Induced Lunacy Ch. 01

"I want it to be known that on the night of the full moon, I'll be patrolling the area that night to solve this problem once and for all."

The half-lidded elf looked at her, puzzled.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," the innkeeper said. "Go get some rest."

The elf yawned and agreed, then finally left the innkeeper alone with Riela. Riela and him sat in silence, with only the clink of her fork and knife singing along with the crackling of the fireplace. Just as she placed a bite of the mellow mutton into her mouth, the innkeeper suddenly spoke up.

"Don't kill 'em."

Riela looked up at him. "Huh?"

"Don't kill 'em, yeah?"

"I can't say what I might do," Riela said as she frowned, looking back down at her plate of food. "Tomorrow the village will make their decision."

He grumbled as if he knew what the answer might be, but he said nothing else. She slowly finished the rest of her food, then chugged down the rest of her water before leaving some coin and returning to her room. She closed the door behind her with a pensive look, and then climbed into bed with an arm over her face. Her stomach churned anxiously and she frowned before hugging a pillow to calm her nerves. Her thoughts raced, making it hard for her to sleep that night.

It would be about another two days before the full moon, and everyone within the village had been informed of her plans. The tired elf patron had already left the next morning, and so Riela only had to deal with the villagers. They were already preparing for the night of the full moon, testing their locks and windows and keeping their cattle locked up in their stables. She practiced her patrols in the daylight, doing her best to memorize the simple roads.

There was the main path that led through the village out into the main road to Klin, and then it split into two other paths with one more path leading out to the west of the forest, out to the main path leaving Eribus. When she walked back from one of the dead-end paths, she saw that the elder villagers were huddled together in a tight circle outside the inn. Her stomach dropped when Riza broke from the crowd and hobbled over to her.

"Well," Riza began. "Good news is no one can decide. Do what you want."

Riela sighed with a pensive look on her face, but her shoulders sloped and her body no longer tensed up. She placed a hand on the pouch on her waist and opened it up. She took out the wolfsbane potion to stare at it again, and then she looked up at the elder.

"Let's hope this works," she said to her.

At night, the roads were empty save for Riela continuing her mock patrols after taking a break at the inn. She frowned a little at how quiet and dark everything was, and the only light she had was a small, iron lantern that one of the younger villagers let her borrow. She eventually grew bored with her routine as she walked down the western-most path of the village, tracing her footsteps, but then she heard something. She whisked around, readying a spell under her breath, but nothing was there. She still kept her wits about, and when she returned to the main road, she came across a set of footprints in the snow.

She leaned in closer while shining her lantern on them to identify what they belonged to, and it was obviously a wolfkin's paw prints. Puzzled, she shone the lantern further off to see where they came from, only to see them stretch out to somewhere outside of the village to the west of the forest. She then turned to see where they led, and hurriedly followed them to see that they led into the forest. She paused for a moment, pondering, but then pressed on.

The footprints were hurried and didn't follow any path of some kind. She kept looking back at the village wondering if she should continue investigating, but something drew her to them. She lost track of time and eventually the wind began to howl and snow started falling again hard. She held up her lantern to see where the prints kept going, but they led to somewhere dark and thick. She looked left and right as she knit her brow and bit her lip, fidgeting, but then she made the difficult decision to return to the village before she ended up lost.

The next day, it continued to snow hard and Riela was forced to take shelter in the inn when the wind almost blew her sideways during her mock patrols. She wasn't alone in there for once, however, and several of the villagers were there heartily chatting away before going quiet when she entered the room. They quietly nodded at her, and then after a slow start the room was again filled with all kinds of chatter and laughter. She drew up a seat at the front counter and ordered herself something warm to flush up her icy cheeks. The innkeeper was silent again, but he spoke up when she kept looking around the room.

"Not here," he growled out. "Went out on an errand."

"But it's snowing hard out there."

He shrugged. She looked down at her cup of clear, brown cider, then perked up as she remembered something.

"Oh, also," she said as she adjusted her seat. "Someone came through the village last night."

The innkeeper's ears perked up but he remained fixated on cleaning the counter.

"A wolfkin by the looks of the footprints, and they went somewhere into the forest."

"Uh-huh."

"I didn't want to get lost so I couldn't follow them for very long, but they went somewhere deep within there," she leaned in closer. "Do you know if there's anything out there besides the mage's watchtower?"

"Don't know," he grumbled out. "Been years since I went huntin' out there, what with the mages and, y'know, their messes. I've seen a few rune stones and a pond, but not much else."

Riela nodded. She went silent and remained silent for the rest of the day, puzzled over what she encountered, and then she finally withdrew from the crowd after finishing her drink. She went up to her room for a different pair of clothes and then went back downstairs to head towards the bath.

She tried to relax while in the cramped, wooden tub but her mind was on everything at once, thinking about whether the person traveling through the village had anything to do with their problem, but then she sighed and focused on preparing herself for the next night. She finished her bath after scrubbing down her shapely legs and then went back to her room, writing in her journal, then reading her novel until she fell asleep.

On the night of the full moon, silence fell upon the village. All of the doors and windows were shut tight, and the cattle were locked away much tighter than usual. Riela patrolled the roads with her hood drawn to stave off the cold, illuminating her path with her lantern. She kept her hand pressed against her waist pouches, looking left and right and over her shoulder. She stared up at the full moon above her, thanking the gods that it wasn't snowing anymore. Her heart raced as she thought about how fast the day went by, and how she's now going to deal with a were-chimera, but then her stomach tensed up when she remembered just who they were. She pursed her lips as her mind continued to race while the hours grew. She slowly began to doubt if she drew the correct conclusions, but then her answer finally approached her as she turned the corner.

There in the middle of the main road was a figure, doubled over, swaying and stumbling across the path. She tried to shine her lantern on them but they quickly darted towards her, shoving her to the ground. Her lantern flew out of her hands, illuminating the back paws of the fleeing figure. She quickly scrambled to her feet and gave chase, her face flush with fury. She threw a still spell at them but they dodged it with lightning fast speed, disappearing into the thin, black woods. She entered the forest, hurriedly following the footsteps left behind by the figure, and hoped that it wouldn't snow again.

Riela couldn't keep up with their pace and had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. Her eyes widened and she gripped the strings of her cloak when a loud cracking of wood followed by a low howl echoed around her. A shiver ran down her spine. She cradled her lantern tight, darting her eyes around for any signs of life before looking at the footprints ahead of her. Warmth ebbed throughout her body as she cradled the lantern, and once it was enough she pressed on.

After some time, she came across a clearing lit by soft, ethereal moonlight and was too lost in thought looking up at it to notice the large dip ahead. She tripped face first into the snow and it snuffed out her lantern. The world hushed around her. She quickly sat up to gather her bearings but her eyes widened at the bare ground, hands rubbing across the frozen grass and dirt.

In disbelief, she whispered a small chant and a soft sparkling ball of light lit the ground. The footprints she followed stopped into a snow-less ditch and came out as something much bigger. There were signs of a struggle, with deep hand prints sloshing the snow around the pit. Her heart raced as she crawled onto her knees seeing the hand prints growing larger as it advanced towards the clearing, changing shape and digging deeper into the snow. She crawled further, following them in awed shock. She looked up as the orb of light lit the wounds across the black bark of the trees. Riela stood up, exhaling a foggy breath in disbelief.

She fidgeted and shivered at the sheer size of this were-chimera. Dusting snow off her knees, she fastened the lantern away on her hip, then held herself under her warm cloak as a breeze approached her from the clearing. She whispered away the floating orb of light and pressed herself against the trees when she heard a crack cutting the icy air. Her heart raced again as she pulled her eyes towards the cracking sound's direction.

There she saw the silver outline of a massive, pitch-black creature, remaining crouched with its back turned to her, feverishly groaning and panting. Its reptilian tail whipped up powdery snow behind it until it revealed the frozen grass below. It seemed completely unaware of her presence as it continued to dig one of its claws into the bark of the tree, which let out another silence-shattering snap. She quietly weaved through the trees to get a better view of the beast from a different angle. It had a menacing wolfkin profile but there were sweeping goat horns protruding from its skull. A black mane thick like a lion's flowed down to its shoulders where thick, straining muscles hid under its dark fur. The creature was easily as tall as her hunched over, and almost double her height if standing erect. The ends of her hairs suddenly stood up as she peered further down and covered her mouth in shock.

The beast fervently masturbated against the tree, clawed hind legs digging deep into the snow. The snow at the base of the tree had completely melted away from the hot warmth the creature emanated. Riela blushed hard as she couldn't look away from the massive reddish-pink wolf-cock twitching and leaking pre everywhere. Even as she cupped her mouth and turned away, her eyes kept returning to the creature. Fear crippled her movements, unable to tear herself away even as the lewd scent finally assaulted her senses. The creature's hand was a blur as it continued, tongue lolling out in pure ecstasy as it neared release.

The creature pumped faster, panting raggedly as it crippled the tree bark with its raw strength. Riela nervously bit her finger as her eyes remained fixated on it. The creature's entire body convulsed as it flung its head up with a mighty howl, muscles bulging as it thrust its hips in sync with its pulsating cock. The creature's knot inflated as it splashed a torrent of seed against the tree. It pumped its length a few more times until its cock finally grew limp and then the beast fell onto its knees, breathing hard.

Riela trembled quietly, pressing herself against a tree. Hot sweat trickled down her neck and chest, the icy bite of winter air licking her cheeks while she bit her lower lip, warmth shooting down into her groin. She chastised herself and readied to confront the beast until the ends of her hairs stood up again. She froze, then turned around. The beast stared directly into the woods, in her direction, breathing raggedly.

Her eyes widened as it drew closer to her on its hind legs, her eyes fixated on its cock disappearing into its sheath. She prepared for the worst, whispering the nastiest of spells under her breath, but then stopped when it collapsed into a submissive pose. Surprisingly, it spoke.