Gaelin considers for a moment.  "Well, whatever it is is definitely dead.  Or in dire need of a bath and not overly irritated by crows.  If it is dead, whatever killed it likely move along when it died, a while ago based on the scent."  she says and wrinkles her nose before continuing.  "If the killer was still there, the crows would likely not land.  If the dead thing is still alive it would likely attack the crows.  So logically it should be safe for you to take a peek."  she pronounces, crossing her arms and nodding at her own argument.

As you approach the area the crows excitedly fly away and you find a human corpse half-buried in the underbrush about fifteen feet from the road. The stench makes your eyes begin to water and your nose begins to burn. The young man appears to be a commoner. His muddy clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. His eyes have been pulled from the sockets and his guts hang out from and open wound in his abdomen. The crows have obviously been at the  softer parts of his body, which is surrounded by paw prints. The man has obviously been dead for several days. He holds a crumpled envelope in one hand.

As you bend over to take the envelope from the clutches of the dead man movement catches your eye. On a rock protrusion over looking your position the largest Direwolf that any of you have even heard of gazes down at you. It's eyes glow and blaze red. It looks down to it's left and then to its right and wolves appear out of the fog below it.

OOC: Please roll initiative state what you do on your turn roll your attack and damage results and they will be posted in order. This cuts down on back and forth.

"Hmm.  I guess I miss calculated slightly.  Wolves don't eat crows, apparently, and crows, therefore don't fear wolves.  I'll have to compose an article on this interplay for publication.  They do seem to want to eat us, however."  Gaelin says before charging at an isolated wolf.  "There are pink dolphins!" she screams loudly as she crosses the field towards the enemy.  When arriving in front of the wolf, she faints with the spear one-handed, before grabbing it with her other hand and striking at the chest and finding the wolf's flesh.  Then, she whips the spear back to a guard position, spraying blood towards the dire wolf and her companions.  Finally, she kicks the wolf in the face for good measure.

Move action:
Move to I3

Attack Action
Roll(1d20)+5:  17,+5  Total:22 - Initiative
Roll(1d20)+7:  13,+7  Total:20 - Spear Attack
Roll(1d8)+5:  7,+5  Total:12 - Spear Damage

Bonus Action
Roll(1d20)+7:  7,+7  Total:14 - Unarmed Strike
Roll(1d4)+5:  2,+5  Total:7 - Damage

Total Damage - 19
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Thu 09 July 2020.

"So much for it being safe! I say we work from left to right on the little guys."

Chompski pops the slingshot out from his wrist and lets loose a shot at the left-most wolf.

OOC:
Initiative 1d20+3 (17)
To hit 1d20+5 (10)
Damage 1d6+3 (6)
Left being on the overhead map, vs our in-character left...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:32, Thu 09 July 2020.

Fenlen turns away from the body and faces the wolves, then draws his sword and shield. He rushes towards the wolves and slashes with a quick flourish.

OOC:

Initiative: 22:21, Today: Fenlen rolled 18 using 1d20+3 ((15)).

Movement:
Move to H10

Action:
Target: Wolf @ I11
Scimitar - 22:22, Today: Fenlen rolled 25 using 1d20+5 ((20)).
Scimitar damage - 22:24, Today: Fenlen rolled 13 using 2d6+3 ((5,5)).

"I hate when wolves have the blood lust, it's a shame to put down such pleasant creatures"

Morbeck moves in behind the elven fighter, targeting the same wolf (if it's still alive at the time, if not, i'll double move to the wolf at k13.

OOC:
Initiative 1d20+1 (10)
To hit 1d20+3 (13)
Damage 1d6+1 (2)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Thu 09 July 2020.

Gaius draws his greatsword and runs to the closest wolf shouting "For the glory of Helm!"

OOC:
Initiative: (1d20-1) 9-1: 8 - Initiative
Move: H11 (attacking I11)
Attack: (1d20+6) 15+6: 21 - Attack
Damage: (2d6+4) 1+3+4: 8 - Damage
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Thu 09 July 2020.

With a Martial display of weapon and fist Galin moves in on the flank of the pack and lays low one of the wolves. Her attack sprays blood onto the red eyed Dire wolf which does not flinch at the blood spattering but seems to give Gaelin a Smirk of some sort.

One of the wolves closes with Gaelin and rips at her with feral intensity that you have never been shown from normal wild beasts..

OOC: Gaelin is hit for 5 points of damage.

A wolf charges at Gaius almost hurling him to the ground as it thrusts it's body into him. The gnashing teeth however miss completely.

The last remaining wolf rushes at the dwarf and seems almost hesitant before it lunges at him. That hesitation gives Morbek all the time he needs to avoid the attack.

Chompski lets loose a bb at the wolf attacking Gaelin but it goes wide.

Fenlen slashes at the beast attacking Gaius and brings it low freeing the large human to focus on other attacks.

Morbek hits the wolf in front of him but the attack seems to have little affect.

OOC: Wolf takes 2 damage.

Gaius moves around behind the wolf attacking Morbek and slashes at it with his weapon inflicting grave wounds however the beast still stand.

OOC: Wolf has taken a total of 10 damage.

You all notice that after this initial attack the Dire Wolf surveys the group and the wolves left. It seems to exhale heavily from it's nostrils turn with a red glow leaking from it's eyes and disappears down the overlook and melts away into the fog.

With the Dire Wolf gone the wolves that remain seem less ferocious than their initial attack but seem to want to finish the fight.

22 Gaelin<----
19 Wolves
17 Chompski
15 Fenlen
10 Morbek
8 Gaius


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:30, Thu 09 July 2020.

Gaelin recoils slightly from the attack favoring her wound.  She recovers quickly and lashes out at the wolf with disciplined attack to match the ferocity of the wolf.  "Was that your left or my left?"  she responds to the gnome.  With the success of her first attack, she strikes out with the spear in a two-handed grip, then kicks the wolf in the flank.  The pain from the wound causes her to wince during the attacks and she doesn't follow through fully.

Attack action:
Roll(1d20)+7:  16,+7  Total:23 - Spear attack
Roll(1d8)+5:  2,+5  Total:7 - Spear damage

Bonus action:
Roll(1d20)+7:  13,+7  Total:20 - Unarmed strike attack
Roll(1d4)+5:  1,+5  Total:6 - Unarmed damage

Total damage - 13
This message was last edited by the player at 17:55, Thu 09 July 2020.

Gaius swings his greatsword at the wolf standing in front of him intending to finish him off.

Advantage Attack: 1st roll: (1d20+6) 6+6: 12
2nd roll: 15+6: 21
Damage: (2d6+4): 4+6+4 - 14 Damage

If that wolf is already dead by my move dash to I5 to get advantage on bottom wolf.

Despite her wpund Gaelin swiftly brings this second wolf to an end.

The wilf trapped between Gaius and Morbek whiles on Gaius but his teeth fail to find purchase.

In return Gaius slices the head clean off the beadt.

You all stand panting with the bodies of the wolves around you.

Gaelin feels a bit light headed at the sight of her own blood now that the adrenalin is subsiding.

"such a shame'

Morbek says quietly, wonder what would cause nature to turn so cruel at such a time.

"this is why i prefer fishing"

Nature check to see what i know about dire wolves
Roll d20+3 (18)

Morbek knows that Dire Wolves on average are about the size of a horse. This one was about half again that size. Although there is much myth about the creatures you know for a fact they do not have growing red eyes typically. Morbek deduces that this is some sort of special Dire wolf. Strange that it did not attack with the regular wolves and that it also just left after watching events for a short while.

Gaelin gingerly move back to the bulk of the group, covering her wounds with one hand.  She sits down unceremoniously on the ground and looks around at her surroundings.  "Where did the big one go?  Are there any more?  The glowing eyes were quite interesting, I've never seen anything like it.  Very, Very scary, but interesting."  She asks, looking around from side to side.

Gaius cleans his sword and mutters a prayer thanking Helm for protection as he puts the sword away.

Gauis then looks up and comments

"Well it appears that fate may have made us more than just travel companions. Shall we continue down the path or follow the big one? I leave the decision to you all."

You look around and see nothing else but the dead wolves and the corpse of the man with the letter.

The gnome retracts his weapon and sighs. "And this is why I stick to mechanical dogs" he says as he checks the bodies of the wolves for anything interesting or of value.

Chompski then makes his way over to the corpse. "Let's see if this tells us what that was all about first." He investigates the corpse and then pulls the letter out of its hand and reads it to the group.

OOC: Investigation 1d20+6 (17)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Thu 09 July 2020.

Chompski doesn't see anything out of the ordinary with the dead wolves. He then wrestles the envelope from the dead mans grip and opens it. The letter is composed in common and Chompski reads aloud to all.

"Hail thee of might and valor,

I, the Burgomeister of Barovia, send you honor – with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights bitten by a vampyr. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become too powerful to conquer.

So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.

There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.

Kolyan Indirovich"

Chompski rolls a history check on Barovia and the Indirovich family.

OOC: History 1d20+4 (11)

Chompski does not recall any information nor has he ever heard of Bavoria on the Swors coast. He also knows  nothing of this Indirovich family.

Gaius reads the letter and is visibly upset.

"Vampyr you say? If I am not mistaken, the only way to kill a Vampyr is to remove their head, similar to those statues we saw earlier."

OOC: Religion check on ways to kill a Vampyr.

1d20+2: 8+2 = 10

Gaius knows that vampires are undead creatures that keep a warped sense of their former selves and can also shape change. He does not recall how to slay one but discerns they should be susceptible to holy forms of attack.

OOC: holy forms would be radiant damage.

“If I can offer my opinion on next steps, mayhaps I could rest here for a short time. At least until the bleeding slows. I’m in no shape to chase a large wolf through a dark forest, and may never be. Perhaps, if we continue on the trail we will find someone, or thing, that can fill in the gaps in our current understanding of the letter and our surroundings.”  Gaelin says in a clipped voice as if every word caused a small amount of pain.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Thu 09 July 2020.

"I believe resting here would be a bad decision. There is much death in the air which will bring many predators. Instead I say we press on down the road and I shall offer you aid."

Gaius performs Lay on Hands and restores 5 HP to Gaelin.

Gaelin looks a little unsure at first, be watches in amazement as the bite marks close. "Why, thank-you! More than just traveling companions indeed, you sir are my very good friend from this moment forward.  I do so hope the rest of the journey down the road is uneventful.  In the last five minutes I have killed my first creature, acquired my first serious wound and been magically healed for the first time.  Might be the first time I have had a spell cast on me, if you don't count the gentle breeze my sister could call and use to annoy or embarrass me.  I don't think I can take much more excitement."  Gaelin says rising to her feet.  She awkwardly tries to wipe the wolves blood off of her spear onto the grass, giving up after a few attempts.  "It was never this hard to get the straw off after attacking the practice dummy."  She says numbly and starts down the road with her companions.