Ivar’s ready to go. How did the Enthrall work out? Are any townsfolk interested in coming with us?
Okay…
The Enthrall does inspire a number of the listeners - some of them even rush off to look for weapons, and a few of them actually come back with same. From the look of them, however, your thralls would be at least a match for them, maybe better. (But dead thralls would mean a short-handed ship.)
You are already carrying a few barrels of whale-oil on board as trade goods, and it’s easier to take a few pints of that than try to buy any at the moment. There is some glassware and pottery available to decant it into, just decide how much you would like to take.
Finding a wizard is out of the question in the hour or so you have available to prepare. There might possibly be one somewhere in Pevensey, but he certainly isn’t setting up shop in the marketplace. This is a small port, not a thriving metropolis. 
Rolf and Henrik are tooled-up (as far as your armoury, plus what they had already, allowed) in ring and shield, long sword and one-handed spear.
The messenger from Woolverton has nothing much to add. It’s anyone’s guess where these hideous creatures came from and he for one did not stop to enquire in too much detail. Concerning trade, Woolverton makes most of its money from the woolclip, but this may not be the right time for acquiring trade goods when you do get there.
After an hour or so you are ready for the off. Your few volunteers by this time are looking nervously at each other, no longer quite so sure that this is a good idea, and may be on the point of going to check if they turned the gas off. 
Osvald, meanwhile, feels vaguely comforted by his murmuring, though it has attracted him the occasional odd look - mind you, wizards are an odd bunch generally, so it’s hardly running counter to expectations.
One thing your volunteers can do is set you on the right road to Woolverton. It’s a well-made road of rammed earth with the occasional stone infill, running fairly straight inland across the marshes. A few miles ahead, the ground starts to rise towards rolling hills.
Press on! Steadily and carefully, because none of us are trackers or scouts, and we don’t want to get ambushed.
Ulf: Given the road runs along flat ground (giving good visibility) and the monsters are described as larger than human, we should march briskly. We don’t want to arrive as the evening mist is rising. As I like to say ‘always do the business of the day in the day.’
Also some of our volunteers should know the road.
Ulf is rather keen to see if these monsters are related to bears - the other Vikings already know one of his Berserk attacks resembles a Bear, and he tells them he’s hoping to wear a Bear Totem.
We make sure our volunteers are behind us. We intend to do all the dangerous stuff - they can act as witnesses and helping clear up the mess afterwards.
Ulf decides that the volunteers need inspiring. Since there is no Skald available, he makes up a stirring song himself… :eek:
The Norsemen sailed into Pevensey Bay
Hurrah! Hurrah!
At first it seemed they’d just stay for a day
Hurrah! Hurrah!
Then their Rune-Priest made a stirring speech
About how Woolverton was not out of reach
And we all came along … singing this marching song!
(Listening to this noise, Ulf realises: I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me. )
“Yes, we need go fast . . . Get away from Ulf song.” Jorund is marching with his hammers in both hands but is still trying to cover his ears with the hammer heads.
It is early afternoon by the time the swift-marching party arrives in Woolverton. Normally they might be alarmed at the sudden arrival of ten armed men, most of whom are plainly Vikings, but it seems as though today they have used up all their alarm on larger matters. The town square looks like a charnel-house, with the smashed timbers of a number of sheepfolds mingled in with the bloody remnants of a mass slaughter of sheep and men alike. There is general weeping, lamenting and gnashing of teeth.
Eventually you find someone who is able to give you some of the story. The sheep were all penned for shearing, and the day’s work was just getting under way, when a number of strange creatures burst into town. Despite their size they were inhumanly swift. They fell first on the sheep and then on any who got in their way, rending flesh and bone with their huge claws and… beaks? Yes, your Saxonish is a little halting but it seems that he really means it. Although the creatures were furry and looked a little bearlike, instead of a muzzle they had a great beak like a bird of prey.
When they had eaten their fill, and killed many times more than they could eat, one of them hooted loudly and the rest followed, some still carrying parts of their kill in their beaks. They were headed into the hill country. There are many bloody footprints in and around the market square, and footmarks in the trampled earth as well, looking like the heavy clawed feet of a bear. Sometimes, your informant tells you, they went on all fours (slower than a galloping horse, but as quick as a man could run, for all that), but they reared up to fight.
I kinda remember something called an Owlbear but I don’t remember anything about it
“Maybe no good idea to chase at night. We camp and find when sun not bye bye? . . . No mead tonight need gaurd” Jorund looks around at the prints and tries to figure out how big these critters are by comparing there prints to his foot
Oredigger77, you are spot on … from memory Owlbears (the result of a deranged Wizard’s experiment) have two paw attacks (plus automatic squeeze if both hit) and a beak attack. They are very dangerous, especially once the paws lock on.
They count as Large and their thick fur counts as roughly Chain Mail.
DM, how much do our characters know of such monsters?
I assume anyway that Ulf can prepare to fight a Large creature (with his Pole Axe ), just from the villagers’ descriptions.
Ulf asks loudly: “Is there a tracker here in Woolverton?” and then “How many of these creatures were there?”
He continues to the party: “If we can’t reach the hill country before mist or darkness comes, then I fully agree with Jorund that we don’t want to fight these at night. However the tracks of huge ravenous meat-eaters should be easy to follow, even if we set out first thing tomorrow morning. Also they may hole up and sleep after eating their fill, so we may even surprise them.”
DM, can we expect to reach the hill country in daylight?
We can get ‘Ivar’s followers’ to help clear up the devastation. They won’t need to follow us into hill country, partly because it’s dangerous and partly because they are far more use here.
Perhaps we should talk with the Town’s leaders/council or something.
We can certainly offer to tackle these monsters on behalf of the town.
They could tell us if they have a tracker, or anyone who knows anything about the Monsters or the Hill Country they went into.
Woolverton sounds more like a village to me, though…probably specialisng in cider
Osvald is carrying one lantern full of the whale oil, unlit, and has given one to Henrik and Redbeard then (Might as well put them both to use). He has also filled up 2 Glass Jars with tops (I’m picturing a Mason Jar here) procured from the Village with nothing but the oil. These he keeps on Henrik.
He then explains his idea to Bjarni, his friend, to pass on to Ulf. “It’s rather simple really- as a small boy I used to love the stories of great adventurers and of lore. This idea came to me from that- the story of Thromstrung BurningSword, though some called him Thromstrung BurningAx- but I’ve always heard it as BurningSword, and I do like my mum’s versions more than the other accounts. But it is a topic of great debate- Ax vs. Sword? An ancient one that goes back to the days of first- when man first gazed upon a beast and said- do I poke it? Or do I slice it? Modern scholars feel that the Ax may be a more difficult tool to wield and so- Bah!
I digress!
Anyways, in the Tale of our brave Thromstrung BurningSword, he employed a rather cunning trick. He took his sword- and well, as you might guess- he swing it at a rather large and evil ruler’s armored boar and as it struck the armor of the boar- Lo and behold! The darn sword caught fire! He then used his flaming sword to soundly defeat the boar- and then was easily able to prepare dinner for the poor thralls that night as well! All in one fell swoop!”
Osvald grins brightly at the conclusion of his tale into the puzzled faces of Ulf and Bjarni. Obviously, his storytelling needs a bit of work.
"Hmrhm… Well, the point being. We may be in a similar situation. If we are dealing with a wizard’s twisted experiments here (although a highly fascinating one- Imagine an Owl’s wisdom combined with the strength of a Bear! If you could only get one to fly! Oi ! But I’m sure it’d be a pain to train such a beast. The logistics of its feeding habits alone!)- anyways- the Owlbear. I believe it is a highly armored creature and a highly dangerous one- but it DOES have a thick shaggy coat of fur. And fur, my Viking brothers, is flammable.
I propose that as we get closer to these Owlbears, that you coat your swords with lantern oil, and if they charge you, we can use the lanterns to ignite your weapons and perhaps give them a good fright- as if they are related to the Owls, their vision may become impaired by the onset of such bright lights as well.
As for THESE Jars, : Osvald gestures to the Mason jars: Henrik will carry them, and if we find ourselves onset by several of these owliebears, he will hurl the jars into them, and then 'tis but a simple matter to cast Flaming Sphere. I believe the oil will catch on them, and we should be able to soundly defeat the creatures then if they are covered in oil, as I do have to move the flaming ball around. This would increase the potency and the efficiency of my spell! It was something I always wanted to try in School, but the headmaster forbid it! Saying such spells were not meant to be tampered with especially near school grounds, and especially with the addition of volatile chemicals. Oh, I can’t wait to find out what would happen and report back to him on my theories of Oil and Flaming Sphere combinations!"
With that gleeful excitement, Osvald finishes his spiel to Bjarni. Osvald himself has forgotten about the dangers they are about to face, as he is wrapped up in the excitement of possibly advancing his studies and theories even further. But only for a minute, as the sobering face of his friend, Bjarni, bring him back down to reality.
Does Osvald know anything extra about the Owlbears from his days in the Wizarding Academy?
Ivar’s ready to go. Chant, Bless, and Spiritual Weapon are all ready to go if we get into a fight. Try not to use more than one per fight; we may have many. Use healing spells as necessary.
“What wrong me hammer? Me bash it no move . . . Hammer good no make blood . . . just ooze”
Certainly - they were taller even than the big man in your party when they stood upright, and far heavier built. You seem to have studied owlbears quite thoroughly at berserker school, I think you have the description down pat. Who knows which of your instructors had heard of them before? They’re barely even known by reputation in the northlands.
There is a tracker to be had - he is being sent for. It may take the rest of the day to find him though. Accounts differ as to how many of the horrors there were, but the consensus is about six or seven.
You could, if you left now and relied on your own efforts to follow the trail, but it is true that none of you are trackers (neither Rolf nor Henrik can help you out there) and if you lost the trail then you would presumably be stuck in the middle of nowhere in a strange country with nowhere to camp and an uncertain number of anthropophagous aberrations on the loose.
You’ll get no argument whatever on that.
“Tracker good . . . me no like loss . . . maybe we help clean and stop baddies from come back . . . we find baddies tomorrow?”
Ulf: Osvald, it is wonderful that you have these ideas and long may they continue.
However please be very wary of loading up both our bodyguards (which is their ‘use’!) with anything.
See how they do with spear and shield first.
Ulf: Sadly you miss a couple of points:
- neither Ulf nor Jorund use Swords
- the Owlbears love to clasp their opponents and squeeze the life out of them; if they are on fire, their victims will likely take extra damage
Ulf: As I said, don’t turn your valuable bodyguard into a porter!
You also need to check if Henrik is good at missile work - what if he accidently splashes one of us and then a flaming Owlbear attacks?!
Remember that there are many of these beasts and that we move around in combat - I always stay over 10 feet away from Jorund, for example.
I think that your idea is great with the right circumstances.
Suppose we are ambushing enemies from above. We pour oil on them and your Flaming Sphere lights it.
Ulf is with Jorund.
The villagers can provide a tracker for first thing tomorrow. They advise us not to risk getting lost in the hills overnight.
We’ve brought some men to help clear up and we ourselves provide security and the chance of defeating the monsters.
We have done well for Woolverton! 
Bjarni, are you happy setting watches for the night and going tracking, armed for (Owl)bear, first thing tomorrow?
(DM, please can I check something. Berserkers can enter rage once per day l;er level, right? Is there an minimum interval between rages?)
Osvald looks around from his papers( in which he has written out his ideas of Owlbear’s flammability and proper oil igniting techniques), “Hmm? No swords? Ermm. Oh. Oh dear. Well. And clasping and squeezing you say? But… but… oh drat!”
Osvald sighs dejectedly and puts away his papers into the folds of his robes. I suppose you have a valid point there, Ulf. If Bjarni wants to light his blade, he will be fine to do so. But perhaps you are right about the whole hurling Oil idea. Though I really really wanted to be able to record the effects of flammable liquids onto a spell such as that- I suppose it will have to wait until a better moment… I suppose I could use several color sprays to knock about a few of the owlies. And maybe we can just use the fire technique if we get in over our heads, perhaps just to scare them off. And my flare should blind them quite nicely if they DO have the vision of owls and they get too close to me." The wizard looks a bit dejected in not noticing the oversight of what weaponry is being used… Though he does begin to wonder about the idea of a flaming Hammer for the future. This thought does cheer him up as he loses his thoughts on the logistics of such a device and how it could work.
Is the terrain Webable? Ie: are there lots of trees about? Or are we traveling on open plains and fields?
Ulf consoles Osvald, saynig that his Flaming Sphere idea is still potentially superb in the right setting.
Note that Colour Spray will only affect one Owlbear, blinding it for 1d4 rounds. (The DM will rule if it gets a save.)
Still useful, but perhaps not as powerful as you’d hoped…