Day 29: The Full Moon pt. 2: Farewell Podunk

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From above the trees, the destruction of Podunk taking place.

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How I wish I were deaf. There was a crisis very early in the morning that has left me feeling haunted. I sit here on a grassy hilltop after a short travel from what was left of Podunk. Late last night, or rather very early this morning, it seemed like I had barely fallen asleep. Maybe two hours. What ever length of time I slept, all I know was waking up to Cortanna shaking me. She was saying something important. Her face was urgent. "Inside! Rekka. Let’s go! It’s important!"

I could hear how distressed she was and so I quickly arose from the cot I was sleeping on. With the same motion I used to get up, I grabbed my gear and hurried into Isaac’s home, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Once in, everyone is huddled around Rekka who had one of her red gems out. There was a moment of gratitude that it wasn’t Rekka in trouble again. Then I heard Isaac’s voice as I got closer, “...held hostage by werewolves in town. Waiting for height of the full moon to do something. Hurry! We’ve already killed one!”

Any ounce of tiredness that was in me was gone as the adrenaline kicked in. Everyone, with weapon in hand, dashed out the door. Cortanna was up on Brier in a matter of seconds and took off. I jogged after her, changing my clothes to a solid black color and darkening my skin to blend in with the night. I could hear Jessica, Rekka, and Gideon behind me, but they grew faint as I focused on catching up to Cortanna. Soon she was out of sight, but I followed the road and after 10 minutes of jogging I caught sight of her talking to someone. I assumed she had caught up to Isaac and Billy. As I got closer I saw the figures walk off.

“Who was that?” I asked Cortanna when I finally was standing next to her. She whirled around somewhat startled.

“Who are you- Oh! Forgot you can change your appearance,” Cortanna said, managing to keep her voice at a whisper, “Um, that was Isaac and Billy. All the villagers, including the Goblins, are shut up in these houses along here. They’re continuing to go down house to house, killing each werewolf they come across,” Cortanna explained.

“Wait, they’re taking all the werewolves on alone?” I wasn't sure if I was astonished or impressed.

“Well, one by one. Each house has one werewolf, then a few more come and check on each house. But we were asked to escort the villagers and Goblins out of these home they’ve already taken care of and lead them else where.”

“Lead who where?” Rekka interjected, as she, Jessica and Gideon caught up.

“Villagers and Goblins are being held in the houses currently. Isaac and Billy killing werewolves while we transport them to a different location,” I quickly summarized.

“Oh! Just take them to the McGregor’s farm right over there!” Cortanna instructed. She pointed to a large barn about 60 feet away. We then broke up into groups of 3. I and Gideon took the right side, Rekka and Jessica the left. We would then point them toward Cortanna who would make sure they went to the farm.

I had given myself my normal color so as to not startle anyone by my near all black appearance. All was going well, the folk fleeing quietly from each home. I saw no sign of anything out of the ordinary which only made me feel secure in Isaac and Billy handling things. If only I had known what was waiting for me behind door number 6. Instead I had just begun to open the door when I felt a sharp jerk pull me back.

“What the-” I squeaked out louder than intended, a firm hand gripping my mouth.

Then I heard the growl from within.

“Sorry, we accidentally skipped this one,” Isaac whispered in my ear.

Panic was racing through my body as I felt myself pinned between Isaac and the door that I had barely opened. I heard the footsteps move toward the door and with a moment of clarity, I expelled Isaac from me by sprouting fully formed wings and quickly flew up 10 feet with my halberd poised to attack. The door squeaked open and a werewolf lunged out. My reflexes were hyped up on adrenaline and reacted as soon as I saw the beast. I swung my halberd down with all my might, hooking the werewolf in the face. On top of knocking the werewolf’s head back I sent my electric charge out of it. The werewolf froze as the electricity coursed through it's body. Isaac then sliced the werewolf across the chest with Gideon sinking his sword into the beast’s flesh.

The werewolf collapsed and we checked to make sure it was dead. Once confirmed, I continued to guide the citizens to safety. Isaac mentioned to me that he was going to the town wells because a circle was drawn there and he wanted to disrupt it before it could activate. I felt that was more important and told Isaac I’d assist him.  Gideon continued to guide the townsfolk while Isaac and I turned on our heels.

Isaac barely took a few steps before freezing. I almost collided into him. He was silent and focused on something. I walked in front of him only to see his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw taunt. I looked around to see if someone had cast a spell over him. All I saw was Gideon still working on another house and Rekka and Jessica working on their side. Rekka took notice of me and Isaac and began to walk toward us.

I don’t know if it was Rekka that startled him, but suddenly Isaac jumped to his full height and looked between me and Rekka. His eyes were wide and worried.

“We need to get everyone out of here now!” Isaac said loud enough for those villagers and Goblins passing to hear. I had already made my mind up not to question what was happening. I turned on my heals and was about to shout to he villagers to flee, but Rekka beat me to the punch.

“RUN TO THE RIVER! EVERYONE! RUN TO THE RIVER!!” she shouted. The townsfolk with in range to hear Rekka's shout began to run to the river. Isaac summoned a skeleton to go mess up the circle for us. It was crucial for us to leave. Billy had gone to scout the circle and told Isaac the ritual had begun. I raced toward the farm to make sure Cortanna, and those there, knew to flee immediately. Once the whole town was on the run, I used my wings to fly up and above the treetops.

My heart was racing. I could hear it thump in my ears as I propelled myself toward the river. I had hoped to get to there before looking back, but 10-15 into our flight, the night was rent with a shrill and eerie scream on the wave of a great explosion from Podunk.

Meryth? I thought as I fell from the sky. I quickly regained control and stabilized my flight.

I looked in the direction of the 3 screams I heard. Podunk was nothing but a blazing fire Looking back, all I could see was a blazing fire where the center of Podunk was. My heart ached and I desperately wanted to fly back to the inferno. I had heard 3 simultaneous  screams. Meryth was one of them! Heironious’s scream was there too, but I could careless about him. I hope what ever just happened to him hurt him deeply!

How I wanted to go back. I wanted to find Meryth. I couldn't believe shew as there, but why was she there? It was the same haunting scream I heard at her death... If that was indeed her... how DARE Heironious be with her! How dare he!

As my mind raced with anger and worry, I knew that what I heard could very well be a cruel trick... There was only one other who would dare use a trick so sick to get to me. I let out a cry of anger and resolved to descend into the woods to find my party. I wiped the angry tears from my eyes as I carefully dodged the branches of the trees. I could see the townsfolk still scurrying through the woods, seeming unphased by the blast.

I heard them before I saw them. Someone was screaming, probably Rekka or Cortanna. When I caught sight of them, I saw that they weren't moving. Everyone was huddled around Rekka. No one noticed my presence at first as they tried helping her. Through a gap, as they moved about, I caught a glimpse of Rekka’s face. Her eyes bleeding. It became clear why she was hysterical.

“What happened?” I asked, more to Rekka than anyone else. No one seemed to have heard me. Billy was able to cure Rekka enough to finally get her under control. Isaac now had taken his wishing sword out.

“Hubert, I wish for Rekka’s sight back,” Isaac said aloud.

“Might I interest you in a different wish?” Hubert asked.

“No. I said I wish for Rekka’s sight back,” Isaac repeated himself.

“Well sir, I’m afraid I am unable to do that. I suppose I could try, but it’s your call since I haven’t a clue what kind of magic this is and could very well fail.” Hubert explained. Isaac then put Hubert away and began to pace, looking deep in thought. I went next to Rekka to help clean her up. While close to her I could see her sunken in eye lids and knew that indeed her sight was gone. Both of her eyes had been removed some how. I asked her again what had happened.

“I heard the explosion and looked back," she began her lips quivering, "Next thing I know is I’m unable to see and pain...” she trailed off. I decided not to ask anything else and wrapped a rag Jessica handed to me around her head. It would help cover up the wound and make it less awkward when other folk saw her.

After tying the rag, I looked up at everyone. They looked remorseful about Rekka’s situation. However, now with her somewhat composed, I decided I would suggest what I was wanting to do.

“Would anyone else happen to be interested in going back and seeing what happened with me?” I asked. Everyone seemed perplexed by the idea. Isaac even stopped pacing.

“Why would you want to go back?” Isaac asked, looking back toward Podunk, “You can see from here it's an inferno.”

“I know... but I heard my sister scream,” I confessed, pursing my lips together. I knew then that my painful memory was moment from being revealed. How I desperately didn't want them to know.

“You have a sister? In Podunk? Why is it you never told us?” Isaac asked.

"Yeah, what's her name?" Cortanna added, "Perhaps we knew her."

“No," I began, "None of you know her," I bit my tongue before carefully saying the next bit, "My sister’s dead. But I heard-”

“Surely not, we got everyone out. The explosion probably scared her,” Isaac tried to reason, "You should have told us your sister was in Podunk."

“I didn't know she was there,” I responded, “because she been dead!”

“Araja, I’m sure she’s fine-”

“Isaac!" I snapped, "I would know she's dead! I killed my sister. So stop trying to correct me!” I seethed. I was partly surprised by my anger, but being corrected when I knew what had happened infuriated me.

A wave of shame swept over me as the eyes of my fellow comrades gazed at me in disbelief, excluding Rekka and Billy.

“You killed your sister?” Cortanna asked incredulously. I nodded my head. “How old?”

“Does it matter?"

"Yes.”

"She had recently turned 12."

“So, I’m the bad guy when I kill a kid on accident when you purposefully murdered your sister?” Cortanna challenged. How I wanted to punch something, maybe in the shape of Cortanna’s face. Instead I just clenched my fist up tight and hoped that the tension there would relieve some of the anger that coursed through me.

“Cortanna, really? Do you think I did such a thing for fun? Because I wanted to?," I said through trembling lips, "My sister was marked and I since I had witnessed her being marked felt it was best for her salvation to be killed before she could do any wrong!”

“Well I did my best to save that boy! I too made a mistake!” Cortanna snapped. I glared at her for a moment. At first I thought it selfish and thoughtless that she'd compare herself to me. But then my mind softened. It suddenly became very clear how harsh I had been to her when not realizing how much she must have hated what had become of her attempts to do what was right. With all eyes on us, what little I had left of my pride forbade me to apologize. I did feel ashamed for having judged so quickly my fellow comrade, but I couldn't apologize then.

The silence became awkward and practically unbearable. Let alone, most of us were in serious need of sleep and the adrenaline was quickly fading. Isaac then jumped in.

“Araja, did the explosion look to go very far?”

“I can’t recall. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious if my place was now engulfed in flames.”

“Oh no! My things!” Rekka cried.

“I’ll go check,” Cortanna said, clearly angry still from our little spat. She hopped on Brier and took off without a goodbye. I decided to fly up just to see if I could see anything. That way if Cortanna came back with no success, maybe I’d be able to see why.

Above the treetops was nothing but waves of heat. I could see the inferno was primarily of the city center in Podunk. The trees were catching fire now and smoke was wafting higher into the sky. From the direction of Isaac’s place, it appeared to be untouched, but with the haze of heat and smoke, I couldn’t be certain.

I descended back down and was surprised to find Cortanna had return already. Sure enough Isaac’s place was untouched. We then journeyed. As we walked, a thought came to mind. If there was anything from this night that gave me some comfort, it was the fact we had saved the townsfolk. What would have happened if we had journeyed back to Podunk by foot from the sinkhole? I definitely wouldn’t have heard my sister’s scream, but the town would have been killed or worse. Maybe they would have ended up like the marked being in the mine.

We gathered the horses and gear that was left behind and hitched the wagons up to head off. The fire looked to be coming toward Isaac’s place and we wanted to head a mile in the opposite direction in hopes to find a place to rest. And so when we traveled a mile out and on the way toward Lupik's Dukedom, we stopped and made camp. Isaac and Billy kept watch to make sure the fire didn’t get close to us. I would have written earlier, but I fell asleep about as soon as I laid down.

It was about noon when I woke up. Everyone else had already gotten up and eaten. I look ed around and could see we were up on a hill. Back in the direction of the town was a large, burning crater. Where I assumed the woods were laid nothing but ashes. As I joined the group, they were discussing whether to continue on to Lupik's Dukedom or check the crater.

“Let Brier at least go check it to make sure nothing’s there that could be noteworthy,” Cortanna encouraged.

“Would Brier be able to recognize a dead body?” I asked. Awkward glances are exchanged. Cortanna looked to Brier who nodded her head.

“By the way everyone," Billy interrupted, "I ate one of the werewolf people last night and, well.... I have all his memories,” Billy suddenly announced.

"You ate someone?" I questioned

“And is there anything relevant?” Isaac overrided my question..

“His name was Srod. They were preparing the people for some being who’s made up of three people. He’s not sure what was to happen to them, but he’s seen the ritual and the beings involved,” Billy said. He then continued to describe Heironious and Erythnul. I was right in my assumption of who would  be behind the trick. Erythnul... And the third sounded very much like my sister. I bit my bottom lip to stifle myself from letting a cry of anger escape. Why was it they had her! Why are they using her? Where they so intent on having me? For that can only be the logical explanation for them using Meryth. They must be trying to get me! I thought to myself.

“Well, maybe it would be best then to check the crater to make sure this 'being' isn’t there or signs of it,” Cortanna insisted. Isaac, seeming like he wanted to protest, told Cortanna to send Brier off to investigate.

While Brier was gone, we all sat around waiting. I’m moped in my head as everyone began to gather their things. Billy just stood around looking off somewhere. Gideon and Jessica were chatting with Rekka as they packed. Rekka's face was blank of emotion. Cortanna looked in the direction of Brier once her things were ready.

Then it hit me. The blast last night was from messing up the circle that was summoning Erythnul, Heironious, and Meryth. I heard all of them scream and each of us felt the impact from the blast. Especially Rekka. For whatever reason, the thought came to mind that quite possibly we could have been marked as a result of the explosion. Yet it sounded idiotic in my head because I was certain the mark was transferred by touch. Still, I felt I should ask Isaac in case one of us had been marked.

“Isaac, could you ask Billy if he can sense anyone, other than himself and Brier being marked?”

Isaac looked at Billy. Billy then looked at me and pointed at Rekka. I was stunned in shock and terror. I could hardly believe it. And scarier, no one had control of her... so what was to happen and where was the mark placed?

Everyone eyed me, surely wondering what I would do. Rekka caught on that something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” she asked, sounding concerned.

“Rekka,” I began, partly scared that confronting her about being marked might trigger her, “Billy says you’re marked... Could I search you?”

“What!?” Rekka exclaimed.

“I am only wanting to look at what’s exposed. I’m not going to strip you down or anything,” I quickly explained.

“No, I’m just... What? I’m marked?" her mouth searched for words, "Um, go ahead and look I guess.”

Carefully and as respectfully as I could, I looked over Rekka’s head, arms, legs and feet. I couldn’t find it, but suspected it could be in other places that were hidden to the eyes. That was the thought that lead me to remove her eye bandages. Taking them off, they were still nothing but sunken eyelids and for a moment I almost gave up.

“Rekka... could you ‘open’ your eyes?” I asked, trying to sound considerate versus insensitive. She did her best to open her eyelids and there they were. Two marks, one in each eye, glowing red. I was saddened to see them and confused about what to do. Did I slay her like my sister? Did I risk my life and my fellow comrades for when she decides to back stab us? Tsk, probably the latter since no one cares about the mark as much as I do. Nor do they understand my fears.

“So, Rekka. You feel like yourself... right?” I questioned. Rekka poked at herself as I replaced her bandage.

“Um, I guess. Can’t really see, but I feel no different,” Rekka responded. Right then Brier came back looking happy to have had a joy ride through the fire. She trotted right up next to me and nuzzled my head. I took off my circlet and placed it on top of her head.

“Well that was refreshing,” Brier gloated, “and no signs of anything, though I could have sworn I saw images of imps or something dancing in the flames. Every time I drew near, the images were gone. But like I said, nothing there except fire and dirt.”

“Could it possibly be that a portal was opened?” Cortanna asked.

“Nope. And I would know if one had opened,” Brier answered.

“Well, Podunks completely destroyed with the exception of my place,” Isaac said, “And since we had hoped to save it from Lupik, do we really want to continue that way? Maybe we could go check on the town citizens, make sure they’re truly alright or go off to the Dwarven lands instead.”

“Well, if we continue toward Lupik, we will go right by the town I came from. It would be nice to say ‘Hi’ to some of the people there and check in on my family,” Cortanna piped in. I couldn’t think of a reason why not. I hadn’t realized Cortanna wasn’t originally from Podunk. I thought it was just Rekka and I who weren't from there.

“Podunk may be gone, but the werewolves are still a problem,” I added. There were murmurs of agreement all around.

“Then let us continue toward Lupik. Here’s hoping we can find something on Lupik and take him and potentially this bigger cult of werewolves down,” Isaac encouraged. With that, we all took off toward Lupik once more.

After some traveling, I made sure to find a moment to talk to Isaac. I hadn’t forgotten about Rekka’s situation and I felt it important to express my concerns to him.

“Isaac,” I asked, seeing we were well out of earshot, “I feel we can’t trust Rekka anymore.” Isaac looked at my like I was crazy.

“That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?”

“She’s marked Isaac."

"LIke that means anything," Isaac retorted.

"I don’t know why she hasn’t... I don’t know," I continued on, "Is she possessed to carry out the will of Heironious and Erythnul? It doesn’t make sense that she seems to still be in control,” I whispered, my body tensing with the anxiety I had, “From what I know, we need to keep an eye on her. Have Billy tell you if she begins to act different, like as though she’s possessed. And when that happens, we better wish her to a different plain because she may very well kill us all.”

Isaac pondered what I said. I could only hope he’d take me seriously.

“Also keep in mind Isaac, she’s not under any of our control. You control Billy, and Brier, well... she seems very loyal to Cortanna. Rekka however is her own person and therefore will be susceptible to the mark as soon as They will it,” I added.

“Okay. I’ll do my best to have Billy keep tabs. Anything else?” Isaac said, almost too quickly. I couldn’t be sure if he was taking this seriously, but he was the only one I felt safe around. Maybe it was because he controlled Billy who was very strong. Either way I did add one thing before dropping the subject.

“Yes, I plan on keeping close to you, especially at night, since you’d be first to know if she tried to do anything.”

I then took to the air. A full day of travel later, we’re camping once again and so far Rekka has been acting like she usually does, minus her sight. It is still daunting with her. I feel as though there’s an unknown timer on her. I suppose I’ll either learn this mark isn’t the one I grew up with, or my fears will be confirmed and I’ll probably have wished I had killed her when I had the chance.

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Day 29: The Full Moon pt. 1

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Dhroo 4rd, 4288: 29 Days in the mortal realm

I don’t know why I’m choosing to write first before sleep. It has been a bit of a long night. We just teleported to Isaac’s home in Podunk, but I guess I felt obligated to jot down the extent of this day since we discovered Jessica is in control of her shifting.

As we headed toward Podunk, knowing the full moon was nigh, it seemed like a good idea to visit the sinkhole. We figured it would be a safe place  for her (and us) to shift and have her moment of wildness, before continuing on our way. We arrived at the sinkhole yesterday and with the full moon being the following night (today) we felt it would be wise to lower Jessica down just in case.

Sure enough, Jessica didn’t shift. We remained at the sinkhole since tonight was officially the full moon. Once twilight began to set in, we put Jessica down into the sinkhole again. Rekka had given Jessica one of her red gems this night so she could report to us sooner if she hadn't shifted versus sleeping alone in the whole another night. I watched for the moon as we waited. It was full and beautiful as it rose to it's full height. We all listened to see if we could hear the change. After a bit Jessica announced that she had it under control. We all looked at each other, wondering if it was sane for us to bring her up early. We gave her another 30 minutes before lowering a rope down for her.

With Jessica back and very much herself, Isaac suggested that we teleported to his place in Podunk. It would be far enough outside of town that no one should notice our arrival, especially if there was anything amidst in town. It had been about 2-3 weeks since last being there and who was to say the Goblins kept their word and were honest about their character? However, as nice of an idea as it was, there was one problem. 7 of us, a wagon and 3 horses. There was too much for Isaac to teleport in one go. Brier then began to stomp about, pointing at my head with one of her hooves. I looked at her, confused by display.

“What is she doing?” I asked.

“She hasn’t been able to talk since going in the circle of good,” Cortanna answered. I had noticed during the trek from Sardik that Brier hadn't said a word. I looked back at the beast in disguise and decided to have some fun. I was pretty sure then, as she kept gesturing to my head, that she was wanting my circlet.

“Well Brier,” I began, “Do you need something?” Brier stomped a hoof once. “Can you talk?” Brier gave me a great incredulous look and stomped a hoof twice. I almost laughed with the way Brier must have thought I was daft, but I maintained my impassive face. At least I knew how she'd answer my yes or no questions.

“Seeing that you pointing at my head, are you wanting me circlet?” Yes “To turn into something?” I toyed. Yes. I then pushed it further and decided to guess what she wanted to be,  “A Pegasus?” No, “Great Eagle?” No, “Flying Unicorn?” NO! Brier shook her head clearly exasperated, while making some horse grunts. She then got on her hind legs and attempted to walk.

“Oh, a person?” YES! she nickered at me.

I then took my circlet off and placed in on Brier. Instantly she transformed into a human.

“About time!” she said not out of malice, but with that same presumption that I was daft.

“Well, why not use your glimmer to disguise as a human?” Isaac asked.

“Because I can only disguise myself as a horse," she answered, "Now that I'm a human, I can help carry things to make this in one trip."

Sure enough, Brier had some insane strength. She was able to lift the wagon, while the rest of us got into a bag of holding. I don't know exactly how we teleported, but soon enough, the five of us that were in the bag were climbing back out of it. Isaac’s place was right before us. It was past midnight from the looks of the moon, so we began to prepare for sleep. Rekka took Isaac’s bed once more while the rest of us got set up in Rekka's tent. I actually find it odd that Isaac has a bed. He hasn't slept the entire trip. He and Billy were our scouts at night while the rest of us slept.

Anyways, just got my circlet back from Brier. She and Cortanna had a chat about something... Brier looked sad, her face was streaked with blood tears. I can only assume that it's a demon horse thing.

Final note for the night, Isaac just poked his head in. Sounds like he and Billy are going to go walk into town, just to see if there was anything that'd suggest things were amidst.

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Day 23: The Verdict- or Rather, Good Riddance!

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Dwa 34th, 4288: 23 Days in the mortal realm

Here it is, a few days later and I sit in our makeshift camp, thankful to be out of Sardik's Dukedom. We even managed to stay out of trouble over the extra day and a half we spent there. When I would go out, I made sure to  avoid the slum district. Knowing what evil laid there, it wasn’t worth getting close. Let alone, what happened there had only added to my nervousness knowing that beings out of our control were walking around marked. I don't know what Heironious and Erythnul had planned, but their army of mindless followers was growing.

Despite the chaos that arose from saving Rekka from her kidnappers, I went out anyways to find me some kind of disguise. I was beginning to find it bothersome how iconic I looked, how clear it was I was a fallen Angelic. So I asked around in the various shops, seeing if there was something that could hide my wings and give me the look of life and not so... pale. I was directed to a shop that had a Circlet of Glimmered Alteration. The circlet had the power to disguise and alter myself! I felt so much more normal seeing that I could hide my wings completely. As I looked in the mirror, the image of how I use to look came to view. I felt my long hair and touched my darken skin. How real it looked and what comfort it gave to not feel so... unusual. I then went out and shopped for an outfit that resembled my former life. It was difficult to say the least considering a couple centuries have gone by and the styles have changed a bit since. But I did find something that felt familiar: a red shirt that I wrapped a sheep skin around secured with a belt. Then a pair tan jeans and knee high leather boots.

After gathering those things, I headed back to the Inn to wait out the day. My plan was to not create any trouble. I already was walking a thin line. I didn't know how long it'd take to hear the verdict from the Court of the Gods. Was I to be set free, imprisoned, or quite possibly receive the same fate as Cleric Rob?

As I hung out in the room, Rekka suddenly walked in.

“I am not staying in this city one more-” Rekka said in a huff, but stopped, her eyes wide with confusion when she looked at me, “Who are you!?” For a moment I had forgotten about my disguise.

“It’s me, Araja,” I said as I quickly shifted to my true form then back again to my disguise. Rekka took a moment to let what she saw sink in.

“I like your new look better.”

“Me too,” I responded with a smile. The smile was partly for scaring her for a moment, but mostly for my disguise being well received.

“Well, like I was saying, I’m getting out of here. This whole city’s crazy! No thanks to our party either,” Rekka went to gather her few items in the room that she had left behind, “You coming?” she offered.

“As much as I’d like to, considering past events here, I’m under obligation to stay. Of all we've done, of all I've done, I plan on this being something I do right. Ditching town while my verdict is still pending wouldn't be right,” I responded, my eyes longing to go with. Rekka looked at me, probably sensing my desire to get going too. “So where do you plan to go. I haven’t a clue where everyone else is at the moment. You’d be on your own if this is you parting ways,” I added.

“No, I just don’t want to be in this city anymore. I’ll head out to the encampment just outside town where our wagon is. I’ll be sure to make it ready for us to get going once you all can catch up,” Rekka replied. If there was anything I found admiring about her, it was the sheer common sense she had. She always seemed prepared and made appropriate preparations for our travels. I on the other hand had to keep reminding myself I needed to eat.

Rekka pulled something off her necklace as she got ready to leave the room. She then handed me a red gem.

“What’s this?”

“This way we can communicate one with another,” and with that Rekka was out the door of the room.

I laid down on the bed. Looking at the ceiling was quite boring, but I was most confident it was a sure way to keep me from running into trouble.

About a half an hour later, as my mind began to wander onto the possible outcome of my verdict, I clearly heard Rekka’s voice saying, “I’m going to the Nobles Court.” I was slightly confused by her change of plans, but figured she quite possible forgot to get something. Almost as soon as I had thought that I heard her voice sound again instructing me to meet her there. I let out a little sigh. Here was hoping nothing crazy came about whatever it was we were to be doing in the Nobel Court.

I found Rekka waiting for me at the entrance to the court. I don’t know how she got it or how long she was wearing it, but it became very apparent how fine her dress was. With the nobles walking about, she seemed to fit right in.

“So, I have one errand I need to run,” Rekka began to explain to me as we walked in. She seemed nervous and was avoiding my eyes, “If a commotion were to occur... I would suggest you begin to leave this court.”

I looked at her perplexed.

“Okay, seriously. What’s going on?”

Rekka stared at the ground, lips pierced. There was obviously something she was trying to avoid telling me.

“The Thieves Guild is after me. They won’t let me leave until I complete this one errand for them,” she reluctantly confessed. From how she looked, I felt she really was caught between and rock and a hard place. It seemed clear now why she was wanting to get out of town so soon. I didn’t think it smart of her to go through with this errand, but I knew I should feel somewhat relieved she even explained what was going on..

“Well,” I inhaled, “best of luck. Make it quick.” Hopefully whatever came of her errand wasn't bad. But hey, I didn't press further on it, so I forced myself to not ponder about it.

Rekka seemed... almost surprised by my response, but I couldn’t be sure for she did take off within the second I wished her luck. With the sudden solitude, I figured I’d take advantage of the nicer marketplace and look for a few more items. I was able to find bracers that made me more agile and better boots that left me move faster and jump a little higher. I also got some potions of Truth and Glibness.

After 30 minutes of shopping, I decided to duck into a tavern to get something to eat since I had the time I hadn’t heard anything from Rekka since her departure. While drinking some water, I then got an idea to go find a cup since if ever I needed to trick someone into drinking a potion of truth, it might be far more believable to do such a trick if I had a cup to pour it in.

Another half hour goes by, and I’ve acquired a simple tin cup for my purposes. I wandered a few more minutes when I heard Rekka communicate to me.

“The job’s bloody done.”

“Bloody?” I responded.

"I had to skin some rabbits. Very random, but the job’s ‘bloody’ done. I’m headed back to the Inn,” Rekka explained. I chose to head out too since she was done.

We met up with the others back at the Inn. There was a shock for a moment when everyone saw me. Rekka vouched for me, Isaac and Billy also confirming. Somehow they could see through the disguise. I still gave everyone a quick glimpse of my true form to eliminate any doubt. And the rest of that day was spent without trouble.

This morning we received 'good' news. Our party was aroused to find that we had a group of Clerics waiting to meet with us. As I came downstairs with everyone else, I could see they were less than thrilled to see us. Caleb and Garis were in the crowd. However with the lack of Paladins, there was hope that I was off the hook or perhaps they had a different matter to discuss with us. They were cordia. They knew we hadn’t been of much help since arriving in the city. The only highlight of our stay was our assistance in killing Pendral. However with the werewolf and marked situation that seemed to have been a direct result of our being there, they were struggling to get a semblance of order back. Sardik had gone missing. A thought jumped into mind as they mentioned Sardik's disappearance. He was a werewolf. If he had gone to the slums to establish order... he could very well had been ‘cured’ of his lycanthropy...

Caleb and Garis looked to me, Caleb saying I was free to go. They had bigger issues to deal with. Garis tagged on that they believed that it wasn't intentional what became of Cleric Rob, though all the Clerics there were still bothered by his death. I kept my face impassive though I could feel my face flushed with the joy of not being condemned for an unfortunate mistake. They added on that I wasn't welcomed back. That stung, but I really had no reason to want to come back to Sardik's Dukedom. Too many awful memories made.

Garis and Caleb then asked if we would get going. They didn't want us to help any more than we had. From the sounds of it, folk have been wanting to seek our help, but the Clerics were quick to shut them down. They were desperately trying to regaining order and felt our absence would make that easier. Isaac told them that we'd be out within the hour.

We met back upstairs as a party for a meeting. We discussed how we hadn’t any leverage on the werewolf problem. There might be a problem at hand with the sheer amount of werewlves, but I felt it best to go to the Dwarven Kingdom. Maybe we could gain more allies if this turned into a war. Rekka and Gideon were all for that too. Isaac however wanted to pursue Duke Lupik and deal with the werewolf problem, So did Cortanna and, well, Billy automatically sided with Isaac. Jessica remained neutral.

Isaac then took a moment to discuss with me his idea of how to go about Lupik. Instead of going to Lupik guns a blazing (whatever guns were) that we could spy and catch Lupik in the act of evil and take it to the King the evidence needed to hopefully shut him down. It was clear and concise. I felt that was a very practical idea and considering how rampant the werewolf problem was seeming to get just in Sardik’s Dukedom, it was a brilliant plan to hopefully tackle the issue without coming off as a threat.

And so it was, the scales tipped in favor of heading toward Duke Lupik. I explained what Isaac had said to me. I also added that my choice to go to the Dwarven Kingsom wasn't to avoid the situation but gain allies. Spying on Lupik and gathering evidence on him with in his city like we had with Pendral seemed like the quickest way to get the situation under control. Rekka was very much against the idea, but she grudgingly came with us. We did decide that we should swing by Podunk on the way to Lupik. I can only hope the goblins have been true to their word of being friendly.

Next Entry

Day 21: Werewolves and Marks

Previous Entry

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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