Part X: Wolves and the Way

We headed through the Shudderwood to the ancient temple known as the Stairs of the Moon, now the throne of the packlord of the werewolf tribes. With us was Duristan from the Lodge, who was adamant he was coming with us. When we got there, we discovered the place under siege. Mathus, the head of one of the tribes, and his allies had taken the temple. The tribes who were opposed to him were surrounding it. However, as soon as we arrived, Duristan decided to find a way through to the temple on his own, and he quickly left us, despite our protests.

As the rest of us waited, Skalif used his magic to teleport himself directly into the temple, where he encountered Mathus and his allies. With some skillful diplomacy, Skalif convinced Mathus that we were not here to cause any harm, and that we just wanted to know where the Whispering Way had gone. Mathus told us that the Way, lead by a man named Auren Vrood, had taken the packlord's heart and headed east towards a place called Feldgrau.

As we started our journey eastward, we met with the one werewolf tribe that were trying to remain neutral in the whole werewolf crisis - the Prince's Wolves. Their leader told us that some of his people had gone after the Whispering Way, hot on the trail of the Demon Wolf Tribe, who had gone after them to retrieve the packlord's heart. He also gave us tokens to show to his tribe that we were friendly.

It took us six days to reach Feldgrau. When we arrived, we saw that the village was in complete ruin. Most of the houses had been burnt down, and there were no locals to be found.

While exploring, we encountered Duristan. He told us that he and some friends had decided to follow the Demon Wolves here and they were eager for all of us to meet up. So, we set off through the village, trying to avoid the patrols of Whispering Way cultists that were patrolling the ruins.

We found the members of the Prince's Wolves who had come here. And they told us that we were walking into a trap. When Duristan had disappeared from us, he had been captured by the Demon Wolves and infected with lycanthropy. He was now one of them, and he was leading us to our doom. However, before we had a chance to confront him, Duristan changed into a werewolf, so the Prince's Wolves leapt on him and tore him to pieces.

The wolves told us of a ghost that had been seen in the ruins of the inn. We went to see it, and found the spirit of the inn keeper. He told us of the tragic history of Feldgrau: - 20 years ago, an army had stopped in town on the way to a battle elsewhere, and the inn keeper had given them a place to stay. And then, during the night, the army burnt down the village and massacred everyone. The ghost said that the Whispering Way were now raising the dead villagers as a skeletal army.

They had to be stopped.

So, myself, Skalif, and a werewolf teleported into the building that Auren Vrood was using as his headquarters, while the others took on the undead army amassing in the square.

Vrood was not an easy opponent. In fact, his first act was to cast a spell that killed both the werewolf and Skalif! I was on my own against him! Fortunately, the clerics and paladins were quick to destroy the army, and rushed in to help me.

With Auren Vrood dead and the undead army destroyed, the remaining cultists fled. Fortunately, we found a scroll of Raise Dead, and Bazak the priest was able to bring Skalif back to us. But the packlord's heart  couldn't be found. The ghost of the inn keeper then stepped in to help us by retrieving the memories from Vrood's body. We saw that the heart, along with the Seasage Effigy stolen from Lepidstadt University, and the spirit of Warden Hawkin from Harrowstone Prison had been given to a pair of dark riders who had ridden south to the town of Thrushmoor.


So, we headed south, on the trail of the dark riders...