Guys I Think We Took a Wrong Turn at Albuquerque Report

General Summary

Back tracking just a little bit to right after the party, Diakath decides that his time would be spent best in hunting down the werewolves or at least in gathering more information about them. During the night, he happens across a patrol set up near the western entrance. From a glance, he could tell they were wildly underexperienced towards this sort of threat. He decided to accompany them towards the northern patrol group, if only to see what could be found.   Diakath didn't have to wait as long as he might think. About a quarter mile away from the entrance, he spotted two figures moving in the shadows with great speed, and though he couldn't see the third right away, he could still hear it, sensing their presence not too far away. Diakath grabs the guards and makes a break for it back to the entrance once the guard sounds an alarm with his bugle. Although the warning was sounded, one of the guards (a half elf) was snatched and dragged out into the woods. However, the alarms were sounded around the town and entrances were closed up as quickly as they could have been. Only one more loss would be noted that night - a magic shop keep named Edward. A large smattering of blood and several clues indicated the attack as well as a bit of sulfur smelling wolfish fur that got caught in the intersection of the crime scene.   Much like before however, without the presence of bodies, any person that had been a victim of the attacks would only be labeled as missing.   Without being able to do much more, Diakath went to sleep and had a puzzling dream. He stood in a dimly lit space, but it was recognized as the spider infested and web stricken room. He stands there, watching as Coranzen comes within inches, staring at him. Before he can react to Coranzen staring, his gaze is moved upwards to the pedestal where a figure of gray smoke manifests, holding his hand out, summoning Diakath's warhammer before pointing towards him with the other.   With that he awoke.   Unsure of what was going on, but still needing to figure out what was going on, he plans to do more investigating.   The night was full of activity apparently. The Sheriff had been arrested for murdering Coranzen while the town was on lockdown. Arabella could be spotted all around points of the town, trying to scrounge up resources to put the Council back together. And on top of that, apparently the group was having difficulty with Mint. Diakath caught up with the group but realized soon after that, with the help of a well timed Hunter's Mark, that Mint was heading with great speed to the north west, most likely to Shadowdale.   Nectarine hastened securing passage with the monster slayer guild to Shadowdale, which they'd come back for, while Enyo and Diakath confirmed the route Mint was taking with Cora.   Before leaving however, they did one more thing and investigated the closed down magic shop. During their investigation in the shop, they came across a book of sending linked to another owned by someone named Kara in the Shadowfell. Despite appearing to be an orphan, Edward did have someone after all. Kara was his long lost cousin and had, over the years, supplied him with magical items to sell and share profit with. During this time however, Edward had begun developing something of an affliction. His blood and systems began converting to arcane energy on its own, despite not having any prior ability to control it. This sort of occurrence hadn't been noted before but it definitely marked Edward as an individual of interest for the werewolf attack.    Having secured some small magic items and starting to set back out, the group came across Arabella who had said the sigils had reactivated. Without a second to lose, the group heads back to the estate. True enough, the portals had indeed reactivated. The one in the servant's quarter had been used despite this, so without much waiting, the group stepped through the portal in the basement, landing in a forest of poplar trees. The autumn leaves hung on the edge of a chilled breeze, rustling as they examined their new surroundings.    Through some innate fairy ability, and a little survival methodology, the party found they had been blown way off course. But, as the winds of fate would have it, they would not be separated from Simon for far too long. Since he'd last seen them, he'd also made plans to go north to Shadowdale, but had found himself strangely ill, retiring to bed shortly after packing. His dreams were fitful, his body falling through darkness streaked with ribbons of prismatic light. The pain in his head rocked him thoroughly until it came to a limit, and he felt his body hit something. Startled, he awoke, finding he was still in his bed (the thing he'd hit), but the bed and the trunk with his supplies had landed him in the woods as well.    Not sure what to do with this, and maybe still considering the apology Enyo had left him, Simon was hesitant to be sure what was really happening.  There was no immediate answer for why he was there, but considered it was some higher presence that wanted him there.    Nevertheless, the party rejoined and headed together towards the city in the distance, a mostly elven city called Iyesgarth. The city had been built upon the burial site of a long dead Titan, its bones long turned to dust, blood long dried, but its livelihood flowed into the flora and fauna of the region. The only real evidence a Titan had been here at all was the large building sized stein. Plain in its design, but crafted with silver and iron, and far too large for any creature in the area to use. The party may have heard about it being utilized as a place of business, but had not visited it personally. There were many points of interests within each of the boroughs that made up Iyesgarthm but the city was too large to visit everywhere at once before the evening sun turned to night.  Iyesgarth was not unwelcome however, especially allowing Simon to enter the town after remembering his older cousin Millicent was here. A carriage was summoned and the group was ushered to the Hellhound Borough. Millicent had kept an eye on the Borough since seceding her father nearly a decade ago. Her borough was home to a branch of the Monster Slayer Guild, and the lowest crime rates in the entire city. She was fair and considerate, at least allowing Simon and his friends a place to stay while they were in town.    She had amassed quite the library in the meantime. Curiously, despite Millicent being a bit of a wizard (though nothing she wanted to really discuss, as she'd become more invested in her borough's wellbeing), she had tomes mostly of medical history and of the arcane. From what could be seen, only one other case of arcane poisoning had been discovered, but their child still lived in town. Finnba worked in the Hellhound Borough, though Millicent did not know them personally.    Simon stayed at the library that night, continuing to research while the rest of the party checked in with the Monster Slayer Guild. Apparently the Guildmaster had been in Iyesgarth for the past day or two, apparently also investigating the werewolf problem. In Iyesgarth, the werewolf problem began about 8 months prior, snatching merchants and civilians that would move out past the walls. Unlike the guard in Ashabenford, these were considered actual deaths instead of missing persons. While bodies had still not been found, there was too much blood to assume they might still be alive.    Some things were confirmed however: These were not regular werewolves, though held the same gait and power as them. They did not operate on a lunar cycle as opposed to that of typical lycanthropes. They smelt more of sulfur than most beasts. Most importantly, they appeared to be intelligent, evidenced by Diakath's last encounter.    The Guildmaster encouraged the party to join with another group to find and take down werewolves the following night. From each of these encounters, only one individual came back alive. A pewtersmith named Sabran from the Craftsman Borough. She had not cooperated with the Monster Slayer Guild so far however, and the Guildmaster hoped some unfamiliar faces that didn't directly strike them as members of his guild might have an easier time getting her story.    The party left, rejoining Simon before bed, and for once, despite the full moon, the woods and the city were as quiet and still as the night air.