fairly circular questions, trying to find them guilty of something. They seem generally suspicious and insanely stupid. Eventually they mutter a few vague threats and leave. The rat is sitting in a nearby rubbish bin, cleaning it's whiskers, waiting patiently. When Porcelain Truck is ready, it heads off again.
It takes them to a large old-style cinema, where the marquee declares that they are showing a Wile E. Coyote Marathon. They head inside where Porky attempts to buy a ticket from the ancient short-sighted lady at the ticket booth. Everyone else just goes into the cinema. When Porky realises that he has no money, he runs inside as well, ignoring the cries behind him. The cinema is empty except for six figures sitting in the front row, cheering for Wile E. and booing the Road Runner. Sense Unnatural reveals that they are Garou. Porcelain Truck go up to introduce themselves. A young woman introduces herself as Andrea Kostas, pack leader of Trikkala-One-Nil. After Porcelain Truck explain that they're looking for a dead person, Andrea says that she'll take them to see someone who can help (perhaps) after the next cartoon.
There is a commotion at the back of the cinema as the little old lady enters with two cops. The two cops head down the aisle as Porcelain Truck tell Andrea that they'll be back shortly, then head out the side exit. Barefoot switches to lupus form while everyone else dives into a nearby dumpster. As the cops run out the door, Barefoot looks as intelligent as possible and points with her paw down the road. The cops give her a pat and charge off, commenting on what a remarkable dog she is. Porcelain Truck clean themselves off and head back into the cinema.
After the cartoon, Trikkala-One-Nil leads Porcelain Truck out and through the streets until they reach a large park. They reach a clearing in the park, dominated by a large half-built boat. A strange old man is busy building the boat. Rats swarm everywhere, some appear to be bringing stuff onto the boat, others are hurling the stuff over the side and others are running away with the stuff. Andrea introduces to pack to the old man, Father Noah. Noah offers to sell the pack tickets for his ark, so that when the great flood of the Apocalypse comes, they'll be safe. The pack say 'maybe later' then explain that they are looking for a dead woman.
At this point Andrea and Trikkala-One-Nil wish Porcelain Truck good luck and leave. Once they have told him the whole story, Father Noah says that he might be able to help them, if they will do him a little favour. He had a special compass for his ark, but it was taken by Thomas. If they could retrieve the compass, he'll help them. He doesn't know where Thomas hangs out or where he might be. When asked to describe Thomas, he says that he's about 20 centimetres long, with a long pink tail and brown fur. The pack says that they'll get right on it. They start by asking a few of the rats around the ark. Unfortunately, it's beginning to look like every rat might be named Thomas. Having found out that Questing Stone is fairly useless, one of the rats suggests that they might try lost and found at any police station.
Porcelain Truck leave the park and soon come across a police station. At the front desk inside, they claim to have lost something. They spend about 30 minutes filling out useless forms with stupid questions before being told that it will take about 6 to 8 weeks to process. Porcelain Truck give up on the lost and found and head back to the park. They begin to search the park (it's a big park). After a few hours of vague searching (at least they've got 6 to 8 weeks), they decide to enlist the aid of the rats at the ark in order to scour the park looking for the compass. Porcelain Truck offers a secret for the one who finds the compass. The rats seem unimpressed, and demand a secret in advance just to prove that they even have any secrets. Porcelain Truck, which seems to be a bit short on secrets at the moment declines.
Mrs-Potato-Head offers to give a performance 'the likes of which you have never seen' in return for the compass, but the rats are apparently not interested in the performing arts. One of the rats suggests that they should try lost and found. The say that they did and all the got was a lot of paper work. The rats seem fairly scornful at the idea of doing paper work. So back they go the police station.
At the front desk, they demand to know why it takes 6 to 8 weeks, to which the answer is that they have to go through the files. Mrs-Potato-Head starts screaming at the woman at the desk about the way they run things, and says that he wants to make a complaint. So while he keeps her busy filling out forms, silverstick and Squeaky, change to Crinos, jump the desk and head for the back. Several police move to stop them, drawing their guns. Squeaky insists that as civilians, the police must protect and not hurt them. The police ask if it's okay if they use their batons.
silverstick heads down a corridor until he finds a door marked "Files". He goes through and heads down some stairs that open up into a vast hall. The hall is very high and wide, and extends as far as he can see into darkness. It is filled with boxes and boxes of files, all piled up on top of each other. He opens the nearest box and finds a rat nesting in the files. silverstick advises the others via Kanau that he might need a hand. So everyone except Mrs- Potato-Head and Squeaky jump the front desk and head down to help.
Once in the filing room, Barefoot asks one of the rats how they find a file. The rat tells them to just head down the hall until it feels right, then start looking. They start walking down the narrow aisles formed by the boxes. The hall is well illuminated by overhead florescent lights to begin with, but the further down the hall you go, the fewer and fewer lights are actually working until the hall is completely dark. They are still well within the illuminated section when they feel that they should start looking through boxes. They soon realise that all lost and found files are of one colour, which speeds up the process somewhat. As they search, strange noises come out of the darkness further down the hall. Barefoot does a general sense of the area. She is getting the strong Weaver sense common to the Homeland generally, but towards the darkness, the weaver sense is gradually swamped by the sense of nothing at all. It is not that the Weaver sense fades away, but that the sense is literally covered by a sense of nothing. Strange thumpings and movement and laughter can be heard, sometimes very far away in the dark, sometimes quite close, and once immediately behind the next stack of boxes. Porky moves around to have a look, and finds nothing at all. They decide to concentrate on searching.
After about an hour they locate a 'found' form for a 'special' compass. The location is given as an address. Those with eidetic memory recognise the address as being the same as the address of the Black Spiral Hive in Sydney. Everyone down in the File room heads back upstairs. At the front desk, Mrs-Potato-Head has a serious pile of files being formed for complaints on every subject he can think of. As soon as the others turn up, he tells the policewoman on the front desk not to worry about them. They ask if she has a road map handy. The locate the street on the map and head off.
They run through the streets in lupus form. After a while, they enter an area of the city which seems largely deserted and more derelict than the rest. There is also a Wyrm taint to the area. They find the right address, a deserted six-storey block of flats. Although it doesn't look like the Hive in Sydney, it is somehow similar. Porcelain Truck heads inside for a look around. They find the stairwell and head up. The sense of Wyrm is fairly strong here, so they ping each level as they go, trying to find the centre of the taint. At one point, pipes shoot out from the wall at them. Porky starts ripping chunks out of the wall to have a look. As he does, something buries itself in his hand. Barefoot attempts to help him and succeeds in burying him in the wall. It turns out that a strange little bane, seemingly comprised of corroded metal has latched onto his hand. It is quickly scragged.
They continue to the top of the building, narrowly avoiding a fall when a seemingly sold piece of the stairwell collapses in a spectacular fashion. They make their way back down, and manage to centre the taint on the third level. They enter the hall and make their way down. As they do, the floorboards open up under Mrs-Potato-Heads foot. his foot goes through and he receives an electric shock. He also feels something sliding around his foot. Wrenching his foot out, he finds another small bane, this one apparently made from a tangle of wires. It is also quickly scragged.
Moving into the room at the centre of the taint, Porcelain Truck finds a strange column of detritus, with pipes, cables and wires radiating out from it and disappearing into the walls, ceiling and floor. Everyone spreads out to have a look. Squeaky cuts at the cables, which brings everything to sudden life. The column of garbage starts quaking and the pipes and cables begin thrashing. Everyone throws themselves into the fray. As they fight, several more of the minor banes appear and join in. During their exertions in a derelict building, several pack members fall through the fall into the level below, but jump up to rejoin the fight.
silverstick, locked in mortal combat with a little bane made from concrete falls through the floor, but gets his foot caught and swings back and forth. He wrenches free as the little concrete man drops on top of him. He grabs the bane and hurls it through the nearest boarded up window. Upstairs, the others are ripping into the major bane. As they damage it, debris fills the air and converges on the column as the thing heals itself. Eventually, they manage to rip it to bits, whereupon the column collapses across the floor. Downstairs, silverstick turns and finds that three minor banes are advancing towards him. However, his ever vigilant pack mates leap down and moiderlise them.
The Wyrm taint seems to be slowly dispersing, so Porcelain Truck begin searching through the building for the compass. They do quick searches of each room on each level, which doesn't take long as most of them are almost completely empty. They've searched the whole building and found nothing, when it occurs to someone to start calling for Thomas. They move through the building, calling for Thomas, until a rat pops it's head out of a hole in the ceiling. When asked, Thomas says that he does happen to have a compass with him. After much persuading, Thomas agrees to hand the compass back to them. It appears to be a fairly normal old-style compass, except that someone has scratched the word 'special' on the casing. Porcelain Truck head back for the pack. Thomas decides to come along too.
Back at the ark, they hand the compass over to Father Noah. Noah tells them to go along with Thomas to the library to see what they can discover. They leave the park again and find a nearby library. They go inside. A lot of the books seem to be missing. Thomas says that they are looking for the Reading Room, where they keep the newspapers. In the Reading Room, the shelves are filled with newspapers from all over the world. The papers appear to be real-world newspapers, with real-world articles. Thomas says that they should be looking for the right time and place. They find the Sydney Herald for the day of the attack on the Black Spiral Hive in Sydney. Amongst all the other mundane articles is a piece which reads 'Marion Perry; Homid, Ahroun, Fostern of the Sept of Sleeping Lore died today while fighting Black Spiral Dancers in the Hive of Corrupted Flesh'. The piece goes on to give a few details about her life. In the same paper, there are other articles on the other bone Gnawers who died in the attack.
Thomas suggests that they should start searching forward through the papers until the find something. In a paper a few weeks later, there is a tiny snippet, which reads ' "Marion Perry(?)" passed through the Homeland today, leaving no known emanations, manifestations or residue'. Further search reveals nothing else. They return to Father Noah, who says that he isn't surprised at the findings. He suggests that at this point they might wish to speak with an Ancestor Spirit. He will take them to see one in the morning, after they've rested.
In the morning, Father Noah leads Porcelain Truck out of the park and through the streets. He says that he is taking them to see Abu Nuwas, a Bone Gnawer poet and scholar who lived in Persia in the 12th century. They walk for a while, then approach a 7-11 on a street corner. Father Noah goes in, goes through a door at the back and up a flight of stairs. He knocks on the door at the top and goes in. Presently, he calls Porcelain Truck in. There is a sparse room with no furnishings apart from a low table. Seated on the floor by the table is a robed and hooded figure, writing. Father Noah introduces the pack to Abu Nuwas, and says that he has agreed to help. Abu greets them as Father Noah wishes the pack good luck and leaves. Abu says that he usually takes his walk around this time, and that they can talk as they go.
They go back down the stairs. It seems suddenly much hotter. They enter what was the 7-11 and find themselves in the back of a small fruit store. The dirt street outside is filled with people in Arabic dress. The occasional camel can be seen. They walk out of the shop and proceed down the street. As they go, Porcelain Truck tell him the whole story from yay to nay, including the Sydney debacle the previous year. Abu is greeting people as they pass and handing out alms to beggars. Once they have told their story, Abu speculates on the ambiguous nature of the thing they are looking for. He admits that he is ignorant about his own existence. Is he the whole and complete "soul" of the Bone Gnawer known as Abu Nuwas, and now resides in the Bone Gnawer homeland? Is he just and echo of the soul; ephemera moulded in the shape of an identity, in which case Abu Nuwas may have been reborn and died dozens of times since the life here represented? Is he some vital fragment of Abu Nuwas, rather than the soul entire, set to perform some role in Garou life, and that the rest of his soul waits elsewhere to be reborn? Is he some combination of these or other possibilities?
He also comments on Porcelain Truck's quest itself. There seems to be some cyclic aspect of this quest that touches upon the previous business in Sydney. They have re-visited the Bone Gnawer sept in Sydney and made some amends for injuries given during the first cycle. The search for the compass lead them back to the Black Spiral Hive, perhaps not literally, but the reference was there. Abu also comments on an oddity about their quest. The quest after the secret of death and it's variations is one of the most intense of spiritual journeys. In human myth and Garou legend, those who made the journey were inevitably driven by powerful emotions, typically love. The umbra is a spiritual and symbolic realm and responds in many ways to the state in which one performs actions; the frame of perception in which one acts. Thus those motivated from spiritual rather than conscious will are far more likely to, if not necessarily succeed, at least produce results. In the case of Porcelain Truck, no such apparent deeper motive exists for their quest. None of them had a profound connection with either Marion or Alex, or seemingly with any of the facets of the quest. Yet they have found places and learned things that they would probably be unable to duplicate under different circumstances, even if they spent years. Abu just raises all this as food for thought.
As they continue on, a squad of soldiers wielding halberds round the corner ahead. One of them calls out to Abu to surrender, that he is under arrest by order of the Caliph. Abu tells Porcelain Truck that his last sonnet was perhaps a little critical of the Caliph. He asks if they would perhaps encourage the soldiers not to worry him at this time. He urges them not to kill anyone. So Porcelain Truck throw themselves into the fray.
Porky arms himself with a bunch of unripe bananas and starts laying into them with mixed results. Mrs Potato Head commandeers a camel, arms himself with an awning post and starts jousting. Barefoot spends a fair amount of the time rolling around on the ground with one soldier. silverstick tries to persuade Abu to flee, or to at least let silverstick carry him away. When this doesn't work he punches Abu in the nose (Actually, he was going for the halberd being held at Abu's throat at the time. Abu fell down, so I guess as a tactic it worked). Squeaky "Someone has to be the Ahroun around here" Kovalev moves quickly and efficiently from soldier to soldier, crippling them as he goes. He accounts for 6 of the 12 soldiers on his own.
Leaving the local constabulary flopping in the dust, Abu leads Porcelain Truck away. Moving through back streets, he takes them to a small tavern, where they can eat dried fruits and bread, drink tea and smoke hash. Abu says that he wishes to consider the matter for a while. Porcelain Truck lounge around, stuffing themselves and getting wasted. After a few hours Abu returns to the here and now. He says the totem spirits are the guides, mentors and guardians of the tribes. Little happens to their people that they are not aware of. Unfortunately, they abide by laws which govern what they are allowed and prepared to divulge to others. Yet there are ways in which the laws can be avoided. Abu explains that where they are now in the umbra is a sub-realm on the cusp of the Bone Gnawer Homeland and the Legendary Realm. The Legendary Realm is the place where the legends of the Garou and the history as it should have been are played out. Garou can travel to the Legendary Realm and enter the legends, strengthening their tribal ties and learning more of their place and role. Most of the totems live either in the Legendary Realm, in the appropriate Homeland or in a sub-realm abridging the two. Often the totems themselves are involved in the telling of a legend in the Legendary Realm.
Abu's idea is that by approaching Rat via the right sort of legend, they might be able to learn what they want to know. Specifically, if they travel via a legend that at some point includes Rat divulging an answer under some form of compulsion, then they substitute the question in the legend with their own. This will end the legend but it may produce the answer they're looking for. Abu says that when the time is right, they must have the right question to ask Rat, not some vague wishy-washy question. Secondly, before they ask the question, they must get Rat to agree to answer it in return. Without Rat's agreement before the legend is disrupted, there is no chance he will reveal anything. Abu tells them the appropriate story, a little piece called "Nydourl and Bethsheba". Abu felt that it was particularly appropriate as it was another form of the Death quest. It is the story of a Bone Gnawer called Nydourl who was the first Garou to find and venerate the Flea totem. Perhaps not truly epic stuff, but good enough for their purposes.
Abu and Porcelain Truck leave the tavern and walk through the city. Soon, they are passing the last of the buildings and heading out into the desert. After a timeless period walking, Porcelain Truck realise that Abu has disappeared. Ahead is a small village, so they wander on up.
"When his mother, the last of his family was dead, Nydourl resolved to speak with the only other Bone Gnawer that he knew - the Wise One, who lived in a cave in a hill not far from the village. Nydourl travelled to the cave and spoke to the Wise One, who was old and creaky. Nydourl wished to know why Rat, the protector and teacher of his people, had turned so harshly against them. The Wise One said that only Rat knew what Rat knew, and that the rats do as Rat says. Nydourl said to the Pointless...er...Wise One that he would seek to find Rat. He would learn why it was that Rat had turned against his people and he would make Rat stop."
"Having cremated his family, Nydourl left his village with only a bit of food, a small knife and the clothes he wore. He travelled for many days upon many roads and he had many adventures. But he could not find Rat anywhere."
"One day, Nydourl was walking, when he spied something glittering on the road. He picked it up and saw that it was a ring made of gold, with engravings of feathers on the outside. Nydourl, being an honest sort of fellow, resolved to return it to the owner if he could."
"That evening, Nydourl approached a large town. He strolled in and began to look for a place where he could sleep the night. As he walked through the town, he came to the market place. By a large stone plinth in the centre of the market place, a line of people were standing. The hands of each were tied and each was tied to the person in front and behind by rope. A slave master was near-by, settling his slaves down for the night to be ready for the market in the morning. Nydourl could see that one of the people in the line, a young woman, was one of the Changing Breed, even if she was in her human form. Nydourl resolved to free the woman and the other slaves."
"That night, when everyone in town was asleep. Nydourl crept back to the market place. The slaves were sleeping near the stone plinth in the centre. By stealth, Nydourl crept up to the slaves and cut their ropes with his knife. The woman he freed last. When the slaves realised that they were free, they leapt up and began running in all directions. Nydourl and the woman slipped away into the night."
"Nydourl told Bethsheba his story, and of his search for Rat. Bethsheba was wiser than Nydourl and knew that Rat would not give up a secret except for a secret in return - one that he could not refuse. Likewise he would not give a gift (the gift of lifting the plague) without a gift in return. Bethsheba said that she would help Nydourl find a secret and a gift."
"Now Rat had thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. Bethsheba knew that Rat's seventh son, Tenacity, had disappeared and had probably been kidnapped. Rat was searching everywhere for his son. If they could learn where Tenacity was, that would be a secret that Rat would give anything to know."
"Bethsheba also knew that Tenacity had been last seen in a large port city to the west. She told Nydourl what she knew, and they resolved to set out immediately for the city."
"They travelled for many days and had many adventures on the way. Then one day they came over a hill and down into a large city beside the western sea. Nydourl had never seen such a large city before. Nor had he seen so many cats before. They were everywhere: in the streets, in the alleys, on the rooftops, in the houses, in the shops. Nydourl asked a shepherd about the cats. The shepherd said that only recently had the city been swamped by cats, and that no-one knew where they were coming from."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba walked through the city until they reached the docks. Several galleys waited by the docks, but one galley Nydourl spotted straight away because of the foul Wyrm taint that drifted from it and it's crew. A nearby pottery vendor told them that it was a pirate galley, and that everyone was too scared of the pirates to do anything about them. Nydourl and Bethsheba resolved to keep an eye on the pirate galley and it's crew."
"Late that night, Nydourl and Bethsheba watched the galley from the shadows. No-one else was in sight when pirates started carrying large crates down the gangway from the galley to the docks. The pirates opened the crates, and dozens of cats leapt out and ran in every direction (although not back to the pirate galley)."
"Bethsheba suddenly realised what was going on. The pirates were bringing in cats in order to keep all the rats out of the city. As long as there were no rats in the city, they would have no way to find out the Tenacity had been here or where he had gone. Since the pirates were involved in keeping the rats away, they must know something about what happened to Tenacity."
"Bethsheba told this to Nydourl, who decided to sneak onto the galley to see what he could find. While the pirates were busy with their cats, Nydourl quickly and quietly ran up the gangway and onto the galley. In the galley were many slaves, tied to the benches from where they pulled the oars. Nydourl spoke to one of the slaves, an old man who had been there longer than anyone. The old man told Nydourl that just before they started their regular cat-carrying trips, the galley had made a voyage to a small rocky island far out to sea, and that they had carried no cargo except for a rat in a box. He knew that it was a rat in the box because it kept gnawing it's way out of the box and running around the ship, with all the pirates chasing it. The pirates would catch it and put it in a new box, but it always managed to chew it's way out."
"Nydourl crept back off the boat and told Bethsheba what he had learned. They decided that they must get to the island. The easiest way would be on the pirate galley. Bethsheba said that they should approach the pirates and offer to pay them gold for passage to another city along the coast. The pirates would wait until the galley was out at sea before attempting to steal the gold, whereupon they could defeat the pirates and take the galley. Nydourl agreed to this plan."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba approached the evil pirate captain in a dock-side tavern, and offered gold for passage to another port. Bethseba used her powers of illusion to create the image of gold to fool the captain. The captain agreed and said that they would be setting off in the morning. Nydourl and Bethsheba agreed to be there."
"The next morning the galley left port. Bethsehba knew that the pirates would probably wait until they thought the passengers were asleep before they tried anything. Sure enough, that night, while Nydourl and Bethsheba pretended to sleep, half a dozen of the pirates crept up to attack them. Nydourl quickly killed the pirates before they could raise the alarm. He then crept up to where the slaves were being held and freed them. Before the pirates knew what had happened, they had been overrun by slaves and tossed over board."
"The freed slaves had managed to defeat the evil goblins, and a great cheer went up. They spent the next few days searching the halls and tunnels of the castle. Many of the room were filled with chests stuffed with gold and gems. Nydourl, being a humble sort of lad, took none of the riches for himself, but gave it all to the freed slaves in return for their years in bondage. After they had taken all they could carry, they sailed away from the island."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba discussed what they should do next, now that they had a worthy secret to give to Rat. Bethsheba said that the gift they should give should be of use to Rat in rescuing his son. Anyone who sought to enter Malfeas to rescue another would need strength and courage, two characteristics that Rat lacked. They should therefore make a gift to Rat of strength and courage. Bethsheba said that they should go and seek Lion, who was renowned for his strength and courage. Bethsheba knew that Lion lived far to the west, so off they sailed, into the setting sun."
"The journey west took many days, and they had many adventures on the way. Eventually, they reached the far western shore. Here Nydourl and Bethsheba bid farewell to their crew, despite their entreaties to stay, and headed inland."
"They travelled for many days until they reached the lands where Lion lived. Both Nydourl and Bethsheba were in animal form when they came across mongoose running through the long grass. When asked where he was running to, mongoose said that Lion had pronounced that his daughter was to be married to the most worthy, and that all the animals were gathering. Then mongoose ran off."
"Bethsheba thought that this would be a good opportunity. If Nydourl in wolf form could be chosen as most worthy, then he could reveal his true nature and perhaps bargain with Lion for what they really wanted. Nydourl agreed, so off they went towards Lion's home."
"Eventually they reached the rock in the grasslands where Lion lived. A great throng of animals had already gathered, and more were arriving all the time. By evening, all the animals had arrived, and Lion appeared on the rock. After telling the hyenas, who were squabbling over Elton John's carcass, to keep it down, he proclaimed that there would be three tests to determine who was the most worthy to marry his daughter. There would be a test of speed, a test of strength and a test of courage. The testing would begin in the morning, so all the animals settled down to sleep. Bethsheba pointed out to Nydourl that they would probably have to cheat in order to win, and as Nydourl was Bone Gnawer, he thought that was cool."
"In the morning all the animals assembled at the rock again. Lion pronounced the test of speed. Basically, all the animals were to run towards the sun until they reached mandrill. The first animal to do so would be the winner."
"Bethsheba thought fast, and as the race was about to begin, she told Nydourl to delay the race somehow. Nydourl took a stick and crept up behind gazelle, then broke the stick. Gazelle, being flighty, took off before the signal to start was given. Other animals also took off and a great deal of confusion reigned. It took quite a while to get everything back under control again."
"As the race was about the begin again, Nydourl thumped the ground behind rabbit. Rabbit shot across in front of leopard, who gave chase. Once again chaos ensued for quite a time before everything was settle down again."
"Meanwhile the sun was moving across the sky. Finally, after several false starts, the animals were ready, Lion gave the signal and the animals were off, running towards the sun. But Nydourl had delayed the race for so long that the sun had shifted across the sky. Bethsheba had marked the point on the horizon where the sun had stood at the time the race was supposed to begin, and she flew in that direction, with Nydourl following."
"They ran alone across the grasslands for hours until they spotted mandrill waiting alone under a tree. Nydourl ran up, and the somewhat perplexed mandrill declared wolf the winner. Nydourl, Bethsheba and Mandrill headed back towards Lion at a more leisurely pace than before."
"It took the other animals a long time to realise that something was wrong, whereupon they started running in all directions. It wasn't until late afternoon that they started to trickle back to the rock, where they found mandrill and wolf waiting. By evening all the animals had returned, and Lion declared that wolf had won the test of speed. There was much murmuring and muttering amongst the animals, but there was nothing that they could do. They all lay down to sleep and await the next test."
"In the morning, Lion pronounced the test of strength. A single great rock stood near the rock where Lion lived. The animal who could push the rock the furthest without stopping would be the winner of the test of strength. One by one the animals attempted to push the rock. Bethsheba figured that there were enough animals to keep this going all day and told Nydourl that he should go last."
"The rock was so big that most of the animals couldn't move it at all. Only the strongest animals could budge it, and it was no surprise that Elephant moved the rock the furthest of all those tested so far. The day wore on as the animals pushed and it had become dark when only Nydourl was left. Nydourl suggested to Lion that perhaps they should leave his testing until morning, as not all animals could see well in the dark, and he wouldn't want any of the contestants to harbour any doubts about his success or failure. Lion agreed and declared that the final contestant, wolf, would attempt the test in the morning. Again all the animals settled down to rest."
"Once all the animals were asleep, Nydourl and Bethsheba crept away. Bethsheba was looking for something in the few trees in the grassland, and soon she found it: a large bee's nest. She told Nydourl to remove the bees nest and take it back to the rock. The bees were all sleepy and didn't give Nydourl much grief when he pulled the nest off the tree and carried it back to the rock. Under Bethsheba's direction, Nydourl climbed to the top of the rock and looked for a large crack. When he found one, he opened up the bee's nest and carefully poured the honey into the crack in the rock. Nydourl and Bethsheba then headed out into the grasslands again."
"This time Bethsheba was looking for something on the ground, and soon she found it: a large ant's nest. Bethsheba called to the ants and told them of a very special rock that she had found that produced honey. The ants were very excited, and all immediately headed off in the direction she had said. Nydourl and Bethsheba headed back to Lion's rock to get some sleep."
"The next morning, the animals awoke to watch wolf undergo the test of strength. The ants had travelled slowly all through the night, and as Nydourl walked up to the rock, he saw the last ant disappearing underneath the rock. Nydourl placed his front paws against the rock and began to push. Much to the surprise of all the other animals the rock very slowly began to move. What's more it kept on moving. The animals slowly trailed after wolf as he kept pushing the rock, past the place where even elephant could push the rock no further. Wolf pushed the rock at least twice as far as elephant had. Raven, actually Bethsheba, circled overhead, crying that they should all head back to Lion to hear his verdict. All the animals turned and headed back to Lion, which was just as well, because they didn't see that the rock was inclined to keep moving even when wolf was no longer pushing it."
"When all the animals were assembled, Lion declared that wolf had won the test of strength. Again there was much muttering and mumbling amongst the animals, but there was nothing that they could do. Lion declared that the test of courage would take place after nightfall."
"When it was dark, Lion led the animals away from his rock across the grasslands, until they reached a small village of humans. In the centre of the village a fire was burning. Lion declared that whatever animal could enter the human village and bring back fire would be the winner of the test of courage."
"One by one the animals attempted the test of courage. Most could not bring themselves to even enter the human village at all, and of those that could enter the village, not one could bring themselves to take fire away with them. Finally, Nydourl trotted into the village, picked up the end of a burning branch in his teeth, and trotted back out again. All the other animals were gobsmacked."
"Nydourl trotted up to Lion, threw the brand in the air, changed into human form, and grabbed it as it descended. Immediately all the other animals began to scream and roar and screech. Lion demanded to know what was going on. Nydourl pointed out that Lion had placed no restrictions upon who was eligible to be tested. In theory even a human could have entered the contest, had he been privy to the event and had some desire to be married to a lion. However, said Nydourl, if Lion was prepared to grant a gift at least as valuable as his daughter, then Nydourl could be persuaded to renounce all claims to her."
"Lion, perhaps realising that there are few things worse than having one of the Changing Breed for a relation, agreed. Nydourl asked for the gift of Lion's strength and courage. Lion muttered a bit but agreed again. Returning to his rock, Lion wrapped his strength and courage up in leaves into a pretty parcel and gave them to Nydourl. Nydourl and Bethsheba took their leave of Lion and the other animals."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba travelled far and wide for many days, and they had many adventures. Wherever they went, they spoke to rats that they met, telling them that they had a valuable secret and gift for Rat, and asking where they might find him. Eventually, they found themselves at the biggest city in the world, where they were told Rat lived. They made there way to a great palace, and by secret ways found their way to a golden room under the palace, where Rat lay on cushions surrounded by food. Nydourl said to Rat that he had travelled far to see him, as there was a secret that he wanted to know, and that he would give Rat a great secret in return. Nydourl was strangely insistent that Rat should agree to give up his secret in return for the secret offered (?), and hinted that the secret concerned the whereabouts of Rat's son Tenacity. Eventually Rat agreed that he would give his secret if Nydourl's information was valuable. Nydourl told Rat that Tenacity had been taken to the Rajah of Madness in Malfeas. Rat agreed that this was a valuable secret and that he would grant a secret in return. Nydourl asked Rat how he could go about finding (???) Marion Perry (??!?$@%&(*89....
Porcelain Truck are standing in the grottiest toilet, not just in Scotland but in the whole world. Next to them is standing Abu Nuwas, and an unremarkable looking rat is sitting on a broken toilet tank, lashing it's tail in an annoyed fashion. Rat says to Abu that he does not enjoy being taken for an idiot, nor does he enjoy being insulted in this way. Abu remains impassive. Rat says to Porcelain Truck that they should be careful about treating Incarna in such a cavalier manner, and that other, more self-important Incarna would take the same treatment with less humour and good grace. Rat asks Abu if he is familiar with the idea of the tri-partite goddess, and says that they should seek the living face, the still face and the new face. Abu thanks Rat, and Porcelain Truck find themselves back in Abu's little room above a shop.
Abu says that the three faced goddess concept is common in many different forms in most ancient mythologies. It even has it's bearing in Garou legend. In this case it bears upon the Greek version of the three Fates - Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. Clotho spun the thread of a life, Lachesis measured the thread of a life and Atropos cut the thread of a life. However the thread of an existence encompasses many such threads of life, it's just that the Greeks didn't believe in reincarnation. The point is that just as the thread of a life can be followed from birth to death, the thread of an existence can be followed over the thread of more than one life. Abu says that Rat is suggesting that instead of going from Birth through Life to Death, you can follow from Life through Death to Birth, thus finding the position of the individual after death.
In this case however, the faces that Rat referred to are faces of Gaia: the living face of Gaia, the still face of Gaia and the new face of Gaia. Abu says that they must seek these faces out, whatever they are, to follow the thread.
Abu gives them directions for leaving the Bone Gnawer Homeland; basically head back down through the sewers. Porcelain Truck thank Abu and leave. The find themselves back in the modern city streets, so having found a sewer entrance, they pound Squeaky into unconsciousness and head down. They wind through random tunnels for a while, cracking Squeaky's head against a wall whenever he starts to come around, until the finally emerge from the tunnel into the umbral mists again. They find a Moon Path and head for the Cemetery.
The GM, deciding to throw in a random encounter just once in his life, baulks when it turns out to be a BSD pack. Still, the True Seekers (yes, they're the True Seekers again) are heading along the Moon Path when it begins to narrow and fade ahead of them. The Umbra around them also appears to be darkening. They keep going until the Moon Path trickles off into dark mists. Naomi realises that they are probably in what is called a Moon Shadow, and that the Moon Path should continue once they pass the shadow. As they go, various people attempt various sensing stuff. Interestingly, they get a similar sense to that they got in the police Files room in the Bone Gnawer homeland. It is a positive sense of nothing at all that seems to cover other spirit senses. They continue to follow Naomi, and soon they discover the Moon Path again.
A timeless period later, they follow the Moon Path down into the Penumbra around the Cemetery. There they find Cossack and others, who tell them that the date is...
Amazingly, they have only been in the Umbra for two days! What a wacky place! The bring Cossack up to date with what is happening, then go and have a chat with Emma and Ends-The-Quiet about just what the hell the Living Face, the Still Face and the New Face of Gaia might be. Much discussion, and options are touted, but nothing is certain. Emma suggests that they might want to return to Carnarvon Gorge and chat with Stargazers and Silent Striders rather than with Bone Gnawers. Warping through via Jindabyne, the True Seekers arrive back at Carnarvon Gorge. They meet with Indira Songs-of Sorrow, Cherri Backward-Glance, Monash End-To-The-Darkness and Grek Twice Tongue, who said that he'd hang around. Everyone is brought up to date about everything, and the good news is that Alex isn't catatonic any more. Then they all discuss the significance of it all. The elders suggest that following the thread of an existence is fairly profound, and that the references to the Faces of Gaia were probably not simply symbolic but rather spiritual (Of course, the spiritual is all about symbolism, but hopefully you know what I mean). The Living Face of Gaia should perhaps be some form of avatar of Gaia. As for the Still Face, Grek says that there are perhaps manifestations of Gaia in the Deadworlds where demons come from, and where the Silent Striders sometimes travel. The New Face of Gaia is perhaps the fundamental creative aspect of Gaia, and the True Seekers might need to make a little jaunt into the Deep Umbra. Tra la la.
As the True Seekers simultaneously reach for the shotgun, then realise that they didn't bring it with them, Indira suggests that they should chat with Bartholemew Wise-In-The-Ways-Of-The-Wyrm, who has made the study of Dreamtime spirits his particular concern. He perhaps may help them in their first step of seeking a Living Face of Gaia. The True Seekers met Bartholemew before during the whole Sydney debacle (eerie coincidence? I think not!). He lives in the Blue Mountains, so the True Seekers Moon Bridge down to Sydney, becoming Porcelain Truck again en route. At the King's Arms Hotel Caern, they are greeted by the Bone Gnawers. They stay for a while to tell them about their adventures in the Bone Gnawer homeland ("...so silverstick was dangling by his foot through the floor with a little concrete gnome about to jump on his head, when all of a sudden..."). Having explained why they're back, Herman offers them the use of a beat up Landy to go to the Blue Mountains. So off they trundle. As they go, Questing Stone appears to confirm that Bartholemew is home, or at least in the vicinity.
Hours later, they arrive at his house in the bush. Bartholemew greets them and they chit-chat for a while. Eventually, the True Seekers bring him up to date with the gist of what they're doing and what they are hoping he can tell them. Bartholemew says that amongst the Dreamtime spirits, there exists one which can only be called an avatar of Gaia. The only place where he knows the spirit may be found is as the totem of a Caern. In fact, he says, the True Seekers are familiar with the Caern in question. It is the Caern contested by the Get of Fenris and the Red Talons which the pack visited during...yes, you guessed it...the Sydney debacle. Bartholemew suggests that rather than just rocking up to the disputed Caern, they might want to go and chat with Carla Grimsson, sept leader of the Defiance to the Wyrm Sept and Get of Fenris member on the Jindabyne Council, as the disputed Caern is technically within the Get of Fenris protectorate.
The True Seekers thank Bartholemew and head back for Sydney. They decide to spend the night at the King's Arms Hotel and head off in the morning.
The next morning the True Seekers Moon Bridge via Jindabyne to the St Mary Peak Caern in the Flinders Ranges. They are met by a bunch of Get, who take them to see Carla. Having explained to her their problem, Carla says that she is obviously not in a position to simply allow them to contact the Caern totem. However, she does have an idea. If the matter were to be resolved, then the issue would be more open. Perhaps, she suggests, the True Seekers could act as mediators between the Get of Fenris and the Red Talons and end the dispute. She says that the True Seekers might well be acceptable to both sides for several reasons. They are unaffiliated with either side or the Jindabyne Council and have no vested interests. They have had previous contact with both Council members and are therefore a known quality. Also, they bring a certain spiritual authority given their mysterious connection with the Bunyip (actually, this last may work against the Red Talons favour, given that the Red Talons are generally credited with initiating the War of Tears).
Carla says that were they to agree, and should the results be favourable, then not only would the Get allow them to contact the Caern totem, but that Carla would aid them in the Jindabyne Council on any matter not directly concerning the Get of Fenris. She also says that she understands that they're having a touch of BSD problems in Melbourne currently, and that a couple of Get of Fenris packs sent at the right time might be of benefit. Unfortunately, there is one small snag. In order to prove there worthiness to act as mediators for the Get, the True Seekers would need to undergo a small test. The true Seekers steal themselves to be sent into some disgusting Wyrm pit. Instead, Carla asks them to find out a small piece of information. The True Seekers are aware that toward the beginning of the year, Huros Bathes-In-Blood of the Grinding Stone sept killed Hans Dieter, a fellow sept member. Carla wants the pack to find out why. If they can find out why, then she will be prepared to personally advocate that the True Seekers mediate on behalf of the Get of Fenris.
Carla says that she feels that the matter is important, as the killing has caused some dissent in the sept and amongst the Get particularly. She feels that the True Seekers are ideal to check the matter because they are owed a favour by Blood Claw, from when they saved them from the Gauntlet after they had been trapped by the Bunyip. They are also fairly chummy with Malajimbarra. Finally, they have no specific loyalty to the Grinding Stone sept. Carla advises that they don't forget the Blood Claw are all Get of Fenris and should be treated as such. Even though Blood Claw owe them a favour, they'll probably need to beat them up some.
The True Seekers Moon Bridge down to the Brisbane Ranges. There they find Commands-The-Waters and Malajimbarra and...*gulp*...Huros. They say that they wish to have a chat with Blood Claw and are told that they're outside. They find Blood Claw and take them off into the bush for a private chat. At a secluded location, they mention that they're here to find out what happened with the whole Huros/Hans thing. Mark Sutherland says that he doesn't make a habit of talking about sept matters to outsiders. Lachlan stresses the fact that they owe a favour, and challenge them to come up with the goods. It comes down to a homid form bout between Lachlan and Steve on one side and Mark and Giovanni Kastore on the other. After expending lots of Rage and Willpower, Lachlan and Steve finally manage to pin the other two. Mark seems satisfied.
Mark tells them that around March/April, Huros killed Hans. There were no other witnesses at the time. Huros would say no more than that Hans was a traitor seeking to undermine and divide the sept for his own gain. Via Truth of Gaia this proved to be true enough, but Huros refused point blank to say anything else on the matter. The Heralds of War were severely annoyed with the killing of a pack mate, even if they didn't like the guy, particularly since no real explanation was given. Blood Claw themselves were upset as it was Get killing Get, even if it was an ostensible sept matter. Later on, even Gaia's Rage seemed pissed off, despite not having any direct connection. Mark thinks that this was probably due to Penelope Dors agitating on behalf of the Shadow Lords, which was most of the remaining Heralds of War. Beyond these specifics, there was also the general unease caused by the division amongst the elders, as the other elders were unhappy with the situation, but couldn't really do anything about it. That's about all he knows.
Having told Blood Claw not to say anything about what they discussed, the True Seekers decide to have a chat with Malajimbarra. They go for a wander with him and ask for his help. Malajimbarra is concerned about the matter and wishes it to be resolved. He confirms what Mark said, and adds that the elders know that Huros is not telling the whole truth about the matter. They are reluctant to challenge him as the elders do not want to appear divided. Also without more information on the matter, if they were to challenge Huros, Blood Claw may side with him on tribal grounds, despite the unease they feel. The Grinding Stone sept is definitely aligned on tribal grounds.
Gaia's Rage's reaction is also a bit of a puzzle. It didn't come until a month after the incident and basically involved the Black Furies closing ranks, and that includes Anastasia Evenhand, the sept Gatekeeper. Basically, the Black Furies have become insular and only interact with the other sept members when necessary.
Naomi suggests that perhaps she should have a chat with them. Malajimbarra says that Gaia's Rage are somewhere in the park. Naomi goes off alone to look for them. Eventually she locates them. She speaks with Athena Tirebass, who says that they know nothing about why Huros killed Hans, beyond what she already knows. Naomi heads back and rejoins the others.
The True Seekers ask Malajimbarra to take them to the scene of the incident. He takes them to the spot in the Umbra where Huros said he had killed Hans and where his body was found. It is suggested that perhaps speaking to spirits in the area might reveal something, but is has been over six months, and the spirits can remember nothing. So Malajimbarra the summons the Wattlebird avatar, wattlebirds being particularly ubiquitous in the area. When Wattlebird appears, Malajimbarra explains the problem. Wattlebird agrees to help, and immediately wattlebird spirits begin to fly in from all directions. Soon the trees are festooned with wattlebird spirits, all staring with rapt attention at their avatar. Wattlebird says that two Garou coming from different directions met here. They meet the descriptions of Huros and Hans. Wattlebird says that Huros was feeling great anger but also a touch of fear. Hans was feeling nothing in particular. When they met they argued. As they argued, Hans become angry and frightened, mainly frightened. They fought and Huros quickly killed Hans, then he left. Malajimbarra thanks Wattlebird, he disappears. The wattlebird spirits quickly fly away.
Malajimbarra says that they are on a track that runs through the park and is a fairly common way to various points, so whether Hans and Huros agreed to meet or just ran into each other, he couldn't really say. The True Seekers decide to leave for the nonce, before Huros asks them what they're doing. Malajimbarra suggests that rather than using the Moon Bridge, the should perhaps leg it out of here, rather than run the risk of meeting Huros. The True Seekers move out.
Back in Melbourne, they discuss options. Since talking with the sept was a bit of a dead end, they decide to check around the local towns for people who might have known Hans, like some sort of local skin-head scene. Lachlan and Vilna will go in disguise, while Naomi and Glenn decide to try summoning a memory spirit to the site of Hans' death. They also want to look into the backgrounds of the various people involved, including Carla. Cossack tells them that he knows nothing about Hans' background, but that Huros and Carla used to be pack mates, before they went to higher office. Their pack was based in the Flinders Protectorate. He believes that the rest of the pack are either dead or out of the country. The True Seekers think on what that might mean.
Naomi and Glenn head off first thing, while Lachlan and Vilna are busy summoning illusion spirits at the Caern. Once they succeed, they change their appearance to look like tattooed skin-heads - not a big stretch for Vilna. Then they drive down to Steiglitz, a small town inside the Caern's bawn.
Naomi and Glenn have arrived for another *ahem* chat with Malajimbarra about *cough cough* mystical matters. Malajimbarra suggests that summoning a memory spirit will probably not work, as a memory spirit in that sense relates to active thought. When he summoned Wattle Bird, he got as close as he was able to accessing the memory of the land. Naomi decides to give it a burl anyway. But, just like Malajimbarra said (what a surprise!), it doesn't work. Glenn decides to head into Steiglitz to join the others, Naomi heads off looking for Gaia's Rage
Lachlan, Vilna and Steve arrive in Steiglitz. Steve waits outside while Lachlan and Vilna head for the pub. Lachlan, in his best German accent, asks the publican for a friend of theirs. He gives Hans' name and description. The guy remembers seeing him around, but hasn't seen him for a while and knows nothing about who he might know. Another guy at the bar, who seems to be slightly drunk, asks for the description again. He says he might be able to help them.
Lachlan and Vilna go with the guy, he introduces himself as Phil, to a corner table. Glenn walks in and takes a nearby table, so he can overhear. The lads have a few more beers while Lachlan desperately improvises their story, it having not occurred to them to get it straight ahead of time ("..er...I am...er...Otto, and this is...um...er...Udo). Phil says that he's friends with this other man in town, Tony Milne. Tony was living with this woman, but earlier this year, the rumour was that she was cheating on him. Phil was working with Tony at the time, and one day Tony decided to watch and see if it was true. He wanted Phil along as a witness. Tony left ostensibly for work one day, but came back an hour later with Phil. The parked in the car up the road and waited. An hour later, a guy fitting Hans' description walked out the door. They hadn't seen him arrive, so he'd been there at least an hour. Tony and Phil went in the house. Tony's woman (Phil can't remember her name) was there and seemed "worked up". Tony asked her what she had been doing, and she said nothing. At this point Tony started yelling, and Phil left. Phil heard that they broke up and she disappeared. Tony was particularly upset, as she was pregnant.
Naomi finds Gaia's Rage, who are out patrolling the Bawn. She asks if she can run with them, as she's been stuck in the city. They agree, and off they all run. As she runs, the others inform her through Kanau what they found. Naomi remembers that one of the Black Fury's, Jana Jett, was living in some sort of de facto relationship with a local guy.
Lachlan and Vilna chat with Phil a bit longer about Romanians and stuff, then leave. Glenn leaves soon after and joins them and Steve a short distance away. They decide it's worth checking out Tony's place. Having found his address in the phone book, they use Questing Stone, which shows that he is not home. They head for Tony's place, where Steve waits outside in the car to watch for Tony's return, while the other three step sideways and head into the house. Peeking from the umbra, they can see that no one is home, so they step through for a look around.
The house is in a bit of a mess so they begin searching. They are looking for evidence of a woman's presence, and also for photos. Soon after, Steve alerts them to the fact that someone is driving up to the house. They all step sideways as a man comes in - presumably it's Tony. He seems to have come from work for a late lunch. He makes himself a sandwich, eats it and leaves. After he's gone, his unseen audience step back into the real world and keep searching.
After about an hour, Steve is awoken from a light doze by the policeman tapping on the car window. He seems a little curious as to why a complete stranger has been sitting in his parked car for the last hour or so. Steve says that he was driving through and felt tired, so he pulled over for a rest. The policeman checks Steve's license, but fortunately Steve is not one of the pack who is wanted by the police. He suggests that Steve is probably rested by now, and might like to leave. He even helpfully offers to show Steve the way out of town. Steve follows the police car out of town, then keeps driving after the cop car turns back. He circles back to a nearby area and waits.
The guys have found some photos, but several of the batches are missing most of the photos. However, the negatives are still there. Glenn takes the negatives and heads for another town where he can get one hour photo's developed. Lachlan and Vilna keep searching, just to see if they can't find anything.
After dropping off the negatives, Glenn walks around for an hour before retrieving the photos. All the missing photos include a woman - Jana in fact. Glenn informs the others and drives back. Lachlan and Vilna have found nothing else of interest, and leave the house to join Steve. As Phil said that Tony's woman was pregnant when she left him, Naomi manoeuvres to a position while running where she can check out Jana. About all that she can determine is that, yes; at some time in the last year or so she was pregnant, and that she obviously isn't pregnant any more. Naomi has a bit of a chat with Jana, bringing the topic around to her own cubs. She mentions that she understood that Jana was pregnant, to which Jana says tersely that she miscarried. Jana then moves away. Naomi runs with Gaia's Rage a bit longer, then says goodbye and peels off to join the rest of the True Seekers.
Once they are all together, they discuss options and stuff. Naomi is aware that for a Garou to miscarry is very rare, but that it is more likely if the child is metis. They decide to have another chat with Malajimbarra. With his help they are able to piece together some sort of timeline. Phil saw Hans leaving Tony's place up to maybe a month before Huros killed Hans (Phil was vague with the dates, so it's rough at best). About a month after Hans was killed, Jana goes to the Sept of Five Hands in Western Australia (a sept the true seekers had dealings with during the Sydney Debacle) where she suffers a miscarriage, apparently due to the stress of her breaking up with Tony. Jana then returns, and the Black Furies close ranks around this time. Malajimbarra had assumed that the problem with the Black Furies was due to Huros killing Hans, which was the issue causing the contention at the time, but perhaps it was rather something to do with Jana.
The True Seekers decide to hang around Steiglitz that night and allow Glenn to use Dreamspeak on the people in the houses around Tony's place, to see if he can coax some interesting responses out. From Tony, he gets the impression that he felt that Jana was cheating on him with Hans, and that he is torn up about the fact that she left with his child. From the neighbours, Glenn gets the impression that they suspected that Jana was cheating on Tony, although whether this is from actually observances or just rumour he can't be sure. None of them seem to react to images of either Hans or Huros.
Glenn suggests that they should leave things alone for a while, as they've been stirring up a lot of dust, as it were. He thinks that they should let it rest for a few days and think about what they should do. The others agree and they all head back to Melbourne.
People catch up on details of their lives. Towards evening, Steve is at the Caern when the Moon Bridge opens and Malajimbarra arrives. He speaks with Cossack, who calls Steve over and tells him to get the rest of the True Seekers to the Cemetery.
Once they are all assembled, Malajimbarra says that Jana has abdicated from the sept and left, and that the rest of the Black Furies are upset. Commands-The-Waters wanted to know what the hell was going on, and Malajimbarra told her. He wants to know what might have happened to cause her to leave. Glenn and Naomi say that they might be able to help.
Flashforward
Saturday 30 (again) - Malajimbarra thanks them for there help (and no, he
isn't being sarcastic). He says that everything is that has been happening
will come out. Then he leaves.
The True Seekers ask Cossack as to his opinion. Cossack says that everything they did, they did with the explicit approval of the Malajimbarra, the sept's Rite Master. They cannot be technically faulted for interfering in another sept's business, when they effectively had permission.
The True Seekers have a bit of a discussion about pack mates going off and doing stuff that specifically concerns the pack without mentioning to said pack that they are doing said stuff.