As the adventures are traveling, they are startled to see a female figure in flowing white robes being chased by a Dire Wolf. The chase takes place about a hundred yards away, and both are moving quickly. The female is running as fast as she can, getting scraped up by thorns and/or branches along the way, not to mention getting her robes snagged and ripped. The dire wolf simply powers through any vegetation, trying to get to her. Every so often the woman manages to turn around and fire a couple of arrows at the wolf, but it keeps charging after her.
After giving the description of the chase, the player characters should be running after them to assist. Just as they get close enough for any ranged attacks to reach the dire wolf, the woman reaches the edge of a small cliff, drops her bow, pulls out a long sword, and then turns to face the dire wolf. Immediately as she turns to face the wolf, it charges into her and the two tumble over the edge, out of sight of the player characters.
As the player characters reach the edge of the small cliff, they see below (about 30 feet) the woman pulling herself out from under the motionless dire wolf, obviously tired and scraped up. When the players get down the cliff (an easy roll), they see her leaning back onto the large wolf, with her sword wedged into its body. The wolf is breathing faintly, and will obviously die within the next few moments. If anyone attempts to kill off the wolf, the woman stops them, saying that it is her kill. She then extends out her hand, wanting the player character to give her a weapon (even if it’s just a dagger) so she can finish off the beast.
Later, after retrieving her sword, she explains that she and her brother were traveling to the next city when their wagon was ambushed by three shifters and a dire wolf. The dire wolf chased her several hundred yards, and she’s sure that the shifters got her brother. She will then plead with the player characters for help, if they don’t offer first.
When the player characters get to the ambush site, they see an overturned wagon with a few supplies scattered around it. The wagon is at the beginning of a ravine, creating a nice ambush-worthy corridor for the players to walk into. The area is scattered with patches of tall grass, providing good concealment (make sure that the patches of grass are visible on the map). Almost immediately, the PC’s notice in one particular tall patch of grass (down the corridor) someone punching another person (repeatedly) on the ground. It’s all very hard to see because of the grass.
Assuming the players either start a fight, or try to get closer, the woman freaks out and hides under the wagon. Apparently, she can’t handle this. As the players move forward, the ambush is triggered. Three shifters and another dire wolf come out of hiding to attack the player characters.
And then after a round or two of fighting, the players are surprised to see the wagon sent flying violently into the air as a werewolf emerges from underneath it, with shredded white robes falling to the ground. The werewolf tries to block off the ravine to prevent any escape, or goes after any archers behind her.
What Really Happened: This group spends a lot of time setting up an ambush site some distance away from a road, and then waits for weeks for the right target group to come along. These NPCs try to save their ambushes for adventures (who would be inclined to help others, and/or be carrying valuables). Conversely, this could have been a trap set up for the player characters in particular (do the PCs have any enemies?).
John Lewis
John Lewis started roleplaying back in 1983 with the ‘old blue box’ edition of Dungeons & Dragons. He has played and/or gamemastered more games than he cares to admit, or can even remember! Currently he spends the vast majority of his game time running a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying campaign. John's next project is to convert the Warhammer 40,000 RPG's (Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Rogue Trader) to Strands of FATE. He is also an avid miniatures painter and wargamer and enjoys a variety of different boardgames.