Rest & Recovery

The next two days your informal pack finds themselves being relegated to positions of learning cubs, a welcome change after your harrowing adventures in The Springs. You spend the early mornings being sent off in lupus form to hunt. With winter just beginning to give way to spring, you find plentiful game roaming through the area of melting snow. The world takes on a whole new smell to your now well-trained wolf senses. Gone are the clean, crisp scents and quietude of winter and in with the vibrant smell of growing plants, animal marker scents left all about, and the buzzing sounds of awakening insects.

  On both days of your hunt, you find yourselves being shadowed from a great distance by one of the members of the Red Talon pack, the female metis by the name of "Still-Alive". She makes no attempts to speak with you, and even trods off, quickly and easily losing you if you attempt to move towards her.

In the afternoons, you spend time with the informal Den Father "Crazy-Heart", drawing in the dirt with your claws, learning the glyph-language of the Garou. The language feels natural to you, and after learning the base glyphs indicating simple signs such as Gaia, Wolf, the glyphs for the Triat, glyphs for primal forces such as earth, water, fire, wind and related natural forces, and of course, glyphs of warning, ones that indicate various types of  danger; fomori, vampires, human mage, hunter and bane. Then you move into more complex glyphs pertaining to ideas and concepts, such as war, love, mating, worship, and the Tellurian (OOC: You learn that the Tellurian is the concept the Garou use for all of creation; encompassing all things in the "real" world, the umbra, and all the various realms of existence, even the Triat itself.) "Crazy-Heart" also teaches you the glyphs of each of the tribes, each auspice and breeds. He tests each of you on glyphs pertaining to major totems of the tribes, drawing their symbol in the dirt, and seeing who is able to guess it's corresponding totem the quickest. Certain ones such as Grandfather Thunder and Rat are quickly guessed at once, while ones such as Chimera and Uktena stump everyone except Anton, with his knowledge of the enigmas and the occult.

As the sun begins to set, you are sent to spend time with "Calm-Streams, Rushing-River", the lupus born Child of Gaia Theurge of the Goldrinn's Biters pack. In her homid form, she is an attractive young woman, with dirty blonde hair, and dresses in very simple, loose clothing, not unlike the stereotype of a 60's era hippie-child. She speaks in a very calm, soothing voice, as she teaches you the basics of meditation. Meditation, she tells you, is an often over-looked skill by Garou outside of the Stargazers and Children of Gaia. By meditating on all things Gaia and turning your thoughts inward, according to the Theurge, you are able to not only replenish your own gnosis, but help temper your own rage, which all too often gets the best of Garou, young and old alike.  Jordan and Conall have a difficult time clearing their minds and focusing their thoughts. (High rage, no ranks in meditation), while Jospeh and Liam are able to reach a certain level of calm, Anton reaches a certain level of meditative stance, blocking out the noise around him for an entire hour. Despite the mixed results, "Calm-Streams, Rushing-River" is quick to praise each one of you on some sort of progress made each of the days. She lets you depart, telling you that she is more than happy to work with any of you, individually or as a group, if you wish to continue practicing.  ("Calm Streams, Rushing River" possess a special talent called "Teach". Thanks to her skilled tutelage, you may purchase Meditation at a -1 XP cost for each point for this week only. )

At the end of the 2nd night, you are approached by Alvin "Leaves-No-Survivors, Fianna of the Ahroun and his good friend and packamte Skadi "Songs-of-The-Snowy-Peaks", the Nordic beauty of the Fenrir, who pull you away from the bonfire that most of the other Garou have gathered near. "Crazy-Heart" follows, a puzzled look on his brow. As you get towards the eastern edge of the Hidden Glade's membrane, they shift into lupus form, and tell you to do the same. They explain that while any wolf or Garou can howl, it is important that you learn how to infuse your passion for life into your wolfsongs, your rage into your battle crys, and your sadness into the mournful howls that you will inevitably have to cry.  The night is spent learning the howls most widely used by Garou,  and most of you find yourselves being dragged through a range of emotions over the course of the night.

The viscious and terrifying Anthem of War and Warning of the Wyrm's Approach inspire your bloodlust, and the Snarl of Precedence issued by "Leaves-No-Survivors" require you to swallow your fear, leaving you secretly thankful that this is only practice, and that the young Ahroun is not actually marking you as an enemny. The Cry of Elation and Song of Mockery stir up feelings of child-like youth and rambunkiousness in you, leaving you giddy with excitement as you look forward to using them against your foes. "Crazy-Heart" watches on, bursting into fits of uncontrollable laughter as he watches you practice these more humorous howls. Conall puts himself ahead of the pack as the most skilled singer, impressing the two Cliath garou at how quickly he masters each howl.

And finally, you end the second night on a somber note, listening to the Dirge for the Fallen, the long, hollow cry for those Garou who have fallen in honorable service, giving their lives to defend Gaia from the predations of The Wyrm.

Alvin and Skadi cry out in sorrowful harmony, calling for a rememberence of "Mangels-The-Fomori-By-Their-Scaley-Throat", former Fenrir alpha of the Goldrinn's Biters, who died while holding the line against a pack of rabid Fomori simultaneously trapping them inside of a collapsing building and allowing his pack to escape. Their song continues for their fallen packmates, Andrew "Foe-in-the-Crosshairs", Glass Walker Ahroun, who  used his last bullet to shoot a massive propane tank, sending an entire haven of vampires to hell in a fireball of death and destruction. Catrina "Speaks-to-Fire", Galliard of the Black Furies and Hambone Longtail, Ragabash of the Bone Gnawers who died at the claws of Black Spiral Dancer's when the pack raided the Hive of the Glowing Barrel. Petrov "Beach Wolf", Child of Gaia Philodox, who survived an attempt by Pentex to burn him alive inside of his own home, and managed to single-handedly kill every member of his assassination squad, just before succumbing to his wounds, Dana "Heartstrong-Lover-of-The-World, Silverfang Galliard, singerer of the Silver Chronicle who held back a tide of Wyrm creatures assaulting to overrun the Caern of The Western Eye, giving the sept enough time to call in reinforcements. So lost in the dirge are you, that only after so many names have been called out do you realize that the rest of the Goldrinn's Biters have taken to lupus form, and now approach, Henry "Spear-Through-The-Center-of-The-Spiral", Get alpha of the pack, "Calm Streams, Rushing River", Jabari "Tendon-Slicer", and Curtis "Greets-The-Wyrm-With-A-Grin" each take part in the howl, calling out the bravery of other fallen packmates that came before Skadi and Alvin's time. All the packmates join in unison near the end for all those who died and whose names have been forgotten to time. At the very end, each of Goldrinn's Biters give one last cry that is joined in by the entire glade of Werewolves in a soul-wrenching  howl calling out to all the fallen heros of the Garou nation, blessing their spirits, and urging them to return to Gaia until they are called upon for the Final Battle of the Apocalypse.

As the Dirge for the Fallen fades away, you are left emotionally drained, your legs weakened, your heart pounding in your chest, and an immense pride at being a part of a warrior race that will give their all to save Gaia. You can only hope to die such a glorious death and be remembered for such heroic deeds. The packs hang their heads low, in respectful silence of the moment as they make their way towards the lunar grove to slumber.