Grimpaw: The Adventure's End

Danith: a world of wonder and horror in equal measure. Too many races to count call this magical land their home. Among them are the Elves, the Dwarves, and the Humans. An alliance of these three races have successfully tamed most of Danith's deadly wilderness.

But the expansion of the three races have brought them into conflict with many others. Chief among them another three race alliance of the Orcs, the Trolls, and the Goblins.

The first alliance rules the continent of Krace, a land of plains, forests, and mountains aplenty. Where the three races came into their own before discovering one another and forging the Tri-Star Kingdom.

Krace is connected to another continent, Garnage, by a thin stretch of land known as the Road To Hell by the Tri-Star Kingdom, and as the Bridge of Bones by the denizens of Garnage: the Tribe.

Around the time the founders of the Tri-Star Kingdom approached each other in peaceful curiosity, the Orcs encountered and enslaved the Trolls and Goblins. Retaining a tribal way of life that the knightly Humans, innovative Dwarves, and wise Elves have long since turned away from.

The Tribe, so named as all under its banner are ruled by a single Orc known only as the Chieftain, has been seeking to conquer Krace, along with all yet unknown realms of Danith.

The war between the Tribe and the Tri-Star Kingdom has endured for two hundred years. The Road to Hell and the first three provinces within Garnage's borders have been placed under the control of the Tri-Star Kingdom, but the need for greater forces has made the three races far more militant. Children are raised and encouraged to seek glory in the field of battle, and many young members of each race pursue the life of an Adventurer.

But before these brave souls can march to war, they spend years cutting their teeth on the lesser monsters within the untamed wilds of the Road to Hell...and that is where our story begins...

Button Mash let out an exhausted sigh. "Are you sure it went this way?"

Gallus looked back at him with an annoyed scowl. "No, it is possible that the tracking skills I have honed since I was 5 years old have lead us astray. Would you like to take over?"

"Come on guys, really? This is only going to take longer if you argue with each other every five minutes." Whined Ocellus while using her staff to keep her robes from dragging across the forest floor.

The Squire and Scout looked to the young Mage in training before scowling and huffing at each other in a split second argument that they would settle later.

Gallus pressed on. The young Wood Elf moved far faster than his human comrades. Button Mash sighed again as soon as he was out of sight. "This is so stupid. I didn't expect them to send us off to the front lines on our first day, but why the hell are we looking for a lost goat instead of hunting monsters?"

Ocellus sighed as well, though more from annoyance than agreement. "Did you sleep through all of your schooling? We are Copper Class Adventurers, that means we handle the lowest possible quests until our instructors decide we're ready to handle more dangerous quests."

"But we've been training all our lives, and I even beat one of my father's men in a duel! How much more training could we possibly need?" Button Mash whined.

Ocellus didn't compliment this with an answer, arguing with the son of a Platinum Class Adventurer who had thrown back a total of 5 Orc assaults on the front lines was as futile as trying to educate a Troll in the arts of magic.

Button Mash ranted to himself for a few more minutes before Gallus returned. "We have a problem."

Button Mash's bad mood disappeared in an instant. "Ha! I knew you didn't know where it was."

Gallus glared at the squire. "I found it you idiot...or what's left of it."

"Are you KIDDING!!?" Button Mash shouted while Ocellus tried not to vomit. The goat had been reduced to a blood and drool covered skeleton with several bones broken and others missing pieces, suggesting that the responsible predators had eaten the bones as well.

"Great! That's just GREAT!! WE'RE NOT GETTING CREDIT FOR THIS NOW! AND ALL BECAUSE SOME STUPID WOLVES DECIDED TO TURN AN EVEN DUMBER GOAT INTO LAMB CHOPS! AAAAAHHHRRRRR!!!!" Button Mash shouted, kicking the skull as he did so.

"It's out of our hands, hunting wild predators is a task for Silver Class Adventurers. All we can do is report our failure and be done with it." Gallus stated.

"Tch...No, I'm more than capable of killing a couple wolves by myself. We're not reporting a failure, we're going to show our instructors that we're ready to be Silver Class." Button Mash said as he started marching off.

"Wh-BUTTON!? ARE YOU INSANE!!?" Ocellus shouted after him.

"Worse, he's an idiot. Come on, let's go." Gallus said as he headed off back to the farmer that had hired them.

"Wh-NO! WE CAN'T LET HIM GO OFF BY HIMSELF!!" Ocellus shouted.

"As stupid as he is, he's right in assuming that he can handle this. That's not why we're still Copper Class, our instructors are testing our abilities to complete tasks and follow orders. He'll return, he'll be scolded, and hopefully, he'll learn from this...but I doubt it."

Ocellus pouted. "Even if they're just wolves, a large enough pack can overwhelm him. He can't do this alone, so if we can't talk him out of it, we have to help him."

Gallus let out a weary sigh. "I was afraid you'd say that."

The Scout and Mage set off after the Squire, the latter noting that the former wasn't in any hurry.

Button Mash didn't slow down when he heard the footsteps of his comrades. The wolf tracks were so fresh that even Ocellus could've tracked them. They were close.

Button saw what looked like a campfire not far from him, and realized that the wolves were heading straight for it.

His allies had almost caught up with him when started running, drawing his sword as he did. They're attacking humans? How dare they!!

"...ait...STOP!!" Button Mash barely heard Gallus' warning, but it was too late. The Squire had thrown himself into the midst of the camp and realized his error the hard way. The goat's killers were not wolves, and the campers were not humans. He had just charged headlong into a pair of wolf/human hybrids: Gnolls.

Gnolls were different from werewolves. They were not humans who magically fused with a wolf, you are either born a Gnoll or you're not. They were also smaller, with dark blue fur the color of the cloudless night sky in the light of a full moon, and far less aggressive than werewolves...that doesn't mean they will tolerate an armed intruder charging into their midst.

The largest Gnoll was upon him before Button realized what was happening. The Squire managed to get his sword up. The Gnoll, using its humanoid arms, swatted the blade aside and tried to bite into his throat.

Button put his offhand arm between his neck and the angry maw, crying out in pain as the Gnoll bit down and broke his arm.

An Elvish arrow sank into the beast's eye as a second Gnoll tried to help the first bring Button Mash down. The death of its fellow caused the beast to hesitate as it saw Gallus and Ocellus charging behind the Squire.

It never got a chance to react, it had gotten close enough before pausing that Button Mash was able to thrust with his sword. Even a one armed thrust was able to sink between the ribs and barely stab into the Gnoll's lung.

It yelped and grabbed at the blade in its chest. Pushing away in an attempt to flee only to fall onto the ground and crawl on its belly.

Button looked to his wounded arm before turning back to the Gnoll in anger. "You worthless mutt. You almost tore my arm off!"

Button Mash hacked at the beast's legs, causing it to cry in pain. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? STOP THAT!!" Gallus shouted as he and Ocellus finally caught up to him.

"DO YOU SEE WHAT THOSE MUTTS DID TO ME!?" Button shouted, thrusting his injured arm towards the Scout.

"WELL THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PICK A FIGHT! YOU GET HURT DUMBASS!!" Gallus retorted.

"STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!" Ocellus shouted to get their attention. "We should've left this to the Silver Class Button Mash, and you shouldn't have gone off on your own. You could've been killed if we hadn't caught up when we did. And you should've gotten to him sooner Gallus. I know you can move faster than that. You just thought he would learn from his experience if you didn't help him, but all he learned was how to be a bully."

The last word made Button step back, angering Gallus was one thing, but Ocellus almost never got angry. Both boys looked at each other, but unlike last time, they did not scowl and turn their noses up, they just looked away and stared at their feet in shame.

Ocellus turned from the boys to the dying Gnoll, still trying to crawl into the foliage beyond the camp. For a moment, she considered trying to heal the beast. But Gnolls were infamous for their vengeance, and if the larger Gnoll was this one's mate, it would never stop hunting them.

The beast must've noticed that Ocellus was looking at it, because it flipped itself onto its back to face her. The creature's eyes reflected its fear for a moment. But then, in an eerily human gesture, it closed its eyes and exhaled, opening them again to reveal acceptance that was swiftly replaced with defiant rage as it raised its lupine hackles in a snarl.

Hastam Glaices The Mage's eyes glowed a bright blue as the moisture in the air around her coalesced into a conical shape in her outstretched palm before freezing solid and launching itself through the Gnoll's heart before melting. Killing the creature instantly.

Ocellus almost collapsed from the effort. She had focused primarily on healing and shielding, and casting magic that went against one's personality was often taxing for even the strongest Sorcerers, let alone a Mage.

Gallus offered a hand to the exhausted girl while Button chopped off a hand from each Gnoll as proof of their deed. With this, the young adventurers finally returned to the farmer that had employed them...none of them noticed the paw prints fleeing into the forest, none of them had heard the stifled whimpering.