We travelled together to the nearby town of Sandy Burrow and arrived there as the sun was beginning to set. Edwin headed over to the docks to secure his transport across the massive lake to New Vale City. Zephyr and Phelenia insisted that we make our venture somewhat profitable, and we decided to track down Ulga and Bobbin. They had previously said they would pay us to escort some wares north to Keatinstown. Last time we passed by, we stayed out of town due to having no money and upon entering a couple things surprised me. First was that the town guard seemed to be a religious order of knights that Phelenia said was the Flames of Vennak. Vennak was the god of fire and wisdom and I had heard about his knightly order before, but I had never seen them in person and was not expecting them in this small town. The second surprising thing was that Ulga and Bobbin were apparently the richest people in town.

Apparently, Bobbin and Ulga were gifted merchants with a whole host of family connections in the area. The mayor of the town was a relative and one of Bobbin’s cousins had a mine nearby that was very profitable. I was expecting the two of them to be snobbish and rude due to their wealth, but they invited us in when we knocked and were amazing hosts. Bobbin was a dwarf and Ulga a halfling, so their hosting combined his desire to be welcoming in his home and her desire to feed everyone.

They put out an amazing spread of cheeses and meats. The food tasted different than I remembered, and I kept trying different things until I took a bite of raw meat. It tasted amazing. I am not sure why Simeon ever cooked meat before, doing so takes away the texture and flavor of blood. Over dinner we told them the story of our acquisition of the dagger and the appearance of Zhatkeenmora. I questioned them about their cousin’s mine, and they said they always give their tithe to Taiyana. They did say that their cousin Doogar who owned a mine may know more about what Zhatkeenmora asked me to look for.

We did some minor trades with them to get some coin and I noticed that one of the rings that we had obtained from the body of Edwin’s dead bodyguards was very itchy on my fur. Bobbin inspected it and determined that it was made of purified silver. I hadn’t had an allergy to silver before, but it seemed that my new lycanthropic body really did not like the stuff. Bobbin was able to see an engraving on the ring that identified it as coming from the Firebrand mine near the town of Gracklesnark, which was to the south of Sandy Burrow. That mine had been producing a lot of silver and Ulga had seen several sets of armor made entirely of silver from that mine pass through recently. I left their house appreciative of their hospitality and their leads on Zhatkeenmora’s task.

Everyone else headed over to the town’s inn, but I had something nagging at my mind that I needed to take care of. Ever since Zhatkeenmora changed me I could sense a part of my soul that I was sure I could take hold of and dive into. It is hard to explain and my mom did not give any guidance on how to do it, but I had the instinct and that was all I needed. While everyone went to sleep in their civilized beds, I headed out to the woods and shifted into my animal form for the first time. Being an actual jaguar is wonderful. I felt strong and fast and I spent the night running around, climbing trees, and roaring as loud as I could. As I slept in the woods, I could hear the name “Rudra” on the wind and it was the sound of my goddess speaking to me. Awakening the next day, I could feel the magic of nature around me and knew that if I called, I could gain the wind at my back or cause the ground to shift.

I met the group at the inn the next morning and told them of my new name. After our trades with Bobbin, we had a little bit of coin to improve our gear, so some of us headed out for some shopping. My scale male did not fit anymore and wearing metal didn’t seem right for some reason, so I went to find some leather armor. Zephyr and Phelenia came with me while Velon stayed up in his room doing some sort of prayer and Olrok stayed behind with him. On the way to the blacksmith, I was able to talk with Phelenia about how magic worked.

I still did not understand magic at all, but I could feel nature around me. If I pushed my will then I could mold the earth slightly, make slight breezes, or cause trees to blossom. I also felt like I could quickly change my body to protect me from the natural elements and call on the wind, but it was more and more confusing the more I thought about it. Phelenia tried to explain what she knew of magic, but apparently her knowledge was not innate, and she had to study to learn the specific spells that she can cast. She was able to tell me that while some easy spells can be done whenever, most people that cast spells can only do the more powerful ones a few times before exhausting their ability to cast. Although she was intrigued by my goddess’s gifts and wanted to learn more, I am not sure she can help me understand much more than that.

Phelenia and I ended up getting new armor. Mine is now reinforced leather and is decorated with a nature theme. It does feel slightly wrong somehow to be wearing armor. It will help protect me for now, but I have this feeling that once I am a bit older I will no longer need it. Sonji, the armorer, tried selling me some fancy armor from the Onyu-Ro region that was traditionally worn by tabaxi and was surprised when I was not interested. I guess it is good that people assume I am a tabaxi instead of a lycanthrope. Tabaxi are rare in the region, but lycans are nearly unheard of and most people would probably react badly to knowing that is what I am. Chatting with Sonji while he did my measurements revealed that there was a bounty on a group of goblins that were raiding travelers to the east. Maybe there is a chance I will get to try raw goblin meat before heading back to Keatinstown.