Venturing to the destroyed gate, the party sees chaos in the street beyond the walls.
Several homes and craftsman’s shops line the avenue just inside the walls’ protection. A few paces east of the opening, the adventurers can see an enormous hole in the ground, soil thrown violently from its sides in every direction; clearly the point where a huge, burrowing beast emerged from beneath the earth.
The company does not need to search to find the brute. A short distance west of the gate, a number of uniformed soldiers are locked in battle with the massive creature. It stands roughly the height of a war horse, but is easily three times as wide. Most of its body is covered in thick, armor like scales that are blue gray in color, and each of its thick legs end in three toed feet that bear long, curving talons. A beak like maw is filled with jagged teeth. The shafts of two spears jut from the monster’s back.
Four dead soldiers lie in the dust nearby, each one crushed or bearing terrible, gaping wounds. The monster lets out an enraged roar. A dark haired, bearded man in ornate plate armor urges the soldiers to press their attack as he slashes at the creature with his sword.
”Do not yield! Keep fighting! We are all that lay between it and the innocents!”
OOC: The creature’s attention is currently fixed on the soldiers that are engaging it, so the party has the opportunity to act before initiative is determined. The areas of the monster that carry its natural armor provide it an AC of -2.