Tuesday, September 5, 1995

Carter gets the translations for Serbian and Enochian and studies them, and believes that it has something to do with Elliot Bay. There are two locations to investigate: Bainbridge Island and Shadow Lake (northwest of Maple Valley). On Bainbridge, it's a bluff on the SE portion of Bainbridge. 

The group takes the ferry over to Bainbridge and find the buff in a non-developed portion of the island close to Port Blakely. The place feels magical to everyone. They try to triangulate, but find that space seems warped. After some prodding, it appears to be a meditative inward spiral but without feeling artificial. 

Gunny goes to talk to spirits, who feel it's a human-y thing. Most people steer clear of it, and the trees don't extend into it. Gunny agrees to take some acorns and stuff to plant elsewhere. 

The place feels different from the Changeling cavern, and this is more comprehensible. Since it was found through the Enochian fragment, it's suspected it might be more mage-friendly. 

Everyone but Gunny decide to go in. They reach the center. Tamara blue-screens. Hugo and Astrid encounter a blue glowing entity in a cavern-like space, and Tamara and Gunny are not visible. 

The entity assumes that they are there for the talisman, but says it's not time for it because the "compact is not complete." Unless things have gotten truly dire, the entity cannot bestow the talisman. 

The compact was made among the enlightened (supernatural) peoples of the Puget Sound in order to prevent a horrible tragedy befalling the humans. Not something prophesied, but something that had begun happening. It was a creature for which the enlightened peoples did not have a name, but it was a sea creature of some sort. It is asleep for a hundred years. It either needs to be renewed after 100 years, or it needs to be destroyed if technology has successfully advanced. 

The talisman is like the one from the bridge, and is one of several needed for the ritual to bind the monster. 100 years was what they could manage with their power at the time. In theory the entity will persist until the time of renewal, and be replaced. Speaking to the entity is like talking to a mage avatar, which is why Tamara is not present. (She has no dots in Avatar.) Speculation of Astrid and Hugo is that the mage sacrificed their Avatar to create the entity. 

The entity asks where the talisman had been found. There are two entities in the compact that are present and will have memories of them, while the changelings are more ephemeral. If Carter would like to find entities who know more, he should seek out the ghosts beneath Pioneer Square or Monsieur Sutter on Vashon. 

Outside, Gunny just sees the other three zoned out. Tamara loses contact with that iteration and contacts Gunny. 

The group exits the experience and heads back to the ferry. Astrid calls Carter and asks him to come down to Pioneer Square to talk to the ghosts. They kill some time till he arrives. 

Astrid, with her ghost sense, can sense the hot spot of ghosts. Gunny has a flashlight. Tamara gets possessed by a ghost in... Chinese? 

They want to know more information because so much info got lost over the last 60 years. The ghost says that Sutter would take care of everything, so that may be why others forgot. 

What needs doing will vary depending on who is doing it. The ghost narrates the situation: the supernaturals of the region sacrificed some of their energy to keep the beast from Elliot Bay asleep for 100 years. After 100 years elapses, everything will need to be renewed by supernatural beings. The original group involved Tobias's grandfather Henry, a werewolf named Nikša Zorić of the Shadow Lords, an Order of Hermes Mage named Archimedes, Wen the ghost, Pierre Sutter or one of his descendants will do it. 

It was a major sacrifice on most of their parts, some more on their others. 

Tamara proposes a supernatural council to mixed results. 

The group decides they need to talk to the vampire, and head out to Sutter Castle on Vashon Island. They are allowed in provided there are no weapons. They are searched and led to a sitting room. The furniture in the place does not seem to have wood. 

The servant leaves to get coffee, and a man comes in shortly after that looks "50". Introductions are made, and they explain that information had been lost and since there was a lack of info on him so they wanted to make sure he was okay. 

Gunny functions as the face, but Astrid does put forward Tamara's idea for a mutual support network beyond just this sea monster situation. He likes the idea, but thinks others (like his grandson) would be better to bring in since Pierre is a recluse by choice. 

Part of the ritual did involve encircling Elliott Bay, so that was why Sutter was brought in. They are given contact info for Gideon Sutter, Pierre's biological grandson who has also been embraced. 

When they go to the hotel for the night, Astrid calls Gideon who is at a dance club. Astrid also makes the pitch about a mutual support network. They stay at a hotel and head back in the morning. Home Tamara makes a copy of the tape for Carter. 

6xp