Questing Stone Triangulation

A metal bucket sits atop bricks over a fire. The scent of herbs and spices comes from the boiling contents as Buddy dances around it adding plants to the boil or wood to the fire as needed. Whatever is in the bucket is boiling away and Buddy seems quite excited.

Why would a rich kid be out at this ungodly hour on a Sunday? Ostensibly Dusk is out for a run, dressed in a set of Columbia University sweats, sporting the baby blue and white of the baseball team: The Lions. He's more patrolling than being a bored yuppy, but he invariably is jogging closer and closer. He has a water bottle in one hand and he slows to a walk, panting a little as he comes withing holler distance. "Buddy!" he enthuses to the Bone Gnawer. He squirts some water into his maw and then breathes deep. "Somethin' smells good, y'all. Sunday breakfast?"

Buddy looks around wildly "Where?! Oh! Me! Hi Dusk!" he grins "It started as late night munchies but went out of control. Caught me some fish. Found some wild herbs and stuff. Want some?" he beckons "Pull up a milk crate, take a squat, and enjoy some fish boil with me."

Dusk smiles and squirts some of the cool water on his face. He gives a shake of his head and breathes a sigh of relief. "Late night munchies?" he asks with a wide grin. "I feel that, man." He snatches up a milk crate and draws it close. He sits on it, same as he would any seat at the fancy restaurants folks make him be seen at. "Yessir," he says as he settles. "I ain't ever gonna turn down some proper home cookin'." He flicks his attention from the pot to Buddy and asks, "Mind if I jaw at'cha a minute. I had me a couple'a questions about..." He makes some woojee gestures. "I could use a little consult with an expert."

Buddy bobs his head as he stirs the bucket with a long janky old metal spoon "I don't know if it's proper but it'll fill us up. Catfish, wild onions and more. All sourced from the wilds." as he stirs he looks over to Dusk "Well I'm always happy to help with.." makes one handed woojee finger wiggling "Stuff. What can I do for you?"

Dusk looks suitably impressed that he's eating something straight out of Gaia's kitchen. He feels it just might leave him less round than eating at his bbq joint 4 times a day. His attention drifts to the pot and then back up to Buddy. "I ain't real skilled when it comes to rites and whatnot, but I heard of one that let's ya find somethin' or someone if'n you know their name. Is that... a thing? Like for real?"

Buddy thinks for a moment then nods "Yeah. Questing Stone. You gotta know something about what you're looking for, or a name, having seen them what they look like, or something unique to them. It's pretty useful. I know it if you need help finding someone." Buddy takes a moment and grabs a cracked bowl before scooping some of the broth and fish into it and offering it to Dusk "Foods up!" before he goes back to making his own bowl. "There's a pretty wide range of rites. Ones to attune you to your surroundings. Ones to attune clothing to you so you don't lose your pants when you shift. One will awaken the spirit of an object which can strengthen the object or get it to aid you if you treat it well. I'm pretty well trained at them. For someone of low rank. I'm not a master of rites. But I'm working towards it."

Dusk listens, his attention sharpening as its pretty important information for his newest web designs. He nods a little as his information seems confirmed by the Theurge. He accepts the bowl of soup thankfully, not seeming to mind the lack of utensils and other such claptrap. He lifts it to his nose and gets a snootfull. It makes his mouth water a little and he sighs his gratitude. He doesn't try for a sip just yet, giving it a moment to become something less scalding than molten lead first. "I know a couple rites," he confides. "Mostly spider stuff. How to make our holy webs and whatnot." He considers, swirling the soup to cool it faster. "Is the, uhh, questing stone common amongst y'all? Like if I sniffed around for three or four folk with it, do y'all think that'd be likely ta find?"

"Common? Yeah I think everyone has a version of it. Or at least among my kind of furball. Did you want to learn it? If you got a basic understanding of rituals." Buddy takes a slow careful sip of the broth from his own cracked bowl. "Or do you just need me to perform it for you? Really it's up to you. Dunno how the others work but really someone from each group should have some rituals available. I know we all have different jobs to do. Probably don't wanna have to drag a wolfy along on spider business." he nods sagely taking another sip.

Dusk lifts his bowl and tilts it to take a sip. He swallows and then nods, offering Buddy a smile and upnod. "If ya wouldn't mind teachin' me, I'd be grateful. It ain't for spider business that I'm askin' though. Sept business. That wild hunt the Sept Alpha howled about. I dunno if you and Benoit was here yet or not." His face takes a grim set as he talks, the gravity of his goal not lost on him. "She named a Black Spiral Dancer and demanded his and his packs death. My thought was that we might be able to triangulate the fellas general location with a few folks around the city that knew the questin' stone and narrow down where ta look. I don't think it'll be an easy business though, dealin' with both this side and the shadow." He purses his lips and his thoughts trail off. He sips his soup and glances at Buddy to see if the theurge thinks the plan has merit so far.

Making hot hot hot faces Buddy pulls a chunk of fish out of the broth and pops it in his mouth while thinking before answering. "Yeah that would work and probably be safer. Usually you use the stone to follow it to the target. But that's a fuckin BSD pack. You don't want to just oops into them. That'll get you killed. Some people forget that the organize themselves like we do. So they'll have scouts and such. So this would be good to avoid them knowing." he nods "I'd be happy to teach you and anyone else that wants to learn to help with this." Picking out a few more pieces of fish and slurping down soup. "Once we can map out their common spots we might learn more about the enemy."

Dusk gives a relieved smile and sigh as his Wisdom seems to have some small merit at least. "When we get a little information, we can get some scouts looking around. Ravens, I reckon would be good. Spiders maybe since city webs don't slow us down. Mobilize no-moons and spirits. It'd be good to see what support that pack has too. If we can start cutting off their infrastructure, we stand a better shot at endin' them." He noms a bit of fish and onion, chewing briskly. "This won't be one pack if we aim to have minimal losses on our side. We need a true community effort. From the howl, I think takin' this fallen pack down will story told well beyond Houston." Dusk sighs and sips more soup. "Have you ever done umbral battle? Like, if they was to call in a mess of banes to sick on us, do you reckon we got us much of a chance?"

Buddy sets his bowl down obviously focusing on the plan and ideas "We'd have to figure out chiminage and offerings to get spirit allies in the city. If we could seperate the pack and pick them off in ambushes that would be best. But I am able to negotiate with spirits and enlist their aid. Also able to make talens to assist us." before he listens to Dusk's ideas and questions "I'm familiar with umbral battle.. If we're going to do that I'll need to seek out some spirits for specific gifts dealing with umbral fights. Otherwise having out own allies would help. I'm also a healer so I can do back line support to keep people up."

Dusk listens and nods, sipping soup as he absorbs what Buddy has to offer. His lips curl in a bit of a smile and his green eyes sparkle in the fire light. Finally, he offers his fist to bump. "Let's start by learnin' me the Questin' Stone. We can come up with some strategy as we get a feel for each other. Maybe loop in Benoit? I reckon he might have some good wisdom to contribute."

Buddy grins and fist bumps "Yeah Benny will be down. I'm sure of that. Maybe have a big tactical meeting around a bigger fish fry." then he settles down for some proper teachin "Okay, first part is probably super easy for you being all spidery cause you're gonna need thread or string or something. Then you need a point to follow. Like a needle or a dart. Something that was lost that you find is how I do it. Then here's the key. The thing to realize. Everything is connected through Gaia. Even the Wyrm. Apart from spirits there is no such thing as something that is Pure anything. The Weaver draws connections between us and the things around us. The Wyld gives direction and change in that location. The Wyrm ends those connections when they no longer serve a purpose. Recognizing that you and your target are linked in that way opens you up to detecting the spiritual links drawing between you and them."

"Yeah!" Dusk readily agrees. He pauses and offers, "When things are busy for you and you just need a bite, you and Benoit both are always welcome at the BBQ joint. As yer both mentoring me some in Garou ways, mysticism and whatnot, yer money ain't any good there. The staff'll know y'all. They family." He focuses then, his green eyes getting focused to the point that the inner spider seems to actually show. He gets very still. The cracked bowl, still steaming in the morning chill, all but forgotten as he listens. He nods slowly at the end and then asks, "I've never really... done ritual work as just... one body." A couple spiders crawl under the skin of his face and hands to help give context to his meaning. "I saw Todd do... something that might have been a ritual? There was music and dancing and some blood-letting. Is that the method you'd use to focus and pay the dues for this rite?"

Buddy nods "For some rituals yeah. Also each Tribe or group has their own style. So where Todd may use drums or dancing me and Benny may use chanting and face paint. Like one of our rituals involves what we were just doing. communal food. Forging connections between members by each person bringing something to the pot, cooking it, and then eating as a group. So some of it is obviously mystic where others involve different things." Buddy grins widely "So many rituals involve understanding the connection between each of us, the world and the spirits. Or calling on the spirits aid. So many rituals are the results of ancient bargains. That early spirit talkers worked out a deal with powerful spirits that its kin will always answer when certain things are done. That's the case with many standard rituals. It's summons, request and chiminage all wrapped up into a tight package."

It sounds like utter chaos to Dusk, what with it all being different based on something as foreign to him as Tribe. It's a little boggling to him, but then so is the idea of having so many different spirits all, in a way, demanding things of the mammals. The talk of communal meals being magical makes him reasses the soup he was given. It makes the spider smile and he sips more, able to take a full gulp now that its far cooler. Dusk mulls over Buddy's explanations and finally asks, "What spirit do you reckon forged the deal with the ancient spirit talkers? A thread and a found needle's actin' as some manner of chiminage, I reckon? Is that understandin' it right?"

Buddy slurps up more out of his bowl in thought to the question as he wracks his knowledge of spirit lore. "For direction my first thought would be Vectors which are spirits of the Wyld. But the Wyld HATES being bound to deals. Or bound at all. Bind too many Wyld spirits and you're likely to draw the attention of an Unraveller or Twister. Which is a good way to ruin everyones day." Buddy shudders at that thought before he continues "So more likely it was a Weaver spirit that defined connections, locations and/or relationships. Specially since it corresponds to human magic Laws. We're playing by the same rules but coming at it differently." Buddy gestures at the bucket seeing if Dusk needs a refill before noting "Many rites and such were early gifts of the Weaver. Rite of Binding, which forges a mystic contract between you and a spirit, is also a Weaver gift."