Niko, teeth bared, squares off with the worg and leaps at it for some payback.
Euron, feeling like the worg near Tyr and Jamison should be well in hand, moves to assist in fighting another.
Fort:
Eseldra finishes her summoning and celestial eagle appears in the square flanking with Karthas (once he stands up). The eagle rakes and bites.
Talon 1:
Talon 2:
Bite:; damage
Eseldra then takes a five foot step north east and unleashes a colour spray against the worg attacking Niko. DC 15
IN the sudden close quarters he finds himself in, Tyr simply drops his great sword and begins to wrestle with the creature looming over him.
Realizing that the hunter is certainly dead, and that this is some devious ambush, Hiram shakes himself awake to action.
He drops the magic torch, snaps his lasso down, and turns and throws it at the wolf-creature coming out next to the dead hunter. He uses the momentum of steping forward slightly to toss the lasso further.
"These ain't normal wolves...y'all know what they is?"
Tyr grunts under the shaggy form wrestling him to the ground.
"Going...to..be ....fur-COATS!" He manages to say as he struggles beneath the hulking beast.
Karthas stands, and swings at the beast...
Attack: (power attack)
Damage: (power attack)
Round One:
Eseldra completes her initial spell despite the distracting flash of light. A celestial eagle with shining golden feathers appears behind the worg attacking Karthas and swoops to attack. The black-furred worg attempts to duck to the side, but is struck by the eagle's beak and one its raking claws .
As her summoned ally attacks one worg Eseldra steps up next to Niko and unleashes a burst of clashing colors to wash over the worg attacking the wolf...
... but the creature is unaffected by her spell.
Karthas attempts to stand, but the worg attacking the Kellid snaps at his neck as he attempts to regain his footing...
... and savages him mercilessly. With an extreme force of will the enraged barbarian manages to rise to his feet and slashes his greatsword at the creature, the mighty blow shearing through the beast's skull. The worg drops to the ground, twitches for a moment, then lies still.
Niko snaps at his black-furred assailant, but the creature nimbly dodges aside.
Euron steps forward to assist his companion and stabs his ranseur at the worg attacking Niko. The weapon's blades pierce the creature with a satisfying impact, but it remains standing.
Hiram drops his everburning torch and tosses his lasso at the worg standing next to the trapped hunter. The young paladin's rope flies true, entangling the black-furred beast.
From his prone position on the ground Tyr releases his grip on his greatsword and attempts to grapple the worg standing above him. Unfortunately the warrior is unable to acquire a secure grip on the beast's greasy pelt. The worg, however, takes the opportunity to attempt to savage the warrior...
... but the beast's jaws are deflected by the chain links of the fighter's armor.
"These ain't normal wolves...y'all know what they is?"
"We are the ones who are going to eat you, little morsel," the worg entangled in Hiram's lasso responds menacingly. With an evil glint in its eye, the beast opens its jaws wide to unleash a ray of frost at the young paladin...
... which strikes him in the chest. The beast then moves to close with its foe.
The worg entangled in the writhing vegetation struggles to break free...
... but fails to do so.
Displaying uncanny intelligence, the worg struck by Euron angles around Niko to lunge at Eseldra...
... but the elf wizard displays the agility of her people and nimbly sidesteps the creature's attack.
The worg that attacked Tyr ignores the fallen warrior for the moment and lunges at Jamison, attempting to pull down the priest as well...
... and succeeds in knocking him prone.
Cinders circles wide to get around the nearest worg, drawing her scimitar as she goes, and then attacks.
Tyr continues to wrestle the large...smart! (His mind realizes) creature. Doing his best to keep this beast from the fight (And from eating him!)
With his face full of rank fur, he doesn't see the arcane energy that springs from the talking creature.
"This is...one ." *Unf "*Who...needs a..bath!" He threatens the wolf now in his clutches.
The celestial eagle flies to M9 and attack the Warg there.
Claw
Confirm
Damage
Eseldra takes a 5-foot step back and unleashes an acid dart.
Touch attack:
Damage:
Karthas, covered in blood, his own and the warg's, moves to attack another...
Attack: (power attack)
Damage: (power attack)
"Niko!" the druid shouts to his wolf companion as the worg that had been attacking them falls. "Follow, Attack!" The druid appears to be all business this battle.
Lying prone, Jamison calls out to Erastil in a thick, booming voice. He grows in size, and brings his greataxe to bear on the worg that tripped him.
Unnatural... DEVIL!
Round One (concluded):
Cinders deftly steps around the worg battling Eseldra and Niko and slashes the creature's hindquarters with her scimitar.
Jamison calls upon the blessing of Erastil to grow to giant size. Still lying prone, he swipes his greataxe at the worg that brought him down. Despite his position the blow connects with the creature's rear haunches, wounding it severely.
Round Two:
Eseldra's summoned eagle swoops over to claw the eyes of the worg attacking the wizard. claws eyes of worg
Eseldra takes advantage of the distraction provided by the eagle to step back and unleash a mystical dart of acid at the worg. As the worg turns to snap at the eagle the acid dart enters its ear, striking the worg's brain. The worg succumbs to its wounds and flops to the ground unconscious, convulsing violently.
With one foe down, a bloodied and enraged Karthas stalks forward to strike the worg entangled in Hiram's lasso.
With the worg attacking Eseldra dispatched, Euron and Niko also move to attack the creature entangled in Hiram's lasso. Euron's ranseur strikes the creature solidly in the chest, nearly taking its life. Niko snaps at the beast but catches only air as the worg pulls back from the druid's weapon.
Still maintaining a one-handed grip on the lasso, Hiram draws his handaxe and chops at the entangled worg...
... his blow catching the beast in the side of the head and knocking it to the ground, unconscious.
Tyr continues to wrestle with the worg that tripped him, this time managing to gain a firm hold on the creature. As he does so, the worg again takes the opportunity to attempt to savage the prone warrior...
... and this time the creature succeeds, biting through the warrior's armor.
The worg entangled in the writhing vegetation continues to struggle to break free...
... and succeeds in its effort. Seeing the tide of battle turning against its fellows, the creature turns tail and bolts into the forest.
The worg grappled by Tyr snaps at the warrior...
... its teeth tearing a deep gash in the fighter's shoulder.
Cinders moves to attack the remaining worg.
Tyr ignores the Worg's gnashing teeth and tries to pin the beast.
"I..am not...going to be...Doggy DINNER!" Tyr vows.
"Har, har! What did I say? Woe to whatever fool tries to ambush our lot!" The druid grins while nodding at his canine companion.
Attack (Reach):
Ranseur Damage:
Bite (regular):
Bite Damage:
Bite (crit confirm):
Bite Damage:
Round Two (continued):
Cinders steps around the giant-sized Jamison and slashes her scimitar at the worg grappled by Tyr. Her blade scores a deep gash along the creature's side, eliciting a howl of pain and frustration from the beast.
Jamison-the-giant rises to his feet but holds his attack, fearful of accidentally striking Tyr with his massive greataxe.
Round Three:
Tyr tightens his hold on the struggling worg, pinning the creature in place.
Euron and Niko take advantage of the situation, the druid stabbing his ranseur through the creature's heart at the same time that Niko rips out its throat.
As suddenly as it began, the attack is over. Silence falls once again over the fog-shrouded clearing.
Karthas ends his rage, and staggers a bit from his wounds. Turning to the trapped man...
"You had best just be stupid, and not part of that little trap..."
Cinders moves quickly to Karthas's side and puts a hand on him. "The light of the Dawnflower be with you."
After the worgs are dead - which Jamison will see to, personally beheading each in turn with his greataxe - the cleric, now shrunken to normal size, channels energy to heal his wounds and those of his companions.
Esledra casts detect magic again, looking for that illusion aura she had found earlier. If it's gone, she'll scan the worgs to see if there's a residual illusion aura lingering on one of them.
Try releases the body of the now deceased Worg and sighs as the healing powers wash over him.
"Well...that was...interesting..." He comments looking around the clearing.
"Might as well leave these... things... to the mud, they weren't natural, and I see no reason to bury 'em."
The druid spits at one of the worgs' corpses.
Knowledge (Arcana):
"Worgs," Eseldra mutters absent-mindedly as she continues to scan for illusion auras, getting frustrated. "Everybody stop moving around! Those of you with magical gear area screwing with this detection spell."
Turning to the trapped man...
"You had best just be stupid, and not part of that little trap..."
Karthas steps forward to berate the trapped hunter for taking part in the worg ambush, and belatedly notices that the man is lying face down on the ground - not moving at all. The Kellid cautiously toes the body, flipping it over to reveal that the trapped man is dead. Judging by the state of the body and the raggedness of his clothes, it appears that the man died over a month ago with his leg caught in a bear trap.
Turning over the body uncovers an intact pack lying beneath the corpse. Within the pack is a small sack containing 300 gold coins that were evidently minted in Brevoy, as well as a small (approximately six-inch square) box made of lead. Resting on a velvet lining within the box is lustrous, silver-colored pearl.
Further examination reveals a small silver amulet shaped in the likeness of a stag's skull hanging on a cord around the neck of the deceased man.
"Be careful!" Eseldra snaps to whomever finds the lead box. "Things are usually only kept inside lead boxes for two reasons: to hide their magic auras, or to contain harmful magical energies."
She casts another detect magic to determine which case it may be.
The pearl radiates a magical aura to Eseldra's spell-enhanced vision. After studying the item for several seconds the wizard determines that the pearl possesses a strong aura of transmutation magic.
Perception:
"Hmmm...some sort of maker's mark on the bottom of the trap. 'BO' mean anything to anyone?"
Knowledge (local):
'Fraid not, Karthas. He's never been by m' farm, or ah'd remember 'im right quick. Sorry, lad.
Eseldra's eyes go from concern and irritation to, dare we say it, glee and excitement as she carefully pries the pearl out of the box, holding it in her hand. Her tail stops twitching like an irate cat and instead switches to the gleeful back and forth of a happy dog.
She will spend three rounds identifying the object.
Spellcraft:
Rather, trying to identify it.
Hiram scratches his head. "B...O...Hmm, let me think."
He looks about, resetting his lasso in a compact loop, put around his chest for quick access.
As he picks up his torch, he sighs heavily as he surves the wolf-like bodies.
"Maybe we should ask, Granny? She been 'round these parts 'eh?"
Euron grumbles. "Hrmph, I guess the question is why ol' B.O. hasn't come checkin' his traps in over a month."
"Perhaps the bigger question," Cinders says, "is if this man has been dead a month, then who called for help? The worgs? Are they known for such elaborate illusions and deceptions? Or are we being followed by the same illusionist who bothered us before?"
"There was definitely an illusion aura back here in the bushes. It could have been the kobold, invisible, or the remains of a ventriloquism spell being used to make the man talk. Worgs do not possess that ability, as far as I know."
"Unless of course, they've been mating with winter wolves. Then all bets are off." She continues to stare at the lustrous pearl.
Euron squints his good eye at the trap while his left hand tugs on his beard.
"B.O., eh? Sounds like Breeg's work. He's a right bastard, likes hiding these even from men."
The druid's eyes drift to the dead body.
"Looks like he caught himself a stag, although I haven't heard any mention of Breeg in quite some time."
Euron frowns even at his own pun.
Niko wanders towards the man's corpse, now looted, and sniffs about.
"Don't think he had no food worth eatin', pal."
The weathered druid turns and looks about ready to make for his elk when he suddenly heads towards the edge of the clearing and begins walking it's perimeter. With a whistle, the wolf abandons the fallen man and lopes to Euron's side.
"Let's see where these worgs came from, eh?"
Hiram points at the stag necklase.
"More Stag Lord scat? Leaves his filthy little markings all over the place. Ain't healthy for a body to expel silver like that..."
"I don't think anyone has anything to worry about this Breeg anymore, this trap looks similar to the ones we discovered almost three weeks ago in the northern reaches of the Narlmarches southwest of Oleg's. Those also bore the letters 'BO' on them. As did the cast iron prybar found on the body of the man crushed by fallen logs in a pit further southwest of that location. At least I'm assuming the man with the prybar was Breeg himself."
Tyr simply goes about the business of making a shallow but reasonable sized hole to put the body into.
"Finding out if there are more of these talking wolves is a good idea." He comments quietly as he digs.
Hiram scratches his head, "Miss Cinders...don't be knownin' if it makes no never-mind, but that 'warg' that I was attemptin' to rastle done yelled at me. That t'wernt no il-lusion. "
He ponders the wolf-corpses for a moment...
If no body objects...mind if I skin 'em? Them pelts would make a mighty wart cloak...
Hiram scratches his head, "Miss Cinders...don't be knownin' if it makes no never-mind, but that 'warg' that I was attemptin' to rastle done yelled at me. That t'wernt no il-lusion. "
"I wasn't calling the wargs illusions," Cinders replies. "I was referring to the dead man who called out to us, and wondering if the wargs have the ability to create the illusion that the dead man was still alive." She bends down by the body and looks at it contemplatively. "According to Eseldra, there was an illusion aura present in the vicinity."
Hiram scratches his head, "Miss Cinders...don't be knownin' if it makes no never-mind, but that 'warg' that I was attemptin' to rastle done yelled at me. That t'wernt no il-lusion. "
He ponders the wolf-corpses for a moment...
If no body objects...mind if I skin 'em? Them pelts would make a mighty wart cloak...
Tyr nods at Hiram's suggestion, even helping the other man if given directions, or simply helping hold the bodies while he goes about the task.
"Um...you know...If these things were smart..and they have kin...then making coats of these might not be such a good idea...?" Tyr does suggest. "Though, making banners to show a victory kind of thing might work..." He adds.
Euron continues to make his way around the perimeter. A few stray stalks of the local plant life still wiggle as if they had a mind of their own, but soon stand motionless at the druid's passing.
The old druid kneels on the ground, brushing aside some leaves and grunts, oblivious to the mud clumped to his knee. Niko wanders on ahead, beginning his sniffs on the ground and soon burying his head into a bush.
The druid pays no heed to the conversation about illusions, auras and worg-pelts, staying focused on his task. A trained eye even catches Euron sniffing the air and biting on a broken twig, which he keeps in his mouth as he goes about his pursuit of the worg tracks.