THE KEEPERS OF LIGHT by Arjan Ubert This sept of garou has been around since before the times of Arthur, and have been keeping the Crystal Cave as their caern. The location of this cavern is unknown but rumor has it that an entire labyrinth of caves and caverns lie beneath the surface of Sherwood Forest, even stretching into the near Umbra realm of Lyonesse, and the Hell-like Black City of Marble. How the Garou eventually stumbled on to this powerful caern is yet again covered with a veil of mystery. Ancient songs claim that after a hunting party of some unmentioned sept was almost entirely slain by a Fallen Angel, the four remaining werewolves fled in panic. They discovered a part of the forest which they had never seen before. The air was crisp and clean and stars twinkled through the many leaves of the trees. The Fallen One was somehow unable to follow them into these mysterious woods, and the tale tells nothing further of this fiend. Heavily wounded the four garou stumbled through the woods in search of something familiar, but found nothing. One wolf died during the following night and his comrades heavy under their grief decided to bury him at the first sight of the dawn. But the dawn never came instead the air grew heavy with clouds and it started to rain. The darkness lasted for six days, one day for each fallen garou. The blood of the dead wolf was washed down the rocks on which they had rested, and made a stream of water and blood, which pointed with a straight line further into the woods. What happened to the dead wolf is unclear, some poets claim he's been consumed in the dirt, other sources say that some unmentioned entity came for him. Awestruck by the religious meaning of the mix of the tears of Gaia and the blood of their companion the wolves started to walk into darkness and felt the presence of ancient evil and also the source of immense power. An entrance to a cavern system appeared before them and they started to descend into Gaia's arteries, where the remnants of an ancient civilization were buried, lighted with black candles and build in black marble. The caverns were unholy in every way. In the rest of the tale this city is referred to as the Black City of Marble. Disgusted at the very sight of this wyrm city, the three grew fearful, indeed.. The stream of blood washed past their feet right into the heart of darkness, where the great temple stood, guarded by a statue of an Angel with bat-like wings. The statue, made entirely out of shining black amethyst, stood three meters high and looked down on the Three from a two meter high pedestal. There was an eroded brass sign on the pedestal which read: THE WAY TO LIGHT IS THROUGH THE DARKNESS. The light in the cavern seemed to lessen in intensity and those other blasphemous statues seemed to turn their heads slightly. The thickened air was filling with choirs of angels and the sound of an ancient and seemingly very significant battle, the statues seemed to notice the same battle and were ready to join in this darkness filled battle. The terrible cries of angels and the screams of their adversaries swiped through the cavern like ethereal images of ancient Gods. But what ancient battle can be fought here in ethereal imagery, one which had a tremendous impact on gaian society. The historical significance of the screams an the hellish ambiance of the cavern could only lead to one of the most mythical battles ever fought. The Three could not even begin to describe the thoughts they had dancing through their heads, but when an beam of light lighted the eyes of one of the statues, the Three trembled at their discovery.... The battle could only be the One....The Luciferian Revolution!!!! The revolution which had created the most powerful avatar of Ialdabaoth: Lord Lucifer, the Satan. The Three had discovered the source of power which was connected to the Battle of Souls. The struggle which resulted in the construction of Hell. Ancient stories from Sumeria revered to Black City of Marble as: "the main gateway to The Place of Torment, the place where souls were taken to after mortals sold them to the Demons, where hellfire lit the black sky and the cries of the 666 legions filled the air". One building the Three recognized immediately : The Hall of the Fallen Ones, the central temple which stood in the middle of the cavern. A statue of a Fallen Angel with a flaming sword was placed at the highest point on the roof of the temple an pointed with his sword towards the sky. The horror of being inside the gateway to Hell was immense but the place was completely deserted, it looked like nobody has been here for centuries! What could have happened here ? The sounds in the caved faded out ounce more and the silence of the cave filled yet again the air. The three walked slowly across the cave in search for a way out, and observed their surroundings carefully. Old swords and rusted shields were scattered across the cave, inscribed with strange letters of a language long forgotten. Several chains were nailed to some rocks with black candle s surrounding it, the light from the candles gave a purple like hue to the chains. Blinded by rage the three stormed straight ahead into the hall in which the found several doorways, one leading to clay tablet on which the Crystal cave was marked as the most holy place in England. In a blind frenzy the three smashed the tablet the against the floor and somehow opened a gate way to the forest above. Here they found that the woods were in daylight again and saw the entrance to the Crystal Cavern, where the Tomes of the Lyonesse were hidden. The three made this their caern and were never again to return to the Black City of Marble. And so the tale ends... In their attempt to protect sleepers from the horrors of the Black City of Marble the Crystal Dancers needed a link to the outside, so that they could protect the gateway to this hellish realm, preferably someone at the throne of the ruling king........ Story hooks: What happened to the Fallen Ones inside the Black City of Marble? Rumors say that there is an outside of the cavern, an desolated landscape of fear... What can be found inside the Temple, perhaps documents about the origin of angels... So.... where is Hell ?? Is this the same place as R'Leyh, the tomb city of Cthulhu?