2020.12.03:Sept of Abundant Waters - Cleansing

Sept of Abundant Waters - Cleansing
Cleansing the Sept
IC Date	Dec 2, 2020
IC Time	Midday
Players	Branton, Tabi, Beckett, Blythe, Mizzy, Detlef, Bryan, and Killigrew as ST
Location	Florida
Prp/Tp	Sept of Abundant Waters

Contents: Tabi Detlef Blythe Branton Beckett Obvious Exits:

 Lobby <LO>  

The battlefield lay in shambles, as these things go. Dead animals, mostly amphibians and other cold blooded reptiles, and some fish, are floating on the surface of the waters. Gator and her brood are doing what they can to help clean up the unintended casualties of the flash freeze.

Gator, herself, is sunning on the bawn, in her usual place, mouth open and legs spread out, flat on her belly and still hip high in girth on the average man. All twenty-five feet of the manifested totem are on display - warding off and keeping the area secured. Well-fed and secure in the return of her reign.

Flies are descrating the corpses of the Dancers, their bodies drug up near the shore lest they directly poison the waters with their taint. A few of Gator's Children are sunning nearby, though none have begin feeding from them. Not under Gator's watchful eye. (re)

Beckett steps off the moon bridge with his jaw set hard. He looks over his shoulder to Blythe and Mizzy, nose wrinkling at the stench of dead that rose from the swamp as the local wildlife bloated and festered in the hot moist environment. His gaze seems to fall more heavily on Blythe. "I bet you didn't think we'd be back in the swamp again so soon," he comments with distaste as his cowboy boots sunk nearly an inch down into the mud with every step deeper into the battlefield. The fostern casts his bespecticled gaze across the carnage. "Damn... it stinks almost as bad as Deepwater Horizon."

Detlef Will have his throwing darts on hand as he steps off of the moonbridge, ready in the event that there is a new danger. he doesnt wait long once arriving, starting first to do a sweep and make sure there are no hidden threats.. Branton nods respectfully to Gator as he steps off the moon bridge before commenting idly to whomever's next "That. Never gets old."

Tabi steps off the 'bridge with a big ol' grin. The Garou sure now how to travel in style, ven if the desination leaves a lot to be desired. But that's why she's here. The smile fades as she shifts the weight of her ruck. Ok, so she hasn't actually used the rite outside of training sessions with Ouray... but it's all good. She's not nervous. Not at all. Why do you ask?

Blythe had not been prepared for the Floridian clime. Even in the depths of winter it managed to harbor a unique and sticky heat. "Duty takes us to exceptional places." He remarked to Beckett, fanning out as Detlef did, in search of that inevitable ambush, which if it wasn't lying in wait in the everglades, it certainly did in the recesses of his mind.

Bryan has a couple of pouches in hand. He is NOT in a great state at the moment and really, he isn't much of a cleanser. But he has.. things. A few things, and he'll pick up a little slack from the bears. Aurora's here, right? She gets a wave. For everyone else, he's just.. kinda there

Taking steps outside the moonbridge alongside her friends and allies had her confidant that there'd be nothing to truly worry about. Despite this though - those first few sloppy steps into the sinking mud make her grunt and grumble over the unexpected change,"Well - not tha' worst experience fer my first trip to a swamp..." she teases towards Beckett and Blythe. A long and drawn out yawn piles over her jaws before settling; tired eyes gazing about the are as she huffs a bit while taking in what needs to be done,"Lets see here..." gaze drifting in a circle about the perimeter of the area.

Gator rouses from her open-jawed sunning, rumbling a subsonic greeting that is far more felt than heard. Rising up, she turns and flops back down, huge head pointed at the pile of corpses. <<Wyrm Howlers.>> All gathered up nice and pretty so their bloated, pustulant corpses don't make the tainted waters worse.

Detlef finishes his sweep of the immediate surroundings, moving quickly thanks to the blessings of Momma Jay, to return to the group with report of if there was anything.

After a brief moment to respectfully offer a bow to Gator, he offers "I am glad to see you are feeling better." to the spirit

"I have... memories of this country. Some good," Beckett frowns as Blythe takes off to scout, "mostly bad." He walks over to the purified Gator totem. Reaching into his pouch he produces a chicken egg from one of the towels he kept bundled in the postman-style bag he carries with him. He holds up the egg, then sets it in front of the gator. An offering. He turns to assess the damage again before walking back towards Mizzy. "We should probably cleanse before we burn anything. Contaminated ashes can blow into neighboring lands and just fester there like little seeds of evil," the Uktena warns. "Want me to stick with you?" He asks Mizzy before looking over his shoulder toward Bryan. "Are you quite alright over there?"

"I'm fine. I'm exhausted, but I'm fine." He opens up one of the pouches and holds up a little canteen type thing and then another little pouch of what looks like dirt. "Once the bears do the main work, I have things from Shaderunner to clean up around the edges so they don't have to make ANOTHER circle."

Tabi unslings her ruck and starts sorting through her supplies. She begins putting aside the stuff she needs: a terracotta bowl, a handful of little hemp packets of herbs, some kindling, a canteen of purified water and a zippo. "Can someone scrounge me up something to burn - wood preferably." And she begins to look around for something really hard to find in a swamp - rocks, to make a small makeshift firepit.

Blythe remained at the perimeter. That unshakable unease gnawing at him as his eyes narrowed. How was it that this shape reduced the birghtness of the world to only its most repugnant scents. Cloying decay. The stagnant scum which clung to the surface of pools. Made all the worse by those bloated creatures now returned to the cycle. He drew upon his senses. Sharpening them. His head snapped towards the opposite direction. A false alarm? Blythe loses one Magical Essence

Branton nods at Beckett "Agreed. No matter how hot I can call the fire there's always a chance that wind could break containment." Then Branton nods at Tabi "I actually brought some firewood from the kinfolk house woodpile. I didn't know how tainted the local fuel would be." Blythe pages: Popping Heightened Senses

The huge Gator, hissses, then rumbles. The alligators sunning themselves scatter into the water with small splashes, leaving the bawn cleared of her Children for the Gaians to do their work. Turning her huge head sideways, she delicately plucks up the egg, just as she might her own, rights her head, then swallows the gift. Long distance to Blythe: Cypress nods

Detlef nods and offers "ill get something.. From outside the immediate bawn." and he will take off toward some source of burnable wood.

Mizzy's gaze lazily finally drifts back as words come to her. Pulling her jacket off and setting it on the ground. Groaning - cracking of bones and sinew - no shapeshifting, just a long deserved stretch; a satisfied smile smeared across her lips while doing so,"Ya'll're welcome to." she notes with a gentle smile,"But you don't gotta." she nods and bows her head reverently then - looking towards Gator. Lifting it she sighs and produces a pocket knife; squatting down to her jacket she produces a little bowl herself as well. Humming quietly to herself before looking behind her as if something had called her presence. At the far edge of the Pollution she saw her Numen lurking, a smile on her lips,"'S gunna be a good day I think." before she grabs a handful of earth and tosses it into the bowl - trying to find the dryest of the stuff she can amongst the muck and the swamps. Slapping it haphazardly into the bowl with another yawn to accompany the plop of the earth.

Bryan has a bag full of things, surely. He's done this sort of thing before. "No, you use wood from completely outside. How much do you need? I have some willow." For cleansing, of course.

Tabi nods, with a smile. "Good idea. I woulda grabbed some too, if I hadn't been running out of space." She sighs and contemplates her ruck. Her old pack has treated her well and seen some serious miles, but she's starting to think she needs to upgrade to a bigger pack. She answers Bryan. "Not too much, I just need a little ash."

But the Tabi settles down to the more pressing matters at hand - the ritual. She begins the arange the rocks that she's scrounged up. With the addition of wood from Branton and Bryan and her own kindling, it's looking like a reasonable, if somewhat small, firepit.

Beckett nods slowly to Mizzy. Without any need to help with the burning at the moment. He eyes Byran for a moment. "You were on one of the first two raids?" Beckett guesses. "You should take it easy. Most of us are fresh. We were waiting on standby back at Enduring Spirit in case something happened and the bridge had to be closed." War could be terribly bleak. Thankfully, they did not live in a timeline in which the Elders had failed.

He starts to explore with his jaw set ever grim. What were the Spirals doing here? Aside from the obvious aberrant cruelty of the rape they'd inflicted on both kin and land, of course. He walks over to one the buildings, peering into darkness in search of Wyrmsign and any other foul portents. "Be careful of any traps," Beckett calls out, warning the others of any spiritual land-mines or booby-traps the dead Wyrm-Howlers might have left as a final nasty surprise.

"I'm fine," Bryan says to Beckett. "You all should be able to handle things, but I'm the Athro on Duty, regardless." His voice is a little bland, a little flat, but he's still plenty alert. This is said pointedly to Beckett. "You're here to back up the Gurahl. The area has been scouted. Don't wander. Don't guess." Pause. "Pretty please with sugar on top."

Tabi \The fire is lit, and after a few moments, Tabi tosses several of the hemp packets of herbs into the fire. Luckily, she opted to use smaller pieces of wood, so the fire blazes and dies down quickly. She doesn't want the fire, she wants the ashes. While she's waiting for the fire to burn down, she begins gathering dirt from across the length and breadth of the bawn - which gets added to the terracotta bowl. That takes a while to gather the dirt and then she returns to the firepit and carefully harvests a handful of wood and herb ash, which gets mixed with the dirt. And then she adds some purfied water, making the dirt/ash mix into a very dry paste.She reaches into a pocket and pulls out a folding knife. "So... who's trained in the rite and is going to participate?"

Blythe turned his head from the horizon, to regard the sky. Shlucking through the mud, he pulled his feet from the sucking muck to reach for the reeds and tall grasses. Running his fingers over the sleek blades as he kept an ear out for trouble.

Beckett looks over his shoulder to Bryan. "I hope whoever did the scouting wasn't so unwise to bring back any trophies with them." He turns his back on the old hut, its boards haunted with untold traumas. He eyes the bones outside the huts(that Cypress had mentioned when we arrived), trying to gauge how many -people- were in that pile. Beckett, glances over to Mizzy, stepping into view in hopes she wouldn't get too good a look at the pile while she worked. "Hmmm... no... can't leave those here."

Mizzy can't help but chuckle at things a bit - her head gently rocking lightly to the tone of her humming while she gets the drier mud all smooshed into the bowl she'd brought. Squatting down - bowl set gently down, she holds out her left palm and flips a procured pocket-knife open; placing the blade against a palm over the bowl she looks up hearing Tabi's words,"'M ready ta' go whenever ya'll are." press of the blade with a sharp exhale and a shudder as she cuts and drains blood into the bowl. The final preparation of course the mixing together of the two. Using the pocket-knife's blade to stir things together and fold the life-essence into the taken soil,"Definitely ready." she says with a more awake tone to her voice turning her looking to Tabi,"You leadin'?".

Bryan glances at Beckett and nods. "The scouts know what they're doing or they wuoldn't be scouting. This isn't a training exercise." His voice is quiet enough. He isn't yelling, but like EVERYTHING is irritating him today. "Everyone be ready. Once the rite starts, anything left will come crawling out of the wood work."

Detlef nods once as he is staying alert.

Branton nods at Bryan and closes his eyes to take a couple of deep breaths before opening them and they flashover grey breifly as he draws his rapier and finds somewhre to be watching outward from.

Blythe turned, tense at Bryan's words. And wounds. It didn't take long after for him to come to Beckett's side. "The finest comb still has gaps in its teeth. Better to be vigilant and ready, than lax and unguarded." He spoke with measured cadence.

Beckett turns to Bryan, a brow twitching. "I was--" He doesn't finish whatever he's about to say as Blythe comes up out of the muck to join him on dryer land. He turns aways and watches Mizzy from afar as his packmate and Tabi work on the Rite. He doesn't say anything else.

Tabi opens her knife, giving Mizzy a nod and smile. "LEt's do this..." She grimaces, she hates this part... she slashes the palm of her left hand with the knife blade - a shallow wound, but one that is gonna gush blood. Blood that she collects in the bowl, adding to the dirt/ash/water paste.

Bryan glances at Beckett briefly and then lifts up into the air. "I've got 'up'. Everyone else fan out a little bt, but make sure that you can see the person to your right. Don't get any further than that, make a ring around the bears. If you see something, call out."

Mizzy takes the bowl and stands after finishing the mixture. Closing her eyes and relaxing a bit with a long exhale before she begins to Sing in a deeper tone - Singing thoroughly in the Gurahl tongue the Prayers for Healing; and praise of The Mother. Despite the softer earth she does her best to Continue the Dances that are borne for the cleanse; though she takes longer steps and movements given the mud. One hand cradling the bowl the other sprinkling a line of the stuff. Soon to match up with Tabi's; to surround the territory as she starts moving to cover the ground proper.

Blythe sticks close to Bryan, going prone and sticking his ear to the dirt "I've got down."

Beckett sticks close to Mizzy, but not so close to intrude on the Rite's sanctity. Some things were not meant for Garou eyes.

As the three bears begin to move and 'salt' the earth to rid it of the toxic taint of the Wyrm, the waters begin to clean, some of that oiliness leaving the surface. The plants seem a little green, brightening, as if shaking off the shadows of the Wyrm's touch. It's no grand, skadoosh of immediate change, but those that know what to look for can see the results as the ritual begins to wash away the poisons, making room for Gaia's sweetness.

Tabi dances, to a beat only she can hear. according to Gurahl she's talked to, different Bears hear the beat differently. For her, it's a heart beat. The worse the corruption and damage to the land, the worse the heartbeat sounds. And this 'patient' is in bad shape - heartbeat racing and arhythmic, heading for a coronary or stroke. But the ritual is doing it's work, calming and stabilizing the 'heartbeat' and improving the patients prognosis by the moment.

Bryan stays up, moving in a slow circle, using his higher vantage point to keep watch. The rite has always fascinated him, watching things that are dying and tainted be reconneccted to Gaia. It makes his hippie heart go pitter patter. But seriously, this lightens his dour mood ever so slightly as he watches the rite do its thing

Detlef keeps his attention mostly outward, moving slowly though now, to keep a close eye out for any dangers that might have been hidden.

Blythe had his eyes sealed shut, to avoid being witness to the bears' rite. All the while listening intently for any rumbles in the soil.

Branton is remaining vigilant, reaching out with his assorted senses and murmured detection spells for anything that might indicate a threat.

The stench of the Wyrm eases, step by dancing step the Gurahl take. Every sprinkling of blood-mixed earth calling to Gaia and sweeping away the Wyrm's ichor, leaving the land cleaner and cleaner until the air is fresh, for a swamp, and the grasses spring back, greening where they had been yellowing for the last month and a half or so. Everything seems to relax, as if a weight in the air itself has been lifted.

And as things start to clear, Bryan flits around here and there, using that potion and the dirt that he has to freshen up the edges.

Beckett follows maybe fifteen feet behind Mizzy. The Uktena is trying very hard not to look but feels his Tribe's Totem's curious tug. He reaches up to clutch at the effigy of Corn Maiden that hangs around his neck, tracing the lines of white buffalo hide from which the pouch dangled. He tries to keel himself from looking at the ritual by sensing around for any magical disturbances that obviously weren't coming from Branton. (Using Sense Magic again to sense for any danger.)

Foot slogging with their dance through the mid - sprinkling the dirt mixture here and there as she continues the Song and Dance - Her tone increasing from tired to Energetic as the blood gets flowing. The long thick braid of hers bouncing throughout the movement while making their way about. The energy of her tone carrying from mournful at the start to more Joyous in sound. A look of playful mirth across her lips as the ebb of the wyrm flows away and begins to wash clean across the land. Continuing - until the job is rightly done.

Tabi 'sits' down. Or, more accurately, her wobbly legs give out under her. She giggles and lies back. "That. Never. Gets. Old." For a fleeting moment, she was part of something bigger. Something much bigger.

Bryan descends once everything is good again and he lands next to Tabi, laying a hand on her shoulder where she sits. "Thank you, Cousin. Your efforts here will be remembered always. I will sing the tale of this to every corner."

Tabi sits upright, blinking. "That's not why I..." She bobs her head. "But thank you."

Bryan shakes his head. "No. But it's important, regardless." He offers out a hand and lifts off the ground. "Come on. Fly with me back to the others so we can get out of here." And he will TOTALLY give her a ride in the air, because he's cool like that