It would be an understatement to say that our enemies are encroaching. Although our territory is highly valuable, that value creates constant conflict. I agreed to take control of Mendocino because that was the only way it could be, it had always been that way. If I was going to die over something foolish, then let it be at least defending a thing I love. Yet rather than just kill me off, instead this deal has led to increasing amounts of pressure being applied to my head and neck until I want to scream. Howl.

Sometimes I feel like the pack is just sticking our fingers in the holes continuously sprouting from the damn, and sooner or later we’ll run out of digits. The thing is, we finally had a bit of forward momentum. Praise various sundry deities for it. We couldn’t save that poor asshole who was thrashing in the hospital over a headache; turns out he was a beshilu. We did manage to track his husk down to the local laborers union and stop him from doing any real damage. Thanks to Mudd, we got the whole swarm, and now we have a possible new locus to call our very own. About time. I’m tired of having to drag my sorry hide from hell to breakfast just to check on the temperature in the shadow.

Brook is hard at work getting us an end run around the stupid ass Fort Bragg pack. I don’t know what those dudes are into, but they’re starting to get my attention and now is just not the time. I don’t want to exactly declare war on them, but they need to know to step up off the Sons. I believe in Brooks vision about the rail line, and we can’t allow them to have their way. Maybe several of our connected and we can undermine their attempts to undermine us. Cause we know that they knew that we knew that they knew… Where was I? Dax has some good shit.

Anyway, we finally had our meeting with Vito; which went better than expected. He plays the mafioso thing to the hilt, and I guess I can’t blame him. There is one thing though that keeps gnawing at me. The spirits over in the shadow keep acting like their world is all there is, like it’s the “real” world so to speak. This means we fundamentally approach everything from different angles. I still haven’t figured out how to work with that, but I’m getting there. We ended up coming to an agreement: we would help him in keeping Mendocino wine country if he chilled out and backed away from our corn farms. It’s perfectly reasonable, but I still want to punish him for his hubris. I want to throttle his fat grape neck and tell him that we are Uratha, we make the rules, and he’ll get whatever we decide to give him. For right now though, we need this agreement, and if he keeps his end of the bargain then we have enlisted our first allies against the pure. That ain’t half bad for a pack that’s “strictly speakin’” not even a real pack.

Fire is bad. Oh so very bad. Being chased by spiritual embodiments of fire and hatred is so much worse. And all for a little hummingbird spirit. I still have no idea why they felt she was so important, but it doesn’t really matter in the end. They are threats, and so they’ll be eliminated. The main one, the Penitent or whatever, was strong, but if even I could get a shot in, it doesn’t stand a chance against our whole pack. Before then, the bird’s gonna have some explaining to do. Poor thing had been through a lot, so I left her with World’s Largest to refuel, but I have questions that she is going to answer.

And wouldn’t you know it, my pack was already in the Hisil. World’s Largest pointed out the general direction, so I took off to find them. In a cornfield. Setting an ambush for grapes.

Dafuq?

It’s not my place to question, so I sat in wait with the rest until what looked like a concrete car (?) with a grapevine spirit (??) came driving along. Luc practically flew through the air he was so eager to fight. She stepped out, actually said, “So are we really gonna do this?” and started scuffling with Luc. Despite the delicate berry-hair, she was no pushover and Dev decided that we should talk to her boss. All things considered, it wasn’t hard to get her to do that, so now we have a scheduled appointment with a very powerful local spirit.

So now with one errand taken care of, it was time to look into a few others. Walter, James, and Luc went to check in on some kind of shenanigans going on with Skunk Rails trying to bypass Ukiah altogether. Don’t see what that should be a big problem for us, buuuuuut it’s probably a good idea for the human population to still be on the grid, as it were. Also, the Fort Bragg pack might be behind it all and dealing with some other wolves would be a nice change of pace. I personally can’t wait to witness the “negotiations” and “diplomacy” that go down. In the meantime, Comrie offered his help on the house on account of us helping out his daughter and her former career, so the brawn, the brains, and the fox are gonna see what they can get straightened out with Tamina at MPG&E.

Meanwhile, Dev, Mudd, and I decided to investigate the bad juju that Luc noticed at the hospital. The bad news is that the problem is no longer there; the worse news is that it probably means the human involved is now a Ridden. On the plus side, Dev has a new admirer (I think) in Dr. Bell, and he even got to hold her baby. I’m not sure if it’s touching or hysterical to see the big, mean alpha walking down to the maternity ward with a human infant in one arm while trying to look badass, so it’s probably the better part of wisdom if I just hold my tongue and not make any comments about “D’awwwww, ’oo’s da sensitive tough man? You are! You are!”

There’s something relaxing about cooking up explosives. Maybe its the fact that at any moment your face could be blown off that just kinda forces me to slow down and enjoy… well not having my face blown off. Usually makes for nice casual journaling, but today, it’s not working I just keep thinking how this territory thing is getting to be quite the task. Hell, Walter even had to start writing down a list… “Threat Down ©” he called it, some sort of joke I guess, anyway I’m pretty sure he got to fuckin ten.

After Brook and Cornell took off like dogs after the mailman me an Dev went to get Luc out of the hospital. He’s still pretty fucked up, but the Uratha he was fighting is still in bed so I say he wins. Especially since he still turned out to be pretty useful in a fight.

Dev made the decision that Brew taco’s are probably the biggest fish at the Ukiah “you better fuckin eat it all if you want this territory buffet” so we went down to exact some vengeance on a corn field. Turns out the corn that had previously attacked Walt & Brook was being controlled by some grape spirits. We took ‘em out like a real pack, picking them off one by one. Worked nice, hell I don’t think any of us even took any damage…. Well Luc, but that was only because his ribs weren’t attached and it didn’t seem to affect his combat style, fuckin Rahu’s.

Anyway, we got some info out of the last grape spirit, apparently she was getting her orders from Vito vide?.. Whatever some other more powerful vineyard spirit. We got what really matters which is her route, next comes the fun part.

Oh yeah, we also saved a little corn spirit that they were feeding on. As of now he’s under our protection, and I mean really under our protection, he wouldn’t let us leave without him. Seems like a good spirit though, and we need all the allies we can get in the Hisil… ::sniff, sniff:: Ohhh that’s not good.

Devlin: Drove north to try and finish the task given by the Hell’s Angels. Met crazy rednecks with a penchant for lighting things on fire. Said fuck that noise and headed back to Ukiah. The Hell’s Angels ain’t getting their money now.

Luc: Stuck in hospital. Bored and concerned about his shop. Walter came by and made sure he would not be operated on. Overheard some interesting conversation about another patient. Possible spirit connection, better call Cornell.

Cornell: Got a private lesson in rituals from another werewolf. Got tattooed with invisible magic blood-ink, good times. Learned how to make a totem. Spoke to Luc. Might need to investigate the hospital soon.

James: Got to do nerd stuff. Talked to his ex-girlfriend who can’t seem to wrap her head around a nerd owning a motorcycle. Went on a field trip with Walter. Almost got murdered by corn.

Walter: Managed to keep Luc from getting himself cut open and having a lot of explaining to do. Went to talk to a guy that had been having issues with the Brutocao family. Almost got murdered by corn. Turned into a fox. That’s new.

Mudd: MIA

<chainspirit>
After we found Shana Janoski on the floor of Krazin’ Juice’s Winnebago Mr. Kimihiro offered to return her to her father. Walter did so, and found him furious. I guess Mr. Kimihiro sensed something more than normal human outrage and called some of the Sons to come check it out. Cornell sensed a spirit attached to Mr. Janoski which was making him irrational.
Cornell and I rode around to find a Locus so we could jump sides and rip that sprit off Mr. Janoski. We found a nearby abandoned house – with a worrisome taint – that had a locus. Cornell, Mudd, and I stepped to the other side while Luc kept Mr. Janoski calm. In the spirit realm we encountered three chain spirits which sought to bar our passing. In my best imitation of Devlin I told the spirits to step down cause the Sons of Thunder did not tolerate insubordinince in their own territory. They slinked away.
Devlin had to stay back and watch the – new employees at Luc’s Junk. Otherwise he’d have been there to help the rest of us rip those chains right off Mr. Janoski. Janoski got a broken jaw for our trouble, but he survived.
</chainspirit>

<pipper>
There in Mr. Janoski’s basement was a badly beaten Pipper – the girl who had gotten Shana Janoski involved with the pimp, and the girl who had gotten all of us involved as well. Seems vengeance spirit enhanced Janoski had beaten her pretty bad.
Once she recovered in the hospital Mr. Kimihiro went to talk to her. He thinks Pipper didn’t intend for such horrible things to happen. She was just a rich spoiled girl who didn’t know what the results of her actions would be.
</pipper>

<luc’sjunk>
While the rest of us were visiting with the Janoski family, Devlin was receiving his own guests at Luc’s Junk. I’d guess some mid level thugs by the sound of it, come to take back our new employees. I wish I’d been there to have a look at them. When you see someone it’s not a hard thing to find out who they are and who they work for. Anyway they tried to be all big an’ tough and intimidate Devlin. That’ll be the day; Devlin sent them whining to their bosses.
Another group of thugs came to visit Devlin later that same day. This group claimed to be an associated pack outside Mendocino, just dropping in to say ‘hi’. Most likely they heard about a new pack in town and wanted to sniff out any weakness. If weakness was rain Devlin delivered a decade of drought.
</luc’sjunk>

<hell’sangles>
Devlin thought it time to visit the Hell’s Angels and ask official permission to form our club. We’re an MC no matter what they think, but no need to piss in their face. Some of the guys are ridding south now to meet. Kind of getting the feeling I should have road with them…
</hell’sangles>

From the journal of D. Monroe

-Whenever I have a moment to reflect these days, I always feel lost. My father wanted me to live a life of peace and happiness. Yet I am Uratha; I failed him the moment I was born. We are what we are, and the best we can hope for is to disguise it. For me and my pack, our whole lives revolve around this philosophy and I’m already tired of it. Conceal your nature, and maybe the people around you won’t go insane or try to kill you. What a trade-off! “Here’s all this power, now never use it” God says. No thanks, I have a better idea, and that’s where the club comes in.

-Brook had been having visions about the pack and our bikes, and after the events of last week it became crystal clear to me. We’re part of the narrative now, and the society which ignored us for so long has gone out of it’s way to include us. Officially speaking, owning the Mendocino territory is a strictly hands-off proposition. They don’t bother us, but they won’t help us either. So we needed a way to throw our weight around, without arousing suspicion. So we founded the Sons of Thunder Motorcycle Club -Ukiah Pack. It may be a bit controversial claiming a bottom rocker, but we had to. The kind of clout we need could never be met with a casual riding group, we had to go all-in. I know not everyone gets it yet, but they will, and sooner than later we’ll become part of the fabric of the community.

-Stumbled across a locus during a ride the other day, run by “The World’s Lamest” or something. We need one, but things are rough over on the other side. I hadn’t been there in years, no need to. The spirits around these parts have grown wild, and seem to have a phobia for our kind. We’ll let him sit for now. For now.

-The Sons made our introduction to the local underworld with aplumb, shutting down a make-shift bivouac brothel run by some douche who calling himself “Krunkle Juice.” Thanks to Walt we were able to rescue the girls he had there without much trouble. I offered to take on any who still wanted to work, because it seemed like the only option that made sense. The club will need revenue, and this will give us a steady stream. We can also take care of those girls better than anyone else around. We can protect them, keep them clean, provide medical care, days off, and it will be an “at will” agreement, so they can walk whenever they want. Nobody will come after them or hurt them, and they will keep the bulk of their earnings while they work for us. I know that if I did nothing then they woudln’t just walk off and leave the business. They’d find another pimp or worse, and be back in the exact same position. The board just needs to officially vote on the offer, and we’re good to go. I hope our new Treasurer is ready for his first project.

-One thing that’s been bothering me about the whole KJ thing is that woman who snitched on him in the first place. The one who was actually recruiting girls for him before all this. The more I hear, the stranger it feels to me. What is her game? Who does she work for? Even if everything she’s said has been true, her hands are far from clean. I want answers.

Would’ve liked to have seen Ukiah before things went to shit. Used to be part of the famous California wine country, I understand. I can believe it, too. Looking around at some of the abandoned shops or old ones that haven’t had the money to renovate have a certain vineyard-and-corkscrew theme going for them. Not that wine’s better than blood or beer, but a whole town that prides itself on being sauced to the gills is bound to be a fun time.

Blood. That doe’s blood was the tastiest damn thing I’d had in a long time. And to think I used to prefer steak sauce on my meat. Seems practically sacrilegious to do that.

As for beer, Bitterman’s has a decent selection. Can’t say I expected to find a new pack on the menu, though, but sometimes life throws little gifts your way. Weird gift, too. The few packs I’ve seen in the past tended to be pretty homogenous in their talents, but I think we make up the whole damn lunar cycle. And a spirit fox, to boot. Mischievous little bastards, but on the more harmless end of the scale, as spirits go. Well, maybe “harmless” isn’t the right word, but at least I’m pretty sure it won’t try to kill us.

The other four seemed to know each other, at least somewhat, but being former military like most of them made for a good connecting point (even if I never left the states), and me being a mechanic was a great in with our new alpha, who just so happens to own a garage. He’d better like my work, too, cuz I’m the best goddamned grease monkey he’s gonna find anywhere.

I guess other packs learned about our new little family. Hadn’t been together a month before some guy – “Stretch” or “Slim” or some other s-word – shows up from Frisco with a sharp suit and vague offers. Not exactly threatening, but the whole vague, cloak-and-dagger horseshit is a social game the blood-sucking, pointy-toothed little sparklers like to play. Still, and invitation to Colma would be a great place to try out my spiritual side, so I’m glad the group decided to go.

One long-ass ride later, we pulled up to the graveyard we were instructed to go to and met an old wolf named Scarpa. One pissing contest between him and the alpha later and he took us into some ancient catacombs. Werewolf catacombs. Creepy as it was, it felt…“right,” somehow.

Scarpa had more to show us, starting with a weird ritual involving water, ashes, and him spitting all over a map of northern California. Once done with his performance art, we could see a map of spiritual energies in the area. Two areas in particular – Lake Tahoe and Ukiah – he said we could claim as our own territory, no conflict, no questions asked. Tahoe had calm spiritual energies, but Ukiah’s were all jagged like barbed wire. Scarpa said that there would be things there that he would prefer not to mess with, but made it clear that us dealing with the problems would make our ownership of the territory actually meaningful, that it’d be something we claimed and not just given. Hard to argue with logic like that, so we decided to go back and lay claim to Ukiah.

Made my day when the old wolf said he’d connect me with someone who could teach me rituals. I just had to ask nice as we left. Alpha and the French poodle might wanna consider moving the chest-thumping to the second course of action from time to time. Just a thought.

Between us and our bikes, though, were a bunch of shit-for-brains thugs taking sledgehammers to tombstones. Sentimentality and honoring the dead aside, this is one of those things that stirs up spirits beyond the Gauntlet. A lesson in respecting the dead is about to be in order.

Every campaign gets an Adventure Log, a blog for your adventures!

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.