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Travel: Wolf Lair¶

From the Empty Skull Rock area, follow these directions:

• North
• East
• Northeast (cross Shrike River)
• Northeast (Wolf Lair should appear northwest of the path)
• Northwest

This will get you to the Wolf’s Lair area. No points for guessing what foes dwell here. You’ll arrive along the southeastern corner of the map, at the elbow of a trail that runs both uphill to the north and downhill to the west.

Battle: Wolf Trio¶

The entire area is in fact a giant loop, but you might as well take care of the easier part first. To that end, head downhill to the west, stopping long enough to crush three wolves along the southwestern corner of the map. These mutts are horribly outclassed by now and should present no challenge. Once they’d dead, pass a [Perception 12] check to spot a rock you can loot for a variety of treasure, including a Scroll of Haste.

Turn north and follow a trail running along the western edge of the map until you reach the northwestern corner of the area. An area transition lies in this corner, but you still need to search the hill that dominates the center and northeastern end of the area. Follow the path uphill to the southeast to find a quartet of Wolves feasting upon a corpse.

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(1 of 3) After a few rounds, three Alpha Wolves will spawn.

Battle: Wolves and Alpha Wolves¶

Don’t rush in blindly, as although these wolves are easy enough to slay, they’re also cunning. During the fight, more Wolves will appear from behind you (to the northwest) so keep a warrior behind to protect your casters and archer (and/or toss an Entangle, Grease or Web spell back there) while the rest of your warriors deal with the Wolves near the corpse.

More Wolves will later come out of the caves to the northeast and spawn from where you entered the area (southeastern corner of the map), and while they don’t bear a fancy name, they’re far stronger than normal Wolves, having a much higher Attack bonus, Armor Class and HP. While probably not too threatening to your warriors, they’re not complete push-overs like their lesser kin were, so be wary.

You can expect to fight nine wolves in total, after which three Alpha Wolves will come out of the caves and attack. These are significantly more powerful specimens, having superior Attack, Hit Points and Armor Class to normal wolves. Of course, normal wolves are paltry foes, and the superior status of the Alpha Wolves just makes them comparable to Trollhounds, which you just slaughtered in great numbers. Just be wary that they’re stronger, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a threat.

After vanquishing all the Wolves, search for a stone to the west of the corpse to find a Melted Shard of a Ring, another artifact the antiquarian will be interested in. Finally, loot the corpse the wolves were snacking on to gather a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, 74 GP and the Wolf Victim’s Book, the latter of which discusses wolves, worgs, goblins and barghests.