We kicked off the game where we left off on July 25th - with the Sept Leader challenge. Forest Ghost had claimed the position, which was challenged immediately by Blood Debt, Bleached Bones, Eyes of Erin, and Sister of Mercy. This led to a private conversation between the five challengers and Asa, with Ghost stating that he would prefer a Sept Council of pack alphas instead of a single leader. Asa says he would prefer that anyone in a Sept position be a member of a bonded pack (with totem) and willing to make Breckenridge their permanent home. The only one qualified at the time was Sister of Mercy, as the Golden Laurel pack had decided to stay in Breckenridge, and were tired of Denver and Colorado Springs of sending their "dregs" to Raven's Roost. Forest Ghost and the other challengers back off and agree to meet again to challenge once packs and their totems are established. Asa and the bane tender, Smoke, broke away from the main group at the Cairn to discuss the possibility of one or two more packs joining the Sept.
Most of the Rocky Mountain High pack agreed that Raven's Roost/Breckenridge would be a good place to settle down and establish territory. Peter agreed to stay for the minimum 6 months, and would re-evaluate at the end of that time if he would stay or not.
When Asa and Smoke returned from their conference, it was determined that Raven would issue challenges for the packs to find their totems at a later time. All newcomers & temporary Sept members were then banned from the Cairn at Raven's Roost until they had completed their pack totem quests.
After leaving the Cairn, Eyes of Erin takes Forest Ghost to the side and states that he is an emissary from the Silver Fang King Cyrus. Eyes of Erin is adamant that Ghost helps him work to get Breckenridge under Denver's control. Likewise, Bleached Bones later speaks with Peter, and she wants his help putting the Sept under the control of Colorado Springs. Later in the evening, when the Rocky Mountain High pack is together at their temporary living quarters, the various members take turns getting to know one another, sharing history and possible problems they may be bringing with them.
During the night, as the pack members are asleep, they are all drawn into a dream. In this dream, they are a native warrior, running through the plains of western Colorado. The warrior is a Metis Wendigo, armored and in his natural form, severely wounded and running to warn his tribe of the danger that follows him. He is shot in the back - silver buckshot - but keeps running. He needs to warn his village. When he arrives, the village is burning, his family dead and dying in a Wyrm-tainted fire. He is shot a second time, and with death iminent, he falls to the Hunters before the dream fades out.
When the pack wakes, there is a raven at the door, a physical messenger from the Sept totem. After a longer journey than it should have been (because the pack lost track of their guide) the raven leads them to Aspen. The building he shows them is a large, old brownstone manor with a sign reading "Ashwood Abbey." The pack researched the group, which began as a gentlemen's hunting club and charity organization, and discovered that it holds an annual "wolf hunt." The pack quickly concludes that this is a group of supernatural hunters, and tread carefully. The bird that had been their guide flies up to a second-story window that is heavily curtained and taps on it. Whatever the pack is needing to find will be in that room.
Outside, in the physical realm, the parking lot is full of vehicles and the interior is inhabited by high-society humans. It is protected by both armed guards and security cameras. So, into the Umbra the pack goes, using the rear-view mirror from the van they traveled in to cross-over.
In the Umbra, it is a House of Dishonorable Death. It reeks of a slaughterhouse, the walls and floors blood-soaked. Death and animal spirits linger in the foyer. In the main hall, the "Hall of Heads," are the misshapen bodies of animals, mostly exotics. They call for mercy, and the echoes of death surround the pack as they travel through the room. Upstairs is the armory, filled with gun spirits and the continued stench of death. Pops was able to move through the room unheard and unseen, but the rest of the pack were not so lucky. A trap was triggered, and they were forced to destroy the spirits guarding the door at the end of the room.
In the final room, the one the pack had been searching for, was the skeletal and spiritual remains of the Wendigo warrior they had dreamed about. He was the last of Condor's children, and it was clear that RMH pack needed to retrieve his physical remains and give him the ceremony that would put his spirit at rest.
The pack takes time to heal their wounds from the gun spirit guardians, and begins to formulate a plan to retrieve the warrior's remains. Extraction will begin at the next game, on August 22.