Sleight of Hand check:
Please escort our elven emissary to our guest room and provide whatever she requires. She'll want to clean off the dust from her travels, I'm sure. We will talk over dinner.
Frowning just a bit, Bron continues:
And the other... ahem, visitor... Has she let you know where she'll be staying for the remainder of her visit?
You notice the letter appears to be scented in a perfume. The scent reminds you of those wild nights spent with Elena. You look back at those nights in regret, but also nostalgia. Things were far more simple back then when you weren't a ruler of a nation and just a simple criminal. You also realise that back then you thought so small. Living only until the next meal or time money was short and now you've become wiser and you are also responsible for thounds of people, you are married and have a child. In some ways you feel that things were siler, but you would never trade that for Carina, your son or any of your companions in this group.
"The young lady left by the north gate the same day you returned, my lord." he said as he moved his hand to relax on his belt. "She has spent a day at a inn, but beyond that you'll have to ask the kob- I mean spymaster."
"To the other business will do as you say. I'll get a servant to see to her while you all see to this business." he says this with a deep bow before leaving.
You notice Bronwyn pocket a small letter, doing so in a sly fashion.
"Right you are Telias, let us question the man."
Jameson will thank Jhod before making his way to the prison, checking with his guards on how the prisoner has behaved.
"Tell me who wounded you lad. How did you become like this? And how many have you bitten?"
Perception:
Carina remains completely oblivious to anything her husband may be doing.
"Right you are Telias, let us question the man."
Jameson will thank Jhod before making his way to the prison, checking with his guards on how the prisoner has behaved.
"Tell me who wounded you lad. How did you become like this? And how many have you bitten?"
He just looks at you in confusion as he doesn't appear to understand what you mean. No one has told him what he is and he is still confused as to why he's here as all he remembered was falling asleep outside in the rough, having violent dreams of blood and rage, then waking up here. He does have a horrible looking bite mark that has been healed over with scar tissue, yet remains quite dominant. From all you can tell, what left the bite must've been a rarther big dog. Riding dog size.
Carina looks at the young man.
I hope that I am right, and you are truly an innocent inflicted with a horrible curse. You do not appear to know it, but you are a werewolf. From your confused look, I am guessing that you were not born one, are completely unaware that you are inflicted with the werewolf disease, and hopefully can be cured.
As to why you are here, you have killed several people. As such, we are going to have to restrain you until we are certain that you did not do so intentionally.
Carina the looks to the rest of the party as well as to the other governmental officials about:
Do we have any restraints that he could not break from in his wolf form? Perhaps manacles made of mithral would work? We will have to place him in a cell for the time being, but I saw his strength and do not want him breaking free and injuring others.
"I wonder how safe it would be to give him a curfew and require that he come here to this cell every evening until his lycanthropy is cured. It is a little risky, but if you were willing to cooperate with us, we may be able to make an arrangement. However, obviously, we must do what is safe for the people of this town. We cannot afford to stop a pack of hungry werewolves!"
Carina nods at Zorestar's thoughts, but then shakes her head:
While I would like to believe that he is innocent and means well, I must consider the safety of the whole nation. If he were to not return, either of his own volition, or because he was restrained, we and the citizens of this land would be endangered. What happens if a few local youth's decide to beat him up because of what he did. And then they leave him unconscious in a ditch. Well, if the sun were to go down, he might not be able to control himself and a few hours later we might have several dead youths, or a pack of wereyouths.
Unfortunately, at this time, I believe that the best choice is to keep him restrained here in the castle and secured using mithral or something containing silver which will harm him should he attempt to escape.
"Er, just chop his damn head off. It ain't nice. It ain't pretty. But it's gonna cost ya less and be a damn bit fairer than locking him up the rest of his life. Ya saw what he did ta me, jameson, and what he nearly did ta yer husband and fancy pants here. Ya saw all his victims to. He might not have been right in his head when he did it but every drop of blood he spills from here on out is gonna be on you. HE ain't gonna stop on account o' yer mercy. He ain't got much choice."
Carina looks at the young man.
I hope that I am right, and you are truly an innocent inflicted with a horrible curse. You do not appear to know it, but you are a werewolf. From your confused look, I am guessing that you were not born one, are completely unaware that you are inflicted with the werewolf disease, and hopefully can be cured.
As to why you are here, you have killed several people. As such, we are going to have to restrain you until we are certain that you did not do so intentionally.
Carina the looks to the rest of the party as well as to the other governmental officials about:
Do we have any restraints that he could not break from in his wolf form? Perhaps manacles made of mithral would work? We will have to place him in a cell for the time being, but I saw his strength and do not want him breaking free and injuring others.
The young man is shocked by what you reveal to him. He just grows silent and remains staring to the ground. He doesn't respons for a while and just stares to the ground. At the mention of death he raises his head and though he looks sad he nods.
"If there is no other way, I will gladly give my life for the crimes and to stop the curse from endangering your people." he says solomnly.
Telias's beard bristles thoughtfully at the exchange. "Ain't no one like the idea son. You got any family they gotta be lettin know?"
"If there is no other way, I will gladly give my life for the crimes and to stop the curse from endangering your people." he says solomnly."
"We would really much prefer to find a cure for your lycanthropy than putting you to death. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to learn the deep magic that will allow me to remove that curse from you. However, give me time and I have no doubt that I will find and master the arcane words that will unlock the spell. We just need to find a way to keep you safe while preventing any further contamination of the population. So in the meantime, we will need to construct a cell that is both strong, but also built with silver bars and silver manacles. It is the one material that will restrict you while in the form of Lupis Lunae."
"I know my friend, Telias, here would much rather kill you, but keep in mind that he has some issues with population growth and the fact that exponential growth will result in too many people in the wilderness. I would not take it personally if I were you. If you took the time to know him, you would discover that he rather enjoys his sour disposition and he shares it with all of us equally."
"Then let us build this cage and be about looking for the cure. We'll need to look into some weapons for the lads if this is what we have to look forward to."
Silver for the line, mithral for the officers. That'll help with moral. Strong daggers for close in work, spears for keeping it at range.
Bronwyn returns to the issue at hand, somewhat troubled.
Influenced or not by the curse, you are guilty of those crimes and a danger to those around you. You cannot be allowed to leave our presence for the foreseeable future, and if in the future we are able to remove the curse, you should still look forward to a couple of years as an indentured servant working for the good of the kingdom in order to pay for your crimes. Your cooperation will be taken in consideration - you should not be sent to work in the mines - but to simply let you walk would be a disservice to those good folk who died and their families.
With tired eyes, the baron offers:
Even then, I believe in choice. It's what brought us here to this place and what keeps us going. I believe you should have the choice regarding your life or death. Do you accept the terms I proposed, including indeterminate incarceration followed by a year of service to the kingdom of Vertaria, or would you rather submit to the judgement of the gods in the afterlife?
Although Carina is concerned with the though of condemning a man who is truly only guilty of being under a curse, she recognizes that the appearance of the justice handed out by the rulers of the land is almost as important as the punishment itself. Thus, she stands by her husbands side and nods as he gives the youth the options.
When Bron finishes, Carina adds.
One thing that will be considered in the punishment you receive will be the help you provide us. You are inflicted with a curse that turns you into a werewolf. My understanding is that this is usually caused by being bitten by another one inflicted with the same curse. Where were you before you came to this good city? You were obviously attacked at some point, do you recall where?
Listening to your decision he takes it all on before asking questions.
"If I were able to pay back to society what I have done, I will. I will do any hard work that is needed. Building, farming or any kind of hard labor." he states and when asked about his past he shakes his head. "I were a member of a tribe, but they left me the first night I had the violent dreams. All I recall was a fight with a enormous wolf that killed two members of my tribe, but only wounded me."
Where was this fight? Where was your tribe located?
Zorestar listens carefully, trying to piece the information together.
"Did this enormous wolf want to see you killed, or was he wounding you just to make it clear who the leader of the pack is? I mean, I presume werewolves must have a bit of pack mentality when you put them together much like an ordinary pack of wolves."
"The fight was far to the west." he states as he attempts to recall the directions, but it's clear that he doesn't have as strong command of nature or directions in any way. "All I know if that it attacked and I managed to survive to kill it, but my companions didn't."
With the knowledge of nature the group has there is said to be a herb that could be used by an alchemist to make a temporary cure that would cover a good few years or more from any uncontrolled transforming. The herb is wolfsbane, some claim named for that myth.
There was wolf's bane growing near your home back east where those creatures attacked your home, but you managed to get away in time.
"I wonder if Wolfsbane would be able to cure the poor fellow. Lets see if I can try and find an herbalist before we depart."
Zorestar tries to find out about any source of wolfsbane.
"Ye ain't gonna find it in any shop round here. Got it growin 'round mah land though. Handy stuff."
"Ye ain't gonna find it in any shop round here. Got it growin 'round mah land though. Handy stuff."
"Perhaps we could make a trip to your land and pick some wolfsbane. But do I understand correctly that you are having difficulty with worgs? It certainly does not sound as if your wolfsbane is any particular bane to your worgs."
Carina looks to the men:
Well, lets get the rest of the crew together and go find us some puppies. I understand that worgs really like being lit on fire.
"Perhaps we could make a trip to your land and pick some wolfsbane. But do I understand correctly that you are having difficulty with worgs? It certainly does not sound as if your wolfsbane is any particular bane to your worgs."
"Ain't my worgs. I din't invite 'em."
"So, it seems we are now to clear out the wargs?"
"So, it seems we are now to clear out the wargs?"
"Well, unless you think we can find a way to tame them. However, I find the likelihood of that happening to be rather small. Perhaps if we could supply a great deal of meat, they would at least stop bothering the locals."
We shoot them, then we burn them, and if any are left, James charges through them until there is nothing left but bloody singed pelts.
Carina does not seem to think much of these worgs, or perhaps it is her orcish side talking.
"Whatever. I jes want 'em off mah land."
Says Telias speaking from his angry hermit side.
Bronwyn scratches his head, seemingly confused by the whole affair.
If we take horses, we should be there and back in a couple days, right?
"If we take horses, we should be there and back in a couple days, right?"
"When considering the distance, I do not believe it will take us long. However, you will further need to anticipate how long it will take us to gather wolfsbane and deal with the worgs that are causing such difficulty near the home of Telias."
Carina looks at the Magister: Won't take long to deal with them. Cast spells, BOOM, dealt with.
I cannot really afford anything useful yet.
Telias scouts out ahead. He sees that his place seems reletivly undisturbed apart from the door has been blown off it's hinges and there are marks around the doorway which looks like frost, which is a little odd for this are as it's only Lamashan which is still in fall time and not yet winter.
There are two big black wolves sat outside, gnawing on bones and with glowing red eyes. For the moment they do not appear to have noticed or any interest in the hawk.
The creatures below are Worgs. They are bigger than wolves and fiercely more intelligent.
Know arcana
Telias will fly a half mile circle around his house to make sure there's not more before coming back adn relaying the information.
Know(arcana):
Carina attempts to recall what she remembers about the worgs from the last time they fought on the plains to the northwest what seems like years earlier. Unfortunately, despite a very concentrating look on her face, she is unable to recall much.
"So you said they were big and black. Do you have any other information to share with us? It sounds like you are describing worgs to me."