In the sleepy hamlet of Eatonham didst reside a lass named Eaton, a fierce and formidable werewolf maiden. Adorned with hair colour of wheat, she doth posseseth the inherent strength bestowed upon all werewolves. Yet, 'tis not merely her brawn that sets her apart, for Eaton doth also possesseth a shrewd mind and a knowledge in the ways of merchants. With astute discernment, this lycanthrope mistress doth navigate the labyrinthine world of commerce, judiciously granting loans and expecting nary but fair recompense. Thus, behold fair Eaton, a powerful she-wolf who traverses both realms of might and acumen with equal aplomb, a formidable force to be reckoned with in these halls of commerce.

But she had not always been so accursed. Nay, as a maid true she came afoul of bandits, rough men of ill disposition and wanting of morals they injured her unto death. Jamie, for that was the name she had come to be called, being Jamilendra of Earonham, daughter of Melisanna and Hogald, knew little of the world outside of the town and its dealings, and gave little heed to the mark she bore from birth, of a coiled wyrm. And that neglect of ignorance proved to her want. She lay, at the portal of death, finding naught but pain for the effort of drawing breath, and perchance a pack of werewolves came upon her stricken form. Their leader, called Khan, after the fashion of some packs, looked upon her, and saw the end of a strong maiden of the race of man, a strange sight as of women he had only countenanced the slender waifs of common stock, so he approached and spake, “Marry, tell the tale of how one such as your strngth hath fallen so greviously.” But Jamie could not make such a telling pass her lips, managing only a garbled word glutted with her own lifeblood, and sputtered and caused droplets of it to come hence from her mouth. Khan nodded, his eyes full of understanding, “I see thou art wounded unto death, strong maiden. And my head counsels me to ignore my gut, but I wouldst make thee an offer.” He drew himself up, and to her eyes seemed akin to a God in grandeur, “Behold! For I am of wolf and man! And wounds such as thine touble me not! And that which will slay thee unto death cannot but make me wince at their frail attempts. Bear witness to the truth of my words!” He proclaimed, and took from the ground a sundered blade of the bandits and plunged it into his side, and he did twist it, and his face betrayed no pain or discomfort, but the grim confidence of a lord. And he pulled it free, and there was left behind no mark or sign, save errant blood on unmarked flesh. Casting aside the blade fragment as it was nothing to him he knelt before her and intoned, “If thou wouldst not yet go hence to thy grave, I may lay my jaws upon thee and thou may be as cursed as I, and suffer not the ignomy of this end. But be cautioned, ‘tis a curse and though thou will possessith strength and life to thy measure, and I glimpse that may be great and long indeed, thou shalt be accursed, the Gods shall turn their gaze from thee, the animal of the field shall turn from thee and thy kith and kin shall turn from thee ‘ere they catch a hint of what thou hast become. Choose you!”

And she, being afeared of death, and awed by Khan’s might assented without thought. And Khan bent forth and did his sinful business. Indeed the curse was planted, and her mark, which unknown to her would have raised her to life again as chosen, writhed on her skin and peeled away from it, taking flight into the air, for none who bear such a curse may be chosen.

Standing again, a woman of strength, as ever she had been being used to hard labor and effort, she marvelled at her body, returned to health. “Take this.” Khan said and offered her a shank of some unfortunate lamb, “For thy strength is great, but such as thou were, thou shalt have need of much succor ‘ere you reach the fullness of your new might.” Gratefully, she supped, and made ready to return to her home. Khan didst allow her to go hence, knowing well what may happen.

And so it was not long, afore the villagers of her home, those she had called elder and friend alike made discovery of her nature one evening, as she reached out to take silver and it smote her a hurt unlike any she had taken of recent days. The cry arose, a cursed abomination she was, and they laid hands upon her, binding her hand and foot, and the elders called for a priest to banish her spirit, as the townspeople built a bonfire for her flesh. “Nay!” She cried out, in sadness and injury, “Dost thou not see me? I am your daughter, I hight Jamie! Though I am changed in my body, in mind and heart I bear much love for thee, and wouldst bring harm to myself afore thee!” But an elder of the village spat at her feet and spake;

“Ere dost thou protest, may think you we lay a cruel harm to thee, girl. Indeed to thine eyes a hard thing this is to be done, but thou knowest not what thou art! At our hands thou wouldst claim to lick, ‘ere the full moon riseth thou woulds pass wrath and a creature wouldst stand before us, and it wouldst speak thus: ‘Give unto me thy flesh! For I am a beast and an driven by mine dark heart to take the life I no longer bear within!’ And thou wouldst raven and tear at us, and ‘ere the morn come thou shouldst be athwart with grief, but each rising of the full moon shouldst thou again become as a beast. So I say to thee nay! nay we shall not forbear this path, for it seems wise to us, and needful.” And seeing the truth in his words she grew silent, but for the sound of her weeping. But the villagers had built to err, and had not marked the passage of the moons, and as they lit the fire about her, so the light of the full moon came upon the square. And So forth the beast didst come.

It rose from the smoke and ash, wrathful and hungerous, but did not take about it, once launching clear of the flame, but instead gave a thunderous howl, for to scatter the people, for such was her love for them that it burst forth from her, and drove the beast hence, and never did she return to her village of Eatonham. She kept with her, and bore about her wrists the iron shackles that had held her, a memory bound in iron of her past and what it had cost her.

Many years did she have for wandering, a trade in coin she knew, and being built strong and sun darkened to be considered a poor chance for theft she was seldom molested by thieves, and on that infrequent chance a poor time those who tried didst have, for while Jamie of Eatonham bore the appearance of a powerful and strong woman, much more so was her true strength. For the power of a Lycanthrope is many times that of the person they were, many times that of the body they wouldst appear as a man. And Jamie was strong, even for a woman of the race of men. Much and much more so therefore was she stronger as a werewolf, even unchanged. Indeed even strong male werewolves found themselves helpless in her grasp, such was her strength. So a loan wolf did she become, passing coin in exchange for repayment, plus a fee for the service.

Wealthy she did become, by her measure, moving from place to place, lest any find her hidden secret, the curse she bore unto her self. And so it came to pass she found her path to Einweg.

Lo, a cruel plot set her path to those of the Champions, the Party of the Rat Paladin. Lured and tricked into a cage most cruel, kept and starved until released by the pussiant arts of the Champions. “Hold!” Spake Cephiro, “I behold a lovely creature within, ample of bounty, and of flaggin former strength I willen!”

“Stay at bay!” She commanded, “for I a wolf am, and shlt consume thee!”

“Nay! My wisdom holds that thou wouldst have done so were thou able, or willing! Thou shalt join my party, as ever do I seek those that shouldst earn my wrath but do not, for my wisdom is as bountiful as my manhood.” and she looke dupon him and knew it was so. For a wolf and man as her had senses beyond men.

“So shall it be, but thou must know it has been long and more since I last supped, and whether my heart be good as thou say or no, in hunder the beast within rules where a satiated woman may otherwise!” So the Rat Paladin bade his servant, Sulin to go hence and she did buy three animals for the wolf. And in a fury and with little concern for the property of others dist she consume them, leaving the gore and offal athwart.

“Master.” She spake at the end of this, “Thou hath freed me, and fed me. Truly hast thou earned my loyalty anon, lest I take a husband, then he shall have the lions share of that.”

It came to pass that in the party of the Rat Paladin, there dwelt an aged soldier, a nobleman of Sturmblut, the mountain Kingdom which once had been Ereor and Tungrald both joined together, and he was called Grigori and Radamir was he called. His father the Baron <GetnameLater>, and his father <same>. He was a man of axes, and scarce could one behold him without an impromptu lesson in the many forms of ax. For all about him was axes, and a halberd of great size and weight. Of his manner was a broken man, for the cares of the world had seen fit to pile one upon another atop him, and he, being a man, had elected to bear them to his great folly. Here stood a noble man at the end of his life, judging it over long and heavy. He didst look upon the woman before him with wrath, for such as her had destroyed his home, and slain his brothers. He counseled Cephiro thus: “Good Man, I have seen thee do much that is good, but in this I willen thou art in folly. Thou must not allow this beast to continue, for evil tracks it anon, and its deeds shall bring great harm! I would have thou know of its nature, for its kin hath slain many good men I did love as brothers, and it is this beasts kin who bore me a great hurt! For they serve the vampire who stole my kingdom and cast me out!”

Cephiro bent forth his great head at this news and spake, “Baldric,” for such was the name he pressed upon them they must use, lest his enemies pursue them also, “My heart tells me this lady is pleasing of countenance, and within, may be cursed, but has striven to o’er come that blackness.”

“It be a lycanthrope!” Radamir bellowed, “and my heart is filled with hatred for its sight! Thou say it wished to do good, and I shall not gainsay thee on this, for your wisdom hath proven out e’re this day, but have a care to its nature, that of a beast, which can come unbidden and counter its spoken purpose, and once fed, possesseth a strength to make ten of thee! Have a care!”

Jamie of Eatonham stepped forward boldly, for what hath a werewolf to fear from even the greatest of axes? “I grieve with thee over the loss of your kin, for I too have suffered loss. But Thou must be mistook, in thy accusation, for no love to wolf kind bear for the vampire. Indeed much wrath do we harbour against them, an enemy of wolf kind, so pack lore doth say. If thou art true, and wolf kind have taken lives of your men, then unless some nightmarish doom hath driven them so, it was not at the behest of your great enemy.”

Cephiro paused, and offered prayer for guidance, and finally spake, “Tohr, my God is wise, and reserves judgement ‘til the end. Should I cast my hammer from me, lest I strike mine own thumb? nay. For the moment, I am bidden to stay mine hand. Though I feel a great pity for thee, to have such befall thee and thy people, and if ever I may do aught to ammend these fell tidings, so shall I. But for now, I beseech thee to stay thy wrath and husband it for greater enemies, for surely afore we are quit this place, we shall have need of it.” And Radamir subsided, but watched Jamie of Eatonham forever after.

Long it was so, ever she would enter a room, his hand would stray to a nearby ax, his eyes narrowed, but she pretenced to ignorance of this, and passed friendly to his glowering face. His threats she returned with good jest, and his suspicion she returned with good nature. At night she would assume the shape of a great blonde wolf and lie atop his bed, which he found most warm, but difficult to budge in a morning. Thus did she tease him and play jests upon him.

Over time his gruff anger eased and became care, and afore long they did lie together, her not in the form of a hound, but as a strong and comely woman. And hence did he watch for her with care in his eye and a growing love in his heart, which troubled him so. Nonetheless their love was to be considered one of the greatest loves of the age of Heroes.

For her there was no trouble, save for later in the tale, whence he fell, an arrow in his eye, and was buried. Though they didst find one another anon, he as a vampire now, saved from the grave. And she a werewolf. But to her, this proved no obstacle, for her loyalty was to her husband, and she would do much and more to save him from this fate.

It came to pass that she would go hence from Baron Radamir’s keep, bearing a message to Cephiro from Radamir. And she would meet them in Voldaryn. In the towne of Warmwood, a halfling burrow where she had taken lodgings and employ. The Champions were beset with a pack of werewolves, and she traveled with them for some few months before imparting that message, and returning home, a journey she took with some trepidation, for much had her strength waned, for she was with child.