Astoria Basin Shadow

Gauntlet Rating: Wilderness (2; Interaction Modifier 0)

Astoria Basin in Shadow

• Rich & Green. Vast and verdant, the woods of the Astoria Basin are healthy and vibrant, drinking deeply of the rains that come off the waters.
• Moss. Moss - slippery and subtle - is everywhere, and colors everything a grey-green that is quite distinctive.
• Twisting and Winding. The paths and roads that wind through the Basin woods are twisting and cunning, though they do not seem to be at first. Trees from all sides lean in over the roads, making them fearsome and shadowy.
• Creeks. The small watercourses that flow through these woods run deep and cool, rich with animal spirits. Occasionally, these creeks swarm with salmon.
• Camp Sites. There are places, here and there, in Shadow, where the signs of the old Clatsop peoples' camps can be found. A low-banked fire sits in its middle, and a few simple lean-tos provide shelter from the elements. There are fresh moccasion tracks, as though their occupants have only just left, but no one is ever there.
• Logging Memories. The forest also remembers the loggers that once cut through it, heedless of its balance, until about twenty years ago. Its recessed are still haunting by the high-pitched roar of chainsaws, and terrifying chain reaper spirits still stalk its recesses occasionally.

Astoria Basin Forest Spirits

• Typical Spirits: Most of the spirits of the Astoria Basin woodlands are natural spirits, although a good deal of spirits that accompany mankind can be found here, as well.
  • Nature: There are spirits for the myriad beast, bird, fish, plant, and insect in the Astoria Basin.
  • Artificial: The artificial spirits all came with men - a handful of machinery spirits, left over from logging days, including the terrifying chain reapers. More recently, though, are the small vehicle and camera spirits, a legacy of the Basin's role as a popular hiking destination.
  • Elementals: Elementals of weather, water, and earth abound here.
  • Conceptuals: The conceptuals are rare in the Basin, although it was until recently a battleground between spirits of prosperity and conservation. Now, the conservation spirits tend to have won the fight.
  • Celestials: Of all the celestial spirits, lunes outnumber the others ten-to-one easily. The Basin clearly has some ancient connection to the moon, most likely through its ancient history with werewolves.

Astoria Basin Loci

Astoria Reservoir (Locus ••)

Nurturing Resonance

Effects: Caring for others or being cared for comforts and calms you; regain one Willpower and remove one Rage from your pool the first time you are nurtured or nurture someone else in a twenty-four hour period. When you spend Essence, it causes a sense of concern for friends and loved ones in those in your vicinity with a Resolve equal to or lower than your Primal Urge, inflicting the Worried Condition on them. Cause: Being invested with an amount of Essence of this Resonance equal to or greater than your Composure in one roll. End: Essence pool drops to an amount equal to or lower than Primal Urge rating.

• Resonance: Nurturing (Conceptual)
• Touchstone: A small oval-shaped, head-sized chunk of stone that sits just below the water's surface, maybe five feet into the reservoir proper. The water is always clear enough to see the stone over it.
• Influence: The influence of the locus extends in about a fifteen yard radius, not even encompassing the whole of the water's surface.
• Spirits: Spirits of fish and water-birds can be found quite readily in the area, as well as gentle water elementals, spirits of reed and marsh-grass, and the occasional spirit associated with gentleness and healing. More than a few lunar spirits can be found here, as well, including water horses.
• Visions: Those that can use Essence may detect the locus' presence with a Wits + Composure test (-3 penalty):
  • A painful and sudden longing for people who used to care for them in some way whom they haven't seen in a long time.
  • A desire to feed and comfort those they care about, or those who are in need in some way.
  • Pain, loneliness, and hunger are sharpened here, creating the desire to be tended to or taken care of.
• A secondary water reservoir for Astoria and surrounding communities, the reservoir has always reminded those who visit it of loved ones and simpler times.
• It is a popular place for family get-aways, picnics between lovers, and the like.

The Old Wolf Glade (Locus •, Glade)

Wolf Resonance

Effects: Gain +1 Willpower and -1 Rage when encountering lupines or things associated with them (maximum once per day). Werewolves immediately reduce Rage by Primal Urge rating when gaining this Tilt. Spending Essence causes dogs and wolves to gain the Bonded Condition toward the character with this Tilt if Primal Urge is equal to or greater than their Resolve (or their master's Presence). Cause: Absorbing an amount of Wolf Resonance Essence equal to Composure in a single roll. End: Essence pool drops to an amount equal to or lower than Primal Urge rating.

• Resonance: Wolf (Natural)
• Touchstone: The pale bark of the claw-torn elm trunk
• Influence: The Old Wolf's Glades influence extends just a dozen yards or so, mostly within the natural glade of trees.
  • Glades Effect: Positive emotion and peaceful energy where violence is difficult to enact, requiring a Resolve check to fight or even argue and inflicting –2 to all attack rolls to those who succeed (-3 for spirits); Defenders gain +2 to defense or Resistance traits.
• Spirits: The glad attracts more than its fair share of wolf spirits, who often occupy its edges.
  • Among the wolf spirits are many fallen brethren spirits, the wolf spirits that once inhabited powerful werewolves who died in the area.
  • Additionally, hidden within the elm tree itself is Shadow-Beneath-the-Leaves (Rank 3 Vine Spirit), a serpent-like spirit of vines. Over the years, Shadow has gained no small amount of power, listening to the doings of Astoria's werewolves, and creeping into such things as a vine creeps into its environs.
• Visions: Those that can use Essence may detect the locus' presence with a Wits + Composure test (-4 penalty):
  • The sudden, disconcerting smell of blood, accompanied by mouth-watering, as though it were the finest hunger-inducing scent ever experiences.
  • The sense of being watched from the shadows by stealthy predators constantly circling, circling.
  • On nights where the moon is visible, the sound of many wolves howling.
• An old elm tree growing up out of a slightly elevated bit of terrain, made up of glacial-push boulders tumbled together and overgrown with vines and plants. The tree's lower half is pale and scratched, its bark sheared off by the claws of wolves digging at and marking the trunk of the tree. At the base of the tumble is an old wolf's den, with ample space for even a very large pack, and no less than two exits aside from the main entrance.