I came, I saw, I conquered.
The pups wanted to take down a Hive, very laudable goal, kinda their jobs you know, fight the big bad Wyrm etc etc. I totally commend their spirit, and A+ for enthusiasm. Piss poor planning of course. The plan mostly came to go in an hack at stuff. Not really surprising I guess, but as I have gotten to know them, some are smart so I still don't get it. That aside, my biggest frowny face goes to the complete lack of consultation of the one person who has actually studied a Hive before and who's job it is to know what their is to know and share it. I sat waiting to be questioned, and I was ignored. Then I figured, maybe they know it already, unlikely but hey who am I to judge. I am after all not a snake. Anywho, as the fera who's job it is to scout and can get out of bad spirit places faster than most I figured I'd be assigned to a team. Strike two, no mas. Mr Grumpy Pants Uktena was running the show so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I was left twiddling my thumbs. So as any self respecting Corax will do I followed anyway, after it it has already been proven they need saving repeatedly. I made sure to have a connection to both groups and voila. Of course I also made sure to have a back up plan, last thing needed was for them to hack their way in and have no escape or worse get to the big boss and lose within an inch of victory. So I called on a Earth Elemental chum I had made and bargained for him to erase the please if the Totem could be weakened enough. I also made sure to actually research the place in advance, including knowing all the Umbral hideyholes, connections to other Hives and of course an escape plan for the Sept if they needed to get out quick... Why don't they ever plan for emergencies.... oh well.
So I followed the...uh... smaller group in figuring they might need the most help. Besides Mr Ungrateful was in the other group, he'd just swat at me the whole time. Touch touch touch. Why must they touch everything. I guess they can help the ground having to walk and all but really, never follow the strays around and don't touch the walls. I scouted ahead a bit, nothing too terrible so I fell back. Then there was the room. Puppies and little fuzzy Metis everywhere. You don't mess with babies, mommies get angry, and they weren't even tainted... but poke they did so into action I flew again. In the end it was as they say a Glorious figh I'll grant them, not a smart one, but Glorious. The smart came in the end when they were starting to lose and they bewildered them all, hurray for ingenuity. Sadly we lost one holding off the last as the rest got away, but not a single casualty besides. But then I felt it, the heart of the Hive and was it pissed. Flight tried to kick in but I staved it off, I knew I had an escape plan and the poor Garou needed me. Gaia bless them they are determined. Then there was the prison, blech is what I say to that, torture and rape and murder. I tried to tell them to save them now, I even could point them in a direction out, I told them this place was gonna come down in the end, but no one listened. Too eager to get the big bad. I figured they had a plan for them and went along.
With a little help from me, they got back together and on track. PS Grump Uktena and Twisted Earth Elemental equals suspicious. Finally with a little forward momentum they followed me like they should have from the beginning, towards the heart of the place. Now are talking, they even honorably protected me so that I could focus on getting them their quickly. The cooperation started and the head in ass syndrome cleared up. Since they had me able to see small portions of the place clearly they realized they had entirely passed the tunnel to the heart of the Hive and we moved in. Now generally in a fight I am kinda useless, I admit it, not my job. However I realized I may be able to help, if the Garou could hold off the enemies long enough I had a celestial vessel that could hold the spirit of Kirijama. I started to bind and no one objected. Now this is where they sjined, finally the tactical, viscous and generally unstoppable force that gives us chills at night. Right up to the end of the ritual they didn't allow a blow through to me, especially Patrick who had directly given hs word to protect me and took arrows and pain in my stead. They rocked the BSDs, I rocked the Totem and then the elemental rocked the caves. They indicated to me that they could all escape so I took the bound spirit away before it could get back out. I wish they had told me they couldn't all get out, I would have told them the exit I had, sadly it cost us one of the Sept. But a leader going down for his Sept I can't imagine something more honorable than that...
Now to brave the far realms of the umbra to assure this spirits purification or destruction...