The Skinsaw Murders

The party advances south-west through the field, standing two abreast.  Malvick and Ariva take the lead, followed be Xer and Wertz, then Weasel and a wimpering Grump, with Sasha and Yola bringing up the rear.  They move forward about 200 feet, all the while to the sounds of more ghouls tearing free of their bonds and rushing hungrily towards them.

Then Malvick breaks into another crossroads, with paths reaching south-east, south-west and north-west.  Charging madly at him from both of the western trails come the first of the scarecrow-ghouls.  Barely pausing to take aim Malvck draws and fires two arrows in quick succession, while hissing "stay" to Ariva.  Xer moves like a blur, her acrobatic training allowing he to step deftly through the cornstalks and around Malvick.  She charges up the northern trail and meets the charging ghoul head on, landing powerful punches to its head and chest.  Xer feels ribs crack under her assualt but the undead thing keeps coming, lashing out with its claw-like hands.  She bats away the thing's clumsy attacks and looks for another opening to strike.

Weasel, unable to see what's going on ahead, dithers indecisively.  Wertz however, shoulders past the younger man and barrels throug the corn after Xer, chopping out with his sword.  He charges up beside her and stabs out at the ghoul.  The creature avois the thrust but falls back under their combined assault.

Malvick's shots both found their target and dropped the ghoul charging up the southern path dead in its track.  He looks up to asses the situation.  To the north he sees Xer and Wertz locked in combat with the second ghoul.  The way south is now clear but  50 -60 feet ahead he can see the corn stalks rustling as more undead approach.

Yola and Sasha can see nothing of the struggle at the front of the column, and while they cannot see any telltale movement in the corn around them, they can hear ghouls howling to each other, hunting, perhaps two or three hundred feet behind them.

How to read the map:  The white letters are the Party - M=Malvick, A=Ariva, X=Xer, W=Weasel, Z=Wertz, G=Grump, Y=Yola, S=Sasha.  The red X's are ghouls.  The black and white Ns are what appear to be normal scarecrows.  The swirly circle is rustling corn stalks.

The fields slow movement only a little but limit visibility to only one or two arm lengths at best.  Xer and Sasha, with their Acrobatics skill can move easily through the fields and other party member, all other move through these areas with penalty.