%% date:: [[2024-01-20]] %% # [[059_20240120 Now we're just a party of wild animals]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[059_20240120 Now we're just a party of wild animals]] > The party encounters Mezru and Seba, who transform into wolves and guide them through the forest. They learn about werewolf customs in the village and discover dead animals carrying The Choking Death disease. Vayle and Bond are confirmed as lycanthropes during their transformation. The party reaches Absalom and meets Malleus, a skeletal knight searching for his master Nurdit. They find a valuable metallic egg and face a dangerous underground creature that emerges from the ground while camping. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[058_20240113 Werewolf Woodland#^summary]] --- ## Log [[Mezru]] calls the poisonous swamp "The Bubbles". Usually they don't get past that part. They turn into wolves in front of us. Mezru is brown and [[Seba]] is black. They don't attack us. We spend the night in the forest, but it's not a full moon. They tell us that in the village, [[Ama Longsaddle|Ama]] knows when it's going to be a full moon, and she puts out a red blanket to signal to everyone who's a werewolf that they need to leave the village. They tell us about some people who hunt them. Along the way, we saw some big animals lying dead by the river. [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] says they carry a nefarious disease that could kill whole countries. It does nothing for a day. The symptoms are a day after. You get hoarse, and then that's the last symptom before you can't talk and then you die. This disease is called [[The Choking Death]]. It eats you up from the inside, choking you from within until it kills you. ### Day 5 ### Day 6 Werewolf transformation of [[Vayle]] and [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]]. Confirmed, they're lycanthropes! ### Day 7 We still manage to get to Absalom. I wildly misread the weather but it doesn't turn bad. We see a fully armoured knight that seems to be looking for something. It says to us that it has lost its master. Have we found its master? - "She is Master." - He lifts his visor. "Now you have met [[Malleus]]." He's a skeleton! - She asked him to gather roots, but it seems like it's been a few days. - "Master has many friends". - Master [[Nurdit]] is her name. - [[Laerus]] is the name of Master's horse. - Ash determines that the roots that Malleus was gathering was for poisons. [[Zuhri]] thinks that the next full moon will be in 6 days from now. ### Day 8 We're now 7 days away from [[Absalom]] and five nights away from the full moon. We find an egg that is bigger than normal. This is probably worth 1000-10,000 gold, thinks Zuhri. There's a metal sheen to it, like glitters. Next full moon will be in 6 days from now. Ash finds Malleus strange and neutral. Malleus is the perfect slave. He doesn't really have his own mind - he's very obedient. This means he could be dangerous if he follows the wrong orders, but for now, he's keeping watch with us. While Ash and Malleus are keeping watch, we feel a vibration in the ground. Something's approaching from below. It's something big and dangerous and powerful. We wake everyone else up. We all climb up trees, except for [[Grumblebum]], who's just standing at the base of the tree waiting for it. Something bursts out of the ground! It's about 20 feet long, 4 legs that end in claws for digging. It's got tiny eyes, a wide mouth with small sharp teeth. It's gray, full of swamp dirt. It's moist. It has an armored back that is segmented like an armadillo. It has scales. It sniffs the air.