"Yes, well, that WOULD make it difficult, wouldn't it?" Elgan continues chatting with the monstrous wolves.
He begins digging through his pack,...
"Fuud, Dey wan' fuud. Ah t'ink if we giv'dem sum dey'll leave us be. Seems deh huntin is hard roun' heah." Elgan tells the others, then goes back to the window.
"Give me a moment noble wolf. I believe that I have something here that you might appreciate. Tell me, is the hunting always this bad? I cannot imagine a land so large and mighty in the spirit of nature not being able to provide for it's denizens?"
"Some days are better than others. This place is pretty much dead though. I think we may range north to the wasteland, head to the mountains."
He seems to be blinking his eyes oddly, purposely; then gestures with his nose, a little behind him. Trying to do so nonchalantly.
“What’s going on?” whispers Beldan, wiping the last tears away from his eyes and gripping his rapier tightly. “Are we going to have to fight these wolves?”
"What the hell is wrong with him? Is he indicating that there's something invisible behind him?" Altai is shaking his head as he watches the wolf twitch and blink. "I can't see the invisible any more. Can Pip squeeze off another invisibility-revealing formula?"
He seems to be blinking his eyes oddly, purposely; then gestures with his nose, a little behind him. Trying to do so nonchalantly.
<Stig holds out a flagon to the wolf.>
"Ah fin' 'at a wee hottch pure helps a nervoos twitch."
Elgan nods, very little, and VERY slowly, but as he usually stands very still, the wolf would notice it. Then he responds aloud in wolf-speak,...
"Ah yes, traveling. I must confess, At one point I would never have considered leaving the boundaries of my woods for any reason. But recently I have had opportunity to venture into various strange and fascinating lands. Including your own! It has been most enlightening. Take my advice great one, I would travel and see what lies beyond your borders if you have the opportunity, it will set you free."
He turns and whispers to Altai and the others.
"A'hm not shuur whut hes tryin' tah tell'us. But hees sayin' sumptin. Jes' bee reedy fer,... yuh know. Whut we us'ly do." He says with a shrug. He then takes a bundle of rations, (with the non-meat items removed) And shoves them out the window.
"Here you are good sir! I hope you enjoy them. I do apologize for the meat not being fresher, but I haven't had the pleasure of time to hunt your lands yet. Unless you count that little skirmish we had when arrived. Very messy that. Giants and Bugbears and trolls, oh my!" He says with a wolfish grin.
"What the hell is wrong with him? Is he indicating that there's something invisible behind him?" Altai is shaking his head as he watches the wolf twitch and blink. "I can't see the invisible any more. Can Pip squeeze off another invisibility-revealing formula?"
It's not on his spells known.....with a cursory glance;...
The talking wolf takes all the food he can, and scoots off into the night. The other one leaves too; then it's quiet.
"What the hell is wrong with him? Is he indicating that there's something invisible behind him?" Altai is shaking his head as he watches the wolf twitch and blink. "I can't see the invisible any more. Can Pip squeeze off another invisibility-revealing formula?"It's not on his spells known.....with a cursory glance;...
Anybody doing anything?
5 minutes go by; nothing happening.
Anybody doing anything?
5 minutes go by; nothing happening.
"waaAAAAAAYYY! YES!"
Do the Muttly laugh on that one,....
Beldan alternates between peering worriedly out the window at the wolves and being distracted by unbidden images of Hnoss’s pale, naked form popping into his head and making him tear up.
heh heh...
"Anyone want to take a look outside?"
“Nah, let’s just try to get some sleep? What? Oh, ok, I guess I’ll go ... I need to pee anyway.”
Beldan sneaks out and takes a look about.
Bel doesn't see anything untoward.
He goes to the side of the building....
I was gonna call for a fort save vs. shybladder but that's kinda wanky.
He lets out a golden stream; it's cold on the willy,
a little tiny twister on the snow to the left; whipping some flakes around; for a second he thinks it's Altai summoning an elemental but it's too small, too weak, too brief.....
and then he's done.
How far's the range on the clairvoyance? I'd say at least 100 feet through the tangles; the wolves have hightailed it past that range anyway.
Beldan; Altai can hear Gittik's familiar "dumb deaf blind stupid!" monologue in the soundtracks of their memories.
I'll say 100 feet then; the tree cover is pretty tight.
What now, campers?.....
Elgan walks outside with Beldan, and goes the other direction, allowing Beldan to do his 'business'. The druid walks leaving no tracks on the snow, and examines the area around the 'cabin' for any clues to what the Wolf was trying to tell them.
Elgan:
;)
"Heah now, whut we gots heah?" Elgan murmurs to himself. He moves back to the cabin and meets Beldan at the front door. He quickly whispers to the 'professional liberator'.
"Beldin, Dey's sumwun out deah! He Big, wearin' metal armor. He headed out dat ways," He says pointing in the correct direction.
"Ah'm not as guud at muvin' quite-like yew are. But Ah kin fly an' mebbe spot him frum above. Should we follah?"
“Oh well, I’ve been wanting to try this ...” Beldan grabs the edges of his black cloak and transforms into a bat, taking off silently through the air in the direction Elgan indicated.
<Watches Beldan change into a bat, blinks a few times.>
<Lifts his flagon and looks at it somberly.>
<Pours it out onto the ground.>
"Ah hink auld Stigwold needs a bawherr restin' 'n' recuperatin'."
Elgan also transforms into a bat, following at a distance and off to teh side of their quarry, as he knows he's not as good at staying unnoticed as Beldan, but unwilling to leave the sneaky rogue alone with an unknown enemy.
Elgan also transforms into a bat...
"'Ats a norm. Stig can dig it."
<Wobbles back into the tent.>
"ARROOOOOOOOO!"
“Oh well, I’ve been wanting to try this ...” Beldan grabs the edges of his black cloak and transforms into a bat, taking off silently through the air in the direction Elgan indicated.
The kid in the plate mail keeps on walking away from the cabin. Doesn't seem to notice you.
Doesn't seem to notice Elgan either.
Kid in platemail? Can I make out any more detail? If he’s walking away .... Beldan will watch him go for a little while, if he doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than leaving Beldan’ll head back soon to report.
About 5 foot 8. or 173 cm tall give or take.
Black plate mail, helmeted, close face. Wolf pelt cloak.
Large wooden shield across the back, with a device that looks like a black winged wolf; longsword at the hip.
You can hear the mail clinking, but this character is pretty damn quiet for somebody in plate mail. It's weird. It's not a spell though; you'd hear NOTHING if it was a spell.
Alright. Beldan doesn’t mess with him if he seems to be leaving, just waits a little bit then flies back.
After about 1 minute, the armored sneak is out of sight.
Elgan flies around and meets up with Beldan back at teh enchanted cxabin.
'Well nowah, Dat wuzn't whut ah'd cull bermal, izzit?" He asks, supposedly about the sighting in the woods.
"Ah wunders whut it iz aboaut dat dere lil' wun whuts gits all o' mah big cousinz inna tizzy chere'?"
Elgan reenters teh cabin and tells Altai all about what they saw.
And then Beldan explains in an accent that everyone can understand.
"Huh. A winged wolf emblem, and really quiet despite wearing platemail? Curious. Hnoss, do you know anything about someone with a winged wolf symbol? Gjetost?" Altai picks up his mug again. "Let's go back to our guard schedule. Elgan can track this fellow tomorrow morning - his tracks should be easy to see in the snow."
"That sounds like the valravn. I don't know if there really is one though.
Valravn would be a raven that gained intelligence from eating of the battlefield. Learn to shift forms. Valravn yearns for the blood of the innocent, so that it could achieve human form.
I don't know though; I mean....there are so many things in these woods. Trolls....iron hags. Giants with animal heads.
Why not?...."
"Hmmmm... Well, as you say, why not? I guess tracking him would be futile if he'll just turn into a bird at some point. However, it brings up a second issue - were those wolves 'real' wolves, or were they something similar to the valravn? I thought they acted oddly; however, I thought they were waiting for their non-wolf master to show up. Instead, they could have been unnatural shapechangers pretending to be dumb animals. Ah, wheels within wheels..."
Aubrey and his mystery wolves.....HAH!!!
Altai settles down again as he finishes rememorising spells. "So, Stig, would you care for a game of chess, just to pass the time?"
The rest of the night passes uneventfully. The morning sun is a welcome sight.