Jehanne collects herself. "He breathes," she says and helps Quin put her father to bed. Penota, having stood at the top of the stairs in stunned silence, picks up the discarded bedclothes and dresses the man. Jehanne turns to the men. "What... what happened? I... I've noticed some changes in him but this..." she trails off and sits down at the edge of the bed. "It must be a punishment for our sins."

"Why, what terrible sins have you committed that you feel you deserve such a punishment?" Guy asks.

He sighed and shook his head, and then cleaned his blade on a rag, taking care not to touch the blood, and threw the rag into a corner. He leaned against the wall, chewing his lip.

"Donc, er... I have a number of questions, and a number of responsibilities, as do us all" he began. "How long has be been like this? How was he made, and by whom? How many others are there? Is his change related to the Moon, as the stories say, or can he control it? Is there a cure? If so, maybe it is too late for him, but can we save you, Jehanne? Or is it manageable, he is a normal man save for one day a month when he must be chained? And so... he is dangerous, but I do not want him killed out of hand."

"Yet if he became this way because of just a scratch, we cannot dare let him loose. If he but scratches any one of us, our lives could be forfeit. If he escapes and lives in the woods and raids houses at night ... we cannot let him loose into the countryside. He is strong, it took two of us to hold him, he may be crazed and savage and not know his actions. He needs to be in a stone room with a steel door for the safety of all who know him. Somehow, we need to get him to a safe place where he can be held.

"Our lady's manor?" he looks at Quin. "The unfinished castle?"
"A church vault? But I would not like to deliver him into the hands of the Church."
"Back to Roquefixade? It is a possibility, but it is a long journey and I would require an armoured carriage."
"Does this place have a stone cellar?" he looked to Jehanne.

Jehanne shakes her head. "I know nothing of this, monseigneur. Made? I don't know." She sighs. "One can not live a life free from sin. I ate meat the other day. I was so hungry, you see, and one of the men offered. Was it that?"

She continues. "No, no cellar. But you can't put him in a cellar, please! He's sick, he'll die!" Her father breathes steadily enough but his eyes move rapidly behind closed eyes and he sweats profusely.

OOC: Quin would know that the monastery will have cells and there's also a town gaol, small but built from stone.

Quin had been standing quietly near the bed, watching their sudden prisoner and looking at the mark on him to compare with Jehanne's. "The monastery has cells and cellars, but I do not think this man is mad...what the other end of the moon might bring I know not, and one night in a cell might be worth the experiment, but all he did here was to fail to become a wolf and run away from men he thought threatening. The danger of being bitten or scratched we brought on ourselves."

Jehanne gets a soft smile. "The Lord bade us to eat as we need to. Such sins as make men become wolves and force them to dwell in the forest are  far worse than that - killing a member of one's family, for instance, or moving a field marker. Has a Perfect seen him?" Quin holds up a hand to forestall any ire of William's on being gentle with a self-confessed heretic, passing over a look that says such sin surely lies somewhere below that of influence to murder and turning men into wolves.

"If eating meat were such a sin as to cause something like this, why most of the world would be such creatures" Guy said to Jehenne.

He sighed at Quintillian "I agree that the man has done no wrong, that we know of, though the misfortunes of the new castle have yet to be accounted for. But if he put him in a strong place and he changes and becomes uncontrollable then we can lock the door and wait until the moon changes again, but if that happens here then we have to kill him. We don't have a choice. Is there a town lock up for drunks and the like? That might be best."

Quin nods to the query, but nonetheless adds: "He needs prayed for more than drunkards need to test his teeth." He pauses, loath to speak against the lord's plan but clearly troubled more than he can bear by the implications.

"Surely...it is in my mind that you would warn his keeper, and a jailer...talk around secular tables would lead to panic, given the strange irritability in town of late, and a lynching or baiting for sport of a man we have seen demonstrate no will to murder. In a worst case, our story is disbelieved and drunkards are bitten in their imprisoned taunting of the sick man laid amongst them, or infected through sharing what blanket he has left, and drink again, and become wolves, and attack their families."

Gently, with more guessing than knowledge about the reasoning of the heretics, Quin addresses Jehanne: "The whole flesh thou wert offered...was it from the body of one...that looked as we do now?"

Jehanne scoffs indignantly. "You have been nothing but kind to me monseigneur so I shall pretend I did not hear tha..." she starts but is interrupted by a moan from her father. The man opens his eyes. "Wa... water, sil vou plais," he asks feebly. Penota scurrys down and fetches a goblet of water. When he's drunk his fill he finally looks around and notices the gathered men. His eyes open wide and he tries to sit up but the women keep him down in his blankets. He looks better by the minute.

The certain and somewhat haughty response pulls a scarce-suppressed laugh from Quin: relief that the heretics' broad definition of sin still distinguished neighbours' flesh from beasts, but also amusement at being treated like an older brother. He seems set to give some duly repentant response when the sick man's stirring moves him to step back and watchfully ward the window from any new attempt to exit.

"Peace, sir," he urges, but leaves it to the Lord Roquefixade to state their duty. The nearby stain on the wall is not fully out of his thoughts.

[private to GM: Does his mark look like Jehanne's? I think that specified looking before Stefe was under blankets got lost.]

"Regardless of whatever is decided, if I may recommend binding him with iron fetters lest he... transform again. Perhaps the woman too, should she protest the former suggestion and become violent," William says, eyes still wide at the former wolfman before them, now a seemingly feeble old man.

"Well, he can't stay here, it is not secure. Very well, the town gaol may not be the best place, if he becomes a public spectacle. That could end badly. Which leaves the abbey or the Mansion. The Abbey may well be the best place, but we will take him to the Mansion first: we need to report to our Lady anyway, and it may be that she would prefer to have close control over such a creature, or indeed, she may prefer it to be as far away as possible" Guy declared.

"It appears our friend is waking up.  Let's see what he has to say."

"Bonjour Goodman. I am Guy du Roquefixade.  This is Sir Quintillion de Serignac,  and this is Sir William FitzAlan. We are here on behalf of Lady de Trencavel. We want to know what has been going on. You have been suffering fron an affliction. How are you feeling now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Mon 08 Jan.

Stefe coughs and wipes his mouth. "Bon... bonjour" he squints out the window to confirm if it's indeed jour or some other time of day. He looks up at the lord by his bedside. "I don't understand monseigneur, on behalf of the lady? I've been ill for a time, what's the ladys interest in thi," he interrupts himself. "Is it about the field marker that was moved? It wasn't me, I swear! It's that damned baron voleur from Beaucaire! He keeps sending his serviteurs to harrass us and steal our sheep."

[Private to Quintillian de Serignac: It's similar. A lot longer and wider across his chest but the edges of the scar looks about the same.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:58, Tue 09 Jan.

"Are they killing your dogs?" Quin asks into the quiet of such a momentous answer, so strange in context. His voice stays soft though that 'thinking' frown is fixed on his face.

Stefes head snaps up at Quin. "Yes, how did you know? And not just killing, either, they rip them apart!" He exclaims, clearly emotional about this.

Guy had been about to sat something, but Quintillian seemed to be on to something, so he let the conversation flow.

"Did these problems with Baron Voleur's people start after you became ill? " Guy asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:44, Wed 10 Jan.

"...de Beaucarire has a werewolf among his men," Quin states, an almost-answer to both. "It may be he is also a sorcerer, and has sold his soul to the Enemy, or else harbours such creatures in hopes to gain in this world more than his due. Do you recall seeing us outside from the window here, when we first arrived?" he asks Stefe, as though the question were a weighty one.

Stefe answers Guys question. "No, it started a few years ago. The farmers from southwest suffered some kind of draught. It was odd because we didn't notice anything here. Anyway, they started to break fresh ground and bring their sheep and cattle closer and closer to us. When we objected they sent armed men, there was nothing we could do. We spoke with the baron but there was nothing he could do either. Or would." Quintillian remember that there was talk of this among the men-at-arms when he first arrived in Saint Volusien, something about a dispute concerning unclaimed lands or lands without clear ownership.

When Quin speaks Stefe jerks upright. "A what!?" he exclaims and bolts upright in bed, women or no, the blanket falls off his chest clearly displaying a long and wide scar, recently healed. His narrow cheeks and thin moustache quiver. "Sorcerer? Could the monseigneurs please explain to me what is happening? And why is Jehanne here? She should be up at the castle, the seneshal will have her hide." His bald head turns to look at the cook from Roquefixade. "And Penota? Are you here to visit Docelina? She should be by the river."

Quintillian holds up a hand in the householder's direction, bidding him wait and quiet awhile. "The window," he repeats, not loud but serious. "Do you remember seeing us before we were in this room?"

[[didn't we get a shirt on him? The bit of the scratch that goes onto his arm might be visible if the sleeve fell back. edit: aesthetics]]
This message was last edited by the player at 13:38, Wed 10 Jan.

"No, I've been bedridden," he tells Quin.

OOC: Maybe you did, I may have forgotten. Let's say the blanket falls down and the nightshirt has a large neckband through which you see the scar.
This message was last updated by the GM at 14:19, Wed 10 Jan.

Quin nods thanks for the information, though briefly addresses Guy: "...if someone had a form of influence over wolves, and...in this present case, was warned by something pretending to be a crow, it might account for what we have seen. Perhaps even for the others with missing memory, if it was a wolf part of the mind that was seized, now at the dark of the moon when they cannot easily change shape. It would be a far more subtle way to harass our lady than to leave her people torn apart by teeth in the way the dogs have been, despite training and iron collars that defeat real wolves."

The young knight looks to Stefe, hesitating over whether there might be a good way to put this, but gives the un-wolfed man the explanation he is owed: "You were seen when we were outside, rising, I think, but when we called out and came up to you, you tried to turn into a wolf and leap out of the window. You succeeded in neither, clearly, but it took three knights to stop you. It is your blood on the wall there, and it is your daughter that gave you a blanket, whereupon you fainted and woke as you are. Your sister-in-law put a shirt on you." He nods at Penota, giving the crazy tale some time to sink in, or the others some time to find smoother words for the uncanny thing that had happened in their midst.

"What is the last thing you remember?" he asks at length.

The man scoffs and splutters at first but falls silent after a moment. "I... it would explain some of the dreams I've had. The last thing I remember is I was sweating so bad, it was so hot I took off my nightshirt and threw my blankets on the floor. I was dreaming, I think..." he trails off in to stunned silence.

"Tell us about the dreams," Quin suggests, flicking a brief glance to Jehanne to see how she's taking this.

Heh. I ask to pick up the pace, and then there is a massive flurry of conversation between midnight and lunchtime when I'm at bed or at work. I'm not complaining, but, oh the irony! Great questions and insight, Quintillian.

So, Guy very much wants to hear Stef's answer to this. Afterwards, he would ask follow up questions:

"Fascinating. And how often do you have these dreams? Are they always the same, or different?"

"Tell us about these gaps in your memory. How often are they? How long do they last? Do you lose whole days at a time, are you normal for a month and then miss a week, or is it just spotty everywhere?"

Or, if the conversation proceeds differently depending on his answers, keep going Quin! I'm enthralled.

"It's as I've told you, I've been ill and bedridden for a couple of weeks. My dreams... they're, I don't know, they're mostly loose images, running in a dark forest and the like," he says. "I've been in and out of it, I don't think I've had any memory gaps?"

"I've had dreams like that too," Jehanne sqeaks from behind the men.

"I am not convinced that this Baron Voleur de Beaucarire has a werewolf or a sorceror in his men, and even if he does, I do not know whether this creature is aiding him or controlling him. It could be there is no such creature, and this is simply a neighbouring lord seeking to take advantage of Our Lord de Trencavel's absence. Be that as it may, this warrants further investigation, and I assure you, we will look into this. We cannot be seen to be weak" he said, glancing at Quintillian.

"As for you two... Stefe, when we encountered you, you were in a fearsome shape, upright, covered in fur, with wolf's head and long arms with vicious talons. You were no wolf nor man, but something more terrible than either. I cut you" He gestured at the blood on the wall "on the leg, and you healed instantly. I think, according to my understanding of legend, you should not have been able to change at all save at the full moon, and not into something like this. Perhaps you have been lying to me and you are a monster of great power. Perhaps you speak the truth, and have been newly afflicted with this, and you cannot control yourself. Either way, I cannot let you to run free unchecked."

"Stefe, when you changed back, you were fully naked. We clothed you and put you into bed. But when we did so, we noticed a recent scar across your chest. Your daughter has a similar scar on her neck. It is possible that the same creature that gave you such a wound also did it to her; it is also possible that you yourself did this to her, unknowing of your actions. I suggest that your dreams of running in the forest are no dreams, but memories of what you do when you have changed. And so, if you can do this to your own daughter, then all the villagers here are in danger from you."

"I want to escort the both of you to the monastery, I want you kept in a secure room with stone walls, I want you treated well and observed. But I will say this, I do not think you are evil. If you can be cured, or if you can learn to control yourself and have knowledge of what you are doing and have restraint when in other forms, then we will speak again. And further, I will give instruction to the monks that you are to be treated well, and talked to pleasantly, and given normal duties and given what freedom can be given, because while I know nothing of wolf monsters, I know this: that if a dog is starved and beaten and locked up then it becomes savage. It is my belief that if we are to overcome this affliction and save your souls then your humanity must be nurtured, strengthed, cultivated."

"William, Quintillian, we have work to do.  We need to find this man's family and members of the household, we need to check the workers, the murder suspect, the people with memory loss. All these people need to be searched for similar scars, anyone with a scar needs to go to the monastery. We need to know how prevalent this werewolf plague is.
We need to check the contaminated water and grain. What is the source of this? We need to follow that back.
We need to investigate Baron Voleur and the history of the shifting markers and the missing sheep and also find if he has a sorceror or powerful wolf man. If we do all this, then we may have a clearer picture of what is going on."

"But first we need to report to Lady Emma."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Fri 12 Jan.