Session 19

General Summary

Starday, Richfest 1, 591 CY

Early Evening

Dominique and I are taken to the library. I search for arcane lore, while she is after knowledge of the Five Great Blades of Korusk. Orson walks in, accompanied by several children. He asks what we are doing, and we answer that we are perusing the collection.

"Looking for anything in particular?" Orson asks.

"Anything on the Five Blades of Korusk," Dominique answers.

Orson retrieves a book titled Relics of the Heathens. It was written by the sage Melfour of Rel Astra. It is a voluminous, ancient tome. It is written in Old Oeridian. It is close enough to the common tongue that we can read it, though I ritually cast Comprehend Languages to aid myself. Orson reads to the children while we read this tome.

The book begins with a prologue on the topic of the volume: the barbarous ways of the heather cultures that the Oeridians brought civilization to, though it omits the Rhenee. It also thanks the sponsor, Lord Guilfoye of House Cranden. I deem that it is likely the book was written in the early period of the original Oeridian Great Kingdom, because it references Rel Astra being the capital. The Rhenee only arrived on Oerth about four centuries ago, after this book was written.

We work for hours, I assisting Dominique while conducting my own research. At one point, as we grow weary, I notice the book Orson was reading to the children. It is a book on magic; it is about how certain types of magic interact with other types of magic. This was not what we heard him reading aloud to the children. It has a dragon on the cover, and he was referencing that cover illustration while telling his story to the children. I find the book he was reading is wrong about a lot of the arcane theories it espouses.

I ritually cast Detect Magic and scan the book, as well as the rest of the library. This book is mundane, but I find one that is magical. It has a spell of the second valence: Aganazzer's Scorcher.  The book purports to be written by Aganazzar himself. Other than this, I don't find anything helpful. I scribe the new spell into my grimoire.

Dominique finds reference to a god of the Ice, Snow, and Frost barbarians that was banished by the Oeridian gods. There is a theory that uniting the Five Blades of Korusk will restore this god. The tome is dismissive of the notion that Sueloise gods might displace Oeridian gods. It does also mention that there was a way to track the swords with an ice-like crystal that could be used, with proper rituals, to search for the blades using a beacon. Oeridian conquerors had seized these crystals from Suel people. There appear to be many, and they found their way into the various houses of the Great Kingdom. The crystals were made of lapis and in the shape of a snowflake.

We work late and head to bed.

Sunday, Richfest 2, 591 CY

Early Morning

In the early morning hours Norric screams out and awakens. He tells his roomates of a dream where he was being mauled by a werebear. His bedclothes a soaked with his sweat. Thomyr asks if he's had any symptom of illness, and he replies that he feels okay. This is the first time he's had this nightmare. He leaves the room in search of dry bedding, and meets Orson, who goes with him to assist him.

In the process, Norric beholds the twin moons of Oerth nearing their fullness, and feels a strange draw. From some far-off place he hears a wolf's howl.

Orson finds a dry pillow and bedding for Norric. Dominique and I pass Orson on our way back from the library.

Morning

We dine in the morning with some of the residents of this place. Norric heads out to see if he can get his leather armor fitted with studs, which he arranges with Nate. Dominique heads to the library again. She's speaking to Astar when Jansen comes in and says to Astar he must speak with him urgently. They go off to the side and converse, and Jansen leaves in a hurry, saying he needs to talk to Harmon. He also says to not tell Kael. Astar approaches Dominique and asks her to quietly gather her friends.

Dominique gathers us to the library. Trant, Harmon, and Jansen are there. Kael and Orson are absent. Harmon looks very concerned. Jansen thanks us for coming. Last night two of Hetman Trant's villagers went missing. They did not appear for their watches. They looked for them this morning, discretely, and didn't find them. Harmon has sent some of his outriders to see if they left, but there is no sign. They were both unwed and have no one that could speak for them. The last time they were seen they were together and in their cups. They got into a bit of an altercation with some of Kael's bandits, but that isn't unusual. Just some pushing and shoving. He asks us to assist in finding them. They were supposed to be at the gates (one gate each.) Usually there is a mix of Kael's and Trant's people at the defenses (a wooden palisade.)

We question Jansen, who creates the schedule. He advises that Mikhail the bandit showed up for his shift. Trant is visibly upset. He says they probably got into a fight and Kael's men shanked them and dumped them in the river. He demands justice. He feels Kael's men are ready to betray them at any point. He's irrationally angry, but Jansen tries to talk him down.

We head to Mikhail's hovel. The door is answered by a middle-aged woman, who is confused why we are all there. Mikhail comes to the door. I tell him we are here to discuss the events of last night. We crowd into the hovel.

"Is this about Jake?"

"Yes."

"I don't know why he didn't show up, but we did get into a fight. After I threw him in the river he got out and was fine. He and his buddy can't hold their liquor and say stuff. This is how we handle things in the Bandit Kingdoms. A group of us tossed the two of them in the river. It's not uncommon. He was fine when we dumped him in the river."

"Did you see him get out of the river?"

"Yes." I judge that he is being honest and is nervous that we will think he did something to Jake.

Tronus asks if Mikhail completed his shift when Jake didn't show up. He replies that he did.

I ask if he was the one who was primarily offended, and he says that Steffan was in their group -- him and his boy. Steffan was helping throw Jake in the river directly. Thomas was watching. It was Mikhail's idea to throw them in the river. "They really deserved it," he tells us. "I may have peed on one of them."

Mikhail also said he'd kill Jake if he said it again. He can't remember what it was that Jake said that offended him so, but he thinks it was about his mother.

The other guard who hasn't returned was Mattias. We leave to speak to him and hear Mikhail's woman screaming at him in anger over his behaviour last night.

We get Mattias's home location from Jansen and pay him a visit. His woman answers the door. She lets us in. I ask if it is unusual for him to fail to return in the morning. She says he spends too much time with the bandits, who are a bad influence. He doesn't usually stay away for long. Usually he ends up drinking with his partner and they go straight to manning the gate while drunk. Mattias was not with the bandits before. He usually drinks by the bridge, near Mikhai's house. There's a firepit down there. She didn't note any unusual behaviour.

Thoryn is who Mattias was normally partnered with.

We head over to Jake's house. A man sits out front, whittling. He identifies as a friend of Jake. He seemed fine last night right before he left for his shift. He reeked of urine at the time. That was the last he'd seen of him. Jansen came around earlier looking for him. Other than that no one unusual had been around. The shift change is at midnight. This man is whittling a soldier for the kids (it is actually a bandit he's whittling for Thomas.) He hasn't seen Thomas since we returned yesterday. This fellow's name is Baldwin. He asks where we think Jake went, and I reply that is what we are here to ask him. Mattias never went home home after being thrown in the river, but Jake did.

We ask about Jake's possessions, and Baldwin says he took the valuable ones, which included a pendant (cameo) Jake had once given to a woman. He's uncertain if she was his sister or girlfriend.

We walk Jake's path to his guard post from his home. There are a couple homes along the route. We check in one the first, occupied by an elderly man. He reports that there were wolf howls last night. Beyond that there weren't any strange occurrences. The wolf howls were fairly close. After consideration, he does say he heard someone talking to themselves as they walked by, possibly Jake. He was complaining about Mikhail being an asshole. Then he "shut up quick" and that was the end of it. Because he cut off so abruptly he looked outside and didn't see anything. Then the howling started again. He says they had a werewolf problem in his old town thirty years ago. The werewolf was hunted down. He tells us to talk to the old lady across the street.

Unfortunately, there's no answer at the crone's house. We enter regardless. Dominique casts Light. The room is smeared with viscera. A partially decomposed corpse lies on the cot. The remains of the old woman lie on the cot, her belly torn open and her innards removed and scattered about. Tronus uses his medical lore to determine that her belly was torn open and her innards gnawed upon. It appears she was killed in her sleep. This is very recent. The wounds weren't made by a weapon. There are bloodstains on the ground that look like they were made by someone kneeling next to her. There are also footprints in the blood that are barefoot, though they look human.

We find a blood rag at the side of the door. The bloody footprints end at the door. We deduce the rag was used to wipe the killer's feet so they wouldn't leave prints outside the hut.

We go back to the old man's hut. He is confused at first and asks after Sarah. He thinks she has a thing for him. Old Mal is this fellow's name. I ask to come in for a drink and he obliges. As he gets me a drink I find a poorly-written poem that he wrote of his love for Sarah. I thank him for the drink. He says he heard Sarah thrashing about last night, and I suggest he leave her be for now (we don't tell him what happened to her.) He thought her heard her wake up with a start at night, though she has fever dreams at times, so that isn't unusual. This was shortly after Jake walked by his house and stopped talking abruptly. Mal mutters, "Stop, please stop. Enough. Who said that? I don't think it was Sarah. Enough. Enough. What did I hear?"

Mal asks me to give Sarah the letter, as he's shy. I agree to do that. 

We return to the manor to report our findings. Both knights of the Holy Shielding are out. Orson does tell us that Astor is at the shrine. Well tell him all we have found, and he asks to be shown Sarah's corpse. We pass by Baldwin and he shows us Jake's shoes. They were wet last night so Jake left them to dry as he reported for duty.

We tell Astar of our theory that Jake is a werewolf. We guard outside Sarah's home while Astar investigates. He is horrified and confused. He suggests we have Harmon look at the scene when he returns.

Astor questions Mal, and he reports that it was pitch black outside and he couldn't even see Sarah's house. He heard a person, neither man or woman, say "Enough." Then all the struggle stopped. "I think she's dead," he says as a tear trails down his cheek. "And I never gave her the poem I wrote. It said, 'enough'."

"And then they left. And I knew she was dead," Mal finishes. He sits and stares and weeps.

Astar comforts him. "I need you to not tell anyone. Can you do that for me, Mal?" Mal nods.

Just as we are about to leave, Old Mal grabs my arm in a vice-like grip and pulls me down to his face. He says "You'll make them pay, right?"

"Yes, I will," I reply.

Astar says "I'm not sure how we are going to clean this up. Don't tell anyone but me and the knights. Do not tell Kael or Trant. This will cause panic."

He is incredulous as to how they could have contracted lycanthropy. They never leave the manor site. We privately postulate that Thomas has been behaving oddly, and that we lost sight of him when we were fighting the werebear barbarian. He did kill a man at that time. And he also showed some reluctance to cross past the tower while it was strobing.

We resolve to go and speak with Thomas.

Report Date

16 Oct 2021