Rastov part 1: suicide run

"Wake up, Doc Ether!" Rey prods Ambrose. Jared comes in with a duffel.

Ambrose sits up, still staring at the watch in his hand. Mark still doesn't believe him, but Ambrose demonstrates: there are three of these time watches in existence, in the hands of Doc's three sidekicks...and none of them are this one. "This one is new, Mark," Ambrose says in a hollow tone, looking it over.

Mark really doesn't want to believe him. "It can't be new. Only Doc Eon could build those."

Ambrose shoves it under his nose. "It's new." And so it is, glossy-shiny and not marred by a single scratch.

"Whadda the buttons do?" Jonas asks, trying to stick his nose in. Ambrose points out the ones he knows--these watches are a matter of record--but "he never told anyone what this one does." So of course Jonas hits it...and time rewinds by five minutes. "It doesn't do anything," Jonas says disappointedly. Ambrose stops him from trying it again, looking a little rattled.

Finally Sonya rounds them up, before somebody hits a button they really shouldn't, and reminds them that they're going to Buchenwald.

"Buchenwald?" Ambrose repeats in surprise. "Um...it's story-time!" He tells them the story about Voormas.

Voormas was one of the most powerful of the Euthanatos, and the Master of the House of Helekar, a chantry of Euthanatos assassins who worked for the Council of Nine. But they fell to what Euthanatos call jhor taint, the spiritual pollution of death, and Voormas created a cult. It was called the Consanguinity of Eternal Joy, and its aim was to destroy death. The Council became aware of Helekar's corruption when they tapped the Buchenwald node--a node so twisted and corrupt that the Traditions and Technocracy alike refuse to have anything to do with it besides keep anyone from using it.

Ambrose calls the Council. The Hermetic courier shows up in his usual lightning bolt. Ambrose wordlessly shows him the watch. "You're not allowed to make copies of Doc Eon's watch!" the Hermetic exclaims. Ambrose shows him the package--postmarked 1952. The Hermetic really can't find anything to say.

Instead, he changes the subject. "Are you likely to run into Voormas?"

"I don't wanna!" Ambrose yelps, horrified by the idea. The Hermetic carries a message and Lady Alison ends up coming with them, just in case.

Sonya, meanwhile, checks with Garou in the region, who hadn't noticed anything till heaps of fae suddenly began turning up. Ambrose grabs a few things from the Nockers, and then they follow the trail of the Balor.

It comes out in a rustic little village in Poland. Caleb recognizes it, but to match his vision, there should be a great big castle on the mountain.

Suspicious, Ambrose takes readings--the castle is indeed there. It's cloaked.

There's no one wandering around, but the Garou smell blood. Inside all the houses are dead fomori--almost a thousand of them in all. One person did all this. Sonya recognizes the handiework: it's her great-grandfather, Sergei.

Ambrose locates tunnels going up through the mountain. "Find the one that's least guarded," Jared suggests.

"That's probably the one Sergei took."

Aila thinks the old wolf must be crazy to take this on all alone. Sonya tells her his pack is all head. "A Garou who's old enough...better to go out fighting." She thinks Sergei is expecting them. Aila wonders what Rastov has waiting for them.

"I think he has a death ray," Ambrose cuts in. He hands his spare pair of ether goggles to Rey, showing him the super-science array on top of the castle.

Sonya receives a call from a colleague: the Giovanni funded a bit architectural dig in Italy a few months ago. They sent whatever they found to eastern Europe, then tried to get it back when they found out what it was. Her colleague says it was a body. Someone, or something, called "Abismilliard." And the Giovanni are losing their minds over it.

Sergei left a trail of pure carnage, including the scrap from more of Von Allman's death's head robots. As they follow the trail into the caverns under the mountain, Sonya grows increasingly certain that he doesn't intend to come back from this.

They come to a bridge across an underground chasm emanating what Ambrose calls "transdimensional energy." In other words, an Umbral rift. Sonya gazes into it, determining that the key to crossing is to keep your mind carefully fixed on your destination. Ambrose wonders: if you focus a different destination, will it take you there? Mark thinks so...but they're not sure they want to go to the top of the castle, so they let that idea go.

Ambrose and Caleb aren't with them when they reach the other side. The two of them wake in the village, which is now full of people wearing archaic clothes. "I don't think we're in modern Kansas anymore, Toto," Ambrose quips.

People are gathered around the two of them, poking them in curiosity. Ambrose tries Latin. Caleb retrieves his memory of Slavic, and tells them he and Ambrose are from Paris. When he tells them they're going to the castle, the townspeople think they're crazy. ("You just showed up on our ground," one accuses. "And very good ground it is, too," Ambrose replies.)

In the end, they go to the church, where the priest ushers them in. They learn from him that it's 450 years ago. Ambrose tries to warn Caleb about changing the past.

Caleb asks about Rastov. When he was alive, he wasn't evil. He experimented with talismans and things, and cast spells to make the crops grow. He gives them directions to Rastov's old house.

Mark calls. Ambrose tells him where--and when--they are. Mark suggests Ambrose set a scan to make sure they don't do anything to disrupt time's proper flow. Ambrose notes there's already a function for it on the watch.

The house is a Hermetic sanctum. Rastov was a mage. There's nothing dangerous in here, and they're about to leave when they hear horses outside in metal harness--which means someone important. Peeking out, Ambrose recognizes the knights with their coats of arms: Cabal of Pure Thought. They've come with a proclamation to burn down the castle and free the townspeople.

The knights aren't interested in Rastov's house, so Ambrose and Caleb go back to searching. Rastov spent a lot of time studying ways to avoid death. There's an unusual amount of scholarship on the fae here.

Ambrose spots The Book (that will be Sir Tristan) and ducks from it. It's got a few other unpleasant-looking things around it. Rastov's notes indicate that he experimented with energy from the Dreaming to supercharge his magic. He theorized that it might allow him to mimic the power of the Mythic Age, but he needed a sufficiently primal source of energy. He thought that perhaps even non-magi could use it. His investigations indicated that it could cause significant damage to the Dreaming, but apparently he didn't feel that was his problem. There are a few things missing; apparently he'd come back and gotten some things.

Ambrose calls Mark back to get coordinates to home in on, sets the time watch, and takes them back to the others. Rey thinks this is awesome.

They continue on through the caves till they reach a fork. Sergei obviously went one way, but the other way smells...Etherite. Youngsten. Sonya suggests they split up.