2018.10.09:TotemQuest

Totem Quest
Branton's bond with Hecate gets sanctified
IC Date	October 9th, 2018
IC Time	Evening?
Players	Branton, Iris(st), Sean, Skully
Location	The wilderness and the Umbra
Prp/Tp	none
Spheres	Gaian Garou, M+
Theme Song	CHVRCHES - Bury It

So Iris has been getting her shit together to perform a rite for Branton, and has asked him to visit her out in the wilderness. He's got his awesome GPS doll, so he won't have too much trouble finding her! She's asked him to bring a few tokens with him that represent Herself strongly, in his mind. She, meanwhile, is smooshing up a little bowl of gross shit for the ritual itself, and just kinda hangin out enoying the zen of nature.

Branton can have gotten himself and Sean out to wherever in a few jumps. Five miles at a teleport or so but totally doable. After each jump he takes a reading with the doll and eventually they reach the appointed place "And that's how I don't leave much of a trackable trail to anywhere." he comments to Sean.

"That's pretty impressive without a moonbridge," Sean says with a broad grin. He grabs the ponytail holder off his wrist and twists his hair back out of his face. "How do you do it? I know there are mages and things, but you're not THAT, right?"

Perched in a tree, Iris keeps an eye out for her arrivals, and hops down once she sees them approaching. "Heeeeeeey!" she greets, and beams some smiles, "Awesome, gonna make it a group thing, huh?" Not that she seems to mind in the slightest. Her little bowl of Gross Stuff in hand, she heads over to where there's a nice big-ish clear spot for Doin Stuff.

Branton nods at Sean "Right, I'm a sorcerer. I study specific spells that do specific things. Mages have a lot more flexibility and make stuff up on the fly." Then he looks over to Iris "I was thinking so. I've been showing Sean a lot of the spells she taught me and the items I've learned to make that invoke her power. So I figured he'd be interested in seeing the next bit."

Sean lifts his hand to wave to Iris, nodding at Branton. "It's interesting. I'm very much about the cool little trinkets and talens and fetishes. That's what I want to be when I grow up. Evening, Mercy's Messenger. How fare thee lovely woman and might Garou warrior?"

"Good!" Iris answers in a way less flowery way to Sean. "Right on, Branton. The way I figure it, it's not usually a kinfolk aimed rite, but if you've got a great lady pickin you out of a crowd and making the first move, then like, it'd probably be disrespectful NOT to acknowledge that and do it proper-like. So, pick a spot, any spot, and lay out the trinkets I asked you to bring. Nothing's gonna happen to them, it's more of a devotionary showing, as well as just kind of a thought focusing thing for you while you're like, channeling that connection between you and your patron." She's explaining to Branton, but also to Sean, because education is awesome.

Branton nods at Iris and takes out a bronze disc that's recognizable as the same design as the amulet he made. He lays it down first "The Amulet I was working on when she first showed up in person. I about jumped out of my skin."

Then Branton takes out and gently unwraps a stone statue of a hooded figure with three faces and six arms "In an alcove near the entrance to my workshop I keep the statues of three household gods. Figures of specific signifigance in the pantheon from which I draw my power. Prometheus, who gifted humanity with the power of fire so we would have magic of our own. Hephestus who taught us how to shape our world with that fire. And this one to mark Herself, who learned to shape the fire itself."

And last Branton takes out a small earthenware jug "And an offering of Kykeon. A ceramonial drink that's a mix of Mint, Honey, and barley water."

Sean is just watching, hanging back a little bit. He's VERY interested in things, though, and it shows in every line and every move that he makes. He's alert, attentive. "What is it that we're doing exactly?"

Iris nods her head approvingly and says, "Good choices!" to Branton for his token picks, and while he lays those out, she tells Sean, "Rite of the Totem. Or well, basically that. Same method, and practice, but for him alone rather than for a garou pack. She's already pretty much picked him, so this is more a reciprocation of that, choosing her right back in a formal way, and going through the appropriate trial to prove to both of them that he's worth her time. This here..." She shows Sean her bowl of Gross Stuff, "Is some herbs and what not associated with the totem, a little spit, lots of love. Now, we're gonna wipe this over Branton's eyes..."

When Branton's hands are free and he's ready for that, she does that very thing, and wipes the mixture over his eyelids. "You, Branton, are going to focus on what it is you're looking for, the totem and the connection between you both, your aspirations for your future together. Just think this in your mind, and also..." she sets the bowl down, and fetches a small bong she's already loaded and filled with clean water, "Get shit faced so you can get into the umbra, cause that's the next step of the ritual."

"Oh. Holy shit," Sean says, leaning to peer into the Bowl of Gross. " He tucks his hands behind his back and is now about thirty times more interested than he was just a minute ago

Branton gets pasted on and takes the bong. Not using a lighter he just holds a fingertip and wills a spark off it instead. He's gone quiet, meditating as Iris directed and not just getting stoned but focusing his intention as he contemplates Hecate and his connection to her. He comments to Sean "I have regular talks with the Rite-mistress. My powers are a bit unusual even for gifted kinfolk and I want to avoid any heresy. Most recently when I told her that Herself had taught me how to summon spirits 'in her name and with her authority' that.....was decided to be a bit of a thing. She's kind of a big deal."

Iris helps by getting that bong going in a circle! Smoke up, Sean! Smoke up, Iris! Just because this is Branton's thing doesn't mean we shouldn't all get nice and fucked up. And, cause she's a Theurge, she totally awakened that shit so that it's good for a jacked up Garou metabolism.

Since it takes a bit of time though to get everyone in that proper state of mind, more importantly to get Branton in that state of mind where he can get himself umbral. "Alrighty! Let's head in to the spirit world and go do this shit! Sean, you and I are basically just back up and sight seers on this trip, Branton's the only one that can see or locate what it is he's looking for in there right now, so we're just gonna make sure he's not eaten by a rabid badger or whatever. Branton, you're looking for a sign, a particular thing that's somewhere in the umbra. What it is, I have no idea, but you'll know it when you see it, and you should be able to figure out what to do with it when you find it. Whether it's a sign pointing 'great spirit quest, keep right', or an item you feel like you need to take to the lady, whatever the case is, it'll make sense to you. Got it?" And once everyone's got it, she bamphs into the umbra!

Smoke up for Gaia! Fuck yeah. Sean's all about it. He's gone back to that active listening thing though. But yeah, let's totally get fucked up. He's all about it and he's GOOD at it too! Once they're ready to go, Sean buckles down a little bit, getting up on his feet and ready to go. "Aye aye, Cap'n. Ready."

Branton eventually gets in tune with the spirit world enough that his power's extended into his posessions enough that he and they all slip sideways together. From sparking the bong to crossing over takes Branton half an hour, but he manages the transition under his own power. On the other side his fire-touched nature is on full display. When he opens his eyes to the spirit world they are smoldering coals, he looks around and points "That way"

Getting into the umbra, a few little animal spirits flee when the garou and kinfolk appear. "What a rush." Iris says about passing the gauntlet while stoned as holy shit. Skully's totes been there the whole time probably, I swear! "Alright, take a minute and just look around. I cant tell you exactly what or where you're going to spot, but just concentrate, let your inner guide point you in the right direction." she advises the kinfolk, and starts looking around in her Bigass Purse for munchies.

Poor Skully. He's coughing his lungs out after taking a dragon-sized pull on the bong, and when he finally settles some his eye is bright red and his broad nose can't stop twitching like a jackrabbit with the sniffles. He manages to blurt out, "I feel like I done inhaled a bug an' it's still in there," before coughing again, and he is still hacking when they enter the umbra, doubled over and everything like a total square. When he finally gets a grip and is just kind of clearing his throat a bunch and letting out the occasional lung-pop, he asks Iris, "Is the big with the magic trash water paint necessary, or did you jus' have a bunch'a rotten stuff in your fridge you wanted to use for a prank?"

Branton drops his hand and does as Iris suggests, takes a moment to look around before picking a direction. As he turns when he faces a particular direction his eyes flare up a little bit and they go back down when he turns past. Pausing to explain to Skully "I need it to cross to the Umbra on my own power. I know some kinfolk have a gnostic soul like garou do and can use that to step back and forth but I needed another way." Then he looks around again and finds that special direction again and he points "There. Its a way off but there's a spark that way."

"Oh, I just thought she wanted to make you smell like a raccoon going on a date," Skully replies to branton with another little cough, going back to looking around and nodding to himself. He looks to Iris again, asking honestly, "So... as someone who's formin' a pack hisself soon, how... when you do this, does the spirit... does /it/ seek /you/, or... how do you know?" He scuffs his toe, reaching up to scruff his hair some. "Guess I gotta pay good attention to the Rite itself, too."

Iris looks to Skully with one of those long, stoned silences while she tries to process his question, and then asks, "...What?" She's really, really high. Over to Branton she asks, "Like how far off? Like, stupidly hugely far, or like a few hops away? Basically like, do you think we can flutter there without getting exhausted, or should we do an orbital arc to cover a crap ton of ground?" Either way, while following Branton or hanging out while he decides, she answers Sean, "Um.. More it's like, you know who you want to follow, right, who's ideals connect with yours the most, so you do this rite and you sorta go find them and prove you've got what it takes. It's a little different every time, I mean sometimes a totem's like 'oh, you're obviously my kinda guy, patronage granted!' But then sometimes they're picky or uncertain or just have certain standards, so when you find them they might send you off on a specific quest, or set you to a task, or whatever it is that's gonna show both them and you that you're totally worth guiding. Some people you know, they're just like 'that totem sounds super cool, I should totally follow that guy', but you cant just follow someone for cool points or cause it's probably gonna get you laid or something. You and your totem have to totally be on the same wave length, like down to your core, you know? What you believe should be what the totem belives. Now, that being said, sometimes yeah, a totem just trips over you and is like 'Mine!' but that's way more rare, cause totems got shit to do."

Branton frowns and considers the distance as Iris explains the totem business. When she finishes he says "Its really hard to tell. A long ass way off but I don't know if my sorcery can reach that far on its own."

Skully is either deeply considering Iris' words or he's entirely too fucking high to maintain, as he has a very thoughtful look on his bluff face and he's sort of meandering around in a small circle. quietly pondering. He does reach up and plug one nostril to blow a snot rocket, which... yeah, doesn't speak highly of 'deep thoughts' or anything.

"Ummm..." Iris considers for a minute while looking vaguely in the direction Branton's interested in. "Okay, how about this, help me get Sean and Skully up to cloud level, then we can move a little ways and freefall to the spot. Trust me, nobody'll die and it'll only take a few minutes!" Did I mention she's high? Shifting upwards to crinos, she tells the men folks, "Stay homid and little, please!" and then to Skully, "...Little-ish, I guess. Skully, give me a hug and don't let go, and Sean, get in on this and make it a group hug. Branton, you be the other slice of bread in this love sandwich and help me lift these fuckers. And for Gaea's sake, DON'T LET GO." she adds while a pair of massive white, gold edged wings errupt out of her back. "Note to self, put bungee cords into my purse."

"Umm, yes ma'am," Skully replies to Iris with a concerned look, walking over and wrapping long gorilla arms around her tightly but not /too/ tightly. When Sean meanders over, Skully offers, "Got arms enough for both of you, step on in." He ain't kiddin'; those are some long arms.

Branton nods and goes around the other side and he activates his boots of hermes, the small wing shapes embossed on the heels flickering with power as the group lifts off "Sometimes I think that the reason I have to get high before crossing over is so I won't notice how much sense some of this doesn't make."

And now to sum up travel time! "One two three JUMP!" Iris says, and once they're off the ground she links her legs around whoever's legs, to avoid anyone just sort of slipping out of the flying hug, because yes, death will absolutely happen. Little bitty wings at her ankles also help with liftoff, flapping like crazy. Anyhow, they're flying! Up and up and up, a rapid ascent with the world dropping away under them. Fortunately, up is WAY closer than other places on the earth, so soon enough the air is gettinc older, but not thinner (because magic) and poof! They break through the cloud layer, at which point she informs the crew, "Okay, everyone stick close, I'm gonna let go now. Don't worry though, you wont fall while you're here, okay? You're in the Aetherial realm, home of birds, and you can fly all on your own here. Keep that in mind and avoid falling through any holes in the clouds, okay?"

Skully does as told, holds on tight, doesn't look down, and listens to all instructions. When they're settled, he jumps up a couple of times, bouncing, until finally flying a bit and laughing. "Aww, man... *cough* I feel like I had fizzy lifting smokes."

Branton lets go when Iris says its safe and he grins as he looks around "This never gets old. Sort of going to work like the ballistic arc of a long distance airplane flight yeah?" And he focuses for a few moments to orient himself on which direction they need to go from here, sharing the berring once he has it.

"Bitchin, right?" Iris agrees with Skully as she shifts back down to homid again, keeping her wings out though and just kinda hovering in mid air, "I fucking love this place so much. But exploring'll have to wait for another visit. Stick close, this is a lot like swimming in the ocean except that the crazy giant monster filled depths are up instead of down, and I don't want anyone getting eaten by a space shark." Space sharks are totally a thing, people.

With Branton in the lead to get them to where they're going, Iris plays shepherd and keeps an eye out until they've moved along enough. It's all endless expanses of moonlit white, with an actual topography and everything up here. Mountains, valleys, tons of air based spirit life, and the moon looks extrordinarily gigantic here. It's pretty great, but the scenery can get boring after a while because it's all just clouds. Once Branton's gotten them to the 'Let us know when it's more or les under us' point, Iris scouts around to find a break in the clouds, and gestures everyone over. "Okay, getting down is faster but also more terrifyingly awesome than going up is. Basically, we're just gonna step through this whole here and plummet to the earth. Now, I know what you're thinking, but I swear there's no explosive death at the bottom! Trust me, I've done it a bazillion times, just take a leap of faith and drop through. You'll fall all the way down, then abruptly stop a few feet over the ground, hover for a second, and then drop the rest of the way and you'll be just fine. I do NOT promise that you wont be slapped by a tree towards the end, but... Gotta make sacrifices for adventure. Now get in the hole!"

"I've seen cartoons like that before. Never works out right," Sean says and takes a breath and readies himself to jump through

"Oh damn," Skully murmurs to himself, stepping up to the hole and looking down, which is just an awful idea. It's not a tiny drop; it's a big ol' fuckin' where-is-my-parachute drop. He sighs, closing his eye, and mutters, "Hoka-hey," stepping over the edge and dropping like a stone.

Branton slautes Sean and steps off the edge, trusting both in Iris and his own flying magic to keep him safe from turning into a messy splatter.

"Race ya!" Iris says as Skully and Sean drop, slapping Branton on the butt and then throwing herself through the hole in the clouds. The world rushes towards them, a beautiful curved panoramic view of south america launching towards them in a blanket of jungle green. During freefall, there's a while where it's just windy and awesome, and one can do flips and twirls and just have fun with it. It's when the details of trees and such can be seen that the fear builds up though, because either Iris was telling the truth and everyone's gonna be fine, or she's secretly a Wyrm beast and just talked everyone (except Branton) into suicide! She curls up into a ball as the trees rush up, and crashes through the jungle canopy with everyone else. Some people probably do get smacked by branches and huge leaves on their way through, but it's not the worst ass beating anyone's had. Fortunately, everyone *does* just suddenly stop falling a few feet over the ground, hovers for a second, and then drops. Thud.

So where are we? Middle of freakin nowhere Brazil, that's where. Weird spirit birds and nature spirits get the hell away from the landing Garou, and Iris has a moment where she's trapped in a coil of vine before she can get to her feet and shake out her feathers. "That was great!" None too far away is what one might first take to be a bigass rock or other natural structure, but with actual looking, it's more or less flat faced and with grooves in it like massive stacked bricks.

Sean does not have any flying magic. But he steps and falls down.. and down.. and...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhshit. Down he goes, and the only reason he doesn't frenzy in those first couple of seconds is because he CAN'T frenzy! That's why. But then... hey, this is kinda cool. When Iris curls up, so does he, preparing to get bashed about by trees. and when he stops? And then thuds? he lays there facedown, panting. "I think I pissed myself," he mutters quietly.

"Yeah. Great," Skully murmurs sarcastically, standing and trying to gather himself together after that freefall. He nods aside to Sean, adding only, "I's too scared to piss myself," and pointedly /does not/ look at Iris while he works out their location to himself.

Branton comes down with his arms crossed over his face so he doesn't get a bloody nose from arboreal face smashing. Looks around slowly, taking a few breaths to orient himself but otherwise seeming unflustered.

"If it makes you feel any better, I really did pee myself the first time I did that." Iris tells the boys consolingly, "I had no idea how that worked and I just sort of took a bad step and fell right out of the clouds. I was so freaked out I just screamed the whole way down, couldn't get my wings out and I was like yep, this is totally how I die, Pancake is pancaked. But no! And then I burned my pants and told no one until just now. By the way, wee on your thighs really starts to burn after a while!" Meanwhile, she fearlessly starts to wander around a bit and see what's around them. "Hey, check this out!" Lost jungle temple, it's all the rage. Also of note is that this exists within the umbra and looks quite natural, as opposed to being made of beat up old webbing.

Sean takes a breath and gets to his feet. "Not.. not really," Sean says, looking around, then turning in a complete circle as he takes in the place. "Oh my god..." he says, mostly completely ignoring Iris's story in favor of jaw-dropping awe.

Branton looks over at the temple and gives a low whistle "And I suppose to absolutely no ones surprise....that's where we're headed." he says and then starts towards the temple "This isn't normal right? A building having an umbral presence like this?"

"Yeah, I ain't feelin' any better 'bout it," Skully admits, meandering away a little bit to actually /pee/ now that he's landed. He's back soon enough, picking his way through the brush, looking the temple over quietly. "It can be," he murmurs softly, but doesn't elaborate.

"Well, I mean... Not impossible, I suppose." Iris says, not sounding entirely sure about things. "I mean... Maybe there's a ritual, or um... Super duper old age?" She follows along and turns in a circle, eyeing the place and wondering out loud, "Might have been a... A shifter type of place a long time ago, maybe?" There is an entrance, it's not in very good condition any more but the huge stone blocks don't quite look like they're ready to collapse or anything. It is, however, dark as fuck inside. "Is it just me or is it way too quiet around here?"

"I've seen a few places of power that have had umbral presences. Old places. Not many." Sean doesn't look trhilled with this, but he IS quite fascinated and he keeps going, following Branton

Branton peers into the darkness inside and draws a military surplus fighting knife from his belt, it already has some glyphs marked on it in some sort of reddish enamel "It is...and its dark in there. Should I make us some light?"

"Really old places... well, you know. The Weaver preserves," Skully murmurs quietly, looking around carefully just to make sure they're not wandering into a trap for morons or somesuch. He's here to observe, after all.

"If only we had an AMAZING flashlight!" Iris says with a grin and an elbow poke in Sean's ribs, and nods around to Branton, "Long as it's not gonna interfere with your ability to defend yourself, I'd say yeah. We got to wherever your lady wants us to be, now let's uh.. let's uh... Go find something super interesting in here that she might want you to do. But like, be fucking careful, ya'll. Seriously. I mean, I've seen Indiana Jones, and this has 'poison dart trap' written all over it."

Sean just stares at Iris for a moment, then gets this huge ass grin on his face. He holds up his hand, as if he had a brilliant idea and he says, "I'm pretty sure that Black Furies are not only the most beautiful, but also the smartest of all the tribes." BAMBRIGHTLIGHTINYOFACE. He moves to take second position behind Branton to be a light unto his path

Branton puts the knife away with a grin "Pretty sure that takes less effort for him than my spell would for me. Lets head in then." And he turns to enter the ruins, moving slow and careful. Watching his footing and everything.

Skully snickers a little to himself, taking up the rear and guarding them from evil whatevers that try to sneak in afterward. Also, that way the poison darts will all fire before he shows up.

---

The chosen portion of the temple that the gang wanders into is, indeed, black as pitch, but thanks to Sean's exalting of the Black Fury tribe, his prosthetic finger tip beams light and gives them a full 25 feet radiance, and all it costs him is some bad ET puns. The hallway they move through isn't tiny by any means, but made of huge blocks of stone cracked through with age and nature, the sense that there's an incredible weight overhead and to either side is inescapable, giving it a strangely claustrophobic feel. There's art still though, worn from time and breeze, partially covered in moss and roots and things of that nature, the complicated and cramped art style of an ancient south american civilization's pictograph language and strange depictions of gods and familiar jungle sights. Fortunately though, no poison dart traps go off, hooray!

After a short hike, any vestiges of light from outside are lost to the group, leaving them enveloped in darkness as they leave the hall and enter a very large chamber, the edges of Sean's light not quite touching the walls. The place is pretty empty, large stone tables stand at the edges in places with grainy piles of decay in places that may once have been wooden chairs and the like. Dust covers everything, there's the occasional cracked piece of pottery but anything in here seems long since disintigrated or maybe even stolen by tomb raiders ages ago. Hanging metal braziers stand cold and dark along the carved walls, a few larger ones in the same barren state are on stands on the floor, and not all of them are in great shape, time and elements have not been kind to the place. The center of the room has a much larger brazier that could have once held a bonfire within it, its old school chains rusted with age and hanging on by a thread over a large, black pit. There used to be some sort of grating over that, but it's long since rusted, broken, and collapsed with age and moisture. At the back wall, presiding over whatever this place was once used for, a fierce and demonic looking figure is carved into the wall, all fangs and stuck out tongue, big scary eyes and the like. Hard to say who or what exactly that is without any particular south american knowledge though.

Branton gives a low whistle as he looks around when the group gets a look at more of the chamber "Well that's not omnimous at all. Lets get a closer look eh? I wonder when's the last time anyone's been in here."

Sean looks around as well and actually stands on his toes to see if he can get a slightly better range. Can't, of course. But he tries. "Lead so that I may follow," Sean says quietly.

"You wanna sit on my shoulders?" Skully jokes to Sean as he sees the Fianna on tiptoes, trying to keep from blocking too much of the visible light. He looks around carefully, noting the age of the place, and offers to Branton, "In the Umbra? Umm... twice forever?"

Branton nods at Skully as he advances towards the statue, careful of his footing "That's a fair point. I also suppose that the usual markers of moss growth, rust, and such won't be of much use."

Iris too looks pretty curious, awed, and a bit intimidated by the place, frankly. Like, was this a nice sort of place for drinking jungle beer, or were they rippin out dudes hearts in here to make sure the sun came back after an eclipse or something? Not exactly well practiced with ancient umbral things, she gives her best guess though and says, "I bet these things either had little mystic fires that didn't need wood, or maybe they let little bitty fire elementals hang out in there for lighting." she says while moving aside a little bit to look at one of the braziers. Not too far away though, she's seen movies god damn it and moving too far away from the light is how you get eaten by zombies or posessed plants or some shit.

Sean snorts at Skully. "Maybe later, dad," Sean says, looking around some more, trying to stay in the middle so that the most light can be shown around.

Skully just lopes along casually in the rear, taking in the commentary and murmuring occasional responses, such as saying to Iris, "I think that one's got dick claws," or noting of a particularly strange structure, "How the hell you supposed to put anything on a shelf's only two inches deep in the wall?"

Branton is caught up in the mystery of it as he goes to examine the statue as Iris theorizes about the braziers "That makes sense to me, maybe some sort of conditional binding? Could they be fetishes?" Then he gets closer to the statue and snorts at Skully "The markings look like this is a temple to Iansa. Old old goddess of fire and wind." Then he bends down real close to the art around the base "There's cats in the artwork which is fairly standard for tribes in this part of the world and...that's a wolf, pretty clearly. And no shit, that one's a crinos garou. Do garou have temples like this?"

Iris muses right back to Skully, "I will wash your mouth out with soap, young man. ...Oh wait, maybe those are dicks... Maybe everyone had super thin belongings back in those days. Like... Like some kind of art standard where all your action figures can be tall, but they can only be an inch wide. Or like they hung up picture frames, but never invented that little foot on the backs of them that lets them sit on your desk." She then helpfully tells Branton, "I have no idea, I grew up in a cage, dude. But um... I dunno, I mean it stands to reason, maybe, we do tend to sort of mimic human standards of things. I dunno why there'd be a bigass temple like this unless this used to be a.. Like a caern or something way back a long time ago?" In an attempt to test out one of the kinfolk's theories though, she moves CAUTIOUSLY over to go have a better look at one of them braziers, having a sniff, a poke, examining a bit before whipping out a set of pan pipes and setting to work trying to serenade the decayed piece of metal with a lovely song.

"Weird," he says, but he's no less awed. It's absolutely incredible.

Branton is going to take a moment to study the statue's position and posture relative to the other fixtures in the room. Find what its pointing at or looking at if there is anything specific. Also since it was likely some sort of Garou holy site there might be Glyphs to be looked for by someone.

If there are helpful words, they're in other languages (although if you could read Bastet or ancient Brazilian, then it'd be a cake walk!) By and large the statuary seems mostly a back drop to the central pit/brazier set up, an effigy meant to look down upon proceedings, or offerings, or possibly heart ripping or jungle beer drinking. Iris's first attempt at fiddling with the brazier fails, apparently, as she responds to the lack of anything with a, "Damn." But suggestions about them have been made and she rolls to the next trick in her book, which still involves playing her pan pipes. All this examination, poking about, playing music and stuff takes place over the course of a half an hour or so, and towards the end of that there's a little burst of light and a very small fire elemental begins to unfold itself out of the sooty remains at the bottom of its little metal dish, sitting up with a streeeeeeetch and a little bit of popping. "Hey, there was a little fire guy asleep in here!" Iris says with a grin and a finger wave at the little elemental. Small though it was, ritual work is taxing. The light of the little elemental illuminates the wall behind it much better than the edges of Sean's light does, and shows off a large, fierce anthropomorphic jaguar on its hind legs carrying a badass war club.

Branton lights off his knife to give another light source and starts examining the carvings on the walls "I can't read the words but the carvings look like they tell a story. This was a caern for sure and she was the totem. For a lot of its history it was actually the territory of the Balam, werejaguars, for the most part. They were worshiped by some of the local human tribes as intercessors between the tribes and the gods. Probably bigger spirits or something."

Continuing along to another section "I'm guessing these monsters the Balam fought were wyrm beasts trying to corrupt the temple and one time when things got bad a small group of garou showed up and it looks like they pitched in and helped. Almost like they made peace-ish."

Branton moves on with a frown "I think these guys have guns? This place might only be a couple hundred years old. Eventually it looks like there were a lot of minor disasters and most of the human population moved on. Without the support they'd gotten from their community the temple got run down and that's where the story on the wall ends. I don't know if the caern ever fell to the wyrm but some of the carvings are damaged like...like there was fighting inside here." Branton comes up short, looking down "Looks like a garou named 'Raging River' was here more recently. And they might not have left, I think this is their leg."

Sean nods along with what Branton's saying. "Looks about right," he agrees, looking around, shaking his head. "I mean.. maybe guns? Maybe. In a place like this though, kind of seems.. heretical."

Branton frowns and shrugs at Sean "I think its a depiction of one of the attacking forces. Hard to tell for sure though." Then he makes his way over to the braziers "I think I can wake up the spirits in the other braziers, get us some more light."

"Dogs and cats living together, total chaos!" Iris adds helpfully, and then also helpfully, "Oh gross dude, don't touch it, you'll get the pox or something." She keeps out of the way though till she's specifically asked to do anything in particular.

Skully is mostly attempting not to bump, break, or bash anything, get in the way, or fuck anything up. He does, however, note to Branton, "Umm... /what/ are we tryin' to wake up, exactly?"

Branton gestures over at the one brazier Iris got the elemental in to wake up "Just trying to turn the lights on. Probably not the big one in the center though, That might have side effects."

"You think?" Sean asks, moving around a little, causing the light to shift, of course, in the direction where he's at. "This is pretty fucking trippy."

"Then, like... /do it/," Skully replies with a shrug, looking around. "This place ain't gettin' any less creepy. I feel like we been standin' around here for two days."

Branton nods at Skully and starts moving from brazier to brazier, touching each metal dish and pushing his will into it as he says "xypníste mikrí adelfí." And it works, a small flicker of fire appears in each brazier before he moves on. Little figures stretching awake as the room gets brighter.

<OOC> Branton says, "Wake up little sister"

"Poison dart traps, Skully!" Iris says, and hunkers nearby and out of the way. All was well and good when everyone was just quietly looking around a strange old temple in the umbra, activating one little fetish here, awakening one little elemental there. As little fires bloom in their braziers though after who knows how long a Slumber, the walls are given an eerie, flickering, shadowy light that yes, probably makes it more creepy. All this active magic and disturbance in the umbral space, though, seems to have alerted something. There's a rumbling in the floor and a billow of thick, black smoke pours up out of the open hole in the center of the chamber as something begins to rise up and out from who knows what place down there. Greenish sparks flicker up out of the pit, and a moment later there's a large, scaley black clawed hand reaching up and out to grab the stone floor for purchase. The stench of Wyrm taint permeates the air enough to be felt like an icy finger on the spine even without the use of Sense Wyrm.

"It ain't a dart an' it may not be poisoned," Skully replies, seeing the black-taloned hand, "an' it may not be a trap, but it's definitely trouble." The huge Metis flows into his birth form, preparing for Something Very Bad.

Branton frowns at the greenish sparks and the emerging monster, backing up a bit from it as he starts forming a white hot ball of flames between his hands "I really hope its not fire proof."

"Fuck," Sean mutters, retreating a few steps to make room for Skully and he powershifts up to Crinos. No fucking around

A second hand comes up while the Garou and kinfolk prepare themselves. Up out of the pit rises a demonic looking figure if chitin, rocky scales, and flickering greenish fire. It is very much in the image and style of old south american god depictions, with large tusks, horns, exaggerated tongue and so on. With a terrifying roar it launches itself out of the pit and slams its full weight onto the ground, shaking the temple and causing loose stones to fall. One of these biffs Mercy's Messenger right on the fuckin head and she is knocked clean out, shifting back to homid immediately and laying safely out of the way.

The gargantuan Ahroun brings up his shield of lunar energy, snarling, << Keep me between it and you >>, moving to take point and draw whatever attacks are forthcoming.

Branton nods and follows Skully's instructions, staying well back and waiting for an opportunity to take a shot. Iris getting knocked gets a scowl from Branton and he lobs a plasma burst at the creature. With as angry as he is the blast makes forge furnace seem plesantly cool. Thank Gaia Branton has good aim.

Sean slips a little to the side, taking up the rear, but in such a position as he can step out in the thing gets past Skully. He's a fighter, sure, but most of his stuff is offensive. If it looks like Skully's in for it, then he'll step up. Feel things out. "Iris? You ok----" Fuck. Change of plans! Sean makes his way toward Iris instead.

The creature immediately hates Skully because he's the closest thing to him, and it reaches out to slash a handful of claws at the Ahroun just as a gout of plasma sets it on fire. It's already on fire a bit naturally, but that STILL fucking hurts, and it expresses its extreme displeasure in the form of a roar at Branton. Skully is probably fine, what with all that amazing lubar armor and all, which kind of pisses this thing off more (fucking garou, man). It unleashes a breath of burning green/red fire at Branton after trying, and failing, to skewer Skully! Over on the far side, Iris doesn't have her head caved in, she's just KOed like a boss.

Branton is fire resistant rather than fire proof so he still does his best to not get hit. His mastery of pyrokinesis lets him reshape existing flame and rather than blast it again he'll duck and force the fire breath to divide to either side of him and skully, protecting the giant garou too.

Skully snarls as fire batters at his armor, jumping forward to swing claws at the infernal beast and attempt to tear a chunk out of it. Never much of a thinker or scholar, this part is simple enough to understand; there is a monster, and if he hits it enough it may stop monstering at them. He does his best to keep himself forefront, acting as a shield for his companions, but does take his shot at a focused attack on the beast.

Sean is neither of those things, and he's going to check on iris anyway. A quick check to make sure she's still breathing, then a push of power to heal her up. He never takes his eyes off the fight though, ready to jump in at any moment. TOo many hands sometimes messes things up. He is also looking around for OTHER beasts.

A chunk is torn! Skully's claws get a little melty at the tips, but he rips off a nice sized bit of rocky armor stuff to expose a core of wyrm fire (not balefire though, just corrupted fire) It's super not okay with this, as one can easily imagine, and lunges forward to try and bite the Ahroun with its burning mouth. At the same time, a tail swipes haphazardly at Branton to try and bitch slap him, but it's dodgeable. Even spirits have a problem with rubbing their belly and patting their heads at the same time, so it's mostly just the bite that's well managed. Even though Skully's fuckin invinsable. It IS wounded though, as garou and sorcerer beat the shit out of the thing one can tell it's getting weaker and a bit more desperate in how it attacks. Also, no other enemies appear, just this one.

Branton is trying his best to dodge the creature, keeping the bulk of Skully's warform in the way of it getting to him. When Skully opens up the side and reveals the fire inside Branton gets an idea and reaches a hand out like he's grabbing the fire from across the room as his pyrokinesis tries to put the fire out or at least interfere with the creature's functions.

The damn thing clamps down on Skully with a pyrobite, which just pisses the Ahroun off because he went to all of that trouble to put up a big ol' shield and it's protecting the hell out of him but no one likes being bitten by a fiery, sulfur-smelling mouth. The Wendigo begins laying into the beast with his claws, tearing pieces out of its face, because you know what? If it's gonna try to bite him and hold on, he's gonna go ahead and fuck up a still target.

The fell fire beast holds on to Skully with its face, because that was clearly a good idea. It DOES try to retaliate by picking him up in its mouth and shaking him like a really big rag doll, but their size difference isn't so pronounced and it's really very awkward. Still, you try being a pissed off Wyrmish hell beast and you try and make sound decisions when trying to murder people that just woke you up from a perfectly good nap. I dare you!

This is when Branton finds the thing's off switch, apparently, while Skully is tearing the armor off its face and getting mouth hugged to death. With a groan of pain, its internal fires are lessened and begin to dim, weakening the creature until it finally drops Skully. Given uninterrupted time to do this, Branton is able to, with great effort, squash the whole damned thing's flames and extinguish them, resulting in Skully getting flopped to the ground and covered in ash and really hard charcoal.

Skully hits the temple floor hard in a shower of ash and lumps of coal like he was REALLY bad this year and Chrismas has come for the bill. He pushes up to his feet, and despite his glowy shield and all, he rubs his head and grumbles, very annoyedly, << Owww. >> He looks around, trying to figure out precisely what happened, as he was sort of busy trying to kill the thing and missed how that was actually accomplished.

Branton gasps with effort as he squishes the last of the monster's fire out. As the last echoes of the battle fade Branton says "Good news is I figured out what we're here for. This hearth room needs to be cleansed and all the braziers re-lit. I can get the braziers if someone else can get the cleansing. Is Iris okay?"

"Umm... yeah, I can handle the Cleansing, sure thing, Branton," Skully replies as he retakes his human form, brushing ash off of himself. "Got all the stuff I need for it right here. You figure out what this place is supposed to be, then?" The big Metis starts pulling out his supplies from his pocket, walking over to Iris to check on her and see how badly she's hurt.

Getting up from her mini-coma just in time to miss all the fun, Iris sits up and complains with a groan. Sure she's healed, but that doesn't stop a headache! Also, ow, her pride. :( "What the fuck...? Never mind." And indeed yes, knocked the fuck out is the correct diagnosis! Any how she gets up to her feet, wobbling a bit but getting her shit together none the less, and says, "Cleansing? I can help, yeah." Something she can do to make up for being super unhelpful!

The rite is performed, no need to get in to the hum drum of ten minutes worth of howling and flinging water everywhere, and during this Branton deals with getting the central brazier lit back up. It's bigger than the rest and, requiring way more effort than the others did, eventually a large fire errupts and takes the form of a decidedly (nekkid) femanine form. Like the rest she stretches and flares as she's Awakened from the ashes left in the container, "Oh much better, much better." she says in a tired tone.

<OOC> Iris says, "https://nikfinearts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/FIRE-WOMAN.jpg"

Branton is starting to get worn out more than a little but he holds it together long enough for the rites to finish. Then he nods respectfully to the fire woman "Lady Inasa I presume? The mother of spells sends her warmest regards."

The fire woman turns her blazing head to find who's speaking to her, as well as to just look around the fire-lit chamber with something of dissapointment on her flickering face. "Things don't seem to have gone well in my absense..." she muses, and then fixates on Branton. "Inasa? Mmm... Close, I suppose. The fire has many things to attend to, but we serve her and make known her will. I.. Hm. I know you." She hunkers down in her brazier and leans, the metal bowl tilting as she tries to get a better look at the man. "Oh dear Gaia, my little spark, is that you? I told your father to keep you content and bathed in the mundane. You should be.. What, in college now, I suppose? How long has passed? Time is fuzzy, and since dying I'm no longer sure when this is."

Branton blinks at the spirit and seems confused "My father died when I was Nine. That was twenty six years ago and its now twenty eighteen by human reckoning. How did you know him?"

The spirit seems to find that revelation both concerning and saddening, shedding a white hot tear that begins to melt a hole through her brazier. "He was a good one, such a shame... But one can only hope he's found a good place for his soul in the afterlife." She sighs out a breath of sparks and smoke. "We knew each other for a time long ago, when I was bound within a living woman by the will of Gaia. I've lived a very long time, this wasn't the life I wanted for you. Fighting monsters, dodging peril and wading in to all the troubles I've seen before surrounding so many others. I suppose destiny and the great goddess makes her own plans that no parent can defy."

She looks around the ruined temple again and sighs once more, "Much like the protection of this place, I suppose. Things change, the world moves on. I'm sorry I left you, my little spark. I could try and protect you, but a lady has duties to perform, and I died in the course of those duties without saying goodbye. My flesh joins the earth, but my spirit was released once more, and I did what I could here until sleep came upon me quite suddenly. How fitting that you should awaken me once more and send me back to my duties. This place is gone, I cant feel those tiny traces of power here any longer, the efforts to reawaken this place must have failed."

Branton is still confused "I thought he was the normal parent. His parents who wound up rasing me were certainly mundane enough. Assholes but normal enough." Then he stands up straight "Wait, your flesh? So you weren't the caern totem?"

"No, just a servant. I suspect she's been flung elsewhere..." the fire elemental replies, and begins climbing down off the brazier, careful not to fall into the open pit beneith it. "Your father was normal enough for me." she goes on, and reaches out, stopping short of actually touching Branton's cheek while grinning at him, "You've grown up beautifully, but your brightness is delayed." she quips with a laugh, making light fun of Branton for not Getting It right away. "We need to leave this place, and go find our great lady of the inferno. Maybe we'll see each other again one day, but until that time, good bye, my littlest spark, burn bright and strong all your days." She gives Branton a sad but affectionate smile, and before she can find a reason not to, turns and begins to leave the temple, the various little elementals hopping out of their braziers to scamper along and follow her. The lot of them whoosh in a flare of fire... and are gone, leaving the place in blackness once again, lit by Sean's finger.

Sean4Srs is just.. in total awe, standing at the ready and listening.

Branton watches the elementals leave and looks confused down the exit tunnel and as the light fades till there's the bright point of Sean's finger as the only illumination Branton says a single word as a question "Momma?"

ROLL CREDITS