| Session Date | February 26, 2022 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party exited the dungeon into the cold but bright midday sun. They made their way without incident to the lair of the Golani, whom they found and seemed happy to see them even though they’d only been gone a few hours. It was happy to have them as guests again, and it went about its business, whatever that was.
As the day waned, it returned and seemed troubled. It was very quiet, it said, much quitter than it should be – no bird noise or anything else. Atticus decided to try to locate animals too see if the birds had left but determined that they were all there, just quiet in their trees. He then shifted to wolves and soon found that there was indeed one to the east, apparently lurking silently. Given it’s bearing, Hans cast a lightning bolt at it, a hit judging by the howls of pain. The party followed up the path of the bolt and soon found that it must’ve survived as there was no body.
Shortly, after, however, howls erupted on three sides of the party (north, east, and south). Apparently there were many wolves in the area and they’d been shadowing or watching the party. The party seems to have disrupted things as the howls seemed to be chaotic and confused. But then, a weird, shrill horn like sound blared form back in the Golani’s territory. The party fell back to investigate, only to find themselves shadowed by more of those red-eyed ravens. During the move back, Hans spotted and cast sleep on a single wolf, slipping over to slay it before continuing the quick movement back.
Before reaching the Golani’s lair, the party was suddenly attacked on three sides by over a dozen dire wolves. Burt quickly threw up a ring of fire to block them, though this merely resulted in a delay as the wolves fell back under missile fire. The party then resumed their retreat, pursued by wolves. They had time to discover the remains of the Golani, shredded to kindling by huge claws (far bigger than the wolves’).
The wolves now charged for a second attack, while Jarrik shot himself in the foot…again. A number were slowed by Hans but, worse, a new group of creatures charged in from the west. Burt threw up a second wall of fire, but the new creatures, Smilodons, simply leapt over the entire ring and into the party’s midst. A confused and bloody fight ensued which lasted a rather long time (and the Smilodons proved to be tough and effective fighters). Still, all were eventually slain with some notable wounds given to the party (a lot of crits!).
The party now made camp for the remainder of the night, taking the opportunity to skin the five Smilodons. During the night, ravens would sometimes appear, clearly watching the party. Bel did manage to shoot one down with her bow. Also during the night, weird and horrible screeches erupted at one time far above the party’s heads, accompanied by the beating of great wings. What this portended was unclear to any of the party.
The next day, the party made their way back to the dungeon to continue their explorations