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a..-•••lillllli~R'~ 1 ... .,.. ..... ..,._. ........ " •• .. •un..-.arw•• .. = = -~ ... .., ... noticeable that more fires were erupting in the material world. Ringer peeped through the barrier. He saw chaos: men tore down sections of the peace wall and fed them to giant bonfires, which were spreading further and further. The ground was littered with candles in little cups, remnants of a candle lighting for peace that had obviously produced just the opposite. Ringer choked on heavy smoke as he pulled his awareness back to the Shadow and shouted, "You guys better step sideways right now!" Garou began shifting and Ringer stepped through with his whole pack. More shouting and screaming could be heard over the Flaming Green Jumping Beans' music. In the mosh pit, he saw fights, with two guys at least lying still and bloody as the band screamed "Yeah! Kick some ass, doods! Get it on! Rowdy! Rowdy! Rowdy! Whooee!" "Something is going horribly wrong here," Rich said as he noticed the chaos beginning to erupt around the concert. Before anyone could act, Garret Faithful pointed into the crowd and cried, "They're raping that girl! Come!" As his pack charged into the concert-goers, other Garou began rushing into the reveling that had become rioting, each one intent on stOpping similar atrocities. Security men removed the idiotic band from the stage and an organizer started trying to calm people down, which wasn't working. Amanda spotted a gauntlet of men forcing frightened, screaming women through their ranks. She called out to her untested pack, "Over there! Stay Hamid if you can!" How had the peaceful air of the concert changed? Why had everyone become so violent? Dismantling the wilding line was messy; the pack hadn't worked tOgether like this before. Rich was for his part angrily grabbing the bottles of water and belts from the men's hands like an angry father taking toys from disobedient children. Men who resisted he batted to the ground, where they lay very still. The yellow-shirred "peace patrol" were nowhere to be seen. Quite a few of the pack took a few bumps and bruises, some of which could have been averted if J one had been helping them instead of tending to the girls who were already free. Ringer had severely bloodied several with his staff while Hack was getting a little too into dealing out justice. Our first pack action, thought Amanda. W e need work. Just as the offenders were dispersing, though, a horrible noise caught her attention. Rich could feel his hair begin to stand on end. Quickly, he stepped sideways to get a better look at his surroundings and the possible cause of the odd feeling. The webs that had shrouded the place could be seen bulging here and there, dark patches growing where the webbing CA(<.pfer-TAr-ee: Qr-ee~ (<.~e{ f(<.ffe~ 1-e.(<.ves was strained the most. He stepped back sideways again just in time to miss them bursting forth with vile blackness. The web-hill that marked the buildings was heaving, erupting. "I think this place of power has been claimed by the wrong side," Rich had just begun to say when dark forms burst from the bonfires of burning port-a-potties and water booths. They were easily identified as Black Spirals and twisted fomori. Two trailers went up, with figures running from them amidst the stink of gasoline. "Trouble at the main stage - follow me!" The pack followed as they could, with other Ahroun mobilizing their packs as well. "Garretwhat are we going to do?" The taller man came alongside. "Keep peace, keep the human shape. Find the troublemakers and sit on 'em. Okay?" The Galliard howled his orders and two dozen Garou charged into a writhing mess of humans. The onetime mosh pit was now simply a battlefield. "So much for Homid only!" Hack changed to Hispo and leapt upon the nearest Dancer. He kept it pinned while Ringer beat its head in with his staff. Jone was in Glabro, trying to evacuate noncombatants, who were running and screaming in confusion. "Amanda! There's too many of them!" Women had climbed, panicked, onto the speaker towers, which were teetering back and forth near collapse. Perhaps eight or ten thousand humans had come to this festival; maybe five thousand were in the huge brawl while the Jumping Beans' recorded music blared from speakers. The noise was irritating as hell to Garou ears. Ringer picked out two Kin he knew who were holding off a bunch of guys by a speaker tower. No staff, no "weapons"; human police would probably come. He charged with Hack, now in human form and wearing a T-shirt and gym shorts, into the mass, stepping accidentally on two guys who were on the ground bleeding. One had a bite wound (a bite wound, he wondered?) bleeding heavily. Of the two Kin, one was down, hit in the head and back. Ringer jumped one assailant, then realized something was more wrong than he'd imagined. Wyrmstink filled his nostrils in the man's body odor. He'd heard offomori, humans possessed by Wyrmdevils, a legion of freaks cursed with monster-powers. This thing threw him, then jumped on him as Hack hit two of the guys hard, low. Ringer wrestled, against inhuman strength, trying for a hold. Usually like holding on to a guy better than this, he reflected. A moment's view past the thing showed him a field of fighting, a Garou he didn't know clubbing two humans to the ground, another fomor looting a jeweler's stand.