Stirrings in the North

[Stormfollower]

Dreigh followed close behind her, shaken by the death of the bard he remained silent.

As they opened the door to Fishes bar the scene was horrific. The bard was not the only one who had succumbed to whatever beast had raged through here. On the floor in front of the bar two men lay sprawled in a mangled heap, huge bites and claw marks their obvious cause of death. Beside them a dwaven body lay headless on one side in a pool of blood its iron toed boots had been knocked from its feet in the carnage. The trail continued around behind the bar and into the back rooms. There, signs of a struggle were abundant. The furnishings lay strewn about and everywhere where spray marks of blood. The bard had suffered repeated savage swipes if all theses marks came from him. A bloodstained note lay crumpled on the floor near the smashed out shutters of the back window.

Behind them the guards could be heard to enter the scene.

"Well, well, well, Trumpy and his boys!"" One of the guards spoke after a protracted silence.

"Yes captain it would seam whatever beast did this had a taste for scum" said another nervously.

"Lets not make any hasty decisions about our killer Beren. That man in the courtyard may be innocent. Let`s just remain objective about this. Clear the scene." The group of guards could be heard to move towards the back rooms where Jetamio and Dreigh stood.



Dreigh looked at Jetamio for guidance here, it was clear he was confused and afraid and though he did his best to hide it, his eyes betrayed the turmoil of his thoughts.

[Gilliadson]

Sineliniel and Fluffy followed Jetamio and Dreigh to Fishes Bar. The Elementalist saw the note and discretely picked it up and began to read it. Not long after their arrival on the scene, Myrikel and Ralnu arrived. Fluffy stood guard with his weapons ready should anyone or anything be foolish enough to attack his summoner or her friends.

[Stormfollower]

The note was wet with blood and a huge hand print all but bespoke the name of the human who had penned it. The runes were clearly barbarian and Sineliniel read it aloud as follows,
" White E'ci what have I done? It is clear the Lycanthropy has taken full hold. I can no longer control the beast within. This is horrible. This is not who I am. There is no choice for me now. Tell my brother I am sorry, tell everyone. I was wrong, clearly I have no mastery over it any longer. It is best I go far away that I never be seen again. Tell Jetamio I love her, goodbye to my children, my family, my home. The Ancients will know how to deal with me.
Stormfollower"

[Gilliadson]

Tears streamed down Sineliniel's cheeks and fell onto the parchement as she read the note. The Elementalist tearfully looked into Jetamio's eyes as she handed the note to the elder Druidess.

"This cannot be!" Sineliniel shook her head. "If what is written on this note is true then we must find him and a cure. Surely there must be one somewhere."

Myrikel looked out the window, pushing her awareness to its limits feeling for the Shaman's lovebond to his wife. She felt it briefly just as it faded beyond her range.

"He went straight that way." Said the young Lady Knight as she pointed out the window in the direction she last felt the bond. "But he is now too far for me to feel his bond to you Lady Jetamio." The young Knight bowed her head sorrowfully.

[Jetamio]

Jetamio read the note twice, then crumpled it up in her hand and let her fire engulf it before letting it fall to the ground in ash.

"Lies..." she hissed. She had spent almost every moment of the last few weeks with him and he had not had any struggle at all. And she knew fine well that her husband was no killer. "He did not write this."

She stepped over the blood and shattered glass and looked out in the direction that Myrikel had pointed. She closed her eyes, and raised her face to the sky as though scenting something. Her oaken skin shimmered as black fur grew in at supernatural speed, her face elongating into a canine snout. She dropped to all fours as the transformation completed itself, leaving a huge black wolf in place of the druidess. Golden eyes glowed as she hunched herself up and leapt out of the broken window, following the scent of her husband.

[Gilliadson]

Sineliniel pulled out a potion, drank it quickly an pulled a small ring out of her pouch.

"Myrikel, go wake your Father and tell him what transpired. I will summon him and our horses to me when you have completed that task and he has them with him." Sineliniel put the ring on and jumped through the broken window with Fluffy following close behind. The Mage slowly drifted toward the ground and ran at a speed that matched the elder Druidess in her wolf form. As she ran, Sineliniel pulled some trinkets out of her pouch to prepare for battle if need be.

Myrikel watched as her mother disappeared from sight before heading to the boat where her father was.

Gilliadson was just recovering from the effects of the Elven Wine he had consumed when his daughter burst into the cabin.

"Father! Quickly fetch your mounts and prepare to join Mother! She has gone with Lady Jetamio after Master Stormfollower!" Myrikel quickly related the events to her father as she had seen them. "I wish to come as well!" she said after her tale.

Gilliadson thought for a moment before replying.

"You have not received your Holy Steed yet my dear and your mount is not fast enough. It would only slow us down. Mother's is almost as fast as mine but still faster than Lady Jetamio can run even in her wolf form. Go home and get one of the faster horses. I will have your mother summon you to us when we have caught up with Stormfollower. Whether the note is true or not, your gift may be needed." Gilliadson quickly put on his armor, hung his blade around his waist and left the vessel.

Once the horses were ready, the knight pulled a small orb out of a pouch.

"I am ready, Leofa!"

Sineliniel heard her husband's voice come from the orb in her pouch and stopped long enough to cast the spell to summon him to her side. The Elemenalist quickly mounted her steed and nudged her into a full run after Jetamio.
Gilliadson nudged his Holy Steed to keep pace with his wife's mount.

Slowly the couple gained on the black wolf until they were running right behind her.

[Stormfollower]

The trail led the two women around the dockyard of Qeynos. Jetamio noticed by her heightened wolf senses that Stormfollower was indeed in his werewolf form, but the intermingling scents of the city made things quite difficult and were confusing to her. It seamed at the intersection in front of the Lions Mane Inn that his trail had crossed itself as if he had doubled back for some reason. They came to the pond that lay between Fireprides Armor shop and the Qeynos Hold. The scent had intermingled with the pond water here so was almost entirely lost but it was certain Stormfollower had gone into the water at this point. Made more distinct by the lack of other humans swimming in public waterways was the scent of another. Stormfollower was not alone. Much to Jetamios surprise their son Remis was with him she was certain and she now understood that she had been following his scent as much as his fathers to this place even from as far back as the room in which the chase had began.

[Gilliadson]

As they paused at the pond, Gilliadson spoke up at last.

"What is it, Jetamio? What do you sense?"

[Jetamio]

((Will answer soon, am real busy at the moment! lol))

[Stormfollower]

((No worries Jet, take your time. The Easter bunny only comes once a year. lol))

[Jetamio]

She cocked her head at this new but familiar scent, wondering what her youngest son could possibly be doing here. And where was Radha, from whom he was rarely apart from?

She sniffed round the entire pool as though looking for more clues, then again darted off in the direction the scent took her.

[Stormfollower]

Thier scent came to the ponds edge and mingled with the water. It ended there. No other traces led away from the pool. Stormfollower and Remis must have found an underwater egress to this pool or else were still hidden beneath the surface.

[Stormfollower]

Eventually they came out from beneath the waters at the harbors outflow grate,(see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=68&p=1939#p1939 ) silently they swam up to Stormfollowers boat, Goblin Queen and climbed aboard. Setting up his father at the tiller Remis untied the dock lines and climbed aboard. The vessel slipped away very quietly on the newly returned southern breezes.

[Jetamio]

Frustrated when she found she had simply come full circle back to the pond, she growled then let her natural form assume itself.
She looked into the water as though trying to see its depths, then turned to her companions. "Find Radha and bring her with you when you come to find me." She did not care who went to find her youngest daughter, but she felt she would need her link with her brother later. Then it occured to her that they had never met the youngest of her children. "She is a Paladin, looks like me but Human." With that she dove into the cold waters, deeper and deeper til she found a tunnel. She swam down it, following it until she suddenly found herself landing with a splash into the sea. Kicking to the surface she looked around until she saw a familiar vessel. But the Goblin Queen was sailing away without her!

Throwing her head to the sky, she let loose an eagles cry, a perfect imitaion of the real thing. At once an invisible force lifted her from the water, stopping when she was levitating a couple of feet above the water. With a feral gleam in her golden eyes, she took off after the vessel, running at high speed on thin air.

[Gilliadson]

Sineliniel pulled a small orb out of her pouch and threw it to Jetamio before she dove into the pond.

"Take this with you so I can find you when we have found your daughter."

Sineliniel cast her call spell and Myrikel appeared by her side.

"Daughter we will need your divine gift and perhaps some help from your patron's messenger to find the Jetamio's youngest daughter, Radha."

"I am feeling the lovebonds of Lady Jetamio as you speak, Mother. She has a few but I think I know which one goes to Radha. I hope I can bind it to myself before Lady Jetamio moves out of range."

The young paladin meditated for a few minutes...

"I have it! This is a new ability that I have only recently discovered how to use. I can feel Radha's love for her mother as if it were for me and it will lead me to where she is."

The young paladin led the couple through the city streets to the Temple of Life. Myrikel found the young Lady Paladin in the temple having a conversation with the High Priestess.

"Excuse me, M'Lady and Your Eminence." Myrikel started at a break in the conversation. "Greetings Radha, I am Myrikel Shadowbane and I was sent my your mother, Jetamio, to find you and bring you to her. My parents await us below to escort us. They can tell you more of what is going on."