After speaking with Madam Ivanna and her employee, we went to the yard to discuss our options. I kind of wish I'd followed Kovun's lead and left before the Harrow reading. He came back of course, but I wish I'd left and stayed gone. I cannot see much good coming from a card called The Mute Hag. I am trying not to dwell on it however. We control our own destiny. Not any cards.
While we were discussing which werewolf tribes we should talk to, Carmody and Wrecker arrived carrying their fresh kill between them. They even admitted that they worked together to kill it. That just confirms to me that given the proper amount of time and attention, even finicky cats can learn to get along and work together.
Before I could question where such a large bird had come from however, we heard a scream from within the Lodge proper. We ran inside to find a giant tarantula filling the entirety of the sitting room. The spider was so large in fact, we could not enter the room ourselves. I could see the Margrav and Austovich were both down, and there were two women hiding behind a couch. I barely had time to view the situation before I was struck down as well. Fortunately it was not as bad as the others. The spider shot out its hair with just a flick of its enormous hide. The hairs stabbed in to everyone around, but unfortunately I immediately fell ill. I was saddened I did not get to attempt to influence vermin of such tremendous size. But with the amazing things we have experienced so far on this journey, I may yet have a similar opportunity in the future. As I wretched on the floor, I do admit to trying to aim for the repugnant so-called trophies to ruin them if possible.
I missed the entirety of the battle, so I know little of what happened. I do believe that Israfil dealt the killing blow. And somehow Nathan had managed to maneuver his way in to the sitting room, while Kovun had joined me in puking. I had just unsteadily regained my feet only for Israfil to thrust her sickle in to my hands. She needed to see to the wounded, while someone needed to hack up the spider's body to drag it from the Lodge. Even after Nara shrank it, the carcass was far too large to easily be removed. I was eager to contribute in some way, and I was still too unsteady to consider casting anything myself.
Israfil worked on the wounded with a combination of our poison-curing dagger and healing. One of the maids suddenly ran in dragging behind her Azra, the short woman with impressive hair we had seen earlier. Azra performed a massively complicated set of hand movements, and almost immediately I felt better. The wounded awoke as well, so it must have been some form of healing.
After dragging the carcass outside and having a conversation with Delgross, it was determined that the most likely suspect to have released the spider was Poncy. And by released, I mean that creature had actually been housed at the Lodge. Along with their other despicable hunts purely for sport, apparently the Lodge was in the habit of trapping unusual creatures purely to stalk and murder them later. If we weren't so pressed for time trying to catch up to the Whispering Way, I would've done something right then when we were shown to the holding area for the creatures under the stables. Ascanor Lodge has joined Vorstag And Grimes on my list of places to return and destroy.
I was tempted to bribe Poncy in to releasing the rest of the creatures back in to the Shudderwood. But if Poncy was as attached to rats as Delgross claimed and still felt it was okay to slaughter them for a distraction, well, trusting him to safely return the creatures to the forest was out of the question.
We found Poncy in his hut, covered in rat blood and lying his ass off. Israfil put her impressive inquisitor skills to use and soon had him admitting that his "bestest friend" had asked him to release the spider. His bestest friend happened to be the Lodge Warden, Estovion. It's horrible that he would use someone like Poncy that way, endangering lives of creatures and the lodge's guests.
Nathan had not come with us to the pens and Poncy. He had stayed behind to speak to Estovion. We could only hope he had found him so we could kick his ass. And maybe question him a little. We headed back to the Lodge with Delgross, only to find Estovion was gone. Nathan had seen him disappearing in to a doorway of light. It seemed Estovion had paused in his escape only long enough to burn his journals, which meant the proof we had found of his anti-Council views was gone. Belken admitted that Estovion had asked him to search our belongings while we were distracted. He claims he didn't take anything, but I double-checked my backpack anyway.
We received assurances from Delgross that Estovion was no longer in charge of the Lodge. But we knew we couldn't stay any longer. We needed to move if we stood any chance of catching up with the Whispering Way. The problem was we didn't know where the Stairs Of The Moon was to follow them. Diriston claimed he knew where it was, and was eager to lead us there. I'm not sure anyone believed him until Delgross confirmed they had found it on a hunt. I tried to convince Delgross to guide us, but he refused. I then tried to convince him to make us a map. But Diriston insisted he was going with us regardless. I would have felt safer with the map, even if we had to drag Diriston along with us. Azra told us she knew some of the werewolf tribes, so she could maybe get us safe passage through some parts of the woods.
We gathered our things and set off quickly. Though I regret not sparing a moment to stop in the herb garden to look for more wolfsbane. With the current state of the Shudderwood, it's better to be prepared.
I purposely rode up front with Diriston. I wanted to be able to act first if he tried to murder any werewolves we needed to talk to. I had considered traveling through the Shudderwood as a wolf myself. But I do not believe Diriston would be able to tell the difference between lycanthrophy and a druid's gifts. And knowing him, he would attempt to slay me. As if he could. Carmody might be able to take him out. But I didn't need to worry. While he managed to insult Azra, shockingly he was on his good behavior when we encountered two werewolves from the Vollensag.
They had warned us before not to enter their lands. But when Victor explained to them we had a common foe, they let us pass. Hopefully we will be able to locate their pack leader's heart before Mathius and the Whispering Way are able to complete whatever their evil plan is.
Diriston managed to lead us to the Stairs Of The Moon, so he apparently does have some skills after all. The Stairs Of The Moon is a large stone and wood tower with a building at its base. The clearing around it was overgrown but suspiciously empty. I don’t know what we'll find inside this tower, but I'm sure it will be dangerous. As we discussed our options, I called Carmody over to put on his armor. For now I'll just have to keep Wrecker away from danger and safe.
I will update again when I have a chance.
While we were discussing which werewolf tribes we should talk to, Carmody and Wrecker arrived carrying their fresh kill between them. They even admitted that they worked together to kill it. That just confirms to me that given the proper amount of time and attention, even finicky cats can learn to get along and work together.
Before I could question where such a large bird had come from however, we heard a scream from within the Lodge proper. We ran inside to find a giant tarantula filling the entirety of the sitting room. The spider was so large in fact, we could not enter the room ourselves. I could see the Margrav and Austovich were both down, and there were two women hiding behind a couch. I barely had time to view the situation before I was struck down as well. Fortunately it was not as bad as the others. The spider shot out its hair with just a flick of its enormous hide. The hairs stabbed in to everyone around, but unfortunately I immediately fell ill. I was saddened I did not get to attempt to influence vermin of such tremendous size. But with the amazing things we have experienced so far on this journey, I may yet have a similar opportunity in the future. As I wretched on the floor, I do admit to trying to aim for the repugnant so-called trophies to ruin them if possible.
I missed the entirety of the battle, so I know little of what happened. I do believe that Israfil dealt the killing blow. And somehow Nathan had managed to maneuver his way in to the sitting room, while Kovun had joined me in puking. I had just unsteadily regained my feet only for Israfil to thrust her sickle in to my hands. She needed to see to the wounded, while someone needed to hack up the spider's body to drag it from the Lodge. Even after Nara shrank it, the carcass was far too large to easily be removed. I was eager to contribute in some way, and I was still too unsteady to consider casting anything myself.
Israfil worked on the wounded with a combination of our poison-curing dagger and healing. One of the maids suddenly ran in dragging behind her Azra, the short woman with impressive hair we had seen earlier. Azra performed a massively complicated set of hand movements, and almost immediately I felt better. The wounded awoke as well, so it must have been some form of healing.
After dragging the carcass outside and having a conversation with Delgross, it was determined that the most likely suspect to have released the spider was Poncy. And by released, I mean that creature had actually been housed at the Lodge. Along with their other despicable hunts purely for sport, apparently the Lodge was in the habit of trapping unusual creatures purely to stalk and murder them later. If we weren't so pressed for time trying to catch up to the Whispering Way, I would've done something right then when we were shown to the holding area for the creatures under the stables. Ascanor Lodge has joined Vorstag And Grimes on my list of places to return and destroy.
I was tempted to bribe Poncy in to releasing the rest of the creatures back in to the Shudderwood. But if Poncy was as attached to rats as Delgross claimed and still felt it was okay to slaughter them for a distraction, well, trusting him to safely return the creatures to the forest was out of the question.
We found Poncy in his hut, covered in rat blood and lying his ass off. Israfil put her impressive inquisitor skills to use and soon had him admitting that his "bestest friend" had asked him to release the spider. His bestest friend happened to be the Lodge Warden, Estovion. It's horrible that he would use someone like Poncy that way, endangering lives of creatures and the lodge's guests.
Nathan had not come with us to the pens and Poncy. He had stayed behind to speak to Estovion. We could only hope he had found him so we could kick his ass. And maybe question him a little. We headed back to the Lodge with Delgross, only to find Estovion was gone. Nathan had seen him disappearing in to a doorway of light. It seemed Estovion had paused in his escape only long enough to burn his journals, which meant the proof we had found of his anti-Council views was gone. Belken admitted that Estovion had asked him to search our belongings while we were distracted. He claims he didn't take anything, but I double-checked my backpack anyway.
We received assurances from Delgross that Estovion was no longer in charge of the Lodge. But we knew we couldn't stay any longer. We needed to move if we stood any chance of catching up with the Whispering Way. The problem was we didn't know where the Stairs Of The Moon was to follow them. Diriston claimed he knew where it was, and was eager to lead us there. I'm not sure anyone believed him until Delgross confirmed they had found it on a hunt. I tried to convince Delgross to guide us, but he refused. I then tried to convince him to make us a map. But Diriston insisted he was going with us regardless. I would have felt safer with the map, even if we had to drag Diriston along with us. Azra told us she knew some of the werewolf tribes, so she could maybe get us safe passage through some parts of the woods.
We gathered our things and set off quickly. Though I regret not sparing a moment to stop in the herb garden to look for more wolfsbane. With the current state of the Shudderwood, it's better to be prepared.
I purposely rode up front with Diriston. I wanted to be able to act first if he tried to murder any werewolves we needed to talk to. I had considered traveling through the Shudderwood as a wolf myself. But I do not believe Diriston would be able to tell the difference between lycanthrophy and a druid's gifts. And knowing him, he would attempt to slay me. As if he could. Carmody might be able to take him out. But I didn't need to worry. While he managed to insult Azra, shockingly he was on his good behavior when we encountered two werewolves from the Vollensag.
They had warned us before not to enter their lands. But when Victor explained to them we had a common foe, they let us pass. Hopefully we will be able to locate their pack leader's heart before Mathius and the Whispering Way are able to complete whatever their evil plan is.
Diriston managed to lead us to the Stairs Of The Moon, so he apparently does have some skills after all. The Stairs Of The Moon is a large stone and wood tower with a building at its base. The clearing around it was overgrown but suspiciously empty. I don’t know what we'll find inside this tower, but I'm sure it will be dangerous. As we discussed our options, I called Carmody over to put on his armor. For now I'll just have to keep Wrecker away from danger and safe.
I will update again when I have a chance.