All three had been through tracking and survival training. They were taught how to identify tracks and trails, how to read speed and weight via depth of impressions. The bed of pine needles and soft earth certainly seemed to be just like outside the Dungeon

  “They all be identical!” He was holding his fist gently over a paw-print, using various fingers to measure dimensions and angles. “Each one th’same as th’others.”

  “Yeah,” Reinhardt agreed. He was unsurprised - he was beginning to suspect a few things about the nature of Dungeon

  The Dwarf scanned the surrounding forest. With the lack of underbrush, the lines of sight were only broken by the tree trunks, but they were unevenly spaced and as thick as Otto was wide. Along with the deepening shadows caused by the setting sun, they couldn’t see further than a dozen metres in any direction. Reinhardt was pretty confident he could sneak up on the group, and he wasn’t even that great at stealth. The lack of deadfall meant that twigs, one of the largest barriers to maintaining speed whilst trying to move silently, were absent. Combined with the padded and dispersed nature of a wolf paw and darker shades of fur, being in the forest at dusk was shaping up to be a harrowing proposition. Otto’s continued insistence that they “Were not far,” did little to assuage his growing anxiety.

  “he thought. “He tapped Magdi lightly on the back.

  “Let’s keep moving,” he pointed ahead. “The trees don’t seem as dense through there.”

  Indeed it was difficult, as the “sun” was setting - but Reinhardt was sure the forest seemed lighter slightly to the right of their path. It may have just been an illusion, but even so, standing in one place while getting surrounded seemed to him almost as bad as stumbling into an ambush. As much as he strained his senses to peer into the shadows or listen for a footfall, he could not detect any sign. Every now and then, the trees would resound with a wolf howl. Sometimes it was faint, as though from miles away carried on the wind. At other times it was seemingly close, just out of sight. Once or twice, it was faint, but seemingly coming from every direction. Reinhardt didn’t like it. He got the distinct impression they were being played with and taunted.

  The attack, when it came, was sudden and vicious. A bell-toned howl rang out behind them, which they ignored - having long since decided that the howls were not made by ‘real’ wolves at all, but rather just noise made by the Dungeon

  “Ha ha! FINALLY” He roared. He stepped forward and braced himself, hammer forward and block-splitter raised. Reinhardt moved to the right, machete raised. They were both surprised and shocked to hear a “whump-whump-boof” and a startled, cut-off scream as Otto was pitched to the ground between them. Reinhardt spun to face another

  Reinhardt dragged Otto to his feet, he didn’t seem to be injured at all - he just had a pair of dirty paw prints on the back of his cassock. “Don’t ever wash that,” he said as he turned the mage to face the What a handsome cloak you would make.” Reinhardt smiled to himself. Of all the enemies they were likely to face, the

  Magdi could break their bones, Otto could “Schulef?higkeit had classes involving both Shepherds and Metzgerhunde to simulate being tracked and attacked by wolves and wolf-adjacent enemies. Reinhardt kept his machete cocked, arm flexed, and pulled the axe from its loop on his belt. He could hear a snap and crackle from behind him as Otto formed a ball of Static Charge

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  The Static Charge into the face of the

  There was a expected to see. However there was a

  The partially successful - the

  It wasted no time springing to its feet and lunging again at his face. But this time, Reinhardt was prepared. He had his elbows tucked in, forearms up, hands out. He rolled back with the lunge, catching the

  He needn’t have rushed.

  While Reinhardt had been rolling around with the Fire Bolt to the face - causing it to release Magdi in shock, allowing the Dwarf to smash it into the dirt with increasingly aggressive strikes with his hammer. With only one target left, the three fell upon the hapless creature,

  “As harrowing as that was,” Otto clapped once, the sharp crack unnecessarily loud in the sudden quiet after such frenetic action. “It is not without its compensation. My next

  Reinhardt looked at the