Session 2-9: Legend of the Lakewatch Wolves

Mom was let out of the Hospital today; she looked worn out and sad, but still was grateful when Cojitron went to pick her up and bring her home. I knew that I had to be the brave and strong one, for her and the other Throat Wolves. Cojitron had a surprise waiting for her; she had found the ring Bayour kept with him, the one that could restore people, and said in time, if she wore it her arm could return. She smiled a bit at that, but then reminded us we needed to get ready; we were going to say goodbye to our friends today at the Whisperveil Cemetery today.   As Cojitron helped us get ready, they rattled on about how after the…very frightening and scary fight that took our friends from us at that Monster Hotel, they waited until the next morning when the ghosts and demons would be asleep before going back in to pull Horick and Tea Kettle’s bodies, as well as another man that had died named Dieter Ravinger from the ballroom. They wouldn’t let us see them; they were no longer like themselves, they said. Bayour had died trying to stop that awful Red Lady from escaping before Cojitron avenged their friends after a last struggle.   I had spent the days since that night crying, but now had to be brave, for the other Throat Wolves too, who had all come out of hiding once that cult with the masks had been stopped. While brushing my hair, Cojitron took a book out of a satchel they carried. They very reverently said that it was a journal their friend Bayour kept in the office of his Uncle, Dayne Reed, their boss. I met him once or twice; he smelled like alcohol all the time and wasn’t nice like Bayour was. Cojitron said that they would complete the rest of Bayour’s journey and wanted my help with it, to give to his parents at the funeral later.   It felt strange, helping Cojitron remember so much of the scary time, but they said it was to keep the memory of their friends alive for us who were still here. So I sat up and told them I would help. Cojitron produced a pen from their pack and began to write the last adventure of the Lakewatch Wolves.   That terrible evening when Bayour, Horick and Tea Kettle had left to find the last of those dragon teeth those masked bad guys kept fighting over in Muldrak, Cojitron had kept me and Bad Bill safe at their friend’s Isolde's bookshop, They were about to go out to look for Teal and the others that were in the city with their families to make sure they weren’t in danger like we were when a scary Masked Cultist smashed the door to the bookshop and demanded Bill and me in exchange for those teeth. He was followed by cold dead things, and when Cojitron said no, they attacked. Cojitron, Isolde and Dayne fought back and though the scary man, who called himself the Black Marshal, was really strong, they almost beat him and his monsters back with magic fire. It struck him terribly every time he managed to hit Cojitron like a sort of shield. Bill and I tried to hide but the three of them were beaten eventually and the Marshal had his monsters grab and take us with him. We didn’t remember much of anything else because they put us to sleep with some sort of magic soon after.   Cojitron wrote the next portion. Bayou had told him before the last fight that on their way back from Muldrak, they had discovered that the woman Migonnette, who worked at the cemetery, was really the Red Madonna that had taken my family and murdered Good Bill. She had given them a ring earlier that evening when they spoke to her before they knew the truth and when they were going to make a plan against her a giant, flaming moth came out of that magic ring and attacked them on their boat. The huge moth almost sets their ship on fire and sinks them but they succeed in killing it dead and they tossed the ring into the lake; after fixing their ship they came back as soon as they could.   When they got back to the bookshop and found Cojitron damaged, Tea Kettle set to fixing them back up. Dayne and Isolde had hid and came out to tell the others what had happened. They found a letter left near Cojitron from the Black Marshal cultist that took us. He wrote that since Dieter and Liam’s father Eli, that old guy that used to run the cemetery and had made his sons alive again, had failed in bringing him the dragon teeth, he had taken us and was keeping Dieter captive and wanted his prize in exchange for our lives. He left a way to contact him back with their response. The big one, Liam, had returned with them but they kept him under some sort of spell because his brain was so confused, and they kept him asleep in the store.   After Tea Kettle had finished fixing Cojitron, they became desperate for a plan to get us safely back, without giving them the teeth, which would bring back some sort of dragon creature that they worshiped that would destroy the city. The fire from a few months ago was the fault of some of their cult people, and our friends were heroes then and stopped them, but worried they couldn’t do it this time without getting us hurt. Eventually the four of them decided to pretend to want to meet with them to give them the fangs, but since they were rivals even though they were supposed to be a part of the same club, they would fight amongst themselves and Cojitron could save me and everyone else while they fought.   Horick suggested using the hotel as a meeting place; it was a dangerous idea, that hotel was scary and haunted, but Bayour and the others reluctantly agree, saying they monsters within could be used against the cultists, and that they wouldn’t be prepared to fight them because they didn’t know about it. Bayour began writing a letter to the Red Madonna to tell her to meet at the hotel instead of at our house because of some troubles they had getting the other teeth, hoping she would be fooled into coming.   While he was doing that, Cojitron described the Black Marshall and his monsters to everyone else. They called the Black Marshal something called a necromancer, from Frostmere from the way he was dressed and spoke. Tea Kettle offered up that the zombies that followed him were something called Draugr, and they thrived with cold, which was why Cojitron’s powerful fire magic almost saved us earlier. Bayour wrote a second letter to the Black Marshal telling him to go to the MacMurdaugh Hotel in a few hours for the exchange of the teeth for me, my friends and Dieter. Once Bayour sent the letters out with a courier, Tea Kettle and Cojitron decided to head to Whisperveil to see if there was anything in Eli Ravinger’s old office that could help them. Horick and Bayour went to the hotel since they said they “worked” there to get it ready. Dayne went back to his office to drink more I guess while Isolde stayed in her shop.   At the cemetery, Cojitron and Tea Kettle, knowing the employees there, managed to get into the offices but are confronted by Migonnette, and they all knew that they knew that this cruel woman was really the bad guy now. She apparently wasn’t fooled completely by the letter Bayour sent, but Cojitron and Tea Kettle concocted the right message to lure her to the hotel. She thought for a bit and agreed, not knowing the danger of that place. She made her villainous threats as they left the office about killing my family if they were not there as agreed.   Horick and Bayour arrive at the MacMurdaugh Hotel and, because they worked there, could see it for what it used to be instead of what it is now. Cojitron tried to explain it to me but I couldn’t quite understand it. Something about evil devils that now ran it. The two of them asked to use the ballroom of the hotel for some guests that night, and, being that it was for a lot of potential “guests” for the hotel to take, the Night Manager came and agreed to this proposition if our friends could start the furnace in the basement and awaken the hotel, which sounded very frightening. How does a building awaken? Cojitron hesitated before describing the Night Manager to me, not a person at all, but an evil monster from another world. I understood that well enough, that they were here to take us from our homes if we did bad. The Night Manager gave Horick a matchbook and said that striking it would awaken the hotel after they fed it.   Horick and Bayour went to the basement and found the large, black furnace. They put some magic stuff in there, and lit the furnace, causing the hotel to rumble and become aware like some kind of restless beast. The preparations were ready and they went to the ballroom, where they met with Tea Kettle and Cojitron, who said that the Red Madonna was on her way as well.   The four of them thought about maybe actually having the bad cultists summon their dragon monster Stryxis, because it could become trapped in the hotel once it awakened, but they thought it too risky in case something wrong happened and it managed to get out from this place and attack the city.   They waited in the ballroom, with Bayour holding on to a box holding the three teeth they had collected. The Red Madonna was the first to arrive, coming in from the north entrance of the ballroom with a number of her cultists, mask wearing bad guys with weapons. Mom and my sister were under her control and restrained by her servants. Just a minute later the Black Marshal and a group of his Draugr came in; I had awakened maybe a few minutes before we got to the hotel, and found that Bad Bill was with me, and that they had captured Bad Bill and Babu too. I didn’t dare talk because I didn’t want this Marshal villain to hurt us, but I was glad the other Throat Wolves at least hadn’t been found. I hadn’t been inside this terrifying place since Emmy and Misfire almost fell through a @hole on the second floor. I also saw a thin man wearing black, his hands tied and mouth gagged, and figured this must be Dieter Ravinger.   Things became tense once The Red Madonna’s people and the Black Marshal’s monsters saw each other. There was shouting and threats, then Bayour threw one of the teeth towards the far wall in the north, and another of them in the opposite corner of the ballroom, keeping one on himself. The place erupted in terrible fighting. The Draugr rushed the cultists, the cultists shot magic everywhere, and the Black Marshal and Red Madonna attempted to kill our friends and each other.   Horick bellowed and charged into the Black Marshal’s monsters' ranks, swinging wildly and trying to fight to free us and Dieter. The three of us cheered them on, while Cojitron moved to try and reach me while casting her fire magic at them, knowing that they were frightened by getting burned. Bayour and Tea Kettled chased after the cultists that held mom and my sister. Cultists blocked the way out of the south end of the ballroom, so I guess the Red Madonna didn’t trust that Cojitron and the others wouldn’t try something.   Draugr and Cultists died around us, the fighting was so fast and violent; one of the cultists that went after the tooth Bayour threw to the north picked it up, but was caught by some magic Tea Kettle shot at him and was stuck bleeding on the ground. The Madonna took it from him and tried to run for the other tooth in the south end. The Black Marshal could not get past Cojitron’s magic and Horick’s wild swings, but neither could they free Dieter. Horick threw aside one of the Draugr and managed to cleave a path for Teal, Babu and myself to run. I didn’t want to leave mom but Cojitron took the three of us and promised that their friends would save my family, heading out of the ballroom and to an open window to help us out. They told us to run to the old barn we used to hide in when we lived in Lakewatch Vale and stay there until they picked us up.   Horick stayed behind, and, nearly exhausted from all the wounds he had taken, struck the matchbook. I’ll never forget the fright from the hotel waking up for the rest of my life. Flames erupted and these winged, horned monsters appeared out of the fire, attacking everyone around them without a care. Because Horick and Bayour were with the hotel, they left them alone for a while, but who knows for how long? Horick tried to reach Dieter to free him too but was eventually pulled down by the bad guys around him, but not before slaying the Black Marshal, as a part of the ballroom’s ceiling fell and crushed many of them.   Bayour and Tea Kettle chased mom and my sister, trying to carry them outside as they wouldn’t disobey the Red Madonna as long as they were under her spell. Demons blocked their path but they went and fought the cultists instead. The Red Madonna tried to approach and kill our friends but a demon flew at her, and she was forced to use magic to get past him. Tea Kettle tried to use his strange cube to use some kind of magic against her, but she used her power to stop that from happening. Instead, Tea Kettle and his bird robot made a path out of the south exit while Bayour picked up my family and used his magic to jump past the enemies in his way to escape the ballroom and run outside. He had to knock them both out until they could wake up on their own, and once he got outside, ran beyond the gate and left them there in a hidden spot. Worried for his friends, he turned around to go back in.   Tea Kettle tried to fight the Red Madonna but was swarmed by the last of her cultists and couldn’t escape, being knocked out while the ballroom continued shaking from the demons attacking everyone viciously. The Red Madonna ran after Bayour and bumped into him as he came to help his friends. No one knows exactly what happened next but Cojitron circled the hotel to look for Bayour, having seen him leave from the other exit after they helped us escape out the window. When they got to the other entrance, they found their friend, having been killed by magic. He must have wounded the witch badly though, because Cojitron followed the blood trail all the way into an alley a minute or so away, and found their friend’s murderer, clutching the box with the two teeth she was able to steal from Bayour and having drank a potion in the middle of her escape.   The Red Madonna tried to intimidate Cojitron into giving up, but their friends died because of these evil cultists, they refused and began casting a spell. The Red Madonna also began using her magic, but Cojitron was a second faster, letting loose a ball of fire that engulfed the evil, vile woman that finally killed her. I hate seeing blood, and things like that, but I almost wished I was there to see her finally pay for what she did to Good Bill, my family and Cojitron’s friends.   After that, Cojitron picked up the teeth, and went back to the ballroom, finding that everyone had perished and the hotel somehow reveling in all the death. Cojitron came to the barn after freeing my family, who had been freed from the spell, and took us from that horrid place back to the book store.   Cojitron stopped writing at this point, and said they would finish it up as we finished getting ready. I thought for a moment about that night, and for the thousandth time thanked Cojitron and their friends for helping save us from those evil people. I can always tell when Cojitron meant to smile, even though they were a clanker, even if it was a sad smile.   We took a carriage to the cemetery. It was a sunny day, even as sad as the occasion was. After entering the gates, we found where the funeral was being held. There were four large caskets for Horick, Bayour, Tea Kettle and Dieter. Cojitron never told me what happened to Liam, Dieter’s brother, only that he wouldn’t understand what had happened to his brother and father in the end. They looked just like they used to, like they were sleeping. I saw the other Throat Wolves there, all trying to put on a face that made them seem more grown up, especially Teal. Emmy was there with her mother Saskia, and her sisters Orin and Kyla. Saskia, I could hear, was saying bad words about the hotel, and how it should’ve been burned to the ground after the disaster. Misfire was with Emmy, having been given new legs some time ago so they didn’t need to be carried anymore. Bad Bill stood nearby with Babu and Felrick, sniffling as they talked about watching Cojitron and their friends fight the boathouse bandits the first time we met them all.   Saskia was with several dwarves, and at first I thought they were related to Horick, but Cojitron told me they were Daghilla Ghuldran and her employees from something called Ackley Ales. They had helped her out a long time ago to get to Ghal Pelor safely. One older dwarf woman did stand with them, Horick’s grandmother Rosa. She was being comforted by Daghilla, but I could feel in the pit of my stomach how much grief she had. I think Daghilla maybe liked Horick, because she kept singing his praises, talking about how he was the slayer of wolves and other monsters to cheer her up. Another Tengu named Fizzle and a gnome like us named Wilkas Cromokal had come too, grateful for the second chance they had gotten because of our friends.   Some of the people from the hospital stopped in, a large bald man with one leg named Fez, and a woman named Rellahne, who was trying to be a doctor. They were sad to see their friends gone, but said they weren’t surprised they died trying to help others.   A few people that looked like actors were there too, for Bayour I think. I spotted a @beautiful woman among them, with strange hair that looked like it changed colors when I stood at different places to stare. She looked at Bayour’s casket, without any emotion, and left after having not spoken to anyone. I wonder who she was?   Some of the constables from the city came, including the lieutenant, Diagwen Freeleaf. They were grateful too for the help Cojitron had provided in the last months. Isolde and her friend Ylva were there, with Isolde looking very uncomfortable out in public. Her friend helped though, talking to other people and trying to introduce her around. Khelan and Glom, partners and students of the Archaeology School of Ghal Pelor College were with them, wanting to thank Cojitron and the others for having saved Khelan’s life. Svala Skurgrid, the strange lady from the temple came to give an odd sermon about the Lord of the Moon for Tea Kettle, claiming he was with him now in the sky.   Blue Bottle, his mentor, came with a jar and laid it in the casket of his protege, saying something about wanting to be by later to take his mind to preserve it, whatever that meant, and to continue their work in his stead. He had managed to repair his bird robot, and promised he would take care of it. The reporter Ordrekh Brogrom of the Ghal Pelor Chronicle came with the Rylanders Lt. Kavaleno, leader of the Lakewatch Rapid Response and Rescue Team and Private Ana De Vega were there to write a story about the passing of the rescuers of the Prospero. I didn’t see Good Bill’s parents at the funeral. His casket was empty, because his body was just gone after that horrible woman murdered him. They couldn’t accept the news and disappeared from their home. I would mourn in their place, I think.   I was a little happy seeing so many friends Cojitron and the others made in their short time helping others, and though they were gone, that they would be remembered, mostly by me and the Throat Wolves, but of course Cojitron as well, who promised to to their friends that they would carry on and destroy the dragon teeth for good so that the cult could never bring their dragon back to life.   Cojitron spotted Dayne Reed and two people that were arguing with him. I was told that those were Jinsa and Ruvaen, Bayour’s parents, having come in from New Sanctuary when word got to them what happened to him. Bayour looked a lot like his mom; tough, dark haired and friendly looking, but when I thought about him some more, I realized he seemed more like his father, detached and distant, his eyes having the same expression no matter if he was smiling, frowning, angry or sad. Jinsa, I saw, felt what was plastered on her face, grief. I think Bayour maybe was looking for a way to be like that too, and tried to by being an actor, but I think maybe instead he found it for real by helping people.   Bayour’s mother eventually had enough of shouting at Dayne and gave him a right hook that knocked the man to the ground. Dayne could only lay there, too afraid to look her in the eye. I’ve only ever seen Bayour’s uncle drunk so this was very strange to me. Cojitron rolled in to try and calm her down, handing her Bayour’s journal that we finished earlier, signed by all of us Throat Wolves, and a bag of his belongings she had taken when they recovered the bodies from the hotel. His parents were a lot nicer to Cojitron, and I think Jinsa in particular thanked them for having given this last piece of their son to them.   Lastly, the Throat Wolves and I went after the sermon was over and howled at the sky one last time for our friends. I realized now that we were lucky to have known them. Most would have ignored a bunch of runaways in a barn, or had taken us prisoner to sell us or worse. But they looked out for us. And we needed to do our best to be like them and help where we could too.   I felt mostly bad for Cojitron, but they promised they would be around to look after us as long as we needed it. I said maybe eventually, we could look out for them instead.   Throat Wolves Forever,   ~Jammy