Session 7. Change of Character(s)

Or more promptly titled: "Eric Sky over Sam Sky plus New Tonya minus Rain plus New Packmate plus Explosions minus Lodge minus Nails’s Patience plus Pentex squared, divided by Confusion" Tonya and Eric, whip in hand, step through the portal into civil war. Two warring sides, one led by Piercing Whisper, the other Eternal Balance, have initiated battle. The Healing Scars take their place by Eternal Balance and Rids-the-Pain. The judge, Piercing Whisper releases her Ethros visage. From under her “business” cloak, she forms into a massive tree. Roots bury deep into the roof of the building and re-emerge from the ground as sharp tentacles. Several other councilmen take her side, weapons drawn, ready to fight to the death. The battle is long and arduous. (Note: Instead of describing the events blow by blow, the following has been extremely summarized.) Nails takes down one of the Ethros gunmen at Piercing Whisper’s side. The Sky brothers, Eric and Sam, begin to duel. Dirge meditates as a field of amber encircles his frame. Killer-of-Lies initiates a ritual to protect his master; his own body contorts and twists into a wall of barbed wire. Dirge’s meditation is an advanced form of his Mad Rush; he lets forth a barrage of lightning-fast attacks, taking out the remaining Ethros gunmen. Whisper is angered by the defeat of her brethren and stretches her powers to the sky above. The sun in this realm, a small golden dot on the horizon, grows larger. Whisper is commanding the sun; the air begins to boil as it grows closer. Shortly after, the death sphere is directly overhead. Eric Sky, noting the severity of the situation, convinces his brother to use his manipulation powers to stop the tree. Sam finds common ground in this proposal, and coerces one of the nearby ghosts into possessing the tree. The sun dissipates as Sam’s dominance over the tree begins to outweigh. Piercing Whisper is not amused; she strikes back at Sam Sky, and a game of mental wits plays out. Eventually, the Sam cannot hold off her attack; his body keels over in excruciating pain. Piercing Whisper continues to pull the sun towards the Ethros building. Without any other option, Eternal Balance demands Marcus to return his blade. He buries the sword deep into the ground, invoking a rite. Everything stops. The Healing Scars, Rids, Sam, and Tonya find themselves inside the hub of the Ethros building. Eternal Balance explains that he has stopped time, a severe violation of their laws. There is little time; Piercing Whisper will soon learn of his efforts and find them. Eternal Balance requires a word alone with Rids-the-Pain. The two return after a short conversation; Rids tells the Scars that the ban will be nullified. The totem takes out his banishment documents and sets them on fire. His ban has been destroyed, but an imbalance remains. Eternal Balance decrees that a new ban will be placed on Rids-the-Pain, after this civil war between the Ethros is settled. Balance points above to Sam Sky, frozen in midair. To Eric, he explains that the Sky brother is his mess and must leave with the pack, never to return to this realm again. Balance holds Eric Sky’s book to the sphere and, against the spiritual light, the word Sam appears on the cover next to Eric’s. The two are linked spiritually; the Essence Sphere wants them to go together. Eternal Balance will also be keeping this book, as a way of checking in from time to time. Eternal Balance bids them farewell. One by one, they each loose themselves in the essence of the sphere. Eric and Sam enter at the same time. A surge of spirit consumes everyone. It invokes a sense of rebirth, as the makeup of their bodies in stretched thin and forcefully given new life. The ground is thick and frozen, it stings to the touch. The group is back at Hyde Park. With some reluctance, everyone begins to come to. An explosion rocks the immediate area; a small blast springs up several meters to the north. From the direction of destruction a stranger emerges. Nails wastes no time and enforces his trademark “vice-grip” on the man, who quickly defends the notion that he is a friend. He hastily explains that Strikes-with-Courage asked him to look after the park while the pack was away. The explosion was from a small grenade he placed, one of the booby traps he’s laid out to protect the park. The Uratha’s name is Deacon Sharpe. Nails relents his grasp. Once the commotion dies, it is made apparent that Sam Sky is missing. Eric, on the other hand, is lying on the ground trembling. He tells the Scars that Sam is not gone but far from it. Sam and Eric are now one; they are sharing the same body. Eric can feel his brother’s presence in him, and through tremendous mental strain, is fending his brother off for control of his, no… their body. Tonya also has undergone a change, under exactly the opposite circumstances: the entity called Rain has left her entirely. For the first time, in a long time, she is free. The pack decides to travel to the Lodge of the Hunt and speak with Strikes-with-Courage. Upon arrival, they meet one of the lodge members; he tells them Strikes is on business in Lancaster and will return tomorrow. Sharp offers his apartment as a place to crash; everyone accepts. Sharpe’s apartment is located a few blocks from Hyde. It is an absolute wreck, littered with trash, stale food, and various electronics. They order a pizza. Sharp throws on a porno. Tonya rolls her eyes and eats a slice of pepperoni. Eric decides to perform a test for his current condition. With Nails holding him down, Marcus inflicts a wound on the Uratha with his blade. Eric gives in to his brother, allowing Sam Sky controller of the body. Eric hopes that the cut will not show on Sam. This could serve as a way to distinguish the two, in case Sam tries to trick the Scars as he did before. Unfortunately, the cut remains, leaving no real way to tell them apart. Later, Marcus has a brief conversation with Words-Unwritten, who has been hiding inside one of his books. Words thanks him for getting him out of the realm, especially not telling Eternal Balance of his presence when they were at the hub. As promised earlier, Marcus informs him that he’ll drop him off at a library tomorrow. He’s a bit upset, as his ability to become Spitfire is dependent on the spirit. Words tells him not to fret; he will be nearby and, for a price, might aid the Alpha in the future. Meanwhile, Eric’s mental strain to contain his brother has reached an unbearable level. After a lengthy augment and some impressive persuasion he reaches an agreement. They both desire the same thing: to be separate once again in their own bodies. From Eric’s journal: “And the struggle continues. My will surpasses Sam's by far, but his ability to dominate is troublesome. I have formulated a plan. We've come to an agreement.For now, it does us no good to struggle for control. If he attempts to escape, he will be overpowered by my pack or myself- not to mention, once I regain control, it may put us in incredible danger considering where... or to whom he might take us. I cannot constantly restrain him, either. I need the entirity of my focus to function properly.Thus, we agree to work together for the time being. I will release him, and allow him full, unrestrained use of the body provided he does no harm to my companions or myself. In return, he behaves. We can utilize each other's abilities to quickly find a way to undo this... curse.” The next morning the pack awakens to horrific news. The television once again admits another rape has happened at the park last night. The police are reopening the case files of the rape/murders that were thought to have been solved with the death of local Detective David Simmons. A news camera briefly flashes to the crime scene, revealing a mess of blood scattered on the ground. Upon seeing the images, Nails becomes furious and storms out of the apartment. Eric takes alarm to the image of blood; a strange symbol is faintly visible in its droppings. If noticed a human could not decipher it, but an Uratha trained in the first tongue could read it plainly. In the ancient spirit speech the blood spells out the name of the Healing Scars own: Nicolas “Nails” DeWinter. Nails perceived it as an invitation to war from Simmons. And it would see that Nails has accepted. The rest of the Healing Scars follow Nails to the crime scene at the park. Unable to enter the scene Nails uses his senses to get a better picture of the attack. A woman was raped and murdered but the killers scent does not match that of David Jr. He follows the scent to a nearby bus stop. Sharp informs him that he can find the bus schedules on the net, allowing them to track down the killer. The entire group, save Marcus, travels to the Lodge of the Hunt to seek Strike-with-Courage. Marcus has other business to attend to. Marcus takes Words-Unwritten to the nearest locus and gives him directions to his new home. The ex-Ethros departs into the shadow accordingly. Blair then shifts his attention to his main goal, making sure Chelsea is safe. After a long trip he finds himself at Lindsey’s door. It won’t open; Marcus kicks the door down. Chelsea is tied and gagged to her bed. He breaks her bonds and consoles the shattered girl. Sobbingly she tells him that Lindsey tied her up, saying it was for her own good. Marcus grabs some food from the apartment; the girl quickly eats. She has no idea where Lindsey went or why she left. A note on the kitchen table from Lindsey tells Marcus very little, just that she is leaving and that the girl is his responsibility. He checks the caller ID for any suspicious numbers. One number is particular has been called several times. He dials it, and a youthful teenager responds that this is “Mike’s Pizza.” He hangs up, but jots down the number, just in case. Sharpe, Eric, Nails, and Tonya huddle in Sharpe’s car and drive to the Lodge of the Hunt. As they turn the corner, the entire building explodes. They quickly make their way to the scene. A black limo speeds away from the building, tempting the Scars to pursue. But, Nails smells the scent of Strikes-with-Courage in the building. A decision must be made: save Strikes or follow the attackers. The Scars decide to save their mentor. Eric and Nails run headfirst into the burning building. They find Strikes, who is unconscious under the ruble. Nails lifts him up and he and Eric carry the Storm Lord to safety. While the other two save Strikes Sharpe jots down the license number of the limo as it speeds away. They load the wounded Uratha in the Sharpe’s vehicle. Shortly after the limo make a hard u-turn. It would seem that the occupants of said car are unhappy that Strikes has been saved. The limo speeds towards the pack with full intention to ram them. Windows roll down; several gun barrels emerge from the black limousine. Sharpe does his best to protect Strikes and Tonya, moving them out of the limo’s intended path. Eric and Nails leap towards the vehicle and latch on with fist and claw. Eric disarms one of the backseat passengers using his whip, the Conduit Fetish. Nails engages with the driver of the vehicle. He plants a hefty blow to DeWinter square across the jaw. Nails spits out a tooth. The vehicle then swerves to the right, smashing the two against the remains of the burning building. Sparks fly as the two packmates takes great damage. Nails grabs the wheel and forces the moving car away from the wall. In an impressive feat, he leaps to the air, landing several feet in front of the limo. He pull out the stop sign connects with the front windshield, impaling the driver. The limo swerves out of control, rolling end over end into a ball of flames. The skirmish is over. Bloodied and bruised, everyone rushes back to Sharpe’s apartment. At the same time, Marcus takes Chelsea and checks on his office. An eviction notice hangs on the door. He calls a local moving company and has his goods moved. Low on cash, he uses credit. He also makes a few calls and tries to track down Ben Durbin, but has little to no luck. A relative informs him that Ben took a vacation a while back and hasn’t been around since. Back at Sharpe’s apartment, Eric uses his powers to keep Strikes-with-Courage alive. The Uratha is finally stable, but with no regain consciousness for a while. Sharp throws Tonya a US 10 dollar bill and wonders if she might tidy the place up. She accepts, and he marvels at her “cleaning” abilities. By this time Marcus has returned, and the pack fills him in on their events. Their Alpha’s presence was sorely missed, but Nails does a decent job of not complaining about Marcus’s inaction. Strikes-with-Courage finally awakens. He is glad to see that the Healing Scars have returned from the realm. He tells them briefly about his trip to Lancaster. He received a tip that the Pure were organizing a front there. Strikes found little evidence of the Pure, but did manage to bump into a murder spirit, calling himself Reckless-Hate. He also admits that Simmons’s scent was all over the place. They thank him for the information, and Strikes lays down to rest. Eric Sky formulates a plan. He gives into his brother in an attempt to use his unique ghost manipulation ability. Sam does not want to play nice, though. Once in control of the body, he uses his first action to crash through a window and attempt escape. Nails takes him down and Sam is forced to cooperate. Nails and Eric travel back to what was left of the Lodge of the Hunt. Eric hopes that a ghost from the limo wreck might give them some answers. They get lucky and manage to find one such ghost, lying next to the smashed car. The ghost will not confess the identity of his employer. After a promise of release from this world, he tells the two Uratha that Lancaster is where they can find the answers. Eric holds up his part of the bargain, draining the ghost’s essence. He smiles as his images fades away. Marcus’s cell phone rings. The caller ID says: Pentex. He hesitates and finally answers. A voice tells him that they have Lindsey and will make a trade, for the little girl. He’ll call back in 24 hours with more details. Deacon Sharpe asks who Pentex is and the rest of the Scars fill him in on the evil corporation. Sharpe pulls the Alpha to the side and runs an electronic sweeping device across him. The thing goes off like a fire-alarm. After scanning everyone, it is discovered that Marcus, Eric, and Chelsea are heavily bugged. It looks like Sharpe’s haven is no longer safe. Later, Strikes-with-Courage offers Marcus a hiding place for the girl. He tells him that Shadow Wind can temporarily hide Chelsea in the Shadow. This is not an easy task, and it will only work for a short time, but he doubt that Pentex will find her there. Marcus thanks Strikes, and the arrangements are made. Everyone prepares for a journey to Lancaster. What they will find there: the Pure, Simmons, Reckless Hate, Pentex or some other fiend is anyone’s guess.