Once again,
there is little change to the routine. Yaz finally fixes his broken
arm, while the sleeping form of Bennett is finally awoken and Hrust
cures him of the mummy rot. They then cast five healing spells upon
him so that he returns to full health as are the rest of them.
Now that they are fully
healed, they are ready to go back to the tower, but Winnacer has yet
to return and so they are forced to wait for his return. As the day
progresses, they get increasingly worried for his safety, thinking
that he should have returned by now. They try and occupy themselves
as best they can during the day, but the boredom is really starting
to play on their minds now.
As the sun begins to set
once more, Jihan cries out as he sees two figures approaching from
the Southwest. As they get closer, the elf sees, to his delight, that
the figures are Winnacer and Kesryk, with two laden mules
accompanying them.
They all greet Winnacer and
the cleric as they get closer to them, pleased to see that no harm
came to the young lord on his journey and pleased that he was able to
convince Kesryk to accompany him. They notice that he is no longer
riding Maire' but that he is proudly riding a new heavy
warhorse.
Robert unloads the mules and
starts to prepare a feast for them from the new provisions of breads,
salted meats, some potatoes, and a few flasks of beer that Winnacer
and Kesryk brought back with them. There is enough food to last them
for a month if needs be and so he can afford to be generous.
After several days of
nothing but roots and rabbit stew, the dinner is delicious, even if
Robert's culinary skills still leave a lot to be desired.
Over dinner, Winnacer chats
to Hrust a bit, taking a seat next to the often-pounded bugbear.
Hrust casts another speech spell so that he can understand the lord's
words.
"Shaman Hrust, my friend"
starts Winnacer. "As we reach the end of our fight, I feel the need
to thank you, no matter how this may turn out. This quest is
certainly not your own and you have suffered grave physical harm and
lost a close friend while joining us. Without your help, I am sure
that our animated bodies would also be keeping guard over the Tower.
I just want you to know that I truly appreciate all you have done for
my friends and myself. I never would have thought the day would come
when I would consider a 'bugbear' as one of my trusted friends. I
have been blessed by Spravedelna for having crossed your
path."
"This quest is not mine, but
neither is it yours either" responds the bugbear. "But it is a quest
for all who wish to see an end to abominations such as those which
exist within the Tower. I thank you for your kind words but, as I
have said before, I feel that I owe you a debt for making the
decision to stand at my side in the face of the Nyemetz worgriders.
Were you to have fled, then we would all have died. By accompanying
you on this quest, I feel as if I have repaid my debt to you."
"I am glad that you consider
me as your friend" continues Hrust, putting a large furry paw on
Winnacer's shoulder. "I feel very proud to have you as my friend too.
Blesk has also smiled upon me at bringing me together with such a
valiant one as you."
Winnacer nods his
appreciation and then continues:
"With the loss of Zsolt, I
cannot even imagine how alone one might feel, even one in the graces
of Blesk as you are. If you wish, I could learn the language of the
Slovenes. At the least, it would give you somebody to talk to. And if
both of our goals are realized in the future, it may aid in smoothing
out the relations between your people and my own. I could perhaps
teach you the language of Bohavia at the same time."
"I would very much enjoy
speaking to you for more than ten minutes at a time" Hrust replies.
"I would also love to teach you something of my language. While you
have been gone, I have spent much time speaking with Xavier in your
tongue and mine. I feel that if we continue to talk in these ways,
then we should be able to communicate without the need of these
spells in good time."
As Hrust's speech spell
wears off, making more conversation impossible, Will speaks to
Winnacer:
"While you have been gone, I
have spent much of the time reading the diary of the TruthSeeker. I
must say that it is one of the most interesting books that I have
ever had the fortune to read, and I am sure that Konan will be
equally as fascinated with its contents."
"As I, and I am sure the
rest of us, imagined. It is not a happy tale. Libor Zeman was indeed
a TruthSeeker, and he hailed from Fridek-Mistek in the far east of
Bohavia. A devout follower of Kitry, he devoted his life to seeking
new knowledge for the good of all. Throughout his life, he traveled
far and wide, to places that I have only ever dreamed of visiting,
such as Rajistan and Araby, all the while amassing more and more
knowledge for the Church. It would appear that he believed that there
was a race that inhabited the world many millennia before the present
races that inhabit the world today, before the elves even. This
information he had gleaned from snippets of information from a number
of ancient wall carvings and runic scribbles on papyrus. He devoted
his life to trying to obtain proof of their existence and also to
find their mythical lost city that he knew as Xan-Tian, yet he never
found it."
"He continued his search for
proof until he was well over 70 years old, at which point he started
to grow frail and realized that his life was coming to an end. He was
driven, however, to complete his life's work before he died, so that
he would truly accomplish something during his life. As his health
got worse and worse, he came to think that his whole life had been in
vain without finding any true proof of the existence of this ancient
civilization. It was from this desperation that he made his fatal
error."
"He had taken the 'Ultimate
Power' tome during a quest to destroy a Necromancer King up in the
barren wastes of Suomi some 30 years earlier and knew that the book
was evil in nature, so had never dared read it. However, he decided
to risk it in the hope that reading part of it may give him an extra
decade or so in order to finish his life's work. He prayed to Kitry
for His protection for seven days and seven nights before daring to
open the book, and blessed it several times in His name in order to
try and purify the evil. However, it seems that this was all in vain.
What happened after he read some of the book is difficult to make
out, as his copious notes from his earlier years rapidly descends
into an illegible scrawl in which he simply talks about his desire
for power, his renouncement of Kitry and his devotion for Smurt and
Nemotz. It then ends at that point, so we can only guess at exactly
what happened that turned him into the creature that we were forced
to slay."
As Will finishes his brief
summary of the contents of the diary, Xavier and Bennett immediately
feel justified in their statements that the book should be destroyed.
Jihan and Will still hold with taking the book to Konan for his final
decision, although they do admit that the book needs to be handled
with extreme caution.
It starts to get late and
Winnacer and Kesryk are both tired after their long rides:
"We should sleep now," says
Winnacer. "I would imagine that we are all weary of waiting and will
want to start upon the Tower once more early tomorrow."
They all head for the tents,
where they are grateful for the additional winter blankets that
Winnacer asked Kesryk to provide. The temperature has fallen
throughout the day and it is now just a little above freezing.
Yaz looks up at the skies
before he goes into his tent:
"Rain again tomorrow, by the
look of it" he says as he looks to the heavens.
"It's a full moon tonight
too," he adds, casually.
The watch is arranged and
they fall asleep. However, after several hours, they are awoken by
the sound of howling, and the howling seems to be getting closer.
They all rise from their tents in order to investigate.
"Can't you shut those bloody
worgs of yours up?" asks Bennett of Yaz. "I knew that we should never
have brought them here with us. I can't get a wink of sleep with them
howling like that."
"Quiet!" shouts Yaz angrily.
"Something's wrong, they don't sound like worgs to me. Let me listen
to see if I can pick up what they're saying."
They listen to the
approaching howls with some trepidation, which increases rapidly as
they watch the expression of the druid's face change from concern to
fright.
'Those aren't worgs" Yaz
announces, as he understands snippets of the howling. "Those are
werewolves and they've smelled us!"
Panic breaks out at Yaz's
revelation, but Winnacer quickly brings the situation under
control:
"Quickly, everyone with a
bow get them ready and let's form a circle so that they cannot take
us from the rear. I had a feeling that we were not going to be able
to stay here forever at this campsite without some unwelcome
visitors"
They all grab their bows and
form a circle in the center of the camp around the campfire.
Nervously, they wait for the werewolves to appear. All too soon they
do. Fifteen of them.
Yaz's revelation comes as
little shock to Jihan, who hisses when he hears the pronouncement
made officially from the druid's lips. He reaches into the quiver
over his left shoulder, the one containing the silver arrows Will had
made earlier in Holitze, and grits his teeth:
"Silver is their enemy...
Let us form a semi-circle by the fire, then our warriors can absorb
the brunt and we can fall back into a circle as they fully engage us.
Fire will not frighten them away, but it may give them second
thoughts. 'Ware their touch, all, for their affliction is of the
spreading kind..."
Winnacer, having wrapped a
thong around 'The Educator', quickly hands his silver longsword to
Robert:
"Use this only if they break
through, my squire."
Realizing from Jihan's words
that his bowfire would most likely be ineffective, he readies himself
between Bennett and Xavier, mouthing a quick prayer to Spravedelna to
provide for our safety. As the werewolves draw near, Winnacer warns
them off.
"Here you will only find
your death. Move along or prepare to meet your maker."
The werewolves pay no heed
to the young lord's words, however, as they continue to surge
forwards. As they come into sight, the party wonders whether Yaz got
it wrong about the creatures being werewolves instead of regular
wolves, as they seem to be very similar to the regular variety as
they pound towards the campsite on all fours. As they get closer to
the party in the half-light of the moonshine, however, they see that
the werewolves have five fingers on their front paws and are
definitely something different from regular wolves.
With visibility being poor
and the werewolves charging at an incredible rate, Jihan realizes
that they are only going to have time to get off a couple of volleys
before the lycanthropes are upon them:
"Leave your shots as late as
possible" the elf advises. "We need to make as many of them count as
possible."
A semi-circle is formed to
protect Faewen'il and Robert in the center, knowing that they would
not survive long were they to face one of the slathering beasts. They
steady their nerves and take aim as they wait until they see the red
eyes of the werewolves before them.
Jihan is the first to
unleash a shot. The silver-tipped arrow flies straight and hits one
of the werewolves leading the pack. The damage caused by the silver
tip of the arrow is significant. Will is next to fire, but his
magickal arrow flies too high.
Xavier is about fire his
light crossbow into the advancing horde. However, his terrible luck
with his crossbow is as bad as ever. As he lifts the weapon to take
aim, he accidentally presses the trigger and shoots Hrust in the
foot. The bugbear roars out with rage and then controls himself and
reaches down to pull out the bloody bolt:
'Enshuldegung Sie bitte'
apologizes the Saxon, glowing red with embarrassment.
Bennett has much more luck,
as a silver-tipped arrow flies from his bow and inflicts some serious
damage on another of the werewolves.
Jihan nocks another
silver-tipped arrow and hits another of the werewolves, inflicting
more severe damage. Will finds his mark and sends a magick arrow
flying into the same werewolf, almost felling the injured creature.
Bennett lets another arrow fly, but his shot is short.
As the werewolves come
closer still, Faewen'il starts to chant and then hurls two bolts of
magickal energy into the werewolves. One of the bolts takes out the
werewolf injured by Jihan and Will while the other impacts upon the
one that Bennett injured. Both Hrust and Yaz cast flameblades so as
to inflict as much damage upon the beasts as possible.
As the werewolves come to
within a few yards of the party, the beasts rise up onto their hind
legs and charge towards them. They drop their bows and draw their
melee weapons ready to fight for their lives.
The first of the werewolves
charges at Winn and bites him, although the damage is not severe.
Three of the werewolves charge Will. Two of them manage to nip him,
but cause him mercifully little damage. Yaz gets a couple of them
upon him and both of them bite into him, the second doing quite a bit
of damage. Kesryk also has a couple of them upon him. The first hits
him badly making him stagger back from the pain.
Then, everything seems to go
into slow-motion. Out of the corner of his eye, Winnacer sees his
mentor staggering backwards. Then, to his absolute horror, he sees
the second werewolf launching itself from the ground with its fangs
wide open. The yellowing teeth clench around Kesryk's throat. Then he
sees the torso of the werewolf beginning to fall with its fangs still
dug into the cleric's throat, twisting and turning its head in order
to tear away Kesryk's flesh. As the werewolf lands on the ground
again, Kesryk's throat is in its mouth. The werewolf spits it out and
the fleshy mass goes flying through the air. Kesryk's eyes are open
wide in shock as he starts to tip backwards. Blood starts to gush
from his open windpipe that gurgles open wide and red foam starts to
froth from his mouth. Kesryk hits the ground, his head bouncing
upwards once before he lies still, his eyes still open wide in
shock.
'NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
wails Winnacer as he sees his mentor fall to the ground, his life
ebbing away before the young lord's very eyes.
But there is no time for
grieving as the attack of the werewolves continues unabated. Robert
steps forward to fill the gap left by Kesryk. The new squire's hands
are shaking as he tries to keep a grip on the silver
longsword.
Two more of the werewolves
leap up at Jihan. The elf manages to dodge one of them while the
other one sinks his jaws into Jihan's shoulder. Hrust also has two to
deal with. One of the werewolves tries to bite the Shaman in the leg,
but the bugbear sees its jaws approaching and kicks into it with all
of his might. Hrust's mighty kick smashes the werewolf's teeth in and
it lets out a terrible cry as it runs away from the battle, spitting
out fangs as it goes. The Shaman's good fortune doesn't last long,
however, as the other one bites through his brigandine and injures
him in the thigh.
Bennett and Xavier only have
one of the beasts each to contend with, and neither werewolf can find
a way through the warrior's thick mail.
Winnacer snaps out of his
trance at seeing Kesryk fall and a look of wild determination is
written on his face, looking for vengeance. He hacks into the
werewolf before him, inflicting some terrible damage, but not quite
enough to slay the creature. Jihan is a blur of steel as he brings
his blades to bear. He hits the werewolf before him with Makanuru.
Will cuts another of them with his magickal dagger, but the damage is
minor. Xavier hits another with Sorrow, but only a glancing blow. Yaz
gives another a mighty blow with his flameblade, sending the werewolf
reeling back from the blow. Bennett also manages to hit the one he is
facing with 'Retribution', but the blow is far from deadly. Hrust
fails to hit his with the flameblade. Petrified out of his wits,
Robert lashes out at the werewolf that took down Kesryk. Whether by
luck or judgment, he manages to hit the werewolf and causes massive
damage to it with the silver longsword. Knowing that Robert needs all
of the help that he can get, Faewen'il casts another two magickal
missiles at the werewolf that he is fighting. Although the two
missiles cause a fair bit of damage, it's still not quite enough to
fell the creature.
Winnacer hacks into the
werewolf once more, hacking it to pieces with another mighty blow
from 'The Educator'.
Will lashes out at the three
in front of him, but is unable to hit any of them with either sword
or dagger. Two of the werewolves fail to land a blow upon him, but
the third one not only manages to bite into him, but also sends his
longsword flying from his hand.
Yaz tries to finish off the
injured werewolf that he is facing, but the beast manages to dodge
his flameblade. One of the werewolves manages to strike him in
retaliation, however.
Robert lashes out again with
the silver longsword, but fails to connect with either of the
werewolves. One of the werewolves strikes back at the squire and
inflicts some terrible wounds upon him. It is obvious that Robert is
not going to be able to take much more of this.
Jihan misses the werewolf
that he is facing with Makanuru, but the silver-bladed Recht finds
its mark. Both of the werewolves that he is facing strike back at
him. Not only do they inflict some pretty horrific damage upon the
elf, but one of them also topples him over as he tries to
dodge.
Bennett's blow is on target
once more. Although the damage that he inflicts is once more
terrible, it is still not enough to finish the creature. In
retaliation, the werewolf bites him and hurts him quite badly.
The disasters that you are
facing just don't stop coming. This time it is Hrust's turn to be the
one who causes the damage rather than receives it. Determined to take
out the werewolf before him, he raises his flameblade high above his
head ready to bring it down upon the beast. Unfortunately, Faewen'il
is standing right behind him and he hits the unfortunate lass with
the full force of the weapon, sending her falling to the floor. To
add injury upon injury, the werewolf that he was trying to hit takes
advantage of the situation by ripping a huge chunk out of the
bugbear's side.
To finish off a terrible
round, Xavier fails to hit the last of the creatures with Sorrow, but
mercifully the werewolf does not manage to find a way past his
mail.
Winnacer has no werewolves
facing him and so he comes to Robert's rescue. He sees the werewolf
with Kesryk's blood all over its face and gets his vengeance by
slaughtering the beast with a powerful blow from 'The Educator'.
Seeing the other werewolf about to lunge at Robert, Winnacer brings
his shield up and deflects the jaws of the other one. Robert tries to
help out by attacking the other one. To continue to terrible run of
luck, the beast dodges Robert's strike and the squire hits the ground
with the silver longsword which snaps the fragile blade in
two.
With no longsword in his
hand, Will starts to cast pulling a handful of rose petals out of his
pouch and tosses them at the werewolves. One of them falls in front
of him and starts to sleep. While he is doing so, however, one of the
other two facing him lunges at him and bites him badly, leaving him
close to falling.
Yaz is really struggling
with the two that he is fighting. He manages to hit one of them, but
it somehow clings on to life. Both strike back at him and the druid
is badly mauled and is also close to falling.
Jihan struggles to get up
from his prone position. As he does so, he is bitten again by one of
the terrible beasts, but at least he is up now.
Bennett is furious with rage
now, but it doesn't help his concentration at all and he fails to hit
the badly injured werewolf before him. He only manages to save
himself from being badly bitten in retaliation by quickly bringing up
Zsolt's shield to protect himself.
Hrust manages to go some way
for making up for his terrible injury upon Faewen'il by actually
hitting the werewolf this time. This surprises the werewolf that he
is facing and so it does not hit him.
Xavier manages to get two
good blows on the werewolf before him. As he strikes it for a second
time, the werewolf is on top of him, but Xavier manages to throw the
creature to the ground.
Winnacer lashes out at the
other werewolf facing himself and Robert. His shot is true and he
inflicts some more terrible damage upon the creature. Robert is left
holding the stump of the silver longsword. Fighting by Winnacer's
side, he drops the stump to the ground and pulls 'Old Bohavia' from
the scabbard on the young lord's hip. He is unable to land a blow
upon the creature though.
Will is still in difficulty
and realizes that he must re-cast his armor spell or else he will
easily be werewolf fodder. It is still not enough, however, and one
of the werewolves still manages to savage him and the bard falls to
the ground.
Yaz is desperate to fell the
heavily bleeding werewolf before him, but it is not to be, as he
fails to hit it. It proves to be his undoing, as both of the
werewolves strike him and he drops down to the ground, falling next
to Will.
Jihan is back on his feet
now. He makes the most of it with a tremendous blow from Makanuru
which finally finishes off one of the werewolves before him. He tries
to hit the other with Recht, but is unable to reach. The other
werewolf takes advantage by biting into the elf, leaving him a hair's
breadth away from falling.
Bennett finally finds his
form and hacks the injured werewolf before him to pieces. Hrust is
not so lucky, however, and his flameblade fails to connect, but nor
does the werewolf facing him.
The werewolf before Xavier
is still on the deck. The Saxon uses the situation to his advantage
by bringing Sorrow down upon the creature, putting it out of its
miserable existence.
Winnacer hits the werewolf
before him with 'The Educator', leaving the creature on the brink of
going down. He is about to finish the beast when he loses his grip
upon the sword. Luckily the leather strip that he remembered to use
on the blade saves it from leaving his hand. Robert amazes his lord
(and himself) with a well aimed blow to the creature from 'Old
Bohavia' that kills the wretched beast.
Jihan is locked in a
desperate battle for survival with the werewolf facing him. Knowing
that even a gentle nip from the creature would fell him, the elf
concentrates more on defense than attack with the result that neither
he nor the werewolf can get a blow or bite upon each other.
Bennett rushes into the two
werewolves that Yaz was fighting, but fails to get a blow on either
of them. His mail saves him from any damage from them, however.
Of all of them, only Xavier
is on form. He rushes up to the two werewolves that Will was fighting
and plunges Sorrow into one of the werewolf's gonads. The werewolf
doubles up in pain and starts to howl in agony. It's not all good
news, however, as the other werewolf manages to get a bite upon the
Saxon, the first for Xavier during the entire battle until
now.
Hrust manages to get another
blow in on the werewolf, steadily beating it down. Unfortunately, the
same can be said of the werewolf, as it manages to get a bite in on
the bugbear as well, although the Shaman is still ahead on
points.
Winnacer once again has no
targets. He sees Jihan wobbling and locked in combat with one of the
werewolves and so wades in to help, doing so with a massive blow from
'The Educator'. Robert tries to help as well, but his shot is well
off target. Jihan adds his bit to the combat as well and hits with
Makanuru, but the damage is slight. The werewolf tries to retaliate
with a bite to Winnacer, but the damage is mild.
Bennett finally comes good
again and slaughters the werewolf that Yaz had all but finished. The
other, however, is alive and kicking, but cannot find a way past
Bennett's shield.
With one of the werewolves
doubled up in agony, Xavier brings his attention to the other, giving
it an awesome blow with Sorrow. He then easily manages to avoid the
werewolf's clumsy follow up by dodging.
Hrust manages to finally
fell the creature that he has been fighting, the sparks flying as his
flameblade cuts a paw off the creature.
The tide of battle has
finally turned in the party's favor. Winnacer easily hacks to pieces
the one that was menacing Jihan and turns to help Bennett fight the
one uninjured beast that remains, but cannot find an opening, and
neither can Robert.
Jihan allows himself to stay
out of the battle for a while as Hrust casts a healing spell upon
him. The effects are not great, but bring him out of the danger
zone.
Bennett hacks into the last
uninjured werewolf and inflicts some brutal wounds upon the beast,
receiving a fairly brutal bite from the creature for his
troubles.
Xavier just manages to fail
to connect with the werewolf before him, but manages to avoid any
further injury.
Winnacer also fails to
connect with the werewolf that he, Bennett and Robert are fighting,
as does Robert. Bennett manages to get another good hit on the
creature though and the werewolf is in real trouble. Panicking now,
it bites into Bennett again in order to try and put off its
attacker,
Xavier's luck runs out as he
fails to hit the stricken werewolf in front of him and gets badly
bitten for his mistake. The other werewolf that got hit in the gonads
pulls itself up and also bites a big chunk out of the Saxon in
retaliation.
Hrust kneels next to the
fallen and casts another healing spell upon Yaz. The results are
excellent and the druid sits up almost immediately, well, but very
confused.
Bennett finally manages to
kill the werewolf before him with another well aimed blow from
'Retribution'.
Xavier gets a reasonable hit
on one of the two remaining werewolves but not enough to kill it.
Winnacer sees to that, however, with another terrible blow from 'The
Educator'. Robert tries his luck on the last of the werewolves, but
fails to connect. The werewolf is still intent upon revenge for the
wound that Xavier gave him and bites the Saxon once more.
It is its swansong, however,
as Bennett comes up behind it and hacks its spine in two with a last
powerful blow from his axe.
All of the werewolves have
finally been taken care of, but at a very high price.