Symphonia was quite pleased with how things had turned out. With the successful reclamation of Luna's temple, the mission she had sent the rangers Andrea and Julius on was officially a success.

Better yet, the human had managed to escape, even going so far as to wound Andrea and attempt to cripple Julius. Which, of course, allowed her to posit that, if anything, her methods had been too lenient.

Letting a human leave the elven village alive, with the knowledge of where they kept their home was a devastating blow to the village's security. As such, Sympohina's rivals on the elven council found their plans to oust her from her position as elder collapse before they got started.

Symphonia had to stop herself from cackling as she stared down her nose at the gathered council, feeling rather smug as she began her speech.

"As the council requested, I have performed several divination rituals so that we might locate and track down the escaped human."

She paused for a moment, letting them hang there in suspense.

"I'm afraid things are worse than we could ever have imagined. This boy was no mere human. He has been branded a heretic by the gods. The shape-shifter is a void touched."

That got an appropriate response; several gasps and curses escaped the lips of the council members.

"We have been presented with a unique opportunity; a divine representative of Luna now resides within our reclaimed temple. Any who enter into a contract to hunt down and end this heretical shape-shifter will be granted Luna's most potent blessing of lycanthropy, the Loupe'Garou."

At this point, one of the other council members spoke up, her long-time rival and [Druid of Change] Leoric. He was perhaps the least flustered of the council, though that didn't surprise Symphonia. The man always thrived in moments of chaos.

"The Loupe'Garou is a famously powerful form of lycanthropy, naturally only gifted to werewolf alphas or a champion of the goddess herself. How dangerous exactly does the goddess believe Alyx to be? He was barely above the level of a child when I spoke to him."

Leoric was not the only one to be skeptical about the danger a single human posed, though all understood how important it was to track him down and keep the secret of the village's location from spreading. Symphonia schooled her face before she replied, making sure she didn't look too smug as she replied.

"Why I can't honestly begin to imagine, I would ask Luna's emissary in the temple for answers to that question. What I do know is that we would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity presented to us. Were it not for the logistical concern of remaining hidden and the requirement that those who take the blessing must actively hunt down and attempt to kill the shape-shifter. I would argue that everyone down to the last child should take the blessing."

Taking a moment to sip from a cup of tea and look around the room, making eye contact with every council member, Symphonia continued.

"As it stands, I would still recommend nearly all of our rangers should attempt the quest, leaving a token force to protect the village. This might sound extreme at first, but with the council and myself here to protect the village, it would still be relatively safe. I would typically never suggest such a thing, however as I'm sure Leoric can attest, the power of a single Loupe'Garou simply can not be understated."

Symphonia nearly cackled with glee at Leorics look of surprise when she called on him to support her claim, watching the [Druid of Change] Furrow his brows and attempt to figure out how he was being manipulated.

"Symphonia is correct. Even a single squad of rangers transforming Loupe'Garou would be enough to protect the village from nearly any threat. I would even argue that having one would be a boon, which is why I am unsurprised at our Elders zeal for getting as many as we can. Tell me, Symphonia, what do you really want so many Loupe'Garou for? I doubt it would take more than two or three to take down the shape-shifter."

Smirking, Symphonia stood a little taller, chin lifted, and eyes gleaming with smugness and greed.

" A single Loupe'Garou is enough to give any person on this council pause. Five Loupe'Garou working together would crush this council, myself included. Fifty Loupe'Garou would level a town and tear through armies with little effort.

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I take it you are beginning to understand, yes? If we complete the quest given by Luna and dedicate enough of our rangers to the goddess, we wouldn't need to hide behind wards and illusions. We can finally begin expanding our forest! no longer would we have to watch it slowly crumble to ruin!"

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Leoric just put his face in his hands. Of course, Symphonia wanted to turn this current crisis into fuel for war against humanity.

"I suppose we are all just going to ignore the fact that werewolves get uncontrollable bloodlust on the full moon then?"

Another of the council members spoke up, Reese [Dutiful Overseer], who managed food production. Leoric was about to respond in kind, but Symphonia cut them both off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"A simple solution, normal werewolves won't be subject to the ire of Loupe'Garous during the full moon, nor will anyone willing to obtain the [Grace of the Moon] blessing."

Leoric shook his head in disbelief, trying and failing to understand how Symphonia proposed that with a straight face.

"While I admit that our village has long worshiped Luna, and it is an incredible boon to have access to the temple once again, you can't seriously be suggesting that we dedicate everyone in the village in the pursuit of power? Hah. Of course, you are. Your hatred of humans still blinds you."

Leoric took a deep breath and stood, placing both hands on the council table, glaring into the eyes of Symphonia.

"We must preserve the secret of our people's location, and I don't think anyone here disagrees with that at. There are other options available to us beyond hunting down a single rogue human, one who, if they had any intention of sharing the secret of our location, has likely already done so."

Leoric paused to let the reality of that sink in. It had been several days by now since Alyx's escape. If he were going to reveal their location, he'd have done so by now.

Symphonia, however, had no intention of letting Leoric lead the conversation however and swiftly butted in.

"Exactly! Leoric has the right of it! Our secrets are already revealed! Which makes the goddess's mission all the more important! We must increase the power we have at our disposal. Eliminating that human is the best way to do so. We may even limit how many people get the information if the fool of a human hasn't already spread it to anyone who will listen."

The bickering continued for hours, and by the end of it, not a single council member was left with a pleasant feeling about what was to be done. None save Symphonia, the village elder, hadn't had this much fun in quite some time.

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Andrea had known shame before. She had known failure but never like this. A human had overpowered her, forced Andrea to flee for her life, and worse. She had done so knowing she left another to die in her place.

When she had gone back with a full team of rangers, she had expected to find Juius's remains, not a man she couldn't bring herself to look in the eyes.

He hadn't accused her of cowardice like she had expected, maybe hoped. Instead, he had hugged her and was clearly glad that she was alright. Andrea hadn't cried then, though she had hugged him back fiercely and was glad to see him alive.

No, she had shed her tears alone in her home, lamenting her weakness.

It is no surprise then that when Elder Symphonia summoned the rangers and informed them that they were making preparations to go after the shape-shifter on a mission from Luna herself. Andrea jumped at the chance to redeem herself, to prove her worth, to grasp at power, to kill humans.

What shocked her was that Julius had declined to join her. Instead, after having his hands healed, the man had put up his bow and turned in his daggers.

He didn't offer to talk about why, and Andrea didn't ask. In her mind, she knew who to blame.

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Symphonia clucked her tongue as she viewed the assembled rangers. Thirty-two elves all told, not as much as she would have liked. But still more than enough to make a difference, so long as she was careful.

She had gathered them in front of the temple and explained their mission in full, including the fact that the rangers would each accept a piece of Luna into themselves and become Loupe'Garou, the most powerful werewolves ever to roam the land.

Luna's divine emissary seemed content to give out such blessings as if they were sweets on all hallows eve. Not that Symphonia was complaining. After all, she had already taken the blessing unto herself. These werewolves would need an Alpha after all.

Now she watched the stoic rangers march into the temple to receive blessings of their own her eyes lingered on Andrea. Symphonia had considered not letting her participate in the hunt due to her previous failure. But that was her pettiness speaking, Andrea would be more driven than anyone here to kill Alyx, and another Loupe'Garou meant having one more weapon at her disposal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alyx had spent his day rather productively, having spent it with perhaps the most knowledgeable person in town, Mr. Squeakers.

Now he had a list of all the nearby monsters and where to find them! Not to mention the possible lead on getting back home. Though admittedly, that was going to take a lot more money than Alyx had on him.

Still, things were starting to look up! He could spend the next couple of weeks casually hunting down new forms, maybe level a few times in the process.

After that, well, Alyx was curious about the dungeon he had heard about, so he would probably pick up any quests related to it and go check it out after he'd hunted down some exciting monsters.

Rechecking his list, Alyx grinned at the topmost entry. Bullete - otherwise known as a sand shark. Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun.