The creature paced towards them slowly, then stopped. It sniffed the air, as if identifying what kind of threat it faced.

For Ashlyn’s part, she finally understood what Twerk had been telling her. It was terrifyingly large and muscular, with a hump at its shoulders. Its eyes looked small in its large head, and it had a mouthful of oversized teeth capable of shredding a human of its flesh, or locking onto a limb and never letting go.

It raised its head, as if it had detected Christoph above them on the rocks. It growled again, a deadly animosity in the noise.

All the moisture had left Ashlyn’s mouth. ‘Does it know he has a bow?’ she croaked.

No one answered her.

A second warg joined the first, then a third. They were all about the same size, with the same black and brown fur. Then, suddenly, they were running—straight for Ashlyn’s position.

ACTION ROUND

Wargs

Warg

Riderless wargs

Action Stats

Action Points

7

Hit Points

40

The three monsters were coming at Ashlyn’s position lightning fast. Despite that, a stunning shot from The Bowman saw his arrow hit the centre warg in the right shoulder, taking 8 hit points. Not only that, but the creature slowed, trailing behind those to either side.

Christoph had time for a final shot before the wargs reached the crew’s defensive line. It sailed harmlessly overhead.

The first warg crashed into Usa who stood on Ashlyn’s right. His defensive position limited the damage he took to only 3. But he couldn’t prevent it biting his leg, its massive jaw gripping like a lock. Usa lost another 8 points, taking him down to 10.

On Ashlyn’s left, Izil also felt the impact of a warg attack. He lost 6 hit points on initial contact. The creature struck him with its deadly claws, clouting him on the side of the head. He hit the ground, unconscious.

Ashlyn said a silent thank you to Christoph that her warg only had enough action points to reach her, and not launch an attack.

It was only as she prepared to strike it that she noticed Greenblade was glowing. The sword’s magical bonuses were revealed to her: against monsters, it gave +4 to hit, and +8 damage. The news couldn’t have come at a more welcome time, and gave her a much needed morale boost.

She slashed at the creature. When the steel struck, the warg howled in pain, its hit points halved in one stroke. The creature’s instincts kicked in, and it used its agility to avoid her second hit. But it couldn’t escape her return strike, which slid into its side, instantly killing it.

Ashlyn had one more action left, and was close enough to reach another warg. Deciding she couldn’t afford to lose Usa as well as his brother, she struck at the warg to her right. She failed to connect, and had to hope the others were able to do their bit.

Christoph had time to get off one shot, but missed.

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Usa slid his spear into the warg clamped to his leg, wounding it and forcing it to release him. Injured, he only had one chance left. The warg avoided his spear this time, but at least he was able to slam his shield into its face. He’d taken a total of 13 hit points from the creature, reducing its action points to 4 next turn. Ashlyn feared that was enough to kill one of them.

Twerk moved into the fray, replacing the downed Izil. One of his axes struck the beast, causing 15 damage. On his third action, both axe heads bit into the creature—the sequence of three hits enough to see it collapse to the ground.

It took Wilson an action to move across to the last warg standing, which was now surrounded. His final strike landed, and the warg was reduced to 14 hit points.

The creature tried to escape, lashing out at Twerk. Its claws failed to penetrate his breastplate. Its second swipe connected with his arm and caused 4 damage.

Ashlyn’s thrust with Greenblade penetrated its hide. It sank to the ground, dying. A final strike finished it. She wasted no time in moving over to the surviving warg, laid out next to Izil. She claimed that kill as well.

The green gem in her sword’s hilt slowly faded, and the action round came to an end.

Usa immediately rushed to his brother’s side.

Ashlyn took a look, wincing as she saw the parallel gouges across the side of the boy’s head where the warg’s claws had connected. If they had Femke with them, she would have been able to heal Izil. Without a medic, it looked touch and go whether he’d make a recovery on his own. Another hit point or two, and there would have been no chance.

Ashlyn and Twerk muttered a few empty words, then left the brothers, surrounded by the three huge warg carcasses. The Bowman came sliding down the rocks after them. They still had a den to find.

They walked around the rocks, to the other side. Here, a shallow cave had the smell of wargs, and the gnawed on bones of a recent meal. There were no more creatures lying in wait for them.

‘Only three,’ Ashlyn commented. ‘Not much of a pack.’

‘The locals suggested they were escapees from the goblin horde, somewhere out west,’ said Wilson. ‘Who knows. There may have been more at one time. But it was the three of them who chased us when we were here. It felt like we didn’t have a chance that day.’

‘You wouldn’t have stood a chance, just the two of you,’ Ashlyn said. ‘Your axes dealt with them, but only after Usa and Izil soaked up their first attack.’

‘That sword of yours did some mighty work ’n all.’

‘You noticed?’ Ashlyn put a hand to the hilt. ‘It’s for fighting monsters,’ she explained.

‘Wow!’ Christoph exclaimed. ‘Does that make you a monster hunter?’

‘I suppose so. I mean, maybe.’

‘That’s pretty amazing. And I guess we should call you “Greenblade” from now on. Now we know the sword works.’

‘Greenblade?’ Twerk repeated. ‘She gets to be called Greenblade, while I get Twerk?’

Ashlyn shrugged. ‘We don’t choose our own nicknames.’

The gnome looked set to retort, when a frown came to his face. ‘What was that noise?’ He moved carefully into the cave, searching for something.

Then Ashlyn heard it. A growl. She drew her sword and joined him. A small warg—probably a pup, even though it was the size of a normal hound—faced off against Wilson, its hackles raised, showing its vicious teeth.

Twerk eyed her drawn sword. ‘You’re not going to kill the thing, are you?’

Ashlyn considered it. ‘I dunno. Our mission is to destroy the den.’

‘Yes, but you can’t kill this little fella.’ He picked it up. ‘Ouch! It’s alright, he only nipped me.’ Blood was pouring from one of the gnome’s fingers. ‘He didn’t mean it.’

‘I’m pretty sure it did mean it,’ Christoph said.

‘I think I’ll call him Sharptooth,’ Twerk said, with a little smile.

It was slow going on the route east to Stocksby. The terrain was rugged. At least Twerk seemed to remember the way. But he insisted on regular stops for Sharptooth. ‘He gets tired easily,’ he insisted.

The little fucker doesn’t get tired of nipping at my heels, Ashlyn dearly wanted to say.

Then there was Izil. He had gained consciousness and could walk, suggesting he was tough enough for mercenary life.

His brother took good care of him. When he wasn’t looking after Izil, Usa’s eyes were wandering to Greenblade. Ashlyn didn’t think it was pure avarice that motivated him; doubted he meant to steal it from her. But like most warriors, he was obsessed with swords, and a magic one was the ultimate status symbol.

Finally they arrived, sore and bedraggled. The villagers gathered around, and Christoph dropped a sack onto the central green.

‘You won’t want to see this, Sharptooth,’ Wilson muttered, taking the creature away.

Christoph tipped the three warg heads onto the ground, and the villagers cheered with relief.

MISSION COMPLETE

SUCCESS: Warg den was destroyed

Some of your mercs improved their stats:

Twerk:

Agility +1

The Bowman:

Intellect +1

Ashlyn:

Grit +1

Hit Points +1

Izil:

Grit +1

Hit Points +1

No mercs levelled up