Session 11. Rats, still infected!

The Healing Scars wake to find themselves in a freezer room somewhere in Colorado. The local pack, the Deathdealers, has found them and locked them here for containment. One of its members is a fellow by the last name Greene who likes to be called Sparks. Sparks (who looks very much like a young Steve Buscemi) is a MacGyver of sorts when it comes to electronics and computers. As the pack attempts to break out of this room, he shows off his skill by electrifying the floors and walls of the room. Sparks informs them that they are infected and, until they are cured, the Uratha will remain here for everyone’s protection. When asked how they arrived in Denver, Sparks explains that members of his pack intercepted them when the phoenix spirit dropped them on the mainland. Fortunately they’ve raided a bunch of factories from this company called Pentex and were able to find several strains of antidotes to the parvovirus. While none of them were the entire cure, it seems that each was a piece to the overall puzzle. The antidote that the Scars found on the plane was, what he and the rest of the Deathdealers believe, the last piece to this puzzle. Currently, Sparks he tells the pack to sit tight and remain in isolation. One of their kinfolk, a research biologist named Amber Smith, cultured the strains together and believes she has a working antidote. She performed this research from her lab in Memphis, Tennessee and this is currently in route with the cure and is estimated to have it there early in the morning. The kinfolk scientist replaced their original doctor who was murdered days ago. Marcus also wants to know where Max Roman and the Silver Syndicate are as this was to be his contact per Strike-with-Courage. Sparks regrets to inform him that the entire pack is away on urgent matters in LA due to a recent Pure attack. The Deathdealers pack is the #2 in Denver and, for the time being, they are in charge of parvovirus matters. Later that night they are offered some food. Everyone, minus Nails, accepts and eats. He instead finds a slab of semi-frozen meat and dines in style. Eric Sky uses his spare time to create a warding rite to work against the parvovirus. His efforts are unsuccessful, but he does manage to discover several distinct clues that may lead to future success. Marcus Blair still obtains the sword given to him by Eternal Balance. The Elodoth channels its power and attempts to use it to commune with the Ethros Spirit. Through intense meditation, he manages to obtain a connection and finds himself back in the hub of the Ethros realm. Eternal Balance is before him, waving his arms like a conductor while several spheres dangle above, breaking and splitting into smaller orbs. The Ethros elder greets the young Uratha and explains that he is breaking the singular Essence Sphere into several pieces, in order to better protect the realm in case another like Magaloth attempts to steal it. When asked for advice on what to do next, the spirit vaguely informs him that he should listen to the blade of the sword. They will come a time when they reach a seemingly hopeless opposition. He tells Marcus that it will guide him to the answers, though other members of his pack might resist this level of thinking. Finally, he tells him that a great power lies in slumber in that sword, and that he will soon harness its greatness. Sparks greets them the next day with the newly arrived scientist. Dr. Smith injects each member with a serum and reports that they should know very soon if the effects of the antidote have worked. A half hour later Sparks re-enters the meat locker and is thrilled to report that the antidote was successful; they are free to leave. There’s something fishy in the tone and manner in which Sparks delivers the message of their new cure, as if perhaps he is lying to save face. He also adds that they have been requested to attend at a meeting for the Lodge of Harmony later tonight. Before they leave, the werewolf quite indiscriminately slips them a note. They leave the building without speaking a further word. Once outside, they read the message: Meet me in approx. 2 hours Dane’s Pub – 12th street Don’t be followed Eric Sky peers across the gauntlet to see if they are any signs of infection. The spirit realm reveals that the parvovirus is still in their systems. They have nearly two hours until they need to meet with Sparks, so they decide to make the best of this time. Marcus thinks they should concentrate their efforts on the previous doctor who was murdered. Deacon does a little snooping around of the net and discovers that his house, where he was murdered, is not far from here. During their investigation, the effects of the virus hit the pack hard. (System Note: here are my rules on how we roleplayed risks for further infection from the parvovirus. Each pack member made a stamina + survival check. Anyone who failed that roll collapsed, taking two aggravated damage. These checks were made at various intervals, ranging from every fifteen minutes to ever hour.) Marcus is overcome will illness and collapses. As the rest of the members tend to him, Deacon weakens to the disease and falls as well. They eventually both recover, but this proves the effects of the disease are quite real. A cure must be found as soon as possible. Nails determines to divide the group as he sees fit; he and Marcus will wait behind while Eric and Deacon proceed on to the doctor’s house. While speaking of these plans the werewolves notice that several groups of rats have been following them, no doubt attracted to their disease. Eric follows a hunch and uses Two World Eyes to peer into the shadow. Sky’s assumptions were correct; many of the rodents in the physical world are actually rat hosts called Beshilu. He creates a warding circle that should protect each packmate should these evil spiritual shards attempt to feed off of the Scars. Both Deacon Sharpe and Eric Sky take a taxi, generously tipping the driver to get them to their destination as fast as humanly possible. He chuckles and tells them to hold on as says he’ll cut their trip’s time in half. Several of the Beshilu rats attempt to pursue the two infected werewolves but eventually fall out of sight as the cab accelerates to illegal speeds. The cab pulls to the address, and they witness a rather distraught woman, presumably his widow, exiting the home. They wait for several minutes and approach the house, looking for an easy way in. Deacon spots one of the back windows slightly ajar, and they take advantage of this to gain entry. Once inside, they find the crime scene. The master room bed has blood stains soaked through the mattress and along the adjacent wall. A locus is present in the room and both use it to step into the spirit world. A ghost of the former doctor is there lying on the bed in the exact position where he was murdered. Several rats have gnawed away the top of his skull and are currently chewing away at his brains. Eric tries to give him some essence to rouse the spirit. He speaks briefly but it is mostly gibberish about how he can no longer remember. These Beshilu are erasing his minds and they feast on his spiritual body. Eric pumps more essence into the victim to decrease his sedation. The rats grow angry, lashing out at both Deacon and Eric. But a newly formed warding circle drawn by the Bone Shadow protects them for the time being. The doctor snaps up from the bed, eyes burning wide and bright. He remembers something as he repeats over and over: “He is still in the park, in the park, in the park. HE did this to me. HE did this to me.” Sky: “Who did this to you?” “The one who is controlled by another. The ONE who is controller by another. He will do this to you… to US ALL if he is not stopped.” The last of Sky’s given essence is absorbed as the ghost lies back in his bed, completely comatose beside his anchor. There is no more information to be learned here today. Both packmates depart and race to the pub to meet up with the rest of the Scars. After that ordeal is over, the entire pack rejoins and promptly meets Sparks at the bar. He’s a bit jumpy as he first apologizes for all the deception. As they have already figured out, they are not cured of the parvovirus. The current antidote was a failure, and more testing needs to be done to see if an acceptable one can be cultured. Sparks also explains why he had to lie to them. His pack is called the Deathdealers for a reason. After seeing what the regular wolves here in Colorado went through, they are not taking any chances with the disease. If the infected Uratha couldn’t be cured immediately, they would be killed, simple as that. And what’s with all the lying and the sneaking around? This is because his pack, in their extreme paranoia, had bugged the entire area (including Sparks) so he had to meet them like this under these circumstances and lie to make the rest of the pack believe there was no immediate threat. He also tells them that the disease tends to spread after long expenditures of essence so they ought to “cool down” using spiritual powers for now. Right now they have, what he can determine, two choices. 1) This is a choice he figures they’ll pass on. Get the fuck out of dodge, go back to England, and lie low. Sparks promises that he and Dr. Smith will continue working on a cure. If they can find it in time, then he will of course see that they get the antidote. At least they can die in peace, not hunted by Agents and Uratha. 2) Find a cure within the next 10 hours (its noon and the lodge meeting is set to take place at 10pm) and then proceed to the lodge meeting as the Deathdealers requested. They cannot go to this lodge meeting with the parvovirus, it would be detected and the Scars would be terminated. Finding a cure is damn near impossible. Maybe, MAYBE there’s something they missed in the dead wolves at Rocky Mountain National Park. But Christ if that isn’t the longest of all shots in the dark, diamonds in the rough, needles in the fucking haystack Sparks has ever heard of. And they can’t stick around here infected. Sparks says that once his pack finds out they’ve skipped the lodge meeting they will hunt them down, assuming the worst. These are dangerous times we’re living in, and these Uratha are not taking chances. The Healing Scars wonder why Sparks is going through all this trouble to help them in the first place. His motivation is simple, he was a long time ago friends with Nicholas DeWinter. Nails may be just a shell the former ally once knew (due to Nail’s sketchy memory), but he is still a good friend worth protecting. He looks his old mate square in the eyes and says that someday after all this mess is finished he’d like to take him up to Alaska to set his head straight. He and the scientist will be around and might try to check out Rock Mountain NP depending on certain factors. Sparks leaves and wishes them the best of luck, parting them with a little gizmo the Iron Master devised that looks like a lovechild between a calculator and a pager. The device when activated creates an encrypted connection between him and the pack via cell phone. He also gives each one of them a cyanide tablet. They should use this if the disease tries to spread again or if the pain becomes too much. The Scars mull over a couple of beers, deciding to head to the park in hopes of finding clues. The initial journey in Rocky Mounting National Park is fairly uneventful. But as they grow closer to where the first wolves where infected, more and more rats trail behind. Several minutes later it’s become increasing clear that they are being surrounded by the little beasts. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of them drawing near as they form a circle around the pack. While an all-out confrontation appears imminent, a large black man in an overcoat (very gangster looking) approaches from the horizon and makes his way to the group. After he comes within shouting distance of the pack, he begins a dialog with the furry rodents in their native tongue. Eric Sky strains his ears to make out the conversation, but the dialect is far too foreign for him to comprehend. The rats attention is fizated on him as they retreat a bit, reforming in a group several yards behind the stranger. Even wierder, he starts having a new conversation/argument with himself. After some further exchanges the gangster concedes with his imaginary friend and agrees to do his bidding. But he argues that there’s no point in doing any of this since the werewolves are almost dead anyways. Using a gift, Marcus Blair determines that this man goes by the name Ghetto. Ghetto turns to the froup and tells that he's real sorry that he has to kill them. A faction of the rats behind him break off and join with his body as he transforms in to a massive were-rat nearly twelve feet tall. The remaining rats (hundreds broken up into groups of 10 for combat purposes) around him also go a bit crazy and prepare to attack. Eric does what he does best and creates a warding circle to keep the disease-loving mother fuckers off their backs. Nails concentrates his attacks on the closest groups of rats, putting the stop sign to good use by slicing the little buggers in half. Both Deacon and Marcus make effective use of their firearms, dropping back to a reasonably safe distance and firing out round after lethal round into the rat monstrosity. Each time the gunmen inflict severe damage on the were-rat; more hordes of rats join with his body giving him a nearly limitless system of soaking damage. The warding circle also briefly collapses as Ghetto successfully poisons Sky's mind through spiritual trickery. In this moment of weakness he attacks Sky, landing a near fatal blow. The Scars need to act fast. Sky is fading, and the surplus of Beshilu has made the attacker become nearly invincible. Marcus Blair remembers that words that his mentor gave him earlier that day. He unsheathes his sword and initiates a series of vicious melee maneuvers. One of his blows proves extremely deadly and, as sunlight reflects off of his blade, he makes out a faint signature of what could best be described as a spiritual cord of sorts embedded in the back of the attackers head. He raises the blade high, concentrates with ever fiber of his being, and brings his weapon down swift and sure upon the connection of this cord. The link is severed in a flash of painfully blinding light. The were-rat passes out, easing back into his human form as the remaining Beshilu scatter in confusion. The Scars are victorious; their new prisoner has some explaining to do.