November 21st

The crossbow is finally finished. I made one that actually looks decent enough. I am also confident that it will maintain its integrity, so I am now ready to begin hunting the beast. Griffin and I have managed to make a sort of paste that dissolves when it comes into contact with liquid, so that solves the venom problem.

We can now begin hunting the monster, but where do we begin? The best course of action would be to start at the place it was last seen, however Griffin spotted it nearly two weeks ago. I doubt we would be able to find any information about it from that location. How should we go about doing this?

November 21st

A lot of time is wasted each day between getting ready in the morning, setting out, and coming back. If I could spend the night out in the forest, it would cut down on travel time and allow more time for me to look for the monster. Maryanne would likely not like this idea…

I would also need to be careful to have someone awake at all times to keep watch, so it would not only be necessary to be with Griffin, but also Alastair.

Oh but the weather! If only it was not winter! The weather has been unfavorable lately, which requires staying inside at night, or even for the entire day. I may have to change course and attempt to find another monster, but no matter what I do, my efforts will likely be in vain.

November 21st

I have spoken with Griffin about this and he has agreed to spend as long as it takes to find that monster. I suppose I am paying him, so he loses nothing, however I still wish to find the monster as quickly as I can. It may take until spring to see results. That is the worst case scenario, but it is still a possibility.

Griffin has written a letter to a man named Laurence Sullivan. The man who hired him, I assume. We will begin looking for monsters soon, perhaps tomorrow.

November 22nd

Uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Although, what is ordinary now? It feels odd that nothing is happening.

November 23rd

We have covered quite a large area and nothing has come up. I think maybe we need to be looking at a different time of day. When Griffin had spotted the monster, it had been dusk, but now due to the weather and dropping temperature, we are returning to the manor well before nightfall. Maybe it is possible for the monster to be nocturnal. Tomorrow night Griffin and I will begin searching for the monster in the forests. Hopefully the weather will not be too bad.

November 24th

The weather was not unbearable, but it was by no means pleasant. As the sun began to set into the sky, a small dusting of snow began to float down on top of us as we set out. It was rather enchanting, almost. The golden rays of light piercing through the barren trees and dancing through the misty snowfall. It was strangely beautiful to me, as I reflect on it now. It is bizarre. Truly bizarre. I feel vaguely melancholic and nostalgic but what for I could not say. Something feels so dreadfully familiar about all this, although none of it is new to me, I have lived here my whole life. So why does it feel like this is so dear to me? Perhaps it is the sleep deprivation… I will explain what happened tomorrow.

November 25th

I had a dream about something that happened many years ago. I could not have been older than 4. It was an old memory of my mother. She was holding my hand as I walked toward the forest. The snow was falling just like it had been last night. The light shining through the trees, the misty quality of the snow in the air around us, it was all so similar.

Dreams aside, I should explain what had happened yesterday. As the sun began to set, Griffin and I set out to search the forest. After a short period of time, Griffin lit a torch to light our way and we continued to search. The temperature was dropping as the night progressed, so we were on the verge of returning home when we spotted a paw print on the ground in the fresh snow. After quickly searching around, we were able to find a few more. It did not seem to have a particular direction in mind, as it seemed to just be wandering. We were following the tracks as best we could given the low light but we kept losing the trail. We made it perhaps 30 feet before the tracks ended entirely. Rather unfortunate that we were unable to continue, but small progress is better than no progress. I am fairly certain that the tracks were from the monster.

But it was when we were returning to the manor that something bizarre happened. I only just remembered it right now, because I hardly even believed I saw it. We were walking back to the manor when I heard a branch snap behind me. I turned around and something seemed to flicker in my vision. For a brief second I could have sworn that I saw a tall, pale being standing before me. It had a feathery mantle around its shoulders that looked almost like wings. It was as if I was staring into a void as I looked into its inky black eyes.

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Then I felt Griffin grab my shoulder and I blinked and turned towards him. I told him that I must be feeling tired and we went back to the manor without incident.

That was very strange and I still doubt it was real. It must have been a trick of the light or something similar.

November 25th

Today I went to Archibold’s house in the late morning. I then had to stay there for quite a while because it had begun snowing very heavily and I wanted to wait it out. It was rather interesting, we discussed theology and angels. Personally, I find it quite strange that there are angels above us that watch everything we do and keep score. Archibold has a fascination with other religions, something that he spoke extensively about. It was a rather interesting conversation, as the hindu gods that we discussed seem absolutely bonkers to me. If I ever were to believe in a religion, it would likely be that one, as I have found some rather bizarre creatures recently.

I am warming up to Archibold a little bit. He is rather intriguing to me. He knows so much about so many different things. Certainly his knowledge is because of his large collection of books. I still find it hard to understand why he would travel nearly 500 miles to live here, but I am starting to see how kind he is.

After it stopped snowing, I returned home. Griffin and I decided to not go looking for the monster tonight, as it started snowing again soon after I got back. We will maybe go into the forest tomorrow night though.

November 26th

Regrettably, I have had to delay going into the forest by another day.

November 27th

We went back into the forest at dusk and stayed out for maybe four hours. We went deep into the forest, travelling for at least an hour, before we heard the chilling sound of chains dragging on cobblestones. Naturally, there was no such infrastructure nearby, so it was very odd. I slowly followed the sound for quite a while and we followed it to a section of the forest I had never been to before. This was in one of the more rocky parts of the landscape, on the slope of the mountain. The monster could be hiding in any one of the many crevices and small caves. If I had known that this was here, I would likely have searched here much earlier. Wolves have dens in caves and burrows just like that area. I will return there tomorrow and search in the daylight with Griffin.

November 28th

Today was quite a day. I left with Griffin in the morning, approximately three hours after sunrise. If my theory is correct about the monster being active during dawn and dusk, it should have returned to its den by that time, which it did. We hiked for well over an hour to the location where we set up markers dividing the terrain into sections. We systematically searched through each section at a time until I spotted a mass of fur inside one of the caves.

At that point, Griffin and I retreated a distance and we set up a plan. We would lure out the wolf, at which point I would shoot it with my crossbow, paralyzing it and allowing us to investigate it. It did not go as planned.

We shouted and produced quite a ruckus, which roused the beast inside and then waited for it to come out. After a few moments, we heard growling and clanging of chains and I saw its red eyes peering out of the darkness of the cave. The plan started to go downhill when that darkness spread outward, closing in around my peripherals, enveloping Griffin and the forest around me. It then charged out of the cave toward me and I let loose an arrow which flew straight into the monster’s open mouth. The paste on the arrow began to dissolve and froth as it mixed with the putrid saliva in the wolf’s mouth. I hurriedly reloaded and fired a second arrow into it, hitting somewhere above the left shoulder. I could not tell because of the dimming of my eyes.

The beast kept running towards me, however and I tucked and rolled down the hill, while I heard the crack of a rifle. After I tumbled maybe 30 feet, I looked back and watched as the beast collapsed less than ten feet from me. I ran up to my pack and pulled rope out of it, which I then used to tie the limbs of the beast together. As I was doing that, Griffin found his way over to me through the darkness, which had not abated, and began helping me bind the limbs.

Suddenly I heard the sound of chains behind me and I whirled to see another wolf, about the size of a fox, charging towards me. It leapt at me almost as soon as I noticed it in my limited view and I thrust my arm in front of my face. It clamped down onto my arm, attempting to sink its teeth into my flesh, but of course I had my armored gauntlets. The tremendous force knocked me back and as I stumbled, I fell backwards over the body of the bigger wolf on the ground. I fell onto my back and in the same motion, flipped the wolf over my head onto the ground. I then pulled an arrow from my quiver and plunged it into the monster’s side. It howled but continued thrashing. It was still latched onto my arm though, so I vigorously attempted to shake it off, while also grabbing it with my other arm to prevent it from getting away as it stood up, violently tugging my arm away from me. Griffin tackled it and it finally released my arm, so I stood up, grabbed some rope laying on the ground, and then attempted to tie it around one of the thrashing legs as Griffin wrestled with it. I finally managed to tie the rope around one of the front limbs and we then rolled it over so that it was upright. I then looped the rope around the neck of the wolf, bringing the leg up to its head, and tied it to the other leg.

Griffin and I sat back, breathing hard, and watched as it attempted to move around, whimpering and snapping at the rope with its mouth, but it couldn’t reach. Gradually, the venom began to take effect and we watched as its movements slowed then stopped completely.

Now that we could stop and breathe, I say that the eyes of the smaller wolf were more of a yellow. The fur was shaggy and loose, with an unhealthy appearance. Making a decision, I pulled out my knife and plunged it deep into the animal’s breast, slaying it so it would not develope in the monster that lay behind me. It was a pup, I knew at once, and the offspring of that horrid monster. I was amazed by its sheer tenacity. That huge wolf, easily the size of a bear, had taken a gunshot like it was nothing, as well as two arrows, one of which went into the roof of its mouth.

I do not know if the effects of the venom will last, so we quickly doubled up the ropes around it and began preparing to drag it down the hill towards the manor. We decided to leave it in the clearing close to Lake Eleanor, as it would be bloody mad to bring it any closer to my home, but even so, we would have quite a ways to transport it.

But then, I heard a whimper. It was so faint I was scarcely sure I heard it, but then. There! I heard it again. I will go check it out.