After the intense castigations, the group decided that taking the rest of the day off to rest and recover was in order. Jonny decided to look into armoring his car so it could be used as a battering-ram against spectres, but soon realized that he was about 12 obeli short! Cliodhna-- remembering the terrified reactions the living have had to her visage when she appears in the skinlands-- decided that she could still talk to her grandfather...by going into his dreams! She went to the Blue Moon Tavern-- it being one of her fetters-- and was able to successfully enter her grandfather's dream.
Her grandfather appeared as a much younger man in the dream, and he was having a great time partying with his friends. Cliodhna approached him shyly, and when he saw her he grabbed her up in a big bear-hug and asked how she was doing. She smiled sadly and told him that she wasn't a part of his dream-- she had entered his dream as her mother used to be able to do. Her grandfather didn't seem to understand, but pulled her over to the bar trying to get her to accept a drink. Try as she might, she couldn't get him to take anything she was saying seriously in the dream-realm. She thought to herself for a moment, and decided to take a risk that because her grandfather-- being a Garou-- was immune to Delerium, that he would also be immune to the innate fear her visible form causes. She left the dream and then gently woke her grandfather. She knew he would go to the kitchen-- he always went to the kitchen to get something out of the fridge in the middle of the night-- so she flickered there quickly and made herself visible.
Her grandfather entered the kitchen and went to the fridge without noticing his surroundings, so when he turned to sit at the table and saw Cliodhna sitting there, he gave quite a start and admonished her for startling him like that! The two were very happy to see each other, and her grandfather sat at the table with her. She asked him if he knew she and her mother had died-- totally unaware of how many years had passed-- and he chided her lovingly saying that of course he did, and that they were both buried out back. Cliodhna shivered in distaste-- her body was under that earth! It was a weird thing to realize, but she recovered and spoke to her grandfather again. She told him that her mother was with Turtle, but that Markova had taken her from Turtle for a few minutes to deliver an ultimatum to the wraiths, so her mother wasn't safe with Turtle after all. She told him that it was her desire to protect her mother and the Blue Moon Cairn by any means she could offer, so if anything happened to the cairn, her grandfather should call to her in case she could hear him that way...until she could think of a more sure way for him to contact her in emergency! Her grandfather looked very worried when she mentioned Markova and seemed to be deep in thought while she spoke. Then he told her that she was welcome to come around as much as she wanted...as long as she didn't appear visually around her poor elderly grandmother and give her a heart attack! Cliodhna laughed and agreed, said she better be going, and the two parted.
The next day the cohort gathered and decided to go to the ambassador of the Kingdom of Wire immediately to see what that errand was all about. They had to go into the Jewish quarter of the city, and got the feeling that they weren't welcome. The Jewish quarter was an eerie place-- moaning spectre-corpses partically moliated were hanging from light posts that glowed with a sickly green light. The cohort approached the gates to the ambassador's building and were told to leave their weapons at the gates, which they did. They spoke with the ambassador-- who had no idea why Daniel would send them to see him-- and they got the definite message that the Jewish quarter could protect themselves with no Hierarch help wanted or needed. The ambassador was polite and accomodating, so they told him to be on the look-out for any traitors who could be Billy's contact, and to let them know immediately if one was found. The ambassador agreed to do this, and the group left.
The cohort was very frustrated with Daniel, and went back to confront him about the increasing appearances his Shadow was putting in. His secretary told them to wait at the front, but after an hour passed and they weren't shown in, Cliodhna became angry. She left the building, went invisible, and then re-entered and walked right to Daniel's office...and there was no one in there! She looked all over the building but couldn't find him, so she left the building, re-appeared and walked right up to the secretary. She told the secretary that she had just received word that Daniel wasn't even in the building, and the secretary looked startled and jumped up to peek in Daniel's office. She came back to say that he was, indeed, in his office and would see them now. The group was confused and frustrated, but entered Daniel's office.
Aaron used one of his arcana to check Daniel to see if his Shadow was controlling him, and found that it was not. The group told Daniel about how they had just come back from seeing the ambassador of the Kingdom of Wire on Daniel's orders. Of course Daniel didn't remember ordering them to do this, and this led into the group telling him that his Shadow had been taking him over more and more frequently. Daniel looked very dimayed by this news. Cliodhna asked if he had any other news or orders for them, and he said no, so the group left. Cliodhna was getting angry-- if a leader in the IRA became unstable like this, they got rid of them...the cause was too important to risk. She decided that it was time to find out how to dispose of this anaceron. But there was still the matter of the spectre-contact, so she took the cohort to the spectre-crafted tree in the middle of the city.
Cliodhna knew that one of Markova's men-- Usher-- had been crafted into the tree, so she went up to the tree and whispered "Usher.." The spectres in the tree writhed at her word, but none responded. She tried saying his name louder, but still nothing responded. Brianna went up and did a Fatalism reading on the tree, and was shown such a horrifying vision that when she was able to break out of it, she went running shrieking as fast as she could go. Aaron and Cliodhna chased her down and grabbed her, holding her down until she could calm herself. When Brianna finally calmed down, she thanked them for running after her, and told them about her vision. She had seen the coming apocolyptic war, and during the battle the tree had suddenly split down the middle and all the hundreds-- maybe thousands-- of spectres who'd been forged into the tree had stepped out and joined Markova's army. Amoung their numbers she'd seen Usher and Scar-- her abusive boyfriend in life who she'd killed in death. He was an incredibly powerful spectre.
Brianna was possessed by the urgency to tell Angelo and William about her vision, and so the group went back to Matthew's house. When they got there they found themselves in the middle of a small battle. Angelo was laying unconscious in his car parked near the house, and Marie and Jack were fighting a group of men who appeared to be mages. Brianna, Cliodhna, and Jonny ran into the house and saw Thomas lying unconscious on the floor. They ran upstairs and found Matthew's mother lying unconscious in her bed, so they hurried with trepidation to Matthew's room, and saw a spectre crouched over him! Brianna ran at the spectre in a rage, and between the three Wraiths, the spectre was soon destroyed. They saved the body to be soulforged, and Brianna stayed upstairs to protect Matthew while Cliodhna and Jonny ran down to join Aaron and see what was going on outside.
Once they got outside they saw a very frustrated Aaron trying desperately to use Outrage to beat up the mages, but one of the mages had thickened the gauntlet to such a degree that the Wraiths couldn't pierce it and help the living. They had to watch passively as the fight grew worse-- Marie was able to completely tear through 2 or 3 of the mages, but then another mage put Jack to sleep and he slumped to the ground. A second mage stopped time, and Marie was frozen motionless. The mage took out a wicked-looking dagger and plunged in into Jack's chest. The group knew that he would be just fine...in a few minutes when he was able to regenerate...but suddenly the mage ran his fingers down the dagger's blade and it turned into pure silver as the mage was walking over to Marie! The group tried and tried to tear at the gauntlet to help Marie, but it held firm.
Just as the mage lifted the dagger to plunge it into Marie's chest, he was suddenly lifted high into the air and thrown hard. Then the rest of the mages, too, were lifted and flung. Cliodhna knew this was familiar somehow...where had she heard of this happening before? And then Amon came walking up to the Wraiths! Amon! It was her hero right there in front of her-- she would finally be able to meet him! He looked like he must have aged since he and her mother had fought together, but was still dignified-looking and handsome, and had that cane she'd heard all about! She just stood there staring with her mouth hanging open as Amon greeted Marie warmly-- her giving him a hug-- asking what had just happened. No one knew where these mages had come from, but Amon was able to find a symbol on them and knew where their hide-out was. Jack finally came to and also greeted Amon, and then Amon turned his attention on the Wraiths.
Amon peered at Jonny and said that he looked familiar...probably from his life as a famous musician. He looked at Aaron and said that he also recognized Aaron, but that he wasn't sure from where...maybe from one of the many Garou cairns he had visited over the years. This whole time Cliodhna just stared at Amon in complete dumbfounded silence. She was trying to think of something witty to say, or a good question to ask him, but her mind wouldn't work! Here was her childhood idol standing right in front of her and she'd turned into a dumb statue! Jonny mentioned that Brianna was upstairs guarding Matthew, and before Amon could even notice Cliodhna, he quickly rushed upstairs to check on those two with everyone else in tow.
Amon and Brianna also greeted each other warmly, and Brianna showed him that Matthew was just fine. Matthew stirred a little in his sleep as his true love and son hovered over him, so they quickly stepped back, and Amon warned Brianna that both she and he shouldn't spend too much time around Matthew as their presences disrupted him, and she sadly agreed. Brianna handed the spectre's corpus over to Aaron to use as payment for the guns Lucky was getting for him, and the group all started back downstairs.
As Amon turned to go, he finally noticed Cliodhna staring at him, and looked at her for a moment. He told her that he didn't recognize her-- which illogically depressed Cliodhna since he seemed to know everyone else, and SHE was the one who idolized him!-- and when she was finally able to use her voice, she shyly said that she was Amber's daughter. He was very pleased to hear that, and looked her over as he compared her current appearance to that of the little toddler she had been when he last saw her. He asked how her mother was doing, and she sadly told him that she'd been killed. Amon looked very disturbed at this news, but then Cliodhna went on to say that her mother had told her all about Amon and his great deeds and everything her mother's group had accomplished with him, and that out of everyone her mother had told her about, she had spoken with the most praise for Amon. Amon looked genuinely touched by this, and the two started down the stairs to join the rest.
Cliodhna told Amon that she had been devistated when she heard the story about what happened to his wife, and Amon stiffly thanked her. She realized that this might have been an error, and so she overcompensated by asking him if he'd really destroyed the Roman army with his great powers. Now Amon looked uncomfortable and told her he never wanted to talk about that again, and then turned to the group assembled outside. Cliodhna was mentally kicking herself over and over again. She'd really blown it! Now she was sure that she and Amon would never get to be friends like he was friends with everyone else! She stood in dejected silence as Amon told everyone that he had to leave quickly to inspect the mage's hide-out and destroy any others who may still live. Brianna told him about her vision of the tree, and Amon suggested that she report this immediately to the anaceron of Fate, and Brianna said she was already planning on it. Amon then quickly left to do his errand, and just then Angelo got out of his car, moaning in pain and asking what had happened. They filled him in, Brianna told him about her vision, and then Aaron spoke up and said that he would send for a group of his Garou-friends to come help Angelo and William protect Matthew, and Cliodhna said that sounded like a great idea, and that she would send for some of her kin, as well.
The cohort returned to New York and split up-- Brianna going to the Hall of Fate, and the rest of them taking the spectre corpus to Lucky. The group arrived at Lucky's and greeted his men outside with familiarity and respect, and they were very friendly with the group. They took the spectre corpus inside, and the soulforger inspected it and said it was in great condition, so the group went out to hunt the second spectre. They found a nihil nearby, and it wasn't long before a spectre emerged from it and the group annihilated it. They brought it back to Lucky's, and Aaron was given his matched set of guns-- which he inspected and played with like a little kid! Lucky invited them to stay and talk and eat, and they accepted his invitation gratefully.
As everyone was talking around the table, one of Lucky's men asked Cliodhna what her name was. She said it for him a couple of times as he struggled with it a little, and then he asked her to write it down, which she did. He looked over the name, squinting, and said it looked like one of those weird Irish names...no disrespect or nuthin'. Cliodhna smiled and nodded. The man said that she looked more Italian than Irish, and she nodded and said that she was, indeed, half Italian. The men got all excited at this and started talking amoungst themselves, saying that they needed to give her a better name-- an Italian name, no disrespect or nuthin'. Cliodhna didn't quite know what to say-- she'd never run into people having trouble with her name before-- but smiled and laughed and waited to see what they'd pick out for her.
They finally asked her what her name meant in English, and she told them, and they thought for a minute and one of them said that he had a cousin who'd named his daughter something that meant close to that meaning and sounded very similar-- Claudia! The rest of the group started testing out how "Claudia" sounded to them, and all agreed that they liked it much better, and that Cliodhna didn't fit her, but Claudia did, no disrespect or nuthin'. Cliodhna rolled the name Claudia over in her mind, and it was like the name clicked into place in her head, uniting her forgotten Roman genes with her ever-present Irish ones. It was only fitting that she had a Roman name, and she was completely calm and accepting of Lucky's men changing her name on her-- which was odd for her, because in life if anyone had "disrespected" her Celtic name, they would be looking down the barrel of her gun! She was mostly quiet and smiling politely during this whole exchange, but her mind was pondering everything and analyzing her feelings. She finally assured the men that she liked Claudia, and no, she wouldn't feel disrespected if they called her that...especially in light of the cold welcome the Irish Renegades had given her.
The group remembered that they needed to meet up with Brianna, so they said their good-byes and started walking around New York in search of her. They finally found her walking around in the middle of an outdoor arts festival. Aaron was busy polishing his new guns, so Cliodhna asked her how she'd fared with the anaceron, and Brianna told her that she'd been instructed to seek out William and a doomslayer he was with named Ash and tell them about her vision. The two had been last seen here, so...ah! there was William! Brianna told William about her vision, and about what had happened at Matthew's house earlier, and asked William why he hadn't been there. William looked completely startled, and said that it was his day off-- that ever since Jack and Marie had arrived, he and Angelo had agreed on alternating their watches. Cliodhna told William that she and Aaron would be sending for a group of Garou to help them protect Matthew in light of Markova's power obviously growing, and he nodded and said that sounded like a good idea. Brianna asked him where Ash was, and William pointed to a castigator's office just down the street, so the cohort next went there.
They quickly found Ash, and Brianna told him about her vision. Then Cliodhna broke into the conversation and asked how Ash felt about the old governor leaving the city and about the new governor. Ash looked around and said in a low voice that he didn't like it. Cliodhna told him about Daniel's Shadow-problems, and that she thought new leadership was in order. Ash told her that she better be careful who she said that to, and she nodded. He told her that she should talk to Paul, the Anaceron of the Legion of Paupers, because he would be a simpathetic ear. Aaron started asking Ash about the Doomslayers, and by the time Ash was done describing what they did-- hunting spectres in the Tempest, and such-- Aaron was convinced that he wanted to become one. They group said good-bye, and went to catch a boat to take them out of Ellis Island where Paul was stationed.
The group reached Ellis Island and entered the Hall of Mystery. At the mention of Brianna's presence, the group was quickly shown in to talk to Paul. Brianna told him all about her vision of the tree, and Paul responded that that he had never felt good about that tree being right there, and he would arrange to have it strengthened...although if the forgers made a mistake, the tree would weaken, so it would be a very delicate and dangerous job. Brianna told him about how Daniel's Shadow had been taking him over and issuing strange orders, and Cliodhna related how she had searched Daniel's office invisible and he hadn't been there, but 1 minute later he was sitting there like nothing had happened. Paul expressed his concern at this, but his reaction wasn't as outraged as Cliodhna would have liked, so she excused her bluntness and told him that she didn't trust Daniel or the new governor. Paul quickly stopped her and said that they needed to talk about this outside where he was sure they weren't being listened to. She agreed, and Paul told them where to meet him.
An hour later everyone was back together and the conversation resumed-- Paul giving the occasional wave and greeting to people who passed by and called to him. Cliodhna continued telling Paul that she felt that this new governor being put into position would be the thing that destroyed the city somehow, and that ever since he took over the position, Markova and the spectre-activity had suddenly gotten a lot stronger. She said that they needed to get rid of the governor and Daniel as soon as possible. Paul told them that, in fact, the governor and Daniel were very close, and he didn't trust either one of them at this point, and agreed with everything Cliodhna had said, but told her that in order to get rid of those two, they would need absolute proof of their corruptness. Paul told the cohort that this should be their first priority, and they should report to him with whatever they found. Paul ocassionally commented that he missed being a centurion and wished he didn't have to wear the mantle of anaceron. Cliodhna smiled at this and offered to trade him jobs, and he looked like he was actually seriously considering it! Paul suggested they also go visit Anaceron Kelly of the Gaunt Legion, and they parted from Paul and sailed back to the necropolis.
The cohort went to the Joseph and Mary Clinic-- the Hall of Misery-- and asked to see Anaceron Kelly. They were shown to his office, and when they opened the door, there before them was the anaceron and some woman on his desk...engaged in something very private...so the group left. Cliodhna was disgusted with the leadership of the Hierarchy! Sure, anacerons should be able to engage in physical pleasure, but not while on duty! Cliodhna was thinking that there needed to be some changes soon or the city really would be ripe for Markova to pick!
Cliodhna questioned the cohort and found out that both Ray and Dr. Steele could now both go invisible, so she ordered Dr. Steele to go invisible and stay on Daniel's heels all day, and for Ray to do the same to the governor, and then both should report back to her everything they saw each day. They agreed to do this and left immediately. Cliodhna dismissed the group for the day, and she and Aaron went to their respective fetters and did what they needed to have Garou from their cairns sent over on a moonbridge to protect Matthew.
The next day dawned, and Dr. Steele and Ray reported that they had seen nothing out of the ordinary with the men they had been following, and went back to resume their spying. Brianna joined the cohort, and the group returned to Matthew's house to see if the Garou had made it over safely. Aaron pointed out a large, black van halfway down the block with some huge guys sitting in it and said that those were his friends, and looked excited to see them. He ran over and started annoying them a little with his Wraithly skills, and then re-joined the group with a big smile on his face. Cliodhna quickly found the Garou she'd asked her father to send over, but chose not to appear to them. As the cohort was looking around, Amon returned and told them that the hide-out was now abandoned. Cliodhna told him about how they were currently spying on Daniel and the governor, and Amon nodded in agreement, and then he told them that he would be joining them soon in the world of the dead. The group's first reaction was horror and alarm at what that meant, but then Cliodhna grew excited and felt some relief that he would be coming to help them.
This reminded Cliodhna of something. She asked Amon if he knew why his sister Ahura was acting funny lately, and Amon asked what she meant. Brianna broke in and said that Ahura had forbidden them from returning to the Met, and that this had angered Brianna to no end. Amon asked what had happened to make his sister so angry with them, and Cliodhna told him that they didn't know, but that she had called Cliodhna the "daughter of evil." Amon looked very confused at this, and asked Cliodhna what Ahura had meant by this. Cliodhna said she had no idea-- maybe Ahura didn't like Garou? Or maybe she didn't approve of Cliodhna's IRA activities in life? Amon shook his head and said that Ahura was kinfolk like the rest of his family, so she would have no hatred towards the Garou, and he didn't see how Cliodhna being in the IRA would earn her the title of "daughter of evil." Amon sat thinking about this, and Cliodhna commented that Ahura sure wasn't like the rest of her family, and Amon nodded saying that she'd always marched to her own drummer. Cliodhna added-- calling Ahura "A-whore-a"-- that she didn't approve of Awhore-a asking Jonny to stay behind so she could sleep with him. Amon sighed and said that his sister never did have good taste in men, and Jonny-- feeling offended-- made a crack back at Amon, which Amon decided not to respond to. Amon said he needed to go but that he would be around, and the group returned to New York.
They decided that they better resume their patrol of the docks, so they made for the harbor. Suddenly they saw a huge throng of people running towards them in a panic-- common soldiers and centurians alike-- screams and shouts filling the air. Cliodhna grabbed a man as he ran past her and asked him what was wrong. He was panicking and trying to get out of her grasp, but told her that the five had come before he finally broke away and disappeared into the crowd. Cliodhna told the cohort to wait there for a moment, went invisible and sprouted her wings, and then flew towards the docks. There she saw before her the most terrifying-looking spectres she'd ever encountered. One-- who seemed to be the leader-- had sharpened nails for teeth and a distended jaw...he must be the one Ray met. The next was completely white, the third had animated chains for hair, the fourth seemed to be made entirely of iron...didn't that man say there were five of them? But where was the fifth? Cliodhna slowly pulled her gun from the holster and pointed it at the leader, becoming visible again and motioning for the cohort to come quickly. Suddenly she felt something wizz past her head and dodged out of the way just in time. An ancient Chinese-looking warrior landed on one of the ships, and motioned for her to fight him.
The cohort quickly ran up to Cliodhna, picked who they wanted to fight, and then ran at their targets. Cliodhna put her gun away and drew her gladius. Holding it out at a right angle to her body, she flickered past the Chinese warrior with the intent to slice him in half, but he was just as fast as she was and dodged out of the way with only a scratch. But as he was dodging, he also managed to hit her and Cliodhna felt her body tingle in a sickening way and she suddenly felt weaker. What was this strange power? Again she flickered past him, swinging her gladius, but he was able to soak the damage she did, and stopped her in mid-air with a stunning punch to her stomach. Now she felt much weaker-- almost too weak to fly, and definitely too weak to try to fight again. As the warrior made to hit her a last time and send her into a harrowing, she used her last bit of pathos to flicker two blocks away, and fell, landing on her stomach on the ground where she layed motionless.
The rest of the cohort was also finding out that these spectres were way too powerful for them. Even Aaron-- who managed to damage his target-- was brought down to the point where he would have gone into a harrowing if he hadn't managed to get to his fetter at the last second. Jonny, too, had had to remove himself to his fetter. Brianna-- after driving two of the spectres back into the Tempest-- was about to take on the next three when her Shadow used a trick of the light to make her attack nothing but air instead of a spectre, and two of the spectres fell on her and almost killed her. She used pathos to give herself enough strength to also appear back at one of her fetters. As Cliodhna lay on the street, she knew she had to find people who could defend the city and her men...she hoped they were all right back there. She felt so completely humiliated for having been taken down so quickly and for having to fly away to save herself. Now...she had to find someone...
Game 5: "The Long Walk of Matthew"
