The Curse of a Stranger

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 10162

"No, you're far too unstable yet," said the old sage, "I wouldn't attempt it even if I did know the cure."

"You mean you don't actually know the cure?"

"No, indeed, I'm not sure there even is one. Surely though, child, there must have been something else you came to me for..."

"Oh, yes. I needed to know of the fate of Charles D'Honaire."

"Ah, now if I remember how it goes corectly, he should have just gone into the Southern Caves, no?"

"Yes. I just saw him recently do that"

"Ah, then he's gone to deal with the revelation he had the last time he was down in the depths"

"What do you mean?"

"This may well be his last trip down there, one way or the other. He discovered something the last he ventured into the caves, and now he goes to conquer his fear, or perhaps at least avenge his pride. He will emerge, but as a haunted, defeated man, and he will leave his keep no more after that..."

"I see. I had heard rumours, but I didn't know much beyond those. I think I know what I was sent here to do, then..."

The woman who was now Catherine walked out of the sage's dwelling, trying to make sense of all that was swimming around in her head. She knew now that she had to go to the caverns again, but her combined memories seemed overwhelming. The most disturbing were the ones that came from when one of her selves spent nights under the full moon as a savage union of woman and beast. The melding of memories had, apparently, cleared the protective mists that always caused her other self to forget her wolfish revelry. She remembered those nights in full, and was startled at what the recollection brought. She could almost feel her bestial half lurking just beneath her skin. It was a ruthless killer, feral and unrestrained, but that wasn't what frightened her. What scared her the most were the feelings that her other self had forgotten about her moonlit abandon. She had enjoyed it, though her waking self would never admit it. What's more, since her essence had taken deep draughts from this other self, she could feel that she too longed for the freedom of turning into a werewolf, eagerly anticipating the next full moon.

She shoved these desires down, focusing on the quest at hand, but they were still present, though dampened, always there in the back of her mind...

  1. Catherine mounts an expedition for the Allarian entrance to the Caverns
  2. Catherine takes the Tunbar road south, and mounts an expedition for the Aquilarian entrance to the Caverns

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6/9/2000 6:42:58 PM

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