Aleksander Vierzba, Blood Talon Elodoth member of the Lodge of the Willow Branch
The Lodge the Willow Branch is a lodge focused on hunting vampires.
Overview[]
The Lodge of the Willow Branch views vampires (vjiesce or the "Ghost-Eaten") as breaches against natural law that leave their bodies open for all manner of malefic spiritual intrusion.
The lodge's totem is White Willow, a spirit that rarely reveals herself.
The origins of the lodge date back a few hundred years to a town in Poland called Zmierzch. The story goes that a small pack tended to the territory in and around the village. The pack discovered soon that a vampire had come to town to poach upon the people, and the packmembers went to the creature with the intent to destroy it. The vjiesce convinced them not to: it claimed that, like them, it worked toward balance. The vampire, like a parasite, needs to keep the hosts alive but also helps to keep them tractable, occasionally thinning the herd. The pack was foolish enough to let the vampire go to do his business elsewhere. The next night, the beast swept through the town, murdering nearly everyone. The Shadow shuddered. Worse was the following dusk, when many villagers returned as the undead.
The spirits told the pack that one of the Ghost-Eaten did this, and the spirits shared the tale of Blood Wolf (Spirit progenitor of vampires), cursing the pack and spitting invective for being so weak and foolish as to let the creature go. It was then that the pack committed itself to finding the fiend and all his children and destroying them utterly. They found him eventually - the wretch was literally host to dozens of spirits, all negative energies using the creature like a puppet. Given instruction by the spirits, the Bone Shadows sent the creature back to the ground. By giving the beast back to the earth, the Shadow can heal. Out of this grew the Lodge of the Willow Branch.
The name of the lodge is a reference to how the pack was taught to destroy the vjiesce. They fashion fetishes out of willow branches, a holy tree with a spirit able to bind the fiends to the earth forever. These fetishes - stakes, actually - go through a Ghost-Eaten's heart, ending his unlife. (Though, for this to be complete, the vampire must then be buried face-down deep in the soil, at least 10 feet below.)
Game Mechanics[]
Prerequisites[]
Cunning •, Glory •, Weaponry ••
Benefits[]
Werewolves in this lodge are ready for battle with the cruel and deceptive vjiesce; thus, they gain a +2 bonus when resisting a vampire's mind manipulation (i.e., those performed by supernatural Disciplines). Members also learn how to make the Willow Stake fetish.
Lodge of the Willow Branch Fetishes[]
Sallow Bark Tea (Talen): Made from the crushed bark of the willow tree, this tea actually contains the components for aspirin (i.e., salicylic acid). When the spirit within is awakened, however, it becomes a potent pain reliever for the Forsaken who imbibes the tea. By drinking a draught of this tea, a werewolf can ignore two dice of Health penalties for an hour after consumption.
This talen is not unique to the Lodge of the Willow Branch, but is used prevalently among these lodge members.
Willow Stake (••): This stake, fashioned from the wood of a willow tree, is also possessed of a willow-spirit. When whittling the stake (which may require a Strength + Crafts roll on the art of the crafter), the Forsaken also carves the First Tongue word for "bound," estha, into the wood. When attacking with this stake, activation allows the wielder a +3 to any targeted attacks aimed toward the heart of the victim. On a successful attack, the willow stake lodges in the creature's heart (paralyzing a vampire). If the stake is removed from a vampire after a successful penetration, the stake filches one point of Willpower from the victim and then splits in half, rendering the fetish inert. The wood becomes brittle and may not be used again. The fetish is this destroyed.
References[]
- WTF: Lodges: The Splintered, p. 140-143
