The girl pulled my hand and led me up the hill towards her home, nestled beside the Woodline. As we approached the threshold, with my mind's eye i reached out to the tapestry of fate, attempting to sense any threads attached to a malicious presence, but felt nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. "In here!" she said, opening the door. A man stood over a table, preparing a gryphling for cooking. He turned as we entered. "Keera, what were you doing out this late?" He glanced at me. "And why have you brought the priest here? i already told you-" "But daddy he said he don't need no pay!" she shouted. "Please let him help big brother!" The father looked at me and asked "You'd really help us freely? Temple priests usually charge at least five silver to lift even simple curses." I smiled and nodded. "Absolutely, and i'm no temple priest anyway, Just a wanderer. My name's Solace." i reached out and shook his hand. "I'm Tommen." He replied. He glanced at Lucien. "And who's this man?" Lucien bowed slightly. "I'm Lucien Aren, Sir Solace's Squire." I gaped at him. Squire? That's what he went with?? "Oh, my apologies Sir, i didn't realize you were a nobleman." Tommen bowed deeply. "WOW you're a knight!?" Keera exclaimed, eyes sparkling. "SO COOL!" "No no, no need for that." i said restlessly, helping tommen back up. "I was given to the clergy as a boy and have no lands. as i said, i'm just a simple wanderer now. Please just call me Solace." Tommen nodded, Clearly relieved. "So um, Solace," he said. "How much did my Keera tell you?" I shook my head. "Not much, only that you believe your son is cursed." Tommen nodded grimly. "He's been like this since he went hunting by himself a few weeks ago. He came home completely dull and lifeless. He barely eats, he won't get up out of bed or do anything. He looks around and nods or shakes his head, But he won't speak to any of us. It's like someone took all the drive for life out of him." "How old is your son?" i asked. Tommen replied; "He'll be 19 this winter. He's nearly a grown man now." I nodded, pondering the symptoms Tommen described to me. it could be an aura draining curse, but i would have certainly felt the presence of such a curse through the threads of fate. "May i see him?" i asked. Tommen nodded. "My wife is with him now. she hasn't left his side in weeks." "I miss mommy and brother." added Keera. "Don't worry little one." i smiled at her. "they'll be back to normal in no time."
Lucien and i followed Tommen into the back room, Where His son was sitting up in bed, eyes glazed over, with his wife sitting by the son's bedside. She looked up and balked at us as we entered. "T-tommen? is that the priest? how did you afford to pay him?" Tommen began to explain but i said, "You don't need to pay me anything ma'am. I only want to help you if i can." She teared up at that. "Oh thank you so much, please help my boy if you can. i'm beside myself and i don't know how to help him." I walked over to the bedside. "What's the boy's name?" i asked her. "Varric." She said. "And my name is Maria. Please tell me if i can do anything to help you treat him." i nodded and said "I'm going to examine you now, Varric." He did not respond, but continued to gaze at nothing in particular with a lifeless stare. I laid my hand upon the lad's head, and reached out into the tapestry. immediately i could tell something was off. The tapestry around every person in the room was as usual, fluid and resonating with the influence of probability and aura. But around this boy the threads were stagnant, straight, and flat. As if there was no other fate or choices he could make for himself in life anymore. i dug deeper, opening my mind's eye to the full tapestry, wincing in pain at the overwhelming flood of information. Then i saw it, His aura, which should have been tethered to the threads of fate, was nowhere to be seen. His aura, his very soul, was gone. I took a breath and withdrew myself from the threads, dizzying as the material world came back into focus. I looked at the parents, saw the sister glancing hopefully at me behind them. I never was good at giving bad news. And this was something extremely bad. The fact that this started when the boy went hunting deep in the woods, especially the northern forests which bordered on the fae's domain, combined with his complete lack of aura that not even the worshippers of the abyss were capable of pulling off... could only mean the culprit was a Skogsra, and a very powerful one at that. I looked to the father. "Has your son been seeing a girl recently? bringing her flowers, gifts or the like?" He nodded his assent. "Yes, i thought it strange because the nearest village with lasses his age is a good day's walk from here, but then i figured that's why he kept going 'hunting' so often. he wouldn't stop going on and on about the pretty girl he'd met. i thought he was full of it, honestly. But how'd you know about that?" I looked at him grimly, my suspicions confirmed. "Because your son's soul has been taken by a Skogsra." "what!?" he said. "WHAT?" screamed Maria. "Oh gods, what do you mean his soul!? his soul is gone!?" I nodded morosely. "Yes, Taken by a scorned fae, a Skogsra. Fae can see the true world of fate, and have a habit of falling in love at first sight. but when they are rejected, a fae will sometimes fall into despair and become a twisted version of themselves, and take the soul of the one who rejected them." They stared at me agape for a moment, unsure of what to say. "T-then you can beat that monster and take brothers soul back!" Keera shouted, determined. "You're a priest and a knight! you can beat the skog lady and save brother!" Tommen looked at me sullenly, not wanting to ask it of me, but i could tell he desperately wanted the same of me. "Please sir priest..." Maria sobbed. "I can't lose my boy. my sweet boy. I'll give you everything i have. Just save my boy. please." I stood up and patted her reassuringly on the shoulder. "I already told you ma'am, You don't owe me anything. I'll do my best to save your boy." Lucien nodded grimly. "You have my aid as well. i don't know how tough a skogsra is, but it probably hates the taste of steel like everything else." Maria clung to my robe, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh thank you. thank you both so much. thank you." Tommen gently took his wife into his arms. "Thank you, Solace. I can't express my gratitude enough." He said. I smiled warmly at the family. "Thank me when your boy is back to his old self. I'll be back soon." I turned with Lucien and headed out of the house. the pitter patter of tiny feet behind me made me stop. "Wait Mr. priest knight! take this too!" Keera handed me a small pearl, engraved with the Rune of "Isa." I gaped at the trinket. "Where in the world did you get this, little one?" She smiled broadly and proclaimed; "My gramma gave it to me in case any boys were mean to me! use it to stop that skog lady!" With that, she ran back into her house. peeking her head back out for a moment she shouted; "And my name is KEERA. not little one!" She shut the door. This pearl...Just who was this kid's grandma that she had weaponized rune magic to throw around? That aside though, a Skogsra would not be easy to deal with. The only way to reclaim a soul from a Skogsra was to slay it, or have it relinquish it willingly. But as far as i knew, they never did so willingly. And my longsword was more suited for men and beasts, rather than fae beings made mostly of aura. I would have to embue my own blade with aura, but i'm no Arch-Lycan. I could only hope the amount of aura i could embue into my blade would be enough to fight such a creature. Lucien looked at me worriedly. "If a skogsra is a type of fae, how are we even supposed to defeat it? they don't have normal flesh and blood like the rest of us." I gave his shoulder a light hearted jab. "Don't worry, I'll think of something." with that, i began making my way into the forest. Lucien's indignant voice rose up behind me. "You know that makes me worry even more right!?"