Season Seven

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Summary of Events. Also Todo List


2022-10-03

(Jules finishes a painting, Holly and Ariane talk about Sword and performing seances, Jules is angry/sad, Liz arrives, Holly has a chill shift at The Guild and brings a letter from the Lady of Kowloon back to Jules. Carlie gets followed home from the gym by corvids and meets Raven of the Tower of London getting Tower of London Corvid's Shilling Coin. The Pack finds out The Tower itself wants us to patrol/define the borders of London, the letter from the Lady of Kowloon offers us a choice of defend the Tower or beat the bounds. There's a discussion of logistics and if this will anger Dagenham, we verify the coin and hence the raven, and make plans)

Jules finishes the final piece of art that was commissioned by Giannis Valatos and it turns out well.

Holly digs into the journal entry about sword: When the casual observer assesses Sword they find it similar to Redcar, Smoke stacks and forges billow smoke into the sky. The best for industrial landscapes except perhaps Shield, but better than Gary, almost festival like. If you travel up the main boulovard you'll see the Avenue Of 2 Great Titans which are not only people but companies. Sword is always trying to make the Unstoppable Force and Shield is trying to make the Immovable Object, one great titan is seen trying to push a spike through the others shield, and as they make better weapons better shields are made in response. I had to scarper because I pissed off a local, by making a request without due compensation. Also wood is forbidden here (asked for a repair to a walking stick). There are more details in the entry on Shield (Harold Styles on Sword)

Holly and Ariane talk about what would be useful compensation to offer, Lydia suggests the gospel (the most valuable thing), Carlie rolls her eyes so hard she leaves, walks ferociously, then hits the gym. The rest of us talk of the origin of The Primrose-Morton Sword, Ariane says she has many stories about it, but nothing concrete, we talk about if asking ancestors is a good idea and Ariane suggests a grand séance and Holly suggests asking Bell as a good starting point to locate a place suitable in London. We discuss if we should tell Lydia that its definitely possession and necromancy.

The Stargazers text Sunny, want to compare notes on latest trip, its just Sebastian freshly returned from the quest to find the origins of Covid (Laurent is notably not there as usual) they arrange to meet in the same cafe, so Sunny starts to cook for the owner. She attempts to recreat the rabbit a l'orange (Season_Four#2021-06-21) she learnt at the Primrose-Morton's but can't quite get it to go well, so whips up a quick batch of brownies as cover.

Jules breaks things angrily.

Holly heads to a shift, but as she's leaving the pack house Liz arrives. She says its okay because one day Holly will cover shifts for her in similar magical situations. Holly warns her that Jules is "a bit raw" and she cautiously directs her upstairs, Liz has chocolate which she uses to help break the ice on bartering entry to Jules room - where she has been obviously crying her eyes out. There's a bunch of emotional care with Liz's perspective being that people died because of many interlocking factors that brought them into the same place as things Jules did, many steps which put everything in the same place. She also suggests teaching from The Guild may help avoid future mistakes.

Meanwhile at The Guild: No one bats an eye at Holly. They seem to have an unspoken "spooky shit happens" agreement. During her shift the Lady of Kowloon approaches, leaves an ornate envelope with Jules full name and honourifics (Ahroun of Gaia, Alpha of the Southwark Bells, etc) then drifts away, and Holly carefully pockets it then transfers it to her locker.

At the cafe meeting: Sunny hands the brownies over and sits down with Sebastian, they have a discussion about whats been happening and Sunny tells him everything about The Realm of Creeping Soot, his eyebrows shoot up, there's talk of the hospital, and detailed information about the realm and fight (but she leaves Jules experiments out of it). Sebastian says this is better than any test he could dream up, welcomes her to the Stargazers and leads her to the bathroom to take her through the mirror for an initiation rite. On the way the cook tells her that her brownies were "pedestrian!" and that his Grandmother made better brownies, these were lacking zoom! Sunny vows to try again.

On the way back from her gym Carlie gets a takeaway coffee and realises she's being tailed by corvids, texts the pack, heads for the warehouse/wasteground where the Alpha Games took place, ducks inside and waits until a corvid comes in. It drops at a safe distance and they play yes/no hopping to answer questions. It tells her that its following her for someone, who wants to talk, and it can't really bring them here as they're a spirit world native. She hops through to the Umbral version of the warehouse, spots a big corvid spirit that introduces itself as a Raven of the Tower of London, says its not been waiting long, confirms she's a Ragabash who talks her pack into/out of things, and tells her London wants her pack to do an important job for it, wants her to talk the Alpha into accepting "an important role in defining London" in the form of a job of travelling the edges of London, like a patrol but all of London, and that the Alpha will get offered two jobs and London wants them to do this one. It will owe Carlie and the Pack a boon if she pulls it off. When asked how soon this will be it shrugs and drops a shiny coin. She pops back out, gets check-ins from Lydia and Jules while most people are asleep.

Next day: Holly updates everyone that The Guild didn't ask questions, Carlie just opens by talking about a spirit of the Tower of London and Ariane speculates on beef eaters or princes, Carlie ignores her and tells Jules she'll be offered two roles and London wants her to the boundary walking. We talk potential issues like: Will this be patroling into others territories? Carlie's main point is that every time a big spirit asks us for help it looks like the right thing to do. Jules wonders if this is linked to her talking to spirits ages ago as part of the Alpha Games where she asked for help protecting her pack. A general plan is formed to deal with this after Jules delivers her piece of artwork and looks after Liz.

Sunny almost tells the pack she joined the Stargazers but Jules jokes about butt sniffing so she doesn't.

Holly then sneaks Jules the note from the Lady of Kowloon as she heads back upstairs.

Carlie and Holly examine the coin, Holly can tell it came from the Umbra but its now a physical thing, Holly checks it was given freely and confirms its probably a gift. We discuss if its a token?, A magical link to the tower?, Proof of the job?, Something to take on patrol? It's a shilling coin whos faces change a little based on what angle you view them at, seem to have names and faces of various Lord Mayors of London throughout history. Ariane tells a long dry story about Mongolian spirit coin tokens (ooc: she botches her knowledge roll and bores people). We also find out that Lydia doesn't know what a muppet is so show her some Seseme Street.

Jules meanwhile opens the letter upstairs, its in very flowery language but offers her and the pack a role in the Annual Celebration of Mythic London, a grand ritual that keeps the city safe, prosperous, and growing. There are 2 options: Defend/Patrol the tower of London while others do their thing (this is a role the Previous Southwark Pack apparently did every year) as sometimes neer do wells and undesireable elements attempt to sneak into it and disrupt people or patrol the borders and beat the bounds of London, a race like the first to visit every Underground station, where the member of the Pack who got the most stations would perform a rite to visit "Every part of London worth mentioning" and list them all by name. This is normally done by the Dagenham Deadbeats (however their light on members this year...). The letter is signed by the Grandese of London.

Back in the Kitchen when the letters contents are discussed there is talk of who is undesireable, plans, which jobs to do, we find out Lydia doesn't know about the Wombles, and making ties to the Raven and Tower. We talk to expansive definitions of London, not wanting to step on others territories, or intrude into the territories of external-to-London packs, Carlie wonders if this is The Guild kicking Dagenham and using us to do it, we wonder what happens if they refuse and say they still want to do it, suggest this is a matter for the Spirits judgement. Ariane suggests checking if this Raven is good spirit linked to the Tower, Sunny texts the Stargazers and they confirm the detail that if the coin shifts in the light its a legit marker from The Tower of London itself.

There's a general plan:

The pack ends in bickering, Jules heads upstairs texting the Deadbeats to arrange a meeting.

2022-10-10

(Lydia is busy with work meetings, Jules breaks the news of the Beating the Bounds to Sanjeev of the Dagenham Deadbeats, and finds out more details of how they do the challenge and information about how The Grandese and The Tower interact. Ariane and Holly visit Bell and learn about good places for a seance with Ariane probably deciding on The London Necropolis Railway, we also find out more about old packs and how the last one disbanded after dealing with a Nazi Dimension Attached to the O2 Arena and we learn that Angel Islington is probably a real Angel. Carlie finds her new job involves Sir Robert Laffrey in some taped meetings. Sunny improves her cooking. The pack meets and discusses things, Ariane finds an entrance to Southwark Abandoned Tube Station, some of the Pack explore and find a previous pack used it as a base of operations)

Lydia goes for a meeting with the NHS for occupational health and other such return to work meeting, which largely keeps her busy during this session (when Ceri is busy with work).

Jules arranges a meeting with the Dagenham Deadbeats and arranges to meet Sanjeev for a pint in a pub. Jules breaks it as an opener that we got an invite for the Annual Celebration of Mythic London, his face falls as Dagenham haven't had theirs yet. They discuss that the richer packs may be nudging Southwark to step up, and she doesn't want to see the Deadbeats removed by Southwark without warning. Sanjeev admits that they did screw it up last year, they insisted on using the tube but for closure reasons the visits had some "unpopular holes", says you can't drive it (because you can loop the M25 but you miss a lot), you need to use the tube for the inside, confirms there are about 5 Deadbeats left (as they just got a new person) and Bill is in legal trouble so he isn't around that much. He suggests Kyle and Sanjeev could hit everything on the tube but isn't sure they can hit everywhere (the rule is that one member of you pack has to visit all the places and then name them).

Jules lets him know that Raven of the Tower of London visited us and the spirits want us to do it. Sanjeev says that last year The Immortals protected the Tower of London but were lazy, there is discussion of the politics between The Grandese (political reps of the various mythic communities of London) and The Tower itself (the embodiment of London's spirits?) and its always very confusing. Sanjeev presents The Grandese as a power force in opposition to London as London itself doesn't always want what the ruling people want. Jules says she sees The Pack as something not quite in line with what the big people want.

Sanjeev just wants Jules to be sure that The Deadbeats get an invite to do something, Jules invites them to walk with the Pack if nothing else and Sanjeev confirms it won't count as it has to be one person from the named Pack and the places that just that one person visits.

He says this just brings home how much his pack is in decline, feels like he's being called out. Jules tells him they're down but not out and they always have friends in The Southwark Belles. He ends by sending Jules back with compliments for Sunny as a good sous chef.

Meanwhile: Ariane and Holly go to visit The Bell of Southwark, Ariane explains her situation and is recommended to talk to The Bell of All Souls Cemetary at Kensal Green (which has 4 chapels sooo?) or look into The London Necropolis Railway ("The Dead Underground"). We ask about older packs operating in Southwark and are told there's been several, all ending in different ways - dispersing, dying glorious deaths, etc.

Our predecessors closed a Nazi Dimension Attached to the O2 Arena (Holly checks in her book... nothing), we're told that Harold Styles was from about 4 packs ago during WW2 and helped during the war - apparently it was a terrible time as the Nazi's had the Waffen Wolves and Black Spiral Dancers working for them, Style's pack was involved in a ritual to basically capture a spiritual invasion that was sent over, putting it in a bubble in an unused part of Southwark (where they could live in a fictional reality where they thought they'd won) that then got the O2 Arena built on top of it, the building broke down the spells. Some of the pack survived going in there, but they were never the same and went their separate ways. Even the Vampires lost interest in the Arena after that. Ariane speculates a little about lengths of pack at about 25 years average (Styles was the 4th pack, war ended in 1945, so 3 packs since, but assume some gaps).

There's talk of our role in the Annual Celebration of Mythic London and we're told that protecting the Tower is mostly hanging around in hi-viz jackets stopping tourists getting to close. Ariane bitches about Vampires a little. Bell tells us a story of an Angel (The Angel Islington), a Vampire (Eddie) and an old Southwark Pack who went to Cannon Street to destroy something that a group of Vampires had made, a bad spirit hiding at a BDSM club and occupying the minds and souls of sadistic humans - they coordinated an attack from the physical and Umbral worlds to destroy it. Bell confirms that Angel Islington is a real Angel, as far as she knows. Ariane suggests getting her to pass on a message about the sword for Lydia before remembering she's banned from heaven.

Meanwhile: Carlie has a new job at work, going through a huge pile of tapes, these are of an unknown board room of a finance firm talking about trading strategies. 4 hours in she recognises the voice of Sir Robert Laffrey, he's mostly silent, occasionally talking of long term strategy and investments in Hong Kong and the Chinese Government (evoking links to The Lady of Kowloon). She digs more and finds that things are weird/wild, she can't get through the mass of financial/shell corporations involved but can tell that something is afoot.

Meanwhile: Sunny contemplates her cooking peril of last session, suspects she rushed the sauce and comes up with ideas to improve the seasoning so gets to cooking as the others get back.

During all of the above is a lengthy 2022-10-10 Pack Text Discussion.

At the Pack House: Ariane skims a book about the Necropolis Railway, Holly looks into Westminster Bridge Road for a possible tube station down to the abandoned parts, Ariane has a text conversation with her father about doing seances, he says her mother has been possessed a few times in the family crypt, there is back and forth before her mother gets her to send in a picture of the sword, complains its damaged, and is very cagey about history of it (its not worth digging into its story, her job is to further its story), and Ariane is told to bring it back in 4 days. She immediately decides that shes going to do a seance and then travel to Sword instead. Jules arrives back to confirm that the Pack is Beating the Bounds during the annual ritual, Holly goes to her shift.

Ariane gets a coffee and goes to scout locations. She finds some scratching in First Tongue saying "Southwark Pack are here, hands off" and a nondescript metal door marked "If you've got an appointment poke this then knock" with the image of a spanner. She texts the group chat and everyone except Holly and Lydia (so: Jules, Sunny, and Carlie) arrive at about 23:00. Ariane pokes the spanner and there's a spiritual shift and a rusty clunk, the door is open enough for the Pack to head inside, Ariane starts recording on her phone.

In the Southwark Abandoned Tube Station there's stairs down, part way is a large mirror before the stairs become uncrossable, we pass through into the Umbra (the Gauntlet seems very very thin here) and down the Umbral stairs while bickering about the Necropolis Railway, downstairs are a few rooms, with a large chamber, and several mirrors. There are 6 caskets in one of the rooms in the Umbra with a script that unreadable to us. We pass back to the physical through the mirrors. Find an old generator, 3 flood lamps, sofa, TV, empty gun case, a few posters (2014 Millwall FC labelled "Sucks" and 2014 Spurs FC labelled "Greatest", hand drawn poster of a big eye used as a darts bullsye labelled "Mother"), there's an English to Russian translation book, a Ham radio guide, and some Hayes car manuals. Jules pokes around, finds some overalls marked with a local garage name/logo. The place looks cleaned out in an orderly way, people packed up before they left. There's noise and faint breeze from passing underground trains and Ariane looks around, finding an old track bed with no rails on it. Sunny sniffs and finds there is a strongly scented bottle of Russian perfume near one of hte lockers, Carlie picks the lock and inside we find a stylish but out of date dress from about 8 years ago.

There's talk of using this as a place to cross over to/from the Umbra, and optionally as a base of operations. Ariane suggests leaving something for the next pack, Carlie and Jules argue that we don't need a creepy secret base. Ariane says that even if we just leave a piece of paper with a list of ongoing current problems we haven't solved yet it'll be better than we got. She pings the videos she took to the group chat once they leave and get to the surface.

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