A new caern with a guard dragon

After reaching the open night sky and seeing starlight again, the philodox smiled.

He pats Rends on the back and says to all present.
"Well I know you might be disappointed, but we did our best and kept our manners and wits about us."

Zas thumbs back to the entrance, "We just got a caern though...might even have a dragon who guards the door. That has a fairly nice ring to it."

He looks to everyone in turn, "Now though, it might help to come up with a plan as to who spirit-wise is best for the caern. I'm not wanting to exclude any options from the table so whoever you got in mind I am all ears. We can talk about who we allow to move in garou-wise in a bit...but"

He holds up a finger, "Few things to keep in mind though. 1) This is pretty off the beaten path so whoever we get as totem is gonna need to be ok with being isolated and be able to take care of themselves in a scrape. 2) There is a gateway to an crazy ever changing realm inside...might be a good idea to keep that under watch. 3) The caern is entirely underground. And it has a leaking evil underground water access point with more warded runes than I have ever seen. And lastly, 4) we are gonna need to open the caern up, clean it up and get it ready and thats all gonna take some doing. Our plate is pretty full so whoever we get to help is gonna have to be someone we trust."

He smiles, "That said-any body got any ideas?"

Rends can't help but grin at the upbeat Strider, strange as the sight is. He chuckles and stuffs his pipe before puffing it to life from a match.

"Well, I reckon Silke wouldn't be too happy havin' to clear more space on the mantle fer a new trophy anyhow."

He takes a few puffs, considering.

"Let's start with who we know that's fit to be Caern totem fer a place like this. Cenezoica seems an obvious choice, though to be honest I was inclined to ask her to inhabit a little somethin' else. Titalcoatl apparently has a connection to this place already, and what with him bein' a spirit of secrets and such he'd probably be able to help figure how best to use the gate to the Flux Realm and seal away all them nasties in the other door."

He points with his pipe to Zoe.

"Then they's Zoe's first Pa, who also has a link here it seems. Am I missin' anyone?"

Zoe nodded.

"All good choices. My father would certainly be capable of holding his own against attackers, being an Incarna and all." She puffs up a bit at that last statement.

"Also, being a memory spirit, he'd be at home with a Mokole who also honors memories so dear. And I wouldn't mind getting to come home and visit him."

"I believe he said he is bound to the area in which he currently dwells, but I do know how to exorcise a spirit and release them from their binding. I'm just not certain if he is drawing strength from that area and if it would hurt him to leave there."

Eaton fumbled with the newly acquired dragon skin for a movement, wrapping it in such a way so it wouldn’t crease during their travel. Once it was hidden on his person he said, “The only hesitation I got with Zoe’s dad is how nasty that water was. If we want ‘em for the task, I think we should straighten up a bit. Even bein’ a memory spirit and all, he seems to still have a connection with water. If ya’ll are really gonnna press me for just one choices=, I still wouldn put my vote with Titalcoatl. He’s seemed to have something to do with maintain’ the wards which looked mighty important.”

At Rends mention of the earth spirit, Eaton smiled as he said, “Got other plans for her, eh? Don’t tell me ya got another secret caern ya want her to guard.”

Rends sends a smoke ring floating away. Nodding with satisfaction, he turns to Eaton.

"Nah, I got other ways to protect that. I want Cenezoica to share space in my Grand Klaive."

He puffs out another ring through the center of the first with a wink.

"I'm inclined to agree with Eaton. Titalcoatl was helpin' the injun with the Wards in the memories; that was probably the Warder. With how weak these Wards are we'll need to strengthen them up quite a bit; and he may be able to help us Ward our allied Septs against these water leeches too. I don't much like the idea of settin' up a Caern on top of a big badass Wyrm spirit, but if we do we need to make sure the cellar is locked up tight. And there's the gate to the Flux Realm. Seems like a mighty powerful tool to use, but I wanna make sure we know everything we can about it before we do use it. One of the Feathered Serpents is probably gonna be able to help with that too."

Zas listened to everyone who had spoken and considered their words before asking, "I don't think any of these are bad ideas. But I also think we should keep in mind that this caern will be around long after we deal with the vampires and the black water. Having a spirit that helps us fight those things right now would certainly be helpful, but would a spirit like Tliticouatl for instance, be someone that you would want to work with in the future? Could he resist the lure of evil that the Mokole mentioned, having just recently been freed from the abyss?"

Zas shrugs, "I don't know...but I also am not really aware of that many other spirits that are powerful enough to be a caern totem. I feel like one spirit that has really aided us thus far has been the Talons of Horus, or maybe Inteus and I would be okay with them as a totem, but I'm not sure they would be right for this caern."

He turns to Zoe and Eiger, "Are there any fae that could be a caern totem? You said they were different from spirits so I'm not sure how that would work."

Eiger nodded.

“It would be possible for a Fae to be a caern totem, however being that there are only a few Fae whom I have met here in Texas... the chance of that is not likely.”

He paused.

“What about a Coyote spirit? He already has a connection here, and obviously had some luck with that flux portal in the past. Other than that I imagine that Cenezoica would be best defensively, from what I have understood.”

He looked around before speaking again.

“There are other things to consider about this caern however besides just the caern totem. How will we be able to hold this caern as our own and still communicate effectively with the King? If we could make the moon bridges work that would be an easy fix. We could take turns where one of us stays at the King’s side by the Forked Ash so we can communicate via the Laughing Stranger, which I realize is not appealing... perhaps there are a pair of spirits that could communicate with each other with ease and would be willing to work with us, one staying here and he other at the Forked Ash. All I know is if we are relying on messengers by foot there will be instances where we are too late.”

Eaton scratched at his beard contemplating the Ragabash’s proposal.

“Coyote bein’ a caern totem doesn’t seem to be his style. He seems to wanna hang in the background bein’ unpredictable and pullin’ springs. I couldn’t imagine a lesser one agreein’ to be tied to a single caern. Don’t mean we can’t use a spirit that he’d approve of, though.”

He then looked eastward for a second, still not facing any of them before he continued,

“That dragon did say he’d continue to watch over the place in the meantime. Without a moon bridge I’m thinkin’ it ain’t practical to set up a base here just yet. Forked Ash has San Antonio nearby and the ol’ White Ash still had Houston. There ain’t anythin’ out her for miles that let our kin live here easily.”

His gaze turned northward, “And the route we took was mighty close to Red Talon territory. They’d have a problem with the lot of Caravan’s we’d need to set up a camp. I think it best to not attract their attention to this place.”

Zas rubs his chin before speaking. "Part of my rite of passage had me cross these parts. There was an old spanish ruin, some type of fort I think up north a ways. Might be a good place to keep some kinfolk thats fairly defensible."

He gives a look to Fae, "The Iron riders were toying with something that allowed for communication between distant places. Not sure what progress they've made with it, but IF it is a safe and reliable tool, it could be useful."

He looks back to Eaton, "Though we may not want the Talons help, we might need it. We are isolated out here. And I am not wanting to delay much as we are not sure how long those wards will hold. Way I see it, we are protectors of this land; We can't turn a blind eye just because it will be challenging to clean this place up. Doing that would also dishonor the Uktena who held it."

He ponders his thoughts a moment longer before saying, "This is also a Silent Strider caern. My tribe has no love for vampires, and this caern is in a desert. We might have a scorpion spirit that could do well here as a caern totem. They are sometimes seen as symbols of protection from evil and may even help ward it off."

Zoe let out a short laugh.

“Well, it looks like we’ve got a lot of options but not a lot of consensus. As the Theurge, I would love to tell you which choice is best, but each spirit has merit.”

“I would be hesitant to bind the flying serpent to this space due to the lure of evil and his recent connection to the Abyss.”

Zoe stopped for a moment and placed a hand on her hip, mumbling to herself.

“No...that wouldn’t...I mean...I guess it could...has it even been done before? Hell, what do we care about what has or hasn’t been done before!”

She snapped back from her inner dialogue as she glanced at the pack one at a time.

“Look at us: a Fianna Ragabash, a Silent Strider Philodox, a Bone Gnawer/Uktena/who knows what else Galliard, an Iron Rider Theurge, and a Get Ahroun. Our pack is the very representation of how variety brings strength that is not found in a pack of all one tribe or all one auspice.”

She paused because she realized how ridiculous her next suggestion might be.

“What if we have more than one spirit serve as the caern totem here? I don’t know that it has ever been done before, but when have we ever done things the way every one else does?”

Eaton turned toward the Philodox and raised his brow, "I ain't puttin' my wife and kids in a run down fort with nothin' they can live on out here. It's gonna take many hands in order to settle down out here so while we can keep that in back of our minds, I'm not runnin' to pack my things just yet. And while the caern needs to be cleaned up, we don't need to move here just yet."

At Zoe's suggestion, he seemed quizzical before he said, "Hm, well, I haven't seen that before so I was kinda assumin' it can't be done. Multiple totems I mean. Several spirits could still help guard the caern, though- though we gotta be sure they won't be jealous not bein' the big one."

He then said, "That bein' said, you are the one most qualified to make the decision. And who says we can't try?"