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Description
Entry 27 – Follow the Banes

We were forced to leave the club when Sam fell asleep on the bar and Bob² got into problems because of her being a minor. The next day we besieged the apartment of our human kinfolk contact again. One of the Windsors, Andrew (the Ahroun), was there as well and listened to our narration. In the absence of his brother he showed unexpected social skills. He didn't know more about spirits, though, which was why we agreed to ask for advice in all three caerns. In my case, the GW's, of course. Introduced myself as an ex-member of the Sept of the Smiling Buddha. Have never been one, de facto, but should have been, and maybe I can keep their memory alive this way. The Gatekeeper, White Eye, reserved some of her time for me. I found her in a large hall with something that looked like a stargate but was rather a moon bridge. I peppered her with questions and learned that a) the thing in the mirror could be an after-image or a self-image, b) the porter spider could either be a meaningless image of reality or Masters could really have supernatural contacts and was worth some closer examination and c) the people here had never even heard of techno mages. Gotta change that. Bob² and Andrew asked around at the Guardians of the Forest, repectively a Theurge named Threefoot, and got the opinions that a) could be a ghost that was trapped in the mirror and b) suggests that Masters was more than human. Uncle Sam brought back a written piece of toilet paper from the Keepers of the Dump which underlined the same opinions and also suggested that the tarnishing of the mirror could mean that the barrier between the ghost and the Penumbra got either thicker or thinner (oh great). The most unsettling approach to explain the massive Wyrm taint in Masters' apartment was that he was possessed by a Bane, making him a Fomor.

We still had 3 days to bring our investigation to a close. Masters was our hottest lead and we intended to look around at his workspace and steal his laptop. The Ultimate Search Engine gave us a building which belonged to a genetics company, as the twin helix emblem and the name at the door proudly announced. In the Umbra it was one single cotton candy of cobweb but we wanted to give it a try anyway. A whole of 7 pattern spiders greeted us inside, listened to what we wanted and one escorted us through the ever thickening webs to the office door of Evan Masters, shareholder. We were told to wait because he wasn't there. Thanks to my recent experiences with pattern spiders I secretly felt quite sick. The beasts never let us out of their sight for just one second, there was always one nearby. To look around we needed a distraction. I jokingly suggested via totem speech that we could just proclaim loudly that Pi was exactly 3. Bob² promptly did so which made the spider angrily urge us to leave now. But our Alpha didn't let up and finally the spider began to recite Pi to us with an accuracy of one zillion fractional digits. It was hard not to burst with laughter. Andrew who had become our Umbral specialist looked around in the Tellurian with Sam. Somehow the office smelt of animal, almost wolfish... They also looted Masters' wallet and the contents of his datebook. Right now he was in a meeting with one Janine Kunze, and he'd probably taken the laptop along. The two Garou came back, finally the spider reset itself and we left.

We found the café where the business meeting took place. Our theory was that we'd be able to see the bane half of the Fomor in the Umbra, if he was one. The amount of banes however exceeded our wildest expectations. There was a whole swarm of them drifting about. In the center one could see a distorted image of Evan Masters that bore a striking resemblance to the mirror ghost. The real Masters was just being heavily intimidated by Mrs Kunze as we could hear with the help of a directional microphone from our toybox. Then she sent him back to his office. Andrew watched what the banes were doing. One half of the swarm joined Mrs Kunze, the other Masters. The woman also disappeared into thin air in a quite unhumanlike way. This agitated Andrew quite a bit and he was almost sure that we were dealing with a Black Spiral Dancer. Very disturbing... I'd never met one of the Fallen Tribe, just heard the worst stories. Had those critters even silently built a hive somewhere within the city? Indeed the Elders knew of some Dancers in the area. No matter what, we agreed to put an end to her schemes. With four against one we should hopefully be able to tackle a single Spiral, but the banes were a problem. We discussed how we could separate her from her allies. It amounted in the creation of a talen bound with a strong spirit of the Wyld that could interfere with the banes' ability to materialize just long enough. We found such a spirit in the forest but the thing only had a tiny attention span and could only with great difficulties be convinced to enter the prepared bottle of water. We now had to find Janine Kunze as quickly as possible before the spirit got bored again. The ideal place for the confrontation would be remote and unpopulated but Mrs Kunze beat us to it by inhabiting an empty factory hall outside town.

We found her alone there in the dim light and could see that she wore a tribal tattoo of the Shadow Lords. She wasn't intimidated at all by us but coolly introduced herself as „Kills-Weakness", Athro of the Lords. She needed Masters by personal order of Margrave Konietzko for his secret plans. The banes were supposed to be camouflage only, and if we valued our lives and our careers we would leave her alone. Not only had I long abandoned all hope for my career but I was as unconvinced by her story as every one of us. By way of precaution we sent Andrew into the Umbra with our bane-EMP and at least gave Kills-Weakness the chance to repeat her statement in front of a high ranking Philodox. However, we could neither reach Owl nor did we have cell reception here.
The awkward silence was broken when Bob² was shot in the shoulder from somewhere. The wound didn't close – silver ammunition. Practically in the same second Kills-Weakness shifted to crinos and attacked. I was in glabro and too surprised to shift to war form in time. I'd never fought another Garou and possessed no idea what it looked like when our kind were let loose on each other in a matter of life and death. It surpassed everything I'd seen so far. Sam was in hispo, his monstrous dire wolf form, Bob² changed to crinos and the three Garou tore into each other with incredible relentlessness. It wasn't as elegant as the sudden appearing and disappearing of the Nosferatu back in Vancouver but a single ripping of flesh, slashing of claws and spilling of blood.
Kills-Weakness mustn't have lied about her rank. She took on the two Bone Gnawers without any effort and her silver claws opened dangerous wounds. I realized just in time that above the rifleman was aiming at me. Instinctively I now shifted to war form, too and jumped aside before a silver bullet missed me by a hair. The shooter was standing at the window up in an office room one level above us but still within my leaping distance. Without hesitating I pushed myself off while he tried to reload, clung to the window frame with one paw and crushed his skull with the other. Bob² and Sam meanwhile suffered badly. Andrew finally came back from the Penumbra but Kills-Weakness slashed him open with her silver claws at once. Then finally she seemed to go down under the attacks of our pack but before it even happened she focused her Rage and attacked even harder in her frenzy.
In the meantime I'd pulled myself through the window, had reverted to breed form and in a fit of quick wits reloaded the rifle as fast as I could. I called out to the pack via totem speech to get out of the way and aimed out of the window. But the fight was still in full activity. The factory hall now looked more or less like a slaughterhouse. Between Andrew's white, Sam's splotched and Bob²'s brown shaggy crinos shape I picked out the dark one of Kills-Weakness and fired. With more luck than brains I hit her in the head, which ended the fight. We broke out in relieved roars of triumph. This had been close. None of my packmates could have taken much more and we'd almost paid too high a prize for our victory. And the downside of being a nearly all-Ragabash pack had become apparent... we weren't able to uncover her lies right away, in Andrew's absence we'd been all too vulnerable and now none of us could take care of our wounds. Fortunately the banes had gone away in the Umbra so that we could finally send Owl for help. Our young squire had been right, by the way, Kills-Weakness had really gone over to the Spirals, her tattoos gave it away.

We helped the clean-up crew a bit but there was no reason to rest on our laurels. Since there was no way to clean Masters from his own bane we'll have to take him out, too, and then there are the other two politicians. Anyway, that shock requires a double shot of espresso first of all things.
I let Andrew know that I was glad he was with us. He saved our butts more than once today. I also revoke my statement about the Windsors' lack of talent from the last entry.
So long, you'll hear from me if something happens.

Description
Entry 27 – Follow the Banes

We were forced to leave the club when Sam fell asleep on the bar and Bob² got into problems because of her being a minor. The next day we besieged the apartment of our human kinfolk contact again. One of the Windsors, Andrew (the Ahroun), was there as well and listened to our narration. In the absence of his brother he showed unexpected social skills. He didn't know more about spirits, though, which was why we agreed to ask for advice in all three caerns. In my case, the GW's, of course. Introduced myself as an ex-member of the Sept of the Smiling Buddha. Have never been one, de facto, but should have been, and maybe I can keep their memory alive this way. The Gatekeeper, White Eye, reserved some of her time for me. I found her in a large hall with something that looked like a stargate but was rather a moon bridge. I peppered her with questions and learned that a) the thing in the mirror could be an after-image or a self-image, b) the porter spider could either be a meaningless image of reality or Masters could really have supernatural contacts and was worth some closer examination and c) the people here had never even heard of techno mages. Gotta change that. Bob² and Andrew asked around at the Guardians of the Forest, repectively a Theurge named Threefoot, and got the opinions that a) could be a ghost that was trapped in the mirror and b) suggests that Masters was more than human. Uncle Sam brought back a written piece of toilet paper from the Keepers of the Dump which underlined the same opinions and also suggested that the tarnishing of the mirror could mean that the barrier between the ghost and the Penumbra got either thicker or thinner (oh great). The most unsettling approach to explain the massive Wyrm taint in Masters' apartment was that he was possessed by a Bane, making him a Fomor.

We still had 3 days to bring our investigation to a close. Masters was our hottest lead and we intended to look around at his workspace and steal his laptop. The Ultimate Search Engine gave us a building which belonged to a genetics company, as the twin helix emblem and the name at the door proudly announced. In the Umbra it was one single cotton candy of cobweb but we wanted to give it a try anyway. A whole of 7 pattern spiders greeted us inside, listened to what we wanted and one escorted us through the ever thickening webs to the office door of Evan Masters, shareholder. We were told to wait because he wasn't there. Thanks to my recent experiences with pattern spiders I secretly felt quite sick. The beasts never let us out of their sight for just one second, there was always one nearby. To look around we needed a distraction. I jokingly suggested via totem speech that we could just proclaim loudly that Pi was exactly 3. Bob² promptly did so which made the spider angrily urge us to leave now. But our Alpha didn't let up and finally the spider began to recite Pi to us with an accuracy of one zillion fractional digits. It was hard not to burst with laughter. Andrew who had become our Umbral specialist looked around in the Tellurian with Sam. Somehow the office smelt of animal, almost wolfish... They also looted Masters' wallet and the contents of his datebook. Right now he was in a meeting with one Janine Kunze, and he'd probably taken the laptop along. The two Garou came back, finally the spider reset itself and we left.

We found the café where the business meeting took place. Our theory was that we'd be able to see the bane half of the Fomor in the Umbra, if he was one. The amount of banes however exceeded our wildest expectations. There was a whole swarm of them drifting about. In the center one could see a distorted image of Evan Masters that bore a striking resemblance to the mirror ghost. The real Masters was just being heavily intimidated by Mrs Kunze as we could hear with the help of a directional microphone from our toybox. Then she sent him back to his office. Andrew watched what the banes were doing. One half of the swarm joined Mrs Kunze, the other Masters. The woman also disappeared into thin air in a quite unhumanlike way. This agitated Andrew quite a bit and he was almost sure that we were dealing with a Black Spiral Dancer. Very disturbing... I'd never met one of the Fallen Tribe, just heard the worst stories. Had those critters even silently built a hive somewhere within the city? Indeed the Elders knew of some Dancers in the area. No matter what, we agreed to put an end to her schemes. With four against one we should hopefully be able to tackle a single Spiral, but the banes were a problem. We discussed how we could separate her from her allies. It amounted in the creation of a talen bound with a strong spirit of the Wyld that could interfere with the banes' ability to materialize just long enough. We found such a spirit in the forest but the thing only had a tiny attention span and could only with great difficulties be convinced to enter the prepared bottle of water. We now had to find Janine Kunze as quickly as possible before the spirit got bored again. The ideal place for the confrontation would be remote and unpopulated but Mrs Kunze beat us to it by inhabiting an empty factory hall outside town.

We found her alone there in the dim light and could see that she wore a tribal tattoo of the Shadow Lords. She wasn't intimidated at all by us but coolly introduced herself as „Kills-Weakness", Athro of the Lords. She needed Masters by personal order of Margrave Konietzko for his secret plans. The banes were supposed to be camouflage only, and if we valued our lives and our careers we would leave her alone. Not only had I long abandoned all hope for my career but I was as unconvinced by her story as every one of us. By way of precaution we sent Andrew into the Umbra with our bane-EMP and at least gave Kills-Weakness the chance to repeat her statement in front of a high ranking Philodox. However, we could neither reach Owl nor did we have cell reception here.
The awkward silence was broken when Bob² was shot in the shoulder from somewhere. The wound didn't close – silver ammunition. Practically in the same second Kills-Weakness shifted to crinos and attacked. I was in glabro and too surprised to shift to war form in time. I'd never fought another Garou and possessed no idea what it looked like when our kind were let loose on each other in a matter of life and death. It surpassed everything I'd seen so far. Sam was in hispo, his monstrous dire wolf form, Bob² changed to crinos and the three Garou tore into each other with incredible relentlessness. It wasn't as elegant as the sudden appearing and disappearing of the Nosferatu back in Vancouver but a single ripping of flesh, slashing of claws and spilling of blood.
Kills-Weakness mustn't have lied about her rank. She took on the two Bone Gnawers without any effort and her silver claws opened dangerous wounds. I realized just in time that above the rifleman was aiming at me. Instinctively I now shifted to war form, too and jumped aside before a silver bullet missed me by a hair. The shooter was standing at the window up in an office room one level above us but still within my leaping distance. Without hesitating I pushed myself off while he tried to reload, clung to the window frame with one paw and crushed his skull with the other. Bob² and Sam meanwhile suffered badly. Andrew finally came back from the Penumbra but Kills-Weakness slashed him open with her silver claws at once. Then finally she seemed to go down under the attacks of our pack but before it even happened she focused her Rage and attacked even harder in her frenzy.
In the meantime I'd pulled myself through the window, had reverted to breed form and in a fit of quick wits reloaded the rifle as fast as I could. I called out to the pack via totem speech to get out of the way and aimed out of the window. But the fight was still in full activity. The factory hall now looked more or less like a slaughterhouse. Between Andrew's white, Sam's splotched and Bob²'s brown shaggy crinos shape I picked out the dark one of Kills-Weakness and fired. With more luck than brains I hit her in the head, which ended the fight. We broke out in relieved roars of triumph. This had been close. None of my packmates could have taken much more and we'd almost paid too high a prize for our victory. And the downside of being a nearly all-Ragabash pack had become apparent... we weren't able to uncover her lies right away, in Andrew's absence we'd been all too vulnerable and now none of us could take care of our wounds. Fortunately the banes had gone away in the Umbra so that we could finally send Owl for help. Our young squire had been right, by the way, Kills-Weakness had really gone over to the Spirals, her tattoos gave it away.

We helped the clean-up crew a bit but there was no reason to rest on our laurels. Since there was no way to clean Masters from his own bane we'll have to take him out, too, and then there are the other two politicians. Anyway, that shock requires a double shot of espresso first of all things.
I let Andrew know that I was glad he was with us. He saved our butts more than once today. I also revoke my statement about the Windsors' lack of talent from the last entry.
So long, you'll hear from me if something happens.