CHAPTER 3.06 - THE SUMMONER OF WILD THINGS

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Wulfram peeks down unnoticed and sees a massive grey hairless beast bashing on the doors. It suddenly stops and sniffs the air suspiciously. Keeping a low profile, Wulfram moves to the rear of the Great Hall's roof and climbs down. He goes to retrieve his weapons from his cottage. Quickly grabbing them, he exits out a window and then listens.

He hears nothing. He looks up at the sky and sees it is very clear. He observes bright stars and the dim glow of a half moon. Wulfram creeps among the houses undetected. He can easily hear the creature's footsteps moving in the open ground between Haastenmord's cottages and the Great Hall. He hears them stop and the silence is followed by a loud sniffing sound.

Then curiously, Wulfram hears a low whispering human voice tell the creature "seek him out." The voice sounds like it is carried on the wind and Wulfram throws a small rock further away (opposite direction) to distract the creature and draw it away. Wulfram moves in the direction he thinks the voice has come from, hoping to make the aquaintance of its owner.

Wulfram moves between the buildings and he is near the open ground around the Great Hall. As he moves forward silently, he is unsure of where the enemy might be. As he prepares to detect evil he notices that the solid ground beneath his feet has suddenly become softer, turning to thick mud. Wulfram's senses tell him that the enemy is nearby and has seen him. But, sinking into the ground, Wulfram realises he needs to deal with that first. He claw at the edges of the changing ground, finding something of substance to hang onto. Wulfram succeeeds in pulling himself out of danger and away from the area effect of his assailant's magic spell.

The creature approaches and it is bellowing. As it draws closer, Wulfam realises the creature is not evil. He ducks back in amongst the buildings again to evade it. The creature knows that Wulfram has moved that direction and it follows. It smashes into the smaller gap between two of the houses, slightly damaging them. It continues to follow and Wulfram hears it sniffing whenever it loses sight of him.

Eventually Wulfram finds himself in a narrow lane between cottages and he ducks down behind some large empty boxes. The creature has blocked the other end of that alley and it stands waiting with its nostrils flaring. Wulfram then senses the evil person on the other side of a building he is hiding beside. Wulfram attempts to move around the building without being sighted. But the creature sees him and moves in to attack. It follows Wulfram around the building.

Wulfram detects the evil person but cannot see him. Oddly, the location of the person appears to beneath the ground near the side of the stone building. As Wulfram hefts his mighty throwing hammer (of Thor) and hurls it, the creature charges up behind him, swinging with great clawed hands. Wulfram's hammer flies from his hand and strikes the ground where he has detected his enemy's presence. It collides solidly and the thnderclap and lightning that its power delivers punches a wider hole into the ground, showering mud and stone over everything nearby. Wulfram sees a tall thin built man with an angular face morph out from the disturbed soil of the ground. The man chants and jumps into the stone cottage wall, disappearing from sight.

Wulfram then uses his Longaxe to attack the giant creature. He strikes, wounding it. It howls, engraged and assaults him with its claws, attempting to grapple. Wulfram breaks free. Winning initiative, the creature attacks again ... it grabs Wulfram who this time cannot break free. It rips and rends, causing him to black out from the sudden injury and shock.

******

The next sensation that Wulfram feels is that of moving at rapid pace through the forest. His mind swims in and out of consciousness, he has lost a lot of blood but is apparently still live. He is being carried by the giant creature and his limbs feel heavy and unresponsive, as though they are not under his control. There are no physical bindings, so some form of magic must have been employed.

Wulfram knows his wounds have healed and is fully aware of his surroundings as the creature takes him into a cave. Once inside, the creature places Wulfram into a large iron cage that is in here. It shuts the door and then moves outside. Wulfram is now fully awake and sees the tall thin man rise up out of the stone and dirt floor of the cave. The man looks unusual; he has a pointy chin, a pointed nose and squinty eyes. His robes are ragged and grey/brown in colour.

"You are a Son of Fenris," the man addresses him arrogantly. "You will make a fine addition to the beasts of the Woedenwood. Tell me ... Wulfram. That is your name ... have you learnt to embrace your true nature?"

"Yes, but not as you think." Wulfram replies after a period of silence.

"Explain what you mean," the thin man demands. "You are a man who has become a wolf. What else could you be?"

"Call it a curse or a blessing, but this was given to me by Reisen Morgus." Wulfram tells him.

"Then that is good, for in time you will be fully ready to join the Wilde Heert," the man says.

"Only if the likes of he are the prey." Wulfram responds.

"He will never be your prey Wulfram ... you are his and he has claimed you as his prize for his mistress Hel."

"He may claim me, but that is only in words."

"I sense you tried to resist your gift. You have been taking that wretched weed. This will stop. I will return you to what you are are meant to be. I will keep you locked away from those humans and keep you free of the effects of that herb." The tall thin man looks at Wulfram gleefully and gloating. He does look quite sinister and imposing.

Wulfram feels the sensation of pins and needles as blood flow and feeling returns to his limbs.

"You will change ... you will truly become the Son of Fenris that you are meant to be! And then you will be mine, another beast under MY control."

"You will embrace your true nature and you will like it. " Wulfram yawns at him.

The tall thin man continues ranting ... "then .... you'lll be ready! Ready to prove yourself to Madenstadt, to prove your loyalty. But before I allow that you'll have to prove your loyalty to me ..."

"You'll make an amusing story teller one day." Wulfram tells him.

*****

"Nobody is going to find you and save your cursed soul. Just accept what you are and then you will see more clearly than you have ever seen before ..." with a flourish he gathers his tatty robes around him and exits the cave, leaving Wulfram to his own devices. Wulfram hears the man's voice outside, instructing the giant creature to "stand guard" by the cave entrance. "Let nothing pass, " he tells it.

*****

Wulfram obeserves his surroundings. He is in a small damp cave. The ground is stone and dirt. The cage is sturdy with steel bars fixed into a thick hard wooden base and top. The door is locked with chain and a tick sturdy lock. he sees his equipment at the far side of the cave (10' away). He produces his hunting knife and attempts to dig the wood away from the bars, to separate and weaken the structure. Initial attempts are unsuccessful as the wood deflects the blade.

Then some limited progress is made, with one of the bars being loosened at the base, which produces limited movement. Wulfram conceals the work by keeping it near the rear of the cave so that he might sit in front of it if he is observed or approached again. Another three bars are separated/loosened successfully. He then works on the bars aand succeeds in forcing them aside. Sufficient gap is made to escape if that is desired.

Wulframs gets his stuff. The creature is stirring restlessly outside.

Wulfram moves silently after equiping himself and attacks the creature to disable it. He uses a lightning strike from his hammer (melee strike) to target the creatures leg, which impacts successfully and brings the creature down with surprise. Wulfram runs from the cave, into the woods with the intention of regaining bearings later.

Wulfram thrashes around in pain and the sound recedes as Wulfram goes deeper into the forest. It is still night. Leavy forest. Looks for somewhere safe. The trees all look the same in this part. There is the occasional rock sticking up, etc. Wulfram finds a small clump of rocks near an embankment that leads down to a narrow stream. He could hear the water as he approached the area. There is a hollow into the embankment that affords him a safe resting place. Wulfram rests and awakens fully healed and refreshed some hours later.

It is early morning and he hears birds and regular forest sounds. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Wulfram drinks and then climbs up the bank to ascertain surroundings. The day is clear and the sky is visible (blue, fluffy clouds) which is much nicer than the usual gloom and greyness of the place. The stream runs in two directions. It flows towards the south. Wulfram follows the course of the stream. Feeling hungry and find some nuts and berries. Traps a small rodent type creature and cooks, eats it. He proceeds.

Several hours pass. Wolves can be heard in the distance. Wulfram chances upon a familiar old flour mill and water wheel and realises he must be near Rosenrot. He waits and listens to get his bearings. Wulfram locates the collapsed dam and then finds his old trail after fording the wider stream.

Wulfram follows his old trail through the Darkenwilde ... dense forest, fen, hears hunting calls (8 lizard folk), He avoids the liazard men and continues around the edge of the marsh until he reaches the Violet Haven and bypasses that to reach the Haastenmoord mines. There he is greeted with surprise by the SheiesenAufens. 2 days have passed. "We feared the worst," they tell him. "We thought you had been taken and killed." Wulfram warns the family of "activity beyond the field".

Wulfram travels back on the familiar path by himself to Haastenmoord.

He arrives back to further expressions of surprise and Petra Gerhadrt offers freshly baked bread while you rest and relate what happened to the gathered villagers. Aranberghs and Hrothgaard are not currently present, and young pale faced Oskar Einshaden says "yes, Hrothgaard felt guilty that he had eat and drank too much the other night to have helped you when you needed it. He has led a search party into the wilds to look for you."

"Do you know where they are?" Wulfram asks.

Oskar replies "I do not, I only know they went looking. But Lord Crosstenmarch will probably know because they went with his blessing."

"It was nobody's fault. Everyone was affected and went to sleep."

"Who took you? Was it a monster? We found big footprints all around the village after you disappeared?"

"Yes."

"Oooh, what did it look like."

"It had a human master."

"What was he like?"

"He had magic that made him disappear into stone and earth. He dressed in dirty robes."

"Why did he take you?

"He wanted to eat me?"

"Really? That sounds scary. I hope he doesn't come back for more of us," Oskar says.

"You are safe, little one. He wanted a big meal," Wulfram says a with a smile.

The conversation gets interrupted by Ingrid Aranbergh - "Go now children, go and do your chores. Wulfram has just returned after a great ordeal and he mst be very tired. You should leave him and ask your questions later, when he is rested."

"I'm sorry Wulfram, they should have known better. My husband has gone looking for you with Hrothgaard in the Wodenwood, but they are due back within the next few hours. You should rest and then see Lord Crosstenmarch. He was most worried about your abduction and its possible meaning for the village. He wishes you to go to the manor for dinner."

.... rest. sleep. wash. change clothes. go to manor.