Hook:

Were-Squirrels are one of the things your mother warned you about

062 - 260112 - Nutcase

Date:

446 PC, Highflare 47

Players:

• Die-Anna

• Dev

• Draylor

• Ragnum

• Keres

Loot:

• item 1 [claimed by]

• item 2 [claimed by]

After Actions:

Die-Anna

Dear Tam,

So there was this big hooplah about the were-squirrel, Steve sent out me, Keres, Draylor, Dev, and Ragnum to put up informational posters. It was all just regular were-info, silver, full moon, yada yada. Everyone wanted to investigate the were-squirrel so I just went with the flow like usual.

That led us meeting Pip, the guy who discovered the skin left behind that started all this fuss! He was in the mess hall playing cards with some other shorter species like halflings and gnomes. I ended up joining them and shifting to be small Die-anna (small-anna??). I don’t really know what Pip is, he had a cool full covering outfit with magical darkness to shield his face. You know what ended up being useful? My lessons in common sign language! So shove that in Alms face for me when you see her. Pip can hear but it was fun to break out my sign finally, Ragnum also knew but I did most of the talking since Dwarfs are part of the tallies to them. Anyways, Pip told us that he found the skin and burned it because of his Nana’s teachings.

So the skin was gone which didn’t leave us with much. Dev had us over at the newspaper place since that’s where the eggheads set up. Merry wasn’t around, which was about food because I didn’t wanna smell laundry tea but bad because I do wanna see what she’s cooking up.
Ragnum and Dev poured through the books like no problem and read a bunch of info about the dreaded were-squirrel! This was also about the time everyone realized that the were-squirrel was really just Draylors costume from my holiday party…. To say I didn’t know would be a lie. I just wanted to see how far things would go! Ragnum was not a happy camper when he put the dots together, I thought he was gonna bring down the hammer on Draylor!
So, our goal moved from kill the were-squirrel kill the hysteria about it! We ended up deciding to test everyone with some silver coins.

We went back to the mess hall and began our testing. Everyone passed but we had some trouble with a half elf named Jenna. Keres was able to convince her to do the test but only after flipping off her because of the whole Dead Brians things, maybe we should work on that…Anyway I didn’t see that last part and whipped a coin at her head to test her… ooopps. Also Draylor tried to test everyone by putting silver shaving into the camps food……. Uhhh… one day I think Cook is really gonna kill. Ragnum and Dev ended up straining the soup and saving all of us from heavy metal poisoning.

We ended up having a party on the night of the rising moon. It was fun! Even though the start of this thing was a lie I think it ended up being a great night. Mira and Odett were dancing, Dev started a game of darts, Ragnum was playing poker, overall it was a fun night! And no one even got mauled!

Anyway I gotta bake one of mom’s pies for Keres (she moved next door!) so wish me luck and if that fails wish Keres an iron stomach!

Die-anna

Dev

Highflare 47

Soph, this place is making me paranoid. The problem is, that even if you are being paranoid, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible monster waiting to eat your face.

I’ve mentioned the were-squirrel rumors before. And I know they’re ridiculous. Someone probably just saw Draylor’s discarded costume from that party and got carried away. But I keep remembering Aunt Seraphina’s stories – especially the ones about the skinwalkers who would leave their skin behind when they changed forms.

We’re coming up on the full moon and other people are starting to get nervous about the rumors too. So much so that Steve had some posters and flyers created to spread information to combat the fears, and he enlisted me and a few of the other scouts to distribute them. “We’re very safe in the city,” he said. “There’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Rector-9 is due back in less than 30 days. That feels like something to be concerned about. Where did he go? Why did he go there? Why is he coming back? But those are questions for another day…

Steve asked me if I’d seen Merry – he wants to come to an employment deal with them. But honestly, I’m not sure where Merry has gotten to or what they’re trying to turn into tea now…and that’s another thing to be concerned about.

At the mess hall, Ragnum and Die-Anna managed to interview Pip in sign language. I’m not sure what Pip is – he’s a small humanoid, completely shrouded in black. His hood prevented anyone from getting a glimpse of his face, and he even wore gloves so with couldn’t see his hands. Pip found the skin behind Cook’s mess tent at the old camp site. It was just a squirrel skin, but it was as big as a medium-sized creature and there were no bones. He burned it and fed the ashes to a mule, as one does.

We decided to go see if there was any evidence of a were-squirrel remaining, but we found nothing but the remains of a high-traffic site that had been a hub of our lives up until a few days ago. I invited everyone back here and made coffee for us to enjoy while Ragnum and I researched were-squirrel in our library.

We found general lore about were-creatures, and were-squirrels have been documented. They’re highly territorial and they hoard food or trinkets. They like small spaces and darkness, and have an aversion to silver and sometimes also copper. Only the most powerful can shed their skin, which is done to serve as a decoy.

Honestly, that profile sounded at least a little like me, but I was still offended when someone suggested it. I asked for silver, and Ragnum gave me a coin. I did a little trick and made the coin disappear, but I made sure to keep it in my hands long enough to satisfy any doubts.