Date: Twenty Seventh of February, year 810 Post Seminal War (810 PSW)

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  The party gathered around Index, talking excitedly. A mistake it may have been, but it was not an unwelcome one. Index responded by hugging her friends and trying to explain what it felt like to be transformed. Words failed her, and any thought of weighty philosophical debate retreated in the face of revelry and growling stomachs. Unfortunately the party were not the only hungry ones about that night and Index’s lightshow was not enough to frighten away unwanted, starving, desperate guests.

  Job Arseoth had his nose pressed to the bottom of his bowl, licking away the last drops of the stew, when Baar’Miin’s scream of agony interrupted. He dropped the bowl to see her wings being torn apart by a pair of red-eyed wolves. Index surged to her feet, only to be yanked back to the ground by her ankles, red sap spilling in place of blood. A Ray of Frost met one wolf as it leapt over the fire, its body extinguishing the flames as it hit the ground.

  Light lit up one end of Job’s staff, letting him see the wolves again. But it was too late to prevent the bites to his hamstrings, nor the jaws pulling him to the ground. Job’s staff bounced away, the light going out as he lost hold of the spell. There were more screams in the darkness, high and piercing. Enra’s cut off in a bloody gurgle as teeth found throat. Sly, cursing and ranting, cutting at nothing. Baar’Miin, trying to call on Bahamut, cut off mid-word.

  Job rolled onto his back and threw a Scorching Ray at the red eyes in the darkness, but if he hit anything it didn’t burn. Teeth came for his throat, and the darkness took him.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Baar’Miin was in agony, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Her mace found the side of the wolf on her chest and she surged to her talons. He stance was short-lived as the wolves at her back switched from her shredded wings to her ankles and threw her back down on the ground. Armor and scales alike failed her, her blood pouring freely into the earth. The Dragon-master was down, his throat a bloody mess. She tried a healing prayer, but the words would not come. The wolves tore at the arms, pinning her down, and opening her up for a killing bite.

  Sly Malon was used to working in low light conditions, but fighting in the darkness was absolute madness. She had managed at least one hit on something, if the blood on her blade was any indication, but the wolves kept coming for her back and her flanks. She couldn’t see them coming, not untill it was too late. Enra her lover was down, hurt badly, but Sly couldn’t get to her to help in time. The wolves kept coming, the nicks kept stacking up, her blood kept draining away. She was forced back by a lunge, managing to bury her dagger in the flank of the wolf as it passed, and then clipped by another wolf at her back. Sly went down with a crash and this time she couldn’t stand up in time.

  Index felt her new blood-sap leaking away, felt her wooden muscles tear as the wolves savaged her legs, and for the first time felt the fires of rage. She lashed out, grabbing one wolf about the neck, and squeezed. Something popped and the wolf shook itself free from her now limp hands. The popping sound came again, and Index felt her head roll free of her neck. The animating magics kept her alive long enough to see the blood-sap gushing from the stump of her throat before here eyesight vanished.

  Enra Thallia clutched to her bleeding throat, unable to speak or cry out through her pain. Her one free hand scrambled at the SiDiabolo Deck box, desperate to make a draw that just might save something from the madness. Fangs found her free wrist and tore it away from the box, another set tearing at the hem of her dress. She was dropped onto her back, sprawling in the bloody mud of the campsite. Teeth found her belly and began to chew.

  The chapter was unexpected, even for me. I had planned out a bunch of things for future chapters when a random travel encounter proved unexpectedly deadly. This was the result of the CYOA votes, both on whom to help and also on where to travel to - the longer distance resulting in a higher likelihood of a random encounter. With at least one random encounter locked in, I set up a basic wild animal attack scenario. Usually this is a ‘trash mob’ fight, but the party was distracted by an excited and emotive Index, which let the wolves get close enough to try an ambush. Not really a problem, the party has five attempts at a DC15 perception check to avoid the ambush, and AoE spells like Sleep, Ice Knife, and Scorching Ray will clear large numbers of weak foes in short order right? Nuffle and RNGesus, Gods of Dice, said no, it is time for karma after that (almost) no-hit boss fight. Five failed saves, wolves get an ambush. Pack tactics are in full effect, wolves are hitting all over the place, and then the crits start rolling in.

  In five minutes I’m sitting there with three characters in death checks, aka bleeding out, and trying to figure out some sort out some sort of out. I’d already fudged dice rolls to prevent instant character deaths (Baar’Miin losing her wings, Enra taking that hit in the throat) in the first round, and it didn’t end up mattering at all. by the end of the second round (the party was surprised in the first round) everyone bar Enra was dead, and she was finished off before she could act.

  At that point, I went over my notes trying to decide what to do. I contemplated tossing the whole encounter out and just moving on, but that would break my CYoA writing rules: no plot armor, no ret-cons, no re-rolls. These are intended to keep things balanced, to prevent OP MCs, and to induce the semi-randomness of real tabletop combat encounters into the story - playing a game like DnD is as much about the interactions about the table as it is the no-take-backs ironmanning of the dice. It would be utterly foolish of me to have a CYoA using that system and to not include both.

  So instead of breaking my writing rules, this becomes the first instance in all five of my CYoAs to date to wind up in a Mission Failure. I’ll be taking my notes and working them into the history of Arisverse, so the vote for this chapter is which part(s) you want to see a glimpse of in the epilogue.

  Post-Vote addendum: Mission not Failed, but difficulty increased: Small pawns on a large board.