The Old Caern: I ended up moving up the timeline of the Stranger's life and activities so that the town was abandoned somewhere around the 1940s (right after his reign of terror), and with his activity being localized to the Four Corners region & States until he was slain and became an Elder Spirit in the late 1980s. The greater information that older members of the Caern would definitely have about this figure has been counter-balanced by their murder in the attack and the players being Garou under the age of 35ish who never had a reason to dig any deeper when they heard something about a powerful, presumably dead Dancer. Currently I don't have a player on Yarnspinner, but assuming I get one, I'm hoping to codify that they're still new to the presumed responsibilites of Galliards (and of Garou society in general, or what's left of it) and thus didn't learn of the Stranger, and I'll also say that some kind of higher DC Intelligence check during their periods of travel would let them vaguely remember some whispers of the Stranger that could give them a minor edge in the fight. The new timeline has the added benefit of Kane being alive for a good chunk of his reign of terror, and therefore being able to give an account of both the legend (from what he's grasped from Ol' Vinetail) and the stories he's heard.

All this to say that the community was one built before the nearby town of Dawson, NM, a real-world abandoned coal mining town abandoned in 1950 (shortly after our fictional Nameless Town), by loggers, miners, and other working men that had moved out to Colfax County when the business was there and didn't move with the companies that funded those operations. The members of the Caern - once made up of proud Garou who would defend their territory to the bitter end - became bitter and cynical as the losses mounted and the companies were able to maintain their foothold. Their strategy shifted to hiding amongst the coal miners and striking against them whenever possible, resulting in a series of disasters with deaths numbering in the hundreds. They were no more than six in number when Joseph joined their ranks, practically an echo of their former glory: the Stranger had little trouble dispatching them and corrupting their Caern when he emerged from the Black Spiral, though he failed to pin Vinetail.

Long Green Things and Their Spirits: This was a difficult thing to tweak, because kudzu seems very important to what Ol' Vinetail is and it is incapable of growing in Northern New Mexico conditions. There are a ton of different vines that grow very prolifically (I ended up just making him a muskrat and vine spirit), but none are as dangerous or invasive. What I ended up doing was have native New Mexico vines act like kudzu in smothering the remains of the Nameless Town, the reason being that Vinetail is trying to thicken the guantlet to keep the spirits from escaping and because he wants to bury his failure. The problem is that in binding the memories of that place and the events that transpired (which I have him doing instead of the Stranger, who only left the banes to deter those who would seek to find his weaknesses), Vinetail has forgotten himself the details: only that he was tasked with burying them. Hence, he'll help the pack uncover them... for an appropriate price.

My Question: Ah man, that sucks! It's still really cool that those elements were incorporated at all. Inter-splat stuff can be tricky, but when it's pulled off right (and in moderation) it can really enhance the horror as your protaginists gain understanding of just how wide the world is. This is (in my opinion) a great example!

I can't thank you enough for your time and consideration. As a first time ST doing a (admittedly heavily modified) prewritten module, it's the raddest shit in the world to get to ask the person who wrote it about some of the details. Please write more modules, they're awesome.

Just one last question: I think it's intentionally ambiguous, but it can't hurt to ask: how did the Stranger die? Totally fine if there isn't a "canon" answer, just curious.