New Allies, Dead Enemies

They spend a while discussing whether or not to fight the Nyemetz and decide that they must take advantage of the drunken state of the Nyemetz. To despatch such a large collection of them would indeed strike a major blow for the cause.

"Any way we can test out the Charm?" Bennett asks Yaz. "I think with the Worg on our side we could definitely take the beasts, though we would have to have assistance from Faewen'il and that's no sure thing. I also am a fair hand with a bow, though I don't use it that much. I have dubbed my new bow "Smoked Goblin" and I am anticipating its first use in human hands. I think with missile harassment, we could take out some of the group and then hit the rest as you suggest, with Winn leading the charge with that lance he keeps talking about, though not the Worg as a target if he is charmed, obviously. Think you could get him to turn on his master? That would make things a heck of a lot more interesting."

Although some benefits could be achieved by waiting until the morning, so that the spellcasters could learn a more devastating array of spells, they decide that they do not want to wait until morning, in case the moment is lost

They spend a while discussing tactics, being careful with them, as a well coordinated attack will be essential if the mission is to be a success.

Jihan, who has already mapped out the territory, advises them as to the biggest dangers facing the party:

'It's that wolf that is going to be our biggest problem. From what I have seen, it has a sensitive nose and a taste for horseflesh. Yaz, if you are going to attempt to charm the beast, then I suggest that you and I go ahead of the others. How close do you have to get in order for your enchantment to be effective?'

'Not very' the druid replies. 'As long as I can just about see him, then that should be close enough.'

'Good' replies Jihan. 'In that case, I think that the rest of you should stay well back, but if I give the cry of the screech owl, or you hear the howling of a wolf, then you'd better come and help us as quickly as possible. If I coo like a dove, then it means that we have been successful.'

The others nod their heads and watch as the two sons of Prirodna walk off towards the crest of a hill overlooking the Nyemetz camp. As they reach the brow, they lay on the floor, crawling to the crest on their bellies.

They see the camp stretched out before them. The vast majority of the Nyemetz troopers are sleeping, snoring loudly. A couple of small groups of orcs and orogs are still awake, grunting loudly to each other. In the center of the camp, the huge silver-gray form of the wolf lies down next to its master, keeping an eye on the antics of the troops.

'OK' says Yaz. 'It's now or never. Nice doggie'

With that, Yaz starts to utter as quietly as he can while gesticulating in the direction of the wolf.

Both Yaz and Jihan cross their fingers and look nervously towards the wolf. The wolf rises to a sitting position and looks in the direction of where they are lying. They are just about to panic, when the wolf flops out a pink tongue and starts wagging its tail.

'Looking good' replies Yaz, a smile appearing on his lips. 'Now let's see what he can do for us.'

Cautiously, Yaz starts uttering another incantation and gesticulating, one that Jihan has not heard before.

'Follow me' says Yaz and he starts to crawl towards the camp. Jihan follows behind him, somewhat nervously.

Yaz carries on crawling until he finds a convenient bush situated some 25 feet from the center of the camp.

Once they are safely out of sight, Yaz grins at Jihan and starts barking.

Jihan looks at him as if he has gone even crazier than his usual state of mind. It is only when the wolf starts whining back at him that he realizes that Yaz is speaking to it.

'Errm, hi…errm, nice doggy' Yaz barks.

'Really, Sir, there's no need to patronize me, I'm not a poodle!' the wolf barks back, much to Yaz's surprise.

'Oh..errm …sorry, it's …ermm that I've never spoken to a worg before,' the druid replies.

'Please, now you're really insulting me' the wolf barks. 'Comparing me to a mere worg, with their moth-eaten, filthy coats.'

'Errm…ha! ha! ha! Silly old me' Yaz whimpers (literally). 'Errm…so what are you then?'

'That's OK, old chap, I realize that my kin are not often seen in these parts,' the wolf continues. 'I am a Winter Wolf.'

'Really?' yelps Yaz, somewhat surprised. 'That's really interesting'

'That's what everyone says to me' replies the wolf, yawning widely.

'So …errrm…friend…errm…what should I call you?' Yaz says, still trying to get to grips with talking to an animal, particularly one that it is as intelligent as he is.

'Well my mother called me Grrrrrrrowllhhhhrooooowp' the wolf replies. 'However, I realize that it is rather a mouthful for others to pronounce.'

'He' the wolf growls, casting a glance at the comatose Captain snoring next to him 'calls me "Silver". It's not terribly original for my kind, and it's more like a bitch's name if you ask me, but at least I am used to it. And whom, may I inquire, have I the pleasure of conversing with?'

'Errm…Yaz, Yaz Charaz' the druid replies.

'Well, Master Charaz, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. It's so nice to have an intelligent conversation for a change. You wouldn't believe how inane those worgs are. Bunch of animals they are - the lot of them. And as for those dire wolves, well. No wonder they call them 'dire'. They just can't talk about anything other than eating and rutting. And as for all these goblins and orcs, well. I'm just glad that I can't understand what they're saying. Sick to death of the lot of them I am.'

Yaz's ears prick up at that comment and he starts to shake his behind.

'Have you ever thought of …errm…eating them?'

'Oh, on countless occasions' Silver replies. 'But there's just so many of the little bastards. They'd have chopped me to pieces before I'd finished the first one.'

'Well, perhaps we could help you out there' Yaz replies. 'Because we are going to attack them and we were wondering whether you might see your way clear to lending us a paw.'

'Certainly, dear chap. Sounds like an absolutely marvelous idea. So shall I get stuck in now then?'

'Well, if you could just wait a couple of minutes for my friends to arrive.'

'Righty-o then' the wolf replies.

Yaz looks up at Jihan who has been staring at the barking, whining and howling Yaz, not understanding a yelp of it.

'Have you quite finished?' the dwarf/elf replies somewhat impatiently.

'Woof!..errm…shit…yes' Yaz replies, eventually in elven.

Jihan coos like a dove and the remainder of the party emerges from their positions. William and Faewen'il circle round so that they have access to the opposite side of the camp. The three mounted knights take to their positions.

Silver gets to his feet as he smells the scent of horseflesh.

'Oh, Masterr Charaz, I say. You are a gentlehalf-elf, really you are, laying on a bit of supper for me first' the wolf yelps excitedly.

'Errm…actually, that wasn't quite the plan' Yaz whimpers. 'I'd appreciate it if you didn't eat the horses.'

Silver's tail falls between his legs and his ears drop.

'Very well then' he growls in a resigned fashion. 'If you insist.'

Winnacer checks that everyone is in position. He holds his shortbow aloft and all but the spellcasters nock arrows into their bows. Yaz holds his holy symbol to show that he is ready and Faewen'il holds a cabbage leaf in the air.

All eyes are upon Winnacer to watch him unleash the first shot to start off the battle.

Winnacer aims towards the goblins, realizing that they are the only ones armed with missile weapons. His first shot plows straight into a sleeping goblin, killing it instantly and silently. His second shot flies harmlessly between two of its colleagues.

Jihan fires a perfect shot into the one sleeping next to it, hitting it in the head, making no sound. On his second shot, however, he snaps his bowstring, cursing it happening so soon in the battle.

Bennett tries out his shortbow 'Smoked Goblin', deliberately aiming for the goblin next to Darius, just to be clever. Unfortunately, he is not that clever, as his first shot misses. Aiming again, however, he makes up for it by hitting it in the eye with his next shot.

Xavier unloosens a bolt from his crossbow, but jams the mechanism, cursing his bad luck in Saxon.

Will lets off his first arrow at another of the sleeping goblins. The arrow just nicks it, waking the goblin instantly and starting him screaming in agony. He tries another shot to finish him, but it misses and so the goblin carries on screaming.

Slowly, the Nyemetz start to come around.

As she sees the huge forms of the orogs slowly raising themselves, Faewen'il acts. She starts to mutter a new incantation that none of the others in he party have heard before, then gesticulates towards the group of them. As she does so, a cloud of purple gas emerges in the middle of their position, catching six of them inside. Immediately, the six of them start to cough their guts out, heaving as they breathe in its noxious vapors. She looks on a little disappointed as two of them stagger out of the clouds without suffering any ill effects, but at least she managed to catch four of them.

Yaz looks around for a target, and sees that the orcs are the closest grouping. He utters some familiar words and the others in the party see to their delight, that the grass underneath 12 of the 20 orcs starts to wrap itself around their prone forms, binding them to the ground.

They all hear a howl coming from the center of the melee, apart from Yaz, who hears Silver say:

'Watch this'

He then looks on as the wolf opens its jaws and breathes out a stream of frost over the two Captains in the center of the group. The Captain of the foot turns a pale blue color and expires instantly. The Worgrider captain somehow survives:

'Pretty "cool" huh? Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!' yaps Silver, before he lunges up at the startled Captain, ripping its throat out with ease.

Darius wakes up quickly as soon as the goblin just feet away from him starts screaming from Will's arrow shot. Not having drunk much, he comes to his senses a lot faster than his 'comrades'. He looks around him and sees a bunch of strangers - the strangest group than he's ever seen before. He sees a character that looks like the spitting image of Reinburger the Witchfinder General mounted on a horse, someone who looks like the deceased 'nose' Witchfinder on another horse, and an orc completing the trio of riders. He then spies a three-year-old kid next to a strange looking dwarf that seems to be wearing leather bondage gear. Opposite them is another dwarf, this one wearing frilly clothes, plus a total stranger. Not knowing quite what to do, he freezes.

The archers unleash another round of arrows into the chaos, trying to kill off all of the other goblins before they get a chance to fire back at them.

Jihan quickly takes another bowstring from his belt and restrings Weitbeissen with it. Will pumps another couple of arrows into the goblin that he injured previously, but still the tough little bastard doesn't drop. Yaz is about to throw another spell into the chaos, but realizes that there isn't any wood to warp. Seeing all of the arrows flying through the air remind him of his new sling that he hasn't tried to use yet. He swings it round his head and hurls a bullet at the nearest goblin. The bullet changes course a little in mid air and hits the toughest of the goblins straight between the eyes, braining him instantly. Yaz looks at the weapon, highly impressed.

Faewen'il sees eight orcs in the center of the battlefield that were just missed by Yaz's entanglement. Realizing that the fighters will have their work cut out in just keeping the orogs at bay, she brings out a pinch of sand from her pouch and starts uttering the familiar words of the sleep spell. She hurls the sand in the direction of the orcs, but is disappointed to see just three of them fall to the ground.

Xavier tosses his crossbow to the ground in disgust. He then draws his bastard sword and spurs his horse forwards into the dazed assembly of orogs that were not affected by the stinking cloud. He gallops into their midst striking out at the orogs. With the force of the charge, he lops the head of the first orog that he comes into combat with, and cuts deep into the side of another, and has passed through their ranks before they know what has hit them.

Seeing Xavier already entering combat, Winnacer joins him, leveling the heavy lance before him and setting his sights on another of the orogs. Juggernaut thunders forwards and Winnacer aims the point of the lance straight at the chest of one of the orogs. As the huge horse thunders into him, the point connects with the orog's chest and the lance runs it through. Winnacer drags the body of the orog impaled on his lance for a few yards as he reins in the horse so that he can turn. As he does so, he pulls his lance free.

Not wanting to be left out, Bennett digs his heels into Maire's flanks and targets the orcs that still remain after the spells. He raises the battleaxe Regret above his head as he charges into them and brings it down upon the heads of two of them, killing them both instantly. He too wheels Maire' round and readies himself for another charge.

Silver sees the devastation and joins in. He launches into the orcs, but his jaws just miss biting into one of them.

Darius watches on as he sees most of the orcs entangled and others of them sent to sleep. Although the countenances of the attackers are not familiar, their fighting styles are.

'Jihan?' the goblin cries out hopefully.

'Darius!' he hears a familiar voice cry. He looks round at where the voice emanated from, but sees only the body of the dwarf in bondage gear and the three-year-old. Then he remembers that the party was talking about using Granny's powder to change their appearances just before he left and it all becomes clear to him. He quickly picks himself up and charges towards the bush hiding the gay dwarf and the toddler as fast as his pained body will allow him. As he runs, he throws his hands up in he air and starts screaming to his colleagues in goblin.

The Nyemetz are starting to sober up fast now. They get ready to repel the next wave of attacks.

His bow now ready to use again, Jihan gives covering fire to aid Darius' departure. Two more goblins fall to well aimed arrows. Yaz hits another of the goblins, but his bullet does not finish him. The goblin nocks an arrow into his shortbow and fires back at Yaz in order to try and get retribution. The arrow just grazes the druid's arm, causing him minimum damage.

Will tries desperately to finish off the stubborn goblin, finally succeeding. He then lets off another shot and kills the last of the uninjured goblins.

Faewen'il observes the combat closely, Darry's hand holding her sleep scroll. She sees that the combat seems to be going well at the moment, so decides to wait before using the precious scroll, leaving it only until it may become necessary.

The cavalry wheel their horses around in order to make a second charge. Xavier easily finishes off the orog that he hit on the previous run. The orog next to him lashes out at Xavier, but his blade is pushed aside by his mail.

Winnacer takes another run at another of the orogs. This time he catches one in the head, tearing off its face with the sheer power of the terrible impact. As he passes one of the other orogs, it lifts its broadsword and catches Winnacer in the flank, causing a reasonable injury.

The other four orogs come out of the stinking cloud. They fall to the floor coughing their guts out, unable to do anything else for a while.

Bennett charges back into the three remaining orcs, smashing another skull on his second run. One of the other orcs lashes out at him, but in its drunken state it is too slow to catch the fleeting horse.

Silver lunges up at another of them, biting it badly on the arm. The orc tries to strike back at the wolf, but Silver is too fast for him.

Darius reaches the position occupied by Jihan and Yaz. As soon as he has reached the position of safety, he takes his shortbow and loosens off a couple of shots at the coughing orogs, hitting one of them in the arm. Jihan copies Darius' actions, hitting another of the orogs.

Yaz decides that he doesn't want the last surviving goblin shooting at him any longer. He mumbles another incantation and gestures at the goblin's shortbow. The curved bow straightens out, snapping the string. The goblin drops the bow as if it was alive and decides that it doesn't really want to hang around any longer, and flees from the combat.

Will matches the other archer's actions and aims for the orogs, grazing another of them with one of his shots.

The cavalry turn their panting mounts around once more and charge back into the fray.

This time Xavier is not so lucky, however and fails to get a blow on the orog he targeted. His horse, however, kicks the orog sending it sprawling to the ground. Winnacer charges the last of the standing orogs, wanting to make up for the injury that it gave him. Once again, the young lord is in luck and his lance impacts against the orog, killing it instantly.

Bennett is equally as successful as Winnacer. He charges against the two remaining conscious and unentangled orcs and lays into them with Regret. Both of them fall to his blows.

Silver looks up, a little disappointment showing in his sapphire blue eyes as he sees that there are no more orcs left standing. The wolf then spies the sleeping orcs and starts to chew on their necks.

Faewen'il watches the events with a look of horror on her face. The scene is one tremendous bloodbath. The Nyemetz' drunken state has left them in such a condition that they have great difficulty in dodging the blows, nor can they focus upon striking back. She pops the sleep scroll back in her scroll case, realizing that it can wait for another combat.

Realizing that the horsemen will easily be able to finish off the choking orogs now that all of the other opponents are dead, Jihan changes targets again, going for the twelve orcs that are held prone by the entanglement, knowing that it is not going to last forever.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel. The elf/dwarf pumps two arrows into one of the orcs, killing it with the second. Anxious to show whose side he's on, Darius shoots another two arrows into the mass of bound orcs, killing both of them. Yaz hurls another bullet from his sling towards the orcs, looking on in delight as the bullet homes in on another orc's skull, smashing it.

'F***!' he says looking at the sling before kissing it. 'I f***ing love you!'

Will fires another couple of shots into the orcs, killing another one and wounding another.

The horsemen come around again, seeing the four remaining orogs kneeling on the ground, still coughing from the fumes. Xavier misses his, but his horse kicks the orog in the shoulder. Winnacer has similar luck, missing with his lance, but seeing Juggernaut give the coughing orog a good kick. There's no stopping Bennett, however, and he hacks into another of the orogs with Regret, ending its miserable existence.

The entangled orcs start to scream in panic as more missiles head towards them. Jihan kills another one with one of his shots, and so do Darius and Yaz. Will finishes off the one that he previously injured.

Once again the tired horsemen wheel their panting mounts again for the final charge. Xavier hacks into the orog in front of him, inflicting terrible damage with his bastard sword, but not quite finishing him, much to his annoyance. Winnacer finishes off his and so does Bennett, with another terrible blow from Regret.

As the last remaining, almost mortally wounded, orog stops coughing, you hear him begging for mercy. Three orcs have also survived the slaughter. They too are sobbing their hearts out, praying that the deadly rain of arrows will stop descending upon them.

Bennett yells out, "No prisoners of your filthy perverted kind" and goes after the surrendered orog and orcs with relish. The orog, which is slowly bleeding to death immediately before him is easy prey to him, and he quickly beheads it with a deadly blow from Regret. His way to the orcs, however, is blocked, as they are still in the area of the entanglement spell, which still has several minutes to run.

Darius watches Bennett hack down the orog and jumps between him and the orcs:

"You not man! You have honor none!"

Darius is unarmed at present, he spreads his hands and says slowly:

"You want them, you first me must kill. Let them go, Witchfinder. They good Nyemetz, not like the goblins and orogs!"

It is then that Xavier does a very bewildering thing!!!

"Herr Bennett, in the name of Rodengast hold thy blow this instant. Ve have von, ve have von!! Hold by the will of Rodengast! As a friend, I ask as you to sheath your sword. The dealing of death this day is at a end."

Xavier rides up to Bennett and seizes the reins of his horse to restrain him. As he does this he shouts to the Nyemetz in their own tongue to surrender.

"Hold your weapons, Bennett!" says Winnacer, insistently. " Let us accept their surrender and allow Spravedelna to pass final judgement."

Faewen'il, quite ill at all the bloodshed and carnage she had helped cause gasps as she sees Bennett headed after the held orcs after Xavier (much to her surprise and admiration) accepts their surrender. Darry's hand immediately flies to the second scroll in his bandoleer and prepares to use it.

Anger blazes in Bennett's eyes as he struggles to get loose from Xavier's grasp so that he may despatch the orcs that he hates so much. It is only when he sees that Faewen'il is prepared to use magecraft to stop him from achieving his goals that he stops struggling.

Seeing Bennett restrained,Winnacer turns his attention to the three entrapped orcs.

"We offer you surrender and a fair trial to determine your fates. Do you accept these terms?"

The orcs don't understand, so Darius translates Winnacer's terms into Nyemetz. As soon as the orcs understand, they agree immediately to the terms.

Winnacer then advises that the orcs be tied up for the time being. Will is happy to lend a hand. As soon as the entanglement spell has worn off, he cautiously approaches them with rope in hand as the others cover him with their bows. The orcs, however, are still gibbering in fear, and put up no resistance as Will binds the three of them securely.

After the battle, Jihan just sits in shock, staring at all the blood and marveling on how the entire group took only a couple of scratches from the entire encounter. He mechanically sheaths his bow, putting the last arrow he drew, which proved unneeded, back into the quiver at his back.

Looking around at everyone else, he is silent for a moment, then he blinks his eyes:

"Holy shit."

He immediately sinks to the ground in thankful prayer.

Darius breathes slightly and hugs his former wounds that have started seeping again..being far from healed. He grins towards Yaz and Jihan and mutters:

"Darius now runaway slave, murderer, witch and finally, deserter. Me glad you come soon. Army life no good. Who is who? Who is here with you? Where you been? Where you go? How long since we not see each other? ....."

He continues his barrage of questions unabated and obviously happy to be back....

Jihan embraces the goblin in a hug, forgetting the form he currently inhabits and only vaguely aware of the entangled orcs close by:

"It's so good to see you safe, little brother! I had feared the worst. Just how in Prirodna's name did you end up with this crew? We did some guessing, but I'd like to hear your side of the story... Oh and this is Will," he says in way of introduction, "a great lad who heard about us from Viktor in Dvur and then decided to seek us out and see how he could help the cause. You should see him juggle... quite a master at it too, he is..."

Jihan then gives Darius a summary of what has transpired since he left them:

"Well, when you left we were just going to the inn, the Queen's Head you remember, to get our disguises in place. We met up with some very... different dwarves there, and I guess you can see who ended up taking the place of one of them..."

He continues on to recount the battle where Pavlichek was slain, and the poisoning of Winnacer. Then on to the negotiation for the young lord's salvation at the Temple of Kitry and the rescue of the dwarves and barmaid from the avenging Diamonds and Nyemetz. He tells a little about the argument that occurred on their last night there, then details the escape from the city and the search. He also relates how Reinburger was assassinated just a few days ago:

"... and then we found you, all dressed up like a Nyemetz soldier and meeting up with a company of others. I can't say that I wasn't worried, because I was almost ready to cry in frustration when that other group joined you. Without the luck and Prirodna's blessing tonight, I don't know what we would've done. Probably just followed you until we got a chance to contact you."

Taking a breath in realization that he's been motoring on like horses pulling a flaming chariot, he pauses and looks at the form of his goblin brother:

"So, just what happened to you?"

In return, Darius tells them his entire story. All that he could remember in any case.

He tells them that he was indeed attacked by a giant wasp during his journey to the fur farm. Although he managed to inflict quite a bit of damage upon the insect, he was no match for the giant creature and eventually succumbed to his wounds. Fortunately, a small group of dwarven pilgrims were passing and the sound of the fight alerted their attention. They put the unconscious goblin's body onto their cart and carried him to the next stop on their journey, which was Hradetz. Here, they dropped him off at the Temple of Lechit, goddess of healing, who are honor bound to heal all those brought to them.

When he came round, he found that he was being healed by a sister from the temple. Unfortunately, the sister had seen that he was wearing armor from the Hradetz garrison and naturally assumed that he was a Nyemetz trooper. Darius immediately tried to make his escape after learning of this, but was stopped at the door by an orc captain sent to reclaim him. Still very weak, and without his sword, Darius was in no position to fight, and so was forced to accompany him to the castle. Here, they asked him which unit he was from and he told them that he was a member of one of the worgrider units. Luckily for him, a worgrider unit had recently been sent to the Eastern Front, and it was assumed that he was a member of that unit.

He was assigned to a new unit that was being formed to make up for the garrison's losing of the other worgrider unit. The first task for the trainees was to go and get some worgs and so they set out on their journey from the city. From the Worgrider Captain's description, it looks almost certain that the place that they were heading for in order to obtain their worgs was none other than…the fur farm!

Along the route, they met up with the other group of Nyemetz, which was from the Dvur garrison. This was a total co-incidence, as the other Nyemetz were returning from Hradetz after dropping off a number of gnome and halfling slaves. The Captain of the Worgriders and Captain of the Dvur troops were old friends, which is why they decided to travel together and why the drink got handed about so liberally.

Winnacer then leaps off Juggernaut, tying him to a tree a sturdy bush allowing him to graze:

"Comrades, today we did not just fight well. Today we fought well... together! You all honor me with the prowess displayed here today. Congratulations on a battle well-fought."

After the combat, Yaz runs over to the wolf, who is feasting on his chilly Captain.

"Hi, ho, Silver..." the druid starts, nervously, "or what ever your name should be. You need a new name, my friend.' But just to let you know: I'll only be able to speak to you like this for a couple more minutes. After that, though, I'd like to learn your language. Will you help me learn it?"

'Fine' Silver replies. 'As I have already informed you, Silver was not completely to my liking as a name, so if you have any better suggestions, then please feel free to make them.'

"But just to let you know' barks Yaz. "I'll only be able to speak to you like this for a couple more minutes. After that, though, I'd like to learn your language. Will you help me learn it?"

'That would be a pleasure for me' the wolf replies. 'As I said, I'm looking forward to indulging in some intelligent conversation for a change. Just let me know when you'd like the lessons to begin.'

"And another thing... I've got a proposition for you,' adds Yaz. 'Those people you were with... we call them 'Nyemetz'. We're on a mission to get rid of them. They've been destroying vast tracts of forest and other natural areas. I imagine if they're not stopped, they could easily threaten even your own homeland. I'd like you to join us for a while. You can't eat our horses, but anything we kill, you can have. What do you say?"

'Hmmm' growls Silver. 'That's a shame about not being allowed to eat the horses. I must say that they smell delicious. But if you really insist, then I'll just have to make do with something else. I don't mind accompanying you for a while. After all, I'm a long way from home and I don't have anyone else to chat with. Just make sure that I've got enough to eat and that your friends don't do anything to irritate me and I'm sure that we're going to get on fine.'

"The last thing is this" finishes Yaz. "We're going through the city, the one where you came from. Can you get across the river on your own? I'd like you to meet us on the other side. Is that possible?"

'That shouldn't be a problem' the wolf replies. 'Just tell me when and where and I'll be happy to follow you.'

Winnacer then walks over to Yaz and gives him a friendly pat on the back:

"You delivered what you promised, Yaz. It was most likely your idea that made what seemed a close-matched fight into the rout it was. Great work."

You see that Yaz is trying his damnedest not to smile, but a wide grin breaks out despite his efforts:

"Bah, no big deal..." he blushes, looking down.

Winnacer smiles then looks at the wolf:

"But now what? Are we to let the wolf leave in peace or shall we try to incorporate it into our cause? Or will it try to devour our horses? This sort of thing is really outside my experience."

Winnacer then takes a look at the silver-coated wolf:

"I guess that must be one of those Winter Wolves you told us about, huh. Do you think it would let me touch it?"

"Uh, I wouldn't be so sure..." Yaz looks up to address the group, including Jihan:

"The wolf... the wolf is not your typical wolf. I've charmed him, which means he won't attack me personally. But he could easily turn on you if you're not careful. He may have helped us with the Nyemetz, but normally winter wolves like him are extremely nasty, extremely cunning, and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. They have little concern for life. I have never met a Winter Wolf... but the druids tell tales of ferocity that would make even our Bennett blanch. The feast of flesh he is having now will last him for a week or so... After that, we will have to decide what to do with him, because he may start to be a problem. We may have to let him go. But I, for one, would like to keep him around as long as possible, without endangering ourselves."

Yaz smirks:

"You saw for yourselves how his chilling breath destroyed the orcish Captains. I think maybe that might come in handy sooner or later...."

Winnacer's face looks torn between his learned disgust for all things lupine and his fascination for the beast that really turned the battle's tide.

"It wouldn't bite me if I pet it, would it?"

"I dunno" says Yaz. "Let me ask him"

Yaz then goes back to barking at the wolf:

"How do you feel about people touching you. Do you mind?'

"Really, Master Charaz" replies Silver, a little irritated. "As I said during our introduction, although I may be distantly related to them, I am not a poodle, nor a toy. How would you feel if people kept coming to you and ruffling your hair with their paws? I'd imagine that you would find it a rather annoying and humiliating experience, wouldn't you, growl, bark, yap."

Yaz realizes that his spell has expired and that he's not going to be able to speak with Silver any more for a while.

'I don't think that he'd appreciate it, actually' Yaz says to Winnacer. 'You have to remember that he's as bright as any one of us. If I were you, I think that it would safer to treat him with respect, as an equal, rather than a furry toy.'

Winnacer nods and thinks better of stroking the beast.

Will looks at the beast with uncertainty:

"I usually seem to have a natural affinity with most creatures of the forest, but I don't know if this guy falls in the same category as most animals. He's got a wily look to him, like he might have ideas of his own more than most critters."

Hearing Yaz's words, Jihan is especially careful around the wolf, letting him sniff at him and whatnot:

"Did he mention a name, Yaz? His coat reminds me of moonlight dancing on a river... Isilme he would be in elven... or Issi for short. Maybe Viirin. That doesn't translate as well, but it sort of means 'magic from the moon'," he says for the benefit of those who do not understand elven:

"Will he be staying with us for a while? A handsome brother of the woods he is indeed..."