As the Vermin trotted through Wistimere, Auberon recounted the town’s uneasy history with the wood elves. Near its bridge, they found townsfolk gathering while Mayor Perceval LaPall delivered a heated speech, flanked by rice-hurling Baboons. Stoking anti-elf sentiment, LaPall noted that he had contracted a Paladin of Asanye, to address the undead crisis; as the speech ended, Auberon was keen to get the Mayor's attention, and his draconic features drew the alchemist's interest. He was invited to speak privately in his office, and accompanied by Auberon's "daughter" Vesper, they took a caravan to the Marvelous Menagerie.
LaPall demonstrated a powder that shaped his hearth into a draconic visage, and admired Auberon’s Pipe of Smoke Monsters. With Wistimere’s timber trade long-suspended, he had attempted to unlock draconic “hoard magic” to transmute lead into gold, wishing to save his town from economic collapse; however, his experiments had failed, and destitute citizens were resorting to illegal forestry. LaPall theorized that the elves were using Necromancy to attack Wistimere with plausible deniability, or that a recently-spotted forest "witch" was manipulating them. He did not care who resolved the crisis, or how; either way, only one reward was to be granted.
As the sorcerer kept the mayor talking, Vesper snooped around the Beast cages, covertly noting that the Menagerie appeared to hold fewer pens than it once had. Meanwhile, Lola and Valori had followed the Mayor's caravan, pausing only to be overcharged for yams. They spotted the paladin Valant Vainglory at Ebbek's Mercantile, frustrated that his gilded flail could not kill Werewolves. Valant had contracted the proprietor Ebbek Grennruk to now silver his longsword, a process which would finish tomorrow. He intended to kill the mysterious forest woman, somehow believing that she was intentinonally spreading Zombie Rot through her Lycanthropy; upon noticing Lola, he accused her of being the witch. During a terse exchange, Lola and Valori clarified their intentions but alienated Valant in the process, securing a permanent enemy.
The group reconvened at the Striped Spot, a warm inn where they purchased a room just to gain access to their stables. As they ate, the Vermin surveyed the tavern regulars, who confirmed the "zombie elf" attacks were a true problem. While Lola made another enemy by accidentally flirting with an engaged man, Auberon spoke to a recently-attacked citizen who smoked an astonishing number of cigarettes. He asserted that the magistrate had burned the bodies of the undead, including his best friend's child; he himself had been wounded by a zombie. He claimed the wound was once purple, but had now become a normal injury.
The Vermin took their horses back up the road to their campsite. Though there was no druidic response, Vesper found orange fur near their campfire, and proved an excellent tiger-tracker. After hours of pursuit, she led them to a secluded pond marked by a square stone shrine. An elf zombie was restrained by iron chain attached to the altar, seemingly dedicated to Elteos, the divinity of unbound nature. Vesper noted that its triskelion symbol was subtly incorrect, and Lola believed it to be a framing attempt, but could not glean the reason why someone would set up such an elaborate forgery. The party looked to stealthily skirt around the pond, but even Lola's concealment magic could not circumvent blindsight.
A Water Weird struck without warning from its surface, swallowing Lola as Vesper and Valori fecklessly attacked back. Auberon sent repeated electrical bursts into the draconic Elemental, which ran through the small pond and eventually destroyed ropes attached to its floor. Three dead elves floated up as Lola wildshaped into a Giant Octopus, bursting out from the Water Weird with a spray of ink. The creature chased her to the pond's edge, but in doing so exposed itself to Vesper, who cut it down with a flash from her scimitar. Lola recovered the bodies while Vesper shot down the chained zombie, and Auberon noted that LaPall's draconic fixation was in line with the elemental.
As they attempted to lay the bodies to a respectful rest, they were ambushed and magically entangled by an elven ranger, Quira Vexalim. She thought them murderers, and nearly broke down when she recognized the zombie as younger sister, Qudoris ; however, with careful words and empathy, Lola and Auberon convinced her of the truth. From Quira's perspective, Wistimere had been spreading a plague through the woods, leaving disease-ridden animals in hunting traps that attacked the elves who helped them. Zombie Rot had ripped through throughout the southern woods, especially to the elves, and Quira's sister had been sent to scout the plague. The young elf had already nearly died once, saved by the Weretiger Luana Yinshera, but apparently had been killed and was being used as bait for the Water Weird. Quira agreed to meet the Vermin in two days at the pond; if they failed to provide answers regarding Wistimere, she would press her people for war.
Now knowing Luana’s name, the party resumed their hunt. Vesper picked up the trail easily, and they quickly spotted the Lycanthrope crouched atop a far-off crag. Though they initially spooked her, Auberon salvaged the situation with timely Telepathy, claiming to be friends of Quira. She cautiously approached, and after finding the Vermin friendly, told her story. Luana had come to the forest seeking solitude after contracting lycanthropy, but was drawn to the Menagerie's captive animals. When she attempted to free a caged tiger, Perceval LaPall restrained her, and she was forced to reveal her true form to escape. Since then, the alchemist had grown obsessed, sending hunters after her and leaving notes of invitation in the forest. The weretiger became a woodland protector, saving multiple forest creatures from its shambling undead, and heavily mourned Qudoris' loss.
They camped overnight undisturbed, and an alliance formed between the five, as did a plan. They knew Valant would go hunting for the weretiger in the morning, and tomorrow, they were set to meet with Quira. In the meantime, the Vermin keep a disguised Luana in their carriage as backup while they broke into LaPall's magistrate, manor, and Menagerie. If they gathered enough evidence, they could confront the Mayor, and bring lasting peace back to Wistimere.
Word count: 1,035
