Kendra sighs. "Yes we are done. And we'll be out of your hair soon."
She turns to her companions "From my point of view we could leave immediately. Despite the long day I feel refreshed and wouldn't mind to no longer share the company of the werewolves."
She hands the mirrow to Herm.
"I .. No I have never... met my Goddess in such a way, they say some crusaders have met her yes but I myself no.' Herm stunned by the thought of a colour change to his eyes and waits his turn to look in the mirror. "She has truly blessed us now we must finish what she has shown us."
"How about following Desna then? I think she is the best godess of all!" Jominda proclaims, still giddy from the experience.
but the appearance of Mathus sobers her. "I could do without having someone as grumpy as him around too."
"I can offer a featherfall spell, so we could jump down directly." Kendra offers. "I for sure won't crawl down that endless stairs again."
"I thikn we are yes, we have another mission to go on. You will care for this place?" Herm asks "I will walk down basking in the Goddesses glory for bit longer before we leave, I don't wish to offend either Goddess but I feel Iomedae has further need of me." Herm directs the last bit to Jominda before leaving once everyone is ready
"Maybe I should become a paladin of Desna then? How dow you become a paladin?" Jominda asks.
"We have that wand of spider climb. Want a tick, to make it safe for you?" she offers herm. "I'll take a quick glide down over a long walk any day!"
Mathus looks offended by Herm's request, but he bites his tongue.
"Yes a 'tick' from that wand my be useful. Mathus we leave this shrine in your care. I may come back some day to check on it." Herm says nodding to the werewolf and leaving.
"I will be here for sure." Mathus growls.
Yilgwi gets a tick from the wand too, as dwarfs and the sky are no real friends and even a not so typical dwarf like Yilgwi likes something solid under his feet.
Jominda and Kendra hold hands as they step over the edge of the tower, with Kendra speaking the words that make them glide back and forth like feathers instead of goind straight down.
Once united again at the bottom of the tower the group heads for the trees. But as soon as you come close you notice more of the Vollensag Wolves, waiting for you.
Kendra uses the opportunity to test her new spell and lays an area of black tentacles into the woods.
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Jominda throws some bombs with both hands. "Oh, f!%# off already!"
The wolves are hold tight by the rubber like appendages that grow magically out of the ground. One of them is almost burned to a crisp and set aflame. The other one is caught in the heatwave of the explosions with little chance to evade it. Both try to break free from the deadly grip.
They manage to do so, but it buys them only the chance to walk out and stand in front of the group for a beating from the paladin and a pounding with the cooks spoon.
"Oh, you're not gonna catch me unawares again! DEATH TO EVIL WOLFMANS!" Yilgwi casts holy smite.
The wolf is hurt greatly by that and only sees stars.
The other wolf closes her eyes forever as the holy fire engulfs her. Herm makes short work of the remaining wolf with his silvery sword.
armor +2)
As the woods close to the tower are infested with Vollensag Wolves, you quickly move on, before others find you. Some hundred yards into the woods you find a massacre. It's the gnawed on remains of Duristan's hunting party. From the looks of it Duristan himself is not with them. Only if they had stripped him of his armor and other possessions... but all lying around look like commoon folk.
Jominda takes a quick look at the scene. "Poor lads. We should move on quickly.
With no one feeling like giving them a proper funeral now you move on.
As you walk further East-South-East you happen upon a small creek. From behind some bushes steps out a group of five varisian travellers.
The one who looks like the leader, judging by the clothing, steps up. "Greetings dear adventurers. I'm Rhakis Szadro, leader of the Prince's Wolves." he introduces himself with a slight bow.
"Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I assume we have a common enemy. The Whispering way. Kvalca Sain, the leader of the Primals and former pack lord of all werewolves gets murdered under suspicious circumstances when the sinister cultists show up. And you appear shortly after. It might be that these events are not related and I'm jumping to conclusions, but I don't believe so. Correct me if I'm wrong." Rhakis pauses, but as noone objects he continues.
"I can offer you some information and maybe a little help in exchange for a truce with my people. My interest lies in seeing the Whispering Way fail and that the Demon Wolves won't manage to recover the former pack leader's heart from the Whispering Way. For if they can claim the title of pack lord, then the rule of Jezelda would spread in the Shudderwood. The consequences of which I don't need to explain to a faithful of Iomedae." With the last he addresses specifically Herm.
Herm looks around the slaughtered camp site seeking any answering he can. More wolves but smaller breed interesting.:" Herm says as they push further into the woods.
Herm keeps his sword at the ready, shield in his off hand to defend those around him. Herm does look at the wolves with the divine blessings of Iomedae. "You do not detect as evil as my Goddess has shown me. No you do not, we do not need a demon wolf being the pack leader of ALL the werewolves in Avistan." Herm agrees. 'What information do you have to exchange, what can we offer you in exchange?"
"That is good." Rhakis nods. "The Demon Wolves followed the Whispering Way. Their destination is Feldgrau in the Furrows. It's a village that was put to the torch during Barstoi's occupation of Ardeal. The cultists of the Way revel in such places."
"There are at least a dozen of the Jezeldans heading there. Also a group of my people is after them. I can offer you a token that identifies you as an ally. To spare you from being attacked by my people. And they might be able to give you further insight what happened in Feldgrau until you arrive there. The most important thing I want from you, is that the Demon Wolves don't get the heart. It woulöd be a bonus if you'd hand it to my people should it fall in your hands."
"Sure thing, hand over the token." Jominda answers, holding out her hand. "This isn't much more than we had planned anyway. And having a pack leader candidate that doesn't try to bite us on first sight is a nice change."
Knedra nods in agreement.
Rhakis hands over a polished stone token, with carvings depicting a wolf on one and a stereotypical varisian on the other side. "With this, and mentioning my name, Rhakis Szadro, my people will acknowledge you as allies."
"I wish you best of luck." Rhakis bids you farewell.
The varisian people and Rhakis retreat into the undergrowth of the woods again.
"Interesting, do you think he has the best of intentions? He could but that is for another time. Shall we press on to track down this necromacer?" Herm asks
"How far is it to this Feldgrau? Should we try to find our horses?" Jominda asks.
"Let me help with that." Kendra suggests.
She gestures an X in the air and whistles. The horses seem to have hidden in the bushes behind you as they step out with some rustling and approach you.
The group mounts their horses and ride off. The path to Feldgrau is a long one. It's one day, til you're at the edge of the Shuddderwood at the Vhatsuntide River. After that it's two days through the plains of Ardeal.
After that you reach the furrows. Which is a depressing view. A scar sprawls across the heart of Ustalav, scourged not by necromancy or monsters, but by vicious human cruelty. What was once the lush Ardealian farmland known as the Furcina Plain now lies dead and barren, its residents slain, its farms scorched and salted, and its land scored by the trenches of warmongers compelled by greed and pride.
"Interesting magic, did you obscure them?" Herm asks as he moves to his horse and puts his weapons away on the bags so he can ride.
"Uuuuugh. What a dreadful place!"
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"No, I didn't. but this trick seems to work on horses, especially if they are named Roach" Kendra explains.
Just as the landscape starts to change, you notice the silhouette of a lone farmhouse stands against the stark gray sky. The house leans uneasily, its weathered planks straining to keep the fragile shell of peeling paint and cracked shingles upright. The bodies of four wolf-like humanoids hang from a large tree in the farm's yard.
"Looks like someone doesn't like werewolves." Jominda comments.
"Wolfmans."
"What's the difference? Jorikata inquires.
"Well, one is correct and the other is nonsense," Yilgwi says as if that were obvious.
"Well, this here doesn't make any sense. From the look of it, they should be dead. But we all know that dead werewolves no longer look like wolves." Kendra analyses.
"We do? Er, I mean, yes, of course! How curious!"
"Are we going to check their pulse?" Jominda wonders. "Which ones are those? Demon wolves or the good..." with a sideglance to Herm she corrects herself "... the not evil ones?"
"I haven't seen any of both groups in wolf form. Hard to tell." Kendra muses.
"It's the tree! It want's to lure us in to eat us!" Jominda calls out.
"Shall we ignore it then, or deal with it to save others to come?" Kendra asks.
"It's a tree. I can burn it." Jominda tells and throws an explosive bomb at the huge plant.
The tree takes a solid hit, defoliating a part of it. As it catches fire, it starts shaking, to get the flames out. It's a strange sight, that gets outright ridiculous, once the tree starts rolling on the ground. As the fire is finally put out, the tree looks pretty burned already.
Two more bombs later, only charcoal and ash remains of the tree.
A bag with 7 small pouches of diamond dust, Potion of Jump, Potion of Resist Cold (3rd), Scroll of Blur, Scroll of Invisibility, Scroll of Scorching Ray, Wand of Flare, Wand of Inflict Light Wounds
"Now that the tree is gone, shall we rest for the night in the farm house? It'd be a nice change to sleeping under the stars, as pretty as they are if it doesn't rain."
Herm detects if the dead wolves are radiating any evil auras. As Jominda starts lobbing bombs Herm pulls his sword from his hip and readies himself. "How did you know that tree would attack?" Herm keeps a look out as the others search the bodies. "you think we can stay in that house? What if someone lives there?"
"I've heard many stories about farmers and their daughters ...I advise caution, especially if you see any holes in the wall."
The wolves are no longer there. Not even a trace of them.
The farm house seems abandoned. No light, and the state of disrepair suggest so.
"Well, lucky guess? Something was off and almost everything that was in any way off these last months jumped out to kill us on this journey."
"And I've read stories of trees that can cause hallucinations to lure wanderers in, just to eat them. In a book that belongs to Alendru. You may have met him. He owns the Unfurling Scroll in Ravengro. He is the village's teacher and a wizard. He owns a lot of interesting books."
"And worst case I'd have killed an innocent tree. That's an acceptable cost to not get eaten." Jominda explains.
"This house might have a basic kitchen. We are a bit short on fresh groceries, but we could take the time to whip something up with the stuff we got." Kendra suggests. As she accidentally kacks at something in the little grass that grows here, she bends down and picks it up.
"Interesting! Looks like a wand."
One magical inspection later she tells "Wand of cause light wounds? Maybe a Whispering Way cultist lost it here."