Surprise Supper Guests

Just as Dugal and the halflings had said, on the 14th day out from Mara, they passed the road leading south through the Hornwood to the north fork of the Sowkalt River (or the "Windy River," as the halflings of the region call it) and the ferries that lead to the halfling principality of Thile. They day passed uneventfully, with one halfling or another breaking out into strange yodeling songs sung in their native language (for the next few days, Princess worked on incorporating the melodies and harmonies into her lute music).

As the road continued west for the 15th and 16th days, the elves noted the change in flora from descending elevation: the flowers of the lowlands began to appear, and the alpine shrubs to dwindle and vanish. The weather continued to get warmer, and as the 17th day dawned and Dugal roused the company, he announced that, "if we continue to make good time today, we should be at Crosswell late tomorrow." As the merchants and drivers began to hitch their teams and get their wagons in position, Findal the gnome ambled over to the party to explain that "Crosswell is a small farming town, with a monthly market. As the population of Grayhaven has grown over the centuries, farmers cut back the Tanglebrier to make more arable land to feed the thousands and thousands of people in the big city. They have come to call this extended farming region around Grayhaven "the Granges," and Crosswell marks the eastern border of the Granges." The gnome smiles happily at you. "Simply put, when we get to Crosswell, it means we're getting very close to our destination!"

The spirits of the caravan are high; the sun is shining brightly through the canopy of trees on either side of the road, snow is a distant memory of the highlands, flowers bloom with a sweet fragrance, and everyone is looking forward to arrival in Grayhaven, which Dugal assures should be "in about four more days." The caravan makes good time, and with the days getting longer, Dugal pushes the group a couple of hours' travel further. The caravan arrives at another clearing just as the last rays of the sun are turning the tops of the trees golden and the shadows down in the clearing are deep and dark. By now, the group is accustomed to and efficient in the routine of circling the wagons in the tall spring grasses of the clearing. Grazing will be good.



Camp has been set, horses unhitched, and the wagons opened up to air out in the fresh evening air. In the middle of the circle, Jalon has built another cookfire, which quickly draws all the hungry travelers. A hearty stew bubbles away, filling the air with its mouth-watering aroma. It certainly doesn't match the magnificence of Tesko's culinary creations, but Jalon's food is good and filling, especially augmented with the five large Red Jungle Fowl that Elowin and Adran managed to catch in their snares. Jalon clangs the side of the pot with his ladle, signaling that it's time to eat, but the sound echoes and is greeted by the howl of a wolf, long, low, and nearby. It is matched by another howl, and then another.

Everyone pulls closer to the comfort of the fire. The wolf pack sounds very close. What do you do?

Elowin clambers up on the hard top of Findal's wagon and scans the darkness, an arrow nocked. Princess and Adran rush out of the circle of wagons to the horses in the darkness, the half-orc groom Gavath close on their heels. The howling draws closer, from the forest approaching the horses, but the trees of the forest hem the clearing in on nearly all sides, so much of the view approaching the camp is obscured. The animals are nervous, and so are the members of the caravan, huddled close around the comforting heat and light of the fire after Adran's comment. Morik, Bramlin, and Gunter look for movement, expecting that Elowin will call a warning as soon as she sees anything from her elevated vantage point.

Everyone, please roll initiative.


Bramlin, Gunter, and Morik are by the fire with all the NPCs (except for Gavath). They can move to a different vantage (describe where you're going), they can actively scan in a direction (declare where you're looking/listening and roll Perception), or they can try to persuade the NPCs to take some action (roll Persuasion).
Princess and Adran are with the fourteen horses. They can actively search the darkness (roll Perception) or they can try to calm the horses (roll Animal Handling with ADV, because Gavath is also trying to calm them).
Elowin is standing 10' up (the green arrow on her token represents her elevation), is actively searching, and had an attack readied. Suddenly, she sees movement of a shaggy canine form in between the trees about 50' to the north, and looses an arrow at it. There is a yelp and a snarl as her aim is true, dealing the wolf 7 piercing damage!

Clarification: Is Bram climbing into the wagon, like up on the buckboard or through the door into the back, or is he climbing 10' onto the roof of it to stand next to Elowin? On the roof Bram will be able to see farther (like Elowin, though without her special vision) and he'll be out of the melee range of anything on the ground (unless it has reach), but he won't be able to just hop back down to the ground like he would be able to do if he was in the wagon; he'd have to climb down to get back into melee range or risk taking damage from a fall.

Though she can see up to 300', she doesn't have line of sight on anything that far away: the trees are too thick, overlapping trunks, branches, and foliage blocking her view. The wolf she shot was 50' away.

Morik runs up next to Findal's wagon and looks up to see what Elowin can tell him from up on top of it. He doesn't see anything at first, but he prepares to cast Entangle when the wolves do appear.
Just two steps behind him, Bramlin hurries up, leaps up into Findal's wagon (which sways under Elowin's feet) and scans for approaching wolves. He can hear them all around, but the undergrowth is thick enough that they are heavily obscured.
Elowin calls out to the others and points to where she saw and hit the wolf: "Contact to the north! Expect an ambush as well!" Nocking another arrow, she peers for further movement.
Meanwhile, Adran is busy trying to calm the horses; between him and Princess, they calm five of the horses, and the rest whicker and snort uneasily, but they do not rear and whinny in terror even when the wolves appear in the midst of the horses, nipping and snarling.
Gunter hangs back, ready to defend the crowd of merchants and drivers if the wolves approach the noncombatants around the fire.

As the wolves race into the herd of horses, the placid pack horses' eyes roll and they push and shove against each other to get out of the way of the pack predators, rather than completely panicking and scattering into the night (thanks to Adran, Princess, and Gavath's efforts). The wolves, slipping into the herd, flash into and out of sight of the party members. One wolf (Wolf A) attacks Adran, but the jaws catch on his armor, jerking his arm around without doing any real damage. Nearby, another two wolves work together: one (Wolf B) snaps at a horse's withers, sending a spray of blood into the herd. The horse collapses in the middle of the herd, knocked prone, as the wolf moves on. Next to it, the third wolf (Wolf C) tears into the groom Gavath as the pack moves quickly through the draft animals. Gavath sags against a horse's flank, not quite collapsing, and gives an alarming groan as he tries to hold his guts in as the wolf moves on.As the wolves race out of the trees and through the herd of horses, the three of you whose narration suggested that you did (or might) prepare triggered actions can take those actions when the wolves appear:
- Morik can cast Entangle and force the wolves to make saving throws, but the spell will catch many of the horses, Gavath, and possibly Adran in the area of effect, too. He decides not to Entangle the herd and prepares to attack in round two.
- Bramlin can try to hit a wolf with a javelin. He does fling a javelin, but it disappears into the darkness.
- Elowin can try to hit a wolf with another arrow. The elf looses another arrow, hitting Wolf B for 5 piercing damage!

In addition, Adran can use his reaction to attack the wolf that attacked him (Wolf A) as it moves away from him, but he does not have a weapon in his hand as his hands were full with the horses (so it would be an unarmed attack). Wolf A does have a broken arrow sticking out of its flank, however: clearly this is the wolf that Elowin hit moments ago. Adran successfully grabs the arrow and yanks it free, dealing Wolf A 1 point of damage (1 damage from an unarmed attack + STR modifier)!

There are three wolves: A, B, and C; they are moving through the herd of horses, attacking them and the people taking care of them. After the PCs performed their prepared actions and Adran did his reaction, the wolves continued their movement through the herd and stopped under wagons. Wolves A and B are under Findal's wagon (currently bearing Bramlin on the buckboard and Elowin all the way on top) and Wolf C is under Turighe's wagon (1 clockwise from it). On the map, the wolves are marked with red arrows pointing down, to help indicate that they are below the wagons (as opposed to Elowin with her green arrow pointing up, indicating that she's on the roof).In addition to the actions above, what do you do for the next round?

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On 18: Morik (13/13)
On 16: Bramlin (13/13)
On 11: Elowin (10/10)
On 9: Adran (7/10)
On 6: Gunter (10/10)
On 6: Three Wolves
ON 4: Princess (9/9)