~Bleep! – Player Erik encountered a litter of Ice Wolves (King)

Tame (add to CSFP): YES/NO?

Without hesitation Erik pressed YES. He did not stop to ask for permission or share the pups equally with the other two. Erik was the Chief and if they couldn’t beat him, they’d have to listen to him.

Besides, it was Erik that had personally killed the Ice Wolf King, so by association its offspring rightly belonged to Erik as well. And there should be plenty more Ice Wolf pups in the den, enough to reward each Captain and those Marauders that performed exemplary.

~Bleep! – 5 Ice Wolf (King) puppies added to CSFP. Identifying: 2 Males (M) & 3 Females (F).

Puppies (or other baby Pets) require milk for initial growth. Player is advised to locate a milk-source asap to provide sustenance for Ice Wolf King puppies.

The mama wolf seemed to have sensed something, as she anxiously looked over her litter before looking at Erik with a deep grudge.

‘A milk source huh… how about just keeping the mom? She’s the Queen of the pack so adding her to the CSFP might help control the rest of the Ice Wolves.’

Putting his plan to action, Erik tried to add the she-wolf to the CSFP, but instead of receiving a notification of failure or success, he saw a small prompt appear before the mama wolf.

She was surprised and wary of the weird blue thing that suddenly appeared before her, but after Erik motioned for her to press the ‘accept’ button, she was successfully added to the CSFP as well.

~Bleep! – Player Erik successfully tamed Ice Wolf Queen (Female, adult). Added to CSFP.

Player Erik secured milk source for Ice Wolf (King) puppies. Automating feeding.

Ice Wolf Queen: Wary of owner, new mom. Player is advised to spend more time with Ice Wolf Queen to improve the relationship.

Name the Ice Wolf Queen? (Only Pets over the baby stage can be named.)

Thinking carefully for a moment, Erik decided to call the mama wolf ‘Lupa’, after the she-wolf that raised the legendary Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome.

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When Erik got back to the main room, carrying the puppies in his arms while Lupa followed behind, he saw numerous newly injured Marauders sullenly sitting down.

“Hah, what happened?”

“There were indeed more Ice Wolves in the rooms, but some of them had already recovered their strength and came after us.”

“Killed any of them?”

“Some got killed, most we just backed away from Chief. Don’t worry too much, we’re well aware of how important this is.”

“Good. Then I’ll try my luck to have them come out on their own.”

Turning towards Lupa, who Erik now had a deeper connection with, he tried to convey his intentions.

In a game, a player can just give orders and click dialogue options, but in this reality it depended on the intelligence of the Pet and its willingness to listen.

Feeling or sensing Erik’s intentions, Lupa seemed to think it over before nodding.

Erik ‘told’ her that he wanted her to talk to the other Ice Wolves and have them willingly join his pack. He promised they would be fed and looked after if they behaved and cooperated with the Marauders. He did not mention the underlying threat, but Lupa understood that those that refused would likely be killed, as was the way of the Wild.

When Erik and his group emerged from within the den, to the relief of those that waited outside, they were followed by over a couple dozen female Ice Wolves and their litters. A litter could have anywhere between 2 and 7 pups and the young Ice Wolves were at different stages.

Some, like the King pups, had only just been born and barely opened their beautiful blue eyes while others were about to stop weening and were already starting to grow bigger.

Even when Erik’s new pets were taken out from the loot, there were still a lot of Ice Wolf pups to be divided among the Hunters.

Those that would receive one of the pups would have to invest a lot of care and time into raising it. Having a mighty beast like an Ice Wolf at one’s back and call was a great honour and status symbol among the tribes, marking a warrior as strong and capable.

But raising the pup and taming it were two different things and the others didn’t have access to Erik’s convenient CSFP. If not properly domesticated, the Ice Wolf could decide that the people it had grown up around would make for a nice meal and attack them, causing great mayhem and danger.

The rest of that day they spent stripping the dead Ice Wolves for their pelts, claws and teeth. The meat was inedible, except maybe for other monsters, but the rest was very useful to make sturdy winter clothes, fashionable clothing articles, javelin points or short knives and all manner of other things.

Even the intestines and tendons were safely stored away, since these could be used to make thread to sew up wounds, strong tripwires for traps or other uses.

When night fell they retreated into the den where the temperature was actually quite comfortable when enough warm bodies warmed up the mostly stagnant air inside.

It had been a long day with a hard fight, but Erik still put up a sentry, just in case. The Ice Wolf army should already fought against the camp and seeing as there was no triumphant return, it could be assumed the camp had held out and annihilated the Ice Wolf army. What would have to wait until tomorrow was to assess the damages.

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When the assault party returned to camp, trophies, fallen and Ice Wolves in tow, the sight before them was complete carnage.

The entire area outside was covered in blood and dead Ice Wolves. They had been squashed by the rolling stones, impaled on the hidden spike traps, hung on the stakes in the moat where they had tried to jump over it.

They had managed to break through the gate, judging from the amount of blood congealed around it and the many, many scratch marks and shattered timber around it.

But the defenders had held out well. When Erik’s party cleared the dense woods to enter into the created clearing, the other Marauders were busy processing the corpses and making repairs.

Upon seeing their return, they gave a great shout and many praises to Khorne could be heard across the area.

An even greater uproar started when they saw the large number of Ice Wolves following along, kept in line by their matriarch, Lupa. Overnight it seemed she had grown more attached to Erik, probably a result of Erik insisting on using her as a pillow and covering her in his pheromones.

This was a small experiment on Erik’s part to see how whether his pheromones had any effect on beings other than people. Luckily, it hadn’t sent Lupa into some sort of breeding frenzy but his CSFP relationship with her changed from ‘wary’ to ‘deep trust’.

After returning to their huts and eating the first filling meal in two days, Erik convened a meeting as had become custom among them.

The Captains gathered around the central firepit and discussed what had happened while any Marauders that were not busy elsewhere and were interested could stand nearby and listen.

Gently stroking the soft fur on Lupa’s back as she sat next him on the ground (despite being smaller than her former mate, she still came up to Erik’s sternum when they both stood up). The five King-pups were quietly suckling as she occasionally cast a glance at them from above.

“To be short, we waited at the den for the Ice Wolf army to leave, attacked them and slew all Ice Wolves that came at us. I personally killed their King and when we entered into their den, we found the biggest gains of this Winter Hunt to date, the Ice Wolf pups. As the one to slay the King and as Chief of our camp, I claimed his pups and had the mother convince the other she-wolves to submit.

Around 20 warriors got killed, but they all died well and the followers of Valkia should have carried them to Khorne’s Halls to feast.”

Concise and to the point, no unnecessary details. And as a bonus, Erik swept the rug out from under any possible opposition to him claiming the best pups.

Now it was the turn for the defenders to report. Munn and Bhalon, two of the Captains left in charge, nodded to each other before Munn started elaborately regaling their exploits.

“They arrived a small while before dusk, hundreds of the beasts flowing out from the forest like an endless tide of death…”

Seeing where this was going, Erik cut him off with a curt: “Get to the point. Regaling is for Skalds, warm mead halls or to woe women. None of those apply here, unless you plan to change your job?”

‘Something must have gone wrong if they start their explanation like this…’ – Erik’s thoughts quickly untangled the defenders’ fears and reasoning. Then he continued, asking for concise information.

“How many casualties, how big is the damage and… what went wrong?”

*Gulp

The Captains collectively swallowed, their throats suddenly somewhat dry.

“50 dead, 30 more maimed. Most could be recovered, but some were caught in the open and… devoured on the spot.” – Bhalon fearfully reported the numbers.

Feeling anger welling up inside, with the voices starting to call for blood, Erik nonetheless controlled himself and gestured for Bhalon to continue.

“Damages, well, the gate was breached, some of the traps need repairs and a couple of huts collapsed from the stampede…”

“And what. Went. Wrong?”

Silence. Absolute pindrop silence ensured as the defending Captains looked down at their feet.

Finally one of the regular Marauders listening to the meeting pointed at two of the silent Captains.

“Mygr and Tilog fucked up. They said the Wolves wouldn’t come for a while yet so they sent some men out, leaving the gate open. The buggers were waiting in the tree line, cunning shits.

As soon as they were spread out and distanced from the gate, the ‘endless tide of death’ simply washed over them. We managed to get the gate shut, but not before one of the hinges gave out from the pressure, severely weakening it and letting a pack of them into the camp.”

After the Marauder finished his piece, Erik was now visibly furious.

‘They fucked up. They fUCkEd uP biG TImE.’

‘An eXAmPlE. Must make… an example of ThESe STupID CURS’

For these past few weeks, Erik’s authority as Chief had been mostly respected and his orders followed. But a recurring theme was that when he was absent, Captains or other independent commanders had a knack for freely interpreting or outright ignoring his orders.

“No more. I am the Chief and until you take that title away from me, the LOT of you follow my orders. If I tell you to NOT OPEN THE GATES AFTER WE LEAVE, YOU FUCKING DON’T!”

All pleasure at overcoming the strong Ice Wolf den had vaporised into nothingness. What was left was an incredible rage that could only be appeased by punishing Erik’s insubordinate Captains.