Renee: 1/12/97 - 2/2/97 (11/2-4/96)
November 2, 1996
Mr. Diary,
What a day!
Let's see, where to begin? John was a furry lump on the bed next to me, dead to the world when I got up. Hmm, that's an unfortunate choice of metaphors. He was still alive, despite the ugly throat wound. Anyway, I went out into the common room, and gave Reuben an update of the events of the night before. We agreed to split the healing that need to be done. We also agreed to overrule John, who said he'd be fine in a few days, and to take care of Eric first. We figured that as the only capable fighter out of all of us, we needed him on his feet. Also, Maxwell Blake was supposed to show up sometime that morning. Anyway, after I managed to wake John up, Reuben healed him. I don't think he's had much practice at healing people (and even less at healing Garou), but he did a really good job. Very smoothly done. I went of to meditate, since I was lacking the energy I'd need to do my share and heal Eric.
I went down to the basement, past Nathaniel's workbench piled with unidentifiable gadgets (including one where something was plugged into a potato), and dragged my beanbag chair over to the center of the basement. I know that I could do this from anywhere in the Chantry, but it just seems right to have a place just for communing with the node. It's bad enough that all I usually have time to do is say "Hi, node, don't mind me, I'm just here to grab some quintessence." At least I can make it vaguely ritualistic and not do it at the kitchen table. So, anyway, I made myself comfortable on my meditation beanbag (which is very witch-like; it's black with white moons and stars all over it). I drew some power off the node and then I went back upstairs and went looking for Eric. I found him in the library, along with Reuben and KC, which is how I found out about the next important event of the day, which I had missed while meditating.
KC had spent her morning wandering around the Chantry and had found the Tass. I'd forgotten all about it. So, apparently, had everybody else. KC, the only one of us who shouldn't have thought of it, since no one ever taught her about it, did. Apparently she ran across a mention of it in the library somewhere. Which reminds me, if I ever find the time, I need to take a good look at what's in the library. Everyone else, except John, (and he doesn't really count, since I just taught him to read last month) has spent a lot more time in there than I have.
Okay, as I was saying, KC found the Tass. Do you know what Tass is, Mr. Diary? No, of course not, I've never told you, and you're not a mage (at least I hope you aren't). Tass is like solidified Quintessence. The node produces it every month or so, in some form that it finds appropriate. For some reason, our node found letters from the Armed Services from World War II to be appropriate. There were four of them. They were a draft notice addressed to man named John Depew, then three letters to his wife, Angela detailing his injury, scheduled release from the hospital, and subsequent death when the hospital was bombed. When you open the letter, you find yourself suddenly in possession of a bunch of energy that wants to be used, right now.
I found out about it because KC took the matter to Reuben. She had opened one of the letters, and wanted to open the others, but didn't want to wasted them. Luckily, we found a compromise. I used the energy from them to heal Eric of the injuries he got from being dragged down a tunnel by a vampire's grip on his throat. So I didn't even have to use the quintessence I had just meditated for.
Eric, being injured, had very intelligently decided to spend the morning in a useful but physically non-stressful manner. He researched Vampires. apparently there are three types, nasty, ugly looking ones, like the one we just met, a group that used to be a house of the Order of Hermes, and ones who are the bureaucrats and leaders. Whatever.
We were low on people today, since Daedelus, Cab, and Mary were all nowhere to be found. John didn't say so directly, but I was pretty sure they had taken Mary out of harms way in case things got messy when that Blake person appeared. John thought all of the rest of us should leave before that confrontation, but I think he realized he'd never convince us to go.
After that, we spent most of the day just hanging out, sort of waiting for Maxwell Blake to show up. We decided that John and I would talk to him, and everyone else would hide in the basement and provide backup if necessary. He didn't show up, so we had lots of time to ourselves. John and I talked, finally. I refuse to repeat the entire conversation in here, but the general conclusion we came to was: Yes. It will be interesting to see what the future holds. (I don't even want to think about my parents reaction. They want grandkids, but I doubt they'd react well to ones that howl at the moon.)
Unfortunately, just hanging out is a dangerous thing for this group to do, because it means KC will get bored. Betsy, who had spent the night on the couch, woke up and snuck out without speaking to anyone. KC followed her. An hour later, KC calls from the NCSU library, wanting a ride home. The idiot child had followed Betsy down into the sewers, seen Ogre's body, and been grabbed and chased by a pointy-eared vampire named Yarkus who was a friend of Betsy's. And if you thing that sounds incomprehensible, Mr. Diary, you should have heard the story out of KC's mouth.
I should mention, it continued to rain all day long. I mean rain hard. I figured there were probably going to be flood warnings posted soon, if they weren't out already. Finally, around eight, I think, there came a knock at the door. A police officer, who introduced himself as Inspector Torres was there. He wanted to talk to Eric Muller and Mike Winters. Eric we could manage, but I didn't know any Mike Winters. After I thought about it, I figured that it was probably Daedelus' real name. He's never told it to any of us, unless maybe KC knows.
Anyway, we got Eric for the inspector. I went downstairs to try to eavesdrop. (They had set up some sort of intercom to the common room so that they could listen in on Mr. Blake when he showed up.) It had stopped working, for some reason, so I went back upstairs to try eavesdropping from the kitchen, which didn't work either. The two of them went into Eric's room to talk. We spent the time waiting for them to finish sticking pots and pans under all of the leaks which had begun appearing in the kitchen ceiling. They reappeared a while later, and the inspector wanted to talk to me next. So I took him back into Eric's room.
Inspector Torres wanted to talk about the events of Halloween night. I tried to act the part of the slightly ditzy blonde (you know, toned down STaN): I didn't remember just when we went to Pullen Park, I think it was, like, around midnight. No, we weren't doing anything in particular, ya know, just hanging out. I dunno know when we left, it was, like, three or four, I think. I wasn't wearing a watch, ya know; it didn't go with my costume. It went like that. The only fact of substance I offered was that Eric, Daedelus (I dunno his real name; he's Daedelus), John and I had been there. Before we got to any more dangerous questions, all the lights went out.
I led the inspector back out into the common room and then ducked into my room for some candles, which I lit and put on the coffee table. They were just votive candles, so they didn't give off much light, but it was better than nothing. The inspector left, saying we could finish this some other time. He wanted to talk to John later, as well. John shifted into lupus form, to make use of a wolf's night vision. I immediately started sneezing. Damn paradox anyway. A fur allergy was not something I needed right then. It distracted me enough that it took me a lot longer than it should have to realize that I was capable of improving my own night vision, too, instead of relying on candles.
Anyway, I went back to my previous task of putting containers under leaks. They were starting to appear in the rest of the rooms, as well. The others came back upstairs and reported that water was also seeping into the basement through cracks in the walls. John and Reuben came up with some sort of plan to protect the Chantry from the rain that involved water spirits, so they went off into the Umbra.
After about an hour, with no visible results (actually, it was raining harder), I decided to start packing. I started by packing my stuff, which didn't take long, since I'd only been living at the Chantry for about two weeks now, and most of my stuff had remained at my apartment. I tried to suggest to KC that she do the same, but she was shut in her room and wouldn't answer the door. Oh, well. After I finished my stuff, I went into Cab's room and started on hers. I figured that most everyone could fend for themselves, but she was off protecting Mary, so she couldn't take care of her stuff.
Suddenly there was a loud crash from overhead. Upon inspection, it proved to have been the sound of the roof cracking over the kitchen. Water was pouring in. Then, suddenly, it stopped. It was still raining outside, but nothing was coming into the kitchen, or any of the other rooms that had been leaking. I found out why when Eric came back in. I guess he'd gone out while I was in my room. Anyway, he'd built a force shield over the roof to hold out the water. Nice, direct, and effective. Now as long as the water level in the basement didn't rise too high, we might survive.
Reuben and John reappeared from the Umbra. I think they saw an echo of that structure that Eric put up. They refused to talk about what they had been attempting; I got the impression that they were rather embarrassingly unsuccessful.
I decided that this was quite enough activity for one day, and I went to bed. John didn't join me, for a change, since I started sneezing whenever he got with ten feet of me. I found myself having trouble sleeping without a large furry presence on the bed beside me. Not to mention the fact that, having decided just what was going on between us, it was really frustrating not being able to do anything about it.
November 3, 1996
I got up around eight (without power, I could only approximate) to the sound of the continuing rain. Someone had pulled out a battery operated radio, but all the radio stations were off the air. The water level in the basement was 2 feet and rising. John opened the front door to look out, and found a dead Maxwell Blake tied spread-eagle to the doorframe by thick strands of spiderweb. Now we knew why he didn't show up the day before.
We pulled the body inside, hopefully before any neighbors saw it, and took a look. the body was pretty waterlogged (surprise, surprise), and had a big round wound on the back, apparently made by teeth or claws. He appeared to have been dead about a day, but in weather like that, it's hard to tell for sure. Next we went through his pockets. The only thing of interest was that PDA of his, that he'd used to identify me.
John tried to find a place to dispose of the body, but between the fact that many of the neighbors were out, and that the street was a river, he didn't have any luck. after a while, I came up with another alternative. We dumped the body into the bathtub, and I prepared for a bit of ritual magic. Using most of a container of salt as my focus, I pulled all the water out of his body. The corpse dissolved into a pile of dust, which was very conveniently washed down the drain by the water I had just separated out from it.
We had no power and no phones, but we did have TV. Dog had apparently enlisted a couple of spirits to help him so he wouldn't have to miss his soap operas. I had to see this for myself, so I went into Reuben's bedroom, saw two little figures standing in front of the television with the news announcers voices coming out of their mouths. Then I started sneezing again, so I left.
I wandered back into my room with the vague idea that I might as well meditate a bit since nothing was going on, and I could always use a little more quintessence. Either I was distracted and not concentrating properly, or the node was tired of my rudely grabbing power from it so often, but it didn't work. I reached out to the node, opened up to it, and felt it grab me and shake. When it let go, I was completely drained of quintessence. I figured maybe the node was trying to tell me something, so I decided next time to do it right. Judging by the weather, I had 24 hours to spare, so I might as well use them. I'd forgotten just how good a long session of meditation could make me feel. I know you've never done it, Mr. Diary, so I'll describe it for you.
Around seven o'clock I went into my bedroom, lit some scented candles, sat on the bed, and meditated. It was really nice. As I relaxed, I started to feel the currents of energy around the place as if they were my own skin. I could feel the Chantry's node like a bright beacon. I was beyond any real directed action, but, nonetheless, I drifted slowly into the center of the node. I felt its energies flowing through me, in and out and around, until finally, all sense of my self was washed away, and I was the node.
At that point, some of the energy of the node, considering me to be a part of it, flowed in and stayed there. When I awakened from my trance, it was a full day later, and the Quintessence the node had shared was still with me. Also, I felt as relaxed and rested as if I'd had ten hours of sleep. (When's the last time that happened? I sure can't remember.) It's a very different experience from sitting down at the node for an hour and meditating to grab up some quick Quintessence. When I do that, it's like I'm trying to trick the node into thinking I'm a part of it, rather than actually becoming so. It feels almost like I'm stealing from the node, even though I know, that with just a little added effort, it will be glad to share.
Unfortunately, events lately have conspired against giving me much time to get it right. I'd rather do it the long way; I just don't have time. Frankly, I was surprised that no emergency came up that led John to come in and wake me up.
November 4, 1996
Well, Mr. Diary,
A few interesting things happened, that I wasn't present for. I was still meditating. While I was out of it, Daedelus brought Mary and Cab back. Mary looked outside and saw the rain. She was sick of rain. So she made it stop. Everywhere. Daedelus checked the weather and discovered that there were no clouds left anywhere on the earth. (at least, we're guessing Mary is actually responsible. Of course, these days, no coincidence is to large to be discounted.)
How do you deal with a child who can do something like that? John and I talked to her later, to try to get her to put the clouds back. She had no idea what she had done, much less how to undo it. I don't think it's possible t make her lose her temper again, this time really wanting clouds, so I don't know what else to do, except maybe pray to the Goddess that some weather mage somewhere decides to recreate a few clouds.
Mary also said that she has voices talking to her inside her head. One she calls Crystal, which confused her, because John used to call Mary Crystal before we found out her real name. She said that Crystal wanted everything to be just right, and kept asking Mary where she was. The other voice she said was Carrie, who didn't like us. Carrie also asks her where she is, and tells her she should leave the rest of us. Mary thinks Carrie is mean. If I had heard this from anyone else, my first thought would be a split personality, but this is Mary. The last time she heard someone talking in her head, it was a god.
Anyway, that evening we got Daedelus to build a gate to take us out to Forteau's so we could check on him. We found him on the floor, weak but definitely alive. Reuben and I determined that he was in shock, and then I let Reuben take over, since his knowledge of first aid is a lot better than mine. We put him to bed, raised his feet, and so on. Then Reuben and I linked to heal him. We managed to wake him up, and then I think Forteau himself took care of the rest. Whatever sort of Realm that place of his is in, it's really good for healing.
Forteau was pretty much back to his old self again. He refused to discuss what had happened to him, and launched into an interrogation of the group of us on the topics of recent events and the Weather Machine. He reacted better than I expected to the news that we had given the Weather Machine to Master Porthos to disconstruct. He wasn't angry. He seemed almost amused, as if we had done something extremely foolish, but that it didn't really matter all that much.
Speaking of foolish, he wanted to know why we hadn't made contact with the chantry spirit yet. I gathered this is something we should have thought of for ourselves, although I must say that I didn't know the place had a spirit. We got a bit of useful information out of him, too. He told us that the New World Order (they're part of the technocracy, Mr. Diary, in case I haven't mentioned them before) has a branch called Internal Affairs. Made me glad that Mr. Blake was dead.
He didn't know what the swamp rats were, but suggested they might have something to do with a group of radical shape-shifting environmentalist Verbena he heard were in the area. I decided to ask Nicole if she knew anything about them. I was kind of curious to hear her views on the occurrences of Halloween night, too.
Daedelus gated us all back to the Chantry and I went to bed. It seemed wise to catch as much sleep as possible, since sooner or later, something else was bound to happen. If all else failed, as soon as the roads drained, I was going to have to go back to work. My vacation had already been extended by the storm.
Last modified: Wed March 19 08:22:00 1997 by tabrady