"Pardon me Kundal of the Shoanti, but I need to ask my advisers for advice. Just a second" excuses Emil as he motions for the others to step out of earshot of the man. "So... I think honesty is the best policy, especially since me trying to be suave makes me look like I'm kissing someone's ass. I tell him he's a lycanthrope, or that he might be, and then I ask him if he wouldn't mind spending his nights in a cell ... or bound ... or both or something, while we get someone to Restov to pick up some wolfsbane and whatever else we need in case we give him too much. If you think that's a stupid idea, now's a good time to offer me a better plan, because I'm about to tell him the truth and hope he's a really good person at heart."
"Carrot first, stick second," whispers Túrante. "Offer him the opportunity to come of his own free will first. If he refuses, arrest him to protect the community."
"I agree with Túrante. He doesn't seem unreasonable, just... cornered. Ask nicely, we can always take the direct approach if that fails. Then, we'll get Latricia's opinion and send word to Restov for Wolfsbane."
Túrante steps up and calmly locks her gaze with Kundal. "Kundal," she says in an even tone, "Were you attacked or bitten by a wolf recently? We are beginning to think you may have been infected with lycanthropy. We may be able to help, but it will take time to get a priest who can cure the curse. In the meantime, if you are changing, you may be very dangerous to others - and possibly to yourself, if you run across someone who has the skills necessary to fight a werewolf."
"I know this is shocking to hear, but we must take this matter seriously. You may find that you desire to flee, or that you do not believe that this is possible. I would ask you to think about the man that you were before the dreams began, about the life you led, and how you can return to that. If you have been infected, and it isn't cured, you will spend the rest of your life on the run, staying a step ahead of the people you kill. And if you aren't infected... then you will have the comfort in knowing for certain that it isn't the curse of the wolf that is giving you these nightmares of blood."
"Please, let us try to help you."
Emil nods, inwardly relieved Turanthe spoke up this time. "I know this is going to sound lame, oversaid or sound like every other grifter out there, but we really want to help. But we can't help you against your will."
Kundal slumps back, still gripping his sword. "No... I cannot... this cannot be. The dreams, they cannot be real, can they? Yet, this wolf you ask of? I was bitten by one that I killed while guarding a caravan, some months back. That cannot be a coincidence. Could it really be as you say? He sighs, resolutely, as if somehow he knew the truth, even if he couldn't admit it. "If this is true, what would you have me do?"
The Shoanti looks at the party at the mention of Wolfsbane, somewhat surprised at the fair treatment he is given. "I commend myself into your care, should you seek to cure me of this affliction. Should you turn on me, however..." He leaves the words dangling. "I can retire to the wilds for the next few days... Or whatever you instruct. I will do as you say, if you think it will allow others to avoid being harmed by my actions. I wish for no more blood."
"You are brave to face this as you do, Kundal. I recognize and commend your strength," Franka adds to encourage the Shoanti.
Audsley, pale faced, stands at the back of the group, washing his hands as the tension of the moment gets to him.
When the Shoanti agrees however to follow their requests, he heaves a sigh of relief and nods profusely.
"Yes, our many thanks, tendered and delivered with heartfelt sincerity, I am sure. We shall do everything within out power to help you, and if needs be will even send for a powerful cleric to lift this curse from your shoulders."
He blinks and smiles nervously. "Don't fear. Agreeing to receive help is the first and most important step toward being cured."
"Turn on you? Kundal, I only have one word" says Emil, clearly offended. "I said I'd help so I will help. I don't do backhanded deals, or any of that crap you might see from the Chels. What you see is what you get. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go prepare a cell for you to rest in at night while you are afflicted." And without another word, he makes his way to the old keep to set things up personally.
Reinforcing the door to the crypts seemed the most expedient route, and some hasty effort is put into the effort by a few craftsmen selected by Jhod Kavken. Kundal goes into the place of the dead with a measure of stoicism, leaving his sword behind and only taking a waterskin and some rations to tide him over. The extra layer of iron and shoring up with stone to trap the Shoanti in the crypts may have seemed a bit of overkill.. until the moon set and a tremendous howling reverberated, even through the stone and limited entryways. Throughout the night, loud, resounding snarls, bangs, and thuds could be heard, though the reinforced doorways held. In the morning, an apologetic and disheveled Kundal yelled to be freed for the day, though willing to return through the full moon.
Although the Wolfsbane wasn't immediately available, your efforts have given Audsley a month's time to obtain and administer a potential antidote made from the herb, just in time for the return of the full moon. Kundal retreated to his "cage" once more, setting himself in for the evening, but the morning after the cure was given, there is no indication that he transformed! Allowing a few more days of observation to be sure, it certainly seems that the Shoanti was cleared of his murderous affliction.
Once the threat of the full moon left once more, Kundal seeks out the party, proffering his Greatsword. In heavily accented common, the large man states, "You have freed me of my nightmare and prevented me from harming others; you did not have to do this. In gratitude, I offer you my sword." The way he makes his offer, it is clear that he refers to either his physical weapon, or his loyalty, though likely not both
Audsley forces himself to listen to the Shoanti's murderous howls, sitting vigil out of some perverse desire to both learn from the experience and pay testament to the man's illness. Indeed, he insists on lecturing anyone who will listen that the affliction is a disease like any other, and just as one should not blame a man for falling under the sway of devilwort or the crimson weeping, Kundal should not be blamed for the curse that has befallen him.
Each morning, just before the howls cease, he hurries to the kitchens where he orders a large meal served up for the poor Shoanti, a meal which he helps cook and has steaming hot and ready to be devoured after a night of brutal labor. Piping hot eel pies in glazed pastry, vegetable and ham frittatas in cast iron pans, hot coffee, rashers of bacon, glistening sausage links, fried potatoes with oregano and imported Chelish paprika - all and more awaits the Shoanti each morning out of something akin to sympathy from the spymaster.
Finally, when all is done and Kundal presents his blade to Emil, Audsley is there, standing to one side, beaming at everyone present as he rises to the balls of his feet and lowers over and over again, hands linked behind his back.
When the Shoanti finishes saying his piece, he lifts his hand and whispers to anyone close by, "Most noble, oh yes, very gracious, quite generous, a most valiant expression of gratitude."
Still, that said, he casts an inquisitive eye upon the blade, trying to determine if it has any magical properties.
Túrante seems to quietly support Audsley's diplomatic efforts. Though she is, as usual, loath to take a policy position in public, and she especially avoids anything that would seem like elven meddling in the local politics, she does not shy from the Socratic method - "...if you were infected with lycanthropy, would you not hope that people would do everything in their power to cure you?"
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When Kundal finally completes his ordeal and makes his position known, she simply says quietly to Emil, "A man is worth more than any sword."
Giving Turante a Come on, jeez look, Emil smiles and answers "I hope you're offering your arm along with that sword! Care for a job turning this wild land into a decent place for good people? The pay stinks, the hours are long and my horse will steal any fruit you try and stash away." He chuckles but takes a moment to look murderously toward the mouth of the crypt to the outside, where the swish of a tail can barely be seen.
Shaking his head, his gaze softens back as he continues. "What do you say Kundal of the Shoanti? Wanna build a kingdom" he asks, proffering a hand.
Franka makes sure she's around to see what Audsley is doing. It's mostly professional interest, but she's also keeping an eye out for her friend's own safely and well-being. Just in case, of course...
She nods in agreement when Emil chooses the offer of Kundal for personal aid, instead of material gain. She sees Audsley eyeing the sword and whispers "By accepting his offer his personal help, we'll have the use of his sword by our side as well, magical or not. I don't suppose you'd want to start swinging it yourself," she ends with a playful quip.
Audlsey looks mortified. "Me? I'd probably lop my own leg off. The gods forfend! No, I'll stick to setting our foes aflame from a nice, tidy distance, Thank you very much."
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"Loyalty is worth its weight in gold. If you feel there is a debt to be paid, pay it to your countrymen, your neighbors, yourself. By agreeing to have your condition monitored and treated peacefully, you've shown both courage and selflessness, Kundal of the Shoanti. Your life was worth sparing. Your life is worth sparing. Live well."
Janna pauses, content.
"What will you do now?"
Kundal sheathes his sword and nods respectfully. "I will work to ensure that my sins are atoned for, in service to the peoples here..." His capable services are added to the militia that is forming in Summer Gold.
In the aftermath and excitement of solving the murders, one final piece of the puzzles falls into place. Investigating Osgrove's effects, you find a note detailing how the ex-bandit knew Saki, and noticed her absence, then the disappearance of the shepherd. Trying to prove himself by investigating matters, over the month he had pieced together that "the barbarian" might have had some involvement, and went to the tavern to follow him, which lead to his untimely demise. However, his sacrifice likely saved the lives of other innocents; who knows how long the killings might have gone on otherwise?
Summergold continues to grow, with new groups of settlers arriving almost daily. The dangers of the Stolen Lands are everpresent, however, even near the heart of your flourishing settlement. This is as evident as ever when Kesten Garress rushes to you early one morning, with a bloodied man in tow.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I have urgent news. Bernard, here, is part of a group of settlers coming in from Restov and, well, tell them." The wounded man chews his mustache some, but finally speaks up. "It started with a howling. Ever'thing was going smooth; we was maybe 3 hours out from here, when out from nowhere these wolves burst from the brush, going for the horses first! Our wagons were stuck, and more of 'em wolves started going after us too! Biggest, blackest wolves I've ever seen though. A few of us made it to start climbing up onto this rock outcropping, a few started running. I'm the only one I know that made it safety though. Please, your lordships, you have to help them!"
Kesten adds in, "Wolves have been a sporadic threat, but never in the numbers he's described, or acting with such purpose. I know the outcrop he mentioned though; you can make it there before dusk if you leave quick."
"Gods, how many are left stranded out there? FLORA! GET YOUR SADDLE! shouts Emil as he quickly goes to get his armor on. "Kesten, I need you to hold the place down. Get Kundal and tell him that wolves have been sighted. He is to help you keep things in check over here. I'm going to go deal with this" he quickly fires off as he rushes to buckle himself in before grabbing his weapons.
Please don't let this be more werewolves. Gozreh if you are merciful, don't let this be that.
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"Emil," Janna starts, then stops. You don't have to solve every problem yourself. Janna shakes his head, deciding against trying to convince Emil to let others handle the issue. "We're with you. Let's go."
At some point, Summergold will have to stand up for itself without it's king. Today is not yet that day.
Audsley, fortunately enough, is in the stable trying to catch mice for an experiment. When Flora is called for, he immediately follows after, and at the sight of Emil and Janna he grows pale.
"What's happened? Are we being invaded? I should have known we were being invaded, my apologies for failing, I'm only now beginning to set up my network, oh -"
He blinks when he's set straight.
"Oh, wolves? We can deal with wolves, can we not? Here, I shall accompany you all, of course. I have my satchel, my glasses, an emergency pack of delicacies... yes, good to go."
So saying, he fetches his own mount, and is promptly ready to ride out with the others.
Following the directions given by the survivor, the party sets off to rescue the stranded settlers! You have little difficulty, as the miles surrounding Summergold are becoming a second home to you and you approach the stone outcropping with an hour of light before dusk. If the landmark wasn't enough, as you near there is a infrequent growl or low howl that can be becomes more recognizable as you approach.
Clearing some of the more rocky terrain, you find the small copse of trees and jutting stone to be surrounded by a half dozen impressively large, jet-black furred wolves.
The creatures are fixated on the raised stone; too steep and high for them to get to the stranded survivors that all bear the signs of attack. One of the men cries out as you approach, and the beasts turn towards the unexpected arrival of those that might threaten their meal. From the back, a large black wolf emits a set of growls and noises that almost sound intelligible, before it fades into the surroundings, leaving the rest of them snarling towards you in his wake.
Franka listens with interest as the man tells his tale of what happened. She has her thoughts, but lets Emil take the lead. His decision seems to meet with her approval. That's good. He's really taking up the mantle of responsibility, and showing people that he's there when it counts Before Franka hustles after Emil, she takes a moment to look at Bernard's wounds. "You've done well, Bernand. Get yourself to the shrine of Erastil over there. It's not completed yet, but Latricia should be there. She can tend to those wounds." With that, she leaves the two men and follows the others to the stables.
Audsley's been guzzling potions ever since the spire of rock came into view. In quick succession he downs three vials, and their effect is immediate; his brow slopes back, his jaw grows prognathous, and his arms extend to adopt their simian length.
When they sight the wolves, the alchemist slips of his mount's back and lopes along the length of the fallen tree to their south, hunched over and pulling a bomb from his bandolier. When he's directly south of the pack, he grins and hurls his bomb up high, arching into the cerulean sky so that it comes careening down to explode in a blast of blue flames on the closest wolf.
The beast clearly is staggered by Audley's onslaught.
Emil's danger sense kicked in even before they got in sight of the wolves. At least I pray it's wolves, but I'm already feeling like that isn't going to happen. He moved Flora to the side of the tree even before they knew what was about to happen. A clear path. Better take advantage of it.
"HOLD ON PEOPLE! ADVENTURERS, PUT THOSE CREATURES DOWN" he shouts, nudging Flora to a full gallop.
Emil completely obliterates the beast he rode down, which dies skewered on skewered on his lance!
The elf bring up her sword and shield and charges into the fray with Emil.
Turante lands a solid blow to the beast, but wasn't sufficient to bring it down.
The beasts exhibit cunning beyond more animal intelligence, growling in a cadence that sounds more like a language than simple communication. A pair take up a flank around both Emil and Turante, with a lone beast moving to threaten Audsley
The beasts score hits on all three of the party attacked, two managing to trip both Turante and Emil!
Emil clicks his tongue and Flora, in a surprise move, reaches out to bite the blue-tinged wolf, while kicking out at both.
And while none of the attacks reach, Emil takes the opportunity to tug slightly on the reins, leading Flora back five feet.Away from the beast, he stands back into the stirrups and lances out at the orange maned maned wolf.
"Hold on Turanthe, I'm coming for you!"
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Janna presses his knees together and stands slightly in the stirrups as Preven canters forward to aid the suddenly-surrounded elf.
"Smarter than your average cur," Janna spits at the wolves' pack tactics. "But still just beasts."
Janna takes a hack at the closest of the wolves.
for
Preven reaches his neck out and attempts to bite at the same wolf.
for
Though prone, Túrante rolls onto her stomach and tries to get enough leverage to make a wild swing at the wolf that brought her to the ground.
Emil skewers a beast, as does Janna's mount. Emil's target collapses with a broken whimper, while Preven's just growls louder.
While Túrante is in a precarious position, Franka's heart goes out to Audsley who's not any kind of fighther and also beset by two of the beasts. She has an idea and starts feeling around for a weak spot in the Veil. "You know how I usually draw material from the Æther to this world? It occured to me that it should also be possible the other way, to put something from this world into there." With some shrill whistles, she opens a space into the Æther and a whole in the earth appears, precisely below the two wargs engaging Audsley.
--
Franka draws on the power of the Æther to cause one of the beasts to fall tumbling into the pit, while the other nimbly avoids it... only to be rewarded by a bomb thrown by Audsley. The same beast then attempts to press an attack on Emil, but can't manage to find purchase this time. Still growling, it then adds some distance away from the pit.
The pair that surround Turante savage the elf... but seem to merely get in each others' way! The two growl at each other fiercely as of they were saying "Quit getting in my way!" and "I will rip out your throat... after this one."
Túrante lashes out again from the ground at an injured wolf.
Emil gallops around and attempts to skewer the wolf covered in yellow pollen!
"Turanthe! Get on Flora!" yells Emil as the lance finds its mark.
"Watch out, Emil. Stay away from the pit. It's trying to lure you in!"
After delaying at least one of the creatures, Franka wants to thin out their numbers further. The one damaged by Audsley's bomb seems the most like candidate. He's also standing alone, meaning he'll be easier to hit. She calls back to one of her earliest tricks, summoning a ball of hardpacked ice from beyond the Veil.
--
The prone princess again fails to land a blow, but Emil slams his lance into the beast drawing its attention. Meanwhile, Franka flung snowball lands squarely in its maw, causing it to flinch slugishly.
Gasping with excitement, Audsley slings another bomb up on high!
There was a flurry of blows and bombs raining down on the beasts. The one that took two icy missles growls and moves away to lick his wounds, whereas the one Preven stomps on growls and snaps back at the horse!
Turante takes another bite to the side, while the beast fighting Preven misses! Luckily Turante is already on the ground.
Emil nudges the horse further and thrusts at the wolf!
"Gods! Don't jostle me Flora!" The horse neighs and kicks out.
Audsley lopes forward, his overlong arms hanging by his sides, knuckles brushing over the knee-high grass. He cuts around the corpses of the wolves, chuckling at the sight of their ice-rimed fur, and then, when he's in range, hurls another bomb at the wolves who are savaging Turante.
"Get off her, you mangy, flea-bitten, whey-faced excuses for downtrodden curs!"
Flora continues to show up her rider by braining the beast facing her, while Emil struggles to land a blow. Having little difficulty in landing a blow, however, is Audsley, whose thrown Bomb Staggers the beast... to death.
The lone remaining beast glances around, growling, as it is suddenly very outnumbered compared to how it was a minute ago.
Franka has another trick up her sleeve, this time calling fire. However, the place where she draws it from it quite unstable and she's had trouble aiming it at just one target. With Emil and Túrante close by, Franka opts for a more mundane method. She draws a shortspear from Heimdall's saddlebags as she rides up, then tosses it at the warg.
The spear flies wide. "Sorry, guess I'm badly out of practice," she apologizes.
--
Despite Turante and Franka's inability to land a hit, Janna manages to slice into the beast with an augmented blow, eliciting a sharp yelp. Surrounded and badly injured, the beast slinks back and runs off into the woods, leaving only the one still frantically attempting to free itself from the magical Pit remaining visible and alive. In the distance you hear a series of howls, presumably from the injured beasts. Following the howls, however, is one loud yelp, then another a distance off. A moment of silence follows, then a louder, bestial howl rings out through the woods, almost a roar.
Staring down at the fallen and "fallen" beasts, you realize what wasn't clear in the middle of combat: these beasts are actually Worgs. Turante and Franka are fairly certain that the one large wolf that was seen that departed at the start of the battle was *not* a Worg, despite having apparently commanded the Worgs. That remains a mystery for now, however.
After the threat of the worgs has been removed, the men that had sought refuge on the stone slowly descend. Many of them are visibly injured, yet all are incredibly thankful for your timely arrival. "Erastil bless you", one says, "We thought we were goners, with them beasts snapping at us below. It was only a mater of time before we had to come down for water, or the elements got to us. Even still, that big one looked like it was trying to figur out a way to get to us all, rocks or no. We owe you our lives!"