Hunter and Prey
Twelfth Day of the Twelfth Month 292 AC
You give not a single thought to listening to the horned lord of the fey. Whatever his quarrel and whatever his purpose he had made himself a foe to those whom you promised protection and then those closest to your heart. You would not step aside and neither would you treat with such a one. Fire is your first recourse, though you do not plan it to be your last, merely to weaken not to slay... and then the foe surprises you, but not as it has to far.
The swiftness that had served him so well so far fails him and three embers of sorcerous flame bore through his strange green and gold armor, drawing a scream of torment from the fey lord as he topples forward at Bronn's feet. The sellsword throws you a wolfish grin and asks, "Would ye be wanting a new pair of antlers for your wall, your grace?"
For covered in blood with a hole two fingers wide bored though his helm he seems unaccountably cheerful, alas that you must deny him his fun. "Always better to snare a live beast, master Bronn," you call back as you lay a spell upon the fey lord to grant it the shape of a beast in truth.
You feel the magic catching hold, yet oddly he does not shrink into the small inoffensive turtle you would have wished for. Instead brown fur covers him as limbs twist painfully into the hoofed haunches and his face lengthens... a great stag, though bloodied and burned, looks up at you with rage and fear.
"How are we supposed to carry that?" Dany asks, as confused as you were.
"I didn't..." You never finish speaking for the air in the center of the room ripples and shines like a curtain, a
gate into some other realm. The smell of rich loam, of blackberries, of
autumn in the deep woods wafts into the ruined common room.
You tense for an attack while keeping an eye on your strangely transformed foe... but none comes. Instead a great booming voice calls out through it:
"Such a marvelous trick you have played!" Then comes a laugh and it is as the howl of wolves, the roar of lions, and the shout of a giant all mixed together.
"But a turtle... bah, who would want to hunt a turtle?"
"More fucking grumpkins?" Bronn asks, sounding resigned.
"Bigger grumpkins," Dany answers, as she settles in the rafters above the opening gate.
In the sight of the gate you can see a shadow half-man and half beast with curling horns rising from his temples, and so, not wishing another mighty foe, you shout, "Are you the lord of the Horned Ones and is this one of yours?"
Another great belly laugh is your only answer at first, then the one upon the threshold answers.
"I am but one who feasts upon his table, but the one who you chained to beast's shape once hunted to my horn and so I am called. A favor he asked that I spare him the flames, and behold is he not spared?"
Indeed the stag no longer burns, but he is still indubitably a stag. "What would you do with him, then?" Lya asks, curious as ever.
"For three years times three he who has already been felled by mortal magics will wear this skin and be prey to the children of man. If by the end he is not slain I will give him back his true shape," comes the answer.
"And what of his trespass here?" you question sharply.
"What trespass?" the great spirit says, laughter still rumbling behind his words.
"Blazh gave away a secret born of wine at feast-time, and for that he was hunted. Yet he hid well and sold his lore wisely, so now the hunter has become hunted in his stead."
What do you respond?
[] Demand recompense for his attack on you and yours
[] Let the fey stag pass
[] Write in
OOC: He was going to crit-fail a save eventually.