So Very Close

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I won't take up any more of your time, so if you'd like, you can find us over at Patreon at patreon.com/dandr. And on with the show. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Val. Hi, I'm Valerie, and I play Sora Graving, the Halfling Ranger. Has Germany declared war on Christmas? We find out this episode. [WHIMPERS] I'm going to do terrible things to Sora. Terrible, terrible, awful things. This is the sound of my soul dying. Yeah. Kira. This is Kira. I play Ingrid Pike, the Gnome sorceress.

Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa, and I play Elarath Beastinger, the Halfling Barbarian. And Karen. I'm Karen, and I play Josephine, a human war priest. And Loran. Hi, I'm Loran, and I play Cole Dualfang, a long-toothed shifter druid. Guys, last time on the show, you made it to the town of Lockford. You reached your destination. Congratulations. Yay. Yay. You did encounter a snafu once you got there. It seems the town has pretty much been overrun with werewolves. You were attacked almost immediately upon entering the gates. And you managed to barricade yourselves in a house and rescue Sora.

She was almost drug away by one of these big-ass things. Now, so far, you've only seen a couple of werewolves. And you have retreated to the attic of this house. It's basically like a tiny little space on top of this house. It's not a very large home. You met a teenage boy named Shawl. And apparently, he's lost his folks. And you guys are pretty much all he has right now. You have enough food and water to last a few days. And then you are out. Let me start by asking, what would you guys like to do? Now, we're starting on the third of Thorim. That is where you guys left off.

It's dawn now. And you just tossed the raven out into the wild. And it flew away, hopefully, to get you guys some help. So what would you guys like to do? How would you guys like to proceed? Can we just spend the day randomly fucking with the werewolves with ghost sound just to watch them chase around the place? I would advise against that. Darn. OK. Put them up into a frenzy so that when we finally emerge, they're so bloodthirsty. They already are, so really. Everything's not a cartoon. We are not Bugs Bunny. We are not going to get away with everything just by trolling.

I'm ruining all my fun, man. I mean, rude to look around the attic, like rummage through stuff. Nah. I mean, you don't really have too much else to do. Well, I know that I remember Cole picked up stuff on the road. We haven't gone through that yet. You sure haven't. Oh, true. We need to go through that. The box, Jason. Yes. Oh, you're going to ask me what's in the box. No, I'm not going to do that. Do it. Do it. Because if I do it, there might be a head. Isn't it a bag? Just go for the bag first, then. Yeah. I'll go through the bag first. And I want to be as quiet as possible.

I'll pare over Cole's shoulder because I want to see. In this, it's like a leather satchel type thing. So in this, you are going to find some gemstones. And you are estimating the total value at around 600, maybe 700 gold. Damn. So that's a pretty good find. So you're guessing that maybe this person was in the area maybe mining, or maybe they just stumbled upon those. Maybe they had the good fortune of stumbling upon someone else who had those on them. You're not really sure. But this person had some valuables on them. And for them to be just left on the side of the road is peculiar.

And that's all that's in the bag? That's all that's in the bag. OK. Regarding the box, I would like to just, if possible, roll a perception to, before opening it, possibly listen, rattle it around, see what's in. Because I don't want to accidentally open it and it's a fucking music box or some shit. Do you want to maybe have me run an arcana on it in case there's spell work on it? Yeah. Spell work, because I only have a plus two in arcana. I have a plus eight, so I'll run an arcana check just to be on the safe side. OK. Ingrid's not picking up anything magical about the box.

It's a small box almost the size of a small toolbox, something like that. You can hold it in two hands. It's got a little bit of heft to it. And there does appear to be a little lock, like a little locking mechanism on it. But it doesn't appear like it's of insane quality. It could probably be broken open fairly easy. It's just the kind of lock that someone would make a little bit of noise opening or give someone enough time where they could say, hey, stop messing with that, that kind of thing. Would a thievery check be made-- could a thievery check be made to make sure this is open?

Not only open, but at the same time opened quietly? You sure can. How high is your thievery? Mine is a plus three, so who's higher than-- I have a plus six. Sorry, does it? I have a plus four, so-- OK, I'm going to look at-- I'm going to look at sore. You think you can open this? I can try. I hand you the box. Josephine's a negative one. I will. Don't judge. Your power is-- Look at it first. OK. And just kind of-- I'll say, OK, I think I can do this. 24. Soar's going to-- Soar's going to mess around with the locking mechanism on this box. And eventually, there's going to be a little click sound.

And the box is going to open up. And it's up to you whether you want to open the lid of the box or not. But it is unlocked now. I'll give the box back to Cole to open it. OK. Drawing his straws here. Perception to possibly take a peek before opening up fully? Or is that necessary? It's up to you. Perception it is. 17. Taking a peek, just lifting the lid a touch, it appears as though there are several smaller objects wrapped in cloth. Some of them are kind of-- they look like almost cylinders, something like that. Some of them look like oblong little objects.

But they're all wrapped in cloth. And they're all very snugly packed in this box. Who has the candle? It's nearby, so anyone could-- OK. Well, I'll grab the candle to get a better look at what's at these things that are wrapped up and pick one randomly and unravel it. OK, well, do me a favor. Roll one more Perception check. I can do that. Sweet. 15. That was almost a 16, you fucking D12. OK. So just lifting the lid now and kind of going through it. Cole's going to notice something right away. On the other end of the locking mechanism inside the box, there appeared to be a bit of a booby trap.

So if you were to try to crack this open or just break the lock off, it appears as though there was some sort of defense. But you're not exactly sure what it would have been. And taking a look at these objects in the box itself, you're going to start to fold off the cloth here. And there are much larger gemstones inside this box. You're actually finding rubies and sapphires and a couple of diamond. These are sizable. And it appears as though the contents of this box-- and it's going to take Cole a while, but depending on who you go to with this, this is worth thousands of gold.

Maybe tens of thousands of gold. Nice. OK. I'm going to re-wrap one of the ones I undid and place it back in the box. Is there room enough to put the leather satchel inside the box, or is it filled to the brim with precious gems? You could squeeze it in there. You're probably guessing that the stuff in the satchel obviously isn't worth as much as the really nice stuff in the box that's locked. Just for convenience sake, yeah, you could put it all in there. OK. Now, obviously, taking this box with you is a little cumbersome, but worth it if you can find a place to offload these gems.

Would the box fit in the satchel? No. No, no, no. It's a pretty big box. Again, you kind of got to carry it with two hands. OK. Yeah, I figured that was the case when you said toolbox size. So I'll close the lid back after putting the satchel inside. We could lash it to your back with ropes. We could. If I recall, I said I grabbed everything but the torn clothes, correct, Jason? Yep. All right, what's Shaw doing right now? Shaw's still asleep. OK. Shaw just kind of curled up. He's probably pretty exhausted. He probably hasn't slept in a while. All right. I'll let him sleep then.

So I'll close the lid, and I'll look at Ingrid because she's-- Curing over your shoulder. Exactly. So when we get out of here, we need to go get these appraised somewhere more trustworthy than what's his name. Artemis? Yeah, your boyfriend. My boyfriend. Right. But that's probably a good idea since he might decide to stiff you. Oh, you mean accept this as payment? Exactly. Yeah, I agree. That's all right, we could probably do better someplace else anyway. I'm going to nod over to Shaw. Has he been asleep this entire time? As far as I know, remember I was helping burrow a hole through a wall.

I wasn't really paying attention to him. Yeah, I remember. I remember. Like after he slept for a bit, I haven't noticed him awake. What's Josephine doing? Rummaging through boxes because she's fucking bored. OK. Are you like close by, or are you like on the other side of the attic? I would imagine I'd be close by. I don't think she would have gone too far away. I mean, it's not that big of an attic, right? No, no, no, no. Yeah. No. So it's like probably within like 5 or 10 feet. Yeah. How are we all going to the bathroom? You don't ask those questions? OK. Sorry. I mean, we can talk about it.

That's one of those things, it's kind of the Mystery Science Theater, like just repeat to yourself, it's just a show. I'm going to lay the sword next to Ingrid, and I'm going to say, watch this for me right quick, and then I'm going to go join Joe. Did you sleep at all? A little bit, not much. Define a little bit. A few hours, maybe. Is that common for you? I get sleep wherever I can find it, so I guess, yeah. It's just that back in the cave, I noticed that you were still up when everybody else was. Bandit's Rest isn't a place you want to sleep. That may be true.

I understand, given the situation. At the same time, we took shifts. You could have gotten a little bit more sleep than before whatever the fuck that was came over. Just didn't really feel safe sleeping there. And she'll kind of like turn her head away. She's really, really digging through a box. Insight check? What do you want to know? It depends, like what are you trying to find out? Something about the fact-- I feel like she's hiding something about the fact that she doesn't sleep as often as I feel like she needs to. And that she's holding something back.

Go ahead, roll one. God fucking-- 10. What is that supposed to be? Seems on the level. Yeah, 10 ain't beating anything. Yeah, I fucking figured. Cole, just nod and-- well, try not to make too much noise. I'll try. I'm not very stealthy, but I think I can handle it. He's going to nod and he's going to put a hand on your shoulder and then head back over to the rest of the group. When you go to put your hand on her shoulder, she's going to flinch away a little bit. OK, Cole will notice that. Well, do I have to roll perception to notice that? Or can I just notice it?

It's not subtle at all. OK. All right. Cole will notice it, but visibly he'll pay it no mind. So Ingrid is actually going to hunt for a piece of string and ask Elorath if she wants to play Cat's Cradle. What was that? Because she just woke up probably, so she's like, fuck, what? It's a game. I'll show you how to play. Yes, let's do that. So I'll just set up and tell Elorath what to do so we can keep ourselves mildly entertained. Would someone like to do me a favor and roll a flat D20 for me? I'll do it. All right. Hey, that's not bad. It's above a 10. Hours are going to go by, and obviously boredom is going to set in because you're stuck in one room with very little light.

And yeah, it's not very fun. There's not a lot of stimuli in the room either because, again, these weren't a very wealthy people. So a lot of the stuff they have in their little crawl space atticky-type place here is just kind of little odds and ends, scraps of cloth, things like that. Maybe little keepsakes, things of that nature, but not really anything of value. No weapons, no armor, no potions or spell books, anything like that. You guys are actually going to spend the day up here. And after a time, the sun is going to start to dip. And you can actually feel the attic start to cool off a bit.

Now, is there any point where you guys are looking outside? Is anyone keeping watch? Is it something like that? Or is it more you're just pretty much hunkered down waiting for someone to come? I would assume we're probably checking throughout the day. OK. Do me a favor and roll a perception check the whole party, please. Hey, almost a crit. That's-- Yeah. --so much better. I for certain even less than usual. Wow. So taking turns, because I imagine-- I mean, that's all you have to do, really, here out into the small sliver of outside world you get to see. Helarath, Cole, Josephine are going to notice that the wolves don't really leave the town.

Now, there are portions of the day where it looks like complete random happenstance that you just won't see any for a while. You won't hear any. And you will see movement in opposite buildings. There's one specifically across from you that appears to be someone in the second story of a house across the street. And the only way you'd know that is there's a board on the house that moves ever so slightly. And you've peered out into the street enough times to notice the placement of boards and such. That's how bored you are. No pun intended. Oh, OK. I'm proud of you.

It's never intended. I got really excited. I was like-- Never intended. Stop lying here yourself, Jason. We're all accepting here. Nope. I got a girlfriend and a best friend who pun all the time. I am not joining their ranks. Now-- Oh, that was fun. Where is the board-- the house with the board in relation to us? This would actually be Caddycore. So if you look out straight and then to your left just a bit, you can see it. And again, the longest duration where you just didn't see any wolves is about 20 minutes. And for the briefest of moments, you start thinking, well, maybe they just left for the day.

Or maybe they found-- maybe they got tired of searching this town, and they're just gone. And then a chilling thought is going to occur. What if there are so many werewolves now that this is just part of their new hunting ground? That they're not looking for the remainder of the town. They just live here. What? No. Question, Jason. Mm-hmm? Would at least our 20-plus rolls, given the fact that you said that we don't see any for 20 or so minutes at a time, would that be enough to sense a pattern in their movements? Well, that's the thing. It appears to be just completely random to you.

You're trying to time it. Like, maybe we can run out and get supplies, maybe something. But the original thought would have probably been, OK, well, daylight, daylight will probably chase them off. And it didn't. The fog melts away, and you can see very clearly out into the street. And you will see them skulking into little alleyways, searching around houses. They've actually-- they beat down the door of one of these buildings. Nothing was in there. Essentially, it was just a door. Nothing was barricaded shut on the other side. But they are hunting. And apparently, they do catch a whiff of something every once in a while.

They have incredible noses. So worst case scenario is, eventually, they either get bored and try and batter down the door to your residence. Or they pick up the smell of one of you. And again, night is going to fall. This attic is going to get even darker, because there'd be little beams of light that would come in between the boards of the house. And you'd get little slivers of light throughout the day. So you'd be able to see each other and everything. And obviously, this hole would be covered up when you're not using it. But eventually, all natural light is gone.

And all you have is that lantern, or the candle. How much of the candle is left? If you used it sparingly, you've got enough for the next couple of days, maybe. Like if you just lit it every once in a while and just used it to illuminate so that you could read or look around something like that, you'd probably get a couple of days out of it. I have a question. So I know werewolves have really incredible noses. How would they be able to differentiate between us and all of the crap in the attic, like since there's clothes and random doodads and bits and what have you?

Well, eventually, you guys are going to start to stink. [LAUGHTER] Well, I would-- maybe. There's that thing we weren't going to mention earlier? Well, I mean-- I'm not saying that we aren't going to stink. I'm more just saying, would that necessarily make a difference? It depends on how close they got to the house. It depends on-- again, it just kind of depends. If weather's on your side, like if it rains or something, you'll be fine. Like that should-- you know. But it all depends on how close to the place they get, how curious they are, how much effort they want to put in, that kind of thing.

But there is wildlife surrounding Lockford. So they'll kill animals, too, or travelers. I mean, the unlucky traveler. Like, if word has not got out about Lockford and it doesn't appear as though anyone's lived to tell the tale and get away, then people are going to keep coming here. And those unlucky people probably don't make it past the gate. They may get taken out before they even reach town proper. So other people's bad luck might be your good luck. So it is nighttime now. What would you guys like to do? Are you going to continue to pretty much hunker down?

Ingrid, out of character. The information regarding stinking and werewolves, would a nature check be able to give good revelation as far as like masking said scents if we don't have a source of water nearby? Wouldn't that be something that you might be able to at least kind of have some thoughts on just by virtue of being a wolf? The thing is, there's very little that you can do. I mean, the more time passes, there's just very-- like there's like a couple of boxes of clothing and stuff up here. But I mean, you are going to smell more than old clothing.

Like you just are. And with a bunch of you kind of trapped in a small space over time, I mean, it's just kind of-- you're basically incense. Like you're just going to smell eventually. But it's not-- it doesn't really affect your situation incredibly. OK. Because you're in an enclosed space. OK. And you're above the street. So that helps. Is Shaw awake yet? Or is he still sleeping? OK. No, no, no. He's been awake for a while. Just again, bored. Pretty much bored at this point. Fear is kind of gone. He's got you guys. But just kind of bored, just hanging out. I was going to ask how he looks medically.

Well, he's eaten and everything. He wasn't belly distended or something like that. OK. I'm just making sure he's good. Yeah, he's totally cool. No real bruises or anything like that. Again, he's just kind of dirty. But I mean, that's just kind of like-- he hasn't bathed in days. I'm going to take the sword and sit next to him. How you holding up? He's going to look over fine. Kind of quiet. So before all this, what did you do? What did you like to do for fun? Wasn't really allowed to go out and play or anything, because, you know. But we used to take trips to White Hedge.

That was pretty fun. What did you see in White Hedge? Mostly merchants. But they had different stuff than us. So I mean, it was just neat to get out of town. Anything that interests you? Anything that really caught your eye? And he's going to kind of look at you like, what are you getting at? Like he doesn't understand. I used to travel. Well, I still do technically. When I was your age, my parents would expose me to a lot of stuff, see if I really enjoyed it. Then I got to the point where I really liked being one with the world. Not necessarily cities, but just like nature, the animals.

And they noticed that I was really in tune with one animal in particular. You know what they did? No. They taught me how to be that animal. He's going to look thoroughly confused. Cole is going to give him a smirk and nudge him on the shoulder. You want to see something cool? Sure. Cole then shifts into his wolf form. OK, everyone in the party roll a perception check for me? OK. Well, I've used my one good roll. This kid is going to freak the fuck out and just start to scramble backwards. He's just going to scoot down the edge of this wall because the kid's kind of been through a traumatic experience with wolves.

Is he looking like he's going to scream? It looks like he's so terrified in the moment that he can't make any sound. But he is doing the crab walk type thing. I will run over to him just like, shh, it's OK, it's OK, shushing, trying to calm. And at that, I'm going to turn back into my regular form. Don't worry, the ones on two legs are the ones you have to worry about. He's kind of panting, but he's going to slowly catch his breath. You could just do that whenever you want? Well, before I couldn't, I used to get very angry. There was a time when I would just be angry for no reason.

Then I would see that wolf every night for about a year. And when I was angry, he was angry. That's when I noticed that this wolf was a reflection of me and that this was something that if I was trained in, I could become a stronger person because of it. And my parents knew it, and they taught me how to do it. So when I say if anything caught your interest or if you're good in anything, I'm asking because maybe there's something that you like that could make you a better person too. Again, he's had time to-- he's had time to kind of process this. It was a girl in White Edge.

All right, now we're getting somewhere. Tell me about her. Well, there was a-- and he's going to-- like, he's kind of whispering it. Like, it's almost shame. There was a farmer, and her daughter would kind of welcome us into town every time we came in. And they'd always have fresh baked bread. And we got to talking. What did you talk about? Well, she showed me around town a couple of times. And every time we went there, we spent the day together. Cole's going to nod. You like her? Shaul's going to look around to see if anyone else is paying attention to this conversation.

And the thing is, this room is not tremendously large. So even when speaking in a hushed tone, voices carry. I am listening to this conversation. [LAUGHTER] I picture Sora just leaning in, like, fists tucked under her chin. Oh my god, just please. Oh my god. OK. Yeah, kind of. What do you think she likes about you? I don't know. She's just nice. What would you do when you two were together? Seems awfully invasive. This is getting dateline chat roomy all of a sudden. I was going to say, this is going to sound really creepy. ColeDulphang89, did you type? Ingrid is going to be giving Cole a look of just the, really?

Really? Cole's going to notice it, and he's going to get that look like, hold on, this is getting somewhere. This is just getting good. Quiet. We're not going anywhere. [LAUGHTER] So creeped out right now. Oh, you're fine. Shaw is almost-- OK, first of all, he's kind of opened up the total strangers here, and it's getting to the point where-- you know how teenagers get defensive about stuff like this? Yeah. It's almost getting to the point where it's like, dude, what do you want from me? It's almost getting to that. OK, good. I mean, last time I was there, we kind of held hands for a while and took a walk by the lake.

Oh my god, that's adorable. Sorry. And when was the last time you were there? It was about a month ago. We were supposed to go last week, but-- and then he trails off. How about this? I'm letting you know now. We're all getting out of here. We're all getting out of here, all of our limbs intact. So when we do, I'll take you there. Shaw's going to look up at Cole, and there's going to be just a faint smile. Has anyone ever seen any movie set in Vietnam? Because I'm getting that-- we're going to get you that farm, Johnny. Don't you worry. Doctor's going to patch you right up.

We're going to-- I was actually just thinking that. Good job, Cole. You just sent this guy to death. I didn't. I just put a red shirt on. Jason did, because he's the one who just fucking jinxed it. No, I'm sorry. That's the only thing. Even if you do take him with to White Hedge, with our luck-- with our luck, he's going to get eaten by an ogre. Wait, I thought our luck was turning around because I was here. Exactly. That's true. But it's still-- he's a red shirt. I mean, he-- We'll see how it goes. Yeah. The dice may be kind. Cole doesn't look at him that way.

Nothing wrong is going to happen. He's a lobster back. Get him. Just remember who to throw to the werewolves first. So when Shaw smiles, Cole is going to feel a bit better, and he's going to hand him the sword. I want you to hold onto this for me. Shaw's going to reach out and take it from you. You ever use one of those? Practice once or twice, but I've never hit anything, like a person. OK, once or twice is good. That's a start. Did we check out the sword at all? You never really run a perception check on it, to my knowledge. Well, he's talking to him, can I just run an arcana check on it?

Sure. Just see if it's anything interesting. Oh. Holy shit. Holy shit. That's a crit. You are picking up absolutely nothing magical about this sword. Awesome. Just checking. If it were, were you going to take it from him? No, but I would have probably told him about it. Don't want to give him arcana shit. Come on. I was going to say, I can't use a sword. I don't care. Right. He gets the hand-me-downs. Take this rusty dagger. Give someone tetanus. But I just thought we should make sure, just in case, we're handing off something potentially really dangerous to a little kid.

That'd be neat if it were some god weapon. [LAUGHTER] Here, little boy, take this. Yeah. Good luck. Yeah, once or twice is good. You could practice some more while we make our way over the White Hedge. Get really good at it. OK. Thanks. No problem. Can I run a perception check on Shaw? Sure. I want to see if he seems lonely. It's going somewhere, I promise. I see his family's dead. Come on. Well, rela-- 22. Relatively, yeah. I mean, his whole family's gone. The town is shambles. And total strangers are his only friends right now. And probably the only thing keeping him alive, at least in his eyes.

Lonely might-- I mean, if you were to put a pin in the word, that he might be feeling sure. Yeah. OK. Let's see. I want to go over to him. And I'm going to take out Hunter, wherever we've been keeping him. And I'm going to show Shaw him. And I'll say, this is Hunter. He belonged to a friend of ours. He lost his family, too. So I was going to reach out and just kind of pet Hunter. Because it's like, yeah, it's a rat. But it's obviously been kept in your jacket vest? I don't know. But wherever it's been kept. But yeah, it's obviously like a little domesticated pet.

It's not just a rat running around the attic. So yeah, he's going to light up a bit and start just kind of playing with him, petting him, things like that. Let me ask a quick question. Are you guys still taking turns checking outside every once in a while? Yes. I was just going to ask you about that. Yeah. OK. Josephine, do me a favor roll a perception check. 13. OK. Josephine's going to be staring outside. And again, fog. Same thing that has happened every night so far that you've been in this area. And Josephine's not seeing any movement within the fog. Now, that could just be because she's not seeing it.

That doesn't mean it's not necessarily there. But she's going to catch a glimmer of something across the street just for a moment. And it looked like lantern light. And it looked like it flickered a few times and then stopped. Ground level? Second floor. In that house. She's going to let everybody know that I think I saw somebody across the road in that house. There was light, but it's gone now. OK, nobody cares. Are you sure? I can't perceive anything, so I'm not even going to try and check. The light's gone now, but if you want to take a look, she'll move out of the way.

Gesture towards the hole. I'll take a look. Does that mean I roll for-- Please do. OK. Do we have anything blocking our hole with the candlelight? Hey, almost a bit. I assumed we were blocking the candle. Yeah. The only time you're actually using the hole is to look through it so you'd technically be blocking the-- But when nobody's looking? That's been established. You guys have a little box in front of it. Oh, good. OK. So what do I do with my almost a crit, Jason? Nothing. No. You were too late. Cole's going to stare out into the street for a long time. And again, there's going to be a flicker of light.

And it flashes a few times and then stops. And then he's going to continue to look, and it looks like there's movement. In fact, he is positive that he sees a hand gripping one of the boards and the windows on the second floor just for a moment. And then that light is going to flicker again three times and then stop. Somebody hand me the candle. I'll give it to him, I guess. I feel like L or F would be playing with it. I'm going to hold up to the light and then hold my hand in front of it and then move it simultaneously so that it can flicker three times and then stop.

And then I move it away from the hole and then look to see if I get response. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. Ah, god damn it. 15. You're going to see the light flicker three times again. And that is all Cole will say. Shit. [SIGH] OK. Cole will move away from the hole while simultaneously blocking in the hole so that the light doesn't leave again. Mm-hmm. I'm going to assume that's what you're doing each time. Yeah. You don't have to. Yeah. We're all friends here. And then I'm going to look at the party. There's someone in that house and they're trying to communicate with us.

We could censor her to investigate. After I almost died. Yeah. Yeah, but you have the highest stealth. Doesn't she still have like a chewed up ankle? She was healed. Wait a second. Can we make another zipline? Because we're from an attic? I think that would draw even more attention. It's like a sewer building. Can we dangle you like a steak in front of hungry dogs? Exactly. So yes, if you'd like. Like I said before, we're not Bugs Bunny. We can't do this shit. How close are the houses across the road from us? Darn. One of the-- it's close enough. Is that the house that I sent the wolves into when I was using ghost town?

This would be just a little further out. So the one you sent is almost directly across from you. This one is just a little bit over. Because one of the things I can do with a ghost sound is it can be any sound. So I can whisper to whoever might be there. Creepy. So I mean, we wouldn't be able to get a message back. And it would be the only time I could use it, because it's an encounter. But if you want, you guys can keep that in mind. Well, this would be about from you. You're estimating this is probably about like 25, 30 yards away, somewhere in there? It's a range 10, so.

That's 50 feet. Damn. Not far enough. Just yell it. Hello. Just like that. Greetings. We are hiding in this attic. We're bored. So I can shoot messages over to them with a bow and arrow? That I could do. But please don't. We'd need to be outside to do that. That would probably draw a bit more attention. Exactly. Can I make-- can Joe make-- wow. Can Joe go back to the hole and purposefully check for wolves? Sure. Do me a favor, roll a perception. It looked like a 19 from up there. Joe's going to look out onto the street and give it a nice long time just to see if there's any movement in this fog at all.

And after what seems like forever, she is going to see no movement, hear no signs of life outside, no signs of any wolf of any kind. Well, that's not creepy at all. She'll turn back to the group and say, I know it's nighttime. And there's that stupid fog out there. But there are no wolves that I can see. So if we want to do something, maybe now would be a good opportunity. What do you think? Do you want to go over there, or do you just want to fucking book it? I don't-- I don't know. I just know that there's an opportunity here, and we should take advantage of it if we can.

Can I peer out another perception roll through the hole to get a good look at the rooftops of the building and get a good idea of how close you can get? How close each rooftop is to each other? Go right ahead. OK, that's better, 22. Well, you're not going to be able to make it across the street from up here. But a lot of the houses are fairly close to one another. Because this town isn't really overcrowded, a lot of the houses have little gaps in between. So you're looking at anywhere between a 7 to 12 foot gap in between the houses themselves. So the rooftops slant a little bit.

So the biggest problem you'd have to worry about is the fact that the houses aren't uniform. So some of them are little one story houses, and some of them are two story. So there might be a slight drop here and there. Right. Yeah. But yeah. So it'll be a bit hard to chim chiminey, chim chibaroo? Could be, yeah. OK. Unless you're really athletic and dramatic, you could-- Negative 1, guys. Negative 1. Yeah. Yeah, the paladin might not be the best one for that job. All right. It was an idea. Practicing is perfect. I keep it to myself if that's the case. Well, we already sent the raven, and reinforcements should be coming.

How do you guys feel about just leaving? At nighttime in the fog? Joe says there's no sign of wolves. It's either that or see about the house down the way. And that could be more of a gamble. We could be stuck there. Maybe they'll have more supplies. That's all depending on if they even let us in. Which they probably won't. At least not if they have any sense. Well, they're trying to communicate with us. We're assuming that they're trying to communicate with us. They might not be. They could be trying to communicate with anyone. Maybe they're summoning the wolves.

Cole's just going to give Ingrid a look that goes like, really? Ingrid's just going to shrug like, hey. All I'm saying is that reinforcements are on the way. We know that there are survivors. That's fucking proof that there are survivors. At the same time, this is an opportunity that we can take to get the fuck out of here. But it's up to you guys. It's up to what you guys want to do. [SIGHS] Can you run, kid? Shaw's going to-- he's going to kind of look toward the hole and realize you're talking about running outside. But after a beat, he's going to look back and nod his head.

Where are we going to be running to if we run? It's not like there won't be werewolves outside of the city. We could head towards White Hedge. That's away from the Silver Glade. But we'd also be in a much less defensible position. I mean, I know waiting here sucks, but at least we know reinforcements will be coming. How long are they going to take to get here? We only have a couple of days left of food. I don't think we'll starve to death waiting. And at the same time, if we risk staying up here any longer than we already have, and we have another opportunity to do this, the likelihood that they'll catch our scent, which will be even stronger then, will be more than likely.

There's also the fact that we did send out a message for help. We would be leading White Ravens into danger if they tried to rescue us. And then we wouldn't even be here. But they know that there are werewolves here now. They didn't know that before we got here. And it's not like they won't be encountering danger if they do send people. They'll be encountering danger regardless. But it might make a big difference in what sort of plan they use if they aren't having to worry about knowing that there are people here they need to rescue. They know that there are people here that need to be rescued.

The civilians of the city. Of which we've seen one. And if there are one, then there are more. Possibly. But again, it still seems like it would be something we should take into account, that we're then risking the people who in theory are coming to rescue us if they think they have to rescue us and we aren't here. Cole is just going to take a deep breath. Close his eyes. Exhale. Look back at the group. Like I said, this isn't just this isn't up to me. This is up to all of us. What do what do we want to do? I'm not doing anything until it's morning. I really don't feel like going out in the fog at night is our best course of action.

Might not get this opportunity again. With the fog, though, how do we even know it's an opportunity? So that's two and two. And I will leave Ella Rath, I believe. Yeah, as you say, she's just going to look up and just say, I don't like it. I think we should wait. Cole, take a moment. Visibly frustrated, but he'll nod. OK, we'll wait. I'm sorry, I just. No, no, it's fine. It's fine. It's better we stick together anyway. I don't want anybody else getting hurt. And Ingrid's going to take that moment to kind of catch Cole's eye and, you know, head nod towards Shaw.

Cole is going to realize that. And this nod will be a bit more understanding. Joe's going to go back to looking through the hole in the wall. Do me a favor, Joe. Roll a perception check. Across the street, you're going to see that lantern again. Just for a moment. And it's going to provide some backlight to what's going on. And you're going to see hands grip one of the boards in the windows again and part it just a bit. You're going to see a face stare out onto the street. And then for the briefest of seconds, you're going to see this face look toward the house that you're residing in currently.

And then you're going to see the lantern get snuffed out. And then seconds are going to go by. And you're going to see the front door. Ever so slowly open up. Just a crack. And you're going to see what appears to be a middle-aged man's head pop out. And then slowly but surely, the door is going to open just a bit more. And you're going to see this individual start to creep out into the street. Do me a favor, roll one more stealth check. Perception? Oh, perception. Yeah, makes more sense. Ruin the mood. Whatever. 18. You're going to take this guy in and start looking him over.

And he doesn't look very well-to-do. And you're going to guess that not a lot of people in Lockford are well-to-do. This appears to be a pretty small town. And they really only farm and hunt things like that. So it's not a booming town. This guy is wearing sort of a beat-up old shirt, kind of loose on him. He is wearing a vest, just some slacks, stuff like that. So nothing crazy. He's a little on the heavyset side, just a tiny bit. And his right arm is bandaged up a bit. And you can see him almost disappear into the fog. Like it's that thick. And Joe is staring very intently into the street, keeping an eye out for any movement that might be.

Do me a favor. Roll one more perception check. Across the street, something's going to catch Joe's eye. No. On the rooftop, across the street, she was going to spot a pair of bright red eyes that sort of come into view all at once. And you're going to see this hulking figure peer down into the street. And then crouch down as if it's going to jump. Is Joe going to do anything? Oh, God, I don't think she would. I think she just so flabbergasted, I guess is the word. She just doesn't, she can't do anything. After a second, the wolf is going to leap into action.

And you're going to hear it make a terrible sound. Everyone in the party do me a favor. Roll perception. I'm so glad I'm not going to hear this. Does Sean need to roll perception? Yeah, Sean does need to roll perception. Baby. Oh, baby. Oh, God, no. Cole, Elorath, Sora, obviously Josephine and Shaw are going to hear the wolf. Let loose this guttural noise. And then there's going to be a beat of silence. On the visual end, Joe is going to watch this wolf dive into the fog and disappear. The man on the street hearing the noise is going to start to double time it toward your house.

No, no, no. Oh, God. And a second later, he is going to be tackled from behind by the wolf. He is going to fall forward into the fog and disappear. However, he is going to start to scream bloody murder in the middle of the street of Lockford. And Joe is going to see a second figure emerge from the fog and make a beeline toward the source of that sound. And the entire party, minus Ingrid, for the first few moments, are going to hear this man's screams. And then you're just going to hear the sounds. The entire party now of these two wolves tear this man apart.

Oh, God. How's Shaw doing? Not well. Joe has got her hands over her mouth. Now she's going to turn around really quickly and put her back up against the wall. And then I think any plan involving rooftops is out. Cole is just sitting expressionless. Is there any liquor in the attic? Sadly, no, but there may be some downstairs. Oh, Tim. Nope. Sorry, I could try. She has high stealth. No, thanks. I'll stay up here. Ingrid, since she perceived nothing until the very, very end, is going to kind of go over to Josephine. It's like, did you see that? What happened? Well, I mean, I know what happened, but was that the person in the other house?

Yeah. Oh, God. He had the same thought that I did. That there weren't any werewolves. And he tried to leave. Ingrid's just going to look kind of green, but, you know, hat show on the shoulder. I'm sorry you had to see that. Nature check to see if, from Joe's description, nature check to see if that's common werewolf behavior. Tearing someone's dreads or just the entire event. Luring someone into a false sense of security. Yeah. Do me a favor, roll a nature check. Here's the thing. If someone were writing a book about werewolves, they don't have a tremendous amount of history to go on because they're not an ancient creature.

As a matter of fact, this is a relatively speaking in terms of the world's history, a new problem specifically for Lockford. Now, they have been combating this problem for years, but it has gotten progressively worse. Part of that is Lockford's fault. They organized an event, a tri-annual event called the great hunt, where they would actually go into the forest to try and exterminate the wolves, mainly because the wolves were a problem for their own hunters. What they ended up doing was feeding a bunch of stupid drunk rube hunters to the wolves and creating more wolves.

Now, here's the thing. In the last day or two, you guys have learned a lot about werewolves. And you're kind of writing a new book because they're exhibiting certain behavior that, well, people have kind of briefed you on werewolves and werewolf behavior. And this would not be in the previous book if you were to read it. Them completely taking over a town like this is unheard of. Them attacking and leaving is one thing, but them just planting themselves here, taking over. To Josephine, that would appear to be a measured response from the werewolves to wait people in this town out.

That appeared to be a plan. But obviously she can't prove it. I realize this all with my nature check. You would start piecing it together. It's more a common sense thing, but the 15 would get you pretty much everything you already knew about werewolves and realized, no one told us about that. So yeah, after piecing that together, Cole's look slowly changes. From expressionless to a mixture of sorrow, anger, and guilt. More guilt because he could have almost been responsible for sending everybody out there to their death. Guilt because one of the survivors just died.

And anger because he realized that one way or another we're stuck here. Jason, was I able to tell if the other wolf's eyes were red as well? Not quite, not with an 18. You didn't notice its eyes. You just saw the figure move. It's too terrified. Do me a favor everyone in the party, roll a perception check. Josephine and Cole are going to hear more movement outside, more activity. And it sounds like these wolves are relatively done with this man. Is anyone still looking outside? I think I'm sitting in front of the hole. That hole is covered up right now. So no one's looking out in the street.

I mean, if it sounds like they're kind of- Can we see through Josephine? Well, that's what I'm asking. Did she mean like you're sitting in front of the hole looking out or you're just blocking the hole making sure there's nothing? Well, she would have turned like dumb and like a little bit closer to the hole. She would have done like a 180 and like just- Oh, and looked back towards the grill. Okay. Yeah. But like if it sounds like they're dispersing, I think she would start peeking out to see what's happening next. Okay, do me a favor, roll a perception check. 24.

Josephine is going to see these two wolves dart over to the house this man came from. And you're going to see the first wolf throw itself against the door and just go through it easily. Obviously, there was nothing barricading it shut. This man had just come out from it. And maybe was thinking there would be a- there'd be a quick return if need be. The second wolf, which Josephine is going to notice, doesn't have the same red eye coloring as the first one. Is going- is hanging back just a bit. Josephine is going to see one more thing. A light coming from the second floor of that building. *gasps* No, no.

I'm mad at you, Jason. And a face is going to peer out into the street just as the first wolf goes through the door. And then you're going to see that light jostle and reposition almost as if someone dropped a lantern or candle. Guys, there's more people over there. Across the street in that house, there's more people in that second story. And the werewolves just broke in to the lower floor. Oh no. Oh no. Are there any more wolves outside or is it just the two? Yeah, is it just two, Jason? That's all you're seeing. Were there only two that ate that guy? Yep, that's all you saw.

Cole isn't saying anything, but his facial expression is visually slowly getting more angrier. Sora's very torn right now. She does not know what to do. Whatever we do, we can't take Shaw with us on this. He needs to stay here and be safe. Then we're all staying here. We can't get to them anyway. Do me a favor, Josephine. Roll a perception check. I don't, I don't. Josephine, you better fail that check. Yes! Perhaps out of sheer panic or just maybe she doesn't want to see anything. She's going to look across the street and the light appears to be getting slightly brighter.

And you are going to see... You are going to see movement by that window. And then you are going to see the second wolf that was hanging back. Leap up toward the side of the house, sink its claws into the wood, and start to scale its way upward. What the fuck? Did we ever determine if I can do magic through the wall or the wall? You kind of have to have like line of sight or at least like, you know, some sort of visual like I can see that like, yeah. Will the front part of my crossbow get through that hole enough to take a shot at the one climbing the side?

I would say yes because a raven fit through it. Raven's a fairly decent sized bird. Before she does it, seriously, Ingrid is going to just kind of push her out of the way and she is desperately going to try and create a distraction for these people in hopes that they can do something, barricade themselves, buy them some time. So she is going to again try and do ghost sound to get them as far away from them as she can. Okay, now where are you going to try and put this? Well, it can only go 50 feet to the max. Right, so 50 feet in whatever the opposite direction of us and the kitty corner house is.

So you're trying to get it far away from you and far away from them as physically possible here. So do me a favor. Basically. As much as possible. Do me a favor, roll a bluff check. Okay. Ooh, so and you're trying to make it sound like what again? Well, we'll go for person in distress. Somebody whimpering, sounding injured. So yeah, maybe someone who's actually in the street. Right. Okay, so 27 that's pretty convincing. This wolf is going to get almost eye level with that second story window and then hear that directly behind them. That wolf, almost like an owl, is going to whip its head around, dislodge from the sign of the house, and descend like a stone into the street.

And it seems to land like a ton of bricks, but there's also a grace to it. And it is going to hit the ground running toward the source of that noise. And Ingrid is going to move out of the way gesture towards whoever wanted to try and shoot something. Well, she was just going to discuss it with you guys. I guess there wasn't really a lot of time left. Okay, then I will, you know. She wouldn't have done it. She wouldn't have just done it because she was worried about revealing the location where we are. Not that they probably don't know it because they're so fucking smart.

Well, I'd still surrender the peephole to somebody with better perception than myself. I can go back to where I was and look out if you want. If you don't tell her, Rath will. Yeah, I'll just go back to where I was because I'm right there. Perception? Perception. 18. You're gonna see that wolf in the street frantically, just frantically searching in the fog, almost like a shark in the water. You're gonna see it pop up, then go back down, pop up, go back down. And this goes on for a few seconds. Meanwhile, across the street, that light is very erratic. And eventually, it's going to level out.

It looks like someone has placed the source of light near the window. And then you're gonna see a pair of hands grip at one of the boards that were used to barricade them inside. And you're gonna see them frantically try and strip that away. And then you're gonna see a second pair of smaller hands pulling and tugging at that board. And eventually, they are going to dislodge it. Joe, do you tell us this? Yes, everything. Okay, Sora's gonna jump into action. So if I'm looking through the people, I can cast spells? You can... Something like ghost sound? Yes. Okay, I just wanted to ask.

Yeah. Something with a little more, like, you know, something like if you're trying to cast a storm or something like that, you might need to have a little more... Because you can only kind of look or stick your hand out. You can't really do both. Room to maneuver. Yeah. Sora, are you seriously jumping into action? Yeah. You don't have silver. No, I'm weird about the kids because the one wolf is, like, overhanging out in the street or something. But then the other one is, I guess, still in the house? You still don't... Well, you certainly can't shoot something into the house.

And you don't have... I don't want to shoot anything. Okay. What are you trying to do? I want to get those kids in here. How? Yeah, there's no way. How? I'm able to climb. I could easily climb to that second story and help them get down. And if someone wants to help me get the thing off of the door, I can usher them in really quickly. We can close it and then go back up into the attic. Okay. I don't want to be a wet blanket because I like outside the box thinking. I will remind you there is a street to cross. Right. With wolf in it, looking for somebody. Isn't the wolf in, like, this other street over or something?

There's one in the house too. He's pretty much in the middle of you two. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I'm pouncing, Sora. Okay, well, let's break this down one at a time. So Josephine did relay all of this information to the rest of the group. I'm imagining in a pretty frantic... Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Lots of heavy breathing. So Sora seems like the type to kind of wear her emotions on her sleep a bit when it comes to wanting to help people. She's exhibited that before, correct? Yeah. So I would imagine at the very least, Sora would tense up and there has been a precedent set within the party of what that means.

Is Sora communicating any of this to the party? Like, we got to do something, anything like... Or is it just kind of... Would anyone at this point actually care and probably just preemptively restrain her? Yes, me. Sora doesn't know what to do. She's like just first with the guy and she didn't know what to do. And now there's like kids involved and she's like in her... She's like shaking basically because she knows she needs to do something, but she doesn't know exactly what she can do to help or if she even can help. And it's driving her body itself crazy.

So Cole wants to try and restrain her. Yes. All right. Here's what we're going to do. You just... You're going to roll to grab her. So this is going to be a strength versus reflex check. So I roll strength. 15. My reflex is 18. Well, you can hear the audible sigh on the other end. This is not going to be enough to restrain Sora and she's going to wriggle free. What would Sora's reaction be to Cole grabbing her again? I'd probably like look back at him and just whisper, "Really? Really?" And then, "I don't want to waste time. Can I do a perception check and look out the window?" Well, there's no window up here.

There's a hole. Yeah, that's what I mean. Sure. Go ahead. Now, is this going to take up time? Well, yeah. Any time that you're not doing something is spent looking. It'd be seconds, but yeah. Okay. I'll look and see what I can see. Yes! That's a crit. I see everything. I see the ages of these children. Oh no. Funny you should say that. Oh no. No. Sora's going to look out into the street and see that the second wolf is still in the street, delving into the fog, looking frantically for the source of the original noise. Meanwhile, that source of light is still coming from the second story window.

And you're going to see that they have torn one of the boards loose and that they're working on a second. Sora can see that one of them, at the very least, appears to be a pretty young child. If Sora had to put an age, this little girl would be about eight or nine. Oh, Jesus. The second girl is going to come into view shortly after that. And while she also looks young, Sora would guess that she's around 17, maybe 18. And they are frantically tearing at this board. And after a second, they are going to... They're going to break a good portion of it loose.

And it looks as though they're trying to climb out onto the overhang. Okay. I'm going to try and grab Sora again. Oh my god. Does Sora tell us any of this? Yes. And I'll also add, I need somebody to cover me. And then I'm going to start going towards the door of the attic. If she's going, I will cover her, as I think I'm the only person who probably can. Everyone else is close range. Joe is going to pick up her crossbow and follow. All right. I will also look at her and say, I don't like this. I really don't, but I will cover you. She's going to look at Ingrid and just say, thanks.

I want to open that door. Well, there's a heavy box on top of it. Do me a favor. Roll a strength check. This isn't going to be incredibly high. Okay. Strength check. I want to see how quickly. Oh, okay. So maybe there's some adrenaline going. Maybe there's, but Sora's going to pretty easily move this box this time and then slip into the lower level of this house. I'm imagining the three of you are moving pretty quickly. Now let me ask you a question, Sora. Okay. Are you trying to stealth out into the street or are you just making a full sprint? Please try and stealth as much as you can.

Now, does stealthy specifically mean slowly? Like, can I do it quickly and stealthily? You're going to, well, okay. Either you're sprinting across the street or you're moving as quickly as possible while remaining as silent as possible. They're really, you know, I mean, there's obviously you're not tiptoeing, but at the same time, I would imagine you're crouched down. You're looking both ways. You're moving as quietly as you can because you're, this is one of the benefits of being a smaller character. You aren't the strongest, but you can be the quietest.

So while it isn't, it isn't as quick as breakneck running across the street, your odds of surviving longer are vastly improved. Jason, quick question. Yes. So downstairs, I know the main thing is going to be the door. Are there windows? Oh yeah. Okay, so I am going to try and use a window for the spellcasting so as not to draw any additional attention to Sora. All right. Are there like a couple next to each other? Cause I think Joe would take up position next to her. Well, the window, the window next to the door would be big enough. That's okay. And it's boarded up a bit, but again, you could, you know, pry loose one of the board and get a pretty good vantage spot.

Now, obviously if it comes to that, you're going to have to break a portion of the window out to fire arrows out of the street. But yeah. So do me a favor. And the three of you roll a strength check to move that big, heavy bookshelf. Yeah. Great again. Oh my gosh. I kind of need that for the next roll. I have no help on that, so. You guys are going to move this bookshelf and Sora can advance out into the street if she wants to. Okay. So the kids got out onto like a balcony, you said? You can roll a perception check if you want, the three of you. Will that take up time?

Well, yeah. Anytime you spend looking is time you're spent not doing anything. Instead of by the air in the window, can I just stand like right in the doorway and then I don't have to break out a portion of the window? No. You can absolutely do that. Sure. That's where I'll be. Do I need to break out a portion of the window or is it okay for me to? You can cast as long as I can see. Yeah. As long as you can see, you're fine. Let's see. Well, Ingrid's not seeing much at this level. He never does. Every once in a while. Catch a glimmer or something. At this level, the fog is a problem.

It's pretty much a rolling wall of misty white into the street. And at one point, you are going to see that second wolf get dangerously close to the window that you're standing next to. Paying this location no mind, though, as it's still ripping through the street looking for the source of that sound. Now, it does encounter the body of the They-Taught-A-Part every once in a while, and he'll give it just a moment's pause. He's like, "Was that it? No, that's dead." And move on. Sora, across the street, is going to see that the two children have made it out onto the overhang.

And she's also going to hear a noise. No. And that's the sound of the first wolf. In the house. Pounding at the bedroom door that they're in. Oh my god. Or, well, they just climbed out. It appears as though the older one just left the room. Just crawled out of the overhang. The overhang is kind of steep. Kind of slopes directly into the street. You can also tell that this is as far as they thought this plan out. What would Sora like to do? Okay, I wanna run over... Stealth over to just under the overhang. And then we'll see what happens from there. Do me a favor, Sora.

Roll a stealth check. Please, please, please. 20. Let me check the wolf's passive perception here. Jason, how far away is the house from this vantage point? Is it changed at all? It's the same. You just changed levels. So I mean, you're... The swanage check. Yeah, so it's about 25, 30 yards. And how far away is the wolf in the street? You'd say that's about 10 yards away, maybe, right now. Okay. It's somewhere in the middle. Keeps hovering around it. It moves pretty quickly. (laughs) Don't laugh like that. Sora is going to move as quickly as she can, while remaining as stone quiet as she can.

She's gonna reach about halfway into the street. And the fog is going to conceal the boot of the man that was torn to shreds in the middle. Oh my god. And she is just going to see it before tripping over it. She's going to step over it lightly and continue her journey across the street. The entire time she's going to hear this wolf in the fog, frantically digging and clawing and moving. But the sound of the wolf is going to get further away as she makes her way across the street. And eventually, she is going to make it to the other side, and see the two children on top of the overhang.

They're about 10 feet above you. And the problem is, they're starting to make some noises. On your way across, it appears as though they got the bright idea of trying to climb down. And because it's such a steep overhang, the larger one almost slips and falls off before she catches herself. Now I'm going to roll a flat d20. Fortunately, this is not going to be enough noise to get the attention of the wolf. Sora, what would you like to do? So both of them are on the overhang? Yeah, both of them are on the overhang looking over. And it appears as though they...

Actually, let's see if they see Sora. Because this could cause a problem. Because the problem is, Sora is so short, she's just standing in the thick of the fog. Yeah, they're not going to see Sora. Aw, damn it. I don't know if Sora would notice that though. She'd probably be too caught up and just trying to get over there. Well, roll a perception check. Okay. Sora would not notice that. So, Sora would know that a fall from this height, as long as Sora helped break the fall, shouldn't hurt the kids too badly. The problem is noise. And if one of them were to maybe twist an ankle or something like that, you've got a problem.

What do you guys think? Seriously, shoot and arrow across the road. Hey you guys! She can arrow with some rope into the overhang so they can climb down. It'll probably be quieter than one of them falling. Do you think that'll work? I would think that if it's close enough to them, they should be able to perceive that it's there. But it also shouldn't be allowed enough to draw the attention of the wolf, in theory, hopefully. What about that idea, Jason? What about that idea, Sora? I don't know. The thing you do know is that you may only have precious seconds before this wolf finally loses interest in that noise.

If it weren't so convincing in the first place, it may have already done it. Damn. I guess... Okay, how is this overhang set up? Is it like a canvas-type overhang? No, no, no. It's made of wood. It's made of wood. It's just pretty sheer. So it's something that's not exactly something you can stand comfortably on the outside of. Right. Does it have columns supporting it? From the bottom? Oh yeah. Yeah, it does. Yeah, there's little wooden support beams. Okay. Then I'll kind of whisper up to them, "You have to come down, now." Do me a favor and roll a stealth check.

Jesus Christ. Oh my goodness gracious. That is a crit. Is it so stealthy that they don't hear me? No. Although that would just be cruel. These two kids are going to be startled for just a second, and then they're going to realize obviously that was a voice of a person, and they're going to lean over and finally see at least a glimpse of Sora. And the little one looks to be almost in tears. The older one is going to kind of shout-whisper back to Sora. And she's going to whisper, "How do we get down?" Now let's roll a stealth check. Ah. Sora's going to listen for just a second.

It doesn't sound like the wolf is closing in. It sounds like it's in the same position, that same general vicinity. So it doesn't appear as though this girl has alerted you your presence to the wolf. But she does ask a very interesting question. After a moment, the older girl is going to lean over and what you're guessing might be her sister is going to whisper in her ear, and then take her by the hands, and start to dangle her over the side of this overhang. Awesome. Except Sora's really short, so she's still gonna have to fall for a little bit. I'm gonna reach my hands up and try and catch her?

Mm-hmm. Do me a favor. Roll an athletics check. Does it have to be... The older girl is going to let her sister go, and there's still a few feet of a drop before she would get to Sora. Sora's going to reach up and catch this girl, and sort of tumble backwards just a bit, but she is going to steady herself, and she's guessing she didn't make that much noise. The problem being, because this is such a sheer overhang, as her as her little sister is let go, there's just not that much to dig into, and the older sister is going to tumble over the side, and just barely catch herself, and is now hanging from this overhang.

I'm watching that that werewolf in the street. Mm-hmm. Anything happening with that werewolf in the street? Do me a favor. Roll a perception check. 23. This werewolf appears to be losing its patience, and you're guessing any second it is going to turn its attention back to the house, and make its way back to where it knows there's prey. Joe is going to ready her crossbow, in case it's needed. Joe is also going to hear a sound. Oh God. And it sounds as though the wolf in the house is tearing its way through the door, and within seconds will be inside. Sora, what would you like to do?

So the older girl is still dangling? Mm-hmm. This is much less of a drop, but this is going to be someone heavier. Well, let's see. He said it was like 10 feet. Are they human? They appear to be. Okay, let's assume she's like five feet. That's actually short for a human, so like five five five six. That gives her four and a half feet to fall from. That's not too terrible. If she's falling into your arms, then really she's only got about a foot or so to really drop before... Yeah, but that's relying on you to sort of break this fall, so she's not just hitting the ground.

What if she just like jumps down without me? Well, you're risking injury and her making more noise. Up to you though. So after I caught the girl, I'm gonna put her down right next to me. Then I'm gonna look up at the older one and I'll say, "Let go." Do me a favor, roll a stealth check. Still 16. The girl is gonna let go of this overhang and drop into Sora's arms. Do me a favor, roll an athletics check. Sora's gonna catch this girl, and they're both gonna fall to the ground. Joe, roll a perception check for me. That's just funny! This wolf has officially lost its patience.

Also, Joe, please remember to signal me since I've received nothing. Oh yeah. Okay, I'll do like a a boot tap on the door. Got it. The wolf is going to break away from its position and make a running leap across the street. Towards them? Toward them, but more toward the house. How far away is he? From you, currently about 20 yards. What about from me? I was gonna say that might be too far for me to cast a spell. They're still... are they... they're right in front of the door, yeah? Well, they're actually not right in front of the door of the house. They're a little down because this was from like the bedroom window type of thing.

So this is a little cattycornered away from the door, and right now they're kind of laying down in the fog. So you have a choice to make. Do you fire at the wolf now while it's while it's in range? Or do you bank on the fact that the wolf didn't see them, but is just returning to the spot where it knows there was something? It's not within range for me though, is it? Depends on what spell. Almost all of them are within 10 squares, so... That's 50 feet, so... He's just out of range for me. He's 20 yards. It wasn't like he did like a sharp turnaround, and because he kind of thought he heard something, it was just...

He's fed up. He's on his way back to where he knows there's prey. Right? What was your perception? That was a crit. Natural 20. It seemed to Josephine that he finally just lost his patience, and there was nothing there. I'm gonna hold off for a second and wait till he gets closer. The wolf is going to run toward the center of the street, and then make a running leap, and cling to the side of this house, and start to scale its way upward again. Sora, what would you like to do? Does the older girl... Like, I know that we like fell to the ground, but does she seem okay?

It appears as though... She may have twisted her ankle just a bit on the landing, but because you broke most of the fall, you're gonna guess that she can walk on it. Okay. Maybe not run, but at least hobble. Mm-hmm. The little girl is going to collapse just after the fall. The little girl is going to be right next to her sister. So the three of you are huddled in this fog, and you will essentially be blind. So no one in this fog bank will have seen what just happened. But do me a favor and roll a perception check. Sora is going to hear the wolf, and you're going to know that it is above you.

I'm going to get up and motion for the little girl to get on my back, and I'm going to tell the older girl, "I know it hurts, but we have to run." She's going to frantically nod her head like, "Yeah, yeah." The little girl is going to climb on Sora's back. Now when you say run, do you mean run or sneak as fast as you can? I think sneak fast. Do me a favor, roll a stealth check, minus two. That I can do. Oh no! The three of you are going to start to make your way across the street again. Sora is going to make it about halfway, and then there's going to be a metallic sound.

And it appears as though Sora kicked one of this man's possessions, the man that was torn apart in the street. There was something he had that was metallic on him. Sora is going to kick this, and it is going to bounce down the street. Everyone, do me a favor, roll a perception check. Do me a favor, roll a perception check. Sora, Josephine, you are going to hear the wolf on the second story. The one that scaled the side of the house, drastically changed course. Joe is going to witness it leap off the side of the house again, and disappear into the fog. Oh, now we book it.

Yep, let's go. Hike it. I'm like waving my arms frantically. Do me a favor, Can I take that as a signal? I would imagine it's like, oh, something's going terribly wrong. The older girl is by me, right? She was doing a better job than you at sneaking, actually. Okay, well. Well, I'm just saying. Not to throw stones. Sora, do me a favor, roll an athletics check with a negative one. Athletics or acrobatics? Athletics. Okay. The two of you are going to start to move as quickly as you can the rest of the way. This girl appears to be hobbling pretty badly, but she's putting as much weight on her ankle as she can.

And she is going to keep pace with Sora, maybe only because Sora is both smaller than her, and carrying someone almost of equal size on her back. And you're going to close in on the house. And you're going to be about 10 feet away from the door. Joe, do me a favor, roll a perception check. Should I try one too? Oh, yeah, go ahead. Try. I always just kind of count it as why bother? I will perceive nothing, but you never know. I'm sorry, you were saying? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no. Look at hope. Yeah, you're right. There's absolutely no harm in doing it, but that's a three.

Joe is going to watch these three emerge from the fog and get to within about 10 feet of this door. And then looming out of the fog. She was going to see the second wolf. I'm going to shoot it. There's no fucking run. I'm going to stop you there. I see Joe shooting, so I would also then... I would assume see Joe shooting, so I would also be casting a spell. Well, do me a favor, Joe. Just roll a regular range basic attack. Oh, that was really good. Better than what I used to. Sorry. That's versus AC. Yes. That is going to miss the wolf and go wide. And then the wolf is going to crouch down and pounce toward the two running girls.

You'd like to fire a spell? Yes, I would. Which one would you like to try? Ice Dragon's Teeth. Okay. That is an area burst one within 10 squares, but 2d8 charisma modifier, cold damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn. Give it a shot. All right. That is going to hit the wolf. Yes. So describe what Ice Dragon's Teeth looks like. All right. All right, so it is going to look like this wolf is just caught in an ice storm. The most terrible whirling sleet ice hail you can imagine just swirling around this area. Just a very concentrated area.

Yep, because it is an area burst one. So. So the wolf is going to pounce toward Sora and the two girls and in about mid jump is just going to be pelted with kind of icy stalactites type kind of ice daggers almost. And it is going to knock this wolf out of the air temporarily and then sort of slam it into the ground and continue to pelt it with ice for a moment. Sora, do me a favor, roll another athletics check. While this wolf is being pelted with ice, Sora and the two girls are going to make it to the front door. This wolf is going to get up and start to move toward the door.

But you can tell it's having a really difficult time doing it. He is drastically impaired here. Do me a favor, Joe. Ingrid, roll a perception check for me. Holy shit, I perceived something. Thank God. As the older girl crosses the threshold of the door and just sort of almost collapses inside but just makes it in, Sora is going to make it to the front door. And Ingrid is going to hear the sound of the first wolf rip through the door on the second story of the building across the street. And then just a moment later, start to tear at the remaining boards of the window.

And it is going to emerge from that window just a second later. And then dive into the street and disappear. What would you guys like to do? >> Everybody get inside. >> Yeah, are we all inside now? >> Everybody inside. >> And lock the door. >> Yeah, at this point, just so do me a favor, Sora, Ingrid, and Joe, roll a strength check. >> Oh my God. >> Okay, Sora's got this apparently. And the three of you are going to- >> That is a natural one. >> Yeah, the three of you, Sora is going to lean into this bookshelf and be almost horizontal with the floor and just kind of burrow her shoulder into the bookshelf and try to move it against the door.

And you are going to hear the second wolf get to the door just as you're doing that. And it is going to throw itself with all of its might against the door. The door is going to flex just a bit. But it looks like the bookshelf is going to hold it at bay for the moment. What would you guys like to do? >> I'm going to take the younger girl off of me and I'm going to look at the older girl. I'm going to say, take her upstairs and then point towards the attic. >> They're going to start to make a break for the ladder. >> I'll get prepared to cast another spell. >> Elora. >> Cole. >> You want to come help hold this door? >> That little girl is going to start to climb her way up the ladder and the older one is just right behind her.

She's like, come on, come on. Just almost like lifting her up. And as they're climbing up, let's see something here. This wolf is going to continue to throw itself against that door. And when it sees that that's not working, it is going to start to rake its talons up and down the length of this door. You're going to hear it just dig and start to carve. And it starts out almost very deliberate, like it's trying to tunnel through. And then it's just frantic swiping. And then just a moment later, a massive head is going to burst through the window that Ingrid was just previously standing at. >> Spell? >> You can go right ahead. >> Okay.

I am going to try Whirlwind. >> Mm-hmm. >> Now that is another very first one within 10 squares. And they will also knock the target prone if I actually can hit. >> Okay. Do me a favor. >> Okay. >> Get ready and target these two wolves. So the situation is as follows. Wolf number two, which appears to be the smaller of the two wolves, is just frantically swiping at that door while the first wolf pretty much just said, "Fuck that," and plowed its head through the opening between the boards. This wolf's massive skull is just jutting and snapping into this living area.

And his massive red eyes are staring directly at the three of you. You can tell that he's struggling to fight his way indoors. You can fire when ready, Ingrid. >> All right. Fingers crossed, everyone. >> You are going to miss the two of them. >> Holy shit. They must have really high fortitude. Crap. >> Can I take a shot at the one in the window? >> I would imagine that this is pretty much a situation where it's like if you're going to do something, do it, but go right ahead if you'd like. >> Okay. Do I get a bonus for trying to aim for his eye? Probably not. >> Actually, that would be a minus. >> A negative, probably, huh? >> But, yeah. >> Forget I said that.

Shh. I didn't say that. >> Fair enough. >> Okay. >> This arrow is going to go wide and sail into a board that is preventing it from actually getting in, but you're guessing you have precious seconds. Meanwhile, both girls have made it into the attic. You guys have a decision to make. Do you stay and fight the wolves, or do you try and barricade yourselves in the attic? >> I feel like we should at least try and drive them away. What do you guys think? >> Well, now I'm thinking if we're on the attic, can the wolves get to us? >> Yes. We only have a box blocking that door, and they can jump really high, so that means their legs are really strong, so they probably can push that door up real easy. >> Just putting you in for a sitting on it. >> So, yeah, I think we need to at least get them away from us, and I can't use ghost sound again because it's an encounter power, and I've already used it with these wolves. >> No, I'm going to attack.

I assume that as soon as I told the girls to run, I, like, flipped around and took out my bow. >> Okay. Go right ahead. >> I want to use twin strike. >> Okay, well, you're not going to be able to see the one wolf because it's behind a door. >> Oh, okay, then I'll use careful attack on the one on the alpha with red eyes. >> Okay. >> Oh, well. >> That is going to miss. >> I'm going to take this opportunity to yell for Elorath and Koligan. >> I'm going to take it to prepare another spell. Can I hit them? >> Well, now the wolves get to act. >> No, they don't get to.

They're just bystanders. >> Now... >> Innocence bystanders. I would have seen their act as trite to get through the door. >> Oh, yeah. >> End window. >> Oh, yeah. So this wolf is going to attack the door. 17. You are going to see the door start to warp and take some pretty mighty distress here. You're guessing you have just a second or two before this wolf rakes at the door enough to weaken it and just pummel its way inside. Meanwhile, the one in the window. The one in the window almost appears to be stuck. Again, its jaws snapping. You're going to see saliva dripping from its mouth, almost as if it's rabid.

It can see you. It is -- you are tangible. You are just feet away, and it is struggling to wriggle its way inside this house. Let me explain the options to you, just to throw it out there. Your best case scenario is that you managed to kill these two wolves. You still don't know how many are in town or if this noise is going to call anymore to you. Maybe you drive them away. That is another option, hopefully. They still now know that you're here. Your other option would be to try and maybe find a way out of the house and make a run for it, or to retreat to the attic.

And while, yes, they can climb, they would have to try and tunnel upward, and that might be a little more difficult for them, and they can only do it one at a time. So you guys have -- you guys have a decision to make, but you have about a second or two to make it. I'm still going to try and hit them with something, just because I would think there really isn't another option. So we're up, jump. If Ingrid's staying here, then it doesn't really matter what I was thinking, because I'd stay there with her. I could do this while we're backing away, but I would be trying to cast this as we go, since I do have sight of the one wolf.

So is this a thing where Ingrid would be telling everybody else to retreat and you're firing it, or you're standing your ground and firing it? I would think that we would be trying to retreat and I would fire it. So, you know, some shooing motions and moving backwards and firing my last spell that might work on these guys, because unfortunately my big ones usually go against fortitude, and these guys have really high fortitude. So Ingrid's going to shout to the other two, "Get back, make a run for it, get upstairs." Yeah, and I will be, you know, moving backwards to do that as well.

All right, Jo, Sora, are you guys going? Yeah, but I want to do a thing. Me too. So no is the answer to that question. Well, I want to shoot off another shot at the guy at the window, but like as I'm backing up to go... Well, you can't all do that. Why not? Well, I'm not shooting anybody. Okay, well try to think of this in a timeline sense. So, Ingrid's shouting, "Okay, go," but you realize that there's a sequence of actions. So it would take a couple seconds for each one of you to act, and if you have like maybe a couple of seconds before this thing wriggles its way in, maybe, you know, maybe five or six, you're all still standing there firing instead of anyone retreating.

Okay, Jo will just go. Jo's going to start to climb the ladder. Ingrid, what spell are you going to fire? Lightning Strike. Okay. And that's at the Alpha, I'm guessing. Whatever one is, I can see. Okay, so that's the Alpha. Okay, that's werewolf Alpha. Got it. Okay. That is a crit. Yes. Excellent, because that does target both of them as that one, an enemy of your choice, other than the target within 10 squares of the target, takes lightning damage equal to your Dexterity modifier. So let's do Alpha first. Okay, that is 13 damage. Okay, and our Beta Dude. So two damage to the, yeah, two damage to the smaller one.

Because that was a crit, this Alpha is going to recoil as lightning courses through its body, and you're going to see its facial features twist in agony. It's going to let loose this howl. And just for a second, it's going to almost go limp in the window. What would you guys like to do? Run. So Ingrid's going to make for the ladder? Ingrid is going to be making for the ladder. That was her shot for cover. Ingrid is going to start to climb this ladder. Sora? Okay, so I have, I don't know if it's technically a spell. It's called Covering Volley, and it's a burst, each creature in the burst.

Well, you can only see the one is the problem. So the other one would have total concealment to you, basically. Right, okay. That's okay. And I'm a little confused on the wording. Well, this is basically if you're in combat. I'm reading it now. So this would basically be a thing where if you're in combat, this is you covering for someone else. So if you were to stand your ground and help someone else escape, you could use that. But if you're retreating too, you wouldn't be able to. Okay, then I think I'm just gonna run up. So Sora's gonna make for the ladder.

Now let's see how this wolf does at the door. The wolf is going to continue to rake at this door. And do me a favor, party, roll a perception check for me. Josephine and Elorath are going to hear this door start to fall away. And you're guessing that the wolf has finally started to make some real headway. And at the very least, has torn a hole in it. Now let's go back to the window. The wolf is going to regain its composure in the window. And finally tear away at the boards leading inside. And you're going to hear most of this window give way as it bursts its way indoors.

And you can hear it move across the living area toward that ladder very quickly. Is everybody up? Everybody is up now. Play on that door. Block the fuck out of it. Everybody stand on top of it. Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop the door. Oh don't you fucking dare, Jason, don't you fucking dare. I was gonna say, come on, we have to see if the wolf gets in. wolf that gets in. I don't want to be in this attic anymore!