12.28.2019

We return to southern Mexico to meet the jaguars. They are right on time and happy that the trespassers are gone. They lead us off into the jungle to their village. As usual we get a lot of strange looks as we enter. We are led into the shaman's tent and he informs us he can either teach us the ritual or perform it for us. We figure it could come in handy at a later date so we opt for the learning. The shaman mentions that while any of us could perform the ritual it will be very difficult for someone not of Uratha blood to accomplish. We learn the sacrifice is a very hefty amount of will and we all donate some. Red is still new at the whole ritual thing and the first attempt fails. Since we can't afford to drain any more will this next attempt has to work so I opt to do the ritual and invoke the power of the mote within to accomplish the task. Soon there is a fluttering of the torches and a low but audible howl of wind. The shadows on the walls of the hut seems to dance and wriggle but not in the expected pattern of the torch light. They seem to act on their own volition. Then everything just stops and the air is still and very quiet. Even the ambient sounds of the village and jungle are missing. The silence becomes quite oppressive but is soon broken as the dirt about the summoning circle begins to stir. All though we can't see our willpower being drained we can feel it mix with the swirling dirt and air and soon it coalesces into an ancient aztec headress and a face forms and it's eye open staring at us. It takes a look at each of us and in a soft but yet commanding voice says "Why have you summoned me?"

We ask the spirit of lore about Ezukamada. His ban is that he can not move outside of the recognized borders of the town he is bound to. He calls spirits to him so he can use their power to influence those in the material realm and slowly expand his influence. Since he is an ancient aztec spirit it is most likely impossible to kill it. We would have to weaken it greatly and then we could bind it to another location. The spirit of lore asks if we can offer any information in return. Since we likely don't have much for him I opt to tell him about the Lady Abigail and the four. He was not terribly surprised by the news. The spirit world has been in a state of flux ever since hallow's eve. He says he saw the motes traveling through the shadow realm after they were released. We ask if he had actually seen where they went and he says he did. Since we gave him some new information he would give us some too. We ask him where the white and red motes went. The red went to Afghanistan and the white was in upstate New York. This was great news, just knowing what part of the world it went to would be a huge boon in finding it. The Padre tells it about the passing of the lady of autumn sorrows. The spirit knew something of it since somebody else had asked him about it. It turns out Dante is also fond of summoning the spirit of lore. That explains where he gets a lot of his information from. The spirit mentions he doesn't like Dante all that much, he is very arrogant and demanding. He also mentions there is another arrogant humanoid that has been going all of the shadow and causing problems. Always encased in purple flame and dark. This was a great surprise to us all. He could only be talking about one person, our pal Donovan. So that's where he has been hiding. This has been an enlignening night. We thank the spirit for it's time and it melds back into the ground in an instant.

We thanks the jaguar's for their help and make our way out of the village. I drop our home portal and we return to the warehouse. We have to start thinking about a safe place to bind this spirit to and we have to figure out a relatively safe way to beat it into submission.

[ i have a strange feeling i'm missing something ]

Cygin