chasing Barshako

One of the young men turns to you and demands "What were you doing? we ask her to come back and you cast spells to stop us!?" The whole group falls silent, glaring at Tastheus, except for Barshako who takes advantage of the distraction to run once more.

Lares raises his arms in a comforting gesture.

“Take it easy. He got carried away, like we all sometimes do, but he didn’t do anything. Just relax here for a while, and I’ll talk to Barshako so we can all go back home.”

Lares takes to flight, flies over Barshako, and lands before her. When she looks him in the eye, he silently and gesturelessly casts Aura of Rightful Authority (ReMe 20) , which is at +15 before aura due to -5 from silence. He tells her “return to the covenant” in her own language.

Lares casts and realizes there is no aura here, and as he orders her back to the covenant Barshako cowers in fear before him, but her sons take her between them to lead her back.

“Thank you, Izri and Merin. Please tell her she will be alright, I … I never wanted it to come to this.”

Lares makes sure they are able to start the return journey in good order, and then flies higher to keep a watch on any incoming threats.

“Albrecht, if you see any spirits approaching, please warn me.”

He also keeps an eye out to see if anyone else is moving in the mountains. It is possible, after all, that other grogs have fled, as well.

The group is able to return to the covenant by lunch time.

Lares thanks everyone, grogs included, before they disperse.

“Catching Barshako was very important to me. If any of you should need my help in the future, please do not hesitate to ask.”

He asks the boys to escort Barshako to their bedroom, and asks them to translate.

“I apologize for this crude treatment, Barshako. I could not let you leave, however. You have forgotten this, but your mother has turned into a hyena monster. She might have killed you if you had approached her. And these are your sons – they remember you even if you do not remember them. They need you. Please stay with us. There is nothing for you out there, but we are for you here.”

“Catching Barshako was very important to me. If any of you should need my help in the future, please do not hesitate to ask.”

"You are most welcome, Lares." Tastheus sighs, glances to the side then up at the sky a moment. A keen observer may notice a faint bit of tearing. "I was recently married, in my mind, and now I have found my wife is now decades dead." Turning around away from the group, Tastheus will go alone. "You're most welcome."

"I'm glad this all worked out well."

The boys speak with Barshako for a bit, then inform you "She says her mother would recognize her, even after the change, and would not harm her. She does not believe there is anything for her here either, and that she will be a danger to us eventually if she stays."

Zarkut nods. "I didn't really do anything, but why be in a covenant if we're not going to help each other out? Let me know if you need anything more."

He will go back to his investigation [and the results previously received].

“Why would you be a danger to us? Do you mean the lycanthropy? If so, we can handle that. I have that.”

Merin raises a hand and shakes his head "We are trying to explain that, she is focused on the fact we were adopted, you had your longevity ritual before you married, and she doesn't know about the cage room and the other steps you took."

“I figured you for adoptees, but the cage room I didn’t see coming. Care to elaborate? Do you know if that is why she chose to stay with me in the first place – we could protect others from her lycanthropy?”

Merin shakes his head again "she isn't a lycanthrope, she is a skin changer, and a hedge wizard. She would keep you company when you, during the full moon, but the warping, it affects her tradition differently, and they become were hyenas, and even less human by day. I never saw that, but I remember her telling us stories of grandmother. I think the age she is now she just finished her last initiation."

“I see. Try telling her this: I think she was losing her humanity, like her mother. But now she has regained it. If she wants to learn how this happened, she should stay with us. We are investigating what happened, and maybe we will learn how to control it. Maybe we can keep her from becoming like her mother, or even help her mother.”

"Is that what has happened? Did you cause all of this?"

Lares looks him in the eye with a grave expression.

“Honestly? The thought has crossed my mind.”

He pauses, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

“But I do not think so. I’ll have to look through my lab notes more carefully, but it seems that the last thing I was researching had something to do with inflicting warping on magical and faeries creatures. That doesn’t seem to have anything to do with this. We have agreed to look through all of our notes for traces of any ritual we were planning that could have caused this upon failing. But frankly, I doubt we would have been powerful enough – it’s a massive effect. I’m quite sure we didn’t do this on purpose, though. If we had, we would have arranged it differently.”

Lares sighs.

“But still, the fact remains: we will learn more as we investigate. The only hope of controlling this, reversing this, or whatever else anyone might hope for – it all lies here. Tell her that.”

Lares son nods and goes to Barshako, talking to her as he leads her back home.

As they walk away, Lares lifelink-sponts a gestureless PeCo spell that clips a lock of Barshako’s hair. After they are out of sight, he collects it from the ground into a pouch.

Base 3, +3 sight, +1 part = level 15

Lares’ casting total: 3 sta, 8 pe, 4 co, -5 quiet = 10 before aura. I’m not sure how/if the PeCo aura aspecting affects this.

After he’s recovered the hair, he goes to lunch to re-energize.

you are currently outside the aura, so it has no impact.
roll of zero, no botch, the spell fails.