Kev checks the Hala and the horses and nods to his brother with a smile, "The horses like you and you do well with them. We will have to talk more when we get a chance which may not be until we return to Oleg. Don't think I am ignoring you before then. More than one good thing has happened on this patrol and things are kind of difficult to properly address them evenly."
Later, Kev smiles and winks at Katrina's relaxing comment.
Kev looks at Quince, Warden Quince, did you want to track our winnings for this patrol?
Kev nods, "Yes, I believe we should return to Oleg's to store our collection and check in at Oleg's for his status and perhaps others? And yes, I agree with Kat, those heads will start to smell real bad if we don't head back. Does everyone agree?"
"Of course Kevros."
"A plan is made then. We ride for Oleg's in the morning. Everyone get some rest."
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Kev nods to Tristan and wink smiles to Kat, "A good plan indeed!"
Then he looks at Quince, "Warden Quince, I see you are working on the map still. I will take inventory."
Kev nods to Tristan and wink smiles to Kat, "A good plan indeed!"
Then he looks at Quince, "Warden Quince, I see you are working on the map still. I will take inventory."
At dinner Quince pulls out the map and points a few things out. "Are we in a mood to go direct back to Oleg's or exploring our way back. I am looking at the map and we have not visited; these regions 28, 29, 23, 22 and 10. All are on a meandering path back to Oleg. Skipping either 10 or 22 could make it semi straight home?"
Angeus was happy to be back in the dryad's glade and out of the horrible area around the now dead tree of death.
She bounds up to Tiresia and regales her with a wild and colorful story of their triumph.
She then settles down, helps Katrina with the meal, holds Quince's hand occasionally, when she's not distracted by something or other.
Leaning close agains Quince's side, she looks at the maps he's created. "Exploring is why we're out here, let us meander and wander!"
Then she says a bit quieter "It'll be nice to see Oleg and Svetlana again...but what will they think of me now?" she says, holding some of her wild hair up in front of her face.
Kevros nods in agreement, "I agree, we explore while returning to the Oleg's Keep."
"Good thinking Quince. It makes sense, if we wish to make the lands safe. We will set out in the morning then. Rest well everyone."
Once everyone starts to head to sleep, Tristan speaks a few divine words and cast Keep Watch as he looks over the group while they sleep.
Leaving the dryad's grove you begin to explore, this side of the Skunk river and soon come upon a fellow who quickly turns in your direction firing his crossbow at you. He has a snarling head of a wolf and where his skin should show a black fur coat. He has chainmail covering most of his body and howls after shooting.
1 - Tristan, 2 - Quince, 3 - Angeus, 4 - Katrina/Kev, 5 - Kev's bro (I need to make a alias for him, could someone please track down his name again and any clues to what class he might be. Thanks!), 6 - Stalker
Init
Tristan
Quince
Angeus
Katrina
Kev
Kev's bro (I need to make a alias for him, could someone please track down his name again and any clues to what class he might be. Thanks!)
Stalker
werewolf
Surprise round
The werewolf turns and fires its crossbow at Tristan, the missile is deflected by his armor as he moves to the side in reaction to the attack.
Tristan's perception
The werewolf is 40 feet from Tristan, 70 feet from Quince, 100 feet from Angeus, 140 feet from Katrina and Kevros, 200 feet from Kev;s bro, and 240 feet from Stalker... The terrain is not so bad but there is vegetation and trees around to block your view and passage, half of the squares are difficult terrain as the other half are normal.
Round 1
Stalker hears the commotion going on and urges his Grey to head in that direction. Likely needing the full movement to get near. 60 feet normal and 60 feet difficult terrain, thus 90 feet of movement. Still not seeing anything he stays on his horse.
Angeus sees the creatur fire at Tristan, her own crossbow comes up in a flash and fires...
Kevros sees and hears the altercation but his mind is being taxed trying to comphrehend how a two legged wolf is using a crossbow!
Surprise Round
After the bolt bounces off his armor Tristan shouts.
He takes a moment to study the creature.
Round 1
Unable to dismount quickly as the horse is not trained to carry a rider into combat, Tristan takes a moment to get down. As he does he draws his blade and speaks a few divine words to Ragathiel as his sword increases in it's density.
Quince pulls his bow as his horse carries him closer to the creature. Quince begins to chant. The grass and shrubs reach out trying to grab at the beast.
Round 2 and 3
Tristan's horse moves away from the fight.
The werewolf fights with the vegetation holding it in place, finally it gets free, steps forward free of the grasping plants and drops its crossbow.
Round 3
The werewolf pulls out a sharp sparkling longsword while growling at Tristan.
/19–20),
SURPRISE ROUND
Perception DC 23: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Kevros sees and hears the altercation but his mind is being taxed trying to comprehend how a two legged wolf is using a crossbow!
ROUND 1
After hearing the word "werewolf" from Tristan, Kev's brain catches up in process and reacts by closing the distance within crossbow range before dismounting
Since Kev is not experienced in mounted combat yet, he dismounts his horse and helps Katrina if she wants to for quicker dismounting ...
ROUND 2
Since the creature attacked the group unprovoked, Kev guesses the werewolf to be evil regardless if he is or not. Therefore, he blesses his crossbow with holy power.
ROUND 3
Since no one close to him has asked for a weapon blessing and since he does not have a silver weapon , he also grants his crossbow sacred flaming ability through Erastil since the only thing he knows regarding fighting werewolves are through childhood stories that werewolves can only be hurt with silver or other magical means.
Kev scans the battlefield for other targets before engaging the werewolf just in case he brought friends, "KEEP YOUR HEADS ON A SWIVEL, NOT TOO MANY MEDIUM SIZE CREATURES WILL ATTACK A LARGER SAME SIZE GROUP ALONE!"
Quince casts magic weapon on his bow.
ROUND 3 - CONTINUE
After yelling his "keep your head on a swivel" warning, Kevros takes a shot at the werewolf...
Round 1
Katrina dismounts with Kevros's help.
She moves towards the sounds of the altercation and draws her bow.
Round 2
She takes aim and takes a shot. She also keeps an eye open for any other threats.
Round 3
Seeing no one yelling out from pain or for healing she takes aim again at the wolf man. Moving to keep a clean shot but still near Kevros.
Round 2
Stalker lets his horse move at will freely jumping over logs and ferns towards the ruckus, another 90 feet. Now 60 feet away. He dismounts quickly.
Rapid Shot
Round 3
Rapid Shot
Stalkers accuracy with the bow is astounding, after his second barrage of arrows the beast drops. The werewolf gets a hit on Tristan but to no avail as his reflexes are too quick. The werewolf convulses on the ground nearly a dozen quarrels in its body. Within a minute the face and body shrink down as the hair falls off. A feminine human face lays at Tristan's feet her life blood spilling.
Tristan drops his blade and shield and quickly works to stop the bleeding.
"She will survive. We need to find out if she is natural and born this way or cursed. If she has been bitten then we need to hunt for the true one to make safe the land."
Kevros comes running up covering Tristan to make sure if she changes again, he will quickly end it, "Tristan, how can we save her and keep her from trying to eat us? I know nothing regarding werewolves other than the children stories? I understand what you are doing but how do we go about doing it to be safe for all?"
"She will be unconscious for some time. We bind her and interrogate her. If she has been bitten we can find some wolfsbane and feed it to her. If she was born this way then I agree it is best to put her down since she attacked without being provoked."
He stands above her and uses detect evil.
"She doesn't have an evil aura, was it not you that asked to talk or spare the Scythe Tree?"
Kevros smiles at Tristan, "Yes, that is why I am asking is there a safe way to handle her and haven't coup de grace her? Just like the Scythe Tree."
"I am not sure we have the means to cure her in the wild. Taking her with us might be deadly or worse." Quince thinks. "Perhaps the pool that healed Stalker might break this curse as well."
Angeus was bounding through the trees and bushes, attempting to flank the werewolf, when the flight of arrows from Stalker's bow felled the accursed.
Running up with the others, she looked down on the dying girl, "I don't know anything about werewolves...."
Kev looks at Quince, nods, and thinks to himself before responding,
Kevros continues ... "Yes, I agree with Quince, let's take her to the Pool of Healing at the Temple of Erastil. In the scheme of things, we are not that far away. Once recovered, we can question her. At the very least, perhaps the great Erastil will transform her into a good lycanthrope whatever beast that represents? However, we still need to get those trophies we have back to Oleg's. Perhaps Brother Stalker can take her there and see if the waters will cure her? I am up for a group decision?"
"If Stalker wishes to do so. He has proven to be able to handle her with his bow. I am fine with that."
"So am I to take the trophies to Oleg's, and meet you at the temple? I can do that faster than dragging 'that' behind my Grey." He says pointing at the werewolf as he begins to retrieve the arrows.
Kevros nods, "I am ok with you dropping off the trophies, gather the bounties, take your cut, and meet us back up at the temple if all of the other Wardens are."
"Plan sounds good. Safe travels then and we will meet at the temple."
"Safe travels Stalker."
Quince looks back at the unconscious woman. He casts a quick spell. He begins to separate any gear the werewolf carried from the unconscious woman; weapons, armor and such.
"Do we have manacles? She won't be unconscious forever."
Quince takes the longsword moving it away from the woman. She was wearing armor and the other gear is removed.
Woman's gear: magical longsword, light crossbow, chainmail, backpack with camping and traveling gear, a magical bound book, and a silver locket/holy symbol of sarenrae.
When goes to the horse and remove some the two sacks with the preserved wyrm heads. She offers them to Stalker as she says, "Safe travels."
He replies simply, "Thank you, same to you until we meet again." Stalker quietly takes the sacks from Katrina and nods to her, he offers the elven sign of friendship before mounting on his Grey. Then he quickly trots off.
Quince breathes heavily, "It is bewitched. When I took it from her I felt something a strong desire to kill."
"A book here is magical as well." He studies the book not opening it. "It is bound and magic she might have the book warded."
"She is wearing the mark of Sarenrae. She may have once been a good woman. . . we can try to restore her."
"You seem of your right mind. What is it? Can you identify it."
Quince gets some rope to bind the woman.
"Well the wards would best handled by someone familiar with magic traps." Quince continues to bind the woman not trying to worsen her wounds. "The question at this point is if we want to head straight for the temple. That seems wisest but it means we must come back this way for exploration."
"I rather we lift the curse from this woman especially if there are signs that she may have been once a follower of Sarenrae. If we can return her to her former self, she may become an ally or definitely not a dangerous prisoner. I say, we head to the temple as soon as possible once we secure her hands and tie her to the horse so she can walk behind it. Once we lift the curse, we will decide what our next actions will be? As for the sword, thanks for the warning, lets handle it carefully until we can find out more about it or destroy it?"
"Well she is bound and stable. Walking requires consciousness"
Quince gets a blanket from his pack throws it on the ground and uses a stick to maneuver the sword onto the blanket. "This thing is dangerous like I said when I touched it before it made want to kill." Then Quince carefully wraps the sword up and straps it to the back of a horse other than the one will carry the unconscious woman.
Angeus watches the maneuvering of the sword and woman with interest, "Yes, let's see if we can help the poor woman...would Erastil's magic 'heal' the sword as well, do you think?"
"I really have no idea what the pool is capable of to be honest. I know that some clerics can remove curses. Normally that is on people. I am hoping that the pool helped Stalker so it might help this woman."
"I don't doubt the pool can heal or perhaps change the form she turns into. That is if Old Deadeye believes it is worth his power and time, and if she deems a worthy candidate. As for the weapon, I don't think it can be changed unless it was originally a weapon blessed by Erastil, then corrupted. If the woman was a devout follower of Sarenrae, it probably was once blessed by her."
Kev nods to Angeus, "I agree with Angeus, we should help her to at least be conscious. If not, we need to secure her on a travois, I wouldn't want her tearing into one of our horses with claw nor maw if she transformed while taking her to the pool."
"I am just thinking about lycanthropes. What do we know about them? I know stories but do any of you know about them directly?"