Subject: [GAROU] A howl of victory (barely)
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998
From: Roy F. Cabaniss

I am not a galliard.... My tongue has trouble telling tales. I will tell this tale as I remember it. Would a galliard of our Sept please put this tale into proper form to honor the heroism of those who fought.... and died. I was only where I was. And the tale is about far more than me.

The Sept of the Shining Springs has survived an attack. To put this into perspective.

Two weeks ago, Morgan Anderson, our Alpha sent a party to deal with a nuclear reactor. Eight Garou went, and when all was done the nuclear reactor was no more. It melted down. Four floors of the pentex facility were melted, but the bottom two were left. The water table was not contaminated, nor was the air. The plant's nuclear rods no longer had radioactivity in them.... The wyld spirit which inhabited the rods took a journey with some of us to the deep umbra until it found a place it liked to stay (the flux) and we walked back.

The Alpha of the Sept, had to go to California on business. Saturday, the 18th we gathered together. I appointed Gref to do the moot and he did a wonderful job, earning an ovation for his telling of the stories from both the garou and the spirits. When the moot finished we heard airplanes. We looked up and saw two airplanes flying towards us. The planes started spraying orange stuff..... I stopped one airplane and someone else stopped the other from spraying. As the planes stopped spraying another pair of airplanes came. Airplanes with four engines. They started spraying blue stuff which smelled of gasoline. The blue spray started burning, setting the woods on fire. We stopped those airplanes from flying correctly and they also stopped spraying..

A large part of the sept went into the umbra and we sent our den mother, cubs, and pregnant females away. About 8 of us were left in the material world.

Then they attacked....

The pentex humans, many of them. The fomori. BSD's. A chimp with four arms and silver axes in each. A giant... (21 feet tall with 29 physical traits). A crab scorpion with two tails. BSD's with green fur. 20 or more of them. I went to the left to try and flank the attackers and get to the leader on the hill. I went around the hill and saw more pentex reinforcements coming. I saw Gref Bridges on the left flank of our forces fighting against a squad of five including the four-armed one and the giant. I charged in and fought, (healing Gref as I could) killing a BSD, and wounding the giant severly, but Gref was hit by the four-armed one and went down.... dead. They all then attacked me, wounding me much and I slipped sideways into the Umbra.

In the Umbra, I saw what was left of those who had gone there and learned that Hrothgar (my friend, the Get theurge) and Alias (a Stargazer new to the sept) had died. I was mothers touched and went back to the material to join the fight. I came back and led the retreat, pulling our forces out of direct contact with the foe. Coming out to the umbra at a different place, just in time to save Hacks with Abandon and Alias Redrover who fell from their wounds. We retreated into the umbra and came out nearer the caern.

Came the pause in the battle... I sent three to gather what weapons they could from the Alpha's house on the bawn. Morgan Anderson liked .22 caliber pistols and rifles. It is a good thing I had a shotgun in my truck. We will talk with him about his choice of weaponry but we now have a large selection of assault rifles and silver bladed axes to pick from.

The decision.. To leave and stay alive.. Or to stay, possibly to die defending the caern. I am beta, but I am also Lakota..... I answered those who gave me council, as my ancestor did in his day and time.... "It is a good day to die." And took a weapon. We settled down behind my sweat lodge and used it as cover. The pentex attackers came. We shot, they shot and the fight began in earnest. I healed Screams Mothers Rage and Eric Hermes as they got wounded and someone (I did not see who) did the same for me. The giant broke my sweat lodge and I blew his head clean off..... finally. We were hitting on that sucker forever. I shall have to rebuild my sweat and rededicate the darned thing again. Forge fought valiantly and well deserves the role of battlelord. Everyone of our sept fought till they had no more to fight with, then fought some more. Hacks killed the scorpion thing and joined in our fight. We killed all those who had ventured onto the near bawn and I heard someone behind us howl the Howl of Retreat. I am beta, the alpha was not here, we had just killed all the ones on the near bawn and there were few on the near hill and Forge was already running up the hill at the small group of Pentex on it.

I commanded to follow Forge. Whoever was howling that howl was not in the fight. (I later found out who howled the howl and why. There is no scandal, they did what they thought was right.) and we had the opportunity to throw them off the bawn. We came up and killed the small group that was left. Then retreated back to the sweat. Then we saw the Pentex reinforcements... On the hill, new troops and many of them. We could hear them arguing. A shot rang out and they covered each other as they retreated. They left.

Of those who stayed behind and fought. I know of not a single person who had rage left except Forge, who had FAR more than 1 left. Or any willpower at all left. Or any Gnosis. All were wounded. All were hurt. The caern was not violated. The agent orange and napalm did not make it to the caern and barely made it onto the bawn. I am proud of our sept.

I do not have any influences. And the only glasswalker in our sept who does have any is on spirit quest and unavailable. If someone from the garou nation can use their influences to help establish where the caern attackers were staged out of and stayed at it would be appreciated.

We have been hit hard. We struck back harder.

The Shining Spring still Shines. The caern was defended.

I can tell no more. I am tired. As tired as I have ever been.

Honor the fallen.
Hrothgar (Get theurge and my friend, who walked with me from the deep umbra.)
Walks in the Wind (Warder of the Sept of the Shining Springs)
Gref Bridges Glasswalker galliard another who walked with me from the deep umbra and one who made me laugh)

--

Sid Binder Fostern, Homid, Stargazer
Beta, Ritesmaster, Sept of the Shining Springs
Alpha for the Pack of the Hidden Paths