Wherein the True Seekers make quick visits to Erebus ("Dropping off or picking up?" "Dropping off"), Arcadia, and the Jindabyne Council.
The True Seekers prepare to leave, taking with them the umbral shotgun. Malajimbarra tells them to search for the Silver Road in the umbra, which leads to the gates of Erebus. He also warns them to resist temptation whilst in Erebus. They set out through the Penumbra until they find a Moon Path, then ascend into the umbra. They move along looking for the Silver Road. The True Seekers have been moving for a while when they hear, far away, a mad reverberating howling. They decide to speed up. Not long after, they spot several dark objects moving quickly along the Moon Path behind them. It becomes apparent that it's a swarm of banes. One of the banes escapes back down the Path as the others descend on the pack. One by one the members of the True Seekers are wounded until they are forced to leap from the Path into the safety(?) of the umbra, until only Vilna and Naomi remain. They manage to destroy the rest of the banes. With Kanau's aid they bring the rest of the pack back to the Moon Path, and head off again. As they travel, the howling behind them sounds again and again, each time seemingly a little closer. The True Seekers follow the path into a Lunae (a junction of several Moon Paths) guarded by Lunes. Having explained to the Lunes their predicament, the Lunes agree to help. While one of the Lunes will lead them to the Silver Road, the others will destroy the Lunae, which should throw their pursuers off the trail for a while. They hurry after the Lune guiding them.
After a time, they reach a point where Pattern Spiders are at work, breaking up the Moon Path into two web-like walls with a space in the middle. The True Seekers throw themselves at the Spiders, quickly ripping them to pieces. They then begin tearing down the first wall. Once in the dead space between the two walls, the find that the web wall extends into infinity, like a slice through the entire umbra, but only visible from the space between the two webs. As they destroy the second web, the infinite web grows misty and indistinct, until, when the web is destroyed, it appears as the normal umbra again. The last of the Patter Spiders is destroyed, and the True Seekers move on. The howling has faintly begun again when they reach another wall in the Moon Path, this time a very large silver wall, extending left and right into the umbral mists. Actually, it is the Silver Road, so after adjusting their bearing by 90 degrees, they set off along it. Soon, a vast mountain emerges from the umbral mists, with the Road running straight up to a large gate in the mountain side. The gate opens easily, and the Lune leaves them as they enter Erebus. The vast cavern inside the gate is home to gigantic three-headed beast. It's left head is that of a dire wolf with swirling, glowing eyes. The right head is metallic and mechanical. The middle head is twisted and warped, with spiralling horns and balefire breath. But, since he completely ignores the pack, they just walk right by him into a tunnel.
The True Seekers find themselves in a maze of interconnecting tunnels, all lit by the sluggishly moving rivers of molten silver that flow through all the tunnels. They have not gone far when they are approached by three figures, Charyss' Brood, who appear as twelve-foot tall black, hairless and sexless Crinos, each carrying a silver spear. Petrov is handed over to them, and one of the Brood takes him and throws him into the river of silver. Petrov awakens quickly and starts screaming and thrashing, as the Brood member pokes at him with his spear. The other two Brood members turn to the pack and ask them what they want. When questioned more closely, the Brood members say that they will give the pack whatever they want, if they can best the Brood members in a challenge. Despite a certain amount of temptation amongst the True Seekers, they decline the offer and ask for the way out. The Brood members say that the only way out is to go further down. So, further down they go.
They pass down through tunnel after tunnel, ignoring the offers made by various members of Charyss' Brood. Occasionally they pass by a Garou in the rivers, each being tended by one of the Brood. After several hours of walking, the tunnel they are in opens up into a fucking enormous cavern, filled with a vast silver lake. Far away in the middle of the lake is an island, upon which stands a citadel. As the True Seekers wait on the shore, a large boat skiffs quickly across the silver toward them, although there is no one on board. When it reaches the shore, they board it, whereupon it moves back out onto the lake. Sailing across the lake, the boat brings them to the island, where several of the Brood are waiting. They lead the pack into the Citadel, through corridors lit with silver torches and sporting strange works of art, into a large chamber, where a glowing, silver female Crinos is waiting. This is Charyss. Charyss explains to the True Seekers a bit about Erebus. She says that there is no way of knowing how long it will be before Petrov is cleansed, because while the rivers can burn away much of the taint, the one undergoing the cleansing must choose to give up the taint within them. If they don't, then ultimately the river will destroy them. So it depends on how much of the person remains untainted, or how strong of character they are. The True seekers ask if they can leave a note for Petrov if and when he is cleansed. Charyss blinks at this strange request, but agrees.
The pack leaves Charyss and is escorted by Brood members down beneath the Citadel, where a flight of stairs seemingly runs into a stone wall. As they approach, the stone wall opens, revealing a strange black tunnel beyond. The True Seekers pass through, and the stone closes behind them, then vanishes, with the black tunnel extending where the stone was. The True Seekers start wandering. They are in a maze of crossing tunnels, each seemingly comprised of solid darkness. There are breaks in the darkness of the walls, where they can see images of places that they don't recognise. On the floor of the tunnel, they find the occasional odd item, such as a cigarette lighter, the odd sock, and set of keys and so on. As they keep walking, a small bird spirit flies up to the True Seekers. It claims that it is trapped in this place. When asked what it knows about the "windows" in the walls, the bird answers "What windows?" It appears unable to see the light spaces in the walls. From up ahead, they hear someone speaking. They call out, and soon a figure emerges from a side tunnel; a strange middle-aged man, who scents of Garou. The man walks up to the True Seekers, grabs the bird spirit and sticks his hand through the "window", releasing the bird. As they watch through the "window", the bird flies away. The man introduces himself as Why-The-Hell-Not, a Theurge of the Stargazers. He tells them that where they are is called the Null Zone, a strange place that touches just about everywhere in reality. He is the self-appointed rescuer of spirits trapped in the Null Zone, pushing them through the "windows" that they cannot see themselves. The True Seekers tell him that they are trying to get out, and he agrees to help them. They tell him where they are trying to go (Melbourne Cemetery), so Why-The-Hell-Not leads them off through the tunnel, seemingly choosing tunnels at random.
After a while he stops at a "window" which shows the Cemetery. The True Seekers thank him, and step through, ending up inside the Cemetery. They locate Cossack, who is fairly surprised that they got into the cemetery without him knowing about it, and tell him what happened. The Elders feel that the best option available is to hand the fetish over to Lord Lysander, to which the True Seekers agree. They decide to head down Frankston way to the tunnel into the Arcadia Gateway. Given that the Black Spiral Dancers may still be looking for the fetish, the Scryers agree to accompany them as far as the tunnel. So, off they go. They make their way down, pass through into the cave (having beaten Vilna to a pulp) and along the tunnel into Arcadia Gateway. The hang around, and eventually Lachlan sees the White Stag. They follow the Stag, and end up on an old, ruined road. While the forest they have been passing through has been light and pleasant, the woods on the other side of the old road are dark and sinister. The Stag leads the True Seekers along the old road, until it crosses the main road, with the sun at one end and the moon at the other. The stag disappears into the woods as they head towards the sun. They haven't gone far when Calvin suddenly clutches at his head, then runs screaming into the trees. The others chase him and soon catch him. He says he doesn't know what happened to him. Given that they're all back in the woods again, they wait for the Stag to lead them back. It does so, muttering under it's breath.
Once on the road, they keep on walking. Again, it is only a short time later when Calvin switches to Crinos form and leaps onto Naomi. Glenn and Vilna leap to help subdue him. While they are struggling, Lachlan notices that Steve has switched to lupus and is running back down the road, towards the moon. In case anyone is interested, Steve is the one with the fetish. Lachlan and Vilna stay with Calvin while Naomi and Glenn switch to lupus and charge after Steve. As they run, Naomi calls out to Steve to stop, but he appears to pay no attention. Lachlan meanwhile takes Calvin and heads for Gateway Castle as Vilna runs after the others. Steve is slowly drawing ahead as he passes the old road separating the Seelie and the Unseelie lands. Further down the road, six Fae knights in black armour and on horse back are galloping madly down the road towards him. When they reach Steve, four of them sweep past him and stop, blocking the road. The other two turn and gallop beside him. Naomi reaches the knights, who order her back. She tries to charge past them, but is struck back. Vilna reaches her, having swept past Glenn. He heals her aggravated wounds, caused by the Fae swords, then they both charge the knights, dodging around the outside. The manage to get past them, but by now Steve is a long way ahead. They continue pursuing nonetheless. Glenn reaches the knights, fairly out of breath, and runs straight into one of the horses. Having decided that dodging Fae swords is not his thing, he waits.
Naomi and Vilna have passed through the forest, into gardens filled with snow. The hedge sculptures are dead and leafless, the fountains and pools are frozen with fish trapped in the ice. As the approach the Grim Fortress, they hear the sound of the drawbridge slamming shut. There appears to be no immediate means of entry, and figures can be seen moving on the walls. Despite Naomi's inclination to tear the building down and castrate Steve, Vilna persuades her to go to Gateway Castle. They turn and leave. On the road back, they pass the Fae knights cantering back towards the Grim Fortress. The knights give the two a wide berth and ride on. Naomi and Vilna catch up with Glenn and start running for Gateway Castle. Once they are all at the Castle, they are hastened into Lord Lysander's presence. After he is told what has happened, he ponders the matter. He says that he has examined Calvin, who appears to be under a powerful and subtle compulsion, undetectable except when the conditions of the compulsion are active. Mariana could not have placed the glamour on him while he was simply walking around. He is treating Calvin now, and the glamour should be dispelled soon.
Naomi, feeling less than diplomatic, says that perhaps Lysander should just ask for the fetish back, given that he's on such good terms with Princess Mariana. She tells him that he was seen meeting with her in the cabin in the woods. Lysander seems about to protest, then slumps down and admits it. He says that feels unable to control his passion for Mariana, but insists that he has never betrayed his trust or his duty. He says that they will ride out to the Grim Fortress to parlay with Mariana. Soon, a large detachment of his knights are assembled. Lord Lysander leads the troop down the road to the Grim Fortress. Once there, he calls out to those on the walls, demanding to speak with Mariana. The seneschal of the Fortress speaks with him, and a few pleasantries are exchanged. Naomi jumps in and is called "Lysander's lackey" for her pains. Lysander demands to speak with Mariana, and eventually she appears on the wall. Lysander demands the return of the fetish. She says yah-boo-sux, and similar. Glenn calls out that the Garou have an interest in the matter, and may well summon an Incarna to take the fetish from her. She says that she is unimpressed, and that this is a domain of the Fae. Lysander tells her that she has a day (however that works in this realm) to return the fetish, or else they will return and take the fetish by force. They turn and ride back to Gateway Castle.
Back at Gateway, the True Seekers discuss the situation with Lysander. He sees the two likely options being taking the fetish by stealth (unlikely to succeed) or by force (unlikely to succeed).
During the discussion, it is announced that an emissary from Marianna has arrived. Umture (the emissary) is brought before Lysander. His basic point is that the Fae in the fetish is of the Unseelie court and so within Marianna's jurisdiction, and that the Garou's involvement is periphery at best. Umture says that even if the fetish were returned to Gateway, Marianna would insist on being allowed to regularly inspect it to ensure her compatriot was safe. Lysander asks Umture to leave for a moment. When he has gone, Lysander says that Marianna is playing a waiting game, bargaining for all the time she can until she can learn the true name of the Fae in the fetish. Lysander would be honour bound to allow her visits if he agreed to her terms, and eventually she would learn the name. Umture is recalled and Lysander suggests that he meet with Marianna to discuss further. Umture says that they will set up a pavilion at the crossroads for tomorrow, then he leaves. The True Seekers can do little except wait for the morrow.
At the large clearing at the crossroads, a pavilion has been erected. Numerous low Fae are hanging around. Lysander and the True Seekers, along with ten Gateway Knights ride out to the pavilion. There they meet with Marianna and ten Grim Knights. The pavilion has a table with three chairs: one for Lysander, one for Marianna, and one for a Garou representative.
Lacking what anyone might deign to call responsible leadership, the True Seekers shove each other until Glenn is pushed forward to represent their interests. The meeting begins. Lysander and Marianna are being all formal and nice, which is annoying Glenn no end. The discussion seems to be going round and round in circles. Finally, Glenn decides to add what he feels is an innocuous comment. He points out that Marianna should be able to trust Lysander given that she's sleeping with him. This comment has a remarkable effect on her complexion, which goes white, then kinda green, then red. She gets up, abuses Lysander for his betrayal of her trust, then storms off. So Glenn runs up and grabs her. For his pains he receives a massive shock of energy and a whole bunch of angry Grim Knights charging at him. However, he has the sense to back off, so Marianna charges off with her retinue.
Back at Gateway, everyone feels that the meeting could have gone better. Lysander points out that while Marianna's reaction to Glenn was probably genuine, she was adroit enough to use this "insult" to delay even longer. However, one possibility had arisen during the discussion. A tournament could be arranged and a challenge made for possession of the fetish. Of course, the conditions of the challenge would have to be agreed in advance, and Marianna would never agree to any result that would totally deny her access to the fetish. However, even if her access was only curtailed, it would give Lysander more time to arrive at a more permanent solution. And frankly, stealing the fetish by force or by stealth were barely options at all. The True Seekers agree with Lysander to lay down the challenge. Lysander sends his Seneschal to the Grim Fortress to offer the challenge. Marianna accepts, with the understanding that if the Unseelie win, the Seelie will give up any claim they have to the fetish. If the Seelie win, then the fetish will go into their custody, where it's continuing safety will be their responsibility, and that the Unseelie would have regular access to inspect the fetish and verify it's safety. The tournament will be held tomorrow.
That morning, Lysander speaks with the True Seekers. He says that each side must choose a champion for the challenge, and it is quite possible that Marianna will name Steve as her champion. If she does, then Lysander will need to call one of the True Seekers to fight him. Vilna volunteers. The pavilion at the crossroads has been removed, and a tournament area set up. Stands have been set up, and a horde of low Fae have turned up to watch the fun. Large contingents of both the Seelie and Unseelie courts arrive. Marianna calls for her champion, and Steve, looking fairly blank, is led forward by two Grim knights and stands in front of Marianna. Vilna steps forward to the edge of the ring.
In a last ditch effort, Glenn uses Mind Speak to try and talk with Steve. He is surprised to find that Steve's mind is a rigid lattice of light, which is being rapidly broken down by an impression of surrounding chaos. At that moment, Steve whirls around, tackles Marianna and starts ripping at her clothes. This is the sort of thing that stuns everybody for a moment. Despite the multiple shocks that he's receiving, Steve keeps going. Grim Knights from every quarter start rushing at him. With an outraged cry, Lysander also draws his sword and runs at Steve. Steve is surrounded when he steps back, holding the fetish in his hand. He throws the fetish to Vilna just as Lysander knocks him down. Vilna and Glenn turn and sprint towards Gateway Castle, as Lysander rushes up to Marianna while the Grim Knights kick Steve into a bloody pulp on the ground. Much confusion reigns. Marianna leaps to her feet, screaming that she wants the fetish back. She leaps onto her horse and she, along with about thirty Grim Knights, thunder after Vilna and Glenn. Lysander quickly moves to join his Knights, and they set off in pursuit, accompanied by Naomi. The last that Naomi sees of Steve is his prone form surrounded by low Fae.
Vilna hears the hoof beats behind them, and decides to delay them. Switching to Crinos, he manages to uproot a tree and lay it across the road, then he climbs on top and waits. The Grim Knights come sweeping down the road and begin leaping the log on either side of Vilna. He unhorses several, who fall among their comrades, creating more confusion, but the rest are still coming. Glenn has reached Gateway Castle, to find that the drawbridge is up (seems only prudent when the Lord of the castle and a contingent of Knights are away). He screams at them to open the bloody gate, but the Gatekeeper hasn't been told to open the gate for the next mad Garou that happens to wander by. So Glenn takes the fetish and turfs it over the wall, into the Castle grounds.
Marianna and her Knights gallop up. Using some eerie Fae magic, she causes the drawbridge to lower. Most of the Grim Knights form a cordon around the drawbridge, preparing to meet Lord Lysander. A few accompany Marianna into the castle.
Furious melee breaks out, both inside and outside the castle. Naomi and Vilna meet up with Glenn and they all dash inside. The Grim Knights in the courtyard and heavily outnumbered by the defenders, but there is no sign of Marianna or the fetish. The True Seekers run for the nearest door into the castle proper. Inside they find a trail of destruction and the sound furniture begin smashed up ahead. They sprint ahead and catch up with Marianna in the audience chamber, where she is smashing things in a berserk rage and searching for the fetish. Vilna and Naomi throw themselves at her while Glenn runs off, looking for the fetish. Vilna and Naomi treat her fairly gingerly, worrying about what the repercussions might be from attacking a noble of the Unseelie court.
Eventually, Vilna gets sick of being zapped by her, and starts punching her into insensibility. Naomi and Vilna manage to subdue her, so Vilna leaves Naomi to keep her under control and sprints after Glenn. Glenn, meanwhile, has been running up and down halls when he sees several low Fae tossing around a spotted black ball. Okay, so it's really the fetish. Glenn asks if he could just have the "ball". The Fae say that he can have it back if he'll sing and dance for them. So it is that Vilna, desperately searching for an item that has brought chaos to Melbourne and threatens to destroy the balance of power in an Umbral realm, comes across Glenn doing a little dance and singing "I'm Singing in the Rain" to amuse a bunch of Fae.
Always one to oblige, Vilna joins in. The Fae all applaud loudly, then toss the fetish to Glenn. Glenn and Vilna head back for the audience chamber. The Grim Knights have been bested and captured. Lysander runs in and rushes up to Marianna. He pulls out a flask and pours the contents down her throat, which revives her nicely. As Glenn and Vilna come in, Marianna gets to her feet and demands that the fetish is returned to her. They had agreed to a challenge and the challenge had to go ahead.
There is a grinding noise and the Arcadia Gateway appears in the room. From the stone frame of the Gate an arm emerges, soon followed by the rest of a giant stone figure: the Guardian of the Gate. He says that the gate has been called. As Lysander looks rather confused, there is a boom and the twin doors of the Arcadia Gateway begin to open. As soon as there is a gap between the doors, Glenn hurls the fetish through. The doors continue to open. Beyond the doors it seems that the Gateway is high up in the air, looking down over mountains and forests. Clouds rush through the sky at unbelievable speed. Also, standing in the doorway is an elderly naked aboriginal man, holding the fetish in one hand. He steps onto the threshold of the Gate, clasps the fetish in both hands and speaks in an unknown language. As he does his eyes turn to black fields filled with stars. He speaks and everyone can understand him. He says that he is speaking through the power of the fetish, released by the true name of the imprisoned Fae.
He introduces himself as Gnonoc, Rank 5 Theurge of the Bunyip. He says that in his time, Nlaloonjurrie (the imprisoned Fae) was causing so much trouble that the Bunyip decided to act. They couldn't simply return her to Arcadia, as she always found a way back, so instead they bound her into a fragment of the night sky. Even then, the Bunyip foresaw a time when the power of the Weaver would drive the Fae from the world, and that Arcadia would be forever sealed off. However, the chaotic time currents allowed that Gnonoc's time could intersect with a point after Arcadia was sealed. The fetish was created with a nature that called to the Gateway when it was brought into proximity. The Bunyip sealed Nlaloonjurrie into the fetish, then planned to wait for Arcadia to be sealed before taking the fetish to the Gateway and sending Nlaloonjurrie into Arcadia forever.
Frankly, Gnonoc is a little disconcerted to find a bunch of strange (non-Bunyip) Garou handing over the fetish. The True Seekers start yelling things at Gnonoc, including a request for a skin sample(???). Gnonoc explains that he and nothing of his can pass beyond the threshold of the Gate, as in their time, he has been dead for centuries and would instantly crumble to dust.
The Gateway slowly starts to close, and Gnonoc says that he must leave. He speaks some more words over the fetish, which vanishes. A figure appears next to him: a very tall aboriginal woman with skin of utter black and burning white eyes. Gnonoc speaks to her and points into Arcadia. Nlaloonjurrie turns and flies away, soaring upwards to disappear into the clouds. Gnonoc waves to all and sundry and disappears as the Gate slams shut. The Guardian of the Gate, who has been standing patiently by all this time, merges again with the frame of the Gate, and the Gate fades away to wander the castle again. Marianna storms out, demanding that her Knights be released. Other Fae begin clearing up the mess, as the True Seekers head out to get Steve. They meet him halfway down the road. Not a single piece of Steve's skin, hair or clothing is it's original colour. They escort him back to Gateway Castle, hiding off the road when Marianna and her Knights thunder past. Lysander says that he can treat Steve as he has done for Calvin. He can even do something about the rainbow hues as well. Steve is led away as Lysander invites the True Seekers to a celebratory banquet that night.
At the banquet, Glenn is kept well away from Lady Niirsa and Lord Reegus, so everybody has a fine time. During the banquet, Lysander presents the True Seekers with a suit of Fae armour and a Fae sword. Both are unbreakable. The armour is light and unencumbering, and will shift with the Garou wearing it. The sword does aggravated damage. The True Seekers thank Lysander for the generous gifts. Lysander says that he doesn't know what extended departure from the Arcadia Gateway might do to the items, and suggests that they should probably return fairly regularly.
Having spent a few days at Gateway Castle so that Lysander could treat Steve, the True Seekers bid farewell and head for the tunnel. After the usual (beat up Vilna, drag him through etc) they wash up on a Mornington beach in the middle of the night. There is no sign of the Scryers, so some time must have passed. Stopping off at a 7-11 on the way back, they find out from a newspaper that it is...
They return to the Cemetery and report a job well done (well, done anyway). Oh yes, they also want to beat up Steve and Calvin. Having explained to Cossack and the other elders everything that happened, the elders have a brief discussion. Cossack comes back and says that, in their opinion, there was no actual breach of the Litany. He suggests that it is an internal pack matter. Although the potentially consequences of Steve and Calvin's actions were very serious, they were under compulsion at the time, and that in the end, Steve pulled the situation back from the brink without regard for his own safety. When asked how he managed to throw off the glamour, Steve says that he had some help from a cockroach spirit. Cossack feels that the pack should decide what punishment is suitable for the crime, guided perhaps by his advice.
The True Seekers decide to postpone a decision on Steve and Calvin, who are hoping that they forget in the meantime. Everybody moves to catch up with their lives, which have been fairly neglected for the last few weeks.
Steve has a few beers with Pete at the local. Pete is fairly convinced that the woman he saw wearing the chemical suit that stole the strange body was Steve's friend whatshername... Naomi. Steve ducks and weaves the issue brilliantly ("Nah, it wasn't her. Wow, look at the set on that blonde."), but Pete remains unconvinced. Steve claims that he's been up in Sydney for the last week or so, and hasn't seen Naomi for a few weeks. Glenn gets in contact with Gabrielle. She says that not much has been happening in the last week, and that following up the Cave Clan in connection with the wave of attacks on the homeless turned up nothing. She gives Glenn some names of people she spoke to. At the moment she's just doing a puff piece to pay the bills.
Naomi, meanwhile, has spent the day working at the zoo. Heading home in the evening, she spots a familiar pony-tailed, sun-glassed, Hawaiian shirt and overcoat-wearing figure leaning against a street light, watching her. There are other people on the street, so she walks up towards him, meanwhile alerting the rest of the True Seekers via Kanau. As she walks on, the man walks along with her. He asks about what finally happened with the fetish and all that. Naomi limits her answer to saying that that episode is definitely closed. She asks him whether he is real this time or not, to which he reaches inside himself and pulls out a handful of straw. She also asks what his interest in the matter is. He says that the fetish was a wild card, and that you could never really be sure of her motives. Naomi then asks if he or his "associates" have seen any BSDs around. After she explains what the hell it is she's talking about, he says that he hasn't. At the end of the conversation, the human image fades, and a rough straw man falls to the ground. The rest of the True Seekers (sans Steve) have arrived, and they take the scarecrow back to the Caern. They pull it apart and find a few items in the middle apart from straw, like a piece of string, a nail, some plants and other weird stuff. They speak with Malajimbarra, who just happens to still be around, and ask him if it would be able to trace the source of the magic that animated the scarecrow. He says that it may be possible while the animation is in effect, but some means will need to be devised.
Vilna returns to his flat. He's having a shower when he starts to feel uncomfortable. Sensing Wyrm, he finds that the water has a faint Wyrm taint to it. He leaps from the shower and wipes all the water off, then gets dressed and starts checking his pipes. He finds that the water in his pipes is contaminated, but not the water as it passes through his water meter. Alerting the rest of his pack through Kanau, he steps into the umbra and checks the pipes. He soon detects the sound of something scratching and burbling in his pipes. Always one to get straight to the core of a problem, Vilna changes to Crinos and rips the umbral pipes from the walls. Water gushes everywhere, but nothing comes out. He hears a sound from the bathroom and runs in. Sitting in the sink is a thing the strikes him as a cross between a large yellow frog, and a lump of hair and soap scum that blocks your drain. He leaps at it, but the slippery little sucker is fast. It leaps past him and dives into the toilet. Vilna kicks in the S-bend, spilling it onto the ground. Again it evades him and leaps out into the hall. Vilna chases it into the kitchen, where it is compressing itself back up the kitchen tap. Vilna grabs it, throws it into the fridge and slams the door. When the rest of the True Seekers arrive, Vilna has already dedicated a tupperware container. Of course, the problem it that the bane might escape when the fridge door is opened. So, Vilna punches a hole through the door. As the bane squirms through, it is scooped up in the container and the lid fastened. The True Seekers then take their new friend to the Caern. On the way, Vilna tries to talk with it, but it is apparently too stupid. Cossack feels that it is probably just some random gaffling bane that was having fun in Vilna's pipes. Glenn, however, is sure that it's all part of some massive Black Spiral conspiracy, and goes back to check all the surrounding sewers for Wyrm taint. The bane, meanwhile, has been secreting a strange grey-blue slime all over the container. Vilna decides that he probably won't be using the container again. Steve changes to Crinos, a sticks his claws through the container, killing the thing. Problem solved...... Or not quite. Vilna returns home to an object lesson in Umbral/Material dynamics. Water is running down the stairs from where the S-bend of his toilet has mysteriously collapsed, and a pipe in the wall has ruptured. Reminding himself to turn off the mains next time, Vilna calls the emergency plumber. Glenn, searching out pipes, has turned up little evidence of his conspiracy, which obviously means that they've covered their tracks very effectively, which proves how professional and dangerous they really are.
At the zoo, Naomi gets a phone call from Ian Shatter-Glass, saying that the Ngalyod pack has arrived to take the True Seekers to Jindabyne. The True Seekers assemble and Moon Bridge on over to Jindabyne. The whole Council is present, and the True Seekers appear before them. Vlad Volashky steps forward and says that the Council objects to Darius appointing Glenn to the True Seekers , when it was a matter for the entire Council. Naomi, in the absence of the illustrious pack leader, points out that it was purely a pack matter to accept Glenn, whoever put him forward, and that his joining was approved by Kanau. Vlad says that they are not disputing the composition of the pack, but rather Darius' precipitous move.
Glenn asks what the hell it has to do with them then. Glenn then gets into a shouting match with a Shadow Lord Ahroun of the 4th Rank, which Grek Twice-Tongue ends before Vlad can take the top of Glenn's head off. Grek speaks with the True Seekers in private. He says that the Council is trying to avoid a precedent being established. If Darius can turn what should be a Council matter into a tribal decision and get away with it, then the other Councillors would see no reason not to do likewise. The Council would risk becoming an empty institution (or emptier, if you prefer). Grek does not desire this, as he sees that the Council does good, or at least prevents the most obvious of tribal conflicts. In this matter, it is just unfortunate that the manifestation of Darius' actions happens to be the True Seekers, which means that they are caught up in a political issue that doesn't actually concern them. Grek says that, as the True Seekers are a pack belonging to a sept, the Council has no actual authority to directly determine the membership of the pack. However, by the Litany (respect for elders), they can traditionally expect a certain compliance from younger Garou. Were the True Seekers to refuse their decision, it could well weaken the Council, as well as bringing the general enmity of most of the tribes down on the pack. The solution to the problem, which the Council has already figured on, is that the pack would challenge the Council for the right to maintain the autonomy of the pack. So the Council is challenging Darius and the True Seekers challenge the Council. That way, whoever wins or loses, everybody saves face. The Council's role is vindicated and Darius has been rebuked, but neither has to back down. And all the True Seekers have to do is put Glenn on the line.
After much swearing and raving by the True Seekers, they return to the Council, where Naomi formally challenges for the integrity of the pack. The Council says that they will discuss the issue. Naomi also asks that their sept leader be present for the challenge. They agree, and soon afterwards, Cossack Moon Bridges in. Some time later, they are called back to the Council. Grek steps forward and says that as the arm of the Council, the True Seekers will be opposed by the Ngalyod Pack. The challenge should befit the issue at hand. As the issue for the True Seekers is the importance of the pack, then the challenge should reflect this. The challenge is in four parts: Hunt like a pack, fight like a pack, live like a pack and die like a pack. Both packs will engage in each of the four tests, with the Council and spirits judging between them. As a certain level of competence is expected, whoever performs better in the tests will win the challenge. The True Seekers are taken by Wungula Rose, Fingal Flashing Claws and Mamu down from the mountain and into the umbral bush. There, Theurges of the Jindabyne sept are completing a summoning Rite. A large white stag appears. Fingal asks the stag if it will be their quarry this day. The stag agrees and leaps away. The True Seekers change to lupus form and set off in pursuit. They chase the stag through the bush, up hills and along creeks. They manage to encircle the stag and drive it on, with Kanau soaring above, directing them towards a deep dead-end gully. Naomi and Vilna race up opposite sides while Steve and Glenn follow it in. The stag nears the end and turns to face it's pursuers. Naomi and Vilna manoeuvre to leap down on the stag from behind while it is distracted. Before they can do so however, Steve leaps at the stag. The stag leaps over his head and gallops back up the gully.
Naomi lets out all the stops racing back along the top of the gully, and cuts the stag off, snapping at it's heels to drive it back in. As it races back in, Glenn hides in the undergrowth to let it past. Steve and Vilna, who has jumped down, meet the stag at the gully's end. Again the stag attempts to leap over Steve. This time, however, he leaps up and basically disembowels it. The stag stumbles to the ground, whereupon the True Seekers leap upon it and kill it. As they let loose a howl, the stag gets to it's feet, leaps into the sky and vanishes. The True Seekers make their way back to the Caern. As they rest, they can hear the sounds of the Ngalyod pack howling in the bush as they pursue their quarry - an arthritic tortoise (not really).
After it has quietened down again, the True Seekers are taken by Carla Grimsson, Vlad Volashky and Darius Winchester to the top of the mountain. Once again the Theurges are busy summoning. Soon their opponent for the challenge "Fight like a pack" appears - a powerful lion spirit. As they watch, the lion is suffused with a golden glow. They throw themselves at the lion, which focuses on Steve. As they claw at the lion, the golden light surrounding it emits sparks. They fight, with Naomi and Vilna periodically stopping to heal Steve as the lion claws at him. After a time the lion disappears. Thinking that they've won, they take the time to heal Steve again. However, Carla, Vlad and Darius seem to be waiting for something. Vilna peeks sideways to find that the lion has materialised in the real world. Everybody steps through, with Glenn taking a bit of time. The lion attacks again, although this time there is no glow surrounding it. This time the definitely manage to fell the beast, and again it vanishes. Glenn, still passing through the Gauntlet, has the impression of something passing back through the Gauntlet. The rest of the True Seekers chase it back into the Umbra and finally manage to finish it off once and for all. The second challenge is over. The True Seekers walk back down the mountain to await the next part of the challenge.
It is almost night when Mother Pasta, Innana and Don Mephisto walk up. Innana simply wants to know what the pack have done that exemplifies that they live like a pack. People give examples of what they constantly do for each other, how they are always there for each other, but that each also has the leeway to be alone and to make a life for themselves. This seems to satisfy the elders, who then leave. Around midnight, Grek Twice-Tongue, Monash End-to-the-Darkness and Tjinderi Knowing-Smile come up to the True Seekers. Grek has a simple question which the pack can spend some time discussing before they answer. He says that in order to achieve some unspecified greater good, one member of the pack must die. Whom does the pack sacrifice and why? The elders leave as the True Seekers discuss the matter. When they have decided, they call the elders back. They say that the one who dies is whoever is willing, and that each will know when it is their time to die and when they must live. Grek says that they will be told the result of the challenge in the morning. So they go to sleep around the fire.
The True seekers awake in the morning and troop up the mountain to hear the verdict of the Council. Grek speaks for the Council, and says that both packs answered the questions well - no particularly profound insight, but perfectly acceptable. However, in the hunt and the fight, the Ngalyod pack did consistently better. He says that the object of the tests were not to kill the stag and to kill the lion, and some individuals seemed to think (not looking at Steve or anything), but to hunt like a pack and to fight like a pack. Both packs certainly demonstrated this, only the Ngalyod pack did so better. Naomi steps forward and says that there is no shame in being bested by the Ngalyod pack. Grek then goes on to say that he moves that the Council confirm Glenn as a candidate for the True Seekers. This seems to catch some of the Council by surprise, but is supported by a clear majority. If you want to know, those who objected were Fingal, Mamu, Vlad and Tjinderi. Glenn manages to keep his mouth shut as the Council declare that the True Seekers may leave. They go with Cossack through the Moon Bridge back to the Cemetery.
Once back Glenn lets loose with a few well chosen words about politicians and such like. he feels that as a pack, they should grab a few slabs of beer, go somewhere 'up bush' and get completely legless - some sort of political statement, one assumes. The rest agree, so off they all trundle.
The True Seekers are called to meet at the Cemetery. The rest of the sept are waiting when they arrive. Cossack calls forward in turn Vilna and Naomi, recognising both as being worthy of the third rank. He claims that the challenge at Jindabyne amply demonstrated their quality. Afterwards he speaks with the pack privately, saying that by recognising their advance in rank as a result of the previous challenge, he was just sending a signal to the Council about the Council's interference. Back to business.
Cossack asks that the True Seekers help in the clean-up, which is still continuing, following the dissolution of the Dragon Incarna all over the umbrascape. The tainted goop has to be collected and then disposed of. Chris McNeil hit upon the idea of creating sponge talens, which draw all the liquid around them into themselves. The pack is to go into the umbra in the affected area, armed with buckets and sponge talens, and collect the slime. Others will dispose of the stuff. The Hidden Green sept is helping with the clean-up. Cossack asks that they also take Melissa Lindridge, the lost cub they discovered, along with them, as part of her learning about Garou ways.
The Garou have divided the affected area into sectors, and are cleaning it methodically, beginning with the surface before heading down into tunnels and sewers. Much of the surface has already been cleaned. Cossack says that some of the crud has been disappearing: some Garou have seen rat spirits, or something in the area, and perhaps they are drinking it. The True Seekers start cleaning crud.
For Melissa, the glamour of Garou life is beginning to wear thin. The True Seekers detect Wyrm taint beneath the ground. Vilna Burrows down, and finds a rough, man-shaped figure made of earth and stone - probably an earth elemental. It is sleeping in soil saturated with the black slime, which is slowly seeping into the elemental. Having syphoned away most of the surrounding sludge, Glenn Awakens the elemental. It is then Cleansed of the Wyrm taint. The elemental says that a fellow elemental is further down. It is similarly Awakened and Cleansed. In gratitude, the elementals offer to aid the True Seekers in cleaning. They swim around in the earth, erupting contaminated soil to the surface.
Later that day, Steve is walking down an umbral alley looking for slime when he spots a bike in the alley - a material rather than an umbral bike, that is. Peeking through, there appears to be nothing unusual in the real world. Steve steps sideways to have a look around...and the bike goes with him. A mystery! Having alerted the others, the check the bike for registration, which they find. While Glenn goes to talk with the police, Naomi picks up a young boys scent on the bike and traces it to a near-by house. Nobody appears to be currently home. Meanwhile, Glenn is reporting his son's bike stolen to the police, which surprises the police given that it's already been reported missing. Glenn beats a hasty retreat.
Having checked the house and found nothing unusual, as well as the mother and two kids (a boy and a girl), the True Seekers decide just to return the bike. They leave it in the garage (in the real world) and watch the results. Well the boy seems happy to have his bike back. The mother rings up the father to ask when the police returned the bike. Much confusion all round. Frankly, the greatest satisfaction to be had from the life of a Garou is in screwing with Normal's minds. The rest of the day is spent in further cleaning of the umbra.
The True Seekers have almost completed the last of the surface cleansing. Vilna is searching around when he finds a tree with strands of webbing in it - strange, lumpy yellow webbing. Nearby is more webbing. As he goes along, he finds more and more of the alien webbing, strung between various objects in the umbra: houses and trees. In various places, the webbing is simply spun on itself, forming large piles and twisted spires of webbing. Eventually he finds the source of the webbing. Five apparently corrupted Pattern Spiders spreading web over everything. Having scragged one, the others move towards him. He runs for the rest of the pack, howling loudly as he goes. The True Seekers have a bit of a biffo with the Pattern Spiders. Even Melissa leaps in, with perhaps more guts than sense and more enthusiasm than ability. Once the Pattern Spiders are gone, and calcified pack members roundly thumped, the True Seekers proceed to tear down all the webbing before getting back to the cleaning
Having finished on the surface, the True Seekers move down into the umbral tunnels and sewers. The slime proves to be oddly luminescent in darkness, even though it's black. Steve finds a smallish pool of ooze, and notices some movement in the middle. As he approaches, the slime draws inward, coalescing itself. It forms into a broad-headed lizard-like creature, with wings instead of fore-legs. It's all grey and slimy. Steve howls a warning, then attacks the thing. He claws the thing once, which shreds it. It collapses back into black sludge. When the others arrive, Steve says something about the slime attacking him. Having checked his breath for alcohol, the others go back to cleaning.
Having finished cleaning one sector, the True Seekers move onto the next, only to find that it's already clean. Having checked with the sept that no one else was supposed to have cleaned it yet, they have a look around. The clean area is large and irregular in shape, not conforming to the layed out sectors. The True Seekers split into two groups, locate the edge of the cleaned area, then start following it around. Naomi and Steve round the corner of the umbral tunnel and see, by the light of the phosphorescent slime, a man lying flat sucking at the ooze. The man sees them as well. He throws back his head and gives out an eerie and rather familiar howl, then steps sideways. In the distance, one mad howl and then another can be heard. Naomi and Steve step sideways and find the man is now in lupus form, running away down the tunnel. They set off in pursuit.
Glenn tells Melissa to get back to the Cemetery immediately. Glenn and Vilna start heading for the others. The BSD (oh, what a giveaway) has leapt out of the sewer and is running down an alley. As he runs he changes to homid form. Naomi is still in lupus form and is gaining rapidly. The man pulls something from his coat and tosses it over his shoulder. The crystal sphere shatters on the ground, releasing the familiar shape of a gargoyle-type demon. Naomi manages to evade it and continues to pursue the BSD, as the demon launches itself from the ground.
The man has left the alley and is running down the street. As Naomi emerges from the alley to the street, the demon slams into her, rolling them both into the road. Veil's just been shot: Naomi switches to Crinos as people on the footpath run screaming and cars brake and swerve wildly. Steve, in lupus form, runs up the alley, takes in the situation, feels that Naomi is doing fine, and heads off after the retreating BSD. As Naomi tears at the demon, she is joined by Glenn and Vilna. They help her in destroying the demon. Naomi and Glenn head off after Steve as Vilna looks around for a likely vehicle for a chase. Steve sees the man up ahead suddenly jump into a car with it's engine running. Someone else is already in the car. The car pulls out and drives down the road, stopping to pick up another man who was running up the road towards the car. The car heads off.
In the middle of the street, Steve switches to glabro. A woman in a car is just pulling away from the roadside. Steve pulls her from the car, dumps her on the ground, leaps into the car and floors it. Unfortunately, a nearby policeman has noticed this breach of etiquette and pulls his gun. After yelling at Steve to stop, he starts shooting at the tires. Two remarkable rolls later, Steve's new car has a decided list to the left. Steve steps sideways.
Vilna has found a likely victim in the shape of a ute. Having broken in and hot-wired it, he floors it. Having stopped to let Naomi and Glenn leap into the back, and swerving to avoid the hysterical woman lying in the road being calmed by the policeman, he screams off in pursuit.
Peeking sideways from the umbra, Steve is running down the street. He notices a porsche pulled up on the side of the road while the driver talks on his mobile, gesticulating wildly. So Steve steps sideways in the middle of the street, drags the guy from his car, leaps in and floors it. This time he is not stopped by multiple tyre punctures.
What with running red lights and what-not, Vilna is gaining on the BSDs. They are flying down Queens Parade when two crystal spheres are tossed from the BSD's car. Two demons explode into being and immediately launch themselves at the ute. Glenn and Naomi hurl bags of cement at them as Vilna swerves to avoid them. One demon sweeps past, but the other crunches through the windshield. The demon tears at Vilna, who tries to keep the ute on the road, while Glenn and Naomi try to drag the demon out and back over the cab of the ute. The second demon has done a tight circle and is in pursuit, although it is slower then the ute. After much swerving all over the road, Glenn and Naomi finally succeed in dragging the demon into the flatbed and scragging it, just as Vilna finally loses control of the vehicle.
The ute slams into the parked cars beside the road. Glenn is thrown off the back, over the cars and onto the grass. Naomi actually manages to stay on board. As Vilna attempts to restart the ute, Naomi sees the second demon coming back. She leaps at it, and is soon joined by Glenn. They roll around in the road for a while, before tossing the wounded demon to one side, where it is obliterated by a passing porsche doing about 150 KPH. Steve flicks on the windscreen wipers to remove the grey goo as he roars southwest.
Vilna has managed to restart the ute as Glenn and Naomi jump back into the back. The head off after Steve. Steve performs a seriously illegal left turn onto Alexandra Parade. However, the BSDs are so far ahead by now that he doesn't know whether they took the freeway, or got onto Hoddle street. He takes a punt on the freeway, but soon realises that they're not ahead of him. Telling Kanau to tell the others, Steve spins the porsche across the grass into the inbound lanes, drives back and heads south on Hoddle Street while the others head north.
Steve soon sees cars skewed wildly at intersections, leading him to deduce that perhaps he's on the right track. As he approaches Victoria Street, he sees flashing police lights crest the hill on Hoddle Street further south - many, many flashing police lights. Taking another guess, he turns left onto Victoria Street and heads east. Again, the general chaos ahead of him makes him think he picked right. As he approaches Victoria Street Bridge, the traffic has come to a halt, while the right hand lanes are totally clear. He pulls into the right lanes and sees the car he's been pursuing stopped across the middle of the road, blocking the traffic. Three figures on the far side appear to be doing something, and as he approaches, the parked car suddenly fills with flames as the figures run towards the side of the bridge.
Steve leaps from the porsche and runs to the edge, in time to see the three figures flick to Crinos just before they disappear beneath the water. Having decided not to leap in after them, Steve runs off the bridge and down along the Yarra. There is no sign of anyone. Hearing the sounds of approaching sirens, Steve steps into the umbra.
Having been told by Steve that the BSDs went south, Vilna turned the ute around and shot off in pursuit. However, with several police cars screaming up the road towards them, they decide to cut their loses. Vilna stops the ute and everybody steps sideways.
Once everyone is together, they head back to the Cemetery. They tell Graeme and Emma about the BSDs and the demons and stuff. Cossack turns up looking seriously annoyed. He seems to feel that Steve has made a boo-boo vis a vis the Veil. The rest of the True Seekers leap to Steve's defence, saying that they were pursuing the enemy. Cossack points out that the rest of the pack seemed to manage it without initiating a breech of the veil. Cossack discusses with Graeme and Emma, and decides to impose a specific punishment: since Steve seems to disregard humans, Steve is not allowed out of his homid form until Cossack says so. If he does so, Cossack will perform one of the punishment rites.
The True Seekers head back to mop-up duty.
As Glenn is cleaning up, a pool of gunk coagulates into another dragonet. He leaps on it and slams his hand into the wall, where it gets stuck. When Naomi gets there, she finds Glenn with one arm stuck in the wall and a dragonet gnawing on his ankle. Together they somehow manage to slay the ferocious beast.
The True Seekers locate a strange tunnel twisting down from the main tunnel. Effluent trickles down the tunnel. Glenn and Naomi scout down the tunnel, while Steve and Melissa wait at the top. The tunnel twists and turns as it descends. As they go, Naomi can hear the sound of liquid falling into a pool, as well as a slithering sound. Although proceeding without light, Naomi can feel that the tunnel opens up ahead.
They turn on a light, which seems to agitate whatever is slithering around. The tunnel enters high up on the side of a roughly spherical space, 5 metres or so in diameter. Peering over the edge, she sees that the bottom is filling with liquid, and numerous dragonets are swimming around. As she watches, a larger dragonet surfaces and devours one of the smaller dragonet. Glenn and Naomi head back up the tunnel.
Steve runs back to the Cemetery for the umbral shotgun, then heads down the tunnel. With Naomi holding his legs and Glenn holding Naomi, he just lets rip. There's no light except for the muzzle flash. In the light of one flash, he sees a larger dragonet leaping at him. He liquefies it before it gets near him. Soon after two more dragonets leap at him. Steve pulverises one then falls back as the other lands at the tunnel entrance. It breaths a gout of flame over him, which, while impressive, doesn't help it keep it's head in one piece as Steve blows it away.
After another five minutes or so if indiscriminate gun-fire, Steve pauses for a second. If he wasn't completely deaf by this point, he'd realise that all sounds or movement below have ceased. A small dam is built at the top of the tunnel to stop the flow of liquid, then Glenn dives into the pool and starts mopping. Once all the liquid has been cleared, Naomi chats to the two earth elementals, who start filling in the space that the dragonets have created. Soon the hollow and the tunnel are gone.
Having located another large cleared area, the True Seekers are just checking it out to make sure that it is really clean. As Steve is walking down a tunnel, he sees a large, black, worm-like thing squidging down the tunnel. Detecting Wyrm all over it, Steve perforates it. The worm breaks up, spilling large amounts of the evil goo out of it's body.
Glenn heads off in the direction it was heading, searching down tunnels. After a while, he spies the tail end of a worm heading into a small hole in a wall; a wall covered with similar small holes. He grabs hold of the tail, but these things are not exactly cohesive: the end pulls away and black ooze runs over his hands. Steve comes up, jams the shotgun up the hole and fires. He is rewarded with a gentle wash of gunk coming back down the tunnel.
Naomi asks the elementals to find out what is beyond the wall. They report back that there is a large open area simply swimming with vile gloop. There is a single opening in the roof leading to another open space just below the surface. While Steve and Melissa head for the surface to have a look, Naomi and Glenn have the elementals open a tunnel through to the open space, taking particular care to stress that the opening should be above the level of the liquid. Soon they have a 5 metre deep window leading to a large open space simply swimming with vile gloop. Yes, they were telling the truth after all! They send a message to Vilna to call the Caern and ask for additional help to clean it up.
There is an opening in the roof roughly in the middle. Rising from the slime and passing through the opening are numerous black worm-things, wrapped around each other. They seem to be pulsing and undulating, as though they were... I don't know...pumping liquid or something. Naomi and Glenn take turns with the shotgun blasting the tangled knot of worms. They fly to pieces, spraying goop everywhere, and drop back into the slime. As they watch, the worms start ascending from the slime, climbing on each other. So Glenn and Naomi have no shortage of things to shoot at. Steve and Melissa join up with Vilna, and find that the pool lies beneath the Pitcher Nursing Home. They head in, looking for a way down. They quickly find the basement and head down.
At the far end they find an opening in the floor, with numerous deflated and decaying worm ends dangling into it. The other ends of the worms disappear into the walls. From down below comes the steady sound of gunfire. People stand around discussing for a while, then Vilna decides to have a look around the building, peeking into the real world. He peeks in the basement, and finds that the light is on where it was off before. A middle-aged women, apparently a nurse, has entered the basement. She moves over to a storm grate in the floor that corresponds to the opening in the umbra. She starts looking around the basement in a strangely unseeing fashion. Vilna checks for Wyrm scent and gets at least two awoogas.
The woman heads out of the basement, with Steve and Vilna (and Melissa) following. She makes her way through the building to the staff area, unlocks the medicine cupboard and goes in. She starts pulling bottles of pills off the shelves and putting them in her pockets. Steve, who is still looking in the umbra, notices the last decaying remnants of worms poking out of the walls and dripping goop. Vilna checks again for Wyrm scent and finds that the medicine that she is taking is all contaminated. The woman leaves again, still trailing her umbral attendants.
She makes her way to one of the wards and suggests to the elderly people that it's time for their medicine. They may think that they had their medication only an hour ago, but they'll all senile doddering fucks and what would they know. People feel that it's time to act.
Vilna runs off to start a fire in the linen cupboard while Steve and Melissa step into the real world in an adjacent empty room. Running back into the ward, Steve grabs the nurse, says "Come with me, please", and drags her into the next room. The woman seems pleased to see Steve, and calls him by name. She doesn't say how it is that she knows him. He says that she had better come up with some answers for everything, or else he's going to have to hurt her. She asks "Like this?" as she plunges her finger into her own left eye, which kind of leaves Steve nonplussed and Melissa kind of green. Steve pins the nurses arms as the fire alarm goes off and Vilna runs in. The nurse seems to know Vilna as well. Steve wraps the woman up in a sheet to hold her fast. Outside, much movement as the building is evacuated. Vilna changes to Glabro, hoists the woman over he shoulder and runs out the door...straight into two horrified nurses. Vilna runs off, screaming that he's a doctor. Feeling that something more is required, Steve gets in the nurses way as much as possible as they all head for the stairs.
Rather than run out the nearby front door, Vilna heads off looking for the back door. He bursts out the back door with the bleeding nurse over his shoulder wrapped in a sheet, waves to the small and bemused crowd of staff and patients, then sprints for the far wall. Tossing the body over the six foot wall, it makes a nasty crack when it hits the ground. Steve and Melissa also run out the door, also wave at the crowd and also run for the wall. Once over the wall, the three of them make their way to the next street.
Vilna breaks into a car and heaves the woman into the back seat. They all climb in and Vilna floors it. They've made it around the first corner when Melissa asks about the strange odour of decay. Steve checks the slowly settling sheeted bundle and finds that the woman is rapidly deliquescing. Vilna screeches to a halt and Steve leaps out and starts running back, stepping sideways as he goes. Vilna and Melissa keep going, hoping to find a quiet spot to dump the body.
Back in the umbral rear gardens of the nursing home, a broad swathe of grass has been flattened leading up to the rear door. The frame around the door has been damaged. Naomi and Glenn are taking sporadic shots at the worms when something fills the opening in the roof and starts pushing through. At first only slimy vein-crossed skin can be seen, but soon after a long, jagged, insect-like leg appears. Glenn blasts away at it until the gun jams. While he is expending Gnosis to clear the jam, there is a very loud splash as something lands in the slime.
Glenn is watching the room closely, ready to blast anything that appears above the slime, when the thing appears behind them, filling the tunnel. It's a vast pulsing sack of fluid, criss-crossed with veins, sprouting numerous jagged insectile legs. Glenn doesn't know it from Adam, but Naomi recognises it as the thing they encountered at Rainbow Inc. over a year ago.
Steve reaches the opening over the slime and, after a moments hesitation, plunges in. The slop only comes up to his waist, but wading through liquid the consistency of honey is fairly laborious. Naomi and Glenn attack the thing, but soon realise that they'd probably be more effective as an entire pack. They manage to beat a hasty retreat back down the tunnel, then run for the surface, leaving Steve still wading to their rescue. Steve reaches the window and starts crawling down the tunnel, cybersensing as he goes. He is rather disconcerted when the end of the tunnel is suddenly blocked off.
Steve starts scrabbling backwards down the tunnel. An insect leg spears down the tunnel, but Steve somehow manages to roll to one side. However, as he drops back into the slime, there is a thunderous splash behind him. He dives back into the window and starts scrabbling rapidly. He drops into the tunnel at the end and runs for the surface. The True Seekers are reunited at the surface, Vilna having left the car nearby with the body in the boot. The decide to wait for reinforcements.
Peeking into the real world they find that the fire department has arrived and seems to have everything under control. Vilna decides to go and knobble the remaining medication (just in case). He conjures flame in the medicine cupboard, scorching the bottles. Firemen come in and spray foam over them, which doesn't help either. Soon after, the Get of Pennington arrive. They are informed that they are no longer merely required for cleaning duties, and both packs head back down into the tunnels.
They reach the window, and there is no sign of Baggy. But Wyrm Sense definitely reveals that it is under the slime. After some discussion, Naomi persuades the earth elementals (yes, they're still around) to widen the window downwards into a full tunnel. They're not prepared to do it right up to the slime, but do lower the floor of most of the tunnel, leaving a relatively thin wall of earth holding back the slime. Glenn then starts blasting the wall with the shotgun until it collapses. Slime washes slowly down the tunnel as everybody tries to keep their footing. As the slime recedes, it reveals Baggy lying flattened beneath the surface. It rears up again and moves towards the tunnel. Both packs ready themselves, and when it appears, they leap on it. The now decidedly one-sided battle ends abruptly when the thing vanishes, depositing a few Garou on the ground. Everybody spreads out, on the surface and under ground, in the umbra and the real world, but there's no sign of Baggy. He seems to have nicked off again. Ah well, funs over. Time to get back to mopping up goop.
The last of the goop has been collected. Woo hoo!
Time for a moot, this time at the Cemetery.
Lachlan arrives, muttering darkly about traitors and philistines. Apparently he's been kicked out of his band for repeated absences as well as a conflict of musical direction: the others want to do more poppy stuff, not just the hard core thrash.
Moot begins and moot stuff happens. Cossack brings everybody up to date with what happened with BSDs and a possible mage connection. He suggests that with the BSDs more active recently, something may be brewing. He asks for any suggestions. Glenn suggests that they should be trying to make it difficult for the BSDs to move about. After much discussion, it is decided to fake an amateur video of the Full Moon Killer in action, using spirits to alter the participants appearance to that of the BSDs that they've seen. Once the video has been shown and the descriptions plastered all over town, it will hopefully limit the BSDs movement, and maybe even net them a sighting.
They decide to make the video tomorrow night, after scouting for locations and stuff. Update on the Full Moon Killer: The BSD has been striking almost every month on the three days around the full moon. On two months no deaths were reported, but they may just not have been found. Over about a week around the full moon, Melbourne is going into siege mode. People are urged to stay in the homes and not let anyone in, and the police are out on the streets in force. There have been several accidental shootings by civilians of family and neighbours.
Time for a revel. Owing to the police presence on the streets, the True Seekers spend most of their time in the umbra. At one point when they're in the real world, they hear someone calling out to them. Looking around they see a middle-aged man calling from the second storey window of a house. He calls down, asking if they'll help him shift a piano downstairs. Immediately everybody's paranoia meter goes off the scale. When he has a moment, Vilna heads for the umbra. The man comes down and opens the door, introducing himself as Herman Clark. He says that playing the piano helps him to sleep, only his mother has been complaining about the noise. He's hoping that he can get the piano shifted tonight (it's 1.00 am).
As Herman leads them upstairs, everyone is Sensing like crazy - Sensing Herman, the house, the furniture, everything. It all comes up zilch. Herman takes them to the piano, a steel-framed upright model. They ask him if he has any rope to help shift it. Herman goes off with Steve to find rope, while the others debate changing to Crinos while he's gone and shifting it downstairs. With the memory of Steve's recent efforts still fresh in their minds, they decide not to bother. Naomi has a quick prowl around and locates Herman's mother, who seems perfectly ordinary. Herman returns with the rope and they get to work. They manage to lower the piano down the stairs, but find that they can't manoeuvre it around into the living room. Herman remembers that when they shifted the piano upstairs 20-odd years ago, they had to take it out the back door and round to the front. He says that there's an alley one house over that leads around the back. So off they go, lugging the piano. They get into the alley to find that someone has parked their car there, completely blocking the alley. Herman says that it belongs to his annoying neighbour from three houses down, who's always parking his car here. Fortunately he's left the hand-brake off, so they just roll the car back down the alley, past the lane running behind Herman's house, until it crunches into the fence.
They keep going until they reach the second gate. It's completely dark in the back garden. Herman trots back around to turn on the lights. Soon, the back lights on the next house along go on. When Herman gets back, he remembers that the house on the corner is larger and has two gates. So they shift down to the third gate along. As they do so, there is a flash of blue and red lights as a police car turns down the lane. Over a loud speaker, someone tells them to move away from the piano. The police get out and ask to see some ID. Everybody plays it very cool, explaining what the situation is. They even manage to prevail upon the police to help them move the piano inside. Working together, they manage to carry the piano through the backdoor and into the house. The police then head off.
Herman asks if they would shift the cabinet so that they can put the piano there. He spends ten minutes emptying the cabinet, then they move the cabinet into the far corner, then finally move the piano into position. Herman thanks them profusely for their help, and offers them a cup of tea. He also says that he'll play some music for them. The True Seekers thank him for the offer but politely decline before bolting for the door. As they run away, they hear the receding sound of piano music. He's not bad, actually.
The revel continues, but little else of note happens.
After sleeping late, the True Seekers meet at the Cemetery. Naomi says that she had what felt like a prophetic dream (that bloody Sight From Beyond gift again). 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, with a sense of distant but growing danger.
Time has come to make a video. Locations have been scouted, roles have been cast, equipment has been rented. Lachlan will direct and shoot the video, Naomi will play the hapless victim, and Steve and Vilna will play the evil killers. During the day, Lachlan goes to various spots around the city, shooting footage on the tape as though the person was checking out other places. That night, everybody meets at the alley. The Scryers have also come along to act as security and backup. Spirits have been summoned and bound into the camera and onto the performers to change their appearance. Then the drama begins.
Lachlan is walking along the street filming. A woman is walking down the other side of the road. A sudden cry is heard and the camera swings around in time to see two figures drag the woman into an alley. He gets a good shot of Steve's "face" at this point. The two figures then start slicing the woman up with knives as she screams. Lachlan is hiding behind a car, filming down the alley. The woman drops to the ground, and Steve lifts up a sewer grating and drops in. Vilna lowers the "body" into the sewer, then looks up at the camera, as though he heard something. We now get a good look at Vilna's face. Lachlan now sprints down the road, with lights going on up and down the street. Everybody steps sideways and skeedaddles.
Returning to the Cemetery, they have a look at the tape, which seems good enough. Glenn says that he'll take it around to Gabrielle the next day
Glenn and Naomi head off to Gabrielle's place in the evening. He arrives, and it sounds like she is having a little get-together in her flat. He knocks on the door, and when she answers he hands over the tape with a brief hello and goodbye. He leaves then flips into the umbra with Naomi to watch what happens. Gabrielle returns to her little dinner party.
Around eleven or so, everyone has left. Gabrielle puts on the tape and watches as she clears up. Shots of Melbourne locations, very nice. She stops for a closer look when the screaming starts. She watches the whole thing, rewinds it, watches it again, then heads for the phone. She phones someone called Geoff and insists that she come over right away to show him something. She heads out (taking the tape), leaps in her car and drives off, with Glenn and Naomi tailing her. She drives to South Yarra and goes into a house there. Glenn and Naomi are back in the umbra and watching. Gabrielle is talking to a middle-aged guy. She puts the tape on and finds the right spot. When it gets to the "good part", Geoff runs out and throws up into the toilet. However, Geoff knows gold when he sees it. He and Gabrielle start discussing options and how much he is going to pay her for the exclusive. He also calls his lawyer to discuss some legal considerations. They make a copy of the tape, then drive down to the St Kilda police station with the original tape.
While all the other stations run the more pedestrian news, one television station releases details of the story and shows pieces of the tape on their morning news program, before the police have even held their press-conference. Very soon, however, it is on all the channels and in all the papers, along with good-quality close-ups of the two evil killer's faces. The True Seekers give themselves a pat on the back. People decide to do a bit of training and learning etc.