Winter Worg
Log Info
- Title: Winter Worg
- Emitter: Cryosanthia
- Characters: Braelnoir 4, Felicia 6, Nels 4
- Place: W02: The Wilderness
- Time: Tuesday, March 03, 2020, 9:38 PM
- Summary: Maori hires Felicia, Braelnoir and Nels to capture a Winter Worg for her so she can use her to breed deluxe Riding Wolf starter packages with her beloved Nif. She equips the team with some tranquilized bait, and hunting scents, and suggest they go look around a dark forest at night. They do so. Nels finds tracks and they set the bait out, then dose themselves with the 'harmless' scent, and wait. The Winter Worg spots them before they spot her, but they are ignored in preference to the bait. The team finally spot her when she's eating, and realizes she has two heads. The tranquilizers almost work, making the Worg drowsy but aggressive, and a fight ensues. Felicia is attacked, Nels discovers this Worg has a breath weapon when it blows up her skirt, and Braelnoir favours her right paw. They take the bear sized wolf down, and get her back to Maori, who is thrilled to pieces.
- APL: 4.6
- Encounter: CR7 Two Headed Winter Worg 3,200 XP
W02: The Wilderness-------------------------------------
The path from the village eventually narrows somewhat, with the trees on either side becoming more populous. Moss hangs from large stones that sit surrounded by beds of leaves that has accumulated over the years.
A few trails wander in varied directions though eventually even these woods will thicken. One particular trail carries with it the scent of natural brimstone...this trail wanders north and westward, where the trees grow thick once more. To the east, it's rumored that the druids have built a sacred site.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Braelnoir 5'11" 246 Lb Silver Chimera Female A rough and tumble brunette wielding a scythe and a feral grin. Felicia 6'5" 280 Lb Hobgoblin Female Red Arvek w/ black hair Nels 3'7" 42 Lb Goblin Female Tall, for a goblin, and athletic. Close-cut black hair. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
The Flashback
A vague advertisment in the Explorer's Guild sent prospective adventurers to the outskirts of Merkabah, to meet with the patron. It turned out not to be related to the recently opened ruins. Instead, some sort of capture or fetch quest.
The party meets with Maori, an overly large goblin with a very wide smile and a mouth full of pointed teeth. Which she is always showing off. She has slicked back, black hair, knotted into a ponytail, and is dressed in well worn leather armour that has a lot of gnaw marks, especially on the arms and ankles. Although truth be told, it looks like the entirety of her has been a chew-toy at some point.
"Hiiiiiiiiii." Maori slides into view, from the canopy to her shop, and drops down onto Nif, her giant worg. She straddles his neck and sprawls on his head, leaning between the ears. Nif is well trained, when she points at someone, the worg moves to look directly at them, allowing Maori to do the same. The effect is almost like she's swivelling in a giant director's chair. Except the chair is a giant wolf who can break bones as casually as she is reclining.
"So, here's what I want you to do. I want to sell Deluxe Riding Worg starter packages, so I need a delux bitch. I've heard there's one in the forests north of Alexandria. Go git her!'
"I've got some bait, and some scent maskers. The bait has a tranq, so if she eats it, she'll fall asleep, pretty soon. The scent masks are, bait, without a tranq, so she'll attack you. Nif, which should make her... hmm. not sure. And let's see..."
"If I give you heat you'll just get male wolves and I don't need those... hmmm... prey. It's to make you smell harmless, so she should ignore you. Yeh. Any questions?"
Felicia listens to the entire speech....and makes it a point to inspect her mace. "And if the tranquilizers don't work." She then smirks....which looks like more of a sneer from the Arvek priestess. "I imagine you don't want it's head caved in though."
Nels erms as she finds out just what this mission is. She's a city goblin, though she doesn't look particularly goblinlike just at the minute, and while she -could- ride a wolf, it'd have to be a pretty big one. But one thing is bothering her. "Uh, if we smell harmless, won't she eat us?"
"No." Maori shakes her head, then Nif shakes her. She grins, "You can beat her around a little, no permanent damage that can't be healed. Stun her if you can, y'know, the not so lethal taps. If she eats the bait, she should drop, pretty soon. Yeah."
"Weeellll... she might, if you're up in her face attacking, but if you're far away? It could work. Worgs is pretty smart. It'll kind of be like invisibility to her, she'll think you're not dangerous, until you show you are."
"So a riding Warg. All right." Felicia says as she puts her mace back on her belt. "For goblin operations in Merkabah, right?"
Nels looks down at her gun, and admits, "I'm kind of a one trick pony, so I hope this bait thing works." She slings the gun over her shoulder and says, "So, what do we actually do? I'm not very outdoorsy. If you need help on an airship, or with guns, that I can do."
"Well, eventually. Nif has to make puppies, I have to sell 'em. Gobbers gotta raise them right and train them. They wanna take them into Merkabah that's up to them. One worg bitch for the ruins wouldn't be effective use of time and skills." Maori explains.
She looks over at Nels, "Well, I give you the stuff, you go set the trap, catch her and bring her back. I can handle here. Got my big cage!"
Braelnoir considers the mission and looks down at her paws for a moment, idly extending and retracting her claws, "This should be inter'stin." She looks to Nels with a nod, then the Arvek, she wonders, "You do any magic, luv?"
Nels says, hesitantly, "Well, I'll give it a try. I'm no ranger, but I'll do what I can."
Felicia says, "Mostly blessings. Vanguard of Serriel. We can knock it out if the tranq fails.""
"Okay!" The goblin grins with all her teeth. Maori hands over a map which is borderline useless. It shows Merkabah, the current area, the Tornmwar River, the Redridge mountains, Alexandria and the forest north of it. The forest has a big circle with 'try here' written beside it.
She indicates a sack, helpfully labelled 'trappin' supplies', which contains some wrapped up meat, and several potion like bottles which have scribbled labels: bait, prey, Nif, and other.
"S'okay, so, any more questions?"
Felicia says, "Nah. I think we can do it."
Braelnoir nods, glancing at the client, then back to the Vanguard, "She'n I got affected by some bad mojo." she explains with a wave of a paw toward Nels, "It gets... wierd if you try and dispel magic on us." Ahem, "It's bein' worked on, though."
"Neat!" Maori makes finger pistol gestures at Braelnoir and Nels, "Seeya..."
Nels looks over the useless map and the bag of supplies. She looks to Felicia and Braelnoir, and asks, "Are either of you trackers? That'd help a bit." She nods as Braenoir explains about their curse. "Yeah, I'm not really horrible like this."
The Now
Somewhere in the forest north of Alexandria. The trip was uneventful. The sky is clear and the moon rising, giving some light, certainly helping those with darkvision and low-light vision. There is snow on the trees and the ground, and tracks of various small animals. It's within the 'try here' circle, but that covers a lot of real acreage.
Nels looks around for large wolves. It's about all she can do. She does wonder, "Are we supposed to douse ourselves now, or when we've found her and want to approach? Is there enough for a while? I have no idea when we might find her."
The scent of the bait is very pungent. Even wrapped up, the sack stinks. There is a breeze, and it's likely carried some distance. Placing it will likely increase the odor, but even carrying it might be a risk.
Felicia says, "the best I can say is....find a good place to set the bait, put the scent on and hide by a nearby tree."
To Find Tracks GAME: Nels rolls survival: (20)+1: 21 GAME: Felicia rolls survival: (4)+3: 7 GAME: Braelnoir rolls survival: (9)+5: 14
"Can give it a try, I suppose." the chimera replies, "Think we should douse ourselves, first, 'fore we enter her turf. Then once we're there we probably oughta split t'three directions just in case any nasty only hits one of us at a time, and we can still react."
Nels nods about dosing ourselves, and she'll do that as she looks aroud, spotting the best point for wolfbaiting lure positioning, and she points out to the others, "If we put it there, it'd be awesome." This is entirely based on guesswork, but it sounds legit. Sort of.
Through some innate ability Nels found some very big wolf paw prints. Perhaps she had been staring at Nif's paws. These look about the right size. She also finds what looks like a kill from a few days ago. Namely a bloody spot with some rib bones, mostly picked clean"
Felicia follows what Nels says. She's trained for warfare...not hunting or tracking anything.
Braelnoir focuses on her magic sleeves and shifts her garment into sort of deep blue-grey wrappings around her body as they get near the indicated area, so an errant gleam of her limbs in the moonlight doesn't give them away. She frowns at the wierd sensation of constraint at having her tailtips bound together, but and hunkers down to fours and starts to spread out once she's properly doused with the scent-concealment.
The party spreads out. They don't want to be too far away, nor too close. Maori seemed vague about how effective the bait would be. 'Soon', was her timeframe for how quickly it would act. Felicia decides to position herself downwind from the bait, approximately 30' away. Braelnoir chooses a similar position, off to an angle and at a 40' distance. Nels decides to stick with Felicia, and climb the tree she's stationned at.
Nels climbing a tree GAME: Nels rolls athletics: (19)+9: 28 Percep and Stealth rolls GAME: Felicia rolls perception: (10)+3: 13 GAME: Felicia rolls stealth: (19)+-3: 16 GAME: Braelnoir rolls perception: (8)+0: 8 GAME: Braelnoir rolls stealth: (16)+1: 17 GAME: Nels rolls perception+2: (10)+7+2: 19 GAME: Nels rolls stealth+2: (15)+8+2: 25
Nels will scale the tree that Felicia's hiding behind. This is challenging in a dress, but she's also a guy, so some of the things that would challenge a girl do not challenge Nels. She is not very ladylike, then, but on the other hand, she is very agile, and at this height, the limbs are all closer so she can get into position more easily.
Felicia stays at the base of the tree....but she sits down...making sure she has the shield facing where the bait is. Whether she's seen ot not, she thinks very defensively.
Winter Worg rolling 1 stealth, 1 perception, 1 sense motive in that order. GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+10: (10)+10: 20 GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+13: (8)+13: 21 GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+3: (4)+3: 7
The bait is set. Now, the waiting commences.
Nothing seems to move, there is no sound. The air is still and clear. Time passes without mark, the moon slowly moving across the sky. There is a slight and occasional breeze, but nothing more.
Nels, looking down from her perch on the tree sees some tracks she was sure weren't there before. Large footprints come close to the tree she's in, opposite the side that Felicia is on. They head over to where Braelnoir is crouched down, then angle towards the bait.
Something is eating the bait!
It's hard to see. It's huge, it's white. It looks like two wolves at first, but no. One worg, larger than Nif, with two heads, is tearing into the meat set for it.
Nels watches the wolf eat the bait. "So far, so good," she whispers. And now to wait and see how long it takes her to fall over. Hopefully Maori got the dose right!
Nels uhms after a moment, though, and adds, "Is it supposed to have two heads?"
Braelnoir blinks. Huh. Maybe that's a dry-run for their artifice troubles, she thinks. She slows her breathing through her nose and waits, trying not to disturb anything. Concentrating on keeping her tail still is a little distracting, though, so she didn't notice the thing arrive until it was on top of the bait and getting it's grub on. Come on, Sleepy....
Felicia looks up...then over to find the warg having.....two heads. "Hopefully.....two heads only means one stomach and the sedative works on both heads.....
The worg chows down, devouring it all, then snuffling around in the snow. She's big, and she seems still hungry. One head is down, sniffing the snow. The other is looking around.
Winter Worg fort save against the bait GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+9: (1)+9: 10 (EPIC FAIL)
The bait seems to taking effect, the white worg staggers sideways. The formulation might not have matched correctly, and it's larger than Maori expected. Instead of dropping, it has an adrenaline surge, a lethargic adrenaline surge, making it twitchy and clumsy. The heads bump into each other, but they focus on Felicia, the closest prey, who has a faint bait scent in her direction.
The Winter Worg lopes towards her, snarling.
GAME: Felicia rolls weapon1: (3)+7: 10
Felicia's ready for the staggered charge towards her. It's staggering enough though, that her mace whiffs against one of its heads. On the bright side...she has the worg's attention.
GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+10: (6)+10: 16 Cold breath weapon attack, 15' cone, DC17 Reflex half, 6d6 damage GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 6d6: (17): 17 GAME: Nels rolls reflex: (10)+5: 15 GAME: WinterWorg damaged Nels for 15 points. 22 HP remaining.
The winter wolf lumbers forward, heads snarling. She sways as Felicia swings, and is missed. Her left-head goes in for a bite, and scrapes her teeth across her shield. Her second head, the one on the right, is still hangry. It didn't get as much food, and while it all ends up in the same belly, she still felt cheated. Still, there's something delicious hiding up off the ground. She can smell it! Opening her mouth, she belches a cone of freezing air up the tree, targeting Nels and her delicious smelling bag.
GAME: Braelnoir rolls melee: (3)+7: 10
As the worg suddenly rushes off toward her cohort, Brae breaks into a loping charge that starts quadrapedal before she gets fully upright and, with an inarticulate war cry, she brings her left paw up to try and rake the creature across the side with her claws, but misjudges things in the lighting.
Subdual attack with a non-subdual weapon at the normal -4 GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+11-4: (9)+11+-4: 16 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+1: (8)+1: 9 Non-Lethal
Nels acks as the hungry and angry wolf comes charging at us. This was what she'd been afraid of happening, the goblin that hired them had made it sounds a bit too easy. And that's how it plays out. Events play out right below her, first as an icy breeze goes up her skirt, and then she's scampering around, not that there's any cover up here. She's got to do something, though, and she pulls out a round from her ammo bag, pours the powder down the barrel, but she drops the lead ball back in her bag. She snags an acorn from the tree, loads it in, and packs it with the paper cartridge, ramming it home and shooting the wolf in the back. The acorn shatters, but it looks like it hasn't done permanent harm, which was her intent. So there's that.
Subdual -4 for my mace. GAME: Felicia rolls weapon1-4: (7)+7+-4: 10
Felicia still has the wolf in front of her, but her swings are rather ineffective. She was also trying to avoid the frosty breath as well. Looked like it hurt.
left head attacks Felicia, right attacks Braelnoir. GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+10: (10)+10: 20 GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+10: (6)+10: 16
The WinterWorg yelps and staggers as the acorn explodes on her back. Her heads whip around to see where the attack came from and smack each other with a 'thok'. All her eyes are tiny, and angry, and she snaps and snarls at her two immediate assailants. Her left head goes after Felicia, her right one, after Braelnoir.
Snap! Snap!
She bites air both times.
Braelnoir shift 5' to set up flanking with Felicia, mitigate the -4 non-lethal penalty GAME: Braelnoir rolls melee-2: (6)+7+-2: 11 GAME: Braelnoir rolls melee-2: (18)+7+-2: 23 GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d6+3: (5)+3: 8 Non-Lethal
Braelnoir seeing things going south insofar as naptime hasn't set in, yet, and the quarry is full of bad breath and attitude, Brae shhifts her position to try and grant the Arvek a better chance to strike, "Try'n keep 'er between us!" she calls as the first caw swipe ruffles flank fur, then the second scores a fairly telling slash to the flesh beneath.
GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+11-4: (12)+11+-4: 19 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+1: (8)+1: 9 Non-Lethal
Nels frantically cleans out the barrel of her thunderbelcher and drops another cartridge of powder down the barrel. Another lead ball in his ammo pouch and another acorn down the barrel. Packed in with the paper cartridge wrapper and rammed home, she aims directly below her and fires, BLAM, another acorn shattered against the mighty wolf.
GAME: Felicia rolls weapon1-2: (16)+7+-2: 21 GAME: Felicia rolls 1d8+2: (7)+2: 9 Non-Lethal
"Got it." Felicia says as she lands a solid smack on the head that's attacking her. She doesn't follow through with the hit though......and the head flumps forward. "One down!"
Right head is breathing on Braelnoir. 15' Cold Cone, 6d6, DC 19 Reflex half GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 6d6: (19): 19 GAME: Braelnoir rolls reflex: (9)+4: 13 GAME: WinterWorg damaged Braelnoir for 19 points. 22 HP remaining.
The Winter Worg is assaulted on all sides. She growls as Braelnoir's paws hit her, yelps again as something explodes on her back. Both heads are snarling when Felicia lands a blow, then only one is, as the left head slumps down. Twisting, the right head breathes a chilling blast that engulfs the silver chimera, spreading frost across her scales.
Braelnoir's plan, nonlethal swipe-swipe GAME: Braelnoir rolls melee-2: (4)+7+-2: 9 GAME: Braelnoir rolls melee-2: (17)+7+-2: 22 GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d6+3: (5)+3: 8 Non-Lethal
Braelnoir growls a tight cry of pain through her teeth as she gets a subzero facial, and a valuable lesson in what the cold tolerance limits are for her transformed state. Still blinking frozen mist out of her face as she makes her first swipe under the chin of the breathing head, she brings the other paw up and over to slash down along the brow and muzzles of the second head with what seems to be at least enough oomph to knock it unconscious as well, leaving the beast to fall into a heap in the snow.
The Winter Worg collapses onto the snow with a huge whumf, spraying flurries. Only when it is still can her full size be appreciated. She is bear-sized, with two heads lying with jaws agape, tongues lolling out. Her fur is white, and she has a rime of frost around both muzzles. Her eyes are closed now, but when they were open they were pale blue, almost white in color.
It... she, is a bear sized wolf! How are they supposed to drag that home to Maori!
"Great job. Now let's get it tied up." Felicia says before putting a hand on Braelnoir's shoulder...and chants a prayer to Serriel to heal her.
Nels climbs down from the tree, will bind the muzzles shut so it can't bite, then bind the paws. "So, do we carry this back, then? Or how do we get it back?"
Braelnoir shivers under the touch and sighs, smiling back to the woman, "Thanks, luv." On seeing Nel's contribution, she nods approvingly, "Good thinkin'. May wanna get the legs, too." She folds her arms and rests her chin on the back of her wrist, "We could probably rig a litter an drag it back. Hopefully it'll be napping long enough so it won't start thrashing while we're draggin' it."
"Yeah...we carry it back." Felicia says placing her hand on Nel's shoulder...chanting a prayer to heal her. "Unless you'd rather wait till it wakes up and ride it back." She says with a smirk. "If you want to go that route, go for it...braelnoir and I will.....watch from a distance."
Nels is, ironically, accustimed to wolf riding, but she says, "I'll ride them, but I don't know much about breaking wild ones, so let's do the litter and carry her back!" She'll breathe a sigh of relief at the healing, murmuring, "Thanks," and will build a litter as best she can.
The Aftermath
Maori is positively ecstatic, she claps her hands in glee! "This is better than I imagined! She didn't give you any trouble, did she? Gotta get the big cage! Nif! Come check her out!"
Maori is big for a goblin, higher than waist high, but she is lost against the white behemoth. She scrambles, climbing on her back and checking her over. "Looks like the bait worked and you didn't have to beat her up too much. Nice!"
She grins, beady eyes and sharp teeth, "If you want pups, I'll def give you a discount! Maybe hire you to catch some more too. Great job!"
The Winter Worg is still out. The bait did seem to work, once she fell unconscious. She's been a shallow breathing lump the whole trip back.
"I ever need some, I'll keep ya'n mind, luv." Brae replies, by now back to her normal attire. These sleeves are great! She considers the beast and the damage she did, and didn't do, and nods to herself.
"You're lucky I didn't have to use Serriel's blessings against her." Felicia says as she actually calls on a blessing to heal the worg....once the cage is secure that is. "Be careful though. This one breathes ice."
"Ice? Oooo. Oh that's wicked!" Maori peers, then whips her head back around, "I'll keep her well fed. Set up a blast zone around her cage. Yeh! In summer I'll sell cold air. Nice."
Nels is panting hard by the time we get the wolf back, and rests, bent over, hands on knees, catching her wind back. "Gah, it took forever lugging her back." She nods about a pup, though, "That'd be pretty cool. I had a wolf before, just a bought one, though, and it got killed a couple months ago on a Guild mission.
Maori looks concerned and sad at that news, "It happens. I might not sell you one if you think it'll happen again. I want the pups to have it good, only fight things they can beat. This one, I'm looking forward to hers! Nif, you got a lot cut out."
Her less-giant, giant worg, Barks happily.
Braelnoir nods, "Some fights just go that way." she says with a shrug, then she adds, "So, looks like ya want a safe zone a little better than five yards fer that breath, luv."
"Thanks! I might need to move the shop. Better git it set before she wakes. She's gonna be upset and blasty until she learns I'm the one with the food and she's not going anywhere." Maori thinks aloud. "I better get started on that! Here's the paper for the Guild so they know the job is done to pay ya. Gonna be busy busy!"
"For Blar!" She adds somewhat ironically, saluting Felicia.
Nels admits, "Well, we got ambushed, and I couldn't ride him away or get clear in time. I don't want a wolf to get killed, either, but what can you do? If it helps, we killed the thing that killed him. Won't bring the wolf back, I know, but ... " She nods about a safe zone. "Fifteen feet, at least. It got me clear up in a tree!"
"Okay! And, wow that sounds rough." Maori listens to Nels' explanation, "Good you got it."
Felicia's mace comes up in a salute to Maori. "For Blar!" Ironic or not....she'll recognize the salute.
"A'ight, then, time I headed back.... that bait smelled too damned good, an I'm hungry." the chimera remarks, lifting a paw to wave, "Night, luv, g'luck with the beastie!" and, with that, she's on her weay back home to ravage some beef. Or venison... or... whatever the Fern's got, tonight.
"Bye!"The not-so-little goblin waves vigorously.
Then Maori rushes inside, where she can be heard giving directions, "Three yards, that's fifteen feet, not fourteen and a half. Hell, make it sixteen. Actually, let's move the shop. Yeah, and get some paint..."
Tribute
Cryosanthia says, "Maori is the character of a friend of mine who passed away in 2013 from brain cancer when she was 28 years old. Maori was from a tabletop game that lasted about 2 years. Almost her signature character, she was very into Changelings. Using her here is a tribute to her, she would have loved playing here I think, and one of the last things she said was remember her in the games. She was amazing. Her art was amazing. I've got a few pictures she made of Maori about, I'll try to upload them somewhere that makes sense."