Game #2: Wolf Boners

While escaping from the terrible Chaos Cult on the boat, we noticed a road called the Kingsway. We secured the boat to the shore and planned to go back after the thaw, but it was a long, harsh winter and we all had survival foremost on our minds. Soon after the village shook off its blanket of snow and began to think of spring, our original group found itself in the tavern with an eager audience of villagers. After listening to tales of our exploits last winter, some of them want to join in our adventuring. What fools.

It is raining when we leave, and the boat we secured months ago has drifted from its mooring. I finally spy it far out in the water. The others and I begin devising a plan to swim out and regain it, but the stupid peasants that followed us begin to make a fuss. A pack of jackals has emerged to harry the group, and I stand back to see if any of them make an accounting for themselves. Some of the others help out of some misguided sense of honor. Two of the villagers show some promise, so I step in and dispatch one of the jackals.

While our attention was distracted, the boat has drifted further out. We chase after it like sun-struck dogs to head it off, but it becomes clear the boat is lost for good. Since the road is nearby, we decide to follow it and see what fortune lies that way.

Soon it grows misty and cold, with bleak mountains visible in the distance. Screams and vague, shuffling forms appear before us in the fog. There is a mob driving a bound woman before them. She is unwilling and angry, pausing to glare at particular ones in the group, so it would seem she knows them. There are several rough knights on horseback guiding the group, each wrapped in a wolfskin so that the maw rests on their forehead. I hear Varg! murmuring to one side. One knight answers our hail and explains they are taking the woman Valatress to be a sacrifice to the Hound. The others begin to talk amongst themselves, but I slip in among the mob, curious to see where they are headed and if any mischief can be had. Ancient stones loom ahead, similar to the ones around the Chaos Cult's temple. The townspeople take no notice of me, as they have worked themselves up into a frenzy of fear and bloodlust.

One of the knights, a leader of some sort who calls himself Jarl, begins some speech about how their sacrifices keep their village safe. I consider throwing a stone to shut his large mouth. Varg! interrupts, seeming upset at this blasphemy, and Jarl tells him he is welcome to take the girl's place as tonight's sacrifice. Maybe Varg! has some worth.

The townspeople quickly disperse, and the others free Valatress from her bonds. She advises us to return to the safety of the town and her father's inn. She claims the Hound mutilates but does not eat its prey, and that before they began surrendering one of their own every three days, it stalked the town itself and had no end to its appetite. The leader Jarl has an augur who advocated the sacrifices, and it did seem to keep the beast from entering the town. The overly loud thief Paug persuades most of the others to join Valatress, and they leave for the Sign of the Wolf-Spear Inn, so named for its replica of a local weapon of great renown.

Varg!, Kain Cakecrumbs and two of the villagers by the name of Slim and Takeshi join me in waiting for the Hound instead of seeking the false comfort of walls. We build a fire and patrol the clearing, peering into the growing dark. A deep growl sounds in the distance, and I draw closer to the fire to give my companions courage.

A great beast slinks from the shadows and sets upon Takeshi, killing him. It is no wolf, but a strange beast with scales and an unnervingly intelligent glare. It shook its victim as if to shock us, playing with his body as a cat does with live prey. Then battle was upon us.

I do not remember all the details. These are lost to firelight and shadow, but I believe Kain was the first to wound it. Black ichor flowed over his blade instead of blood, and the Hound screamed in pain. Slim showed true courage in the face of such horror, and Varg!, strangely submissive, threw himself in front of the man to deflect a blow that surely would have killed the villager. When Kain struck again, the sinister beast faded into a cloud of smoke and disappeared. But it is mortal, and I am heartened by the thought of returning to end its unnatural hold on these weak-willed townspeople.

We gathered ourselves and headed off to find the town. The watch actually thought to bar our entry at first. The nerve! Our companions were at the inn, already cheerful with drink and warbling some nonsensical song. There was another howl, loud enough to penetrate the thick walls, and the others seemed to eye the cold bars at the window and take comfort. Having watched the Hound tear the villager into pieces and almost seem to laugh as it did so, I have less faith in the inn's stout door.

People from the town begin to trickle in to distract themselves with drink and food. Have they no sense of shame? Would they have left the innkeeper's daughter to die and expect him to serve them the same? Varg! seems to share my mood and we take a seat in the corner, away from these callous idiots.