Wolf’s Run – Steal this Encounter

Wolf’s Run actually involves a Skills Challenge and a Combat Encounter.

As the PCs are traveling across the land to another town, they start to notice wolves in and about the surrounding uninhabited hills.  Any Nature-oriented character will easily be able to discern that the PCs have entered wolf territory, and that the wolves are just keeping an eye on them.  They will later notice an animal trap that has not been set off yet.  Also, any skill checks made to control horses take a -2 penalty for the rest of the day, due to the presence the wolves in the area.

As the day rolls on, thunder clouds charge through the area, indicating a forthcoming heavy rainfall.  As evening comes around, winds have picked up, lightning streaks the sky, thunder rolls the hills, and rain pounds the characters.

With one more day of traveling before reaching their destination, the heroes hear sheep through the twilight thunder.  Following the sound, they come upon a secluded, small ranch.  A man, his wife, and their two children are attempting to herd the sheep into their barn, but are having difficulty due to the weather and darkness.  Two sheep wander over to the player characters.

Regardless of whether the heroes offer to help them, they are offered a night’s rest (if the PCs haven’t asked already).  The heroes are invited to a late supper, and the youngest of the two children (a boy of 8), wants only to play with the PCs.  The family seems down-to-earth and friendly, and will ask any cleric or paladin to bless their ranch.

As it happens, the father explains that some wolves have been taking his sheep.  With no money, and no other way to trade goods for food, the father has had to resort to setting traps for the wolves.  He’s managed to kill a few of them, but they just keep coming, getting more bold each time.  The alpha male is some sort of hugely, freakish wolf, the likes of which he has never seen before.

The next morning, as the players are packing their horses, the family bids them farewell and a safe journey.  After the kids say goodbye, they run around to play.  Just as the heroes mount their horses, a huge ruckus of sheep banter erupts from the barn, and the young girl can be heard screaming.  As the PCs get over there, they see a pack of wolves running into the trees, and a huge thunder wolf carrying off the little boy.  The little girl screams, “They just grabbed him and ran off!”

The chase includes movement through very thick vegetation, bushes, trees, tree trunks, ravines, and creeks.  Visibility is very poor, many times losing site of the wolves, and the ground is very wet from the previous storm.  The difficulty numbers for the chase are difficult.

Giving chase on horseback provides a +4 bonus to all of the character’s skill checks for the skill challenge.  However, if they don’t have the Mounted Combat feat, they must use their horse’s skills (most likely a flat horse ability check, with the +4 bonus), or they can just run on foot, using their normal PC skills.  Each player must make three checks, and each is responsible for their own failures (there’s no group failure).

When all rolls are completed, all characters lose site of the wolves as they crash through yet another wall of vegetation.  Unfortunately, everyone (horses included) falls down into a steep, slippery sinkhole (it wasn’t visible from up top, and no – there are no saves to keep from falling in).  As the characters and horses fall in, they lose one healing surge for every failure they accrued from the chase (remember, each character is responsible for their own failures).

In the sinkhole, the wolves are just getting up from their own fall, and getting their bearings.  Some have tried to get out of the sinkhole, but slide down every time.  As the characters stand up, the wolves realize a fight is brewing, and turn to face the characters.  The horses are screaming something fierce, and then the huge thunder wolf spits out the injured child.

Fight on. Much of the sinkhole is difficult terrain due to puddles, mud, and downed trees.  Climbing out of the sinkhole is difficult, and the wolves are forced to fight to the death.

The Twist: The thunder wolf is angry that the rancher has been keeping ‘his sheep’ from him and his pack.  He’s even angrier that traps were set for the wolves (killing a few of them).  The snatching of the child was retribution for the traps.  The pack wolves just go with the flow because, you know, he’s a freakin’ thunder wolf.

Should the characters survive (and they should), they have made friends of the family for sure.  Keep them nearby, so they may be used again in the future.

Oh yeah. Have fun getting the horses out of the sinkhole.