Werewolf Murders in Hexpan
The Murders
In Desnus 4710, a young woman with golden-hued skin named Meliora came to the party in Hexpan with news of murder. Two locals had been torn apart in the fields around the settlement: Saki, gathering berries two days earlier, and the shepherd Beven the following night. Neither had any enemies.
At the farmstead, Lizzy and Leonardo examined the bodies. Deep bites, flesh torn away, bones cracked open. Not wolves. The tracks were canine, but far too large. Kairos used her Time Sense and realized that night was the full moon. She and Djames put it together: a werewolf.
The Investigation
Lizzy found the tracks and followed them back toward Hexpan. When the party voiced their suspicions, Meliora bolted. They caught her before she vanished into the streets. She said little, but her fear said plenty.
The trail ended at a house on the edge of town. Djames picked the lock. Inside they found strong liquor, a well-crafted hunting bow, and a golden earring stained with dried blood, hidden under a loose floorboard. Leonardo sensed the violence tied to it had happened only the day before. A leather-bound ledger recorded deliveries of exotic animals for blood sport—brush thylacines, a tiger, an aggressive boar—all addressed to Eirigg.
Hexpan’s records showed Eirigg had arrived three months earlier, claiming to be a hunter and trapper. The timing matched the killings.
The Fight
The party waited for Eirigg in his own home. The ambush failed. He sensed them the moment he crossed the threshold and changed into a towering wolf-hybrid.
Djames started Courageous Anthem. Leonardo took a claw across the shoulder, then called on Ragathiel to set his longsword alight. Lizzy tangled the werewolf in vines with Flourishing Flora, and Kairos stepped through time with Dimensional Assault to Spellstrike him from behind. His wounds started closing. “Silver or magic!” Kairos shouted. “Nothing else will hold!”
Lizzy tried Veil of Dreams to put him down gently. It didn’t hold. Kairos ended it with a Shocking Grasp Spellstrike through her cold iron fauchard, and Leonardo bound the unconscious werewolf in silvered chains. As the moon rose, Eirigg turned back into a scarred, haggard man.
The Aftermath
Eirigg told his story. He’d been bitten while hunting, and had fled to protect others, but the curse was stronger than he was. The animal fights were his way of channeling the beast. The earring belonged to his sister, killed in the same attack that cursed him. Meliora was his daughter, and had been trying to protect him.
Leonardo argued for mercy tempered with justice. Djames suggested the temples of Restov. The party sent Eirigg north under guard, with a letter to Lady Jamandi asking Brevoy’s temples for help. Meliora was cleared and stayed in Hexpan.
The townsfolk pooled 85 gold pieces as a reward.
The ledger turned up again later. In the Owlbear’s cave, Lizzy recognized the markings on one of the dead attackers from the list in Eirigg’s ledger (Session-19).