Emerging from the mist, the group found that a wolf pack had encircled them. Six wolves were lead by three dire wolves, and Ghalwin attempted to plead with them to leave in animal-speech. The beasts were unperturbed, however, and attacked, using pack tactics to create openings for each other. The party was overwhelmed, and in the darkness of night found it difficult to beat down the snarling predators.
Outnumbered and suffering terrible wounds, the party fought with desperation, and Jarmo had to activate his stoneskin to survive. He found that, having used it three times, the curse had a greater hold on his body than before. Ireena found that the wolves were not attacking her, and Jarmo sussed out that they were likely servants of Strahd. She used this knowledge to flank and dispatch the wolves targeting her more capable teammates. Though it was close, the party was eventually able to turn the tide of the battle, and the last two beasts attempted to run.
Not wanting information to get back to Strahd, Ghalwin threaded the needle in the thick woods with an incredible longbow shot, killing a fleeing wolf. Shakti wildshaped into a dire wolf herself to catch up and pin down the last escaping dire wolf. Though it mauled her, causing her to lose her animal form, she bought enough time to allow Jarmo and Ghalwin to catch up. Using arrows, javelins, and a shortsword named Rusty, they took down the massive beast, and ensured that none who served Strahd would escape.
After narrowly avoiding a total-party-kill, the group decided that they earned a longer rest, and were inspired into coming up with a new party name: "The Pack." Ghalwin and Shakti bonded while skinning the wolves for their meat and pelts, and Jarmo spent the time fashioning bolts for his two silvered arrowheads. At mid-day, they continued along the Old Svalich road, where Shakti noticed the scent of a dead body not far into the woods. They found a man who had recently been torn up by wolves, likely the same ones that had attacked the night before. On him, they found coins, a heavy crossbow, and a silvered longsword; Ghalwin opted to put his body in the bag of holding, for burial in Vallaki.
As the Pack traveled, they encountered a hidden bundle of clothing smelling of Raven and Human. Jarmo noticed a raven following them for many miles along the journey, which Ireena claimed to be a token of good luck; Ghalwin referred to it as "Birdtram", but the bird did not seem to care for the name. The path forked, and the sign pointing to the Durst Windmill had been scratched out with the words "Old Bonegrinder." They approached with hesitance, and found the raven cawing at them above the windmill's front door. In beast-speech, the raven spoke with human-like intelligence, and seemed to understand the questions posed in Common by the group. He informed the Pack that Old Bonegrinder was operated by three Hags, taking children from the nearby town in exchange for Dream Pastries. He pleaded with the party to not enter the windmill, as he and his group had determined that the building was currently too dangerous to attack. He then claimed that he "had said too much" and flew away.
Ireena and Ghalwin wanted to save the children locked inside Old Bonegrinder, but Jarmo was an expert on hags, claiming it would be suicide if they had formed a coven. Shakti called upon fey magic to have a Fly familiar scout out the windmill. She saw hundreds of raven bodies piled in the onion-domed edifice, and a small girl locked in a cage on the third floor. She also confirmed that there were three hags in the building, one of which was the familiar visage of Granny Morgantha; as the fly zoomed around, it was shot down by Granny with magical force.
Disheartened by their powerlessness, Ghalwin ragefully drove his axe into a tree. As he did so, he looked past the forest and realized that the quickest way to Vallaki would be through the Svalich Woods. The Pack decided to take a risk, heading through the forest to utilize the shortcut. They camped in the woods that night, and Jarmo and Ireena each tried to make a move on their watch. However, as they tenderly held hands, Jarmo reeled away from his auburn-haired crush. He flashed back to Strahd's command to "stay away from Tatyana", and the young goliath fumbled his chance.
Even worse, around this time, Ghalwin had another prophetic dream. He was surrounded by dark winds and slayed Strahd with a sword of sunlight, his eyes blackened with the magic of the Eye of Shadows. He could not keep the eeriness of this dream from his sister as they kept watch and gossiped about their adoptive brother.
The next day, the Pack encountered two wolf-hunters from Vallaki, Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin. The men were looking for their partner, Franz Krykski, who had run into the woods in search of a young girl, Myrtle Lansten. The party regretfully informed them that Myrtle had been taken by the hags, and Franz had been killed by wolves. As proof, Ghalwin removed the hunter's torn-up body from his bag of holding, which initially shocked the men, but the paladin calmed them. With stoic sadness, the two hunters promised to lead the Pack to Vallaki, which was only a day's travel using their shortcut.
Now in great numbers being lead by two men familiar with the land, the Pack finally felt somewhat safe. While they camped, Shaki tried to connect with Ireena, but the socially-awkward druid was not skilled in the art of the pep talk. She accidentally implied that Jarmo did not want Ireena due to her being prophesized to eternally belong to a vampire lord, and spilled the secret that Jarmo had been bitten by Strahd himself. Ireena did not know what to with this information, but thanked Shakti for the attempt anyway.
In the morning hours before light, while keeping watch with Yevgeni, Ghalwin saw Lancelot growling slightly. They woke up the Pack just in time to see horrors emerging from the mist: six springing Scarecrows lunged towards them!
Word count: 1,036
