Monster Party
Book two: Wolves will eat your skin, if you let them in!
Chapter three: Through the chill of winter, running across the frozen lake, hunters are out on his trail, all the odds are against him.
Thanks to the precautions that they'd taken, the group managed to get through the night without freezing to death. It was not the most impressive of achievements that a group of adventurers could possibly boast about, but it was certainly something compared to the alternative.
The sun itself was hazy and weak, but at least it's presence was easy enough to mark their relative position. So long as it still rose in the east and sunk in the west the group could be certain of which way was which.
It turned out that a town named Torgov to the north west was the one closest form of civilization to the last date marked on the mysterious Igor's journal, so they headed out. Hopefully the town's physical location would be roughly equivalent to where the map depicted it, or else the group might end up wandering the frosty forest until they bumped up against the supposedly impassable mountains; which the map suggested completely encircled the land in every possible direction.
They made relatively good time through the snow, though in part this was because none of them were weighed down by any sort of heavy armor. This probably would have left its wearer buried knee deep in the snow with every step they took; assuming they didn't freeze to death inside of it first.
As they traveled throughout the day, however, the howling of wolves was their constant companion; echoing through the woods so that what direction it came form was near impossible to tell.
Its distance was another matter entirely.
"Crap, even I could tell that they're getting close now..." Cal muttered after listening to a howl that he swore actually shook some snow free from a tree branch.
"Boss, you and Florence really know your stuff when it comes to wildlife. Are we dealing with real natural wolves, the kind that by now must have learned the effort expended to gained meat ratios for attacking a bunch of heavily armed demi-humans makes it a decidedly bad idea, or are we dealing with storybook 'my what big teeth you have grandma' wolves? You know, the kind that seem to exist just to attack people even though it doesn't make any sense in the grand scheme of things?" The alchemist desperately wanted to know, and greatly feared that he knew the answer.
Just to be certain, however, he took a moment to fire off Phoenix sending a bullet soaring off into the sky aimed at nothing in particular, but still pointed in the direction the group had come so he would have nothing to fear from it when it eventually came back down.
The sound of his firearm discharging was answered by another loud wolf howl.
"Storybook wolves." Alexander growled.
"You're probably wasting ammo though Cal. Wherever here is, I suspect the wolves haven't heard firearms frequently enough to make them wary of the sound. Not that it matters. Something evil is out there, and its driving the wolves towards us." He reflected as his single green eye began to flicker around their surroundings, looking for a good place for them to make a stand.
Given the generally wild and unfavorable terrain the best he could locate was an open clearing where at least it would be possible for them to see the wolves coming rather than letting the beasts sneak upon them.
No sooner had they taken up position in the middle of it, then suddenly a great black wolf was there at the edge of the woods; watching them through yellow eyes which burned with both hunger and hate. It took a long moment to size them up, and then it turned and abruptly vanished back into the woods just as it pack mates began to dash forwards to attack!
BLAM!
Cal had quickly reloaded after his warning shot and been saving his next round; he wasn't sure what sort of creature the black wolf was, or how effective standard lead bullets might be against it. So instead he waited or a chance to thin the beasts' numbers.
Sure enough his round took one wolf in the leg, deflected off of the bone, and ricocheted up into its body proper. The wolf plunged to the snow ground, clearly no longer a threat to any of them.
That only left the other fifteen of the beasts which seemed to be converging on the group from every direction.
Refusing to let herself be hunted Mirri Catwarrior raced forward to meet the beasts. She had her eyes on three of them that had circled around from the back of the group, and if wolf blood couldn't fill her stomach…well some of life's pleasures had nothing at all to do with keeping your belly full.
As always Mirri's motions remained fluid and graceful to the point that even running full out her feet barely broke the snow's surface.
The first wolf died when she delivered a spinning kick that caved in its skull. The second met its demise as it leaped for Mirri whose gloves suddenly faded away as her hands became jagged talons with which she rent a gaping wound in the animal's throat.
The third however managed to pounce on her back force her to her to the ground. Its own claws dug deep gashes in Mirri's flesh and she screamed in pain and shock; amazed that something as mundane as a wolf could actually hurt her.
Her body promptly began to grow wispy as she allowed herself to dissipate into white mist which floated up into the air and beyond the range of the wolf's claws. The wolf craned its neck upwards to follow as if contemplating leaping after her to try and take a bite out of the mist when suddenly there was a brief stab of pain in its side.
"You hurt Mirri! I normally don't eat other carnivores, but congratulations you just became an exception." Growled James Firecat, who had already buried a pair of his daggers in the wolf's flanks.
The lupine beast answered with a growl of its own and sprang at the adventurer. James leaned back and his body began to change even more swiftly than Mirri's had. A frame that had once been wiry began to bulge with newly grown muscle as crimson fur sprouted across James' body. Clothing was 'sucked in' to his body as his feet spread out into wide not quite paws while his fingernails began to sharpen into not quite claws.
He leap through the air at the wolf... more or less. The beast snapped its jaws at James, but ended up biting only empty air as the newly transformed werecat sailed over its head. Then James took advantage of the fact that though their two forms were of comparable size, his hybrid werecat form allowed him a much greater range of movement.
To pick an example, not particularly at random, the ability to reach out with his arms and grab hold of the wolf's neck as he sailed past. He dragged the beast with him down into the snow forcing it to look away from him as he opened a mouth now full of razor sharp fangs. James' teeth tore at the wolf's throat while he pummeled it with his legs until all traces of life had been driven from its body.
On the other side of the battle, Devi was forced to defend Cal from the wolves while he desperately tried to reload. Deciding to make use of her collection of mystical artifacts rather than her flail, she raised up her hands and lightning bolts flew from her fingertips.
Another of the wolves was struck down by the energy blasts and toppled into the snow. At the same time a trio of the beasts that were dashing forward were opposed by Alexander Diamondclaw and his two handed blade.
"Why am I such a beast?" The silver haired man whispered to himself as the wolves approached.
His sword cut through the chill air with deadly speed. The white snow was soon dyed red with the blood of a pair of wolves, who had both been cleaved like carcasses in an abattoir, Wolf Claw slicing through their flesh with mystical ease.
"Because I will abide none beastlier... none to live who are beastlier than me." Alexander growled to the corpses.
Despite his skill one of the wolves had still managed to slip past him, and it jumped on Cal and bore the alchemist to the ground, just in time to a newly reloaded Phoenix shoved up against its jaw.
"Down Fido!" Cal gasped as he yanked the trigger.
BLAM!
One more wolf carcass dropped to the snow, and a howl seemingly born more of anger than sorrow went up.
Those wolves who still standing began to fall back to the forests they had sprung from; vanishing as quickly as they had come. Mirri drifted back down to the ground and reformed, her clothing had already pulled itself back together over the gashes in her chest, but from her hunched over posture the wounds themselves would take a little longer to sort out.
James Firecat for his part, was suddenly finding his appetite quite diminished as he gazed down at what had become of his dead foe.
"Bastet's Tail Tuft..." He muttered to himself in horror.
"I take back everything I said..." He gasped and then spat, coughed, and half wretched.
Eight beasts had been slain, but there were only seven wolf carcasses to be found.
Instead, at James' feet now lay body of a dead man, naked except for a slightly torn wolf pelt wrapped haphazardly about himself.
"That's why he could hurt me." Mirri realized in shock.
"Where there's one there's going to be more. They're pack hunters, just like us." Alexander warned them as he began to scan the nearby forests clearly expecting to be attacked again at any moment.
Cal began to pry the wolf pelt off of the dead man as gently as he could manage.
"What do you think Boss? Some kind of magical wolf skin? Maybe anybody who wears it turns into one?" He asked, but before waiting for an answer abruptly tossed the pelt across his own shoulders.
His legs buckled, his eyes closed, and a loud howl left the alchemist's lips.
Then his blue eyes flew wide open as Alexander dealt him a firm elbow to his still completely human stomach.
The pelt fell from Cal's shoulders and landed in an unkempt bundle upon the ground.
"You don't even believe that, otherwise you wouldn't have tried to put it on. The magic isn't in the wolf pelt, or at least it's not completely in the wolf pelt..." Alexander Diamondclaw rumbled grimly.
As he spoke Alexander carefully stuck Wolf Claw's non edged side beneath the pelt and lifted it back up from the ground.
"I've never seen this before... but I've heard stories." The silver haired man spoke with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Are they long stories? If so, we might want to start walking. There's no sign of that town yet, and if those wolves attack us again we'll waste even more time holding them off." Devi pointed out, coldly logical as ever.
"As good idea as any..." Alexander admitted as one black glove grabbed hold of the pelt, and the other slid Wolf Claw back into its sheath.
XXX XXX XXX
"I was certain, certain that they were only stories." Alexander began seemingly quite unnerved, though he had none the less draped the bloody wolf pelt across his own shoulders.
"There are all kinds of monsters in the world, that's what my father would tell me. All kinds of monsters, some of them look human, some of them once were human.
Monsters that would steal a child from its cribs and replace it with one of their own, monsters that hate love and live to destroy beauty, monsters that can take the form of something as seemingly harmless as a tree, no offense Florence.
One of the ways that a man could make a monster of himself would be if a hunter would personally slay a wolf, and it had to be done in just the right way. Not with a bow, not with a sword, not with a mace, not with a spear, but with a dagger, one human claw to equal the wolf's many natural ones.
Then, you draw a circle in the dirt with the wolf's blood. Kneel in the center of the circle, skin the wolf and wear its hide as your only garment. You must then feast upon the slain wolf's organs, just as it would have eaten of your flesh should it have slain you.
If you do those things then, well then my boy, you will a make a wolf of yourself!
I always thought that it was just another of his tales, a fanciful way to explain werewolves, because the very first werewolf, the one who wasn't bitten, who wasn't sired by other werewolves had to come from somewhere. In this place... wherever it is... it actually works!
Not only does it work... but people are so desperate that they'd do it! They'd make monsters of themselves!" Alexander gasped.
James coughed rather loudly at this point.
The group's sole red haired member vastly preferred to have lycanthropes considered simply a "morphologically variable" branch of demi-humanity rather than "monsters" for fairly obvious reasons.
"I'm sorry, but this isn't like infected lycanthropes who were normal people who came down with a disease that can make them dangerous to others, like an extra advanced form of white mouth. It isn't like natural lycanthropes either, they're people who are born with a special ability.
You all have heard the tales of sorcerers who can fling around balls of fire before their own balls drop, or end up bringing their own deceased pets back to life as zombies before they even know what 'death' really is.
Natural lycanthropes are no different, other than typically having a vastly more predictable pedigree of course, they're still just people born with powers that others don't have. They may choose to use that power for evil, but men born with strong arms may use them to become brigands.
This though, these are people who were born normal human beings. No longer able to bear the burden of humanity. My father was full of tales about monsters, but the worst ones... they were always the ones who were born as perfectly ordinary people and wanted to become monsters.
No creature can be more evil by nature than one that sets out to do as much evil as possible on purpose."
The group's leader snarled, his own silver hair pricking up in anticipation.
With that 'happy' thought on their minds the group kept trekking on through the snow, and they somehow made it the rest of the day without any further wolf attacks.
XXX XXX XXX
As the group moved ever onwards the night began to close in around them. Along with being almost unnaturally cold, it also became ominously still and quiet.
The forest was flooded with silver moon light, and the only sign of human civilization in sight was a dim orange glow, the light of a single campfire. Alexander didn't even need to give any order, they all agreed without words to move in the direction of that campfire.
Eventually they found a clearing and a campfire crackling before a small lean-to made from pine boughs. A dark haired young man sat before the fire warming a cup of steaming tea. The fellow was wearing buckskin, with a great parka of fur hanging over his shoulders.
He had a sturdy bow and a large battle axe lay close to hand, while he roasted a pair of rabbits on a spit over the fire. He seemed to catch sight of them about the same time as they finally managed to get a good look at his face.
"Well, what do we have here? You're welcome enough to share my fire strangers. It's not like your presence will make the wood burn faster or the flames any less warm for me." The man greeted them.
Cal was only too happy to rush forward and secure a spot for himself close to the fire in question and hold his glove hands out to warm them up as much as possible. The others were did likewise, though with less obvious relish than the alchemist.
As they did so, the man's blue eyes fell upon Alexander. He studied the green eyed man for a very long time before speaking.
"So tell me, what does a Loup De Nuit need with a campfire?" He asked his fingers starting to edge towards his axe.
Alexander gazed at him in confusion for a moment, before recalling the addition he'd made recently to his outfit. He promptly tore the wolf pelt from his shoulders without a second thought.
"Wolf of the night? I guess that must be what you call them. Heh, as good a name as any. I suppose our fathers must have raised us both upon same stories. Either way, I would imagine that one would have no need of a campfire, they'd have fur thick enough to keep out the cold.
I'm as humans as you are though." Alexander promised the man and kicked at the pelt, sliding it across the ground until it came to a rest close to the burning fire.
A few orange specks fled from the burning logs and found a new home upon its gray fur.
"It was my mother who told me the stories." The dark haired man corrected as he watched the pelt start to smolder.
"Either way, I guess you're right. They say each pelt is specially made for each Loup De Nuit, and they can only have one at a time.
That or the one you're burning is a fake and you have your real one hidden elsewhere." The man suggested sounding as if didn't especially believe his own words.
"Search me." Alexander offered holding out his empty hands to the man.
"If you manage to find another wolf pelt on me I'll be as surprised as you are. I was only carrying that one because I didn't believe in something as simple as a sword to destroy such evil magic. No, purification by flames that was what it needed." Sure enough as Alexander spoke the few flickering embers were growing ever brighter and more numerous as they danced about the wolf pelt.
"A good thing for me, you have the look about you of companions who hold no secrets from one another. If one you were a monster, then so must be all the others, and that'd leave me in the sorry state of being the only one voting for rabbit when it came to ask what was for dinner. My name is Micheal Zolnik, what would yours be?" Mikhail introduced himself.
"Alexander Diamondclaw." Alexander answered.
Both men clearly finding the other's title strange upon the tongue took a moment to consider before continuing the conversation.
"I suppose it's a shame that we don't have a Loup Du Nuit with us, two rabbits aren't much of a meal for one man, sharing them among seven different people will require some clever planning. I don't suppose you have much you food of your own to share?" Mikhail sounded good natured enough about sharing what little he had, like a man who had never known plenty in his entire life.
"James, go see if you can't find something to eat, something big enough for us to share." Alexander instructed his red haired companion.
Almost instantly James' left hand rose to his brow in salute, and he stood up shaking a few fresh flakes of snow from his outfit.
"If it's all the same to you, Sir, I'll go with him. Best to travel in pairs after all. Besides, you know how I like to watch my Kitten hunt." Mirri pointed out rising as well.
Alexander acknowledged her comments with a simple nod though Mikhail watched their departure with a bit more skepticism.
"Well, I'll wish them luck, but the forests haven't exactly be in a giving mood today. On nights like tonight I wonder if ever the wolves don't have trouble keeping fed." Mikhail reflected whimsically.
"Winter sucks, it's the same everywhere. By the way, what part of winter are we in exactly? How long is it until spring?" Cal wanted to know; worried that the group might have to make themselves at home in this frosty domain for quite a while, and hoping that things got at least marginally more hospitable as days grew longer.
"Spring?" Mikhail shook his head of dark hair slowly, the look in his eyes suggesting that he didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry.
"In Vorostokov 'spring' is as much a legend as the Loup Du Nuit . Well my mother claimed that she once knew 'spring', 'summer', and 'fall' while tales of Loup Du Nuit normally end up dealing with a friend of a passing acquaintance of someone's fifth cousin thrice removed, but in all my life there has been not one day of spring." He informed them in the voice of a man who suffering had made old before his time.
Cal scooted even closer to the fire as if contemplating tossing himself into its flames so great was his desire for warmth.
"You mean it's like this all day long, day after day, month after month, year after year?" He paused for a moment and suddenly threw back his head letting loose with hollow laughter. "Oh I get it! It's what they'd call a feeshka in Kartakass, a 'little lie' you're making fun of me because I'm new! Ha-ha it is to laugh..." He muttered in irritation.
Then he saw the look in Mikhail's eyes and knew that it was no jest. To that look he could respond with only one single word. "F**k!"
End chapter three.
AN: When Alex talks about "White Mouth" he's actually referencing the disease we know today as rabies. A disease known for being passed by animal bites, and ends up causing increased aggression in those who come down with it, so the comparison to lycanthropy isn't completely uncalled for...
As of this chapter I'm officially calling it, having read the Van Richten's Arsenal (Vol 1 though there's also only one volume out at the moment) James has taken the "Smitten" feat targeting Mirri.
For those wondering "Smitten" works like this.
Smitten [General]
You are truly and deeply in love, in the purest storybook sense. Your love is not necessarily requited, but acts as a source of strength and purpose, for you would cross oceans and move mountains to protect your beloved.
Benefit: Select a humanoid creature, or any creature that at least appears humanoid. That individual is your beloved. When your beloved is within your line of sight you receive a +1 moral bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. If your beloved is threatened by physical or magical harm, including mental attacks or control this bonus rises to +2. If your beloved is reduced to 0 hit points or below in your presence you must make a Horror save (DC 20). If your beloved dies or is revealed to be a supernatural creature (such as a lycanthrope or vampire), you must make a Madness save (DC 20)
Special: You cannot take this feat more than once, even if your beloved dies. This feat has no benefit after your beloved dies, and cannot be replaced with another feat.
The only addition I'd make is that in James and Mirri's case the bit about being revealed as a supernatural creature doesn't count since he knew she was a vampire when he took the feat and was cool with it, (the fact that he's not exactly a normal human either probably helped).
Also some of you may notice a contradiction between Alex's "No creature can be more evil by nature than one that sets out to do as much evil as possible on purpose." and what James had to say on the subject of no one setting out to do/be evil in the last book. This is intentional/reflects each characters own view of how they see the world rather than trying to clearly state is that one is right and the other is wrong.
Oh yes the name of the monsters involved in this story has been changed slightly for reasons I will explain later.
