Yet Another Howl of Introduction 10/1/14

"Since I'm the Gatekeeper, you mean?"

Artemis looks around, there's no evidence of what Adam has said, and the Ragabash is not in a good mood to begins with.

"Soooo..." she swivels her head from side-to-side, "Body? Waterfall?"

"Yes, that's what I meant."

He shrugs.

"I'm really not sure what just happened. I met a dude on the Bawn claiming to be Stan Dillard, Child of Gaia, Fostern, Ahroun. He said he was here to visit Syntos. We talked for a bit, and I showed him to the edge. In light of our recent conversations, I didn't push him, just encouraged him to jump. When he landed, water began to erupt from every orifice he had, and made a few new ones to erupt from as well. Then, when he died, there was nothing left of his body. I'm very confused."

*looks grimly*

You asked.

Start with what we 'know'. He is dead.... we believe he is, at least. He was either killed by the Maid's magic or an outside force. If it was the maid, then likely he was killed for taint. If it wasn't the Maid, something with enough power to reach into a garou caern reached over and killed him. A scary thought.
In the first instance, however, he attempted the jump tainted. Assuming you told him that the Maid would judge him, he either thought that he was clean or he knew he was dirty and believed he could fool an Incarna. Unlikely.
To even get to the jump, he would have had to have either fooled both you and a guardian to get that far into the bawn, as it seems unlikely that you would have brought him in without a guardian giving him the once-over.

So, three options: One) Something not the maid killed this man in the seat of the Maid's power at the exact moment we were expecting him to be judged by the Maid... unlikely.
Two) He was tainted and knew it, slipped past a guardian's nose and thought he could fool a great spirit of wisdom. Unlikely.
Three) He was tainted, perhaps minimally, and unaware of that fact. Either the guardian missed the scent, due to the faintness of his taint or due to the guardian flubbing the attempt. He jumped and was killed by the Maid for something we could maybe have easily cleansed from him.

In the first: an investigation as to the being that did that and why is needed.
In the second: An investigation is needed as to who could send a sophisticated enough infiltrator to get  past a guardian. Was this a test to check the Maid's powers?
in the third case: How did the guardian miss his taint, if it existed at all..... and if the guardian is at fault, the warder bears some responsibility as well.

*looks at Adam King* and if it were such a small taint that an unknowingly tainted garou died. one that could have been saved, the person who brought him across the threshold bears no small measure of responsibility. Submitting every Garou to an Incarna's harsh judgement might be excessive and in this case have killed a garou that could have been a boon to the Nation, one who was a well known hero.

*inclines his head gently at the gatekeeper*

Ma'am.

"I take it you've never seen a body after she's through with it, have you?" Artemis shrugs, as if telling someone the sky is blue or that water's wet. "There isn't much of it. The rocks at the base of the American Falls act like a blender. Downward momentum plus jagged rocks equal chunks, so I'm not surprised that nothing's left. The bigger question, however, is why the Maid had to play catchup. Do we not sense the Wyrm when people come onto the bawn? Are we not checking green cards and passports now?"

Artie looks about at the shimmery figures. "Did you send for the Warder-rhya? Does he want me to yell at these pups or does he want the honor?"

She shakes her head, she really is tired of yelling, and skips around the room.

"Option four: it's a Ragabash prank, and this guy is AWESOME! C'mon Stanny Boy! Come get your cookie, because you earned it! Best trick ever!"

One of the forms speaks quietly, without particular inflection.

" It appears a mistake was made. We do not make mistakes. I will present myself to the Maid for review after I have completed my investigation. "

*Shrugs and shifts back to homid, his arms and armaments slipping away, turning to the shimmering form* It appears you made a mistake, but we cannot be certain. *turns toward the Ragabash* The easiest was is to simply ask the Maid if it was her doing, and if she says yes, maybe asking her why. If she says no? well cross that bridge then?

" It is not for us to address Our Lady unbidden and with failure so fresh. "

And with that the two remaining Warders depart.

"I find it difficult to believe that the Maid would strike down a Garou for a mild surface taint that could simply be cleansed. I also find it difficult to believe that the Guardian pack, whom we trust to sniff out such things, would have missed a substantial enough quantity of taint to draw the Maid's ire."

He sighs.

"If that was the case, I will of course accept my share of the blame for not being thorough enough with the visitor, but if it is we have a bigger problem. We'll have to start insisting that every visitor be cleansed before entering."

"Why's everyone going to the Maid? She's kind of busy right now being a God-like creature of wisdom, wonder and water. The fuck? If it's not a spirit matter, like worthy of being brought to the attention of Her Splashy Divineness, how about you take your invisible ass to the Alpha, who appears to be back, or the Beta, who's kind of back, or your boss, who never left?"

She flops down on a table. It's tiring being right all the time.

"Hey, Galliard, check the Silver Record for this guy. Does he check out? Is his name among the tales. If not, then some random asshole knows enough terminology to pass the first gate. If so, then we've either got parallel dimension secretly evil Garou or really good impostors." She places her fingers on her chin and strokes. "Nope, no goatee. I'm the good one."

Looks like it is up to you, Gatekeeper?

*looks back at King*
So either an Incarna is harsher than you know or the people you depend on made the first mistake.... that has been noticed. Either was is eye opening and cause for a review of policy.

As to the cleansing, how is that a problem, though? It takes 20 minutes and it's refreshing. That's nothing. I could go for one right now.

Adam nods. "I've heard of him. He's from Greece. Cyrenica to be exact. He was a Fostern, and a fairly well respected one due to a number of Heroic deeds. He was held back a bit, however, by his unorthodox tactics. He's legit. The questions are 'was this really him?' and 'why did he die?'."

"We need to know if the Maid did this. I was kind of hoping you'd ask her."

*throws his hands up.* Regardless, this is for elder heads than mine. *gestures to the Silver Fang lady present yet to this point silent* Shall we?

To Castillo: "It isn't really a problem when the visitors are Cliaths and Fosterns. Hell, it shouldn't be a problem for anyone. You try telling a visiting Elder who is here to discipline a Tribemate that they have to be cleansed before they can enter the Caern. Me, I'd rather not be there for that one."

He shrugs.

"Either way, you're right. If the Maid did this, which I won't believe until we have independent confirmation, we need a hefty review of our policy regarding visitors to the Caern."

If her eyes went any further back in her head, they may actually roll all the way around.  

"Gatekeepers deal with moon bridges.  This poor guy, evil clone, impostor, jelly bean, whatever came in the earthly way.  I am good, but to pile on me the defense of both earth and umbra is just too much, and with me being just a Fostern... jeez, that's just really above my pay grade."

She starts pacing. "While the Maid catches up to this reality and point in timespace, let's ponder the evil clone theory. Does the record show what totem Stanny Boy, hereafter known as Death by Deluge, followed? We can ask that spirit if he just got a little weaker. If you want to go a less ephemeral, more reliable route, call up Cyrenica and ask if Too Many Orifices planned on taking a vacation in the Honeymoon Capital? We could ask Cheats by the Rules if he knows, uh, knew this guy, but he doesn't seem to be around."

"And Eagle's Talons does it all the time." Artemis seems to be on a roll, jumping from one topic to the next with relative ease. "When I first came to Boston, I got stopped by Pan and asked to submit to a cleansing. I did, because I have absolutely nothing to hide. Pan was a mule, a cliath, and I could have taken him right there. But he has tradition on his side, and I have being a fucking card-carrying, bow-toting, Gaian superhero on my side, so it worked out."

She leaves the image of herself in a flowing cape and one piece hanging in the imaginations of all present for a good minute before speaking again. "Her Thunderousness will be with us shortly. Please hold."

Adam nods.

"All good strategies. I wasn't trying to saddle you with more than you bargained for with the whole Gatekeeper thing. I just know that it grants you a certain line of communication with our illustrious patron that others do not possess." He sighs.

"The more I think about it, the more I feel there was more to this guy than meets the eye. In retrospect, a couple of his actions up top which I chalked up to nerves at entering a new Caern and seeing an old friend may have actually been a bit more sinister. He gave the warder a bit of side-eye, and seemed a tad bit too relieved when he was pronounced good to go. He seemed a bit too confused about the whole process for entering a Caern. Finally, he said he had driven here - which is kind of difficult when your starting point is in Greece. All of these things were relatively innocent sounding at the time, but now, with this? I'm not so sure. I think what we're looking at here is not a Garou who was slightly tainted, but one whose heart was not, in fact, pure."

A thought seems to occur to him, and he stares intently at Artie for a moment, attempting to initiate mindspeak to add an aside. ((No chops below, because Adam won't force contact if Artie doesn't allow it.))

"You could just whisper it in my ear, you know. I'm trying to keep the line open for the Eighth Wonder of the Natural World." Artemis sits down and assumes the lotus position.

Adam chuckles.

"Fair enough."

He moves to sit next to her and whispers something fairly lengthy in her ear.

((Feel free to read that PM now.))

Artie listens to Adam, her face going through several expressions before settling on amused annoyance.  "I think you're a dick," she says to Adam, "but it's a theory."

Then she perks her ears up, an impressive feat in Homid, and listens to the air about her.  "The Maid confirms corruption in his flesh.  Mark you, flesh.  She did not say soul.  Let's get on the horn to Cyrenica, because She's just upped the threat level from yellow to water balloon.  We should say sorry."

"...and wait for official confirmation from the Warder, but Rites of Cleansing for EVERYONE entering the caern! Yay sprinkle parties! I know a Ragabash once that put his own pure water in the Cleansing Bowl. Did you know urine is completely sterile until it hits air?"

Adam sighs.

"It's a pretty good theory."

When the Incarna-radio transmission comes through, his face falls.

"That's unfortunate. It looks like I'm going to Libya. I have some contrition to offer. We should also sit down soon and discuss a new policy regarding visitors, because it is obvious our current system isn't working. Either way, there is nothing more to be done here tonight. I'll do some digging and see if I can find a way of contacting Cyrenica in the morning, short of just going there."

"Eyup." And Artie goes back to whatever she was doing, in the deep bowels of the caern.

*Looks over from Giovanna*

There is probably no need. When the Shining Scimitars find out, they will come find YOU.

Also, who is the Warder?