And they happen to be prisoners of the very mage (the native Synizn) who'd they'd been told would be able to cure them...
Again, this is quiet like all those other times that a Fred and Astra had been changed into demifoxes (and a bit of business and misunderstanding had put Astra in a family way) but in this case thing where the same but different. Thing had been the same in this story like the other stories up to the point where some "helpful" natural born demifox captured the transformees, fearing that they were somehow in league with an old enemy (Minestus or some other dragon). Synizn (native) goes onto snatch the captives out of custody, but at this point intime the native Synizn can hardly be called a kindly good Samaritan.
By this time, the former dragon mage turned werebear had grown very desperate (and antisocial due to the lycanthropy's influence). So desperate that he took Fred and Astra here prisoner for further studying. He'd decided (rather harshly) that these transformees were not worth getting to know as friends, as it were. Found them . . . wanting. Instead, decided to use whatever means necessary to free himself from his lycanthropic curse and THAT meant using the demifoxes here, no matter how painful (or harmful) it was on them. He had not grown so callus as to ignore the distress that demifox Astra had over what it might cost her unborn kits IF she should be cured of her condition (that is, returning to humanity looked like it would kill the unborn kits), instead after he'd left the demifox lass unconscious and turn his attention towards demifox Fred.
Jarlath's group manages to arrive at the native Synizn's residence just around the time he'd gotten rather ticked off over the latest results from his attempts to use the Crystallic to reverse the demifox transformation. He'd failed in part because the magical techniques he'd employed weren't quiet . . . up to the task of utilizing the Crystallic to it's full potential. That and of COURSE the Crystallic couldn't undo the transformation done to the male demifox, the Key Component within had frozen the demifoxes into their present form permanently. Unaware of that, our werebear was still rather pissed.
Dragoness Astra--the newbie Champion who this Validation Quest belongs -- will later say how impressed she had been by the superb acting job her new mate and husband, Dragon Synizn had achieved. He had assumed a magical seeming that mirrored how he'd looked while he had been a werebear and used that (and good acting) to dismiss the native werebear's human hireling/muscle so the others and he could get down to business without unhelpful interruptions. Getting a hold of the Crystallic, Dragon Synizn cured the native Synizn of his condition. No longer a werebear, the dragon was again a dragon!
The newly cured dragon, feeling a sense of gratitude and debt to those who'd cured him, joins up with them both out of gratitude but also a dawning sense of kinship towards Dragon Synizn. That and he kind of felt . . . some guilt over how he'd treated those demifoxes and since the group here was out to help the still unconsious demifoxes all the better...
As for the demifoxes themselves it had been decided to "blockify" them whilst they still were unconscious. This was not only easier for the Champions to transport them, but also because once they got back to Terra Prime they could aid the demifoxes in adjusting (more so than just here "out in the field"). They weren't sure how, if breaking the news had gone badly for the transformees, how to go from there with just the resources they had at hand. Better back home (with family and other resources) than....you know...
Well, that done the team knows that they still have a LONG way to go and the road’s going to be a rough one. There would be those out there who would want the demifoxs (and the Crystallic) for various reasons. These fears proved to be valid.
The plan had been to sneak out of town in a low profile, on horses. The flying carpets were too exotic and would draw attention (don’t ASK about traveling about by dragon)! The group was intercepted before they could even purchase their horses from the market by those demifoxes the native Synizn had snatched them away from! They are easily overcome, since these hunters had not expected so many numbers (and so well armed numbers) against them. The Champions did not kill them, but instead used another of the Crystallic's abilities. The demifox hunters and their human mage ally find themselves in the exotic city called Vegas (this world's version of Los Vegas). Nicely out of the way, on a vacation...
That was a warm up.
The Champions did not know just HOW many people would soon be combing the area for the items that they possessed. Several mages wanted the Crystallic for their own. One female dragon mage (Moreau, associate to the slain dragon Minestus) wanted to . . . Let's just say there were many after the Crystallic and had offered big cash rewards for information (bigger rewards for capture) of the Crystallic or those who'd been associated with the Crystallic (i.e. the transformed Fred and Astra).
The second groups of hunters later clued in the Champions about how bad it was, so subtly was abandoned as being a nonviable option. Dragonflight, swift dragon flight, was the answer for the day to at least get them out of the immediate area where the hunters seemed to be hunting.
But the Champions had the weird luck of running into bad weather that forced them to detour and land in a stretch of forest renowned to be cursed!