(Redmond)

Warg hunt, such a simple term for the mess we walked into. Couple villages near the northern border of the frontier have been complaining about livestock going missing, few chickens could’ve run out, but a cow screaming followed by a howl means one thing. Wargs, not much to them if you have the right stuff, wolves at least 10 years old, gains the ability to hide and move in shadows and grow a bit bigger, minor mind link, helps them to all strike from ambush at the same time, but pain spells are all the more effective on them.

Most of the time we send in a handful of guys with some light gems strapped to them to banish the shadows, at that point it’s just a bigger wolf, and even a farmer can kill a wolf, 5 frontier soldiers with enchanted gear can take them 4 on 1 without much issue so long as they know to watch for them.

And no reports of hati or skoll. I thought it was a waste to take the whole squad. Who needs 15 guys to take care of some wargs?

Just let us go back to the outpost and get some beer in us.

But we just finished an orc clean up, fought next to a river, one of the suicide types blew themselves up and it tainted the stream with a little void, only a real danger to the young or the old. Don’t get many of either type out near the border.

And it was on the way back, so we talked to the farmers and they told us where they have been hearing them, double checked they didn’t see any massive hulking ones or flying ones with a horrible laugh. Still didn’t help in the end. After each team came back from asking people in the villages, we went into the woods, Captain is dark specialized, so we didn’t need to worry about wargs hiding in our shadows and jumping out from below. We headed deeper into the forest. Clearly no logging crews have been near here yet. Kept getting darker, but the Captain has been hunting wargs since he was my age so I didn’t worry about it.

No, the worry started when it started getting brighter, captain didn’t care, just said it was the shifting of the leaves overhead, that I should learn a thing or two from my elders.

Another hour passed in the woods before we found them. The Captain whistled in code that we should be ready ourselves, large pack, 30 of them, still nothing but wargs.

So we started chatting with each other about nothing. Wargs aren’t quite smart enough to realize when someone is pretending to be unguarded, kept walking for another 5 minutes before they struck.

The Captain disrupted their shadows so they couldn’t reposition after the first strike, didn’t even hear it coming, but I saw it.

Like a torch trying its hardest to be dim and failing just barely. If it was brighter but didn’t pulse under the strain of trying to be dimmer and dimmer, it might’ve been able to do what it wanted.

A hati, of course, it was a Godsdamned hati, I barely managed to grab the Captain, it took his arm off at the elbow with a sickening crunch and started to laugh thinking its prey had fallen into its perfect plan.

I already had my sword drawn, tried to stab its heart but they are damn fast things. My blade passed through it like it was nothing. a small spray of blood came out, bright white hot blood. first thing about the hati that gets soldiers and adventurers with big heads killed, a spear through a diving hati kills them well enough, but the fools forget to avoid the blood.

The leaves on the ground caught first. I used the blood on my blade to close the Captain's wounds; we needed him alive and moving. Before I could do anything I saw it dive again. Newman was running a warg through, never had a chance to save him. The hati descended like lightning, and his head was gone, his body kept swinging for a few seconds before realizing it was dead.

It knew I couldn’t get close before it could run away, so it just started cursing at us, something about our mother’s fondness for male goats, I ignored it, never supposed to listen to monsters talking in a fight, I’ve seen enough skinwalkers pleading in voices I know to listen to them, one of the guys run at it, once past the trees a warg in the shadows nipped at his heel.

the hati didn’t finish him off, figured we would try to help, when we stayed in formation he slowly pierced his neck.

Then the hati dimmed again; the smoke was starting to build up, the other new guys started to panic but never stopped swinging.

The wargs just circled now, attacking in time with the hati to try to pick us off. Handbook says to never do it but we needed the Captain back in the action, I pumped as much mana as I could into his stump.

The scream was almost the worst part. The worst was seeing what I grew.

I was never a healer, didn’t have the mind for it. Maybe I should look into it if I get out of this alive.

The Captain had a new tumor in place of an arm, his hand could make a fist but I think that's it.

One of the other guys realized what the hati was doing and whistled at the guy next to him. Wish I remembered what his name was, said to take out the hati when it goes for him.

Plan almost worked though, when the first guy blocked and what's his name stabbed, it should’ve worked. but the hati are fast bastards, it just sprung off the shield and what's his name’s arm was caught in his jaws, maybe he could’ve lived if he didn’t go for a slash, the blood spray got his face, in his mouth, eyeballs boiled out first then his throat seized as his lungs burned up, at least the screaming stopped.

The hati decided this was a losing fight at that point, cowardly things.

But I already helped the Captain get ready to take the shot, the new, and I hesitate to call it one. Arm of his was not as mobile as his natural one, so he needed help to get the bow in his hand.

Soon as the hati leap from the ground and started to dim itself he loosed, dark magic flowing through the arrow, first shot didn’t finish it off but the darkness made its flight unsteady.

The tree branch it rammed into at full speed finished it.

I would've recommended the tree for a medal of valor, but it burned as the hati blood dripped down its branch.

As the strongest mind in the link when the hati died, it disrupted the wargs. The only sounds left then were steel and spells on flesh and yelps.

What a mess was all I could think, 15 men, soldiers at that going in for a warg hunt and 9 coming out.

the smoke and fire took as many as the damned wargs and hati combined, by the time we got out of there it was a full blown forest fire, I didn’t see the other 3 die, but clean up said they found 3 bodies, not a wound on them, must’ve gotten lost in the smoke.

Damn shame.

The Captain was less than happy about his arm, had me chop it off and seal the stump with a sheet of fire.

Said if we didn’t get the hati he would’ve requested a court martial, instead he is going to request a medal, quick thinking he says.

And I had to pay for his new arm.

We went back to the villages to tell them what happened, there was a healer in the second village with experience in limb regrowth, didn’t even charge me, says his boy has been complaining about it being too bright at night, hati probably stalking its prey.

I wanted to hit him, to yell at him, if we heard that we might've been prepared for it, but I didn't.

I knew it wasn't his fault, just the foolish words of a kid, why would he bother soldiers about such a silly thing.

I drank myself to sleep the next couple of days, only sobered up when they said I was getting an early leave and a promotion.

if nothing else, I can see them again.

but all I could think about was the ones who I would never see again, the ones whose tours were so short I never even bothered to learn their name yet.