So handing off the first ingredient they gained to Jorlen, Jorlen informs them to watch out for his son, as only silvered weapons will harm him.
The band then head out of the castle to hunt for wolves, but are questioned by the two gargoyles by the gate.
The band enquire about other gargoyles around the castle and if any of them they don't like, they indicate the big gargoyle on the roof over the front entrance to the castle, and tell them that he is mean and bossy.
Ekam then returns up the path and polymorphs the gargoyle into a wolf, and feather falls it so it gentle falls to earth.
Gribble then casts confusion on it, halting it.
Ekam then Holds it for Lemmog.
Meanwhile Heironymo is happily chatting away to the gate gargoyles.
Lemmog then cuts the wolf to draw a vile of blood.
Seeing that one of there own has now been injured the gate gargoyles attack Heironymo.
Silme and Yomi send a barrage of spells to kill them along with Heironymo's punches.
Gribble keeps walking back and forth not sure what to do, but then sends a spell out killing one of the gargoyles.
With the blood taken Ekam, lets the wolf go and heads towards the threat, as the wolf suddenly turns and tries to bite Lemmog, who then kills it, transforming it back into a Greater Gargoyle.
Much spells and battering later, the three gargoyles are dead and use the hammer to smash the chest and extract the strange deep-blue stone heart that is buried in its chest.
Ingredient #1 - Vial of Wolf’s Blood and Ingredient #3 - Gargoyle’s Heart both gathered.
Returning the Ingredients
The band start to head back towards the castle but hear growling and scraping from inside the hallway, Silme tells the band to head around back and in through the garden.
When the party has all of the required items for Jorlen, they can return to the laboratory and deliver them.
Back in the Lab
Jorlen begrudgingly thanks the band for their help, shedding a few tears as he breaks the ingredients down and extracting the components he needs from each. It takes over an hour, but he finally produces a flask filled with a deep blue potion.
Jorlen stares at the blue potion for a long while, before taking a deep breath and turning to the band
“Now I have no idea what causes him to revert to his own mind, and those instances seem to last for incredibly short bursts of time . . . so you are going to need to subdue him to get him to drink it. Unfortunately, as you may already be aware, only silvered weapons seem to have an effect on those afflicted by lycanthrope. I think if we are going to help Xavier, we are first going to need to hurt him.”
He will then mentions that the dining utensils in the kitchen are made of enough silver that they could coat weaponry if melted down in the furnace! The family never thought to bring their own silvered weapons because they still held onto the hope of saving their son, and they feared that if one of the guards had a silvered blade they may slay their precious Xavier in a panic. Jorlen then asks Eparius to lead the party through the castle to the places they need to find
Subduing Xavier
Eparius informs the band that: To defeat Xavier, the band will need silvered weapons. Unfortunately there are no silvered weapons in the castle so the band will need to make their own. Gather silverware in the kitchen, to melt it down in the furnace, and then use that to coat their weapon and battle Xavier.
The band decide that only the stealthies will go and collect the silverware, so Yomi, Gribble and Heironymo go off to hunt for the silverware.
Cursed Cutlery
The first step lies within the primary dining hall. Eparius leads the band to a massive set of double doors with a red carpet. Written above the door in ornate golden letting are the words “Be Our Guest!”
The doors open to a massive dining area with two tables that could comfortably seat twenty-four individuals each. The area is free from dust, despite the fact that this area hasn’t been used in years. Still resting on the tables are fine sets of spoons, knives, forks, and plates with perfectly folded napkins resting nearby. Two glimmering chandeliers dangle from the ceiling. Sunlight bleeds in through windows near the top of this twenty-foot high room and causes brilliant rainbows to explode through the area in a chromatic dance. Along the outer edges of the room are additional displays filled with shining dinnerware.
As the band steps into the room, everything seems calm. Eparius tells them that things remain pristine because all of the cleaning instruments of the castle are enchanted to perform their tasks even when no one is around . . . but as he mentioned when they first met, some of the magics have begun to degrade.
Yomi grabs one of the pieces of silverware....
Dining utensils all around the room tremble for a moment before they rise up off the table and float. The blades of the knives glisten in the light and the tines of the forks point threateningly. The displays on the edges of the room have their doors thrown open as a first plate goes zipping out into the area and in your direction! A candelabra on the table goes ablaze with light and waves its arm in a vicious display!
The band is attacked by an entire fleet of animated silverware and cooking items. From forks and spoons up to threatening cast iron skillets. They move in swarms, floating across the room and attacking as a vicious, mindless force.
Heironymo ducks his head into his shell, and yomi in disgust Dimension Doors Gribble and himself back into the lab.
Heironymo after being beaten up by silverware runs away back down into the Lab.
Total Silverware collected: 1 Fork!
It was at this point that Lemmog pipped up and said what about using this as he poured out 90 silver coins!
Eparius appraises the volume of silv and says that should coat 3 weapons and to follow him to the furnace with its heat powerful enough to melt even silver.
The Furnace
With the silver at the ready, the band follows Eparius down into the depths of the castle, a few stories beneath the ground floor.
As Eparius leaps down the stairs one at a time, he tells the band that the dungeon is not far from here.
If Xavier has a girl captured, it is likely he will have her in there. He seems to favor this area and Eparius thinks he tries to lock himself up when he regains his own mind in those short bursts, but nothing can seem to hold him for long.
Eparius instructs the band to use a massive cauldron down in the basement and to load it over into the furnace.
The cauldron is over one hundred pounds and the heat of the furnace is immense, so it is difficult task, made easy by Heironymo who causes it to levitate, then pushes the cauldron into the furnace.
The silver is then loaded into the cauldron which then takes an hour for the silver to melt.
Lemmog silvers his axe.
Ekam his rapier
Yomi his arrows
Eparius then requests that the band dip him in there as well, as he wishes to help and fulfill his duty to the house as needed.
Ekam thows the silver he has into the cauldron and holds Eparius into it.
Eparius cries out in intense agony as he is dipped into the cauldron. Somehow this animated blade can still experience pain! The screams are cut off after only a few seconds as he seems to either die or pass out - it is not really possible to tell with a soul trapped within a blade.
Eparius then remains unconscious for roughly ten minutes before he wakes up sobbing. It was the worst pain he had experienced in his entire life - as if all of his flesh was being cooked at once but there was no mercy from it. Those few seconds he remained awake felt like hours, but the pain has subsided and he is ready to fight!
The only thing that is left is to take on Xavier himself!
Facing The Beast
The path to the dungeon is a long, twisting stairwell that goes even deeper than the furnace. As the party descends, the temperature begins to plummet. Deep claw marks decorate the wall in vicious parallel lines and hair is scattered across the stone steps.
At the bottom of the stairs is a doorway, but the door that once covered it has been ripped off its hinges and tossed aside.
The sound of claws scraping against stone echos through the area as well as the stifled sounds of a woman crying.
Xavier - or what was once Xavier - paces in front of the cage containing Emma. She is curled up in the corner of the cell, wrapped in a thick blanket and sobbing deeply.
There are five cells in total in the room, each roughly ten square feet and along the left wall. The total size of the dungeon is approximately fifty by fifty feet. Off to the right are a few tables, some of which contain bowls filled with food and water. There is a huge pile of rags and blankets in the corner that form a makeshift bed. There is no sunlight in the room, but four torches provide dim light in the area. There are also a few barrels and crates scattered throughout the room with labels for perishable goods carved into them.
The werewolf Xavier becomes aware of the bands presence............
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