180 / 11 / 07
On 7th Midum I was invited to the castle for an interview with our reclusive Acting Duke Pelin. I was given no indication what this might be about, but I was hardly going to refuse the man who rules the city. I was to meet the Acting Duke in one of the sitting rooms, but I was not allowed to enter the room until I was given a cut on the hand with a silver knife. Once this bizarre ritual was out of the way the Acting Duke invited me to take a seat and dismissed his guards. For those who have not seen him during one of his infrequent public addresses, the Acting Duke is an athletic man whom I would judge to be in his mid to late twenties. Pelin insisted I avoid the use of titles and that I should forgo the customary caution one such as myself employs when dealing with the nobility. I was hesitant to do so as it can be hard to judge what a noble will deem inappropriate, but a suspicion was beginning to form that Pelin was not of noble blood. On the few occasions I have seen him, including the interview, he has worn well made but plain clothing with none of the ostentation normally associated with nobles. The one indication of any rank is a jewelled dagger he typically wears on his left hip. Hoping to clarify the tone I would need to take for the rest of our discussion I decided to inquire about his rank directly.
"My rank? If you mean do I have a title beyond Acting Duke, then no. My blood is no nobler than any others" replied Pelin. When I pointed out that he was currently occupying what is perhaps the third most powerful seat in the kingdom he laughed and told me "I am just a caretaker, here to make sure things are in a fit state for the new Duke." I quickly seized on this as it was the first confirmation I had heard that there would be a new Duke. "Yes, " he responded. "Wilbur was found guilty of treason and his majesty has appointed a replacement. I can't give you his name yet, but rest assured he is both capable and loyal to the crown."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I will report back to Bellcross to see what else there is for me." His tone as he answered me was such that I had no doubt he was convinced there would be tasks for him to complete. Pursuing this line further I discovered that our Acting Duke has had quite a varied career to date. He spent some time in the army, a few years as an explorer, and has been an administrator at court. The one common theme seems to be that all of his roles have been in service to the kingdom. It seems a point of pride for him that his family have been supporting the kingdom for almost as long as there has been a kingdom.
Once Pelin felt that he had put me sufficiently at ease, we got onto the purpose of this interview.
"As you and your readers will be aware, a few weeks ago there was a string of murders and numerous disappearances. There was also some trouble here at the castle and at the hall of justice. All of these events are related and now that the situation is resolved I thought it best to provide an explanation. When you came in here the guards tested you with a silver blade. That is because the city had been invaded by a clan of lycanthropes."
My expression must have given away my lack of understanding, because Pelin went on to explain that lycanthropes are creatures out of horror stories. People cursed to turn into animal forms at the full moon. They had been thought extinct after the years of darkness, but a group that turned into creatures that resemble a cross between a person and a rat had been the source of the city's troubles. These "Wererats" are incredibly resilient shrugging off blows that would fell a normal person, but they cannot abide the touch of silver. When I asked why someone like me who has lived his whole life in Filishar needed to be tested, he informed me of the terrible fact that the old stories were true; these creatures could pass on their curse through their bite.
Thinking back to his comments about how all of the events were related and fearing the answer I hesitantly asked about the disappearances.
"That is correct", he replied. "I am sorry to say that those who were killed were probably the fortunate ones. These creatures targeted those they thought could help them achieve their aims, even some members of the castle guard and staff were turned. As if the horror of being turned into a monster was not bad enough, this curse also makes those who are bitten subservient to the one that bit them."
Pelin went on to explain that the creatures had infiltrated the guard in order to steal the silver from the treasury, making it more difficult to produce weapons effective against the beasts. Fortunately they weren't able to steal the jewellery, ornaments or cutlery, so the castle forge was able to produce some silver weapons. Even so, there were barely enough weapons to mount a reasonable defence, let alone hunt down the Wererats. Fortunately for the city one of Explorer Company's teams of specialists arrived back in town. Team 11, or Frostburn as they prefer to be called, had just come back from dealing with a threat on the coast, but they wasted no time in getting to work on dealing with this problem. Our regular readers may recall that Team 11 is drawn from members of various mercenary companies like the Knights of Blackfort, and Dragonstrike. , Perhaps unsurprisingly, as their work is exceptionally dangerous, the team has undergone some changes since we last reported on them. What was a surprise was the nature of one of their members.
"The wizard Virris is an elf", Pelin stated bluntly. As I struggled for words he continued. "More precisely he is a renegade elf. He comes from a community that has rejected the ways of the elven kingdoms."
Slowly overcoming my shock I inquired about Virris' legal status, given our more than strained relations with the elves. I was informed that his majesty King Greth has given Virris special dispensation to live here and that, though an elf, he was accounted as a citizen of Caresnas. "In fact," Pelin went on, "Virris has done more for Caresnas and this city than most who were born here."
As if to back up this bold claim, Pelin went on to describe how Virris and the rest of Frostburn had followed the Wererats to their lair in a part of the old sewer network. Though outnumbered the four members of Frostburn managed to completely destroy the creatures' nest. While they brought back 14 tails from the beasts, the guards that went in later to clear out the bodies estimate that twice that number were eliminated.
"Unfortunately several groups of Wererats had already left their base to attack both the castle and the hall of Justice." The acting Duke continued. "While Frostburn were able to warn the justicars in time, we were not so fortunate here at the castle. The beasts snuck past our defences, and seemed intent on reaching me. Thanks to the sacrifice of my bodyguards I was able to hold on until help arrived, but it was a near thing."
Though I wasn't able to get any more details of the attack on the castle out of Pelin, a few discrete questions around the castle revealed that a group of these Wererats had made their way to the Duke's study, slaughtering several guards along the way. Alerted by the cries of Pelin's bodyguards, Philip Whitelock led a contingent to the rescue. By the time they reached Pelin, both of his bodyguards were dead, and Pelin was holding off the remaining 3 wererats with a glaive.
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