Once awake, Deor will prepare to cover our flanks with Web and try to keep Gilraen, Lorliana, and Ghan in a defensible place.
Elfstan checks his weapons and makes sure he is ready.
Should we build up a fire? Who would be best at keeping the horses calm?
Ghân will cast Speak to Animals and tell the party horses not to panic or flee. We will protect them if they stay with us.
Given that Ghân has several 1st level spell slots spare, he will notify the party, then begin forming a defensive barrier of Entangles around the camp.
(This should cut down both on Wargs entering and horses fleeing…)
"There are times for fact-finding and times for sitting tight until we know what the enemy numbers and disposition are. I call this one of the latter times - I have few fears of being spotted by wargs, but more of their noses.
“By all means prepare a fire - wargs have no love of it. Now that Ghân has spoken to our horses we can hope that the steadier ones will help to keep the others calm.”
I presume the party picked defensible ground, as always, for making camp overnight. Thoroncir reassures the horses, as needed. He will initially be ready with his strongbow if any targets present themselves; he will resort to his longsword when and if the wargs get too close, and will of course keep Gilraen safe behind him.
He agrees that the party’s Elves ought to remain within our lines, at least for now.
If there is a fire going, Elfstan will build it up (using wood on hand). If there is no fire, he will get one going provided we have wood.
The fire gets built up. Brownie cannot count the numbers of swiftly moving shadowy shapes and Curu’s knife never begins to glow. This goes on for a good hour and even the horses settle down for the most part. This puts us past 4am and most of the party is dead on its feet. The wargs are still out there though. Brownie needs a rest and it is still two hours to dawn (Sunrise: 6:13am).
Those are some damned patient wargs.
Maybe we should just stay put, resume our watch schedule, and let people rest in shifts? We’d be a lot more vulnerable if we were attacked when we were spread out along a marshy trail while tired.
Elfstan mutters, “It does make you wonder what they are waiting for?”
A few moments later he adds, “Maybe they’re waiting for the werewolf that we killed. I sure hope they’re not waiting for another one.”
They are waiting until we are all tired out and unable to fight.
Elfstan, before you use that sword of yours, if you get a chance, use some of these. They have proved effective against Wargs already.
Mulligan hands across 6 of the +2 Silver bullets.
And…I’m sorry about the inn.
Wake me when they start.
Gilraen, “I think Mulligan is correct. I to will try to get some more sleep.”
Curu, “I will remain awake the rest of the night. I really don’t mine. Thoroncir, why don’t you stand down but try to sleep in your chain.”
Once his Entangles have run out, Ghân will get some sleep. He asks Brownie if she can watch a little longer (as she does sleep during the day).
Elfstan takes the special bullets and puts them in a pocket or pouch where they can be easily identified and grabbed.
“Thanks Mulligan. You are probably right, but the wargs are in for a rude surprise if they think they will find us unable to fight.”
“Ummm… about that other business. We can sort that out sometime when we’re not so tired or so surrounded by wargs. Please don’t lose any sleep over it. We have too many other reasons to lose sleep.”
Thoroncir will try to get some sleep, uncomfortable as he is in chainmail, with his weapons and shield close at hand. He quietly suggests that Princess Gilraen try to rest, as well.
After restudying his spent spells from earlier and preparing a couple new ones, Deor will catch a few winks.
1: Shield, Magic Missile, Burning Hands
2: Web, Invisibility
Who’s on watch? The elves?
Well, Curunauth did volunteer, but we were warned that he was of iffy reliability. Gil-Gandel or Miron, would you be good enough to take the (new) first watch with him?
July 30[sup]th[/sup]
The three elves take the watch until sunrise. The Hobbits, especially Mulligan actually got a decent amount of sleep and take over for at least a few more hours. It will be a late start today. By 8 am, Gilraen is up and ready and Deor follows her shortly. At this point Deor can do some real scouting via Folca. They determine that it is but 6 wargs moving around the group. After observing for about 30 minutes, Deor sees that about every 10 minutes or so a fresh warg joins the circling and one heads off.
Gil-Gandel is well rested at this point having actually got some rest before the Werewolf arrived around 9pm.
Thoroncir and Gwaelur are sleeping particularly soundly. Ghân looks like he will awaken soon.
Hmm, Mulligan is going to make a really aromatic, hearty breakfast on the campfire, ready for when everyone has woken up. The smell should also give the Wargs something to think about as well.
We could do with Folca following the Wargs back to whatever lair they have and finding out how many of them there are. Six Wargs is a small problem, twenty six could give us a serious problem.
Elfstan nods in agreement to this while helping himself to some breakfast.
“We haven’t got the Dwarves with us this time, but maybe we could start building some defenses anyway. Ghan’s hedge behind us had flaws but was still quite valuable, and I’ll bet he can make it nearly impenetrable given time to prepare it. Gwaelur could cut some stakes to help mitigate a head-on charge, Web worked well against wargs last time, and I’ll use Burning Hands as a last-ditch defense around the spellcasters if it comes to that.”
Deor will also use Shield on himself (and Lorliana, if the range is “touch”, not “self” to help get an extra edge on the wargs if they penetrate the lines. Folca, still Invisible, will do some scouting; those Wargs are way too organized. They must have a leader of some kind.