Wine, Ale & Spirits Quest

[Larfleeze]

Chakravartin was surprised as Aang was. He had planned to cut the rest of the chains off, but with just the few he had melted, the massive wolf managed to break out. It was almost luck that he managed to drop to the bottom of the carriage prior to the wolf's escape and Aang's... current displeasure.

Or so Aang thought.

It was almost disappointing that only the one Dire Wolf had broken free. He had expected at least four of them to be enraged enough by the salts waking them up. As it was, only the largest of the four had actually struggled out of its bonds. Chakravartin had been banking on the wolves fighting each other long enough for him to escape the carriage and spin a story about them getting loose while he was checking if they were really there. But since only the one had properly gotten out, he had to escape, as he was the only target for the monster at present.

He escaped out into the night, and watched as Aang began trying to take hold of the chaos. Aang gripped the wolf with two of the stone hands, and tried to both protect the animal from the damage being done to it by its former owners, and protect the people from their snarling former prisoner.

"CHAKRA! What are you DOING?!"

Chakravartin sighed, none of this was going according to plan, he supposed. It was too late, thematically, to go back and release the other three. He would have to get Doc's bloody revenge with a different method.

The men began to get more and more organized, and Aang found that the crossbow wielders were troublesome. Chakravartin sighed, he might have to track down the main instigator himself later on. He was dressed all in black, similar to Aang, as he didn't want to let a poor reputation stop him from joining the tournament later on. He began grabbing enemies with his Palace Hands.

He flung men into each other, delivering punches and kicks to those that got too close, and the two orbiting hands provided a bottleneck. Most who tried to get close to him were smacked away by a Palace Hand, and the few who weren't were far too few to overwhelm him.

He kept an eye on Aang- it wouldn't do to let him get too injured, and began to make his way to the Avatar, wading through the battle.

And it was a battle. Men tried to punch him, sneak up on him, slash at him with knives, bottles, and swords. He even winced as a few arrowhead bolts hit his body. He was tougher than a human, he could tell, and the arrows didn't penetrate very far- compared to Aang, he was practically immune, but they still hurt like hell. He couldn't imagine what Aang was going through, with two buried in him.

"Aang! Are you alright? Can you still fight?"

"What the heck, Chakra? How'd the wolf get free!?"

"I thought they were sleeping! I was melting the chains just a bit- to open it up and see its condition, but it woke up and I couldn't grab it in time."

"Fine, but what do we do now?"

"We need to get the main instigator. The one who was speaking with the owner woman." Chakravartin said.

"The wolf is a bigger problem right now." Aang grunted, the stone hands moving the wolf yet again, saving it from a sword strike while simultaneously keeping it from biting the head off of a man who got too close. "Can you- grab it with the hands?"

"I could, but I don't have as much range if I want to keep moving while I'm doing it. I might as well carry the wolf myself."

"Ugh!" Aang felt another arrowhead hit him, this time in the lower back. It didn't damage anything too vital, but it was close.

"Which, now that I'm thinking it, might be a good plan." Chakravartin grinned. "Let the wolf go."

"It'll attack the people!"

"We'll trap it in the cellar." Chakravartin explained.

Aang, despite the chaos, despite the pain, widened his eyes, "In the place where they were doing that to him?"

"Aang, it's that, or we try to force him back into those barrels. It's even more horrible, I promise you."

"...Fine."

Chakravartin kept himself from smiling easily, "I'm going to try and guide it toward the cellar- hit it with an air blast if it's getting too far off course."

"Got it."

The stone hands release their grip, and Chakravartin jumped forward, melting into liquid gold for the first time in front of Aang, he splashed across the wolf's back, before hardening in the form of thread. A living spiderweb of gold spread across the wolf's body like a wireframe sculpture, and the wolf began to struggle, only for its legs to be quickly released. The wolf used its limited freedom as best it could, and ran in a straight line. Chakravartin's threads tightened, turning its head, and the wolf turned towards the entrance to the cellar.

It was strenuous and disorienting, in this form, and he could barely hold the cohesion of the threads, trying to keep the wolf from simply busting through his web with its strength. He could only redirect it slightly, cause it to trip up or look away, to lead it toward his target.

Chakravartin knew something Aang did not know.

The instigator- the child of the first owner, had entered the cellar already. 

Soon the strain became too great, and Chakravartin was shrugged off, the web's threads snapping and leaving him on the ground. The wolf barreled ahead, crashing through the cellar's back entrance and tumbling down the steps. Aang let out a sigh of relief. 


Chakravartin reformed, letting out a pained sigh. It was somewhat exhausting, holding such complex shapes while disassembled. "Get out of here!" Chakravartin called to Aang, "Contact the City Guard about the other wolves!"

Aang looked back and forth between Chakravartin and the carriage, as well as the panicking men, "What about you?"

"You're more fragile, and more mobile. I'll catch up!" Chakravartin said, waving him off, "You're injured, too. Don't forget that."

"Got it." Aang darted off, using airbending to propel him, but even just moving regularly, he easily outclassed the other men. 

"Y-You!" one of the men growled at Chakravartin, "Why would you do this?!"

"I could say it's because the ghosts of those wolves you torture to death in your fights are asking for vengeance." Chakravartin said, before grinning wide, wider, until a savage sharp-toothed grin had spread across his entire face, many times larger than his actual jaw. The men began to back off, muttering about monsters, "But that would be a lie."

'Wh-What?"

Chakravartin took off running, towards the last carriage. The men followed him, screaming at him and calling him a monster. In the cellar, the sound of splashing, growling, and breaking glass hid the sounds of just about anything else. 

He climbed in, and the men began to follow him in, until they realized just what was in the remaining three barrels stored within this carriage in particular. Chakravartin, without a moment's hesitation, activated the lightsaber once more, and began working at the remaining chains. The men closest to the wagon's back turned and ran, but they just bumped into the rest of the gang behind them. 

The three barrels burst within seconds of each other, releasing their massive prisoners. 

"Fine. Very fine." Chakravartin spoke, before dropping back into liquid form. The monsters blasted through him, splattering him across the floor and sides of the carriage, but he didn't bother hanging on to them. 

He listened as the gang of dogfighters screamed and tried to run in a mass panic. 

He pulled himself together, and oozed out of the carriage, before reforming and screaming out "THE CELLAR! HIDE IN THE CELLAR!"

If they had taken a moment to think, they would know there was already a wolf down there. 

"IT'S SAFE IN THE CELLAR! THEY'D NEVER GO IN THE CELLAR!" 

But a mob's IQ is that of its dumbest member, divided by the amount of people in the group. He wasn't quite sure who said that, originally. 

The ones who weren't torn apart by the Dire Wolves first dive forward rushed for the assumed safety of the cellar. 

Chakravartin tossed smelling salts in after them.

And he stepped out of the way as three more Dire Wolves, in an enraged fury, chased the group back in.

He locked the door behind him. 

His evil, toothy too-wide grin began to regress to a simple satisfied smile. "Oh, what a tragedy." Chakravartin said, his tone of voice suitably sad, "The others were so enraged that they broke free, and it was all I could think of to lead them into the cellar too. I couldn't hold them back enough to keep the dogfighters from getting attacked, and the wolves dragged some of them into the cellar behind them." he shook his head, "What a tragedy. But I suppose the wolves were only trying to get justice, weren't they? Attacking those who attacked them. It's so sad, but at least the dogfighters won't hurt any more of them. And on the bright side, the ghosts of the wolves they've killed will finally be able to leave in peace."

Chakravartin let out a satisfied sigh, "That's what I'll tell him." the owner woman had fled as soon as figures in black arrived, she wouldn't be able to identify them. Neither would any dogfighters who escaped. 

He had his secret, and he would have Doc's favor.

Not too great of a reward. Perhaps not even worth the two days they had wasted looking into the alehouse. 

But it felt damn good.

Must speak with the owner of the tavern: Accomplished.
Must examine the grounds and ask around about odd sightings: Accomplished
Must conduct research on the history of the tavern: Accomplished
Must wait until nightfall and convince the ghost(s) to leave by whatever means possible: Accomplished
5,306 words, 29,206 characters (including Astral Realm Posts).
Chakravartin: 5,496 words, 30,847 characters.

10,802/10,000 words.