wolf1 and Howl-of-the-north-Wind shift over and gang up on Eldric.
wolf1
miss
Howl-of-the-north-Wind
Eldric just took 9 damage and was tripped.
Riva steps to a safer location and throws another volley of magical bolts into the scorched hide of the worg leader. "Die beast!"
Right...Sorry.
Wolf3 takes advantage of Eldric prone form.
Miss
Riva
Eldric
Rory
wolf1
wolf2(killed)
Howl-of-the-north-Wind
Aldular
wolf3
bot Eldric attacks wolf3
crit for 6 damage on wolf3. Which is less then awe inspiring.
Rory speaks no longer. The time for words has long since past. With his friend lying unconscious on the ground Rory strikes once more with his blade.
Howl-of-the-north-Wind dies.
Wolf1 does a withdraw action.
Wolf3 does the same thing in the opposite direction.
They both go 50 feet.
Riva let's them go, instead focusing her attention on her fallen friend.
"Go on! Get outta here!" Rory yells as the wolves flee. He then pulls out his traveler's any tools and kneels down beside Adular. He begins forming a stretcher as best as he can to put Adular on. "We need to get back to town as soon as possible. He looks stable right now but we don't know for how long."
Riva and the gang head back to Allania to seek aid for their friend. Riva takes note of what they come across going through the area on their way out, for future mapping, but is otherwise preoccupied with getting her friend safe.
It took them awhile, but when they arrived back in Allania Rory and Eldric quickly took Adular to the temple to find his acolyte. Once he was sure Adular was safe and in good hands he left to find some men that could go and retrieve their trophies while they waited for Adular's health to return to him.
A stable character who has been tended by a healer or who has been magically healed eventually regains consciousness and recovers hit points naturally. If the character has no one to tend him, however, his life is still in danger, and he may yet slip away.
Recovering with Help: One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become conscious. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Conscious characters with negative hit point totals are treated as disabled characters. If the character remains unconscious, he receives another check every hour to regain consciousness. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. Even if unconscious, the character recovers hit points naturally. He automatically regains consciousness when his hit points rise to 1 or higher.
Recovering without Help: A severely wounded character left alone usually dies. He has a small chance of recovering on his own. Treat such characters as those attempting to recover with help, but every failed Constitution check to regain consciousness results in the loss of 1 hit point. An unaided character does not recover hit points naturally. Once conscious, the character can make a DC 10 Constitution check once per day, after resting for 8 hours, to begin recovering hit points naturally. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Failing this check causes the character to lose 1 hit point, but this does not cause the character to become unconscious. Once a character makes this check, he continues to heal naturally and is no longer in danger of losing hit points naturally.
Though it is not part of her faith, Riva nevertheless makes a small donation to the temple as thanks for the healing.
"Gorum can't call him to the front yet, there is still too much work to be done here. Please help him."
If he becomes conscious on his own he should be able to heal himself.
If he becomes conscious on his own he should be able to heal himself.
Though the worst is past, there is still a chance that Adular may die during the trek back home if not properly attended. Riva does everything within her power to see that, that does not happen.
"Give me a hand won't you!?"
Adular's eyes flicker open, "I'm in the temple? I'm in the temple. Puthgus lad, good to see you. By Gorum, you should have seen it...packs of wargs, a snapping turtle big enough to build a boat out of...exciting times. Let me take it from here."
Weakly he heals himself, the the blood ridden magic of Gorum sealing up some wounds.
Rory gives Riva his hand and focuses on helping Adular.
Upon seeing Adular's eyes pop open, Riva smiles in relief before humorously saying, "About time you woke up! Can't understand for the life of me why you'd want to take a nap during a fight. Were those worgs not challenging enough for you? We had to drive the rest of them off by ourselves!" Riva then kisses Adular on the cheek and hugs him, accidentally pressing in on his wounds for a brief moment before hopping back in apologetic joy.
"What do you say, Adular? Do you think we can finish doing what we set out here to do? Or do you think you need to nap some more?"
"Give me another moment, I'm still groggy as hell..for a second I thought I was in the temple," Adular says, "I take it we won?"
He chuckles at the hug and kiss from the elf, "Wait, you said you drove them off. We won. Did we kill the big one at least? I want his pelt"
"You'll have to go back and get it then. We were somewhat preoccupied with getting you back to the temple for healing and didn't have the time or the means to effectively drag such an ugly, smelly beast, and a giant wolf as well! I should have known you were tougher than a box of rocks."
"What can I say, Gorum loves the tough ones. And maybe the pretty ones, so I win on both counts. Still, those damn oversized wolves were smart. They knew to go after the healer... or maybe it was just fortune. Who else is still hurt besides me? And yes, yes we can explore some more. I'll be a bit low on the healing but I get the feeling we just killed the toughest predator for miles," He grins, then pats Rory on the back, "Second toughest after Rory the mighty here."
"Yeah, Riva and I finished off the warg. Plan on comishioning making his pelt into a cloak for you." Rory says with a grin and pats Adular on the shoulder.
"What do you think the worg meant by 'Howl-of-the-north-Wind territory'? Do you think there could be more worg packs out there--a whole territory of them perhaps?"
I shall have words with some of the local hunters once we return to civilization.
"Anything is possible but I think we just took down the alpha judging by the size of that big one, but I'm no ranger," Adular stretches a bit, "Let me heal myself and our fine cavalier friend up a bit more and look about for more signs of wargs and we'll find out, eh?"
"It's possible. Hell there's probably stuff out there that's worse than him." Rory said, growing softer towards the end as if he was just then realizing what he said.
"Well, I'm game to finish exploring the local area before we head back," Adular reassures, "It seems man against nature will be a recurring theme as you bards like to say."
You manage to explore the hex without incident.
Riva awakes bright and early and opts to go for a morning stroll through the streets of her little town before her appointed meeting with the other town elders.
Per usual, her public appearance started a new wave of strange rumors about her mysterious elven magic, abnormally close relationship to the kobolds, strange bone jewelry, and astonishingly good looks.
"The girl is strange but special, a most peculiar mad'moiselle!
It's a pity and a sin, she doesn't quite fit in 'cause she really is a funny girl."
Later, at the council meeting she asserts a new idea for the future of Caerulus...
"I've heard rumors that many of our kobold citizens are beginning to miss their old home. I think it is high-time we annexed the lands surrounding the Sootscale Caverns. Not only will it allow our kingdom access to much needed resources that will surely expedite its growth, but having the kobold's ancestral homeland being made an official part of the realm will surely help to improve relations between our races. It will show the kobolds that every part of their lives and culture are important to us--just as important as any of the other races--and that we are continuing to strive to make their lives better."
"I see no problem with that. Besides, we owe those places our defense as well."
When you get back to the Kingdom you hear about some things.
A few days ago, some livestock were brutally slaughtered in their pens at an outlying farm; then two people were killed as well—a maid named Saki, who never made it home after her shift at an inn, and a shepherd boy named Beven, who (along with his flock) was attacked on his way back to town. The townsfolk ask it's rulers to do something about the attacks, fearing the depredations of bandits or of some beast from the surrounding wilderness.
The two human victims were killed on successive nights: the night before your return to town and the night before that. Both were killed outside of the town, Saki two nights ago while she was apparently gathering berries for breakfast, and Beven the next night as he returned his sheep to town. A half dozen of his sheep were slain as well, with the remaining 10 sheep scattered throughout the surrounding area.
Still at the meeting...
"But onto more pressing concerns. There appears to be a killer on the loose. Be it man or beast, I cannot say, but the town's people are beginning to grow concerned, even fearful."
"Do you think it could be that vile barghest who escaped us before? Could he have found some way of overcoming my blinding curse and is now seeking revenge against our people? Regardless of the cause, we should investigate these deaths, before things get even more out of hand--before more of our citizens fall victim."
"Sootscale, Kesten, have either of you yet found any clues as to who or what might be facilitating this heinous butchery?"
"I don't think its the barghest. I think the scarecrow thing killed it at that hag's house. Whatever it is, its something new." Rory says and leans back in his chair, trying to think of what could be behind this.
"It needs to die, but to do that we have to find out what or WHO this killer is. We need leads," Adular scowls
"If its a beast it needs to die, but if its a man we need to put him on trial. We are not the bandits who ruled this land before us. We need to show the people we are a fair people."
"If we find that it was a man who did this, then he is naught but a beast, and he should be put down like one."
"Speak up Sootscale! Kesten! What do you know of this matter?"
"they were killed by a large, man-sized animal—likely a wolf or worg. All of the bodies seem to have been partially eaten. Also there were the tracks of tracks that appear to be those of a large wolf. The tracks lead into a nearby copse of trees, from which they do not emerge."
"Warg? Do you think it could be another Warg pack like the one we fought the other day?" Rory asks as he leans forward, concerned about the troubles that most likely would lie ahead for them.
"Then it sounds like we need to go into that copse of trees. I've already been torn apart by one wolf... so maybe this time I'll do better thanks to practice," He nods.
"Yes, let's check out the areas where the attacks took place. Perhaps we can find something overlooked, or convince a scared witness to come forward."
"Do you have nothing to add, Kesten?"
"lets, but first I feel we should better prepare ourselves. We may not be going as far, but we can't afford to get sloppy, not after how close we came to losing Adular and myself."
"Perhaps you should buy yourself a bow, to better chase our killer with? However, if you really insist on using rocks...you should at least craft a sling for them to get some extra range," says Riva jokingly.
"Bow's fine. I'll pick one up when we finish here," Rory said.
"Yes, Gorum may prefer up and personal, but sometimes foes flee, and they deserve to be impaled by an arrow or bolt for it," Adular nods with a smile.
"I think that concludes this meeting. Let's solve a mystery, shall we?"
Riva turns and leaves the room with resolute finality.
Rory heads towards the blacksmith and purchased a short bow and a quiver of twenty arrows before meeting the others by the outskirts of town.
Riva starts canvasing the area where the maid Saki was attacked. She encourages the others to do so as well.