The lee side of the hillock was indeed the best choice for a campsite, and the party found themselves there, already starting to hunch against themselves to maintain their warmth in the chill night breeze.  It took a steady hand and some efforts, but after a few naps of the flint against steel against a decently built campfire base, the first tongues of flickering yellow light and heat could be seen there.<br/><br/>Tonight was going to be the group’s first night in the wilds, and they had come prepared for it.  Thick bedrolls, and heavy blankets would keep them warm, but the fire itself was the thing that would start them off that way.  It was the matter of a few minutes with the three of them scrambling about the hills to gather sufficient wood to at least start them off, although it took another long half hour of work, ranging wider and wider to gather up enough supplies that Aaric seemed to think they wouldn’t run out in the night.<br/><br/>Supper was a quiet enough affair, with the trio forced to cook for themselves for the first time, and discovering that reheating someone else’s leftovers over an open campfire was about as well off as they could manage with the skill sets each brought to the fire.  Without even alcohol to cheer the night, the whole situation had them all seeking blankets and preparing themselves to sleep with slightly unsatisfied bellies, and definitely unhappy memories of their first wilderness experience.<br/><br/>All three were still wide awake, thankfully, when the donkey brayed a panicked-sounding noise into the blackness of the night.  All around, even the wind seemed to still as the trio looked up to see what had spooked the ass.  Just beyond the ring of firelight, the three adventurers could make out the sulfurous yellow eyes of an approaching animal.  Poised as they were, just beyond sight in the pitch of the night, they were soon joined by a second, and a third pair.<br/><br/>Steel sang against leather as weapons were drawn and the party stood, preparing to fend off an incursion by animals, intent on their leftovers, when things changed dramatically.  Once they had their numbers, the three so-called animals stepped into the firelight.  The lead was a grey-furred wolf, obviously a female, and just as obviously rabid.  Still, this was not the worst of their situation.  In addition to dealing with an obviously aggressive wolf, the three could easily see that their opponent was not entirely mundane either.  Looking past the flecks of foam and gore matted into her hide along her ribs, the party can make out the strong haunches and her tail, but below, where two hind legs normally are found, a single, powerful-looking limb has been fused together just below the hips.<br/><br/>Worse, the appearance of her two cubs as they too enter the firelight, growling and prepared to predate for their food, is no better.  To the bitch’s left stands a male cub, its own gore-matted fur writhing and twisting on its own like some kind of hideous sea creature.  The final cub is perhaps the most hideous of all.  Its body has been twisted, flesh turned inside out, so that nothing remains of its fur, flayed as the beast appears to be.<br/><br/>Even before they get much chance to take in the sight of these twisted and deformed animals, the wolves leap forward, jaws extending wide, foam-flecked spittle trailing.  They have every intention of making a meal here as well.