“Where did they all come from?” Mori shouts as he tries to hit at least a single wolf with his ax, but they are more focused on avoiding being hurt than actually killing the four adventurers.

Having tasted blood and meat, one of the wolves is clearly frenzied and dashes at Lyanna to get another bite. Dragging Lyanna to his foot with one hand and drawing his broadsword with another hand, Gorrazsh screams, “Get away from her!”

The orc swings his broadsword in a gigantic arc and slices the wolf horizontally. The wolf falls apart – the bottom part with the legs flies in one direction, the top half with the tail and head to another. The wolf’s guts splash all over Lyanna who screams even more intensely than before after receiving a red, sticky shower.

The wolves snarl and lean low, preparing to attack. They clearly did not take too well the loss of even one of their kin. Cassandor chants some spell and two balls of purple light with thin tails like tiny comets fly from the boy's body, swirling and zig-zagging, and then hitting two wolves, seemingly at random. The two wolves let out a cry of pain as their bodies are flung several feet backward. Neither of them move or let out another sound.

Gorrazsh draws his second broadsword from the sheath on his back, but before he has a chance to use it, he notices you, drops his sword and waves his arm overhead to get your attention and shouts, “William, my good friend, please help us!”

“I’m sorry Gorrazsh, I’m afraid I cannot do that,” you say without the slightest hint of remorse.

“What is wrong? Is that Shinde wolf holding you and your friends captive?” Gorrazsh asks sincerely. “Hold on, my friend! I will find a way to kill that fiend and save you!”

“I’m not the one that needs saving, Gorrazsh,” you say to the orc.

“You… You cannot mean it!” Gorrazsh screams in disbelief and dismay. “William, you have betrayed us?”

“I wanted to help you,” you say. “I tried to be a good samaritan, but you betrayed my trust. Now, I have no choice. Return immediately what you have stolen from my new friend.”

“Cassandor?” Gorrazsh turns to his young companion.

“No way!” The boy shouts. “Those claws would earn me enough money to finally afford Rosetta’s affections!”

“Snap out of it man!” Mori grabs Cassandor by the shoulders and shakes him violently. “No woman is worth throwing your life away for!”

“They’ll just kill us as soon as we give them what they want anyway!” Cassandor does not relent, but cannot escape the dwarf’s strong grasp, who is far more muscular than the scrawny wizard-boy.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Gorrazsh asks.

You sigh. You’re not thrilled at the prospect of all of the adventurers dying. What was even the point of saving them in the first place? You look up at the shadow wolf towering over you and ask, “Shinde? Is that your name?”

“A crude caricature in your bipedal tongue, yes,” the shadow wolf says.

“If you get your claws back, would you mind if I kept two of those bipedal vermin as slaves?”

“Seems like unnecessary trouble. They would seek any opportunity to kill you or run away. And I cannot possibly have any of them running away after what they dared do to me!”

“What if I had a way to make sure they never ran again?”

“Biting off their legs?”

“Impractical,” you shake your head. “I mean I can break them in such a way that they will follow any order without question. No matter how degrading or evil.”

“Interesting,” the wolf stays silent for a couple of seconds considering your proposal before speaking again in a deep, ancient voice, “Normally, I’d probably just eat you after I’m done with those four, but… You’ve sparked my curiosity. Very well, show me what you can do. Which two did you have in mind?”