Session 81: The New Alpha

General Summary

The party continued to fight the gathering of lycanthropes. Ulfr was able to pull himself free from the entangling grass, leaping away from Levi and the moonbeam and towards others in the group. Levi remained where he was, fighting the lycanthropes choking in the wolfsbane incense smoke.   Aisling continued her whirlwind attacks, striking down many of the lycanthropes gathering to attack her. Nortle helped to hold back the lycanthropes that had moved up to attack Hilda and Alrik Lothbrook.   Myohn dropped his invisibility and polymorphed into a tyrannosaurus rex and attempted to bite Ulfr. However, Ulfr used his pack command and one of the alphas immediately stepped up protecting him and was bitten by the Myohnnosauras instead. Aisling gave Ulfr the finger with a nicely painted nail, issuing a compelled duel, however, he turned from her when he saw that the hunting pack had arrived, answering the call of the horn. It was the hunting pack that led The Wild Hunt to its quarry, descending from the sky and landing on the ground near the moonwell.   As more feral werewolves from the outlying camps started to arrive they began to move in on the party to attack. With their arrival, Ulfr began to charge toward the pack. Myohn tried to attack as he left, but another Lycanthrope stepped up to take the blow for the apex alpha.   Ulfr leapt and tried to hurriedly follow and Tertius gave Levi a moment to rush forward, attempting to block his escape. Levi compelled Ulfr to a duel, invoking the half-moon nature on him. Despite the urge to fight Levi, Ulfr moved past him to make his way to the hunting pack to challenge its alpha. The party continued to fight off the lycanthropes as well as attempting to halt Ulfr's approach to the Hunt.   Levi pursued and struck Ulfr again, who was trying to challenge the hunting pack's alpha. However, Illevaere's moonbeam struck Ulfr and he reverted to his human form. There he tried to call out the leader of the hunting pack, but was unable to get its attention. Illevaere called lightning down in the area, destroying the apex werewolf.   The hunting pack remained with the hunters' horses coming soon. Skaldi moved up and growled, trying to challenge the alpha of the hunting pack. The alpha took notice of her, but was not immediately drawn in to take on the challenge. But the hunting pack alpha looked up and behind Skaldi, where a spectral wolf with matted black fur and rips in her flesh where her bones were visible had appeared. It was the Old Black Wolf of the Hills, the mother of the wolf cubs that Levi had adopted.   The Old Black Wolf of the Hills rushed forward, passing through Skaldi who let out a confused, "Mama?" as she passed through her. The Old Black Wolf of the Hills didn't challenge the lead of the pack, but instead, used her ghostly ability to instead possess the pack leader. She then led the hunting pack toward the remaining lycanthropes, and as the spectral hunters descended from the sky, they tore through the area, leaving the party untouched, but taking out the lycanthropes that remained.   The hunt did not stop, continuing their ever moving ride, passing by the party and the survivors. Kåre stood close to the hunt as they barreled past him and he closed his eyes and held up his hand. As the hunters moved past him, one of the huntsmen reached out his hand and took Kåre's, pulling him up onto his horse to rejoin the hunt once again.   The field was cleared, leaving only the party and the remains of the lycanthropes, though they spotted a worn, but standing war tent at the edge of the camp. Searching Ulfr's body, the League found the Cloak of the Packlord, the Totem of the Frost-Howl Pack, and a Call of the Hunt signalling horn. Entering the tent, the party took stock of the trophies present, including a Moon Silver Spear and a Dreamcatcher of Nondetection. There was also a collection of torn war banners of the Oleander Throne, as well as some from several local Northlander clans. There was also a reinforced hide chest that contained about 800 gold in coin, and torcs, jewelry, and gems with a collected value of about 500 gold.   Ulfr's plans were laid out on the table in the center of the tent. There was a map of the Heathmoors, marking out the location of the Moonwell. There was a calendar tracking the moon phases. Within the scribbled notes in the margins of the maps, books, and calendars which gave the following insight that Ulfr had pieced together. The ArchFey ruler of the Court of Hoof and Claw, Cerunnos, first called a hunt on the hill that would become the Moonwell. It was stated that the land was covered in forest and he called a hunting party to track down a rå, a female troll-like creature. The hunt pursued her through the forest, their pursuit knocking down all of the trees and turning the land into the moorlands.   At this point Tertius stated that that was not how moors were made. He also had been holding his tongue out of respect to Levi's people, but the Heathmoors are poorly named since heathlands and moorlands are separate things. Moors are on highlands, but heaths are on lowlands. Naming the location the Heathmoors is a contradiction that makes no sense.   There were also notes about the Call of the Hunt, the signal horn that Ulfr had, similar to the one Bolvaic has. Ulfr's notes stated that the horns were signal hunting horns that the riders of the Hunt use to call others to their quarry. Each blow of the horn has a chance to call the Wild Hunt to it, but there are factors that make it more likely--the location, proximity to a moonwell, the time of year with midwinter supposedly being the strongest as that is when the first hunt was called. Ulfr also had a sprig of mistletoe that was supposedly harvested by Cerunnos himself. He believed all of these factors would increase the likelihood of the Wild Hunt responding to the signal horn and arriving.   Finally, there was a map of the Isles, with major cities marked with notes for where to lead the hunt to purge the most people from the isles' cities and population centers. Levi used the spear to see if anyone in the group was inflicted with lycanthropy, discovering only that Svengard had been infected.   With the party taking stock of everything, they turned their attention to the final thing of note within the room. Hanging with arms spread and held by chains was an Oleander soldier, his clothing torn and shredded and his body riddled with lupine bite marks on him.