As the September gathering draws to a close...

...the Bonegnawers drag themselves back to the meeting, accompanied by Ol' Frank. They look like they've been through hell. All of them are battered, bruised, and torn; some have what looks like caustic burns. Particularly perceptive observers may also notice that every one of them is missing the little finger of his left hand. There's no wound; it's as if there was never a finger there at all. Moods vary; Wishbone, at least, looks badly shaken.

Once the group has had a chance to recover somewhat, Wishbone begins to speak--mainly to the Alpha and other Elders, as is proper, but he's not trying to keep it secret from the rest of the Sept.

"We went looking for our missing brothers," he says. "The Bonegnawer pack that vanished. We picked up their scent and followed it to Zoar Valley, which is what we expected. It led to the Caern there, just like the other pack. What we didn't expect was to pick up the scent again farther down the valley.

We followed it to a thicket that smelled of the Wyrm, and to an outcropping of black rock. We dug under the rock and discovered that someone had used the spot as a dumping ground for toxic waste." He grimaces at the memory. "Toxic waste, and at least one human. It amazes me how humans can do that. Every dog knows not to crap where you have to live, but humans crap all over the planet."

"We cleansed the wastes as well as we could. Underneath was a hole leading down. I think..." He hesitates, searching for the words to convey the experience. "Acts like that...they wound Gaia. I think what the humans did there was enough to open a hole into the realms of the Wyrm. A tear. That's what we went into." He holds up a hand to forestall the objections. "Yeah, I know it sounds insane, but our brothers were in there. One thing about 'Gnawers...we may not be pretty, we many not smell very good, but we never turn our backs on a brother. Ever."

"It was like crawling up the Wyrm's ass. Pipe had to dig his way in, and the tunnel was lined with jagged pieces of rock like glass. When we got far enough in, we found...it." Wishbone obviously and visibly struggles to describe what he saw, and literally cannot do it. "The Unnameable. It had the old pack's Philodox, Chases Cars, hung up on hooks, and it was...torturing him. Warping his flesh, making it devour itself and then regrow." He shudders. "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. A clean kill, yes. Not that."

He nods at Sewer Pipe. "Pipe knew what to do. I sometimes think he sees things the clearest of any of us. He didn't hesitate for a second. There was no way we could walk away and leave any Garou like that, and we sure as hell weren't going to leave Chases Cars. Pipe took the thing on, while Bob went to get Cars off the hooks." He holds up his nine-fingered hand. "It did this. It...unspoke part of our existence. If we'd let it go on speaking, we would have ceased to exist. I shut it up...I'm frankly amazed it worked. I've never tried to command anything that strong and that twisted before."

"Bob got Cars, and the wind spirit I'd recruited did his job--he shot us back up the tunnel and out. If you've ever wanted to know what it feels like to be shot out of the barrel of a shotgun lined with obsidian, I think we have a pretty good idea now. I don't recommend it."

"Now: this isn't over, not yet. We need to seal the hole, and I'm not easy in my mind about just sending in Kinfolk with cement. That thing could come up the hole a lot easier than we did. I wish we could seal the REAL hole--the hole into the Umbra--but I don't know how to do that. We're gonna need as many people as we can get who know how to do a Cleansing, too. The site needs to be cleansed, and I think every one of us who came out needs to be cleansed, probably repeatedly."

"I'm gonna be looking after Chases Cars...he's a mess, and I don't know how much he's going to recover. He says his whole pack got sucked down into the darkness when they got near the Zoar Valley caern...he was near the back, so he was able to claw his way up. That's how he got to where we found him. I'm not absolutely sure, but I'd say they fell through a bigger rift into the deep Umbra, and he came up where he did because it happened to be the nearest smaller rift. Judging by what was on THIS side, I don't even want to THINK about where the rest of the pack is now."

"Alpha, when you need me, I'll be at the junkyard on Seneca. Look for the cardboard box with the big cartoon dog on the side." He looks around. "I'm not gonna kid any of you...we kicked over a wasp's nest, and the wasps are gonna be in a stinging mood. I think it'd be a real good idea if NOBODY went ANYWHERE alone for a while." He looks at the other Gnawers. "Anyone willing to help me guard Cars?"

Brendan, who is clearly not entirely with it, still mananges to follow the tale. It even seems to bring him back to reality somewhat, now with the look of one composing a song.

He shakes his head to clear out the cobwebs.

Looks over to Sothes the Soul and Aleta Selk.... If Its Ok to be leavin the pups with you two for a day or so..... I will help guard and watch over Chases Cars

*Nods to Works-For-Food*

*raises finger on one of his hands, and looks oddly at a space where another finger used to be then speaks anyway. He is covered in slices and gashes that seem to be healing rather quickly and some other caustic burns that aren't.*

'Bob job? Not extraction. Hero he, different way. I fought, (Insert Nate's PC's Name) Saved... Bob? He guard. Deeper hole, spiral entrance, by himself. To hold, to stay, buy time, for extraction. Me... I survived. I cut, and sliced, clawed enemy, Saw deep... Saw Heart, of darkness, of evil. and it was laughing, inviting me, welcoming me, 'Hail Brother.'

Pipe.... vacation. personal time. be back.... some day.

*Pipe leaves. he move swiftly, like he is being chased...*

"I can help cleansing the rip. We need weavers spirits to stop up the rip, maybe fix, maybe just block. I only know small spirits but maybe one will know a bigger spirit. Any Glasswalker's know a good spirit?"

Assuming no one speaks up SiD (Sees in Darkness) starts trotting off towards the nearest road.

"Thanks, Pipe. I was glad to help. If nothing else, it'd be messed up if this was an all-Bone Gnawer trip. Everyone should pull together, no matter what your tribe, ya know?"

"And that was a hell of a fight. A smart one, too. Maybe it's my auspice talkin', but if everyone had just jumped on the N...*cough cough*... the Na...*cough cough*... jumped on that thing, we might have all ended up staying down there. But when a wolf pack takes down an elk, they don't all just charge the antlers, right? One snaps at the elk's face, two nip at the flanks, and one tears out the hamstring. At least that's what I heard from the good folks at Mutual of Omaha. What I'm saying is, we stayed disciplined, used good pack tactics, and got the job done. Fight smarter, not harder, is my thinking."

"Sadly, though I'm a GW, I don't know any handy spirits. I did give a phone call to my brother-from-another-mother, the Garou tied for Number One Best Ragabash, and he was showing up with a bunch of gravel and concrete. Later we might want to get a spirit on it, that or a bunch of shovels. Hell, can I get two or three brothers to grab shovels and help me? I'm not afraid of a little hard work, and three or four glabro should be able to move a freakin' ton of dirt in six hours, without being as obvious about it as a backhoe would be. We toss in a bunch of dirt to fill the surface cave, Rite of Cleansing the place, throw down some grass seed, and it'll be right as rain when the plants sprout in the spring."

"World not work that way. Umbra is Earth, Earth is Umbra. Fix on only one side wrym will seep back, weaker maybe but still there. Fix on both sides for real change to happen. Your fight sounds impressive, battle against powerful agent of destruction but I did not hear that the wyrm thing died. If powerful destruction is on one side of the gauntlet it will be felt on the other unless we stop it."

We did not kill it. We got our tribe mate and got out of there. It will take more than what we had there to kill it.

Well it be like my Old Nana said about the Boy and da Candy Jar.... The boy done stuck his hand in the Jar and grabbed the biggest hand full of Candy he could grasp.... and when he tried to with drawl his Hand from that ol candy jar why his hand done got stuck. So the boy was a hollerin and a whalin away in tears because he couldnt get his hand full of candy out of that their Jar.

I be a thinking our plan to go in and Grabs Chases Cars and be a doin as much damage as we could be a doin on our way out was a good one. Seems that thier.... *hmmm* well it was ugly but it whispered part of my Name I dont rightly remember ameeting anything like that before and my Finger and everyone else done falled off ?

It would have been plum foolish to habe gotten our paws stuck in that cookie jar. Because if'n We all hadnt a come back then Ya'll would a be a wondering what happened to a third pack. So know we got some information to work with.

SiD cocks his head to one side as Works for Food speaks.



"Who said you should not have come home? Coming home is good. Bringing lost Garou home is better. Sealing up the rip now that he is home is best. Also why did the child not break the jar and take the candy in his mouth. Candy in the mouth is worth two in the hand."

The Kid a be one of those lessons hidden in a story. I thinks they a be called parabells. Anyway to make a short story even shorter the lesson you is to be a learn'n is not to grab more then you can take. That a bein too greedy can cost you everthin. *smiles sadly*

Well enough stories fer t'day got stuff to collect and thin' ta do.