Location: One week from Little Plains in the open grasslands and gentle hills.
Party in Play
Rae - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 4. One of the original members of the party that originated in the town of Little Plains. She is somewhat of a strategist and creative tactician always looking for an edge when the situation gets dicey.
Wulfe - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 4. Originally from a small town north of Ptolus near the Moonsilver Forest, he wandered westward to satisfy his curiosity about the frontier areas of the empire. Joining the group early in their adventuring career he has been a steadfast companion and effective in any dangerous situation. He wields Cheval, a Faery forged longsword known for occasional bursts of radiant energy.
Korved - Human. Cleric 4. An itinerant priest, he arrived in Little Plains hoping to come to grips with his recent experiences. He had joined the Gaen faith at a young age and over time found his thinking more in line with her masculine aspect Hannan. The non-violent and amicable split in the church was his signal to explore the world.
Sparky - Human. Fighter 4. She's a force to be reckoned with in a toe to toe fight. Recent life as a sword for hire had led to some less than respectable jobs and little in the way of pay. Joining an adventuring group seemed a wise choice.
Celestia - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 2. A bold and confident adventurer, she puts forward an unfearful countenance. A recent addition to the group Celestia is making herself at home as if she were there all along despite lacking the experience of the other members.
Jill - Human. Fighter 3. A sell sword by trade, she has recently been down on her luck and in need of work. Hired to deliver a bag of coins to this group she ended up joining as a means of escaping from the butt end of the empire. Capable with sword and bow Jill is a good fit for the team.
It was mid afternoon and their supplies were completely gone. Hunger made attempting to continue travelling painful for them and their horses. The decision was made to set an early camp, to forage for food and give the horses the opportunity to graze.
Despite being used to long travel, they are typically well supplied, but now they would be fending for themselves. Korved volunteered to hunt for small game and Wulfe chose to scrounge for berries and other edible leaf plants. Three and half hours later they returned with a small bounty to prepare.
Roasting over the open fire the two rabbits and one quail had begun to smell very inviting, and inviting they were. Somehow the large ettin had managed to creep up to the copse of small trees they had camped next to for shade. It was noticed when Rae decided to look around to see if their roasting dinner was drawing any attention.
Both mouths were drooling as the hulking creature pushed its way noisily through the saplings and smaller trees on into the camp. The party grabbed weapons expecting the worst and Rae cast Fairy Fire to illuminate the ettin. It pushed Celestia aside and strode to the fire where their meat hung on a spit, dripping juices into the crackling flames below.
At Rae's urging everyone held back from initiating hostilities. So much for having meat for dinner. Dropping it's enormous stone headed axe it grabbed the spit, lifted the meal to its mouths and began gnawing greedily on a rabbit and quail. Then Jill got the idea that she should quietly pull the axe away from its reach.
The soft scraping sound of the axe head against a small stone was enough to alert the big beast. "Why you do that?" The monster made a hasty grab for Jill, dropping the spit and remaining rabbit to the ground, and barely missing his target. That was when all hell broke loose on this previously unconcerned brute.
Wulfe and Sparky stepped up to engage in close quarters combat while Jill loosed arrows and Rae, Celestia, and Korved struck with spells. Both heads howled in pain and anger at the assault. In the melee their foe struck a powerful blow against Wulfe and then grabbed Sparky. As Wulfe tried to dart away to a safer distance the creature used Sparky like a ragdoll, slamming her into the retreating elf injuring them both.
Ettin heads growled spouting different obscenities as it flailed about with it's great tree branch club striking Jill. It had grossly underestimated both the will to fight and the might of these little people and now was paying a heavy price.
More magic struck the creature staggering it, but it was Sparky, still in its tightening grip, that struck the deadly blow. Her longsword clasped in both hands sliced downward cleaving into the leftmost head. Sparky dropped from its grip as its eyes rolled back in both heads and it fell with a massive thump.
Hitching a horse to the corpse they pulled the nearly two thousand pound mass away from camp, leaving it out for the carrion birds and scavengers to feast on, while quietly hoping the Crystal of Calling would not animate the ettin.
Watches passed relatively without incident, nothing too noisy transpiring, but it was not a real surprise when they awoke to discover a dozen skeletons standing at the edge of camp. This was becoming a familiar event. This time they chose not to destroy the undead figuring that some extra guardians would make life temporarily easier.
Out above a low hill back along their trail they could see more boney followers making their way to camp. Debate ensued about how to deal with the accumulating abominations to nature. Korved wanted to do away with them while Wulfe recommended letting them follow until they got closer to Little Plains where undead would panic the townspeople and become difficult to explain.
Over the coming days two dozen skeletons had caught up with the party. Little plains loomed a mile more to the east as night was falling and the group chose to push on. But what to do with the undead? After several minutes of debate it was decided that Wulfe, carrier of the Crystal, would order the skeletons to stay in place, 100 yards off of the road.
Getting closer the party saw that something big was happening in the town. There were more people guarding the entry road and milling torchlight could be seen all about town. The guardsman and 5 armed townsmen blocked the road, asking who they were and their business.
A quick explanation was enough to elicit information about a week's worth of wolf attacks north of town near where Rae and Wulfe had a small farm. Opting to stable their two remaining horses and their wagons in town they would avoid going north until morning instead getting rooms at the Brown Dog Inn.
Talk with Hibbert the inn keeper and some locals revealed that another adventuring group, The Silver Blades had gone north three days ago to aid in staving off the attacks. Rae and Wulfe knew the three Silver Blades. This adventuring group had once numbered six, but after a long venture to the southwest, had returned half in number and a lot wealthier. What might the Silver Blades be up to, could they be part of the problem? Further talk revealed rumors that the wolf pack was unnaturally large, perhaps twenty members and that they seemed more coordinated and determined than usual.
Concern grew about the wellbeing and whereabouts of Deek, the young boy caretaker of their property. The boy had grown up on the farm before his mother went missing and to get by his older sister married another local farmer. The two younger siblings went to live with their new brother-in law and sister on his farm further south. Deek hired on to look after the property since he knew it well and the generous pay would be a great help for the family.
This would all have to wait for morning as they were exhausted from the road.
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