It was the second of Obsidian, in the year 253. A full moon, for those that paid attention. Unfortunately, some did not pay attention. Rushan Tirinsmoma, one of the visiting human bards, did not pay attention. Perhaps she did not realize what she was attacked by before. Perhaps she did not care. Perhaps she had simply lost track of time, like humans tend to do when they are 50 meters below the surface, and do not see the sun. Either way, she shuddered, collapsed, and as the dwarves in the tavern slowly backed away, transformed into a were-lizard, hideously twisted into a humanoid form. Absolute pandemonium broke out immediately. Everyone fled to the doors. Usbu Nonuzolak, a visiting goblin poet who had been conversing with Rushan, was not so lucky. Rushan grabbed him by his sleeve and leg, and bit down on his lower torso. The bite itself was likely not that bad, but the spray of blood when Rushan shook him about confirmed that the curse had been transferred. Unfortunately, the shaking only stopped when a snap was heard. The goblin fell from Rushan's jaws crying out in fear and disbelief.
Urdim Bisekfath was not yet as skilled as Dobar and Kib, but she was quite handy with an axe, and happened to be in the tavern at the time of Rushan’s transformation. She leapt at the weremonitor. Corud Otirume, a mercenary that had largely stayed quiet in the corner, jumped forward as well. Urdim yelled at him to get back, as he was unarmored, but the weremonitor managed to bite him in the chest nonetheless. Urdim hacked the lizard twice in the lower body, finally seizing an opening and beheading it. Only Usbu and Corud had been bit. Some werebeasts could live peacefully, retreating to a secluded place on the full moon. The dwarves did not elect to openly execute either. They would be allowed to remain, but if they did not leave before the next full moon, they would be chained and killed.
In reality, Rushan Tirinsmoma was not Rushan. She was Thrun Pokeangel, born over 100 years ago. She had been a mercenary and with the quality of the equipment she still carried, she must have been highly paid for her work. Some of that work included desecrating a holy place honoring Bastsan, the human deity of courage. Unfortunately for Thrun, Bastsan was a fickle deity, and cursed her to take the form of a monitor lizard on the day of the full moon. Thrun had gone on a series of rampages, and even passed the curse onto another, who had passed it once again before they died. Thrun's equipment was saved for now, as it was of very high quality. While the smiths did not know the original artisan, they could not bring themselves to erase their efforts.
Tekkud had interrogated a passing merchant in the confusion, who went by San Threnanba. The merchant confessed that he was actually Tulon Abbeycontains, come to spy on the fortress for Risen Rackknights. This did not bode well, especially since “San” seemed to have no foreknowledge of the beast-infiltrator. Tulon was still imprisoned for a time, in the luxurious prison of the dwarves.
Sibrek had once again ordered more bedrooms dug. A new year would bring new migrants, and Ber had proven the worth of the clothing industry. He could accommodate more workers, and they had left room for clothier’s quarters too. Vigorrack was expanding rapidly, and that was both a blessing and a curse, as they had just seen. Muthkat reported no identifiable markings on Thrun’s equipment. It was richly decorated yes, but there were no insignia of civilizations or groups Muthkat had ever heard of. Yet she was a mercenary, and that probably meant that she was being paid by someone.
The more Tekkud thought about it, the more she decided that she had acted rashly in imprisoning Tulon. It seemed entirely pointless in retrospect. If someone were here to spy on the dwarves, they were free to do so. The dwarves had nothing to hide. Instead, the fact that others found them interesting enough to spy on could be taken as a point of pride. Tekkud resolved to do so in the future. She still remembered the disappearance of Lisidost, though. There was a fine line between justice and tyranny, and she feared she had erred on the side of tyranny in this particular case. Then again, the case of Lisidost she also believed to me a misapplication of justice, as imprisoning Logem got them no closer to the perpetrator. That was a job that Dobar would have to carry out at some point. Not yet, because Dobar would be needed in the fortress at least until after the next full moon, but after that... it seemed to Tekkud that it was about time for the dwarves to reclaim their property from the thieves that had taken it. All they had was a name, Mede Lesserfights. It was not much to go on, but it would have to be enough once the current crisis had passed.
In the meantime, Edzul and the other bonecarver-smith had decorated the next batch of axes Mebzuth had sent up. There was now enough for both squads, as well as a few to spare. Dobar actually welcomed the shortage, in a way. It was not bad enough that the fortress was put at risk, but it did cause some of the recruits to fight unarmed. At first, this seemed like a waste, because any weapon-wielding opponent would face a significant advantage in combat. However, Dobar also found himself needing to dodge the occasional punch, and those recruits were much more capable with their shields. Dobar clearly understood the tactical value of a variety of approaches to life in every endeavor and decided there should be some artificial shortages once in a while. With Tekkud as the new sheriff, he figured that there would be need of their talents. Ideally, they would be issued gauntlets and boots first.