In Woden, going from town to town can be extremely dangerous and peasants are told to be careful as they could lose their lives by fighting back against bandits. Some peasants get by if they work under a lord of status, but for two that would get them killed. It was nearing dusk one day in the Kingdom of Cent. Two peasants walked on a road leading to Cardaf, one wolf was much older than the other, who just became an adult in the eyes of many. As they pass by a copse a wolf dressed in black gambeson steps out of the tree line and stops them. 

 “Sorry to bother you sirs, but there’s a toll you need to pay to pass this point, you lot don’t look rich so we’re taking your food,” This isn’t something the two can refuse, yet the older wolf steps forward.

 “There has never been a toll to pass by you Lembo, and this food isn’t for you in any case. The lord of this area owns the land I use and it, if you even try taking it the gu-.”

 “Does it look like I care? Either you give us that food or me and my lads,” The black dressed wolf raises his right hand in the air and more bandits appear, armed with war darts and javelins they all wear black gambeson. “Will have our fun.”

The young wolf lets go of the cart and moves to the side. “Look Ravindil let’s just let them have it, if the lord punishes us, it will be a far less brutal punishment than what these Diawl will do to us,” Terrified of what could happen the young wolf begins to step away from the cart. He is now a few feet away from it, as he steps away he bumps into a bandit who snuck behind them and feels his arms get grabbed and hold him in place. “H-Hey let me go!” 

The bandit with his arm raised smiles, he looks too happy with what he’s about to order , “Oh you work for a local lord, you shouldn’t have said that, now we will have to… make an example out of you two,” the wolf snaps his fingers and the bandits with ranged weapons throw them at the older wolf.

Ravindil isn’t even able to get a curse, cry, or even an attempt to beg out before he is perforated with darts and javelins to his chest, he falls to the ground dead and the young wolf cries out in horror as his friend is killed.

“Wait, please don’t kill me, I’m just helping him take this grain to the lord, I don’t work for-,” is all he could get out before he's gagged with a rag by the bandit holding him and his back is slammed onto a nearby tree. The other bandits retrieve their throwing weapons from Ravandil, one even stabs him in the chest with a hunting knife to make sure he is dead. 

“Too bad young man, looks like you’re gonna meet your ancestors tonight,” The wolf who ordered Ravindil and him dead walks over and takes out a small carving knife from his belt. “This will hurt a lot.”

One bandit ties the young wolf to the tree with rope as he begs, tears streaming down his face as he feels the carving knife slide across his stomach before the bandit plunges it into his guts and with a quick slash disembowels the poor wolf. His cries of pain are muffled, but are loud enough for all the bandits to hear. Some wince in pain, but the others just grab the food from the cart and leave the wolf to die. 

As his vision begins to fade a figure in black appears before him, he crouches to him and puts a bony hand on his shoulder, the touch making all pain fade away, yet making him feel cold. “I am sorry this had to happen to you young wolf, but come with me and I’ll make sure your soul is safe from harm,” with those words said the young wolf’s life fades from his eyes and he dies, not in agonizing pain, but in a form of peace thanks to Omega the god of death.

The next day guards would find the bodies next to the cart and alert the lord of the area to report the murders. The guards are told to wait for two wolves, one in a green hood and another in a black hood, before they look for the bandits. Ten guards are stationed along with the captain of the guard who is looking over the bodies. He touches the body of the young wolf, but quickly pulls back, the body is colder than he expected.

“He’s been touched by Omega, at least I hope so with how cold he is,” Captain Dunline stands up and checks Ravindils body. “I recognize Ravindil, but who’s the young wolf?” 

“His name is Carmin, we found his mother and had her identify the body, she ran away crying.” 

“You showed his mother his corpse?! By Alpha you idiots! She shouldn’t see him like this!” Dunline storms over and smacks that guard across his face. “You should’ve just asked around to see who was missing. Now we have a mother who had to see her son’s mangled body.”

“Sorry sir, we thou-” 

“What’s with all the arguing?” A voice Dunline doesn’t recognize remarks and approaches them. The voice that just spoke wears a green hooded cloak and is leading another wolf who’s wearing a black cloak. The one who spoke carries a bow while the other is armed with a sword and shield.

.“Oh, I’m sorry, just telling off my guards for showing the mother of one of the victims his body,” Dunline walks over to the hooded wolves.

“Sounds like more than telling off, I could see you smack him across the face, but we’re not here to criticize how you treat your guards. Show us the bodies,” The wolf in the green cloak sounds middle aged and has the presence of a war veteran.

“They’re this way,” Dunline shows the wolves the bodies. “I don’t see why you two are needed, my boys and I ca-,” he is interrupted 

“Lord Amus called us here and we work for the king, that gives us authority over you. We are Rangers, our duty is to protect the kingdom from all threats, and it seems bandits are that threat currently. Lord Amus wants us to lead you lot in culling these pieces of filth from Woden. I am Aeron and my compatriot here is Griff,” Griff nods when his name is said.

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“Alright well, the dead are Ravindil, a farmer for Amus and Carmin, who has just become an adult. Ravindil was getting old and asked Carmin to help him deliver this cart of food to Cardaf for their granary. Seems bandits stopped them here, killed Ravindil, then tied Carmin to the tree and gutted him. I should note that Carmin’s body is freezing cold, which means he was alive when they gutted him and Omega eased his pain before taking these two to Alpha and Beta.”

“Thank you Captain. We shall look around and see if we can find where the bandits went off to, you just get your men ready for a fight,” Aeron and Griff begin investigating around the area.

Aeron goes into the tree line and finds tracks that lead north out of the copse and into a nearby forest. Griff on the other hand checks the bodies, he examines the wounds in Ravindils body and looks to Dunline.

“These wounds were created by two separate throwing weapons, javelins and darts. Have there been reports of stolen weapons from a shop or the armory?” Griff’s voice is young, he is years younger than Aeron and is new to being a ranger.

“No sir, our armory is fine and the smiths report no thefts.”

“Then they either bought them legally, or stole them from somewhere outside of this lord's domain.” Griff checks on Carmin, he touches him and like the captain pulls his hand away, he looks away and gags. “This filth needs to be killed,” Griff steps away from Carmin’s body and goes to Aeron. “Do you know where they went?”

“Yes Griff, north just a ways, they either have a camp set up in the forest, or they found a cave to rest in,” Aeron looks at Griff and frowns. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good right now,”

“I’m not, this is easily the most disgusting thing I’ve seen sir, not just physically but also morally, how can someone just gut someone that young?” Griff asks looking down, Aeron puts his hand on Griff's shoulder.

“I don’t know what they told you when you were growing up, but our order deals with many issues, and unfortunately horrible things like this are one of them. Just take a few deep breaths and you’ll get used to this.”

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?” Griff looks at Aeron wide eyed.

“It’s not, but unfortunately in our line of work we’re gonna see some of the worst things on the continent, but our job is to deal with that to make sure Cent is stable.”

“Alright I understand, let's get this over with,” Griff nods and walks back to the guards, Aeron follows behind him. Captain Dunline meets them halfway there.

“Should I assume you know where the bandits went?”.

“Yes we do. They went north into the forest, just follow our lead and be quiet, we don’t want these guys to run away if we can help it.” Aeron leads them north into the forest as the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. 

The forest is quiet except for the sounds of the group stepping on leaves and branches. Its natural beauty would be something anyone in the party would enjoy, but they can’t relax and enjoy it. Aeron and Griff do their best to listen to any noises they hear ahead when they begin to hear voices ahead of them. It has to be the bandits as they get closer they are able to hear their conversation.

“Hard to believe the boss would just tell us to kill them like that,” One bandit says, armed with a spear.

“Our boss wanted them dead, so we killed them and made an example of them.” Another says, he is armed with war darts

“Doesn’t matter, he looked too happy to gut that boy, I think he genuinely likes killing people.” 

“So what if he does? That just makes it easier for him to kill anyone who doesn’t give us what we want.”

Aeron motions Griff to wait as he goes back to get the guards and gets them, Aeron takes out his longbow and nocks an arrow.

“Alright Griff and I found them, there’s only four, so far so we outnumber them, when I shoot one of them with my bow, rush in and take them out,” Aeron orders and sneaks back to Griff.

“The guards are ready, when I let loose this arrow rush in and the guards will help you, Don’t kill anyone that surrenders.” Aeron readies his bow and moves ahead.

The bandit camp is small, outside of the cave is a campfire, a few chairs, and a storage area that contains the food that they stole. The four bandits are around the campfire talking casually, then the bandit with javelins jolts suddenly, falls to the ground, and the other bandits look at him in horror as they see an arrow between his eyes.  

Aeron doesn’t even nock another arrow, he's not gonna get a clear shot with the guards around. Griff and the guards rush in to fight. The bandit with war darts throws one at a guard, who blocks it with his shield, said guard stabs the darts wielding bandit in the chest with his spear. The bandit coughs up blood, his eyes roll into his head, and he falls limp onto the spear.

A bandit with a sword is quickly surrounded by guards and he surrenders, he is quickly thrown to the ground and has ropes tied to his arms to keep him in place. The bandit lets them do this and doesn’t even put up a struggle, but he does swear at the guards colorfully.

The bandit with a spear tries to run, but Griff stabs him in the back, as the Bandit coughs up blood his last words are a swear and an insult to Griff's mother, or they would be, but they come out as gurgles. As he falls Griff stabs him in the back again, Griff pulls out his blade and stares at it in shock and horror realizing he just killed someone, he gags, runs to a bush, and begins to vomit. Aeron runs over to comfort Griff as he vomits.

“This will get easier, I promise, even if it is something horrible. Alpha sees honor in what you’re doing, especially since we are avenging innocent people.”

Once he’s done vomiting Griff sits down and with tears running down his cheeks he nods. “I just pray we are putting those souls to rest by doing this.”

“There still could be more bandits, be careful and I shall return in a moment.”

Aeron follows the guards into the cave where they find the last bandit, he has surrendered, but has a smirk on his face as he’s escorted out of the cave by the guards. The two surviving bandits are sat next to each other and Aeron approaches them. 

“Why did you kill those two wolves last night?” 

“They have things we wanted, that’s it.” The bandit, who Aeron assumes is the leader, says in a mocking tone.

“Then why did you string up and gut the young wolf?” 

“He likes killing, that’s why. He also thinks Amus is weak, so he wanted to make an example to show that we mean business and scare the peasants,” The bandit that had a sword says to Aeron.

“Then you’ve scared them, but you angered everyone else, including the lord. Guards, hang these two for murder. I will stay here for a bit to talk with my partner. Any guards that stay behind grab what you can and take it with you.” Aeron orders and goes back to Griff. Griff is cleaning his sword with a rag, he still looks depressed despite Aerons words.

“Come Griff, we must report to Lord Amus, and hey, Bryn won’t mind me using some of the silver we’re gonna get to go to a tavern. It’ll help you calm down and refill your belly after what you’ve been through.”

Griff simply thanks Aeron and they head off to Lord Amus’s manor. While Aeron is happy with how this went, Griff is and will be disturbed by this for a long time, he isn’t a warrior yet, but he will have to become one fast in his new line of work. As they head out a guard coughs into his hand, blood and foamy saliva cover his hand, he quickly wipes it away and leaves the area. The guard begins to stumble around as his vision is beginning to blur, unknown to Aeron and Griff their time in Amun’s domain is just beginning as this guard is slowly succumbing to a disease that will destroy his home village