Cave of Secrets: Breather (WtA)

Hey, sorry this is so last-minute. But I've been in the process of buying a house and it's left me really tired and lacking in gaming-related headspace. Lots of little preparations, including cleaning my old apartment and getting rid of old junk and the like. In fact, I just recently made a drive up to Pittsburgh (an hour and a half away) to sell a bunch of my books to Half-Price Books because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of eBay.

Anyhow...


This most recent session was a little light on actual action, mostly things getting lined up for future events. With word getting out that the cave has been at least partially explored and appears to be the site of a lost caern, the various septs have been in communication to figure out what to do about it. The local septs each sent out a representative to the site to discuss it.

The Sons of the Saga, as the ones who have fully made contact with the cave, accompanied the sept alpha Build This Wall (Children of Gaia metis Philodox) out to the site. When they arrived, they met the Edge of the Firelight, who've been guarding the cave and serving as representatives from the Whispering Waters Sept (which, if I haven't established it, is in Watoga State Park to the south of where the cave is). They also met:

• An older woman with silver hair, Cora "Banshee's Shriek" (Fianna homid Galliard) from the Bullitt Lodge (which is near a hot springs resort to the east) 
• A Silver Fang with a fetish bow who cuts the 'rugged noble hunstman' angle named David "Raptor Strike" (Silver Fang homid Ahroun) from the Watering Places Sept (just outside White Sulphur Springs)
• An older man with an almost stereotypically Hillfolk demeanor, Zeke "Bury the Hatchet" (Bone Gnawer homid Philodox) from the Bridger Mountain Sept (which is just outside the nearby town of Marlinton, and is almost entirely Bone Gnawer Hillfolk)

So the assembled Garou got down to brass tacks pretty quickly, establishing what they knew -- the cave seems to be home to a lost/hidden caern that for whatever reason (likely due to the recent earthquake -- remember, this takes place in 2011) has made itself known. Different shapeshifters (and possibly some fomori and/or human psychics) have been having dreams connected to the site. The Sons of the Saga left out what they'd heard from Andrea, the Bastet they recently met, but I believe they brought up that different shifters were having different dreams based on their breed.

(I didn't exactly keep a detailed set of minutes of the conversation, managing multiple NPCs at once and all that, so bear with me if this is light on details.)

Eventually, the subject is broached that the discovery of the caern necessitated the volunteering of defenders. The group collectively decide that each of the local septs should send out a pack to the cave to effectively build a new sept. Assuming they've got the numbers and resources to justify it, of course. The Sons of the Saga naturally volunteer, as do the Edge of the Firelight. The other representatives agree to go back and figure out what they can manage and how much.

They get down to some of the other details of the situation. The Sons talk about the fomor they encountered, which led to the subject of the gun loaded with silver bullets and whatever happened to it. Berry almost let slip that it wound up in the hands of the Nuwisha they'd encountered, but Åke swiftly moved to intercept the conversation and simply explain that the silver bullets were left in the hands of a higher-ranking ally for disposal. (Technically true enough, but that could come back to bite someone on the ass later.) They also talked about what needed to be done to fully reawaken the caern -- the 'Child of Secrets,' who needs to be found, and the pedestal piece that needs to be carved. Raptor Strike, in exchange for a favor or two down the road, offers to find someone with the skills to make something suitable.

With a picture of what needs to be done in the immediate future, everyone agrees to go back to their septs and make what arrangements need to be made. The Edge of the Firelight say they'll keep watching the cave for the next few days, and Raptor Strike goes out of his way to volunteer a pack from his sept to take over guard duties after that. Claudiu wants to camp out at the cave overnight to help keep an eye on it and take a closer look at it, and he and Jerry head into the nearby town of Marlinton to get some supplies.

At the same time, Åke heads out to the homestead of the Simmons Kinfolk family since he figures the Child of Secrets is Kinfolk and they're the largest such family around. But that doesn't turn up any leads, and he considers heading out to the Romani community that Claudiu comes from to do some asking around there.

As all this is going on, Claudiu and Jerry head back to their sept to find someone who can perform the Rite of the Questing Stone. Even with having very little info to go by on the Child of Secrets, they figured it's worth a shot. They track down a Theurge named Carrie, convince her to perform the rite for them (in exchange for a favor -- seriously, my pack is racking up the IOUs) and teach it to them. Again, they had very little to go on for the purposes of the Rite, but I went ahead and gave it a roll at a higher difficulty and the dice made it clear -- the Child of Secrets is somewhere in Marlinton.

So at the next session (which will apparently be in a couple of weeks), we'll follow up from there.