Adventure Summaries Sessions 9 to 16

The adventurers are warned that Ereworn, the next village along the coastal road to Nalber, is cursed and they won't be able to buy any good food or drink there. Theresa and Jack stock up on food supplies and wine, just in case they're being told the truth.

The adventurers arrive at Ereworn, which is clearly run down, with fields untended, houses open to the elements, three bodies hanging from a gibbet, and the church burned to the ground. The village priest, Father Eldron, recognises Zeno as a Pilgrim Guard, and asks for their help in forcing Ned the Hob to lift his curse on the village. The village was already suffering from Baron Darien's decision to expand the baronial forest ten years ago, leaving none of the woodlands for the villagers and hanging anyone caught in what's now called Gallows Wood, but since Ned cursed the village two years ago, food and drink always spoil, few babies are born and those who are have deformities, and people die untimely deaths in accidents.

The adventurers stay the village inn, The Horned Satyr, which is run by the young widow Clothilde following her husband's untimely death when he tripped and fell from the single step at the front of the inn last year. The soup is unpalatable, and turns into water when covertly purified by Theresa's magic, so Theresa takes over Clothilde's kitchen and cooks for everyone using the supplies she purchased the previous day.

When they go to bed, the linen is mildewy. Theresa uses her magic to clean her bed linen, but the mildew slowly returns as she watches. Theresa fetches Zeno, who is embarrassed to see her wearing only a shift, and asks him to pray to the True God to bless her bed and clean her bed linen. Zeno awkwardly starts to explain that isn't what blessing a bed usually does, and goes away crushed when Theresa sadly responds, "It's okay if your faith in your god isn't strong enough, my magic isn't either". Zeno responds by spending the night outside in vigil, keeping watch for Ned.

Clothilde wakes shortly before dawn and greets Zeno when she goes outside to the well to draw water for the inn. Theresa is horrified to discover that her remaining food supplies have become mouldy, including her spices and her salt, and starts using her magic to purify everything.

Ned kidnaps Clothilde at the well, pushing her inside a barrow and rolling it away toward Gallows Woods. Zeno heads off in pursuit, and is overtaken by Amaryllos, who catches up with the barrel inside the woods. Ned pops his head out of the barrel, tells Amaryllos that Clothilde will be returned safely if they leave Ereworn, then ducks back inside. Amaryllos tries to hit the barrel with this staff to free Clothilde, and discovers it is an illusion covering a large poisonous puff ball that scatters with his swing, stinging his arms and face where it touches his skin.

Zeno catches up with Amaryllos, followed by Jack, then Hermione and Luxian, and finally Theresa, who made sure to finish purifying her food supplies before heading off. Hermione leads the others in following the trail left by Ned's barrel further into the woods. They meet a leper named Fabian, who calls his disease a punishment from god for his sinful youth as an apprentice to the sorcerer Eddas who lived in the now-ruined tower they can see further east in the woods. Theresa and Zeno persuade Fabian to let Zeno heal his disease, which in turn convinces Fabian that he has been forgiven by the True God for his youthful misdemeanours. In gratitude, Fabian tells Theresa about the location of the skull of Master Eddas, which could talk and share his arcane knowledge with his journeymen following his death and was still in the crypt of his tower when it was destroyed around thirty years ago by a mighty storm.

Fabian sings joyfully on his way back towards the village of Ereworn, drawing the attention of two winged bird-women, who charm him (and Jack) with their own magic song. The adventurers kill one of the bird-women, who flies away in a rage, shrieking in the language of birds that they have killed her sister-lover and she will have her revenge. A chastened and sober Fabian is sent once again on his way back to the village, while the adventurers continue on into Gallows Wood.

Hermione finds that the tracks of the rolling barrel disappear shortly before the woodland trail splits, one branch (which has a different set of boot prints in the muddy ground) heading north and the other heading south. The adventurers take the trail southwards, which leads them to the edge of the woodlands and the river. They find a young man and a wolf, both asleep under a weeping willow tree, and through trial and error determine that the shadows of the tree send people to sleep. The adventurers use a rope to drag out the young man and wake him up. They have breakfast with Garth, who warns them to watch out for the baron's knights, as they often hunt in the woods and can execute people on sight for trespassing.

After breakfast, Theresa insists on rescuing and waking up the wolf so Zeno can talk with it. The wolf is aggressive and bites Theresa before it is struck down and killed by Amaryllos. Theresa is wrathful, and her fey presence makes the fur on Amaryllos' body stand on edge and sends Garth fleeing in a panic. While discussing what to do next, a hunting horn announces the arrival of two knights with a pack of hunting dogs. The adventurers improvise an incoherent story for Sir Quintal and Sir Lugrin, who are lured by Theresa's charms into spreading out a blanket for a picnic under the weeping willow tree. With Zeno's assistance, the knight's hunting dogs and horses are sent under the tree as well, and join their masters in enchanted sleep while Theresa laughs with delight.

The adventurers leaves the knights and their animals sleeping under the tree and continue east, towards the ruined tower. As they walk, the adventurers discuss what they intend to do when they finish Federigo's quest, and Hermione summons her dragon friend, Fierce.

The forest trail leads them into a thick thorn forest, where they are attacked by some of the thorny trees. After driving away their attackers, the adventurers cautiously continue through the thorn forest, eventually making their way out and back into the deciduous trees of the rest of Gallows Wood.

As they near the ruined tower, the forest trail leads them to a rickety bridge across a bubbling quagmire. Theresa uses her arcane arts to step through the mist to the other side, and with her assistance the others tie a rope between trees that they can hold onto when crossing the bridge. Hermione, Jack and Luxian cross the bridge without difficulty, but it collapses under Zeno's weight, depositing him in the quagmire. Amaryllos attempts to run across on the rope, but slips and falls headlong into the quagmire. Theresa uses her magic to clean and dry both men while Fierce uses his fiery bite to sever the far end of the rope, allowing Jack to recover most of its length.

The adventurers continue on to the ruined tower, which seems to be all that remains of a small castle. Jack is attacked by a grotesque statue that comes to life when he walks past it towards the arched entrance that once held the door to the tower. After destroying the statue, the adventurers explore the shell of the ruined tower, finding a flagstone with a rusted circular metal ring. Beneath the flagstone are steps leading down to a dripping subterranean crypt with skeletal remains on ledges and in niches, and knee-high water over the floor. One of the ledges contains only a fire-blackened human skull with the imprint of a cloven hoof on its forehead.

Recognising the skull from Fabian's description as the Skull of Master Eddas, Theresa takes off her expensive dress and wades through the water towards the ledge. As she draws near, skeletal hands grab her ankles and drag her under the water, and other skeletons rise up from their ledges and from under the water to defend their crypt. The skeletons attack the others as they come to Theresa's aid, but are all destroyed in the ensuing battle. Theresa awakens the Skull of Master Eddas, which can fly and speak as she hoped. Master Eddas refuses to teach Theresa his arcane secrets unless she leaves the service of her current master and swears to be his apprentice, but is willing to leave the crypt in her backpack.

Theresa recovers her trampled dress from the stairs and cleans it with her magic before starting to dry herself off. Above ground in the ruined tower, Hermione and Jack hear the sounds of something tramping past outside. Hermione stays to guard Luxian, so Jack goes by himself to investigate, finding a series of large right boot-prints crossing from one side of the clearing to the other, as if a Mercanian had hopped past while they were all in the ruined tower. Jack returns while Theresa is still dressing and tells the others of the footprints. When she inspects them, Hermione finds traces of a matching set of human-sized left foot-prints running parallel to the large right boot-prints. The adventurers settle down for lunch, and Fierce farewells Hermione before disappearing.

After lunch, the adventurers decide to follow the boot-prints into the forest instead of continuing along the forest trail, which seems to lead towards the hill the bird-woman flew towards earlier that morning. In time, they find an old one-legged man with a large boot on his crutch, singing and eating berries and nuts as he sits on a fallen log. The old man is deranged, and talks about how he creates a barrier against the darkness to the east by walking through the woods. When questioned, the source of the darkness is the Moaning Monastery, an abandoned monastery inhabited by ghosts on an island in the river. The old man offers to lead the adventurers to his treasure horde, and with some misgivings the adventurers accept his offer. The old man leads them through the woods in a large circle, returning to the fallen log where they met him, and taking handfuls of acorns and nuts out of a hollow bole in a nearby tree.

The adventurers leave the madman and discuss where to go next. In the hope of finding a lead, they decide to search around the central point of the circuitous route he led them on, and are rewarded for their efforts when Hermione finds traces of Ned and Clothild passing through the woods, including scraps of cloth from her dress and apron. As they follow their tracks eastwards through the woods, the adventurers realise they are being followed a bestial forester. The man attacks them with his axe, hacking at Jack's legs and growling "Timber!", but is eventually overpowered and beaten down by the adventurers. Knutt is forced to explain that he attacked them because they're in the woods and breaking the Baron's law. The adventurers debate whether to let Knutt live or kill him, and Zeno settles the matter by confiscating his axe and sending him on his way.

After a brief rest, the adventurers resume following Ned and Clothilde's tracks eastwards, then northwards away from a forest trail. Deciding there must be a reason Ned didn't take the forest trail, the adventurers continue to follow the tracks to a different forest trail, which he did take. The forest trail continues northward until it opens onto a wide dirt road, edged with stones, that runs north-northwest towards the Baron's castle in the Lurium Ranges and south-southeast back towards the river, and beyond to the Glaive. Hermione finds Ned's bootprints near a muddy puddle going southwards along the road, so the adventurers set out on that direction.

As they follow the road, a brown bear watches from the side of the road. The adventurers give the bear a wide berth, but call out to the animal in case it's the Baron's missing brother. The bear transforms into a woman, who introduces herself as Niamh and asks Amaryllos who he is, as she's never seen his like before. Amaryllos explains that he's a kattar, and tells Niamh about his former teacher, who taught him herb-lore and the language of birds but wasn't able to teach him how to transform into animals. Niamh places her hand on Amaryllos' forehead while she tells him to focus on the birds talking nearby, and uses her natural magic to transform Amaryllos into a raven. Amaryllos doesn't know how to fly, so he walks on the ground over to the others and perches on Luxian's arm.

Niamh is well-informed about Gallows Wood, telling the adventurers that the Baron's brother and his family are dead and buried in mounds to the west, and that Ned lives in a well on the far side of the river. Niamh also warns them to avoid the Baron's knights if they don't want to be tied to the gallows and left for the dead to eat like the man further down the road. The adventurers bid her farewell and hurry along the road until find a monk hanging from one of three gallows from a rope tied around his back while human-shaped things lurk in the woods off the road, waiting for night to fall. Zeno goes to cut the monk down, and gives Theresa an incredulous look when she calls out that he doesn't have to kill the man. Bretwald is grateful for the rescue and pleased his prayers have been answered, as he was tied up yesterday by three knights in the Baron's service after stepping off the road to pass water. Bretwald explains that he received a vision of a holy chalice, and is searching for the ruins of Lathiule Monastery, which must be upstream somewhere in Gallows Wood. The undead creatures in the woods circled him throughout the night, but could not approach while he prayed, which he's been doing all night and all day.

The adventurers find more of Ned's muddy footprints on a forest trail leading east, and set off in that direction, accompanied by Bretwald. The undead creatures follow them, staying in the lengthening shadows. As they walk, Amaryllos grows fatigued from the effort of retaining the form of a raven, and changes back to his usual form. While debating whether to attack the creatures now or be followed for the last couple of hours of the day and be attacked after dusk, the adventurers emerge from the forest on the banks of the river, where a handsome man who stinks of perfume is sitting on a rowing boat that's moored in the reeds. Tomas the Wayfarer explains that he found the boat on the other side of the river, and rowed past the island in the middle of the river to this side. He offers to row them across to the other side, and is willing to row them to the island when asked by Theresa.

While the others are suspicious, Theresa is happy to step into his boat, but Zeno snatches her out of the boat before Tomas can row away with her when his divine sense warns him that Tomas' head is an arcane creature while his body is an animated corpse. Jack skewers Tomas' body to no effect, but Hermione kills his head with a well-placed arrow to the eye, and his headless body stumbles around the rowing boat until it falls out into the river.

The adventurers and Bretwald take the rowing boat to the island, leaving the other undead creatures behind on the western shore of the river. They quickly search the ruins and find the holy chalice, still sitting on the altar in the remains of the chapel, just as Bretwald saw in his vision. Bretwald is delighted to have fulfilled his quest, and at her request fills Theresa's waterskin with a cupful of holy water from the chalice.

The adventurers and Bretwald row to a landing stage on the eastern shore of the river, where they make short work of a pack of half a dozen wolves that attack them. Amaryllos transforms into a wolf during the battle, but does not stay in that form for very long before changing back. They find more scraps of Clothilde's clothes along the forest trail to the east, seemingly left deliberately by Clothild to mark their passage. In the gathering gloom of dusk, the forest trail leads them to a dank clearing, where Ned's heavy footprints lead up to the edge of an ancient well.

The adventurers inspect the well, which appears to have run dry. The wooden crossbar is still intact, ivy clings to the walls, and the bottom of the well is now an earth floor. They lower Amaryllos down a rope, and he discovers that the bottom of the well is a thin layer of earth over deep, viscous mud. Amaryllos searches the sides of the well, and finds a moss-covered stone that swings inwards, revealing the passage into Ned's underground lair. The adventurers leave Grund with Bretwald above ground and climb down the well. Inside Ned's lair they find a collection of ruined and derelict items stolen from abandoned houses at the village, and Clotilde tied to a tree root. Jack rushes to Clotilde's side to rescue her, and seems surprisingly considerate and attentive even though he isn't in love with her.

Clotilde warns the adventurers that Ned slipped into one of the crawlways in the earthen walls of his lair, and they are not caught unawares when he slips into the room, splitting their group in two. Ned assails the adventurers with his fell magics, and stabs at them with his icicle, but is quickly outmatched. Forced to lift his curse on the village, which he placed at the behest of the Baron to drive away the villagers still clinging to their homes after eight years of being banned from the forest, Ned limps back into the crawlways to lick his wounds.

The adventurers return to the well with Clotilde, and are winched one after the other to safety by Grund. Night has fallen, so they return to the riverbank to camp for the night under the open sky. Spectral figures flit about the island in the middle of the river, clustered on the bank facing their camp, but unable to cross the slow-flowing water.

Over breakfast, the adventurers talk with Clotilde about her kidnapping, and how best to get back to Ereworn. Clotilde tells them how Ned often left and rejoined the forest trails, and how he dragged her past three mounds of earth to a boat and rowed her across a misty mere in the heart of the forest, ignoring a ghostly white arm that rose out of the jet-black water and tried to beckon them over. Suspecting that the mounds are where the Baron's dead brother and his family are buried, the adventurers decide to retrace Ned's path through Gallows Wood, rather than take the Forest Road south and out of the forest or row down the river in Ned's boat. Clotilde and Bretwald are both shocked to learn that the Baron is a kin-slayer. Theresa: "I know it is a shock because he should have turned them into deer, but instead he just murdered them and buried them."

They row across the river, avoiding the island, and retrace Ned's path, past the gallows where they rescued Bretwald and the site where they were ambushed by Knutt the Forester. Hermione finds it easy to follow Ned and Clotilde's path further west, through increasingly misty woods to the mere. The boat is much smaller than the one they left at the river, so Amaryllos, Jack, Theresa and Zeno row into the mere, noting that the jet-black water shows no reflections and the oars make no ripples. The ghostly white arm surfaces and beckons them over, but disappears below the water when they draw close.

Suddenly, the ghostly figure of a woman bursts out of the mere and looms over the boat. Karla demands vengeance on her brother in law, who murdered her, her husband Morian, and her two children. Jack immediately promises to aid her and carry out her quest. Karla: "I promise that you will get the satisfaction of doing evil to an even eviler man." A ghostly sword appears over Jack's head, point down, as Karla tells him he has a year and a day to kill the Baron. Karla tells the adventurers that her husband's distinctive spear is embedded in a tree past the mounds, and the way to safely take up his weapon so they can show it as proof of their claims is to dig up his body and wear his right gauntlet.

Karla fades from view, as does the ghostly sword. With Karla's departure, the water of the mere stops being jet-black, and they can see reflections and ripples in the water. Zeno drops Amaryllos, Jack and Theresa off on the western side of the mere, and rows back to collect a second boat-load. Theresa tells Jack he shouldn't make sweeping promises to arcane creatures, even if they are the ghosts of attractive women.

It takes two more trips to finish ferrying everyone to the western side of the mere. The adventurers excavate the three mounds, assuming they contain Karla, Morian, and the two children, but instead find the skeletons of two children and an adult in tattered chain mail, all rusted except the right gauntlet. Luxian sends Grund to dredge the bottom of the mere, and Grund finds the skeleton of an adult in a tattered robe with a gold necklace around its neck near where the others talked with Karla.

Morian's ghost appears, and Jack immediately disregards Theresa's advice and promises to take revenge on the Baron for his murder. Morian seems pleased with Jack's enthusiasm, and gives them directions to where his spear can be found, a short distance away to the south, embedded in a tree. the adventurers find half a dozen scorched skeletons scattered around the clearing. Zeno, wearing Morian's gauntlet, pulls the spear easily from the tree.

They decide to take the skeletons back to the village so they can have a proper burial and be set free from the Cycle of Arda. The adventurers place the skeletons in the boat, which they portage along the forest trail leading west from the mere. The trail leads to a clearing with a single log cabin. Theresa hides herself from sight with magic and creeps forward to investigate. Inside the cabin, Knutt is boiling meat in a cauldron. Theresa recognises the meat as human flesh by the smell, and finds stacks of body parts beside the stack of wood at the back of the cottage. Theresa returns to the others and warns them that Knutt the Forester is a cannibal.

The adventurers slowly sneak past with the boat and continue along the trail, which eventually leads back to the village. Father Eldron is delighted that Clotilde is safe and sound, but the news that the Baron murdered his kin fills him with wrath, and he asks the adventurers to take their evidence to Nalber and seek justice from the King. Clotilde talks Father Eldron out of going to the Baron's castle to excommunicate him in person, but Hermione is unable to persuade him not to excommunicate the Baron, or to hold off spreading word of the Baron's crime to neighbouring villages until they have gone to the king. Zeno is surprised that Father Eldron isn't going to take the matter to his bishop, and Father Eldron retorts that he is a priest, and responsible only to God and the Saviour.

Father Eldron calls the village together and buries Morian, Karla and their children in the graveyard in their boat. Everyone attends the ceremony except for Theresa, who waits outside the graveyard with Zeno's horse, which is allegedly restless. The adventurers and Bretwald leave immediately after the ceremony. As they walk, Theresa shows the others the box Father Eldron gave her to carry her relic, "the skull of a monk she found on the island".

The adventurers and Bretwald arrive at Nalber.

The adventurers and Bretwald go to the King's Court and petition for redress against Baron Darien on behalf of his murdered brother, causing a stir with their scandalous claims.

The adventurers and Bretwald are summoned back to the King's Court to present their claims against Baron Darien before King Nicol of Elmet.

Baroness Rosafiere of Belbronn publicly identifies the gold necklace as belonging to her niece Karla, supporting the claims against Baron Darien, and gives a half-crown to each of the adventurers and to Bretwald for returning the necklace to Karla's family.

King Nicol formally summons Baron Darien to the King's Court to answer the claims against him in person, and the Bishop of Nalber excommunicates Baron Darien.

While they are still travelling westwards along the coast, a large flotilla of Goblin warships bypass the coastal defences and fortified villages near Aberyst and land along the coast closer to Nalber. Goblin warbands raid inland, burning farms, crops and villages as they go.

The adventurers and Bretwald realise something is wrong when smoke starts rising from a half-dozen locations around them, and hurry ahead along the road to reach the next village. As they round a corner in the road, they encounter a Goblin warband who have clambered across the fields and onto the road. Hermione shouts at the Goblins in Dakkandi, and the Goblins respond by shouting, grimacing, stomping and clapping rhythmically. When they finish, the Goblins stand and wait to see what the adventurers do. Hermione quickly explains to the others that the Goblins are treating them like a rival Goblin war band because she spoke to them in their language, and have demonstrated their martial spirit through their ceremonial dance. The Goblins are now waiting for the adventurers to demonstrate their martial spirit through their own ceremonial dance, and expect the side that shows less martial spirit to withdraw and let the others continue on their way.

Hermione leads the others in an impromptu war dance, shouting in Dakkandi with the others stomp and clap along as best they can. The Goblins seem impressed by the adventurers, and withdraw off the road and across the fields, leaving the road to the village unobstructed. The adventurers and Bretwald hurry along, and find the village deserted.

Continuing on, they find a man sitting alone on a hill side beside the road, looking out towards the sea with an unfocused gaze. When asked what he's doing, Anders replies that everyone is dead, and "they" killed them all. Theresa is suspicious, but the adventurers take Anders with them as they leave the main road and strike north, hoping to avoid Goblin warbands by taking less-travelled side roads. Instead, they meet Ferdan, Gusta and Kerstan, a small mixed group of armed locals from different villages who have met each other by chance in the chaos of the raids. Ferdan recognises Anders and asks after his family, reassuring Theresa.

Gusta invites the adventurers to return with her and the others to her village, where she hopes they could hold off a Goblin warband through strength of numbers. The adventurers accept her invitation, and Gusta leads the assembly north to the village of Orvelte. Rain clouds move down from the Lurium Ranges as they walk, and it starts to rain as they approach the village. A pair of wagons has been set across the road beside the smithy as an impromptu barricade, and half a dozen dead Goblins are piled to one side of the road, stripped of their arms and armour. The barricade is guarded by Agnus and Marit, who with Gusta are the only members of the local levy who are not away on campaign with their lord west of Aberyst. Agnus is deeply suspicious of Luxian and Amaryllos, and has to be persuaded to let them enter the village with the others.

The village hall is crowded with non-combatants, including refugees from the nearby villages of Drenthe, Veere, Merken and Hollum, and guarded by the dwarf Corwyn Silverfinder, who calls himself a miner and not a soldier, despite wearing full plate armour. Gusta goes to breastfeed her two-month-old baby, and Theresa makes a hearty soup as a late lunch to fortify people's spirits and revitalise their weary bodies, eliciting enthusiastic praise for her cooking from Corwyn.

The adventurers settle in to assist the levy against the next attack by the Goblins, who are expected to return in force to avenge their fallen comrades before any reinforcements can arrive from the north. Ferdan stays with Anders, who seems to appreciate his assistance. The rain grows heavier, drenching the countryside and extinguishing the widespread fires set by the raiding Goblins.

The Goblins do not attack before night falls. As there are twelve capable combatants among them, Agnus sets the adventurers and the levy to keep watch in groups of three.

While the others are sleeping, Amaryllos, Ferdan and Anders keep watch. Aware that their Goblin warband is drawing close from the north, Ferdan and Anders attempt to influence Amaryllos with arcane magics, but Amaryllos resists their beguiling charms and is merely bemused. Forced to reveal their true forms and attack, Fundin transforms into a lesser giant, while Annarr transforms into large wolf. In the ensuing battle, Fundin's freezing breath injures many of the non-combatants in the hall, while Amaryllos causes confusion by turning into a large wolf to battle Annarr.

The adventurers and the levy eventually triumph over the arcane monsters, only to hear the sound of the Goblin warband running into the village from the north. They prepare to hold the shattered door to the hall and protect the non-combatants, and are relieved to discover that the Goblins are fleeing through the village to the south, pursued by a giant man wearing the livery of the Order of the Rose shouting "Out! Out! Out!" and swinging a greataxe that roars "God is just!" as he cuts down the slowest of the Goblins. Sir Jonyn pauses in his pursuit of the routed Goblins when asked by Sir Zeno to help tend the injured in the hall, shrinking in size to just seven feet tall before going inside to heal the injured with his holy touch.

After doing what he can to assist, Sir Jonyn and his intelligent axe, Sir Harold, leave to continue chasing Goblin warbands back to their ships and into the Glaive. Corwyn offers Zeno a silver bracelet as a reward for felling Fundin the giant, but Zeno refuses to accept any reward for doing what was right. Theresa: "I like rewards." Corwyn offers Teresa the silver bracelet, which she accepts on behalf of their employer, Federigo.

The adventurers stay at Orvelte until well after dawn, and have breakfast before they leave. Theresa bakes some cookies to give to Corwyn as a farewell gift, and he wolfs them down immediately, praising their aroma and taste. Corwyn asks Theresa for a token to remember her by, and Theresa exchanges a handkerchief for a pair of silver earrings that jingle when she shakes her head.

The adventurers and Bretwald set out northwards through the drenching rain, planning to veer northwest over time until they reach the main road to Callan.

The adventurers and Bretwald arrive at the village of Deepwood late in the afternoon, where Luxian is to model the Thousand-League Boots for the famous painter Esther Vidad, who has been commissioned by Federigo to produce a portrait of him wearing the Boots. They pass the dule tree at the entrance to the village and the pavilions by the manor house, and are asked by a troop of armed soldiers what their business is in the village. Captain Willem escorts them to Esther Vidad's house, where her maid Pauline takes them in to meet Esther after they have been vetted by Lady Barleigh, the bodyguard of the Duke of Dunharrow, who is visiting Esther. Farrukh Saidi, Luxian's fellow apprentice, is also visiting Esther, and is pleased to see Luxian has finally arrived, albeit a week later than expected.

Theresa is delighted to see the Duke again, though he is as tongue-tied and shy as when she met him at the Count and Countess of Argenon's ball. Jack falls in love with Esther at first sight, and Esther is amused and flattered to receive the attentions of a much younger man. Esther prompts the Duke to invite Theresa and her friends to dinner, and encourages Jack to visit after dinner so they can sketch each other. Bretwald excuses himself and goes to the village church to introduce himself to the priest. The Duke offers Theresa the spare bedroom at the manor house, with Pauline as her maid and chaperone. Farrukh invites Luxian to stay with him at the shack he was offered when he arrived at the village, and mentions in an aside that the man who lived there was hanged on the dule tree for murdering the previous village priest two years ago.

The adventurers go to the manor house and prepare for dinner. As they walk through the evening gloom, they hear wolves howling in the woods around the village. Zeno and Jack stay in the pavilions with the Duke's soldiers, while Pauline takes Theresa to her guest room, and then to the bathroom to wash. Theresa's bath is accidentally interrupted by the Duke and his squire Bowen, causing the Duke great embarrassment as Pauline chases them out of the room, earning Theresa's gratitude. Hermione leaves Luxian with Farrukh and Amaryllos and goes back to Esther's house, where she explains Jack's curse to Esther, eliciting her sympathy.

The adventurers have dinner with the Duke and Lady Barleigh in the dining room. Zeno brings Morian's spear into the manor house to make sure nobody picks it up by accident, and leaves it propped in a corner in the parlour while they eat. Jack excuses himself while the others are still eating dessert, and rushes back to Esther's house for their evening of sketching each other. After dinner, Amaryllos, Hermione and Luxian go with Farrukh to his accommodation, while the Duke retires to his room.

Zeno lingers to talk with Theresa about going to church tomorrow, and Theresa has barely had a chance to accept the offer to go to church with the Duke when they hear Pauline screaming upstairs in Theresa's bedroom. Zeno snatches up Morian's spear and runs upstairs with Theresa to check on Pauline, while Lady Barleigh guards the door to the Duke's bedroom and refuses to let him come out and investigate. Master Eddas has emerged from his box while Pauline was unpacking Theresa's belongings, startling and frightening her. Theresa calms Pauline by convincing her that Master Eddas is a holy relic that must be kept secret, which is why he must stay hidden in their room and she must tell no-one about him. Zeno is shocked at Theresa's flagrant lies, but doesn't contradict her in front of Pauline.

When Esther retires for the evening, Jack rejoins Zeno and the soldiers in the pavilions for the night. Theresa sleeps in her room with Pauline, while Farrukh and Luxian share the bed at the shack. Hermione sleeps on her bedroll on the floor of the shack, while Amaryllos sleeps on the roof under the light of the almost-full moon overhead as the wolves howl throughout the night.

Before they leave the shack, Farrukh tells Luxian he has something to show him, and makes Hermione wait outside. Amaryllos spies through the window while Farrukh and Luxian talk, but finds what he sees uninteresting and doesn't talk with Hermione about what he observed.

The adventurers have breakfast at the manor house, then go to church, along with practically everyone else at the village. On the way, Zeno checks that Jack is aware he cannot make a fuss about Esther during the church service. Jack: "Since you are such a great friend, Zeno, I will attempt to stem the tide of my feelings - but I can only hold back the maelstrom of my love for so long!" Bretwald assists Mother Sibill with the church service.

Following the service, everyone has lunch together outside the church while the village children play together, and Theresa meets Pauline's parents, Garth and Simone Harth. Concerned that the adventurers may need to hunt for food supplies, Hermione talks with the trappers Egna and Avon about hunting in the woods. They tell Hermione that they pay for a licence from the Duke to trap animals in his forest, so she goes to the Duke to ask for permission to hunt. The Duke misunderstands Hermione's request, and agrees to organise a hunt for tomorrow for his guests.

After lunch, Luxian goes with Esther to her house to start modelling for the painting, accompanied by Hermione, Farrukh, Amaryllos, and Jack. Theresa spends the afternoon with the Duke, who struggles to sustain a conversation with her because of his stilted awkwardness. Zeno stays with Captain Willem and the soldiers, and meets Pauline's younger brother Link, who is enthusiastic about learning to be a soldier when he's fully grown.

Esther works diligently on her preliminary sketches, despite Jack's constant attention throughout the afternoon until the early evening, when he falls out of love with her. Jack immediately excuses himself and flees to the pavilions, where he participates in Zeno's exercises with Link, though not enough to get indecorously sweaty.

As night falls, Theresa goes looking for the Duke's cook, Lilly Kititch, to talk with her about recipes, but only finds her helper Kari Mendis. Kari explains that Lilly had to leave early, she left dinner cooking and it will be ready on time. Farrukh visits the manor house and collects food to take back to the shack for himself and his guests, while Theresa dines with the Duke and Lady Barleigh, and Zeno and Jack eat with the Duke's soldiers. Outside, the wolves howl as the full moon rises.

Hermione arranges for Amaryllos to stay with Luxian and Farrukh at Esther's house while she goes hunting with the Duke and the other adventurers. Hermione works with the local hunters, Garth Harth and Nero Ubert, to chase deer towards the Duke's position, where he waits with Lady Barleigh, Theresa, and Jack to shoot at the animals as they run past. Zeno joins the soldiers in finishing the injured deer with spears, when they're not guarding the Duke. They butcher and dress the bodies of the deer and take them back to Deepwood at lunchtime, leaving the offal behind for the wolves to eat.

At the manor house Lilly starts preparing roast venison for dinner, and Theresa visits her in the kitchen for a lengthy discussion about recipes. Lilly leaves early once again, explaining that her mother is unwell and she's going to her family farm to tend to her again that evening. Everyone has venison for dinner, though only Theresa dines with the Duke and Lady Barleigh.

Esther tells Luxian she feels she's made good progress on Federigo's painting, and that he shouldn't be needed after lunchtime tomorrow for more live modelling. Theresa visits to watch Esther at work, and chats with her about tips on etiquette when mixing with the nobility. Theresa mentions to Amaryllos that Lilly's mother has been ill for the past two nights, and Amaryllos sets out to find Zeno and take him to the Jyles farm to heal Lilly's mother Ginny. Amaryllos finds Zeno training Link with Jack's assistance, and Zeno immediately agrees to go with Amaryllos, as does Jack. The three of them go to the Jyles farm, but nobody is home. There are no animals at the farm, only wolf tracks some distance away from the buildings. They return to the manor house, where Lilly is working in the kitchen, and shares the good news that her mother is feeling much better.

Esther asks Luxian (escorted by Hermione) and Farrukh to go fetch some crumpets from the manor house for afternoon tea, leaving her alone with Theresa for a little while. Esther takes the opportunity to talk with Theresa about her intentions towards the Duke, and Theresa assures her that as a commoner with no prospects she knows she has no chance of ever marrying him. Esther tells Theresa that may not be the case, and explains that the Duke is in the position of being able to marry for love as he doesn't have to obtain his parents' permission, and even though it would be somewhat scandalous and would make him a much less attractive nominee for the throne of Kevland were it to become vacant, he may prefer not to be the ongoing target of assassination plots or to have to move to another country as their unpopular foreign king.

Later, when Esther has finished her work on Federigo's painting for the day, Theresa returns to the manor house with Pauline. Lady Barleigh asks Theresa if she intends to ask Pauline to go with her as her servant when the adventurers leave Deepwood, and Theresa regretfully responds that she couldn't afford to keep a servant on while she travels. Pauline is delighted to then be offered a place in the Duke's service by Lady Barleigh. There is a loud crash from upstairs, as a huge wolf leaps out of the windows in the Duke's bedroom and runs through the village into the woods. Theresa and Lady Barleigh rush upstairs to check on the Duke, who is unharmed but alarmed, as his squire Bowen transformed into the huge wolf before his eyes when night fell. The adventurers assemble to find Bowen the wolf and bring him back to the village: the Duke loans Theresa an elven cloak in the hope that elves will consider her a friend and not harm her.

The adventurers and Garth Harth follow Bowen's tracks to the Vale of the Silvery Moon, a large clearing in the forest near the border with the Elven kingdom of Sperrin, where a pack of half a dozen wolves are facing off against Bowen's single oversized wolf. Bowen runs away into the forest, and Amaryllos transforms into an equally large wolf and pursues him. Hermione guides the others past the pack of wolves, who stay at a cautious distance and watch as they pass. Garth warns the others that the border with Sperrin is very close, and is guarded by trees that move and sway. Fortunately, in his flight Bowen ends up running parallel with the border, rather than crossing it.

Amaryllos catches up with Bowen and keeps pace with him, but unfortunately cannot talk with him as Amaryllos does not know the language of wolves. They run into a pair of elven hunters who try to enchant them with arcane magics. Bowen resists the man's charms and continues to flee, while Amaryllos succumbs to the woman's charms and stays by her side, elf-struck. The elves are discussing whether to pursue the other wolf before or after skinning the entranced wolf when the others catch up. Theresa remembers too late that they planned to blindfold Jack before he met any beautiful elves, but fortunately Jack isn't smitten with the woman's beauty.

The adventurers negotiate with the elves, led by Theresa, who speaks with them in Cabbandari as well as Low Bacchile. They explain that Amaryllos is in the service of the Duke, and not free to choose to stay in the woman's service. When told that Amaryllos is a person transformed into a wolf, the woman commands him to change back, and the elves are delighted to discover that he is a black-furred Kattar, and not just another human. Both elves, in unison: "Now that's worth skinning!" Throughout it all, Amaryllos remains elf-struck and continues to slavishly attend to the woman's every word.

Theresa persuades the elves to take part in a competition to find Bowen, and they set off with Amaryllos in pursuit of the second wolf, happily singing elvish hunting songs in Cabbandari. Unable to keep pace with the elves and Amaryllos, the adventurers take advantage of Garth's local knowledge to find shortcuts through the forest and be the first to find Bowen, now transformed into a large wolf-man. Bowen pleads with the adventurers for help, as he is struggling with a second personality, Gnarlpaw, that is trying to take control of his body. Zeno steps forward, hold out the Reliquary of Saint Merel, and proclaims, "Out, spirit! Free this man!" The Reliquary glows brightly with the power of the True God, and Fierce retreats high into the trees, where he cowers and hisses. The elves, who were nearby and closing in until Zeno displayed the power of the True Faith, stop singing.

A wizened paw falls away from the wolf-man as if it fell out of a coat pocket, and Bowen transforms back into his own form. His clothing is tattered and his boots are worn, as if he was wearing them while rushing through the forest. Theresa starts singing her own happy song in Cabbandari, and the elves slink away back to Sperrin, sending Amaryllos to rejoin the other mortals. Luxian volunteers to carry the wizened paw in his sack, and has Grund pick it up, wrap it in a cloth, and put it away for him.

The adventurers, Garth and Bowen return to Deepwood. Amaryllos is still elf-touched, and Zeno takes him to the church in the hope that Bretwald and Mother Sibill's prayers can help Amaryllos regain his senses. Jack joins them there, taking a circuitous route through the church graveyard to avoid going past Esther's cottage. The Duke is relieved to see Bowen and Theresa (and the others) return, safe and sound. The Duke has them place the wizened paw in a locked box for safekeeping while Bowen shows them where he found the wizened paw, in a hidden room that he discovered by accident while cleaning the mantel of the fireplace in the Duke's bedroom. The hidden room contains a library of arcane texts and erotic literature, clearly left behind by someone who fled in a hurry, taking a few select books with them.

The adventurers who aren't at the church have dinner with the Duke at the pavilion. Theresa is suspicious of Lilly's absences on the previous nights, and questions her during the dinner about her mother's chronic illness. At the church, Zeno, Bretwald and Mother Sibill struggle to get Amaryllos and Jack to join them in prayer, but Amaryllos is in a fey mood, reciting poetry and running outside to dance around the fire outside the soldiers' pavilion, shouting "I met the elves!". Zeno and Jack tackle Amaryllos, tie him up, and take him back to the church. Amaryllos: "Save her, Jack! Theresa is in terrible danger! They'll be doing ... terrible things!" Jack: "They always are, buddy. Here we go, back to church."

After dinner, the Duke advises Theresa that he isn't staying at the manor house tonight, but is instead sleeping in the pavilion with his guards. He encourages Theresa to stay with Pauline at her family home, but Theresa decides instead to spend the night at Trammil's shack with Farrukh, Luxian and Hermione. There, Luxian returns the hand of glory Farrukh loaned him before they set out to follow Bowen. Farrukh happily shows off the hand to Theresa, which he dug out of Trammil's grave one night, as the opportunity to acquire the hand of a murderous werewolf who killed a priest in a church and was buried in unconsecrated ground doesn't come along every day.

After a night of prayer by Zeno, Bretwald and Mother Sibill, Amaryllos regains his wits at dawn with the first cock-crow. No longer elf-touched, Amaryllos is untied and released from his bonds.

Luxian spends the morning at his final sitting with Esther Vidad, who is satisfied by lunchtime that she no longer needs him to model the boots for Federigo's portrait. Theresa encourages Zeno to return to the Jyles farm and check on Lilly's mother Ginny: she is fully recovered and well once again, but still welcomes Zeno's offer to pray for her good health, which he does.

Luxian, Farrukh and Theresa spend the afternoon going through the collection of books in the hidden library, presumably left behind by Armon Bistle when he absconded from Deepwood two years ago in dubious circumstances, but don't find anything about the origin of the wizened paw. The Duke has accepted Farrukh's suggestion that he dispose of the book collection and the wizened paw by giving them to Farrukh to take back to Federigo at Kaxos.

Shortly before dinner, Theresa leaves for the Jyles farm to talk with Ginny herself. Pauline asks Zeno to follow Theresa, as she's gone out by herself and may be in danger, but to be discreet as she may be going out for a private assignation with the Duke. Zeno takes care to make plenty of noise as he approaches the Jyles farm, just in case Theresa is with the Duke. Theresa is mollified by Ginny's assurances that the Duke isn't in any danger, as he's well-loved by his subjects and the wolves that roam the forest at night keep away from people and don't attack them.

The adventurers have dinner with the Duke for a final time. Bretwald says his farewells to the adventurers, as he's going to continue his journey north to his monastery with the Duke and his entourage, while the adventurers travel west to Vestad.