In which the True Seekers discover Atrocities and Revelations, the Full Moon Killer makes it three for three and the True Seekers get an object lesson in why drugs are bad (m'ok?).
Lachlan mentions to Lisa that he felt funny about Mandras the night before, Lisa did too, so she gives the Healsville Caern (Reconciliation Sept) a ring. Mandras comes on the line, and Lisa asks wether he learned everything he wanted to know last night. Mandras says "???huh???". He claims to have never met Lisa before. The True Seekers drive up to Healsville to chat with Mandras. It looks like the same guy as last night, and Mandras claims that he was in Melbourne last night, but denies ever meeting Lisa. This doesn't get anybody worried - much. They head back to Melbourne and get on with their drear little lives. Lachlan is crashing at the Caern and learning about a life without stereo. Various people get on with learning.
Naomi and Lisa finish learning, and Lisa is elevated to Rank 2 for having learnt the Rite of Ostracism (Lachlan, step forward. No, just kidding). The True Seekers talk to Cossack about the possibility of travelling to the Atrocity Realm to learn some answers to what has been going on. Cossack says okay. He had considered it, but felt the risk outweighed the possible benefits. They Moon Bridge over to the Scars Atoned sept and talk to Jane Redfeather. She explains about the Atrocity Realm (finding the realm can be hard, unless one is feeling guilty over violence committed or a death caused, the realm cannot kill you, but any banes there can, and in order to leave, one must empathise with the victims by becoming a victim). Vilna and Naomi spend time in meditation to get back that pesky Gnosis and don't do too well. Lachlan feels that, given the current circumstances, he should give up the role of pack leader. He suggests that Naomi become pack leader. She agrees and no-one chooses to challenge for the position, so Naomi becomes pack leader. For Vilna's sake, the True Seekers decide to sleep in the cave tonight, and then Moon Bridge back to Melbourne and travel to the Atrocity Realm from there.
The intrepid band set off through the Umbra along a Moon Path (not a Bridge; a Path. PathPathPathPathPath). Vilna, who is lacking Gnosis, asks an Engling to grant him some. The Engling agrees, if Vilna promises to bring back five bane heads from the Atrocity Realm. After several hours, a strange shifting shape that includes a plain floats up. An image appears in the plain and those looking at it feel their minds hurting. Everyone looks away. Sensing the thing reveals Wyld presence. Eventually, the thing floats off.
Hours later, Jane is looking for a Lunae (convergence of Moon Paths guarded by Lunes) to rest for the night. The find one, and meet a Silver Fang pack from Spain, the Defender's of the Trail of Swords. They share the Lunae and many tales are told. Naomi asks a Lune about the Wyld thing they saw, and is told that it was probably a Chaos Vista. Vistas are images that float about the Umbra and are more akin to Realms than to spirits.
The True Seekers travel for many hours when they find that they have moved into an area of muddy hillocks and scrub - the Atrocity Realm. Lisa throws up before wisely shifting to lupus. They move along, not waiting to view any of the scenes that don't relate to what they want to know. They also avoid a large pit in the mud filled with writhing bane maggots, guarded by 2 large ghoulish banes.
Eventually, they find the scene of the first Full Moon killing and settle on the rooftops to wait. They see a human figure skulk down to alley and hide behind a dumpster (always a dumpster when you need one) before growing much larger. As Tony Staley walks past the alley, a hairy arm shoots out, grabs him and throws him into the alley. The figure leaps upon him and starts ripping him up. Lisa activates Lambent Flame, and the True Seekers find themselves facing an unfamiliar Garou, with matted, filthy fur, bat-like ears, over-sized slavering jaws and glowing green eyes. The True Seekers begin arranging travel plans for Rio. As they chase the figure, the scene fades away.
Searching for the second murder scene, the True Seekers find themselves in an unfamiliar house. Lisa goes outside and sees Lachlan casing cars, although Lachlan is back inside the house. Lisa goes back inside and tells Lachlan, who rushes out. Lachlan hides behind the car that he knows he will eventually try to steal, and attempts to persuade himself to surrender to the police ("...so basically, you're telling me that there are cops over there, but you want me to steal the car anyway, and then get arrested?"). Feeling that this is the sort of thing that Lachlan would do, he agrees and goes off with the police.
The second murder scene is located, but as the True Seekers are stealthily approaching the house, they are attacked by a ghoulish bane, which screams out before it dies, calling two more banes. Battle commences, and people learn the value of special manoeuvrers, fighting as a pack and using car doors as frisbees.
Everybody settles down to wait around the house. Soon the couple arrive and go inside. Naomi, listening out the back, hears a thump and sneaks in. She finds the same Werewolf as before tearing at a form on the living room floor, so she howls for help. As Lisa and Naomi wrestle each other (for some reason), the others manage to pin the fiend, until it lets out an eerie howl that send Lisa screaming from the house, with Naomi in hot pursuit.
A small sound behind them makes everybody turn, and see the husband standing in the doorway, drooling for some reason. Vilna walks over (Hello! Anyone home?), then knocks him out. Lachlan attempts to question the thing but only gets covered in spit. Naomi brings Lisa back and says that the scene is fading. Lachlan kills the thing, which turns into human form. Everybody with eidetic memory (and gee, there are a lot of them, aren't there?) memorise the face. Others search through the clothes looking for anything (the guy is dressed like a bum in really icky clothes) but find nothing. Then the scene fades away.
Moving onwards, the True Seekers eventually come out in an orchard at night that Naomi finds familiar. Lisa says that there is no point wasting time in unrelated scenes, and that they should keep going. Soon, Naomi remembers that this is veeerrry similar to what she witnessed inside Lisa's nightmare. Naomi and Lisa have a LONG heart to heart, and eventually, Lisa agrees to view the scene. Lisa leads the others through the orchard and up to a large manor house, scouting around, they see a late/middle aged woman in the kitchen, as well as a youth of about fifteen. Lisa and Naomi are up at the kitchen window, and everybody else is back in the trees, when a large shape runs past them and smashes through the window. Lisa decides that she really doesn't want to see any more and nicks off, this time with Vilna in hot pursuit. Naomi and Lachlan watch through the window and see...LISA, stalking the old woman. They leap through the window and try to reason with her, but there's nobody home. Instead they grapple her (having learnt that a mass grapple is pretty damn effective), and then Lachlan tries to talk to her ("Lisa, what are you doing?") which confuses Jane no end ("Why are you calling this guy Lisa?"). The image of Lisa fades, leaving them holding an unfamiliar male Garou. Vilna is chasing Lisa across the orchard in what seems to be a straight line when they see the same manor house in front of them. Vilna ponders upon this paradox for a moment, and then chases Lisa some more. As he runs he hears the distant scream of a Bane.
In the house, the others also hear the Bane, and Lachlan tears out to find the others. He intercepts Vilna and sets off after Lisa, who seems to be heading in a specific direction, but trips and falls over. Vilna keeps chasing, but falls too far back and loses her. He picks a random direction and starts running. Still distant, but closer than before, the bane screams. Another Bane answers. Then another. Then two more. Naomi and Jane hear the screams, and Jane is kinda insistent that they should leave now. Naomi kills the Garou and they both run out. As they run, Jane says that something is different here: that Lisa's extreme reaction altered the scene, and that her fear is calling to the Banes. They find Lachlan and manage to sniff out Lisa, who is hiding in a blackberry patch. As Naomi tries to sooth Lisa, Lachlan runs off to find Vilna.
Vilna is running aimlessly when two ghoulish banes lope past off to his right, heading back the way he came. Vilna gives a warning howl, so the banes turn around and charge at him. Lachlan zeroes in on the howl and starts running.
Naomi is carrying Lisa, and bursts out of the blackberries (ouch!), whereupon Jane beats Lisa unconscious. They run with banes in hot pursuit. The scene fades away, and they run across the muddy hillocks and into another scene, where they run across a beach, past a primitive looking village, and back out of the scene. Jane hopes that the banes will be distracted by the violence of the scene. They run a bit further and then stop to rest. There is no sign of Lachlan and Vilna. Naomi tries howling and gets no answer.
Meanwhile, Lachlan and Vilna are running like the clappers. Basically, Vilna is running, being chased by two banes, who are being followed by Lachlan, who is being chased by a bane of his own. Vilna manages to circle around one of the muddy hillocks and dodge one of the banes, doubling back. He then passes Lachlan going in the other direction. Lachlan turns and follows him. They dodge the bane that was following Lachlan and keep running, eventually leaving the banes behind. They stop to rest, then howl for the rest of the pack. Nothing happens until Lachlan starts using the Call of the Wyld. Naomi thinks that she hears something, so she, Jane and the unconscious Lisa head in that direction. Lachlan repeats the Call and eventually all are reunited.
Naomi talks to Lisa and explains that it wasn't her back in the scene, and describes who it was. Lisa recognises the description as Smashing-Claw, the Master of the Challenge at her old sept.
The True Seekers then search for any clue they can find as to the fate of the Bunyip sept at the Cave Caern, but don't find anything. They also manage to find two more bane heads for Vilna. Lachlan then remembers their old friend Joe Ridgeway, so they look for him. They come across his house, where Joe is just showing some poker buddies out. Lisa and Naomi go off for another chat, so Vilna and Lachlan take it upon themselves to check it out. A non-descript man walks up to the front door and knocks. When Joe answers it, Vilna (who is inside the house) hears him speaking in a strange buzzing voice. The man claims that Joe embarrassed him and demands restitution. Joe tells the man to fuck off, whereupon the man becomes an enormous bloated sack covered with pulsating veins, projecting numerous jagged and spindly insect-like legs. It begins squeezing itself into the house in pursuit of Joe. Lachlan and Vilna attack the thing, which impales Joe and absorbs him through it's skin. It then steps sideways and vanishes. Naomi and Lisa come running up (What? What happened?). Lisa then expresses the general sentiment (wanna go home) and the True Seekers start looking for Hiroshima. Instead, they find themselves in the Australian bush in an aboriginal encampment. Some white settlers approach and make gifts of blankets, flour and dried meat. Jane walks up and eats some of the meat, and the others, pretty damn sure of what is going to happen, also eat some. Soon they all start feeling rather unwell and collapse on the ground. The white settlers pull out rifles and begin shooting. Everything goes black.
They all regain consciousness/life in the Umbra and trek for home, stopping to present the heads to the Engling. Vilna almost undoes years of toilet training when Kanau lands on his shoulder. Kanau feels that he has been absent for too long and will stick with the pack for a while.
They return to the cemetery and tell of what happened. Cossack says that it sounds like the culprit is a Black Spiral Dancer (well, duh!), although there hasn't been any Dancer activity in the area for years. Jane Moon Bridges home. Cossack also says that having thrown the police a few criminals, doctored the evidence and the witness, the police now believe that Lachlan was actually one of the victims of the real culprit, who then stole Steve's car and killed a policeman. Lachlan decides to do an amnesiac job, who somehow manages to find his way to his parent's house a week after he was viciously beaten. His pack mates are only too happy to provide the vicious beating, and having done it, everyone heads for home and bed.
Over the next five days, people search through libraries and occult bookshops (there are just so many of them), looking for anything that might be useful about mages. Seeing that they don't actually know what they are looking for, this may take a while.
Another moot. Cossack brings everyone up to date on Lachlan's little disaster, emphasising the need for caution and subtlety. He outlines the Black Spiral Dancer situation, so everyone should be extra careful, stick together during the revel, stay alert, and bring any Dancers back alive if possible.
After more general business, songs are sung and stories told. Lachlan and Steve do quite well, and Lisa's efforts are...interesting. Cossack tells the tale of the fall of the White Howlers.
During the Revel, the True Seekers see a jogger who is not naked. They also hear a woman scream while in the CBD. Rushing to the scene, they find the woman staring down an alleyway, where a large fire is burning across the ground and up both walls. Steve uses his police training to calm the woman and glean information from her. Vilna thinks that there may be a body in the flames.
The woman says that she just saw two guys step out of a doorway and walk into the alley. One was carrying a tin. As she approached the alley she saw the flickering light, then she saw the fire, but the two men didn't come out. Steve gets her phone number (purely in the interests of gaining further details should the need arise) and suggests that she should go home.
Meanwhile, Lisa and Naomi have entered the Umbra and are checking the area out. In the real world the alley is a dead end, although there are doors. It is also way too high to jump out. The umbral alley is not a dead end, so they start searching out from the alley.
Vilna, also in the umbra, carefully checks out the thing in the flames. It is definitely a body, and he is also fairly sure that whoever it is died violently. A small crowd is forming, and the True Seekers decide to clear them away and hide the body. They find a sewer grate over a cavity one can climb into, although the pipes exiting from it are too small to climb through. However, the pipes will accommodate a suitably rearranged corpse. Eventually, after everybody else has failed, Lisa miraculously manages to step sideways into the real world, taking Vilna and Naomi with her. Lachlan, Steve and Calvin head for the Caern to tell them what's happened. Vilna causes a flash of flame near the crowd. Someone screams "GAS LEAK!!!" and everybody runs. Lisa grabs the body and they break it up and stuff it into the pipe just as the police arrive. They again step sideways into the Umbra.
The police, having questioned people, call the fire department, who radio to ask where the gas line runs. They are told that it runs through a sewage access at the end of the alley. Vilna, Naomi and Lisa all go "D'oh!" and try to step back into the real world inside one of the building as the firefighters walk down the alley, donning breathing apparatus.
Unfortunately it takes them 5 minutes to get through the Gauntlet. When they get through, they see an apparently unconcerned firefighter climbing out of the access and replacing the grate. He says there's no sign of a gas leak or a loss of pressure, but that they will check other nearby access points. The police check the sight of the fire but find nothing except a petrol can.
Lachlan, Steve and Calvin talk to Graeme and say that they may have found another victim. Graeme says that a few hours ago, a family was torn apart in South Melbourne. He tells them to watch the site for an hour, then he'll come and take the body. This they then do. Everyone then goes to bed.
Everyone rolls up to the Caern. Cossack says that the body in the alley was that of a woman, but they don't know who yet. The family in South Melbourne, the Horsefalls, had just driven up to their house when the roof of their car was torn off and the family ripped up. It was all then set alight. Steve and Lisa go and see the woman who witnessed events last night, Steve having "borrowed" Peter's police badge. They also take the sketch of the Black Spiral Dancer. She doesn't recognise the man in the sketch, and can't really describe the two men she saw, apart from "casually dressed, overcoats, long hair".
Steve tells the others where he has been for the last week or so. He says that he was on a quest when he ended up in some weird Umbral Realm. There he saw an aboriginal woman, a thylacine and a thylacine Crinos. The Crinos said to him that he and his pack were in danger of losing themselves. The True Seekers say "Another ominous omen. Big deal."
Lisa and Vilna are at Melbourne Uni when a window shatters above them, a beaker shatters next to them, and they hear a weird screaming. Running to see what's happening, they find a small monkey beating it's head on a table in a biology lab. There is also a dead guy, apparently mauled by the monkey. Wyrm Sense reveals taint on the monkey and on several beakers of chemicals. Lisa shifts to Crinos and catches the monkey, sustaining only minor cuts and bites. Vilna calls the Caern, where Emma tells him to bring it all around. He collects the chemicals, and they leave.
Steve and Naomi are in the city, visiting Steve's friend Greg, who runs a martial arts academy. In the midst of the chat, Greg says that he thinks some of his students were using steroids. He couldn't prove anything, but he had to kick them out anyway, as they were getting violent. He mentions some names that Steve recognises (Robert Summers, William Keys, Edward Biezen), and says that Rob in particular bulked out in a few months, as he was fairly scrawny to begin with. After a bit more chatting, Steve and Naomi head for the Caern.
People swap stories, and Vilna and Lisa attempt to cleanse the monkey. After about an hour, it appears to have calmed down. Cossack speaks to the monkey, and they find it was trying to stop the pain in it's head. It remembers another white place before the one at the uni, where there were scary people and scary animals. Aquinas Scales-In-Balance takes the chemicals to check them out. The True Seekers also ask him where the university gets it's animals and chemicals from. He says he'll check. The True Seekers head over to the uni, but find that the police are on the scene. So instead, they go and find Rob Summers, who shares a house in Collingwood. Checking him out reveals Wyrm taint. They follow him when he walks to another house, where he buys some mull (or pot for you oldies out there) and almost beats up the dealer. He returns home, where his house mates scrupulously avoid him, and he hits the bong out in the kitchen. Aquinas rings Vilna and says that the chemicals are altered bio-chemicals with Wyrm taint. He also says that - a) there was no real reason for them to have been in that lab, and b) they were improperly contained and would have been contaminated. Not even a first year student would have made that mistake. However, he couldn't say without experimentation what they might do, and he isn't prepared to do that. He says that all animals and chemicals for the bio department come from Pearce Medical & Biological Supplies.
Leaving Rob for the moment, the True Seekers locate Bill Keys, who is at a party in Carlton, along with Ed Biezen. There are also two other suspiciously pumped guys who also smell of Wyrm taint - Del and Bazza. Steve heads off to work, while Lachlan and Vilna watch the party (drink beer, beat each other up, drink beer, throw up, drink beer, hold pissing contest, drink beer, beat each other up some more). Naomi and Lisa head back to Rob's place, and try desperately to retrieve a sample of the drugs from Rob's cupboard. The logistics of it all are quite beyond them, and after Lisa knocks over a hall table, waking the other people in the house, they give it up in disgust. They rejoin the others.
Around 2:30, everyone has passed out on the floor, so the True Seekers settle down to watch for the night.
Reluctant and hung-over, the revellers are kicked out the door around 10:00. Ed and Bazza drive off in their cars, the True Seekers getting their license numbers. They decide to follow Del, who catches a tram out to South Melbourne and passes out in his room. Del apparently lives with others, but none of them are home. Using the opportunity to search the place, the True Seekers locate three unmarked, Wyrm tainted capsules in the bathroom. Steve takes one and drives back to the Caern and gives it to Aquinas to test. He rejoins the others. The others, meantime, have found Del's wallet - full name of Del Cartwright.
Del wakes around 2:00 and head for his stash. He is less than pleased that one is missing. He takes the two left and heads for a near-by gym. He takes one of the capsules in the locker room then pumps iron for a few hours. Del returns to his house and jumps down his housemate's throat about the missing capsule. The True Seekers watch him for a few more hours, then decide to split into shifts. Lisa and Calvin go get some sleep, Steve and Vilna go and check out Pearce in Essendon, Lachlan and Naomi keep watching Del.
Steve and Vilna arrive and check the place out. They find no traces of Wyrm taint, so decide to check the files. When the night watchman has settled down with his paper, Vilna goes through the files. He finds no correlation between Pearce's sources of animals and bio-chemicals. Closing the cabinet, he makes some noise, attracting the night watchman's attention. After he's settled back, Steve says "leave this to the professionals", pulls at the cabinet, topples it onto his foot and screams very loudly. Arriving in the Umbra, they peek back to find the night watchman talking agitatedly on the phone - calling a 00 55 number, no doubt. Steve slinks off sheepishly as Vilna clouts him. Lisa is wakened by Aquinas, who says that the steroids are exceedingly pure, requiring high tech facilities. He also says that the uni is being picketed by some ecological group, protesting at cruelty to animals. Lisa says "Thanks heaps" and staggers back to bed.
The True Seekers maintain a watch over Del for the next for days.
Del takes the last capsule. He looks worried.
Del is looking decidedly nervous.
Look! He's sweating.
Amazingly, all of Del's housemate's mothers have taken suddenly ill, forcing them to leave for the next week or so.
A highly agitated Del receives a phone call from a rather smooth-voiced guy. Del says that he needs more drugs this time, and that he can offer money. The other party says "We don't want your money. The drugs are in a stall in the men's toilets in the Fitzroy Gardens." Click. Del is off and running. Phone calls are made, and True Seekers converge on the gardens from all sides. Umbrally they locate the drugs behind the bowl in one of the stalls. Lachlan makes the hilarious suggestion, "Hey, let's take the drugs and see what he does." The others prudently ignore him and spread out, looking for anyone suspicious.
Del charges up and searches the stalls until he finds the drugs. He takes one immediately and walks quickly away. The True Seekers didn't spot anyone outstanding or Wyrm tainted.
Discussing the issue, the True Seekers decide that one of the guys using the steroids must have been the original point of contact - it's not like they each got mysterious phone calls saying "Excuse me, have you ever considered the benefits of taking steroids?" They decide to go and talk to Greg again. While Steve talks to him, the others are checking the area for Wyrm taint. They don't find any. Steve says he's helping Pete with police work, and asks whether Greg could say which of the three was using steroids first. Greg says that while the effects were most noticeable in Rob, as he was the smallest, it was Ed who first began to become temperamental. Locating Ed at a pub in North Melbourne, where he is passing the time drinking, burning himself with his lighter, and mutilating syntax. Eventually he heads home to watch TV. The True Seekers locate his stash of steroids under his mattress.
We then enter one of those appalling sequences where the players "um" and "er" and generally stand around like mindless, drooling imbeciles. I suppose I should be used to it by now. It seems so simple: steal his stash, when he finds it gone see if he makes an immediate move to ring someone or leave the house. If he does, grab him and question him. See? Easy! Anyone could do it! But no! Naomi chucks the stash out the window to Steve. As Steve then waits by the phone line for about an hour, waiting for some sort of signal that he should cut the wire, Naomi slams a window. Ed investigates a strange noise, finds nothing, so goes back to the television. Naomi then fails to step sideways, so Lachlan goes through and throws a rock through the window. Ed runs in and finds a hole in the window and a rock on the floor, so he grabs the rock and runs out screaming and swearing as Lachlan hightails it around the corner.
Vilna steps sideways, taking Lisa and Naomi with him, and calls out Ed's name (Ed). Ed runs back inside and sees three Crinos in his living room. This phases him less than the True Seekers would have liked, as he leaps at Vilna with the rock in his fist.
Ed is rapidly grappled to the ground, and Vilna helpfully ham-strings him. However, he is frothing at the mouth, sweating green and shifting in his skin - certainly he does not help the True Seekers with their inquiries. The Caern is contacted, and Graeme says to hold him until nightfall, then bring him to the park near the Caern. Vilna passes the time by shooting out street lights.
That night at the park, they meet up with Emma and review the options. It is decided to try and save Ed and also to gain whatever information they gain. Emma explains that fomori (which is what Ed undoubtedly is) are the result of bane possession, but that fomori are a single thing: a fusion of bane and human. Having tried cleansing him and exorcising the bane without success, Emma summons a powerful Truth spirit and bargains with it. it is then bound into Ed. Ed gains the thousand-yard stare and a monotonous sing-song voice. He explains that he was already doing steroids through a Bruce Seckler, when he received a phone call from parties unknown who said that they would be taking over Bruce's business, as Bruce was retiring. They offered a first sample free "as a gesture of good will" but kept supplying drugs without payment once Ed was hooked.
Using Questing Stone, the True Seekers track down Bruce, who is still alive (amazingly). Vilna and Naomi approach him, pretending to be dealers who have been pushed out by the same people who pushed out Bruce. Bruce tells them that six guys broke into his house one night and suggested that he might leave the steroid market to them. They extracted the names of his clients and asked that he tell them of anyone new inquiring about steroids. He didn't see any faces as it was dark.
The True Seekers feel that they have run out of leads on the drug business, and so start following up the animal business. Using information taken from the files at Pearce Supplies, they spend a few days looking up those local manufacturers of the relevant products whose names they found in the files.
A couple of fruitless days later, it is decided to stake Pearce out for a while. The usual (divide into shifts, catch up on reading etc).