Update #27: Whitehearth and A Black Wolf
Dox considers himself a people person. He has been thrust in countless situations involving the need for delicate negotiation, exacting impersonation or just outright lying. Being a changling is to wear a thousand faces and it is a tool that he enjoys making use of a great deal. Even with a legitimate job aboard the Liralen, there is always a call for a delicate word with the upscale passengers or somewhat exaggerated placations, in addition to his skills with a lock pick when someone ‘loses a key’. His ‘never the same bartender twice’ mantra has been well received by both passengers and the crew alike.
Still, negotiating with a dire wolf is a new experience for him.
“Um, hello?” he ventures.
“Hi!” it replies simply.
“My name is Dox, what’s your name?”
“Rorsa.”
The wolf stares at him intently. The great wolf yawns wide, displaying a maw filled with teeth as long as any of Dox’s fingers and as sharp as any of his arrows. Quickly he turns back to the rest of the Irregulars, whispering loudly, “A little help here guys!”
Audric clears his throat, “Why are you here?”
“I protect my pack.” Rorsa rumbles low in her throat and two smaller wolves peek out from around the corner, “We can’t leave.”
“How do you survive?” Audric asks. The dire wolf cants her head, uncomprehending. “What do you eat?”
Rorsa bobs her head, “Bodies.”
Dox shifts uncomfortably at the head of the line of Irregulars while Audric frowns, “How many bodies have you eaten?”
“Same bodies, return every day. Eat again.” Rorsa explains, haltingly.
“Why did he have to bring up food?” Dox thinks, his gaze nervously darting between the larger wolf and the two smaller pups. Unconsciously his fingers fiddle with the tools in his pocket, idly tracing across the mithral etching of the Cannith symbol on the keystone. “The keystone!” Hastily, he digs it free and holds it forward, “Rorsa, we are looking for things like this. Do you know where any are?”
Dox recoils as Rorsa twitches her shoulder, but his eyes are drawn to a green enameled rod freed from within the white coat of her fur, chained to a metal collar. He grins, “Can we have that?”
“Promise to help? Bad wolf has lots of pack trapped. You rescue and I give. Give this also.” Rorsa ducks her head and clasps a large pearl between her teeth, lifting it up for the Irregulars to see, and then dropping it to speak, “Deal?”
Dox nods quickly, “Deal.”
“Take.” Rorsa lifts a paw to hold the keystone forth. Dox carefully leans down and searches for the clasp. He fumbles with it a moment before tearing his eyes from her wickedly sharp claws and focusing on the snap, finding it he quickly takes the keycharm, gripping it tightly as he stands back. “Okay, we’ll be back soon. When we’ve rescued your pack, okay?”
Rorsa nods, “Okay.” The Irregulars back into the central sphere and close the hatch. Dox let’s out a rush of breath and sinks to the floor, “Wow, did you see the size of that wolf?”
Loki folds his arms, “I’ve seen bigger.”
Alexandre inspects the central metal sphere, “Two green slots. Well, do we help the wolfie or not?”
Audric nods, “I’d say so. We will probably have to confront that other wolf it spoke of anyways. Besides, we did agree to help.”
Ruel smiles, “And I want a closer look at that pearl she had. But let’s see where each of those two green slots leads us first.”
The first slot they try leads to another metallic sphere with yet more keystone slots. The Irregulars elect to leave that for later and try the other slot. It opens into a tight corridor that bends to an unseen end ahead of them.
Loki draws his greataxe and steps to the fore of the group as they exit the spherical chamber. As they reach the curve of the corridor he is assailed by a large black shape. Its claws scrape across his breastplate but fail to find purchase and the half-giant shrugs off the attack while barking out a warning.
Elisa spurts forward in a flash, rolling and weaving past both Loki and the wolf to tumble behind the creature as she draws her blade free. Casting a trained eye across its form, she notes that it is easily as large as Rorsa but instead of bone protrusions, stony slabs jut out across its back. She thrusts her blade between the protective slabs and pulls back sharply, drawing a deep wound. Though the creature jerks, there is no blood, merely a trickle of brackish black fluid that oozes from the wound. Elisa grimaces, “I don’t think it’s natural.”
Loki raises his greataxe, “Natural or not, it’s…hey, woah!” The half-giant is interrupted by Audric who, attempting to tumble past the half-giant, crashes into the back of his leg instead. Audric sprawls back and his eyes widen as Loki topples over him, the monk gasping as the wind is knocked out of him.
The wolf turns upon Elisa. It rises up and snaps its jaws at her, catching her in the shoulder as its claws latch onto her sides, digging into her skin. It bears down and Elisa’s face wrenches in pain as the claws and teeth tear deeper. With a desperate twist she pulls free, but her shoulder and sides bleed freely. Swiftly she reorients into a fighting stance and slams her blade across its broad face. Again she opens up a wicked wound, but it does not seem to faze the creature, not so much as yelping as its face is disfigured from the powerful blow. Carefully Elisa steps back into the small room at the end of the passage, which promptly comes to life as caged wolves yelp and bark at her, scratching at their cages.
Behind the black wolf, Loki heaves himself to his feet and slides back and off of Audric. As the monk struggles for breath, Ruel presses forward and into a side closet beside the monk, brimmed with collars, leashes, muzzles and other such gear. He incants briefly and leans down to press his palm to Audric’s shoulder, enveloping him in Mage Armor.
Alexandre seizes the moment and with a hearty whooping war cry darts past Loki and leaps over Audric, jabbing his thinblade at the flank of the wolf. Unfortunately, the weapon deflects off one of its stone slab and the swashbuckler curses colorfully. Behind them all, Dox has bow and arrow at the ready, but is both unwilling and unable to come any closer to the wolf to get a proper shot.
The wolf ignores Alexandre. Again it leaps at Elisa and this time its jaws sink into her neck and as it bears down on her again, she collapses. The wolf shakes her like a rag doll in its jaws swiftly, then drops her and turns to face the rest of the Irregulars. The yapping of the caged wolves ceases and for a moment, the room and hallway is silent.
The Irregulars break the silence. Audric retakes his feet and wheels to the side of the wolf, battering it with a kick to its belly. Alexandre maneuvers to its opposite side and jabs at it again with his thinblade, poking a shallow hole in its shoulder. Ruel frees a scroll from his pack and casts Protection from Evil on Loki, and the half-giant moves forward, his greataxe whirling. The black wolf turns on Audric and snaps at him, but cannot break through the protective Mage Armor enveloping him. Audric hammers its face with a pair of quick punches, but hisses in pain as he finds the creature’s skull as hard and sturdy as stone.
Alexandre risks a glance down at Elisa’s crumpled form. There is not as much blood as he expected. “She’s a tough one, tough as I’ve ever seen. Might still be alive, but that means we got to finish this quick.” He spies the gaping wound Elisa opened in its back and his face twists in a lopsided grin. He jabs his thinblade violently into the wound, and it pierces deep, skewering right through the creature and out through its chest. It spasms and then collapses, its rear legs bucking and twisting reflexively. Alexandre yanks his weapon free and Loki brings his axe down. With a satisfying crunch, the creature stops moving.
Audric rushes to Elisa’s side, gripping her wrist as he studies her wounds. He shakes his head, murmuring quietly, “Impossible.”
Alexandre leans down next to him, “What is it? Is she alive?”
Audric nods slowly, “Yes, at least… her life’s blood is not spent, I can still feel it, weak but steady. But… look at her wounds. They aren’t bleeding! The wolf got her by the neck…”
Dox moves into the room, “Maybe it’s whatever is preserving the bodies or restoring them, like the way Rorsa said they return after being consumed. Maybe its keeping her from dying!”
Audric nods slowly, “Yes, I think that must be it.” He sighs, “But remember what Krynson said, healing magic will not work here. Our potions cannot restore her.”
Beside Loki, one of the wolves whines and claws at its cage. Scanning their pens, he shakes his head. “How are we going to deal with all these wolves?”
Ruel smiles, “I’ll bring Rorsa, they are her pups, I am certain she will help us deal with them.”
The wizard returns with the dire wolf, and her presence and gentle rumblings are enough to calm the wolves enough to be freed. The pack is lead to the central sphere of the Cannith stronghold and, one by one, Loki helps each one up and into the cave above. Rorsa is the last and the most difficult, but, with some help from the rest of the Irregulars, she is at last pushed through as well. The whole affair takes a few hours and Loki is tired and covered in scratches from the wolves’ claws. Audric and Alexandre carefully bring Elisa into the central sphere, laying her down and wrapping her in one of their blankets from the Handy Haversack.
Loki takes a long drink from his waterskin and smiles, “So these wolves have been living off of bodies… I guess I’ll need to have the healers check me for disease.”
“They eat from dishes, not bodies. Magic makes dishes refill every day,” Rorsa interjects, peering down at them from the circular hatch above. “Get dishes? Pack hungry.”
Loki sighs, but Dox quickly agrees and fetches several of the dishes, running them up to the wolves. As he returns, he finds the Irregulars sitting around the circular chamber. Ruel is running Rorsa’s pearl around his palm. He looks up as the changling sits nearby and sighs, “Well, shall we press on without Elisa or call in the other team and let them take all the credit?”
But seriously...![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
