[hider=Prison Tale]
William Flin, merchant, explorer and professional swindler. And now prisoner. Life had been ticking over for longer than he liked to remember. He'd been sitting in this crude cell for much longer than he liked to admit however he knew that he wasn't being ransomed by common bandits. Bandits don't feed prisoners venison and it wasn't a rival merchant, because William had been left alive. A predicament that was partly due to his own stupidity. If he'd hadn't left Jais as acting leader of the merchant guild search parties would've been formed no later than a day after he went missing. But William had been around half the lands searching for ingredients, plants from all corners of the isles, red kelp, blister cap mushrooms, mid-nightshade. At some point he'd thought himself to be on a fools adventure looking for substances that very few see In a lifetime. But the alchemist who described it explained his thought process and the true power in this concoction, before William quietly disposed of one less loose end. And he only had one reminder of his quest sitting taunting him in the docks of this pathetic tiny shanty town. William arrived here as it was the only place in the known land that had a grove that grew the purist spiked wolfsbane and that was the last item on Williams list. The town was located on the northern borders of Thralreth directly next to Legon. The land was a barren and open; after the vast farmlands of Thralreth ended but just before the dense forests of Legon began. He and his crew had taken a small boat through the river Wye, sailed along the coast of Thralreth before finally sailing up the river Howl just to get to this nameless village. At first the village's folk seemed little more than inbred savages, eyes always watching, whispers when the crew passed. Overall just creepy, but not violent. It was unclear who their lord was and any attempt to ask them for the name of their lord or village were met with either vague answers or grunts. The crew themselves were becoming increasingly restless and wanted to find the nettlebane as soon as possible so they could leave. They’d been here for a week waiting for a guide to show them to the grove then the day finally came. A man with a Balding head and only enough teeth in his mouth to be able to eat. He took William into the heart of the forest when he turned to William with a dagger in hand and murderous intent in his eyes. That was when William met her. As the man drew closer ready to strike William down, so too did the woman, dressed in little more than modesty rags. Hidden in the canopy shadow she drew her bow and with a single piecing sound that man was left gurgling on the floor in a book of blood and splintered bones where the arrow had all but removed his jaw.

“You, your not like the others, the others don't dress like testers” said the woman removing the arrow from the still gurgling man.
“Testers?” pronounced William still partly shocked at the attack and confused at the scantily clad woman…
“Yes the men who entertain with funniness, one passed through the forest once he dressed like you maybe you know him?” Her joyful giggle took William by surprise and her broken language definitely made William wonder about her origins.
“A jester” William responded with a callous look “no I'm a merchant I trade things with people. Anyway who are you, why did you kill that man, why did he attack me?” 
“Merchant” she giggled again “no I prefer jester you are a funny man, maybe that's why they didn't eat you, make the wolfsbane taste funny, make it more fun to eat, that man was going to cut you up and make wolfsbane grow quicker, he killed by wolf pet so I took something important to him didn't care to save you but sometimes it's okay to make mistakes..”
William both angered and confused by her comment said little more than a “okay..” before she continued.
“Yes I'll take you back to the village and then you can get on the wooden fish and leave and be safe, the people in town are bad, already eaten the other jesters when you left”.
“What” barked William “they can't be gone, I only left about an hour ago”
“Yes they don't need to cook the jesters they just take small bites then feed the rest to the beast he likes them still warm”.
“The beast? What kind of beast”
With a joyful skip despite the depressing news of the departed crew. News that William hardly believed but it still made him uncomfortable. She beckoned him to follow and they went back to the village through the dense shrubbery. [/hider]

[hider=Full Moon]

William and the girl arrived back at a small rocky ledge overlooking the village and to Williams dismay the dirt path in the middle of the village was covered in blood and chunks of gore. One of Williams men barely over the age of 16 was crawling amongst the gore and a speed unexpected for a man with that many lacerations to his body. His ribs could be seen almost pouring out of his stomach. And then William saw it, the beast. A large black wolf on its hind legs stood over the young man's withered body and with a blood curdling howl the beast picked him up and ripped him into spilling the man's entrails all over it's face and devouring him large chunks at a time. William gagged at the sight and turned to the woman, she was gone.
William attempted to turn but a quick swooping noise accompanied with a hit to the back of the head rendered William unconscious. He had been stuck in this cell ever since. The people of the town had been fattening him up with luxurious foods and giving him frequent baths preparing for the next full moon. The beast was, as William soon came to know, a creature straight out of Formarothian legend; a werewolf and William was it’s next meal.

***

William had played that scenario over in his head for the weeks he'd spent in the cell a part of him angered by the woman for abandoning him, another part acceptant of his fate. This day was different from the rest as he'd been fed twice today already so when his cell opened a 3rd time he realised that the full moon was due tonight and William was preparing for his final curtain.
He was brought from his cell placed in the courtyard with a bonfire at his back and a large circle made by the villagers who surrounded him. As they waited, surrounded by silent watching eyes William stood graciously waiting for his inevitable death. 
Suddenly howls echoed around the village the stench of blood filled the air and villages dropped to there knees overwhelmed by their masters coming. 
Suddenly the tree above began to russell and crack. William looked up to see the large black figure sat perched on the tree above and with a blood curdling howl the hunt started. The creature lept from the canopy and landed in the centre of the circle.
With the energy of a man half his age William reached back and grabbed a burning log which smoldered and burnt his hand but it was a gentle tickle compared to what the beast would do to him. Swinging the burning log with nothing but adrenaline and wood protecting himself William shouted “c'mon then you bastard, I hope you choke” he closed his eyes ready for the sweet embrace of death but with gasps and screams the villagers began to run and flee from the scene and when William opened his eyes he saw a single arrow piercing the beasts eyes entering the side of its skull and exiting through the other side. The beast had been blinded and starting to blindly swing it's claws shredding the villagers who had gotten to close. Through the Chaos William heard a voice shouting above the crowd “I saved the jester again” as a second arrow pierced the beasts stomach. The frenzied creature jumped towards William knocking him on his back the a large gash on his arm the beast stood above William clearly smelling his blood and it started to blindly swing above his head missing by inches as William grabbed the arrow that had been lodged in its stomach. He pulled and pushed, when the beast sank its teeth into his shoulder he kept pushing, when another arrow shot into the beasts skull he kept pushing. He didn't stop until the sound of tearing flesh and the pained howl of the beast echoed to  little more than a scream. As the beast grabbed at its newly disemboweled stomach vague movements which resembled a scared man started to take shape before one last futile howl left the beast falling backwards to die under the moon that had governed its life.

The fight had left William with a bite on his shoulder and a gash on his arm but the woman who'd saved him a second time had been swarmed by the villagers all of who planned to throw her on the fire.
William stood still shaking from the pain in his arm “put her down now” and with that the villagers let her down and murmurs filled the crowd as one by one they kneeled before William claiming him to be the new master of the village. He stood above this villagers red in the face from anger but calmly announced “whiskey I need lots of whiskey then everyone go into the tavern and we'll all celebrate, and someone bring a create of spiked wolfsbane to my boat” with that 3 villagers ran off to get some casks and bottles of whiskey (that they had stolen off some unfortunate merchants) while the others quickly marched towards the tavern preparing for a celebration and one man ventured into the forest. 

***

The whiskey arrived, the villagers began their celebration and William had his spiked wolfsbane delivered to his ship the woman watched him with nothing but malicious intent 
“the jester in now the master” she scowled, she had been tending to William’s wounds and had it not been for her he would have bled out long ago. Still even with her skill at healing the speed at which William had recovered was strangely remarkable. So much so it filled her with suspicion. 
“No” he replied “the merchant is a good man don't forget that, but do you have a name?”
“Amaranthis” said the woman watching as William as he poured some of his whiskey on the wall of the tavern emptying his bottle.
“Well Amaranthis your good with a bow” as William stuck his knife into a cask of whisky. “I'd like you to come with me, become a bodyguard for this traveling jester” he said through a faint smile.
“I can't I've never left the forest I've only met a few people I couldn't” she said a slight panic in her voice
“You can and you will” he said “I'll race you to the ‘wooden fish’” she paused for a moment still contemplating the offer that had been made to her. It was true that she had no experience fo the outside world and the thought of leaving the forest scarred her. However part of had always longed to see the greater world, to see whether the stories told by the forest tribes were true; The stories of the metal men who fought with steel knives the size of people, the chieftains who wore gold upon their head and the stone huts built as high as mountains. She looked as William and  giggled, acknowledging the humour of her broken language.
She ran out the tavern passed all the villagers “I'll be right back” William shouted to the villagers who in turn bowed low, hauling the leaking whiskey cask across the wooden floor of the tavern. He was unsure why they worshiped him so, perhaps it was some weird trial; ‘whoever defeated the werewolf would be worthy of their leader’ or something. Not that William really cared about the traditions of these deluded crazies. After leaving the ramshackle tavern and stepping into the fresh late night air William quietly grabbed a nearby pitchfork and placed it through the handles, baring the door and leaving the villagers inside. He looked towards Amaranthis starting to gain some distance “OI” he shouted “remember I'm a good man” and with that he dropped a candle he had grabbed on the way out into the pool of whiskey watching as the trail of fire slipped under the door igniting the entire tavern filled with the villagers. “Sometimes being a good man means being the lesser of two evils” he said to himself as he listened to the screams and banging of the villagers trapped in the burning building. He was finally ready to come home.

[/hider]

By [@Randyfourballs] & [@Popcornzy]