Anser stood up and walked to the window, pulled it open in one motion, then stepped back two paces.
The yellow-green bird flapped its wings and flew in, transforming out of thin air into a girl. She wore plain emerald-green leather armor. Her build was small and slight, her skin light brown, and her features delicate and gentle. Her green eyes were full of vigilance, giving people the impression that she was easy to bully.
With a person suddenly appearing in the room, Quentin, Kaleno, and the others were startled and immediately gathered around.
"Karisha?" Quentin said in surprise when he saw who it was. "What are you doing here?"
"You know each other?" Anser asked doubtfully.
"Karisha is a druid from the Emerald Enclave. She lives deep in the Wood of Sharp Teeth, not far from Durlag's Tower," Quentin explained, sounding somewhat hesitant as he spoke.
The relationship between that group of druids and Durlag's Tower was not very good. The former president, Stoll, had even clashed with them before.
The core issue was that humans were cutting down trees recklessly and destroying the forest without restraint, drawing the Emerald Enclave's displeasure. They threatened and drove humans away, and the conflict kept building over time.
"I've heard of it. Are you here for me?" Anser said, extending a hand to indicate that she should sit.
Karisha carefully sized Anser up for a moment. Then her gaze shifted and landed on that shield, her eyes tightening slightly, before she spoke as if nothing had happened. "President Holrewen, what kind of organization is the Emerald Enclave you've heard about?"
Her voice was as clear as a bird's, but her tone was old-fashioned and worldly.
"A path of balance that protects civilization?" Anser ventured.
How could he remember all that? He only knew that the Emerald Enclave was a rather unconventional druidic circle, comparatively loose in structure.
Karisha raised her brows slightly, a faint smile appearing on her face. "President Holrewen truly is different from others. The Emerald Enclave has never been humanity's enemy. We have always been committed to protecting civilization from destruction…"
She went on and on, talking from the organization's ideals to what they had been doing recently.
Anser did not know what her purpose was, and simply listened quietly.
The Emerald Enclave's core doctrine was the path of balance: maintaining the balance of the natural order while protecting civilization from being destroyed.
The organization's symbol was a stag-head emblem, and they liked wearing emerald-green clothing. Its members were diverse: druids, Rangers, barbarians...
The Emerald Enclave had a branch organization in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Their greatest enemies were actually werewolves, undead, and shadow creatures. They had fought these evil beings for many years, indirectly protecting the ordinary people outside the forest.
They were not actually opposed to reasonable logging. They only intervened in irresponsible acts of destruction.
But none of this was understood by humans. Humans only saw that the Emerald Enclave had once stopped them from cutting down the forest, and the relationship between the two sides had never really been friendly.
Quentin's expression turned subtle. This was not the first time he had heard such words, but the Union did not like the Emerald Enclave. From humanity's point of view, the Emerald Enclave really was a bit too meddlesome.
Humans lived off the mountains by the mountains and off the water by the water. Wood, all the more so, was an essential fuel for human life. To have to explain oneself at length just for cutting a few trees was something even he could not understand, let alone ordinary people.
Only after a long while did Karisha finally finish speaking. With her hands behind her back, she looked at Anser.
"I agree with your ideals very much." Anser spread his hands. "But I can't stop the people from cutting trees. A lot of children depend on that to stay alive."
There were orphans everywhere, and Durlag's Tower was no exception. But there was no orphanage here. If those children wanted to survive, they could only rely on themselves. Picking up firewood or chopping down a few small trees was perfectly normal.
"Agreement is a good start." When Karisha smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, seemingly not caring much about the matter of tree-cutting.
Anser focused his mind on her. The die turned slightly and popped up her information:
[Karisha, Wood Elf, Level 10 Druid (Circle of the Land)]
'Not bad, but probably still not enough if she wants to fight werewolves.'
He inferred that the Emerald Enclave definitely had high-level or peak-tier professionals. If they were too weak, it would be hard for them to survive in the Wood of Sharp Teeth.
"So what did you come here for this time?" he asked directly.
"I came to warn you: be careful of the werewolves!" Karisha's expression turned solemn. "The werewolf tribes in the Wood of Sharp Teeth have been moving around frequently. We've also seen humans making contact with them. Their target may be Durlag's Tower."
"How many people are in the werewolf tribes?" Anser pressed.
Werewolves were actually humans as well. Because of bloodline or curse-related factors, they became beast-humans who could transform into a ferocious wolf form or a half-wolf, half-human hybrid form. They were classified as monsters, with a base Challenge Rating of 3. They excelled at pack tactics and were extremely difficult to deal with.
"There's more than just one or two werewolf tribes. The largest tribe probably has around a thousand members," Karisha replied.
"Do you know who is making contact with the werewolves?"
"I'm not sure."
"Thank you for the warning. We will make preparations," Anser said sincerely.
Regardless of whether the intelligence was true or false, their intentions were good.
"You're welcome. I hope we will meet again." Karisha smiled brightly. With a turn, she transformed into a small bird and flew out through the window, quickly disappearing from sight.
"She probably came specifically to find you," Quentin said with a chuckle.
"Mm." Anser was not surprised. He had just taken office and had already stirred up quite a few matters. It was only natural for neighbors to come and probe. "Have werewolves come out before?"
"They come out often, robbing adventurers or farmsteads. They're very clever—they've never entered the city." Remembering the werewolves, Quentin could not help frowning. "If you're bitten by a werewolf, you might become one as well. Very troublesome."
"The matter of the werewolves cannot be neglected. Activate the patrol watchtowers outside the city and strengthen the guard," Anser said after a moment's thought.
To the west of the city, in the direction near the forest, there were several watchtowers, one every 500 meters, though they were rarely put into use.
"Understood. I'll go make the arrangements right away." Seeing that Anser was serious, Quentin did not dare delay and immediately went to carry it out.
Anser stroked his chin and fell into thought.
'Could it be people from Amn? Aren't they busy resisting the invasion of the Green Dragon Kingdom? Or perhaps those nobles from the Claw city-states—or Mind Flayers…'
The most frightening thing about werewolves was that they were originally human. If they did not transform, it was very difficult to detect them.
Moreover, if an ordinary person was bitten by a werewolf in its transformed state, they would suffer the werewolf curse. If they could not withstand it, they would also become a werewolf.
Therefore, those werewolves ambushing adventurers or villagers might not necessarily have come from the forest. It was very possible that they had originally been hiding within the human world. Influenced by the night of the full moon or other factors, they could no longer suppress the urge to transform and came out to commit crimes.
If the werewolves had truly been bought over by someone, the situation could become extremely troublesome.
At that moment, he felt that Faerûn was truly chaotic. Even a small place like Durlag's Tower was entangled in so many conflicts and disputes.
He sat back down at his desk. After briefly finishing the plan for raising an army, he set it aside. That was enough.
He had some experience with fighting, but his military ability was probably not even as good as the armchair strategists from the forums in his previous life. There was no need for him to micromanage—providing a general direction was sufficient.
It was close to noon. He simply called Kaleno and went together to the Union cafeteria to mooch a lunch, and at the same time become familiar with the Union's staff.
...
Wood of Sharp Teeth, Moontrace Basin.
Beside a stretch of ancient and ruined buildings stood a small village. The structures were uniformly wooden, most with a small courtyard. Many strips of air-dried beast meat and tanned hides hung outside, the style no different from that of human settlements.
It was midday, and columns of cooking smoke rose from the village. Only, those eating were humans, wolves, and werewolves half human and half wolf.
This was clearly a werewolf tribe.
Inside a large wooden building in the center—more like a warehouse than a residence—more than a dozen figures sat facing one another, eating the food in their hands in large bites. Much of it still had streaks of blood, clearly uncooked.
The man seated at the head was not eating. With his arms folded across his chest, he watched these companions on both sides—who looked like savages—with an expressionless face, a trace of disdain in his eyes.
"Chief," one of the werewolves said indistinctly while eating, "are we really going to listen to those bird-men and sneak-attack Durlag's Tower?"
The person beside him slammed the bone in his hand onto the table with a bang and retorted, "You keep saying bird-men every day—aren't you a human too?!"
"Of course I'm not human." The werewolf showed no weakness, baring his sharp teeth with a mocking expression. "I'm a noble werewolf. If you want to be human so badly, why are you still staying here? Go back to the human world."
"You—!" The man roared in anger. His canine teeth protruded and hair began to sprout from his body—signs that he was about to transform.
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