Chapter One - Kassen Town Square

[Lotofsnow]

Maura lowers her guard as things begin to settle down in camp. She shrugs apologetically for the disruption, but shows no intent to return to her bedroll. As Sandy moves past to peer into the forest, she calls out to him softly:

"Hey, no use trying to track it in the dark, Sandy. It didn't seem eager to face prey that fights back anyway."

[Scott R]

Sandy glances at her, then back to the forest. "I hear forest wolves are wily. They show their gleaming eyes to the unsuspecting then disappear into the dark. They leave only to come back a moment later with forest bears. The forest bears do the same thing— show their eyes and then disappear, but they come back with forest gnomes. And then.  Then...the terror begins.

"The only way to stop the madness is to catch the forest bears before they get close enough to flash their eyes at you. So. That's what I'm doing. Watching for sneaky forest bears."

Throughout all this, Sandy's face is flushed and his voice is noticeably a tone higher.

[Scott R]

OOC- Which is just to say: despite his flippant little story, Sandy is pretty tense.

[Scott R]

After a few minutes of squinting futilely at the darkness beyond the campfire, Sandy eases his finger off his crossbow's trigger, and rolls his shoulders.  "I think it's gone," he says. 

He spends another moment fussing with his quarrel, straightening his hood, shaking his limbs, before stepping beyond the firelight.  He fetches Maura's pebble and tosses it back to her.  "I'm going to wake you up in a couple hours, Kirdo," he calls to the camp.  "Unless the bears get me."

[Rakeesh]

Kirdo is prepared to be snappish, but he and Tippenroe have worked together a bit, and his patter isn't quite as glib. So instead he smiled insufferably, looking pleased for the first time to be awake. "I'll protect you from the forest gnomes when they come," Kirdo promised with a chuckle. "Well, probably," he added, getting ready to go back to bed again. "If you stop chattering," he went on, but there wasn't any real bite in it. "Goodnight again, everyone," he said a few minutes later.

[TheTick]

With the wolf gone, an eerie quiet settles over the forest around the camp.  The rock stops glowing after a few minutes leaving only the firelight to see by.

OOC: ShowHide

So Maura and Sandy are still up, is that right?

[Scott R]

Sandy scratches his nose when he sees Maura's glow stone wink out. Nothing now but the fire and the dark.

He rolls his shoulders and gets back to the work of making sure nothing creeps up on the camp.

[Lotofsnow]

Crossing to the opposite side of the fire from Sandy, Maura turns her back to the flames to peer out into the darkness, still wired from her encounter with the wolf.

As her heart rate slows, she ponders what she could have done to further deter the wolf from approaching the camp. One of the temple dogs would be nice to have right now, she thinks, remembering that she had read somewhere that wolves hesitate to approach a camp if a dog is present.

Well, the party is fresh out of dogs.

As she scans the dark Maura cannot stop thinking of the wolf's skinny, mangy look. Perhaps the creature was just hungry?

[TheTick]

Sandy watched the forest for half and hour, near as he could reckon, before he heard it - a small branch snapping, a rock dislodged from its place - he wasn't sure what it was, but it brought his attention to the northern edge of the camp site.  Just in time, as he saw the yellow eyes of a wolf, now followed by two more.

OOC: ShowHide

Right now only Sandy has spotted them, and only just.

[Scott R]

The wolf again, but with friends.

This time, Sandy doesn't fetch the others or warn the wolves.

light crossbow ranged attack +3 1d20+3 : 15 + 3, total 18

light crossbow damage d8 1d8 : 5, total 5

Sneak attack damage (if applicable) 1d6 : 2, total 2

...assuming I'm within 30 feet and not threatened by the wolves.

[Rakeesh]

When Kirdo jolted awake not very long, it felt to him, after he'd just gotten back to sleep again, he was feeling understandably grouchy. Stumbling out of his bedding, there was at least no ambiguity about the need for waking this time. "Find some damned deer!" Kirdo exclaimed angrily, and unless they were right amongst the camp and near his comrades, his hands moved quickly to precisely jostle and add his magic to one of his bombs and hurled it where it would do the most damage, any wolves adjacent to one another but not a comrade. If not, he reached for his sling to send a stone whirling at the nearest wolf.

Bomb attack: Bomb attack, <40' +4 to attack roll as a ranged touch attack

Rolled 1d20+4 : 7 + 4, total 11

Damage: 1d6+3

Rolled 1d6+3 : 3 + 3, total 6

or
Sling attack, <50' +2

Rolled 1d20+2 : 8 + 2, total 10

Damage: 1d3

Rolled 1d3 : 2, total 2

[Scott R]

Forgot to roll initiative

initiative +5 1d20+5 : 3 + 5, total 8

[TheTick]

The wolf nearest Maura races over, jaws agape, but she manages to shove the blanket at it, and the wolf is unable to sink its teeth into her. (miss)  Sandy's crossbow bolt pierces another wolf deeply in the flank, and it yelps in pain.  (hit, -7hp)  The injured wolf runs over to Sandy and grabs his leg, yanking him off his feet.  (hit, -4hp, tripped)  The last wolf snaps at Kirdo, but the gnome manages to dodge even as he wakes. (miss)

[Nighthawk]

Dariel snaps awake and quickly scrambles up from the ground. "Get back!" he shouts as he draws both of his blades, lunging at the nearest wolf.

Primary attack roll 1d20+3 : 7 + 3, total 10
Primary damage 1d6+2 : 1 + 2, total 3

Off-hand attack roll (???) 1d20+3 : 1 + 3, total 4
Off-hand damage 1d6+1 : 4 + 1, total 5

[Lotofsnow]

Maura lifts a knee to deflect the wolf's eager teeth. As she steps her foot down, her greatsword follows, slashing in an attempt to take advantage of the wolf's positioning before it can ready for another attack.

Greatsword 1d20+5 : 8 + 5, total 13
Damage 2d6+6 : 3, 4 + 6, total 13

Statblock: ShowHide

Current Initiative 27
AC 12 Touch 12 Flat-footed 10
Hit Point Maximum 10 (1d8+2) Current HP 10
Attacks of Opportunity Per Round 3