A bit slow to react, Bataleigha drops her mace , digs into her pack and removes a flask of alchemist's fire , takes a 5-foot step toward the werewolf, and lobs the splash weapon at it.
for
"Big wolf ... man?"
Fezzik looks to the others for some information on what the thing is. When Bat moves closer to the creature and attacks it, Fezzik drops his javelin and moves to protect the others. Drawing his newly enchanted great sword, he gives a mighty swing at the creature.
Zinnath zips out of his hidey spot, flying up and towards the creature.
I fire a snowball at the beast. Hopefully flatfooted (I was hidden) and against touch.
vs touch
DC 14 Fort or staggered for 1 round
Bat lobs a vial of alchemical fire, which falls short and barely spatters the creature.
Fezzik moves up and uses his reach from his immense size to lash out and he hits hard, though the wolf-man simply takes the blow and shakes it off. Still, his power strike clearly made it stumble.
Kyrie's magic missile slams into the beast at nearly the same time, and causes it to stumble again, but it stays on its feet.
Zinnath smashes it with a snowball and manages to daze it as well, leaving it prone and unable to stand up or strike back.
The sudden flurry of magical and powerfully physical attacks seem to have caught the werewolf off-guard!
Avendryl smirks, mildly frustrated by the current condition of the target, but only mildly as things seem to be going well for his companions as he refrains taking a shot with his bow, and simply moves into a better position.
With the werewolf down and struggling, Bataleigha casts weapons against evil on the weapons of Domeric and Fezzik.
Domeric moves into position while the werewolf is dazed by the savage attacks of the party.
Seeing the creature on the ground, Fezzik takes a mighty swing to try to finish it off before I can get back up.
Oh! We're up!
Ok, a cold ray, sneak attacking still I believe...
vs touch
Avendryl pulls one of his alchemical silver arrows from his quiver and readies to take a shot at the snarling beast if and when it gets to its feet.
(PBS)
(Alchemical Silver, PBS)
THAC0
The team piles in on the werewolf and batters it while it's dazed by Zinnath's spell. Most of the blows go wide or skid off the beast's hide, but Avendryl's silver arrow strikes true, as does Kyrie's force missile, sending the monster over into the bushes, bleeding profusely.
It does not get up.
With a chance to look at the smelly ambusher up close, you think this is a hybrid-form werewolf. You're fortunate that your magic disabled it quickly so it couldn't bite anyone and pass on the curse of lycanthropy.
It also seems likely that this thing has been lurking on this trail ambushing small caravans and eating people.
Bat suggests to Fezzik that he chop the fallen werewolf into little pieces..."Just in case it's playing possum." Meanwhile, she moves to the bushes where the lycanthrope was lying in wait to see if there are any tracks or perhaps a hidden trail there.
Zinnath will look about for signs of a lair, or loot. For humanitarian reasons, of course.
Domeric decapitates the werewolf, ending any threat it might make.
A quick search for a lair is inconclusive - though if legends are to be believed, it may simply live in wolf form much of the time and have no need for a human home.
After a half-hour of frustrating searching you conclude that the beast must have used this general area as an ambush spot, but it likely had a wide range over which it roamed.
All: "This is probably for the best. I don't believe it would have made a very good follower anyways."
Once the group's returned to the wrecked wagon, Bataleigha casts detect magic and takes another closer looks at the scene of the crime. "It's possible the thing just attacked the wagon in a bloodlust. It's also possible that it attacked it to loot its goods, perhaps to be sold in Nulb or elsewhere when the beast was in its human guise."
Checks the area with detect evil just to make sure there is no other evil lurking nearby.
Helps the cleric look Could be. I'm surprised that it thought to take on a group this size.
All: "To be fair, I WAS hidden, so it didn't know there was a dragon in the group."
The wagon looks wrecked and looted. There's no sign of magical items - it seems it was carrying mundane wares, but they've been carried off.
It occurs to you that werewolves can appear human and can just as easily take plunder into a seedy town like Nulb to sell off on the black market.
"Seems like we have little alternative but to move on at this point." Avendryl says, digging the silver arrowhead out of the werewolf.
Bataleigha nods to Avendryl. "Well fought, all," she tells the others, mild praise to be sure, but hey--they just beat a werewolf without getting bitten and having the shadow of potential lycanthropy hanging over the party. There would be enough to worry about in Nulb.
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"Godo work, team. Good work all around."
Kyrie stops and stuffs the lycanthrope's head into a random sack and ties it. "For one, if it was working with someone, someone might recognize them. That might work to our advantage if we can control who and when that happens.
Also, it _is_ quite a feat to have slain a beast such as this. We might need to establish our bona fides going to a new town, and little else does that work as fast than the head of an impressive kill."
That done, she's ready to move on.
You continue along the trail, following Avendryl's lead. The trail winds and vanishes here and there, and you must delve into the dark parts of the forest to proceed. Eventually night falls and the trail becomes nearly impossible to follow.
If the decision is to sleep, Zinnath will do so up in a tree nice and close to the group.
"Camping would be a wise idea, at this point. Let's see if we can find something defensible and hunker down for the night." Avendryl says surveying the nearby area for a suitable location.
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"I'm not averse to camping," Kyrie says, tossing an acid glob at a particularly tangled clump of weeds, "but the question presents itself: A large fire or small? do we hope to burn bright and scare off anything that cares, risking drawing attention, or do we burn low, trying to avoid all attention, and also risking being stumbled upon by something that might have been warded off by a larger flame?"
She acidizes a small tree at it's base and helps Aven look around for a nice place to rest.
"Well...there's pluses and minuses to either option really. There's lots of nasties that roam this forest. On the other hand there are the Gnarley Rangers, who might even help us. If we have a big campfire we might attract notice but a ranger might also come to see what's burning. Small fire, less likely to attract something, also less likely to be noticed by the rangers."
After verbally weighing the options, Avendryl says, "I vote for a smaller fire. We handled ourselves fairly well against mister furry and growly earlier today, so if something does rear its ugly head, I think we can handle it...but I'd just as soon avoid that all together and the smaller fire provides a better chance at that."
"I'll take the last watch. Given that he does not have any spells to prepare, I would suggest Fezzik take the second watch."
"I don't require a certain amount of rest to prepare my spells, so I'll help out on a watch as well...perhaps with Domeric. Two sets of human eyes are better than one."
Turning to Avendryl she asks, "How good is your vision at night or in a low-light setting?"
Fezzik patiently waits as the others come up with a plan. He nods in agreement at Avendryl's suggestion that he take the second watch. "At least I'll be able to get some rest first after pulling the cart all day." he thinks to himself as they find a place to make camp.
Once they make camp, he helps as needed, gets a bite to eat, and then goes to bed early.
"My vision is fine as long as we don't lose the moon tonight." Avendryl says with a grin.
"My tummy is quite full, and I need to sleep. If I am needed to watch during the night, do please wake me."
The moon is still bright overhead as you set up your watches.
Domeric and Bat fight against exhaustion after dinner and keep watch for three hours, before waking Fezzik. The disoriented half-ogre finally wakes up, his muscles still sore from pulling the cart and only having a little rest, and sits near the tiny fire to watch the night. At last he awakens Avendryl and returns to his bedroll to snooze.
Avendryl's keen eyes scan the night just before dawn...
He hears rustling in the distance and at a range of about 60' - just at the edge of what his low-light vision can make out with the help of the fire and moonlight - he spots a hulking figure making its way slowly through the trees toward the party. Larger even than the werewolf you fought, but with a similar hunched posture and long, clawed arms. It's too far to tell exactly what it is, but it lets out a sentence in a low, gravelly tone, as if talking to itself.
Not good a all... Avendryl thinks to himself as he goes around waking his companions. "Up and at em. We've got company...big company at that."
Time being limited Avendryl calls out to his companions "Incoming!"
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Kyrie wakens reluctantly, coming out of a wonderful dream that somehow involved her fighting at the side of a half-dragon paladin while she tosses fireballs and prismatic sprays at will.
"Ugh. That's the thing about big company, they're so inconsiderate of everybody's schedules."
She rolls out and stands up in the small circle of acid-flattened greenery she had prepared for her own comfort.
"Are we talking or fighting?" she softly asks as she backs up slowly.
Zinnath hears the loud voice of his brooding elf-like companion. It started him awake, just as he was about to finish recounting his massive horde of dream gold. Bat's question stirred in him the need to fight and defend,
Allies:"Big lugs like that are rarely out to make friends. I recommend fighting, but I'll hide up here and wait for my chance, in case you all decide to try talking to it."
+4 in forests [so, a 35?]