So, this past weekend we got to play Werewolf again. I don't really have a whole lot to say to lead into that, because certain parts of the session will speak for themselves.
Where we left off, the pack was hanging out at the Odd Fellows Lodge in Marlinton, on something of a stakeout in its umbral reflection. So they're hanging out for about an hour when the spirits who reside in the lodge start getting twitchy. The 'echoes' of video slot machines that help sell the 'reflection' of the bar's physical half start acting up with bright blue screens. The Sons of the Saga immediately encourage them to get out in case the place collapses, though the spirit in the back -- generally called the Registrar by this point (I mean, that's practically its name for all intents and purposes) -- can't leave as its presence is the only thing really maintaining the little realm that makes up the Lodge's umbral half. If it leaves, the realm would easily collapse. The Sons, wishing it luck, rush outside to meet the intruder.
They discover that the lines and physical features of the building are lit up, outlined with a bright blue light. A grid slowly appears and spreads across the ground, extending from four technological devices that have been placed a short distance from the building at the corners. Each device looks like some sort of advanced radio and has an oscillating mini radar dish, each one tracing an exact 90-degree arc that encompasses some sort of field that they're collectively producing. Claudiu and Wants-to-Know shift to Lupus and manage to get the scent of a human off of the devices, making it clear that someone has placed these. Claudiu peeks through the Gauntlet (noticing that the Gauntlet has suddenly gotten noticeably thicker) into the physical world and can just barely make out a man with a buzz cut and thick glasses standing in front of a church across the street, fiddling with something and staring at the building.
So with that knowledge in hand, Wants-to-Know finds a convenient spot to step sideways and observe the man in the physical world as the others put together a plan. They plan to mess up one of the devices and see what the guy does. So Wants-to-Know finds a spot where he can observe, watching the guy interacting with what's either a very complex tablet or a tablet with a bulky case. At the same time, back in the Umbra, Jerry tries jamming a rock into the thing to stop the radar dish. In the physical world, the guy takes note of an error message and pokes at the tablet screen.
In the Umbra, the machine opens up a bit of casing and shakes the rock loose before reassembling itself.
Jerry tries something a little more extreme. He uses the Wuxing gift to transmute the metal casing of the device into fire, figuring it'll provoke an overheating message before likely dying altogether to obfuscate exactly what's going on.
(The Wuxing gift, for those of you at home, lets you take one of the five Chinese elements -- earth, water, fire, wood, metal -- and turn it into another one for a short period of time.)
That gets the guy's attention. He taps the tablet some more and the machine, in the Umbra, actually spits out some flame retardant foam from one of its components -- but in its current incarnation, which is basically 'the casing is gone and it's on fire' the nozzle is crooked and just splats a bit of crud onto the ground nearby. The stranger then ducks into the bushes nearby and taps at something on the tablet, and the pack members in the Umbra get a feel like a window's been opened in the air, viewing the machine.
Afterwards, he heads off to his pickup truck a block away and Wants-to-Know follows him as he opens up the tailgate revealing a bunch of advanced equipment under the camper top keeping the back of the truck covered. The stranger, as nears as the lupus can tell, is starting to assemble another device from the components he has on him (while also grabbing a backpack covered with wires and a messenger bag full of tools). During this process, Wants-to-Know notices that the guy has a gun in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
While all this is going on (and Wants-to-Know is resisting the urge to grab the messenger bag when the man's back is turned because he has the Curiosity Flaw), the rest of the pack is figuring out how they want to approach him when he inevitably comes to replace the device. They eventually settle on Åke at the front door of the building, Jerry hanging out behind it, and Claudiu hiding across the street.
And eventually, the guy back in the physical world has his gadget and his weird backpack and his bag o' tools (Wants-to-Know successfully made his roll to keep from stealing it), and he finds a quiet spot where he activates something on the backpack and Wants-to-Know witnesses him doing something that looks like a slow-motion version of a Star Trek transporter effect as he fades out and passes through the Gauntlet. Wants-to-Know waits a minute or two before following, but he doesn't roll great so it's going to take him a few minutes to get into the Umbra.
So this stranger shows up and heads towards the device that Jerry wrecked, taking a closer look at it and trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Åke comes out to greet him. The stranger freezes, flicks a switch on the device he brought with him (which begins beeping), and starts backing up before he tries to grab his bag and run.
When he runs, Claudiu comes out in Lupus form and chases him down, tackling and knocking him to the ground. Jerry uses the Wuxing gift to turn part of the ground beneath the guy to a puddle so they can turn it back to earth and restrain him. Åke uses Snarl of the Predator to weaken his efforts to escape.
By this point, Wants-to-Know has caught up and immediately goes to hamstring him... And because of how the dice landed, all but takes the man's leg off. Full up on lethal damage. Incapacitated. Bleeding out and rapidly going into shock. Jerry quickly improvises a tourniquet to buy them some time. Åke gets ahold of the beeping device and goes to throw it in case it's going to explode or something. But as he picks it up, dust from the ground sticks to it. He feels his clothing pulling in its direction. He throws it, and as it lands it implodes with a 'pop,' taking out a perfectly round chunk of ground beneath it in a one-foot radius.
Meanwhile, back at the chaos with the dying man, they spare a minute to give Wants-to-Know a "what the hell was that for" reaction before Åke takes off back to the caern to try and find a healer (or at least someone who could put this guy back into the physical realm so he doesn't just pull a Judge Crater). Jerry runs into the nearby church, thinking that perhaps there will be a spirit there that can save the guy. And he does indeed find a spirit of charity with the Healing Charm, who is at least able to stop the bleeding if not fix the man's ruined leg.
He's still out, though, and best-case-scenario he's going to remember being attacked by wolves (assuming the Delirium holds, which isn't a guarantee given that this is a man capable of stepping sideways). And the spirit of charity definitely can't help with that. They send Wants-to-Know to go to the church to track down Roy (the Nuwisha) and bring him back because he might be able to help. So after a very awkward explanation, the lupus manages to bring Roy back but his best suggestion is "give him a massive dose of beta blockers and hope for the best."
At about this point, Åke returns with someone from the caern (whom I'm going to have to flesh out before the next session as I didn't have any prepared NPCs who'd be good for this). The NPC suggests that there's a fetish called a Partridge Wing that might be able to help, but he doesn't have one and doesn't know anyone who does (but figures someone in the area likely has one). At about this point, Roy quietly takes his leave while the pack checks the guy's IDs (apparently he works at the nearby radio telescope and has some metal unmarked cards in his wallet) and start to check out his truck to figure out who he is before they do anything else.
And we left off about there, because it was getting late.
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