• Agatha has come to the attention of a local Theurge as a chosen of Gaia. He advocates bringing the woman into the fold and cementing her role as an ally, but his septmates are certain that doing so will put the woman in needless danger. The Theurge believes she is already in danger, and should know more of the war she’s been fighting for decades.

• It isn’t just the animals that Agatha cares for that become Kami. The land beneath her ranch-clinic is soon to awaken as a Kami of the soil, and the elementals of the region are seeking Garou to protect it during the final

moments of transition. The howling close by isn’t coming from a nearby sept.

• After a scrape with nearby Garou left him mortally wounded and packless, a lupus Black Spiral Dancer is now in the care of Agatha Prim. She isn’t about to let anyone two-legged onto her ranch to investigate, but as the Wyrm-tainted wolf grows haler, Agatha’s future looks less promising. It’s unfortunate that she is prepared to lay down her life for this sickly wolf.

History: Cousin Rabbit is one of so many siblings even he doesn’t remember all their names. That’s pretty much all he doesn’t remember. The small, gray-furred rabbit has a memory so broad he knows the favorite TV shows of every member of the Sept of the Bronze by heart — despite not quite understanding what a television is. He doesn’t have time for that! With all the information to distribute, messages to send, warnings to warn, alarms to ring, he only has so much time in the day!

The rabbit serves as a go-between for the Bone Gnawer Sept of the Bronze in North Philadelphia and the Ratkin nest secreted away in the sewers of nearby Camden, just across the Delaware. And he has since he can remem­ ber. The Ratkin and the Garou in the area have a pretty good thing going, though neither group is particularly interested in

direct interaction. They keep their territory pretty separate, but work at similar goals. Organization is important, and that’s where Cousin Rabbit comes in.

He’s quick, he’s attentive, and he delivers messages word-for-word. If he forgets, he doesn’t even try to fake it. It’s back across the river for a reminder. It’s made his memory pretty fierce, particularly for a prey animal who isn’t exactly calm around wolves. Fortunately for everyone involved, no one has tried to eat him yet.

Appearance

Cousin Rabbit is a small rabbit much older than he should be. He’s careful, smart and quick to run from anything that even half resembles danger. Even so, he’s got a few good bite marks on him, including a missing bit of his ear from the one time he took the wrong path through a backyard with a very big dog. His fur is thinning, graying and a little patchy, but he claims it gives him character.

Roleplaying Notes: Cousin Rabbit is very aware of time. He’s been around for a few years and he’s starting to feel his age. He sometimes gets jealous of the long-lived Garou and their kin, but that’s just another thing he doesn’t have time for. He has places to be. He doesn’t really like the Bone Gnawers, because they don’t take him seriously; their “playful teasing” almost always involves eating him. The Ratkin are okay, though. They always want to talk more than he wants to listen, and their messages are hard to remember in full. It’s good that he loves to run. He does a lot of it. Physical: Strength 1, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4 Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 2

Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 3

Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Empa­

thy 1, Expression 3

Skills: Animal Ken 1, Etiquette 1, Stealth 3, Survival 2 Knowledges: Enigmas 2, Investigation 1 Powers: Universal Language, Gifted Kami (Speed of

Thought), Sense the Unnatural, Extra Speed, Size (x2) Geas: Never paraphrase, silly rabbit.

• A new pack of Garou has moved into Philadelphia at about the same time Cousin Rabbit has gone missing. The Sept of the Bronze doesn’t have much issue with the little hairball’s absence, but the Ratkin are already making a fuss. They’re convinced a new face chomped on their friend, and as far as they’re concerned, it’s an eye for an eye.

• Cousin Rabbit is way off course, at a sept he doesn’t know, begging for help from Garou who would just as soon eat him as give him a second glance. Something has happened with the Ratkin of Camden and the Sept of the Bronze isn’t interested in breaking the thin peace between their Changing Breed allies by invading their nest — at least, not on the word of an excitable rabbit.

• Something is hunting animal Kami, and only by Cousin Rabbit’s speed and wit was he able to avoid being its next victim. He describes it a big, black dog with too many teeth. Spirits in the area have spotted similar beasts. Many of them — more than just a pack. Kami are rare enough that Cousin Rabbit might be their only target, but that’s a lot of dogs for one mangy rabbit.

History: Strictly speaking, the Pimpernel Sundew plant eats flies and insects, and maybe small frogs. It was never meant to eat anything large. And yet in this case, something went wrong. Drosera does not remember its time before its exaltation very well. The plant is vaguely aware that some sort of universal balance was disrupted and an outside force made it grow too large and started feeding it the flesh of animals and people — and even werewolves.

First it remembered feeling regret. Then disgust. Then remorse, and a desire to repent for its part in violating natural laws. In that moment, it became a thinking thing, filled with Gaia’s love and forgiveness. Since then, it has served Gaia happily as one of Her Kami.

Drosera eats. That is it’s purpose. It can recycle just about anything into organic matter. If anyone tosses in even the indestructible and impossibly corrupt. The plants wide maw, will grab hold and slowly but surely digest whatever is fed to it. The soil around the plant is rich with the waste and super fertile. Currently, the Drosecra grows in an abandoned and overgrown botany laboratory. It does not know how it got there and is too big to move.

Appearance

Drosera is a giant carnivorous plant that, when open, looks a bit like a giant split kiwi, shiny and

slick. Its center is a cluster of long white tendrils with sticky red spherical tips that can shoot out at alarming speeds to catch prey and drag them into the mouth, for digestion. At that point, the mouth closes around the prey and it digests. Slowly. Because of the Kami’s size it can grab and pull in a Crinos-form werewolf, though digesting such a werewolf would take days.

Roleplaying Notes: Drosera feels very bad about the warriors of Gaia it ate in the past, though it doesn’t know how many there were or why it ate them. It also feels very bad about all the innocent humans and pigs it ate. At its size, it gets hungry a lot, and loves making more fertile soil that Gaia can put to use elsewhere. It is very eager to eat things for Gaia. It understands when someone is trying to feed it something it shouldn’t eat, and will not accept such meals. It regrets that eating sentient things is probably very painful and takes a long time. Still, it will do so without hesitation. Because of that, it will often ask others to kill its meals first. Physical: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 1 Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 1 , Appearance 3 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 3 Talents: Alertness 4, Brawl 4, Primal Urge 3 Skills: Survival 3 Knowledges: Enigmas 3, Occult 4 Powers: Animate Self, Longevity, Plant Animation Geas: Can eat only what is corrupt.

• Someone or some thing has been feeding Drosera between meals. Drosera’s keeper, a Silent Strider, doesn’t know how they get in, and Drosera doesn’t understand much about who feeds it. Drosera’s keeper charges the characters with finding out who else is bringing the Drosera meals, and what it’s eating!

• The pack has found the something that they thought impossible: an unkillable, immortal spirit that is too wicked to keep alive. They could perhaps imprison it, but the spirit’s ban is no help in stopping it. They hear of a creature of Gaia that can destroy anything. Now they are on a quest to find the Drosera so that they can destroy the indestructible.

• The Wyrm would very very much like to get its ten­ tacles into the Drosera. An entire chronicle could revolve around protecting the Drosera from direct attacks, attempts to create a hybrid, and otherwise protecting the plant from servants of corruption.

History: It was not one bee, or even the queen, that became a Kami. Rather, the hive itself awoke to become a servant to Gaia, and as a result, so long as the hive exists,

it is a Kami. And the hive is pissed. It does not care about humanity, or the people it has stung to death. It does not care who it attacks. It needs to survive. The hive is dying. All over the world, hives like it, are dying. And so it attacks anything it perceives as a threat. Mostly, this is has involved swarming and killing cell tower maintenance workers, but as the hive becomes more aware and sophisticated, it may go after anyone with a cell phone. It doesn’t know if cellphone towers are the actual cause of the decline in bee population. The science is questionable, but more importantly, people believe this is the cause, and that belief has become the hive’s purpose through Gaia.

Appearance

Individual members of the hive aren’t especially impressive, though their stringers are more vi­ cious looking and their stripes seem to reflect glyphs from some angles. The hive is most impressive when it swarms. It becomes a cloud more pollen green-yellow than black, and it seems to glow even in daylight.

Roleplaying Notes: The hive has no compassion. It does not care who lives and who dies, and it is not par­ ticularly impressed by the Warriors of Gaia or her other chosen. Something is killing off their entire species, and they will do what they must to forestall and perhaps undo that death sentence. They are not bloodthirsty, however, and they can be reasoned with if someone comes to them with a clear sympathy for their situation and understanding of their purpose. Physical: Strength 1, Dexterity 4, Stamina 1 Social: Charisma 1, Manipulation 4 , Appearance 1 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 5 Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 2, Brawl 4, Primal Urge 2 Skills: Stealth 3, Survival 4 Knowledges: Investigation 3 Powers: Gaseous Form, Claws and Fangs, Size (x3), Size

Shift Geas: The hive cannot see anyone carrying royal jelly.

• A powerful spirit has requested honey from the hive. The hive will not simply give up their honey, not without a trade. If the pack can get into the city and destroy the holdings and presence of a major cell phone provider, the hive will grant the pack the right to harvest its honey.

• An important breed of quasi mystical flowers cannot seem to propagate on its own. The pack needs to breed them for an important ritual or as part of a rank challenge. After meditation and vision, a pack member becomes sure that the hive can pollinate the plants because of their mystical nature. What can they offer murderous bees to convince them to assist the pack?

• The Weaver will not leave the hive alone. As such, it has created a breed of hornets to attack the hive. The conflict has destroyed all the insects and animals in the area, and has started spilling into areas populated by humans. Their attention could result in situations that don’t just violate the Litany, but rend the Veil whole cloth. Without understanding much about what the hive really is, which side will the pack join?

History: Misha’s daddy went into business just after she was born, and did well. Soon, he was wheeling and dealing with the sort of fat cats that could have bought and sold his ass three generations ago. Misha grew up a lesser corporate princess, thanks to her daddy’s success. When she turned twelve, his company merged with another and daddy started getting weird. He’d work all sorts of hours. He divorced his wife and kicked her out, then manipulated the courts to keep Misha even though he’d turned into a shitty father.

Misha’s 16 now, and she’s pretty sure that she can fix not just her dad, but a whole lot of things if she can just drag his company down. She’s committed what is techni­ cally called corporate espionage over the past year, and in the process discovered that her father’s company is doing some really disgusting, inhuman things. She doesn’t know about the Triat, or the Garou Nation, but she knows that if she even hopes to redeem her father, she’s going to have to stop what’s going on.

Appearance

Misha is a lovely 16-year-old girl with nat­ ural hair and warm brown skin. She took horseback riding and gymnastics in school because that’s what all the girls of the other corporate guys did. Now she uses that physical talent to sneak into offices and climb windows. She’ll dress like a prep most of the time, but at night, she’s a little girl ninja out to destroy her father’s company.

Roleplaying Notes: Misha is incredibly gifted, with the blessings of Gaia and an incredible mind. She’s also still only 16 years old, and so she’s very conflicted by the prospect of stopping her father when she still loves him so much. She’s aware that she probably can’t save him, but she can’t really admit it to herself. When the chips are down, she’ll choose her purpose over her family because Gaia has blessed her with at least that much clarity of mind. Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity, 3 Stamina 2 Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 3 Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Expression 1 Skills: Animal Ken 1, Crafts 2, Drive 1, Stealth 3, Sur­

vival 1 Knowledges: Academics 1, Computer 3, Enigmas 1,

Investigation 3, Law 2, Science 1, Technology 1

Powers: Chameleon Coloration, Darksight, Universal

Tongue Geas: Intertec Core Unlimited must fall, no matter the costs.

• Misha knows what the characters are, though she’s got the wrong idea about what they do. From the files she found in her father’s business she thinks they’re political terrorists, but that doesn’t bother her. She approaches them, trying to blackmail them into helping her stop her father. She doesn’t know how special she is, but the characters will find out if they try to attack her or harm her in any way.

• The pack was attacking Intertec for their own reasons, when they ran across Misha inside the building, already performing some sabotage. She displays her power pretty much immediately, signifying what an incredible use she could be. But is it ethical to use a teenager as a soldier in their war — and could they stop her even if they wanted to?

• It’s a small world, but one of the characters actually knows Misha’s family. Her family have noticed the girl is struggling since her parents have broken up. Visiting with her would quickly show any Garou that the girl has gone through some kind of drastic spiritual change. But what is she? What has she become? And how can they get her to open up about what she’s planning to do?

History: California Highway 100 was made to get logging trucks to the old growth near the Humboldt port. It slides like a worm of dark scales through the some of the best, most ancient wood a timber mill could ask for. Early on, it did its job without complaint. Huge, eigh­ teen-wheeled monsters tore down its winding length to places where tall, powerful redwoods were slain. Everyday, the One-Oh-Oh endured the countless tires of multi-ton trucks and was content.

Eons of redwood died around the highway before it was aware of their cries. At first, it didn’t really understand what it was hearing. After a few more years and a thousand more wracking sobs from the forest, Highway 100 decided enough was enough. One day, without ever having had an opinion, let alone one on logging, it called its sympathy to the trees and they called back. The sequoia redwoods sacri­ ficed one of their tallest champions to fall across Highway 100’s middle just as a big, overweight truck was carrying the murdered bodies of their brothers back to the sawmill.

It happened three more times before people started talking. The accidents made headlines in Northern California. News crews, interviews with timber mill executives, and investiga­ tions into safe driving practices put the lumber industry in

the public eye. The poorly-regulated industry couldn’t stand that kind of scrutiny. It didn’t last another five years.

For now, the One-Oh-Oh is content. It doesn’t hate the little cars that rumble along its skin, and it adores when a family pulls onto its shoulder to watch elk prance through the trees. It can’t abide trucks, however. It worries that every big semi that rumbles over its surface is going to start the trees screaming again.

Given the number of accidents, it’s no surprise not many trucks use Highway 100 anymore.

Appearance

In postcards, California Highway 100 looks fake. It’s too dark, too clean, and too full of green and brown. It’s a tongue of rich, black asphalt between teeth of redwood bark. It splits the forest like a winding serpent worming down a twisted path. A dozen tourist traps dot each side: redwood burl carvings, forest tours, even the anatomically correct fiberglass ox of logging legend Paul Bunyan. It’s a quiet, idyllic drive full of distractions that beg passers-by to stop.

Roleplaying Notes: One-Oh-Oh isn’t actually the as­ phalt of the Highway, but it might as well be. The corridor of aging redwoods takes its identity from the somewhat infamous road. The highway is a ponderous Kami, in both thought and action. It’s not the oldest Kami of land and soil, but it’s prepared to be. There’s no hurry in its choices. nothing malicious in its thoughts. It has a lot of road to decide if one of the vehicles along its middle is a threat to the trees. Physical: Strength 1, Dexterity 1, Stamina 4 Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 4 Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4 Talents: Empathy 3 Skills: Animal Ken 2, Crafts 2, Drive 3, Etiquette 2,

Survival 2 Knowledges: Enigmas 2, Investigation 3, Occult 2,

Technology 2 Powers: Plant Kinship, Plant Animation, Curse of Gaia Geas: Do not let the redwoods come to harm.

• With the fall of the Northern California logging industry the economy never quite recovered. The nearest thing to a replacement industry is crystal meth, and the labs in the deeps of the redwood forest have caused their fair share of fires. Now One-Oh-Oh is becoming suspicious of any vehicle on its blacktop. The number of accidents has drawn the attention of both the local sept and the bitter, Wyrm-tainted spirits of the lumber mills.

• A new “sustainable logging” initiative, backed by a heretofore unheard-of lumber mill, has just been voted into existence under the pretense that it’ll restore the local

economy. One-Oh-Oh hears the trees screaming. This new initiative is denying One-Oh-Oh its vengeance by circum­ venting the highway with river barges and temporary access roads. Its rage is building, and several concerned spirits have fled to the characters, hoping they can help

• High-tech vans and scientists clad in environmental suits litter the stretch of freeway. The men and machines both bear the logo of Developmental Neogenics Amal­ gamated, and One-Oh-Oh has gone silent. The spirit of a truly ancient redwood has abandoned its post to seek aid, afraid that the highway’s ability to protect the trees doesn’t extend to itself — and DNA’s geologists don’t seem interested in trees.

History: Opinnartokua has never been still. He was born swimming in the darkest depths of the ocean. Before the calling to move and move endlessly, Opinnartokua did so of his own volition. Motion is his birthright.

As he grew, and the world changed, his motion be­ came something more. A dedication to Sea and to the ever-churning tide. A dance he shared with a partner he knew was there, but could not touch or see. He rebuked every potential mate, knowing his truest love was just beyond the curve of the horizon. No force in all the oceans could give him pause so long as he could hear her call.

For longer than the world has had men and their boats, he has followed her song. He chases the wake of his distant lover as he has done for centuries. He has seen, learned, forgotten so much of this world as he swims forever forward. He has met others like him, old and ancient, but he is always eldest.

He has even found a tribe! They revere him, though he cannot understand why. They protect him, though they do not know that they are his wards. They love him, and he them, and so his song goes out to them; what little he can spare of it. He is saving his truest song for Her. She who is Sea, whose wake he chases. But his tribe are grateful for that tiny token, and they swim in their shark-shapes at his side, or sleep in their man-shapes on his breaching bulk. They are his tribe, and they need his company.

Opinnartokua knows he nears the end of his long journey, because Her song is growing quieter. Soon she will slow, and he will rest, and they will have many young to follow in the path they’ve worn through the water.

Appearance

Opinnartokua is an old blue whale. So old, that the surface of his body resembles more the craggy surface of great stone than it does a marine mammal. His body is peppered with scars both miniscule and immense. His hide has seen every weapon man has made to slay whales and break boats, and still he swims. Opinnartokua is a landmark and friend of the Rokea. The shark-shifters and their kin are never far from the rorqual.

Roleplaying Notes: Opinnartokua is blind, his fins are slow, he eats too little and he has never mated, but his existence is filled with joy. He loves Sea — Gaia — as few creatures can; she has been his wife since the day he heard her song, when there were no men or shapeshifters on land or in the waters. Though he has never seen her, he knows her very well. The song she sings is the voice of Sea to the prehistoric rorqual, and he is content so long as he can hear it. In recent years, her song has grown quieter. It does not worry him. To Opinnartokua, it means she is getting tired and soon he will finally see his love. Physical: Strength 7 Dexterity 3, Stamina 8 Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1 Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 4, Wits 1 Talents: Empathy 2, Leadership 1, Primal Urge 3 Skills: Animal Ken 2, Etiquette 1, Survival 4 Knowledges: Enigmas 4, Investigation 4, Occult 3 Powers: Longevity, Mega-Attribute (x3), Shifter Kinship

(Rokea), Wellspring Geas: Never stop moving.

• A massive Endron International tanker is in the path of the ancient rorqual. It’s been some time since Endron public relations had the chance to spin a good, old fashioned oil spill. Endron is being so obvious about it there’s little chance it isn’t a trap.

• Something has turned Opinnartokua from his path. This has happened twice in recent memory. Massive disasters followed both. Given the danger, the rorqual’s protector-Rokea have turned to the aid of the Changing Breeds of the land. Including the Garou.

• It’s no secret that Oppinartokua is dying, but a sept of the Same-Bito Rokea isn’t willing to sit by and let it happen. Not while they can swim. A great meeting of the Beast Courts has failed to earn them aid. The Ahadi have turned them away. The Same-Bito have come to the West to seek sympathy for their cause, but the Atlantic Rokea’s hostility toward their Eastern cousins threatens to leave Oppinartokua’s plight unresolved and many of the Sea’s protectors dead.

History: Shallowbranch is young by the standards of trees, but old as Kami reckon time. She considers herself little more than a child, though the boughs of this weeping willow are wide and her trunk is strong. She’s the only one of her kind, whether tree or Kami, on the bank of the murky, little river whose soil she grips so zealously between her roots.

Though Shallowbranch is off the beaten path, on a stretch of shore mostly left alone, plenty of people come

to rest beneath her limbs. She’s a welcome respite from the Florida heat, the humid rain, and the fearsome wind. Travelers, transients, fishermen, young lovers; she’ll give her shelter — both physical and emotional — to anyone who needs it. Beneath her branches dreams are gentle and worries struggle to exist.

More than once, Shallowbranch has given shelter to an enemy; someone who would do her great harm if they knew what she was. She abides it as easily as anything else. The most monstrous Black Spiral Dancer is as welcome as the most timid doe. She does not discriminate in her gifts, as that would be against everything she understands is good and right.

Occasionally, one of her wards will disappear in the night, and Shallowbranch doesn’t entirely know why. If no harm comes to them, Shallowbranch doesn’t mind. If the disappearance is peaceful she doesn’t need an expla­ nation. She’s certain they’re thankful for what little time they were able stay.

The truth is, with Shallowbranch’s proximity to the Umbra, anyone who sleeps beneath her canopy has a chance of ending up in the Dream Zone (p. 42). The tranquility she exudes assures any such dreams are comfortable and quiet, but the tree Kami has no other influence over them

Appearance

Shallowbranch is a beautiful, bright-green willow tree. She’s as inviting as a warm smile, and the air under her lofty branches is temperate no matter the season. On most of her sides, the leafy tendrils of her arms reaches all the way to the ground, providing a rare source of comfort on the banks of a swampy river. Her truck is scarred with a hundred hearts and names, carved by the well-meaning vandals she’s never once had an ill-thought about.

Roleplaying Notes: Shallowbranch loves everyone. Even those that would chop her up and burn the scraps. The least of those troubles are the children who innocently carve names and affectionate slogans into her bark. It hurts, but she doesn’t blame them. The worst are agents of the Destroyer who use her to hide from their reckoning. She doesn’t blame them, either. She knows they’re sick, and any harm she could bring them would do worse for Gaia than simply giving her enemies one night of peaceful rest. She hopes the attentive cradle of her boughs will give them pause when next they think to hurt someone. Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 1, Stamina 3 Social: Charisma 5, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3 Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 2 Talents: Alertness 2, Empathy 4, Primal Urge 4 Skills: Animal Ken 3, Etiquette 3, Survival 1 Knowledges: Medicine 2, Occult 1 Powers: Aura of Tranquility, Safe Place, Spirit Den Geas: Provide hospitality to friends, and shelter even to foes.

• Shallowbranch is the source of a contentious battle between conservationists and a small business that wants to uproot her to better facilitate their riverboat tours. If the business wins, it’s unlikely Shallowbranch will survive. If the conservationists succeed, Shallowbranch will become too much of a local landmark to properly perform her duties as a Kami.

• One of the characters sleeps beneath Shallowbranch during a storm, and her dreams are uncharacteristically troubled. Nightmares so vivid they shake a callous Garou’s heart. Without the ability to communicate with her pro­ tectors, this is the tree’s only way to alert them to danger she’s witnessed. A danger so fierce she risks violating her geas to share.

• A First Team of fomori are using the tree’s thin Gauntlet to enter and exit the Umbra with impunity. They’ve claimed the weak spot beneath her branches as a shortcut to harass the local sept. They don’t yet know the origin of this needle eye in reality, but the moment they do they’re in a good position to end her. What’s more, if they decide to let their superiors know the secret of their success, it could be bad news for more than just Shallowbranch.

History: Shrewton isn’t the sort of place you walk out of. Not because the people are personally isolated, but be­ cause it is literally 50 miles in any direction from the next nearest human being. Shrewton doesn’t appear particularly strange on the surface beyond it’s physical isolation.

Of course, it isn’t so simple as all that. Gaia has a need for the children of Shrewton, and turned the village itself into a Kami. The population of 10,000 people is well aware that they live somewhere special, but they’ve got no idea how special.

Mostly, it guards the children. Adults are welcome to come and go and live whatever lives they prefer, but any child in Shrewton is under the Kami’s special attention. It uses the powers at its disposal toward one end: allowing the children to dream. Good rest makes good dreams, but Gaia needs these specific children in this specific place dreaming away every night. Normally, the Kami doesn’t need to do much, but it has in the past roused enough to subtly prevent a father from moving away with a child after a divorce. The actions of the Kami are subtle but unmis­ takable to anyone who knows where to look.

Appearance

Shrewton is a sunny little village of 10,000 people, with historic homes and buildings everywhere. The roads are mainly cobblestone in town, and the water that flows in drains when it rains is unusually clean. Beyond that, the children of Shrewton seem especially vibrant.

They always wake well rested and vivacious, and stay alert all day. They, along with the whole village, sleep heavily, but to the casual observer it’s just a small town in the middle of nowhere.

It is only in the Umbra that the Kami’s presence is obvious. The place is flooded with the spirits of children’s dreams and nightmares. The spiritual reflection of the buildings all seem to have the same smiling house-face as in a child’s drawing. The faces turn and watch things, smile, mouth to each other, and otherwise indicate that the old village is far more than it seems.

Roleplaying Notes: There is no real way to communicate directly with the Kami, and its actions are slow and subtle. An eave on a building falls, causing a small car accident that makes someone late for work, which means that they don’t get a promotion so they can’t leave with their children out of town. It always acts slowly, confidently, and with purpose. If the characters can find a way to communicate with Shrewton, it is easy going and takes long, thoughtful breaths between every sentence. It does nothing in haste, for it has the patience of eons. Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 2 Talents: Alertness 3, Empathy 2, Expression 2, Leadership

3, Primal Urge 1 Skills: Animal Ken 1, Survival 2 Knowledges: Enigmas 1, Investigation, Law 1, Medicine

2, Occult 3 Powers: Aura of Tranquility, Curse of Gaia, Lord of the Land Geas: Let the children dream.

• Something has changed in the delicate balance of dreams and dream spirits that hover around Shrewton. Nightmares and bad dreams run roughshod over their more peaceful spirit siblings, and as a result, the children of Shrewton are having a hard time sleeping. This is against the Kami’s very being, and it sends out a powerful cry, reaching out far and wide to find Gaia’s champions that they might find the cause of the imbalance and fix it.

• An adult of Shrewton, a friend of one of the pack­ mates, is trying to leave. She wants to take her son with her, but she’s facing bizarre coincidences that conspire to keep her from leaving. She’s had it rough and the character grows suspicious after hearing her tale. A quick visit to the village will tell the characters that the place is special. Getting in touch with the Kami, especially if they don’t know what such a being is, will be tricky. Trickier still is convincing it to let the child go. Shrewton is single-minded, but not unreasonable. If the pack can bring the Kami as

many dreams as the child would produce in a lifetime, or another strong dream producer, it may be willing to bargain.

• Shrewton’s population is getting old. So much so that the Kami isn’t sure if it can maintain its dream production for more than another generation or two. It moves too slow, and it is afraid to fix its situation, and so has put out

messages begging for help from any of Gaia’s children. If the pack can somehow help Shrewton, it will allow them to take a nearby caern, not to mention all sorts of other boons from the giant Kami. But the Kami asks a mighty deed, one that will require the pack to be creative and to perform some feats that many Garou would never consider.