With players out of town, I had the pleasure and honour to run for the FLGS owner's younger son, playing a Half-Elven Wizard 0 / Ranger 4 (Archer, Hunter, v. Horde). He had been handed the character sheet by one of the other gamers at eh store some time ago, and I updated his HP and corrected a few other bits. We went with the concept that rather than going into Wizard after 4 levels of Ranger, Dave, yes, Dave, had been the apprentice of a Human Wizard in a remote two-storey round tower. The woods around this tower included old Elven ruins, but the Wizard had warned Dave off exploring them, as they were not the same sort of Elves as his people.
Years after the Wizard's death at the hands of Humanoids (Goblinoids?), Dave was back in the are and decided to investigate. Stealthing in, he found evidence of recent activity, but made his way up to the crenelated top before returning to the 2nd storey. Investigating a magical doorway to the ruins (at ground level), Dave was ambushed by a lone goblin with a short sabre. The slash only did 1 HP, and Dave, thinking quickly, used Minor illusionof a female Goblin to distract the Gob, then had him on the ground with a called shot to the foot; the Gob was fully crippled and called out for help. Dave preemptively Ray of Frosted through the doorway, and the Gobs in the ruins failed their Morale, leaving the crippled one to his fate. Dave decided to spare the Gob and strapped him to his backpack and quickly left the tower.
Moving towards his Ranger Tower camp, the pair encountered an Owlbear at about 75 feet distance, and tried to sneak around it, but failed. Dave ran and began climbing up a thin tree but was followed up by the Owlbear who only narrowly missed him due to a poor climb roll. The next round Dave attacked with firebolt and scared it off.
Making his way to the Ranger Tower, the Gob was handed over for interrogation. I mentioned as Dave bedded down for the night that a blinking light had recently begun to cross the sky several times each night, and that the older Rangers started talking about the return of the Offworlders. The next day, Dave was ordered to investigate a site where something fell from the sky; he requested two other Rangers accompany him, but received only one, ...Bill. Bill and Dave made their way for hours and then encountered a series of strange lights, sounds, and saw something like white smog roiling out of the forest clearing ahead. Nearing cautiously, they saw that the ground was vibrating so powerfully that debris and sand were floating and writhing around, creating the smog-like effect; the strange sounds and lights were tied to this.
