Waning Crescent Moon
April, 1981

A week after burning the vampires’ bodies at Fort Hill Cemetery and providing the Detectives with the charred skull and wrecked motorcycle belonging to “MoonBlayde” as proof for their case, the pack gathered at the Raven Coffee Co and discussed the state of their territory’s Umbral reflection. As it had been for the past several weeks, all seemed very quiet. Neither foul nor fair spirits of any number seemed presence in the spirit wilds, and Sirius had been using the glut of gnosis provided by the life preserver to finally pinpoint the source. Stony Brook University had become the home of some startlingly powerful spirit presence, seemingly attuned to happiness.

During their discussion, Trick approached the pack to offer his thanks for all they had done (knowingly or otherwise) to keep his business thriving. As a token of his appreciation, he led the young Garou into his office, which had a very old feel to it, as if it had once belonged to a different and much more archaic building, filled with paraphernalia from the British Isles. One such piece happened to be a bottle of Chivas Regal Royal Salute from 1953, which he shared with the pack. It seemed to affect even their fiery metabolisms, leaving them somewhat tipsy by the time they took their leave.

Samuel Haight stood outside, asking around in an attempt to find the pack, only to rush over once they emerged. It seemed Sekhmet had left them a call from the outskirts of their territory, asking for permission to come inside and check up on the kids. Once full darkness had fallen, Jules howled out to him, welcoming and guiding the Silent Strider to the lighthouse. He didn’t take long, examining each one briefly but thoroughly before announcing that things seemed rather well all told. Their inner sickness had made no progression, but neither had it begun to recede. The kids would need therapy both spiritual and mundane, and Heaven was not yet in a position to offer it. Still, the pack mentioned the Montauk Playhouse Community Center as a potential location to draw charitable therapists in for traumatized children, and Sekhmet agreed to pull some strings if he could meet them there to see it for himself. They agreed to meet in the morning, and he went on his way.

Deciding to visit the University for themselves and see what all this spiritual disruption was stemming from, Shepherd settled into his room where the Loci was being kept in order to perform the Rite of the Questing Stone and hunt down his Father, who he believed could answer many of the questions they had in store. Unfortunately, he was interrupted when Sirius began announcing distress by causing the lights of their home to flicker wildly. Curious, Shepherd stepped sideways to find their totem spirit being torn apart by weak but desperate spirits of pain, anger, lies and hate. Quickly stepping back to the physical world, Shepherd howled for help from the rest of the pack. As one, they returned to their totem’s side and tore into the spirits attempting to devour him.

Though the loci was drained, the pack suffused Sirius with enough gnosis to revive and empower him, leaving the spirit more than a little punch-drunk at the rapid draining and infusing in such a short span of time. He Fettered himself within Nico’s flashlight for safety, and then the pack set off toward the university.

The meeting with Father seemed to defy everyone’s expectations. They found themselves at an old Victorian style house that could have sheltered any fraternity, packed to the brim with misfits, outcasts and hippies of every sort. Father himself led a meditation, interrupting himself to bear greetings to Shepherd and his pack. They were led into a room meant only for the ‘ascended,’ which seemed to be the group’s terminology for Garou. There they met Father’s pack. The Carney Brothers, Moonbeam, Silver, and Leaf. Though a wildly different sort of group, they each seemed to believe strongly in Father’s teachings and reaffirmed his pleasure that the pack had come.

The pack was encouraged to visit with what seemed to be Father’s totem spirit, whom they called The Smiling One. After a bit of debate, they stepped sideways and found themselves surrounded, engulfed and suffused in a remarkably powerful spiritual presence. It spoke to them, breathing such potent happiness into their beings that it almost pained the Garou to feel its absence afterward. It asked for them to allow it to assist in their territory, claiming they could change the world one step at a time, and even bring all of humanity into the fold as guardian Garou. The pack was understandably leery, but did accept his offer of showing them the location of a pack of Black Spiral Dancers. Deciding to sleep on that information, the pack caught what little rest they could before rising to meet Sekhmet at the community center.

Rather than finding the Silent Strider waiting for them, there were cars of the MS-13 gang bangers apparently offering up samples of their various drugs and showing their guns and cars off to the kids gathering around. Irritation grew amongst the pack, before they decided to handle things themselves. A confrontation rapidly grew into violence, with the gang members pulling out knives or pistols and even firing at Cleo and Cash. Once routed, the bangers fled with Shepherd memorizing their license plate (as he’d seen on all the cop dramas he’d been watching). The police arrived soon afterward, but another conflict nearly broke out with them as it became apparent they cared little for the community’s troubles. Nico managed to spur them to action with subtle Gift use, but the best they could hope for was to have a patrol car sent out around the community center from time to time.

With the latest issue under control, the pack began hunting around for Sekhmet, who had yet to arrive …