The Werewolves Steading

 We added a third player to the group I have playing Swords & Wizardry Online. He rolled up an elven thief almost identical to the elven thief NPC I introduced last week so he decided to just use the NPC as he character. Another week spent wandering around in the Arkwood. As a GM I really enjoy these outdoor adventures. A good part of the time is just adlibbing are listening to the players coming up with plans. Then the plan goes wrong and they start planning again. It is a lot less stressful then Dungeon crawls.

Session 17: The Steading of the Werewolves

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elf Thief), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The players wake up well rested after spending the night in the Dryad’s grove. Daen, Lakima, and Eathwund are still affected by some wounds by the fight that occurred the day before. Lakima tells them that he has thought of a plan to lure the owlbear to attack the steading and hopefully reduce the number of rangers. 

First, they need to find the owlbear den. They head back to the animal trail where they saw the owlbear. Carric picks up the tracks of the owlbear and they follow it along on the trail. The tracks lead to a small clearing where they see the owlbear sleeping under an overhang created by a rocky hill. After a quick discussion, they realize that the owlbear den is too far from the steading for them to be able to lead the owlbear into the arms of the werewolves. So they decide to kill the owlbear.

Carric volunteers to approach the owlbear and attack it while it is sleeping. As the others wait nearby behind a log, He sneaks up quietly on the owlbear. Then he tries to stab it and misses. The Owlbear rolls over, lets out an angry squawk, and gets to its feet as Carric runs for his life toward the fallen tree the other characters have taken cover behind.

Daen and Eathwund run up and attack the owlbear before it can catch Carric. The two fight the creature and Carric circles around it to attack from behind. Daen is badly hit once but they manage to kill the owlbear. A quick search of its den reveals nothing of interest. Carric looks at the dead creature and says that he thinks the one he saw the night before was bigger and more grey-feathered than brown. Perhaps there are two owlbears in the woods.

With the owlbear taken care of, the heroes head across the forest to the clearing where the werewolves reside in the rangers steading. From the treeline, they can see that the steading is quiet. There is a single werewolf on guard atop the watchtower. Near the trees, they notice an area where the ground has been dug for what appears to be graves.

Carric suggests that he quietly scouts the steading by circling the buildings. The other three adventurers wait in the trees and keep an eye on the steading. Carric vanishes into the forest and moves around the steading. On the backside of the steading, he notes some arrow slits. He also surmises that the height of the buildings will afford him some cover from the watchtower. He moves across the open space and makes it to the cover of the building without being noticed. He then moves along the building and looks in one of the arrow slits. Inside he sees a great hall with a large table. Several werewolves are tearing into a deer carcass.

Outside in the forest, Daen, Lakima, and Eathwund note with alarm as three werewolves emerge from one of the buildings and head toward the exit of the stockade. Meanwhile, Carric moves on and looks in another arrow slit and sees a large werewolf whom he assumes is the pack leader. He heads back to meet up with the other adventurers. They all decide to follow the three werewolves as they head off into the forest.

The werewolves lead them down game trails until they stop and remove a rabbit from a snare. As they watch the werewolves seem to be arguing about something. Carric quickly moves up and attempts to stab one of the werewolves while they are distracted but he misses. Carric turns to run but all three werewolves fall on him from behind and drag him down. Eathwund and Daen pull the wolves off the unconscious elf. Lakima casts sleep and manages to knock out one of the werewolves. The other two werewolves keep fighting. Lakima, Daen, and Eathwund struggle to hit the rapidly moving werewolves as Carric lies bleeding on the ground. Lakima skirts the edge of the fight and gives Carric a healing potion saving the elf. Meanwhile, Daen and Eathwund finally manage to kill one of the werewolves. The last werewolf tries to escape but is cut down as it tries to run. After the battle, the werewolves turn back into dead humans.

It is getting on in the afternoon and their next plan involves poisoning the werewolves with wolfsbane, so they travel through the woods to the patch of wolfsbane that the dryad showed them earlier. They decide to camp near the wolfsbane patch figuring it is the best place in the woods to avoid werewolves. It is a cold camp that evening and watches are set. During Daen’s shift, he hears movement in the bushes and runs over to awaken everyone. Eathwund awakens to find a seven-foot-long centipede crawling towards him. He attacks slashing at the centipede and drives it off into the forest. Carric takes the last watch and there are no more interruptions to their sleep.

Over a cold breakfast, they discuss what to do. Carric is concerned that he has likely contracted lycanthropy which is deadly for elves (and also dwarves). They decide to observe the steading once more to see if the number of werewolves has been significantly reduced. They also coat several arrows and darts with wolfsbane. Again Carric moves up to the buildings from the treeline while the other three adventurers look on. They do see a werewolf in the tower but no other activity. Carric moves up to the first arrow slit and looks inside. A snarling werewolf face is looking out the arrow slit at him. The werewolf tries to claw at Carric but misses. Carric stabs at it but it withdraws its hand.  Carric moves quickly to the next arrow slit and looks in. He sees the wolf they think is the pack leader. Taking the opportunity he fires a poison-tipped arrow at the pack leader but misses. The pack leader lets out a howl of anger. Carric runs quickly into the forest. In the forest, Daen, Lakima, and Eathwund see two werewolves emerge from the building and leave the compound to the left. Then they hear a howl and two more werewolves emerge, and leave the compound to the right. The werewolf on top of the watchtower turns his attention to the back of the compound. They take this opportunity to enter the compound unseen through the open gates.

As they cross the compound, the door to the main building swings open and two werewolves emerge and attack them. One werewolf is struck with a poisoned dart and runs back into the building. The other is killed by Daen and Eathwund. The three adventurers head into the building and enter a long hallway. They move quickly to the end of the hall chasing the werewolf that ran away. The werewolf is overtaken and killed. The door at the end of the hall smashes open and the pack leader emerges. FIlling the entire hallway, it moves toward them yelling threats in a growling voice. Daen takes the brunt of the pack leader's attack as it bites into his shoulder. Daen is gravely wounded by the attack. Eathwund tries to stab at the werewolf overtop of Daen in the narrow space. Lakima hits the werewolf with a poisoned dart and it retreats into the chamber behind it. They follow it closely and Daen and Eathwund attack the pack leader, while Lakima holds at the door. The Pack Leader lets out a pair of loud howls. Down the hallway behind them, a door opens and two more werewolves emerge. Lakima moves into the room and prepares a spell. As the werewolves come around the corner, he casts Lightning Bolt and strikes both werewolves. They keep coming toward him but look gravely injured.

Meanwhile, out in the woods, Carric realizes that the werewolves are no longer tracking him. He carefully heads back toward the steading. As he approaches the steading he sees four werewolves heading back toward it at a run.

Back in the steading, Eathwund strikes the killing blow on the werewolf pack leader with his sword. The creature falls and reverts into a naked human corpse. The remaining two werewolves are briefly stunned. One stays and fights and is killed and one runs away. Daen, Eathwund, and Lakima take some time to search the chamber. Outside, Carric sees the four werewolves change into large wolves and turn direction to run into the forest. He heads for the steading entrance and surprises a werewolf killing it as it tries to flee. Entering the steading he finds his way to the other members of the party.

Searching the room where the pack leader was killed they find some locked drawers that they have to break open. Inside are a pair of unremarkable boots. Under a rug, they find a secret treasure trove under some loose floorboards. Bags of gold, silver, copper coins, and a pouch of diamonds. Carric goes out into the courtyard to bring a cart he saw around to the door so they can carry all of the loot. Eathwund, Daen, and Lakima search in other rooms but do not find any more werewolves. Daen and Lakima carry the loot they found out to the cart while Eathwund spends some time searching through the footlockers that belonged to the rangers. He finds a number of trinkets and some gold.

Daen and Lakima enter the smaller outbuilding and are confronted by a whimpering werewolf. But they also hear someone shouting for help. They find a naked man chained to the wall. The man introduces himself as Theric Vendel, the former leader of the rangers. Now that the pack leader is dead he has managed to change back to his human form (at least for now). He talks the remaining werewolf into changing as well. Theric explains what happened and then heads into the main building to get dressed. The heroes hastily attempt to move the cart full of the rangers treasure but Theric returns quickly and confronts them. He asks that they at least return half of the treasure. He is going to need it to rebuild the steading and recruit more rangers. He has pledged to protect these forests and this set back is not going to stop him. He does need to find a cure for lycanthropy.

Theric suggests they all stay the evening in the steading since it is getting late. They ask Theric about the Veiled Society stronghold they are looking for and he identifies it as an old elven watch post. He has never heard of the Veiled Society but he does know that smugglers are using the watch post. There are not many of them and they have done no harm locally so the rangers have not done anything about them. The four heroes settle in for the evening and lock place a barricade against the door in the barracks room where they are sleeping. Just in case.