So where we left off last time, the pack found Deborah Foss, the woman they're pretty sure is the Child of Secrets, and gave her the rundown about the Garou, about Gaia, about Kinfolk, and about her place in unfolding events. They took Deborah and her brother back to the Cranberry Glades Sept for the night and hammered out the issue of the pack alpha. Claudiu was put in the position.
The pack talked to Build This Wall, and filled him in on what was going on and that they were getting ready to take Deborah to the cave. He made arrangements to have a couple of younger packs go with the Sons of the Saga for backup, especially since they knew of at least one Black Spiral Dancer in the area and had to assume there was at least a local pack.
The pack left before sunrise the next morning. Berry and Åke shifted into Hispo form to carry Deborah and Walter (respectively) on their backs, while the others would take to Lupus form. The cave was only a few miles away, almost entirely through forest-covered hills with almost no chance of contact with mundane humanity so they decided to chance it and just run for it. The trip itself was uneventful, until they got to about the last third of the trek.
One of the NPC packs pulled off to the side, and tried to get the others' attention because of something they found. Claudiu made the executive decision to peel off, see what the big deal is, but instructed the others to keep going. The cave wasn't far, after all, and there was at least one pack already guarding it. So what mattered was getting the Kinfolk to the site in one piece.
Claudiu went to the other pack, who showed them that several of the trees had been carved up. Wyrm glyphs covered some, and letters were spread out across others such that when you stood in the right spot, the phrase "Surrender the girl" became visible. (As did someone's clearly-interrupted attempt to make it say 'Surrender Dorothy' instead) As they checked out the message, a gunshot rang out and one of the other Garou grabbed his shoulder and fell to the ground. The others ran for cover but Claudiu was able to get a look at the shooter. He gave chase -- and briefly saw the BSD they saw in town before he dropped his rifle and took off in Lupus form -- but his quarry managed to give him the slip. He shifted back to Lupus and took off to try and catch up with the rest before something happened.
And something very nearly happened. When they heard the gunshot, the other Sons of the Saga stopped and braced themselves for a fight. Those who could do so started sharpening their claws for a battle, until they saw something monstrously huge barreling at them through the woods. What really stood out was the sound the creature made as it ran, great big cracking sounds like trees falling as it moved. They made a quick decision -- get back to running, get the Kinfolk to the cave, keeping Deborah safe mattered more than winning a fight. Jerry hung back a bit -- as the guy in charge when Claudiu's away, he took it upon himself to make sure the others were safe, and tried to slow down whatever was chasing them by using Create Element to leave bursts of fire in the woods behind him. He did in fact manage to get a shot at its face and slowed it down.
It was another Garou in Hispo form. At first, spikes seemed to cover its body but then they realized it was shards of broken bone pushing through skin, some of them sliding in and out from the movements of the muscles. It was slightly misshapen from the way its bones continuously broke and reformed and broke again as it ran at them, and they could hear every crack and creak of weak bone. Its teeth were like jagged, uneven tusks sticking out of its mouth at odd angles.
At about this point, Claudiu managed to catch up with them and saw what was happening. He blindsided and tackled the monstrous Garou to get it to stop running, and Jerry stopped to stand with Claudiu and face it if need be. It got back up on all fours, radiating pure menace, as a short distance away Berry and Åke were joined by some of the Garou already defending the cave, having reached the safe perimeter. Howls echoed through the forest, indicating impending reinforcements. Seeing that its quarry were already out of reach and it would be soon outnumbered, it growled "Another time" and took off running.
The Garou, aside from those still sweeping the perimeter, convened at the cave to finally settle this thing they've been trying to do. Raptor's Strike and his pack had shown up, with a beautifully carved 'base' to use with the moonstone and the stone pedestal in the entrance. They put the moonstone in the holder and pass them off to Deborah, who steps uneasily into the cave entrance asking if anyone else heard the whispering that she could hear. She placed the moonstone on the pedestal, and all of the glyphs in the cave began glowing and shimmering. Her eyes glowed white, and she turned to the rest and announced in a deep, unnatural voice that the Cave of Secrets was now ready to speak.
Again, as I usually do these things, I don't really have a transcript of the resulting conversation. So I'll focus on the highlights. (Just for the record, not all of these are literal questions asked, but representative of the topics covered.)
What is it? The Cave of Secrets, one of Gaia's servants charged with keeping certain secrets -- relics, stories, etc. -- from each of the various Changing Breeds and tribes. Including the Lost Breeds and Tribes. It's lain partially dormant for ages, keeping these things safe for when the time came. (Though it doesn't have anything that belongs to the Kitsune, as it sealed itself up before they were created.) Also, it was pointed out as people kept referring to it as the caern that it is not the caern; it contains a caern, but the cave itself is alive and blessed/charged by Gaia to protect the caern and other things within it.
(Incidentally, some people familiar with Werewolf: The Apocalypse may recognize the cave as one of the rare and enigmatic Kami. Claudiu's player made the connection, though Kami are rare enough that his character wouldn't have. Which would be the case for most of the Garou there, incidentally.)
Why is it awakening now? "Now is the time."
Is Deborah okay? She's perfectly fine, and a willing participant in this. She's completely conscious, and is communicating with the cave in her own way (among other things, it can pick her brain so it's not tripped up by ignorance of current events or pop culture references). At one point, the cave released the connection so Deborah could speak for herself before reactivating the link.
What should be done with the caern and the Cave? They are to be protected while the Garou find ways to access the secrets held within. The Cave can't casually share with them what it has or knows -- a lot of it has to be earned, and it doesn't have a lot of choice in that matter. (For those of you unfamiliar with Kami, each one operates under a geas it can't break. I won't share the exact wording of this one, but suffice it to say there are limits to what it can share or volunteer)
How should things be run? The defenders of the Cave can organize themselves however they feel is appropriate, but there is a very firm catch. The Cave is not for the Garou alone; other Changing Breeds may visit the Cave if they come in peace. (This provoked a lot of grumbling under the crowd) Also, the Cave will designate certain individuals as 'emissaries,' liaisons between it and the outside world that can communicate with it even without Deborah's help. (After all, it's not like she can play magic spiritual mouthpiece all the time) They won't inherently be in charge or anything, but they will be able to contact the Cave directly. The Sons of the Saga will be the emissaries for the Garou, and emissaries have been chosen for a couple of the other Changing Breeds. Particularly, the 'catfolk and Coyote's Children.'
Are these emissaries anyone we know? ("Please don't be Roy, please don't be Roy") At this point, the Cave chose its words carefully (not wanting to reveal that the Sons of the Saga have been interacting with them) as it identified the other emissaries as Andrea Quick-Snare (the Pumonca the pack met a while back) and Roy Don't-Dig-There. More emissaries will be chosen as more Breeds make themselves available. Also,
What about the BSDs? "The Fallen will not be welcome." (Also, pointing out here that this doesn't just mean BSDs, but Fallen members of other Changing Breeds, like Buzzards and the like)
What should we go looking for first? They will have to discover that for themselves. (Honestly, I didn't anticipate that question and couldn't think of a good answer as I've got things planned in pretty broad strokes beyond a certain point)
And we left off with that, basically. Next we're going to go into a bit of a downtime as this new sept starts organizing itself, a moot finally happens, characters are recognized for their deeds, rank challenges are held, favors are repaid, and so forth.
Also, we're going to have a change in lineup during the downtime. This game has been the first WtA game for Bryan, Berry's player, and now that he has a better grasp on the system and the setting he's got some regrets with choices he made on his current character. (Basically, he thinks a different auspice and possibly tribe would fit better with his preferred playstyle) I'm willing to allow for some adjustment if a character's not working out, but as we discussed it we figured he'd be a little more comfortable bringing in a new character altogether. And admittedly, protecting the Cave of Secrets isn't really something that would be an ideal character path for Berry's temperament so it'd be easy enough for him to bow out and then have a new character become available. I'll have more detail as we work out the details.
As always, if there are any questions about the game or the story to this point or any of the stuff that came up in this session, feel free to ask.
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