A woman selling turnips from a cart throws a rotten one at the captain of the guards, and it bounces off his breastplate....
Let them lads be on their way, ye snooty frogs! Those be the heroes what killed old Brinegullet! Let 'em be!
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Likewise, Maid Molly crosses herself and huddles next to Father Malcolm....
The workmen are able to direct The Lusty Fools to Greenwich Manor, where Duke Humphrey resides, or the site of the planned palace, where he can often be found planning details of the architecture with his crew of hired architects, masons, and carpenters. They can also direct the party to a local tavern on The Isle of Dogs (the area of Greenwich village north of the River Thames, within the southward loop of the river) called The Wolfhound's Den.
The workmen climb down from their scaffolds on the wall they are building and hurry over to have a look at the burning remnants of Master Caldwell, the vampire that had plagued them in their sleep these past few months.... The foreman bows before The Lusty Fools and speaks: Ye have done a great deed here, sires! This was Master Edward Caldwell, who in life was not much less evil than he was in death.... 'Tis said he paid a high price for the blood of virgin maids to drink and bathe in when he was alive.... He died just a few moons beyond a year gone now, and had begun to trouble the living again on the anniversary of his death, a few moons ago! More than a few of our daughters have fallen ill after waking with much of their blood drained through bite marks on their necks these past three moons.... Ye have earned our eternal thanks and friendship for ridding us of this cruel vampire! Pray tell, what do ye call yourselves, that we may sing your praises?
The workmen on the wall give out a great shout of Huzzah! and applaud The Lusty Fools for their daring victory over the vampire Edward Caldwell.... My God! The nightmare is over! God bless you, sires! shouts a foreman from his place on a scaffold against the top of the crenelated wall....
Unable to see through the globe of darkness that has engulfed the cart, oxen, and driver, and into which the four riders have now ridden, but able to hear the inhuman hiss that comes from within the darkness, the nearer workmen on the wall cross themselves, and a few can be heard to gasp, in fear, The vampire!
A few laborers paving mortar together to form the 30-ft-high crenelated wall laugh at the cart-driver's unforthcoming answer.... HEHEHEHEHEEE!!!!
Eventually, the young woman can stand the torture no longer, and confesses to all manner of atrocities suggested to her by Duchess of Bedford Eleanor Cobham and her companion, Roger Bolingbroke.... She becomes the latest scapegoat to distract the court and the military of England from the true evildoers....
BUT I DID NOTHING WRONG, M'LADY!!! PLEEEEASE!!! DON'T DO THIS TO MEEEE!!!
The other "Devil-worshippers and witches" whimper in anticipation of their own hellish torment and pointless interrogation.... Bolingbroke tortured them because he enjoyed it.... He wasn't trying to uncover the conspiracy.... He was the conspiracy, as far as these poor souls were concerned.... And they weren't wrong....
Agonized on the rack, the victim shrieks! AAAAAAEEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!! PLEEEEASE!!! I'M NOT A WITCH, SIR!!! PLEASE STOP HURTIN' MEEEEE!!!
The young woman bound to the rack shakes her head vehemently.... No!! No, m'lord, I did no such thing! I'm as Christian as you are, m'lord!! Please!!!
After the rude dandy and his bullies have been shooed off by The Lusty Fools, the patrons of The Boar's Head Inn erupt in laughter and applause! Well done, lads! Haha! Brilliant!
We are the Lusty Fools. The name is a bit odd, granted. We all met in a tavern in Paris. This Baron of Folkestone sounds like a bit of a twit. Anyways, you are safe as far as we know from any further prefations if the wolves. And that sea drake? We killed that too. Tasted good once you put it in a stew. Mutterings of astonishment and awe ripple through the mob of peasants at Paddy's admission that The Lusty Fools slayed the sea drake terrorizing The English Channel in addition to slaying the whole pack of werewolves terrorizing the countryside around The Stag Inn.... Indeed, ye must be great heroes, sent from Heaven to save mankind from the many evils besieging the land! declares Marianne, to general agreement of her fellow villagers.... Long live The Lusty Fools! This last sentence is loudly echoed by all the villagers....
May God bless ye for your generosity, kindly heroes! My brothers and I shall look after your inn as if it were our very own! My name is Marianne, and my younger brothers are Jack and Thomas! We be at your service! The young woman courtseys, and her younger brothers bow....
Our lord is His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and we learnt of the werewolves only last full moon.... Some thirty days ago.... When a survivor of a caravan massacred by the monsters at The Stag Inn stumbled into our village and told of the frightful 'orrors 'e alone escaped with life and limb to tell of.... Unfortunately, this hapless traveler was also bitten by a werewolf before 'e was able to flee. We administered the wolfsbane cure, and 'e was freed of the affliction, but....the wolfsbane did 'im for.... And 'e's buried in the churchyard of our village, now.... The young woman shrugs sadly.... Any'ow, we sent word to His Grace at Canterbury, and received word back that His Grace would dispatch extra soldiers to patrol the bounds of the parish, but that The Stag Inn fell outside His Grace's jurisdiction, and was the responsibility of the Baron of Folkestone! Well, we weren't much pleased by that answer, as ye can imagine.... So we sent a rider to Folkestone to alert the Baron.... But all we got out 'o 'im was an assurance that 'e would send investigators to investigate the matter "as soon as more pressing matters beleaguering the town o' Folkestone could be resolved".... Somethin' 'bout a sea drake terrorizing the fishing boats on the Channel.... So we resolved to take matters into our own 'ands as soon as the moon was full again.... But you brave lot 'ave spared us the trouble and danger of a task none 'o us felt quite up to, and ye 'ave our fulsome thanks! What do ye call your brave band, so that the bards may make a proper song 'o your deed?
The peasants grumble quietly among themselves at Paddy's inquiry about a reward for exterminating the werewolf pack, but they manage to come to an agreement to each pitch in a silver schilling, resulting in a pitiful bounty of 30 sp, and 5 sprigs of their wolfsbane.... At the suggestion that the peasants might tend to The Stag Inn on the party's behalf for an indeterminate period, most of the peasants balk at the notion, having plenty to occupy them on farms or trapping or cutting lumber back at their village, a little hamlet called Elmhurst-By-Canterbury.... But the young woman and two of her younger brothers agree that they could leave the care of their home farm in the capable hands of their elder siblings and tend the inn for a while, provided fair compensation for their labor....
A general gasp of fear goes up among the peasants, who take a collective step away from The Lusty Fools.... Which of ye was bitten!? .... Ye 'ace until the next full moon to cure 'im.... 'At be when the change'll be complete! Take this wolfsbane, my lord, and 'ave your cursed companion eat the 'ole thing.... I warn thee, it is poisonous, and might kill 'im.... But 'Tis a sure cure for lycanthropy, and there be plenty o' fates worse than dyin' for a man in this world.... The young woman offers Alphonse a sprig of wolfsbane....
'Tis wolfsbane, my lord.... Said to repel werewolves.... Then you travelers have slain the werewolves of The Stag Inn? All of them? 'Tis believed there were some score of them....
In English: 'ail, travelers! 'Ave ye been by The Stag Inn down yonder road some three leagues or so? This young woman, clad in threadbare peasant's garb, and the other peasants, eye each of The Lusty Fools suspiciously, looking for bite wounds or other signs of a confrontation with werewolves....
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