"The bodies were eaten by wolves?" the younger knight queries, frowning but distracted. The greater part of his attention remains on the search for marks.

"No, sir," Henri continues. "I heard a large number of wolves - far more than usual, and so my focus was on making sure the man survived so we could question him. However, the bodies had appeared to be mauled already when I had gotten there."

"It was well to capture this werewolf," Quin allows, "-but we had thought he was dead, and the girl in the cell yonder with her father has a violent injury that should have caused her to bleed out also. If you informed the brothers here of the...was it seven dead, at the mill? I think the family had five children," he makes to cross himself, looks briefly at the weight of the sword in his hand, and with a start resumes his vigil.

"-then you might ask that monk waiting at the end of the corridor if they were taken here or left to the women of neighbouring houses. Either way, if any are unaccounted-for they may have turned into the wolves you heard, or be yet to turn into a pained half-thing and attack others."

[[edit: autocorrect shenanigans, paragraphing]]
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Sun 21 Jan.

Guy thoroughly searches the body of the man and indeed finds dried blood under the fingernails. He removes the mans shift, find nothing on his torso or arms and just as he is about to pull the mans leg clothes down the head turns just so and Guy sees a scar on the scalp, hidden under tangled black hair. The scar is smaller than Jehannes but have the same distinct edges and the same "just healed" appearance. During the examination the man starts to wake up and just as Gut finds the scar the man coughs and opens his eyes. "Who... who are you? what are you doing?" he asks. His eyes are glinting with a yellow tint in the dim room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:59, Sun 21 Jan.

Poised as an unhooded hawk, Quin steps forward at the first hint of autonomous movement, ready to get between Guy and the stranger fast and sword-first if necessary. His heart is somewhat speeded in his chest but his focus does not waver.

"I'm looking for a scar," Guy said, backing away. "There's one on the back of your head, do you remember how you got it?"

He walks quickly to the door, running if need be, and locks it while the wolf man is still entangled in his own clothes.

The man instinctively reaches up to touch the back of his head. "I don't feel anything," he starts and then looks around at the cell, "Where am I?"

"You're at the Abbey of Saint Volusien." Guy informs him, after leaving the room. "Seigneur Henri de Lyon found you unconscious there and brought you here. What is the last thing you remember?"

OOC: Night all, the moon beckons...
This message was last edited by the player at 11:35, Tue 23 Jan.

"I was... I was at the market, selling our wool. Then... then, yes, I was on the bridge! Piers went mad and pushed me off! I thought I would die, the water was so cold and I think I swallowed half the river. I think the millers fished me up... I can... I can't really remember anything else. Thank you, seigneurs, for bringing me here. Is my wife here?" he finishes, absent-mindedly rubbing the thick eyebrows growing together above the nose.

Henri frowned when the man asked about his wife. "Sir... There were two bodies along with you when I found you. I know not if they were your kin, but... I'm sorry." If asked, he will describe the state they were in.

"The millers? No, I'm not related to them. What happened?" he asks, propping himself up on his elbows and starts to put the shift on again.

In reply to Heavy-set man (msg # 23):

"The bodies I had found were mauled. You and them both were covered in blood, sir. I found you amongst those bodies and brought you here."

"Were either of the bodies female?" Guy asked Henri. "Can you describe the people?"

Addressing the man in the cell, he said "Sir, that scar on your head is identical to one found on a man who changed into a kind of bear like creature, upright, with the head of a wolf. You were pushed off a bridge and I understand that by all rights you should be dead, and yet you are unharmed. You were found unconscious with bodies nearby that appeared to have been mauled by a Savage beast, and you, sir, have dried blood under your fingernails. I believe you to be another of these bear creatures. You are currently at the monastery so as to keep people safe from you, to keep you under observation, and if possible, to find a cure."

This message was last edited by the player at 09:20, Sat 27 Jan.

Trusting there are enough knights near a locked door to deal with the unaccountably alive man, Quin has gone to ask the monk that had shown them here where the bodies of the mill family had been laid in preparation for burial. The image of peasant women gathered about a sheeted table comes to him with keen clarity: washing limp limbs, touching each pale face and jaw to tie up the mouth, trimming the nails, all gathered in a group. Children at heel, the very young and girls learning their duty.

He hopes they lie in the monastery, close at hand, though even that brings foreboding to his chest. The brief speculation that it might have been the bridge and not the boy that was a werewolf crosses his mind, given the nature of the worse wound, but some frowning dismisses it in favour of more pressing business.

The heavy-set man is speechless for a long time and when he manages to speak he demands to see his wife.

Quintillan is shown the bodies of the miller and his wife, laying on display in the mortuary, covered in their burial shrouds. There are no children here, only the two bodies.

In reply to Guy de Roquefixade (msg # 25):

"There was one female body," Henri says. "However, the bodies were so viciously mauled that they were hard to describe - and my focus was on making sure the man here still lived."

"And the Miller's took him in and cared for him after he fell in the river, so this was not his family. Well, his wife must be informed, she will be overjoyed he is still alive" Guy said.

"What is your name? And where do you live? Does your wife work, if she is not at home, where can we find her?" He asked the man in the cell.

A little daunted, Quin's hand traces the cross over his chest before he fully enters the room and steps forward to inspect the bodies, looking for any new bleeding or a flush in the cheeks unsuited to the newly dead. Regardless, since they are currently still, he prays silently yet with more fervour than usual for their rest.

"...I had some idea the mill family had children in the house," Quin says at length to the monk that brought him. "Do you know what has become of them, if they are buried, or with some other neighbour?"

The heavy-set man answers Guy. "Je m'appelles Onfroi, monseigneur. My wife tends to the farm, we live outside Saint Volusien, to the southeast. She's probably worried sick. Tell me, whatever happened to Piers? I remember him pushing me. It's not like him, he's usually so gentle."

---

The monk stares at Quin. "Children? Non, je suis désolé, I do not know. There were no children at the mill as I understand."

Guy raised his arms to gesture something like a shrug. "Perhaps Henri can tell you more. But Onfroi, do you recall, where did Piers push you? On the shoulders, the head, or where? From the front or behind? Was there a struggle?"

To a monk, he said "I would like a record kept of this. Write down in a book everything that happens and everything that has happened. If they change, what does the change look like, what was the phase of the moon, were they agitated or stressed. If we attempt a cure, what was the dosage, was it successful or not. When do we think they were first infected. Anything that might be useful."

"I want two copies made, one for your own records and one to be sent to Lady de Trencavel. She will be expecting regular reports."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Sat 03 Feb.

Onfroi pauses to think. "We shoved each other mostly, he accused me of laying with his mother. He was so angry, I've never seen him like that.. and then he just... pushed me over the rail. I don't remember much after that."

The monk promises to take notes of any strange observations but he looks at Guy guardedly and unconsciously keeps his distance, like perhaps you're not completely right in the head.

Quin gives a little headtilt at the French, though he understands the sorrow well enough. He frowns. "I felt sure...were you with the ones that went to collect the bodies?"

"Well, oui, but I did not go inside," the slight monk explains with a shiver. "It was terrible, they said. Blood everywhere. But no other bodies. Did you know them?" he asks.

"Only in passing, as the main source of our flour," Quin says, unwilling as yet to get out of view of the dead, troubled by wasted blood and uneaten flesh. "Has no-one else come to see or mourn them?"

"No, no one," the monk replies.

OOC: So, what do you want to do?