The snarling of the wolves gets louder as they approach, padding into the light of the bonfire. Your cautious approach toward them seems to almost make them wary of attacking, so they move up, but go no further towards you. You see only three inside the light, but faint snarls can be heard to the north of the barn.
Mikal knocks his arrow and lets it fly into the wolf at O4
Short Bow Attack
Short Bow Damage
Seeing the wolves wary of the attack, Iliya decides to take initiative. He charges towards the nearest wolf, his sword held high above his head, battle cry on his lips.
Sir Oscar advances toward the wolves more carefully than Iliya, keeping his shield in prime position.
Be bold like Bertrand, be bold like Bertrand, be bold like Bert...
"I'm coming!" yells Ludicrous as he continues his run towards the wolves.
Gierdré completes her spell and judging that she cannot catch two of the wolves, directs it toward the one furthest south and thus closest to her and the villagers.
Ludicrous, in his attempt to be brave, runs headlong towards the others, startling Mikal as he hones in on an advancing wolf and causing the archer to miss the intended target. As the arrow zips past the wolf in the center, to wolf to its right leaps at Iliya, only to be sliced almost in two by the charging barbarian.
Meanwhile, Sir Oscar advances cautiously, his defensive stance indicating an intense readiness to spring into action. Gierdre mutters a few words, and makes a quick hand gesture to flick a small rose petal at another wolf.
A few sparkles circle to wolf's head, but it seems unfazed by the spell, and rushes straight at Gierdre.
It seems to almost bounce away from Giedre, as the enchantment of her mage armor shimmers slightly. One of the villagers moves forward a bit upon seeing the lady in danger, but his timid grip on his handaxe reveals his fear.
"Oh my! That didn't work out at all." Gierdré takes a step around the wolf and draws her dagger. "You!" she exclaims gesturing at the villager with his hand axe. "Help me. If we surround him, he cannot snap at both of us and it will be easier to bring him down."
She manages a feeble swipe at the wolf that has little effect other than to perhaps distract it from the other man.
Glancing quickly towards his left, Iliya notices that the stray arrow came from Mikal. Not used to giving suggestions in combat, barbarian moves towards the next closest wolf, trying not to get in line of fire for Mikal, should he by any chance decide to try and hit same wolf again.
"Help the girl, Oscar and I will finish this!" - with that, Iliya swings his sword towards the wolf.
"Blasted beasts have me out-maneuvered. Would that I had my horse, I wouldn't be so useless. Pardon my language, please.", Sir Oscar huffs as he trundles toward the last wolf.
Mikal moves forward to N9 and fires again at the wolf in front of him (O4)
Short Bow Attack
Short Bow Damage
"B&#~#+&s, this bow must be shoddy." He drops the bow ready to flick his wrist to get access to his blades
Mikal's bow shot once again misses, thudding into the ground near a paw.
Stepping up to another wolf Ilya's great sword slams down into the beast, killing it instantly.
Giedre's swipe at a wolf causes it to rethink its attack, as the peasant near her summons up enough courage to shout at the beast. Knowing it is outnumbered, it flees south. (Geidre can AoO if you want).
You can hear the commotion in other parts of the village as large groups of torch-bearing villagers drive off more groups of wolves.
A few cheers go up, only to be interrupted by a blood curdling scream from the north east.
Iliya smiled inwardly while wiping the blood of his sword on the dead wolf's fur. Hmmm, maybe something could be made of this fur, if it didn't...
His train of thoughts interrupted by the sudden scream, he pauses just for a second or two to glance at the direction of his compatriots. He winks at Sir Oscar, not sure if the paladin can notice it at all: "No rest for the wicked, eh Sir Oscar?"
Gripping his sword lightly with his left hand, he starts running towards north east, in the direction he thought the scream was coming from.
"Indeed, Master Gromovnik! The beasts continue to prey on these folk, emboldened with the onset of night! We must remain ever-vigilant until their predations cease!", he pants, running toward the north-east and not completely grasping Iliya's meaning.
Gierdré decides to let the wolf flee, hoping that the wood decides to return the favor someday. She whirls at the sound of the scream. "Thanks for the help good sir, but it sounds like we have another problem. Watch your friends. I'm going to join mine and see what has happened." Without another word, she darts off behind Iliya and Sit Oscar.
<bump>
Hating to leave that wolf in the shadows but seeing his companions running the other way he follows his blades drawn.
"On my way."
"Coming!" Ludicrous yells, trying to sound tough but squeaking as he hurries to catch up.
Gierdré tries to maintain a place between the groups, keeping an eye on Iliya and Sir Oscar, but making sure she doesn't lose Mikal and Ludicrous.
As you arrive at where the screams had originated from, you come to a screeching halt along the rutted path. Before you is a scene from a nightmare...
A crooked thing lurches into view; a creature made of moldering briar, bone white parched branches, and polyporeinfested tree trunks. It grips a cruelly bent scythe in one hand, the weapon hung with the corpses of countless animals, some of which seem to still twitch. The creature has no eyes, but it seems to be looking for someone, and as it raises its formless head of aged wood, an idiot moan drones from it as it stares
slowly around.
In front of it, another creature staggers through the forest toward you; an animated tangle of broken branches, twigs, and animal bones held by wire, rot, and anger. Its head is a moldering, eyeless sack ending in a flaccid sheep jaw, and its hands and spastic legs are bent branches that it uses to move along the ground like an injured spider.
The woman in front of the cottage screams again, and the thing with the scythe knocks her out of the way. A man, presumably her husband, emerges from the house with a small hand axe. The old man is clearly no match for the thing. As it steps forward, it brings down the scythe, neatly decapitating the poor fellow.
During the commotion, other villagers have arrived, shedding more light on the area. After the thing bends to retrieve the head, it rises, looks around and points at some of the villagers.
"I have no bloody idea what that horrible creature is that just killed that poor man, but I'm pretty sure that other thing is one of the effigies we saw in the fields."
Initiative:
Sir Oscar collects his breath from the jog to the village outskirts, but quickly leaps into action with nary a second thought. He charges toward the wooden monstrosity with sword held aloft.
"KHOOOORRS!!!"
Charge attack:
Initiative
With his blades still drawn from the wolves readies himself for whatever they might be running into.
Exteriorly, Ludicrous holds his great axe with confidence, though his nerves are on high alert within.
Stay calm, you can do this.
Lagging behind Sir Oscar, Iliya tries his best not to fall behind on the "bloody scream and murder" front: "Nake nula waun welo!!!"
The scythe wielding creature holds up the head of the old man, high enough for all the arriving villagers to see, almost with pride. It then turns towards the path to the east, but stops as if it is listening to something.
Ludicrous, catches his breath as he steels his nerves.
Sir Oscar charges at the Wood warden that seems to guard the scythe creature, striking its shoulder, removing a small chunk of the wood. He can't help but gaze into the eyeless sock head of the creature.
The Wood warden slashes at Sir Oscar with both claws , both blows glancing off his armor, but somehow Sir Oscar recoils in horror all the same .
Mikal and Giedre stop to take in the horrible scene, as Iliya bolts past them straight at the scythe creature. He brings his greatsword down with such force that a huge chunk of the arm holding its scythe flies into the air. With a terrible keening wail, it whips around at the one who dared attack it.
Gierdré draws her dagger and advances on the creatures warily, knowing the fighting men are better equipped than she to deal with this danger. She searches her spells for anything that might assist them and concludes that perhaps for now, she ought to just move closer.
Ludicrous moves up cautiously, waiting for the right moment to attack.
Sir Oscar attempts to steel himself against the thing's malign influence. With such horrors lurking in the wood, surely there is even greater need for Khors' guiding light... but even the thought of his divine mission cannot slow his quickening pulse. He calls upon his patron's gifts to determine the extent of their malevolence before renewing his attack.
Longsword:
Charging at full speed, barbarian blasts at the tree using built up momentum to deliver additional damage. Seeing a huge chunk of the arm holding the scythe flies into the air, Iliyas eyes widden and a smile starts to curl upon his lips. Only a fraction of moment later, the feeling of victory is replaced by disbelief that his enemy was still standing after such a devastating blow. Disbelief quickly turned to anger, and Iliya felt his blood boiling, fury building inside of him and exploding outwardly. He swings again at the monstrosity before him, trying to end it's existence once and for all.
"Aarghh!!!! You'll pay for that! Die monster, die!!!"
Mikal staying in the shadow double moves to M19 to get a closer eye on things and to be ready if that thing attacks Gierdré so he can use the distraction to his advantage.
The scythe golem swings one arm in a backhand slam at Ilya, nearly knocking him down. Then, it taps the scythe, and the thing shimmers into nothingness, taking its grisly prize with it.
As soon as it does, the wood warden collapses into a pile.
More villagers arrive at the scene, some helping the peasant woman to her feet. A few children stand nearby, and they start a chant. It gets louder as more of the villagers join in.
Knock, knock, knock;
The Hollow Man calls.
Swing, swing, swing!
His greedy scythe falls!
Chop, chop, chop;
He takes another head.
Burn, burn, burn!
The Hollow Man is dead!
When to chant is done, only the sound of the sobs of the peasant woman fill the scene.
Nothing else happens for the remainder of the night, but no one sleeps easily. Next morning, you all are awakened by a knock at Anna's house, and she tells you that one of the families is packing up and leaving.
"We have to stop them!", she says, turning to run out the door. Following her, she arrives at a nearby house, where a man has packed a small cart with as much as it can hold. His wife and two children stand somberly next to the cart.
"Baca, please don't go! Think of the children!" Anna pleads. She turns to Sir Oscar. "Please, tell him you can help!". You realize that the farmer Baca was one of the people the Hollow Man pointed at last night.
"Without a doubt, Miss Anna! Please, Master Baca, I know you are afraid- for your wife, your children, yourself. But this is your home! Your neighbors! You must stand by one another, now more than ever. And this very day in the radiance of Khors, I swear that I and my companions shall get to the root of this menace. Simply have faith, sir, I implore you."
Diplomacy:
Gierdré nods her head with the wisdom of Sir Oscar's words, "He speaks the truth sir. I'm sure we can puzzle this out."
Iliya stands on the side, puzzled a bit. He was afraid of the strange creature, since he saw both it's skill with it's deadly scythe, and it's raw strength when it almost knocked him down in just one punch. And yet that creature easily took not one but two of Iliya's strongest swings and weathered them not showing the slightest weakness. Yes, he was quite afraid of the creature. That is why he reacted as he did, in a typical way of it's people - if you're afraid of something, than either destroy it, or die trying.
Through clenched teeth, his knuckles going almost white from the raw force he used to grip his weapon, he speaks: "Aye, I will go with ya. And we will crush this creature. We will behead it, and I will burn it's limbs 'fore I piss on its ashes. We will kill it!"
Baca, tears in his eyes, adamantly shakes his head and climbs up onto the cart.
"I cannot stay here. I've heard too many tales of the Hollow Man never not getting a head of those he hunts. We're off to my wifes sisters farmstead outside Zobeck. Goodbye!" Snapping his small whip, the oxen leading the cart lows mournfully, then plods along the trail to the south.
Shortly after, a older woman arrives at Anna's house. The other villagers eye her warily, but no one else approaches her.
"Mother Molvor! Are you alright?" Anna asks her, hugging the woman gently. "What brings you here?"
The old woman looks around, shaking her head. "I thought something wasn't right, so I came as soon as the sun was up. Whats happened here?" she asks, eyeing each of you in turn.
Anna explains the wolf attack, then the scythe creature decapitating the farmer. She also relates the tale of how you all helped during the attacks.
Mother Molvor purses her lips, "tsk"ing slowly. "I should have known. I saw the thing pass my cottage around midnight last night." She looks at Sir Oscar. "Good sir knight, perhaps you and your friends can accompany me back to my home to see if it left a trail?"
Someone wants to get us alone. "Sir Oscar, that's an excellent idea. Remember that stag you helped us track in the wood? I'm sure you can find the trail."
Iliya looks at Sir Oscar expectantly, unsuccessfully trying to hide impatience from his face. Everything on him - his face, his posture, the glint in his eyes was obviously telling to anyone willing to notice that young barbarian was more than eager to go and "help".
Actually I just want to stomp that thing in the dirt and to piss on it's grave! - he thought for himself while nervously tapping his index finger on his blade.
Sir Oscar looks befuddled for a moment.
"A stag? I thought we were looking for my horse..."
He waves the thought away with a gauntleted hand.
"Anyhow, fret not Mother Molvor! For we shall accompany you this very moment! Expert woodsmen, the lot of us! Why, just the other day I'm certain I saw a hare out the corner of my eye. Or perhaps it was a pheasant. Who knows? Shall we?"