The grogs draw their weapons and take positions at the van. The group carefully advances uphill into the dense forest. After a about 100 paces, they see an increasing number of tracks in the snow, some of them pretty new. Their animal instincts tell them that they are being stalked by predators, hidden somewhere in the impenetrable green forest. The primeval wolf howls echo in the valley, making it difficult to determine exact locations.
Then for a split second,they see a light grey pelt ahead, and a few steps later another one behind. The wolves seem to be certain of their prey, they take their time circling the party.
Another 100 paces onward, you see a little more light ahead and you know that you are approaching the little clearing with the gneiss ground that you saw in the vision at Durenmar. There are several wolves around you, and you can hear angry birds chirping excitedly ahead, mixed with growling.
The vision catches Rabanus unaware, so he stumbles: Grey shapes converge into a circle, which turns red. The red in the circle focus into a sharp picture,a bird's eye, your eye. The vision ends as abruptly as it began.
Honorus casts spells on everyone for cold but before he does the snowplow spell he cases a protection from mundane animals on himself. "Best not to take chances if we can help it."
((after the vision))
"Perhaps the wolves are protecting a sacred site? Perhaps the wolves are skinchangers protecting an area. The bockman said there was no man but the skins of men and beast there."
ReAn5 protection from mundane animals. (base2 + 3 moon) This only effects normal animals. Not magical ones.(Re 11 + An 3 + stamina 1)
As you enter the clearing, the wolves stop jumping up a tree on which you can see an owl that hold one of her wings at an awkward angle.
Suddenly, they start attacking you from all sides.
Honorus will cast Crest of the Earth Wave AWAY from the tree that Theron is on (I assume it is Theron). He does not want that tree to be struck by the wave(casting total is 22 + aura if any). He then draws his mace and moves near Guther.
Albirich is the first to react: He compently slashes at a one-eared wolf that attacks him, but miscalculates by a hair's breadth as the animal ducks away. Diederik tries to impale an old wolf on his weapon but doesn't hold it well enough. Arturous starts drawing a circle in the snow when he is attacked by a small white she-wolf. He only keeps concentrating because Gunther blocks the way: The wolf's teeth find their way into his left calf, ripping through muscles and tendons (ooc: middle wound).
Weakened by the blow, Gunther's strike misses a wolf.
Albirich is now hard pressed by two wolves: The first one takes him down with a cruel bite to the leg (middle wound), the second one bites him right into his face (heavy wound). Gunther also gets attacked by two wolves: The first one only crashes against his armor, which is only painful (minor wound), but the second one bites him (medium wound). One wolf attacks Honorus but bounces off the magical protection harmlessly - the lead wolf growls and stares at him. Hildegard gets attacked by a wolf but Diederik jumps in the way to protect her, which results in an ugly bite that bleeds profusely (heavy). It is Albirich who saves Rabanus, but then passes out as the wolf's jaws maul his lower face (incapacitated).
Honorus looks casts a spell, the earth explodes upwards, throwing two wolves into the air and wounding them. The other wolves look up and hesitate.
Hildegard vanishes and reappears up in a tree. Rabanus is still shaken from the bloodbath.
For a second Rabanus and the grogs seem to be slightly out of focus as he casts his protective spell, which leaves him dazed. Gunther and Diderik stumble into the circle just before Arturous finishes it.
"Well done Arturous! I will try to improve our defenses slightly. Keep an eye on the Alpha. Perhaps we can scare convince them that our skins are more trouble than they are worth."
Honorus will try to catch them with Pit of the Gaping Earth. The pit will be more in the shape of a triangle(given his sigil). He will pay attention to keeping the pit away from the circle of protection. Given enough time he will place the pits around the circle to impede the wolves movement but take care to leave a path out.
ooc: outside the circle The pit would break the circle so I'm doing it away from the circle. If I put enough outside the circle then the wolves will either have to get into melee range or stay well outside. The Grogs will have to handle the two inside. Just for fun I'll target the Alpha. I'm sure this is a bad idea.
Just a reminder for the aiming. Honorus has Fineness 3 with specialty in targeting. So Per0 + fineness 4 + targeting bonus( target is the ground under the Alpha)+die roll.
Honorus' spell hits the ground, targeted with breathtaking artistic beauty. For a moment, nothing happens. Then the snow disappears into a triangular hole that has formed underneath. The lead wolf and three other wolves disappear with a loud woosh into a snowy hole. A cacophony of yelps and howls shows how well this spell worked.
With their leader caught, the five wolves outside the circle sniff the pit and then retreat to a safe distance, their tails between their legs.
The two wolves inside the circle try an attack on Gunther, but his magical protection holds them off. They then run along the circle's line, sniffing the air and howling.
After casting his spell, Rabanus sinks on his trembling knees, exhausted by the force of spellcraft he unleashed. Certain that his spell worked, he ignores the wolves and stumbles forward a bit to look after Albirich. When he recognizes that, although shallow, there is still a breath escaping Alibirichs lips, he lets out a sigh of relief.
Faster then he expected, the wolves are trapped or driven off.
"Quick, Hildegard, this men needs your help. His wounds look fatal but there is still a tiny spark of life we need to rekindle. Please help me save him."
Theron lands on Honorus shoulder. She (?) stares at the other owl - clearly not trusting the seemingly wounded bird in the tree. Since it looks safe on the ground, Hildegard uses Wizard's Leap to land next to the unconscious grog. Rabanus turns the grog, so she can touch his front and cast "Purification of the festering wound", which compliments her meager medical skills.
Rabanus helps her to rip the grog's shirt into stripes of cloth, which she can use to stabilize him.
After a few moments, she manages to stop the bleeding.
ooc: the others can take three actions while the stabilisation process is underway. The wolves are either afraid or trapped in the circle or the pit. Roll all the dice you need. If there aren't any combat actions anyone wants to take left, we can revert to out of combat proceedings.
The owl half hops, half falls down the tree. When it is on the ground, it changes into a small, rather obese man - naked, except for a weird feathered head-dress. The man's left leg is hurt, and his left arm seems to have an extra elbow.
Freezing because of his nakedness, he murmurs tiredly: "Honorus, lad, you are heaven-sent!So the Merceres' device worked after all. I'm starved.I need a blanket and some delicious snails or spiders", he blinks owlishly as the spell slowly wears off, "I mean some decent food. Let's get rid of those wolves and light a fire."
So, you've found Horst after all!
ooc: the wounds make traveling difficult but are not life-threatening.
Hildegard also sees to the other wounded, including Horst. She tries to create clothes for him, but something goes wrong when she first tries and everybody's clothes turn a bright pink with merry green dots on them. Her cheeks burning red with embarrassment, she tries again and produces a thick black robe for Horst.
Then she walks to the pit and puts a hand onto it. She loudly casts a spell and the pit fills with freshly fallen snow. She looks at what she has done and says with a smile that belies her innocent Gretel looks: "We can harvest the wolves in there at sundown - no matter how magical they are, they won't be able to breathe snow".
ooc: botched the clothes spell - effect on the clothes is permanent. Horst's clothes are sun duration without shoes. Fill the pit with snow is: CrAq 2 +1 Touch + 2 sun + 2 group=15 / Cr 18 + Aq 5+ Body 2 + Aura 1 + loud 1 + gestures 1 + (d10) 6 = 34.
Two wolves are left inside the circle, one heavily wounded, the other one increasingly irate because of the circular ward. I suggest killing them before the 2 minute ward ends...
Honorus will cast a Ward vs Cold on Horst to help him out.
Honorus returns to the ring. "Everyone out. We need to kill theses two wolves. it is easier if everyone is outside. Quick now." He helps the wounded to get out of the circle and when it just has wolves he drops them in a pit.
After that is done he will help kill/drive the other off. After a short rest he can spont ReTe to collapse the walls of the pit on the wolves unless someone has a better idea.
Arturous carefully steps out of the circle of protection, leaving the wild beasts trapped within to be dispatched by the experienced warriors. Clearly irritated over Hildegard magical butch, and completely ignoring Horst for the time being, he makes his way over to Albirich and checks his condition.
"We can't leave him like this for long. I suggest we conclude our business here quickly"
