The Silent Stars [Site-Wide Plot]

Under the cover of darkness, a new moon in the sky, a line of ten dogs filed up to the sacred temple. Behind them lumbered a monstrous creature, slightly transparent, but three times the size of any of the canines there. Tusks grew from its mouth to give it an appearance like a warthog, but it was distinctly canine in most of its features—save for the long, curved horns protruding from its head and the thin, forked tail it sported. Perhaps worst of all were its hoofed feet, which looked sharp and hard enough to split a canine’s skull.

They circled the pool of water that had always run clean and threw mouthfuls of dirt into it, while the monster with them stepped into the pool and turned it from clear to black. The water churned around it as if it were an angry sea instead of the calm pool it had always been. The monster chuckled, a deep throaty sound that echoed across the old tile and broken pillars. Then an eleventh canine appeared, and they spoke the words, “Now the stars shall be silent, and the Ancestors will be muzzled as we bring in the new era of this land.”


Back in the packs, the strange occurrence at the temple stirs images in the dreams of the healers and their apprentices. Images of black water and a huge, ugly monster flood into their dreams as the cries of their Ancestors fill the air, only to abruptly come to a halt and grow silent. No more sound enters the dream except the crashing of harsh waves, with the image of the monster wreathed in smoke until it disappears, only its piercing red eyes glowing through the smoke. The healers awake with a strong sense of foreboding.

They explain the dreams to their leaders, and it is decided by each pack that someone needs to go and check it out. In each pack, any member that wishes to go check out the temple is welcome to, but if there is any sign of this monster they are to report back immediately. “Do not engage,” is the order given. Attacking will come later, after they have seen whether or not this thing is even real and not just some nightmare thought up by the healers.