From: Generator Tragedy of the BSD's as told by Fenrir I spent the day after Galahad's death hunting. My heart was still heavy with our failure and so I used the time alone to clear my head. I came back to the caern that evening to find Marcos and Ulf sitting by the camp fire. Ulf was in fiery narration of a tale. I went over to listen and find solace in one of his stories. I lied down in the heat of the flame and listened as he told a tale of great glory. It was a fascinating story but I was not as drawn in as I had been before. I had to wonder if there was another side to this story also. I found myself drifting off to sleep encircled by the warmth of the fire, Ulf's words, and my satiated stomach. A dream startled me awake. I found Brent had joined us. Ulf had begun another story. "This is the story of a very brave garou who even as a young pup slayed a nexus crawler singlehandedly." I was impressed and stretched out my lupine form getting into a more comfortable listening posture. "His lineage goes back very far and he has made his ancestors very proud of him. In return he carries his great great great grandfathers sword which has been bloodied in many a great battle," Ulf continued. "Eric has distinguished..." I snarled at his mention of the foul Eric. Brent who had been drifting off to sleep almost fell off the rock he was sitting on at my sudden outburst. Marcos tensed at the disclosure of the name looking at Ulf with fiery eyes. Even Ulf was startled by the interruption and paused his story. We all just sat there for an instant in silence. Finally I growled, "Choose another story, we are not interested in hearing of Eric." "He is a great and noble leader who has proven himself in glorious victory many times in the past. I thought you would like to hear of his previous triumphs. As yesterday just adds to his fine list of accomplishments," Ulf countered. "Ha, he's a two-faced lying jackass who will step on anyone and do anything for power!" Brent snapped. "The madness of his inbred pureness has taken him and he can no longer see beyond his nose," said Marcos. I spat in conclusion, "His renown may have been well-gained, but yesterday he showed only closeminded arrogance. The only honor and glory was of those slaughtered Black Spiral Dancers." "The Black Spiral Dancers? You're kidding, right, Fenrir?" "No," I replied. Marcos elaborated, "They wanted peace." "Hold on. Is this why you ran out in front of Eric at the start of the battle, Fenrir? I had heard the rumor because there are a few Silver Fangs and Get of Fenris who are quite pissed off at you, but I just figured it was a mistake in the heat of battle," said Ulf. "It was no mistake. I was trying to stop Eric from making such a grave mistake," I sighed in remembrance. "We hadn't been able to convince him otherwise, so I did it in desperation. I'm not even sure what I hoped to accomplish." "They wanted peace? How did you know that? The Dancers are wyrm-corrupted, and have been for a very long time. It seems a bit far fetched that these particular ones did not deserve to die," Ulf returned. Marcos countered, "Ask anyone who watched the battle. The Dancers never even lifted a finger in their own defense. They stood stock still, because they wanted peace." Ulf reconsidered for a moment, "Well, ok. But how was it that you knew all this and the leaders did not?" "They did know and the deaths are their fault. None of them could risk challenging Eric and we could not convince him," I quietly growled. "But how did you know that the Dancers were honorable and wanted peace?" Ulf questioned. "We had gone into the pit and spoken with Galahad who was now their leader," Marcos added helpfully. "What?? I'm getting confused. Why don't we start at the beginning?" "I will tell you," I said. We all moved closer into a more intimate circle. "We had been sent out to find more information about the pit. Our paths had led us to a small cave where Michael Jackson, a Black Spiral Dancer, lay dying. Before he died we learned that he had been the leader of the Dancers but a new Dancer of the Spiral, the Bright One had taken over. His description of the Bright One matched our packmate, Galahad..." "Wait, the albino mule that stood in the center of the Dancers was your packmate?" Ulf interrupted. "Yes, that was Galahad. He had been injured fighting a war bane with us. One day while he was still recovering he just up and left the caern without a word. His tracks were followed right up to the edge of the pit and we were told to assume he was dead. He hated the wyrm and especially the Black Spiral Dancers so we all thought his heart had taken him to do battle. However, with this news that he was alive I was more puzzled. We also learned that he was teaching the Dancers many new ideas. When we got back to the caern we reported to Adianna all that had transpired. She insisted that Galahad had been corrupted by the wyrm and was now lost to us. I could not believe that my friend and packmate had been corrupted and I wanted to believe that he knew what he was doing. I suggested that we go speak with Galahad to find out whether he was now truly gone, but Adianna insisted that there was no point. She also ordered us not to speak a word of Galahad, because it would demoralize the sept to know that our own garou were being tainted. Our report ended suddenly when the caern was attacked by a thunder worm and a hord of wyrm spawn creatures. This is where you lost your memory, Marcos. The last I had seen you you were fighting the thunder worm. I next saw you in the infirmary where you had been broughtby some kinfolk who had found you in the forest. After the battle I was very disturbed by what had happened. After some thought I realized that there had been no Dancers in the attack. These creatures had clearly come from the Pit, but no Dancers were among them. This furthered my hope that the Bright One was not lost to us. My instinct told me to go speak with my former packmate to understand this puzzle. I did not know if I could join in the battle against the Pit with this doubt in me. So I went to speak to Adianna again, this time alone. I was ashamed of my doubts and I told her. I offered to go into the Pit to find out more information. I thought that any new knowledge of the Pit and what we were fighting would be useful to the war party that would be heading out very soon, as the Moot was scheduled for that very evening. And I hoped that I would be able to stop the questions that gnawed my instinct and weakened my heart to the fight against the wyrm. Adianna forbid me to go, because she said it would be suicide and we needed all the numbers we could gather for the war party. I pained over my decision, but I did not think I could fight without knowing more. So I decided to go into the pit." "Even after an elder forbid you?" Ulf questioned. "Yes, my instinct was driving me and I didn't have the strength to deny it. However, before I left Adianna's cabin she had said that she didn't want to know if I went. This also left me a little confused. It sounded like a homid expression that I should go, but she couldn't know about it. I wanted desperately to ask someone, but there was no one that I could turn to..." "Hey, what about Marcos and I, your packmates?" Brent said indignantly. "That is why I gathered you both in the cabin before I left. I had meant to tell you. But I realized that this was something that I had to do alone. Brent, you had never even met Galahad and after your trip into town I did not know what was going with you. Marcos, friend, you had been acting very strangely since your battle with the thunder worm and Ulf's stories had made you too Ahroun for a peaceful mission. You seemed too ready to purge the wyrm when I wanted to speak with the Bright One and not risk a battle..." "You didn't trust us," Marcos answered. "No, I trust you with my life, but this was my own spirit that was failing me. I also realized that one garou would not be a great threat, but more might cause a stir though not be enough to defend ourselves anyway. And as Adianna had warned it was probably suicide and I could not ask either of you to follow me in my hunt to satisfy my questions and settle my doubts. And had I asked you would have insisted on going or barred me from going." "Damn right! It was foolhardy of you to go alone, even if it did work out!" Marcos admonished as he stood up. "You could have been killed!" "You're supposed to trust your packmates with everything!" reprimands Brent and joins Marcos. "Isn't that what you have always taught us about how packs work? You don't even follow it yourself!" I cowered down in a submissive posture. "I'm sorry. When I decided to go I put my trust in Gaia and my former packmate, Galahad." "Everyone, sit back down!" commanded Ulf. Marcos and I quickly submitted to his authority and Brent slowly sat back down. "Sometimes we must do what our spirit prompts in us despite everything. Every good garou will be faced with dilemmas at times during his life and must make his resolution courageously and without regret. Now, stop bickering! I want to hear the rest of the story!" We all quieted down. I padded out a circle to again make myself comfortable to continue. Brent got up to put another another log on the fire. I realized that it had gotten quite late and many of the camp activities of earlier had wound down. Though I saw a number of small gatherings of celebrating garou who were making a good bit of noise in their revelry. They were mostly comprised of Silver Fangs and Get of Fenris enjoying the victory. A couple of them cast us scornful looks and growled in our direction, but none made the effort to challenge us. I looked back at the fire. I continued, "I had not wanted to miss the War Moot that evening so I braced my spirit to gather my strength for a run to the Pit. I ran hard all the way to the Pit thinking about what I would do when I got there. I decided that sneaking around would not help their trust in me and my peaceful intentions. I also did not have faith in my ability to find my way through the maze in the Pit of which I had heard the legends. Already two entire warrior packs had been lost in this Pit. I did not look forward to running into a thunder worm or other creature which inhabit the Pit. When I entered their territory I howled an introduction to alert them that I was there. I hoped that they were honorable. As I got close to the clearing around the entrance to the Pit I met some wyrm-spawned guards. I half expected to be attacked right there, but I was determined not attack them first because of my own fear. I stood there nervously as they watched me from afar and spoke among themselves. Neither of us knew quite what to do, so I explained to them that I was here to speak with the Bright One and I meant no harm. They again spoke amongst themselves and kept watching me. I wasn't even sure they understood me. Finally, after we had watched each other for a few minutes I slowly started walking in towards the entrance. I had hoped to find someone with whom I could speak to lead me through the tunnels, but I couldn't get these guards to understand. I breathed deeply to steady my nerves as I walked into the Pit. I noticed that two of the guards had followed me at a safe distance. I noticed a lot of markings on the walls which I now know from Walker are an ancient language called Pictish. The symbols showed the way through the maze, though I did not know that then. As I came to the first fork I looked down both paths. One wrong decision and it was all for nothing. I did not like that. All the horrors that might happen here in the Pit flashed through my head. I realized that if I wanted to find my way through that I would need to have faith and hand over my trust. I looked back at the two wyrm-spawned guards with a questioning glance. One of them finally pointed out a tunnel. I followed its direction." I looked over at Ulf who was watching me with a cross between shocked horror and awe. I resumed without pause, "I walked for more than an hour winding my way through the maze with the aid of the guards. A few times I thought my knees would buckle from fear and I would bolt, but I managed to stay on my course. Finally, we emerged into a huge cavern. I didn't think something so big could exist underground. The rocks had molded themselves into buildings as if it had been a natural progression. The size of the room dwarfed this caern. I stood there in awe a moment just looking out over this huge underground city. I soon noticed that there was only a small population compared with the space of the city or there were not very many were around right now. I started wandering down into the city. It was much too large to search quickly, so again I asked the guards if they knew where the Bright One was. They pointed out a passageway leading down yet farther. I came out into a smaller but still large cavern and started following the main path to the center. I came within view of some Black Spiral Dancers who seemed to barely notice me. So I kept walking. In the center of the cavern I came upon a large carved obilisk. I assume it was their caern. I was at the cross of four roads so I asked the way and then walked around the caern carefully as I did not want them to think I meant it harm." "That's strange. From all I've heard Black Spiral Dancers use pits and so the name, not caerns as we garou do," Ulf mentioned. "They also had a pit. I think the caern was some part of the Bright One's plan. When we entered the pit after the battle it was gone. Not destroyed, just missing. I don't know what it means," I replied. "A mystery." "I followed the road to its end where I found a modest house. I could smell that the Bright One had been here. I tried knocking at the door and then entered when there was no answer. I could tell that he had been here recently. The guards had brought me to his house, but he was not here. I did not want to wait as I was already jumping out of my skin by being here. So I again started searching the city. I finally found another Black Spiral Dancer. I slowly approached him. When he noticed me, he almost seemed frightened. I asked him where I might find the Bright One. He was clearly confused by my question, but seeing the guards behind me he said he thought that the Bright One could be found by the well. I asked him where that was and followed his directions. I came to a closed door at which I knocked. Again I received no answer so I slowly opened it. The two guards made no effort to follow me into the adjoining room." "They didn't follow you in?" asked Brent. "No. I don't know what it was about this place, but they did not enter and just stood outside. It was a small room with a fire in the center. It was a very strange fire of green flame coming out of a hole. The fire gave off no heat and cast a green glow across all. Beside it lay Galahad. I watched him for a while before finally going over and waking him. He was quite surprised to see me. When he had fully awakened and shook off the shock of seeing me he asked me what I was doing here. I explained to him that I wanted to know what was going on and that I came in peace to ask my former packmate what he was doing. He warned me that I shouldn't have come, but he patiently answered my questions. He said that he had had a vision from his ancestor, the last White Howler, that he should try to guide the Black Spiral Dancers back to their path. Galahad, the Bright One, said that after he danced the spiral he realized that the Black Spiral Dancers were just misinterpretting what they were seeing. Their true path was serving the Wyrm of Balance but over the years that had been lost, but he thought that they could be brought back. He was trying to show them the way back and to revive the lost White Howlers. He thought that he was making progress. He spoke very plainly to me, I do not think he lost his mind by dancing the spiral. His words were true." "He did not have an aura of wyrm?" "No. I did not even check because he spoke so plainly." "Oh, so you tested him with the Truth of Gaia," Ulf further questioned as he curled his legs under him in the cool night air. "No. I had no reason. He showed no signs of trying to deceive me, and I trusted my former packmate, as I had trusted all those who had helped me find him without assault. I did question him why the wyrm-spawn creatures had attacked the caern. He replied that he could not control all of the wyrm's creatures but that he had forbid the Black Spiral Dancers to attack. I told him that he and the other Black Spiral Dancers were not safe here because the Garou would not let this pit remain. He knew that, but he said he was waiting for a sign of what to do. I questioned him about what the sign was and what he would do once he found it, but he couldn't answer any of the questions. He insisted that he would know when the time came. I still do not know what the sign was. We eventually stopped talking. He said that I should stay no longer, because I did not belong here. I asked him if there was anything I could do and he just shrugged. He just wanted me to leave. He told the guards to lead me out and so I left. When I arrived back at the caern the War Moot was long over. I went straight to Adianna to give her the news even though she was not pleased with my going. I told her the whole story and all that I had learned. She was clearly troubled, but dismissed me to go find my pack because they had headed to the pit to find me. I had given the news to an elder and there was not much else I could do so I left. I caught up to you all and told you all that had happened. I only hoped there was a way to give the Bright One enough time to find his sign. We all continued on, but we were moving far too slowly to make it to the Pit much before the War Party which would be leaving soon. I was so tired from all my running that I finally could not go on. So I rested and we eventually got a ride with Jennifer." Grinning, Brent jibed in, "Yeah, eventually is right! Uufff..." as Marcos elbowed him in the ribs and gave him an evil eye. I smiled and continued, "After we helped Jennifer set up her supplies, we asked Walker what we should do next. He decided that we should investigate what was going on at the Pit, so we all started that way. I did as I had done before and announced my presence when we entered the territory around the Pit. This time there were no guards around. We then heard a thumping noise coming from within the Pit. There was no rhythm to it and none of us recognized the sound, but clearly something was happening. After a short discussion we decided that Brent should go back to the camp so that he could explain to Jennifer or Adianna when she arrived where we had gone. Walker, Marcos, and I headed into the Pit. This was when Walker explained to us that the markings were actually ancient pictogram signs that showed the path through the Pit. We learned what the main ones meant and followed them back into the Center. I felt much better this time having my packmates with me. Once we entered the city we followed the strange thumping noise down the passageway that I had followed earlier to find the Bright One. As we walked down the road towards the center we saw the cause of the noise. The Black Spiral Dancers were busy chopping large logs into spiked poles. Littering the ground around them were the bodies of the wyrm-spawned guards. They were just strewn about as if just dropped there. When the Bright One noticed us he became somewhat angry at our presence. He chastised me for coming back. He needed to be left alone to finish his work. We asked whether he had seen the sign and he said that it had come. He would not elaborate on what it was just that he now knew what he must do. We warned him that the war party was coming and he said he knew. He said that he planned to meet them with open arms to talk of peace. We tried to explain that we didn't know what their reaction would be, but he insisted that he must do this.I pleaded with him for a way that we might help his efforts, but he said that there was nothing that we could do. He was going to go out to meet the Garou to talk of peace despite what might happen. And then he said that we needed to leave. We left the Bright One and the Black Spiral Dancers to their work. We arrived back at the camp to find that the War Party had arrived. Walker went to find Adianna to convince her to not attack before they listened to what the Black Spiral Dancers had to say. I followed along with Marcos. We found Adianna talking with a number of other Garou. When she saw us she thoroughly reprimanded us for entering the Pit again. I was surprised by her reaction, because I thought that she would appreciate the additional information especially once we told her the news of the White Howlers. However, before we could explain ourselves and give the promising news, Eric introduced himself with a threat that the wyrm must to die with no exception. Walker spent a long time trying to convince him to be open minded to the possibility, but it did no good. Eric would not listen and he was going to attack the Pit with all his effort. We finally left when we realized that there was nothing we could say to make him see. I hoped that we had made an impression on the other elders around and they could help stop the attack. We all went to sleep so we could arrive at the Pit before the war party. I was desperate to find a way to stop Eric and let the Bright One have his time to speak. Walker had said that there might still be a way to stall Eric's attack so that he would have to listen. And I could only put my hope in that. The next morning we arrived at the clearing around the Pit to find the Bright One and the Black Spiral Dancers standing calmly at the entrance to the Pit with the staked bodies of the wyrm-spawned guards that they had killed around them. They had no weapons that I could see and they were just standing there waiting. Walker said he did not know what might happen if he tried what he wanted to try and force Eric to listen so we all expressed our intention to stand by him no matter what. As we waited by the edge of the Pit, the war party amassed. I could see Eric, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust, organizing his packs. I was very nervous as we all were. I kept looking to Walker to see when he would make his move. All of a sudden I saw Eric raise his arm to attack. I couldn't let it happen and I found myself running out to stop him. I don't know what I was thinking. I just did. He is a formidable warrior even if he was wrong. And he did away with me in a single swing of that long historied sword. I did not awake until long after the damage had been wrought." I dipped my head slightly in remembrance. My paw came up to lightly touch the large scar across my muzzle. There was a silence across the camp as all the revelry had ended for the night. I finished "That is the story that I will remember of Eric." "But if so many knew of this why did no one besides you all come to the defense of the Black Spiral Dancers? I find it hard to believe that if what you say is true it would have been allowed to happen." Ulf questioned. "After I awoke I found myself by a small group of elders from some of the tribes. I learned that they had stood beside the scene and had watched it all happen. It seems that they had not agreed with Eric's actions but each of them had their own reasons for not openly challenging the Silver Fang King and leader of this battle. In this group were the Black Furies, Children of Gaia, Glass Walkers, Silent Striders, and Stargazers. I am ashamed that this could happen, but do not think it occurred with all their approval," I growled with regret and anger. I stood up quickly with the strong emotions knotted in my shoulders. As the pained tension recessed, I stretched my legs. "We did what we could," Marcos offered. "No, we failed the Bright One, the White Howlers, and ourselves. And our leaders did nothing. I will remember this always," I replied. Marcos bowed his head in silent agreement. "I will think hard on what you have told here. A great tragedy has occured here. And the Garou would be wise to consider this carefully. The Apocalypse is coming and we only strengthen it with deeds like this." Ulf responded. "I would be honored if you would grant me this story to tell to those who would listen." "It isn't our story to give it is that of that Bright One. But I think that he would desire it to be told so that perhaps if we are granted a second chance to welcome back our brothers that we will not be so pigheaded as to throw the opportunity away again," Marcos acceded. I lied down in front of the fire and watched the dying embers. I had nothing more to say. I was tired physically and mentally and I drifted off to sleep. The others also fell asleep in the cool night air next to warm glow. We awoke the next morn and went off to get on with our daily activities.