[Note: All names and areas, save for the party members were given by the GM of the game and may have been borrowed from other material]
~Date~
The dream hit me once again...
"A chilling scream tore through the night, the death cry of his father woke a young Addison from his bed. He ran downstairs, his practice sword in his hand. He reached the lower floor in time to be drenched with an arterial spray from the throat of his mother, who went down fighting, sliding a stake into her attackers heart even as her legs buckled under her. Addison charge the next nearest foe, getting a swing in before it backhanded him, sending him sprawling against the floor a half dozen feet away. As his vision narrowed, he heard his little sister scream and barely saw as she was carried out into the night, a pair of glowing red eyes peering at him, a smirk on its face visible with one fang showing as it turned to leave with its prize…
Another plea for help from his sister disappearing into the night woke him, as usual from his nightly rest, five years later. He sighed, trying to get his breathing under control, his fist gripped hard around the hilt of the blade that lay bare upon his chest. He swung his feet off the bed, reaching for the flask of whiskey before they even touched the floor.
He dressed and armored himself, pulling a greatcoat on over his mail to conceal it and stepped out into the brisk night air. He was still fairly young, as hunters go, but he had so, so much work to do."
~Date~
Made landfall in Thulfall. We could tell before reaching the port something was wrong. There was no smoke rising from the buildings, no workers on the docks and just a single longboat at the pier. We had the captain of the ship drop us off, Marcus insisted on bringing all of his gear, including a wagon, ashore. While he did that, I busied myself inspecting the other ship that was docked. It, too, was empty of signs of life, but had not been ransacked. I found a ring on the detect that glowed with faint protective magicks and the ship itself had protections cast upon it that rendered it less susceptible to fire. It makes sense it was the only ship left, then, seeing as other mooring ropes on the docks showed signs of being burnt.
Marcus and I made our way further into town, taking with us signal flares to let the ship know whether or not they should return later. We first went to where the town's church should be. There was only a crater there now. We saw some people enter the tavern, so we headed there next. The door was closed and barred, the outside of the door had deep gouges in it, from the width and depth, I guessed at the time (correctly), that they were made by a lycanthrope. The sun was setting quickly and we quickly bartered the the door and held up with our horses inside with these other folk as howls could be heard approaching from outside the town. The door, windows and fireplace were salted for protection and we spend the next few hours holed up in the building, hounds outside baying and trying to get in, rattling windows and the door alike. Shades of dead children kept showing up, claiming, "Mommy said we'd be safe…" only to vanish when the hounds outside howled or made themselves known. Several hours of this and we finally heard the frightened yell of a woman outside, sounding like she was being chased. Marcus and I exchanged glances and burst out of the door, taking care to not disturb the salt, the others choosing to follow us. We were chasing hellhounds who had treed themselves a woman, but it was also a trap for us. We entered battle and as the last of the hellhounds before us fell, a lycanthrope bounded off the roof of a nearby building and took the girl in the tree. I immediately gave chase, determined to ensure her survival and its demise. It led us on a chase for half an hour, dawn finally breaking, but the beast kept it's form, turning to fight us and quickly losing its life. It would seem I found others that are good at slaying that which bumps in the night.
