...
Ayren leads you to a trail in the forests east of Stonybrook. It starts pretty well made, but soon turns into a barely discernible track of slightly shorter grass.
After a couple hours of travel, you come across a small river, probably one of the many that eventually join the Onyx Serpent. About 300 hundred feet from your position, you can see the remains of what must have once been a stone house. It barely has any ceiling and two of the four walls of the only discernible room are barely higher than your knees, but it's large enough to accommodate a small party...
"This might be a good place to camp..." says Ayren. "It's getting dark and there are angry things around. The stream is nice, but it might attract animals, or worse... More of the river tyrants, they've been unusually bold lately."
He looks at you with inquiring eyes.
"If we keep moving, we could reach my contact tonight... But we walk quite a while in the dark. I'm not a big fan o the idea, but it can be done. What do you guys think?"
"I can see great in the dark, thanks to my mom. I don't have any problem with it."
"That makes one of us..." laughs Ayren. "We can carry torches too, but I'm afraid they might attract unwanted attention."
After a quick inspection of the surrounding area, Frederick finds a few noteworthy pieces of information...
first, there is a variety of tracks leading to the water stream, most of them belong to small animals, though there are a few that are clearly made by big ones, including what seems like horse tracks. Most of these tracks are rather fresh, and can't be more than a few hours old.
There are also footprints made by something obviously humanoid, although unusually (but not impossibly) short for a human, or even an elf.
Curiously, there is little to no moss anywhere in the small ruin you found. No animal tracks either, but there are signs of an old bonfire. It can't have been made more than 72 hours ago.
Last, but not least, the sky seems somewhat heavy on clouds. There might be a short drizzle during the night, but it's very unlikely to be enough to cause any significant impediment to the party's mobility. However, there's a real possibility that it might thicken in the morning.
"I feel half dead and I'll be useless in a fight if there is one. Though I know you all are quite competent in your fighting ability...the decision is yours. I really need to rest and pray."
"The main problem is it looks like there might be heavy rain tomorrow. If we forge on through tonight, we could probably miss it."
"This seems like it might be a safe place to camp though, there was somebody here a few days ago it looks like. Halfling or something by the tracks, and it doesn't look like the little guy got attacked."
"You guys' call."
"Very well, then... We stay." says Ayren as he clasps his hands together. "We should probably set up a watch, though. Being devoured by wolves isn't in my list of desirable ways to die."
Eitylen takes the second turn. CYrus can sleep all night if we are not attacked by the random encounter table.
About three hours into his watch, Frederick notices a couple wolves circling your camp... They are bigger than most wolves, but not extraordinarily so.
The near-complete darkness seems to make them bolder than you're comfortable with, but they do not strike, and limit themselves to sniffing around... Apparently wary of the metal-clad warrior.
They eventually quietly leave the area without, but Frederick can't help but feel like they haven't gone too far...
After that, the night goes on without further incidents...
- - -
As Frederick expected, a thin drizzle starts to form. By the time it's morning, it's thickened enough that you can see feel the mud weighting down your boots with every step you take.
Ayren stretches his arm beyond the cover of the tiny ceiling of the ancient house... "Ugh... I don't suppose anyone brought four of those tian umbrellas, huh?"
"I hope you are all well rested... We have a nice walk ahead of us..."
Eitylen grumbles and prepares to march without speaking too much.
When it becomes obvious the rain isn't stopping any time soon, you decide to move forward. The rain isn't that bad, after all...
Ayren moans one curse or another every time he steps on a puddle, but doesn't slow down. It's obvious he doesn't feel comfortable outside urban environments...
- - -
A couple hours later, it becomes clear you aren't alone... At least four wolves seem to be stalking your group, but you can only catch short glimpses of them, since the beasts do their best to stay hidden by foliage...
Ayren is visibly nervous.
"Uh... These things don't attack during the day... Right?"
"They didn't attack last night. It's probably fine."
Eitylens just keep walking.
"Wolves don't usually attack grown men in groups. They're smarter than that."
"I hope you are right..." mumbles Ayren.
After a while, the wolves start slowing down, and you eventually manage to leave them behind.
"Well... That's one fewer problem, I guess... According to the direction my contact gave me, we can't be all that far, we... What's that?"
Through the rain and fog, you start seeing a vaguely humanoid shape... You move closer, and finally become able to clearly see a slim woman lying against a tree stump... She looks almost like a wooden doll, with her legs fully extended and her arms lying on her thighs... Her head hangs forward, causing her long brown hair to cover her face...
She occasionally slightly moves her arms and head... But the motion doesn't seem to be done consciously...
Next to her, there is an open travelling bag, but most of its content has rolled into the mud... a few scroll and some ration and tools. With the exception of a couple daggers stuck to a root, all of the woman's belongings is almost completely covered in mud.
Without much thinking Eitylen hurries to the woman side to see if she is injured.
Frederick runs over as well, not far behind.
As the two travelers approach the fallen woman, she raises her arm in a very rigid manner, but doesn't raise her head.
A couple roots shoot from underground and towards the duo, taking both by surprise and smashing against their chests...
Eitylen manages to escape the deadly grip of the animated roots, but Frederick isn't as quick and suddenly finds himself wrapped by the wooden tentacles...
The fallen womanslowly and rigidly stands, but her torso remains mostly bent forward, keeping her face covered.
Eitylen
Frederick
Brother Cyrus
Creature
Ayren
Eitylen try to cut the roots that held the woman body
Frederick chop chops wood chops wood.
There is nothing holding the woman, but you can see many small roots piercing her skin and muscles on her arms, legs and torso. Many of which are directly connected to the tree stump.
Seeing the roots sprouting from the tree stump, Frederick strikes the big block of wood... Which surprises the whole party by roaring in anger.
Eitylen does his best to hack the woman free from the vines, but they seem too ingrained into her body for him to be successful... He does notice the vines and roots recoiling in pain from his attacks, though.
Brother Cyrus channels destructive energy targeting the tree stump.
The wooden creature moans in pain, the woman is unaffected...
A number of roots shoot from the mud-covered ground, and the tree stump suddenly produces a huge jaw with extraordinarily sharp "fangs", which close around Frederick's shoulder, but are blocked by the warrior's armor.
ayren throws a couple daggers at the tree stump that attempted to bite Frederick's shoulder off.
[/ooc]
Eytilen Moves trying to flank with Frederick
Eitylen just barely avoid a root-tentacle strike, but he manages to safely reach the opposite side of the wooden creature. It becomes obvious to him that the woman is dead and nothing more than a puppet being manipulated by the creature's root-like limbs.
Fine
Frederick lashes out a quick strike, then catches the thing again on the backswing.
It's intelligent, but not very smart, and often swallows its victims without bothering to sort out what is edible. This often leads to an small amount of inanimate objects stacking under the "tree stump".
Aside from the obvious danger presented by its tentacles and fangs, an Wolf-in-Sheep’s-Clothing will often try to implant seeds into its prey. If it succeeds, these seeds grow into a parasite that will not only steal nourishment from their host, but also eventually kill it. Magic such as Remove Disease can kill this infestation, though.
Despite its size and unusual control over its corpse-lure, this particular specimen seems young, as its bark is not fully developed yet.
Frederick's strikes leave a couple huge dents into the creature's bark-like carapace, but it's still alive.
Eitylen leaps over the creature and and with a graceful spin, uses his momentum to make a grievous slash on its wooden body.
The creatures releases a painful roar, but it soon fades into silence...
"Nice one, Eitylen." Frederick says, impressed.
"What the hell was that?!" groans Ayren. "I had never been attacked by a freaking tree stump before!"