The party spent a few days (3/22 – 3/26) in New St. Kortus, some of them wondering how they might steal the diamond heart of St. Kortus from the central temple, others merely relaxing or gathering vague tales of werewolves. After days of patience, almost ready to leave town, the werewolves came to them.
Midnight Provocation
At midnight, the distinct howl of a wolf cut through the chilly night air, followed by another and then another. The bravest of the townspeople emerge from their sod huts. The Raiders joined them atop the six foot wall, standing between braziers of burning oil, peering into the darkness. Under the moonlight, they spied the silhouette of a wolf dashing between clumps of shrubs, perhaps 50 years outside the walls. The howls beckoned, taunting them to face a challenge.
Aderian jumped down from the wall and called for the werewolves to come forward. Jerker joined him, standing back to back. Kimo slipped down from the walls and disappeared in the shadows. Caelith played a battle tune upon his pipes. A pack of wolves rushed forward to surround the two fighters.
Once again, the spectral form of Mayor Bremlai appeared before Jerker, speaking to him, distracting. He reiterated his aim to tell his story as some sort of punishment for Jerker’s rash act of murder months before. During the battle, Bremlai managed to tell three tales as Jerker tried to dodge around him and avoid attacks by wolves.
In the first, he described The Siege of the North Tower. As a mature Sheriff, Bremlai led a defense of the North Gate against a wandering pack of six ogres. He held the tower top for seven hours until reinforcements arrived from Morgansfort, sustaining scars that he would later boast about in the Iron Knight Inn.
In the second tale, he recounted how he was called The “Lucky” Sheriff. His rise to political power began after a legendary winning streak at the Dancing Frog Bar, after which he donated seven sacks of gold to the Temple of St. Orlan for wall repairs, though it was later whispered that the gold was actually seized from a “tax collection” on a traveling merchant. Bremlai called these rumors that carried a hint of truth but explained no more.
In the third tale, Bremlai described The Order of the Watchful Eye. It was a cadre of six elite deputies who were originally tasked with hunting the werewolves that plagued the frontier near Muleshoe. This unit provided the tactical foundation for the Inquisition he would later oversee with Enguin.
With these three tales, Bremlai established his credentials as a true patriot of St. Orlan.
Meanwhile. Elaria made herself into a small, red dragon and circled the small village. Nate stood at the main gate, ready to repel an attacking force. The wolves lunged and failed to do any harm to Jerker or Aderian. After a few rounds, most of the wolves lay dead. Werewolves in hybrid form appeared and were ready to fight, but one as struck down.
Then the leader of the pack let loose a terrible growl, to which the remaining beasts turned, as if heeding a call. At once, they turned and fled at full speed to the southwest, towards a rise of hills a handful of miles in the distance. The terrain here was flat grassland, and the light of the moon outlined the curves of the hills five miles away, diving the grassland from the terrible swamp.
Elaria alighted next to Jerker, taking up a pair of ever-glowing rocks. A few minutes later, she flew off once again. It took several minutes before her elven eyes could spot the lithe forms bounding through the tall grass. Kimo also gave chase, despite his slow speed and lack of night vision. When the elf wizard reached the pack, she paused to let loose a lightning bolt which struck the pack leader. It was not lethal, and the pack continued their flight. Elaria thought better of continuing the pursuit alone, but he landed on the ground to examine the spot where the bolt struck, looking for a bit of singed fur or some other token that might aid her in scrying with her crystal ball.
Intelligence After the Chase
By the time Elaria had returned, Ghevont was conducting a ritual to speak with the dead werewolf. The power of his divine magics allowed five questions.
“Where do the werewolves lair?” he questioned the corpse. “My clan laired in S. Kortus among the ashes,” it retorted.
“In what part of Old St Kortus?” “We had a den in the basement of a ruined building.”
“Who is the clan leader?” “Mangler”
“Do you have any spellcasters among your clan?” “No longer”
“Among your treasures does your clan have any magic mirrors?” “Not our clan, but Grizzle’s clan does.”
These clues were discussed, and the party seemed keen to set off immediately for Old St. Kortus, that same ruined village where they had faced shadow demons days before. Yet, Kimo had an odd feeling about this goal. Then Nate pointed out how the dead werewolf spoke in the past tense. He also pointed out how Old St. Kortus lay due south, while the pack had run to the southwest.
Elaria returned to her natural form and sat with her crystal ball. She searched for the home described by the werewolf corpse. The crystal remained dark, and she could bring forth no vision. Some time later, she tried scrying Mangler, the pack leader and saw him with the pack, resting under trees, perhaps in the nearby hills. An hour later, she found him in a cave with pools of water on the rock floor. He reclined in a stone sarcophagus filled with straw. Several other werewolves in human form did likewise.
The hour was late, and they had no appetite for rushing out into the dark, so they turned in and made ready to set out in the morning.
Chimeras Instead of Werewolves
The next day (3/28), Kimo consulted their map of the area around St. Orlan. He pointed to hills about six miles away, most properly described as south-southwest of New St. Kortus (hex 1005). They marched there in the morning without trouble and began a systematic search of the hills. Elaria attempted another scrying but failed to create an image.
Ghevont looked about for a friendly animal, and noticing a jay, cast a spell that allowed him to speak with the bird. Perhaps at first startled to be confronted by a human speaking his avian language, the jay squawked out in that loud, harsh, and strident voice that human imagine as jeering. After a few words, the conversation became more like the “queedle” or “tu-whee, tu-whee” that a jay makes when it seeks flock cohesion. The cleric asked the bird if he knew of a nearby cave, hoping to catch the werewolves they suspected were nearby.
The bird responded in the affirmative, indicating an area only one mile to the south. So, the party marched there (hex 1006) and began another search. After only a few hours, they spotted menacing shapes on the horizon, the unmistakable shapes of chimeras on the wing.
Elaria produced a magical scroll and read out cloud kill spell. The vapors formed around three of the chimera, and two of the dropped from the air, dead. This sudden and savage attack convinced the chimeras to flee. There were gone as quickly as they appeared.
After another few hours of searching, the found no cave. They made camp, lighting no fire. They were not disturbed.
Clearing the Chimera Lair
In the morning (3/29), the search resumed, and it was rewarded by the sight of a cave up an incline where a ridge of limestone emerged from the soil. Kimo crept up to the cave mouth, unseen but not unheard. The three fearsome heads of a chimera jutted into view, At that moment, Aderian reacted by activating his ring to jump up the incline and slash at the chimera. Soon he was joined by Jerker.
As before, the vision of Bremlai appeared, once again to distract the warrior. The hero of St. Orlan now began to reveal the tragic events that lead to the evil mists that covered St. Orlan in the year prior. He explained how the Raiders were making trouble for him for years, especially in willfully disobeying the edict to stay out of the nearby swamps. Eventually and out of desperation, he turned to Siahac to solve the problem. Thus came the scheme to distract the Raiders with dungeon below Doukreg. He knew nothing for the details of the legendary wizard’s plan, only that it kept the Raiders busy for about a year before they suddenly disappeared from St. Orlan altogether.
Another chimera appeared, and the pair both breathed fire upon Kimo, Jerker and Aderian. Elaria felled one of the chimeras with a magic missile. Kimo stabbed its corpse, perhaps out of frustration. Another chimera emerged from the cave to join the battle. Elaria struck another chimera with a lightning bolt, but it survived.
The fire that hit Jerker and Kimo heated the metal of Jerker’s armor and took with it some measure of magical protection, as intense magical heat is known to do. (Armor lost +1 enchantment).
At this point, Kimo was in poor shape, and Nate had reached him to deliver some aid. But the chimera, having roasted him moments before, was ready to feed. The beast clawed at the halfling, tore at his flesh with lion teeth and then delivered a brutal butt of the goat’s head. Kimo went tumbling backwards, limp. By some stroke of luck, he survived despite landing head first. Unfortunately, his blow rattled out about a quarter of his meager brains. (Death save made, but loss of INT due to blow to the head). The sturdy paladin scooped up the small form and spirit him away from further harm.
Ghevont summoned a spiritual hammer that struck at a chimera. The two remaining chimeras breathed fire, one on Aderian and one on Jerker. This time, the fire burned up Jerker’s cloak of boar fur constructed by Ollie. Yet the battle was turning, and those chimeras were slain, leaving just one inside the cave. Aderian stepped in to the cave alone and struck at the remaining chimera. Great fortune was with him that day, after having survived several baths of fire, his sword blasted out a wave of petrifying energy that transformed the chimera into stone.
Victory and Spoils
Bremlai had one more message to deliver. He wanted to explain that not having the Raiders around ultimately led to the doom of St. Orlan when Ithusar arrived, bringing the two protectors of St. Orlan with him as thralls. The pair of green dragons, both capable of great magic and taking human form, had somehow fallen under vampiric influence. The town was defenseless and Bremlai could only submit to the new lord.
Along with the chaos, the werewolves who had prowled outside the town, encroached, eventually establishing a base in the north odoriferous district. Bremlai, a mere pawn, was made to excavate the underground crypt where mummies guarded some glowing gateway that figured somehow into Ithusar’s plan. And then something curious happened. An explosion of magic blanketed the region in a deadly mist from which none escaped.
Now having the fullness of the history, Jerker accepted his rashness but also that Bremlai had made many of his own mistakes. And no doubt his demise was ultimately of his own making. Jerker had been an instrument of fate. Thus are men just toys of heaven and hell.
With the battle over, a search was made of the lair. Since they first saw the chimeras, they anticipated a valuable treasure horde, no doubt due to some folk wisdom about the mult-headed beasts. Wedge in a soot-covered crack, Aderian pulled out a jewel-encrusted sceptre. It may have been taken from some elven king in years past. With it were seven chunks of melted silver. Unsatisfied, they continued the search, and in a pile of bones, they found rusted wedges and a scroll of protection from elements wrapped up in a leather strap.
These things gathered, the party walked back to the river. The barge meant to return them home had come and gone days before, but after a few hours of waiting, another watercraft passed by. The captain was glad to ferry the group across.
End Notes
- Days
- 3/22 – 3/26 Downtime in New St. Kortus
- 3/27 – 3/29 Chasing werewolves but fighting chimeras
- Treasure:
- Jeweled Scepter (3,500 gp)
- 7 chunks of raw silver (100 gp each)
- 6 rusted iron wedges
- Scroll of Protection from Elementals
- Combat (8155 xp)
- Werewolf 280 xp
- 7 Wolves 75 xp each
- 6 Chimeras 1225 xp each
- Characters (6 shares of 1359 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, up front) 1536 xp
- Caelith (hireling) 680 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 680 xp
- Ghevont (human) 1495 xp
- Jerker (human, fight) 1522 xp
- Kimo (outdoors, curious, lucky, agile) 1413 xp
- Nate (human, fight, protect weak) 1522 xp