“Really glad you’re here. We haven’t been able to go to most of our hunting spots for weeks.”

They were in Henkerton’s main building, a combined main hall, tavern, inn and general gathering place for the small community. The party was seated around a table, food in front of them, with the village’s headman and one of their hunters.

“We’re happy to be here and sorry for the wait. The Guild is stretched a little thin right now, but we’ll have your problem dealt with as soon as possible.” Bordan said. He was really stepping up as party leader lately, and Edwin appreciated it.

“I have to ask.” Edwin said. “I always wondered why people lived so close to the Clawed Woods. Wouldn’t it be safer to settle somewhere else?”

“Oh sure.” The headman answered lightly. “Though it isn’t as bad as you think. The monsters mostly stay deeper in the forest, and if they leave, they mostly just wander off entirely. We only call you guys when a beast decides it wants to move in near us. And the Woods are a great source of things you can’t get anywhere else. We can sell some of the plants and roots we gather for tidy sums of money to some of those alchemist fellas in the cities.”

Edwin hadn’t thought about that. Upon arrival in the New World, the Exiles had discovered entirely new fauna and flora. Alchemists believed that the new plants held magical properties, and that these properties could be harnessed through proper treatment. Walter had never really had much interest in alchemy – it had a bad reputation, and alchemists had generally been belittled as hacks. They had rarely produced anything of value as far as Walter remembered, and it had been seen as the useless hobby of wealthy nutjobs.

“And it really isn’t as dangerous as you think.” The headman repeated. “We’ve been going in there for generations now, we know the terrain and the dangers, and we have little hideouts scattered throughout the area that our gathering parties can hide in if they spot a beast. It’s important to always have a lookout, though, if one of them gets the jump on you you’re done for. We haven’t lost anyone in, what, ten years?”

The hunter nodded, picking up the story. “You need to understand: The Clawed Woods isn’t one thing, there’s layers to it. The outside where we go isn’t much different from a normal forest. If you go deeper though it gets way dangerous way quickly. Every now and then a few of the young’uns get it in their head to try it. I did too once, back in the day. On the outskirts, the trees are far apart, you have a lot of light and can see far. Further in it becomes dark and dense, and the cracks are more overgrown and harder to spot. You spend so much time looking where to put your feet, you can’t look out for beasts anymore. That’s where it gets really dangerous.”

The adventurers were hanging onto his every word. Even Walter had never been in the Woods, he’d only heard and read about it.

“So where did you spot that direwolf?” Bordan asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“Right.” The hunter said, taking a gulp of his ale. “All over, really. We first spotted it near the Woods’ edge, when we were coming back from a trip a few weeks ago. We hoped it had just gotten lost, so we ignored it. We sent the request when we spotted it the second time, as we always do. Since then, we’ve kept a careful eye out. We see it every few days at least, in the area where the Clawed Woods meets the regular forest. It’s very active, so we think it must have moved there. Maybe it was banished from its pack or something and had to leave the Woods.”

“Can you show us where to find it?” Bordan asked.

“Sure, I can take you partway there and point you in the right direction. With how often we see it, you should find it quickly if you just wander around the area.”

“Hasn’t it attacked you at all?” Edwin asked in surprise. “I thought direbeasts are always aggressive to humans.”

“They are, but direwolves like to surprise you. We are very good at what we do, and we know the area better than even the animals. We got lucky and spotted it early the first time, and if we’re warned and on the lookout there’s no way a big wolf like that can sneak up on us on our turf!” the hunter boasted. “When we spot it at range, we just shoot a few arrows at it and carefully move away. They’re smart, so if it sees that we know it’s there and can hurt it at range, it usually doesn’t want to attack. Unless it’s very hungry.” he added.

“It means we can’t go further in, though.” The headman added. “We can shoo it off, but unless we back off afterwards, the wolf will just stalk us until it gets the drop on us. That’s why we need you. We’re not really afraid of a direwolf, but that doesn’t mean we want to fight it. We could kill it, sure, but it would probably get several of us before we managed it. We’re hunters, not fighters.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here.” Bordan replied with more confidence than Edwin felt. “We’ll head out early in the morning, if you want to come with us to show us the way. We have a few more stops to make, so hopefully we get this done in a day and can be on our way tomorrow.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” the headman laughed, slapping the table.

--- ----- ---

“Good fortune with you, and good luck!”

It was early morning, and several of the villagers were seeing them off at the gate. There were smiles all around, and it was clear that they were looking forward to getting back to their daily work.

This is why I wanted to be an adventurer. Edwin thought. It feels great to be able to help people with something they can’t do themselves. They almost make me feel like a hero.

The idea made him chuckle. The heroic adventurer was something mothers told their children about. Fighting dragons, discovering Pioneer ruins and rescuing maidens or babies from situations they had no business being in. The truth was much different of course. The Guild was a state-funded mercenary company that did the dirty work the army didn’t want. Only the lofty ideas and ambitions of their noble founders elevated the Adventurers’ Guild, in the minds of both the public and their own members, from blood-soaked sewage cleaners to fearless saviours.

The hunter hadn’t come alone, and he and a half-dozen of his brethren led them along well-trodden footpaths away from the village. When asked, they had told the adventurers that they would like to buy the beast’s corpse from them to take apart and sell. Direbeast meat and bones were rare and would bring a nice bit of coin if conserved properly and sold to the right buyer. Adventurers usually had neither the time to carve up nor the manpower to move their kills while they were working requests, so it was standard procedure to sell the kills to the locals for a few extra coins.

The hunters were calm and seemingly relaxed, but after a while Edwin noticed that the path they were on always led along the highest ground and stayed away from the patches of trees that dotted the fields around them whenever possible, giving them a good view of their surroundings. After an hour they entered the forest and Edwin noticed the change in the locals. Where before they had walked along, whistling and chatting among themselves, they were now focused and constantly examining the environment. After another hour of tense marching, they stopped and turned towards the party.

“Alright, this is as far as we’ll go.” The head of the hunters said. “We’ll stay here, spread out a little and look out for your return. If you continue on this path and take the next fork to the right, you should get into the direwolf’s territory within the hour. Good luck.”

The other hunters echoed the good wishes and moved off, some of them scampering up trees by the path. The party carefully continued onwards. Edwin thought he had been tense before, but now, just the four of them alone in an unfamiliar forest, he was all nerves. The others seemed to feel the same, Leodin’s head jerking towards every little sound and Salissa’s pulled into her lowered hood like that of a turtle. Even Bordan had lost all of his usual cheer, scanning the forest around them. They had left most of their gear at the village, only taking the necessities. Bordan carried his spear, making Edwin wish he had gone ahead and bought one as well, subtlety be damned. Instead, he was still only armed with his shield and mace, and while the shield made him feel safe, the mace felt much too short for fighting something with big teeth and claws. Leodin carried his loaded crossbow, the quiver hanging on his belt. Only Salissa didn’t look much different from when they had been traveling.

When they reached the fork, Bordan stopped the party and turned around.

“Let’s go over the tactics one last time. Whoever spots the wolf or any other danger, call it out immediately. We take up formation, me in the front, Edwin to the side, you two behind. We try to keep the wolf at bay while you put some bolts into it, Leo. If it rushes me or tries to get around me, Edwin jumps in to help. If it makes it around us both, Salissa uses her magic. Everyone good?”

He looked around, fixing each member’s eyes with his own, then nodded. “This tactic is proven and reliable, we just need to execute it. Just don’t underestimate the beast, or you could get hurt before any of us can help. Stay focused and remember your training.”

As they carefully moved on, Edwin actually felt better, and the others had lost some of their tension as well. Bordan’s little speech had reminded them that they weren’t helpless peasants walking to the slaughter but well-armed and trained adventurers who knew what they were getting into. Edwin’s estimation of the man rose yet again.

We’re lucky we have him. Without Bordan we’d have no business being here.