Choice Results are at the bottom of the page. Good luck!

You are traveling out on the open road, the sun shining above you and the smell of manure thick about the air. After completing another successful quest as a mercenary you cannot help, but feel content with your lot in life and how it has turned out. Escorting the family of merchants through the dreaded forests of Plymouth had been a breeze, with nothing but a few scratches to show for your effort. And now you are finally journeying home to a well-earned rest when you hear shouts and screams coming from your left. At first, you are uncertain as to whether to involve yourself in such matters, but quickly come to the conclusion that you must still investigate if only to ensure that the road ahead is at least safe to travel upon. Steeling yourself for battle you stride up the hill and towards the sound of the shrill voices that cut through the air.

Slowing your step, upon reaching the outskirts of what you assume to be a village. You stop to take a look at what's taking place and see a most worrying sight. For you see before a large pack of Silver wolves the size of horses slaughtering the inhabitants of the human settlement. And although most of the villagers lay dead, their life force bleeding out beside them, you do see a group of villagers in a large grey stone building at the end of town, fending off the beasts with pitchforks and spears. However, the pack of Silver wolves seems unwilling to give up on any prey and have surrounded the building, clawing at the walls with their powerful paws. Each second that passes, the situation in the village grows ever more dire, with more Silver Wolves abandoning the corpses they had been feasting upon to join their brothers attacking the surviving villagers. You know instinctively that without any help these people will surely die.

As you come to this sudden realization, you find yourself studying the surrounding buildings and notice that most of the houses in the village have thatched roofs that could easily catch on fire. You also notice a brazier that still has a few burning logs within it. Not far from the brazier you also see a human guard lying face down in the dirt with his guts spilled out beside him. The fool had probably thought to fight the creatures with fire. A foolish notion since Silver wolves, while fearing fire, will still attack if their bellies are hungry enough. However, your eyes do light up, when you see a loaded crossbow beside the dead soldier. A useful weapon against such creatures, but a weapon that will take time to reload with each shot. Then there is always the option of just looting the nearby houses. After all, who is going to stop you? The villagers? In any case it's time to make a decision.

Choice 2. Do you take a firebrand from the brazier and set the thatched roofs on fire and try scare off the beasts?

Wasting no more time, you snatch up a burning hot firebrand from the still smoldering brazier and race over to the nearest thatched roof house, your arm raised to press the naked flames towards the edges. It takes some time for the fire to take hold, but soon enough the building begins to smoke before abruptly bursting into flames, a grim smile crossing your lips at the beauty of your plan.

Careful to avoid the attention of the silver wolves, you move swiftly from house to house, setting each of the roofs alight. The black smoke billowing up high into the blue sky with almost half of the village ablaze.

Noses sniffing the air, the silver wolves spin around to see you alone standing at the other end of the village with houses going up in flames all around you.

The wolves yelping in fear at the sight of so many dancing flames, turn tail and lope away, all except for the pack leader, a huge grizzled wolf with flecks of dried blood staining his jawline.

Striding menacingly forward, it bounds towards you in a sudden burst of speed.

Heart clutched in your throat at the sight of the monstrous beast charging towards you, you shake yourself and rush forward to meet the beast head-on, dodging its gaping maw and snapping teeth to deal a savage blow across its eyes, but not before being sliced open by its razor-sharp claws that slice into your shoulder. (- 20 Health Points.)

Grunting, you roll to your feet and press your attack at the blinded wolf, stabbing and slashing, until a lucky strike from the alpha male manages to knock you back with another grunt of pain. (- 30 Health Points.)

Almost tasting sweet victory as the silver wolf struggles to stay on its feet, you charge in yet again, chipping away at its hind legs to take it down before ending its life with a swift stab into its bleeding eye socket.

Lungs aching from the added effort, you bend over to suck in air, wondering how you had made it out alive, when you hear the sound of many footsteps coming up from behind you.

Devastated by the loss of their village, their livelihoods, and their homes, the people stand there in stunned silence, watching their village go up in flames.

The eldest of them, a sad old Redling with darkened leathery skin and pale blue eyes, wearing a simple brown robe walks over towards you. The elder’s face is grim with ill foreboding as he grips your shoulder with a gnarled hand that had seen a lifetime of hard unyielding labor. “You had best leave, stranger. My people are grateful to you for your help, but I fear they will not take kindly to losing their homes like this.”

Eyes widening in shocked surprise, you open your mouth to protest and demand your reward, when you see the villagers begin to gather behind the elder, their expressions filled with hatred, and hands gripping an assortment of weaponry.

Blood boiling at the selfish ingrates, your hand drifts back over to the dagger at your belt. The elder tightening his hold around your shoulder as he hands you a small pouch of coins and stares into your eyes pleadingly. “Please, leave.”

Snatching your arm away, you snort angrily in disgust and storm off back towards the road. Last time I save some slop, sucking mud saplings.

Battle Results

- 50 Health Points (Remember to take into account your Resilience when calculating the results of this fight.)

Loot

+ 18 Gold Pieces

Quest Complete