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I've been doing a literature review at the Hermitage and within my own stash and the Athena and SCCU library's occult section to see if I can turn up something regarding the spiral glyph patterns in the city. It's a hell of a long shot, I know, and it's not panned anything out yet. At all. I did unearth a few things about spirals and iconology, though. There's a garou-based theory that claims the spiral used to represent a spiritual path, but the Dancers seem to have perverted it into nihilism and oblivion--although there's a theory that Dancers walk that path in search of enlightenment--even if it drives them batshit insane. Further poking about revealed that the spiral may mean a journey towards one-ness. By travelling the outer edges of the spiral down towards the center, it's a focusing element. Something that brings about oneness. This might be reaching a bit, but perhaps the oneness that occurs with certain spiral glyphs at the temporal level is also echoed at the mental level--tying in the viewers/participants/protestors to some collective subconscious. But what is it that's being tapped into?
I think I'd be insane to try and tap into that directly. It'd be like sticking your brainstem in a power relay station's transformer. ZART! But what if I used a protester--as well as a mental shield--as an insulating buffer? Or--safer still--read a protestor's mindspace immediately after the spiral glyph in the vicinity deactivated and the energy went elsewhere? I bet I could use a whiff of Time magick and some Mind magick to experience what they'd experienced with none of the "holy shit!" factor involved. It'd just be a human mind that just finished experiencing.... something.
Alicia called me up asking for a favor: pick up her kid Andrea from a movie theater and take her to Alicia's apartment because Benedict was busy with something. I showed up right as Andrea dropped a guy to the ground (he'd been harassing her) with a punch to the throat. Guys left. Ghost turned up. Introductions were made. Andrea feels a little frustrated because she wants to do stuff but Alicia doesn't let her. Typical teenager stuff, except mom's a werewolf who's capable of flying off the handle, killing or crippling her, and EATING her. After a little convincing that I was not the babysitter, we headed out. Stopped so Andrea could get a pizza to take home. She went to the bathroom and skipped out the bathroom's window. Ditched. I let Alicia know and got texted back that we might have set a record for how long it'd taken Andrea to ditch us. On my own, out talking with Val later that same night, Andrea came in to Garcia's, we had a sit down, and then I took her home safe and sound. (So long as Alicia stays away.)
Val and I'd had an interesting conversation prior to Andrea turning up. Basically I proposed showing an experienced theurge the pattern, via a hologram in the umbra, so they could try to make heads or tails out of it. Mouse is the obvious choise; HOWEVER, I'm concerned that looking at that pattern might inflict Wyrm taint on her or make her frenzy. I'm of the opinion that this is where someone not as powerful as Mouse be the one that goes first. Val mentioned Dakota as an alternative. She can bring her pack, have them all waiting in the wings and not looking at the pattern. Ready to take her down and restrain her if she frenzies or hold her down and cleanse her if she gets tainted. And if the taint is nasty, Mouse (ubertheurge) can cleanse it. Val said she'd put the plan into action and keep the fact that there's a warper involved on the down-low.
Thursday I got a note from Slug about how he'd tangled with some black ooze infested wolf-like creatures (I bet they're those things that were trying to track me down in Portland earlier last year) with a crippled, un-oozed Spiral--a possible trap to draw in more garou to capture, as they attempted to grab Fitz, render him unconscious, and drag him off. Slug and Marcos were there, though. Turned the tables on the wolf-things, and they scattered. (Slug did kill one, though.) The rescued Spiral claimed to be a cub, but Val said he was lying. It's being kept on the bawn. There's supposedly a high-ranking BSD in town named Renegade who's affiliated with GENOM and used to lead a hive down in Hanford. Sounds like he got evicted by the black ooze and lost the hive.
To do list:
* Mind-read a protester just after the spiral glyph in the vicinity shuts down to see if I can see if they're being sent subliminal messages.
* Work through Val to share the spiral glyph pattern I found in the city with Dakota.
* Poke around in the head of a captured BSD to see what there is to see, see if he's got a pack link up and running, see if the Spirals are as afraid of this black ooze as we are, and see what he remembers about having walked the Spiral.
* Do a detailed scan of the BSD to give to Pavel to see if he could theoretically "un-BSD" a garou so as to alleviate the need to send them to Erebus / Garou-Hell.
I think I'd be insane to try and tap into that directly. It'd be like sticking your brainstem in a power relay station's transformer. ZART! But what if I used a protester--as well as a mental shield--as an insulating buffer? Or--safer still--read a protestor's mindspace immediately after the spiral glyph in the vicinity deactivated and the energy went elsewhere? I bet I could use a whiff of Time magick and some Mind magick to experience what they'd experienced with none of the "holy shit!" factor involved. It'd just be a human mind that just finished experiencing.... something.
Alicia called me up asking for a favor: pick up her kid Andrea from a movie theater and take her to Alicia's apartment because Benedict was busy with something. I showed up right as Andrea dropped a guy to the ground (he'd been harassing her) with a punch to the throat. Guys left. Ghost turned up. Introductions were made. Andrea feels a little frustrated because she wants to do stuff but Alicia doesn't let her. Typical teenager stuff, except mom's a werewolf who's capable of flying off the handle, killing or crippling her, and EATING her. After a little convincing that I was not the babysitter, we headed out. Stopped so Andrea could get a pizza to take home. She went to the bathroom and skipped out the bathroom's window. Ditched. I let Alicia know and got texted back that we might have set a record for how long it'd taken Andrea to ditch us. On my own, out talking with Val later that same night, Andrea came in to Garcia's, we had a sit down, and then I took her home safe and sound. (So long as Alicia stays away.)
Val and I'd had an interesting conversation prior to Andrea turning up. Basically I proposed showing an experienced theurge the pattern, via a hologram in the umbra, so they could try to make heads or tails out of it. Mouse is the obvious choise; HOWEVER, I'm concerned that looking at that pattern might inflict Wyrm taint on her or make her frenzy. I'm of the opinion that this is where someone not as powerful as Mouse be the one that goes first. Val mentioned Dakota as an alternative. She can bring her pack, have them all waiting in the wings and not looking at the pattern. Ready to take her down and restrain her if she frenzies or hold her down and cleanse her if she gets tainted. And if the taint is nasty, Mouse (ubertheurge) can cleanse it. Val said she'd put the plan into action and keep the fact that there's a warper involved on the down-low.
Thursday I got a note from Slug about how he'd tangled with some black ooze infested wolf-like creatures (I bet they're those things that were trying to track me down in Portland earlier last year) with a crippled, un-oozed Spiral--a possible trap to draw in more garou to capture, as they attempted to grab Fitz, render him unconscious, and drag him off. Slug and Marcos were there, though. Turned the tables on the wolf-things, and they scattered. (Slug did kill one, though.) The rescued Spiral claimed to be a cub, but Val said he was lying. It's being kept on the bawn. There's supposedly a high-ranking BSD in town named Renegade who's affiliated with GENOM and used to lead a hive down in Hanford. Sounds like he got evicted by the black ooze and lost the hive.
I scanned Slug's crumpled, dirty-looking note in:
I went to go talk with Mouse over at Maxwell Tower and instead ran into a new Fostern Ragabash Walker: Briari Follows-the-Money. Seems kind of like on of those Corporate Wolves I've heard about, except not terribly corporate per se--just familiar with working within the confines of a corporation as a means of structuring her life (and perhaps self-worth?). She seems a little out of place, honestly. But she's working on chiminage: teach three things, only one to a Walker. I got halfway into asking her to teach me something before I realized that I'd just be satisfying my own curiosities about things while sapping a potential resource from a garou. Mouse turned up, Briari left shortly after, and Mouse and I had a chance to talk. She's going to invite me over to see the Spiral to see if I can skim something out of its headspace. I'm tempted to take a peek at what it's like to take a few steps down the spiral. Mouse said she'd seen it via the adren theurge she'd possessed and that each "trip" was customized to the garou/Spiral who walks it for maximum effect. It still messed her up. I'll see about saving looking at Spiral walking stuff until the end so I can pull out and just end thing right there on the spot. I'm a little surprised they haven't checked the Spiral out to see if he was communicating with potential packmates (assuming any are still alive) about the names and locations of the garou where he's being held prisoner.Slug reports that he, Marcos, and Fitz encountered someone screaming for help not that far away from the Bawn. There was a fight, during which they discovered some 'Black Goo' tainted creatures ( possibly Spirals ) were attacking a lone Spiral. When Slug and friends arrived, the things were ready to meet them, and fought well. Tactically. They tried to seperate the Garou, and drag Fitz off. Based on the fact that Fitz was disabled instead of killed, that the Goo-rou tried tried to drag him away, and that the Spiral was maimed on all four limbs, Slug posits that the creatures had *meant* to catch a Garou alone in the woods, cripple them, and attack whoever came to rescue them. When the battle turned against them, the wolves all split up in different directions, and ran very quickly. They are still at large. Their numbers are unknown. Slug would guess that they had some form of at least Garou-level intelligence, and that they communicated with each other. In addition, normal wounds didn't do a whole lot to them. Slug only killed one of the ones he fought by shoving his arm down it's throat and tearing out one entire side of it's body. The Spiral they rescued claims to be a cub, and surrendered willingly to Slug. He is being kept under constant guard near the Bawn. Slug indicates that thanks to Val, he knows both of these to be a lie. But he's going to have Mouse attempt to save the Spiral through a Rite, in spite of that. A Big Bad Garou named Renegade is in town, in the GENOM tower. Slug would emphasize DO NOT FUCK WITH THIS GUY, because even the Spirals are afraid of him. He's big bad juju, and smart, which is bad. 5) Renegade was the one that led the Spirals to Hanford to set up a base. Then he went looking in the hills for the old Caern, Sept of the Last Days. He sent scouts. First one didn't come back. Second one had a tracking Fetish on him, and he didn't come back either. Disappeared near where the old Caern was. Not long after, Spirals in Hanford started having wicked bad dreams, hair started falling out, and stuff was generally real bad. It sounded a little like radiation poisoning to Slug. It got worse from there. Worse enough that the Spirals were scared shitless, and even Renegade left in a hurry. He left behind scouts to watch, but things didn't go so hot for them. Slug theorizes that when the idiot Spiral scouts poked the Sept of the Last Days, they let loose the juice. Then the juice went straight to the nearest power source, the nuke plant, where the Spirals were camping out. Bad times were had by all. The Spiral's account of bad dreams and physical illnesses ( among other things ) seems to indicate that the The Goo at Hanford ( and probably around The Last Days ) can reach across the Umbra and fuck you in the Realm. If the Spirals were screwed up just by being in the Realm when it *arrived*, this means that many humans in the Hanford plant site ( and possibly Hanford itself ) are likely corrupted by it's influence. He ( the Spiral ) seems to be under the impression that they let loose a curse, and that it has a grudge against Spirals. Truth? Probably not. Might just be his own perception. As a final note, he would add that due to the stuff's ability to reach across the Gauntlet, and the fact that the *Spirals* didn't even realize they were being corrupted until everything went to hell indicates that the utmost care must be taken when investigating the stuff. It may be possible to be corrupted without being aware of it.
To do list:
* Mind-read a protester just after the spiral glyph in the vicinity shuts down to see if I can see if they're being sent subliminal messages.
* Work through Val to share the spiral glyph pattern I found in the city with Dakota.
* Poke around in the head of a captured BSD to see what there is to see, see if he's got a pack link up and running, see if the Spirals are as afraid of this black ooze as we are, and see what he remembers about having walked the Spiral.
* Do a detailed scan of the BSD to give to Pavel to see if he could theoretically "un-BSD" a garou so as to alleviate the need to send them to Erebus / Garou-Hell.
