097. Roulette

The motley learn of a terrible threat facing Montreal.

***"At a casino, there is one truth to remember: the house always wins. But who is the house?"***

While Sophia and Braum are still at the Garou Cairn, Patches meets up with her father, still hard at work on his APEE (Advanced Probability Enhancement Engine). He asks if she wants to be calibrated for it, and while she still isn't certain, she caves to his request and begins the process.

Back at The Spark, Dr. Sayley examines her new "patient", Flight-of-Victory. After slicing off a layer of the Garou's skin as a sample (nearly provoking a rage), Sayley explains that Flight-of-Victory's body is accepting the taint, rather than fighting it off. The Garou tells the motley of the White Howlers, the tribe of Garou whose audacity in going to fight the Wyrm turned them all into its servants. She quietly explains that her infection came from trying to destroy their hive, located underground in the West Island of Montreal, which was only partially successful in driving them away. When the motley offer to help her return to finish the job, she simply shakes her head: "You have never been to a hive…."

Just before her father arrives to the Spark, Patches takes a call from Fuse Terwilliger at the Grand Bes Din, who informs her that by a stroke of incredible luck, building materials have arrived early, and that her new wing will be completed even sooner than expected! Patches realizes that the effects of the APEE must already be kicking in…. Meanwhile, Sophia invites Sir Xaeron to stay for dinner, informing him that she knows "what they must fight next," and that it will be her fight to take.

Malcolm comes to the Spark for dinner, meeting the rest of the motley and excitedly explaining the ramifications of the APEE to all of them. Although Braum is confused and suspicious, the evening takes a turn when Sophia asks Flight-of-Victory if she could spend time in her dreams that night, hoping to gain insight into what this "hive" may consist of. The Elder is anxious, but eventually concedes.

That night, the motley enter Flight-of-Victory's dreams, and meet a small troll playing with a chess piece, warning them of the dangers ahead. With some trepidation, they push forward through a warm door, finding themselves underground in a long tunnel. In the earthen tunnel, the smells of iron and rot mingle in the humid air as millions of invisible creatures crawl over the motley members' skins. As they find their way down the tunnel, they discover Kaylie, Pasebakhaenniut, Layla, and Ash Bleeding-Edge cowering, unsure where to go, the latter having lost both of his hands. The floor opens up beneath them, revealing a river of lava below as the sound of inhuman chanting comes up to them. Identical copies of the Garou show up, and the motley push forward, leaving the Garou to fall into the lava. They come to a dead end, with a young woman standing over a table of twenty cell phones, her jaw hanging askew. She demands Sophia sing, ripping the song from her throat with magic. As the Garou tumbles into the lava below, she launches her entrails up onto the dirt floor, leaving them to crawl along after the motley with some other maggot-like creatures.

The motley find themselves in a massive underground cavern, where Flight-of-Victory fights furiously against an endless hoard of corrupted werewolves, creating an ever-growing mound of corpses that start to pull her down. Sophia conjures tree roots from the ceiling to snag them all, pulling them up, up, and out into the fresh air. Gasping for breath, they find themselves in the Angell Woods dog park, no doubt the real site of the hive. As several spiders make their way onto Flight-of-Victory's body, she shudders out a warning: "They're planning something…."