Guy and Sara quickened their pace, hoping to make it to the village by nightfall.
"You don't really think that guy was serious, do you?" Guy said, staring at the setting sun.
"I don't know, babe. We don't normally play anything other than straightforward D&D. We've never had a DM throw an NPC out there who just totally bullshits us," Sara replied.
"Either way, what's a handful of werewolves," Guy said, full of bravado, "My sword's magic, and you cast spells, so we can still kill them."
"Yeah, fair enough," Sara said, hoping that they wouldn't be outnumbered. The sun continued to set as they made their way down the path, and Sara couldn't shake the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that they were walking into something far more dangerous than they were prepared for.
The sun had just set when they reached the outskirts of Moonflow. "Well, at least we made it," Guy said, "Now we have to just find the Inn. I'd imagine Alisa will be there. If not, we can probably pick up her trail."
Sara noticed what was wrong before Guy did. "Where IS everybody?" she asked, "There were Imperial Guards everywhere before we got here. Hell, where are all the townsfolk?"
"Does it matter?" Guy replied, "No people means no werewolves to get in our way." Guy quickly trudged ahead, and Sara struggled to keep up. They got to the center of town unchallenged, not even seeing a living being. "That must be the Inn," Guy said, pointing to a large building, where shadows of people could be seen at the windows.
But before they took even five more steps, people began to pour from the buildings, surrounding them. Every citizen, it seemed, had been lying in wait. Men, women, and even the occasional child filed wordlessly into the streets, ringing them at the center of town.
"Hi, folks," Guy said, waving nervously, "We're just looking for the inn." None of them spoke, instead, they simply stood there, waiting. "We don't want any trouble," he added.
Sara slid her hand into her robe, grabbing her wand. "Guy," she hissed, "Get ready."
"Sara, they're villagers! They're just a little weird toward outsiders," he protested, "don't get all combat crazy on me."
Sara wanted to continue to argue, but then the moon crested the horizon, its rays shining down upon the town square, and gave her every reason to go combat crazy.
As one, the mass of people began to tremble and twitch, staring up at the moon. Their eyes burned yellow, and they began to tear at their clothing, the women tearing open their bodices, the men at their rough-hewn shirts, all with sharp claws that sprouted from their fingertips.
The sound of flesh popping and reforming, a strange and foreign sound became almost deafening, as the villagers' bodies distended and warped into a new inhuman shape. Guy and Sara weren't prepared for this. They'd fought werewolves in the game, but not in real life. They'd never seen a werewolf change, and here they were, faced with easily fifty of them.