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Answering Sledge, Median thinks for a minute and then says
Hmm. My instinct is to fight it, but I think you might have a point. It really bothers me when people manipulate me, but if that *is* the test... maybe I can practice Braggar's advice on keeping my temper, remaining calm even when people around me are idiots, etc. ... Just walk into it with eyes open, and take whatever comes.
She takes a deep breath.
Okay, I'll try the going along with it thing, but please remind me again if I start flying off the handle. This is going to be hard for me.
To Silvio she says
I don't... think so? But I might be turned around. Khuvaan?
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"Oh for the love of- It's that way." Sledge starts tromping his way further into the illusion clearing.
As Silvio looks uncertain about the way forward and Median seems to consider crashing through the trees instead of following the map, Sledge gets fed up and walks through the clearing. As he no doubt expects, nothing ill befalls him.
Although there is some initial bickering about whether to follow the map or not, Sledge shows remarkably good instincts. Whenever the path gets a little harder to follow, or someone recommends some detour, Khuvaan offers an effective correction and reasserts the proper trail. After the business with the phantasmal orcs, the rest of the day proceeds in peace.
Eventually, afternoon turns to evening. The sunlight begins to fade and a cold wind begins to rattle through the leafless forest. The last evidence of civilization is now miles away.
Many of you, especially Khuvaan, have been out in the Fangwood before, but you were usually either with someone experienced, or not too far from home. For most of you, this may be the furthest you have been away from Kassen without your mentor. And sure, you dealt with the illusionary orcs earlier, but they were just illusions. Would you have to deal with real dangers here? And if you do, then...
No one else is here for you if you get into trouble.
"We sure are far out, aren't we," comments Silvio. At this point, not only is he far from home, but he has eaten his shepherd's pie. "You all been out this far before? I mean, except Khuvaan, I'm sure you've gone everywhere."
"I'll help us find a good spot to camp," the halfling replies to Median. "I guess we could set up watches. You wizardly types need your rest, right? I could take one of the middle shifts."
.
It turns out that Silvio is terrible at doing anything in the wild besides herd sheep.
Sledge was starting to feel rather put upon. Did he have to do everything around here? He had read books on how to clear an area for a campsite, and besides, it certainly sounded easier than casting spells.
Turns out it was.
"I haven't expended any of my slots, so don't worry about scheduling around me."
"No Silvo. I've never been out this far. Never more than a quarter day's walk from the village, to make sure I get back before it gets too dark. They say dangerous things live in this forest. Like Dru-" He gives Median a sideways glance, "Like drubbers," he finishes lamely.
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Coming back from gathering firewood and catching the last bit of conversation between Silvio and Sledge, Median decides that the firewood pile should be about 6 inches from Sledge, and dumps her armful of branches there.
She says
Yeah, "drubbers" ... totally scary. Or power-mad wiz--onks. Wizonks and Drubbers. Kill you in your sleep, those two.
She then leaves again, to gather some more.
The group settles down to find a good camping spot for the night. Silvio takes Winter off away from the group, galloping ahead on the sheepdog's back and looking for a good place. But there just doesn't seem to be anything ideal. The ground is lumpy, or else its too open and would make them easy pickings for predators. Real ones, not the illusory kind.
Sledge, on the other hand, continues to keep his eyes peeled, and with some descriptors for what Silvio is so frantically looking for (and some odd books from Master Holgast's vast collection), he calmly points out an ideal clearing as they pass by it. Conferring, they four agree that this is an excellent spot to set up camp. It's a nice, level spot, surrounding on three sides by a thicket of bushes, and Median finds plenty of dry wood to use to start the fire.
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Silvio is awakened for the second watch, and he in turn wakes Winter. The two keep vigil over the campsite, wary of danger.
When the time is complete, he goes to awaken the next person in line.
Khuvaan offers to take the third watch, knowing his own tendency to wake early, oftentimes before sunrise.
"At least drubber is an actual word," Sledge mutters as he prepares to rest for the evening. "Try to make an effort at least."
As Median and Sledge lightly bicker, everyone hears a peal of howling off in the distance. You turn your heads to the likely source. It sounds like it's a long way off, nowhere near you.
But as you continue to chew at your rations and talk, warming yourselves by the fire, it sounds like the howling comes gradually closer.
And closer.
And closer.
Then...it is quiet. Median has first watch, but the howling has you all a little on edge. You go at least half an hour without hearing any potential threatening sounds.
Almost an hour and a half after the first howl, everyone except for Median sees, at the very edge of the firelight, a lone wolf.
"Yes of course," Sledge says earnestly. "Aren't you? Sure some might be friendly, and not hold a particular grudge against people. But most of them are wild. Unknowable. Dangerous. Just as likely to feed you to a slime mold as not as "part of the natural order of things." I have a healthy fear of anyone and anything who could turn into a dinosaur, while turning sticks into snakes at the same time."
Sledge rummages around in his bag, before giving up, and instead used a stick to draw in the dirt. "Have you ever seen any illustrations of a dinosaur? I have. Horrible creatures."
He softens a little bit. "I know your mother is a druid. And although I've never really met her, she seems like a decent sort. But she lives close to town, and uses metal tools and things. Are you genuinely not afraid of what they can do? At least you can trust most wizards to act in their best interests. You never know what a druid might do."
He finishes drawing in the dirt, and looks at the half-remembered Tyrannosaur from one of Holgast's books, and shudders slightly. "Healthy fear." He repeats.
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Just because something is unknowable doesn't mean it is dangerous... says Median, but when Sledge starts drawing strange dinosaurs (conveniently with little stick figures beside them to show relative size), she does start getting a little worried. She doesn't say anything to show it, but you would have been able to tell if you saw her on watch, noticing how preoccupied she was, glancing up at tree-height for potential incursions, rather than anticipating something as mundane as a hungry wolf...
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Silvio wants to sleep, but feels uncomfortable with the howling wolf sounds. He thinks he might be about ready to settle in once the howling stops, but the firelight flickers off something that looks different. A lone wolf.
"Fear what's in front of you," he interrupts, nodding in the direction of the wolf.
The halfling pushes himself to his feet with his staff, ready to protect his "herd," and slowly approaches as he talks to it. "Listen, nothing for you here. Time to go on your own way."
Guarding lambs from wolves was a forte of Silvio's. Perhaps that training would provide insight here as well.
For a second one can see why Sledge might fear druids. As he tilts his head to take a sideways glance at the wolf, a greasy, tense sensation can be felt in the air. He took a step towards the wolf, with an intent to try and intimidate it, to assert dominance over it. It was only the one step though, as Silvo starts performing his craft. He lets his flail hang idly at his side, no longer unnaturally empowered, but just a young man, standing near the light of a fire.
When the wolf appears, Khuvaan almost bolts up, but then catches himself, and instead slowly rises to his feet with his bow held in his left hand. Not ready to fire just yet, but close enough he could notch an arrow if needed.
"This is not how wolves usually act... the young ranger states needlessly, speaking as much to himself as to the others.
Keeping his eyes on the wolf, but listening for pack movement out in the darkness, Khuvaan lets Silvio take the lead, as it's obvious the clever halfling knows what he's doing.
The wolf on the edge of the light growls as weapons are drawn. It looks like it is about to run away when Silvio brings out his staff and gets the wolf to shoo. The wolf scampers back uncertainly, sniffing the air, tongue lolling out as it pants. It seems to decide that you're not worth it, backing away from the fire and running off into the night.
A half hour later, you hear a scream in the distance. If you were settled into your rest, you are jolted awake by the shrill retort piercing through the soft hooting of owls and the caress of late autumn wind blowing through the trees.
"G%%*!!n it, can't a man get a good rest out here?" Sledge grumbles, as he casts light on a rock. Shall we go investigate?"
"Yeah, we do. Can't be sure what's a test and what isn't, but if that was someone in need of help, we should check it out, either way." Khuvaan nods to Median and Sledge, then squints a bit when each casts light.
Blinking he is spurprised as the sorceress goes running off on her own. Frustrated, he shrugs at Silvio and Sledge before shaking his head and setting off himself, grumbling. "Dammit. We need to do these things together."
Listening for more noises and bow in his left hand, the tall half-orc jogs after Median, trying to catch up to her.
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"G~+~*!n it"
The scream definitely sounds humanoid to Sledge, as far as he can tell. That's more or less confirmed by the faint words that Khuvaan hears a few moments later. He can't make out what is being said, other than that the voice sounds feminine and frightened. Or maybe that's just the assumption, but that tone doesn't sound secure.
Leading the way, Khuvaan follows the voice and stops when he sees a trio of wolves ahead past a fallen tree trunk. Even though you can't see beyond the wolves, whoever is out there sees you thanks to your dual light spells. "Oh thank Erastil. Please help me!"
You can only have one light spell active at any one time. If you cast this spell while another casting is still in effect, the previous casting is dispelled. If you make this spell permanent (through permanency or a similar effect), it does not count against this limit. Light can be used to counter or dispel any darkness spell of equal or lower spell level.
In an area of dim light, a character can see somewhat. Creatures within this area have concealment (20% miss chance in combat) from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness. A creature within an area of dim light can make a Stealth check to conceal itself. Areas of dim light include outside at night with a moon in the sky, bright starlight, and the area between 20 and 40 feet from a torch.
Characters with low-light vision (elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see objects twice as far away as the given radius. Double the effective radius of bright light, normal light, and dim light for such characters.
You hear some kind of arcane words out in the darkness beyond your light.
Wizard
Silvio and Winter
Wolves
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
"Winter, defend her!" Silvio cries. The halfling casts a Light spell on Winter, while the dog courageously tries to charge a wolf!
; ; .
Winter rushes forward as commanded, nipping at the wolf's heels. The wolf leaps out of the way, whirling around and growling. It makes a few test bites, snapping hungry teeth while one of its packmates stalks through the underbrush and moves to flank Winter. The third wolf abandons its original quarry as well as the pack descends on the sheepdog.
The original wolf lashes out and grabs hold of Winter's shaggy hide, dragging him down to the ground. The other two dart forward, nipping away but coming away with only tufts of fur.
Wizard
Silvio and Winter
Wolves
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Only pausing for the briefest of seconds when he realizes that he is going to have to be the punching bag for the wolves, Sledge courageously moves forward to meet them in battle! Then instead of charging in, he stops where he is, and readies an action to cast color spray if two wolves come within his range. Drawing upon the arcane pool of energy that he has been working on storing up, he prepares to make the spell even harder to resist.
For a brief moment, Khuvaan considered the wolves' plight, with their haggardly bodies revealing their starvation. But the moment flickers past when Winter is dragged to the ground and the half-orc ranger knows he has to choose the safety of his friends before compassion for these sad beasts. Now that they think they've found their prey, the wolves are unlikely to give up the hunt.
"Rrrarrrah! Get off of him!"! Khuvaan bellows loudly, grits his teeth in frustration, and fires an arrow at the wolf clamped onto the sheepdog.
Median snaps her fingers and a flash of light sparks forward at one of the wolves, offering little more than a momentary distraction. That didn't seem to work like she wanted it to. Sledge's arcane energies hum within his fingers, waiting for the right moment to unleash the final incantations. Khuvaan's arrow sails over the wolves' heads, off into the trees.
The wizard hoists her staff and hurls it out at the nearest wolf.
The sturdy staff begins spinning in a vicious-looking spiral, but it arcs harmlessly over the wolf's head as the wolf takes a bite out of Winter. The staff travels a little bit further before it returns to the wizard.
Wizard
Silvio and Winter
Wolves
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
"Protect yourself, Winter!" Silvio continues forward and fires a bullet at the nearest wolf!
;
Winter just tries to fend off the wolves from his vulnerable position.
Winter "stands" his ground against the oncoming onslaught, moving to protect his neck and belly from the gnashing teeth of the hungry beasts. The slung bullet pings into one of the wolves' heads with a meaty thunk, and the beast turns away from the sheepdog and growls at Silvio. But the pack continues with its tactics, stones be damned, and lays further in to Winter.
The pack is savage, their jaws flashing in the light. Still, Winter focuses on defense and manages to narrowly fend off two of the wolves. But the third makes good on the attack with several sharp bites.
Wizard
Silvio and Winter
Green Wolf
Red Wolf
Blue Wolf
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
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Median shakes her head, wishing that would have worked. Apparently she was going to have work on that spell to make it stronger... and get closer so she could help.
She casts burning hands except for the last triggering word, and moves forward, stepping in beside one of the wolves and then releasing the spell, aimed in such a way that it will get two of the wolves and not Winter.
(draconic heritage)
Sledge is tempted, ever so tempted, to just go back to bed. But Winter is in trouble, and Silvo seemed like a decent sort. Casting in combat was hard. Very tricky, so he moved past the red wolf as so to provoke on that action instead of the action of casting the spell, and then back to his end square.
"Sorry Winter"
Using a swift action to soup up his spell, all creatures within that blue square must make a DC 15 will save or be subject to color spray.
[ooc]2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
Cursing under his breath at his last inept arrow shot, Khuvaan moves through the brush, closer to the melee as it erupts into chaos. Drawing another arrow, the bowman targets......one of the wolves still attacking the sheep dog.
Seeing the arrow strike it's target, Khuvaan allows himself a moment of pride...and then blinks in awe of his two companions as they loose a barrage of magical energy!
. The already prone dog settles in for a nice nap as Sledge's magics wash over him.
Silvio is momentarily shocked. "You idiot, what are you doing?". He dashes forward. "I'll save you, Winter!" He swings his staff at the nearest wolf.
;
Khuvaan's arrow finds the mark this time, sinking into one wolf's flank. He yowls in pain, turning distractedly and looking for the source of the latest injury.
Sledge moves in past the wolves to set himself up for a maximally-effective cone of whirling colors.
One wolf lashes out with jaws while the magus moves past, but comes up empty-jawed. And with a closing incantation, a multi-hued vortex flashes from Sledge's hands, enveloping all four animals.
All of the wolves caught in the vivid cone shake off the debilitating effects of the spell, but Winter settles in for a nap.
Not wanting to put herself in the same risk as Sledge, Median moves in and draws on some inner power to transform her hands into deadly weapons. She rakes her claws out, but the wolf before her is ready for the attack, having just been struck with an arrow and a sling bullet. It dodges out of the way.
The wizard who summoned you with her scream just moments ago sees the lot of you emerging from the trees into the magical light around. "Well okay then," she begins, "I might not die out here after all." She considers her position and then throws her staff out again.
This time her staff swings in a fine arc and smashes into the closest wolf. It yowls at the impact and turns away from the unconscious Winter. She gives a fist pump and a small cheer as the staff resumes its spin and returns to her.
Surprised and frustrated, Silvio rushes in to protect his hound, swinging his staff and bringing it down on the wolf's head. It also yowls, looking much the worse for wear after several solid blows.
With the threat of the sheepdog neutralized and other threats now much more apparent, the pack redirects its ire, stepping around to more advantageous positions before lashing out with their jaws.
The wolf that Gretchen had just hit moves back for revenge, sinking its teeth into her arm and dragging her to the ground. She screams again and begins cursing at the surprise pain. The wolf closest to Sledge menaces him, growling before jumping up. The magus parries easily the bite. On the other side, the most heavily injured wolf goes after the halfling that just smacked it, but the shepherd is also able to easily fend off the blow.
Gretchen
Silvio and Winter
Green Wolf
Red Wolf
Blue Wolf
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
Sledge flails wildly with his flail. He really kind of assumed the color spray would do something more than miss? And of course she was here.
Of course she's a universalist, I can just hear her now saying, "Balance in all things is the mark of a proper wizard Sledge. Not all of us can focus in on fanciful things like illusions." And now look, all of this thinking has put me off my footwork. I should've just stayed asleep. Maybe stayed asleep for the whole of last week.
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"People...we can DO this. C'mon!" Khuvaan calls out, seeing the fight was not going well for the young adventurers.
Bolting forward, the ranger considers dropping his bow and drawing his machete, but seeing the nameless wizard taken off her feet by one of the wolves, he instead launches an arrow at the beast.
"Well...crap." Khuvaan mutters before bellowing incoherently at the wolf he was targeting, trying to get it's attention.
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Despite their best efforts, things don't seem to be going according to plan for the nascent band of adventurers. Swing, miss, swipe, miss, shoot, miss! It's enough to make one almost want to swear fealty to a god of luck. Shelyn? Desna? Chaldira Zuzaristan? Calistria? But now wasn't the time to consider theological questions--probably--now was the time to try not to get your throat ripped out.
Master Holgast's other apprentice holds her staff up above her, trying to fend off the jaws that continue to bite down towards her. "Sledge!" she screams. "You want to make up for making a fool of yourself yesterday? I'll sing your praises back in Kassen, but only if I can still sing!"
Gretchen foists the wolf off of her, standing up and narrowly avoiding its hungry jaws. She then begins waving her staff around, preparing to cast something. But whatever it is, it looks like it might be somewhat more involved, is there is no apparent effect just yet.
Gretchen
Silvio and Winter
Green Wolf
Red Wolf
Blue Wolf
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
Silvio takes another step toward his wounded, sleeping dog and then smacks the wolf beside him!
;
As the nearby wolf makes a maneuver exposing itself, Silvio tries to strike once more!
;
Silvio delivers a solid blow to the closest wolf, who seems dazed. It glances uncertainly at the sorcerer with scary-looking claws and the halfling that keeps hitting it with a stick, and seems to decide that this won't be as easy of a meal as it had thought. The wolf turns and runs away, narrowly avoiding Silvio's staff and scampering into the tree line.
While the wolf savaging Gretchen is rebuffed by her staff, which she continues to wave around as she chants and intones, Sledge is not so lucky. Ducking under Sledge's flail, the wolf goes for the magus' leg, chomping in and then dragging him down to the ground.
Gretchen (-3, casting)
Silvio and Winter
Green Wolf
Red Wolf
Blue Wolf
Khuvaan
Sledge
Median
Map
"Bugger."
Sledge flails at the blue wolf.
"Ignore me, make sure Gr-the caster's spell doesn't get interrupted!"
If that hits, it takes a -2 on saves vs magic until the start of my next turn.