Long Watch (tag Saxon and Anna)

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara walked near the perimeter of the caern, holding old military water-canteens on his left hand. On his right hand he held old shovel. "Have you seen this Rite being performed?" he asked from Anna.

He looked around the area and was seeking a place close to actual caern but still secluded enough so unwanted people would not see what he was going to do. Not that meditating and quiet prayers were anything unusual, but when someone who looked like him buried something on the ground... well, that usually made people think two things. First is 'Punk's hiding guns or drugs. I need to call a police', and second being 'Drugs and guns buried in my neighborhood, where are the police when we need them?'.

He looked at Saxon. "This caern is really vulnerable. We will be now spending lot's of time at the Bawn, so I think we should try to figure out way to make it a bit more secure without messing the landscape too much."

[Anna]

"No, I haven't," Anna said. "What can I do to help?"

She wasn't even sure which rite he was talking about at the moment. She looked at him, and then at Saxon.

"Well," she said. "The Spirals have already shown they can breach the city's defenses. There must be a reason they haven't stormed the Caern. They certainly have the numbers for it."
She wondered if it was the location or if they had just gotten lucky so far. From what she knew of the Spirals (and she knew quite a bit), they wouldn't have wasted an opportunity to attack.
"Maybe they just overestimate us... Maybe we underestimate ourselves."
After all, they had taken out half the hive in one attack before.

[Saxon]

Saxon looked over the grounds, “Higher the walls, put decorative but functional spikes on the top. Motion sensors all around, physically slow them down and alert us.” He smiled at Vasara, “Unless we go for the whole bunker approach and start pouring concrete.”

He looked at Anna considering what she was saying. “They seem to be content at the moment to nibble at the edges, odd behaviour for Spirals would you not say?”

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara wondered could Anna actually help him with his Rite, but he wasn't that good on explaining these voodoo-things. "I think you can't do much. Just... be a theurge. Watch, observe, learn. And let me know if you notice me doing something terribly wrong." Vasara winked again, only indication of action being moving eyebrow above his missing eye. He sat down with the filled canteens.

"Haha, I wonder if our Keeper of the Land would appreciate if we started to pour concrete over his precious land." Vasara laughed. "But good walls might work. I could ask Aleksi to use blackened silver to spice up the spikes. He could grind some silver into dust too and we could mix it with the soil under the fence. Not much, too expensive, but enough for inhaling and coughing."

"Then we should hear them in time if they try to dig their way in under the fence." he continued with far more serious voice.

"I can't think any other reason for Spirals not attacking here. They must think we are much stronger thanks to our previous assault on their Hive. We need to thin their numbers somehow. Bring them down one pack at time before they realise the truth."

Vasara positioned two of the canteens in front of him and went through the Rite one more time in his head.

[Anna]

Anna grinned. That didn't sound too hard.

"I'm not sure about walls," she said. "But we could electrify the fence. Still, anyone trying to break in through here would have the veil to worry about... not that I'd put it past them to slaughter the entire village just to get to us."
She suddenly envisioned the Caern being surrounded by Silver and shivered. Still, times were dangerous and desperate measures were sometimes required.
"I think we could hit them hard because they were so isolated," she said. "Maybe they're just thinking like we are, bring us down one pack at a time, thin our numbers."

[Saxon]

Saxon watched curiously what Vasara was doing, why did he get the impression that Vasara was not quite confident about this rite.

“We can expect them then to hit, kin, Garou that live outside the Cearn then. Weaken us and maybe try to lure a pack into an ambush. Maybe we should instruct the kin that can to leave Berlin, go on holiday, stay with relatives. Bring all the Garou into the cearn too.”

He swung his attention to Anna. “Your the Theurge, any reason why you are not doing the Rite?”

[Tony Vasara]

"Well, there is no wall that would stop us, so why would there be one that could stop them. Electrified fence just is so easy to cut from it's power supply. Unless we got a lightning-spirit or something like that bound on the wire." Vasara said. "All we really need is a good warning when intruders come, and any damage inflicted upon them at that point is just bonus."

"Besides, nothing prevents them from digging under the fence unless we figure out how to prevent it. Mundanely or otherwise."

"I don't know about bringing every garou here. If at least some of us is outside, they can act as cavalry in battle. We we all are here, we are surrounded and immobile. Telling kin to go to vacation is a good idea."

[Anna]

"Uhm," Saxon's question caught Anna a bit off-guard. "Any reason I should be? I don't actually know the rite."

"Maybe we should talk to the Warder about this," she added. "Now we're the guardians, they should really let us in on that sort of thing."

[Saxon]

Maybe Saxon thought in answer to Ann’s reply because whilst I would trust Vasara to smash things up delicate work is not his thing. But he kept that thought to himself.

“Water is the best, a moat, dig into it and drown. But other than that some kind of earth spirit.” He considered then looked at Ann, “That is a thought, could you do me a favor as I am tried in this challenge. Find out from the rest of the pack what rites they know. We need to know the
Capabilities of the pack.”

[Tony Vasara]

"What Rites do you two know? I have a knowedge of asking proper forgiveness and Contrition from Spirits and garou for that matter. I am able to Dedicate stuff to person. I have a secret of Cleansing and then This..." Vasara pointed at the similar canteens he had given to his pack earlier. He realised he actually knew quite a lot of this stuff for someone with his reputation. His face softened up and he recalled times when things were simpler and easier. He wondered what Saxon and Anna might think about the amount of Rites he knew and rushed to explain without thinking twice.

"I wasn't meant to be a warrior. Even if I am not that well-versed with umbra, I used to be more fascinated by our Rituals and my own duty as mediator and councellor. I just had to learn to become a warrior when I arrived here, and I needed to learn fast. When I came to this city, there was really no-one else to do it." Vasara continued with a bit sad tone. "...well, there was but they vanished or died during the early battles."

Vasara was not sure was he angry or sad. "I didn't want to become a monster like this. I didn't want to be a leader." he whispered quietly as he fixed his sitting position in front of the canteens.

He thought about Saxon's words and focused on Anna. "Yes. Good idea, find that information. And go see Slit-Throat on the same run. I want to know what we can do and what he can tell us about the actual defences." he said with a grim and familiar tone, with face carved from stone without a hint of his weak moment just a seconds ago.

"But before you go, I want you to witness this Rite." Vasara said, waited for a moment to hear what Saxon and Anna might want to say on... well, anything before beginning the Rite.

He fell into a meditation and chanted with a low voice, and dug a small hole to the pure soil of the caern before holding his hands over one of the canteens. He let his inner spiritual power leak from his hands to the canteens he used as kind of spirit-distiller and finally drove the distilled and strengthened Gnosis into the water inside. He lowered the canteen in the hole, still chanting, and filled it with care. This took for nearly three hours to happen.

((ooc: use 1 Gnosis to the Rite, and 1 Will for extra success))

[Anna]

Anna had to grin at the idea of a moat.
"I can't even begin to think how many zoning laws we'd be breaking," she said. "Even a wall is iffy."

"I can bind spirits, and I know the rite to cleanse an area of taint," she said. "I know Shadow-Stalker has been taught the Gathering for the Departed. And..."
She almost laughed out loud at the thought of Nadya knowing any rites.
"I think that's it."

She looked at Vasara, but didn't say anything about the warrior comment. Circumstances had made them all who they are, and she sometimes wondered if that was why Vasara pushed them into their auspices.
"I'll talk to him," she said, somewhat nervous at the prospect of even being in the same room as Slit-Throat, let alone asking him for information.
She fell silent and watched the rite. She didn't know the one he was performing, but she knew enough about rites to understand why her presence and Saxon's was important. She didn't interrupt.

[Shehrazad]

I'll send successes in a private message. Feel free to keep up the conversation here at the same time.
You may move on here

[Saxon]

Saxon considered what Vasara had said about him being a warrior. Well Vasara was not one to do the emotional thing so he contented himself with saying. "We all do what we have to."

He smiled at Anna seeing her nervous reply, “Just be respectful to him. Nad failed to do that and we all know how that ended.”
He stood watching the rite, curious still at why Vasara had decided to open up as he had done.