(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF II

[Daishain]

"Not a politician, but basically the same skillset. The head priest of the Church of Daigon, the name these cultists use for themselves, handed it to us not long ago. As to talking it out, I dunno, he didn't seem particularly reasonable. You wanna try go ahead, but have backup on hand."

[Haval]

Joanna grins, 'Well there's so many of us here. Would be a shame not to make use of one of you. And it shouldn't be that hard to track down a priest.'

[Bennosuke]

Standing next to the Uratha Bear, with one arm tied around his is a short vivacious woman with burning red hair and a bombshell smile. She chuckles in a delightful way at Joanna's suggestion. By the looks of her swollen abdomen and round luminescent face, she is at least at the end of her second trimester, and it better be Bear's. She replies warmly, "Well we know where the Church is... we just can't go in and rip his head off." She shrugs, and again in the most inviting way adds, "I'm Ciara by the way. Welcome to our very humble abode. I swear we are still decorating the place, but we'd love it if you stayed with us... assuming you need a place to stay." She says this to both Joanna and to Jeremy, and it's clear she is sincere in the offer.

Not even awaiting a reply, she points to a stick of a young man with a mop of scraggly brown hair and says, "This is Chris, and this is James." Ciara's hand drifts to point to a man in his mid twenties with a handsome face and cold blue eyes. Both Chris and James smile and say hello to the guests, though James' eyes lingers on Joanna for a moment as his face turns slightly flush. Ciara adds, "We're also part of the pack... just not full blooded Werewolves, if you know what I mean." With her free arm she gives Bear a soft punch on the shoulder and with a grin says, "Since it appears we Wolf Blooded have to introduce ourselves."

[Daishain]

Bear grins down at his better half, "Well I had to leave something for you to say now didn't I?"

[Haval]

Joanna smiles back at Ciara who seemed adorable, 'Maybe they're looking for worshipers? I've got some spare clothes in the car for whenever I have to pretend to have a regular job. The question would be do they know what we're capable of? The thing in the ocean probably knows, but how much has it told it's minions.' On where she was going to stay, 'As long as you have hot water. The place I was staying in on the edge of town barely managed that.'

She'll give a friendly nod back to Chris and James as they were introduced. As she notices James noticing her she'll grin back at him briefly without otherwise acknowledging it. 'Wolf Blooded. I think my mom must have been like that. It's all the same to me.'

[Bennosuke]

Bear grins down at his better half, "Well I had to leave something for you to say now didn't I?"

"And you don't trust me to find something to say on my own?" Ciara asks with mock hurt, giving her husband a sly wink, and another cuff.

Joanna smiles back at Ciara who seemed adorable, 'Maybe they're looking for worshipers? I've got some spare clothes in the car for whenever I have to pretend to have a regular job. The question would be do they know what we're capable of? The thing in the ocean probably knows, but how much has it told it's minions.' On where she was going to stay, 'As long as you have hot water. The place I was staying in on the edge of town barely managed that.'

She'll give a friendly nod back to Chris and James as they were introduced. As she notices James noticing her she'll grin back at him briefly without otherwise acknowledging it. 'Wolf Blooded. I think my mom must have been like that. It's all the same to me.'

Joanna's warm grin actually emboldens the Wolf Blooded, who makes direct eye contact with her and smiles more confidently. He steps forward, and replies, "That's not a bad idea. Actually though, Chris and I found this bar that's across from the Church, and is apparently for locals only. We weren't allowed in, but it seemed like a place for some of the older men of the congregation." He turns to Chris, who gives a confirmatory nod, then adds, "Perhaps a good place to check out."

[Daishain]

Bear nods to Joanna, "There is often something just a little different about wolfblooded compared to normal humans, but it isn't always obvious. There are a good number of them out there that have no idea what they really are, and every once in a while, they'll have a kid who becomes a full Uratha, but doesn't get the chance to grow up knowing what they need to know."

"Anyways, unless I've missed something, we haven't seen any evidence of the Church knowing quite what we are. The priest before certainly didn't seem to know, he had a hard time expressing why he thought that petition was necessary. It was more like... his mistrust of 'godless delinquents' like us had been amplified, to the point that he was thinking of us as being just as much of a problem as the local gangs, who've caused a lot of suffering."

"You might be able to manage as a new recruit, but I'm not sure an infiltration would work, it'l take more than a clothing change at least. A lot of the real locals have a look to them. Dunno if its inbreeding or this Daigon's influence, but they almost all look a bit, well, fishlike. You might have already seen it."

[Haval]

" You might have already seen it."

'Yeah...thought I was imagining it. Shouldn't make it too hard to find them then. Maybe we try this bar to see how they deal with out of towners.' Joanna will ignore the possibility that something was interfering with these people as it wasn't like she could do anything about it. 'So, do we hang out there for a bit and see if they serve food? Maybe I ask around about their church and see if anyone is willing to talk to someone who might want a place to pray while they're here. As long as I hide my tatoos. If they have a problem anyway I can always claim to be looking for Turner.'

To Bear on Wolf Blooded, 'So maybe Mom didn't know either. If anyone else in my family is like that they're keeping it well hidden.'

[GKnightBC]

"Anyways, unless I've missed something, we haven't seen any evidence of the Church knowing quite what we are. The priest before certainly didn't seem to know, he had a hard time expressing why he thought that petition was necessary. It was more like... his mistrust of 'godless delinquents' like us had been amplified, to the point that he was thinking of us as being just as much of a problem as the local gangs, who've caused a lot of suffering."

"You might be able to manage as a new recruit, but I'm not sure an infiltration would work, it'l take more than a clothing change at least. A lot of the real locals have a look to them. Dunno if its inbreeding or this Daigon's influence, but they almost all look a bit, well, fishlike. You might have already seen it."[/COLOR][/B]

"I've heard of similar cases. Being ridden by a spirit for too long can alter your form to resemble it's locus. I'd be very interested in watching one of their ceremonies. Can we sneak a camera into there or something?"

With regards to his own Change, Jeremy offers "Mine wasn't so surprising. Mom, Dad, my 'cousins' - lots of stories told to me as a kind - plenty of prep for when the time came and I experienced my first form-shift. I've even been using it impulsively these days to move in some surprising ways. What did surprise me with all this was the sheer number of spirits that were so close in our world. Everything had an associated force it seemed."

[Haval]

"I've heard of similar cases. Being ridden by a spirit for too long can alter your form to resemble it's locus. I'd be very interested in watching one of their ceremonies. Can we sneak a camera into there or something?"

'Ew. Does that mean the thing in the ocean is riding all of them?' Joanna was starting to feel a little out of her depth. On the camera, 'I got a phone at least. Usually it's enough.'

With regards to his own Change, Jeremy offers "Mine wasn't so surprising. Mom, Dad, my 'cousins' - lots of stories told to me as a kind - plenty of prep for when the time came and I experienced my first form-shift. I've even been using it impulsively these days to move in some surprising ways. What did surprise me with all this was the sheer number of spirits that were so close in our world. Everything had an associated force it seemed."

'Must have been nice.' Joanna replies with a little jealousy. 'The spirits that I've seen I've honestly been trying to avoid.'

[GKnightBC]

'Ew. Does that mean the thing in the ocean is riding all of them?' Joanna was starting to feel a little out of her depth. On the camera, 'I got a phone at least. Usually it's enough.'

"I'm not sure that it's just the thing in the ocean. It could be a brood mother for a bunch of shards that have infested the congregation. Little pieces of Spirit that ride the hosts and puppet them when needed. Perhaps they even offer some kind of religious ecstasy for the host?" Interested for his own reasons, S.C. ponders the possibilities. "If we could take down a brood mother, that'd go a long ways towards elevating this Pack into domination."

'Must have been nice.' Joanna replies with a little jealousy. 'The spirits that I've seen I've honestly been trying to avoid.'

At this he shrugs "They have their own laws and rules they have to follow. Some as hard as physics. If you know enough about the spirit you're encountering, you can manipulate it, bargain with it, control it, whatever. Getting the knowledge to do that is the hard part. Some spirits are insanely powerful, so that's not likely for them, but the smaller ones..."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“I don’t think this thing in the ocean or the church has anything to do with spirits at all,” Blaze said, “there’s something going on on Cuttyhuck island, and out there, there are no spirits at all. Like, none, man. We gotta head back out in the morning, or one of these mornings, and have a better look.”

“Also, I think a bunch of the people in that church are all related, Deliverance style,” he added.

[Daishain]

Bear nods, "Staying away was probably the smart move since you didn't know much, but dealing with spirits is a huge part of being what you are. Jeremy's right, the big thing to remember with spirits is they are all dedicated to something specific, and will do just about anything to promote their core aspect. This make identifying what kind of spirit you are dealing with the first step in just about any kind of negotiation, and can be a big help if the encounter turns into a fight."

"Usually, getting a spirit to help you out requires some kind of offering. For instance, I've never worked with Databolt before, but I knew it was a spirit of digital information, so I got it to go out of its way and cooperate by dangling a bit of free bandwith time for its use."

He blinks and scratches his beard a bit, "Hmm, it might be easier to understand if we continued this in the world of the spirits, I'm guessing you've never crossed over before. Might as well throw you in and see if you can run. All right pups, both of you, lets head out to the docks, lets see what King Sky Hunter makes of you. Hopefully it won't be dinner." Bear's grin and tone of voice with this last makes it difficult to tell how serious he is.

[Haval]

'Everyone wants something. I suppose that makes sense.' Joanna will listen to the others and only grin at Bear's suggestion, 'I don't think I'd be a good meal. Assuming I couldn't take him if I had to.' But she reconsiders, 'How big is this bird anyway, or is that kind of up to him?' Crossing over itself didn't particularly worry her. She needed to learn how to do this at some point.

She did register what Blaze had said about the island but isn't sure what to make of it. 'Is that even possible?' The idea of an incestuous cult was oddly something she could better follow. 'Do we have any idea how far back all this goes? If they're all cousins maybe there are medical records lying around. Assuming they don't try to keep it a secret and all live on a compound somewhere.'

[GKnightBC]

Blaze

“I don’t think this thing in the ocean or the church has anything to do with spirits at all,” Blaze said, “there’s something going on on Cuttyhuck island, and out there, there are no spirits at all. Like, none, man. We gotta head back out in the morning, or one of these mornings, and have a better look.”

Jeremy looks aghast at that "There's always spirits. I don't know anything that could drive every spirit away from an area. Could something be eating their Essences completely? Wow."

[GKnightBC]

Bear nods, [COLOR="#2F4F4F"]He blinks and scratches his beard a bit, "Hmm, it might be easier to understand if we continued this in the world of the spirits, I'm guessing you've never crossed over before. Might as well throw you in and see if you can run. All right pups, both of you, lets head out to the docks, lets see what King Sky Hunter makes of you. Hopefully it won't be dinner." Bear's grin and tone of voice with this last makes it difficult to tell how serious he is.

Jeremy is visibly excited at the idea of meeting King Sky Hunter and hops to his feet eagerly.

[Daishain]

Bear shrugs at Joanna's question. "Size is something of an abstract on the other side, but last I saw his wingspan was something over twenty feet. He's one of the most magnificent spirits I've seen. But don't tell him I said that, his ego's big enough as it is. In regards to how far back this goes, well some of the stuff we've found related to this Idigam is very old, like before this town existed old."

"In any case, no time like the present, lets get you acquainted with our main locus and its guardian. This way." Bear heads for the rear of the warehouse. Opening a door he steps out to the docks, heedless of the rain.

If the others follow they find themselves on a relatively normal looking, if old, wooden dock extending out into Buzzards Bay. In one place in particular the dock is broken open, somehow speared from below by a large jagged rock. It is covered by hundreds of barnacles and mussels.

Stopping to place a large hand on the rock, Bear states, "Joanna, if you have not felt one before, this is a locus. It is a source of energy, and a place where the gauntlet is naturally thin. You can draw strength here, more easily communicate with spirits, and if you focus right, you can step into their world."

[Haval]

Bear shrugs at Joanna's question. [B]"Size is something of an abstract on the other side, but last I saw his wingspan was something over twenty feet. He's one of the most magnificent spirits I've seen. But don't tell him I said that, his ego's big enough as it is. In regards to how far back this goes, well some of the stuff we've found related to this Idigam is very old, like before this town existed old."

Joanna looked suitably impressed, 'Now I kind of want to see him.' On the Idigam, 'So colonial times or earlier. Was it here before humans started living moving to the coast? Where do we even start with that?'

She will follow Bear outside and do what she can to pay attention to the locus with every sense. 'There's a place like this in the middle of the Franklin Park woods. Biggest tree I've ever seen close up. I only saw it in passing.'

[Bennosuke]

Kara follows the group outside. It is still pouring rain, the wind whipping in hard loud gusts, and this close to the crashing wave it is necessary to yell to be heard. Mother Luna's light is barely visible, choked by the black storm clouds. The Cahalith seems not to notice the cold and the rain. She stares dreamily out at the waters, her expression dark and vacant. "It's out there," Kara says, seemingly unaware of the conversation about the Locus, "Out there in the waters. I've seen it in my dreams. Whatever an Idigam is, it is is an abomination... and I think it might be more dangerous than Obliterates... It's... oh god, I think it's watching us!" She shrieks, but then Kara's voice fades into a stuporous mutter, and she shudders as if suddenly noticing the icy rain.

[Daishain]

Bear's focus is torn away from the newcomers as Kara has... a moment. He moves to her side, whispering, "Its okay, you're safe here. How about getting warm again by the fire. You have that new music piece you wanted to try tonight right? How about getting that ready, and then we'll play it when we get back. Sound good?"

Ushering her into the building if she lets her, he hands her off into Pine's care with a meaningful look before returning outside.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm afraid recent events have been a bit rough on her. There's a lot of wonder in our lives as Uratha, but its definitely not an easy life either."

He shakes his head and then gets back to the matter at hand, "All right, if you pay attention, you should be able to feel the difference between this space and the way the world feels elsewhere. Focus on that difference, most of that is the gauntlet, the barrier between this world and the next. The curtain is thin here, and with focus, you can reach out, and slip past. Let me go first, make doubly certain there aren't any problems on the other side. Blaze, if you could help them follow me?"

Bear shuts his eyes and breathes in, a moment later he steps forward and vanishes entirely.

[Bennosuke]

Kara gives little in the way of resistance as Karl ushers her back into towards the warehouse. She moves as if in a daze, seemingly almost unaware of her companion guiding her home, her eyes almost seeing nothing.

[Haval]

Joanna looks at Kara and then out into the bay in case she could see something of what the other woman was talking about. She did not believe that Kara was exaggerating. There was also the matter of whatever Bear was alluding to. Is something like that going to happen to me?

After Bear disapears, Joanna will try to focus on this place and how it made her feel before trying to follow him.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze let Bear handle the newbies crossing, and focused instead on what he could see in the Hisil, shifting his sight over first before fully crossing over through the locus.

Whatever this thing was he wanted to try and get a look at it; if it could see them, theoretically they should be able to see it. Maybe. A little kernel in the back of his head suggested maybe he didn’t _want_ to see it, but he shoved it away. If he was afraid to take a look at this thing how were they ever going to beat it?

[GKnightBC]

Kara follows the group outside. It is still pouring rain, the wind whipping in hard loud gusts, and this close to the crashing wave it is necessary to yell to be heard. Mother Luna's light is barely visible, choked by the black storm clouds. The Cahalith seems not to notice the cold and the rain. She stares dreamily out at the waters, her expression dark and vacant. "It's out there," Kara says, seemingly unaware of the conversation about the Locus, "Out there in the waters. I've seen it in my dreams. Whatever an Idigam is, it is is an abomination... and I think it might be more dangerous than Obliterates... It's... oh god, I think it's watching us!" She shrieks, but then Kara's voice fades into a stuporous mutter, and she shudders as if suddenly noticing the icy rain.

Hearing her seeress-like statements, Jeremy watches with wide eyes, certain her vision is relevant and wondering how he can put it to use to discover the source.
Bear's demonstration of traversing the Gauntlet is easy enough to follow, and he shrugs and smiles, looking forward to returning. With the thrumming of the Other world tugging at his nerves, he also steps through to the spirits home, fading out a bit slower as he savours the effects of the shift.

[Bennosuke]

Blaze casts his gaze across the Gauntlet. The act was like blinking as you go from looking at something in the distance to fine print right in front of your face. The world of flesh goes hazy and instead the Ithauer. He watches as the others cross over, pushing through the Gauntlet to appear in the land of spirits. The Shadow space of the dock is still vibrant with life. A vast array of lesser spirits, mostly spirits of water and scavengers, and wind and rain, flutter about like clouds of brightly colored glowing insects. The different spirit choruses flit about together, mostly racing to or from the towering monolith Locus.

(OOC: TC please give me a Resolve + Occult -2 roll)

As each Uratha crosses over into he Shadow, they send a cloud of lesser spirits scattering. The act of crossing over is uncomfortable, like pushing yourself through a narrow cave so that you have to fully exhale and just hope nothing breaks as you push forward. In the Shadow, the stony locus stretches high into the dark clouds, a rocky formation covered in throbbing meaty protrusions of condensed Essence. Since Bear and Blaze had last checked, dark green vines have begun to sprout and wrap themselves around the slick rock, blooming with vibrant purple flowers, and hanging with heavy beads of grape-like fruit. Choruses of spirits buzz about the locus, feeding off of the Essence vessels.

Where the Cannery was previously standing looms an ancient looking wooden building. The siding is stripped of all paint and color, the wood a petrified bone grey color. The tall walls of the shipyard appears on the verge of collapse, and the entire building looks like the haunted house out of a Stephen King novel.

[GKnightBC]

Jeremy looks around at the clouds of spirits, trying to coax one or two of the bright creatures. Looking up at the locus, he says "This seems healthy enough and certainly hosts a lot of Essence. I gather it's a recent Locus, from the way it's embedded into the dock? What called it forth?"
Seeing the changes the cannery went through on this side of the Gauntlet, he remarks "If anything ever looked like a sore spot in Shadow, that'd be it."

[Daishain]

Bear nods in approval as both of the newcomers make it to the other side without too much fuss. "I'm afraid we don't know what called it forth. It wasn't as healthy back then, but it was here when we arrived. The old pack might have been able to answer that question, they might even have had something to do with it, but they're all gone now." The Rahu reaches out to sample one of the small fruits, "It looks like Reveler is definitely having an influence here, these plants are practically its signature."

In regards to the building he states, "The cannery we call home was built as a whaling shipyard, and was a shipyard for much longer than it has been a cannery. As a result, on this side of the veil, it still is a whaling shipyard. New Bedford still has its roots as a whaling town, but those roots are withering away over time, meaning so does this reflection. It will likely change to something else soon. Perhaps a run down cannery, or if we stay there long enough, perhaps something reflecting our pack. It can be difficult to say for certain."

He looks around for King Sky Hunter, the spirit was usually close by when they visited, perhaps he was simply elsewhere this day.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Resolve+occult (3d10)[6][6][1](13)

[Haval]

Joanna smiles to herself as the feeling of pressure went away. She was fairly sure she could do that again if she had to. She'll peer up to see if she can see a top to the monolith. 'Now I wonder what it looks like from up there.'

The building looks suspicious to her as well but she'll accept Bear's explanation.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze:

Spoiler

Show

resolve + occult -2 : (4d10)[9][2][9][5](25)
+1 speciality if this involves spirits: (1d10)[6]
9 again: (4d10)[5][8][2][5](20)
3 successes, hopefully gets me something.

[Bennosuke]

At the moment, King Sky Hunter is nowhere to be seen, and as far as Bear can tell, the Hisil has never been healthier.

Looking up, Joanna believes she can see the peak of the locus, but she can't be certain given the heavy fog that has an almost purple tinge. The pillar was so much larger in this place, so much... more powerful. Joanna could literally feel the power rippling off of the thing like waves of heat. It was like the entire shadow-land flowed both into and out of the locus, grew around it.

Blaze studies the Hisil. This part of the Shadow was definitely more vibrant than it had once been. Essence flowed more freely, the Gauntlet was healthy, and the choruses of spirits were diverse and appropriate to the terrain. But the more Blaze looked around, the more something began to bother the Ithauer. Yes, there were plenty of spirits of the Ocean, but many of the lesser fish things that floated and flitted about the Locus carried tentacles, or milky blind eyes. It was as if the deep sea spirits had come inland. Perhaps it wouldn't be abnormal to catch an errant spirit like that this close to the shore, but there was too many of them. There was almost as many deep sea spirits as there were the scavenger spirits of the shallows and tidepools.