Verse 5
Out I went into the woods, a few of the other curious party members desided to come along with me when they saw me taking off to investigate. Soon they decided that they would rather take joy in the slumbers of the night so soon only I remained, and that's when I saw it. It must have been about 2 feet high and as curious as I was as to what was out in it's woods that night. It was jet black with a pink button nose and a large white stripe running down it's back. Knowing quite well that I did not want to smell of musk I slowly left the skunk to it's own devices. With everybody else napping I decided that 15 minutes later, that that sounded like a good idea as well.
Morning was a damp one, with a fine mist covering everything with a film of water, as the fire was rekindled I took up sharpening my sword with my whetstone, 2 figures with identical dark green oil cloaks walked into our camp soon after. The 2 were Cahir and Dulgos, the shape changing baker elf thing ( see "Soldan Keldriss" for more info on him ). Cahir went on to explain how Dulgos had saved his life on his journey to find his father and how Dulgos had told him that his father was dead. Some how I am a bit hesitant to believe Dulgos's story or trust him that much, given the facts at hand so far.
Dulgos had asked Gregol something that struck me odd, that I think relates to what happens to him later on in this page.
Aalaysia quickly returned the stone to Cahir after Ne`Stahsia pulled her out of bed. Cahir then asked if she has learned much about the stone. Aalaysia said that she had not, then Dulgos piped in "She has learned l'le...that 's partly why i'm here..." I wondered: Has he been spying on us? Now I am usually not paranoid, but something about him makes my skin crawl.
After breakfast we took back to travelling once again towards Northhaven, with me and Cahir getting into a petty agruement over size and other things, which put us at a distance for most of the trip as Ne`Stahsia fought with her mule, Heebo, to keep him on the trail and not in the brush eating. About lunch time we stopped for a moment and while Heebo was getting nervous about some sort of bush, Dulgos rubbed two of his three strange blue stones together, while I went to check out the bush, and then told us that there was an old hovel about a league north of where we were. We continued on towards where Dulgos said this hovel was, and when we got there Dulgos was putting something back in his back while standing before a small cottage in the woods with an already lit fire, baked bread, and lit candles, not exactly something that is commonly occuring in the woods has if it seemed all too idyllic and out of place this deep into the forest. Feeling that something strange is up with this cottage, I desided to stay outside watching from the window, hoping that nobody noticed what I was up to, just in case something happened.
Dulgos told the party that no one lived there, and that it was a way point for travellers, something I don't quite find to be a whole part of the truth, since there was alot of prepared goods already. Binkley and Ne`Stahsia cracked open the bread box and began to start eating it and that was when Gregol began to get sick suffering from dizzy spells. That soon stopped as Dulgos began telling his tale: " You, Cahir... be the bearer o' the Orb of the Stars... it ess oune of the three greate channels... created und handed down sence before we heve history. When thes world wus em its enfancy, they were entrusted t' the greatest mages, holymen, und nurturers o' the earth. T leas' thet is how the legends say they came to be... In truth, e' know not. Howeve' , there wus e' human scholar, name of Sildaion, from the south... who came te the knowlege of these stones und published a paper. Thes was feave years ago... und todaye, every petty noble weth a mage at his service whats read it es searching. Frem what lettle we' can tell... each une es handed down by heredity... und even death cannat separate the Bearer or hes kin from et."
He then made reference to the mouse that Aalaysia has called Widget, refering to him as the Guardian. "Frem what we know... the stones ere channels of magic... frem this realm to one of magic pure... what weuld happen eef one were harnessed by man, eye know na'. Nay... the guardian be her' little mouse... Any stories we doe heve of these stones always bespeak a companion...neare always some animal... he canna travel with the Bearer... bu' ess always with 'es companions. It was then that Gregol began to become sick yet again, it growing worse yet. Coughing and cold sweats he began to suffer, as he covered up a hidden pain within himself. He then went outside to try to get some fresh air to see if it would help.
Dulgos then began to speak of a way to be rid of the 3 stones, when a knocking began on our door. In came a stranger, a half elven Priest, apparent from his appearance and quite possibly a warrior as well. He looked familar, perhaps someone I've encountered before in my travels. His name is Cerrannor, also a familiar sounding name. After Ne`stahsia did formal introductions Dulgos continued telling us how to destroy the orbs. "Destroying it requires having all three orbs together, we know of yours, and of one other, the third has not been seen"...
Then it happened, Gregol hit the dirt face first growling and making a sickly ripping sound a snout erupting from his noise, his body erupting into a fury haze of fur, and clawed hands, a wolven humanoid creature. He immediately attempted to flee to the safety of the woods, this seemed to be the first time that this has begun to happen to him. Dulgos then appeared in front of us, moving his hands rythmically while mumbling something low.Gregol then hit the ground in a thud, and we tied him up in 50 feet of rope. Now we wait to see if morning changes him back.