Session 44

Factsheet: Do you prefer your werewolf sautéd or on the run

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.

Date: 22-05-2024

Date in-universe: we fight the werewolves on Thursday night and we’re at breakfast Friday morning

Major developments

.

Previously: session 43 When lovers meet...

Up next: session 45 Aqueel’s way home

Notes

1. El hustles over to heal Storm and Fyllion

2. Ezra focuses on Flint, right behind Hali & hits him with their silvered arrow. El calls out a compliment. Encouraged, Ezra hits Flint again

3. Grewishka's trying to resist, but his sire's will overpowers his own. He attacks Ezra with claws and a bite. The claws hit and so does the bite. Erza feels a throbbing pain spread through their veins (thanks to Ecchima's NATURAL ONE). Ezra feels their shift burn into a more feral version

4. Hali slashes at Flint with her silvered scimitar (with a NATURAL TWENTY). Flint tries to act tough, but Hali sees he's breathing heavily. Hali chooses a new position & looses a radiant arrow into the werewolf pack leader

5. the werewolf in the web manages to break free from Ezra's web & decides to shield Flint with his body. The other one clambers out of the water El pulled him into

6. Fyllion uses vicious mockery on Flint: “I saw a movie with you in it, and it was bad. It's called fast & the furry-ous”. Flint snarls back: “what is a movie” & is not moved by Fyllion's comment. Fyllion retreats

7. Storm creates a phantasmal version of Grewishka in the pool, flailing in a panic and floating away

8. Flint looks at the phantasm: “Grew you mongrel, you got thrown into water by a cat! I should have raised you better!”. He orders his minions to take care of Grewishka (but they don't see the phantasm). Flint attacks El. Storm tries to kick him as he passes by but misses. Flint just misses El with his claws, but Flint's bite strikes true. Luckily El feels a surge of cold rise from their blade arm, pushing the poisonous werewolf saliva out

1. El risks another bite by choosing a new position; with a DIRTY TWENTY, El resists. El gets next to Grewishka and throws an El(drin)'s blast on Flint. Their second blast misses. With a magical command, El pulls Flint forward, so he falls back into the waterfall pool. El uses a hex blade curse on Flint
2. Ezra sees El right next to the enemy & decides to get the flying carpet out & shoves El onto it. Ezra chooses a safer position, away from the edge of the cliff. They taunt Grewishka to keep his attention on them, rather than a new target. Feeling stage fright, Ezra decides to use the all-or-nothing coin. With a NATURAL TWO (a critical success) Ezra attracts Grewishka's attention.
3. Grewishka leaps towards Ezra. El lets him pass, so Grew drives his claws and his teeth into Ezra. Ezra can't keep the web spell active because of the pain
4. Hali stands on the edge of the pool to shoot at the werewolf near Storm. Hali uses create water to pull Flint underwater!
5. the two smaller werewolves are confused by Flint’s orders, since they can’t see the phantasm Flint is pointing at. Eventually they decide to hurry past everyone to attack Grewishka (instead of the phantasm which they can't see). Hali hits one of them in passing. One grapples Grewishka & wonders what he's supposed to do now
6. Fyllion uses vicious mockery "it smells like wet dog in here" and Flint cringes from the trite comparison
7. Storm leaps into the pool, crushing Flint's neck under his golden sandals. With an ignoble twitch, the hulking werewolf sire dies. In the same movement, Storm leaps back onto the ledge of the natural pool, his sandals splattered with blood all the way up to his thighs.

.

Immediately we see the werewolves double over: their sire's curse is broken! The three werewolves fall to the ground, shifting back into their normal dwarven forms... they're all panting heavily. Hali drops her starry form & approaches the dwarves to give them some goodberries. The two guys look wild-eyed at Hali, fearing another attack. Eventually, they calm down enough to reach out and eat the berries.

Ezra feels a similar jarring sensation washing over them, but their semi-feral shift doesn’t recede: their whiskers remain furry, their fangs keep hanging over their lips, their pupils glint dangerously and claws still crown their fingertips. Grewishka spits out Ezra's blood and asks why Ezra can't shift back from their tiger shift. Ezra is very slow to answer: “my tiger form has never done this before”. We're all a bit panicked so Storm hurriedly calls back Bella Swan. He writes a message for Solace: “help, we need help, come to the clinic”.

Grewishka is pessimistic: “if you're still cursed you have to kill me. Looks like I'm your sire. Unfortunately, the curse only ends when the sire dies”. El and Ezra hurry to explain we have an alternative. The other former werewolves beg us to not tell the Rosarian military, but we reassure them that we have full faith that Solace is truly dedicated to the gentler teachings of Soliman as a healer.

Storm asks them if they need to check on the other bitten dwarves currently at work in the mine. They concur: Flint was the mastermind of ore production. For all he was diligent in supervising the shift schedule and mapping the most productive ore veins, somehow, he decided to leverage the werewolf curse to enhance production. Bitten dwarves dig harder for longer with less rest, and in more extreme circumstances. They seem pretty convinced that Flint was the mastermind and it’s likely that a) no one else was involved and b) all bitten dwarves reverted now that Flint is dead… Not entirely sure they’re on the level, Storm tries to insight check them, but Hali also believes them, so it must be okay.

.

Grewishka implores us to not drag him through the town. Storm mentions that's why we brought Madonna: “we can hide you between the camel’s humps under our carpet”. Ezra points out that even city guard blood hounds won't sniff you out over the smell of wet camel! El is insulted that we talk about Madonna's stink.

We pull Flint's body out of the water. For some reason he hasn't shifted back, he's still a huge hulking hybrid.

Ezra recovers 3 of the 6 silver arrows they used in battle.

.

Since they’re currently the only one dealing with the actual werewolf curse, Ezra flies high above the city on the carpet towards the clinic to meet Solace. Ezra lands in front of the door just as Solace is walking up.

The cleric panics a little “Oh Soliman, what's wrong with you, are you stuck in your tiger form?”. Ezra hopes Solace can help, but they decide to head inside to talk more privately. Ezra explains they were bitten and now they can't drop their tiger shift anymore.

Solace lets Ezra inhale a mild sedative and starts treating the bite. They think that removing the werewolf curse won't interfere with Ezra’s tiger heritage, which is a more fundamental part of Ezra’s being. Solace draws a sigil in the air, much like Laithe did when reviving us: this is high-level healing magic!

After a moment, Ezra feels their ability to shift return to them. Solace fully heals Ezra and fusses over the rips in Ezra's beautiful tunic. Ezra thanks Solace: “the fur, I could live with, but the fangs are terrible”. Solace replies that their tiefling mother had the same issue. Solace and Ezra drink hot chocolate together.

.

We agree that El will go inform Tori, Grewishka’s girlfriend with whom they’d built some rapport.

Since El would prefer to travel with Madonna, we’re confronted with the difficulty of transporting the huge dead body. Storm convinces Hali to summon Brighty, the shiny shark who can walk on land. As Storm heaves Flint's body onto Brighty, some of Flint's possessions fall out of his pockets:

• a ring of keys, probably to Flint's office
• a pair of strange-looking spectacles: the lenses seem to be made of amber crystal. El puts them on and sees clouds of strange, yellowish gasses: it's the pheromones that Flint used to control his minions!

As El hands the keys over to the restored dwarves, Storm asks if they can help us with the deepgnomes, but they don't think so.

Hali, Fyllion and Storm set off to help Brighty drag Flint to the guild hall.

.

El sees light in the upper floor of the water mill. When El throws some pebbles against the lit-up window, Tori is the one who comes down to open the door. El asks her to sit down & keep calm and not be too joyful. El shares the good news: we saved Grew! Together they thank the gods. Tori agrees with El: the gods sent us here to do good in the world. Tori is a little surprised, she wouldn't have thought Lunaire or Lunaire's envoy would want to let a werewolf go. El thinks free will is what matters.

El explains Grewishka is waiting for her near the waterfall & they can leave tonight. She can't give El gold, but she has one of her special pies ready: it's made with love, since she bakes when stressed. The dwarven recipe has a lot more spices than other palettes are used to. It smells exotic and enticing, but not as great as Maggie's authentic country pies! She also gives El a healing poultice. Tori starts to pack up whatever she thinks she and Grewishka will need: he's the only dwarf she has ever loved and that's all she needs.

.

It's close to midnight, but there are still people who spot us from their home. Near the guild hall there are still people on the streets. Hali leads Brighty into the guild hall to dump the bloody body on the neatly scrubbed tiles in the main hall.

Rilke comes over hurriedly, in her pyjamas and robe to see what the commotion's all about.

Shiftily pulling down his sleeves over the bitemarks, Storm convinces her that we defeated the werewolf with no casualties, and no one was bitten! Rilke is giddy with relief that Halloran will get off her back. She promises us 125 gold as a reward (Hali, not a loan shark, accepts Fyllion and El's share to start repaying their loans) & summons the city guard to drag the body to the Surya. She snaps her fingers to get someone to clean up the floor. We side-eye her for her arrogance towards the maids. Hali mimes an apologetic "sorry"!

Rilke asks if Simeon was at all helpful? Hali points to Storm's boots, still splattered up to his knees with blood: we did the deed ourselves.

.

We return to the Iron Oar Inn. The tap room isn't quite empty yet, but the evening is clearly winding down.

In our room we see that Aqueel is awake, sitting on the bed. When he sees Hali, he runs up & hugs her around her legs. He seems upset. Hali explains we won against werewolves after we performed some songs, but everything is okay. Aqueel continues that the kids he plays with talked about the naughty mage from Koh'Shar arriving... are we going to travel with this ship with Nasser? He's afraid his father will kill Nasser and everyone around him & Aqueel doesn't want that.

Hali reassures Aqueel that we will get him home, reasonably soon.

.

Ezra puts Deception in the stables. Chalcedony is making the rounds. Activating speak with animals Ezra asks if she would like a pet and Chalcedony consents.

El beds down Madonna & comforts her that she doesn't smell bad at all. Ezra hears Madonna sigh "please stop sniffing me, you’ve brushed me twice today, twice yesterday, twice the day before and twice every day before that. I’m fine. My coat is fine. I’ve never been this shiny and I’ve never smelled this good". Deception butts in that he also wants to be brushed twice a day & he would appreciate it if we asked more often what he wants.

El and Ezra bond with their animals.

.

El introduces Tori's pie to all of us. Hali is too tired to eat, so Storm suggests that we ask Wendy to keep it in her larder for us till tomorrow. On the stairs Storm examines the pie closely and is horrified that beneath the enticing scent of the dwarven spice mix, it smells like the filling contains apples, honey and incongruously, several links of blood sausage. Wendy is happy to hold it for us.

.

During the night, El attunes to the awakened sword, on top of the attunement to the mask they already have. El has another dream of home:

They see the strait of Traders’ Gate between the Breheiman Sea and the Sea of Storms, the quays, the ships and sloops, the carts and the stalls, the temples and the houses, the busy streets, the kids they ran around with... and then their vision shifts to the black sands of the void.

El's sword is floating in front of El, wicked sharp and gleaming darkly. It shifts into the shape of the frenzied celestial we fought in Damanour's temple. Its luminous eyes light up as it rears up on its back legs. It seems surprised & slowly walk to El to examine them, like a dog greeting its new master. It asks: “what is this new vessel, it's so peaceful. The last one was so noisy and angry; you freed me, did you not”

• El: I did what I did because I felt I had to. I'm at peace with who I am and what my purpose in this world is
• The celestial’s voidstone: that makes 2 of us: my purpose is to serve you, now you freed me from my corrupted form as a hurt celestial in the temple...
• El: together we will serve Lunaire
• The celestial’s voidstone: this one is Lunaire's child, I'm an extension of Lunaire, I am Lunaire. I thank you for not crushing me to use this one's power

The shape coils back into the blade and the blade slips into El's hand. El feels a cool wash of power. When they wake up, El wonders if they should name the entity.

.

In Fyllion's room, the occupants feel a cool breeze as the window slides open. Fyllion feels some pebbles hitting his face & he wakes up. Simeon is crouched on the windowsill and beckons Fyllion over.

Fyllion: hey Simeon, I was meditating, you could just have called my name instead of throwing stones

Simeon: you were drooling a little, so I think it's not working yet

Fyllion: well, it’s more difficult than it looks, you should try it

Simeon: I'm not an elf

Fyllion: yeah, well, what is it

Simeon: I just want to know where we stand, I can't sleep because I keep thinking about it

Fyllion: oh Simeon... well, I apologized because I was shitty as a person

Simeon: ah, it was just a getting it off your chest thing then?

Fyllion: I just wanted to give you the apologies you deserved

Simeon: that doesn't answer my question

Fyllion: just do as you do, just act natural

Simeon: that's not a good hint to give someone like me

Fyllion: I'll give you a clear answer: it's not you, it's definitely me. You're a reformed person and that's great. I care for you deeply but --

Simeon: oh there's a but

Fyllion: I care for you deeply, AND I think I shouldn't get into any relationships right now. I'm also trying to reform and that's taking so much of my energy

Simeon: you're a bit of a snob but I don't think you need changing

Fyllion: I just discovered I used to be a lousy person, even worse than I am now

Simeon: we all used to be teenagers

Fyllion: well, my puberty lasts as long as your entire lifetime

Simeon: I guess that's fair, I'm not the best person to be in a relationship with anyway

Fyllion: don't say that! I think you're doing great & I want to do great as well. I tried to distance myself and did it in the wrong way…

Simeon: if you change your mind, look me up. No promises I'll still feel the same, but you deserve to be loved.

Fyllion: I don't know how much time I have: I thought I was immortal, then I died, now I'm here, who knows how long I'll last?

Simeon: well, I'm a lone wolf and the Gilded Blade is after me, so as soon as you leave, I'll probably leave too.

At that moment, Fyllion figures he should check if Simeon is Yu. Fyllion asks Simeon's permission and then casts Command. He orders Simeon "transform". Simeon grabs the scar where Reva cut out his tattoo & tries, but of course he can't shapeshift anymore.

Simeon pales over the blunt reminder of his trauma: “are you dumping me because I can't shapeshift anymore”? Fyllion explains about Yu, the shapeshifter assassin after him: he doesn’t want to risk an attack, and he doesn't want to have this painfully honest conversation twice. 

.

In the morning, as we're dithering if we dare have Tori's blood sausage and apple pie for breakfast, Vane is waiting for us in the taproom. With the grumbled words “I'm not in the habit of being a post boy, so I'm not taking return messages”, he hands over 2 notes:

• Halloran informs us that the Surya is leaving tonight & we're “cordially ordered” to attend a meeting to decide what we'll do with Aqueel
• Solace hopes everyone is fine. They added The Surya is probably leaving tonight so this is goodbye.

.

While we’re continuing our breakfast, we see a cute ginger ponytail bob through the crowds in the streets. We see a slender shape in desert clothes under the hair: Mi'Kal has finally arrived!

Storyline

Previously: session 43 When lovers meet...

Up next: session 45 Aqueel’s way home