A shout attracts Jason’s attention. Looking up, he sees James and Rosha coming out of the training hall and heading over toward him. Once again together Jason hands out a couple health potions and the group heads out towards the more animal themed bit of the forest.

The gate guards send a few strange looks their way but otherwise leaving the town proceeds smoothly. Out in the field though they hit their first snag. A small group of wolfkin have just left the forest and look a bit roughed up. Seeing as their packs are flat it seems they had a less than successful time at it. They apparently want to take their failure out on somebody as they go to intercept our group.

The lead wolfkin steps forward blocking the way with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his lips, “Hey you chumps. You look like a bunch of low level newbs. Better turn around and march yourself back into the town.”

“We have a quest in there.”, Jason flatly tells them and the teams just tries to walk around the wolfkins. Of course when has this ever worked? The wolfkins that had stood back go to surround the group while the leader grabs Jason’s shoulder to stop him.

Louder the leader speaks up again, “I don’t think you heard me. You will turn around and go right back to town. In fact, now we’re going to guide you back there and your going to being pay our bar tab tonight.” and he squeezes Jason’s shoulder.

The group share a look. None of them want to put up with this. With the town just behind them they couldn’t exactly go to hard on them. Then again it also meant the wolfkin wouldn’t be able to just kill them either. Overall a good chance to test their teamwork. Then the wolfkin leader hits the ground.

Everyone just sort of stops and looks at Jason. Giving a shrug of his shoulders, “It’s obvious we were going to throw down, so I decided to take that literally.” Then he stomps on the downed wolfkins neck which knocks it out. Taking this as a cue the others start fighting. Two of the remaining wolfkin go at Jason while the others face off one on one.

Being so close Rosha goes for her daggers. Her opponent however already has his club out and takes a swing at her. This forces a quick dodge to the side and prevents her from drawing both daggers. Luckily it seems just one might be enough as she jumps back at him and swipes at the arm holding the club. The wolfkin tenses his arm after seeing the attack coming. With that the dagger only leaves a shallow wound, however it is bleeding. Seeing red the wolfkin charges in with his club. Not being all that skilled though this leaves him full of opening which Rosha takes advantage of. Going in under its raised arm she is able to get a good stab in. Then when she passes around to his back, she slams the butt of her dagger into his head, taking him down.

James actually has an easier time. His enemy might be equipped with an actual sword but Dwarven armor proves out. Deciding to not mess around he just goes straight into a grapple. The wolfkin tries to break free but finds a dwarven bear hug to be a little too much. This might not take it out but it isn’t in the fight anymore.

Jason despite having more opponents has it even easier. Taking out the leader before the fight even started had shocked the rest of them. While the two seem to be coming at them it is clear that both of them are trying to hold back and let the other feel him out. Not giving them a chance, Jason goes after the one that is farther from him that has a spear. The closest wolfkin seems relieved and actually delays going to help his teammate. This is all Jason needed though and he grabs the wolfkin. Having him so close the wolfkin simply loses his head and can’t get any attacks in. At that point it is simple for Jason to knock him out as well leaving just one wolfkin. That one takes a look around and notices he is somewhat alone. Raising his hand he surrenders to the trio. Not long after a group of guards from the town come over and after a few questions they take the wolfkin group back to the Guild for healing and a stern talking to.

Rosha sighs, “I don’t even know what to make of that. I really wish we could tell if they were players just so we could rough them up. Not being in starter gear makes it likely they are residents, but that isn’t even certain anymore. I hear the npcs are getting their hands on the newb gear as it is so good for beginners. That group could have just been stupid and sold their gear to some npcs for a lot of cash.”

James squeezes his eyes shut and rubs his forehead, “I know what you mean. With how the System likes to work we will probably run into them in the future just from quests steering one of our groups into the other. That didn’t even test our teamwork. Our gear just makes facing anyone who isn’t level 10 simply silly. I’m a healer! Sure as a dwarf I have some strength but that idiot couldn’t even break my hold.”

Rosha nods in agreement, “Lets just ignore this little side adventure and continue on. The forest is literally right there.”

“If they were players then we probably just won because of taking out the leader so quick. While he seemed dense, there is likely a reason he was in charge. Maybe with his orders the group might have actual hurt one of us.”

Rosha laughs at that, “Nah, probably just someone importants child. It’s harder to meet the young master trope but they are still out there. Though I am betting they were residents. Probably some wolfkin tribe nearby. Hell, it could be both with the local tribes young master running around.”

“Heh, that's true enough. Anyway before we get sidetracked even further lets head into the forest.”

With that distraction out of the way they are able to finally enter the forest. The path is starts out well kept and the trees are sparse. This shallow in they don’t even see anything besides some normal rabbits. However their goal definitely won't be so easy to acquire.

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

Basically the naming convention for the humanoid animals. If it is a ‘kin’ then they will look mostly human but with animal features like ears and a tail. While it isn’t talked about these species are generally the result of some of the more animal races ‘getting it on’ with a human. If they have any connection to their animal counterparts it will be because of tradition rather then any kinship despite the name. Basically the wolfkin above only live in a ‘pack’ because that's how they have always lived.

Next are the ‘folk’. These are the most common and generally will have the head of the animal they are as well as less human skin. This means a ‘wolf folk’ will have a wolf head and their backs down to their tails will be covered in wolf fur. They would also generally have claws on their hands though it will be actual hands with a thumb and all. Another important feature of the folk is their connection to their animal counterparts. They tend to live with them and can even develop telepathic connections with them.

The final category I will mention right now is the ‘were’s. Yep, werewolves and such are around. This is a varied race type. Some may be from a curse, others a bloodline. I personally like the really rare mixed blood example that results from a shapeshifter/folk/humanoid which can take any partial form between full animal and full humanoid. Also of note is that the curse version tends to only pop up when someone purposely does it to themselves as curse removal is a well studied field of research.