the crowd is to shield their presence

                                                               Artist: Wilhelm Gentz (1822–1890)
Image: The Father of Cats, riding a camel with saddlebags
full of cats, and a crowd of pilgrims following him (here)

the 12 given words:
warfare, hail pilgrim, disdain falsehood crowd, 
shield tales, obscure, reason, crest, roads

it is open warfare
hail the pilgrims
reacting to the glare
of publicity with disdain

not to put up with falsehood
the crowd is to shield their presence
with tales of grandeur to boot
perhaps obscure but with good reasons

on the crest of success
brimming with confidence
leading rightly to  manifest
itself on to roads of credence

MMT's Sunday Whirligig  #214
Rommy's The Tuesday Platform  - going buggy