"One Night" Amanda - Found Family 2

DISCLAIMER: This chapter of the story will be different from what viewers saw on our stream, as that attempt at the scenario devolved when we drew every enemy in the deck and then autofailed almost every attack against them. After conferring with the party, I chose to replay the scenario solo, for thematic reasons that can mostly be summarized as "we REALLY want Amanda to be a werewolf". Enjoy!

Amanda didn't stop running until she was far from campus, halfway through Rivertown, certain at last that the alien had left her alone. She came to a stop, breathing heavily, at the edge of the Miskatonic, and tried to get ahold of herself. Her campus had been cursed, attacked by twisted humans and aliens, and she hadn't been strong enough to stand by Ms. Fern and help her get the other students out.

She heard a noise, a sort of squelching screech, somewhere back in the streets of Rivertown and grew cold, then was suddenly startled to hear a voice close by. "Come in, then, before you catch your death of cold. Or violence." She turned to find an elderly woman peering out of the door of a hut. Hesitant, but curious, she stepped inside, keeping her stance ready.

The woman laughed. "I'm no threat to you. But that creature out there is." She went on to explain that the creature had trailed her from MU's campus, sensing the curse still catching hold of Amanda's being like a magical bloodhound. The only way to escape the magic would be to slay the creature and purge the magic before it spread from MU and Amanda to the rest of Arkham.

Overwhelmed by the pressure, Amanda fled the hut, trying to escape before the creature arrived, only to be caught at the edge of the water and dragged down by the monster, which was lying in wait. Desperately, she fought it off underwater using only her bare hands and a growing strength, then scrambled to the surface and turned to watch it rise from the river. Moments of the stand-off passed and Amanda found in herself the courage to strike, driving the creature off. In its moment of fear, Amanda realized there was something almost-human about it, and as it fled through the water to the Unvisited Isle she returned to Lady Esprit for answers.

"You lied to me. You played off that mysterious old person trope to get my trust, but you're no mentor figure. That was a person before it transformed. I should be helping them, not trying to kill them!" Soaking wet and bruised, Amanda slammed one hand on Lady Esprit's tiny table. The older woman shook her head. "The curse laid on the campus magnified and twisted any magic present. Someone cast a Beast Within spell on that poor soul, just as they did on you. I know you can feel it taking hold. You'll kill that other student and purge the magic from you both, or you'll end up much like them." Amanda narrowed her eyes and left without another word.

"Come on, girl, think. There has to be another way." Staring across the river at the Isle, a plan began to come to her. She waded out into the river and wrestled out a fishing net, wadded it up, and began to swim to the Unvisited Isle.

As she walked up the shore, cold, scared, but ready to fight, she was attacked again by the transformed student, but didn't hold back this time and stunned it with quick blows, wrapping the Fishing Net around it until it was tangled. Although hampered, it was still dangerous, and as it got between Amanda and the water she had to retreat into the trees of the Unvisited Isle itself.

Wandering through the isle, trying to stay away from the noisy and furious monster, Amanda came across a cairn with a small, smooth stone sitting atop it. She sat before the cairn and found herself feeling peaceful for the first moment since she had begun looking for Professor Rice. She breathed and thought of Carolyn, out there trying to protect students, and all of her words of advice. She let go of her fears, and took up the smooth stone, rubbing it gently in her hand and letting it soothe her anxiety.

When her pursuer blundered into the clearing, she turned sharply and in one smooth motion pressed the stone into the chest of her mutated foe, channeling the magic Lady Esprit had accidentally revealed she held, using her inhuman strength to hold it back and keep the stone above the creature's heart. She paid no attention to the way she was growing, the claws forming on her hands, the fur sprouting from her skin.

The Experiment sagged, and the various aquatic protrusions melted away until another MU student, a chemistry student she had seen around campus before, shivered naked on the ground in front of her. Amanda let go of the magic, and felt her own body shift back into human form. 'So, my Beast Within is a wolf. Fascinating.' she thought, then wrapped her jacket (soaking wet as it may have been) around the other student and set about making a fire to warm them both.

Roughly an hour before dawn, having gotten little more than two hours of sleep after all she had to do to clear up the disaster on MU's campus, Carolyn opened her front door to answer a knock and found Amanda there. She took her inside, fussed over her, and brought her tea. Amanda thanked her and said, simply, "Ms. Fern, I think I've become a werewolf."

Carolyn paused, smiled reassuringly, spiked her teacup, and said, "And how does that make you feel?"