In which the True Seekers meet Egridge Technologies, travel to a Very Bad Place and make a real name for themselves. A strange discovery... underworld figures.
Having got a packed lunch from Lachlan's mum, the True Seekers go to the Sept of Reconciliation at Healesville. They speak with Antoinette Cloak-of-Mourning, the Children of Gaia sept leader and Phillip Bates, the Shadow Lord Master of the Rites, who was massively deformed. They know little, but Phillip says that Malajimbarra, an Uktena Theurge from the Sept of Grinding Stone would probably know. So the True Seekers head off to the Sept of Grinding Stone. They are met by the Blood Claw pack and taken to see Huros Bathes-In-Blood, Caern Warder (Commands-The-Waters the sept leader is away). The True Seekers are taken in by Huros' natural charm and affability. Speak to Malajimbarra who will take the True Seekers to see someone who can help if they will put themselves in his debt. They say "sure", so everyone heads north in lupus form for a few hours to a wooden hut in the bush. There they meet ger : Const, or so says the broken sign above the door. He says that demons come from the Dead Worlds although not all are evil, and that they cannot normally enter the material world, unless summoned by mages. Mages usually draw their powers from an outside source, such as from spirits or demons and may well operate in covens. The True Seekers head for home.
The pack begins a two week guard duty period, and use the opportunity to learn rites and skills and gifts and to catch up on overdue essays.
Kirsty again approaches Lisa and asks for a decision. Having discussed it with the True Seekers, Lisa says that they support the principle and will go along with Kirsty at the next moot.
Steven is told that Arthur Thackery has nicked off to Queensland, although the investigation will continue. After being beaten up by two werewolf packs in one night, he probably needs the holiday.
Calvin, Naomi and Steven drinking coffee in Lygon Street. Calvin and Steven approached by a fomor (hubba hubba). Despite their differing perceptions, they both want to go off with her. Calvin ends up pounding Steven's head into the pavement. Naomi intervenes, breaking the fomor's nose. Calvin almost frenzies, but controls himself (aawww). The rest of the True Seekers arrive and break it up, although Steven does give the fomor a leisurely boot to the head. Sterling performances all round convince the gathering crowd that they shouldn't call the police, and they take the fomor back to Lisa and Lachlan's place and dump her in the bath. They ring Graeme Cachia who says he'll come round. They then break the fomor's fingers and ask her questions. Steven goes to answer the door bell and gets a bullet in his stomach from the goon outside (silenced pistols). Goon then walks up and shoots Calvin in the back of the head, while other goon shoots Steven again. Various people go Crinos and knock out the first goon. Steven frenzies and repaints the hall 'arterial red' with second goon. Third goon gets killed and falls backwards into the blender. Much noise was made by frenzying werewolf, and the police are probably on the way. Everyone chips in to clean up the blood, remove all bodies and pieces (dead and alive) and to generally trash the place. Then everyone leaves Lisa and Lachlan to get busted. The police search the place, fall for the story (the two of us were having this really wild party...), charge them with disturbing the peace, then leave. Graeme takes the fomor and live goon away.
Back on guard duty. Graeme says the fomor was corrupted by addictive Siren cosmetics, which then got the fomor to charm some goons for backup. She met a strange man with a buzzing voice, who pointed out Calvin and Steven to her. She was supposed to get them both killed. Also a newspaper story about a Mr Joe Ridgeway gone missing. Some blood found at his house, but no signs of a struggle. Rite of the Questing Stone fails to indicate his whereabouts.
Second Moot. Usual moot stuff (summoning Chimera, admin etc). Kirsty raises vivisection issue again, supported by the True Seekers who haven't even taken the time to find out what it is they're denouncing. They get slapped down and Kirsty storms off. The Scryers report that the Wyrm drugs have been dealt with, drug dealers possessed by banes, all been killed, no apparent further connection. Nadine Holloway reports the zoo break-ins have stopped, their motives still unknown, still checking on it. Bane activity across the city has noticeably increased, possibly linked to the mages. Other reports on pack activities, singing of songs, telling of tales. Revel, wherein a small bane is scragged and a naked jogger runs past.
True Seekers questioned by Graeme about a body found mutilated and partially eaten in North Melbourne that morning, ie after the Revel. Steven asked to find out stuff from the police. People immediately think of Kirsty. They talk to Marcus Finlay and Ken Xavier. Calvin is particularly subtle (Did you hear about that dead guy? Where was Kirsty last night?). Steven goes to talk with his police friend, others go to find Kirsty and to check out animal experiments at the uni. The uni is empty at this time of night, not much to be learned. Kirsty is down at Flinders Street Station not doing much. Steven finds that the dead guy, Tony Staley was coming home from doing night fill, no one seems to have heard anything, he was probably killed where he was found and they're still doing forensic stuff. Believe the killer must have used weird weapons and stuff. True Seekers head for the morgue, with its Gothic Umbra, and check the body, they don't learn much, although Questing Stone does locate dead people. Forensics has coarse hair samples taken off the body. They return to the Caern, where Calvin uses that handy Rite of Contrition to stop Kirsty from cleaning his clock. Elders still debating what to do about the evidence. True Seekers head out to Joe Ridgeway's place, but all useful stuff has been taken by the police.
The pack are leaving the house when Kanau appears and tells them to go to the Grinding Stone sept. Kanau leads them through the foggy night, when three thylacines emerge from the mists. They stand for a while, watching the True Seekers before fading into the mists. The True Seekers rescue the Blood Claw pack from the Gauntlet, which is much higher than it should be. Talking to Huros and Malajimbarra, they find that for the last week and a half, the umbra has been turning against the sept, animal spirits attacking, the spirit land rising up, the Gauntlet trapping them. When Huros hears of the thylacines he advocates war against these unprovoked attacks. Ivana Howls-The-Storm returns via Moon Bridge from the Sept of Rippling Waters at the Tower Hill Caern near Warrnambool and reports that they are suffering similar problems. The True Seekers and Malajimbarra persuade Huros not to do anything as yet, although he promises that he will defend the Caern, come what may.
Kanau leads the True Seekers west towards the source of the problem. Ringing their sept, they find that the hairs found at the crime scene have gone missing from forensics, replaced them with innocuous hairs. They meet Kanau at the end of Selkirk Rises Road, Map 75 F7, who points them ahead, then leaves. They move north and find a guarded, fenced-in compound belonging to Egridge Technologies. Scouting through, the True Seekers find labs and greenhouses with many plants. They went to Skipton to sleep for the day. Report back to the sept and ask for info on Egridge Technologies.
Sept reports that Egridge is a cutting edge R&D outfit, interests include disease- and drought-resistant plants as well as algaes that break up pollutants. Unknown whether they are ultimately controlled by Garou. Drive back to compound and trek overland, walk the perimeter, roughly a kilometre per side. Scout through the bushland inside the fence, find a rock formation with a cave entrance with warning signs (falling rocks etc). Everyone but the claustraphobe go in, trek through many winding caverns and tunnels.
Come out into several caverns with aboriginal pictographs on the walls, possibly concerning Garou. The last cave is large, with a sandy beach disturbed by recent human shoe prints and a still pool of water. Something dangling from the roof to the water with a luminous umbral presence. They swim out to a PVC pipe that sucks water up from the pool. Questing Stone reveals the compound is directly overhead. Head back out the tunnels. Near the entrance, they hear a thylacine howl back in the caves. The True Seekers trek back to the compound and search for a basement. They find a basement containing diesel generators, water pumps and a weird device draining the luminescence from the water and producing small phials of Gnosis. They go back to the cars and drive a short distance, then ring the sept. Emma says they will bring Garou from their sept and the sept of Grinding Stone, meantime they should stop the draining of what is apparently a caern. Lisa and Steven enter the caves again, and Steven climbs the pipe in Crinos form until it breaks. Everyone then guards the entrance.
Two guys from the compound come to the cave to check it out and are perturbed by the many giant footprints in the sand. We then spend an excruciating half hour as Lisa and Steven decide what they're going to do, and then try to remember why they wanted to do it in the first place. Eventually, Steven utterly terrifies the two guys, who knock themselves out while sprinting through pitch-black tunnels. Lachlan and Vilna see a helicopter fly from the north and land at the compound. The True Seekers run over there and see five guys in fatigues, carrying assault rifles and grenades guarding the helicopter. A sixth guy in fatigues similarly armed comes out of the compound talking to a boffin. Sensing indicates that the six guys are Wyrm ridden, possibly fomori.
The True Seekers decide to wreck the generators and grab the Gnosis phials. Having done so, they then try to work out how to nobble the copter. Vilna eventually drives a car through a hail of bullets at the copter, and steps sideways doing 45 kph. He hangs suspended in the Gauntlet for five minutes before flying into the umbra and hitting a spirit tree, crippling himself in the process. Steven and Lachlan launch an attack on the six guys, resulting in a very messy combat, wherein Steven was blinded by a fomor secretion and ran around like a headless chicken being shot in the back a lot, Lisa stepped into the Umbra at the same time that she was incapacitated by a three round burst at point blank range, and Lachlan dragged a dead fomor under the copter, pulled all the pins on his grenades and ran like hell. Once everyone was in the Umbra and healed, peeking revealed a burning car and helicopter, four dead fomori, two had disappeared and everyone in the building running for the carpark.
Having secured the place, the True Seekers wait for re-enforcements. Soon, Cossack and Emma turn up, along with Commands-The-Waters, Malajimbarra and the pack Gaia's Rage. They decide to wait for the Rippling Waters sept to arrive: Bret Hutchinson, Leaps-In-The-Light and the pack One Phone Call. Everyone then troops down to the Caern. While the Theurges are doing mystic stuff, Cossack and Commands-The-Waters say that the Jindabyne Council should be informed of the Caern. Bret is less than enthusiastic. The Theurges claim that the Caern has been critically drained and will fade in less than a week. This decides the issue; the Council will be informed.
Leaving Gaia's Rage and One Phone Call to guard the site, everyone heads for the Grinding Stone Sept. The True Seekers will go with Bret and Emma to the Crackenback Caern because it's all their fault. The Moon Bridge is opened and they step through. At the Crackenback Caern a storm is raging. The Silver Fangs of the Crackenback sept are not happy about this "invasion". Lisa, because she knows all their masonic handshakes, speaks to them. Eventually they get to see Darius Winchester, who agrees to assemble an emergency meeting of the Jindabyne Council.
Bret speaks to the True Seekers, saying that the Silver Fangs will use this failing to damage the Fianna's claim to the Gariwerd protectorate. Bret wants the True Seekers to claim the right to revive the Caern, as they seem to have some mystic connection with the Bunyip, and to do so in the Fianna's name. This will stop the Council from interfering in the Gariwerd protectorate as well as bolster the Fianna's right to control it. In return, Bret promises to make the True Seekers effective members of both the Sept of Rippling Waters and the sept that will arise to protect the new Caern. They agree.
The Council questions the True Seekers and Bret closely. Darius urges that the Ngalyod Pack be sent to save the Caern. Lisa steps forward and claims that right for the True Seekers. Darius objects, and a vote is held. Darius Winchester and Tjinderi Knowing-Smile oppose the motion, Carla Grimmson and Mamu abstain, all other Councillors support it. The True Seekers are told they are to go to the Umbral realm called the Scar and retrieve a Gnosis battery believed to be held there. The Ngalyod Pack say that the scar is an industrial nightmare zone, where shifting form is much harder. Fights should be avoided if at all possible. The True Seekers return to the Melbourne Cemetery Caern.
The True Seekers spend the day preparing, meditating and dedicating useful items. Graeme offers them the use of a Sept fetish; a semi-automatic shotgun that doesn't require shells. Suprisingly, they don't turn his offer down. When night falls, the True Seekers step into the Umbra.
Having found a Moon Path, they head for the Scar. As Weaver webs grow ever thicker, they arrive at a great wall of web. Stepping sideways, the True Seekers find themselves high up on the balcony of high density flats. Although seemingly deserted, industrial noises can be heard. The True Seekers head in that direction, veering only slightly away from a strange warbling scream ahead in the haze. Sirens go off, and hundreds of sallow, grey humans in grey overalls emerge from the flats and trudge down the elevated roads. A demonic black humanoid with blades for arms drives them forward. Other humans move in the opposite direction and enter the flats. Soon everything is quiet and empty again. The True Seekers find a large factory, surrounded by a fence with guards at the two gates. Crawling under the roads, a deformed, black, giant spider charges at them. Everyone except Naomi runs like hell (We can take it, guys! Guys?). Having changed their minds, they go back and scrag the thing.
They manage to sneak into the factory and scuttle about, discovering that the factory also dismantles the product that it makes. Following the only lead they have, a pipe running down a manhole, the True Seekers go down into the lightless tunnels and follow the pipe running along the side of the tunnel.
The tunnel enters a chamber, with two more tunnels bearing pipes. The pipes connect and run down a larger tunnel. Hearing the strange warbling scream again, the True Seekers are all ready to duke it out with the Wyrm spawn when a wall of noisome Wyrm effluent pours down one of the tunnels. The True Seekers run like hell the way they came. Soon the liquid subsides, leaving no residue. They travel on down the larger tunnel. They enter a stretch of tunnel where numerous other pipes open off the walls. While moving through them, many shapes leap out of the holes all around them. The shapes turn out to be escaped spirits (although the pack blows rage before they realise this) who take the True Seekers to see the rest of their group. A Falcon spirit speaks to them, and says that they will help steal a battery if the True Seekers will use a battery to revive the spirits in a factory, wreck the joint, and then help any spirit who so wishes to leave the Scar. The falcon also says that the source of the warbling scream is probably a Nexus Crawler. Having decided to stick it out anyway, the True Seekers agree to the deal, so everyone heads off for a Central Processing Station, where the Gnosis from numerous factories is stored in the batteries.
Exiting the tunnels in a slum area, they can see that the CPS is a small but heavily defended building with no nearby cover. Tactical discussions begin, and it is decided that attacking the transport carrying the batteries from the CPS would be wiser than attacking the CPS itself, although no-one knows exactly when the transport will come. It is also decided that Binding two of the bladed guards would be useful. The Falcon says that the best time to grab a guard would be during the shift change, when they herd the workers. Everyone settles down to wait for the next shift change, in about ten hours.
While waiting, Steve and Naomi spend four hours trying to change into Crinos form. Fortunately nothing much else is happening. When the shifts change, the True Seekers and the spirits sneak up on guards and jump them, while Naomi performs the Rite of Binding on them. She soon finds herself with two surly but obedient heavies. Everyone then settles down to watch the road and wait.
The cunning plan is to set up a road block once the transport has passed, and then get the two Bound guards to flag it down and help them clear the road, at which point everyone attacks. Everyone waits around for almost twenty hours before the transport rumbles past, with ten guards on the flatbed. As soon as it is round the corner, everyone starts dumping the pre-gathered material on the road. The transport returns in about ten minutes, rounds the corner and stops. The two bound guards talk to the driver, and soon eight of the guards on the back have moved up to the barricade to start clearing it.
It is at this point that the carefully orchestrated ambush starts to come apart. Lachlan does a mighty leap, trips, dives into the barricade and disappears. Everyone else more or less does what they planned, except for Vilna, who viciously slaughters a helpless mouse spirit. The driver tries to reverse the transport but is killed by the treacherous guards, Steve stands well back and blows holes in the guards on the flatbed, and Naomi is severely munched before being rescued by her goons.
Soon the transport is cleared, and Steve and Lisa climb into the cab and find three large battery-looking objects in a compartment behind the cab. Steve seems to suffer a few conceptual problems about the nature and use of doors, feeling a need to tear a hole in the metal wall in order to get the batteries out. After a brief explanation the penny drops, and Lisa and Steve unload the batteries.
The last of the guards has been killed, the batteries taken and the two Bound guards ordered to stay with the transport and tell everyone "They went thataway!", when the barricade starts making rending noises and floating into the air. Because it was part of the original plan, and certainly not because it might be the Nexus Crawler, everybody runs like hell for the tunnels. However, owing to a new understanding about the nature of a certain flaw, the group splits up. Vilna, Lachlan and some spirits head for the factory above ground, while everyone else heads through the tunnels.
The rendezvous is reached without incident, and after a bit more tactical discussion, a frontal assault is initiated, beating up the guards at the gate and kicking open the main doors. Lachlan defiantly throws the battery to the floor, which cracks the concrete and bemuses the guards. Without missing a beat, Steve blasts the battery with the shotgun about eight times before it cracks open, releasing a wave of energy. The faceless grey humanoids all morph into a plethora of colours, shapes and sizes before turning on the guards and trashing the place.
The Falcon calms everyone down and explains that the True Seekers will take anyone out of the Scar who wishes to leave. After almost being killed in the rush, they all step sideways with the spirits, appearing by the vast wall of web. The spirits immediately zoom of in all directions (they don't even say thank you), while the True Seekers seek (as is their want) for a Moon Path. Having found one, they head for the Melbourne Cemetery as fast as they can.
After arriving back home, at around eight in the evening, and explaining the situation to the sept, everyone goes through a Moon Bridge to the Tower Hill Caern. Once there, everyone loads into real and Umbral cars and heads for the new Caern. Descending into the main cavern, a short and tasteful ceremony is conducted, at the conclusion of which the True Seekers rip one of the batteries to bits.
The energy wave rolls round the cavern and disappears, everything goes still, and then a giant stone figure detaches from the far wall and wades across the pool, without making a ripple. It identifies itself as Jirrawin the Cave Spirit, and although obviously not happy about the slaughter of the Bunyip, it feels that the time for division has past. It is also fairly grateful at being revived, and welcomes the formation of a new sept to guard the Caern. Having fulfilled their side of the deal, the True Seekers are now members of the Sept of Rippling Waters, and also of the Sept yet to be formed. Cossack suggests that they should not abuse this trust, but divide their time between the three septs. They therefore go back to the Tower Hill Caern to join in the celebrations and general booze-up, purely for diplomatic reasons of course.
Only a little the worse for wear the next morning, Lachlan challenges Lisa for leadership of the True Seekers, a move met with great acclamation by the his packmates (No, really). Catherine Lie-Thrower views the challenge as legitimate and sanctions it. The True Seekers engage in much earnest discussion: Steve wanders off, Naomi dismisses it as Homid posturing, while Lisa doesn't feel it's worth fighting for, but wants to make a point.
The duel begins. Lisa, having insisted on unrestricted though non-terminal combat remains in Homid form and allows Lachlan to pound her into the ground, shattering her jaw in the process. This acquiescence on her part does not go down well with the rest of the sept, nor does the healing of her battle scar. Lachlan thus becomes the leader of the True Seekers. The harmonious True Seekers head for the new Caern, for a week of volunteer guard duty. Over the week various rituals are taught and learnt by various Garou. The first night, when each pack member sleeps, they have the dream of Malfeas again.
Their guardianship complete, the True Seekers return to Melbourne. They catch up on local business (police searching for Tony Staley's killer have been diverted by the planted evidence; Rainbow Inc has a new Managing Director, Mr Steven Marshall; the Scryers and the Hidden Green Sept are busy dealing with an attempt by the Wyrm to control the state government - it may be mage related). Lachlan challenges Ian Shatter-Glass to recognise his renown. Ian is feeling mellow, so he just has Lachlan tell of the True Seeker's run-in with the Bunyip and the Scar. The Ngalyod Pack show up, and say that Egridge Technologies was apparently being infiltrated by the Wyrm, but was not controlled by it. They dealt with those responsible and will be insuring greater Garou control over it. The Fianna will be purchasing the land around the site from Egridge, or if Egridge refuse to sell, make public the existence of the aboriginal art in the caves. The Jindabyne Council questioned Kanau but got little out of him. He knew there was trouble, but didn't know how it was that he knew. As the True Seekers are the only pack to have any seemingly non-violent relation with the Bunyip spirits, the Council may well be calling on them in any future dealings with the Bunyip.
Everyone returns home to try and catch up on their lives. Lisa and Lachlan find their back door ajar and their television and stereo gone. Because Lachlan has such a close relationship with his stereo, they use Rite of the Questing Stone and track it down in a flat in St Kilda. Figuring "What the hell", Steve and Lachlan shift to Glabro, Lisa shifts to Hispo, and they break into the flat, pretending to be the police. The dozen or so people inside don't question this assertion much. They get their stereo back, and because it's better quality than their old one, they also grab the TV. Another glorious victory for the defenders of Gaia.
Steve is questioned by Peter as to where the hell he's been. Also, he didn't show up for work and his boss is pissed off. Steve grovels a bit, and will be working most nights this week. Lachlan missed band practise (again) and has a gig on Saturday (at the Punters Club, only fourth on the bill, the Zep Boys are heading). Sunday night, Lachlan notices that Lisa seems to be suffering from severe nightmares. Naomi is dreaming when she is visited by a wolf spirit in her dreams. It warns her that the pack are probably being watched most of the time and to act accordingly. Those watching are not really your enemies, but it would not call them your friends. The spirit does not say who sent it or who the watchers are. Vilna and someone else go to Rainbow Inc and cleanse the site a lot.
The Scryers return to tell what happened. Having uncovered the plot, they were all busy cleansing those possessed, as well as binding and tracking banes, which led them to a warehouse out west. Place was full of banes and demons. It was also full of explosives, which Chases-The-Car found just in time to get everyone out. Building went "boom", destroying banes, demons and any evidence. Following this, no new cases of possession, but everyone will be busy directing the politicians, who will be out of it for a while. General Wyrm activity is declining: possibly caused by the mages to form a smoke screen for their real objectives. The Scyers head off to sleep for a few days.
Naomi tells the pack about the warning in her dream (at the Caern, which should be fairly safe). The pack decide to go and check out the new Managing Director of Rainbow Inc. The site's spiritual presence is declining, and there are no blatant signs of Wyrm infection. Nothing special registers about Steve Marshall, but the True Seekers decide to follow him home. Lisa nicks off for the day, and the pack meets again around five. Marshall lives in Kew with his wife, their 2.3 children and a dog - all very suburban.
Lachlan and Lisa find a baby on their front door-step. Much finger pointing ensues. A note in the crib reads "Good luck. M." The True Seekers meet and go to the Caern to ask advice and also to check if the baby girl is Garou. She isn't. While changing her nappy, Lisa finds a LOT of cash under the baby's blanket ($50 000). They troop back to Lisa's house. Lachlan takes drugs to gain spiritual guidance and receives a vision: Don't piss the Storyteller off by circumventing his story. They decide not to take the baby to the police.
Using Heightened Senses, Naomi picks up the scent of an old woman that came to the door. The scent also extends up and down on both sides of the street. Lacking any maternal instinct, Lachlan calls his mum in desperation. She turns up, provides provisions for the baby as well as basic instructions on maintenance, and then insists on cleaning the house to stop the baby getting fleas. The True Seekers decide to name the girl Sere (pronounced Sarah), as in "serendipity". They also rapidly exhaust their avenues of investigation, but there is nothing on the news about a missing or abducted baby. They decide that in order to better protect Sere, everyone will crash at Lisa and Lach's place. That night, everyone tends to notice Lisa's bad dreams.
Asking Lisa about her dreams results in "Mind your own business". Lachlan's Mum briefly turns up again to check on Sere. When Lisa goes to get milk she is approached by a suited dude, asking about real estate and whether anyone has moved away recently. Lisa feels that this is pretty suspicious, and the True Seekers spring into action. There is much umbral stalking and watching. One of the guys (there's three of them) receives a phone call from an old woman. He complains that he's wasting his time, but she tells him to keep looking. The True Seekers set a cunning trap: Steve tells the guys that the family in number X have disappeared. The suited dudes check it out. No one is home, but talking to the neighbours reveal that the people in number X are still around. Come the evening, the suited dudes head for their car. Calvin cunningly steps sideways into the boot of the car (on his second attempt), before realising that it's too dark inside for him to step back again. Steve follows the car to Reservoir, and guesses that Calvin is in the boot. The suited dudes park in a car park beside a restaurant and go inside. Steve uses Control Simple Machine to flip the door lock, triggers the boot-release switch and sets off the car alarm. When the boot opens, Calvin immediately steps sideways, leaving Steve to face the imminent arrival of the car's owner and his friends. Steve hides behind another car. The suited dudes come, swear a lot, then leave, but will have some guy come out to watch the cars. The True Seekers rendezvous and begin surveillance. The restaurant seems to be the favoured spot for many suited dudes who seem to have the run of the place, moving through the kitchen and into the back rooms. They talk a lot about horse racing and gambling and allude to more illegal activities. Can you say "Mafia"?
Watching the three original suited dudes, they make a point of not discussing their day's activities. First one and then another of them leave, till only the apparent leader dude of the three is left. Around midnight he staggers out and goes home to his concrete monstrosity in Reservoir. Fairly soon all is quiet inside. The True Seekers decide to steal the guy's mobile phone and page through the memory, ringing all the numbers until they find one that's answered by an old woman. Lachlan sneaks inside and swipes the phone. However, many of the mobile numbers are turned off, and no old woman answers the other numbers (although many sound like they were probably asleep when the phone rang). Having made a copy of all the numbers, Lachlan returns the phone to the house, although not to where he found it.