The pack meets with the Hakken, taking Caleb along with, but Sonya makes Tim stay in the car. Monkey Girl meanwhile picks on Ambrose for being chased by so many people, and is confused that he apparently has no doubts about trusting a Pooka.
When the Garou are done, they find a different hotel to stay at. RF shares a room with Ambrose, who sets alarms on his windows and oors.
The alarms go off that night, waking him in time to see some kind of half-snake/half-man jump out the window. RF doesn't see it. It doesn't seem to have taken anything, or left anything, so Ambrose reluctantly puts it out of his mind till morning.
In the morning, Ambrose finds out that the Garou have their own language. He tells the others about the snake-man. Monkey Girl says there are snake people sort of like her--called the Fu Hsi--but this wasn't one of them. They arrange a private plane back.
On the plane, Ambrose looks over the Marauder's camera, which contains exotic pictures. They get back without incident, and the pack drops Ambrose and Mark off at the chantry before heading back to the caern.
Having learned his lesson, Ambrose deposits the Marauder's gun with the chantry head, along with his demonic cell phone. He turns his laptop over to the Virtual Adepts to run checks on; they tell him they'll look into perma-deleting the map.
Aila prepares for a good lounge in front of the TV, which is how she learns that Evil-Ambrose has a special about Ether in a week. "Look at all that smarm!" she exclaims.
"Gives new meaning to the term podcast," Jonas quips.
The fae fret about their upcoming audience with the High King.
Ambrose investigates the camera, and discovers that a button activates a gateway to whatever picture is displayed in the viewer. He declines to activate it.
Aila takes off for the arcade. On the way, a wood hand emerges from a tree to hand her an invitation from the High King to the entire pack. "Nice bush," she thanks it. Ambrose gets one too, for him and Mark.
Aila and Jonas wonder what to wear, and are dismayed to learn that they'll be expected to dress up. The pack is amused to note that the king of the fairies lives in upper-state New York.
Evil Ambrose left a trail via Ambrose's credit cards (the limit of which Ambrose notes is much higher than it was). He also published a book on ether. The MiB calls to ask about killing him. Ambrose turns down the offer, but tells him about the children's book, "Ambrose goes to the Circus." Wanting a better look at this particular piece of devilry, he purchases a copy, and then burns it after chibi-Devyn winks at him from the cover. RF, having discovered this book as well, looks up the publishing info--Vesuvius Publishing, a Pentex property.
The next day, at the book signing, Rey knocks out Evil-Ambrose's limo driver to take his place. RF and Jonas hide in the car. Ambrose and Aila stick around to allay suspicion, so that everybody sees Ambrose is just fine. They plan to ambush Evil-Brose and get him back to the chantry.
And this plan works just fine...till one of those weird Asian supernaturals shows up again in pursuit of Evil-Ambrose. In fact, he gives chase to the real Ambrose, mistaking him for his doppelganger. Ambrose pops a fire hydrant on him and Rey freezes the water.
And then Iterators show up with a collar launcher, which Ambrose shoots out of the air before it reaches its target. Even an evil doppelganger doesn't deserve that fate. Rey fingers Evil Ambrose for the Asian guy; the Gurahl knocks Evil-Ambrose unconscious. Sonya throws the Asian man into a building while the rest of the pack kills the Iterators. Noting the unwanted attention they're gathering, Rey "films" the whole thing. With the threats pushed away or dealt with, they bail out on the scene, get Ambrose and his duplicate back to the chantry, and the Garou take off again. Ambrose has arranged to have a comfy cell ready to hold his double.
But of course it doesn't last long. Ambrose is staying up late working on reports and projects when he notices something strange. Investigating, he discovers the guards on the roof are out cold. Taking a wild guess at the target of the intruders, he runs down to the basement and finds that yes, indeed, his double is gone. He sounds the alarm, then follows the culprits down into the underground escape passages, accompanied by a Hollow One who'd been visiting the place. He grabs the chantry's Akashic, too, and they arrange to meet at the exit if Ambrose isn't able to catch up with the whoever-they-ares underground.
He's not, so when he and his companion reach the end of the tunnels, they find two strange vampires, a guy the Akashic can't seem to hurt, a sleeping Evil-Ambrose, and a garbage truck full of Sabbat vampires rounding the corner.
The Garou, who've been keeping watch on Evil-Ambrose by their own means, arrive. Sonya pulls her car parallel to the garbage truck, and informs her pack she's not going to crash it. They leap out onto the Sabbat vampires. Ambrose drops one of the other vampires into the pavement, trapping him. Another vampire, moving supernaturally fast, grabs Ambrose 2, but Aila charges him and knocks him away. Ambrose grabs his double and drags him to the side to keep him away from the fight while Aila and the other vampire (a Salubri) circle each other.
"Awww, can't I please have his soul?" the vampire drawls.
"His what?!" Aila repeats, startled.
Caleb, who came in with the werewolves, shifts and grabs the garbage truck, bouncing it repeatedly off the ground to squash vampires.
Sonya hits the indestructible person-thing, to as little effect as the Akashic. Getting nowhere, she throws it at one of the strange magic vampires, who explodes. Then the indestructible guy gets up and animates trees to go after Ambrose, who freezes one. Aila subdues the Salubri while mage reinforcements arrive to finish off the rest of the vampiric rabble.
Pleased with the previous success, Sonya swings her captive indestructible thing/guy into the other magic vampire, which also explodes. Ambrose freezes another tree, and calls, "Anybody want to give me a hand?" Jonas and Olesya leap on a third.
Then the fae arrive, and recognize Sonya's new toy as a White Court Fomorian.
RF pack-attacks the Salubri with Aila. The Fomorian, apparently wanting Caleb and his alarming strength well out of the picture, magically flings the garbage truck several blocks away, along with the werebear holding it. Sonya signales to the Akashic to coordinate their attack on the Fomorian on the same point of its armor.
The Salubri dies, and white mist begins to drift through. Some of the mages form a circle, working with the exploded vampire. Rey and Faris form up for war, calling up their armor. The Fomorian calls up white bark armor and a sword of its own. Faris pulls out a submachine gun from his car. "I spose he thinks we should be impressed," Rey muses, staring at their target. "Well, I sorta am, but..."
Behind Rey and Faris, a collection of stocky, tall people begins to form. The Fomorian looks at them, seeing them for what they really are: Troll knights. Sonya and the Akashic attack, successfully enough that the Fomorian turns its attention back to them. This offends Rey. "Hey, Whiteface!" he yells. It turns back toward him, lashing out with some kind of spell that freezes everything around them (including nearby buildings), then shatters it all into ice monsters.
The Akashic, getting exasperated at his lack of success in the battle, lashes out with a flying dragon kick. Aila mashes a Volvo into its face. The Verbena summon a fire elemental. Two MiBs with swords arrive ("Great," mutters Ambrose, "the peanut gallery."). Sonya throws the Fomorian at the fire elemental, resulting in a tremendous gush of steam. The fire elemental is dismissed, but it finally hurt the Fomorian.
Jared opens gates. The MiBs ignite their swords (which really confuses Ambrose; it's not exactly the Technocracy's style). Faris opens up with his machine gun. RF snags Evil Ambrose and gets him out of the way. Two helicopters descend--not Technocracy helicopters, but...well, actually they're more knights riding dragons.
The Fomorian chases Evil Ambrose. Rey throws a rock at it.
Now, this just ticks it off. Snarling, "Pooka!" it turns and heads for Rey, summoning lightning monsters.
"That's cheating," complains one Troll. "That's what they do," answers Rey. "They cheat!" The Fomorian growls again. Rey mocks it, "Oh, did I hurt his widdle feelings?"
One of the dead vampires sits up and rushes after Evil Ambrose, but it fails to pull him away from RF, who simply bites the offending vampire's head off since his arms are occupied.
A trod opens behind the Trolls, who part and snap to attention. Queen Mab comes forward. Aila throws a car into the air (it actually slipped out of her grip, but the toss is impressive), the Akashic leaps up and drop-kic,ks it out of the air into the Fomorian, and one of the Verbena lightning bolts the tank, sending the whole mass up in a fireball.
Apparently this gets through, because the Fomorian shapeshifts, into some kind of scorpion/crab monster.
On the other side of the battlefield, the MiBs pause to stare at Evil Ambrose. "He's the bad clone," Ambrose tells them helpfully.
"He's mumbling in his sleep in Dragon's Tongue!" one of them points out.
"I'm a little less keen on fairies than I was twenty minutes ago," Ambrose mumbles, handing the box to the Akashic.
The next morning, the Hermetic shows up for the box, and has a hard time believing Ambrose's story about a Fomorian.
When the Garou are done, they find a different hotel to stay at. RF shares a room with Ambrose, who sets alarms on his windows and oors.
The alarms go off that night, waking him in time to see some kind of half-snake/half-man jump out the window. RF doesn't see it. It doesn't seem to have taken anything, or left anything, so Ambrose reluctantly puts it out of his mind till morning.
In the morning, Ambrose finds out that the Garou have their own language. He tells the others about the snake-man. Monkey Girl says there are snake people sort of like her--called the Fu Hsi--but this wasn't one of them. They arrange a private plane back.
On the plane, Ambrose looks over the Marauder's camera, which contains exotic pictures. They get back without incident, and the pack drops Ambrose and Mark off at the chantry before heading back to the caern.
Having learned his lesson, Ambrose deposits the Marauder's gun with the chantry head, along with his demonic cell phone. He turns his laptop over to the Virtual Adepts to run checks on; they tell him they'll look into perma-deleting the map.
Aila prepares for a good lounge in front of the TV, which is how she learns that Evil-Ambrose has a special about Ether in a week. "Look at all that smarm!" she exclaims.
"Gives new meaning to the term podcast," Jonas quips.
The fae fret about their upcoming audience with the High King.
Ambrose investigates the camera, and discovers that a button activates a gateway to whatever picture is displayed in the viewer. He declines to activate it.
Aila takes off for the arcade. On the way, a wood hand emerges from a tree to hand her an invitation from the High King to the entire pack. "Nice bush," she thanks it. Ambrose gets one too, for him and Mark.
Aila and Jonas wonder what to wear, and are dismayed to learn that they'll be expected to dress up. The pack is amused to note that the king of the fairies lives in upper-state New York.
Evil Ambrose left a trail via Ambrose's credit cards (the limit of which Ambrose notes is much higher than it was). He also published a book on ether. The MiB calls to ask about killing him. Ambrose turns down the offer, but tells him about the children's book, "Ambrose goes to the Circus." Wanting a better look at this particular piece of devilry, he purchases a copy, and then burns it after chibi-Devyn winks at him from the cover. RF, having discovered this book as well, looks up the publishing info--Vesuvius Publishing, a Pentex property.
The next day, at the book signing, Rey knocks out Evil-Ambrose's limo driver to take his place. RF and Jonas hide in the car. Ambrose and Aila stick around to allay suspicion, so that everybody sees Ambrose is just fine. They plan to ambush Evil-Brose and get him back to the chantry.
And this plan works just fine...till one of those weird Asian supernaturals shows up again in pursuit of Evil-Ambrose. In fact, he gives chase to the real Ambrose, mistaking him for his doppelganger. Ambrose pops a fire hydrant on him and Rey freezes the water.
And then Iterators show up with a collar launcher, which Ambrose shoots out of the air before it reaches its target. Even an evil doppelganger doesn't deserve that fate. Rey fingers Evil Ambrose for the Asian guy; the Gurahl knocks Evil-Ambrose unconscious. Sonya throws the Asian man into a building while the rest of the pack kills the Iterators. Noting the unwanted attention they're gathering, Rey "films" the whole thing. With the threats pushed away or dealt with, they bail out on the scene, get Ambrose and his duplicate back to the chantry, and the Garou take off again. Ambrose has arranged to have a comfy cell ready to hold his double.
But of course it doesn't last long. Ambrose is staying up late working on reports and projects when he notices something strange. Investigating, he discovers the guards on the roof are out cold. Taking a wild guess at the target of the intruders, he runs down to the basement and finds that yes, indeed, his double is gone. He sounds the alarm, then follows the culprits down into the underground escape passages, accompanied by a Hollow One who'd been visiting the place. He grabs the chantry's Akashic, too, and they arrange to meet at the exit if Ambrose isn't able to catch up with the whoever-they-ares underground.
He's not, so when he and his companion reach the end of the tunnels, they find two strange vampires, a guy the Akashic can't seem to hurt, a sleeping Evil-Ambrose, and a garbage truck full of Sabbat vampires rounding the corner.
The Garou, who've been keeping watch on Evil-Ambrose by their own means, arrive. Sonya pulls her car parallel to the garbage truck, and informs her pack she's not going to crash it. They leap out onto the Sabbat vampires. Ambrose drops one of the other vampires into the pavement, trapping him. Another vampire, moving supernaturally fast, grabs Ambrose 2, but Aila charges him and knocks him away. Ambrose grabs his double and drags him to the side to keep him away from the fight while Aila and the other vampire (a Salubri) circle each other.
"Awww, can't I please have his soul?" the vampire drawls.
"His what?!" Aila repeats, startled.
Caleb, who came in with the werewolves, shifts and grabs the garbage truck, bouncing it repeatedly off the ground to squash vampires.
Sonya hits the indestructible person-thing, to as little effect as the Akashic. Getting nowhere, she throws it at one of the strange magic vampires, who explodes. Then the indestructible guy gets up and animates trees to go after Ambrose, who freezes one. Aila subdues the Salubri while mage reinforcements arrive to finish off the rest of the vampiric rabble.
Pleased with the previous success, Sonya swings her captive indestructible thing/guy into the other magic vampire, which also explodes. Ambrose freezes another tree, and calls, "Anybody want to give me a hand?" Jonas and Olesya leap on a third.
Then the fae arrive, and recognize Sonya's new toy as a White Court Fomorian.
RF pack-attacks the Salubri with Aila. The Fomorian, apparently wanting Caleb and his alarming strength well out of the picture, magically flings the garbage truck several blocks away, along with the werebear holding it. Sonya signales to the Akashic to coordinate their attack on the Fomorian on the same point of its armor.
The Salubri dies, and white mist begins to drift through. Some of the mages form a circle, working with the exploded vampire. Rey and Faris form up for war, calling up their armor. The Fomorian calls up white bark armor and a sword of its own. Faris pulls out a submachine gun from his car. "I spose he thinks we should be impressed," Rey muses, staring at their target. "Well, I sorta am, but..."
Behind Rey and Faris, a collection of stocky, tall people begins to form. The Fomorian looks at them, seeing them for what they really are: Troll knights. Sonya and the Akashic attack, successfully enough that the Fomorian turns its attention back to them. This offends Rey. "Hey, Whiteface!" he yells. It turns back toward him, lashing out with some kind of spell that freezes everything around them (including nearby buildings), then shatters it all into ice monsters.
The Akashic, getting exasperated at his lack of success in the battle, lashes out with a flying dragon kick. Aila mashes a Volvo into its face. The Verbena summon a fire elemental. Two MiBs with swords arrive ("Great," mutters Ambrose, "the peanut gallery."). Sonya throws the Fomorian at the fire elemental, resulting in a tremendous gush of steam. The fire elemental is dismissed, but it finally hurt the Fomorian.
Jared opens gates. The MiBs ignite their swords (which really confuses Ambrose; it's not exactly the Technocracy's style). Faris opens up with his machine gun. RF snags Evil Ambrose and gets him out of the way. Two helicopters descend--not Technocracy helicopters, but...well, actually they're more knights riding dragons.
The Fomorian chases Evil Ambrose. Rey throws a rock at it.
Now, this just ticks it off. Snarling, "Pooka!" it turns and heads for Rey, summoning lightning monsters.
"That's cheating," complains one Troll. "That's what they do," answers Rey. "They cheat!" The Fomorian growls again. Rey mocks it, "Oh, did I hurt his widdle feelings?"
One of the dead vampires sits up and rushes after Evil Ambrose, but it fails to pull him away from RF, who simply bites the offending vampire's head off since his arms are occupied.
A trod opens behind the Trolls, who part and snap to attention. Queen Mab comes forward. Aila throws a car into the air (it actually slipped out of her grip, but the toss is impressive), the Akashic leaps up and drop-kic,ks it out of the air into the Fomorian, and one of the Verbena lightning bolts the tank, sending the whole mass up in a fireball.
Apparently this gets through, because the Fomorian shapeshifts, into some kind of scorpion/crab monster.
On the other side of the battlefield, the MiBs pause to stare at Evil Ambrose. "He's the bad clone," Ambrose tells them helpfully.
"He's mumbling in his sleep in Dragon's Tongue!" one of them points out.
"I'm a little less keen on fairies than I was twenty minutes ago," Ambrose mumbles, handing the box to the Akashic.
The next morning, the Hermetic shows up for the box, and has a hard time believing Ambrose's story about a Fomorian.
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