The Wildemount Irregulars (2020)

Alton settles down on his bedroll and uses prestidigitation to relight their camp fire, "I'm sure if we all pitch in, we can have the best guard wolf." He gives them both a smile, "Not too bad of a skirmish; defiantly not the worst one we've been in either." 

Is there anything in particular Balassar wants to do before the wolf wakes?  Anything Alton or Silent will do to help?

Alton will take the time to try and recall any advice about taming animals that he got while being raised in the farming community. If he remembers anything useful, he will pass the information on to the group. 

When the wolf wakes up, anyone who wishes to try to befriend it can make an Animal Handling check with advantage from Alton's help.

Silent, remembering some old squad members trying (and failing) to tame wild moorbounders sits back to watch Balassar’s attempts with a grin on his face. He’d be eating popcorn if he had any. 

Balassar looks at the wolf as it wakes up and grabs a piece of meat from his rations "Guess I'll see if this thing wants to join us." he says holding out the ration in a gentle motion "We are friends." he says motioning to the three of them.

OOC:
Animal Handling check: 8

((OOC: If it hasn't been over 10 minutes and Balassar didn't use it during the fight, he should still have a bardic inspiration dice from post #3931))

If Alton used magical healing to wake the wolf, then sure.  If you all waited until the wolf woke up naturally, then it would be more than ten minutes.

(( I think Alton would have waited for the wolf to come to naturally.))

The wolf wakes after about an hour.  It is still badly wounded, and at the first moment it flinches back away from you all, turns and runs a short way, and then turns back to look at you.  It whines.

Balassar, your hand outstretched, you offer the creature some food.  A long time passes, and the wolf only makes the most hesitant movements towards you, looking like it might bolt at any moment.  Eventually, you lay the food down on the ground (deduct one rations) and back away six feet.  The wolf slowly walks in your direction, grabs the food, runs away, and then stops, thirty feet from you, eating the food while eyeing you warily.

Congratulations, you've taken the first step towards winning this wolf's friendship.  If you want to continue, it will a process that takes time.  The wolf is somewhat amenable, as it was raised from a pup by the goblins and can accept a humanoid master.  You are not those goblins, so it will take time and hard work to earn its trust.  For now, it seems willing to follow you, though it doesn't let you approach it.  You can see that the wolf is female.

You have time to sleep and complete your long rest; the wolf is still hanging around some distance away when you do so.

What would you like to do?

Well that was a hell of a detour. We ready to hit the road again, lads? 

Balassar just nods as the wolf takes the food. As silent suggests hitting the road he just looks to Alton and then back to Silent “I’m good with pushing on.”

You resume tracking. The wolf slinks behind you, unwilling to get too close, but also unwilling to be left behind.

About an hour after setting off, you reach the top of a small hill; this area is mostly just grassland, with only the occasional tree or clump of small bushes with white flowers.  Ahead, coming down the slope of another hill, you see a group of people heading towards you; they are far off, as your height gives you a view of a considerable distance.

Can the first person to read this please make a Perception check?

Perception 17 

Silent, you think you count about a half dozen figures, but can't make out any useful details about them.

What would you like to do?

Silent motions to the others and pulls back to hunker down behind the crest of their hill. We got company. Could be the kids. Could be those mercs. Could be Kryn soldiers. Hell, could be wandering shoemakers, my eyes ain't too good. How d'you reckon we run this? 

Alton looks at Silent, "Do shoemakers really wander out into the middle of the woods? I guess they might to get materials." He thinks for a moment, tugging at his topknot, "I don't think we can avoid them with the space being open and all. We could just keep on our way, maybe go a bit wide to one side or the other to give them space to pass through. If needed, I could make up some reason why we are out here."

Right, let’s proceed with caution then and we’ll leave the talking to you, Alton. 

You continue along the faint trail, though it's clear that you will encounter these people along the way.  From a little nearer, though still quite some distance away, you can see that they all look human. There are four wearing armour, and the other three, who seem younger, are bound with their wrists behind their backs and roped together.  The other four are marching them as briskly as they can manage, and keeping a watchful eye on their prisoners.

As you get nearer, one of the four calls a greeting in common:  Hello travellers.  What brings you on our trail?  You can see that the other three are a little wary, and one hand flinches towards a weapon.

Seeing that the folks with their hands tied are young, Silent’s mind jumps to the kids and the mercenaries who were also looking for them. He tries to adopt a casual demeanour while hanging back and deferring to Alton - he thinks the bard will have better luck avoiding conflict.