Questions and Answers

The pungent, alluring scent of roasted meat filled the damp basement air as Harriet came down the steps carrying half a smoked goat on a large wooden platter stacked with smaller plates. She carefully set it down on the billiard table and grinned. "Took a bit longer than I expected, but there's more where that came from. I'll be right back." Slick-Blood licked his chops as Red-Oath nodded appreciatively: "Heh, smells like it was worth the wait. Thanks, sis." As Harriet sashayed back up and out of sight, Slick-Blood pulled out a folding knife and sliced off a generous hunk which he deftly tossed across the table to Red-Oath. She caught it and took a bite, and then continued speaking, her grey eyes studying Zas B'ul.

"Well, I'm glad to know that the good ambassador has seen the light, but it is a bit late for that, I'm afraid. Like it or not, the horses Mr. Fields provided might get a lot of people killed, on both sides, if the Cherokee are foolish enough to align with Cordova's rebellion."

Her eyes snapped towards Rends-the-Gar.

"I don't think that whatever killed the cattle and attacked your little band was the same bane that Hears-the-Song spotted. There are more mockeries haunting this county, and I want to determine if they are hiding among the rebels, the Cherokee, maybe even somewhere in the Abyss."

Red gulped down the remainder of the goat meat. "In any event, their presence compounds the problems facing the humans and our current situation is much more complex than I'd like. There are too many unknowns. I would prefer it if we could bide our time and learn more about both the Uktena, the Cherokee and the rebels, but I have no idea what Cordova is planning, other than violence."

"I would not invite him into the Caern if I thought there was a chance that he was tainted, and I am not too worried about a hostile take over of the Camino Real sept; at least, not from the likes of him. If that elder does try anything 'funny,' I will personally force-feed him his remaining teeth." Her tone is light, almost airy, but quite sincere.

"However, I did get Bowl to agree to meet with us corporately, which at this point feels like a triumph. The Uktena are supposed to know a great deal about the spirit world, and I think that we might be able to benefit from the old one's insight, especially if our foes are indeed lurking in the Abyss."

She paused as Harriet returned bearing several casks of wine and spirits.

Kefka winks at Harriet as he relieves her of a good sized spirit opens it and takes a long swig.

"Chief Bowl keeping secrets is a nuisance, but I won't think he is the main problem at hand. I still say we need to focus on Cordova and the rebellion. If the taint came from him we need to figure out how and why. When I talked to Cordova one and one he didn't seem tainted, not that I would be able to tell... I gave him a good sniff though. He smelled really nice actually. Not just clean, he smelled good too...anyways I find it hard to believe it's a coincidence, that we get attacked by a mockerie right after him threatening to kill us. Especially when we saw what looked like his 2nd command and he was covered in wrappings and feed bags too. That ain't normal."

He takes a pause and another swig, and looks at Rends, and then Hears the Song.

"I like that idea of using your knife. Even if we can't use it in this situation...I can think of some other pillows to slip it under." he pauses and chuckes. "I also know a guy who can slip it in undetected."

Zoe takes Rends' knife and begins to examine it as Red Oath and Kefka speak.  At the mention of "her" bane and Cordova, Zoe is reminded of the vision she had seen a few days before the others arrived in town of the man her bane had possessed clamoring for a throne that was one his.  Though it was hazy when she peaked through, Zoe recalled her bane inhabiting a dark complexioned man wearing a nice suit and a red waistcoat.

"Could it be?" Zoe wonders aloud.

"During my rite I saw a dark complexioned man, like Hispanic, wearing a fine suit and a red waistcoat. I also had a vision of 'my' bane being dethroned from a position of power, vitally wounded, and clamoring to reclaim his throne."

Zoe turns to Red Oath, eyes wide with possibility.

"What if 'my' bane and Cordova are one and the same?  They're both well-dressed Hispanics. Both are associated with if not possessed by wyrm taint.  You said yourself that Cordova was a ruler and would-be emperor of Nacogdoches.  We may have yet another reason to go after that megalomaniac."

Zoe grabs some of the proffered meat and a drink and takes a seat, setting Rends' knife on the ratty felted table as she begins to study it.

Rends chuckles with mocks the night as he tears a goat leg free and grabs a beer off the tray.

"Ya I reckon you do. I guess we could find a use for it even if tye chief wont cooperate."

He keeps chuckling as he takes a big bite of goat.

"I reckon dealin' with cordova first makes sense. I didn't much like the look of him neither. He seemed to know a little too much what was goin' on and he wasn't nearly as scared of us as he shoulda been all things considered. I still think sending out some of ours to intercept the riders is our best shot though."

He takes a drink and turns to richard.

"How long would it take messengers to gather up them armies?"

Zas inhales the glorious scent of the goat meat wafting around the room, and suddenly realizes how long it's been since he's eaten. His stomach was none too shy of letting everyone else also know. He reached over and cut himself a piece of meat off and swallowed it whole. After stomaching the bite he reached in again and pulled off a bigger slab of meat to munch on. He chewed contentedly for awhile eating his fill. After wiping his face clean he looks around at the room and says defensively, "You try getting your ribcage shattered and tell me you don't work up a hunger."

He then pauses before turning to Zoe and saying, "It could certainly be possible for Cordova to be involved in your visions. He does speak firmly of his pronounced blood lust-an all too Wyrm like trait. I truly doubt however that any of those present in this room needed more reason to go after Cordova. The question remains, as to how to do this."

Zas turns to Mocks the Night and says, "You are right. His man with the cloth coverings did seem rather out of place. It is indeed strange that as you say Cordova smelled pleasant, more than clean? Such scents are not easily obtained. This Alcalde it would seem also has access to a great deal of money as we also saw that he had a cannon in his arsenal. Perhaps, if Cordova is of the Wyrm he could use this money and sweet smelling scent to hide his true nature from us and those closest to him. In my rite of passage, a mockery had entrenched himself deep within the local town by way of acting the bartender, enabling him to cover his stink by the smell of overpowering firewater. Such could be the case here."

Zas then looks to Rends and says, "Though I know our mistrust of Chief Bowl is founded, he remains Cherokee. They among all the tribes have experienced the greatest loss by the whiteman. Not to mention, he is of the uktena tribe who is not known for their pleasantness. I say all of this because, he would not be so easily swayed to trust those outside of his kinfolk and people due to this. This Cordova could just as easily betray Chief Bowl's people, the Cherokee and turn on the garou who live within, as as any white man. Chief Bowl would know this." Zas glances to Red Oath as he says, "He too has earned his place among Garou society, by becoming an elder. He would not likely make such foolish decisions such as aiding Cordova as his age and possible wisdom would discourage such rash behavior."

Zas then picks up the wood carving of Cordova and turns to face Red Oath directly as he says while gesturing to the figurine, "What would you have us do about this Cordova, as leader of this group?"

"Honestly, Zas is completely right. Cordova is the clear threat, whether he is tainted or not is almost irrelevant." Red-Oath shrugged. "It would be convenient if he were that escaped mockery, and I would not be surprised if he were tainted, but right now, he could be pure as a newborn babe and I'd still want him dead. The man is madder than a rabid coyote and he is destabilizing the human flock. Things are getting  bad enough that even Sterne is forced to pull his head out of his ass, and that says a lot about the situation. However, simply rampaging back down the river and trying to gut him is the wrong move. He will be on guard after your previous visit and when his minion doesn't return, he will assume it failed and that you have escaped. If Cordova was wary before he's going to be paranoid as hell now."

"I am also concerned that there might be more things like that corrupt rider waiting to be called out of the Umbra, and if Cordova flees into the spirit world I want to be sure we can catch him. Supernatural occurrences aside, if he gets martyred and his army of rebels retaliate, we are going to get a lot of people killed. The man's magnetism can't be ignored; whenever Cordova ran for office here in town before the War for Independence, he always won."

"Hell, for about six months in '33, Cordova managed to be both mayor, judge and city councilman all at the same time after winning too many elections." Slick-Blood jabbed a hoof in Red-Oath's direction to punctuate his words. "Even as an outlaw, hombre has clout- especially among Texians."      

"Right." Red-Oath nodded. She had stopped eating, instead taking periodic pulls on a flask of dark wine. "All this is to say, I think a more subtle approach is in order, but my plan involves heading back into the Abyss. For that I would prefer to have an Uktena as our theurge guide, if Bowl is willing. You are just starting out, Hears-the-Song, and Lune-Stalker is more attuned with the Wyld and her spirits than the the realms of darkness. I don't know much about this fetish of yours, but if you feel you could use it to gain the Chief's favor, that'd be quite valuable."

Richard looks pensive as he considers Rends-the-Gar's question. "Well, including the Neches and Zandt settlements, we probably have three or four days until the last of the reinforcements arrive from the furthest reaches of the Cherokee nation. Some may have come already, I do not know. I do think that Cordova overstated the number of warriors that will answer his call to arms, however. Some Cherokee, it is true, do feel loyalty to the Spanish Empire rather than the Texan Republic, but I can't imagine that four hundred braves would be misled by Cordova's false promises." He gave Rends a weary smile. "They need to realize that brown men lie just like the whites."

Kefka gets a bit of meat and slowly chews it while Red talks, savoring the flavor. When she is done he swallows ands takes another long drink. He fidgets around looking at the others before pulling his cut of Redbacks. He walks up to Red Oath and offers it to her. "Sterne paid us for the job...being as you sent us to him it's only right we give it to you and the caern for supplies and what not. If you won't take it for that, at least take it as payment for being so hospitable to us cliath strangers."

Zoe is visibly disappointed with Red's declaration. She is eager to explore the depths of the umbra and not to be treated like an inexperienced child. Her eyes narrow with her decisiveness.

"I know I'm just starting out, Red Oath, but I learn quickly and have learned so much already about traveling and taking care of myself in the Umbra. The best learning is done by experience, so why not let me get the experience now? The others can more than handle things on this end. I was born to interact with the spirit world. Gaia destined me for it."

She fingers Rends' knife and shrugs. "Once I get this thing working again, they won't need me to operate it. If the chief agrees, it's a simple matter of sleeping with it under his pillow to capture some dreams. Then Rends should be able to play it back."

Zoe glances at Rends who is still covered in black wyrm goo. "Speaking of spirit issues, we all still need someone to enact the cleansing rite over us to rid us of any potential wyrm taint. Is Lune-Stalker nearby? Also, what should we do with the evidence from our latest wyrm encounter. We are forbidden to bring it back to the caern. Do we need it any longer or should we burn it?"

Zoe looks to Red hopefully, though she doubts the elder Philodox will change her mind concerning her suitability for a mission into the Abyss.

Rends tosses the goat's leg bone onto the platter with a contented belch, picking up a splinter of wood and picking at his teeth as he reclines and tosses his pile of Redbacks along with Kefkas.

"Ya I reckon you's right. We done this job to help out the Caern, so the money should be put to that too."

He takes a long drink of his beer, settling back again and looking from Mocks the Night to Hears the song with a faint mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Oh I don't know, Zoe. I reckon you should listen to Red Oath. I didn't like the job I was given neither, but it turned out if I weren't there y'all might not a' made it back in one piece. Give your Sept leader a little credit."

He sniffs at the air, finally seeming to remember that he is covered in ichor.

"That said, I reckon I could use a bath 'afore anything else."

Zoe snarls at Rends and rolls her eyes before turning back to Red.

" Sylvester may have a point. Those boys would be lost without me.  What would you have us do between now and our meeting with the chief tonight?  Get cleaned up?  Activate Rends' fetish? Anything else we can do to prepare for what's next?  Personally, I'd love a nap."

Zoe stifles a yawn as she stands up and stretches.

"By the way, the money that was divvied to me is still upstairs unless someone else picked it up on their way down. I don't want Stern's blood money. It's his fault that any of Cordova's men had to die last night at Rends' hand. I will not accept payment for such a mission."

Zas is quiet as the others speak to and probe Red Oath for answers. He then says, "I know that this may also be poor timing as you are busy, but I am curious as to what if any news you have regarding the letters we were all called here for. Has there been any new information on that end?"

He pauses as he tries to see if any of the others are interested as well before continuing, "Not that aiding in the fight with the Wyrm and other such tasks are of less priority, but any news is helpful."

He then sees the cash being handed to Red Oath and says rather tersely, "I believe my "cut" of Sterns money is still where his servant left it. I can go get it for you if you'd like, or you may also collect it as we leave, the choice is yours. I have no real need for HIS money. It is also as the others have said, the Caerns anyhow."