Part IX: Ascanor Lodge

Hot on the trail of the Whispering Way, we headed into the Shudderwood towards Ascanor Lodge.

A bit of background for you. The Shudderwood is known for its werewolf tribes. They keep to themselves mainly, never interfering with life outside the wood's borders.
Ascanor Lodge is a hunting lodge for the rich and powerful, situated within the Shudderwood.

When we finally arrived at the Lodge, we were refused entry. The halfling doorman said that our passes that we had been given were not recognised, and so he blankly refused to let us in.
As we were arguing with him, a group of people barged past us. One was a gruff looking ranger. The other was a nobleman with a group of lackeys carrying his belongings. The nobleman stared at us in awe when he realised we were adventurers, and begged us to accompany him on a hunt. He introduced himself as Duristan, of one of the wealthy families from Ardeal. He was out hunting werewolves, and had a lead on where one might be.

We followed a trail to a clearing where we discovered a dead stag. We also discovered a pair of dire boars who were guarding the kill.
Once the boars were dealt with, we realised it was getting dark, so Duristan decided to set up camp. The ranger said he wasn't staying and headed back to the Lodge.
Once the camp was set up, Duristan wanted to hear stories of our exploits as adventurers. But as we were talking, the night was pierced with the sound of a scream.
Hurrying to the sound, we found that Duristan's lackeys were all dead. Standing over their bodies was a large, grey-furred werewolf.  It told us that we should stay out of werewolf affairs, and that if we continued to side with Mathus, we would end up dead. It then bounded off through the woods.

Who was Mathus?

Returning to the camp, we spent the night, then returned to the Lodge with Duristan.
The halfling doorman was waiting for us, and he apologised about not letting us in. he said that our invites were indeed valid, but he had not recognised them. He also said that the Lodge's overseer would like to meet us.

The interior of Ascanor Lodge was finely decorated, as befitting a hunting lodge for the upper class. We were shown upstairs and into a library, where we were met by the Lodge's overseer - Estovion Lozarov. He also apologised for us not being let in, and said that the Lodge and all of its facilities were at our disposal.

Once we had settled in, we set about finding out about whether the Whispering Way had been here. Most of the other guests knew nothing about them. One guest, though, a woman known as Madame Ivanja, knew something, but wasn't telling. Skalif turned on the charm, and soon he was in Ivanja's good books. We found out that the Whispering Way had indeed been here, though not for very long. They had asked Estovion to arrange a meeting between them and the man called Mathus. The meeting went on for about an hour in secret, and then they left.

Mathus again. We needed to find out who he was.

Using the Lodge's libraries, we found what we were looking for. Mathus was the leader of one of the five werewolf tribes that inhabit the Shudderwood. A ruthless leader, unliked by the other tribes, and one that wanted to be packlord  (the one who ruled over all of the tribes).

The current packlord of the werewolves had been killed by the Whispering Way and her heart had been stolen. Normally, when the packlord is killed, the person who takes her place eats her heart. But with the heart stolen, war had broken out among the tribes over who would be the next packlord.

The information also told of an ancient temple of Desna, known as the Stairs of the Moon, that was now the highthrone of the packlords, and the gathering place for all of the werewolf tribes. And also where the Whispering Way had stolen the packlord's heart.

It was time for us to venture deep into werewolf territory and discover what was going on...