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WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)

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Doctor Catriona Wicker

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WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« on: June 11, 2018, 02:38:03 PM »
There had been quite the melee in the forest, some distance from Sunderwood proper.  Corpses of werebeast and behir alike littered the wooded area.  Injuries among the survivors were grave, but short of fatal save for one of the stranger’s kin.  No one knew in entirety what circumstances brought all these strange creatures and strangers together in this area.  Was this supposed Mythal to blame?  Creatures such as behirs do not typically gather outside of small hamlets…

Westra and Wolfe were interrogating the lycanthrope girl who just lost her monstrous bear (boo hoo) and there was the strange ninja at their flank who turned out to be a friendly.  Euron, Doctor Wicker and the one known as Lokien, spent a while away in a place to properly deal with the body of his son. 

This hasty funerary activity caused them to miss the interrogation, almost entirely.  Better than to leave the body out for animals to spoil it.  This Lokien fellow seemed to have his grief in check, able to focus on justice of the matter in the moment.  Some could look into the harsh realities of life on the frontier and not let tragedies consume them.  Such grit would be useful in the trials ahead should the man stick with the Watch.

It looked like Wolfe and Westra had come to some kind of understanding with this Lyla. Whatever it was though, was lost on Doctor Wicker. 

“Um… What are we supposed to .. um… do with her? “ she asked; still one who knows to fear creepy children.  Were they really going to keep her in the town?  What about the supposed cave? 

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Westra Goldbrook

Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2018, 07:41:00 PM »
Westra pushes up to her feet after she'd been kneeling to speak to the child. She shook her head at the Doctor's question, a grave expression on her face.

"That is not yet clear, I'm afraid." She looks back to Lyla. "Have you always had the ability to change your shape?" she asked. "Or is that something that only began since you were taken from your father's house?" But regardless of the answer, Westra's next question was for Wolfe.

"Is there any hope of removing her curse?"

Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2018, 08:55:33 PM »
The girl looked up quizzically and paused for a beat as she attempted to recall. "One night, in the cage I was sleeping with Tibbers. He kept me warm. And then my tummy felt sick and then my whole body started to feel like Daddy had hit me a whole bunch. Then I was all hairy and hungry and MAD! I wanted to bite everyone. It was like that at first, but then I started to be able to control it and it only hurts for a little bit." She continued to struggle against her bonds as Westra asked Wolfe a question. She brought her bound hands up to her mouth and chewed on the hemp.

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Wolfe

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2018, 06:05:13 PM »
Wolfe had not weighed in much in Lyla's interrogation; mostly to find what he could about his daughter and her connections with the strange mad scientist. He wasn't certain really what to do with Lyla, and the stranger, Lokien, had legitimate problems with lycanthropes from his explanation. It was something Wolfe empathized with and also didn't want to cloud the situation when he found Sera.

The fact that Lokien had advocated to spare Lyla was surprising, but welcome. It showed the man wasn't consumed by anger despite the loss of his son.

Lyla's explanation drew a shake of Wolfe's head.
"If she's a natural lycanthrope, no. Nothing outside of an archmage turning her into something else. Normally they transform at puberty and she's a little young, so it's possible she was infected and didn't know it.

Hard to tell for certain though.

It's possible to live with it. To live a normal life and just.. heh.. get scarce when the full moon hits. But she'd need training and discipline to help her do it, and from the sounds she's not likely to get it here."

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Doctor Catriona Wicker

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2018, 10:56:13 AM »
This was yet another precarious set of circumstances hampering their assumed course of action.  It seemed that any plan of action they came up with always had a wrench thrown into it right at the outset.  She was never a strong believer in luck, but this crew’s penchant to be blindsided by derailment was quickly becoming legendary.

“It doesn’t sound wise to ..um.. keep her in town.  I mean, if she has bad history in there.”  Doctor Wicker pushed her spectacles up on her nose.  “There are other children to consider and I didn’t see any adequate detention facility within village limits.”

“And bringing her along sounds like a liability.. She was  just loitering in a house with ambulatory undead. Not um .. model behavior...”  Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked skyward briefly in thought.  Particularly about the full moon matter Wolfe mentioned.  Did that matter much when it looked like this creepy child could transform whenever she wanted to?

“What else can we do? Just let her go with a stern warning?  Doesn’t that put others at risk?” 

"Every hour we uh..waste.. you know... the dragon's effect...loses efficacy."


She never thought she would have this feeling… but she has more than had her fill of lycanthropes at this point.

*

Westra Goldbrook

Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2018, 11:36:37 AM »
"But if she was a natural lycanthrope, would she be able to change her shape at will?" Westra asked, eyes narrowed thoughtfully at Wolfe. She looked to the girl again. "You said you can control your shape, yes?" She folded her arms while considering it. "Perhaps if she is not naturally this way and this is something that has been done to her, it can be undone. Child, do you know how to find this Dari? Do you recall anything at all about where you've seen him?" But Lyla had commenced chewing on her bindings by then, and Westra made a face.

"Stop that. Be still for a moment while we try to figure out how to help you. You would have happily watched you pet bear devour us all; we are not about to let you scamper off until we've determined you're not going to hurt anyone."

Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2018, 12:29:51 PM »
Lyla's green eyes watched the paladin, but said nothing in response to her questions. She continued to chew on the bindings, but a moment later her maw began the lengthen again. The snout protruded further as her mouth widened and teeth grew larger. The black, course hair sprouted from the her fair smooth skin and covered her body yet again hiding her nakedness.

She paused only for a moment when Westra scolded her. "You're not my mom!" Then she returned to her chewing.

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Wolfe

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2018, 12:56:55 PM »
The Samurai's mind was full when Cat spoke of the various problems and issues that the child presented. She was right in that an unmanaged werewolf living in a small town would be a death sentence. The questions posed were reflections for his own questions about Sera. Could the beast within be controlled? Could there be a cure found that had, thus far, not been discovered? Could Sera, and by extension Lyla, have a hope for a life?

Was sending her north to the tribe of brutal barbarians her only hope for a continued survival that did not come at the expense of risking innocents?

These questions all swirled around in his head as he grimly looked over the area. Some things didn't make sense still. The girl, if she were naturally a Lycanthrope, shouldn't have turned until she was older. And there was the bear to consider. Was her teddy-bear turned into a Werebear, or had she just attached herself to a facsimile of her stuffed toy?

Too many questions and not enough answers; like everything so far this venture north.

He walked over and grabbed Lyla by the back of the neck as she began to change. He hoisted her up and looked her dead in the eye.
"Stop that shit right now." His order was clear as day, it didn't need an added threat atop it.

"Euron." He called the priest while he held the tiny-Werewolfette still in mid air. "You got any of more of those curse removal spells? See if it works on her?"


Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2018, 01:12:46 PM »
Euron had been silent since lighting the pyre. The image of the dead child stuck with him. A promising life cut so short, so soon, was a gut-punch to the Life Cleric and Euron knew that he'd carry that image with him for awhile yet. Helm watched for everyone, but some people weren't destined to reach the mountaintop, as it were. A child had died while the monsters that terrorized the people of Sunderwood, and other monsters, kept right on living. Anger roiled though the Life Cleric as he processed the senseless tragedy. Death was a natural part of life, but Euron had trouble accepting the loss of innocent lives while the guilty went unpunished.

The Watch would change that.

The others questioned the little girl, Lyla, about her lycanthropy. Euron weighed the options. Taking her along was asking to be stabbed in the back at a later time. Returning her to Sunderwood was placing a death sentence on that sleepy little hamlet. Wolfe called to him, asking him to determine fi she was cursed. The Priest stepped forward, unclasping the Watcher's Eye from around his neck as he moved toward Lyla.

"Remain still, young lady." Euron said, holding out the Eye as he spoke the prayer that he'd used previously to cleanse Westra of the curse when it had infected her.

"In the name of the Watcher, I abjure you." Euron said, touching the artifact to Lyla's forehead as he repeated the phrase in Celestial.

Euron will caste Remove Curse, removing a 3rd Level Spell slot.

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Levinath

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2018, 01:32:12 PM »
She gave Wolfe a growl as he hoisted her into the air, her teeth dropping the bonds on her hands and snapping towards his face. "I'll eat you! I hate you! Let me goooooo!" She jerked two and fro with such violence a normal man would have been thrown to the ground with the small child. Only through Wolfe's sheer strength was he able to maintain his footing as the power within her bestial form displayed for the group to see. The child's demeanor did not change as Euron approached, she struggled violently, requiring Wolfe to wrap his arms around her and hold her against his chest as Euron cast his spell.

She continued to bite and snap at both men as the spell finished. Moments passed without a change, the black hair along her body still standing on end, stabbing into the half-orc's arms. After nearly a minute, Lyla seemed to calm and grow silent for a beat before she let out a blood curdling scream. The black fur on her body rippled, her strong muscled convulsed and again nearly threw Wolfe to the ground. The piercing, shrill call emitted from the child's mouth would haunt the group's memories. The black slowly began to recede as she shook violently, foam and spittle began erupting from her throat.

Several horrid moments later, Wolfe held the limp body of Lyla, though not as the group has known her in her human form. Her once raven hair was a shining silver, almost glowing even in the mid-day sun and her skin, once a shade of light khaki, was pale as milk. Though unconscious, her breathing was a raged and quick paced as she hung limply.

*

Doctor Catriona Wicker

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  • For Lantan.
Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2018, 01:57:26 PM »
The creeper child gnawing on her bindings just did not strike the Doctor as someone who would be able to be properly controlled in any environment.  The only thing that crossed her mind as a possible solution was somehow getting her under the care of those unpleasant lycanthropes from some days earlier.  That, however, would be a tremendous detour from matters.

Lips pressed into a line as she watched the Captain try to reason matters out, only aggravating the captive.  Catriona took a single step back as the shapeshifter began to show signs of transformation, even as Wolfe meant to coerce her into more amicable behavior.  To the doctor, this was becoming more and more untenable by the moment.

Her wide eyed gaze drew over to the priest, who moved in upon request with solemn command and purpose.   He had removed more curses than anyone she’d ever met, and it went without saying that he had prevented quite a few new lycanthropes from coming into existence on his own.

The odd workings of the divine magic caused Catriona to step back one.. no, two more times.  The spectacle had her quietly utter one of her Lantanese colloquialisms.  “Thunderation…”

Hands went up to cup her own ears as the cacophonic sounds flooded the forest.  It was disturbing, to say the least, and it was not the typical response one gave when cured by Euron, causing it to be more peculiar.

“I...I hope I am not stating the obvious too much but...umm.. that did not appear normal.”

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Westra Goldbrook

Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2018, 02:07:32 PM »
Westra watched Euron work, frowning as she silently and fervently prayed to see the aggravating little beast slip back into a human shape after the Cleric's work. Despite her hopes, she wasn't terribly surprised to see no such transformation happen. The Watch's journey seemed destined to be a complex and confounding one, and the child being thusly cured would have been, in short, entirely too easy. She watched for nearly a full minute, and then sighed in resignation.

"I'm afraid--" she started to say, looking to Wolfe with a grim expression while the half-orc worked to keep the beast contained. But just then the creature shrieked with such a terrible noise that Westra startled and reached for her weapon, taking a step back at the same time. The look of offense on her face receded slowly as she watched the thing foam at the mouth, pass out, and transform into something else entirely. Only once it seemed to be out cold did she slowly relax again, though her frown lingered.

"What in the name of the gods is it?" she asked aloud. "What manner of creature can shift at will through multiple forms like this?"

*

Doctor Catriona Wicker

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2018, 11:54:07 AM »
“Maybe some ..umm.. manner of fae?” That was her best guess, but it was obviously not a confident one… then again, confidence was rarely displayed by the doctor.  The Captain’s question caused her to think back to the impersonating creature that pretended to be Raithe.  Changelings, dopplegangers… they were still a far cry from being able to  turninto a creature with the power of a werewolf.  Or reacting so soundly from the priest's abjuration.

“I think we have to consider that it hasn’t been telling us the truth about any number of things.  All the information we have from it.. might be suspect..”
« Last Edit: June 14, 2018, 12:11:38 PM by Doctor Catriona Wicker »

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Wolfe

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Re: WereBear Necessities (Post S36/Open)
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2018, 02:05:20 PM »

Wolfe had held fast while he struggled against the strength of the child werewolf. Even as she writhed and howled and unleashed a scream he would remember until the end of his days, he remained firmly rooted to his task. As Lyla went limp and transformed back into the shape of a little girl, he too noticed her transformation into the a fairer-skinned and lighter haired young woman. Slowly he set the girl down as he reached for the blanket that was in his bag; usually reserved for his bedroll. Wrapping it around the small child, he hoisted her back up into his arms and turned to regard the others.

"We don't know anything yet. All we have is questions and no answers. The spell worked; it stopped her from transforming. Maybe there was more to what was done to her than just turning her into a Werewolf.

We need to get back into town and speak to her father, get some more information from the people in the village. I think it's time we start asking a lot more people about what's going on. Sunderwood may have more to the heart of this than we first thought."


Turning to look at the Priest of Helm, the Samurai gave a slow nod.
"Thanks, Euron. Hopefully we gave her some peace at the moment."

 

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