Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild
Date	8/22/23
Storyteller	Slayzo
Tier	Expert
Player Characters	Aleth, Illiam, Fen, Grist, Kit, Absinthe, Clam
Rewards	240 gold, 275 xp
Result	Partial Success
Author	Aleth
Downtime	5

Log

The expedition was prepared to resolve an issue with animal attacks. The victims were hunters and furriers. I found what appeared to be bear tracks, but the bear walked on two legs. We soon determined we were tracking a werebear. This seemed strange, as they are not generally known to prey on hunters. After three hours of tracking, we noted the pursued and pursuer both picked up their pace.

When we found them, we discovered a confused group of werecreatures, including both captive woodsmen and proselytizers. We heard about "the father of all werecreatures", described in the manner of a grandiose cult leader who promises a way to survive all calamities, through forced conversion into werecreatures.

Diplomacy failed to secure the release of the captives. After a sprawling melee, where Clam defeated a weretiger and the rest of the group a werebear, two wererats, werebats, and wereboars - without killing any of them - we convinced them to relinquish custody of the hunters, and discussed the possibility of opening diplomatic relations with the powerful creature who leads the lycanthropy cult.

Fen and Grist were cursed by bites and ran away in the night. We were unable to stop them from escaping, but tracked them down to where they collapsed from exhaustion by morning. We also recovered the remains of a merchant caravan that was destroyed on the road nearby, finding weapon runes and other valuables there.

The cult leader seems to have the ability to magically eliminate any misgivings new cult members may have about joining the cult, which suggests they may be difficult to convince the value of giving Onadbyr residents a choice, even if missionaries are sent. We arranged for the battle site to be used as a neutral meeting place for future diplomacy.