The druids headed by Centari were bringing Vega North East along the Larch Path, headed into the mountains.
Their destination? The Plateaus of the Sumber Hills. Where they would dispense justice to Vega the wereboar.
Vega was chained up in the back of the wagon that was being pulled by “people”. There were two strong looking men, but there was something off about them. Their eyes were flat, dead and expressionless.
The servant that had been with Centari at the trial was none other than Velvet- a friend of Vega's. She snuck glances, trying to catch his eye.
Vega, stuck by himself, knowing what was to come reflected on what a good run he had had as a member of the adventuring party. The cart came to a stop after a bit. Centari directs the men to start clearing a 40x40 area.
Velvet looked around, nervous. She looked at Centari, keeping tabs on her before looking over her shoulder.
Once the area was clear, Centari busied herself with drawing something in the dirt.
The rest of the party, having regrouped after the trial traveled quickly in hopes of catching up to them. As they pushed on, they saw a light coming from up ahead. It was too steady to be fire...magic!
Vega was taken from the cart, picked up and placed in the center of the circle by the dead eyed men. The circle was intricate with swirls and symbols. Centari stood there, looking down at him. There was no pity in her eyes.
“Alright so, the amount of effort that it would take to bring you all the way back isn't worth it. I'll be handling your sentence myself. Here and now.”
The glow intensified as plant like walls weaved their way upwards guided by the outside of the circle, 20ft tall. White flowers grew on it. Vega recognized it as Monkshood, wolfsbane. It was used to keep a lycanthrope at bay.
As the party rushed closer,a deer jumped out into their path and turned into Velvet. “You need to hurry. Centari's going to kill him.”
“Show me the monster inside of you!” Another column of light struck the top of the plant enclosure. A snarl erupted from Vega as the radiant damage forced him to change into the wereboar. He snarled, attacking her.
“Hmph” Centari held him in place, using Moonbeam to tear into him.
The party ran. Once in range, Menelwen carved a chunk out of the wall with fireball. Noticing that the cavalry had arrived to save him, Centari hit Vega with Blight. The necrotic energy rippled over his skin, tearing at it.
Theamen followed suit, fireballing underneath the first to create an entrance.
Henry moved forward,hid and shot one of the guys. The guards saw him, charged and transformed into elephants. They trampled Henry.
Lily looked back and forth between the fighters.
She cast Heroism on Thok.
Vega broke out of the hold.
Thok attacked the elephant. Menelwen attacked the elephant that was on Henry with a fireball; sculpting around him.
Centari in a moment of desperation caused storm clouds to form over them. A bolt of lightning struck Vega, in the shape of a bear.
Henry was down from the trampling. Theamen rushed to him,sliding under the elephant's tusks.
Lily circled back to Thok, inspiring him.
In front of Vega was a brown bear. He went into a frenzy, attacking it.
Thok, thanks to Lily's inspiration struck and downed one of the elephants. Much like when Vega had transformed into an animal, he anticipated this one to turn back into a person as well. It didn't, but he didn't notice yet.
Menelwen covered Theamen's rush to Henry with a fireball. Theamen reached him, giving him five points of health with Lay on Hands before throwing Henry away from the elephant. He drew his sword.
Henry took a knee, regaining himself from being thrown.
Vega faced the Brown Bear in his frenzy. With the damage he'd taken so far, he was no longer able to maintain his wereboar form. Centari attacked, missing both times.
Henry managed to shoot at the bear. Centari saw it, snapping the arrow in half. Vega, still in a frenzy attacked at her. The lightning storm that had been raging over the arena vanished.
Thok cut in, dealing non-lethal damage to Centari. He had respect for her, having only been enacting what she considered to be justice. Centari went unconscious. He action surged, back handing Vega to knock him out as well. He turned back to see that the elephant still hadn't gone human, revealing that the elephants had been turned into people, not the other way around as they had expected.
“Don't kill it!”
Menelwen, Theamen, and Henry all held their attack as they saw the remaining elephant's demeanor shift. It moved to its fallen companion, mourning the loss.
They left Centari unconscious but stable, and dragged Vega away. Menelwen and Henry gathered some of the monkshood in case they should need it in the future.
With the battle complete and the party reunited, they made a plan to check out the fire cult since it seemed like they were a circle of druids. Maybe someone there wouldn't be a complete ass and would be able to help cure the lycanthropy problem.
They traveled, covering their tracks as best as they could. The party continued for a couple hours until exhaustion caught up to them.
Thok dropped Vega unceremoniously onto the ground as he came to.
“Why...?” He asked. As in why not just kill him.
“Not done with you yet,” Thok bit out.
At that moment, Vega didn't know whether to fear Thok or Centari more.
Vega, in an act of good faith healed Henry and gave both him and Theamen darkvision for their upcoming watches. Watches were set for everyone except Vega.
Towards the end of Henry's watch, he noticed a bird circling overhead. A hunting bird. It circled and then headed east.
Upon waking, the group heads for Scarlet Moon Hall. It was an encampment built in a mountainous area, scattered slopes and plateaus allowed for campsites to be set up. A light smoke obscured the area.
Henry snuck ahead, scouting the area. It appeared to be populated by hippie like druids. He informed the party about what he saw.
“What's a hippy?”
“Vega is not one.” Theamen pointed out.
“Between the violence, and indulging in flesh...”
“And sex with animals!” Henry added.
After much confusion and clarification about Velvet, they approached the hippie druids Henry had seen. They were relaxing and welcomed the party to sit and have a drink. All except Henry and Lily for the drink since they were a little young.
The druids told the party that they had been there for a couple days having heard about the Wicker Giant and Elizar Dryflaggon.
Menelwen asked what they knew about lycanthropes. “Well you want silver or magic to kill one dead-” they told her.
“No no, to cure it.”
“Oh that? You want Remove Curse or Greater Restoration.”
Relief flooded her. “Oh good. Do you have either of those?”
“Nope.” They did however have a couple other scrolls for sale. The party ended up hanging out with them. Menelwen especially took advantage of the downtime to copy some spells over into her book.
Lily played some music, showing off her true skills as a bard. Henry blushed furiously, unable to know just what to do with himself. He went off to find Theamen.
Theamen was training with Thok. It was very much watching an oak tree versus a willow in how they moved. Henry asked if he could have some magic practice when they finished. Thok shrugged, going off to keep an eye on Vega.
Henry confessed that it didn't feel like he was getting a handle on the magic.
“You are not given magic.” Theamen told him. “You earn it. You cannot steal it, you need to work at it Magic takes patience. Magic takes study. Magic takes time. Let's study together.”
They trained together for a while. “...I'm not as good at it as you or Menelwen.”
“Menny has grace and precision with fire, my focus was on the blade and expanding my magic through it.”
“But...what if I hit my limit and not able to do enough?”
“We rely on those we hold dear to fill in those gaps. It's not about your limitations, but rather what you bring to the table.”
“...I...the trial, I tried and failed to convince the court.”
“You tried. And I thank you for that.”
Henry, overwhelmed ran up and hugged him. “Now now, what would Lily say...?”
“Oh! Speaking of her...can....I ask your advice about girls? Lily was playing and she sounded really pretty...and is really pretty...what do I do?”
“Give her flowers. Tell her it was beautiful. Tell her that its as beautiful as she is.”
He ruffled his hair. Henry ran off to find flowers before they returned to camp.
~
Vega meandered up the path to see the Wicker Giant. Thok followed,
keeping within charging distance of him.About halfway up the slope...
“ Hey you.”
“Yes?”
“Get over here. Have a seat.” Two large gruff looking men sat by a fire. A hunk of meat was cooking over the fire. A hunk of meat that was identified as ribs of moose.
“Alright.” Vega walked over and sat.
“What brings you here brother?”
“I was curious about the rite...you?”
They said that they were eager for the rite themselves. It would fix the land for hunting. It came to his realization that these two were lycanthropes. Ones who had embraced their gifts.They were dangerous, aggressive...and believed that Vega was a fellow hunter like them.
They asked about Vega's hunting ground.
He tried to send them to the Underdark. No go. They weren't that desperate for elf flesh, as delicious as it was. “I'll see what I can find out.”
“You do that. We'll be here. You're always welcome here.” Vega excused himself, regrouping with Thok.
“So who are your new friends?” As they walked back to the camp, they heard a different instrument being played. Theamen was playing, armor off and leaning back. The tune was jovial.
Menelwen got to enjoy his music when she finished copying spells over.
Vega and Thok suggested the group take a walk away from their new druid friends in order to speak. Vega filled them in about the lycanthropes on the hill.
Theamen suggested weaponizing them to help wipe out the cults. “It would be evil killing evil.”
A good pragmatic idea, but he sounded like his father. The same father that was willing to put his son to death only days before.
Henry pulled Menelwen aside, expressing concern about this darkness that seemed to be consuming Theamen more and more. Something that worried her as well.
They pull Theamen in for a word between the three of them. It ended with her taking the locket off, casting light and folding it into Theamen's hand. “Remember...my light doesn't stretch as far...but don't give in to the darkness more than it can shine.”
Thok on the other hand thought it was brilliant.
“Thank you for suggesting it. We'll keep it in mind.”
“...I feel cruel.”
She squeezed his hand.
Next...the would make camp and explore more about Scarlet Moon Hall and the supposed ritual...
~To be Continued...~
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