Dwa 32th, 4288: 21 Days in the mortal realm
When I thought we could do no worse after our first day in Sardik, more havoc broke out at our hands today. At first it seemed like we were the new celebrities when word of our help in bringing Pendral down spread. Yesterday people would come up to us and thank us. It was the highlight of my day despite the guilt I still held for Cleric Rob's demise and for cutting off a little girl's arm. We were also called upon by the Captain of the Guards around noon. He informed us that Sardik would appreciate an audience with us and was waiting. Isaac told him we'd be right out. Isaac then had us gather in his room for a moment and handed us a portion of the riches we had acquired. He told us that we each had roughly 200,000 in the value of gold though most of it was in the form of gems. I was floored by the sudden wealth each of us had. There's so much I could do with it, items that would empower me that I could get.
Once we each had our share we headed out. It then dawned on me that Gideon once more was missing. No one knew where he had disappeared to and it seemed such rotten timing considering we were about to go talk to Sardik.
We followed the Captain of the Guard through the gates of Sardik’s castle and I took in the grandness it was, well once had been. It appeared to be somewhat run down, more due to lack of upkeep. As the Guard continued to lead us down the grand hall, into what looked to be the throne room, it became apparent something was happening. This strong, healthy guard suddenly began to look more hunched, worn, and aged. As he went up the steps to the throne and sat down upon it, one could see parts of his body greatly disfigured and what looked to be bite marks. This man obviously had been through a lot and I had a suspicion that those bite marks weren’t just any animal. Perhaps it was due to the recent mention of a werewolf problem with the goblins that made me think of it, but the bite marks seemed to be that of a werewolf's bite. I held my tongue since I really wasn’t sure and I wasn't an expert either on werewolves.
It became clear who this Guard was as he sat on the throne and gave us a tired, but engaged look.
“Wait, you’re Sardik!?” Cortanna blurted out. I gave a small bow of my head to show some respect.
“When Pendral was around I very well couldn’t go out as myself for I knew of his intentions to kill me. So what is it you needed to have an audience with me about?” Sardik said, getting right to business. Isaac filled him in on the situation with Podunk and Lupik to which we inquired why it was he gave up the town of Podunk.
“Well, Lupik is my brother for one. As to the werewolf situation in the mountains," Sardik thoughtfully said, "Well he is one as I am. It runs in the family. As you can also see," the duke gestured to himself, "I could not keep up a good fight against him and so decided to give Podunk up. He wanted that town because of the silver mine there. He’s trying to monopolize all of the silver since that’s the material that is most effective against our kind. I don’t agree with the things my brother is doing, but I have no help I can give if that is what you're looking for.”
“What if we went to the King about this issue?” I asked.
“Well, you certainly could try. But... the Prince favors Lupik and of course the King favors his son. So I don’t know how you might be able to receive help from the King honestly.”
I felt disappointed with the answer given. At least there was an answer, but our task in figuring out what to do about the werewolves had left us at square one, still trying to figure out what to do.
“We also came upon a cart on our way here and wonder if you might know of the symbol represented upon it,” Isaac mentioned. I had forgotten about the cart we came across nearly a week ago. Sardik asked him if he knew where it was to which Isaac gave a clear description of it’s location. Before we knew it, the cart and all the riches we had stored in it was suddenly before our eyes.
“Oh...” Sardik said, his eyes appearing concerned. He got up and began to examine the cart.
“Do you know who this belong to?” Isaac asked.
“This cart is one of mine. These heirlooms here, this one’s my daughter’s and this one’s the son of Pendral’s,” he calmly answered, “I don’t know exactly where all this wealth came from, but how did you happen to come across it?”
“We found it battered, like you see it, with all occupants involved dead. We believe it to be a bear attack. There was one in the area and one of our members was certain the scratches resembled that of bear claws. As to the wealth, that’s what we happened across along our journey,” Isaac explained. Sardik looked at him, not seeming to fully by his story, though I knew it to be truth.
“The other’s may be dead, but I know my daughter is alive," Sardik then eyed the cart more closely, "Are you certain it was a bear attack?”
The way he was talking suggested that there was more. He had just mentioned how lycanthropy ran in the family...
“I’m guessing your daughter must then be a werewolf too?” I asked. Sardik looked at me, but said nothing.
“Well, whatever it was, I know my daughter is alive. Anyways," Sardik said, pushing the subject aside, "thank you for bringing this to my attention. Is there anything else I could help you with?” We informed him that we had told him everything we came for. He then asked if we would keep it secret about his whereabouts since we knew he disguised himself.
"Also," Sardik said as we began to leave the throne room. When I looked back, Sardik was clearly looking at Isaac, "if I'm not mistaken, your past lays in the Dwarven Lands. If you want to redeem yourself, you should go there to remember your past." Isaac pondered for a moment before giving a quick nod of his head and leading us out of the throne room. I figured I'd ask him about that after we solved the werewolf issue.
The rest of yesterday and most of today was spent shopping and taking in the sights. Isaac had gotten himself and Bill these neat items that let themselves be disguised, an illusion really. Isaac looked normal (not so shriveled and skeleton like. He better resembled how I first saw him when I entered Podunk) and Billy looked alive. I was envious. All I had bought were items that made me stronger and look more charismatic. Isaac then mentioned he had some scrolls to get read that would let him see arcane magic and invisible things. I asked if I could go with. I thought being able to see invisible things would be quite useful. He allowed me to tag along.
We walked up to a shop called 'The Scrolls Lord.' It seemed presumptuous, but it wasn't like I was any expert with scrolls myself. The store was interesting. It was small and there was a distinguishable buzz of noise to it, making it seem busier than it was. Isaac went to the shopkeeper who seemed to recognize him. He agreed, for a small fee, to cast the magic of the scrolls on him. I felt a little bit of hesitancy when I saw the shopkeeper jab Isaac in the eyes for each spell to make it permanent, but I figured a little pain for the ability to see invisible things would be worth a little pain.
After receiving my invisible sight, I could see where the buzz in the shop came from. There were people working invisibly, a store security I’m sure for those who thought they could get away with pickpocketing. The shopkeeper knowing what we were able to see asked us to keep the store security a secret.
Once we made our way back to the Inn, we saw that Cortanna had a new horse. It was a beautiful breast, but it got weird when it began to talk. We looked at Cortanna.
“Really, you had to get the talking horse?” Isaac asked incredulously.
“Hey, she’s really cool,” came her response, with a touch of lameness to her tone.
“Well, why’s she inside?”
“My old Master would always let me come inside with him,” the horse answered for Cortanna.
“Yeah, she kinda wants to always be with me,” Cortanna added. I actually thought the whole thing was humoring.
“Well, does she have a name? Like Lady Clip Clop or something?” I asked.
“It’s Brier or Neigh-gh-gh harmph hmph,” Brier answered.
“Whatever," Isaac said. I don't know why he was agitated by the horse so much. "Is everyone back then for the day?” Isaac asked, shifting topics.
“No, Rekka was here, but hasn’t been back for many hours,” Cortanna answered. And that was just the start of our troubles; realizing Rekka was missing.
“Okay. Hopefully she’ll be back- what the?” Isaac said, cutting himself off. He swung a hand down and pulled up a scrawny boy by the wrists, “What are you doing in my things?” Isaac asked threateningly. The boy looked like he was about to pee his pants as Isaac gave a flash of his true face.
“Uh, sorry! I was put up to it by the guys from the Thieves Guild,” the boy sputtered out.
“Okay, well here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to leave, and I’m never going to see your face near me again, right?” The boy looks dreadfully scared.
“Please sir, I messed up real bad. If I don’t come back with something, they’re gonna kill me. This was my way to redeem myself!”
“Not my problem,” Isaac then threw the boy out the door. Moments later we could hear a scream, and for a moment we stood in silence. Maybe I should have stood up for him... then again, if he’s with the thieves guild, he probably knew the life he was getting into.
“So, no one’s seen Rekka for a while,” I said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Cortanna shook her head, “Does anyone know where she went?”
“I saw someone slip a note into her pocket and then she left,” Jessica told everyone. That seemed odd. I also have to wonder why Jessica didn't follow her. We decided it would be best to ask around to see if we could figure out where she was.
It took a couple minutes before finding someone who saw her head to the lower Merchant Sector of the city. As we walked in, we were about to split up to find her when we heard a distinct scream. It took no second thought as to who it was. We all had heard that scream back in the mines when the voices would sound. The sound seemed to come from a near by building, but as I made my way toward it, realized the party all had taken off in a different direction.
"Why are you all going that way?" I yelled after them.
"Because we're trying to save Rekka," Jessica responded. The scream rang in my ears once more and I realized my mistake.
Cortanna was first to the door due to having Brier to ride. She slid off of her mount and proceeded to knock the door down. Isaac helped her too by putting his his shoulder to the door with Cortanna. Though they are a bit small, they were able to knock the door down in two swings. We all flooded into the building. As I rounded the corner into the main room, there was a werewolf and three other men. Rekka was on the other side of the room in a cell. Billy went right up to the werewolf and wrapped his arms around him. The werewolf struggled, but Billy was much stronger than he looked. I maneuvered around Cortanna to attack one of the men. As I passed her, I noticed she was frozen. In my hesitation, the man I had wanted to attack struck her petrified form. Immediately I snapped back to the situation and went about tripping the man. My attempts were unsuccessful as Brier pushed her way into the building.
"Who hurt my master!?" She demanded. She didn't wait for an answer. Brier saw the man closest to her and proceeded to stomp the living daylights out of him.
One of the other men turned into a werewolf as well. We had subdued the other two men (if not killed them) and still had the one werewolf grappled. That werewolf became limp to which the other one ran out the door. I pursued after him. I failed in tripping him, but two of Cortanna's arrows made contact that knocked him out. We carefully drug his body back into the building and put it aside with the other bodies. I asked Cortanna if she was okay considering how she was petrified. She shrugged her shoulders telling me that she'd recover. I looked over and saw that Rekka had since been released from her prison. She was standing close to Billy, trembling, though clearly relieved to have us (or was it just Billy) there.
Suddenly there was a nasty snarl followed by a scream, Our heads jerked to see Jessica gripping her bloodied arm. The idiot of a bar wench had decided to sit on the werewolf! I can't fathom how she even thought that was a sensible idea. Not sure whether I should even consider her lucky that her arm was still intact. I didn't get to linger more on her foolish decision to do such a thing, for the werewolf was then on it’s feet and fleeing out the door.
All of us, except Jessica, pursued. I tried 2 different times to trip him, but he managed to dodge my spell. It was Cortanna and Isaac who were able to catch up with him. From the distance I was at, it looked as though the werewolf was killed as I saw a ghost like figure appear. I caught up in time to hear something about Rekka’s blood. It sounded like she part of an important or royal bloodline, but it could very well be whatever ritual they were going to use her in and she just happened to fit the criteria.
I looked through some of the pieces I found of this werewolf. We learned from Rekka that his name was Sir. I wanted to examine his body for a possible sign of the mark. There wasn't any sign that I could find. I looked up confused, then rolled the body over. Out of the corner of my eye, it seemed that the ghost of Sir was agitated. I suppose it was less than respectful of his dead body, me examining it and all, but whatever, he was dead and evil for all I knew.
As I finished examining Sir’s remains I saw Cortanna start heading back the way we came. I assumed she was going back to help Jessica. I felt I would try and do the same since the werewolf was no longer a problem. I had barely begun to catch up with Cortanna when I saw her racing back toward me with a frightened look on her face. I was confused by what she was so alarmed by. When I looked in the direction of the building I barely made out the figure of Jessica running toward us. I thought she was running from something and needed help, so I pushed myself harder to aid her.
If I had known that it was because of Jessica, Cortanna was fleeing, maybe I would have made an attempt to flee toward the rest of the party too. However with my guard mostly down, what looked like a hurt and scared Jessica was actually her half turned into a werewolf! Just as that realization came upon me it was too late. Jessica lunged at me to which I was able to defend myself against her. She knocked me to the ground, still intent on biting my face off. Thankfully I had my halberd between the two of us. A few arrows sunk into her knocking her off of me long enough that I could get up. I took a swipe of her paw to my face before hitting her with the blunt end of my halberd. Suddenly the form of Jessica came back into view. She was unconscious due to all her wounds. The other caught sight of the commotion and gathered around to see what had happened. I tell them that Jessica was half turned into a werewolf. Isaac then figured it’d be wise to put Jessica in the jail where they killed the Alop until we knew what to do with her. He took hold of Jessica, clicked the heels of his boots together to which he and Jessica disappeared.
Barely had Isaac disappeared when we heard someone stumble from behind us. We saw Gideon appear out of a building. He seemed dazed and was startled by the werewolf body that we left in the road. We went to him, to see what had happened to him. He couldn't recall and I suspected from the smell that he had been drinking way too much. We filled him in on the situation, not taking into consideration that were were in the road with a werewolf, dead and next to us. As we finished telling him about what had happened in the past 5 minutes, we then noticed a crowd had begun to form.
“What’s going on?”
“What is that?”
"Oh heavens! It's a werewolf!"
We all gave each other a nervous glance.
“Don’t worry, we’ve taken care of the werewolf. It’s dead,” I answered to those who were questioning the scene.
“What? A werewolf?” someone echoed.
“Aren’t they pack animals?”
“Did any of you get bit by it!?”
“No. My friend and I were hit by weapons,” I quickly answered. I was feeling quite sore and was ready to call it a night.
“No, those look an awful lot like bite marks to me,” someone called out. I glared at the mass crowd of people, not knowing who or where that statement came from. Clearly they were an idiot if they were mistaking cuts and scratches for bite marks.
“I assure you they are not. For one-” I began to say when suddenly Rekka shouts out.
“Wait, that man there! He’s a werewolf!” The crowd was very much on edge. That announcement ignited a frenzy among them as they pounced on a man in the crowd. I whirled around to look at Rekka.
“What did you just do!?” I demanded.
“Let’s get out of here!” She retorted back. I wasn’t about to let it drop.
“Rekka, seriously.”
“Trust me, he was one of them, at least he was one of the guys who kidnapped me.”
My nerves calmed down a little, feeling a little relief that she didn’t cause a senseless attack just to create a diversion for us. We all began to try and make a silent escape. That's when I noticed Billy wasn’t with us. I asked everyone if they had seen him are knew where he went. No one saw him. Maybe he had teleported with Isaac, but I was pretty sure I saw Isaac leave with just Jessica.
“Oh great,” Cortanna said, “Now we have an undead somewhere in the crowd with the werewolf.”
If I had thought the crowd was already heated and on edge with the one werewolf and Rekka sicking them on one of her enemies, complete pandemonium erupted after Cortanna’s less than subtle comment. People began to run left and right fleeing for their lives. We continued to try and get out of there especially as we saw guards coming in. We didn't mean to cause trouble. All we had meant to do was save Rekka. Plus in our attempt to leave I felt we ought to find Billy, but no one was interested nor seemed concerned about a marked undead roaming around supposedly free from Isaac's control. So I chose to go check what the guards were specifically coming for, knowing there was a chance I could be placed under arrest since I did help kill someone folk (even if they were werewolves and had kidnapped one of my party members... and bit another).
As I approached, I caught sight of figures in black, hooded cloaks, approaching them. For a brief moment I was intrigued as to what the really situation they were there for. Surely our commotion over the werewolves wasn't cause for more back up. However, those in the black cloaks were not reinforcements. Instead they began to stab the guards! Terrified and panicked, I ran back through the crowd toward my party (I used Cortanna as my beckon since she was riding Brier). I caught up and told them that we needed to pick up the pace up because the guards were being killed by cloaked beings. Now, at the time it was logical to raise my voice above the noise that the mass of folk were making in their haste to flee. And so I added another layer of terror to the werewolves and undead that had already feared the crowd.. With the increase of adrenalin among the citizens, I was knocked down. Getting up wasn't too difficult, but I was promptly knocked down after regaining me feet. At about this time a loud and forceful, yet calm, voice bellowed over the chaos.
“EVERYONE STOP!”
I felt a n old sensation that was used upon me in my youth many times. I, as well as the mass of folk, were petrified. No, not turned to stone, but rather were were completely immobile. It was a spell I wish I could learn for it was very, very, effective in subduing a large crowd. As I laid on the ground completely immobile, a faint ringing sounded in my ear as the silence lingered on. I could hear faint footsteps in the distance that gradually got closer. Faint mutterings could be heard. Once the people who were moving about were roughly 10 feet away I could see they were another set of guards walking through the people and placing something on them. As soon as the object was placed upon them, they disappeared.. Before I knew it they were towering over me. One looked down, gave me a good look, then looked around intently for something.
“Hey, look who I’ve found!” Another guard walked over and eyed me.
“Just her?”
“Nope, there’s the others,” the guard responded, pointing off in a direction.
“Here. Place these badges on them.”
I saw a silver colored badge placed upon chest. In an instant I was standing outside the jail with Isaac in view. The first thing that registered after I looked at my surroundings was Billy wasn’t with Isaac. The other’s arrived as I asked, “Billy’s not with you?” Isaac gave me a look that was a mix of horror and confusion.
"I've only been gone 5 minutes and was about to head back. I figured he’d be safe with you guys for that time frame. How is it you all are here?”
“Well he’s no longer with us," I rushed on, "I have no idea when or where he disappeared to. People were running every which way and-”
“Why were people running?” Isaac interrupted, sounding concerned.
“They were concerned about the werewolf we killed, Rekka sicked them on some guy, we tried to leave when I noticed Billy was missing and then Cortanna dropped the U-bomb. With the chaos of people, the guards came in but as I approached them they were being slaughtered by people in cloaks to which more guards came and froze us. They then placed a silver badge on me and I assume them and that's how we were summoned here,” I quickly summed up. Isaac's mouth hung open in slight disbelief.
“5 minutes! All of that? 5 minutes!” Isaac sputtered in anger and sheer surprise. He then went silent, his lips pursed in thought. Cortanna, Gideon, and Rekka seemed focused on the jail behind us. They mentioned that is sounded like something was going on in the jail. I couldn't hear anything and figured they were just on edge still.
“Okay, I know where he is. Sounds like there's some dead people too, I’m going to go get him,” Isaac muttered a few moments later.
“He did what!?” I shrieked. I didn't mean to be so loud, but if it was Billy who had killed people, then that could be very bad. Yep, we're the party that brought an undead with us. That's the guy who just left him alone with us to babysit when he's the one with control over him, I thought bitterly.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be right back,” and with that Rekka shouted, “I’m going with!” and latched onto Isaac, both of them disappearing. I am left scared by the comment Isaac said. Was Billy killing things? Why was Isaac not bothered by this? Did Isaac really control Billy? It was enough to make my head explode!
Just then the jail door behind us busted open. Coming at us in a rage was a werewolf. The werewolf lunged towards me and despite my attempts to defend myself, I was smacked squarely across the chest by it;s claws. As I backed away, Cortanna struck it with 2 arrows followed by Gideon and a guard hitting her with their weapons. The guard impaled the werewolf on his spear, but since it wasn’t silver coated, the werewolf was fine once the spear was removed from its body. Cortanna and I both attacked at the same time, I sending an electric shock through the beast's body. Finally the werewolf was brought to its knees and morphed back. It was now known who we were fighting; Jessica. She looked severely wounded. I wanted to heal her, but unsure as to when she would morph again, I asked the guards if they had anything to restrain her with. They gave me a grave look before telling us that she was restrained with the very best of restraints. Every creature, whether sent by Pendral or someone else, was placed in strong restrains. Just then I caught sight of Isaac, Rekka, and Billy reappearing. Isaac took one look at the scene.
“I was gone less than 5 minutes this time!”
“If you had hung around another 30 seconds it still would have happened,” I argued back.
“I think the bigger problem is what are we going to do about Jessica?” Cortanna asked.
“I know! Let’s go ask the Clerics. I’m sure they would have some kind of cure for this,” Gideon chipped in. Everyone was in agreement. Cortanna, with Brier, left with Gideon to the Court of the Gods to see if they had any cure for Lycanthropy. Once they left Isaac and I went to check the jail to see what damage had been made from Jessica’s escape, especially considering that there were creatures in there that Pendral had sent. As we peered in, we could see that all the guards were killed and all the jail cells were busted open. All the creatures that were held were dead. We lucked out for there was a Gorgon and Basilisk that happened to encounter each other in the same cell and each were now stone. Another cell had it's wall busted out. In all, the jail was in no condition to contain anything.
A half formed werewolf then appeared in front of us. I got my halberd at the ready. The creature coward and slowly shifted back into a man. He had been bitten recently, his one shoulder bloodied with a bite wound. I kept my distance, but I also tried to calm the man down while Isaac walked to the entrance of the jail.
“Hey, do you have contact with the other guards?” Isaac called back.
“Yes, why?” the guard responded.
“Tell them to stop sending werewolves. All the cells are busted open,” Isaac answered. He then went back to the break in the wall. He disappeared behind the wall. A few moments later he came back and swiped his brow.
"A gelatinous cube is out there," he said, seeming lost for breathe, "Almost walked right into that one. Come Araja, I think we're fine since the man has shifted back." Isaac told me. I followed after him, leaving the man still weeping. I hoped that there'd be enough of a cure to heal that man too if Cortanna and Gideon were successful.
Isaac went right to Rekka and tried to get her to explain why she was kidnapped. She didn’t give any clear answer, but she did give Isaac a green potion that she said they tried to convince her to drink. Isaac examined it and gave a knowing nod.
“I’ll be right back,” Isaac told us. I watch him walk around the side of the jail. I followed and just caught Isaac opening the potion and throwing it at something.
“What was that?” I asked quietly.
“A teleportation potion. I’m guessing whoever made it won't be expecting a gelatinous cube,” Isaac said, obviously pleased by his idea. I gave a smirk finding the idea humoring. I also understood how it was Isaac had almost walked into it. We walked back over to the guards and Rekka. Isaac asked the guard how the situation in the slums were going. The guard informed us that he had lost communication with them for the past minute or two. He didn’t know why, but one could hope that it wasn't nothing serious. Isaac told them of the man in the jail who was a werewolf but at the moment was not shifted. I then picked Jessica up and the four of us went to catch up with Gideon and Cortanna.
Upon entering the Court of the Gods, a ways off we suddenly saw a blinding light flash. I blinked rapidly so my eyes could readjust to the late evening twilight. As we drew closer, we saw Clerics surrounding Gideon, Cortanna, and a demon mount. I almost dropped Jessica, who at the time was beginning to come around, to prepare to fight the vile creature. I actually don't know why I was so offended by it at the moment. But something about it was familiar and it left me feeling disturbed.
“Where did this creature come from?” I demanded.
“Well, this is Brier,” Cortanna responded sheepishly. My mouth dropped.
“You bought a talking demon mount!?” Isaac asked incredulously.
“I’m just as surprised!” Cortanna admitted. It then fell quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. I was conflicted. Something inme wanted to destroy the beast, but it hadn't done anything wrong either...
“Well, did you at least tell them about the werewolf problem?” Isaac asked, breaking the silence.
“Not quite. We kinda got caught up on Brier and discovering her true self,” Gideon answered.
“There’s a werewolf problem?” a Cleric asked, whom I assumed to be the Lead Cleric of this group.
“Yes, well, at least our friend here was bitten. We also know in the slums, where she was bitten, chaos kind of broke out and the guards at the jail lost communication with them. We’re not sure what the state of the slums are at this point. We were wondering if you knew of a cure for lycanthropy,” I explained. The Lead Cleric looked at Jessica. While staring at her, he leaned over to another Cleric and said something to him. Soon a griffin descended from the sky and the cleric hopped on before taking off. Once the Cleric was gone, the Lead Cleric spoke.
“She was just recently bitten, am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“Does she want this to be cured, because there is a chance she could die, though not as likely since it was quite recent,” the Cleric explained. We all look to Jessica was alert enough to follow the conversation.
“I wouldn’t mind keeping this ability,” Jessica said. I was a bit surprised. Werewolves don’t have a great reputation, so I was curious as to why she wanted to try and live with it. It would seem the potential risk of death outweighed the negative of being known as a werewolf.
“Okay then. You need to stay until the next full moon so we can see how much control you actually have,” the Lead Cleric informed us.
“That should be fine,” I said.
“That’s another 2 or so weeks we’d have to stay here!” Rekka said, not sounding thrilled about the idea of staying in this city that much longer.
“Well, if people have to leave the city, then go. I’ll stay with Jessica ‘til then,” I responded.
“Why are you so intent on staying?” Isaac asked.
“I kind of have a verdict I’m waiting out currently,” I admitted.
“For what? Killing Rob?” Isaac jokingly said. I glared at him to which he stopped smiling.
“That wasn’t my intentions,” I said through clenched teeth, “They mentioned that you guys should wait around too, possibly for questioning, but I’m the one they really want and so that’s why I figured I’d volunteer myself to stay. The rest of you can leave the city before more chaos becomes of us.”
Before a decision could be given, the Cleric that had departed on the griffin was back.
“It’s really bad there. The slums are burning and there are werewolves everywhere! This is including the jail area. They too had an outbreak of werewolves. I doubt we have enough to cure this,” he reported, “let alone, the people in the slums were saying some kind of sermon repeatedly. I couldn’t get close enough without people shooting arrows and rocks at me.”
We all stood silent for a moment. I was caught on the mention of the sermon.
“Did you mean chant?” I asked. The Cleric looked at me questioningly as though it made no difference. Chant, sermon, I guess they’re similar enough. Well, either way, I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t just an outbreak of werewolves they had but that of the mark.
“I got something that might help,” Isaac said. Soon he had his wishing sword out, “Hubert, I wish that I had a giant cauldron full the potion used to cure lycanthropy.”
Before we knew it, there was a giant cauldron, big enough to fit a couple of people in to bathe. It was full of a greenish liquid to the brim. The Clerics looked at each other and took no time in transporting the potion over to the slums and jail. As our party was left with the Lead Cleric and a few other Clerics, I had an insane idea, but if I was right, it could be crucial for us.
“Well, Isaac… you or Billy wouldn’t know of a way to sense other ‘lycanthropes’ would you?” I asked Isaac with a hidden meaning of ‘do you know if Billy ccould sense other marked beings?’ Everyone gave me an odd look, but then waited for an answer. Isaac getting the meaning responded.
“Actually there is,” Isaac says nodding his head as he looked me directly in the eyes, “but the really question is, what does Brier and those wearing the black hooded cloaks have in common with this?” Isaac pulled out a dagger. I barely too notice of the weapon for my head was reeling. Billy could sense marked beings! Brier was one of them, which I thought odd because I’ve never heard of creatures being marked. I suppose she was intelligent enough to qualify, but I’ve only known it to be humanoid creatures to be targeted. Perhaps that's why I felt an immediate repulsion to her in her demon form. Once more, conflicted. I didn't want to create hard feelings in the part by attack Brier... I then decided the moment she did something clearly evil, that's when I would strike.
The Clerics were very concerned about the dagger. Iif they thought the interchange of words between me and Isaac was odd, all thoughts about that was now long forgotten. They wondered if Isaac was marked. According to them just touching the dagger marked the holder if they weren’t already marked. Isaac assured all of us that he wasn’t, but he still put the dagger on the ground.
The Clerics tried placing a holy cloth upon it to pick it up, but the cloth was burnt as soon as it touched the dagger. With the Clerics focusing on the dagger, I couldn’t help but feeling that there was more evidence of my cause about the mark. Yet, there was also nothing more we could do, so we made our leave.
As we walked back to the Inn, I thought about the slums and how it wasn’t just a werewolf outbreak. I thought back to the day when my town of Rehm was attacked. The slums of Sardik just experienced a raid. I haven’t a clue as to what’s to happen now, but maybe the Clerics will have a way to keep it under control. Either way, here was hoping we could get out of this city before succumbing to this epidemic of marks and werewolves.
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