Of Werewolves and Slippery Sneaky Goblins
Sometime after mid day the adventurers are hailed on the road by a human farmer whom they recognise as Dugan, having met him last night at the inn. He is heartily pleased to see them and asked if they wanted to join him and his wife for lunch. They agreed as they had been travelling sometime and needed a rest. The dwarves, though, decided to carry on with out them.
Dugan’s farm was situated not far off the Drove Road in rolling grassland punctuated with a few trees here and there. Erkai and Bevan scouted the area in a wide sweep to ensure there were no threats. The farm house was little more than a hut so the group sat outside having their lunch of venison and mutton, and soup provided by Elspeth, Dugan’s wife. Ephelomar and Galindan ate some of their own trail rations and chatted about old times. Dugan’s dog kept wandering off towards the Southwest and the tree line. It was restless and unsettled. Dugan whistled and it reluctantly came back to him. Groth had been given the task of looking after Scar.
There is a howl of a wolf, and Bevan’s sharp eyes spot two humanoids and two wolf like creatures coming in on them from all sides. Scar, Groth, Dugan and Elspeth were quickly shepherded into the house whilst Erkai climbed a nearby tree and Bevan climbed onto the roof of the house for better vantage points. The attackers are recognised as Shifters and Shadow Wolves. A nasty fight ensued with both sides taking injuries, with Galindan, Bevan and Seigfried not helped by the fact that they were now feeling unwell after having some of Elspeth’s soup.
From the house the dog lets out a pained yelp and Elspeth shouts, “NO Dug…….” There is a long drawn out howl and from the door, Groth runs out in fear of his life dragging Scar with him. Leaving Scar he makes a run for it. A large hairy wolf like creature on two strong legs bounds out of the door and is stopped in its tracks by a well placed arrow from Bevan about it on the roof.
As this is happening, Erkai notices Scar is trying to make a run for it so he went after her and tried to make a grab for her but narrowly missed. A second lunge later and he grabbed the rope she is trailing and yanked her off her feet. As Erkai is battling, he is continually distracted by Scar trying to get away but somehow he manages to keep a hold of her rope (Should have had minuses to your attacks… next time! :->). Meanwhile the shifters and wolves are taking some damage, and are fighting to the death. A concerted effort dispatched the creatures, and one of the Shifters is laid unconscious and is dying. The werewolf takes more pummelling before being finally killed.
The unconscious female Shifter was close to death. Rather than let her die, it was decided that she should be kept for questioning. Seigfried stabilised her but only enough to keep her unconscious. Bevan went to check in on Elspeth in the cottage only to find her hanging from a rope tied to a roof truss. She had obviously been complicit in the plot to disable the adventurers, but couldn’t bear losing her husband. Bevan and Thrugg attempted to save her but it was too late. They cut her down.
A search of the attackers produced a silver dagger, longsword, light shield and chainmail. The female Shifter had a fine pair of leather gloves and a letter on her:
Canusa,
Keep people living in fear of the drove road. My masters don’t want too many people travelling to this northern country.
Gundor
Galindan inspected the gloves to find that they were magical and were of good quality and high value. He recognised them as ‘Flaying Gloves’ (Adventurer’s Vault, Wizards of the Coast, 2009)
Erkai questioned Scar again, and asked her about the Shifter and what she knows of Gundor. Despite increasing pressure the Goblin either was reluctant to give up any information or genuinely didn’t know anything. To ensure further escape was going to be difficult, Erkai removed one of her boots. The slippery Goblin surely wasn’t going to get away now!
And this is where we left the group, cleaning up and recovering after an unexpected encounter and a near miss, trusting someone they had only just met.
