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Multiple Settings Brave Enough - A Werewolf: the Apocalypse Quest

The Votes as of right now:

Gibbous/Galliard
Fezzes
nutmeggera
HowdyParker
buggybran
Jairain

Half/Philodox
Jairain

Full/Ahroun
JayTee
Lettuce
Eura
 
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011 - Responsibility
“You aren’t any Auspice until you go though your first change.” Your father says with a note of restrained hope. “But if you do change, you’d be a Galliard, a tale teller. That is your Aunt Ella’s Auspice.”

“A Galliard.” You never considered yourself much of a story teller. “Can I change my Auspice?”

“I don’t know. Can you go back in time and be born earlier?” You father mocks. “Don’t worry, Cupcake. When...if the time comes, you will be taught all you need to know.”

“What is your Auspice?”

“I’m an Ahroun. Full Moon.” Your father sits taller in his seat. “We are the first ones into battle and the last ones to leave.”

A green road sign declares you in Kirksville, TX, Population 2156. The first business you pass is Otto’s diner, a white wooden building with a black roof. Dusty trucks sit parked on the gravel lot. A few men in work clothes and faded caps lean against a truck and talk. They raise two fingers to their brow in a gesture of respect as the Sept truck passes. Your father raises his hand in acknowledgement.


Kirksville town square consists of a small whitestone town hall surrounded by a walled greenspace. A group of middle schoolers sit on the wall and wheel their bikes back and forth as they kill time. They share hush excited whispers as your father drives by.

Other businesses line the square - Doctor, Grocery store, Feed store. A coffee shop named “Sleep When You’re Dead sits between the storefront of Crying Rock Wilderness Refugee and a vacant bar. The sign on the door reads “Bar closed for bereavement.” Your father parks in front of the coffee shop. “This is your Aunt Melissa’s shop.”

The sweet scent of coffee and sugar greets you as you enter the shop. Speakers blare Nightwish’s Planet Hell. Painted on the back wall, a stern viking offers a cup of steaming coffee. A half empty display case is filled with breads, pastries, and other baked goods. The sign above the counter lists coffees, smoothies, sandwiches, and other offerings.

The store is empty of customers. Only a four year boy with curly blonde hair and russet brown skin sits a table coloring. He drops his crayons and run back to the kitchen. “Mommy! Uncle Frank is here!” A heavy set woman in her mid twenties emerges from the kitchen. Her spiked hair is dyed hot pink and a silver nose ring gleams from her nose. “Frank, what brings you into town…” She stops short when she see you. “Sigrid!” She squeals in delight.

“Lissy!” You remember your aunt now. When you last saw her, she was a teenager. She would babysit you and was up for any game you thought up. You remember your Aunt Melissa being really cool and you wanted to be just like her when you grew up. Aunt Melissa pulls you back and with a flat hand compares your heights. “You are so tall now! What is Caroline feeding you? Miracle-Gro?”


Your stomach growls at the mention of food. You haven’t eaten since you left this morning. Aunt Melissa laughs. “Let’s fill that bottomless pit of yours. You still like turkey sandwiches?” You nod. “You want a sandwich, Frank?”

You father, hands in pocket, had been browsing the baked good case. “Nah. I’m good. Thank you.” Your Aunt gives your father a disappointed frown. “I’ll take a Roast Beef Sandwich.” He says, changing his mind. Your aunt gifts your father with a beaming smile and heads back into the kitchen. “Rothenburg women will be the death of me.” He mutters under his breath.

Your little cousin, seated back at the table, stares at you with big brown eyes. You’ve never been comfortable around children. They usually burst out into tears in your presence. You don’t do anything to them as far as you can tell. This boy doesn’t seem frightened of you, but rather shy and curious. “Do you have a name?”

“Noah.”

“Noah?” Your repertoire of child appropriate conversation is not large and you just came to the end of it. “That’s a nice name.” You tell your cousin. You glance back at your father and discover he shares your discomfort with small children. Maybe it’s a werewolf thing. “Let’s go upstairs.” He says.

Upstairs is a loft filled with couches, coffee tables. Bookcases filled with dusty hardcovers and peeling paperbacks line the side walls. A picture window in the back wall shows Crying Rock in all of its glory. Your father takes a seat at the round table near the window.

“Is she Garou?” you join your father at the table.

“No. Even with good bloodlines, there’s only a small chance a kinfolk will become Garou. Out of your mother’s four sisters, only Ella went though the change.”

That explains your father’s cautious hope. You changing into Garou isn’t a sure thing. “How many Garou are at Crying Rock?”

“Eight.”

“Eight?” With two thousand people living in Kirksville, you assumed there would be more werewolves. Your chances of become Garou are dwindling.

“We have six full Garou. Bobby and Alex are still cubs. Cubs are what we call Garou still learning what is means to be Garou. Bobby, he is your Aunt Ella’s youngest son, went through his first change a few weeks ago.”

Aunt Melissa brings up two plates of sandwiches with chips and a pickle spear. She sets them on the table and heads down stairs without a word. You chow down on your turkey sandwich. Your father pokes at his pickle spear, but doesn’t eat. “There used to be more of us. Last year we lost about half the Garou at the Sept and a good number of the Kinfolk Militia.”

You pause in the eating of your sandwich. After the stunt Alex pulled with the gunshot wound, you assumed Garou were hard to kill. “What happened?”

“A group of Black Spiral Dancers attacked the caern. The Black Spiral Dancers are Garou who serve the Wrym. They are a sadistic tribe of rapist, murderers, kidnappers, and worse. They wished to conquered our Sept and corrupt our Caern. Turn Crying Rock into one of their dank pits. All of Gaia’s Caerns are under attack. And each year we have less Garou to hold back the tide. ” Your heart aches for your father. He has been carrying this grief for so long, it has been come part of him.

“Why would Garou serve the Wyrm? I thought Garou fought the Wyrm.”

“I ask myself the same question. What would cause a Garou to dance the Spiral and give his soul over to the Wyrm? Why would a Garou become the very monster we fight against?” Your father growls in disgust at the concept. “I don’t have a good answer for it. Yet more Garou give themselves to the Wyrm each year.”

You set your sandwich down to digest what you father told you. Evil Garou? Of course there are evil Garou. Gaia wouldn’t need sacred warriors if there wasn’t someone to fight.

“Our sept is severely undermanned. Most of us are pulling double duty to fill all the required duties. I am both Alpha and Caern Warder. After Grandpa Grief died, there was no one I could pass along the responsibility of Caern Defense. We don’t even have a Wyrm Foe, which is a disgrace.”


The heavy weight of your father’s responsibilities settles upon you. You can understand now why he never visited you in Austin. “Why didn’t you tell me and mom tell me? I feel like an idiot for all the shit I made you put up with.”

“It was safer for you not to know. Sigrid, I wish I had better news. I wish I could tell you there is nothing to being Garou than singing songs of past glories and running around as a wolf. I will not mince the truth with you. We are at war and right now we are in dire straits. “

If there was a corrupting force of evil in the world, you were going to help your father fight it. “Is there anything I can do to help? I can fight. I killed that tainted junkie back at the truck stop.”

Your father smiles at your eagerness. “I know you can’t control it, but go though your first change and do it quick. I want to put the next set of cubs though their Rite of Passage by Winter Solstice.” Your father’s smile fade. “ Your mother doesn’t want you to become Garou and as a father, I hope this burden will pass you by. But as Alpha of the Sept of the Crying Rock, I need all the cubs I can get. ”


The sky pinks with sunset as your father drops you off at Oma Rothenburg’s house. You slam the old truck door closed. “You aren’t coming in?”

“I need to get back to the truck stop.” Your father gives as an excuse to avoid your mother.

“I’ll see you tomorrow after school?”

“We talked today.”

“And we can talk tomorrow too.” When your father frowns, you push a bit more. “You promised me steak.” You remind him.

Your father snorts in amusement. “Can’t let good steak go to waste. I’ll try to be by tomorrow. Depends on whether we can track down this drug addict.”

You accept this, having a better understanding of your father’s burdens now. Still you weren’t going to let him get away from you that easy. “I will see you sometime this week. You aren’t going to run off into the woods and forget about me.”

“I’m not going to forget about you, Cupcake.” Your father promises.

“Happy Hunting.” You watch him drive off, wishing you could go with him. Now you know the purpose of your rage you want to use it. You force yourself to calm down and unball your fists. Soon. You just have to change and then you can join your father.

You turn towards your grandmother’s house, a large tan and green split level. A white SUV sits outside of the double car garage. You haven’t lived in a house since… well since you and your mother left Kirksville. You wonder how long you will be staying in Oma Rothenburg’s house. You climb up the entry stairs and open the door without knocking.

The house is stuffy. You wrinkle your nose at the stench of old sickness and stale tobacco. Your grandmother died of lung cancer about four years ago. No one has lived her since her death. Despite the size of the house, you hope you and your mother won’t be staying long. You wonder where your father lives? In a den somewhere?

You hear claws clicking on the tile floors of the entrance hallway. A black wolf stares down the hallway at you. “Alex?” As the wolf approaches, you realize your mistake. This wolf is older than Alex. His thick fur is completely black instead of specked with brown. Grey whispers fleck his muzzle. Wisdom weighs down his golden eyes.

You stand as still as a statue as the wolf sniffs your shoes. The roots of your hair tingle when he raises his nose to your fingers. His tail wags once and he sits before you. You raise your hand to pat him on the head.

“Don’t.” Your hand pauses at your mother’s voice. She stands in the hallway, her hand curled around a half filled pint glass. You lower your hand. The wolf huffs at your mother and returns down the hallway.

“Never treat a wolf like a dog.” Your mother orders. “They are liable to bite your hand off if you do.” You follow your mother down a long dark pine paneled hallway. Oma Rothenburg’s voice echoes in your memory, cautioning you not to run lest you fall.

The moving boxes from your mother’s van sit piled up in the living room. You push through the kitchen door to find your Aunt Anne sitting at the bar of an autumn gold kitchen. Anne Wright is a middle aged woman whose oversized sunglasses hold back her shoulder length blond hair. Yoga Capris show off her well formed legs. An oversized tee shirt declares “I teach, what’s your superpower?”

Aunt Anne sets her pint glass down and motions you over for a hug. “You are so big! Last time I saw you you weren’t much older than the twins.” You give your Aunt a hug. When she moves her hands down to rest on your arms, you notice she is missing two fingers on her right hand.

“What happened to your hand?!” You blurt out.

“Oh!” She pulls her injured hand away from your arm. “One of my students got feisty at summer camp a few years ago.” She rubs the scar on her hand. “Greg says I should wear a glove, but as Kin of Fenris I will wear my scars proudly. “ Your mother frowns at your Aunt’s statement. “Don’t worry, Caroline. I teach my students over teleconference, so I am safe out of their reach most of the year.”

“Speaking of school,” Your Aunt Aunt hands you a legal sized green sheet of paper. “You’ll need to pick out your electives before you start school tomorrow. Don’t worry about any needed signatures. I’ll have Adam sign off on them. I guess Mr Collins to you. He’s the school principal.”

You scan the list. “Is there an ASL class?”

“No,” Aunt Anne replies with a regretful frown. “We tried to start one a couple of years ago, but there was no interest.”

What classes will you take?

You will be talking these required classes:
  • English (American Literature)
  • History (United States)
  • Science (Biology)
  • Mathematics (Geometry)

Expression and Performance are important Galliard Abilities. Any Kirksville High student born under the Gibbous Moon is required to take one of the four following Expression/Performance Electives. Pick one Expression or Performance Elective:

  • Public Speaking (Expression - Oral)
  • Journalism (Expression - Written)
    Expression is the art of getting your point across to an audience, in any medium. A character with a high Expression Trait sends emails and tweets with the same eloquence and delicate phrasing she demonstrates in her public speaking, and people sit up and take note — whether she’s telling the truth or not. Expression covers the delivery of information using language as a primary form, whether poetry, speeches, or blog posts. Using non-verbal forms to hook the public’s imagination is the domain of Performance.
  • Band (Performance - Instrument)
  • Choir (Performance - Singing)
    The Performance Skill covers a character’s ability with performance arts, including singing, dancing, acting, and music. She knows about the history of her art, and has a broad repertoire of pieces that she can perform from a variety of time periods. This Skill combines technical aptitude with the ability to hook an audience and keep them enraptured with your show.
Pick two electives from this group and order the electives by priority. You may pick an additional Expression/Performance elective from the above group instead if you wish. (Sigrid will take the top two winning electives)

  • Computer Programming (Computers)
    Computer defines the character’s ability to operate and program computers, from traditional desktops and laptops to cellphones and tablets. A character with this Knowledge is also assumed to have a general familiarity with the Internet, including the use of search engines and online research resources. At higher levels, you can write software and create convincing fake websites, and even use system vulnerabilities to break into secure networks.

  • Automotive Mechanics (Crafts - Auto Repair)
  • Jewelry Making (Crafts - Jewelry)
  • Wood Shop (Crafts - Woodworking)
    The Crafts Skill covers a character’s ability to make or fix things with her hands. Crafts allows her to work in fields including carpentry, leather-working, weaving, or even areas requiring mechanical expertise such as car repair. Crafts is especially useful for werewolves who hope to make fetishes. It’s easier to convince a spirit to enter a vessel that’s made well, after all.

  • Driver’s Education (Drive)
    The Drive Skill covers familiarity with cars and related vehicles. The difficulty of a given Drive roll might increase or decrease depending on the terrain and the character’s familiarity with the vehicle. Having taken her pack on a road trip in her station wagon isn’t much use when she’s chasing the horizon at 150 in a new Porsche, and neither is of much use when the only getaway vehicle is a motorcycle.

  • Psychology (Empathy)
    Empathy measures a character’s ability to identify other people’s emotions and feelings. She may use this to take advantage of someone, feign sympathy, or even connect genuinely. A particularly successful Empathy roll might even allow her to tell if someone is lying to her. A highly empathetic character has to watch out, however — she may get so caught up in the feelings of others that her own emotions are affected, whether she wants to or not.

  • Debate and Logic (Enigmas)
    The Enigmas Knowledge describes a character’s ability to solve logic problems, puzzles, and mysteries. Characters with this Knowledge link information, trivia, and hunches to solve conundrums of all varieties — especially useful when dealing with spirits who do not share a werewolf ’s frame of reference. High Enigmas can lead a character to apply lateral thinking to all manner of problems, from setting up codes and signals among his pack so they can talk in secret, to matching wits against a devious villain.

  • Home Economics (Etiquette)
    Etiquette is the ability to be nice to people, whatever you think of them. Part of that is good manners and social niceties, but it’s also useful for the subtler side of diplomacy, knowing when to haggle, and what to do when a place setting has more knives than a serial killer’s basement. While a character understands the culture in which he was raised, the Storyteller may raise the difficulty should he be faced with traditions and mores that are not his own.

  • Criminal Justice (Investigation)
    Investigation ties physical evidence, witness statements, and lucky finds together into a coherent narrative that tells the character what actually happened. A character with high Investigation can distinguish murder from accident, and follow up on leads to solve thefts and kidnappings. This Knowledge also covers general forensic procedures, such as lifting fingerprints, tracing bullet paths, and approximating time of death. Note that Investigation is rooted entirely in evidence and witness statements, the feats of induction common to TV detectives fall to Enigmas.

  • German (Language - German)
  • Spanish (Language - Spanish)
    You speak and write languages in addition to your native one.


  • Environmental Law (Law)
    The Law Knowledge covers a character’s familiarity with law enforcement systems and legal codes, both in human jurisdictions and among the Garou. When a character’s in trouble with the police, he needs this Knowledge to get out of legal tangles, and when a pack stands accused of breaching the Litany, their Philodox needs to know how his sept is likely to react. More than that, many Philodox learn the codes that have grown up around the Litany, and the appropriate punishments for crimes against the Garou Nation.

  • Student Government (Leadership)
    Leadership makes a character the kind of person or wolf that others support and serve. It involves knowing what to say and how to say it so that people fighting with you will do what you need them to. That said, Leadership has less to do with manipulating other people and more to do with portraying yourself as the kind of person they want to follow. Good leaders know when to make suggestions, when to bark orders — and when to lead by example.

  • First Aid (Medicine)
    Medicine is the study of how the human body works, and how to fix it when it goes wrong. This Knowledge encompasses fields including anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and emergency aid. Characters with this Knowledge can diagnose and treat diseases and injuries, and can also care for wolves and other animals — though their expertise will not be as specific as that of a veterinarian unless they choose a veterinary specialty. Medicine’s knowledge of pharmaceuticals covers both legal and illicit substances that can be used to help or harm.

  • Agriculture (Science - Agriculture)
  • Astronomy (Science - Astronomy)
  • Geology (Science - Geology)
  • Meteorology (Science - Meteorology)
    At its most basic, Science involves developing hypotheses and testing them through the scientific method. This Knowledge covers the “hard sciences” and related fields — from biology and chemistry to more abstract fields like mathematics. It allows the character to develop theories and test them through experimentation and to apply what she knows to everyday problems.

  • Electronics (Technology - Electronics)
    The Technology Knowledge represents a character’s broad aptitude with electronics, computer hardware, and anything that needs an understanding of modern electronics to work with — mechanical devices fall under the Crafts Skill. If it has a processor, some transistors, or an integrated circuit — if it’s electronic rather than electrical — manipulating it falls under Technology. A character can use Technology to build a computer, crack a security system, repair a cellphone, or hack together a shortwave radio.

Out of Character Commentary
I’m not sure how this vote will go, since there are so many options. We will figure it out.

Werewolf the Apocalypse Setting Spoilers

Here are the skill Sigrid has thus far:

Talents (7 of 13)
Alertness 0
Athletics 2 (Sigrid is an Athlete)
Brawl 2 (Sigrid can handle herself in a fight without weapons)
Empathy 1 (ST Addition: Like her mother, she can read people well)
Expression 0
Intimidation 1 (ST Addition: Sigrid can be a bit of a bully)
Leadership 1 (ST Addition: Sigrid was captain of her Lacrosse team)
Primal-Urge 0
Streetwise 0
Subterfuge 0


Skills (0 of ?)
Animal-Kin 0
Crafts 0
Drive 0
Etiquette 0
Firearms 0
Larceny 0
Melee 0
Performance 0
Stealth 0
Survival 0


Knowledge (0 of ?)
Academics 0
Computer 0
Enigmas 0
Investigation 0
Law 0
Medicine 0
Occult 0
Rituals 0
Science 0
Technology 0

Out of Character Commentary
 
OK, so my expression/performance elective choice should be no surprise: Journalism

The other two choices I'd go with are (in this order): Criminal Justice and Psychology

Soooooo many choices!
 
I'm going with band (preferably percussion), Driver's educations, and criminal justice. Investigation also lets you hide evidence, which is nice considering it's a bunch of hormonal werewolves running around.
 
Public speaking and Journalism offer more opportunities for use in the modern era, so I'll go for those.

For the other two, Criminal Justice and Debate and Logic, which are also useful skills.
 
Choir, a battle tune can turn the tide. Public speaking, a skilled orator can turn shapeless rage into a weapon of passion. Computers cause Alex can help with our homework!
 
Votes so far:

Galliard Class

Journalism - 3
megapixel
buggybran
JayTee

Band - 2
eura
Atraxia

Public Speaking - 0

Choir - 2
Jairain
Howdyparker


((When someone gives two or more votes for a single option, I have been splitting their vote. Jairain Jairain and JayTee JayTee , let me know if you have a preference between the two Galliard Electives and I'll adjust the vote.)

Other Electives

Criminal Justice -5
megapixel (2)
eura (1)
JayTee (2)

Drivers Education -4
eura (2)
buggybran (2)

Woodworking - 4
Atraxia (2)
Howdyparker (2)

Public Speaking
Jairain (2)

Psychology
megapixel (1)
Howdyparker (1)

Debate and Logic
JayTee (1)
buggybran (1)

Environmental Law
Atraxia (1)

Computer Programming
Jairain (1)

(First Priority will get two points, second priority will get one point. )
 
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Oh, oops, I misunderstood things. In that case, my vote will go towards public speaking.

No worries. It's kind of confusing, especially since I allowed the players to choose a Galliard class for one of the two electives. I kind of regret doing that as it makes counting the votes difficult.
 
It happens. I've found that large choices with multiple options beyond 2 or 3 are always tricky, but they tend to only last as long as the post itself and are generally worth it in the long run.
 
Galliard Class I vote Journalism. Gets us the public speaking thing...but also gives an excuse to stick our nose in places the adults tell us it doesn't belong and ask lots of questions folks don't want asked!

Electives...

Gonna go with Driver's Ed (Because come on, we are a teenager. We WANT to be entrusted with a car!).

Also gonna go with First Aid. We're an athlete, so we know the value of proper treatment for sports injuries...but also, we've been in a life-or-death fight today and Daddy just told us we're in a war against monsters. In which people died. And he's got some scars he didn't have last time we saw him. We're bullheaded and tend to charge in without all the information...but we're also a protective and compassionate person. If something were to happen to one of our friends...or worse, to Mom...we want to be able to help them.
 

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