Verse 6
Morning finally arrived to our small camp in the woodlands. Gregol was still tied to the tree as I awoke, and not looking any better than the night before. As Ne`Stahsia pet him and fed him some jerky she warned us of the dangers of the afflication, not to drink from what he drinks or eat from what he eats, lest we to should contract the disease. Soon after he let out a terrible roar, and all his fur started to shed off, and his snout reformed itself into that of a real boy. Cahir then untied him as I went to get him some better clothes. As Ne'stahsia and Binkley interrogated him on how he recieved this afflication, he had said that he did not know how it came about, but he did speak of some sort of training, but would not go into any sort of detail. Dulgos suggested that whatever was causing this may not yet be over and that the healers of Evest, his home, might be able to help him. A two week travel from where we were now. The party was a bit divided on how to procede with our journeys, do we continue onwards to Northhaven on the sea, or do we go to the mysterious town of Evest, home of weird wood elves hiddened in the woods and thought to be as non-existent as the city was said to be. Ne`Stahsia seemed thrilled by the chance to go to Evest a place that few have been to. Sounds perfect for the bard. Aalaysia and Binkley, did not seem to want to go to Evest, wishing instead to continue on towards Northhaven for its comforts and fineries of life, as well as its trades and imports. Durning the arguement on where to go to, which in the end I persuded Binkley to go to Evest, for the good chance of picking up some cooking herbs, and Aalaysia finally gave in, although I don't blame her for not wanting to travel around for 2 weeks, I sure don't. Dulgos also said that The gathering of the stars is in a week's time... in folklore the gathering of stars is the yearly fest of the faerie folk in the wood... there are countless variations on what is to be found there, from certain death to pots of gold.
Ne'Stahsia then told us more rumors about the town; of it's walls of gold 50ft high, buildings made from diamonds, rubies, saphires, and emeralds, which really seemed to impress Aalaysia, but not Dulgos who chuckled some thing about "w'll, wood and thatched roofs"
As we begun our travels I had an extensive talk with Cerrannor about somehow knowing him from my home town, he agreed that I also looked familar to him, and we pondered for a lot of that trip over whether or not we had met before.
We then made camp along the road, Cahir going to work tying up Gregol, with my rope, before the sickness set in again. As Ne`Stahsia played him a song using a flute given to her as a gift by Dulgos, I prepared some baked apples as a treat for myself, Gregol, and Heebo, Ne's apple-loving mule, while Binkley made up some carrot stew. As I was doing this, Ne'Stahsia introduced us to the story of "Frankengnome" who once gave life to a Gully dwarf that he stitched together with Gully Dwarf parts and pieces of metal and wood. As I finished my treat of baked apples and set out my plates, Gregol let out a loud scream of agony and I knew there would be one less person for my treat of dinner. Gregol's face exploded into that of a canine snout and fur sprouted all over his body, as claws grew from his finger tips. It was then that Gregol sliced through my rope like it was butter, destroying my good hemp rope. I then charged Gregol trying to prevent him from getting away while Cahir attempted to wrap a blanket around his head. He proceded to kick me to the ground instead and ran off, with Cahir, Binkley, and me chasing after him while he escaped our keen senses in the forest. A half an hour later, we recovered his trail at a white pine, Binkley returned to the camp as me and Cahir attempted to pick up the trail there, but unfortunately we were not successful in our attempts. After an hour in the woods Cahir returned to camp as the melody of Ne`Stahsia's songs died out. Now only I am left searching the woods for Gregol, and I wish I had brought my apples with me because am I hungry.
I returned to camp as the sun began to rise, straggling into camp tired as can be and hungry, I promptly collapsed by the pan of baked apples I had made the night before, and slept until Binkley woke me up and told me of Gregol's return. Knowing that I wouldn't be allowed to sleep futher for now, I fed Heebo the pan of apples and then we left again on our journeys, with me sleeping most of the way.
When I awoke, in front of me stood Dulgos petting a wolf that came from somewhere. He didn't seem to like anybody else in the party, although with all the strange stuff happening lately, how does that not surprise me one bit.
We later made camp in a small boulder strewn field in the lee of a hill sheltered from the slight breeze and kept warm from the thick moss on the ground. Securing Gregol to a tree once again we awaited the transformation that occured as the sun went down. Instead of running off this time, he remained tied to the tree very placid and calm, remaining there in his furry form for all of the night.
As we awoke the next morning Gregol was back to normal and Dulgos had a jar of honey for us to eat, fresh from his pack. Gregol ate almost anything that he could get his hands on that morning. The rest of the day was uneventful as storm clouds threatened us for the day, but never produced any rain. As night came, Gregol was hung by his waist from a tree, but he did not change form back into that of the wolfman, so Gregol was untied in the morning and we now feel safer that we now know that his changes are more than likely tied into the changing of the moon. So as we dine on our morning meal, I close this passage in my journal.