Interlude 7: Rolling in cash

[drpete]

Round 1

Ranulf and Solaine lead the attack, shooting at one of the larger wolves in the front. Ranulf hits (9 damage!) it, as does Solaine (1 damage).

The four wolves in the front move in to attack, but they are unable to penetrate the armor of Ranulf and Zim. Zim pounds the big one, which had been hit by Ranulf and Solaine, with his hammer, downing it (5 damage)

On the flanks, Liam and Torgyr ignite some oil, which keeps the other wolves at bay, for the moment.

Quinn tosses a javelin, and Randolpho and Nazares fire their crossbows at wolves moving around the perimeter. Nazares gets a lucky shot at one of the smaller wolves (6 damage), killing it!

The wolves seem to sense that you are bad news. The wolves around the perimeter look like they're going to bolt, and the ones that leapt at Ranulf and Zim are starting to back up cautiously.

The wolves are in retreat. You can easily get another shot off, but they are faster than you, so you can 'chase' them and though you'll have a decent shot of keeping them in sight, they have a good chance of getting away.

[kalstone]

Solaine fires off another shot from her bow.

[barkman]

Randolpho reloads and fires again

[Zorroroaster]

Torgyr levels his crossbow and attempts to hit one of the retreating wolves.

[drpete]

Round 2

Zim misses a swipe at one of the wolves before it starts to retreat.
Torgyr lets off a shot, grazing one of the wolves (1 damage).
Ranulf and Solaine hits other ones in the front group, wounding them badly(7 damage, 5 damage).

Nazares misses his next shot, but Quinn and Randolpho hit fleeing wolves with a solid shots (6 damage, each).

The wolves on the flanks have made it pretty much out of range, now. Two of them are bleeding. The 3 surviving wolves who had moved in to attack the front have put some distance between you and them, but they are not "gone". I'll assume those of you who beat them in initiative can get last shots off.

Round 3

Everybody misses their last shots at the fleeing wolves.

The wolves, fast runners retreat out of bowshot range, and try to keep leaving. Though you don't have an actual "tracker" you can pursue them if you want. This'll involve trying to keep them in view, and watching for signs of the wounded ones (blood, etc) when you lose sight of them. There's no guarantee you'll be able to keep them in sight until they need to rest.

Alternatively, you can... go back? Something else?

[Zorroroaster]

Torgyr looks on as the wolves retreat.

"That should keep them out of here for a while. I don't imagine they will want trouble from us any time soon. To the mountain?"

[Stirling]

Quinn

"Not sure if we killed that many and they could be part of a larger pack. I would follow the bleeding ones at least, if they crawl back to a den of sorts. I have heard stories if folk afflicted under the moon with the howling sickness in their blood. Were- creatures. Not to put the frighteners on us, but strange things happen around this mount."

Quinn will retrieve Amy javelins he threw and go check out the worthiness of taking the pelts from these critters.

[barkman]

Randolpho will recover his bolts, if possible.
"I'' not sure if we should track these wolves, or leave them and hope they will leave us alone. The reduced pack should be able to be handled by the mercs if they sniff around camp"

[drpete]

Skinning will take a while... it's a process that takes at least an hour. It'll yield a pelt worth about 15 gp. Emm is more trained in this process than Quinn, who primarily hunts for food, not skins. She can, as a result, do it faster, but it basically will involve giving up the hunt for the others, for now.

Do you want to chase them, skin these corpses, go back to camp, or go on to the dungeon?

[kalstone]

Solaine says, "Let's leave them be. Hopefully, they have learned that this is not an area to hunt for food. We have more important things to take care of."

[Stirling]

Quinn

Reluctantly gives up the hunt, not convinced we really taught the wolf pack a lesson.

[drpete]

Soooo... what's the plan?

[barkman]

"Let's bring the ones we've killed back to skin the pelts, if not to sell to use here in the winter. We can get warm and decide if we deal with the dungeon or the pig creature.

If we head into the dungeon, we have some more options. I would like a pre emptive trip to the room with the leaking magical fluid to ship back to adamas. Can we consider hiring that other group to recover the fluid to ship to Adamas under the eyes of our venturer for use by our mentor, so that on our next visit he will be in our debt and we can start the process of identifying the magic we have recovered. "

[Stirling]

Quinn

So we have a group of dwarves asking for assistance as well and hiring this adventuring group to mine liquid mage-stuff for us. We're any of those surviving dwarves in Muntberg and would come back to the Dwimmermount with us.

The orc and kobold threat are still there and the business with the 'voice' in the head, though no one has really opened up about that. Quinn favours exploring the second level if we have some dwarves guides or defeating the kobold/spider threat.

[Zorroroaster]

"Yeah. Let's head deeper into the mountain. I'm itching to see what's in there."

[drpete]

You didn't stop by to check with the dwarves, but you could go while the wolf carcasses are being butchered, I guess. Do you guys want to try to recruit dwarves, or go to the dungeon?

[Zorroroaster]

These would be the deep dwarves we previously met, yes? If so, perhaps we should.

[drpete]

Alright, some of you head back to town to try to recruit the dwarves to come join you in coming back into Dwimmermount, while others stay and skin the wolves.

You now have 2 wolf pelts worth 15 gp each.

The dwarves are happy to see you, but they explain that they are interested in getting a bigger, stronger group than you to go down about 4 levels, after they've gotten their leader healed, and they can't/won't go with you to explore. They encourage you to continue to work your way deeper, but they can't go with you.

[Stirling]

Quinn

Having aided them somewhat before, Quinn is disappointed at their answer. They might be waiting a long time...

"Perhaps you could provide us then with some knowledge of this second level. We don't want to wander into any of your holy sanctums and cause too much unnecessary distress." Quinn asks, "Do you have a map we can copy, know of any guides who may be aware of hidden dangers?" Otherwise it is a bit like, hey guys, sure go and explore, keep safe....

[drpete]

The dwarves think about it, then agree.

They explain that they came up from the stairs on the north end of the level. The level below is full of wondrous architecture, much of it devoted to the Thulian gods, and reverence for the universe. There are multiple rooms with pillared columns... Temple spaces. Since their goal was to reach the surface, they didn't linger, but you can reach the stairs they took from the third level (the 'Reservoir') by following the right wall until you reach the oval room, then following the left wall.

They encountered undead on their way through the level. Zombies and black skeletons.