Prelude: The High Cost of Freedom
The Prelude deals with each character's First Change, and the realisation that they are a monster thought only to exist in legend: a werewolf. Most the characters were found by the Garou of Seattle, and as a result, learned that they were not alone in their experiences.
But the World of Darkness is a dangerous one. There are monsters in this world, and as we discover in the prelude, not even being one yourself means you'll survive the experience.
The prelude opens with an eye on Teresa Liatos, a girl on the fringe of a fringe group of goths, at Seattle's trendiest nightclub of the moment: the Catwalk Club. There to meet a friend, Teresa found her already present at club, and absolutely smitten with a guy, who had already attracted quite a following among the crowd.
Despite the man's unearthly beauty, Teresa found herself unable to trust him as the others had. After a strained but cool rejection of his advances, Teresa grabbed Alyssa and took off on the premise of the study date. Later, the two called it quits for the night and began to head home separately, but not before Teresa extracted a promise from Alyssa that she would not go back to the club.
When she got home, Teresa was greeted by her parents, who were both frantic and relieved that they daughter was okay. Eventually the story came out that Alyssa had been killed that same night. Her body had been found in the dumpster behind the Catwalk Club.
In her sleep, Teresa visited the Dream Realm, where the night's events played out in symbolic form, before being interrupted by a magnificent black Pegasus. One baleful red eye glared back at Teresa. ::You do not belong here. Soon, but not yet. Go now.::
With that, Teresa woke from her dream, filled with a need to run. Slipping outside, Teresa found that her usual jog simply wouldn't cut it this time. Venturing off the sidewalk, she slipped into a nearby stand of trees and underwent her First Change.
Immediately the new werewolf headed for the Catwalk Club, headed back to where she last saw the man she suspected to be responsible for Alyssa's death. Ignorant of the pandemonium she caused with her very presence, Teresa charged the club, and walk straight for the man, who her nose told her reeked of death and decay. Several of the man's hangers-on tried to intercept Teresa while the dead man escaped out through the window, but the werewolf had only one goal, and would not be deterred.
While the vampire escaped by breaking then moving through the window, Teresa took a far more direct route: she ripped the window frame from its moorings and leapt down to the alleyway below. The vampire tried to run, then to fight, but met the final death in the end. Teresa was about to head back out into the street when the bartender, a Black Fury named Cassandra, appeared and knocked her out with a fetish baseball bat.
When she came to, Teresa found herself in a bed while Cassandra watched over her. Cassandra explained about the Garou, and offered to take her to others who would be able to teach her more. Following her acceptance, Cassandra escorted teresa back home, where the news was gently broken to her parents, both of whom were unknowingly kinfolk.
The next morning, Teresa woke and found herself in short order travelling with Cassandra to what would become her new home.
Across town, B-Ball enjoyed a quick game of Basketball with his friends on their local court. Amidst the usual banter about the state of things, B-Ball heard about the Grave Knights, a new gang which had ruthlessly taken over the docks and were now looking to expand their territory.
As their game finished, B-Ball and his friends were approached by a new group -- one quickly identified as members of the Grave Knights. The proposition was simple: one game, to 21 points, winner takes $1000 and "ownership" of the courts.
The first half of a game went as expected, with B-Ball and his friends running wild over the Knights. But the second half was plagued by bad luck: sure shots would bounce off the rim, and the slightest touch from the Knights would sent the local kids flying. In the end, B-Ball had to resort to a trick shot -- frowned upon, but not illegal at all, to win.
That's when the trouble started. The Knights didn't want to pay, and didn't want to leave. Quickly, the true story came out. Nico, one of B-Ball's friends, had told them about the hustling they did, and the Knights wanted in on the action. The threat became crystal clear when the Knight snapped Nico's neck, saying that the rest of them would get the same unless they went along.
The situation rapidly escalated out of hand as Antionne, usually known for a level head, attacked the Knights in a fit of grief and rage. The leader of the Knights shifted into Crinos, revealing his true colours, and the rest of the Knights followed. A slaughter ensued, with B-Ball's friends cut down in a matter of seconds. In shock and rage, B-Ball underwent his First Change.
When he woke up, B-Ball was naked and covered in blood. Reacting more on instincts born of the streets, B-Ball dressed himself in the cleanest clothes he could find, and ran full speed home. When he arrived, he found a police care waiting for him. Although distrustful, B-Ball agreed to talk to Sergeant Williams and John Redman, an Uktena kinfolk.
While he couldn't explain fully what B-Ball was with all of its intricacies in five minutes, Redman did manage to convince B-Ball that he could take him to people who would explain.
Leaving his old life behind, B-Ball agreed, and got into the car with Redman.
In Skykomish, Washington, Butterfly went for a small forest trek. She was supposed to have been in school that day, but the lure of the open road -- in this case, the train tracks -- had proved too much for her to ignore. In short order, Butterfly had journeyed down the tracks, encountering a magnificent stag along the way, and found an abandoned mine hidded in the woods.
Pressed by her curiosity, Butterfly slow explored the cave, only to discover that she had wandered into a wolf's cave. But the wolf was wrong -- it walked funny, had needle-like teeth, and oddly bulbous milky-white eyes. Butterfly tried to back out, but stumbled and fell, prompting the wolf to change and hunt -- and it had chosen her as its prey.
Butterfly raced outside, with the wolves on her heels. She climbed the cliff face trying to get away, only to discover that the Werewolf had cut her off by coming out on top of the cliff. To make matters worse, it launched off the cliff and spread patagia, allow it to attack her with swift gliding passes. She took up a rock - the only weapon at hand, but was saved from a direct conflict by James Dancing-Eagle, who leapt off the cliff and brought the werewolf down. On the ground, James shifted, revealing himself to be another werewolf. Rather than joining in the hunt, James launched into an attack on Butterfly's hunter. It was a hard battle, made moreso by the interference of the wolves from within the cave, and the werewolf managed to escape and start climbing the cliff face after Butterfly.
Butterfly snapped, and leapt onto the back of the werewolf, striking with her hands and kicking with her feet. Somewhere in the midst of it all she Changed, and continued to strike, with claws and with fangs. When the two came to rest at the cave entrance, the werewolf was dead and Butterfly had begun to grasp what she truly was.
James and his packmates escorted Butterfly by canoe to the Sept, which would quickly become her new home.
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