Dungeon Master talking
Players out of character
"Talking"
Thoughts
"GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME!" Aspen screamed, as one tends to do when something is chewing off an arm. Cuddles, still not understanding speech, immediately started to use the werewolf's tail like a chew toy. After a few seconds of tug-of-war, the werewolf finally loosened his hold on her arm. A fatal mistake, really, as a few seconds after that a short sword began to slice through its flesh.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Hold him down Cuddles!" Aspen shouted, doing her best to slice-and-dice the werewolf into tiny pieces. She smiled. Finally, her wolf was doing something useful. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to bring him along. At least, that's what she thought until Cuddles slammed into the tree next to her.
"Easy boy, we're just passing through, please don't eat us like the murder machine you are."
Cut to the DND table
So…. why am I fighting a werewolf?
You know, I wasn't the one who went into the very dark forest next to a half-burned town without any information. No, that was you. Well, maybe Aspen will get a Darwin award.
Now, back to the town!
Rincewind could feel his migraine getting larger. "Come on, as much as I hate the idea of going into the forest with a minimum of information, we have to save Aspen." Besides, he thought, now that I think of it, she's one of the strongest people in our party. I'm mostly useless for now, Reinert is an idiot, and Voros is just kind of there. "I second that idea friends!" Reinert said, "We shall grab Aspen, hit people in the name of Thor, and then we shall drink our fill!" Reinert then immediately began stomping towards the extremely scary looking forest that has at least one murder-mage in it.
"Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we Rincewind?" Voros said, starting after the somewhat dimwitted Cleric. Rincewind looked once again at the dark forest, summoning his wizardly courage and hoping that he would not die.
Shouting up to Voros and Reinert in the distance, Rincewind managed to get off one question. "Hey guys, did any of you grab supplies from that market in the village yet? They might have something useful, like food or a map!" For a while he heard silence, but then a reply was shouted back by Voros. "I didn't, I actually forgot about that, but Father Reinert here tells me that he bought a pretty map!"
Rincewind put a hand up to his face. "I'm surrounded by idiots."
Stage cut to the murder forest!
Aspen rolled away from the gnashing jaws, desperately dodging the werewolf. "Cuddles! Go for the legs!" She shouted, shooting the werewolf for the umpteenth time with her short bow. Holy moly, just how many arrows can this thing tank? I feel like I've filled him full of half my quiver of arrows and he's still going! Barking and snarling, Cuddles tore away at the creature's legs with his jaws. He didn't know what was going on, or what his master was shouting, but the wolf-thing that was standing like a human looked pretty tasty. The legs even tasted like beef jerky, so that was a bonus.
The werewolf continued to ignore Cuddles, streaking towards Aspen and striking her with its claws before she could dodge. Aspen looked at herself, realizing that if the monster didn't go down soon, things would get tricky. Backing up, she gained a bit of distance and shot the thing once more with her short bow. Reaching for another arrow, she felt a cold chill as her fingers only felt air. "No! No! I can't be out of arrows! Not yet!"
As the werewolf continued to get closer and closer, Aspen pulled out her short sword once again. "Come on you mutt! Let's see you live through this!" She sprung to the side of the beast, narrowly escaping its jaws and sliced its flank as it thudded past her. Okay. So far, so good. I've just got to think of this thing like it's a bull. Let it charge, spring away, slash it, and repeat. The werewolf lunged again, and while Aspen managed to dodge, the beast had gotten closer with its jaws. She let out a grim laugh. Well, maybe not. It seems a little bit smart. Here's hoping the boys will find me in time. Too much longer than this and there could be a problem.
Almost as if the werewolf was reading her mind, it backed off a bit, stood up on its hind legs, and spread out its arms. Grrreeaaattt. Now it's learning. Stalking towards her slowly and still ignoring Cuddles, the werewolf moved in for the kill. "Screw it! Cuddles, get him!" Almost like he understood her command, Cuddles lunged for the werewolf's legs for a final yet desperate time, hitting with enough force to make the werewolf come crashing down to the ground. Immediately taking advantage of the opportunity, Aspen stabbed towards the creature with all the strength she could muster, hitting it directly through what she hoped was the heart. The werewolf started to convulse. Come on, stay down! Please!
Almost as if to mock her very thoughts, the werewolf let out a strained growl as it started to push itself up off the ground. "No you bastard! Stay down!" Aspen yelled, dragging the still-embedded short sword through its chest, blood spraying everywhere. She could feel a stab of pain in her leg, and looking down she saw the werewolf gouging its claws into her leg with its remaining strength.
After what felt like a century, the werewolf fell to the ground with a rather loud yelp. Covered with arrows, sword wounds, and bite marks, it finally looked like it was dead. Nearby Aspen crouched on the ground in exhaustion. "Hey boy, I nearly thought we were goners, but we made it somehow." Cuddles licked his master in obvious concern. "It's okay, just give me a moment to rest", she started patting herself down to check for injuries. Finding a concerning number of bite and claw marks, she slumps against a tree and starts to pray that the werewolf didn't have any friends.
A/N: Howdy to all who stuck around for this second chapter! Many apologies on the shorter length of these chapters so far, I'm quite new to all of this (I've never written more than an essay before) so I'm still working out some kinks. Feel free to review this story, I would love any and all opinions. Be as brutal as you need to be.
Anyways, way to end on a cliffhanger, am I right? I swear our DM has a fetish for these things. In the next chapter we will see if the boys manage to find Aspen before she meets any more "friends", and maybe Reinert will finally get some booze. But, who knows for sure? Maybe this'll just end with the famous line "Rocks fall, everyone dies". I suppose I should give yall an update schedule, but since I'm a horrible writer it's generally whenever I feel like it.