Game 2: " Prelude Part 2"

Game date:  6/12/02

Real date:  10/19/03

Moon phase: Waxing crescent

PCs: Tuc, Laurel

NPCs met: Dustin Bearclaw (kinfolk), various members of the Glass Hand Sept

Synopsis:  Tecumseh finds his Indian mentor is missing and probably dead; he follows the signs westward towards the mountains.  He’s picked up by two girls in a convertible, who later take him into the woods – not for romance as he expected but for a midnight snack. As they bare their fangs the world goes red.  He wakes in a campsite with some strange claw and bite marks.  The camper, Dustin Bearclaw, is twentyish but his eyes seem older; that and the flying squirrel on his shoulder makes Tuck wonder about the fellow.  He claims that Tuck is a werewolf and that he killed two vampires last night.  Tuck doesn’t buy it, but is further shocked when Dustin appears to summon a wolf, a woman and a giant fanged beast from thin air.  Dustin speaks to them respectfully, explaining the situation.  By the time Tuc is led to meet the sept, he has figured out the world has changed. Tsali rubs ash in his shoulder wound to insure a scar.  He also discovers that his “mentor,” Wind-In-The-Pines, is actually the spirit of the brother of his grandmother’s mother, and a Rank 3 Galliard.

Meanwhile,  Laurel is checking bait stations in the backcountry when she sees a wolf carrying three rabbits.  She follows it, coming to a relic stone fire tower.  Climbing it, she sees the wolf hide from a man, getting ready to pounce.  Then a merlin (an odd falcon to find here) spies her, cries out, and alerts the two, and they come towards Laurel.  She runs, but soon is brought to bay by several wolves and people.  They declare she’s not tainted, and before long they realize she’s a lost cub.  They take her into the foggy cove to meet the sept. Charlie will comment that their coming was foretold, and gives a brief rundown of the Garou and the Uktena in particular, including the Litany.   Laurel is skeptical, but finds herself wanting to believe.

Unanswered questions and loose ends: What will the new cubs do about their families?

Game 3: "Rite of Passage"

Game date:  7/15/02

Real date: 10/25/03

Moon phase: Waxing quarter

PCs: Tuc, Laurel

NPCs met: *

Synopsis:  Laurel sorts out her job without severing ties completely with the Park Service.

Nearly a month goes by; the cub’s lives consist of teaching stories and other lessons, drudge labor and little else.  For the most part, the sept members are polite but cool towards the newcomers – at least in comparison to the way they treat each other.  The youngsters do feel like outsiders.  They learn how to take care of communal fetishes, and that’s one of their weekly duties.  They learn the rudiments of the Garou tongue.

The council declares that the two new cubs are to go on a rite of passage together.  They are to follow the trail of an uktena to a fire, and to hold a sanctified crystal over it until it glows.  The elders all assist in the rituals.

First, the cubs are set apart from others, and fast for a night and a day.  As the sun sinks below the ridge, they are led to the brown lodge, to smudge with cedar and have glyphs written on their bodies with sanctified ash and pigments.  Afterwards, they walk to the cold stream and walk in, chanting.  When the markings have washed away, the two are led out and follow the elders across the Gauntlet.  They are given the crystal (a large quartz wrapped in doeskin), pointed westward and told to look for signs of uktena, but admonished to beware of looking directly at the spirit.

They travel through the Penumbra, eventually seeing marks on the ground as if a giant snake had passed by.  The trail becomes a moon path, and eventually the terrain around them becomes indistinct.  They follow for what seems like hours, nearly losing the moonglow several times.  At last the land sharpens about them as the sky grows light, becoming an open forest.  Before them is a gorge, 200 feet deep and 100 feet across.  The trail obviously reappears on the other side.  After a minute, one hears singing approaching from the other side.  The Ragabash can make out some of the words; it’s in Tsalagi – something about bones and livers and tasty children. Wisely, the cubs hide.

A man walks to the edge of the gorge.  He is Indian, but on closer examination his skin has an odd appearance, like sandstone.  His walking stick looks like stone.  He says a word and lays the stick across the gorge, and it lengthens and becomes a footbridge.  He crosses, picks up the walking stick, and walks down the trail. 

Soon after, they hear a whispered voice near their feet.  A hither-to unnoticed skeleton (in tattered buckskins) in the leaves asked them to pull out his pouch of tobacco and pipe, and light it and hold it to its mouth to smoke out the mice that nest in his ribs.  For this kindness, he offers advice; the stonecoat will kill them and eat their livers if it gets the chance, as it did to him.  He himself broke arrow after arrow on its skin. But he knows its weakness; he saw the opening between its shoulder blades.  The skeleton’s stone knife is nearby and will work well enough.

Eventually, the stoneskin returns and crossed the gorge.  In wolf form, they cross behind him and leap past before he can pick up the bridge.  Together they run along the uktena trail to the stone chimney.  Laurel manages to activate the crystal (holding her hand over the fire for long seconds until her skin blistered) with Tuc ready to catch it should she release the stone.  At last it glows. 

In wolf form, Laurel finds the stoneskin’s hut and lures him to the gorge.  He attacked her, but Tuck puts the knife on the soft spot and ordered the monster to let them cross.   Laurel goes first, but as Tuck follows, his prisoner lurches to the side and both fall to the bottom of the gorge.  By the time the werewolf regains his senses the stoneskin is gone.  Tuc climbs back up and after thanking the skeleton they return to the sept, to be welcomed as members of the tribe.  They are given Garou names: Tuck is Falls Far and  Laurel is Fire Hand.

They meet Walks-with Uktena and decide to form a pack.  They track Wild Turkey and offer to make a corn sacrifice every season, in addition to the ban  Turkey requests.  He accepts and becomes their totem.

Unanswered questions and loose ends: What was the crystal for?  What happened to the stoneskin?  The pack needs a name.

Game 4: "First Banes"

Game date:  7/21/02

Real date: 11/2/03

Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous

PCs: The New Pack

NPCs met: Mary Warner, Mike Jr., Rachel Carlock

Synopsis: Walks-With-Uktena, the leader of the new pack, asks the elders for a task.  They send the pack out on patrol.  On their travels near the edge of the Park, they find some old drums on the edge of an old logging road.  It has formed a toxic dump; bane-ridden area, sick spirits.   The principal Banes, which appear as 5’ grubs with 4’ tentacles issuing from a toothy mouth, are drawn to the physical and spiritual corruption present here. Falls Far can't get through the Gauntlet, and the other two have to face the Banes without him.  They succeed with only minor wounds; they return to berate the New Moon and look over the barrels, which are corroded and lack identifying marks.

 Downstream a couple of hundred yards is a trailer (off another road). The folks in the trailer are Mike Warner (works as a janitor at a lumber mill), his wife, Mary, and 10 year old son, Mike Jr.  Falls Far went to the cabin and brought the mother to the dump.  She was quite upset.  The got a jar from her, put sludge in it, tipped up the drums so they wouldn’t leak so much, and found the Kinfolk ranger, Carlock, who says she will look into it.

Back at the caern, Falls Far is assigned to practice meditation to improve his Gnosis.  Walks With Uktena asks Nancy to teach her Wyrm Lore.  Mary agrees to teach Fire Hand the Rite of Cleansing in exchange for her toting firewood all week, for moot and sacred fire.

Unanswered questions and loose ends: Who dumped the toxic waste?

Game 5: "Coming of the War Moon"

Game date: 8/2/02

Real date:  11/15/03

Moon phase: Waning quarter (New on 8^th)

PCs: New Pack

NPCs met: War Moon Pack

Synopsis: A couple of weeks pass, and teaching goes on steadily.  The young pack is encouraged to go on two- to three-day jaunts around the territory.  It is on one such hike, a day’s walk west, when one perceptive werewolf hears a distant, faint howl: it sounds like a desperate rallying cry.  On the next ridge, there is an area where the several trees have been knocked over, their bases splintered.  The ground is ripped and spattered with blood.  A human body, torn into pieces, lies scattered about [Stares-Down-The-Gator]. An Indian man [Mist Eye] lies with his belly ripped open.  He slowly, dazedly reels in 10 feet of intestine.  He will mutter something about the “Souleater. . . must hurry. . . must catch it. . .”  Fire Hand heals the worst wound; Mist Eye picks up his Spirit Spear, points to the Fang Dagger laying in a dismembered hand and shouts that they must go to the spirit world before it is too late.

When the pack enters the Umbra, they have a horrid sight before them. Thirty yards away, there is an 8 foot high creature, looking not unlike the queen in Aliens, with two tails and numerous legs.  Its chitinous hide is ripped in places, oozing black ichor.  Around it are several Crinos and Hispo, dodging its claws and whipping tails.  One warrior is hit a solid blow by a tail and flies backwards, stunned.  The largest Crinos roars and runs forward, slashing madly in a frenzy.  He connects several times, doing minimal damage, and then the monster impales him through the gut.  Picking him up in two taloned hands, the beast bites him in the chest, tearing out his heart and lungs.  The pack can almost see his spirit flow into the Bane; immediately, several wounds on its horrible body close.

Its pretty clear that the pack is in a bad way.  Several are badly wounded, and clumsy dodging betrays fatigue.  A weasel bounds back and forth, nipping at the Bane and then darting away.  Fire Hand goes to heal the wounded while the other two lend their strength to the attack. Just before the beast kills the newcomers, a spearpoint  appears out of thin air and drives into the beast.  With the last of their flagging strength, all the fighters pile on. Falls Far drives the Fang Dagger deep, and the Bane falls. The Theurge, Mist Eye, appears and offers to do what must be done.  He rips into the foul body, and after a minute he pulls out what appears to be a glowing heart.  Mist Eye crushes it in his jaws.  Looking vaguely ill, he sets about healing people.  Rises Red introduces himself and questions the new pack – is there a caern nearby? He asks that they find food for the pack, since they know the land.  Mist Eye takes a necklace from the dead alpha, and all in the pack grow still, waiting.  Red Rises and Runs-to-Ground look to each other, and everyone else looks to them.  Finally, Runs looks away.  Mist Eye walks up to Red and puts the necklace on him: bone and leather choaker, with a weasel skull in the center.  Red Rises is now alpha.

While waiting, the Theurge cuts out a rib of the dead alpha (Spirit Scalp).  Though stoic, they look devastated at the loss of these spirits.  They carefully bury the three dead Garou (as much as they can find, anyway) and camouflage the spot.  A hundred yards away, they claw glyphs into the trees, representing Spirit Scalp (Ahroun), Stares-Down-The-Gator (Theurge),  and Seeks-The-Deep (Philodox). 

One of the War Moon explains that the monster was one of the foul breed of Banes called a Soul Eater, for it consumed the essence of spirits and living things. It was not one of the Great Banes, but in its time it was powerful enough so that discretion became the better part of valor. A Bane Tender died unnoticed, and a bound Bane was loosed. It slew a pack of Garou in the beginning, taking their power and growing strong.  Then it traveled in a straight line, from  Arkansas towards the  North Carolina. Another pack harried it for several days, until they finally bayed it.  But it was too strong and they died.  The War Moon pack found the last survivor, who told the story and handed them her spirit spear before joining her pack in death.  So the War Moon pack took up the hunt, following relentlessly for two days.  Battle began hours before the young Garou stumbled onto it – a hit-and-run attack at first but more desperate and determined as the pack took wounds. In all, fourteen Garou died to kill the Bane – The reason the monster was bound in the first place.

Once strong enough to move, the War Moon follows the new pack back to the sept; Walks With Uktena sends word ahead.  During the journey, the War Moon pack takes cover as a small plane flies overhead.  As the engine’s drone fades, Rises Red hears ravens and relaxes.  He tells Walks that the foe can come in many guises. 

As it happens, the Elders have heard of the War Moon pack, and welcome them for as long as they care to stay.  A few days later, the War Moon pack is permitted to howl for the departed.  They howl of deeds done and renown won. It is particularly painful because the souls are not being sent on; they are gone, destroyed forever. 

Three days later, word circulates that the pack wishes to stay with the sept for an indefinite period of time.

Unanswered questions and loose ends: Where was the Soul Eater going? What enemies was the War Moon alpha warning against?  What will Spirit Scalp’s rib be used for?   

Game 6a: "Unquiet Dead"

Game date:  8/7/02

Real date: 11/15/03

Moon phase: Waning Crescent (New on 10^th)

PCs: New Pack

NPCs met: Elton Kemper, Bob Clark

Synopsis: Falls Far wakes; he hears a voice raised in song.  Outside, Wind in the Pines is singing in the light drizzle. He says that he has met the spirit of Red Bear, an old medicine man who is quite irate.  His bones and his sacred equipment have been dug up. Wind reveals the location and wants Falls Far to do something about it so he can have some peace (Wind as well as Red Bear).

The pack finds the place, which is on the other side of the river.  The 200 acre tract is currently owned by Indian Valley Development Corp., and is being surveyed and prepped for 2-5 acre home lots.

They find six empty, hidden graves.  Fire Hand is checking the Umbra when the owner, Elton Kemper, and a flunkie, Bob Clark, show up.  Kemper tells Bob to call the sheriff and sneers at Walks’ tirade about bringing in the BIA in response for “digging up our ancestors.”  Fire Hand returns and gets rather angry at the developer’s rude comments.  Kemper lays hands on Walks when she gets the cell phone out, and nearly gets beaten.  Then Fire Hand goes behind a thicket and returns as a wolf.  Bob runs back to the Range Rover and Falls Far trips the retreating Kemper.  The wolf snarls on his chest until he tells them where the bones went – Ernest Carper takes and sells artifacts of questionable legality.  Unfortunately, Kemper had written down their borrowed vehicle’s tag number, so they ditched Bill Riley’s truck (he could then claim it was stolen). 

Charley gets the other Kinfolk to buy a used truck for the pack, to save trouble in the future.  The pack goes to  Knoxville and checked out the museum.  After dark they enter the Umbra to enter the Museum, and look around until they found the bundles.  The New Moon takes a canvas bag of bone-bundles and leaves in Glabro through the emergency exit (the poor alarm spirit being splatted by the Theurge a moment before).  They rendezvoused later and drove back to the subdivision site, where they replaced the bodies and put the graves back more or less in their original condition.  On the way out they got two flat tires (With his own foot Falls Far found the metal spike that did the damage).  They walk to town and in the morning get replacements, then drive back to the caern.  Later, Fire Hand bargains with the totem spirit to learn Sense Wyrm.  The pack carves booger masks, Umbrally enters Kemper’s house and scares him silly (Three tall naked painted figures with masks, surrounding him and warning that he will suffer if he disturbs the ancestors again. . . and then fading from view).

Unanswered questions and loose ends: Who spiked the road?  Is Carper selling artifacts regularly, and to whom?  What will be the repercussions of the encounters with Kemper?

Game 6b: "Moot"

Game date:  8/24/02

Real date: 11/15/03

Moon phase: Full

PCs: Walks-With-Uktena, Falls-Far, Fire Hand

NPCs met: None

Synopsis:  

        Preliminaries

The pack is asked to help tote wood and do a sweep of the bawn.  The sky has few clouds, and the sunset is dazzling.  After it sinks below the mountains, Nightsong howls a summons.

All gather in a circle around the bonfire.  The night is cool, clear and still, and most are in lupus or jacketed Glabro.   

Nightsong begins to howl, walking in a slow circle; as she passes each septmate, that Garou adds his own voice.  The Uktena’s cries modulate in an eerie undulation, with occasional sharp cries from the females.  Ghostfire’s call is low and steady.  Those who notice such things catch glimpses of movement just outside the firelight, as spirits gather.

Eyes-Across-the-Water begins softly drumming, a steady beat.

As the echoes of the howl die away, Ghostfire stands before the fire, invoking the spirits of the caern to guide and support and make known their will and Gaia’s will.  He thanks them for their aid.  It is a very reverent ceremony, and all give their devotion.  He mentions especially Weasel (in deference to the visitors), Uktena, Wild Turkey, Merlin and Fog.  At the mention of Uktena, Tsali rises and does an undulating dance with his hands like horns, while the pack howls low and quiet.  Walks-With-Uktena struts while her pack howls in fast, descending cries.  Carried-the-Day, arms extended, makes swooping motions, her eyes sharply focused on the ground, while her pack cries klee-klee-klee. Of the newcomers, Rises Red will rapidly dance back and forth, striking the air with his hands while the pack barks rapid and sharp.  Charlie will move in an odd swaying way, quietly shifting and flowing about his pack as the members whisper more than howl.  Finally, Fog the caern totem is brought up, and all solemnly howl, giving their devotion to the caern.

The sept gets down to business.  Rites of Accomplishment are held for the members of the young pack.  After they are done, most of the War Moon gets one as well for their deeds against the Soul Eater.  Once these are done and no one steps up, Reggie asks that the War Moon pack circle the bawn.  After they leave, he brings up the idea of offering membership to the new pack.  He has spoken with Rises Red and he wishes for his pack to stay indefinitely if that is agreeable.

Mary says new cabins must be built, and they will have to range farther for game.  Reggie is happy with the idea; though not an old pack they are not unknown to him. The more protection the better.  Ghostfire says that the extra strength is good, but that the caern is devoted to stealth, not open battle.  They will have to be careful not to compromise the safety of the caern with their actions.  Unless any other speak against the War Moon, Charlie will decide they can stay.  Charlie asks for any other business.  After a while, the new members come and are told of the council’s decision.

Wind-in-the-Spruce sings a song about a Garou named Clubclaw who held a Bane down until the Crescent Moons could bind them both; sacrificing himself to save the sept. 

Charlie speaks a tale given to him by his great grandfather, of the Eagle Seekers Pack that discovered the caern four hundred years ago, abandoned when the Croatan sacrificed themselves to banish Eater-of-Souls from the physical world.

Charlie’s tale stirs the blood, and the following song whips excitement to a fever pitch.  Howls and chants; werewolves begin to dance around the fire as Mary beats a drum.  Finally, when the energy is at it’s peak, Tsali changes to wolf form and bounds out of the circle, followed by the other Garou.  They race into the spirit world and find the scent of an Engling.  After a glorious chase, they bring it down and all consume it – after giving thanks – and regain all their Gnosis. They return, exhausted in body but invigorated in spirit. Reggie asks the PC pack to patrol the road for a few hours before turning in.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  

Game 7: "Stepped a Stately Raven"

Game date:  8/26/02

Real date:  12/28/03

Moon phase: Waning Gibbous

PCs: Walks-With-Uktena, Falls-Far, Fire Hand

NPCs met: Donna Delmont

Synopsis:  The day after the moot, the “new” pack is asked to take guard duty for a few days while the War Moon Pack is “oriented” and adjust to the new sept.  A new log cabin is built for them.    Nancy  continues to speak with Walks-With-Uktena about dark secrets. The rest of the pack arrive when one lesson is finishing up.    Nancy tells them that Grandfather Serpent sometimes changes people and animals, giving them scales or tentacles or foul powers.  “Usually, the only thing that can be done to these creatures is to kill them – but be warned, the corrupt spirit will flee the body; it must be killed and its heart destroyed to truly dead.  Not all monsters are Wyrm-tainted, however, for each of the Triat takes some into their own.  Many, such as Stoneskins or the Spear-Fingers, were mostly likely created by Grandmother Smoke.  Others, it is hard to tell.  The Raven-Mockers are an example: they are witches that sometimes dress like giant ravens and steal life from the sick and eat their hearts. I have never met one; they were killed off long ago.  It is likely they were tainted witches that were not possessed by any spirits, but it is possible the legends were confused.  Regardless, most of the monsters in the old legends were carnivorous and found humans a delicacy.  Often, they only at a certain part, such as the liver or the heart.  Spear-Fingers could take the liver without leaving a visible hole, leaving the victim to sicken and die in hours or days depending on how much of the liver was removed.  Such monsters have a secret way they can be killed, and you have already seen with the Stoneskin.” 

By the 26^th (Monday), the pack is relieved, and can go off to  Knoxville.  They go to the opening of an exhibition at the McClung Museum.  Apart from identifying Ernest Carper and taking note of a plainclothes state police detective, they discover nothing of interest.  Outside, Falls Far notes a goth-looking bicycle courier riding around the museum.  Walks-With-Uktena thinks that Carper just buzzes with magical energy, but isn't clear about specifics.  Fire Hand tries to pierce the Gauntlet and only manages to shatter the bathroom mirror.  They head out to their previous hiding place near the Ag Campus moat.  There they smell death, cooked flesh and a lingering Wyrm Taint.  They deduce that the body they find was burned all along the front but not her back; she escaped, staggered to cover, and then died of shock and blood loss.  She lost an eye post-mortem.  They follow the trail of a second person and then hear a cry.  Crossing the tracks, they find a newly dead man with a silenced pistol; his eye had been smashed and his throat neatly slit.  Moments later, they hear someone begging for mercy.  In an old warehouse, they see a man in a trench coat pleading with a raven-featured humanoid.  With a cry of "Raven-mocker!" they attack the monster, which changes into a raven and flutters in the rafters before vanishing.  Falls-Far tries to calm the babbling man, first with words, then with a couple of slaps.  The man (Alan Bozeman) looks up with glowing eyes, then bursts into blistering flame.  Falls is badly burned, and he and Walks-With-Uktena tussle with Bozeman, dodging back when he flames up and then attacking as he cools down.  He dies quickly.  Meanwhile, Fire-Hand gets stuck in the Gauntlet, until she's pulled out by the raven monster.  She questions it but gets unsatisfactory answers. Then she sees a momentary silhouette, from which a octopoid Lust Bane detaches itself.  Fire-Hand attacks it, and after getting burned she slays it.  Wisely, she eats its heart, destroying the Bane forever.  

The pack escapes to the hiding place and then load up in the truck.  Leaving, they meet the goth-looking chick Falls saw earlier.  They learn of the existence of Corax, and more than that, they learn that she knows about their super-secret Stealth caern. Donna says they'll meet again and heads off.  The pack heads for home to tell the elders what transpired.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What is Carper's true nature-- whom does he serve and what does he really know?  Who are the Corax and how does this young one know about the caern? And will the pack ever come up with a name?

Game 8 "Trip to the  Classic City "

Game date: 9/4/02

Real date:  1/4/04

Moon phase: Waning Crescent (New on Sept. 7^th)

PCs: Walks-With-Uktena, Falls-Far, Fire Hand

NPCs met: Elaine Edwards, David Rainmaker, Randy Black Coat, Mary Stancel

Synopsis:  

A few days have passed since the last excursion.  The pack has been busy with duties around the caern, but the last day or so has been fairly slack.  Walks learns some fighting moves from Rises Red, Fire Hand reads some occult books from Nancy, and Falls Far finally achieves a certain level of enlightenment. Then Nancy "Holds-Back-The-Shadows" approaches Walks-With-Uktena and asks her pack to collect some books for her, volumes in the protected Rare Books section of the library at the University of Georgia.  They can contact David Rainmaker for information if they wish, but the books must disappear without being detected.  They are given a jar with what appears to be mist swirling within; this is to be given as a gift to Rainmaker.  They may also utilize the power of the Caern. They must rise at  midnight and purify themselves, then move with utmost stealth to the pool at the caern’s heart, then whisper a secret onto the water’s surface.  Then they wait.   The sky lightens and the fog seems to swirl around them.  Suddenly,  Nancy appears at the top of the falls, and fog wraps around her like a cocoon.  After a few moments, the fog dissipates to normal, and  Nancy is gone.  She appears amidst the pack, and fog flows from her mouth and ears and seems to sink into the skin of the packmembers.  She warns that Fog’s blessing will be withdrawn at dawn tomorrow.

Volumes: 

Lost Protocols of the Cherokee vol. 2 and 3 (written in prototypic Cherokee, dated around 1818).  Two unnamed medicine men copied down some of their rituals and sacred formulas.  The original preface indicates the men had a dream that those who kept the sacred lore of the tribe would be lost, and so they committed their knowledge to paper in the hopes that one day the survivors would learn the old ways again. The compiler’s (Johnathan Laine) forward, dated 1925, states that the papers were found in a jar at the back of a cave near Etowah.  90 pages of manuscript were divided by apparent author into two volumes; the manuscripts are incomplete.  The Protocols arrived at the library a week ago through an estate donation and haven’t been made public yet, pending final cataloging. 

A Religious Practices in Tribal Remnants of Southeastern United States, written in 1890 by E.H. Howell.  Details some rather intense rituals, including blood sacrifice, conducted by remnant bands of Cherokee and other Southeastern tribes, as supposedly witnessed by the author.

  Athens

They drive to  Athens and call Rainmaker’s home near Memorial Park.  His wife tells them to wait, and after a few minutes Elaine Edwards (A Black Fury Half-Moon) arrives. They go to lunch at the Bluebird Café and then go Rainmaker’s home.  They also meet Randy Black Coat, an Uktena Ragabash who is staying at the house. He asks the pack for a lift to their caern, so he can meet more of his kin and maybe speak with the totem. Fire Hand tries to eavesdrop on Black Coat, but the latter hears her coming and warns her against it.

When he arrives, Rainmaker is friendly enough and will tell them what little he knows about the rare books section.  The place has a lot of electronic security.  If the books have been catalogued, they will either be in the vault or more likely the rare book section.  If they haven’t, they will be nearby in the offices.  Rainmaker asks that the books be brought by the house first so he can look over them for a couple of hours.  They give him the gift from the sept, and he immediately gives it to Black Coat, saying that Circles-the-Dying-Bane (whom he later says is a Bane Tender) will appreciate it.

  Library

After experimenting with a bank security system (or rather the spirit of such in the Umbra), they scope out the Rare Books section on the fourth floor of the main library, seeing odd spirits that make Fire Hands apathetic.  They arrive again in the Umbra after closing.  Electricity spirits abound, as well as spiders and informational geomids of all kinds. They use Gnosis to bribe a security spirit into closing its eyes for twenty minutes, and start searching the office.  In no time they lay hands upon the two uncatalogued volumes. After performing the Rite of Talisman Dedication on them (plus one randomly selected book from the box), they retreat across the Gauntlet and back to the house.  They find a note on the door that says, in Cherokee, “Key is behind the third shrub from the right.  Under no circumstances touch any other key-box.  Front bedroom is yours.  If the cops are after you go away now.  Leave books on coffee table.  Be quiet; I don’t intend to wake up until 8”

  Afterwards

Mary Stancel, Rainmaker’s wife (and a member of Clarke Co Board of Education) is making frybread and coffee when the pack finally wakes up.  Rainmaker skims through the books for about four hours in his study, and then hands them over.  He says to send the elders his regards.  Black Coat carries only a satchel and a bedroll, and is content to ride in the bed of the truck.   Nancy is happy to get the books, and the other elders listen to the story with interest. Afterwards, Walks spends a few days teaching Talisman Dedication to the other two, and then Fire Hand goes to visit her mother.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  Why are Garou hanging out in  Athens if there is no caern? What was the gift to Rainmaker? Is there a Bane bound in the Athens Area?  What were the strange spirits on the 4th floor of the library? What is the story behind the borrowed books? 

Game 9a: "Sandy's Choice"

Game date:  9/8/02

Real date:  1/10/04

Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (New on 7th)

PCs: New Pack

NPCs met: Sandy Kirkland, Andy Boyd, Clayton Green

Synopsis:  

    Backfill 

After returning from  Athens ,   Laurel  went to see her mother.  Her stepdad was as crass as ever, going so far as to proposition her. When her mom gets home from the store, Andy berates her for being late with supper.  He goes to hit her but   Laurel steps in the way and kicks him to the ground.  She takes her mom to a diner and eventually tells her about Andy’s advances.    Sandy’s inner Mother Hen starts to rear its head, but she isn’t quite ready for a confrontation yet, and makes  Laurel  take her home.  Before getting out of the car,  Sandy gives  Laurel a beautiful arrowhead on a silver (alloy/plate) chain.  Laurel  writes Elaine Balance-of-Truth Edwards a letter asking for help.

At the Caern 

  A couple of evenings later (Sunday 8^th), Black Coat spends a couple of hours talking with the pack about the spirit world.  He seems to like Falls Far's interest in spirits, but is more concerned with lessons than in providing Umbral anecdotes.  He strikes them as a veteran after a very difficult tour: alert to danger, but numbed and weary.  Black Coat talks with each of the packmembers, asking about their First Change, what they think about being werewolves, and so forth.  He tells Erishka some tantalizing hints about the caern’s past.  There are rumors that some great Wyrm fetish is hidden at the caern. He says that the Uktena took it after the Croatan left.  During the 20^th century, Black Spirals captured it but were unable to corrupt the totem spirit or find whatever they were looking for (the fetish?).  The Uktena took it back but were weak; then some Shadow Lords stepped in to help.  In time, they were all that were left.  Just a few years ago, Black Spirals slaughtered the sept, except for three Cliath and one other who were away at the time; that other was Ghost Fire, now the only surviving member of the previous membership.  Erishka goes to Ghost Fire to offer her help in finding how the Spirals managed to penetrate the Stealth Caern’s defenses twice.  She is met with a cold rebuff. 

 You are sent to watch from the tower on the ridge, while the others take up other stations. It is a long, uneventful afternoon. Apart from some wildlife and a werewolf patrol, nothing happens by.  You catch yourself talking with Wind-in-the-Pines, though you realize you must have been dozing in the warm sun.  Time passes, and suddenly you realize the tower is rising skyward.  You see below you to the north, south and east, the entire eastern seaboard.; westward, the  Midwest to the Mississippi . Below are the ancient, green-mantled mountains.  Then you spy a great black wave roaring across the ocean, and another smashing across the Great River.  The black waters shimmer with an sickly opalesque sheen as if coated with oil.  The eastern wave pours over the shore without slowing; all the great cities are washed away like sandcastles in the rising tide.  You hear distant screams of millions. You realize that, after hitting a city, the waves progress faster, growing stronger as they consume.  Clambering up the sides of the mountains, you see tiny figures – Garou, and others.  Then the waves hit the mountains, breaking upon the rocks like the sea upon a seawall.  The foul waters come to rest, and the only the hills stand above the surface, a chain of ancient islands.  You see the water teaming with corrupted life, as once-human creatures claw at each other and the sky.  Then on the water’s edge, you see Gaia’s chosen clawing at the viscous black liquid.  Slowly, very slowly, it draws back before their claws.

You jerk awake.  The sun touches the horizon.  You barely have time to collect your wits before Sings-Through-The-Pain appears far down the ridge, coming to relieve you.

   He goes to Nancy, who says to keep it under his hat while she considers the vision.

  Elaine’s letter arrives on Tuesday the 10^th.  She shows up on the evening of the next day.  They settle her in and discuss the situation.  The next day, they plan out what they are going to do about  Sandy .  Elaine counsels her that she may not wish to go when it comes down to it, and that they can’t force her to leave.  When Laurel calls in the afternoon, however, she’s ready, and so they hit the road. As they leave, Erishka notices that Black Coat has been spying on them while they talked.

  They arrive at  Sandy ’s house, pack up the truck and head off without a hitch.   Sandy is between excitement, relief and anxiety.  Laurel heals her cracked collarbone and ribs (from a prior beating) with some “Indian liniment”. They assure her that all will be well, and put her up at Charlie’s house.  Within a couple of days, a lawyer (Clayton Green, a contact of Elaine) comes to talk to her, and soon after that, Andy signs the papers without contest [Unbeknownst to the pack, Black Coat found his way to the house and waited for the husband.  He confronted Andy and advise him to let go of the woman completely, punctuating his comments with fist and foot. He also used the Trickster Beacon on Andy, just to make his life difficult.  After some persuasion, he agreed to a divorce or whatever else she wants.  Andy will likely have a short memory, but he can be reminded again at need. The pack does not find this out until later].  Elaine performs the rite Soothe the Scar on Sandy, who doesn’t normally cotton to this “New Age business” but was definitely better for the experience.

  Revelation

Laurel confronts Black Coat, asking if she is his daughter.  He says he is, and she’s beside herself for being left before she was born.  She finally demands that he tell  Sandy that it wasn’t her fault he left.

Game 9b: "A Vision of Mist"

Game date:  9/17/02

Real date: 1/10/04

Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous (Half moon on 13th) 

PCs: Mistwatcher  Pack

NPCs met: 

Synopsis: In the morning, Falls Far and his pack are called to a hearing before the elders.  They wish to hear of his vision.  After doing so, and asking a few questions, they thank him and let him depart.  Some time later, they howl for his pack.  Charlie says that similar visions have been seen before.  The pack should go on a quest into the spirit world to seek a deeper understanding of the vision. 

  And so after preparations (purifying rituals and such) they set out after sundown.

  The Journey

The spirit world is more – vision is more vibrant, smells are stronger, all that is good is better. After a while, a trail becomes a Moon Path of silvery motes, and the woods fade away into fog.  

  As they walk, they are accosted by five strange spirits, much like strings of colored light.  They seem playful but harmless.  Suddenly, one is grabbed by what looks like a 2’ centipede with a talon on each foot.  It flies without wings, and wraps around the string until it pales and vanishes.  Three more appear, but the other strings evade them and head out.  The hungry Banes will attack the pack.  The talons inject a numbing poison, but no one gets a full dose.  One latches on to Fire Hand’s face and she claws her eye out trying to kill it (it will get better in a few days).  The lone surviving Bane flees into the Umbra.

  Eventually, the path rises, and features of wooded mountains (much like the Appalachians) appear in the semi-darkness.  They continue to rise for quite a while until reaching the rocky ridgeline.  From the bald head of the top, the pack sees deep green forest tumbling down the rocky flanks.  And at the base on either side, a strange, dark gray mist roils.  Occasionally the pack sees flashes of white and orange light within, like lightning deep in a cloud.  The still morning air carries to their ears distant evil sounds: moans, roars, screeches, maniacal cackles. The sky lightens but the malevolent fog grows no more distinct.

  “What do you see?” asks a deep rumbling voice. They see an 8 foot, sasquatch-like figure standing behind them.  He explains that the mist waits to cover all the world, but it must not.  Occasionally it creeps a tendril towards the coves, but it is beaten back.  The coming darkness will be far darker if the mountains are lost.  Apart from answering basic questions, he will say nothing more.  He does not give his name, but only says he is one of those the Garou killed in their arrogance.  Now he watches the mist, for that is all he can do.  But others must guard against the evils which seek to claim the world.  “You must watch for the mists, and act as I cannot.”  Then the sun breaks into the sky, and the figure vanishes.  Walks thinks the creature may be a Gurahl, which she was told about.

  They have the day to think.  The ridge is about three miles long before it dips down on either direction.  The moon paths are gone until nightfall.  Walks and Falls attempt to enter the fog but leave when they feel themselves drowning in it.  So they rest until nightfall brings the moon path back.  The elders give them a hearing upon their return; their consensus is that the preservation of the mountains will be critical in the upcoming Apocalypse. Walks-With-Uktena announces that in light of the vision they will call themselves the Mist Watcher Pack. 

  Laurel learns Master of Fire from a flame spirit in return for keeping a bonfire for three days.

  Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What kind of creature did they meet on the mountain? Why is the Ragabash having visions?

Game 10: Dark Sarcasm in the Classroom 

Game Date:    9/18/02

Game Played:  1/31/04

Moon Phase: Full/Waning Gibbous (Full on the 20th)  

Characters: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs Met: Janet Patrick and Redd Payne (both Fomori), Linda Gilchrist (English Teacher), several students.

Synopsis: Fire Hand apologizes to Black Coat for misjudging him, and they mend their fences.  Falls-Far volunteers for extra guard duty so he can practice being stealthy.  

  The pack goes on patrol along the Appalachian Trail .  Upon returning, they hear a mournful howl, full of grief.  It is Ghostfire, and they realize that his Kinfolk, the wolf called Sister, has died.  The howl is joined by the other members of the sept, mingling to share grief and give support.

  Moot – Thursday 20^th

  The moot is held as usual.  The pack undergoes Rites of Accomplishment, performed by Ghostfire for Walks-With-Uktena, Black Coat for Fire-Hand, and Fionulla for Falls-Far.  Sneers-at-Death declares that Rises-Red is Wyrmfoe for the sept.  When it comes time for Stories, Nightsong (in Homid) rises, and sings a beautiful, heartbreaking ballad about the loss of a love.  Only the stoniest heart can be unmoved.  Next, Storm Voice tells the story of how Magena Klaivetaker’s mother hid her child when Mockeries in police uniforms came looking for her, though it nearly cost her own life.

The next day, Falls-Far respectfully demands that Rises Red acknowledge him as a Fostern.  Rises will look at him a moment, considering, and then say, “You should not address me bare-headed.  Put on a bandanna. Not just any bandanna – I want you to be wearing Sleeps Awake’s bandanna.”  Falls ponders this for some days.

Suicide ­– Saturday 28^th

  The pack is on a long patrol. Some miles along the park border, they smell something dead. They find a woman lying against a tree in a small clearing beside a stream, some 50 yards from the road. Her car, a 1997 Camry, sits at the roadside pullout.  Her wallet and purse are in the car, which is unlocked. She is in jeans and a blouse.  Nearby is a large, empty water bottle, a tipped over, half-full wine bottle, and a prescription bottle of valium, dated two weeks ago. She’s been here a day or two. There is faint Wyrm-taint about her.  The wallet reveals her as Maggie Sutton, a teacher in Swain Co. High’s Social Studies department.  Walks alerts the Kinfolk ranger, and after hiding their tracks the pack goes back to the sept.  After conferring with the White Chief, they go to Sutton’s house.  They find an E-mail from a colleague indicating she did something that would anger the principal.  Also among her things is a manual outlining the authoritarian program of teaching the principal has instituted – rote memorization and strict discipline is encouraged, while self-initiative and critical thought is discouraged.

The next Monday the pack, dressed as students, go to school, carrying some forged class schedules.  They sit in Sutton’s old homeroom, meeting Coach Payne, the teacher who looks and acts like a drill sergeant.  Three students look disturbed by the suicide, but the rest could care less.  Fire Hand senses Wyrm taint but can’t pinpoint it because of an underlying pervasiveness to the spiritual stench. Next class is English with Linda Gilchrist, the one who emailed Sutton the day before she died.  After class, Gilchrist demands to know who they are.  They carefully intimate they are working undercover for some authority.  She sends them to hide in a store room and questions them later when things are quiet.  Later, they go to lunch and talk with the smart kids who liked Sutton.  They are plainly afraid of Principal Patrick.  Walks-With-Uktena finally declares “the bitch needs to die” and walks out.  Back in the storeroom, they cross the Gauntlet, and are for a shock: the place is crawling with Banes.  An Angst-Bane makes the girls feel worthless and doubtful, but they get their confidence back slugging it out with an Anger-Bane.  More investigation shows that Principal Patrick is actually a Fomori.  They return to the caern to report.  The leaders decide that Mist Watchers and War Moon should go together to the school. The pack calls Gilchrist again for final info on Patrick, and warn her she should go home early tomorrow. 

Tuesday 1st

On Tuesday evening, the two packs arrive at the school’s Penumbra.  The War Moon charges in to fight bookoodles of Banes while Mist Watchers are given the honor of taking care of Patrick.  They decide not to use claws so as to leave no Veil-breaching evidence. They spot her misty Umbral shadow heading to her Lincoln, but she’s followed by another form.  Falls-Far, hiding in the physical world, goes to attack Patrick while Walks steps through the Gauntlet to savage the second Fomori, Coach Payne.  Patrick goes down but Payne puts up a serious fight. Walks is knocked down, and as Falls leaps to her defense, Patrick shoots at him with a snub-nosed revolver.  Fire-Hand arrives and between the three of them the Fomori are killed.  They rush through the Gauntlet again; Walks chases down the Bane that possessed the principal, nearly killing it before it disappeared to reform elsewhere.  The others fight the Aggression Bane; nearly dead, it bites Falls-Far savagely on the upper back, incapacitating him.  The Bane is left open for Fire-Hand’s killing blow; she partially heals Falls, and the Bane’s heart is eaten.  The pack puts the bodies in the Lincoln and drive them to a convenient cliff.  They place Payne’s corpse in the driver’s seat of the Lincoln, and Patrick next to him in a compromising position, and let the car drive over the edge.  Rendezvousing with the War Moon (who are battered but happy) all return to the caern for debriefing.  They conclude that  Patrick was using the school as a Bane nursery.

  Unanswered questions and loose ends:  Will school life improve now that the evil principal is dead? 

Game 11a: "A Favor for Turkey"

Game date:  10/4/02

Real date:  2/28/04

Moon phase: New (new on 6^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: Rick (deceased), two unnamed monkeywrenchers.

Synopsis: Falls-Far achieves Fostern rank, and a monkeywrenching mission gets complicated.

 Falls-Far

Falls Far decides to practice his stealth by shadowing other members of the sept.  He follows Ghostfire to a late night rendezvous with a shadowy spirit, and gets caught.  Ghostfire berates him, but says that if he’d been a Shadow Lord Cliath his punishment would be harsh indeed for having been caught spying, but as it was he was merely an Uktena Cliath. Yet he drives home the lesson by unleashing the heat of his anger, leaving the Ragabash shaken and chilled.

  On the 5^th, he learns the spirit language from his spirit mentor Wind-in-the-Pines, in return for the promise of a few smokes in his honor.

  On the 6^th, Falls-Far speaks to a sleep spirit (occasionally nodding off during the conversation), convincing it to help him with his challenge, in exchange for a full day’s sleep.  The next afternoon, Falls-Far waits until Sleeps-Awake nods off, then takes his bandana and leaves a squirrel (which he didn’t thank)  as a gift.  At the assembly area and before half the sept, he confronts Rises-Red wearing the bandanna, and is recognized as a Fostern.  The bandanna later finds it way to the top of a pole.  Sleeps-Awake feigns ignorance and seems in good spirits, especially after marking Falls-Far with a Trickster Beacon, causing all sorts of minor spiritual difficulties.  

  He later sleeps for a day and a half, waking up on the roof of the cabin.  After enduring more spiritual pranks, the Beacon ends by the end of the 9^th.  

 Sandy

  Sandy asks Laurel over to Mary Hicks’ for lunch on Sunday the 6^th.  She’s been helping Mary around the house and watching after the kids (Hanna and Tate) to earn her keep, and she likes Charlie’s wife a lot.  Mary does have some “peculiar Indian rituals”, like praying to the Great Mother before meals. She’s not sure what to think, because it’s not exactly Christian, but she thinks they’re really nice folks. Before he left the caern (around the 1^st of the month), Black Coat had a talk with  Sandy.  He explained things to her (or as much as he could without telling her about werewolves).  She has mostly forgiven him, and has more hope for life than she has in years. She currently thinks that the sept is composed of a group of Indian spiritualists, and is concerned they are ecoterrorists.  

After some small talk,  Sandy points to the newspaper, at an article about some equipment at a housing development being damaged, and asks if that was Laurel and her friends. Laurel denies it, sticking with Black Coat’s story about Indian traditionalists.  Later, Laurel approaches Storm Voice, who says he’ll be happy to tell  Sandy more about his Kinfolk’s spiritualism.

 Turkey

The pack wishes  Turkey to spread his patronage so that all members can share his gifts at once.  Fire Hand uses the wingbone call and some corn to entice him to the shrine early on the morning of the 10^th.  He struts up proudly, rattling the branches with his thundering gobble.  When asked for his favor, he says they must perform a task for him.  There is some turkey land nearby that it to going to be destroyed.  They must save it: A farm near where the robins lived.

  After some research, they discover a farm near Robbinsville that is being logged and put up on the market.    The former owner, Jesse Waldroup, has died, and the son, John, lives in  Asheville.  Falls-Far and Fire-Hand drive by the place and see the logging crew working on the pines.  The pack reconvenes and decides to dismantle some machinery.  So on the night of the 11^th, the park in Robbinsville and hike to the farm, There they discover a monkeywrencher putting metal pins in trees and another one sugaring the gas and spiking the oil.  The latter seems surprised and suspicious, but advises the strangers on their technique. The packmates call their group the Indians and use nicknames like Pocahantas and are very vague on their history and operations. Then they notice some bags and cans strapped underneath a skidder.  The man, Rick, gets halfway through an expletive when bullets striked the device and it explodes, killing Rick and wounding Fire-Hand and Walks-With-Uktena.  Falls-Far sees movement in the darkness and attacks a black-clad figure who wears night-vision goggles and carries a silenced submachine gun.  The Delirium-bound figures pumps more nearly a dozen shots into the hulking but hapless Crinos, putting him down for the count.  The other two packmates hear the fighting and in a short time the man is ripped apart.  The woman in the pines is badly shaken but recovers her wits enough to call in the spotter for help.  They get Rick’s body and leave, while the werewolves thrown the professional’s corpse into the burning skidder and head out just ahead of the sheriff. The logging operation is temporarily shut down, but the only more permanent solution seems to involve $2.5 million or more to buy the 250 acre farm. 

  Unanswered questions and loose ends: Who were the monkeywrenchers?  Who was the “professional,” who did he work for, and why did he blow up heavy equipment – is he a monkeywrencher or was he just trying to kill activists?   Turkey requires that the land be permanently saved.

Game 11b: "A Favor for  Turkey " pt. 2

Game date:  10/14/02

Real date:  5/25/04

Moon phase: Half (1^st quarter on 13^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: Price, Trask, Delray (members of the Deep Pockets Pack/Sept of the Sacred Logo)

Synopsis: Walks-With-Uktena contacts Elaine, the Black Fury in Athens.  Elaine likes the idea about a farm for abused women and children, and suggests she talk to some Glass Walkers she knows for funding.  Just three bits of advice: Dress for an interview, have a solid plan to give them, and under no circumstances harm any cockroaches they find.

Walks calls the number; a secretary (“Clear Vision Investments, this is Jennifer, how may I direct your call?”) took their names, and after a bit a woman named Price set up an appointment for 10:30 on Wednesday.  Using money borrowed from Charlie’s wife, they get some basic interview-type clothes.  They drove to Athens and spent the night with Elaine, then headed to  Atlanta.  Fire-Hand managed not to lose her cool and Walks kept them from getting lost.  They arrive at the 40-story Southern Trade Building, are given visitor passes and step into the elevator.  A roach scurries around their feet for a minute before disappearing.  They note that the upper few floors require a key to reach by elevator.  The pack trundles into the offices of Clear Vision Investments and are sent in to see the three representatives.  Walks offers their proposal in sharp binders (made with the help of Bill Riley) and  after the pitch they are asked pointed questions (such as why are they doing this, really).  Several million dollars is quite a bit of change, after all, and not something they have just lying around.  What can they offer that’s worth that much cash?  The pack does reasonably well, and Price agrees that the particular expertise and connections of the Uktena may prove uniquely valuable, and that “diversifying our network of contacts is always a good thing.”  The upshot is that the Mist Watchers will owe them a handsome number of favors if they agree.  The company neither has the liquidity nor the need for charity PR, but they know many investors who might.  The Uktena is asked to wait outside for a few minutes.  After half an hour (with magazines, fruit, cookies, coffee, etc), they are shown back in and told some backers have been arranged.  The Glass Walkers will handle the sale and the set-up of the foundation, with consultation with the Furies, Uktena or whomever.

Afterward

The Mist Watchers set about making Indian “artifacts” to sell to tourists, for the purpose of paying back their clothes loan and building up some gas money.  They get a call on Friday that the sale was negotiated and they will be contacted when more of the details are settled.  She adds that several Wyrm-related companies were attempting to acquire the land, but her people persuaded him to sell to the new “foundation.”

At last, the pack goes to the shrine.  The pleased spirit announced he will grant them the power they seek; “Use it well, my children” he says, and with a great gobble he flies away.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What is on the top floors of the skyscraper?  Which companies were Wyrm-tainted, and why did they want the land?

Game 12: "Belated Honor" 

Game date:  11/8/02

Real date:  5/31/04

Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (Cres on Fri. 8^th; Full on Wed. 20^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: The Green Dart Pack (Magena Klaivetaker, Onawa Wide-Awake, Len Proudsong, Bluffs-the-Spirit); Two-Spear-Mojo (Elder theurge)

Time passes at the caern.  About a dozen Theurges from various septs have gathered to talk with Nancy and Mary and look over the medicine lodges.  Fire-Hand sits through much gossiping to get to “the good stuff” about spirits.

Over the course of a week, Falls-Far has a series of dreams; first he sees a duck dragging its wing, then the duck getting attacked by wolves, then the duck becomes a mauled Indian, surrounded by torn bodies, and amid the howls and cackles he hears “Please, don’t kill me, I’ll tell you anything, I tell you where the caern is, just don’t kill me!”  

After discussing it with his pack, he tells Charlie, who advises him to tell the Crescent Moons.  He does so. One, Two-Spear-Mojo, says it reminds him of a story his grandfather told him, about an Uktena who betrayed his sept to the Black Spiral Dancers. But it’s odd, because the betrayer was named Lame Duck, and the dream seems to point to another.  According to the tale, the No-Moon begged to be spared, and then told the foes how best to attack the sept.  Then, laughing, the treacherous enemies killed the traitor before capturing and desecrating the Bright Water caern (a caern of Healing).

They will discuss it at length, and Charlie remembers that the lone survivor of the Blue Feather Pack, who was left for dead during the ambush, was Claw of Pride, an Ahroun of considerable renown.  His skull was broken by a war club in the first moments of the ambush, and he did not awake until well after the caern fell. If the dreams are true, then Claw lied and is guilty of great shame.

Falls smokes up his favorite ancestor, Wind-in-the-Pines, who says he knew Lame-Duck, and was always a little suspicious about the story of his downfall.

Several of the visitors depart, while the rest agree to stay for the moot.  One, Bluffs-the-Spirit, takes news of the dream back to his pack.

The preparations are made, and the opening goes as usual.  During the Cracking of the Bone, the packmembers receive their Rites of Accomplishment.  During one of them, Banehew is seen to appear out of the darkness, and slips up to the rock where Charlie sits.  Charlie listens to him, and nods.  Banehew vanishes into the night again.  After a few minutes, a new pack appears; one of the Uktena carries a Klaive, making it clear who she is.  Magena introduces herself and announces her pack has business with one present at the moot.  Given leave, Proudsong confronts Falls-Far, and challenges him to recant the lies he spreads.  Words are exchanged, but no blood is spilled.  The elders confer, and say there is a way to find the truth of the tale: by a journey to Battleground.  Proudsong wants blood, but grudgingly nods acceptance.

Charlie decrees that he and Nancy will go, and that Reggie will act in his place and Ghost Fire in  Nancy ’s.  Rises Red, a veteran of the Battleground, will go as well.  Of course, the Green Dart Pack and the Mist Watchers go as well.  The participants are dismissed to begin preparations immediately, including a ritual purification with sage and tobacco, and a bath in the cold creek.

  Battleground

The group take the moon-bridge and land on a smoky plain, at a crossroad.  A signpost lists two dozen battles; one path includes “Cedar Creek”(Southern forces attacked and repulsed by Union force), “ Messines” (1917 British attack w/ tanks and 20 mines), “Boinae” (forgotten battle between several dozen iron-age Irishmen), and “Bright Water Caern” (Bingo).  They hike along the track, first through forest with Confederates swarming into an abandoned encampment; then into a brown, blasted land with half-buried barbed wire and lumbering, turret-less tanks.  The cracks and rumbles fade, replaced by shouts and braying horns, as two groups of men charge each other with spears and shields.  Finally their shouts and screams fade into the  silence of an evergreen forest.  They find a clearing with a glyph-carved stone beside a clear-running mountain stream.  Though they can’t see far, the light seems like early morning.  Several Indians are bathing in the water and chanting.  Suddenly, arrows strike some of the bathers, who fall screaming.  Others change into Crinos and are met with eight gruesome werewolves.  The watchers remain on the bridge only through an effort of will. At last all are dead, and the water runs red.  The leader turns, in Glabro now, and acknowledges a horror-stricken Indian on the edge of the woods.  “The bargain was made, your life for theirs; you may go now.  Do not let me see you again, little coward, or you will wish you had died with your pack; it will take you days for your heart to stop between my teeth.” The patsy turns and staggers away.  Proudsong suddenly leaps off the path and tackles his ancestor.  “You are a coward!” you shouts.  “You should have died forgotten!  You have no honor!” He pounds the cringing Fostern, then shifts to Crinos, rips out the man’s heart  and throws it into the woods.  He howls in grief until, transfixed with two arrows, he collapses on his victim. His pack leaps off the path, followed by the rest of the party.  Laurel saves Proudsong by pulling out the arrows and nullifying their poison.

  Walks killed a Spiral and then helped Falls finish off his.  Afterwards, both Walks and Falls tried to reconcile with the disconsolate Proudsong, to the approval of the elders and Magena.  All return to the caern, and the Green Dart Pack leaves with their honor satisfied.

Game date:  10/9/02

Real date:  5/31/04

Moon phase: Waxing Half (Full on 20^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: Nora Walker (Pumonca)

Synopsis: Mary offers to teach Fire Hand a few rite in exchange for help around the caern for the foreseeable future – a deputy of sorts.  She accepts, so Mary begins to teach her the Rite of Awakening.

The pack is doing a routine pre-moot patrol when they come across two bucks fighting, tearing up brush and kicking up leaves.  Finally one buckles, turns, and runs.  The other lunges after it and wounds it’s ham.  With its opponent crippled, the victor gores the victim repeatedly until it dies.  Puffing steam into the air, the angry deer turns and attacks the pack.  Laurel  can tell it’s Wyrm-Tainted.  They kill it.  It is not a Fomori, but simply maddened by tainted chemicals.  They perform a Rite of Cleansing.  Backtracking the buck, they wander along until they smell turned earth nearby.  They discover a bear, ripped apart and reeking of Taint, at the bottom of a filled pit.  After cleansing it and some fruitless inquiry with a local spirit, they head back to inform the elders.  The leaders say it will be discussed at the moot.

Moot (Wed. 20^th)

  Moot goes as usual.  During the Cracking of the Bone, all the Mist Watchers succeed at their Rites of Accomplishment, and Mary announces she has a deputy.  Rises Red brings up a Tainted bear they found several nights ago; it was very strong and aggressive, and reeked of the Wyrm.  Nightsong mentions that last month she discovered a mad buzzard that tried to peck her eyes out; it was Tainted as well. The Mist Watchers give their own account.

  Charlie will tell the story of Nine-Moons-in-Galunlati, the only Rank 6 Uktena currently alive.

Challenges for Rank

Walks-With-Uktena challenges Mary, who crosses her arms and asks to be convinced. While initially flustered, she manages to do well enough.  Fire Hand challenges Sleeps Awake, who pauses, looks around, and says, “make it rain tomorrow afternoon.” Sleeps is smart enough to ask Nancy or Mary for advice.  She borrows Nightsong’s tin whistle and has some lessons.  After some trial and error, she convinces an air spirit to do as she asked, in return for playing every day for a moon.

  Werepainter (Wed 27^th)

  The pack is patrolling on the ridge near the tower, when they see a cougar moving quickly but quietly away from the bawn.  It sees one of the werewolves, and bolts, leading the pack on a merry chase before being treed.  They realize that it isn’t a regular cougar, but a Pumonca.  She is somewhat hostile but is unwilling to start a fight; Walks swears to protect her, and that she is welcome at the caern. The Pumonca, who says her name is Nora Walker, was trying to determine the source of Wyrm taint when she stumbled upon Garou territory. Once she discovered she was  dealing with one or more packs of Garou, she scarpered.  One of the Mist Watchers ran back to the caern and tell Charlie about the intruder, Charlie’s pack follows back to the Bastet, pledging nonaggression and communicating a desire to work together to protect the land. She doesn’t warm to them, (under no circumstances will she go home with them) but she does relate some information: she suspects that most of the poisonings originated east of their locale, possibly near the GSMNP border; over the last two months she has found over a dozen deer or hogs with similar qualities, and almost as many buzzards or hawks.  But she hasn’t found a source yet and will keep looking.  The pack tells her of a particular oak in the cove next to the caern, and says if she puts a message in the tree they will find it in short order.  After she leaves, Charlie privately commends them for their handling of the situation, but politely reminds them that they are not the ones to say who can cross the bawn.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What is tainting the animals?  Will the Pumonca ally with the sept?

Game 15: "Screaming of the Lambs" 

Game date:  11/31/02

Real date: 7/3 – 7/4/04

Moon phase: Waning Crescent (New on 4^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: Special Agents Felix Donovan and Sheryl Girard

  Synopsis: The pack goes with the Red Creeks to a pow-wow in Cullowhee. The Red Creeks participate in an impressively violent toli game. The Mist Watchers drive back in the afternoon, stopping to pick up a hitchhiker. She seems nice enough, but Walks notices she’s packing a pistol in a shoulder holster.  As she pulls into a shopping center and plays the indignant Indian activist, a van pulls up and a Mulder-esque man steps out.  After a few tense moments, he notices something about the angry young Indians; he announces he’s Kinfolk, and a member of a secret branch of the FBI known simply as the Special Affairs Department.  Curiosity gets the better of the Uktena (big surprise) and the werewolves learn that the girl is Special Agent Girard, being bait for a serial kidnapper.  S.A. Donovan tells them what he knows about four disappearances in the general area (Sylva, Cullowhee, Franklin, and Bryson City); the only known connection is that they occur just before the new moon each month.  The pack agrees to help, and soon go to Bryson City to check out the apartment of the latest suspected victim, Maggie Callaway; apart from a faint scent nothing is found. The next day they use a questing stone rite to start tracking the body of the latest victim, Maggie Callaway.  After trotting around for several hours they check in with Donovan (on a phone borrowed from Girard) and learn of another disappearance: Elisa Gatsfield, a high schooler from Waynesville.  They reach the scene and surreptitiously check out the house; as the agents talk with the parents, they sniff around and recognize one scent in common with the previous abduction.  With another couple of rites, they localize the latest girl to Locust Creek Rd.  Fire Hand summons a fox spirit to check out the lay of the land (in return for chickens).  It steals her bait and dashes into the forest.  After a bit, it comes running past, saying, “Keep the chickens.”  The pack calls Donovan, then heads up the road.  Finding an unkempt farm, they slip into the barn.  They find Gatsfield tied spread-eagle inside a square and in front of a large headstone carved with mystic symbols.  The perp is humping the bound girl, and Laurel rips his spine out before he knows what hit him.  They untie the girl, and then the first Ooralath (a nasty Bane that materializes) shows up, followed by two more of its pack.  It’s a close thing, but the Garou manage to kill them all.  While some SAD agents showed up and secured the place, Walks called the caern.  Nancy, Charlie and the Red Creek Pack take a Moon Bridge in, check out the place and retrieve a book entitled Power Through Surrender (a book on the worship of ”Vorax the Great” ), the Elixir of Vile Visions (allowing anyone to see through across the Gauntlet) the Talisman of Fair Foulness (a gem that can make a psycho axe-murderer seem quite safe and reasonable as a Girl Scout selling cookies). Four neat stacks of bones in the barn are doubtless the missing victims.  The dead man is Marcus DeLoach, a “personable loner” who bought the farm only a couple of years ago.  Donovan thanks the pack and gives them copies of the “true” case files (as opposed to what will go into the regular FBI files); he says they will handle the incident to keep the true nature out of the papers.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  How did DeLoach come upon these Wyrmish items? What was he trying to do, and would it have worked? What is a Kinfolk doing in the FBI? 

Game 16 : "Rest and Renewal"

Game date: 12/10/02

Real date:  7/21/04

Moon phase: Half (Full on 19^th)

PCs: Walks-With-Uktena, Fire-Hand

NPCs met: Tala, various members of Changing Seasons Sept

Synopsis: Back from their rather gruesome discovery, the packmembers are troubled by vague memories of nightmares which nevertheless leave their sheets sweaty and their days unrested. Falls-Far has been co-opted by the other Ragabash, and none of them have been seen in a couple of days. Charlie tells the remainder of the pack that they need to get away for a week or so. He gives them a pouch stamped with a glyph on it.  He asks that the pack head north and present this where it belongs; more than that he will not say.

The ridges are thick with snow at the upper elevations, but the hardy packmates crest the ridge and head downward; below 4,000 feet the snow reverts to cold and wet.  As they start down the other side, they sense something like a distant song just out of hearing, carried on the wind.  Some six miles down the Appalachian Trail, they pick up another series of trails into the valley.  At this point, they smell smoke sweetened by herbs.  Beside a large rock outcrop, they see a crude lean-to shelter made of hemlock boughs and rhododendron branches.  Before the shelter is a woman, naked except for some tanned pelts draped across her shoulders.  A small bag on a leather thong hangs around her neck. She’s not particularly attractive, but she looks strong and solid.  Her chant is surprisingly similar to the speech used by spirits, and she punctuates her song with wolf-like howls. When she sees the werewolves, she speaks very respectfully and uses third person pronouns (“This woman asks that. . .”), in a combination of speech and hand signals that, oddly, the Garou can understand. 

She thanks them for coming and asks the wolf-spirits to help heal a young one who has been injured by a boar whose spirit was sick.  Inside the tent is a girl of about 12 with a serious gore, wrapped in furs; modern camping equipment, now bloody, is piled outside.  Tala says she hit the boar with stones until it chased her; she hid until it went away.

Fire Hand draws on the last of her spiritual energy to heal most of the damage, and Walks performs a rite of cleansing the next morning.  They then carry the still-sleeping girl down the trail until they found some searchers, and hand her over.

As the two continue northward, they find trails easier to follow.  Eventually, they are noticed, and challenged by Laurel Hell Pack.  After being sniffed out (“can never be too careful”) and casually questioned, they are escorted up  Blanket Mountain.    

  As the thick rhododendrons rise up around them, they feel themselves cross the bawn of the Changing Seasons Caern. At the summit’s glade, they hand over the pouch, which contains a letter and what appears to be a small flute, to the sept leader.  They are welcomed as guests and spend several days resting, gathering their strength and hanging out with the sept.

  Unanswered questions and loose ends:  Who and what was Tala?

Game 17: "Enemy, Ally" 

Game date:  12/15/02

Real date:  7/28/04

Moon phase: Gibbous (Full on the 19^th)

PCs: Mist Watcher Pack

NPCs met: Ranah, Sparnshog, and Konna Duskcaller – the Devil Bird Pack; Kervah the Gouger.

Synopsis: The Ragabash finds his own way to the Changing Seasons Sept, arriving around the 13^th.  They start heading back to their own caern on the 16^th. As they mosey back towards the ridgeline (a couple of hours from  Blanket Mt. ) someone smells blood.  Following the odor, they find a mangled body hanging from a 30’ high tree branch.  There is blood everywhere.  A basic search will uncover large footprints – a Crinos.  The scent trail continues in a meander, but generally NE. Just as they turn to send word to a caern, they see an Indian watching them.  When they go to talk to her, two other figures step out.  The new pack is following the killer, but the Mist Watchers don’t trust them.  Soon, it is clear that they are a pack of (oddly normal looking) Black Spiral Dancers hunting a packmate who went mad. Ranah, the pack leader, attempts to defuse the situation, suggesting that they can either fight each other, or band together to take out a mad Garou before he reaches Gatlinburg – “Because rending the veil is not in our interest any more than it is yours.”  Ranah will explain that Kervah quested to see too much of the Wyrm at once, and went mad.  What’s more, he picked up a Familiar who protects him.  

  They follow the trail, which leads to a shredded tent and a crushed body, but the trail is warmer.   As they travel, one of the Spirals gives their take on the business: Gaia is like a child caught in a messy divorce, except there are three parents.  They insist that the Weaver is the one they all should fight, for the Weaver is the one who upset the balance; the Wyrm is fighting back from a cage.

  Konna, a former Uktena,  says that she delved deeply into the lore of the world, and realized that if Grandfather Spider had not overstepped his bounds, the Triat might still be in harmony.  If he can’t be controlled, the best they can hope for is to end the world so that it may begin anew.  This has happened before, some say. . .  She calls Uktena a traitor, forsaking his master when he was most needed.

  Perilously close to Gatlinburg, they reach the monster: a Metis with enormous tusks protruding from a rat-like snout, and two curling black horns rising from its head. Ranah sends the Mist Watchers to deal with the spirit, which the barely manage to do.  They return to the material world to help finish off the mad Metis.  Sparnshog is dead, and the other two are somewhat wounded, while all of the Mist Watchers are mostly whole but spiritually exhausted.  Neither side decides to take advantage of the situation. Ranah will treat them respectfully, saying they should seek out the truth beyond their Elder’s lies, so that “next time we meet we will not be enemies.”  Walks-With-Uktena replies that they will enemies, but the Mistwatchers will take special pains to hunt down Konna. They leave the Spirals to bury their fallen.  

  The Mistwatchers head back to their caern and relate the story, getting in a good deal of trouble with the Elders for not being more careful in covering their tracks.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  

Game 18: "The Long Winter" 

Game date: Winter 2003

Real date:  8/3/04

Moon phase:

PCs: Mist Watchers

NPCs met:

Synopsis: Winter is relatively quiet; apart from patrols there isn’t much activity.  The pack decides some fetishes would be quite useful.

  Fire Hand finds a bear tooth and negotiates with a (sleepy) bear spirit to empower it.  The fetish will improve her healing abilities, but for one month in the winter she must keep it in a dark place. [L2, G6, +1 to all healing/2 successes]

  Walks-With-Uktena deals with a Kinfolk artist in Cherokee; in return for a blessing on his pregnant young wife, he puts an exquisite black snake tattoo on her left ankle.  She convinces a snake spirit to enter the tat, and he agrees to make her quicker; in return, one  noon every cycle of the moon she must cut herself with her uktena scale and let the blood drip on the tattoo. [+10 initiative for a scene if successfully activated]

  Falls Far carves a statuette of a pumonca and performs a rite of contrition for those wronged by the Garou.  He also intensively reads a number of books kept by the sept members, and learns many occult secrets.

Unanswered questions and loose ends: 

Game date:  4/2/03

Real date:  9/17/04

Moon phase: New (New on 1^st)

PCs: Mist Watchers

NPCs met:  Marty (from a distance)

  Vision: Mid March

The following day, the elders meet in a lodge.  In the afternoon, the Mistwatchers and the Red Creek Pack are sent for.  Charlie says that the Great Mother has sent him a vision.  A young man has been chosen by Her to be blessed.  The enemy may learn of this and do harm to him.  He is alone on the  Appalachian Trail , and must be protected so long as he is in the Uktena’s territory.  The Red Creeks should wait for him in the Nantahala NF, and the Mistwatchers at will take over between  Fontana Lake and the  Tennessee border. A pack from Qualla will take over past Newfound Gap.   They are not to be seen by the boy, but they must clear all danger from his path, secretly.  Charlie doesn’t know the boy’s name, but he’s white with blondish hair.  He has not yet been touched by Gaia, but it was a Garou who kindled the light in his eyes.  The Red Creek Pack leaves at once.

  Dreams: April 1

  At new moon, the pack has disturbing dreams, largely unremembered, but involving the earth screaming.  Falls-Far has another dream as well, with a clear memory of malevolent hunger.  He wakes with a stomach churning with fear.  They relate the dreams to Nancy, who says they are not along in dreaming of screaming earth last night; furthermore, at the last new moon she dreamed the same dream.  She is especially interested in Falls’ other dream.

  After a short briefing, Tsali’s pack leaves.  It gets progressively more foggy as day wears on.  Falls-Far takes up a position behind the boy (who, they eventually discover, is named Marty).  The other two are 50 or so yards ahead and 20 yards off the trail. Marty stops at one point and picks a fine arrowhead off the trail, which makes the group suspicious.  

  There are a few hikers, mostly headed northward.  Marty is in excellent shape, and makes good time.  He stops at one of the bear-proof shelters that dot the ridge every 7 or 8 miles and spends the night.  The three take up positions and guard until daybreak.  Rain falls heavy during the night, and continues to drizzle after dawn.  The hike continues all day, and when Marty finds a shelter filled with obnoxious Boy Scouts, he decides to press on to the next shelter.  Falls notices that the scoutmaster is keenly interested in the hiker, and after a meal he makes the troop pack up and head out.  The werewolves decide the leader is Wyrm tainted, so Walks-With-Uktena  jumps out in wolf form to distract the 8 Scouts while Falls and Fire-Hand make a grab for the scoutmaster.  He’s a fomori, with poisoned spurs on his elbows that leave Falls writhing on the ground.  It is soon apparent that all the scouts are similarly endowed, and disinclined to run.  The fight is over in moments, fortunately, with a few poisoned wounds and knife cuts to show for it.  The bodies are buried off the trail, and Walks convinces a nearby storm spirit to create a deluge.  The spirit readily agrees, provided Walks “enjoys it”.  She takes that to mean stripping down and suffering the icy downpour.  The blood and other evidence taken care of, they perform a Rite of Cleansing at dawn and catch up to the hiker.  Beyond Newfound Gap, they run into the five members of the Briar Falls Pack (totem: Wild Turkey) from Qualla; Walks has heard of them, an up-and-coming group of scouts.  After the transfer of duty, they may go on their way.  The bedraggled Mistwatchers trot through a morning’s snowfall toward home.

  Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What do the dreams mean?  Where did the fomori Scouts come from?  What is Marty’s fate to be?

Game 20: "Vision Quest" 

Game date: Mid March &  April 6, 2003

Real date:  9/18/04

Moon phase:

PCs: Walks-With-Uktena

NPCs met:

  Mentorship

Early March: Charlie finds Erishka and says that their auspice is sadly underrepresented in the sept.  He feels he has been amiss in teaching her, but he has been kept very busy, as White Chief, Master of the Challenge, and Truthcatcher all at once.  He asks if she will help him in his efforts, and in return he will teach her the path of the Half Moon.  Over the next few days she sits with Charlie, who tells teaching stories and presents difficult scenarios for her to analyze and pass judgment on.

  Vision Quest

Early April: Erishka asks to have a vision quest so she can get some insight into the strange dreams the sept is having.   Nancy agrees to guide her in the ceremony: She may start in the medicine lodge to be purified; she is naked and painted, smudged, and then washes in the stream. She is given a pipe, moccasins, a breechcloth, and a buffalo robe.  She is to climb a mountain.  That, and her medicine pouch (including the scale) are all she may take with her.  Once there, she is to create a circle with stones and line a bed with pine boughs.  She make smoke several times a day, and slowly and silently walk the circle twice at sunrise and twice at sunset.  Four days she must remain, with neither food nor water.

Unanswered questions and loose ends:  Though they have one clue, the question of the “screaming earth” dreams is still unresolved.

  The sept is hospitable. Ian Corrigan, the sept leader, knows how to tell tales and throw parties. The Mist Watchers are well-fed, and probably amazed by the talking and song and general gaiety to be found in the household.  

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   In the afternoon, Charlie takes Erishka to Seven Clans, where they meet in a lodge with a handful of other Half-Moons, young and old.  They talk for a while and nothing in particular, then they head out to howl at the moon.  The talk goes to midnight , and includes many lessons for the attentive younger Garou.  Just before dawn (sunrise 6:20 ), Charlie wakens Walks, and they perform a cleansing ritual. After a light breakfast, he says they must meditate.  It is probably a little after  9:00 when an elder Half Moon comes to them and says, “It is done.  The Gatekeeper stands ready for you.”  Charlie will sketch what has transpired today and why, and that they will be call upon to assist in the investigation.  

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Unanswered questions and loose ends:  What does the fetish do? Who is Jack, if not a werewolf?

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     River Run Storage is on the north side of Asheville. The self-storage compound consists of three long storage buildings surrounded by an 8’ chain link fence surmounted by razor wire.  The storeroom that the key fits is empty except for some empty wooden crates and a broken jar (the room reeks of alcohol). In the corner is an empty manila envelope, some broken money bands, and a business card for Smoky Mountain Futures; on the back, in black ink, are various figures and at the bottom: “20 gal”.

  Johnny O’Dell is one of the many singers and craftspeople lining the streets.  He plays country ballads and traditional folk songs, and tells mountain stories in between.  Walks is pretty sure he’s also Jack the Whistler and Jack Diamond, though he looks slightly different and dresses quite differently.  He does not admit to having met them before.  He listens to their story, and agrees that it sounds like one he heard up around, “Oh, I guess it was up just north o’ here, on  Honeycutt Mountain.”

   The sun is behind the mountains when the old truck rattles up  Honeycutt Rd.   They drive beyond the beer cans and trash piles to where the grass pokes up through the gravel.  The truck sputters and dies suddenly, so the Garou pick their way along the vanishing road.

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Unanswered questions and loose ends:  Who and what is Crun, and how is he related to Tala? What are they going to do with the Fetish, and what will the rest of the tribe think?

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  While in Cherokee, Erishka goes to the Cove to check on Tsali’s new outfit.  Rider Leather tans deer and other hides and makes clothes, bags, or other items from them.  Ella Rider is checking on Erishka’s order when her son, Nate, comes in.  Erishka recognizes him as the captain of the Yellow Hill team. Mrs. Rider proudly tells her customer about her son earning a Bronze Star in Afghanistan.  As Erishka is leaving, Nate follows her out and asks her to dinner.  Startled, she agrees.

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  In the predawn hours, the Mistwatchers creep to the heart of the caern, which Mary opens.  Fog wraps around each of them, sinking into their flesh and making them even more unobtrusive.

Walks-With-Uktena and Fire Hand attack Malinal’s captor, and Fire Hand saves the critically injured metis while Walks turns on another axe-wielder.  The two black spiral packs are no match for the onslaught of a dozen Gaian werewolves, and in less than a minute all are either dead or flee.  The War Moons cross into the Penumbra to help their fellows while the remaining victors police the area. In just a couple of minutes, the packs return.  The fight with numerous Banes and three Black Spirals left most wounded, but only one dead: Bluffs the Spirit of the Green Dart Pack.  Then Walks With Uktena notices that Laughing Shadow looks disoriented; her speech is slurred.  Walks shouts for the Tusk Ritual while Rises Red and Fire Hand carry the now convulsing form to the top of the ridge and away from the Taint.  Others frantically dig the hole for the tusk, but it’s too late;  in less than a minute, the New Moon lies in her death spasm in a circle of torn earth, vomit and excrement.

The Compact of the Mammoth

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