After being recognized for their deeds, the Sons of The Apocalypse are told that they will have 4 days to prepare for their rite of passage. They are encouraged not to use this time to rest or relax, but to ready themselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They are reminded that no two rites of passages are ever the same, and that they will be pushed to their very limit. Should they succeed, they will finally be recognized as Cliath, and true Garou. Motivated by this, the young Garou find themselves scrambling to learn new skills, hone existing ones, or find some new gift or rite that might ensure they do not fail their rite of passage.
(In game terms, you have the opportunity to earn up to 6 prep points through on-line roleplaying.
These points spend like XP, but only last until the time you walk into my apartment for next game. Post under this thread what new trait, gift, or ritual your character is going to learn in the next 4 days, but do so IN CHARACTER.
You have the full cooperation of the sept NPCs who will assist you, as long as it does not go against their core values (No Jordan, your Silver Fang traditionalist mentor will not teach you how to disguise yourself as a Bone Gnawer), and as usual, out of tribe/auspice gifts will not be taught, for it disrespects the tribal totem / Luna respectively. Extend that further, and you still cannot learn tribal gifts with these prep points, because you still do not technically belong to a tribe. Out of breed gifts are unlikely to be taught, since doing so shows disrespect to Gaia. And tribal rites are just as secret as tribal gifts. Otherwise, everything else is up for grabs.
You are allowed to combine these prep points with existing XP, but be sure to include that in your posts. I am also going to post a cheat cheap of existing Hidden Glade NPCs, which you may wish to include your post, if you are learning something from them.)
Anton has Lantonya teach him the rite of binding.
ReplyDeleteAfter Jordan finally asks to be healed by Anton’s hand, he spends a lot of his time going into the umbra to sit at the stream, at the water’s edge, contemplating, and watching the fish swimming about. Thoughts of the coming rite of passage sear into Westwood’s mind. All of the nicknames that have been given to the rest of his peers, almost seemed fantastical, like what does spear through the center of the spiral mean? Throwing a spear, or maybe tackling some wyrm fiends in an epic battle? Whatever the case, it at least sounds impressive. What will I do? What kind of person do I want to be thought of as? I guess only Gaia knows. Only she has the answers to the meaning of all this. Well, if this is her plan, then I will be the best soldier and protector of her cause I can be. I will do my best to learn how to control my rage, and use it to my advantage, and not rule me. More often than not, my actions in the moment have seemed rash, and careless. Maybe, just misunderstood. I dunno. If I am to be the best warrior I can be, I need to find ways to boost my packmates, and not just to rely on my own strength. Ha, I guess that bastard Anton is right. Being the son’s of apocalypse’s primary battering ram, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Jordan picks himself up, and looks into the reflection of the water, returning to the normal world. He then heads back deeper into the glade in search of Silverjaws. Damn, I’m getting good at this, Jordan says to himself. Ok, Ok, where can I find a wolf spirit? I can’t ask someone to teach me something that I need to learn from a real spirit, Silverjaws Rehya’s words. To try and shortcut that, would surely be an offence to the spirits, or so I’m told. Some crap about doing things the right way, instead of the easy way, and having to earn the use of the abilities given to me. Hell, if going through the rite of passage isn’t going to be tough enough, already, I need to find some friggin way of finding abilities that I can use to keep my packmates alive by the whim of some spirit, who has almost no care in the world for just another Garou. Just seems kinda backwards. I mean, can’t they sense the coming of the apocalypse, somehow innately feeling that it would mean their end, if Gaia’s warriors are not successful? Oh well, that’s a question I hope to be able to get answered another day. Heck, I can’t even speak to a spirit, without the help of another who can speak to the spirits, Spirit speech, that’s it. Maybe I can learn it from Anton someday if he’s feeling so inclined and not in such a shoddy mood.
ReplyDelete. Ah, there he is! Jordan stops, and watches in awe, as the giant silver haired elder is practicing, fighting a shadow warrior to the death, or maybe practicing some form of martial arts with the giant Klaive. Large, whooshing sweeps, followed by spinning parries, then to several fast lunges, purely intended for a killing blow, or used to maim a target. Jordan watches intently, but patiently in sheer amazement of the skill of his superior, and remembers the words that he had said before “ There is next to nothing that you can do to hurt me”. This cracks a smile, from Jordan’s face, as he sees the words to ring true. One hit with that sword could probably end me! When Silverjaws sheathes his weapon, and looks to be done, Jordan approaches “Afternoon, Silverjaws Rhaya. I’ve been doing some thinking about what I can do do make myself ready for the rite of passage”. Silverjaws turns to the cub and listens with arms folded tightly in front of his massive chest. “And?” “I want to learn the gift inspiration so that my pack can have the benefit of my drive in battle, so that we can be successful in our test. Learning abilities that boost only myself have proved only somewhat useful till now, and I’m sure that the quest that we are going on will be a difficult one to survive. I can’t take everything on by myself, and I need their strength to be coupled with mine so that we have victory, without losses. By giving some of the spiritual energy, that I’ve been practicing on developing, I hope to be able to re-invigorate my pack mates,” Jordan says as calmly, and with as much conviction as possible. “And what do you need, young cub? Are you asking me to teach you? I’ve already told you, I want the spirits to give you these gifts. It’s the way of everyone else who came before you, and you will do the same. Any other method is cheating the spirits in my eyes.” Silver Jaws pauses, clearly in thought, then takes a step closer to Jordan and looks him in the eyes, as if the cub wouldn’t hear him the first time if he did not make himself clear. “Find Lucky-Thrice-Before-Dawn. Tell him that I have sent you, and that you wish to speak to a wolf spirit so that you might learn a gift to better become the leader of your pack. That is what you intend to do with this gift, is it not?” He takes a step sideways and passes the shoulder of Westwood as he continues to speak. “Do not disrespect him or the spirit. Remember, he is Lupus, and does not think like that of a human mind. Even if his is only Fianna, he is ten times the garou you are now. I have traveled clear across the world with Lucky, and he has served me well as our pack’s spirit guide. He will know much of what to ask of the spirit, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask, as long they are not rude, or meaningless. Now go, I have more important things to do than stand around, and mingle with a cub.” With that word, Jordan quickly nods, and heads off to find Lucky-Thrice-Before-Dawn.
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ReplyDeleteConall rests in the hidden glade by the side of the stream, thinking about the upcoming rite of passage. “I’m a little worried about what to expect,” he thinks to himself. “I need to be ready for this, both for myself and for the Pack.” He gets up in starts pacing by the edge of the stream. “I need to get better in filling my role for the Pack. But what should our focus on,” he wonders. After pondering this for awhile he finally comes to a conclusion. Now, who to go to for help? With purpose in his step, he heads for the area of the glade where the GoatGetters are camped.
ReplyDeleteHe eventually sees the person he is looking for sitting alone by a tree, whittling on a small piece of wood. He approaches the Theurge, halting a respectful distance away. “Jeremiah Spiritstorm, may I please speak to you?” he asks politely. Jeremiah looks up and smiles at him and replies, “What can I do for you young Cub?”
Conall answers, “I’ve been thinking about how best to prepare for our Rite of Passage, and believe it would serve my Pack best to focus on developing my skills as Galliard. Would you help me summon a wolf spirit so I can learn to imbue my howls with power, stirring my pack mates with emotion to make them strong, and striking fear into our enemies?”
Jeremiah frowns, “Hmm, well that is a worthy request but it won’t be simple. All the wolf spirits have departed to be near Gaia, but I think it can still be done, mainly because I happen to be on good terms with a particular wolf spirit. If he can come to us, I believe he will.” Jeremiah puts the piece of wood away and stands. Come cub, let us step into the Umbra and see what we may find.”
Jeremiah and Conall step into the Umbra, and Jeremiah immediately shifts to lupus form and begins loping away. Conall is taken a bit by surprise, but shifts to lupus as well, sprinting to catch up to Jeremiah. The two wolves travel quickly, and to Conall it seems the terrain goes by in a blur they are traveling so fast. Conall wonders how this is happening, and notices a glowing fetish hanging on a leather strap around Jeremiah’s neck.
After what seems ages to Conall, they finally begin to slow down and come to a halt in the midst of a beautiful forest. Enormous trees dwarfing California redwoods reach high into the sky. The rich greenness the leaves almost hurt his eyes. He stares around in wonder at the incredible beauty and scale of the place, and completely misses the enormous grey wolf sitting at the base of a tree. Jeremiah utters a series of barks and other strange sounds that make no sense to Conall, but clearly communicates something to the spirit. The spirit wolf approaches Conall and circles him slowly, eyeing him carefully and taking in his scent. Having made a full circle, the spirit stops in front of Conall and looks him in the eye. Conall felt like the spirit was actually looking inside him, measuring his worth. The spirit suddenly lifted his great muzzle, and let out an earth shattering howl that traveled to Conall’s core. Conall suddenly felt full of Gaia’s spirit, with a primal energy that he could not contain. He lifted his head and added his voice to the spirit wolf’s in a cry of exultation. When the howl ended, he looked around for the spirit wolf to thank him, but he was already gone. “Thank you spirit wolf,” he cried aloud. “I will use your gift well!”
Jeremiah looked with both approval and amusement at Conall. “Well done, cub, very well done indeed. You seem to have made a positive impression on the spirit – I wasn’t even sure we would find him. You definitely have a gift for howling. But we can speak about this later. We have a long way to go to get back home.”
FIRST GALLIARD GIFT, CALL OF THE WYLD
Conall wakens the next day feeling a bit tired from his adventure with Jeremiah Spiritstorm in the Umbra. Or were they even still in the Umbra? Conall really wasn’t sure. He wonders if they traveled much further than he had thought, perhaps the Summer Country or Wolfhome or one of the other Near Realms he had heard about from the Galliard, Shiela Won’t-Back-Down. No time to dwell on that now, he had another task at hand. Learning the Gift Call of the Wyld was but the first part. To properly use his gift he had to develop and hone a new ability, and he knew who he needed to see now. “But first I need some breakfast”, he says to himself as he stands up, shifts to Lupus form. He heads out to hunt after dropping by Crazy Heart to get permission to leave.
ReplyDeleteTwo hours later, Conall finally picks up a strong scent and begins following it. Three times he thought he detected a presence nearby, as if he were being watched. Each time he stopped, attuning his senses to his surroundings to find the watcher. Whoever or whatever it was, it had superb nature craft skills. But he was hungry and on a mission, so he followed the scent of his quarry while he kept a watchful eye out for his observer. He finally got within sight of the small boar he was hunting, and slowly crept up on the unsuspecting beast from downwind. He carefully placed each paw to avoid making a sound as he closed in for the kill. The poor thing never saw him coming until he was within a few yards. It tried to run, but Conall dashed forward and pounced on him before he got more than 10 feet. His powerful wolf jaws clamped down just behind the boar’s head, crushing and snapping the neck. He felt a presence behind him, and spun to face the theat.
Calm Stream, Rushing River stood facing him and trotted forward. “Easy cub, I was enjoying watching you hunt. Your skills have improved much since I first met you.” “Thank you Calm Stream, Rushing River,” replied Conall. “I have been working hard to learn what it is to be both Garou and wolf. There is really something wild and free about hunting your own food. I have come to enjoy the hunt for the hunt’s sake. Would you like to join me as I thank Gaia and the boar’s spirit with the Prayer for the Prey?” he asked. Calm Stream, Rushing River nodded in approval, “I would indeed,” she said.
The two wolves faced the dead boar and began a short litany of subdued howls and barks, thanking the boar spirit for the gift of its life and the nourishment it would provide their bodies. When they finished, Conall backed away from the boar and sat down. He nodded to Calm Stream, Rushing River, indicating that he was waiting for her to eat first. Again she nodded in approval, and tore into the boar, feasting on the best parts. As she devoured great chunks of the beast’s flesh, Conall’s belly rumbled and he licked his chops in anticipation. Calm Stream, Rushing River finally walked away from the gory feast, giving Conall a chance to eat his fill. To his surprise, he immediately noticed she had saved the liver for him. He ripped into the fresh meat, gulping it down until he was full. As he licked the blood from his teeth, he looked at Calm Stream, Rushing river and continued the earlier conversation.
“ These last days I have been trying to prepare myself for our Rite of Passage,” he began. “And I was actually going to ask you to train me again, as you did before …”
“Save your words, cub,” she interrupted. “Spiritstorm came to me last night and told me of your adventures, and deduced you would be coming to see me again. This is so, yes?” She paused for a moment noting Conall’s assent, and continued. “You have shown you learn your lessons well, and I am please with your manners and attitude. You have a knack for empathy – I will teach you what you wish to know. Come, let us go back to the glade and we will begin your lessons.
3 POINTS EMPATHY [ (3-1) + (2-1) + (4-1) ] = 6 points
Chris-Your posts had to be deleted. As we have already established, wolf spirits are not responding to summons. At all. None. This is a purposeful, integral part of the Apocalypse story. Your story was edited to the following:
ReplyDeleteEventually, he finds him meditating near the rocky outcropping that has been being used as something of an amphitheatre. Jordan tries to be as silent as possible so as not to disturb, but the Theurge easily senses his presence, and opens is eyes. “Ahhh, what do we have here? A clumsy young cub trying to play a prank?” Lucky says as he stands up on all fours and stretches, eyes locked on the young Garou. “No, I would do nothing of the sort” Says Jordan. “I’ve come to ask your help petitioned by Silver-aws. You see I need to summon a wolf spirit to….” Lucky interrupts. "Perhaps you haven't been listening to the crescent moons, Jordan, but our wolf spirits have departed from the near umbra. Many packs have gone to seek them out elsewhere, but they have returned with nothing but questions. As best as the other spirits will tell us, Gaia has called them all to her side. For what purpose, even our wisest theurges are at a loss. They do not answer our call, and they have escaped from all of our bindings. Why don't you tell me why you are so keen on summoning one of these spirits that you seem to ignore what your own spiritkeeper has told you."
Lucky-Thrice-Before-Dawn listens momentarily, and then cuts you off as you begin to babble.
"A gift, yes I understand. You want to learn to inspire confidance in those who hear your words. You are too straight forward in your thinking, but that is a common flaw among ahrouns. I won't bore you with details about how the spirits work, because I can see you have no real interest. Instead, I will tell you this, no one type of spirit has a jawlock on teaching any one gift. For this gift, a spirit of the muses will serve just as well as a wolf spirit. More specifically, we will summon Calliope, the muse spirit of heroic poets. She favors ahrouns and galliards alike, and as long as the student is courageous at heart, she will be willing to deal with them.
Several hours later, a potent summoning ritual has occured in the umbra. A fair-skinned woman wearing a golden tunic laced with silver stands before Jordan Westwood. She wears a golden circlet binding her black mane of hair atop her head, and carries a stone tablet in her hand. The last two hours have been spent with her and Jordan, in full crinos form, screaming at each other, both in Garou tongue. Each of the subjects takes turn reciting tales of Garou heroism. Jordan Westwood's attempts seem foppishly weak, compared to Calliope's flawless recounting of epic battles against overwhelming odds that end in victory for Gaia's champions. At the end, the spirit seems pleased, and leans down to caress Westwood's face, and plants a kiss on his furry cheek. She says something in the language of the spirits to Thrice-Lucky-Before-Dawn, and then disappears in a blinding flash of light.
ONE POINT OF GNIOSIS, AND THE GIFT - INSPIRATION
Ugh. You too Mac? Guys, did we not establish already that wolf spirits have been called to Gaia's side? They are no longer found in the umbra, and are not responding to summons. Here is what ACTUALLY happened.
ReplyDeleteConall rests in the hidden glade by the side of the stream, thinking about the upcoming rite of passage. “I’m a little worried about what to expect,” he thinks to himself. “I need to be ready for this, both for myself and for the Pack.” He gets up in starts pacing by the edge of the stream. “I need to get better in filling my role for the Pack. But what should our focus on,” he wonders. After pondering this for awhile he finally comes to a conclusion. Now, who to go to for help? With purpose in his step, he heads for the area of the glade where the GoatGetters are camped.
He eventually sees the person he is looking for sitting alone by a tree, whittling on a small piece of wood. He approaches the Theurge, halting a respectful distance away. “Jeremiah Spiritstorm, may I please speak to you?” he asks politely. Jeremiah looks up and smiles at him and replies, “What can I do for you young Cub?”
Conall answers, “I’ve been thinking about how best to prepare for our Rite of Passage, and believe it would serve my Pack best to focus on developing my skills as Galliard. Would you help me summon a wolf spirit so I can learn to imbue my howls with power, stirring my pack mates with emotion to make them strong, and striking fear into our enemies?”
Jeremiah frowns, "Unfortunately, such a thing is impossible. The Garou nation has been discussing it at length, and Gaia has called all the wolf spirits to her side, at least according to what the rest of the spirits tell us. I think that for this, we might send out a calling for a spirit of one of your kin. It is possible for us to call upon Fianna ancestors, even if they are not kin of yours. Be prepared to offer them a story for their troubles.
Jeremiah and Conall step into the Umbra, and Jeremiah immediately shifts to lupus form and begins loping away. Conall is taken a bit by surprise, but shifts to lupus as well, sprinting to catch up to Jeremiah. The two wolves travel quickly, and to Conall it seems the terrain goes by in a blur they are traveling so fast. Conall wonders how this is happening, and notices a glowing fetish hanging on a leather strap around Jeremiah’s neck.
Hours later...Conall and Jeremiah sit in the Umbra cross-legged, speaking intently in Garou tongue with man that is clearly made of spirit ephemeral, as is evident by his transluscent nature. The two speak at great length, trading stories. The spirit is clam, but his voice is strong and unwavering. He tells great stories of the Fianna's boundless love for Gaia, passion for drinking, and skill for brawling and story telling. Conall trades him stories of his own "packs" adventures, and the two talk for several hours. At the end, Conall feels a stirring in his soul, the urge to create, the urge to be free, and to be as unfettered as the energies of the wyld itself. His form smoothly shifts into that of lupus, and he lets out a howl of the wyld, which stirs the same sort of passions in the Garou who here it.
Jeremiah looked with both approval and amusement at Conall. “Well done, cub, very well done indeed. You seem to have made a positive impression on the spirit – I wasn’t even sure we would find him. You definitely have a gift for howling. But we can speak about this later. We have a long way to go to get back home.”
FIRST GALLIARD GIFT, CALL OF THE WYLD
Using his scientific mind Joseph Fisher systematically goes through all the things he believes he needs to learn in order to make himself and the "pack" a more effective organism. He knows that in nature only those species that have evolved the necessary traits to coup in the ever changing environment survive. After some frantic but organized writing on some scrapes of paper, Joseph has formed the "perfect" formula to "evolve" into the a superior Ragabash and Garou.
ReplyDeleteThe first think Joseph figures he need to do is become stealthier. He believes this will give him an advantage in battles and reconnaissance, give the "pack" the edge they need to complete any task. Joseph Knows this can be accomplished two ways by sheer practice at concealing ones self and also by learning a mysterious "gift" in which the electrons around the subject gain energy and become excited and jump to a higher energy state, they then lose this energy by falling back down to the original energy state. The lost energy is released in the form of light. this process causes the subject to be obscured in a shimmering light and also bends some of the light around the subject making them harder to detect. (Blur of the Milky Eye)
Joseph figures the person knows of this gift and can help him become stealthier. He walks up to Kavi "Treads-The-Path-No-One-Dares" Patel in the respectable manner he has learn from watching Jordan and Becker. "what can i help you with cub?"
"Well, i wish to learn a gift that will cause me to become a blur and harder to detect. I believe it is call Blur of the Milky Eye"
Kavi looks at Joseph and contemplates. After a few seconds he agrees to help a fellow Ragabash learn the gift. Kavi goes and finds an Elder to help summon a chameleon. This would sort of hard since chameleons are not pron to this area. But after sometime and effort the ritual is done and the chameleon is summoned in the umbra. After some time speaking with the spirit Kavi tells Joseph that he must give something to the spirit in exchange for the gift. All Joseph really has is knowledge so Joseph begins to recite his vast knowledge of the evolutionary coming of the chameleons and there genetic advantages that make them a superior animal of camouflage. The chameleon spirit seems impressed but annoyed at the telling of this information. Even though the spirit agrees to teach the gift to Joseph. After several hours of explaining and showing, the air around Joseph begins to shimmer. He becomes harder to spot. Joseph thanks the spirit and returns with Kavi and the elder to real world.
Liam watches the sky as it glides past him in continuous unending motion. These four days had gone by in the blink of an eye it seemed, and now the time for preparation and planning were over...today was the day to prove to the others that what he believed was true...that he and his comrades werent fighting for nothing... "We can win this war" he growled to himself as he began to sink into his mind once again, like he had so many times so recently.
ReplyDeleteOn the first day Liam had been curious, curious as to why he had heard so many times that what the Garou were fighting for... was only death. He didnt believe it, not in the least, and why the others held such doubt he could not say. To stem his curiosity Liam sought words of wisdom from one among the glade who he respected most.
He found Crazy Heart sitting beside the river, in his usual form, and approached him with hopes for answers... as Crazy Heart listened a smile crossed his face and he put a hand on Liam shoulder after only minutes of questions. "Cub, what you say is the oldest truth. Those that live as we do now can only see viciousness and and power as strength, and there is no being with greater viciousness than the Wyrm, and only Gaia herself can match him in power. For these reasons the Wyrm seems an impossible foe...but there are those among us, a very few of us but we are there, that have heard the song of Gaia and believe that we can win. Let me tell you a story and perhaps you will understand why not many can put faith in our dreams of victory..."
Liam sat listening to the story and sadness filled his heart, and he sat in silence for some time. "Crazy Heart? You said that you had heard the song of Gaia and it gave you hope...what song?"
Crazy Heart smiled again" How much have you heard of the destiny that now looms before you and your pack?"
Liam was stunned by the words" I have heard that people had heard of us...but I thought it was because of the nature of our change..."
Crazy Heart breathed deep and looked into Liams eyes " Then perhaps it is tyime I put it into perspective for you Liam...so that you can know what you really are..."
The second and third days were like a blur, as Liam sat mostly inside his own mind, peeling through Crazy Hearts words one at a time...trying to find a reason why they werent real... he found no such reason...finally, his heart full of steel hardened by the fire of hope, Liam rose on the fourth day and sought out another among the glade who he believed could help him.
Liam approached Heart-of-Fire in the early hours of the morning and found the young Philidox wide awake and ready to receive him. " Heart-on-Fire, I know we havent had the opportunity to speak much since you came here to the glade but I find myself in need of your help."
After brief niceties, and a reminder that the Goat Getters are alive because of him Liam and Heart on Fire make their way deeper into the glade. After a day of intense spiritual guidance with the Goat Getters Liam had finally unlocked more secrets of what it really ment to be a Philodox.
Liams memories faded and he opened his eyes as the call came across the glade...it was time...time to prove that both he and the Sons were ready to become Garou...ready to take this fight to the worm...and armed with his new found gifts and knowledge of the plans that Gaia herself had set into motion Liam knew today was not the day he would die...not today.