She nods. "I do not know of anything that would affect a whole town. Rotten meats wouldn't give these symptoms, I think. Poison in the water? What water? It would quickly be swept away in the river. Maybe a well." She pauses and shakes her head. "You would need such large amounts of poison to affect many people. Also you said there were two people affected? No. I want to see this girl for myself," she says looking around for anyone to help her. Normina rises from her place down the table, leaves and returns after a while with Jehanne in tow.

Saissa takes Jehanne to a secluded corner of the room and examines the girl thouroghly, lifts her shift without apparent regard for any modesty and inspects her all over all the while Jehanne blushes and tries to keep herself decent. After a short while Saissa exclaims. "Here. See!" She points low on the girls neck and there is a wide scar several inches long, recently healed but still raw.

She lowers her voice to a whisper and backs away from Jehanne. "Loup-garou."

The healer almost backs straight into the Chivalier de Sérignac, who had crossed the room with the wrathful focus of a hawk seeing an owl two seconds after it became clear that Normina was not going to keep her charge from being sought over for witch-marks. Flushed and furious, he interposes himself bodily between herbalist and child, his voice dangerously soft as he tells the former: "Those killed fell from a height. None were torn apart with teeth."

Of Jehanne, he asks: "Art thou a werewolf, maiden?" There doesn't seem to be any particular judgement in the question, simply an establishment of fact.

Jehanne looks shaken and afraid. "A man-wolf? No, no, no!" she exclaims, raises her hand to cover the scar and backs away from the wise-woman until her back is against the wall.

OOC: You may all roll Perception.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Wed 11 Oct 2023.

Quin nods, accepting that Jehanne would know better than a herbalist if she were a werewolf or not, watching the wise woman for any sudden brandishing of weapons or poisonous branches as he continues to address Jehanne: "-and how came thou by the mark Madame dislikes? Speak freely, I will not suffer her to touch thee again unless thou wish't."

He seems quite serious, unarmed and in dangerous defiance of his host's ruling though he is. Although tensed, there's a fighter's lack of rigidity in his stance, quite in balance where he stands.

[[21:07, Today: Quintillian de Serignac rolled 5 using 1d100.  Perceive! (44)]]

"Sacre Bleu" Guy swore, shocked. He walked over slowly. He looked at Quintillian and said in a low voice "Our Lady will need to know of this. I like the way you rise to the maid's defence, cam I trust you to help keep her safe until our Lady has spoken?"


09:22, Today: Guy de Roquefixade rolled 67 using 1d100.  perception 40.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Thu 12 Oct 2023.

Quin's brow twitches into a brief frown, but then he steps back, still in balance, and goes to one knee at Jehanne's feet. He offers the girl his hand, sincere and serious despite her class and his unarmoured state. "Wouldst have me for thy protector here and on the road, Jehanne of the Laundry?"

[[Ref, can we get a voice colour for Jehanne? It seems she'll be fairly significant and with a couple of other NPCs in the room the default goldenrod is a little confusing.]]

William watches on at Quin's display of chivalry. How much strangeness happens here by the day and I've only just arrived... he thinks to himself.

I didn't realize goldenrod was the default npc color, my bad if I added to that confusion. I'll use another henceforth

Jehanne looks unsure at Quin, nods and hesitates briefly before taking his hand. Her skin is surprisingly warm to the touch. "Thank you, I don't know how I got the scar.. I... there's something wrong with me, I think." she breathes unhappily.

The wise-woman scoffs at the show of chivalry. "I'll have no part in this. It'll end badly," she says and turns to leave.

Guillame sits by the table with Quins equipment in his lap, staring wide-eyed at everything that happens.

OOC: Jehanne seems to be around 12, give or take. Let me know when you're all ready to wrap the scene up.

[Private to Quintillian de Serignac: You see a glint of something in her eyes as you ask about her being a werewolf. You don't think she's lying but there is something else she is hiding.]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Fri 13 Oct 2023.

Quin formally kisses her hand and stands, casting a glance at the healer's movement before returning his attention to his new charge: "May I set my hand on thy brow a moment, and see the mark?" he asks Jehanne, explaining to Guy: "I will save most questioning for the journey, lord, but she may be commencing a fever."

"Wait a moment, if you please" Guy asks the wise woman, though there is steel beneath the request.

He walks up to Jehenne. "De Serignac and I will protect you as much as we are able, though we also need to protect others. You will need to be watched.

"Please, may I look at that? We need to see."

OOC Guy still has questions.
Also, what does this scar look like? Is it bite marks, claw marks, bits of bark or greenery as if she's been scratched by a tree branch? Guy wants to look at it closely.

The girl nods her acquiescence and pulls the neckband of her woolen shift down to reveal the scar. It is a barely healed reddish pink, about 4 inches long, half an inch wide and protrudes from the surrounding pale skin. The edges are relatively smooth. Difficult to tell exactly what might have caused it but it is definitely not a bite mark.

The wise-woman stops before she reaches the door, turns and folds her arms across her chest.

OOC: You may roll Healing to gain additional information about the scar.

Guy looked at the scar and frowned. "I have no idea of what I am looking at, but it's not a bite. Tell me milord, what your thoughts are" he muttered quietly enough only Quin and Jehanne could hear.

Striding over to the wise woman, he said quietly to her "That did not look like a bite to me. What scared you so?"


OOC "Tell me milord, what your thoughts are" Guy is meaning "tell me later"
22:16, Today: Guy de Roquefixade rolled 89 using 1d100.  Healing 21. Not even close.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:36, Mon 16 Oct 2023.

Quin makes to reply, taking a look at the injury and gently setting his hand on Jehanne's head to judge her temperature, but Guy is off and asking questions of the healer before he can do so. He frowns at the werewolf questions, feeling that their irrelevancy has been established, but quietly asks Jehanne: "Is it tender still?"

[[no Healing here either! 10:40, Today: Quintillian de Serignac rolled 38 using 1d100.  Healing, for fun (21)]]

Jehanne shakes her head. "No, not tender, I didn't even know I had it," she whispers. "This is all a bit much... please, may I sit?"

The sage shakes her head, "A bite is not necessary, Seigneur. It could be a scratch or that you have touched the same things as the man-wolf. The scar is too uneven to be from a sharp edge like a tool. It looks like a claw or talon. The worst thing is," her voice lowers to almost a whisper, "she should be dead from a wound that size. Look at it, it is still pink which means it is recently healed and with no signs of infection at all." She shakes her head again, with emphasis. "I have never seen anything heal that well.

Quin nods and shepherds the girl to a spot between William and Guillaume on the bench, though not sitting down again himself. "I'd have thee pray with me, later, if thou would," is his only comment on current discussions for now, and said softly enough.

[Private to GM: That can happen "offscreen" before we leave if you like. He's mostly seeing if she can pray, but also trying to offer protection that way even if she can't.

Did her head feel feverish?]

Guy thought about that for a while. "D'accord, it is not a bite nor a knife. Perhaps a claw, but there was only one line, not five."

"Donc.... er.. if it is a wolf man, is there a cure? What? And how do we find the Master Wolf, the one that made her? Are there any signs to look for?"

She nods. "You can try to give her monkshood. But be careful to handle it when the moon is full, that will turn you into one yourself." She pauses to think. "In human form the wolf-man will have eyebrows that meet at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a swinging stride. The wolf-form will have no tail. I have heard that you can cut a piece of flesh off and see if there is fur within the wound," she grimaces, "but that sounds silly."

She continues. "When it returns to it's human form it will be weak and debilitated."

Quin's brow twitches into a frown on catching the mention of wolfsbane, being quite aware that besides whatever mysterious uses it might have in medicine, its usual use was to kill foxes, rats and wolves by poisoned bait. He shakes it off and briefly leans on the table near Jehanne to catch her attention.

"Hast thou eaten?" he asks whilst there is unpoisoned food in front of them, casting a glance at Guillaume to include him in the question. It might not be quite polite to feed peasants, servants or dogs at the high table, but he had certainly finished, William likely had, and Guy's attention was well elsewhere.

[[18:23, Today: Quintillian de Serignac rolled 13 using 1d100 Natural Lore (31) Quin knows wolfbane, like decapitation, kills most things...]]

Guy frowned. "I'm not familiar with monkshood. If you have some, we will collect it as we come past. And we will keep a watch on her eyebrows" he said seriously.

"But perhaps there is no wolf man. If so, we could kill her trying to help her and the problem would remain. And then... people would be scared. They will cry "devilry" and "witchcraft" and they will come for wise women, herbalists, old women who live alone, anyone who *might* be a witch." He said pointedly.

"We need to find the cause of this and we need to be sure and we need to put a stop to it. Otherwise, goodly innocent people will be hunted and you know it well.

"So. If you have any other suggestions for a possible cause of this, I need to know.

"Also, if this turns into a witch hunt, I need to know what I am looking for. What are some good luck charms, blessings, symbols goodly rural folk might have? I don't want a lonely widow to be burned because she has a sack of garlic hanging from her eaves and a painted symbol to ward off the evil eye.

He spread his hands helplessly, raw emotion in his eyes.  "I need to protect my people, all my people, and I don't know what I am looking for."



11:22, Today: Guy de Roquefixade rolled 90 using 1d100.  natural lore 40.


This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Sun 22 Oct 2023.

Saissa grimaces. "I don't have any monkshood. It's called wolfsbane sometimes and it's very poisonous. Pretty, though." She continues. "I've been accused of witchcraft myself on more than one occasion. I don't think the girl's a witch. She's clearly had something happen to her though, as to what... well, loup-garou fits better than anything I can think of. Be careful though, she may not be so innocent as she seems, chevaliers," she emphasizes the last word with something like a sneer.

She mentions some of the superstitious charms and symbols people in this region might use.

Quin does look over at the disdainful warning, but though a faint trace of the angry flush returns at the notion that guilty women or werewolves should forfeit rights to their own modesty he doesn't rise to the jab. He looks down and gently nudges a board with medlar cheese and real cheese on it within Jehanne's reach in a querying fashion, looking to William to see if he wanted any of that as well.

"Innocent or not, I will watch her closely until this matter is resolved," Guy avowed. "She could well be a pawn but I do not think she is the one we seek. If there is one.

"But I do not think this is over. I would not be surprised if something else diabolic happens, completely unrelated to her or these murders.

Guy drew a deep breath before continuing "If there is a witch hunt, well, what is witch craft? Is there good magic as well as bad? Is there a difference between a" he shrugged questioningly "a protective spell and a curse?"

"If you were looking for evil magic, what would you look for?"

The wise-woman looks at Guy with sharp and wary eyes. "I do not practice evil magic or witchcraft, seigneur, I do not know anything of it." She eyes him to gauge if he's trying to trap her somehow. "Try a priest, they seem to know a lot about the devil," she finishes.

OOC: We're moving on, if you have any more questions make them in the OOC thread and I'll sum the answers up elsewhere.

[Continued in thread VI]